Today was strange in the fact that most of our classes and activities were centered around relationships on campus and as a community as a whole, instead of actual Journalism. Our class did finish our articles this morning and go interview the PR representative for UCB Football/Golf, and also see the newly renovated stadium, but after that, everything changed.
Our first activity did not include Mike Walsh, although we are pretty sure he organized it. We were told to walk into a room and pick up a nametag with either Schroeder, Charlie Brown, Snoopy, or Woodstock, and then to find the rest of our group. The floor was divided with tape into 4 unequal parts. Once everyone was settled in and we were about to start, myself and a fellow news writing student were pulled aside and told that we would not be participating. instead, our role in the simulation was to act as reporters and report on the activity, how people were reacting, what was being said, etc. However, every story we wanted to “publish” had to have the approval of the editor in chief. The goal of the entire activity was to create an ideal utopian society, however it was clear from the beginning that Snoopy and Woodstock got the smaller taped-off squares and the worse supplies, whereas Schroeder and Charlie Brown started off with more land, more supplies, and a heck of a lot more money. There were 10 rules which needed to be followed, including the fact that TA’s were cops and cop decisions were final and team members must stay within their designated squares. It was also clear that even though Snoopy/Woodstock were smaller, they were clearly overcrowded. As the activity continued further, mayhem broke lose. Cops were not distributing punishment equally, people were being sent to “jail”, people were choosing jail because the conditions in jail were much better than in Snoopy/Woodstock, Schroeder/Charlie were given free money whereas money was taken away from the other two, etc. In the end, the corruption got so bad that the jail group formed a rebellion and attempted to overthrow the government. The societal stratification was evident when we were finished and on to discussing the activity. The entire purpose was to get us to realize that this “ideal society” is in fact a replica, or a very close one, of the society we live in and endorse today but sometimes we are so caught up in ourselves and in our own bubbles that we fail to notice those in need of assistance. What no one thought to do was simply remove the tape barriers in between the groups and work together, that way they would have more supplies and their community could have prospered. Instead, they chose not to associate with the “lower class” and not aid them because they had to worry about themselves. The goal was to learn how to break down the mental barriers that separate us from functioning as a proper society ad learn how to not accept labels as the entire, if any, truth.
This idea of a perfect community bled into our next activity which was Mission Impossible, a glorified scavenger hunt. The hunt itself was incredibly entertaining and had us performing wacky things in order to be able to receive our next clues. But, as of recently, all of the TA’s have been complaining of disrespectful behavior from the students, even during the simulation. The activity was fun as a whole, had us running around, and bonding as a class, but towards the end, when we were all ready to meet with our TA, he approached us with a serious face. He told our class that we had done great and had been amazing, however, other groups had struggled and had not had such a productive evening. Thus, we would be having a spur-of-the-moment leadership class with Mike to talk about correct behavior - it was incredibly intimidating. Even though Aaron, our TA, had told us that we had done nothing wrong, we were still panicked. According to Aaron, this had been a long time coming. In short, many of the kids on campus have been giving attitude or talking back to TA’s, questioning their every decision, etc. and they had finally had enough. Personally, the choice to act so disrespectfully baffles me. Here we are, paying for this amazing experience, and some people are choosing to throw all of that away. Our group came to a consensus that even though we feel close to our TA’s, they still have a job to do and we should remain cautious about how we act and what we say to and around them. As a whole, I feel our group is great in that respect, so I feel as if it is not us that is causing problems. However, we do, as a community, need to work together to be able to promote a more comfortable environment where everyone is not only physically, but also emotionally safe.
So, for now, our community is not perfect, but we are taking the knowledge of these mistakes and we’re working to get as close to perfect as we can!
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