In an effort to help students foster more inclusive relationships with others on campus, NC State’s Union Activities Board hosted a colorblind, speed-friending event in Talley Ballroom Wednesday evening.
About 40 participants were seated next to other participants and asked to have a conversation. However, the rules required that guests could not see their partners or ask each other’s names.
“The purpose of the event is to make friends based on characteristics and conversation,” said Shelby Anderson, UAB Diversity Activities Board Chair.
UAB advertised the event as an opportunity to “get to know new people based not on appearances but character and personality alone.”
Anderson said the idea for the event stemmed from recent racist events that have spurred media attention, both on campus and throughout the country.
“The event is a good chance for people to see that character doesn’t have anything to do with the color of someone’s skin – they’re not related,” Anderson said.
“People can make friends without that initial bias based on appearance.”
Upon signing in, participants were assigned a color–either red or blue–and separated based on that color. The room was divided by a black curtain that allowed participants to make conversation with the person on the other side for 90 seconds.
After each 90-second session ended, a buzzer went off and participants switched partners.
“It was really weird at first but once you start talking to people and making friends it was cool,” said Hannah Carraway, a freshman studying art studies. “I liked the ‘colorblind’ aspect of it because you could talk to someone and really get to know them without the bias or judgment of their appearance.”
Each participant filled out a name card that had his or her assigned color on it, as well as a list of suggested questions to ask during the 90-second intervals.
“When participants meet each other afterwards, they’ll probably see people they wouldn’t normally be friends with,” Anderson said.
Liz Tarney, a senior studying zoology, said, though she agreed with the premise of the event, focusing solely on race ignored every other aesthetic reason people judge others before meeting them.
“I’m not sure if I would have put such an emphasis on race when there are so many other things we judge people by,” Tarney said. “I see why it is still important, though.”
After the official “speed-friending” ended, participants got the chance to interact with each other in an informal setting and see whom they’d been talking to.
Following the conclusion of the activity, UAB hosted a discussion based around the notion of what it means to be “colorblind,” along with other topics relating to racial prejudice and equality.
Kelsie Wright, freshman in the First Year College said UAB should hold more speed-friending events in the future.
“It was a great way to meet different people,” Wright said.
