On April 7, in the Multicultural Center, students and staff members assembled to discuss the mechanics behind social stereotyping and prejudice.
The discussion, which was called “Exploring Prejudice and Discrimination,” was the first of a series of lunchtime and afternoon sessions to be held through May 19 as part of new series called Campus Conversations. The series of sessions, all offered under the banner “Can We Talk About Race… and Other Differences” is sponsored by the COCC Diversity Committee.

“The way we access the world is snap judgment,” said Andria Woodell, an assistant professor at COCC who facilitated the event.

Woodell explained that social groups in different settings will establish who is in “the in group” and who is in “the out group.”

Attendees of the discussion agreed that people stereotype each other based on ethnicities, religious backgrounds and social views. Though this is a normal response, Woodell said, the key to breaking down these barriers is to “mix ‘the in group’ and ‘the out group’.”