Some 18 people discussed the stereotypes of race and drug use last night in an Osmond Building classroom as part of Sigma Gamma Rho sorority's RHOmania week.

The event was called "Drug Awareness" and was supposed to be a discussion led by the Philadelphia Police Department. However, one of the speakers became sick and the police department canceled, event coordinator Endeara Campbell said.

Instead, Campbell showed a video titled Drugs in Black and White, which discussed the difference between urban perceptions and suburban perceptions of drug usage, followed by a discussion by attendees.

Amina Gilyard (junior-biobehavioral health and premedicine) said she felt the video was bias toward white people in some ways, even though the statistics were more supportive of blacks.

"The anchor said, 'I know it's hard to believe [the statistics],' but why was it hard to believe?" Gilyard said.

Bryant Poland (sophomore-biology) said he is not surprised by the statistic that stated white people use more marijuana than black people.

"There is a generalization on African-Americans and it has been suppressed for so long," Poland said.

Poland said there are so many blacks in the United States that it is hard to educate everyone that they can break away from the stereotype.

"I'm getting [deported] back to Jamaica and going to boarding school," Kamar McLean (senior-biobehavioral health) said about his parent's reaction if he used drugs.

Summarizing one point of the video, Simon Haileab (sophomore-political science) said there is more drug usage in the suburbs because there is a lot of downtime for the children, so there is more time for them to use drugs. "If you keep yourself busy, it's the best way to fight drugs," Haileab said.

Tonight, a women's self-defense program called "What's love got to do with it?" will be held at 7 in 223 Thomas and is open to the public.

There will also be a game show called "Sigma Feud" at 7 p.m. tomorrow in 307 Boucke.

RHOmania week will conclude Thursday night with a panel discussion, which will be presented by different male leaders and professors at Penn State, about the male point of view at 7 in 302 Willard.