Feb. 23, 2010

PHILADELPHIA - La Salle student-athletes learned about racial and economic diversity on Tuesday afternoon from sociology professor/chair Dr. Charles "Chip" Gallagher as part of this semester's Town Hall meeting.

Dr. Gallagher spoke to all student-athletes on the topic "Color, Class and Consciousness: The Social Construction of Reality". He asked them to consider their own ideas about such things as what they thought the percentage of each racial group in the United States was and how many American families are living below the poverty line.

The student-athletes also learned and discussed some of the reasons why they may have thought the percentages were radically different from what the numbers actually are, including the perception that is shaped by popular culture and television.

Dr. Gallagher is no stranger to the athletic department as he has spoken on race and class with athletic department and student affairs department staff the past two years. He is the chair of the sociology department here at La Salle, and his research focuses on racial and social inequality and the ways in which society's perceptions are shaped by popular culture and media. He earned his Ph.D. in sociology from Temple in 1997.