JusTalks was both imagined and developed by students to address a number of broad needs. A group of students started meeting weekly in the Axinn basement during the 2011-2012 school year because we believed there was something missing from the Middlebury experience. Many of us believed Middlebury was producing graduates ill-equipped to understand, much less fight against, inequality. We saw that discussion around global, structural oppression was underrepresented in the Middlebury curriculum.

 

But we also saw our own community divided along various forms of identity. We saw dining halls separated by race and class. We saw student groups struggling to meet new people outside of their team, department, organizations, or class. We felt like people with privilege (including some of us) felt stigma in spaces for discussion around identity, while individuals in minority groups (also some of us) felt like they were unfairly cast as representatives of their identity groups. We saw a demand for community-wide reflection.

 

So we reached out. We presented to as many groups of students as we could, to ask for feedback and to sign our JusTalks petition. Over 60 student orgs, sports teams, interest houses, academic courses and even some freshman halls signed on, adding to the chorus of those demanding that JusTalks be a part of the Middlebury experience.

 

With those signatures, the endorsement of The Campus, and funding and support from the Office of the Dean of the College and the Office of the Dean of Students, we set off to realize our vision. We organized a one-day event that would take place during January of 2013. We hired Marta Esquilin of Columbia University to help design a curriculum, which consisted of activities and discussions surrounding social identity and inequality.

 

Over the course of the next few months, we trained 25 upperclassmen in how to facilitate conversation, navigate charged topics, and create a safe, inclusive space. When it was time for the JusTalks event, our keynote speaker, Dr. Tricia Rose of Brown University, charismatically challenged each of us to say for ourselves that:

 

“I am not personally responsible for racism, classism, sexism, homophobia, or any other form of group based discrimination--even though I very likely benefit from some aspect of it. Therefore I should not feel guilty. I might feel sadness, empathy or outrage, but guilt won’t change anything for the better ... What I can choose is how I want to behave and whether or not I want to meaningfully contribute to creating a just society in light of all I’ve learned. No matter my group identity of individual experience, I can choose with whom I link my fate … For this I am responsible." 

 

The next morning, students from all across campus filled Atwater Dining Hall. We listened. We shared. We reflected. The energy in the room was explosive as people discussed issues ranging from race to disability to non-apparent identities. After the event, our team collected feedback from the participants and the response was astoundingly and overwhelmingly positive.

 

This was the beginning of the first-ever JusTalks J-term event. We have continued to organize this annual event and have also grown and evolved during the process. In the Spring of 2016, President Laurie Patton announced that starting in J-term 2017, all first-years will participate in a one-day event. We are excited to be working towards making this a strong program.

 

Curious about what we are up to now? Check out our “more on JusTalks” tab above!