Wall on Quad to reflect oppression

Wall on Quad to reflect oppressionMarch 31, 2006Darya Rotblat

A five-foot by 20-foot wall of oppression is being created on the Quad beginning Friday. It will consist of 130 bricks painted by students, faculty and staff with words and symbols of oppression. The goal in creating the wall is to help the campus community more easily recognize and understand together the acts of inhumanity that it represents.

Called “Writing on the Wall,” the project is intended to place prejudice out in the open; when viewing the wall, members of the SU community will see words that some people use every day without understanding the hurt the words can cause. The creators hope this will cause people to compare the hate that they have encountered themselves to the hate experienced by others, and choose to initiate change.

The project is sponsored by the Chancellor’s Feinstone Grants for Multicultural Initiatives. The grants — now in their 10th year — are awarded to members of the community who propose innovative programming that moves forward the University’s dialogue on cross-ethnic relations; propose methods for individual and group development to help break out of learned patterns of prejudice; and focus on skill building and development of alliances across ethnic identities.

James K. Duah-Agyeman, director of the Office of Student Support and Diversity Education/Multicultural Affairs, will speak about recognizing oppression and working together to change and celebrate diversity Wednesday, April 5, at 5 p.m. in Hendricks Chapel. Afterward, the audience will be invited to move to the Quad and together tear down the wall; students will be allowed to take home a piece. Then the discussion will continue in Room 228B of the Schine Student Center, led by Outrage.

For more information, call 443-5489 or e-mail ocsserv@syr.edu.