Clemson students to host dialogue event on identity

Published: April 23, 2012

By Aliza Darnell

CLEMSON — A group of Clemson University communication studies students will host a roundtable dialogue event focusing on identity and diversity at Clemson from 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, April 25, in the Hendrix Student Center ballrooms. The event is part of the students’ senior capstone class.

The class, led by communication studies professor Shannon Holland, is working on the second year of a five-year identity project sponsored by Clemson benefactor Maryalice Mayberry and The Pearce Center for Professional Development. This project is part of the Human Adventure Symposium Endowment, which Mayberry and her late husband, John, created and sponsored for more than a decade to empower students to engage in critical discussions about difficult issues regarding identity and diversity.

In response to Mayberry’s vision, Holland’s students created the 2011 “I am _ but not _” Project, which encouraged Clemson students, faculty and staff to engage one another in conversations about stereotypes and the prejudices they experience in their own lives.

This year’s campaign revolves around the statement “I am _ but also _” and emphasizes the multiple identities individuals have. The class has invited all members of the Clemson community to fill in the blanks with statements about their identities. Participants have been given the option of submitting their written statements anonymously or writing their statements on a banner that was displayed on the library bridge earlier in the semester. All statements were displayed or “aired out” on a clothesline and on the Cooper Library bridge. Both the banner and clothesline will be displayed at the dialogue event. 

With this project, the class hopes to engage other members of the Clemson community in a conversation about identity and diversity on campus.   

“The identity project challenges us to recognize the diverse identities that exist on Clemson's campus and to acknowledge the struggles that students face on a daily basis," said Kimberly Ingram, a member of the class. "It allows for us to engage in conversations that push the envelope and lead to a level of understanding that ultimately help our wonderful university continue to improve.”

The purpose of the culminating dialogue event is continue the conversations the “I am _ but also _” statement started. The event is free and open to the public and refreshments will be available. Participants will have the opportunity to view the clothesline display, engage in roundtable discussions and view a student-created documentary about the project, which includes interviews from students and staff, including head football coach Dabo Swinney. 

The class invites anyone to submit an “I am _ but also _” statement, by posting on the CU Identity Project Facebook page, http://www.facebook.com/Iambutalso. To submit a statement anonymously, notecards are available outside Holland’s office at 413 Strode Tower and may be slipped under the door.

More information and a student-created blog about the project can be found at http://cuidentity.blogspot.com/

END