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With self-deprecating humor and the flair of a favorite professor, Tim Wise spoke to about 150 members of Washburn Universitys faculty on Friday about bringing more equity into their classrooms.

Wise, of Nashville, Tenn., began his nearly two-hour presentation describing how he as a white, male student at Tulane University in the late 1980s experienced privilege. Those experiences, he said, got him thinking about his own white privilege and how he could start the conversations about race as a white person from the South.

My own white privilege allows me the flexibility to first of all, be in a lot of those rooms and have the opportunity to speak to mostly white audiences about the subject, Wise said. People of color dont get that opportunity that often and if they do get it, its a very short-lived opportunity because they get shut down or are certainly concerned that they will be.

Most of Wises presentation in Washburns Memorial Union touched on a variety of race and equality issues that academia should face, particularly stereotype vulnerability.

This phenomena extends to all institutions of higher learning and all institutions in general, he said. This has an effect on learning outcomes.

Stereotype vulnerability, Wise said, is essentially how a person performs in a domain where he or she believes there is a stigma attached to them, causing them to underperform because of the stress of the perceived stigma. He said the concept can have an impact on academic performance and graduation rates.

This is something educators need to know about, Wise said. Students of color are academically insecure.

When it comes to talking about race and equality in the classroom, Wise said students often feel they cant talk openly about the issues out of fear they will say something wrong.

We have to be up front, particularly when were teaching classes that touch on these really difficult topics, that this is not going to be easy and this is going to be awkward, he said. There will be times when I as the instructor, dont know how to push through the awkwardness and youre (the students) going to have to help us do that. That empowers the student. Discomfort is critical and its critical for you to model.

We have to be upfront that when we teach about these really difficult subjects, Wise continued. We all have a lens. We have to own our stuff and put it out there, then its not as frightening to have those conversations. That can be challenging in a time when truth is a movable thing.

Wise concluded his presentation by saying this is sort of a weird moment in this country to be an educator, maybe a weird moment to be alive. He said part of the instructors gig is to discern what are facts.

The purpose of an institution of higher learning is to search for truth, he said.

Terek Hawkins, a Washburn senior from St. Louis, majoring in education, said Wises remarks resonated with him as a black male college student.

I think what spoke to me in his conversation was the fact that when I do walk into a classroom and Im the only African-American student, especially in my education classes, that there is a perception, he said. I think it spoke to me that he said we all need to realize this perception and then talk about how to tackle it.

Washburn president Jerry Farley said having Wise speak to the faculty, students and the Topeka community Friday about difficult race and equality issues makes Washburn stronger as a whole and continue striving for diversity.

If were truly trying to be more diverse in our community, this is an opportunity to bring people in and get them excited about what we are doing, he said.

Danielle Dempsey-Swopes, director of Washburns Office of Diversity and Inclusion, said Wises appearances Friday are part of an ongoing effort to talk about race and equality.

Theres a lot of discourse that needs to happen about race and issues of social justice, she said. We can have that discourse civilly and productively and we can find common ground and we can find work for us all to do around these issues.

Contact reporter Angela Deines at (785) 295-1143 or follow her on Twitter @AngelaDeines.

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Using humor, Wise tackles race as a white man from the South ... - Topeka Capital Journal