Community Discussions

2013 Claiming Williams event

10:45am-Noon

Carmen Ortiz: Avoiding Hate Crimes and Building Advocacy

View the video of Carmen Ortiz’s talk.
Carmen OrtizDare to dig deeper into conversations surrounding hate crimes. What exactly is a hate crime and what is not? How are they to be handled when they are experienced on college campuses, such as ours? US Attorney for the District of Massachusetts, Carmen Ortiz, will explore this crucial issue for our community and share her statewide efforts at building advocacy and awareness. Carmen Ortiz, US Attorney for the District of Massachusetts, is the first Hispanic and the first woman to represent Massachusetts as United States Attorney. Sponsored by the Committee on Diversity and Community, the Stanley Kaplan Program in American Foreign Policy, and the Muslim Student Association.
Brooks-Rogers Recital Hall

Phallacies – A Masculine Performance

PhallaciesClaiming Williams is pleased to welcome back Phallacies for the second year in a row. Co-directed by our own Taj Smith of the Davis Center, this all-male performance group provides leadership development, health education, and violence prevention for men via innovative educational theater. They engage men in critical conversations and direct action to challenge acceptance of the unhealthy aspects of traditional masculinity and support expression of multiple masculinities. Using dialogue and theater, Phallacies expands definitions of masculinity, creates healthier men and healthier communities.

Phallacies explores relationships to masculinities and individual and community health, and challenges viewers to rethink many of their attitudes, assumptions, and political and social understandings of hegemonic masculinities.

Ranging from quite serious to very silly, the performance is a series of monologues and skits, each of which explores some aspect of masculinity. Our goal is to support and encourage college men to think about their actions as men and to present alternatives ways of being a man that are healthy for individuals and communities. Specific topics include male socialization, intimate relationships, homophobia, race, sports, violence, alcohol, speaking out against sexism, and much more.
Adams Memorial Theatre, ’62 Center

“My White Friends”: Photography, the Photographic Object, and Notions of Race

Stephanie Dunson, Director of the Williams College Writing Center, and Harry Gilbert ’14 will facilitate a workshop at the Williams College Museum of Art regarding race, (re)presentation, power, and privilege with selected works from Myra Greene’s collection, “My White Friends”. By photographing friends, peers, and mentors, Greene visually ponders if photography can capture and describe the nuances of whiteness. Through Greene’s works, community members can probe the relationship of race, power, and privilege at Williams, considering constructions of race on campus; and conceptions of power relations and race in the United States as well.
Williams College Museum of Art

I Am Williams

I Am WilliamsI Am Williams is meant to give voice to individual identities and affirm that the college exists for all of us, that we can, every one of us, “claim Williams.” More than 300 students, faculty, staff, and alumni have participated in the project since its inception in 2004. New rounds of posters and a new website for I Am Williams conveying the diversity that defines our community will debut on Claiming Williams Day, and a student-moderated panel discussion will invite a few participants in the project to dig deeper in sharing their stories of identity.
Paresky Performance Space

Fighting the Invisible: Breaking the Grip of Stigma on Our Community’s Mental Health

depressionIs it really okay to feel sad? How does the Williams community/culture view mental health? This discussion will explore the difficulties of fighting invisible stigmas, particularly those surrounding mental health. Mental health and mental health disorders are just as stigmatized as any other typically thought of, but when someone’s health and well being is at risk of being smothered by stigma, it can prevent someone from getting the help they need.
Makepeace Room, Greylock

Keeping the Faiths: Making Choices About Religious Identity at Williams

many faithsA panel of five students from mixed-religious backgrounds will speak about their experience in choosing what religious practices to adopt as an adult. There will be a brief period of Q&A, after which participants will break into small groups led by the panelists and organizers, to discuss the issue of making choices about religious identity. This is intended to be a safe space for students who question their religious identities to discuss the decisions they face and receive support, as well as a forum for educating other students about what their peers from mixed religious backgrounds face.
Dodd House Living Room