I am struggling to write a note that encapsulates the general mood on campus. I am not sure it is even possible to do justice in a few words to almost a year of uncertainty, turmoil, and collective grief. Besides, how can I even begin to list the many challenges and questions we all have? Campus climate is a key indicator of inclusivity and equity, but without doing empirical research, I think we all know that we are not doing well.

By Jacob Dwyer and Pushpa Iyer

We truly appreciate the time and effort that each of you put into reading, answering, and commenting our polls.

In this section, we highlight the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee; the Nuremberg Trials Interpreters Exhibit; and the experience from a Restorative Practices training at MIDD, Vermont.

This section presents personal stories and experiences of some of our community members. In this issue we highlight Ariana Sawyer, Rebecca Picard, Bob Cole and William Arrocha.

The Allies at MIIS initiative did a lot to raise awareness and provide a variety of opportunities to community members by hosting various speakers and discussion forums on campus during the second half of the semester.

By Pushpa Iyer

Given our global context, campus climate, job uncertainty, instances of bullying on our campus, and growing reports of mental health concerns in the classroom, I feel compelled to say something to our community on how to avoid burnout. If burnout were on a spectrum, I dare say that many of us on our campus will find ourselves on it; I know I do, especially since I started working on racial justice and equity issues.

(with contributions from Jacob Dwyer)

Academia, in general, and on an average, is considered to be liberal. There is a sense and, for some, proof that conservative ideas are not welcomed in academia.

News from other higher education campuses helps us learn and understand what to do as an institution to avoid racist incidents. This issue we highlight the closing of two fraternities by activists at Swarthmore University, an incident of racial profiling at Barnard College, and the American Council on Education’s status of race and ethnicity in higher education.

In this issue, we present a TV series you may want to enjoy over the summer. If you have any books, movies, shows, etc. that you would like to recommend, feel free to let us know!

I present this issue with a heavy heart. We, at Middlebury, are going through a workforce planning process (a euphemism for layoffs) in a bid to reduce compensation costs and correct our long-standing deficit. Every loss will be felt deeply on the MIIS campus as we are a small community and the absence of each person will be experienced both on a personal and institutional level.

We enjoy the interactions with all of you through this section in the newsletter. Thank you to everyone who participated in our second poll on the topic of Trigger Warnings. We received 177 responses with many comments that helped us understand the various perspectives of our community about trigger warnings.