Students had the opportunity to share their cumulative research on white hegemony and racism within society.

The annual Whiteness Forum, sponsored by the Communication Department, took place on Dec. 3 in the USU ballroom and allowed Professor Dreama Moon’s Comm 454 students to share their poster projects with staff, faculty members and their fellow students.

The forum focused on educating attendees of white dominance in a broad range of American institutions and how racism is sustained. Students incorporated interactive games and provided pamphlets as educational aids. Some of the students educating others with their posters said that there was much more than pamphlets to take away from the event.

“[This project] has given me more awareness of what’s going on,” said Comm major and forum participant, Faatauvaa Wong, regarding what he has taken away from his experience with the forum.

Poster projects presented at the forum emphasised matters such as race and adoption procedures, workplace (white) favoritism, hidden history, white cultural appropriation, racial discrimination in the restaurant industry, race issues in the military, domestic violence within the NFL, whiteness and gifted programs, race and scholarships, white favoritism in healthcare and how trigger warnings deter important racial conversations.

One forum participant and Communication major, Nick Schumate, addressed the importance of students being able to engage in conversations involving race and white dominance and the Whiteness Forum served as an opportunity to participate in these discussions.

“[The Whiteness Forum] creates a good platform to interact with people,” said Schumate. “…If you learn to speak to these issues, you get more comfortable discussing race.”