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Res Life dishes out dose of reality

The Memorial Student Union Senior Ballroom was a microcosm of the world last night, when about 200 students gathered for the Fifth Annual Hunger Banquet presented by the UA Department of Residence Life.

Matt Helm, coordinator of multicultural education for Residence Life, said every participant was randomly assigned to economic groups that accurately reflected the distribution of the world's wealth.

About 35 people sat in the underprivileged but subsistent section, while over half of the attendants crowded into the impoverished section on the floor. A handful of people even sat on the side of the room with no food, only signs that read, "Will work for food."

However, only about 20 people sat at the comfortably set tables in the privileged area.

"They'll be sitting right next to the impoverished group, who will only have rice and water," Helm said. "The idea is that they'll be able to see each other, see the stratification."

University of Arizona President Peter Likins, who spoke before the meal started, said he remembered the trying times of growing up poor, but he was always able to find food.

"It is hard for us, in this affluent society, to truly understand what it is to be hungry," Likins said. "That messes with your mind. It changes who you are."

John Schwarz, a UA political science professor and author of the Pulitzer Prize nominated book, "Illusions of Opportunity," addressed the problem of poverty and hunger in Tucson.

"We in Tucson face a great, very serious problem," he said. "Far too many people are left out of the basic necessities, even if they work."

Schwarz also said that many of the Americans who struggle through the working and lower classes have some college education, contrary to the belief that education will keep people away from poverty.

"As an educator myself, I wish this were true. I wish education was the panacea - the remedy. But it's not true," he said.

Leah Woomer, an international studies freshman from Arizona International College, said the banquet was an eye-opener.

"I think it was a really good experience for creating awareness because many of us live sheltered lives and haven't seen true poverty," she said.

Helm said he hoped the experience would inspire students to "build an ethic of caring (and) go out and make a difference." A representative from the Casa Maria soup kitchen and literature on hunger and local charities were available to direct students who wanted to help."

"What we're showing is real," Helm said. "There are people out there suffering."