#Black Lives Matter
The #BlackLivesMatter movement began in 2013 after a 17-year old African American Trayvon Martin from Florida was fatally shot by a neighborhood watch volunteer. After the acquittal of the neighborhood watch volunteer in a closely watched trial, the use of the #BlackLivesMatter on social media emerged. #BlackLivesMatter regularly organizes protests to bring attention to the deaths of black people by law enforcement officers, broader issues of racial profiling, police brutality, and racial inequality in the U.S. criminal justice system.
Syrian refugee crisis & Islamophobia
More than 4.6 million Syrians refugees have left the country during the course of the Syrian war. Many of them are women and children. Most Syrian refugees remain in the Middle East—Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, and Egypt—while slightly more than 10 percent of the refugees have traveled to Europe. Children affected by the Syrian conflict are at risk of becoming ill, malnourished, abused, or exploited. Millions have been forced to quit school. Since the Syrian civil war began, 320,000 people have been killed, including nearly 12,000 children. About 1.5 million people have been wounded or permanently disabled. Amidst this international crisis, rising trends of Islamophobia and fear of Muslims have manifested globally as calls for limiting and/or restricting immigration from Syria has been increasing since the Paris attacks on November 2015.
Issues pertaining to socioeconomic diversity and class
As income inequality and the wealth gap between the rich and the poor increases both domestically and in many places around the world, attention must be paid to the ways in which people of differing socioeconomic status and income levels experience their surroundings. At Carleton, this issue may include, but is not limited to topics such as: financial aid, additional costs for some classes and extracurricular activities, textbooks, music lessons, intersections with race and other identities, and social dynamics on campus.
Free speech
A growing national debate has broken out over the extent to which colleges/universities, the media, places of employment, and other entities should monitor individual expression and speech. Particularly in places of learning, most would agree that a balance must be established between community standards, students’ rights to feel safe, academic freedom, and the ability of individuals to express controversial or unpopular opinions and perspectives.
Campus climate at Carleton
This open-ended topic allows for community members to discuss issues of campus climate at Carleton.