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(02/24/16 8:54pm)
Dear Katrina,
As always, the willingness to put pen to paper, with a signature, and publish it in a public forum is important and admirable. Thank you for taking the time to write and for offering your thoughts. As I understood your op-ed, you are deeply frustrated with what you perceive to be hyper-sensitivity among many students. You wrote, “We have developed such a thin skin, taking everything personally and getting offended at the tiniest things. We’re lucky that we live in a country where we have the kind of luxury to whine about people hurting our feelings.” I would actually argue that feelings matter and the fact that you shared your feelings so passionately is affirmation of that claim. But, what really confused me about your statement was that in all three public forums that I attended, and in conversations, I have never heard anyone talk about ‘hurt feelings’ nor did I hear anyone asking for any kind of censorship. Rather, what I heard, repeatedly, was a call for all of us to imagine and be curious about how patterns of behavior, both personal and institutional, that are often taken at face value as neutral are, in fact, hostile and exclusionary.
One way to think about this is to call to mind the ‘melting pot’ metaphor. Generally, the term refers to the idea that the unique cultural identity of the USA is made through the assimilation or ‘melting’ of previously distinct ethnic groups or cultures into one. Sounds nice and inclusive. But, an interesting question to ask is, “Who is in charge of stirring the pot?” In my experience, when most “White” people are asked to reflect on this question they realize that they had assumed that a “White” person was always in control of the stirring. If you are “White,” and someone of a different gender, or ethnicity, race, sexuality was stirring the pot would you jump in? (And it is worth remembering that, historically, few have had much of a choice). In other words, are you willing to adapt and change to others in a way that they have been required to adapt? Suddenly, what was presumed to be a warm, friendly, non-ideological space where everyone assimilates becomes not so warm and friendly when I/“White” person has to relinquish control. Turns out the melting pot does not refer to the melding of everyone into some new, hybrid expression of unity, but an effort to demand that everyone adapt to “White” norms. Maybe, that thin skin is actually my own as I realize that I do not want to blend/listen/change.
The realization that the melting pot is not a neutral space is akin to the transition from ‘diversity’ to ‘inclusion’ on college campuses. Diversity is the effort to ensure that historically under-represented groups are given fair and equal opportunities to enjoy a college education. Under the ‘diversity’ mindset, the institution is assumed to be a neutral place where everyone can succeed if they just work hard. The institution does not need to change because, you know, it is fine and exists in some mythically neutral space of higher education. If you are having problems, it must be you. You just need better mentoring. But, after decades of ‘diversity’ initiatives, more and more students challenged this assumption as they experienced an intense and deep cost to ‘success.’ Turns out places of higher education like Middlebury are not neutral spaces at all — they are filled with all sorts of restrictive norms regarding ‘appropriate’ behavior, what a ‘normal’ student looks like, literally, what counts as worthy of academic investigation and what does not, and, and, and. Like the melting pot, these restrictive norms come out of one particular cultural tradition that is now being challenged to realize the fact that it is one among many cultures not some neutral standard.
Thus, inclusion is the next, much more difficult evolution. Inclusion requires the institution — which means each and every one of us — to examine long-standing patterns and norms that those who are from the dominant group thought were neutral, but that actually create hostile environments. It is really important that each of us, in our multiple identities and multiple campus roles, recognize that the challenge of inclusion has nothing to do with ‘feelings’ in the manner in which we normally think. Again, in our forums and in various writings I have not heard any student complain about their feelings being hurt. What I heard, repeatedly, was a call to examine hostile and exclusionary patterns that are based on centuries of both intentionally exclusionary and just plain, thoughtless behavior. As a community, we must commit to staying curious and compassionate with one another as we continue to evolve. We are so new to this that there is already a sense of exhaustion. Well, get some rest everyone. We are just getting started.
Jonathan Miller-Lane
Associate Professor & Director,
Education Studies Program
Faculty Head, Wonnacott Commons
(02/17/16 8:57pm)
January was National Mentoring Month! We at Community Engagement wanted to say: Thank you to our Middlebury College mentors!
National Mentoring Month (NMM) was created by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and MENTOR in 2002. The month aims to focus national attention on the need for mentors, highlighting how we all—individuals, business, government agencies, schools, faith communities and nonprofits—can do our part. For the past 14 years, NMM has celebrated mentoring and the positive effect it can have on young lives with the goals of raising awareness of mentoring in its various forms, recruiting individuals to mentor and promoting the rapid growth of mentoring by recruiting organizations to engage their constituents in mentoring. This year, NMM’s theme is Mentor in Real Life, lending way to discussion of mentoring’s real life benefits. In Vermont, the organization Mobius, Vermont’s Mentoring Partnership, is an NMM ambassador.
The month works to celebrate and set apart the special role that mentors play in the lives of others through various events and days of gratitude. All the while, we must remember that our involvement, gratitude and excitement for volunteerism and mentorship cannot be contained to a single month, and instead needs to carry us throughout the entire year. It’s never too late to go forth and thank the mentors in your life, and to also consider stepping up as a mentor in the life of someone else!
Interested in volunteering as a mentor? Here at Middlebury, Community Engagement supports a number of student-led mentoring programs, including: Community Friends (1-1 mentoring for local children) and Xiao Pengyou, DREAM (group-based mentoring), MiddCAM (high school student mentoring for college-access initiatives), Sister-to-Sister and Brother-to-Brother (with a focus on middle school children), Page-1 Literacy (school-based literacy programs) and NOM (nutritional outreach and mentoring).
To find out more about any of these programs or how to get involved, visit go/CE.
Questions? Contact Nestor Martinez with Community Engagement at nmartinez@middlebury.edu or at 802-443-3010.
Nestor Martinez '10 on behalf of Community Engagement
(02/17/16 8:56pm)
I am a white student who has “white privilege” and who has committed hundreds of “micro-aggressions” throughout my life due to my “ignorance” of other cultures. There. That’s what most of you want me to say. But now, please allow me to say what I really feel. I warn you, though, you may not want to hear what I have to say. I don’t care about being politically correct, and if people don’t like my opinion, so be it. I have listened to many of your opinions on matters of race and diversity, so I hope you will at least be tolerant enough to listen to mine.
Honestly, I’m sick and tired of all this politically correct talk of racial equality and white privilege and micro-aggressions. I’ve actually grown to hate it, because that’s all I hear about – don’t say this because you might offend this group of people, don’t wear that because you might offend that group of people. We’re constantly being instructed on what to say and do in order to have a more caring and inclusive community, and I don’t know about you, but I hate that. Not the part about living together in peace and equality – that’s definitely a very admirable goal – but rather, I hate having to censor every word I utter and monitor every action I make just to avoid offending someone and being branded as a racist, sexist, or whatever other -ist there is. Life is complicated enough, so why make it more complicated by making everyone over-analyze everything to find and prevent micro-aggressions? Let’s face it, there are more important things to be worrying about. Elsewhere in the world, terrorists are beheading Christians who won’t convert to Islam, homosexuals are getting arrested and even killed because of their lifestyle, “refugees” are raping women because they see women as inferior, and innocent children are being burned alive. And people here find it upsetting when someone wears a sombrero?
In reality, the micro-aggressions aren’t the problem. People are the problem. We have developed such a thin skin, taking everything personally and getting offended at the tiniest things. We’re lucky we live in a country where we have the kind of luxury to whine about people hurting our feelings. At least our feelings are all that are hurt.
What’s more is that if people are so desperate for equality, then why do they constantly point out our differences? We’re always forced to label ourselves and put ourselves into boxes based on our race, ethnicity, religion, gender, political leaning, etc. How are we supposed to achieve equality when all we see are the divisions between us? Yes, people are different. Just look around you and you will see that. But most of the differences people focus on are skin-deep. If you take away the outer layers, we’re all essentially the same; we’re all made of the same basic bones and organs, and we all share the same human DNA. In one of my favorite books, Tuesdays with Morrie, Morrie says, “If we saw each other as more alike, we might be very eager to join in one big human family in this world, and to care about that family the way we care about our own.” I think more people should adopt this attitude. Instead of being black, white, gay, straight … why can’t we all just be human and love each other for that alone?
Katrina Drury '19 is from Cincinnatus, New York.
(01/27/16 9:48pm)
Dear Middlebury Community,
Through this letter I want to address a previous op-ed named “Letter to the Middlebury Community.” I would like to thank the author for writing this article and his good intentions, but I would like to address some things that need to be clarified. I would like to disclaim that this is my voice only and that I speak for myself in the following paragraphs.
I want Middlebury to be a safe space and I want to call it my home. However, this is incredibly difficult when there are so many issues unresolved that affect the quality of our education. Amongst many of them are mental health, academic stress, issues of inclusivity, but also cultural stress.
I would like to introduce quotes from an article in The Atlantic that a friend shared on Facebook the other day. The article is “The Cost of Balancing Academia and Racism” by Adrienne Green. “Amid the protests of the last several months, the conversation about racism on campuses has prompted debates about free speech, political correctness and the utility of students being uncomfortable. But do students of color face a more tangible risk than their white peers? Is navigating these complex environments challenging their mental-emotional well-being?”
Political correctness does not silence our potential allies. Political correctness is needed in order to identify for oneself and to others as an ally. It is through this sensible approach that constructive questions can be asked. In the process of learning political correctness, one can learn about systems of oppression that render certain actions and words unacceptable and damaging to the integrity of a community such as our campus. We have witnessed the effects of these in the past and their repercussions on the community and individuals. It is indeed a trial and error process, but more steps need to be taken in order to change the campus culture.
“Many students of color not only have to battle institutional racism, they also have to engage in academic environments that condone microaggressions and stereotyping. This can make these students feel like they have to outshine their peers in the classroom to disprove the notion that they are academically inferior.”
I want to believe that no one on this campus is inherently racist. Maybe misguided, possibly very ignorant, more likely under-exposed to diversity. Regardless of someone’s intentions behind certain actions, what is most bothersome is the indifference displayed by many within our community. Students of color and other minorities devote more of their already limited time and energy to making cultural organizations their safe havens where they can feel comfortable, despite the arduous academic demands. At these organizations, discussions on important topics such as interracial dating, slam poetry, police brutality, immigration issues and environmental racism are held very frequently. Yet, the meetings are only composed by minority students. So where are the allies?
“Should colleges ask historically marginalized students to become grittier and more resilient, or should their focus be directed toward achieving greater racial justice so that black students do not have to compromise their mental and physical well-being by being resilient?”
I want to clarify something now. Students of color and other minorities do not want to be coddled. They want to be heard. Students of color already went the extra mile in order to host events where allies can join them and listen to their perspective on a certain topic. All that remains is for those who want to become allies to show up at these events. It’s an issue of representation and solidarity.
When the Black Student Union held a black-out day, there was a very visible way to discern who wanted to identify themselves as an ally. It was an amazing sight to see, and was comforting to know that people do care about these issues. However, wearing black one day does not compensate for the work that we could be doing as students with different levels of privilege on a daily basis. This is, therefore, an open invitation to those who want to become allies to also go an extra mile and reach out to cultural organizations. Attend the meetings and rallies, listen to new perspectives, be present and proactive at giving support, empower those with less privilege, expose others to their prejudices, be an advocate for human rights, protest injustices. These are small steps that could ultimately lead to a change in the campus culture, a change that truly shows solidarity.
Esteban Arenas-Pino '18 is from New York, NY and Colombia.
(01/27/16 9:41pm)
In the midst of a refugee crisis, driven in large part by turmoil and civil war in Syria, the provision of safety, food and shelter for displaced persons is a priority for conscientious segments of the international community. And rightfully so.
Communities around the world are eager to lend a hand to refugees seeking basic human necessities. Our generosity and goodwill often stops here. Higher education, jobs and financial stability are widely perceived as luxuries that refugees must earn for themselves, a daunting task considering language barriers and restrictions on refugee employment in certain countries.
As media fervor and viral Internet attention remain directed at desperate refugees risking their lives to reach Europe, a second crisis is unfolding, one with potentially more long-lasting effects. Civil war and displacement have deprived an entire generation of Syrians of a higher education. The Institute of International Education (IIE) estimates that, out of more than four million Syrian refugees in the Middle East and North Africa, about 450,000 are between 18 and 22 years old. 90,000 to 110,000 of these individuals are qualified for university.
The future of the Syrian refugee population may lie with its integration into host countries and societies or it may involve its return to a post-war Syria for the purpose of rebuilding. In either case, educated segments of the refugee population will play a key role, as these embody a set of skills critical to the growth of any society and economy. So even as nations and NGOs seek to provide refugees with safety and sustenance, higher education opportunities must be made available to ensure their future success. If Syria’s “lost generation” remains uneducated, refugees may prove to be burdens on their host countries. Should circumstances in Syria prohibit refugees from returning home soon, a future postwar Syria will face the challenge of a weakened college-educated population in addition to the mandate of nation rebuilding and infrastructural development.
To increase the number of educated Syrian refugees, the obstacles to higher education, predominantly financial, must be addressed. Syrian refugees in Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey all face financial and administrative challenges to continuing their education, hindering their academic and human potential. A report published in October 2014 by the IIE and University of California, Davis found that, in Turkey, as few as two percent of the Syrian university-age population was actually enrolled in Turkish universities.
Given the nature of this situation, Middlebury College as an academic institution is especially poised to make a difference. With that in mind, I urge every member of our college community to take part in an initiative called Go/Refuge and sign our petition urging the administration to fund the college education of a few Syrian refugees.
The feasibility of such a program is already in the process of being proven. IIE has termed the volatile situation in Syria and the accompanying refugee situation an “academic emergency” and has called for academic institutions to join its Syria Consortium and commit to providing scholarships for Syrian students. Members of the consortium, more than 35 institutions from around the world, include
· American University School of International Service
· Bard College
· Boston University
· Brown University Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology
· Bryn Mawr College
· Dartmouth College
· Emory University James T. Laney Graduate School
· Illinois Institute of Technology
· Notre Dame School of Law
· Pitzer College
· Tufts University
· University of Colorado, Colorado Springs
The financial support of refugees is also well within the means of Middlebury College. In fact, Bryn Mawr College, with an endowment of $854 million compared to Middlebury’s $1.08 billion, has already listed a scholarship through the IIE Syria Consortium for applicants entering in Fall 2016. Should Middlebury College follow suit, its actions will not simply be a symbolic gesture. Rather, these will stand as practical advances on an issue of growing global urgency.
Shaheen Bharwani '19 is from Belmont, MA.
(11/19/15 4:38am)
Our Trustees’ response to the petition asking Middlebury to change the design of the new residence halls west of Adirondack View is profoundly disappointing. On the one hand, our VP for Communications and Marketing, Bill Burger, and the Editorial Board of the Campus make a very important point: There were two open meetings held on February 10 and 11 for students and for folks in res life. I, like many others who signed the petition, did not attend those February meetings. At the time, I had no strong objections. I understood the need for the housing and the location made sense. It never occurred to me that we would take a minimalist approach to accessibility. I made the foolish mistake of assuming that, knowing how inaccessible our 100-200 year-old buildings are, we would ensure that our new buildings would be fully inclusive.
(11/19/15 4:34am)
I was accepted into Middlebury as a Top 100 Applicant (a now discontinued program) with a 32 on the ACT and a 3.91 GPA. I served for three years on Community Council, one year on the Academic Appeals Board, two years as a Residential Advisor of an academic interest house; I committed time to various organizations on campus and I also helped to research and write confidential briefings for President Liebowitz. However, it’s likely that I would choose not to casually share this information with anyone. My justification is not for a lack of pride in my previous commitments, or because I consider them relatively insignificant historical details — which I do — but rather because they are from a different lived reality. I am a student who lives with schizophrenia and depression.
(11/12/15 12:10am)
“We apologize that we offended with our poster. We care about the role of comedy in discourse on this campus. As intentional members of the community, we take this issue seriously. We look forward to reflecting and engaging in future dialogue.”
The Otter Nonsense Players are an improv comedy group at Middlebury College.
(11/12/15 12:03am)
I read with interest the opinion piece by Ethan Brady, “The State of the Endowment,” and I feel it’s important to address some of what Ethan discussed in his piece and to provide some important context and facts that readers of the Campus can use to make up their own minds.
(11/05/15 3:59am)
Four years ago as a sophomore enjoying my first summer at Middlebury, I would also have another first — giving my first accessible tour. Up to this point during my career at admissions, and in the three subsequent years I spent working there, not once did I tour an individual in a wheelchair or see a disabled individual at the admissions office. This tour would teach me one thing: Middlebury itself is inaccessible. The scenery we all have come to enjoy during our time, the rolling hills, the beautiful forests, the stunning snow, all make for an incredibly beautiful but dangerous place for an individual with disabilities.
A typical Middlebury tour is about 45 minutes, although, if prospective students really want to go to the CFA, tours can last about an hour. Almost every location had an issue with accessibility, whether that meant a single accessible entrance at the other side of the building from the tour entrance or a steep hill in between buildings. All in all, these problems made this accessible tour take much longer than average; after an hour and a half, we still had not finished the tour. And all of this was on a bright, beautiful, sunny day. Imagine if there was a foot of snow on the ground—as there is four months out of a typical Middlebury school year. It would have been absolutely impossible to get around in a wheelchair.
Now to the project at hand. Let’s say student petitions win and Middlebury spends a few million dollars on accessible entrances for the new residence halls. Who really benefits? Even if we did have a student in a wheelchair (which is already highly unlikely), he or she would avoid a residence hall in Ridgeline like the plague because of the hill he or she would need to climb or go down in ice or snow. Now I want to make it clear, I do not underestimate the skill or determination of a disabled student. If he or she wanted, he or she could navigate our campus. But think of that frigid day in J-term with three feet of snow on the ground and a layer of black ice on the paths. Even the most graceful athletes stumble. Middlebury, even if every building had the highest accessibility rating, would be an extremely difficult environment to navigate because of the weather and terrain.
It’s unrealistic to think that by building an accessible entrance at these locations, we would solve Middlebury’s accessibility problem. In fact, all you end up doing is spending money that could otherwise be spent on student activities, scholarships and staff salaries on an entrance that will seldom be utilized. Though increasing accessibility is a fight we should always have in our country, (I do every day, fighting the MTA for more accessible subway stations) it isn’t the fight we should be having at Middlebury. Instead you should spend your time on a cause that can have a real impact on our school like increasing diversity, both socio-economic and racial. Don’t just pick up a fight to allow you to pat yourself on the back and say you fought for change when all the problems still remain.
Lucas Acosta '14
(11/05/15 3:58am)
Below is a letter drafted by Lauren Kelly ’13, Dan Egol ’13, and Barbara Ofosu-Somuah ‘13. It aims to communicate interest and concern regarding accessibility in the four new residential buildings currently under construction at Ridgeline. It is currently a Google document that is being signed in support by members of the college community - alumni, parents, current students, etc. Please take a moment to read this letter. If you would like add your voice to the conversation, add your name to the bottom of the Google document. Lastly, please pass the link on to others to sign. Feel free to reach out to Barbara Ofosu-Somuah with any questions or comments - bofosusomuah@gmail.com.
The Google doc petition is available here.
Dear Middlebury College Leadership and Board of Trustees,
We, Middlebury alumni, current students and friends are committed to the College’s success and integrity. We want to share our concerns about a pressing issue at our beloved alma mater: the four new residential buildings currently under construction. As two recent Campus newspaper articles make clear, our college community now faces a critical moment: we can choose to demonstrate in word and in deed our values of diversity and inclusion.
It is exciting to witness Middlebury’s new leadership and an expanded vision of inclusion and diversity efforts. We hope to see these values applied to the new living spaces, enabling all of our members to access them. While we appreciate the College’s efforts to expand residential options, it is important to consider how the design of these new spaces implicitly and explicitly reflects the college’s values. As of right now, only 25 percent of the townhouse units (four of sixteen units) and three of the 16 suites in the residence hall will be wheelchair accessible, for example. In its current iteration, the design plan for the townhouses does not include elevators. This means only the first floor in each building will be wheelchair accessible and students with mobility impairments will not have full access to the whole building. We realize that the current designs, which are already on the way and were agreed to last year, satisfy building code requirements. However, providing only the minimum number of accessible spaces required by law is simply not adequate for our college community. We have earned an impressive reputation for innovation, global engagement and sustained interactive learning. Our new buildings should model innovative, inclusive designs that enable all our members to be in them.
Why should this issue matter to the broad Middlebury community? Inaccessible residential spaces will not only affect students, but also all of the individuals within students’ social networks. This includes relatives and classmates (of all age groups) who might visit throughout students’ careers at Middlebury. Among those signing this letter are people — disabled and nondisabled — for whom this has immediate impact. Maintaining spaces that are not fully accessible have both financial and human costs. Exclusion from social activities and the high price of retrofitting buildings are just two of the many examples of these costs. It is our deepest hope that the College will not continue to overlook such an important aspect of creating inclusive living spaces for all members of the community.
Middlebury College proudly claims its history of leadership. We ask our current administrators and Trustees to model inclusive, innovative leadership on this issue. And we call on the broad community to support our college leaders in this effort. Creating spaces that are fully accessible demonstrably signals the College’s core dedication to innovation, diversity and inclusion.
Admittedly, this situation holds many complications. With respect and hope, we ask the administration and the Board of Trustees to modify the blueprints for these buildings. Please consider taking the needed time to fully and transparently pause and reassess with us what it means to create spaces that are habitable and accessible by all people in our community. We believe this is a discussion worth having now.
The College is moving into a new era, with a new president at the helm. We have an opportunity right now to create buildings that can represent who we say we are and who we hope we continue to be — a community that is innovative, compassionate, diverse and inclusive. We hope that the current challenges can be resolved in the present moment, establishing a clear expression that our actions mirror our intentions. Ultimately, we see many choices before us in this matter, and these choices are important. Buildings are meant to last, and so the decisions about accessibility — and inaccessibility — will last as well.
Sincerely,
Dan Egol ’13, Lauren Kelley ’13 and Barbara Ofosu-Somuah ’13
Undersigned by 467 Middlebury alumni, current students and friends
(10/21/15 8:49pm)
To the Editor,
The Campus opinion pages have included a number of references as of late to the Center for Careers & Internships (CCI) and its perceived role in not only adding stress to students’ lives as they consider summer plans and/or life after Middlebury, but also for doing too little in offering students opportunities, programming and advice beyond finance. I would like to offer my own thoughts on this as well as to correct a few factual errors.
First the facts: 24 percent of those employed in the Class of 2015 (56 percent) went into financial services, not 24% of all graduating seniors. Also, the MiddNet alumni volunteer network does not have zero volunteers in the fields of government, communications and the arts but instead 237, 521 and 271, respectively. In addition, CCI programming brings hundreds of alums back to campus in every field, with our Field Guides, UpNext, Career Conversations, @Middlebury, the Preparation & Possibilities Sophomore Conference and more. Also worth noting is the fact that 350-400 Midd alums and parents in every field are posting jobs and internships on MOJO.
Ironically, on the day that the Campus editorial appeared urging us to “expand our offerings to include more opportunities that deviate from the finance track,” here’s what we had on tap for just that one week:
· “Sushi and Social Change: Careers with Social Impact in the Common Good,” where 75 students, parents and alums joined in a wide-ranging conversation on what matters to them in their current and future work.
· “Google @ Middlebury,” a two-day event with five alums and 130 students attending the pizza social info session on Google opportunities in design, legal, PR, HR, marketing, tech and more. Another 100 students took advantage of alum resume reviews the following day.
· “Design Your Senior Year,” a program low on stress and high on thinking outside the box on how to plan for life after Middlebury.
· “JumpStart Your Job Search: Careers in Education,” held on two days for seniors whose passion is education.
·“Self-Assessment Workshops for Seniors” to help students refine their ideas about what types of work might be most compatible.
· “Symposium on Careers in the Law,” with Midd alums talking about their paths to law school and how they ended up in such diverse legal careers.
The editorial urged “students to be in charge of their own futures” – we couldn’t agree more. The fact is that most Midd grads want or need to work, and we’re here to help with that process of exploration.
CCI’s work is all in the service of 2500+ students who are very diverse in their four-year paths to their post-graduate pursuits. We’re looking for students to be partners in the process, to be engaged with CCI early and often, to understand that it is their future to embrace and that while planning for it needs to be as much a part of their undergraduate journey as choosing their major, studying abroad, playing a sport or volunteering, it is never to be at the expense of being a student of the liberal arts but instead a complement. To ensure that a liberal arts education remains relevant in the 21st century, not only do we need to remain committed to a rigorous curriculum as the foundation of this education, we must also complete it with equally strong expectation and opportunity for our students to become full partners in a truly global community – and engage the world.
I write this after just returning from an inspiring lunch we co-sponsored with Chellis House, spending an hour with WAGS (now GSFS) major Lauren Curatolo ’06 and 30+ students as she talked about her path from Middlebury to Goldman Sachs to law school to her current position, working for the Brooklyn-based Legal Aid Society, the country’s oldest and largest not-for-profit legal services organization dedicated to providing quality legal representation to low-income New Yorkers.
Students, whatever your calling – law, acting, journalism, conservation biology, medicine, writing, teaching, social justice, dancing, Wall Street, international development – and even, and perhaps especially, if you don’t have one yet – the CCI team is working hard to engage you to make this process less stressful, more intentional and part of the undergraduate adventure.
Peggy Burns, Director
Center for Careers & Internships
(10/21/15 8:38pm)
For five decades Middlebury College has been an outstanding leader in promoting environmental studies and international studies and in adopting sustainable operating procedures. Laurie Patton has shared with me her commitment as the College’s new president to build on and extend this admirable record of leadership. Toward this end, she would like to work in partnership with trustees, student groups, and concerned faculty and staff in an effort to identify next steps. This is a sound approach that all in the College community can support. Regarding next steps, this letter highlights one especially significant opportunity. We are at a pivotal moment in the national and international debate over the urgent need for a transition to a clean energy economy. Middlebury has the ability to influence the outcome of this critical debate by taking a public stand with a commitment to join the growing fossil fuel divestment movement. A decision by the College to divest should be viewed primarily as an act of moral and educational leadership at a time when industrial-technological civilization has lost its way and must reinvent itself.
I write this letter as a former Middlebury faculty member who taught at the College for close to three decades, served as dean of the college in the Olin Robison administration, and chaired the College’s Environmental Council during the mid-1990s. My courses included the study of environmental ethics, global ethics, and religion and ecology. I also write as a trustee and former chair of the board of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund (RBF), an international grant making foundation that has joined the fossil fuel divestment movement as part of an effort to align its investment policy with its mission and program goals. The Divest Middlebury campaign has set forth a compelling argument, and I write in support of the students who are leading this important initiative.
Scientists working in the field of climate change have turned on the alarm bells. Human development practices, especially the burning of fossil fuels, are altering the conditions on Earth that have made possible the development of civilization over the past ten thousand years. If humanity does not act with all deliberate speed and reduce its global greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2050, the consensus among scientists is that the ecological, economic and social damage and disruption could be catastrophic and irreversible. The most vulnerable are the hundreds of millions of people living in poverty, but no one’s life will be unaffected. Already the negative effects of climate change are being felt by communities around the world. In addition, human development patterns have caused a tragic decline in the planet’s biodiversity and natural beauty, and ongoing global warming will accelerate this process.
Since action on climate change is about preventing immense harm and promoting the common good, it is first and foremost a fundamental moral issue. With the risk of dangerous consequences growing with every day of delayed action, it is also an extraordinarily urgent moral challenge. In a recent declaration, the Pontifical Academy of Sciences at the Vatican in Rome stated the matter succinctly: “Human-induced climate change is a scientific reality, and its mitigation is a moral and religious imperative.” A growing chorus of religious leaders, including Pope Francis, the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, and the Dalai Lama, fully support this view. The new Encyclical Letter of Pope Francis on the environment, “Laudato Si’: On Care for Our Common Home,” and the Pope’s addresses before Congress and the United Nations clearly and forcefully highlight the ethical and spiritual dimensions of the environmental crisis and climate change. In response to the initiative of Pope Francis, 333 Rabbis have signed a “Rabbinic Letter on the Climate Crisis.”
This year could be a turning point when the world community forms the necessary global partnership and commits to the collaborative action needed to reduce and eliminate carbon pollution. In December heads of state from the 193 governments that are party to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) will meet in Paris to finalize a long delayed, legally binding climate change agreement. The goal of the negotiations is to elicit commitments that will cumulatively prevent global warming from exceeding 2 degrees Celsius since the pre-industrial era. Achieving an effective and equitable agreement in Paris is fundamental to protecting Earth’s ecological integrity, promoting human rights, and fulfilling our responsibilities to future generations. However, again and again governments controlled by short term economic and political interests have failed to address the problem of global warming. Building pressure from civil society, including from leaders in science, religion, education and philanthropy, can make a critical difference.
With the demand for change growing, governments are searching for a way forward. China and the United States, the two largest carbon polluters, have together made meaningful commitments, and many other nations have joined them. However, the commitments made to date fall far short of the reduction in emissions needed. At a special summit meeting on sustainable development this past September, the United Nations issued a path breaking declaration on “Transforming Our World” that adopts seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with 169 targets, which envision the full integration of the environmental, economic and social dimensions of the sustainable development agenda. The SDGs call for radical change, and if governments are serious about achieving the SDGs, a strong UNFCCC agreement is mandatory. By joining the divestment movement, Middlebury College can help to send that message and register its concern that governments be held accountable for fulfilling their obligations under the agreement and expand their commitments in the future as necessary.
The divestment movement has grown dramatically over the past year. A recent study, which was commissioned by the Wallace Global Fund, has found that 436 institutions have made a commitment to divest from fossil fuel companies, representing $2.6 trillion of investments—a fifty-fold increase. These institutions include the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund and two of the largest pension funds as well as foundations, colleges, universities, NGOs and religious institutions. Recognizing the significance of these developments, the Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC, Christiana Figueres, has called for more institutions to divest from fossil fuels and invest in clean energy as a way to build momentum going into the Paris climate change meeting. (Clarification regarding the $2.6 trillion of investments is needed, because in some cases the institutions involved are limiting their divestment to coal or to coal and tar sands oil or to some but not all fossil fuels companies.)
College and University trustees have a fiduciary responsibility to ensure that their institution has the financial resources to fulfill its educational mission, and they are rightly concerned to maximize returns on endowment investments and minimize risk. In pursuing its commitment to divest from fossil fuels, the RBF has adopted a phased approach, eliminating investments in coal and tar sands first followed by a gradual elimination of all fossil fuels in a fiscally responsible manner. The goal of the RBF is to be completely divested of fossil fuels by the end of 2017. The Fund’s trustees have not found it necessary to alter their long standing commitment to preserve the purchasing power of the endowment. Middlebury should be able to divest from fossil fuels over several years without suffering reduced investment returns. Moreover, divesting could produce higher returns, because the fossil fuel energy sector is facing complex problems and risks. In addition to the precipitous collapse in the price of oil over the past year, which has caused some firms significant loses in market value, the big oil companies face the long term problem of stranded assets. Preventing global warming from exceeding two degrees Celsius will require leaving most of the known coal, oil, and gas reserves in the ground. In short, the transition to a clean energy economy will in all likelihood make fossil fuels a high risk investment. Many financial institutions are following this situation closely, and the Carbon Tracker Initiative is providing investors with the tools to measure economic risk associated with fossil fuels.
It is also important to recognize that renewable energy is rapidly becoming competitive with fossil fuels on cost and that corporations are coming to the realization that cutting their carbon footprint through improved efficiency and a shift to renewables is both possible and profitable. There is a global coalition of corporations that have committed to the long term goal of operating entirely with renewable energy. The New York Times reports that among the companies that have recently joined the coalition are Goldman Sachs, Johnson & Johnson, Proctor & Gamble, Starbucks, and Walmart. The transition away from fossil fuels to renewables is underway in spite of efforts by the big oil companies to prevent it and deny it. The only question is whether the transition will happen fast enough to prevent global warming from pushing the biosphere over tipping points that involve high risk. In a September Op-Ed, the president of Siemens, Joe Kaeser, announced that his global industrial manufacturing company has pledged to become carbon neutral by 2030, and reflecting on the challenge and opportunity before the business community he writes: “We have the technologies, we have the business incentive, and we have the responsibility. Now all we need is the commitment.” A decision by Middlebury’s board to divest will reinforce this message to corporate leaders, many of whom are listening with a new level of concern for the future of the planet, the global economy, and their companies.
Some argue that it is hypocritical for an institution like Middlebury to divest when the college and American society at large continue to be dependent on fossil fuels in so many ways. Is it hypocritical for someone who is addicted to cigarettes but knows that smoking is harmful and cancer causing to divest from all tobacco company stocks? Divesting is a way to help all of us wake up to the real dangers created by our addiction to fossil fuels and make the change to a cleaner, safer, more secure world.
When the RBF board and its investment committee, which includes both trustees and outside experts, began to consider joining the divestment movement, they were working with a highly skilled and successful investment manager. However, given the way its operations were structured, the investment manager concluded that it could not accomplish the goals that the RBF had set for divestment. Consequently the Fund was forced to change investment managers. Making the change has been a demanding process, but it has worked out well and the Fund now has investment managers with the expertise and flexibility that it requires. In short, there are very good alternatives, if Middlebury finds itself contending with the same kind of problem that faced the RBF.
Apart from major educational issues, as a general rule, it is not the responsibility of a college board of trustees to consider taking an official position on the many issues under debate on campus, and only under exceptional circumstances when there are very compelling moral reasons to do so should a board use divestment to support a protest movement. However, climate change is not just one environmental issue among many others or just a political issue. It is one of the defining issues of our time, and the choices made in response to the challenge will profoundly affect the lives of all Middlebury students and the future of life on Earth.
Middlebury College is a highly respected leader internationally in the field of education and a decision by its president and board of trustees to join the expanding fossil fuel divestment movement will be an act of responsible global citizenship consistent with its mission. It will have a significant impact, inspiring other institutions to support the transition to a clean energy economy and contributing to the outcome we all hope for in Paris.
Steven C. Rockefeller
Professor Emeritus of Religion
Middlebury College
October 12, 2015
Steven C. Rockefeller has had a career as a scholar and teacher, an environmental conservationist, and a philanthropist. His research, writing, and teaching have been focused on the fields of religion, philosophy and ethics. He has had a special interest in the transition to a sustainable future and the development of a relational spirituality and a global ethic for building a just, sustainable and peaceful world community.
Professor Rockefeller is professor emeritus of religion at Middlebury College, Vermont, where he taught from 1970 to 1998 and also served as dean of the college and chair of the religion department. He received his bachelor of arts degree from Princeton University in 1958, his master of divinity from Union Theological Seminary in 1963, and his doctorate in the philosophy of religion from Columbia University in 1973. He is the author of John Dewey: Religious Faith and Democratic Humanism (Columbia, 1991; Peking University, 2009) and Democratic Equality, Economic Inequality, and the Earth Charter (Earth Charter International, 2015). He is the co-editor of two books of essays, The Christ and the Bodhisattva (SUNY, 1987) and Spirit and Nature: Why the Environment is a Religious Issue (Beacon, 1992). His other publications include over fifty essays that appear in a variety of books and journals.
Professor Rockefeller and Professor John Elder organized and directed at Middlebury College in 1990 the Spirit and Nature Symposium that included the Dalai Lama and was filmed by Bill Moyers for public television. In the mid-1990s, Professor Rockefeller chaired the Middlebury College Environmental Council. Under his leadership, the Council prepared and submitted to the College president “Pathways to a Green Campus” (1995), a comprehensive environmental report on the state of the college with 22 recommendations. Professor Rockefeller served as president of the Demeter Fund, which created the Charlotte Park and Wildlife Refuge in Vermont overlooking Lake Champlain and the Adirondack Mountains. He is the founding president of the Otter Creek Child Care Center in Middlebury, Vermont.
For over thirty years Professor Rockefeller has served as a trustee of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, an international foundation with grantmaking programs in democratic practice, sustainable development, and peacebuilding. From 1998 to 2006 he chaired the RBF board of trustees. Among the other boards and commissions on which he has served are the National Commission on the Environment (organized by the World Wildlife Fund), the National Audubon Society, the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, the Asian Cultural Council, and the Council of the UN mandated University for Peace in Costa Rica. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Over the past two decades, Professor Rockefeller has been actively involved in the Earth Charter Initiative, which in and through extensive worldwide, cross cultural dialogue has endeavored to identify and articulate shared values that provide an ethical foundation for the emerging global community. From 1997 to 2000, he chaired the Earth Charter international drafting committee for the Earth Charter Commission. A final version of the Earth Charter—a declaration of global interdependence and universal responsibility with fundamental principles for creating a just, sustainable and peaceful world—was launched by the Earth Charter Commission at the Peace Palace in The Hague in 2000. From 2000 to 2010, Professor Rockefeller served as co-chair of the Earth Charter International (ECI) Council. The ECI Secretariat is based at the University for Peace in Costa Rica and has affiliates in 73 different countries. The Earth Charter has been translated into over 40 languages and endorsed by over 5,000 organizations globally, including UNESCO and the World Conservation Congress of IUCN.
Professor Rockefeller lives with his wife, Professor Barbara Bellows Rockefeller, in Pound Ridge, New York.
(10/08/15 8:16pm)
To the Editor:
(10/07/15 4:42pm)
If you’re currently a senior, a super-senior or an ambitious more youthful individual, you are probably beginning to have some existential thoughts as you look towards life after Middlebury. As Middlebury students, we spend our college careers in a place that is remote in all senses of the word. It is far in mileage and vibe from the hustle and bustle of big cities where post-college jobs seem most attainable and impressive. Its beauty and scenery set it apart. And, most dauntingly, what we spend our time thinking about seems light years away from the nebulous duties or requirement documented by any “real world” job description.
(09/30/15 9:40pm)
While well intentioned, last week’s editorial in the Campus relied upon several incorrect assumptions and a misreading of the chronology of key events relating to the John Doe case currently before the Federal District Court.
(09/24/15 1:14am)
In December 1989, delegates from 15 countries endorsed the Slow Food Manifesto, which began: “Born and nurtured under the sign of Industrialization, this century first invented the machine and then modeled its lifestyle after it. Speed became our shackles. We fell prey to the same virus: ‘the fast life’ that fractures our customs and assails us even in our own homes, forcing us to ingest ‘fast-food.’”
The manifesto then made a case for slow food, “to be taken with slow and prolonged enjoyment ... [to] let us rediscover the rich varieties and aromas of local cuisines.”
For the last 25 years, the slow food movement has grown and endured, dedicated to the proposition that by honoring traditional and regional approaches and celebrating food’s creation, we will enjoy it - and the company of others - that much more.
In September 2015, might the Middlebury community be ready to make a case for ‘slow learning’?
For isn’t it true that higher education has, in large part, fallen prey to “speed’s shackles”? Fast learning is all around us, an empty-calorie version of the way the liberal arts should be: too much reading, too many problem sets, too little reflection, too little time. Fast learning is advanced placement, double majors and extra minors, students on-the-go, cramming and then forgetting, professors who respond ‘busy’ and only ‘busy’ when asked how they are doing. Colleges and universities that have succumbed to the allure of fast education are (again from the Slow Food Manifesto) among “the multitude who mistake frenzy for efficiency.”
And let’s face it: Middlebury at times falls into this multitude. Too often, we rush, we assign more, we expect more, we pursue more. And perhaps as a result, we learn less. And yet: haven’t many at Middlebury recently been planting the seeds of something else?
All around us in the fall of 2015, don’t we see the growth of a better way? Of slow learning, an approach that declares ‘less is more,’ that promotes the ‘read’ and then the ‘re-read,’ that brings mindfulness into the classroom, that honors students who unplug, reflect and actively raise questions about their own identity and agency in this complicated age.
Slow learning at Middlebury is the “Sophomore Seminar in the Liberal Arts,” in which students ask: “What is the good life and how shall I live it?” It’s a First Year Seminar that starts with ten minutes of silence. A quiet, early-morning trek on a crust of snow to gather bird-band data. A session of Aikido followed by a dinner in Atwater Commons. A hockey practice that begins and ends with a skate on a frozen pond. Slow learning at Middlebury is a timeless question posed by Professor Murray Dry.
In other words, slow learning is no mystery. It’s what we know how to do when we don’t succumb to the whipped-up frenzy of our time.
At the recent Bread Loaf faculty meeting, an experienced colleague called for a ‘culture shift,’ a kind of community reboot after Middlebury’s recent spring semester, so full of heartbreak and sorrow. How can students, staff and faculty help to effect this change? Each of us, for starters, can commit to the idea that less is more: joining less clubs, scheduling less meetings, placing less on the syllabus. Other steps are easy (OK, maybe they sound easy): turn off the smartphone, close the laptop, take a walk with nowhere in particular to go. (Too addicted myself to social media and electronic connectedness, I remain convinced that this can be done!)
Perhaps the most important single step that each of us can take is simple: to treat each other as human beings. Not as sophomores, not as assistant professors, not as custodial staff, not as deans, but rather as human beings. Human beings, with all of the complexities celebrated by Walt Whitman when he wrote: “I contain multitudes.”
For isn’t it true that human beings are the true ingredients of a community of learning? Thus, as the slow food movement celebrates timeless, local ingredients - heirloom tomatoes, crawfish, wild rice, native corn, spring lamb - shouldn’t we celebrate the golden stuff that we are made of? Earnest learners, celebrated teachers and researchers, dedicated counselors, thoughtful stewards, friends and allies; these good folks and more comprise our daily dishes. And critically, like even the best culinary ingredients, we humans have our flaws, our bruises. Let us celebrate and savor those too. To honor each human being among us, to savor the human experience ¬– this may be the essence of all great recipes for global liberal learning.
From slow food to slow learning: is this a good metaphor? If so, is Middlebury ready to take the lead?
Jon Isham is the Director of Center for Social Entrepreneurship (CSE) and Professor of Economics at Middlebury College.
(05/06/15 9:24pm)
Twenty-nine years ago, the Middlebury College Board of Trustees stood on the right side of history when they voted to divest from the South African Apartheid. The College was one of over 150 campuses across the country to divest from companies doing business in South Africa – the leading ethical issue of the time. Now, Middlebury College is at a crossroads and has the chance to once again stand on the right side of history by divesting from fossil fuel companies. Climate change is the defining ethical issue of our generation. The College has the opportunity to make history once again, or to be vilified by it.
Middlebury College prides itself on its practices of environmental stewardship and its innovations in institutional sustainability. The College started the first environmental studies program fifty years ago this fall, helping to kickstart an era of environmental policy and legislation the likes of which our nation had never seen. The College was an incubator for programs of recycling and composting far before these issues reached national prominence and gave rise to 350.org, one of the fastest-growing environmental justice organizations in the world. The College also plans to go carbon-neutral by the end of 2016 and is well on its way to achieving this admirable goal.
However, the College’s investment in fossil fuel companies jeopardizes its reputation as a champion of climate justice by profiting from the exploitation of the environment and marginalized communities. Professor Emeritus of Religion Steven Rockefeller –yes, a member of the Rockefeller family that made their fortune on oil – wrote during his time here that the College should “avoid investments in businesses and products that are inherently unhealthy for human beings or that threaten serious environmental harm.” Rockefeller wrote these words twenty years ago, yet they still remain true today. As long as the College’s endowment is invested in fossil fuel companies like Exxon and BP, it is actively contributing to a system that threatens the future of our planet.
From UC Berkeley to Harvard, students on campuses around the country are asking their administrators whose side they are on: the side of the fossil fuel companies who feed on the Earth and its people like parasites to maximize economic success, or that of the new generation calling for a just transition to a greener future. Arrests of students at Yale University and University of Mary Washington show administrators that this fight is about something much bigger than the institutions we attend. And people are noticing. Just in the past month, Syracuse University, the Guardian Media Group and Prince Charles have committed to move to fossil free investments.
With the quest for carbon neutrality nearing its completion, we have to ask – are we truly carbon neutral if we are invested in fossil fuels? It is time for Middlebury to rise up and once again do what is right over what is easy. It is time to change the system that perpetuates social and economic inequalities. The environmental movement is always evolving and can no longer be an elitist movement that only wealthy white folks can access and engage in. It has shown its ability to bridge gaps of race, gender, generation and wealth as it has spread across the world. Climate justice is a global issue, one that affects all people.
It is our responsibility as Middlebury students to be at the forefront of this battle. Students have organized here to usher in peaceful change in the past, and I know that this will happen again. Through education, thoughtfulness, organization, passion and hard work, we are fighting to create a movement that will be larger and longer than the four years we spend in Addison County. So the question remains: whose side are YOU on?
Vignesh Ramachandran '18 is from Fremont, Calif.
(04/29/15 6:13pm)
The Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) Club’s mission is simple: we believe that Middlebury’s $1 billion endowment should reflect our College community’s values. This process must be as transparent and inclusive to all stakeholders as possible, and we work closely with the administration to bring about the change we believe is necessary.
The SGA can have an important relationship in working with the administration, as we do, to help Middlebury become the institution we say we are: one with strong values and principles. Regardless of which candidate wins the election, it is our hope that all SGA representatives will support what we would like to see the SGA address next year.
1. Align Institutional Values with our Endowment: Our current approach to investing our endowment implies that where we get the revenue to fund our school and its programs is separate from our schools’ values. Simply put, what funds the Environmental Studies department, which aims to create the next generation of environmental leaders, is distinct from the endowment, invested in oil and gas. Investing with our values in mind doesn’t mean reduced return, especially since some environmental, social and governance (ESG) concerns are material risks that can greatly affect the value of an investment. We need to put our money where our mouth is and divest from fossil fuels, explicitly incorporate ESG investing principles, and find more ways to invest with positive social impact.
2. Transparency in our Endowment and decision-making: This is a basic aspect of good governance that we look for in the companies our club, through RISE (Research and Investment in Sustainable Equity), invests in as well. Middlebury needs to start by allowing us access to more information about what our endowment is used for and invested in. More broadly, this transparency should also apply to all decision making processes the College administration utilizes that affect students.
3. Student Involvement in Institutional Decision-making: There are many committees and boards on campus that greatly affect student life, from tuition and financial aid to housing. The recent changes to the Board of Trustees structure saw the introduction of a college-specific Board of Overseers, with one student Constituent Overseer. We believe this position needs to be reformed by adding a second student with an overlapping term and changing the selection process to rely on students to choose the person in one of the very few positions with direct contact to Trustees and high level of decision making. Another aspect of the new board structure are the standing committees that deal with a specific subject area, from Resources to Risk. Including student perspectives on these committees is an important piece as well since most recommendations to the Board comes through one of these committees.
4. SGA Support for Student Organizations’ Collaboration with the Administration: The SGA can continue to improve the connection between administration and student organizations, such as ours. A strong, working relationship between our next SGA President and incoming President Patton is vital, and we hope that the issues brought up will include those expressed by students in the Presidential Brief, organized by Maeve Grady of SRI, with contributions from 12 other student organizations, who all share an interest in making Middlebury a better place. The SGA can also facilitate greater expression of student interests through improving surveying processes with more consultation of student organizations for questions and allowing student organizations to run their own surveys with incentives for participation.
Virginia Wiltshire-Gordon ’16 is from Wilmette, Ill.
Sophie Kapica ’17 is from Chatham, N.J.
(04/29/15 6:07pm)
Phil Hoxie’s column “Unions and Unfunded Pension Liabilities” blames middle-class workers – teachers, nurses, bus drivers, firefighters – and their organizations for the crises that are now plaguing many large cities. Hidden behind a veneer of economic “common sense,” his argument is actually political in nature. So is ours.
The economic crises he mentions are manufactured events, highly orchestrated and, ultimately, beneficial to those in power. Scott Walker’s government in Wisconsin, for example, cut taxes on large corporations to such an extent that adequate wages for union teachers, nurses, and firefighters were no longer “affordable.” Hoxie mentions Illinois as an example of union malfeasance. But the state’s governor, Bruce Rauner, is widely known to have manufactured a budget deficit to destroy what remains of public sector unionism in his state by ending the existing corporate tax structure. He also takes up the case of Detroit. But Detroit prospered when unions were at their peak. Virtually every economic hardship that has befallen city can be attributed to the decline of organized labor in the auto industry—rising inequality, the disappearance of the middle class, the decline of the public sector.
If Hoxie is sincerely concerned about the health and wealth of the American economy, he should pay less attention to monetary incentives and more to history. American union membership peaked during the prosperous postwar decades. It has declined precipitously ever since. Myriad explanations exist, but the assault on organized labor from the business lobby is paramount.
Today only about 7% of US workers are union members, which is a serious problem for our economy. No less an authority than the International Monetary Fund now agrees that unions, especially those in the fragile public sector, are necessary to maintain economic stability, assure decent wages, and protect workers from political elites. No country has ever gotten rich without a strong public sector.
Strong labor unions are the most effective way to raise wages for those at the bottom and middle of the scale, boost aggregate demand, and create more jobs. Given the sorry state of “labor law” and court biases against workers, unions are practically the only way to address pay discrimination, wage theft, and unequal treatment of women and people of color in the workforce. Places where workers have retained strong collective bargaining rights are slower to drift into crises and quicker to come out because they temper the instability of the business cycle. The economic crisis of 2008-2012 was felt least in states with the highest union densities.
Hoxie seems upset that unions give campaign contributions at election time. But contrary to popular opinion, and his article, unions receive very little in return for their hefty donations to both parties (about 40% of union members voted Republican in the last election). For example, Andrew Cuomo, the Democratic Governor of New York, received a $37,800 dollar donation from the health care workers’ union despite his anti-union stance. Clinging to the Democrats has long been a losing strategy for labor.
If Hoxie were seriously concerned with the burden of taxpayers, he would write to support the campaigns currently transforming the fast food industry and the retail sector, so that taxpayers no longer need to pay corporate welfare by subsidizing the poverty wages paid by large American corporations. Instead, he reserves his vitriol for public transit workers in the Bay Area, a predominantly black workforce that is responsible for safely getting millions of people to and from work each day. By contrast, he predicts he will make a paltry $30,000 as a Congressional staffer when he leaves Middlebury. If it is any consolation, we point out that that figure is $10,000 more than the fastest growing skilled occupation in the US—a home care aide—who is charged with the physically and emotionally exhausting work of caring for our parents, grandparents, and sick loved ones. This low salary is in part due to the fact that this industry is almost entirely unorganized, aside from the recently growing National Domestic Workers Alliance, and unions play a large role in uniting workers to fight for increased wages, among other improvements. There is power in (organized) numbers.
Hoxie repeats a well-worn trope of the business class—assert the indomitable power of organized labor, decry a crisis, and use it to justify further concessions against the middle class. But the reality is quite different. An alternate future for our economy requires that unions are able to once again flourish and win. Labor unions, at their best, do not just increase wages, benefits, and improve working conditions, but also are part of a larger political movement fighting for working-class power, social justice and a more egalitarian society.
Alice Oshima ’15 is from Brooklyn, N.Y.
Jamie McCallum is an Assistant Professor of Sociology.