“Mixin’ It Up” groups tackle tough issues

Josh Goodman Staff Writer

For students participating in Vassar’s Inter-Group Dialogues, the final ceremony on May 4 will conclude a semester of challenging discourse.

Vassar students involved in the spring dialogues this year are taking up the challenging issues of “Gender Realities” as well as a dialogue between black and Jewish students.

The Inter-Group Dialogues, also known around campus as the “Mixin’ It Up” Dialogues, were created by Campus Life and Vassar’s Counseling Services. The conversations bring different groups together to “help facilitate community and discussion,” according to Associate Dean of the College and head of Campus Life Edward Pittman, who helped found the program along with Larry Cerecedes from Counseling Services.

Potential dialogues for next year include students from different economic backgrounds and a repeat of the popular “White Women and Women of Color” discussion. The Office of Campus Life would ideally like to offer three dialogues next year, rather than the two that have been offered in years past. The “Mixin’ It Up” dialogues are typically held in the Jade Parlor of Main Building, as well as in College Center Room 237.

Last year’s groups also included “Mixing it Up: Lesbian, Gay, Straight, and Queer at Vassar.” After last year’s program finished, the groups met again once more, holding a mini-awards session dinner during which they discussed the program’s impact and ways in which it could improve for future years. These improvements included expanding the dialogue topics.

According to the initial applications that each participant was required to complete before the program, the objective of the program was to have each participant to “arrive at a place of awareness that allows her or him to see avenues for change within the context of a social justice model which looks at issues of privilege and social inequality in seeking to understand and map out steps for social change. The model makes the connection between awareness and action.”

The Inter-Group Dialogue Program at Vassar has typically brought together up to 12 individuals from two distinct socio-cultural groups to discuss their differences and similarities. The two groups are selected by student input with Campus Life, and converse under the direction of a facilitator. The facilitators ask questions, but typically do not control the discussion.

“Ultimately, a facilitator wants the participants to direct the dialogue, and not the other way around,” said Pittman.

Regulars of the Inter-Group Dialogues attend with the goal of examining issues of social inequality and privilege, while at the same time attempting to understand and push social change.

Pittman, who has also facilitated several discussions, said what results is “a movement away from unspoken prejudices.”

The sensitivity of subject matter does not permit participants to share much about the content of the conversations, but the tone of the dialogues is typically cooperative.

Participant Shaina Brassard ’08 found the dialogues to be a “challenging yet safe space to talk candidly about how we as students experience this campus.”

Students participating in this semester’s conversations are likely to come away with fresh perspectives on identity issues at the College. Groups will “assess how to create a campus where everyone is comfortable,” according to Brassard.

Although these groups are not campus-wide, facilitators and participants hope that their presence will prompt a larger debate, as participants engage other members of the College community in conversation.

Additional reporting by Sarah Brown, Life Editor