Every year at the University of New Hampshire, beginning in the fall, a new crop of intolerance, hate and ignorance is harvested. The seeds are carefully planted when nobody is paying attention, and then, suddenly, the crop sprouts and soon is growing out of control, thriving on the new layer of prejudice-rich manure and soil that has been laid down. And, every year at UNH, the campus community has a chance to view and reflect on this new crop that has been cultivated.
Each year, UNH's Office of Residential Life brings the Bias Gallery; a collection of discriminatory incidents that have occurred on campus over the last couple of years to the dorms, and the gallery is currently making its way across campus. It has already been featured in several dorms within the past week or so and still has several more to visit. The gallery is part of the Diversity Engagement section of the University's Mission Statement. According to a document on the Office of Residential Life's website, the Bias Gallery is something that should be shown in every dorm at least once a year and is "very powerful."
The Bias Gallery is essentially a collection of photographs of bias-related incidents that have taken place at UNH, mainly within the dorms. The gallery is typically set up in a dorm lounge, where students walk through silently, viewing and reflecting on the acts of discrimination displayed.
Jay Tifone, hall director of Jessie Doe Hall, has a lot of knowledge about the Bias Gallery as a UNH Residential Life faculty member, and feels that it is significant for students to view.
"I think it's important for students to see the Bias Gallery because it's a tangible example of the ignorance and hate that occurs across campus," Tifone said. "I often hear students say as they're leaving, 'I had no idea that this happened on campus.' If you're in a majority group and your friends are too you might never see such discrimination occurring."
A document released by UNH's Affirmative Action and Equity Office states that, between Nov. 5, 2006 and Apr. 15, 2007, there were 39 bias or hate incidents reported on the UNH campus. --28 of which occurred in the residence halls and 30 of these incidents were perpetrated by UNH students.
The thought that fellow students could commit such acts of hate proved to be shocking to many students on campus. Katharine Mooney, 20, a junior at UNH, was one of these students who reflected on her own experience with viewing the Bias Gallery.
"It shocked me, honestly," said Mooney. "Some of the things that students write are so disrespectful it's disgusting. I never thought that a student would draw a swastika on another student's door. But these are the kinds of things you'll find in the Bias Gallery."
Mooney also stressed the importance of viewing the gallery, saying that the experience grounds students and reminds them that although they personally may feel safe on campus each day, there are people who do not, and all students on campus have a duty to respond to those people's feelings of fear and disrespect.
Shannon Abbott, 20, a junior at UNH from Ringwood, NJ, feels similarly about the gallery. Asked what she thought was the most striking thing about the Bias Gallery, Abbott said, "That so many people write and do things without thinking about how other people will react, or that they think those things at all about people. [It's] powerful, because it is about our campus, [and] sad, because we can't pretend it is just happening somewhere else."
Fortunately for these students, they were only passive viewers of these incidents. For many on the UNH campus, however, these incidents are much more real. These people are the victims of bias incidents; those personally affected and hurt by these occurrences.
"Last spring, a rash of bias incidents occurred across my hall, specifically targeting my RAs," Tifone said. "I put up signs around the building, informing residents that hateful graffiti had been scrawled on this bulletin board, or that racist epithets had been written on that wall. At the bottom of the signs, I encouraged anyone with information to contact me. Underneath my name on some of the signs they scrawled 'is gay.' While it's true that I'm gay…the defacer clearly meant it as an insult."
Asked why he thinks bias incidents occur in the first place, Tifone responded, "I hope it's out of ignorance. I fear that it's driven by hate. And I'm certain that hate comes from ignorance."
Despite the abundance of disheartening incidents like this one, there has been progress made surrounding bias incidents and the way they are handled, according to UNH's 2007 Diversity Report. The report states that the university has seen success in "Development of ReportIt [an initiative that provides the UNH community with additional ways to report incidents of bias, hate, discrimination and harassment] and actions taken against bias incidents."
Tifone strongly encourages students to view the Bias Gallery when it comes to their residence halls.
"You won't regret seeing the Bias Gallery," Tifone said. "On one level, it's depressing knowing that members of our community can be so ignorant, but on another level, it's empowering knowing that there are so many people committed to fighting that discrimination and making UNH a more inclusive place. Turning that frustration into action is powerful."
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