Zeta Phi Beta’s Spirit Week Holds Open Discussion About Bigotry

Alpha Epsilon Phi

Now and Later on Sunday, SkittleZ on Monday and Fun Dip on Tuesday. These candy-filled evenings were all part of Zeta Phi Beta’s official fall spirit week.

From October 31st to November 6th the sorority hosted their “So Sweet Candy DreamZ” week, featuring themed events every day.

“This week we have two closed events for males only and two closed service projects and the rest of the events are open to anyone on campus,” Zeta Phi Beta President and fourth year Education major Shelby Dixon said.

On Wednesday, Zeta Phi Beta paired up with the Black Male Development Initiative for their “NerdZ” night entitled “Ignorance is Bliss.” The event ran from 7 p.m. to 930 p.m. and focused on prejudice against African American and general stereotypes.

Clips from the movie “Higher Learning” were shown, and with each pause came a discussion. “We took clips from different stereotypes that we could relate to our campus,” said Second Vice President and third year Nutritional Science major Ashley Noble said.

Guest speaker and Assistant Director of the UF Counseling Center Dr. Shari Robinson led the discussions asking students to relate the movie’s events to them and to the University of Florida.

In one scene of the movie, a shooting takes place on campus because of racism.

“This is a perfect storm,” Dr. Robinson said. “This can cause a lot of damage. It reminds me of Virginia Tech and we’ve been seeing these instances more and more on college campuses.”

The movie centered around two college students, one black and one white. The white student was racist and the black experienced racism in many facets of his life.

“Because of these stereotypes on television and in movies, unfortunately we’re at risk,” Zeta Phi Beta alumna and first year graduate student Carine Alcide said. “Even on this campus to a certain extent [racism] does exist.”

Some students spoke about the n-word and others about being the only African American student in their class, but together they felt the common bond of pride for their heritage. “I had more of a culture shock when I came to college because I went to a predominantly white private school all of my life,” Zeta Phi Beta member and fourth year Industrial and Systems Engineer Craitecia Boyd said. “It’s wise to expand your comfort zone and connect with different people; it broadens your perspective. In reality, the world has no color.”