By Beulah Supriya
Senior Staff Writer
Each semester, the Kellogg Library conducts a series of educational exhibits open to students and the campus community. This semester, it is poster collection called “Beyond the Stereotypes.”
It is open throughout the spring semester during the regular Kellogg Library hours. Since its opening, it has received a huge response.
The various groups represented include African Americans, American Indians and Asian Americans. The posters show a person from that ethnicity portrayed with confidence tearing the stereotypes generally related to them and a historic figure of an influential leader in the background.
Dr. Joely Proudfit, Director of the California Indian Culture and Sovereignty Center (CICSC), was one of the many orchestrating this labor of love and said that it took 13 months for the posters to become reality. She acknowledged the help from various student organizations and people from the CSUSM community including Dr. Arturo Ocampo, Associate Vice President for Diversity, Educational Equity, and Inclusion, Black Student Union, The Cougar Chronicle, PR Club and Gender Equity Center.
“This is the best campaign and I hope it goes national,” Proudfit said. “The posters are available to download for free. The reason for this campaign is that there’s more to people than stereotypes.”
The PR Club came up with the slogan – this was a group effort. When asked what she hopes to happen through these compelling visual aids, she answers that good conversations may emerge and that the university will see value in this, which will help many more groups to be covered, be it religious, LGBTQ, gender, etc.
She also pointed out that the students are very courageous to put themselves out there. One of the models that was willing to be a part of this project was business student Michael Murphy.
“All of the photo shoots were done at our very own Kellogg Library,” he said. “The image portrayed is that of confident and empowered people.”
Sitting Bull was the historic character for Michael’s poster. Murphy shared his experiences with stereotyping at school.
“Yes, at first I used to block it out my mind during school but now I see it as an opportunity to inform them of my culture,” he said. “The movies have misrepresented communities and the only way is through education, knowledge and to be able to communicate it is key.”
With this month designated as Black History Month, being able to learn more about various ethnicities is appropriate. Since it is also the twenty-fifth year of CSUSM, the conversation under the spotlight definitely deserves consideration. As the college continues growing in various spheres, Dr Proudfit reminds us that this conversation is extremely important.
“What better place to have this conversation than a state university,” she said.
Some of the events planned for the semester are workshops: one for faculty, one for students and one for bystander intervention. For those interested in knowing more can check out the library or CICSC. They are free and open throughout the semester. Students are encouraged to make full use of the opportunities of learning and resources provided by CSUSM.