About me: My name is Leo Franceschi, I am a sophomore (in my third semester, absent this past fall). I am a white, gentile, cis-man, raised in an upper-middle-class family in Western Massachusetts. I plead to you, have you lost all compassion? Have you lost hope? I trust those who are reading this; mostly students, prospective students, residents, employees, alumni, or family at Connecticut College, can acknowledge our place in the world. See the position of privilege we have as a part of the College community. As students, we have access to a wide range of accurate news sources and research databases in addition to our world-class education. Yet I am outraged to return to campus for the first time since October 7th and experience near radio silence on Gaza from the general public at Conn. For those who are not inherently affected by the conflict because of their identity, I feel as though many are living their lives in ignorant privilege, myself included. No matter how you see it, students must discuss controversial issues as a part of their education with peers, professors, and co-workers. I say this, acknowledging the speech I have seen on social media from many current students, yet it is not enough. This should be a collective public dialogue as well as with our peers whom we feel comfortable discussing this with. I feel as though we, as students, are obligated to dig into uncomfortable issues and see the world for how it is, violence, controversy, and all. The College has hosted several series of discussions, hosting various perspectives on the issue. These discussions have been hosted on Zoom to keep conversations organized and civil but those attending these series usually have been in conversation with others. At other institutions of higher education, there have been mass upheavals and arrests at protests holding administrations accountable for their stance on the war. As we saw in the Spring of 2023, our students at Conn are not ones to shy away from civil disobedience. I will be candid and express my outrage with what I’ve seen as of late. Yes, the issue is a sensitive subject, but we all are obligated to see and talk about the horrific reality we live in.
We all currently reside in the United States, safe and sound while bombs decimate families, and entire communities of people just like us. We see news outlets report rising death tolls each day and seeing these numbers are making me feel numb. Numb to the repeated news of this war with no end in sight. Please do not allow yourself to normalize war in your mind.
I advocate for more conversation here on campus. Only one article since the current conflict began in the wake of Oct. 7. has been published by the Voice. Titled “Brief Understanding: Israeli-Palestinian Conflict,” I applaud the anonymous author for writing factually and acknowledging various viewpoints on the war yet a single article is not enough. One might say “But I’m not the activist type,” “Oh, I’m not political.” I call BS. Frankly, anyone staying out of a matter that concerns other living beings, as we all are so vitally interconnected, is a coward. Where are spaces for open respectful dialogue? As I understand, some shy away from events on the subject because they feel their opinion will be ignored and then they will be ostracized by others in our tight-knit community of students. I propose we have an outlet, outside the classrooms, for peers to come together and peaceably hear each other out on this issue. Not behind a computer screen or behind closed doors. We must see the urgency of this issue and listen to each other first before coming to conclusions. I hope to see these conversations around campus come to fruition.
Solidarity forever,
Leo Franceschi
Are we also expected to protest the Indonesian occupation of West Papua, or the oppression of Uyghurs, or the Rohingya or Karen of Myanmar? Should Conn students skip class everyday and cause upheaval for all of the worlds unjustices? What performative action from a random college in Southeastern Connecticut do for a conflict thousands of miles away. It’s just a contest of performance for social points of who among their peers can post the most stories on Instagram or place the most Palestinian flags outside of the library.
All lovely hopes, but since 2014 there are not spaces for “respectful dialogue.”
If you present an alternate view, even as a thought experiment, to engage in a level of empathy to hopefully create a bridge of understanding and compassion, people fall silent and then ridicule you privately because we’ve grown up in a conflict averse society in person yet encourage confrontational online branding.
We’ve replace tolerance with acceptance which is fundamentally harmful for or civic society. I don’t have to accept what you’re saying, but I can coexist around it without having hives as long as we can acknowledge the validity in each others ideas and show compassion for why that person has that view and be fine with it. “I get where you’re coming from” is so much more peaceful than “I agree! You convinced me! You win!” If you {colloquial} are “anti-capitalist” and anti-competition, why are you trying to flay my mind? Don’t scalp my brain and I won’t scalp your’s.
“Solutions not sides” is in the distant past, like a laughable shart of hope. A good compromise is when no one walks away happy; is that such a dirty thing?
I think the campus is taking a break since the wounds are perceptible from the screen.