East Carolinian

Issue date: 9/16/08 Section: Features

Media Credit: staff photo

Media Credit: staff photo

"Hate" may be a strong word for some, but this week, it will be the topic of discussion for many ECU organizations.

Sept. 15-19, the ECU Office of Intercultural Student Affairs (ISA) will be hosting Hate Out Week. In its third year, Hate Out Week strives to promote unity, tolerance and understanding of differences on the university campus.

Many of the activities taking place will focus on discrimination and hate crimes, along with information on how to understand these issues and how to move forward.

"Hate Out Week will not, [however,] feature the Wall of Hate this year," said LaQuesha Foster, the associate director for the LWCC. "After two years of having it, we decided to give it a rest this year, but we will still hold true to the normal format for the week."

In the past, the Wall of Hate allowed students to express hatred with any words that they felt appropriate to describe the emotion.

For the entirety of Hate Out Week, the wall was on display at the MSC Brickyard. Students and staff discussed the messages left on the wall at the end of the week.

Hate Out Week kicked off this year on Monday with a town discussion held at the LWCC. Students, staff and faculty were given opportunities to discuss a climate survey conducted at ECU.

"The discussion focused on the climate survey done in the spring of 2007, in which the ECU community was asked to give their impression of what environment they believe our campus is in," Foster said.

"It will give us a good understanding of the issues on campus and how we should address them and move forward."

On Tuesday, the annual Tunnel of Oppression will be held in the cultural center at 7 p.m. The idea of the tunnel is to set up oppression scenarios and to learn what exactly it means to endure situations of discrimination. After completing the tunnel, students will then discuss what they have encountered and observed.

"We started the tunnel last year, and its purpose is to teach others what oppression means, because many may not have had to deal with these types of situations," Foster said.

Students will also be given the chance to learn more about Matthew Shepard, a man that was tortured and killed in 1998 because of his sexual orientation.

"The Laramie Project," a play created in 2000, describes the reaction of Laramie, Wyoming residents after receiving the news that Shepard had been killed. Laramie was Shepard's hometown.

The play contains hundreds of interviews conducted by members of the Tectonic Theater Project. It was adapted into a film and will be shown on Wednesday, Sept. 17 at 8 p.m. in Ledonia Wright Cultural Center.

This year will mark the 10-year anniversary of Shepard's death and on Thursday, ISA will bring Judy Shepard, his mother, to speak at Hendrix Theater.

"Judy Shepard is the perfect example of what Hate Out Week stands for," Foster said. "She has experienced a hate crime and she can speak from both an emotional and physical perspective of what happened and how she has moved forward."

The Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Student Union (GLBTSU), formally known as B-GLAD, will also be co-sponsoring activities during the week, asserting that the message of Judy Shepard and Hate Out Week is vital to ECU.

"Hate Out Week is an extremely important message for and to the student body at ECU," said GLBT Student Union President Christien Harden. "The message of diversity and equality for all people cannot be overstated and we feel that ECU has done an excellent job by seeing that this message will reach all students."

The week will conclude with Cultural Cabaret, held on Friday at 7 p.m. in Fletcher Music Hall. The event will allow organizations to highlight and celebrate their culture with others on campus.

"We always have at least one event that not only celebrates differences, but the similarities of different organizations," Foster said.

The event is still looking for more organizations to participate and all persons interested should contact Foster by Wednesday at fosterl@ecu.edu.

Students and staff are invited to attend all events free of charge.



This writer can be contacted at features@theeastcarolinian.com.

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