Walking across campus, it is not uncommon to hear a discriminatory joke or racist comment in the air. Race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, even involvement in a certain activity can create a basis for stereotyping.

Writing on the Wall is a group that is out to put a stop to such prejudice.

The week of May 20, 2004, OSU Hillel sponsored a program on the South Oval where students built a wall of cinder blocks painted with hate remarks. At the end of the week OSU students tore down the wall, a visual representation of tearing down stereotypes.

The success of this event inspired the name and vision for the group that five years later still has the same goal of uniting the campus against human rights violations and oppression.

“Programs like this help raise people’s awareness without being harsh and aggressive,” said Susannah Sagan, staff adviser for Writing on the Wall and student groups adviser for Hillel. “The real message of the group is to keep creating those spaces on campus and giving students a chance to be on both sides of that.”

The group is made up of student leaders who create programs to deal with discrimination.

Programs can be large, geared more toward raising awareness, or smaller, encouraging intense dialogue among students.

This year, though, the group is tackling a bigger project.

On Jan. 28, members of the Anti-Defamation League are coming to OSU to teach a diversity training course called “No Place for Hate.” Writing on the Wall selected students from various groups around campus to represent their organization at the course, who will then share what they learned with others.

“Imagine its like a snowball, you start with people you know, then the people they know, etc. These things have a wonderful way of snowballing. The same way that hate has an unfortunate way of snowballing,” Sagan said.

The focus of the training is to teach students how to respectfully deal with discriminatory situations.

“We want to give people a perspective outside of their own and from their specific community out onto the others,” said Sarah Grinstein, a junior majoring in business who is a student leader of Writing on the Wall. “It’s important to know how to cross [cultural barriers]. How to stand up and say that the barrier doesn’t exist. How to knock that down and go beyond yourself.”

The students at the course will divide into eight groups with specific goals, and two weeks after the training they will begin planning programs for this year.

Lindsay Minnema can be reached at [email protected].