To the Editor:
I’m glad to hear the Third World Center has determined a new name and a more specific mission (“TWC creates new name, mission,” Sept. 11). Institutions should continuously evolve and adapt to meet student needs; following its strategic planning process, the new Brown Center for Students of Color appears poised to play a significant role at Brown in addressing issues of race, social justice and on-campus activism.
Student activism surrounding questions of race and social justice is essential to pushing Brown forward. And given the slogan center Director and Assistant Dean of the College Mary Grace Almandrez articulates — “Visualize. Vocalize. Mobilize” — I gather such activism will be a main priority for the re-imagined center, which has historically tried to house both activism and conversation. But as the BCSC narrows in its focus, I hope another space emerges to foster the self-exploration, open conversation and grappling with questions of race and identity that I and many friends cherished at Brown.
Activism and exploration should be separate: The former requires a singular agenda or value frame to be effective, while I find the latter, in its truest, most instructive form, assumes and allows for disagreement and varying levels of knowledge. But in my experience, few spaces at Brown specifically seek to foster that kind of conversation (or, if they do, succeed in attracting sustained student interest) — personally, I stumbled upon it spontaneously, late at night in the Sciences Library or over drinks at the Graduate Center Bar.
As an alum, I’m excited to see what the future holds for the BCSC. But I hope Brown remembers to also prize the conversation and education students like me valued — and that somehow, the University finds a way to promote that as well.
Shefali Luthra ’14
The author is a former Herald editor-in-chief.
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