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Inclusivity, Binaries and the Gaps in Between Posse Plus Retreat seeks to spark campus wide dialogue

By Adrian Summers ’19

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From February 3-5, the Posse Foundation welcomed Hamilton College students, faculty, staff and administration to embark with them on an annual journey called the Posse Plus Retreat hosted in Utica’s very own Radisson Hotel. The Posse Foundation began in 1989, with Hamilton College as one of its 57 partner colleges. Since then, the Posse Foundation has evolved into a nationally recognized initiative set on recruiting almost 7,000 Posse Scholars from diverse backgrounds and sculpting them into tomorrow’s leaders. The Posse Foundation and Posse scholars work hard to create a unique space called the Posse Plus Retreat (PPR) for members of their partner colleges’ communities to identify what is needed on campus, participate in intellectual discourse and practice working as teams to bring about change. This year, the Posse Scholars identified the theme of “Us vs. Them: Division, Community, and Identity in American Society” as an important campus issue.

One of the major themes of the weekend was inclusivity. Participants found themselves divided over how to make those who feel alienated feel as though they are welcomed and respected at campus events. The PPR is open to all students, regardless of ethnicity, political preference or citizenship status. Despite an open invitation sent out to the entire campus community, participants felt that the retreat did not have diverse schools of thought. The Posse Facilitators encouraged participants to think about “the other side” through a series of highly interactive workshops and conversations. During a game called “Zukes and Agorans,” Posse Scholars and their guests split into two teams, each with its own set of customs and language. Members of both teams visited the other side to get a sense of how the other team operated, and the goal of the game was to see which team could figure out the other’s culture. In the end, both teams understood that the way to learn and accept the other’s way of life was to welcome them into the team and teach them their traditions. This game was the first of many activities that taught inclusion and put it into practice.

Several members of the retreat challenged the notion of working and thinking within binaries. They urged everyone else to resist the idea that one can be “inclusive” by simply inviting “the other side.” According to Ken Lopez ’17, Boston Posse ’13, there are more than two sides. They explained that “We are socialized to think in such binary ways, especially in relation to gender. When we think of gender as just male/female we invalidate the existence of those who don’t identify as either.” Lopez encouraged retreaters to take on an intersectional approach to the activities. Another activity included separating into smaller groups that centered around aspects of identity. These groups included Queer, Introverted, and Liberal. Heeding the weekend’s lesson of inclusion and intersectionality, the facilitators then asked these groups to merge with one or two other groups to discuss why each member chose to focus on that aspect of themselves.

The Latinx and Afro-Latinx groups and the Black, White and Mixed Race groups merged, respectively, to discuss how broad categories, such as Black, White and Latinx, can sometimes erase those who do not identify as one or the other exclusively. The Latinx group opened themselves up to the Afro-Latinx group to understand why those who identify as AfroLatinx felt the need to create their own categories. They discussed the tensions that arise between the two. The Black, White and Mixed Race groups talked about one group’s tendency to absorb Mixed Race people into their group, without by Adrian Summers ’19 Features Contributor understanding how people can be both Black and White without exclusively belonging to one or the other. Leslie Campos ’17, a guest at the retreat, insisted that these tensions are important. According to Campos, people cannot ignore them, or they will become worse. They cannot be afraid of potentially starting drama or conflict with one another. It is everyone’s responsibility to continue having these conversations on campus, or they risk the next generation experiencing the same things—only worse.

Ultimately, one of PPR’s major takeaways was to always think intersectionally when attempting to be inclusive. People must reject binary thinking if they truly want people with unique identities to feel as though they belong. Due to Western epistemological frameworks that encourage an “either/or” approach to life, many people in today’s world have a difficult time understanding intersectionality as the interconnected, overlapping and interdependent nature of socially constructed categories of race, gender, class and other systems of discrimination or privilege. Hopefully, participants of PPR will bring these conversations back to Hamilton’s campus and bring inclusivity into action. Only then will people truly begin to answer PPR’s fundamental question: why do we have an “us versus them” mentality right now, and what are we doing about it?

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