Group discusses what it's like to be at La Salle

By Mandy Bee
Collegian Staff
April 16, 2008

Have you ever wondered what it is like to be a minority at La Salle University? An athlete? How about gay, in major debt or a member of the middle class? It is not often that questions like these are asked, but those are the questions that senior communication major Simon Larano and the rest of the St. Basil Court resident assistant staff pushed Lasallians to discuss.

You Don’t Know What It’s Like to Be _______ At La Salle University took place April 14 in the Dunleavy room. The event was designed as an open forum in which students could “speak their minds and say things they’d normally be criticized for saying in public,” said Larano. Larano served as one of the student leaders of the event, which was sponsored twice last year by the 2006-07 St. Basil RA staff and was met with great success.

“I came last year, and attended again this year because I liked the opportunity to have a good discussion in a safe environment,” said sophomore biology major Jackie Saint-Pierre.

This seemed to be the pervading feeling in the room of participants, which totalled about 30. The attendants were broken into about six groups, which included both students and faculty members. In each group, participants wrote down desired discussion topics and placed them in a wicker basket. After all of the discussion prompts were collected, Larano and his assistant, sophomore psychology major Katie McNeil, selected topics and posed questions to the groups. Individual groups would discuss the topic given at length before coming together with the entirety of the participants and conversing about it aloud. During the two hour session, topics such as what it means to be a female, drug and alcohol free and a member of Greek life at La Salle were discussed. The open forum aspect of the program allowed a variety of point-of-views to be heard.

“Hearing the insights of many different people opened my eyes and helped me better understand the lives of my peers,” said freshmen education major Audrey Kulpa.

Another discussion topic was about the broad definition of discrimination, and how everyone could relate to feeling discriminated against in some way.

“We tried to pick topics that were universal, so that all participants could be active in the conversation,” said Larano.

Another key aspect of the event was the faculty involvement. Larano and the committee sent out letters to all faculty members asking them to consider being a part of the event. Philosophy professor Joel Garver was one of those who answered the call.

“I wanted to be involved in a type of conversation that doesn’t always get to happen, but should,” Graver said.

Larano believes that faculty involvement is important.

“We hope that the involved professors will take what they’ve learned and bring it back to their classroom,” said Larano. “It will also help them better understand their students, which could improve the learning experience.”

Larano used his leadership position to incorporate a personal aspect into the event: A program called To Write Love on Her Arms. TWOLA is a non-profit organization based in Central Florida that aims to prevent self-injury, addiction and suicide.

“TWOLA was a saving grace for me, so I wanted to let all the participants know that there is an outlet to get help, and that you should never be afraid to talk about anything,” said Larano.

At the end of the event, a video from TWOLA was shown, and papers were distributed about how those interested could get involved with the organization. You can find more information on TWOLA at its official Web site or its more popular MySpace page.

Participants received free T-shirts at the event, as well as free food.

Larano’s hope is that “You Don’t Know” will continue in the up coming years, and continue to grow.

“My only regret is that there’s never enough time to talk about everything,” Larano said. “It shouldn’t stop here. We try to stress that open conversation like this should happen frequently, and you should never be afraid to express how you feel.”

beea1@lasalle.edu