Diversity Awareness Office

Montana State University
P.O. Box 174140
Bozeman, MT 59717-4140

Tel: (406) 994-5801
Fax: (406) 994-5848
E-mail: diversityawareness@montana.edu
Location:
Strand Union Building Room 368

Program Coordinator:

Phenocia Bauerle

February 26-27, 2013
Strand Union Ballrooms

Click below to reserve your tour now!

VOLUNTEER!

We are still in need of tour Guides - Click here to learn more about being a tour guide for the Tunnel!

What is the Tunnel of Oppression?
Tunnel of Oppression is an interactive event that highlights contemporary issues of oppression. It is designed to introduce participants to the concepts of oppression, privilege, and power. Participants are guided through a series of scenes that aim to educate and challenge them to think more deeply about issues of oppression. At the end of the tour, participants are provided with the opportunity to discuss their experiences with each other. Facilitators help participants reflect on their experiences and put their newfound knowledge to use in their everyday lives. 

History:
The Tunnel of Oppression is a campus grassroots diversity program that originated in 1993 at the Western Illinois University. Using the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles, California as a model, Tunnel strives to give people a way to experience oppression in a hands-on way. By engaging emotions of the participants, it allows for the accounts expressed in the program to be truly effective. People may have never been placed in these types of situations, and they obtain a sense of what it actually feels like to be oppressed or discriminated through the sights and sounds they experience. While Tunnel may be disturbing to some participants, it is an effective tool used to teach people about how it really feels to be in the various situations.

The Tunnel at MSU
Every Tunnel of Oppression is different – shaped by the campus climate, timing, interests and concerns of students, faculty and staff, space, and time constraints. At MSU, our tunnel takes a semi-traditional structure of a museum with actual exhibit spaces coming off a physical tunnel that participants walk through.

Groups Involved in 2013:
Students for Life, Students for Choice, Interhall RHA, Advanced Sculpture Classes, College Democrats, QSA, National Coalition for Men - MSU, Sustained Dialogue, The VOICE Center, The Women's Center, MSU Libraries, The Diversity Awareness Office

Interested in being involved in this year's Tunnel?
We need volunteers to help set up and take down the tunnel, as well as tour guides - if you or your group is interested in getting involved, EMAIL US!

Tunnel Hours:
This year, guided tours will run February 26 and 27 from 12pm - 4pm, and from 6-8 - there is a maximum of 10 people per tour.
Tours will take approximately an hour, and are staggered in 15 minute increments. If you'd like to schedule a group and have questions, please contact us. This year, we have partnered with University Food Services and Wild Joes to provide coupons for ice cream and coffee for the first 150 people who are part of groups that register (groups = 5 people or more). To find out more, please contact us!

We will also have self guided tours available this year. You can stop by the tunnel and guide yourself between the hours of 10am - 11:30am, and 4pm-5:30pm. You do not need to reserve a space during these times.