Community Update – January 4, 2016
Dear Students, Faculty, and Staff,
Welcome back for the start of winter term.
Last spring, we started conversations about race, gender, class, and privilege, what makes for a healthy community, and the ways our community falls short of its aspirations. During the summer and fall, as these same issues have received increasing attention nationwide, we have been taking action to build a stronger and more inclusive College. Since these critically important topics are central to everyone’s work and learning at Carleton, we encourage you to read our Campus Climate Initatives (PDF) to learn about our first steps in addressing the concerns that our community has identified as priorities.
In addition to these ongoing initiatives, we need opportunities to examine the events of recent months across the United States and the world to help us understand what they mean to us personally, to our communities, and to our campus. Therefore, starting this month, the College will hold a structured series of small-group discussions. These are sure to be challenging conversations, so we will design them in such a way that each of us has an opportunity to be heard and to listen. More information will be forthcoming soon.
Through these discussion sessions, we hope to generate powerful, community-building moments when we can think more carefully about our common bonds and what prevents us from joining together in pursuit of learning. We seek to expand our ability and willingness to respectfully engage with each other in ways that promote exploration, understanding, and personal growth.
When we invite individuals to be part of the Carleton community, we make both explicit and implicit promises about the accepting, inclusive, and caring College we are. While there are members of our community who experience Carleton in this way, there are others who do not. When we fall short of meeting our promises, we have an obligation to make corrections to make this community true to its aspirations and its best possible self. As we assemble for the new term, let’s make this a high priority for us all.
Sincerely,
Steve Poskanzer, President
Bev Nagel, Dean of the College
Carolyn Livingston, Vice President of Student Life and Dean of Students
Marielle Foster, CSA President
Jeff Ondich, President of the Faculty
Mary Amy, CEDI co-chair
Adriana Estill, CEDI co-chair