Freshmen scrambling to fulfill their Essential NU: Diversity on Campus requirement discussed how culture and stereotypes shape identity Tuesday night at the third event of the0 week-long Diversity Symposium.
Most of the 40 people attending psychology Prof. Wendi Gardner’s talk, “Who Are You? A Look at your Identity,” in Norris University Center, came to fill an Essential NU Diversity requirement that freshmen must complete to register for Spring Quarter classes.
The sixth annual conference, sponsored by the Multicultural Center, is being held over five days. Organizers found that the day-long format of past conferences required too much of a time commitment.
“We felt this was a better approach than to expect people to attend the entire day, ” said Leah Hsu, a Weinberg senior who serves as director of the Diversity Symposium.
Other events in the Symposium, themed “Diversity Redefined: A Leader’s Perspective,” included an ethnic food night Sunday and an organizational workshop on Monday.
Today’s event focuses on social interaction, and there will be a discussion Friday on the history of Northwestern activism. Other than the ethnic food night, all events count as the Essential NU diversity credit.
Essential NU diversity requirements were added in 2001, and they will face a major overhaul for the third time for the class of 2009, next year’s freshman class.
At Gardner’s workshop, participants were split into groups to discuss their views of identity, gender roles and stereotypes. To begin, all of the participants wrote down how they identify themselves.
Gardner said Americans view themselves as more unique than people in other countries do. This makes Americans more egocentric and isolated, but also fosters more creativity and happiness, she said.
“Americans, at least self-reportedly, are the happiest people on the planet,” Gardner said.
Gardner discussed the way stereotypes affect behavior. In one exercise the participants were divided by gender and discussed the qualities they attributed to boys and girls.
“It made me realize a lot of my preexisting stereotypes were true,” said Mark Hammervold, a Weinberg freshman.
Attendees then discussed stereotypes they have confronted in the past, ranging from the belief that if girls are emotional they must be having their period to the idea that all Foster-Walker Complex residents are anti-social.
Participants said the workshop was interesting, although most said they only attended to fulfill the Essential NU Diversity requirement.
“We learned things you could apply to life and how positive stereotypes can affect the way you perform on tests,” Music freshman Rachel Lynn said after the presentation. “It wasn’t like pulling teeth.”
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