Adham El-Sherif and Kevin Duffel skateboarded down the aisles in
the Northwest Campus Auditorium.
They weren’t there to skateboard for leisure, but to
discuss an issue they call “skateboardingism.”
“Skateboardingism,” which they defined as
discrimination against skateboarders, was one of nine topics that
students presented Wednesday night at an event called The Isms
Project, presented by the Office of Residential Life.
Students came together through skits, dance, pictures, personal
narratives and presentations to discuss a range of topics they felt
to be important and relevant. These topics included alcoholism,
heterosexualism, commitmentism, sexism, racism, ageism, classism
and marijuanaism.
A panel of five judges selected by ORL gave special awards to
students they believed deserved recognition for their
presentations.
Emily Ward, a fourth-year psychology student , presented the
topic “commitmentism” through showing the trailer for
the movie “Crash.”
Ward, who won the Most Creative award, said people are wrapped
up in their commitments and forget to breathe, a theme of the
film.
“People look at me and judge me because I don’t have
as many commitments,” she said. “I think you should
make goals but you shouldn’t be so over-committed that you
forget about others.”
Max Wong, a first-year art student, said he presented at The
Isms Project because he was sanctioned by ORL after he was written
up for putting an offensive sign on his dormitory window.
He defined heterosexualism as the act of disregarding the roles
of homosexuals in society, and said the presentation has taught him
to be more responsible.
“I (put up the sign) for shock value, and now I can see
how people could be offended,” he said.
Jose Manaiza, a fourth-year mathematics and economics student
who won the Best Overall award, presented on “double
racism” with pictures and a personal anecdote. Double racism
is essentially biracialism.
He described the language barrier he overcame as both a Latino
and black person who immigrated from Honduras four years ago, and
encouraged the audience to face and overcome adversity.
“When you have very little, you use everything you have to
master your potential,” he said.
The Most Educational award was given to a group of three
students, Gregory Cendana, Krystle Cobian and Cat Manabat, whose
presentation was about sexual trafficking.
They combined racism, sexism, classism and ageism to describe
the prevalence of sexual trafficking, which they called a modern
form of slavery.
Cat Manabat, a third-year English student, said she hopes the
presentation on human trafficking will inspire others to research
other communities and parts of the world where it is an issue.
“We want to open public discourse on this topic and hope
that people seek out to get involved,” she said.
Jack Gibbons, associate director of the Office of Residential
Life and chairman of the Intercultural Programs Committee, said the
project was meant to involve students in issues they care about and
have personally experienced.
“Students bring with them their own experiences and share
them to benefit other students,” he said.
Gibbons said the project was conceived by Kenya James,
residential director of Rieber Vista and a member of the
Intercultural Program Committee.