Join us in Auerbach Hall Room 320 at the University of Hartford or online this Wednesday, Sept. 25, from 1 p.m.–2 p.m., for our next meeting of the University of Hartford Philosophy Club as Brian Skelly presents for discussion: Collective Group Accountability—Not Just a Matter of Individual Effort.
To join meeting online, click here.
Questions? Contact Brian Skelly at bskelly@hartford.edu or 413.273.2273.
I went to a meeting the other day of a local non-government organization (NGO) specializing in environmental initiatives for the local area. The fact that the meeting was poorly attended – unusual for this particular group – did not bother me, since I have been to so many poorly attended meeting, even meetings where I was the only one to show up. Oh, sure, on some level it made me sad, but I took it as an opportunity to get to know better the members that did show up. After all, it was the first meeting back since the end of summer and after another meeting had been cancelled a month earlier. Besides, one poorly attended meeting may be for accidental causes and not a true cause for alarm.
A few of the other members of the group were, however, addled by the poor showing, but for different reasons. One of the members, call him Tom, the one with the most experience in local politics and activism, at some point took the tack something like that of a football coach whose team was down at halftime: tough talk to rally the team. The only irony in this approach is that perhaps it was not those of us who had attended who needed the pep talk. To be sure, groups have to learn how to be collectively accountable. But is it appropriate to collectively challenge a group without exempting those who are already “pulling their weight”? We all remember the group punishments of grade school, where an entire class has to stay after school for collective misbehavior. Unless it is, then what can collective group accountability possibly mean?
At this meeting there was another person, call her Elaine, who took the bad attendance particularly hard, a younger person with less experience but full of eager energy and commitment, who had taken on the duties as board member of treasurer main communications officer. As the older member was giving his pep talk, her face began to change colors and even begin to contort with interior agony. Evidently, she was taking it quite personally that we had not managed to achieve a healthy quorum that evening. It took me a while to interpret the nature of her anguish.
My memories flashed back to my days as a school volunteer when my daughter Teresa was in the first grade. I was working in a room adjacent to my Teresa’s classroom, which had become noisy. At some point, the teacher, failing to gain control of her class, shouted out that the group would be punished by losing recess that day. As I continued my work, I had already begun to wonder how Teresa would react, and as the rest of class filed out, now quietly, to go to lunch I discerned her sobbing. At that point, the teacher changed her demeanor and addressed Teresa with tenderness, assuring her that she herself had done nothing wrong, but that the classroom had, and sometimes a whole group has to be disciplined. Teresa responded affirmatively when the teacher first asked her if she understood, and then declined when she was offered to be released from the punishment, saying she wanted to stay with her class.
I was at once both crushed and beaming with pride. In several subsequent discussions over the years, Teresa indicated to me that this was the birth of her social consciousness. Her crying was not out of anger or injustice, but at her helplessness at being able to steer her classmates into appropriate behavior.
An ongoing weekly tradition at the University since 2001, the University of Hartford Philosophy Club is a place where students, professors, and people from the community at large meet as peers. Sometimes presentations are given, followed by discussion. Other times, topics are hashed out by the whole group.
Presenters may be students, professors, or people from the community. Anyone can offer to present a topic. The mode of presentation may be as formal or informal as the presenter chooses.
Come live or join online! Invite friends. Suggest topics and activities. Take over the club! It belongs to you!