2017-2018 Inclusion

The Cultural and Intellectual Climate Committee (CICC) is an all-campus committee of faculty and staff appointed by the Provost. Each year members of the Committee choose a theme to frame a year-long series of lectures, discussions, film screenings, and art exhibits. This theme is meant to promote cultural life on campus and help the campus and Cortland community engage in discussions connected to issues relevant to today's world.

Brian Barrett and Jena Curtis, the committee's current co-chairs during the 2017-2018 academic year.

2017/2018 Academic Year: Incllusion

“And I would like to ask today that we should begin to dream about and plan for a different word. A fairer world.” Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, We Should All be Feminists.

Each year, the Cultural and Intellectual Climate Committee selects a different intellectual theme for the academic year. Throughout both semesters, there will be a series of campus events related to the chosen topic. Events will include guest lectures, panel discussions, movie screenings, art exhibits, music, and dramatic performances.

This year’s theme is “Incllusion.” Programming for the 2017-2018 academic year will be developed in conjunction with this year’s common read:We Should All Be Feminists , by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Learn more about this year's calendar of events. 

Incllusion

For the 2017-2018 academic year, the Cultural and Intellectual Climate Committee plans a year-long multi-disciplinary discussion focused on inclusion as a fundamental condition for equity and human rights. Inclusion necessitates the recognition of The Other: those who are not “like us” – against whom we form our identity and over whom we seek to maintain power and/or distance. It requires that we think deeply and act inclusively with regard to who “counts” as a human being and who belongs in “our” community.

This is a discussion that pertains to matters of race and ethnicity, gender identity, social class, ability, sexual orientation and much more. It is a discussion that can be informed by a broad range of disciplinary and cross-disciplinary perspectives. We invite you to participate in this and to contribute to the creation of a more inclusive campus community.

We hope that you will join us at scheduled events and that you also engage the theme through the common read.

We Should All Be Feminists, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

The highly acclaimed, provocative New York Times bestseller — a personal, eloquently-argued essay, adapted from the much admired TEDx talk of the same name — from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, award-winning author of Americanah . Here she offers readers a unique definition of feminism for the twenty-first century, one rooted in inclusion and awareness. Drawing extensively on her own experiences and her deep understanding of the often masked realities of sexual politics, here is one remarkable author’s exploration of what it means to be a woman now—and an of-the-moment rallying cry for why we should all be feminists. (From amazon.com)

Spring Events

Fall Schedule of Events

September 13 - 12:30 p.m. – Brockway Hall, Jacobus Lounge –

Dr. Matthew Chambers (University of Warsaw, Poland) – “NGO Cultures: Cold War Global Literary Institutions”

September 21 – 4:30 p.m. – Brockway Hall, Jacobus Lounge –

Dr. Anne Adams (Africana Studies Department) – “Transnational Feminism in Chimamanda Adichie’s Fiction Writings”

September 26 – 4:15 p.m. – Sperry Center, Room 106 –

Screening of Chimamanda Adichie’s “We Should All Be Feminists”

September 26 – 5:15 p.m. – Sperry Center, Room 104 –

Dr. Amber Jamilla Musser (Washington University in St. Louis) – “Mickalene Thomas, Audre Lorde, and the Maternal Origin of the Universe”

October 3 – 4:30 p.m. – Sperry Center, Room 106 –

Screening of The Hunting Ground

October 4 – 8 p.m. – Corey Union steps –

Take Back the Night March, organized by Students Active for Ending Rape (SAFER)

October 11 – 5 p.m. – Brockway Hall, Jacobus Lounge –

Poetry reading by Dr. Jericho Brown

October 24 – 4:30 p.m. – Sperry Center, Room 106 –

Screening of Cold Fear

October 26 – 12 p.m. – Brockway Hall, Jacobus Lounge –

José Faus – “Art and Activism”  

October 26 – 4 p.m. – Brockway Hall, Jacobus Lounge –

Reading by Jaimee Wriston Colbert

November 14 – 4:30 p.m. – Sperry Center, Room 106 –

Screening of Coming Out

November 15 - 5:30 p.m. - Old Main, Brown Auditorium

Peterson Toscano - "A Queer Response To Climate Change: What Would Walt Whitman Do?"

November 16 – 5 p.m. – Brockway Hall, Jacobus Lounge –

“Margins: An Interdisciplinary Keywords Conversation”

December 6 - 5 p.m. - Brockway Hall, Jacobus Lounge

Multilingual: Poetry In Translation