Reflecting on Change, Community, Liberty, and Equality

Somehow we are now past the mid-point of 2021. July serves as the perfect time to reflect on what we accomplished during the first half of the calendar year and assess if and how we want to change course. The process of reflection involves contemplation about events or activities that impact us collectively and individually.

We explored the importance of community in the May blog, and here we connect that idea to the concept of individual independence. In reflecting on the dynamic between independence (as individuals) and interdependence (through community), we should consider the challenges we have encountered throughout the pandemic as they relate to:

●     Isolation

●     Acquiring new skills

●     Widened accessibility

●     New ways of learning

In the College, many of our faculty members and students have connected through both virtual and hybrid interactions, which employ traditional in-person classes and online tools to teach and learn various curricula. The spring/summer 2021 issue of The College magazine discusses how our community members have thrived in these settings. Students discovered new topics over Zoom meetings or in outdoor classrooms, while faculty integrated “white board” cameras into their pedagogical methods. These interchanges showcased our community’s willingness to learn, adapt to meet student needs, and grow together in a fraught-filled time.

Although we navigated challenges associated with “safer at home” and social distancing requirements over the past year-and-a-half, many of our community members singly dealt with isolation and the feelings that accompany it such as loneliness, anxiety, or depression.  Public health officials have shared positive ways to cope with these feelings. Others of us rarely had a moment to ourselves, as schools, daycares, senior care, and other parts of societal infrastructure became unavailable to us. Department chairs and program directors, and others, took the initiative to hold meetings and gatherings with this in mind. At the College level, the leadership team addressed these issues through our reading groups, which have re-oriented us to working on campus and developing a more diverse and equitable learning environment that positively impacts everyone in our community.

As we begin to emerge from the depths of the pandemic, we note that the past year has reiterated to us the importance of adjusting how we -- as individuals and collectively -- process what we have been through, and acknowledge the disproportionate impact the pandemic has had on some communities.

Independence and Interconnectedness

Every July 4, Americans celebrate Independence Day commemorating the official birth of the United States. On that day in 1776, the Continental Congress, the delegates who represented the thirteen colonies, ratified the final language included in the Declaration of Independence announcing the colonies’ liberation from British rule. The observance assumed greater significance following the War of 1812 against Great Britain, and Congress designated the daya federal holiday nearly a century later.

Independence extends beyond cookouts, fireworks, and parades and involves ideas around self-reliance, freedom, and self-determination..

Self-governance and individual rights— life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness (or property)—stand as the crux of the Declaration of Independence. These concepts are ones we continue to debate and strive toward today.

However, we acknowledge that no person wholly lives in a self-sufficient manner (even the introverts). We are interconnected. Individuals reside in communities, which exist in larger societies. Someone once said, “The best of community does give one a deep sense of belonging and well-being; and in the sense community takes away loneliness.”  This is what we aspire to in the College -- we are a work in progress.

Nelson Mandela, Father of a Nation

While July is a time to celebrate US independence, it also affords us the opportunity to be inspired by great leadership globally. For example, we observe Nelson Mandela International Day on July 18.

Many consider Nelson Mandela to be the “father of South Africa” because of his longstanding stance against apartheid in his home nation.  During Mandela’s youth, economic hardships grew more pronounced following the Great Depression and World War II, impelling the government to bolster its policies surrounding racial segregation. These policies intensified when the Afrikaner National Party won the county’s general election in 1948. Over the next few years, the party espoused apartheid, meaning “apartness,” between the country’s white minority and Black majority, authorizing racial segregation and preferential economic and political treatment of whites over other races.

Mandela saw the inherent injustices that affected non-white South Africans and protested against them. After earning his bachelor’s degree from the University of South Africa in the early 1940s, Mandela joined the African National Congress (ANC) in 1944, where he played a key role in establishing the ANC Youth League (ANCYL). As the Afrikaner National Party rose in prominence, they outlawed the ANC by the early 1960s. Mandela launched a new, “underground” faction of the party called “Spear of the Nation,” and secretly travelled around the African continent and England to gain support for the faction.  Upon returning to his homeland, the government arrested Mandela, charging him with leaving his country and provoking a workers’ strike. He was initially sentenced to prison for five years, yet this sentence expanded to life imprisonment when police discovered evidence of him and fellow activists committing treason, violent conspiracy, and sabotage against the government.

Mandela spent 27 years in prison, and in 1990, President F. W. de Klerk released him from the minimum security correctional facility where he resided. Mandela eventually went on to share the Nobel Peace Prize with de Klerk, then served as his country’s first Black president from 1994-1999, instituting economic and social policies to benefit everyone in his country. 

The ADA: Independence for People Living with Disabilities

This month, we also recognize the anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which President George H.W. Bush signed into law on July 26, 1990. That day is known as National Disability Independence Day.

The ADA forbids discrimination against people living with disabilities and provides them with the same rights everyone else has. This spans the areas of work, school, state and local government services available to the public, national telecommunications, and public services/accommodations that private industry operates. 

At the signing ceremony, President Bush noted the law’s impact on the nation and its relationship to the Declaration of Independence.

The ADA arose from the Civil Rights Act of ‘64, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973,  and injustices perpetrated against people with disabilities. These included limited mobility, vision, and hearing, physical injuries, psychological or cognitive disorders, and other impairments that prevent individuals from performing daily activities. Prior to the law’s adoption, businesses could deprive people of employment based on a physical or mental disability. Few office buildings, theatres, restaurants, and other public locales offered easy access to people using wheelchairs or other mobility aids, and those who relied on guide dogs could be denied entry to public areas. The ADA transformed the lives of millions living with physical or psychological challenges by giving them opportunities others had since our nation’s beginning.

Those seeking freedom, equality, and belonging for individuals represent the best of humanity. In the College, we reflect on their actions and look to them for inspiration as we continue building a community where everyone can prosper both independently and in unison.