Is SAGE a Culture Club?

by BRENDAN HEGARTY ‘20

The club SAGE, or Students Advocating for Gender Equality, meets on Fridays during activities period from 3:00-3:30. Co-head Seth Gordon (I) states the club wants to “educate and discuss issues around gender equality” and “take what is discussed” in meetings and “bring it to the broader community.”

Beyond the club’s specific goals, Gordon sees the club’s role in the community as having “a responsibility to engage the community in conversations and dialogue around gender identity,” and he thinks that it has a responsibility to not only “advocate for gender equality” but also “bring those issues into daily dialogue,” reminding the student body of its “responsibility as a community to push for gender equity and equality.”

The school considers the group a culture club, and Gordon explains that this label can be “complicated” depending on the definition and conceptions of a culture club at Milton. Gordon thinks “most culture clubs surround a certain identity,” but the label depends upon one’s definition of culture. To a certain extent, feminism can be seen as a form of culture. The co-head is unsure if the label accurately represents SAGE, and he recognizes that it could create an idea that the club is for only women.

In this case, labelling means more than a mere summation of the club, as culture clubs get $500 a year in funding, much more than normal clubs receive. According to Gordon, this money is a reason the club is “reluctant to change” its label. The money is needed for speakers that are often very expensive due to their acclaim and it also helps with other events the club runs over the year.

English teacher Olivia Robbins, one of SAGE’s two faculty sponsors, finds that SAGE “does not easily fit with the label of ‘culture club’” when compared to other clubs that are spaces “for students to share and learn about those with marginalized identities,” especially racial or ethnic identities. At the same time, Robbins thinks there “should be a space to learn about the experiences of cis women, trans people, non-binary folks, and others with marginalized gender identities” on campus, continuing that “SAGE aims to be a space that facilitates this learning in the service of promoting gender equity.”

The question of a proper title has split some members of the Milton community. Willa DuBois (II) finds the label of “culture club” strange because she thinks that “being a woman is not a culture” and is confused about what specific culture the club aims to represent.

Jonathan Cao (III) believes that “gender inequality and the fight to get rid of it” are inherently “cultural,” because he thinks many parts of sexism are “ingrained” in our culture. At the same time, Cao believes the advocacy for gender equality is not “directly a culture.” Overall, he does not think that the specifics of a club’s classification should matter too much.

Although there is some difference of opinion on how well the label of “culture club” fits SAGE as an activity, this classification’s monetary benefits are undeniable. To many, the precision of a club’s classification seems irrelevant, but the precedents of what is and is not a deemed “culture” on campus could hold greater implications on the Milton climate.

Milton Paper