The “AND is in our DNA” slogan has been around for quite some time. Northwestern University students and faculty reflect on both its benefits and implications.
[Rooftop Sunsets by Alexey Anisimov]
“AND IS IN OUR DNA”
THIS TRADEMARKED NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY SLOGAN HAS BEEN AROUND SINCE 2015. THE PHRASE IS ONLY 5 WORDS, BUT STUDENTS AND FACULTY AT NU HAVE
MORE THAN 5 WORDS TO SAY ABOUT IT.
[Locke] I think it’s important not to necessarily impugn what I assume are the
good intentions of the administrators and marketing folks at Northwestern who
develop the slogan, but I think it has a range of unintended consequences for
members of the community that has been troubling for several years now.”
PETER LOCKE IS AN ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF INSTRUCTION IN THE
GLOBAL HEALTH STUDIES PROGRAM AT NU SINCE 2014. LOCKE SAID THE
“AND” PART OF THE “AND IS IN OUR DNA” SLOGAN SPEAKS TO CAPITALIST
VALUES INGRAINED IN OUR CULTURE.
[Locke] That picks up on our larger cultural expectations that what makes a life
worth living is extensive over achievements of various kinds, right and especially
a lot of hard work and sacrifice to stand out from the crowd to overachieve in a
capitalist society, whether that’s measured by money, or other criteria.
LOCKE SAID HE IS MOST INTRIGUED BY THE LATTER HALF OF THE SLOGAN. SPECIFICALLY, THE WORD “DNA” AS IT REFLECTS THE “TECHNOSCIENTIFIC
OPTIMISM” OF SOCIETY.
[Locke] The heavy emphasis on STEM education and STEM achievement,
especially during the generation of students that’re teaching now last 20-30
years, so much alarm over are we being competitive as a society in terms of our
STEM skills and achievements.
LOCKE SAID HE RESENTS THE WORD “DNA” IN THIS STATEMENT.
[Locke] It doesn’t feel terribly inclusive to me of what a broader liberal arts
education is meant to be about, which of course includes the sciences, in that
sort of technological know how, but should go well beyond that to the supportive
training of good ethical citizens and advocates for the most vulnerable in our
cultures and societies once they leave here.
ONE OF LOCKE’S BIGGEST CONCERNS WITH THIS STATEMENT IS THE
SLOGAN’S IMPACT ON STUDENTS’ MENTAL HEALTH. HE SHARED HOW
STUDENTS HAVE COME TO HIS OFFICE BREAKING DOWN AND FEELING
OVERWHELMED. LOCKE SAID HE HAS OBSERVED STUDENTS COMPETING
OVER HOW BUSY THEY ARE.
[Locke] You kind of all feel like you’re supposed to be stressed out and miserable
all the time. And if you’re not stressed out and miserable all the time, right, maybe you’re doing something wrong, and that doesn’t seem particularly healthy either.
FOURTH-YEAR SHANTHA BURT STUDYING GLOBAL HEALTH, PSYCHOLOGY,
AND DATA SCIENCE SHARED SIMILAR SENTIMENTS ABOUT THE PRODUCTIVITY
CULTURE ON CAMPUS
[Burt] Everyone is just kind of been booked and busy all the time and everyone
overbooked themselves and over commit and it can be super stressful and even
when you like don’t have free time, I think it’s a common tendency for Northwestern students to always feel like they’re not doing enough.
ALTHOUGH BURT SAID THIS SLOGAN CAN SOMETIMES STIGMATIZE HAVING
FREE TIME AT NU, SHE ALSO SAID THE SLOGAN’S FOUNDATION IS KEY TO
WHY SHE APPLIED TO NU IN THE FIRST PLACE.
[BURT ] Everyone is so passionate and so driven and so unique in what they’re
passionate about, and that’s because they’re able to combine their different
interests and do really, really cool things.
BURT SAID IT IS THE “AND” IN OUR DNA THAT FUELS STUDENTS’ UNIQUE
PATHS AND MAKES THE ENVIRONMENT MORE SUPPORTIVE THAN CUTTHROAT ON CAMPUS
[BURT] Because everyone’s kind of on their own trajectory, doing their own
unique thing. It’s not really cutthroat. It’s very collaborative. People are very
interested in seeing you know how everyones passions come together and you know how you can merge two different peoples’ paths into one really cool project or something like that.
JOE LATTAL, THE ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR OF STUDENT ORGANIZATIONS AND ACTIVITIES AT NU SAID IT IS THE VARIETY OF INTERESTS ON CAMPUS THAT MAKES NU UNIQUE
[Lattal] It encourages you to branch out, it encourages you to build relationships
for academics, as well as other experiences here, and just kind of grants that
privilege of being able to get involved and pursue your interests.
LATTAL WAS AWARE OF THE CRITICISM FOR THIS SLOGAN AND SAID WELL-
BEING IS A PRIORITY
[Lattal] We’re not encouraging students to try and, you know, optimize every
single minute of their time here with something structured or an involvement but I will say that, you know, wellness and wellbeing are principal concerns, as well as
opportunities for students to be well and be happy here.
FOR SECOND-YEAR ECON AND DATA SCIENCE MAJOR JACK TROXEL, WELL-
BEING WHILE SIMULTANEOUSLY BEING INVOLVED IN A VARIETY OF ACTIVITIES SUCH AS CLUB SWIM AND CLUB WATER POLO, DANCE MARATHON, BUSINESS
CLUBS, AND A FRATERNITY, IS ALL ABOUT BALANCE.
[Troxel] I feel like it’s a great balance between like picking activities that I really
really like doing which a lot of the time I feel like just make school go a lot easier
for myself. I feel like if I can spend more time playing water polo or swimming or
training for triathlons and doing stuff that I really enjoy it then makes the time that
I have to spend doing schoolwork and whatnot less stressful and it’s always good
to take breaks doing things that I like to do.
BURT SAID IT TOOK TIME FOR HER TO FIGURE OUT HER BALANCE AT NU, BUT
SAID SHE SOMETIMES STILL STRESSES OVER COMPARISONS BETWEEN
PEERS. THIS IS HER ADVICE.
[BURT] Not feel like you’re behind or not feel like you’re inadequate. I think you
just gotta keep your head up, and you got to be confident. And you also got to
know that things work out.
WHILE THIS SLOGAN CAN BE CONTROVERSIAL, IT IS IMPORTANT TO
RECOGNIZE BOTH ITS BENEFITS AND IMPLICATIONS. FROM WNUR NEWS, I’M ARI BERNICK
[Rooftop Sunsets by Alexey Anisimov]
