Economic issues brought to life in Game of Life
Students will be able to participate in the Game of Life that will help bring awareness to social economic issues today.
The event is called ‘EIU Game of Life.’
Chandra Golden, a graduate assistant and coordinator of the event, said students will be assigned symbols that represent a social economic class, a gender, and a certain race. Once students are assigned their symbols they will go to different booths that represent the educational system, a bank, a housing department and the department of justice, Golden said.
The student facilitator in charge of each booth will know what the symbols mean and treat the students according to societal labels, Golden said.
Dana Barnard, an assistant director of Student Life, said each person represents a game piece and every student will have a different experience playing the game.
The options for the social economic classes will be upper class, middle upper class, middle class, lower class, and poverty, while the options for race will be Asian, Hispanic, Caucasian and African American.
Golden said the game will represent the demographics of the United States with only a small amount of students being assigned an upper class position.
The game is highly interactive and students are going to have to participate, Barnard said. Barnard said she hopes students will bring their friends out to the event.
Students should go to the event because it promotes societal topics and social awareness, Golden said.
After the event, the students will know what the symbols mean and be de-briefed about
how the game made them feel and how society labels certain groups.
This is an all in encompassing diversity event that addresses how society labels certain groups of individuals, Barnard said.
“We wanted to have a diversity event at the end of the year to bring all social issues to the table,” Golden said.
All majors are welcome; admission to the event is free and is sponsored by the Student Life Department.
Golden said this is the first time the Game of Life has been played in this way at Eastern and she said hopes this will be an annual event.
The event will be at 7th Street Underground today from 7 to 10 p.m.
Elizabeth Edwards can be reached at 581-2812
