2021: Radical Implications: Facing a Planetary Emergency
Radical Implications: Facing a Planetary Emergency
The climate crisis confronts each of us with urgent questions and bewildering choices about what to do, what to learn, where to go, and who to be at this momentous historical crossroads. In this Clifford Symposium, we will bring together students, faculty, staff, and the wider networks of which Middlebury is a part to discuss our roles as we face increasingly turbulent planetary futures.
What can, and should, college be offering to young people as they prepare to join this pivotal moment? How are we all reimagining our disciplines, our communities, our futures? What does it mean for our students—from dancers and economists to marine biologists, elementary school teachers, and computer scientists—to be coming of age in an age of planetary crisis and transformation? And what would an education that is proportionate to the radical implications of the climate crisis look like?
Whatever your role in our learning community, we welcome you to join us for these vital conversations during this year’s Clifford Symposium, taking place September 23–25.
As Middlebury’s hallmark academic year kickoff, the Clifford Symposium brings together the entire community to tackle big ideas and meaningful questions. We’re eager to see where this year’s events take us.
In addition to the events listed below, there will be numerous opportunities to reflect, share stories, and be creative throughout the symposium, around campus and online.
In-Person and Online Event Attendance Information
Due to continued caution with COVID, the Clifford Symposium is using a hybrid model:
IN PERSON: we are able to welcome only Middlebury College faculty, staff, and students to attend most events in person, in Wilson Auditorium. Registration is not required but attendees will sign in and must wear masks inside. If events reach in person capacity limits, or if campus community members are more comfortable attending virtually, please join online.
VIRTUAL: All events (with noted exceptions) will be livestreamed and open to the wider general public and alumni. Registration is required. Please sign up to attend online below.
Recordings: All events except Student Perspectives and the Knoll will be recorded and available to view.
Schedule of Events
Center Gallery, McCullough
powerful and haunting exhibit, to be installed in McCullough, with opportunities for people to offer reactions and reflections.
Hostile Terrain 94 is a global pop-up art installation organized by the Undocumented Migration Project aimed to bring attention to the humanitarian crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border. This project illustrates how the U.S. policy of “prevention through deterrence” results in migrant death by weaponizing the extreme climate of the Sonoran Desert.
For more information please visit:
Students, faculty, and staff approved to be on campus are also encouraged to book a free appointment to visit the Middlebury College Museum of Art’s fall exhibit: . Can’t visit in person? Stay updated on associated virtual events and changes to museum access policies at .
Campus Community: in-person Wilson Auditorium || General Public: register online below
joins the other cofounders of 350.org (all Middlebury alums) to reflect on the past decade of climate activism, on successes and failures, and on what’s changed (and what hasn’t, and what must) in the climate movement.
, joined by , , , , , and .
Facilitation: , Professor of Economics and Environmental Studies
Campus Community: in-person Wilson Auditorium || General Public: register online below
, author of and cocreator of the , will address the powerful emotions inherent in facing the climate crisis and how to navigate them.
Facilitation: , Professor of History and John C. Elder Professor in Environmental Studies
Campus Community: in-person Wilson Auditorium || General Public: register online below
An interdisciplinary group of Middlebury faculty will discuss how they are grappling (not always successfully) with the radical implications of what is now unfolding.
Panelists include: , Artist in Residence in Environmental Affairs; , Associate Professor of Education Studies, , Associate Professor of Political Science; , Professor of Food Studies; , Visiting Assistant Professor of History and Jewish Studies; and , Assistant Professor of Economics.
Facilitation: , Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies
Campus Community: in-person Wilson Auditorium || General Public: register online below
, author of and , and cohost of , will conclude the first day of the symposium by addressing themes of activism, movement strategy, and social change and transformation.
Introduction by Laurie Patton, Middlebury College President
Facilitation: Ivonne Juárez Serna ‘23
Campus Community: in-person Wilson Auditorium || General Public: register online below
, legendary labor organizer and author of , , and , will share her analysis on what the fight for climate justice can learn from the legacies and continuing struggles of the labor movement.
Facilitation: , Associate Professor of Sociology
Campus Community: in-person Wilson Auditorium || General Public: register online below
, climate justice activist, writer, and host of the and editor of its , will address the experience of coming online as a young person into such an outrageous situation and how to think through what to do about it.
Facilitation: , Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies
Campus Community: in-person Wilson Auditorium || General Public: register online below
A group of Middlebury arts and humanities faculty join together to discuss the importance of creative expression in making sense of, relating to, and intervening in the many compounding urgencies of the climate crisis.
Panelists include: , Scholar in Residence in Dance; , Aassistant Professor of Studio Art; , Assistant Professor of Luso-Hispanic Studies; Visiting Assistant Professor of English & American Literatures; , Assistant Professor of American Studies; and Mark Orten, Director and Dean of Spiritual and Religious Life.
During this session, attendees will be invited to participate in the collective installation of the Hostile Terrain exhibit which memorializes lives lost at the US-Mexico border by filling out toe tags with information about migrants who died in their journey north.
Students only: Wilson Auditorium
In this student-organized event, students themselves will share their own reactions to and reflections and perspectives on the big questions that define the themes for this symposium; student organizers will help connect these big questions to traditions of activism on this campus and ways of getting involved.
Please note: this event is only open to Middlebury College students.
Campus Community: in-person Wilson Auditorium || General Public: register online below
, member of the Canim Lake Band Tsq’escen and a descendant of the Lil’Wat Nation of Mount Currie, is a writer, journalist, and activist. His keynote will conclude the second day of the symposium by helping us connect the dots brought together in the climate crisis (and by this symposium), taking stock of how we got here, where we are, and where we must go (and who is this “we,” anyway?).
Facilitation: , Associate Professor of Political Science
The Knoll
Weather permitting, The Knoll will provide an intentional space for socializing, enjoying the day, and getting on with the task of living lives amid planetary turbulence and transformation.
Please note this event is open only to Middlebury College faculty, staff, and students.
Instructions on visiting the Knoll
Due to continued caution with COVID, the Clifford Symposium is using a hybrid model:
IN PERSON: we are able to welcome only Middlebury College faculty, staff, and students to attend most events in person, in Wilson Auditorium. Registration is not required but attendees will sign in and must wear masks inside. If events reach in person capacity limits, or if campus community members are more comfortable attending virtually, please join online.
VIRTUAL: All events (with noted exceptions) will be livestreamed and open to the wider general public and alumni. Registration is required. Please sign up to attend online above.
This year’s Clifford Symposium is organized by an interdisciplinary team of faculty, staff, and students.
Questions? Want to get involved? Contact Dan Suarez (dsuarez@middlebury.edu) or Minna Brown (mbbrown@middlebury.edu).
Generous financial support is provided by Middlebury College and the Erol Foundation through the Climate Action Capacity Project.
Cosponsors include: The Franklin Environmental Center at Hillcrest, Program in Environmental Studies, Department of English and American Literatures, Program in American Studies, Department of Luso-Hispanic Studies, Department of Anthropology, International and Global Studies Program, Rohatyn Center for Global Affairs, Feminist Resource Center at Chellis House, Charles P. Scott Center for Spiritual and Religious Life, midd.data, among others.