The tunnel attempts to open people’s eyes
For all those people who feel they have been discriminated
against on Eastern’s campus, the tunnel might be a constructive
way to use the anger to educate those on Eastern’s campus who
have never experienced discrimination.
Caleb Judy, University Board Human Potential Coordinator, is
enlisting students to help him organize the tunnel. The first
meeting is tonight at 7 p.m. in the Thomas Hall Lobby.
Judy has taken on the task of trying to educate those on
Eastern’s campus who have never experienced discrimination. He
wants those who have never experienced hate to experience it
first hand and to understand what it feels like to be
discriminated against.
In order to complete his task he is going to create a sort of
“tunnel” in the basement of Lawson Hall lobby. Each room will
feature a different type of discrimination.
The rooms will feature a multi-media display of hate, Judy
said. “I plan to pull hate information from the Internet, T.V.,
radio, movies, wherever I can find it,” he said. “I’ll pick and
choose from what I find and then we’ll use paintings,
computers, lettering and T.V. to create the images.”
The rooms in the tunnel will feature such types of
discrimination as racism, sexism, ageism, sizeism, anti-
semitism, classism, homophobia and xenophobia, Judy said. He
may also add a room that features discrimination against
handicapped individuals.
He plans to have “leading questions” to ask the student as he/
she walks into the different rooms in order to have them
“personalize the issue.”
“I want to create an atmosphere of hate,” Judy said. To do this
he plans to use low lighting, different colors of lighting and
a smoke machine to create the atmosphere. There will also be
things like racial slurs or one of Hitler’s speeches playing in
the background.
Then, later, as the student leaves the tunnel, he/she will
enter a “happy room.” Here they will see smiling faces and hear
happy music. Judy said students may also see things written on
the walls such as The Golden Rule and there will also be
counseling sources there available and there will also be a
journal where students can write down what they felt during
their walk through the tunnel.
Judy said he needs people to serve on the tunnel panel that
have been discriminated against based on the characteristics
aforesaid or those who know a lot about the issues and can
answer questions relating to those issues. He also needs people
with experience in graphic design, art and construction skills.
“I want anyone who is aware of the problem of hate on this
campus and wants to do something about it,” he said. “I’ll find
something for everyone to do.”
Judy said his main driving force for putting together the
tunnel experience is that he wants people to understand what it
feels like to be discriminated against. He said he is one of
the people who have never been discriminated against and he,
himself, wants to understand.
“When (students) see (the tunnel) they’ll understand what some
people go through everyday,” he said. “Many people don’t
experience prejudice and this is for those kind of people.
“(There is) a lot of hate out there that we participate in and
don’t realize it. It is simulated into our language and it
impacts people around us. People don’t actually look around
them when they’re walking around campus. (The tunnel) is to get
them to open their eyes.”