Professor Gayle Sheridan of the radio and TV production department speaks in a student-created video about the tunnel of oppression presented at the Ammerman Campus in April 2017. The tunnel will be hosted on the Eastern Campus on April 2-3 this year.

It's not really a tunnel, but it can feel oppressive like a tunnel.

That's the point.

For the first time last year, the Ammerman Campus hosted the national phenomenon* known as the tunnel of oppression. This event introduces participants to a variety of interactive, in-person activities as well as media resources and displays designed to help participants better comprehend and reflect upon the oppression felt by members of minority groups in our country.

Developed by a college-wide committee in conjunction with the Office of Campus Activities and Student Leadership Development and the LGBTQ+ Task Force, the April 2017 tunnel addressed issues of racism, sexism, classism, ableism, heterosexism, transphobia, sizeism, xenophobia and belief-based bigotry, among others.

The experience lasts for about 45 to 60 minutes as students walk through various sections, including a privilege walk that illustrates the ways society privileges certain groups and a mock trial that illustrates injustice in the legal system. Students in the SCCC television and radio production department developed a video about the 2017 tunnel of oppression.

Because FA members across the college participate on the tunnel of oppression committee, our IDEA social justice team strongly encourages members to get involved by volunteering and/or by bringing your classes to this year's tunnel or related events. The event highlights several of the issues our IDEA team focuses on.

The tunnel will be at the Eastern Campus this year on April 2 and 3 in the Montaukett Building. The committee will bring in some of the exhibits from the Ammerman tunnel but will also develop new exhibits. Several student clubs and organizations are developing updated facts and statistics for the repeat exhibits as well as entirely new exhibits.

Committee members from the Ammerman and Grant campuses will also host tunnel-related events during the first week of April.

If you'd like to serve as a facilitator of an exhibit or a debriefer after students have completed the tunnel, please contact me so we can add you to our list. Information and a registration schedule will be forthcoming for FA members interested in bringing student groups to the tunnel.

* One of the first tunnels of oppression was held at SUNY New Paltz in 2001.