Privilege Week raises awareness

Author: Eleanor Horowitz

As a conclusion to the College's inaugural Privilege Week, the Student Government Association Institutional Diversity Committee (IDC) hosted an open conference in Coltrane Lounge. Designed as a forum for organic and unrestricted discussion, the room was organized with small tables focused on issues of privilege as it relates to gender, sexuality, global health, immigration and economic diversity on campus. Though the pre-determined topics were meant to frame debate, additional topics such as social life issues and privilege among February- versus regular admission students emerged as the conference continued.

At the College, every member of the community is privileged whether he or she knows it or not, according to discussion moderator and MIDDialogue President Adam Morgan '08.5.

"Middlebury students, even if coming from different backgrounds, are all privileged just to be going here," said Morgan. "Everyone gets used to it and forgets to appreciate it sometimes."

Attendees of the conference agreed with Morgan's assessment.

"Simply having discussions like these gives us a status of privilege," said Ethiopia al-Mahdi '09.

An often-heard phrase of the week was that privilege is invisible to those who have it. With that, one of the most important goals of the conference was raising awareness and broadening peoples' understanding about what it means to be privileged.

For the open conference, coordinator and IDC chair Angelica Towne '08 reached out by inviting representatives from different groups on campus to come to the event in order to create new friends. Members of Women of Color (WOC), Feminist Action at Middlebury (FAM) and MIDDialogue were counted in attendance.

With this outreach, turnout peaked at around 30 students, according to Towne. Moderator of the global health discussion Lemar Clarke '08 said that while the turnout was good, the same people tended to show up over and over again to events. Lemar also observed that many people who attended the conference went to discuss specific issues instead of the overarching theme of privilege.

Some students attributed this sense of apathy among the larger College population to a restrictive environment of political correctness where there is a tendency not to break down stereotypes.

"There is a fear of saying something wrong because the school is so politically correct," said Katie Moon '10.

There is also the sense that privilege is a taboo subject that is uncomfortable to confront. "No one wants to be the rich kid or the one on financial aid," said Morgan.

"People here focus on how we are similar," said Towne. "There is pressure to be the same and it is not as okay to be different."

Despite attending a school where more than 45 percent of the student body receives some form of financial aid, many students find themselves struggling with issues of privilege as it relates to socioeconomics, according to some at the conference. While financial aid promises to meet 100 percent of calculated need, students can still be left working three jobs at a time in order to afford their annual tuition.

"Sixteen hours a week that I could be studying have to be spent paying bills," said al-Mahdi. "That's a lot of money and time taken away."

While some students easily recognize the effects of privilege, others students are not as aware of its effects.

"Understanding your own privilege is a process," said Moon. "Race had never been an issue for me - it was never part of my life, but eventually I had an 'aha' moment."

One reason why privilege becomes an invisible issue is because there is no simple solution to eliminate it, according to conference-goers. Some students said that those with privilege can feel guilty and not know how to react, which often leads to ignoring the problem altogether.

As the open conference and Privilege Week came to a close, organizers reflected on the week's events and its effect on the College community.

"The conference served two purposes," said Morgan. "It pointed out how those who are privileged are often blind to their own privilege, and it made those who are underprivileged more aware that privilege is less obvious to those who have it."