The Power & Privilege Symposium
What is the Power & Privilege Symposium?
The Power & Privilege Symposium is designed to make space for conversations about structural oppression and how they manifest themselves on the Whitman College campus and beyond. Topics include racism, sexism, ableism, capitalism and more. The community unites to support the lectures, panels, discussions and showcases created by our peers. The symposium strives to educate the community about the power structures prevailing around the world, questioning many of the paradigms which have socialized us. Our mission as a team is to create an environment that interrogates hard questions and the relationships, and structures of power and privilege.
2023 Theme: No More Allies
The 2023 Power & Privilege Symposium will interrogate the various issues and injustices impacting minority and marginalized communities, and imagine the ways that we can move from allies to accomplices in social justice work.
Difference between being an“ally”and an“accomplice:”
An ally will mostly engage in activism by standing with an individual or group in a marginalized community. An accomplice will focus more on dismantling the structures that oppress that individual or group—and such work will be directed by the stakeholders in the marginalized group.
–Learning for Justice