Diversity training held for new students

2:42 p.m., Sept. 1, 2005--The day after they moved into their residence halls, UD’s class of 2009, took a long look at themselves and how they are seen by others.

The University brought 38 National Coalition Building Institute (NCBI) facilitators to campus, Sunday, Aug. 28, dividing 3,536 freshmen into 19 groups in the morning and 19 in the afternoon to participate in “Welcoming Diversity Workshops,” interactive exercises aimed at making students more aware of how people feel when they are stereotyped.

This was the first time NCBI has done this kind of training with an entire freshman class in a single day before they’ve started living together.

Pat Hunt, director of NCBI’s local chapter and a customer service director with the American Law Institute in Philadelphia, called the session “groundbreaking.”

NCBI is a nonprofit leadership training organization, based in Washington, D. C., working to eliminate prejudice and intergroup conflict. At the heart of many NCBI programs is the opportunity to tell and to listen to personal stories of discrimination. These stories have the power to impart a new perspective on the devastating impact of bigotry. Moved by the stories, many individuals make a renewed commitment to become more effective allies for each other.

The program was organized and sponsored by Residence Life, Campus Life, UD’s Office of Affirmative Action and Multicultural Affairs and the Wilmington and Philadelphia NCBI chapters.

Hunt said the students were grouped in sessions based on individual floors in their residence halls. That way, they all heard how they each feel about being stereotyped or categorized based on characteristics such as looks, gender, religion, class, ethnic background or sexual orientation. She said NCBI hopes the experience will lead to a more stable and welcoming atmosphere in the residence halls.

Each session was guided by two facilitators, who explained the exercises, used themselves as examples and prompted the students to express themselves.

The average size of each group was about 52 students, but each session was conducted in the same way.

The facilitators were from Delaware, New Jersey, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia and all walks of life. Conducting sessions were faculty from UD, George Mason and Rutgers universities, a rabbi, a reporter, employees of the Delaware Department of Health and Social Services and members of other NCBI chapters.

As one of the sessions began, the facilitators explained that the discussions they were about to have would be confidential, and students would not be identified with their statements beyond the room.

The facilitators said the students would be working in groups and pairs, being asked to identify with different groups, that their main task would be to listen to each other and that there would be no “zapping” or derogatory or hurtful comments made. All statements were to be general with no one identifying anyone in the room as they responded. The facilitators said the students would be learning how groups, other than their own, experience mistreatment.

The first exercise was called “Up Downs.” Students stood as a characteristic with which they identified was called out. As they stood, the other students were instructed to cheer encouragingly.

The list began--“only child,” four stood; “oldest child,” six or seven stood; “middle child,” most in the room stood; and “baby of the family,” the rest of the room stood.

Then facilitators asked for negative and positive aspects of each category.

Adjectives applied to “Youngest” ranged from “stupid” to “spoiled,” while middle child elicited “neglected” and oldest child drew “a lot of responsibility.”

Then, the facilitator asked, “See how we begin to create stereotypes about something as simple as that?”

Students then were asked to stand when they identified with specific ethnic groups, genders, religions and classes, and after each “up and down,” the group talked about perceived negative and positive aspects of each.

During the next exercise, students paired off and introduced themselves to each other using all of the characteristics with which they identified.

Jamon introduced himself to Evan saying, “Hi, I’m an African American from Maryland, an only child, Christian, heterosexual and a single man.” To which Evan replied, “I’m a heterosexual, white, Welsh/Dutch/Irish American, a human male, an artist, auto enthusiast and a Ninja wannabe.”

During “First Thoughts,” students paired up and one would call out characteristics like boy, girl, black, white, homosexual, smart, blonde, rich and German while the other said the first thing that came to mind when they heard each word.

After “First Thoughts,” facilitators Diane Wright and Cindie White summed up the lessons learned so far. Wright said, “We are all born innocent, caring, loving people. But, as we get older, people like our parents, relatives, friends and the media imprint these ideas on us. To shift these attitudes, we have to really listen, to hear others’ stories,” she said.

The second part of the session called, “Caucus,” had students join together in the groups with which they identified. They were to decide what they did not want people to say about their group, what they wanted others to know about their group that would help foster understanding and what they most valued about their group.

Some of the traits students chose included Jewish people, African Americans, white people, Catholics, Germans, Christians, New Yorkers, conservatives, liberals, Asians and women.

What did they want people to stop saying about their groups?

Freshmen Evan (left) and Jamon discuss all of the characteristics they have in common.

The “white people” group said they are not white but European Americans and want others to stop saying “we can’t dance, jump, run, play sports. We don’t think that we are better than everyone. Stop blaming whites for all the troubles in the country, and stop saying we are prejudiced against everyone. We can listen and appreciate other cultures. We can understand hardship. We don’t try to keep other people down.”

The African-American group said they want people to “stop referring to us as high-crime, lazy and uneducated. Stop talking about how we look, and know that not all African Americans have rhythm, love watermelon or drink Kool-Aid.” They said they wanted people to know that they are “hardworking, want what’s best for ourselves and our families, value our skin, complexions, heritage and the fact that wherever we go, you always know someone’s got your back.”

The women’s group said they wanted people to stop saying women are stupid, bad drivers, can’t do anything for themselves, can’t play sports, are high-maintenance and emotional. Instead, they wanted to be known for being able to “put up with a lot of stuff,” practice better hygiene, be caring, compassionate, listen well and be mothers.

At the end of that exercise, the facilitator asked what each group had in common. Students answered that no one liked being stereotyped negatively and each group thinks its members are open-minded.

They ended the session with an exercise called “Internalized Impressions” where students, working in pairs, tell each other what they dislike and like about their own groups.

Each student was given an evaluation form at the end of the session, and Michele Kane, assistant director of Residence Life, who helped coordinate the workshops, said, “from a first look through the evaluations, most students said they really enjoyed their sessions, particularly learning new things about people.”

She said many students said that they would be more open to asking others questions about their identities and be more aware of how their behaviors and actions affect people different from themselves.

In addition, more than 120 students voiced interest in becoming facilitators for future diversity workshops.

Article by Barbara Garrison
Photos by Kathy F. Atkinson

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