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Indybay Feature

Are Social Justice discussions taboo to the majority?

by Jennifer Quick
Outside of the professors at Sonoma State University that teach Sociology, it has become evident that the majority of all other professors of different majors do not like to have direct, personal conversations about Social Justice issues. Is this the norm for the population outside of a University campus, and if so- we must ask our community, why?
After extensive anonymous surveying of over two-hundred and fifteen students at Sonoma State University, not one student declined to participate in the survey when asked. On the other hand, when conducting non-anonymous face to face interviews with professors, the rejection rate was higher than the participation rate among all professors outside of the Sociology Department. At first it was taken that when approached in their office hours, they were very busy and could not spare five minutes. Although after multiple rejections, a trend was beginning to build. Rejection to discuss Social Justice in a casual manor, with only two students present in the professors own personal office setting, was shamefully the norm. Sociology is just one major at Sonoma State, the majority being other departments including Business Administration and Economics among the highest rejection rates. So, what if educated, informational platform distributors are unable to discuss our deepest issues facing society? Will the majority of our city, county, and state residents be less likely to discuss issues such as the distribution of wealth, homelessness, and gender inequality? We hear so many people talk about how they want “change” … If few are willing to even have a respectable conversation about topics such as those, how will change occur? Society must be willing to have engaged, in-depth, and vulnerable discussions with each-other. One can only imagine what society would learn about each other, how we would band together, and how we could actually implement change in Social Justice topics. We must begin with erasing the taboo of these topics and opening ourselves up. Conversations can create change, we must start them, you included.
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