Many students at Bowdoin College skipped their Thursday classes — but their professors actually encouraged them to do so.
On Oct. 1, many professors at the Maine liberal arts college participated in a “teach-in” focused on issues of climate change, racism, and social justice, according to The Bowdoin Orient student newspaper.
The day’s agenda included a “climate dance event,” slam poetry reading, and panel discussions analyzing the Black Lives Matter Movement, and both social and environmental inequalities.
Some professors cancelled their Thursday classes and encouraged students to attend the event, others supported the teach-in but thought it should’ve taken place on a weekend.
A few professors objected to the event based on the topics that were discussed.
“We’re here to challenge students, we’re here to improve critical thinking, we’re here to open up horizons,” History Department Chair Dallas Denery told The Orient. “But I don’t know if it’s our responsibility to use our position as faculty to push specific political agendas that often have nothing to do with our professorial expertise.”
According to The Orient, the idea to have a day dedicated to climate change had been in the works for several years since Bowdoin signed onto the American Colleges & University President’s Climate Commitment in 2007. A group of faculty, staff, students and alumni were trying to come up with ways to increase sustainability at the college.
The week the teach-in idea was presented was the same week police officer Darren Wilson was not indicted in the shooting of Michael Brown, and faculty decided it would be fitting to include the topic of race in the day’s discussions as well.
“Across the globe, from Ferguson to the People’s Climate March, from the water wars of Bolivia and Detroit to the fight against discrimination right here on campus, people are standing up to resist injustice,” organizers explained on their website.
h/t The College Fix
