Clarence Shelley, assistant vice chancellor at the University of Illinois, encouraged a crowd of more than 100 people Wednesday night to recognize traits which “bind us to each other.”

Shelley began by asking members of the crowd their reasons for coming to NIU. He then asked, “Did anyone come to Northern Illinois University to learn anything about integrity, ethics, or morality? Did anyone come here to be a better human being? We are still a community of strangers; a group of people bound by an experience that keeps us together.

“This is the very last chance that anybody has to gain integrity, moral development, a sense of purpose and a view of the world; in regard to different human beings this is a learning experience.”

Shelley asked the crowd to stand if they represented various personalities, categories and relationships. “We’re all friends here,” he said, “and we don’t have anything to hide…yet.”

Shelley then asked, “What does that tell us about all of the things that bind us with each other that have nothing to do with race or class? This experience that you are having at Northern is the last chance you will have to determine what you are later on. Many schools are cesspools of isolation.

“Many of you will go back to people who are just like you. Our country is in a serious condition of an identity crisis; we are no longer the center of the universe. People are not afraid of us anymore. The game is up—we are exposed.”

Later in the evening Shelley asked members of the audience to come to the front of the room and describe a personal situation in which discrimination was encountered.

A handicapped woman came forward and was met with a hug from Shelley as the audience applauded loudly. She said, “I had a stroke and people are really rude with people like me. My voice is really bad and…people never let me talk, and I want to be heard.”

Another audience member described his problems in belonging to an organization that did not want to recruit any more blacks. He was offended when less active group members went behind his back to prevent the recruitment of more black members. “Don’t belong to an organization to be somebody, just be yourself,” he told the audience.

The females in the audience responded loudly with laughter and applause when Shelley said, “I want all of the men in the audience to stand up and repeat after me ‘I am a recovering sexist.'”

Shelley went on to say “any evil from which you benefit, you are responsible for. You must be constantly fighting the evil of sexism, you will never get it right and must always work at it.”