Clemson Newsroom Article

http://www.clemson.edu/media-relations/4231/clemson-students-to-host-dialogue-event-on-identity/

reflecting on student participation

It has been very encouraging to see how many people have come out the support the CU Identity Project. As we have been presenting our project on the library bridge, students have been given the chance to actively break stereotypes on campus. The most interesting thing to me has been the diversity of identities that have been displayed on the board. Many things that I had previously never considered to be a part of someone’s identity have been put on the board. I feel that this does a good job of showing how different we all are and how our values can shape our identity and vice versa. I was also surprised by how many people were willing to write their “I am ___ but also ___.” statements on the board. I know I had a tough time coming up with my statement and wearing the shirt, but many of these people have seemed to have no problem writing multiple statements on the board. This just goes to show how proud Clemson students are of their differences!

Anticipation for the final event

We are now one week away from our culminating event and I am excited and anxious to see who attends and participates. Our class has been working hard to prepare for the event and has been generating buzz around campus through the library bridge events and social media. I am amazed to see that our weekly Facebook reach is over 2,000 each week. Through this process of planning the event and finally having a better understanding about the different identity issues and stereotypes in Clemson, I have gained a better understanding of my own identity. I have mentioned my anxiety over creating a profound and interesting “I am _____, but also _____” statement, but now I am starting to feel anxious about the culminating dialogue event. I want participants to feel the same relief and understanding I feel about my identity after the dialogue sessions. I hope that we are able to positively impact the attendants and offer an outlet for a safe and constructive discussion about difficult topics at Clemson.

During our mock dialogue session with Dr. Kendall’s class a few weeks ago, I found it difficult to get the students to participate in a meaningful way; however, toward the end of the session they began to open up a little more and move past obvious perceptions of identity. I think they also found it difficult to bring up topics that are not always talked about openly and in a nonjudgmental environment at Clemson such as race, sexual orientation, religion, etc. I’m hoping that the participants at the dialogue event will feel more inclined to open up and speak honestly and freely about their own identities and the identities of others at Clemson.

To prepare for this and ensure this success, we need to make sure the event environment is comfortable, open and inviting so the participants feel safe being honest and disclosing personal information. From this event I hope to learn more about dialogue and how and why people disclose certain information. I hope that by hearing individuals’ experiences and stories, we will have a better understanding about human communication and interaction. I also hope that the participants will find comfort or relief or a sense of belonging through relating to and sharing with others. This week before the event the public relations group and event/t-shirt group has a lot of work to do to ensure this will happen. I am excited to be a part of this human adventure symposium and look forward to see how it expands and improves over the next three years to make Clemson a leader in identity among universities and other communities.

After class tomorrow I hope to have a better idea of what to expect at the event next Wednesday. We have sent out invitations and publicized it on Facebook and Twitter. Hopefully we have reached out to enough students and community members who need an opportunity to voice their opinions, concerns, feelings and beliefs about identity and stereotypes in the Clemson community. I’m excited to see what’s to come next! 

April 10 and 11 on Library Bridge!

 The "I am __ but also__" banner

Clothes line! 

Statements of all kinds

As we are reading the hundreds of “I am ___ but also ___” statements,

we are reading a lot of powerful statements, but also a lot of more

light hearted responses. At first we struggled to decide whether or

not to include these responses in our culminating project. However, I

feel that the light hearted responses are just as important as the

more personal ones. Some of us are not as comfortable revealing

something so close to us whether or not it is anonymous, which is OK.

We have had a lot of fun reading light hearted responses in class, and

recognize that this is just as much a part of your identity as things

that may be more personal. However, some responses seem to stick out

more than others. For example as we were reading a lot of responses in

class, puzzled at some, and laughing at others “I am a rape victim,

but also recovering.” Although we try to give each response equal

importance, statements such as these cannot be ignored. Powerful

statements like this help us all put our personal identities in

prospective. Although we are all struggling in certain areas, none of

us can know exactly what other people struggle with every day. I feel

that this shows our project is working well to encourage difficult

conversations on the Clemson campus.

I am focused, but also dreaming.

My “I am _____, but also _____” statement took a lot of thought and time to develop. As I mentioned before, I struggled trying to come up with a statement that as interesting and all-inclusive about my personality. After class discussions and talking about my anxiety with friends and classmates, I realized that I did not have to develop a profound statement that was all-telling of my entire personality. I could come up with a statement that represented a part of me. The purpose of this exercise is to break stereotypes and make people feel comfortable talking about difficult topics. If I was worried about what people would think about my statement as an administrator of this project, then that would set me back and the students and Clemson community members we want to get involved.

My “I am _____, but also _____” statement is “I am focused, but also dreaming.” I think of myself as a very focused, driven and determined person who knows what I want. I am a hard worker and very disciplined when it comes to school, my career and what kind of person I want to be. I constantly meditate on ways to become the best person I can be and a better person in general. Even though I know that I want to become better and want to be successful, I still find myself dreaming about what else I could do with my life. As a communication studies major I know I want to work in corporate communications or public relations and have taken the steps in order to achieve these goals; however, I constantly think about taking time off after graduation to travel and do things out of my comfort zone. Or, I daydream thinking what it would be like to be a teacher, graphic designer or interior designer. I love what I do and what I will be able to do in the future because of my education and experiences, but I always leave room for other opportunities to come along or to fantasize about other things I am interested in. I think this statement is a good depiction of one aspect of my identity. Once I got over the anxiety of creating an interesting, deep, ultimate thought provoking statement, I was able to observe aspects of my own identity and articulate one in an accurate way.

Students and other members of the Clemson community were able to create great “I am _____, but also _____” statements as well. While reading some of the statements that were t-shirt and banner worthy, our class noticed several trends. The most prominent trend was religion, followed by race and geography. I expected these trends in Clemson, and am glad that students realize these topics are not talked about often in this community. There are several stereotypes in the Clemson community that are worthy of discussion and dialogue. Next week is our second library bridge event where we will be showcasing our identity clothesline, banner and accepting more “I am _____, but also _____” notecards. I am interested to see the reactions of students as they observe the t-shirts on the clothesline. I hope this will begin discussion and reflection that will be beneficial during our culmination dialogue event at the end of the month. 

Schedule of Events!

After reading many of our reflections the past few weeks, you may be wondering how to get involved in our project. We have several events coming up the during the month of April that we would love for you to participate in.

·    

     Library Bridge Event 2 : We will be on the library bridge April 10-11 from 10am-4pm. We would love for you to stop by and fill out a note card, write on our banner and read other people’s “I am ___ but also ___” statements

·     

Fill out a note card with your “I am ___ but also ___” statement and drop it by Strode 413

·      

Culminating Event: We have our culminating event on April 25 from 6-8pm in Hendrix Ballrooms A&B. We will have the “I am___but also___” clothesline display, a short, student-created film, and round-table dialogue discussion. Free food will be provided.

We can’t wait to see you there!

I am a student, but also a professional.

I am a student but also a professional.

I chose this as my identity statement as a result of certain experiences I have had in the past in internship and job settings. I have been placed in scenarios in the past in which it was my responsibility to meet with leaders in business communities or with press figures that have been entrenched in their field for years. As a student it was easy to feel like I was the odd man out. There is definitely a perception of slight inferiority from others upon realizing they are dealing with a student intern. Sometimes it cause a positive experience with the “professional” patronizing or helping a student through the process, but there is still a sense of not being on a level playing field.

After working in a field for over two years and learning the ins and outs of it, I feel as if I’ve earned my stripes and consider myself a professional within it. It is an interesting phenomenon thought that I’ve noticed how professional figures take me more seriously if they don’t realize I’m a current student. If a certain performance level is there, I do not see the difference it makes whether I’m working as a student or a full time position.

So for my identity statement, it was important for me to point this out. If a student is effective at what they do, why should it matter that they are also in school?

How to become involved!

If you are interested in learning more about the "I am __ but also __" project, we are having our second event on Library Bridge April 10th and 11th. Please come by to view our clothes line of t shirts and fill out an "I am __ but also __" card. 

To contact us we are on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Iambutalso

or

Email us at iambutalso@gmail.com

You can also leave your statement with us anonymously. Click on the following link to leave your comment.

http://cuidentity.blogspot.com/p/give-your-i-am-but-also-statement-here.html

Visual Group Thoughts

I am in the visual display group, and I think one of the biggest challenges we faced was trying to come up with a display that still related to last year’s project, yet at the same time made our project different and unique. I think the banner is a great idea because, in my opinion, it is the aspect of our project that is the most unique from last year. I think that the clothesline is a really interesting visual display because it definitely catches people’s attention. Often on campus we are bombarded with flyers and posters, but never before have I seen a clothesline on campus. I always felt that incorporating the clothesline into this year’s project was important because it still catches people’s attention, while at the same time referring back to last years project and tying the two together.

One issue that our group felt came from last year’s project was the fact that, until the clothesline was actually put up, students weren’t able to look at other student’s responses to the prompt. Having a banner on library bridge is important because students will be able to look at the responses already put up and find more inspiration or direction to where the project is going. I think that if I were asked to fill in the prompt “I am, but also” without any type of example, I would have a hard time answering. Furthermore, hopefully some of the responses will be so thought provoking they will encourage others to share more personal responses. For those who are not comfortable sharing their ideas in such a public way, we will provide note cards to write on. People in our class will write the answers on the note cards on the banner.

            

The second aspect of the visual group that sets us apart from last year was our incorporation of buttons into our project. We definitely did not want to get rid of the t-shirts: the problem with t-shirts is their expense. We want as many people as possible promoting our slogan around campus- buttons offer us a way to do that. Students will be able to write their responses on the buttons and then wear them on their shirts, backpacks, etc. Furthermore, the buttons are big enough that they are noticeable but not overwhelming.

            

I think that, overall, our group does a good job of talking over our problems, like figuring out whether to order buttons, stickers, wrist bands, etc., and coming to a decision that everyone feels comfortable with. One complaint I have about our group is our lack of communication with other groups. I think that going forward I am going to make a conscious effort to not only accomplish the tasks set out for our group individually, but communicate better with the PR and film groups to make sure they are comfortable and aware about the decisions we make. Our project won’t achieve anything if all members of the class don’t promote it, just like we are relying on other members outside of the visual group to help us with our display on library bridge. The second complaint I have stems from trying to make our project different from last year’s project. I think all of us take pride in this project and want it to be our own, but are having difficulty making it unique, while at the same time trying to make it tie in with what last year’s class has already done. At this point, it seems that all plans for the rest of the semester are already in place, so there is no point in readjusting anything we have already planned. I just wonder if there is something that we could do at the final event that would help set us apart. Hopefully if we get more people to interview for the film crew we will get more personal insight than last year’s group, and will be able to take the project in a new direction.