Our Mission: The John Stuart Mill Forum is a space in which students of all and differing beliefs can freely discuss ideas pertinent to politics and culture. The Forum will serve as an integral role in assisting the College towards becoming a more ideologically tolerant campus in which actively celebrates the plurality of opinions as well as lively, yet civil, discourse.
Our Principles: The Forum is founded on the fundamental principles that 1) In a multi-cultural environment such as the College of Wooster disagreement about important issues is inevitable. 2) Members of this community should not shy away from expressing, in public, their convictions on such issues. 3) As a campus–and a society more generally–we can more efficiently reach mutually acceptable resolutions, without creating resentment and hostility as a side-effect, if more people had the opportunity to engage frequently with whom they disagree.
Why Mill?: The Forum is named after 19th century British philosopher and parliamentarian John Stuart Mill. He was anti-slavery and a radical for his time on women’s rights and democracy. Most germane to the purpose’s of the Forum, Mill’s 1895 work On Liberty has stood the test of time as one of the most stirring calls ever produced for open discourse and the robust protections of free speech.
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