Experts speak on impact of discrimination at annual symposium
The speakers at Friday’s Discrimination Impact Symposium in the Kincaid Auditorium on Feb. 11, 2018. Photo by Sierra McLean
February 12, 2018
Three experts gathered Friday to speak on the impact of discrimination on marginalized groups.
Stacey Horn, a professor of Educational and Developmental Psychology at the University of Illinois at Chicago, started the symposium by talking about sexual orientation and how the LGBTQ community is treated among teens and young adults.
“I don’t really care what you believe or why you believe it,” Horn said. “Why I care is how you treat people in the world.”
Horn, who was one of three speakers, added that “you can talk about how to treat people fairly without talking about sexuality.”
UK’s Center for Equality & Social Justice held the symposium. The Discrimination Impact Symposium was held in the Kincaid Auditorium.
Rashmita Mistry, who works for the Department of English at the University of California at Los Angeles, spoke after Horn.
“There’s a lot more work to be done here,” Mistry said. “We have been doing this work for a while now and there are so many more questions to be answered.”
Tiffany Yip, who works for the Department of Psychology at Fordham University, spoke last. Yip focused on sleep and identity relating to discrimination.
“The question isn’t whether you will come face-to-face with these issues,” Yip said. “The question is— how are you going to respond when you do?”
Yip found out in her studies that there are even disparities when it comes to sleep. According to Yip’s presentation, “among adults and college students, ethnic/racial differences in sleep are full mediated by discrimination.
Michelle Tam, a graduate student, said that she thinks it’s important for other students to attend these events.
“I think it’s because these things applicable to everyone,” Tam said. “Everybody has some sort of economic status and everyone is a certain race and everybody has a sexual orientation, even if it isn’t a marginal one.”
The event was put together by Christia Brown, a professor in the Department of Psychology at UK. Brown said that this was their third annual research symposium and they have one each year.
