Lunchtime Dialogues

2012 Claiming Williams event

12:15-1:30pm

REACT: A Dialogue on Embodiment and Identity

We will discuss community reactions to the ongoing exhibit of selected photographs from artist Molly Landreth’s project, Embodiment: A Portrait of Queer Life in America. Our conversation will stretch beyond the exhibit itself to start a dialogue about how the Williams identity is represented and embodied by members of our community. What is shocking about these photographs? What is familiar?
Henze Lounge, Paresky

Out of the Gate: Welcoming students to a safe, healthy Williams

The EphVentures First Days program aims at welcoming all students to a safe, healthy and proud Williams, come discuss how this has succeeded in the past, and could improve for the future.

Through a lunchtime dialogue with participants, coordinators of the EphVentures program, and former student program leaders, we will address what makes a first year student orientation as successful as possible. Discussion on what parts of the current EphVentures programs successfully address the needs of a diverse incoming student population, as well as the elements that should be improved upon, will both be integral pieces to the conversation. Students, staff and faculty are welcomed to bring their constructive criticism, desires for a more inclusive program, and hopes for future orientations to the table.
Gibson Room, Dodd

Inner Life, Outer Life

What do you wish other people here understood about your spirituality or religious life?

Students, faculty, and staff will consider the question “What do you wish the Williams community understood about your spiritual/religious journey/identity – or what do you need, spiritually, that you haven’t yet been able to find here?” This will be an open forum: responses to the question and to others’ comments, including further questions, are welcome.
Dodd Living Room

The Human Library: What does it mean to be a reader of your community?

On Friday and Saturday, Feb. 10 & 11, 2012, Williams will host the first Human Library in Massachusetts. From 11am to 3pm on those dates, Paresky will become a library where books are human. Williams students, faculty, and staff as well as members of the public are invited to check out a human book for 30 minutes and engage in a one-on-one conversation.

Founded in 2001 in Denmark to promote human rights and social cohesion, the human library project seeks to promote greater understanding between people and provide a safe space where we can learn more about each other and work through stereotypes and discrimination present in our community in order to ultimately to forge new connections between people.

During this lunchtime dialogue, Kashia Pieprzak will lead a discussion about the Human Library process (its history, our experience), how it is and how it isn’t a participatory process, what does a participatory process mean, how it has or hasn’t opened up the community thus far, what we can expect and hope for and what readers should expect.
Paresky 220/Class of ’58 Lounge

Creating Safe Spaces for Uncomfortable Learning

Growing out of some of the issues that students raised in the aftermath of the November incident about feeling ‘unsafe’ in some of their classrooms, faculty members will co-facilitate a discussion that addresses the intricacies of “safe spaces” and “uncomfortable learning.” How do we create an environment that does not marginalize or exhibit bias against any of our students, while also creating an environment where learning challenges assumptions, broadens horizons, introduces alternative perspectives, pushes students to think deeper, and is hence, often ‘uncomfortable’?

Facilitated by Merida Rua, Gretchen Long, Enrique Peacock-Lopez, and Liza Johnson.
Faculty House Lounge

Continuing the Discussion:

Working @ Williams 5 to 2: Who are We?

See Community Discussions
Luetkemeyer Lounge, Paresky

Not My Life

See Community Discussions
Griffin 4

EphVoices: Perspectives on Playing in Purple

See Community Discussions
Main dining room, Dodd