The University Courtyard’s Diversity Committee will offer Fresno State students a glimpse into the world of oppressed groups Monday when the Tunnel of Oppression is opened.

The free event is meant to show people how oppression affects society today. The tunnel is a one-day event. It will be in the Atrium of the University Courtyard from 8-11 p.m. The tunnel consists of different rooms that display various oppressed groups in society, such as homeless people, the gay and lesbian community and people with eating disorders.

Devin Puente, the assistant resident director and committee chair of the diversity committee, put the event together and hopes that it will have an impact on the participants that walk through it.

“We hope that after people cross through the tunnel, they will have a changed perspective,” Puente said. “We want to get the subject directly into people’s faces, because some people are oblivious to the groups that are featured in the tunnel.”

The tunnel will contain active and passive rooms for the participants.

“In the passive rooms, we have different pictures and posters of the oppressed group featured in that particular room,” Puente said. “The active rooms contain acts where actors portray scenarios that involve the oppressed group featured in that room.”

Puente was part of the diversity committee last year, and became the chair this year to add features to the tunnel that were lacking last year.

“I want people to become more aware and be able to accept differences,” Puente said. “This event is to show people how these groups live their lives, and the experiences that make up some of who they are.”

Olivia Munoz, the resident director and advisor for the diversity committee, said she is hopeful that students will attend this event because of its impactful nature.

“Last year was the first year we did the tunnel, and I saw people crying and others talking about how they learned something new,” Munoz said. “I hope that students this year feel the impact of the event and learn something like a better sense of diversity.”

Munoz said people that went to the event last year can have a totally new experience this year.

“The committee worked very hard on this, and it is a very good program,” Munoz said. “The event will give people an appreciation of what goes on in the world, the country and even our own campus.”

Biology major Lacee Sherman was one of the students who experienced the tunnel last year.

“It was a very eye-opening experience,” Sherman said. “They had a part where we had to be blindfolded to experience how it was to be blind, and they would make loud noises all around us.”

Sherman said that while the event made her feel bad for the oppressed groups, it was an overall good experience and she plans to go back.

“The event made me feel a little more cautious and aware of the people that are around me,” Sherman said. “I definitely think people should go. It does not take that much time, it is a good experience and it makes you think.”