19 Questions for Social Justice
Peggy McIntosh on White Privilege
GREAT BARRINGTON, MA—Peggy McIntosh, founder of the National SEED (Seeking Educational
Equity and Diversity) Project and a former associate director of the Wellesley Centers
for Women, will lead the interactive workshop “19 Questions for Social Justice” on
Wednesday, November 16, 2016 at Bard College at Simon’s Rock. The workshop, which
is free and open to the public, will take place from 4:30-6:00 p.m. in the Daniel
Arts Center.
Gwendolyn Hampton VanSant, director of the Office of Equity and Inclusion at Simon’s Rock, members of the Council
for Equity and Inclusion, and the community will respond alongside Peggy McIntosh
to questions from the audience regarding privilege systems and higher education and
social justice. Members of the campus and local community and schools will participate
in this event. The workshop, based on McIntosh's essay “White Privilege and Male Privilege:
A Personal Account of Coming to See Correspondences through Work in Women’s Studies,”
will lead participants through a series of questions designed to explore the daily
effects of white privilege. “I was taught to see racism only in individual acts of
meanness, not in invisible systems conferring dominance on my group,” McIntosh says
in her workshop description.
"In the light of the most recent election results, it is especially important to
come together and examine racial inequities resulting from unexamined white privilege.
This is an opportunity to speak with world renowned leader and thinker on White Privilege,
Dr. McIntosh. We are fortunate to have her on campus with us all day dismantling the
barriers and pillars of our privileged institutions and systems," says VanSant. "It
is indicative of the commitment Simon's Rock has made to inclusion in its next 50
years."
The workshop is part of the Symposium for Social Justice and Inclusion, a week of programming that invites Simon’s Rock and our local community to explore
issues of race, privilege, and social justice.
ABOUT SIMON’S ROCK
Bard College at Simon's Rock, the Early College, founded in 1966, is the only college
in the country specifically designed for bright, highly motivated students ready to
enter college after the 10th or 11th grade. Simon's Rock offers a challenging program
in the liberal arts and sciences, taught exclusively in small seminars by a supportive,
highly trained faculty, who are leading scholars in their fields. The College grants
degrees in more than 35 majors. The Princeton Review's Best 380 Colleges rates academics
at Simon's Rock higher than Harvard and Princeton.
Bard Academy at Simon’s Rock is the nation’s first two-year boarding and day program
designed to prepare 9th and 10th graders to start college early. A student entering
Bard Academy as a high school freshman will earn an associate of arts degree from
Bard College at Simon’s Rock after only four years and a bachelor of arts degree after
only six years. The Academy curriculum is designed and taught by students’ future
college professors who are leading scholars in their fields.