With a fresh new batch of students returning from their own Common Ground experience, I am forced to take another look at the aftermath of my own Common Ground experience. For those unfamiliar with Common Ground (CG), it’s a student-led weekend retreat where you discuss major social issues. During my CG retreat, we talked about Socio-economic status (SES), race, sexuality, and gender. We sought to unpack these issues and lean into the discomfort. Hopefully, finding a “common ground” amongst each other.
Ever since I went to CG last year, something has always been amiss. I could never really put it into words why I just felt weirded out by the entire program. There were definitely moments I loved, such as meeting a brand new group of Duke students and starting new friendships. And then there were moments I definitely didn’t love, such as the superficiality and lack of depth when we “unpacked” these issues.
I am not downplaying the testimonies I heard from other students. They showed a tremendous amount of strength sharing their stories with us. However, the CG activities were definitely lacking. There was a lack of realism in the unpacking of each issue. A discussion of race would devolve into a discussion on the use of the n-word in everyday life. Not once did we discuss racism as the system of oppression put in place centuries ago and solidified through actions and beliefs. The representation of these issues was weak; they weren’t real explorations into our societal racism.
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CG annoyed me. I couldn’t see a point to any of the activities and for some I didn’t even contribute. A facilitator once told me, “There is no point to Common Ground,” there is no hidden agenda. Frankly, I disagree. There may not have been an agenda on how I should feel, but I believe the CG staff had an idea of a specific focal point to view each issue, or at least to introduce each issue so that we could talk about them.
The function of these focal points was to provide maximum awareness, but after my CG experience I became a little dismissive of these focal points. When talking about social economic status, it seemed like all they wanted was pity from richer students. I can’t begin to describe how the words “I never realized my wealth” grated on my every nerve. Yes, please feel bad because you’re rich #sarcasm. Real poverty stems from so much more, and during CG I felt as if it was trivialized. It stopped being a social issue and just became a center of pity. Race was even worse. They played into the racism as an intent agenda.
As the weekend went on, I became more and more annoyed. I loved the people I met and the friendships that started, but I couldn’t get over how CG seemed to take critical issues in my life and only focus on the shallow representations. A friend of mine told me that “being liberal is in.” It’s the new hip trend. It’s “cool” to be for certain liberal rights like gay marriage – but what about tax rights, or adoption? How are we dealing with the deeper issues? This new trend of being liberal begins and ends on the superficial level.
On the day about gender, we talked extensively about rape. But not once did anyone question rape culture. Why are women the primary targets of rapes? Why are they viewed as lesser than men? Who wrote these societal narratives where being a man is equated to power, control, and domination? These issues that make up the very bones of my everyday societal interactions were distorted into cursory micro-aggressions, like being able to say the n-word.
I don’t expect CG to end discrimination in all of its forms; however, if the goal is to promote awareness, then why not teach the whole truth and not just the shallow bits and pieces? Every CG experience is unique and I can only speak to my reaction. I will say that CG does create an incredibly safe environment to promote students giving their testimonies. In fact, during my CG experience, the most powerful moments happened while listening to the testimonies of other students.
I believe that CG can be a powerful force on our campus, but I cannot prescribe the superficial agenda that it currently represents to me. Maybe CG is different now; it has been over a year since my CG experience. In case it hasn’t changed, I hope the new directors use this article as a diagnostic tool for things to work on. I also encourage all of the readers to go on Common Ground; maybe your experience will be illuminating in more positive ways. The only way you can tell is by going and being a part of the CG experience.