English Department BLM Solidarity Statement

ELAC English Department faculty stand in solidarity with Black Lives Matter and support our community in protesting police violence. We are outraged as we bear witness to the murder of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and Tony McDade, and we acknowledge that their deaths are only the latest in a tragic legacy of racial violence in America. The public executions of black people and the marginalization of African-American and Afro-Latinx individuals cause pain and trauma to our students and campus community. We are dedicated to making classrooms spaces that foster critical thinking, develop student voices, and encourage dreaming beyond the conditions that currently exist in order to imagine a just world worth fighting for. We are proud that college students and educators have played significant roles in historical social movements, and today, we commit to fighting for and demanding change.

Why Major in English? Because it Opens Doors and Empowers You!

No matter what you major in, no matter what career path you choose, being able to communicate is vital to success and that’s where our department and the English AAT-degree come in. The primary things we teach—at all levels of study—are critical thinking and the art of argument. After all, that is what college is all about: learning to think for yourself and knowing what you think and why. In our classes, we examine issues critically, read classic and contemporary texts closely, and discuss enduring and current issues that affect all of us on a daily basis in order to better understand history, the world, and our place in it. Our goal is to empower you, our students, to find your unique voice so that you can create the change you want to see in your life and in the world.

It may sound cheesy, but you are the future and we believe in your ideas and intellect. It is not about what we think; it is about what you think. Our faculty is dedicated to providing the tools and guidance to help you become the most powerful, expressive, and self-aware person you can be. Using the Socratic method, we employ dialogue and debate to help us all come to higher levels of understanding. This, we believe, is the best way to make positive changes in all fields of study now and in the future, and we will work with you every step of the way to ensure that you find your unique voice and that it is strong and heard.

So, join us! English majors have rewarding careers in law, business, diplomacy, teaching, tech, communications, political science, and the arts, to name but a few. In short, the English major is a springboard for any profession that requires critical thinking and communication—and what career doesn’t? Besides, you will read some very inspiring literature that makes us all realize what it means to be human and why we are much more similar than we are different, and why both those commonalities and differences should be celebrated! As the great F. Scott Fitzgerald put it, “That is part of the beauty of all literature. You discover that your longings are universal longings, that you're not lonely and isolated from anyone. You belong.”