{"id":6876,"date":"2020-09-17T09:00:14","date_gmt":"2020-09-17T14:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/norwegian\/?page_id=6876"},"modified":"2023-06-07T08:29:33","modified_gmt":"2023-06-07T13:29:33","slug":"statement-on-inclusivity","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/norwegian\/statement-on-inclusivity\/","title":{"rendered":"Statement on Inclusivity"},"content":{"rendered":"

Letter to the community<\/h2>\n

Sept. 8th, 2020<\/h4>\n


In my role as the chair of the Norwegian Department at St. Olaf College, I am constantly on the lookout for new and innovative ways to connect my students\u2019 understanding of Norwegian society and culture to our college\u2019s heritage.<\/p>\n

The majority of my students come with the perception that\u00a0Norwegian-Americans resemble\u00a0Norwegians\u00a0in terms of societal, cultural and religious attitudes. I expand their knowledge and also help them explore contemporary\u00a0Norway, a culture often quite different from the culture celebrated by their grandparents and great grandparents. I often find myself needing to help my students distinguish between\u00a0Norwegian\u00a0and\u00a0Norwegian-American. But it wasn\u2019t until this summer that I realized that we also need to now distinguish between the college\u2019s\u00a0Norwegian-American heritage from that of white supremacy.<\/p>\n

This week, two social media groups claiming to be made up of students and alumni began using various pieces of the college\u2019s heritage to hide behind a mask of white supremacy. In light of these posts, we want to make it clear where the\u00a0Norwegian\u00a0Department\u00a0at St. Olaf College stands: we do not condone white supremacy in or outside of our classrooms. These dangerous ideologies have no place at St. Olaf.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Norwegian\u00a0Department\u00a0and its faculty do not feel under threat by a changing student, staff or faculty; we embrace it. Yes, it is true, many students who study\u00a0Norwegian\u00a0do so because they have some\u00a0Norwegian\u00a0ancestry, but Norwegianness is often just one way an individual identifies. Additionally, the study of\u00a0Norwegian\u00a0also draws students intrigued by social welfare policies, gender equality, indigenous rights, and climate awareness among many other things, and its literature reflects diverse and often progressive thinking on these issues.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Norwegian\u00a0department\u00a0and its faculty fully support BIPOC students\u2019 ongoing struggles for inclusion. We are working hard to address inclusion and anti-racist pedagogies in our curriculum, to more accurately reflect both the diversity of the\u00a0Norwegian\u00a0experience of the past as well as the diversity of its present. We continue to push our students and ourselves to explore questions of identity and belonging in an academic way that doesn\u2019t assume a particular student profile. We are working to understand and address the impact of white supremacy in and outside of our classrooms.<\/p>\n

St. Olaf College was founded by\u00a0Norwegian-Americans; nothing will change that. The college has evolved over the last 148 years and it will continue to. We must dismantle the systems of oppression in our institution and society. Those are necessary changes for our college to flourish for the next 148 years.<\/p>\n

Norwegian-Americans, and those interested in the academic study of\u00a0Norwegian, please join us in listening, being more inclusive of, and advocating for our BIPOC students, staff and faculty.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
Kari Lie Dorer, Jenna Coughlin, Tanya Thresher, Ida Moen Johnson<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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