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WWW.GUILFORDlAN.COM
“The Color of Fear”: students, community discuss racism
By Maxwell Reitman
Staff Writer
"This is going to be a powerful experi
ence for those of you who haven't seen
it," said Latino Community Program Co
ordinator and anti-racism team member
Jorge Zeballos as he introduced guests
Victor Louis and Hugh Vasquez of the
film "The Color of Fear."
Louis and Vasquez briefly spoke about
their experience in making the film, but
ultimately
were
more focused on
creating an open
and accepting
place for discus
sion on the film
itself.
"We have been
taught from birth,
and some of us
from conception,
to be divided
against one an-
change could take place.
In "The Color of Fear," which came
out in 1994, eight men from North Amer
ica (two African Americans, two Latinos,
two Asian Americans, and two Cauca
sians) are brought together by director
Lee Mun Wah to have a dialogue about
the state of race relations in the USA.
Many people value the film because it
puts the problem right out there in highly
visible ways.
The film primarily focuses around
how these indi
"We hove been taught from
birth, and some of us from
conception, to be divided
against one another"
Victor Louis
other," Louis said,
propping the audience for the film.
He invited audience members to "pro
vide a space of amnesty" for their peers
as they began to dig into the complicated
topic of race.
"There is an unknown with what
we're going to dig in with," Vasquez said,
echoing Louis.
Vasquez continued to emphasize the
importance of being open and honest
viduals felt (or
didn't feel) the
presence of insti
tutionalized rac
ism in their lives.
A lot of the dis
cussion centered
on David (one of
the Caucasians in
the film) and his
lack of compre
hension about the
problems with
institutionalized
during the conversation, so that genuine
racism in America.
"The film was made without any
preparation, without any script; we're
not actors," said Vasquez, re-emphasiz-
ing the genuine nature of the film and the
experience.
After the film, the audience broke into
pairs and told each other how they felt
about the experience, what it meant to
them, what conflicts they had with the
differing views expressed, and how they
felt the film reflected the world around
them, before moving into a larger group
discussion.
Strangely enough, the conversation
remained either very abstract or ground
ed in the individual's experience. No one
talked much about the state of race rela
tions in Greensboro, or even at Guilford.
Mostly the group was accepting of
each other's faults, but there were a cou
ple of times that people tensed or felt the
need to respond directly to something
which they disagreed with.
"I don't want to be the cliche where I
sit around and complain," said Audrey
Henneman, a first-year who was fairly
vocal during the post-movie discussion,
"I feel like this is something 1 need to (act
on)."
Sophomore Grady Gamble, vice pres
ident of Blacks Unifying Society (BUS)
and member of the Multicultural Lead
ership Scholars Program, said that he
"thought the presentation was excellent
because it brought out a lot of emotions
that it needed to bring out."
However, Gamble also expressed cau
tion in his optimism. "I want to know if
people are bringing out all these emo
tions but no ... action," he said, noting
the difference between talking about so
cial change and really getting out there
to do it.
The discussion of "The Color of
Fear" may not have been a one-stop fix
for all the problems that the film brings
up, but it's certainly a step in the right
direction.
.ACEMATTERS.ORG
When seltinterest and the honor code collide
By Matt Boulette
Staff Writer
A crowd composed mostly of
psychology majors and faculty
congregated in the Leak Room on
Oct. 14 for a lecture and discussion
session with Dr. Stephen F. Davis, a
leading psychology researcher.
Davis spoke on the motivations,
techniques, contributing attitudes
and long-term consequences of
academic dishonesty, his talk en
titled "Cheating and Education:
The Most Dangerous Intersection."
The speech was also the capstone
to Davis' day on campus, during
majors, discussing career goals and
life after Guilford.
Davis was introduced by Jen
nifer Scott, who described meeting
with him as an "honor" and praised
him both for his extensive publica
tion of articles and textbooks and
because "he took the time to help
(students) along in research."
Davis discussed a recent study
on cheating. More than 30,000
questionnaires were adminis
tered to college students across
the country, with questions about
the frequency of cheating in high
school. Davis found that 80 percent
in each sample admitted to cheat
ing in high school.
On the first questionnaire, be
tween 40 and 60 percent of respon
dents admitted to cheating on tests,
and of this group, half were "hard
core repeat offenders." Techniques
for cheating ranged from the mun
dane, such as looking on someone
else's paper or bringing in a cheat
sheet, to the more outlandish.
Among the more exotic tech
niques found were elaborate
systems of body postures and
pencil-symbolism, test theft, paper
trading, plastic wrapped memos
smuggled in by mouth, note laden
"paper flowers" pinned to blouses,
thigh-jotting/skirt hiking, and a
Bond-esque spy cam/alphanu
Lori Hendrickson/Guilfordian
Psychologist Stephen Davis talked with faculty and students about his research on academic dishonesty. Davis’ visit
concluded with his research entitled “Cheating and Education:The Most Dangerous Intersection in the World,” which
was a preview for his invited address to the Southwestern Psychological Association (SWPA) in 2009.
meric pager combination (with a
man on the outside).
One student in the study de
scribed an ingenious scheme in
which he "hid a calculator down
(his) pants." The role of technol
ogy is omnipresent in these plots,
as students can take advantage of
everything from text messaging to
portable music players in order to
pull one over on educators.
Plagiarism is also rampant, with
sites like "chuckiii.com" offering
over 20,000 poorly written papers
for free. Sites like this even sell
Masters theses and Ph.D. disserta
tions. It would seem that any ya
hoo with a credit card and a weak
conscience can now buy a degree.
Academic pressures are nothing
new, so why the sudden increase in
cheating?
"Colleges are becoming harder
to get into," observed senior Sarah
Shotwell. Davis agreed, adding
an explanation of the "neutraliza
tion effect," where cheaters feel
justified by "unfair" standards or
"meaningless material."
Compounded by the demands
of finite time, familial expectation
and other obligations, cheating for
some seems to be the only route to
success.
Davis explained that these forc
es have culminated in a change of
attitude. Cheaters are now more
motivated by external forces, be
it wealth or prestige or just a few
chuckles, rather than thedntrinsic
gain of education.
Any means of satisfying exter
nal forces become acceptable, lead
ing one respondent to the bitter
conclusion that "old morals in new
times just don't mix."
Davis suggested that faculty,
to address this pixiblem in the
short term, take some measures to
minimize cheating on tests. These
include spreading students out,
administering different tests, not
leaving the classroom, and proc-
toring the test. Administrative
measures, like Guilford's academic
honor code, and tight sense of com
munity also help.
"It's such a small campus that if
people around you see you doing
something weird, they're going to
say something," said senior Terry
Winters. Davis agreed that Guil
ford was remarkable in its dearth
of academic dishonesty.
"If students are not an integral
part (of the honor code), it will not
work," stressed Davis, who felt
that the "comfort level" for aca
demic dishonesty has grown, and
that some schools are tolerating
forms of cheating that are "not se
rious."
"90 percent of students saw no
problem in (fabricating data)," Da
vis said of academic dishonesty in
scientific lab reports. "They ma)
get a federal grant...will they cook
their data for that?"