To Our Middlebury Community,

Middlebury College represents a community that has great potential. Our community has worked diligently over the last few years to shift the way we engage with one another. This said there is still much we need to do to work to create the collaborative community we all want to see. Spring 2021 had many instances of bias and discrimination. From racist incidents like students choosing to chant, “White supremacy”, to antisemitic incidents occurring towards members of our Jewish community to transphobic remarks and actions being taken against our trans community, Middlebury has not been a perfect campus. There is much work that needs to happen to allow all of us to feel welcome and safe in our Middlebury community. 

One of the core community values we all share at Middlebury College is our Honor Code; however, this Honor Code focuses largely on academics and not what it means to actually be a community. We have community standards, but no community ownership over them. As the semester drew to a close, we co-sponsored an SGA bill that aims to address this issue. You can take a read of it here and if you are interested in being a part of this group, send us an email here. 

Best,
CSM Executive Board

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”

• Martin Luther King Jr., 1963

The Concerned Students of Middlebury believe that the demonstrated acts of violence occurring against Palestinians are inexcusable and represent some of the same forms of oppression that have contributed to great suffering of marginalized communities historically. State-sanctioned murder is unacceptable and the subjugation of Palestinian people not only is despicable but brings to the forefront imperative moral questions we all must grapple with: Where do we draw the line on these issues; how far will we go with our activism efforts to ensure marginalized voices are heard; what voices do we center and how do we ensure we are supporting those who need our support the most at that moment? These are all questions for us to answer for ourselves as we all try to be the best activists and allies we can be.
 While the Concerned Students of Middlebury was created to provide an avenue for making a change in the Middlebury community, we also are obligated to speak out against injustices that impact us as a global community. Injustices anywhere undoubtedly represent a threat to justice everywhere and, with that in mind, as well as our organizational values, we want to unequivocally state that we believe the liberation of Palestinians from the oppressive forces enacting violence upon innocent lives is not only something we should all desire but a necessity for the continued amelioration of our society. 
In solidarity,
CSM Executive Board