The start of a new year is one of the great joys of a college campus. Every fall, we reconvene and reconstitute ourselves as a community: returning students, as well as faculty and staff who have been at Carleton for many years, are joined by entering students and newly hired colleagues from across the country and around the world. The familiarity and friendship of the established community is transformed by the influx of new interests, experiences, talents, and views.
The core of a Carleton education is our wide-ranging academic program, and the extraordinary faculty who deliver it. But the classroom experience does not take place in isolation. It is part of a social and intellectual community that is built anew every year. Our interactions with each other as part of that community are an essential part of the education that we offer. That is one reason why Carleton works so hard to assemble a student body that represents many different backgrounds, experiences, and views, and a faculty and staff who bring their own dimensions of diversity. The greater our differences, the greater our opportunities to learn from each other.
Of course, like all real learning, this process involves both effort and friction. Newcomers have to work at getting to know Carleton and its culture, while established community members may have to grapple with new ideas, beliefs, and customs. Where there are differences of opinion, we all have to be open to listening carefully, responding thoughtfully, and framing our own arguments with the best tools of evidence, analysis, and rhetoric that a Carleton education can provide.
Our longstanding commitment to principles of academic freedom, recently rearticulated by faculty in a new academic freedom statement that is found in the Campus Handbook, reminds us of the importance of respecting each other’s right to share views we may find challenging or uncomfortable. Freedom of speech and the right to protest were also exercised last year, as students gave voice to their varying views about the ongoing war in Gaza through discussions, meetings, presentations, vigils, bake sales, radio shows, newspaper editorials, and various forms of protest. At the same time, the College’s obligation to ensure a learning environment free of discrimination for all students means that we, as a community, need to think carefully about the impact of our individual expressions on others.
With an election season upon us, there are many consequential issues to be discussed, and we will provide a variety of venues across the college for lively conversation and debate. You will be hearing more about the CarlsVote project organized by the Center for Community and Civic Engagement (CCCE) office, and can find great information on their website about upcoming events — as well as instructions for students on how to vote. This fall will be an important time both to listen, and to make your voice heard.
Featured in Carleton Today, September 12, 2024