Tears streamed down sophomore Giselle Hernandez’s face after walking through the Tunnel of Oppression on Tuesday. 

Hernandez said she thought she knew what to expect before she began the event sponsored by the Office of Diversity and Inclusion.

“I was just expecting what the name suggests — oppression,” Hernandez said. “What people who are oppressed experience and what they feel.”

The tunnel, on the third floor of the Rhatigan Student Center, consisted of a series of skits, video, audio and a wall of slurs to demonstrate different types of oppression. Topics included racial discrimination and hate groups, Islamophobia, same-sex discrimination, sexual assault and body image. 

There was no actual tunnel — rather, each topic was presented in a different room. Hernandez moved throughout the rooms, growing more emotional after each experience. 

 “Whenever I see discrimination, it just goes in my mind what other people who are oppressed go through,” she said, tears streaming down her face, after going through the tunnel. “Like Muslims, what they have to experience, all the violence.”

Hernandez took a few moments to calm down, taking deep breaths before she spoke again.

“Sometimes, it just gets overwhelming,” she said, wiping away the last of her tears.

The raw emotion Hernandez felt is one of the goals of hosting the tunnel, said Natalie Toney, ODI program coordinator.

“It’s to allow people to experience oppression in a different light,” Toney said. “Maybe not first-hand, but to see and experience it to evoke that emotion in them.”

Toney said the tunnel has occurred several times over the years. ODI took a break from it about two years ago. 

She said the tunnel has evolved since its beginning. 

“We’ve gotten a lot larger in what we do,” Toney said. “We’ve gotten a lot more student participation over the years. We’ve changed the location several times.”

Junior Mineka Rose, an ODI ambassador, went through the tunnel Monday.

“It was probably one of the most intense experiences that I’ve ever had in my WSU career,” she said.

Rose acted in one of the oppressive scenarios Tuesday, playing an employer who discriminated against potential workers based on the name on their résumés. She said her role in the tunnel is opposite of what she does as an ambassador. 

“I’m in charge of making sure my ambassadors are culturally competent, that they know as much as possible for all these different religions and races and different minorities and marginalized groups,” she said. “So [this role] is very different from that.” 

Toney said more than 80 people went through the tunnel Monday. She said it was great to see more participation.

“I’m seeing a lot more people each year,” she said. “It’s growing, coming through. I think it’s wonderful.”