Residence hall event teaches lessons on diversity


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Grayling freshman Elle Smith (left) and Mattawan senior Trevor Dieffenbach (right) act out different roles in Larzelere Hall's "Archie Bunker's Neighborhood" event that discussed racial and gender stereotypes on April 19 in Larzelere Hall. 

Students were sent to “jail” and told whether or not they were allowed to get a job, insurance, loans or food from the grocery store in the interactive role-play activity that took place Sunday at Larzelere Hall.

The residence hall event, called Archie Bunker’s Neighborhood, is a Larzelere tradition that is put on annually by the diversity committee and staff in the building. It is meant to educate residents on what privilege means and stereotypes assigned to certain groups of people. Participants were not briefed on what the event was, except that it was a role-play activity in which society is recreated.

“It was our biggest turnout for a diversity event this year,” said Hemlock freshman Rhiar Kanouse, who was one of the people responsible for putting on the event. “Being in the honors program is a privilege in itself, so it’s important to recognize and is our responsibility to educate ourselves on things like this.”

Upon arrival each person received a piece of paper with symbols that represented a race, disability, sexuality and socioeconomic status that were unknown to them and a checklist with names of stations on it. They presented the paper at each station that included things like ‘insurance,’ ‘university,’ ‘employment’ and ‘loans.’ 

The goal of the exercise was to gain access to all of the resources the stations offered. Facilitators for the event at each station had a key for the symbols on each person’s paper and treated them based on the stereotypes associated with their fictitious demographics, often denying people or even sending them to ‘jail.’

Ubly freshman Trent Morell was having trouble applying for a ‘loan’ and ended up getting sent to ‘jail’ because they said he was untrustworthy and judged him because they assumed he was a smoker. He later found out that he was a Native American and was surprised to find out that smoking was a stereotype negatively associated with Native Americans.

“When I first came to college, I didn’t even know privilege was a thing,” Morell said.

Canton senior Emily Gibson was working at one of the stations and said that Archie Bunker’s Neighborhood was important because it opened up the minds of the predominantly freshman crowd at the event.

“Especially for people who are coming from really small towns, it opens up their minds to a lot of things they haven’t faced before,” Gibson said.

The event hit home for Randi Bennett, who is a resident assistant for Larzelere and was working one of the stations. She apologized afterward to the people she was mean to during the event, even though it was in the spirit of the role-playing aspect of the exercise. Bennett said that as a member of the LGBTQ community herself, she could relate to some of the stereotypes present in the game.

“Even if it’s not present in every day life, or even on a conscious basis, stereotypes are definitely still there,” Bennett said.

The meaning of the symbols was revealed at the end of the role-play exercise and participants were exposed to the stereotypes they were discriminated against during the game.

“It’s important to have a judgment-free atmosphere to learn about this,” said Kanouse.

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Editor-in-Chief Kate Carlson is a senior from Lapeer who is majoring in journalism with a minor in ...

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