In an effort to encourage students, faculty and staff to discuss sensitive issues surrounding diversity, Carleton College has created a six-week series of events titled "Privilege Systems: Race, Class, Gender and Sexual Orientation." The series begins with a viewing of the movie "The Color of Fear" on March 27 and concludes on May 9 with a discussion led by Carleton President Stephen R. Lewis, Jr., titled "Who Gets to Come to Carleton? Who Gets to Teach at Carleton?" [Complete schedule]
The series includes a wide variety of events, ranging from guest speakers and workshops to movies and small discussion groups. By offering numerous opportunities for participation and providing the series with an overall theme, organizers of "Privilege Systems" hope to deepen on-campus discussions of difficult issues and help individuals understand their position within society and how inherent privilege or power affects others.
Mollie Charon, a Carleton junior who was involved in planning the series, hopes the events and ensuing discussions will make Carleton an "even better place of learning, living, working and teaching."
The series is sponsored by Carleton’s Diversity Initiative Group (DIG), an assemblage of students, faculty, staff, trustees and alumni that first met three years ago when they desired a broader approach to discussing and understanding diversity. Numerous offices had been conducting diversity initiatives separately, and "Privilege Systems" is designed to bring all of those efforts together.
"Discussing sensitive issues like race, class, and gender is, of course, a never-ending process, and this series is not meant to be a culmination," said Carolyn Fure-Slocum, Carleton’s chaplain and facilitator of DIG. "We felt it was time to sustain and deepen conversations about some of the more difficult issues surrounding diversity, and, for those in a dominant group, to look at the power and privilege that comes with being a member of that group."