Skin bared, stereotypes broken at SGA’s Diversity Day

They were exhibits, part of a Living Museum put on by the Ethnic Theatre Alliance for Diversity Day. 

Diversity Day, a Student Government Association initiative that took place Sept. 25, involved nine student organizations hosting events on campus to showcase what diversity meant to them. 

ETA wanted to challenge stereotypes by creating “living art.” Members of the organization compiled a list of adjectives that described themselves. The “exhibits” were then blindfolded and stood in silence in just their undergarments from 1:45 to 3 p.m. Students who participated in the event used the list of descriptors to guess which words belonged to each person.

“This Living Museum came out of an idea of being able to tackle the idea of body image, being able to tackle the idea of stereotypes and tackling the idea of perception,” ETA President Nathaniel Thomas said. “We always talk about diversity being the inclusion of everyone, the equality of all humans, and so this was the idea for us to be equal.”

Maureen O’Leary, a junior directing major, was one of the exhibits. She picked the words “white,” “Christian,” “woman,” “bisexual” and “mentally ill” to describe herself. As she stood there, listening to students walk by, feeling the marker against her skin, she didn’t know what to expect. When 3 p.m. hit and O’Leary took off her blindfold, she was surprised.

“It’s kind of funny because people kind of came up with their own words, but, like, really nice things, like ‘strong’ and like ‘brave’ and things I wouldn’t necessarily think of myself as, so it’s really kind of liberating, I think,” O’Leary said. “It’s more positive than it is negative.”

Thomas said he is extremely pleased with the SGA’s push for diversity awareness. He felt a need for diversity awareness last semester, and was glad ETA could participate in Diversity Day.

“I am extremely proud of Gabby [Lloyd] and the rest of the SGA team for doing this,” Thomas said. “ETA has the privilege of constantly [speaking out], and I love the fact that we get to do that, but I love it more when there are other organizations doing it, and we get to do it as a family.”

Diversity Day organizers Gabby Lloyd and Drew Gaidosh said SGA's first Diversity Day was a success. Lloyd is a sophomore telecommunications major, and Gaidosh is a sophomore interior design major.

“I do think for our first time event and how everything went, I think we had a great turnout altogether,” Gaidosh said. “At individual events, I think it was a great turnout, as well. There were a few events that didn’t get many people, but they still gave a rocking presentation to all of those people that were there.”

Eight other organizations participated in Diversity Day, which lasted from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Each organization presented issues relating to diversity through panel discussions, presentations or games. Most of the events were held in the Student Center, other than ETA’s event and Feminists for Action’s Slutwalk down McKinley Ave.

Lloyd and Gaidosh will present an analysis of Diversity Day to the SGA executive board Oct. 5, who will decide whether there will be another Diversity Day next year. Both believe there will be. Lloyd said Ball State can only benefit from continued diversity awareness.

“Women in Business came up to me [after their event] and said, ‘Oh my gosh, this is such a good idea to have a diversity day,’” Lloyd said. “Ball State, you know, tends to need some help in the diversity area sometimes.”

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