Building bridges towards a better tomorrow

By Jennifer Palmberg
The Collegian

“The more we know the less we fear” is the slogan of Building Bridges Tackling Fears, a program offered by the Women’s Resource Center.

The program was an exercise held as part of the NAtional Coalition Building Institution training conference faculty members of the resource center attend each year in New York. Faculty members borrowed the concept and brought it to campus as part of a program held the first Tuesday of every month.

“We observe moods on campus and in society and that’s how we come up with the topic for each meeting,” said Women’s Resource Center faculty member Deborah Napoleon. “This month’s topic is racism, last month’s was xenophobia: the fear of foreigners and next month’s topic will be classicism.

“We allow students and faculty members to sign up to be panel speakers and they proceed to explain how the topic has affected their lives personally,” Napoleon said. “The audience is not allowed to interrupt or ask questions during this portion. Then the audience and speakers break into groups and discuss how each speaker’s story made them feel and what can be done to solve the issue. Then the meeting goes on from there.”

Napoleon said the meetings hold a confidential atmosphere so this month’s speakers could not be revealed prior to the event.

The objective of the program is to study a topic from many different view points to better understand how it affects society, then apply how each view makes you feel so you can analyze and better understand any unexplained anxiety you might have concerning the topic.

“We want to dismiss any stigma there might be surrounding a topic,” Napoleon said.

The next meeting will be held tomorrow, Nov.8 from 5-6:30 p.m. in the USU room 312-314.

For more information or to participate on the panel contact Matilde Gonzalez at 278-6946.

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