By Jamie Atkinson

The Office of Multicultural and International Student Programs (MISPO) sponsored a workshop on white

privilege in the Netherlands North Atrium Wednesday night as a part of their series of programs entitled, “Diversity, Dialogue and Desserts.”

The program, entitled “White Privilege: A Workshop Examining Systemic Racism in the U.S.,” was hosted by Ryan Greene, the director of MISPO, who spoke to a group of fifteen students about white privilege in society today. The program was moved to the Netherlands Atrium as a way to make Diversity programs more

accessible to first year students.

Greene opened the program with a variety of facts and new ways to see the long-term effects of past racism.

Points included the number of persons of color in higher positions and higher

educations as well as less

noticeable things like the point of view textbooks are written in.

Greene also invited students to stand up when a situation off a list personally applied to them, and split attendees into pairs to speak about their

personal experience with racism. “It was intellectually stimulating,” said Stephanie Hesselbarth, a Netherlands

resident assistant who accompanied several of her residents to the program. “I think it’s really sad that the statistics [of

minority involvement] are so low for many of these

scenarios. But I also felt like I could personally relate to a lot of the things happening as well.”

“I really like that it was

interactive,” added Lisa Guarrieri, an undecided freshman who lives in the Netherlands. “It kept my

attention to what was going on.”

The Diversity, Dialgoue and Desserts Series is a weekly

programming series and

consists of presentations followed by open dialogue about the topic at hand. More information can be found by contacting the MISPO office on the top floor of the student center.

MISPO director Ryan Greene delivered his speech on Wednesday. (Caitlyn Gilvary)