A Call for Collaboration

This past Saturday night, approximately 100 students flocked to the McCullough Student Center for Jamnesty, an event co-hosted by Verbal Onslaught and Amnesty International. The event entailed an exploration of pressing social issues through various forms of art. Students used spoken word, music, dance and video to focus on and discuss the issue of racial injustice in America.

We applaud Rana Abdelhamid ’15 and Barbara Ofosu-Somuah ’13, along with the other hosts of Jamnesty, for their use of art — a medium that is so often focused on solely the performers — to explore issues of great importance. Jamnesty successfully combined the draw of arts with the importance of activism to create an event that brought together many typically disparate groups of students.

If you look at posters around campus or eavesdrop on dinnertime conversations, it is evident that Middlebury students care about social issues such as racial injustice. However, many of these important conversations take place in completely separate spheres.

People say that Middlebury is a bubble. However, the truth is that our bubble may be even smaller — many students spend the majority of their time with close friends or certain clubs or teams. Our conversations and our views shared amongst these groups are important, but they will not be heard at full volume until we open ourselves up to new audiences. We can use our diversity of voices and views as a powerful tool, but this power can only truly flourish if we have these conversations together. As the success of Jamnesty demonstrates, collaboration is key.

We have seen other instances of such collaboration this year. For example, many on-campus environmental groups — Campus Sustainability Coordinators, Solar Decathlon and Socially Responsible Investment Club, to name a few — have all come together under the umbrella of “Green Poodle” to promote their shared goals of environmental awareness and sustainability. We encourage more of this type of collaboration, and feel that it is necessary in order to strengthen the power of the student voice.

That being said, collaboration does not have to take place solely among similar individuals or groups. Part of what made Jamnesty so powerful was the fact that it brought together performance art and activism — often relegated to separate spheres — to promote a common goal.

We encourage Middlebury students to go even further. We challenge you to collaborate not only with those in separate bubbles, but also with those whom you most disagree. As just one example, while we applaud College Democrats and College Republicans for working together to promote MiddVote, we believe that their collaboration should not stop there. Why not hold public debates? Expressing an opinion to a group of like-minded individuals can only get you so far. It is only when these opinions are brought out of the echo chamber and into the open that real change can occur.

Jamnesty exhibited another benefit to collaboration by demonstrating that there are numerous ways to express a message. The College does a great job of bringing speakers to campus and hosting lectures. However, a lecture or a speech is not the only way to convey a powerful message. After sitting in class or the library all day, it is often hard to find the motivation to attend another lecture, no matter how important or interesting the issue. This fact was evident at the Alcohol lecture, which only a handful of students attended, even though alcohol use is an issue that affects most students at the College.

We encourage students to look to the strong turnout at Jamnesty as an example of how creative outlets of expression can be successful means of communication. Increased collaboration will strengthen our voice by ensuring that our opinions go beyond the walls of our individual silos. It’s time to start working together.