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Display educates
 Media Credit: Christine Johnson/Editor SCSU first-year student Jeffrey Bloom reads about the different perspectives of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict Wednesday at the visual display in Atwood. Bloom said he didn�t know what to think about the conflict, as he is still trying to learn more about it.
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Professor Jesse Benjamin and his Human Relations 402/502 class took a proactive approach to learning this week by hosting a combination kiosk and visual display in Atwood to educate the community about the Palestinian/Israeli conflict.
"We wanted to give Palestinians a voice," said junior Megan Rennenberg, exercise science major. "The media usually doesn't offer the Palestinian side of the story."
According to Benjamin, students in his Anti-Arab and Anti-Jewish Racism course were given the option to participate in two projects as part of the class curriculum. The focus of the first project was the Palestine media representation while the focus of the second project was on Israeli sanctioning.
"It was about two weeks into the class when the rally and visual information display was mentioned as a possible project we could get involved with," said junior Jeremiah Saatzer, community psychology major.
About 20-25 students in Benjamin's class decided to take part in the April 18 rally in Atwood Mall, and the visual display and information kiosk in Atwood Memorial Center April 22-25.
"I read a poem at the rally, and made a poster for the wall," Saatzer said.
Student generated posters, like Saatzer's, covered the Atwood wall with images and statistics reflecting the devastation felt by both the Palestinians and Israelis while the kiosk, also run by students, offered pamphlets, video footage and other information about the consequences of inequality and conflict in Israel and Palestine.
According to Benjamin, the rally and the display in Atwood are reflective of the mandates of the multicultural and human relations department.
"The idea is that when students uncover important information that people are not aware of in the mainstream media, it is their obligation to share the information with the rest of the community," Benjamin said.
The inspiration for this information sharing came from the class text "Orientalism," by Edward Said, which discusses the mainstream construct of Arabs in the media.
"The class was very careful not to take a position on the issue," said Benjamin. "We just wanted to put the information out there and let people form their own opinions."
The class mission statement, hanging from the front of the kiosk, echoed Benjamin's sentiment and reflected in its conclusion the neutral stance of the class, reading, "We promote a peaceful solution that includes justice and freedom for both Palestinian and Israeli people."
"Our goal is to encourage people to think critically, and reevaluate what they think they know," Benjamin said.
The event took three weeks of planning and all of the research was done by the students in the human relations class.
"I am very proud of them," Benjamin said. "They did all of the work themselves. They made all of the posters, set up the rally, ran the kiosk and gathered all of the free information available at the kiosk."
How the informative series will end is up in the air.
"Its open ended," Benjamin said. "We will see what the students and the community want to do, but this has been a great experience and I would absolutely do it again."
Kristen J. Kubisiak can be reached at: [email protected]
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