On Our Terms | Center would show commitment to community

Andrew Block Columnist

I was two weeks into my freshman year when those planes hit the World Trade Center. In opposition to more bloodshed, I took action against the Bush administration’s effort to bomb Afghanistan “into the stone age,” joining 30 other Vassar students to mobilize an anti-war movement at the College. In just five days, we organized a march from Main Circle to Main Street, and through the nearby neighborhood. We carried signs and sang songs for peace with Poughkeepsie residents, especially straining our voices when passersby waved middle fingers and hurled insults like “Traitors!” and “Terrorist-lovers!” We finished the march with a vigil on the library lawn. Unfortunately, the event proved to be the campaign’s high point. Afterwards, the participants never connected again. As a freshman, I drifted toward other activities, but always wondered why the campaign died.

The quick rise and fall of this anti-war movement represents a trend in social justice organizing at Vassar. From the struggle against the Iraq War to efforts to bridge the divide between Vassar and Poughkeepsie, student campaigns often begin with high energy and big goals, but fizzle after short lives. Frequently our response is discouragement and apathy. “Vassar activism sucks,” former activists lament.

The question is, why?

Part of me says we, the students, are culpable for the downfalls of social justice activities at Vassar: we often show initiative to take on large projects, but lack the commitment and energy to carry out effective campaigns over the long term. We abandon our political efforts out of deference to our social lives and academic requirements. We fail to continue our campaigns across vacations. And we neglect to build coalitions through our organizations. Undoubtedly, we can improve our work as individuals and within our respective groups.

Yet a louder part of me exclaims that the short life of our social justice work is not entirely our fault. Rather, our individual shortcomings stem in large part from a lack of support from our institutional environment.

In two ways, Vassar’s ethic of individualism overrides its commitment to building community, thereby derailing student activism. First, there are many spaces on campus for groups to meet and organize on their own, but none in which groups can convene continually to build coalitions. Consequently, it is rare that groups identify common concerns and work together to address them. Second, the College provides courses that place a high value on individual achievement, but little value on community involvement. Being academic at Vassar often requires holing up in the library, and excludes community works. Consequently, students find it difficult to work on campaigns while also meeting the demands of their classes.

To sustain and improve students’ engagement in social justice work, we need two specific types of resources. First, it is imperative that Vassar creates a resource center to house different groups with different social justice themes. By working in close proximity, and by participating in a partnership circle, these groups could communicate regularly and thereby develop ways to collaborate on common projects for community improvement. In addition to a center, Vassar needs an academic program in Social Justice and Peace Studies, either as a major or a correlate sequence. In courses on social movements, students could understand models of community organizing and use them in their own activities. Also, assignments, readings, and other course requirements would relate directly to students’ community work. In this way, a Social Justice and Peace Studies program could enable the activism of students, while not forcing them to fall behind on school work. Finally, as coursework might relate closely to local issues, such an academic program would promote greater communication among students, faculty, and the Poughkeepsie community.

By creating a resource center and studies program dedicated to social justice, the College would augment students’ academic experience at Vassar, while enabling them to become more involved in community building activity. Maybe then we could revive and sustain the campus-wide anti-war efforts that have fallen by the wayside since 2001.