As members of an educational community, students, staff, and faculty at Bowdoin are committed to teaching and learning about the likely consequences of our current actions and about alternatives.
The dual threats of systemic inequity and climate destabilization are linked in both cause and effect. We all agree they are serious problems, yet meaningful and productive conversations about them can be very difficult.
Some faculty and staff have specific scholarly understandings and longstanding engagements with these topics. We eagerly welcome that expertise and many of us can learn from our resident experts. However, as educated people we are all capable of making useful sense of the world, of asking pointed questions, of making connections between apparently unrelated things, of knowing and admitting the limits of our competence, and of conducting civil and reasoned dialogue across deep divides.
The organizers of the Teach-in encourage you to contribute to the dialogue both by sharing your knowledge and by modeling respectful public conversation.