In Solidarity with Brown University
It seems we are being asked—yet again—to widen space within our collective heart for victims of another school shooting. We are grieving the loss of life at Brown University that happened this weekend, and wish nothing more than the healing of the students’ family, friends, and loved ones, of the injured students still receiving medical care, and of the entire Brown community.
It seems unfathomable that to exist in America means to wake up in a world where learning places you in front of the possibility of death. Our classrooms are chapels of knowledge. They are sacred places of freedom and the expansion of the mind, of profound curiosity, friendship, imagination, and determination. They are home to scribbles within the margins of notebooks, raised hands, piles of books, and late-night studying. They are the origin of nearly every invention front of you: The Google search about the weather this week; the post-it note you left for your child on the counter; the text about walking the dog, and the emoji in it, too. Our spaces of learning create our very world.
Over the past decade, I’ve helped dozens of students write their essays to Brown University. They’re some of my favorite prompts, encouraging students to reflect on their intellectual passions, where they come from, and what brings them joy. Nearly every student stumbles over the question, “What three words best describe you” and the answers never cease to delight me: Persimmon. Bold. Logophile. Puzzler. Birder. Knick-knack. Historian. Troubadour. Radio-lover. I always encourage students to stretch their perceptions of self to be more than what they might usually see. “I am large, I contain multitudes,” as Walt Whitman said.
It’s Brown’s very own Open Curriculum that invites a prismatic opportunity to learn from multiple angles, to seek threads across disciplines, and to invite students to be more than just one thing, as our society so often tells us to be. A lesson in living for all of us.
We know there are students within the Uncommon Futures community awaiting their admission results from Brown, which have now been delayed until Wednesday. We know there are people within our community who know someone on campus, or who were impacted in some way by this unimaginable tragedy. We’re here to offer our support and our care during this time.
We also stand resolute in our belief that education free from violence is as essential as the air we breathe. May we protect that which is sacred. May we fight for effective policies against guns. May we compassionately support the mental health of our citizens. May we continue to make institutions of higher education accessible, affordable, unrestricted, and uncensored. May we celebrate the diversity of all those dedicated to the pursuit of learning. And may we honor all of the students who lost their lives, and who won’t walk into the classroom again.
With a more spacious heart,
Maggie
