RPI, overall as an institution, cultivates a distinct value system based on logic and de-politicization, as does the larger STEM-based environment. The conversation and implications of this in itself could be an entire project, but here it is not. A (perhaps somewhat small) part of this culture is opposition to artistic expression; Rensselaer students are encouraged (by each other, by university policy, by employment advertising, and by a whole host of other factors) to see emotional attachment as frivolous and arts and humanities fields and anti-intellectual. As such, not only is there no official space to showcase personal and artistic literature (the main branch of the Folsom library doesn’t even carry fiction), there is no unofficial network to support it either. The idea of creating a literary magazine-type space at RPI was in effort to counter the dominant (and sometimes overwhelming) tide of apathy.
This class and the projects in it contribute to a list of things which make me acutely aware of why I care so much and why I don’t have a choice. Before coming to college I would not have been able to understand that some people are able to just not care. I don’t mean because they aren’t empathetic; college students, especially those in fields like engineering, are capable of political detachment (and the political detachment that comes with it) because they are not, materially at least, affected by politics. A large part of the reason I want other students to be involved and engaged is because of how alienating it is to be constantly aware that I am unable to be a part of this culture of apathy (not that I want to be). It’s not even that I want student to agree with my beliefs and thoughts. I do, or course, but I would rather students hold views I find disgusting and hold them with passion and work to build these disgusting views into their work then for them to see politics as unimportant or completely theoretical or disconnected from science and technology altogether. When fighting for change, another’s neutrality is the same as their opposition to change, just more normalizing and harder to attack. Most students here are in fact very political, they just see their politics through a veil of hyper-rationality and neutrality. RPI and places like it, for all of there reasons, are the perfect breeding grounds for ultra-conservative politics, but everyone, on some level, already knows that and again, that’s not really the point I’m trying to make in this paper.
It hasn’t always been this way. In the library archives lie memos and journals and newsletters from the 60s all about political action at and about RPI. Folders full of gem like “Cabbage is a newsletter … dedicated to the death of the Rensselaer Pig Institute, a factory which produces automatons to run the capitalist-imperialist machine”. And while there are certainly still students who hold the same sentiment, there isn’t a newsletter; During the vietnam war, the student senate sent a letter, co-signed by the presidents of every fraternity, to president Nixon directly opposing the conflict. It’s almost impossible to wrap your head around the idea of fraternities publically and unifiedly supporting or condemning any major political movement. Of course, maybe this should feel bleak rather than inspiring, as even with all of this student opposition and institute political tension, the university was still very involved with some of the most gruesome parts of the war (napalm).
I did not have the highest hopes for my and Jess’s project, given how strong a hold this culture has on RPI and how much of the population embraces it, but I am still disappointed that more students, specifically from outside the class, have not submitted work. While I appreciate and love all the work from “gender in history” folks, they’re already, to some degree at least, political and I don’t think anyone in the class would argue with the statement “personal expression has a place in the academic sphere”. Perhaps in and of itself the fact that efforts to convince the general student body to submit work failed is a testament to the RPI culture.
It hasn’t always been this way. In the library archives lie memos and journals and newsletters from the 60s all about political action at and about RPI. Folders full of gem like “Cabbage is a newsletter … dedicated to the death of the Rensselaer Pig Institute, a factory which produces automatons to run the capitalist-imperialist machine”. And while there are certainly still students who hold the same sentiment, there isn’t a newsletter; During the vietnam war, the student senate sent a letter, co-signed by the presidents of every fraternity, to president Nixon directly opposing the conflict. It’s almost impossible to wrap your head around the idea of fraternities publically and unifiedly supporting or condemning any major political movement. Of course, maybe this should feel bleak rather than inspiring, as even with all of this student opposition and institute political tension, the university was still very involved with some of the most gruesome parts of the war (napalm).
I did not have the highest hopes for my and Jess’s project, given how strong a hold this culture has on RPI and how much of the population embraces it, but I am still disappointed that more students, specifically from outside the class, have not submitted work. While I appreciate and love all the work from “gender in history” folks, they’re already, to some degree at least, political and I don’t think anyone in the class would argue with the statement “personal expression has a place in the academic sphere”. Perhaps in and of itself the fact that efforts to convince the general student body to submit work failed is a testament to the RPI culture.
Obviously this aversion to politics (especially the kind of politics of ascribed to that of a ~social justice warrior~ can easily and often does translate to aversion to feminism. Efforts to reduce the gender gap, for example, are seen by many (male) students as unimportant to science / a misuse or, in a more extreme example, some kind of aggressive liberal pandering that I don’t really have a word for. But with this aggression towards feminism simply because it is political change (for the purpose of political change), there is a more subtle sexism in the RPI culture; values like emotional, art, humanitarianism are seen as useless or at least as useless in STEM, and “coincidently”, they are values traditionally associated with femininity. I have never been especially interested in literature, but I feel almost like I have a duty to support it simply because that kind of expression is looked down on so heavily here and with it, softness.
Individualism is also a very masculine value and, of course, it is incredibly pervasive at RPI. There is no (or at least very little) sense of community, both at the school and connecting the school to the larger world. This is very difficult for me to deal with, but when I bring this up in most circles, people see this as weakness. The unique strain of social Darwinism of this setting dictates that needing a community or support system indicates one cannot and will not succeed. A literature magazine sure isn’t the biggest thing needed, but it might help people feel more connected if they had a place to expose their personal stories and to be vulnerable.
I spent some time “advertising” this space online (for example, in the RPI facebook page), but the more important or more informative interaction i’ve had with people about it have been in person. A large part of what I hoped to (and did) get out of this project is not the end result itself, but a new understanding of individuals feelings about such a project. Most people I spoke to one-on-one said either that the “didn’t have time” or that they “aren’t artistic”. While a large part of me is very sympathetic to the idea of being to busy to put anything more on one’s plate, it does kind of make me angry that art is really never a priority, at RPI or under capitalism in general. Anyone can be good at art and anyone can have time if they put the effort in; this is not to say it is any individual's fault for not putting the effort in, but it is the larger society’s fault for creating economic and ideological conditions to force them not too. The project has certainly made me more aware of the way that the university (probably purposefully, but I certainly don’t have the research to back that up) uses an incredibly heavy workload to make sure students don’t have time to think about and discuss the political implications of that work.
I don’t think the site has ended up really helping anyone express themselves or question the STEM value system, but I do think it has made me more capable of working to create projects that will be more successful in the future, if that counts for anything. And to anyone reading this (on the very site discussed), I hope you take it as encouragement to engage with your emotional self!
- Ari
I don’t think the site has ended up really helping anyone express themselves or question the STEM value system, but I do think it has made me more capable of working to create projects that will be more successful in the future, if that counts for anything. And to anyone reading this (on the very site discussed), I hope you take it as encouragement to engage with your emotional self!
- Ari
Comments
Post a Comment