Isabel Stengers has asked us to grapple with my position as attendees of one of the world’s leading research institutions. I cannot lie- I think about my place here a lot. I think about where my tuition money is truly going. I think about the hypocrisy, immorality, ineffectiveness, and misplaced responsibility perpetuated by Penn and its leaders. I wonder how anything will improve if we, as a small city of semi-isolated academics, are to lead the charge into the future. We are unprepared for what we face and completely unwilling to acknowledge it. I want to trust science and scientists. And I do. I want to trust Penn but for now, I can’t. Not until they match their slogans with action and become the institution they claim to be (divest).
This week I spoke with Howard Neukrug, the ex-CEO/Commissioner of the Philadelphia Water Department. During our conversation, he said, roughly, that “Penn [at the undergraduate level] is good at identifying future leaders and organizers, but they do not train students to be experts in anything in particular.” His words stuck with me as I considered my own education. What do I know? What do I know well? What will I have to contribute to the future I so desperately want to see? How can I prepare my self to have an effective life? I do not know. All I’m sure of is that my privilege and my education put me in a position to try to enact positive change and to help those who cannot help themselves.
From the lovely and ominous river:
Liquid Histories and Floating Archives 