Panelists (left to right) Jason Skipper and Jonathan Grove discuss personal privilege prior to the start of Monday nights event.
While growing up, the ability for Assistant Professor of English Jason Skipper’s family to buy a box of cereal was a big deal.
Skipper and three other panelists shared personal experiences such as this at the third annual, “Got Privilege?” series at Pacific Lutheran University. This past Monday’s topic focused on socio-economic privilege.
Discrepancies between varying socio-economic statuses account for shortfalls in health care, education and taxation. This economic divide in the United States is greatly associated with a persons access to opportunity. The socio-economic privileges and disadvantages that were noted by the panelists ranged from large to small.
When Skipper had a friend over one evening and a box of cereal was purchased, his families reaction to the purchase greatly changed things for Skipper. Skipper said, “The next day at school everyone was talking about it. At this moment, I realized my family wasn’t quite the same as others.”
PLU Director of Student Involvement and Leadership, Eva Johnson said, “For my mother, marriage meant going up a socio-economic status level. It’s just how marriage was for my mother.”
The event consisted of an hour long panel discussion of socio-economic privileges people have. The panel, made up entirely of PLU employees, ranged from faculty members to staff. For some panelists their drastic change in socio-economic privilege impacts them everyday.
Johnson, who now lives in a upper class area of Tacoma said, “I feel embarrassed when my parents come to my home now. It’s not the world they came from, it makes my mom uncomfortable.”
Obtaining a great amount of socio-economic privilege, after having nearly none as a child can be frustrating. Johnson said, “It’s hard to tell when is enough, is enough. When don’t you need it anymore?”
The first “Got Privilege?” series took place in the fall of 2007. Instantly a hit, the series has gone on to discuss topics such as heterosexual privilege, white privilege, and religious privilege. While these topics may appear random, great thought has gone into selecting them.
Diversity Center Advocate Ally Livingston said, “Privilege is not a topic people like to discuss. All these topics are meant for people [specifically students] to acknowledge personal privileges they may not even realize they have.”
Livingston went on to say that these topics are of interest to the student body. Additionally, in encouraging all to attend Livingston said, “This is the age where people are developing beliefs and values outside of family. The privilege series allows for this development.”
If this discussion of socio-economic privilege was missed Livingston strongly suggested attendance at the final privilege discussion.
On Monday Nov. 16 a second “Got Privilege?” panel discussion will take place focusing on language privilege. The discussion will be centered around the privilege to speak english as a first language in the United States.
As for the future of the “Got Privilege?” series, Livingston is hopeful it will continue to encourage discussion across the PLU campus, “Hopefully these discussions will create a generation of people who are willing and eager to address these problems.”
For panelists Jason Skipper, he uses his passion of writing to continue a personal discussion, “I am able to write from that perspective [low socio-economics status]. While I am well off now, that person from the past still lives with me.”
For further discussion of these issues Livingston invites anyone and everyone to stop by the Pacific Lutheran Diversity Center.
The PLU Diversity Center is located on the lower level of the University Center, across from ASPLU Office. For information on how you can become involved, visit the Diversity Center website by going to www.plu.edu/dcenter or by phone at (253) 535-8750.
