This is the first in a series of Viewpoints from President Bolton focusing on diversity, equity and our roles as members of an intentional community of learners.
One of Wooster’s greatest strengths is our growing internationality. We have the privilege of many national identities, faiths, cultures and languages learning together in every classroom. For all students — no matter their home place — the learning that happens here is richer, and provides better preparation for life because of this diversity.
All Wooster students face challenges, from leaving home to completing Independent Study. International students face particular ones, including changing laws regarding their permission to live and study in the United States, working in a second language, rarely visiting home and misunderstandings about their home countries. Like students of color from the United States, some international students experience racist harassment. These acts can be further fueled by anti-immigrant bias.
In this context, we at Wooster must actively support the international and immigrant members of our community, examining our assumptions about nationality, culture and identity, and ensuring that international perspectives and voices are represented, valued and heard.
I was born abroad — in England — so I am an immigrant to the U.S. However, English is my first language, I am white and I moved to the U.S. as a child, with dual citizenship. So, while I remember being “the kid with an accent” and trying to understand U.S. culture (I could not for the life of me figure out what Ernie and Burt were saying on Sesame Street) I was privileged not to face the most serious challenges that many students who come to the U.S. do.
While I have sought to ensure a campus community that is welcoming for all students, I have missed some opportunities to support international students and to help U.S. students understand the experiences of their international peers. Among these misses is convocation, which had previously included an international student speaker, but has not in the last two years. I apologize, and am committed to do more to ensure that international and immigrant voices are a part of vital campus conversations in the future.
Communicating effectively across differences is one of the most urgent challenges of our time. That challenge is evident in every policy debate and argument about justice and conflict, whether local, national or global. Even in The College of Wooster community, people regularly find themselves surprised and troubled by what others say or by the way their own words are heard or understood. What we say and what we hear are inexorably shaped by our experiences. None of us fully knows the perspectives of others.
But, we are at our best when we work hard to learn about them, recognizing the limitations of our own perspectives, leaning into what is most unfamiliar or uncomfortable, honoring the cultures and experiences of others, and thereby growing in understanding. When we do that, and act on what we learn, we embody Wooster’s values. It’s challenging, but it’s also why we are here, learning together.
Committing to making the most of our time together at Wooster by listening in this way is truly powerful, both for the work we each do and for the communities of which we are a part. I commit to it as well, because it is crucial in serving all students, staff and faculty, and in working together to build a stronger College of Wooster community.
Sarah Bolton, a Contributing Writer for the Voice, can be reached for comment at SBolton@wooster.edu.