New exhibit at University of Wisconsin-Green Bay wants people to rethink their biases
GREEN BAY – Stairs built without a plan for wheelchair accessibility. Soap dispenser sensors unable to recognize dark skin. Spiral notebooks that are harder for a left-handed writer to use.
Those are some of the implicit biases that a new exhibit at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay is intended to show. The exhibition had its grand opening Friday.
"The Bias Inside Us" is an educational exhibit created by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service to help people realize and challenge their own implicit biases. It will be open to the public from Saturday until Feb. 13.
The exhibit is made up of six interactive sections that show examples of implicit bias that happens in daily life, their detrimental effects, and how people can rethink the assumptions to overcome their own biases.
The exhibit introduces the science behind biases and how they can be formed, the dangers of not being aware of unconscious bias, and how to retrain your brain to counter them.
"Bringing this exhibit to our region reminds us of our individual and collective responsibilities to reflect on or own individual biases as well as the collective biases that exist within our communities, organizations, businesses, agencies and companies alike," UW-Green Bay Vice Chancellor Corey King said at the exhibit's grand opening.
UW-Green Bay is one of 40 spaces in the country to be part of this year's exhibit. It will travel to Eau Claire at the end of February.
Green Bay university leaders wanted to host the exhibit on campus for students, staff and community members to think critically about ways their own biases can be barriers to more inclusive schools and businesses.
"We know that our role as a university is to help make sure that we are empowering all people through education," Chancellor Michael Alexander said.
The exhibit is aimed toward people ages 11 to 25.
Dawn Crim, secretary of the state Department of Safety and Professional Service, pointed out that everyone has biases. The exhibit shows just how common they are.
"It's not just for the majority population. It's not just for men. It's not just for people with all abilities," Crim said. "It's for everybody."
To visit the exhibit
The exhibit opens at 9 a.m. Saturday in the Grand Foyer at the Weidner Center, 2420 Nicolet Drive, Green Bay.
Admission is free and registration isn't required for the exhibit. If your group is 15 people or more, contact the Weidner Center at theweidner@uwgb.edu or 920-465-2726.
The exhibit is on tour in a few states in the Midwest and will move to other parts of the country starting in May. In Wisconsin, the exhibit is available at UW-Green Bay and will be at a performing arts center in Eau Claire in February.
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Contact Benita Mathew at bmathew@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter at @benita_mathew.
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: UW-Green Bay exhibit wants people to rethink implicit biases
