Tony Keith said he is aware of the many differences that exist between people on the Penn State campus. As a black graduate assistant, Keith said he has sometimes felt like the minority.

"We don't make a great population on this campus," Keith said. "I definitely notice that I'm a bit of an anomaly on this campus."

Keith and more than 45 students and faculty members have found a way to study these differences through one of the largest diversity exhibits ever to visit Penn State.

Slated to debut the week of Jan. 16 to 20, The Tunnel of Oppression will be an interactive multimedia presentation that gives participants the opportunity to learn about historical and contemporary forms of hate.

Keith, who works in the Paul Robeson Cultural Center, said the weeklong exhibit would a tunnel with six individual rooms. "It will definitely expose people to something they probably haven't experienced before," he said.

The six rooms will explore topics such as lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues, women's issues, poverty, housing and health care, ethnic cleansing and genocide, constitutions and laws, and media, pop culture and stereotyping.

Keith said a subcommittee composed of student groups, faculty members and other students is planning each themed room.

Photographs, 3D images, visual statistics and computer programs are a few ways organizers hope to present their material.

Robeson Cultural Center Director Toby Jenkins said this will be the first time an exhibit like this is orchestrated at Penn State; it is being modeled after similar projects done at other schools.

"We wanted to create an annual examination of social justice issues," she said. "There is always a need to be mindful -- there will probably never be a point where we can rest easy and say our social justice work is done."

Chris Matheis, committee leader for the tunnel's study on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues, said his group hoped to reach people by representing the impact of staying in the closet. Consequences can range from drug and alcohol abuse to suicide and self-mutilation.

The University of Nevada-Las Vegas has had positive results from exhibit.

Tom Studdert, UNLV assistant student activities and greek life director, said the key is finding topics relevant to the student culture.

"We've done this for five years and most students feel like their eyes have been opened," Studdert said.