Hidden struggles at Middlebury
Many students of color at Middlebury are already aware of many people in the college are a lot less than enthusiastic about their presence. From long stares for doing anything that slightly indicates our culture — and not in a cultural appreciation way but more in the way of being watched like an animal at the zoo — to the subtle change of tone when spoken to, as if speaking to something inferior, this is nothing new or surprising. These daily incidents range from outward racial slurs, white supremacist stickers on the student center sign, and even concerns of over-policing PALANA events by public safety — which is an intimate, safe social house for students of color — compared to next door, predominantly white social houses. Along with a systematically disadvantaged education system for minorities all of their lives, students had to go more than an extra mile to end up at prestigious, private institutions like Middlebury that are known for their support system. But the school flyers will never mention the micro- and macro-aggressive mistreatment that is involved for us. Middlebury is supposed to provide a system in place to protect their minority students from bigotry, and not implement more discriminatory systems to further disadvantage minorities like putting them on the Bread Loaf campus.