Ruby Clarke ’24 does it all—or, as much as she can. An American Studies and College of Social Studies (CSS) double major, Clarke represents the class of 2024 as the chair of the Student Life Committee (SLC) on the Wesleyan Student Assembly (WSA), serves as the chief steward for the Wesleyan Union of Student Employees (WesUSE), co-chairs the student publication Disorientation, and works for the Office of Residential Life (ResLife) as a house manager for Community Engagement House. She also belongs to the Wesleyan Democratic Socialists (WesDS) and is a senior member of the United Student Labor Action Coalition (USLAC), in addition to being part of the Student Worker Alliance Network, a coalition of student workers across the country involved in union organizing. Despite frequent back-to-back meeting schedules after full days of class, Clarke draws energy from all her commitments because they allow her to give back to her community.

The Argus: What has been most meaningful to you recently about all this work you’ve been involved in?

Ruby Clarke: Being a senior, it’s been really interesting having people come to me in a mentor/mentee context, or people reaching out to me outside of groups that I’ve been previously involved in and asking for advice or support or help. It’s really interesting to be someone that people see as a resource because I remember being a freshman, and the people I saw as resources then, and wondering how they got there. And now I’m here. And I’m a little confused about how I got here, quite frankly. But it’s really beautiful to feel like you’re able to help people in a way that is meaningful to them and meaningful to you.

Invitation is one of the most important things that you can do. Organizing and advocacy are like inviting people to a space and letting them know that they are wanted and they have a reason and purpose for being there. I still think being invited to places always gets me, just because it feels really nice to feel like you have something that other people want to include in that space.

A: If you could give advice to future student activists, what would you say?

RC: Figuring out why you’re doing what you’re doing is really important—and making sure you can come back to that. In a political context, it’s oftentimes like having a framing praxis. But I think in doing work specifically at Wesleyan, oftentimes it comes from a place of kindness. You’re doing work not because you’re mad at an institution, but because you care about someone or something and you want to work towards that. Centering what you’re doing and having that care and trust is really important. And also being continually curious—if you’re not asking a bunch of questions, you’re not going to find out the right answer. 

I would also just say to listen to the people around you and the problems that they’re having. You can learn so much by listening to your friends and the problems that they have. In organizing, oftentimes, this is called agitation, where you’re listening and asking questions and figuring out how to address problems. Saying, “Oh my God, that is so frustrating” and “Why does that happen? Does that happen every single time? That’s wild, right?” It’s about making sure that you’re listening to their concerns and you’re able to demonstrate that what they’re dealing with is not something that’s tolerable.

A: Your academic work is also about learning about the root of problems. Pivoting a little, what made you choose CSS?

RC: I chose to do CSS because I wanted to challenge myself and hold myself accountable to learning about a broad scope of academic topics and their intellectual genealogy, in a way that I don’t think I would have been able to do if I was just choosing the courses that I wanted to take or choosing courses that were available to me. I really like that it has a whole bunch of different courses that you have to take. It helped me take a level of econ classes that I would just not have taken, and helped me take history classes that I would not have taken but that have really informed a lot of my understanding of what is going on in the contemporary world.

I think understanding genealogy means that when people are talking about issues today, I’m like, “Oh, I can trace where that came from. I know when that idea was introduced, and by whom, and why, and what the context was.” I think that makes everything else that I do so much easier. And that’s super important in the American Studies classes that I take too because I can carry all this intellectual history into the studies of more contemporary American culture.

A: It seems like you have found a close-knit CSS community. How has that been for you?

RC: I think especially during COVID, it was really nice to be able to have classes where we got to know every single person in the classroom in a way that I don’t think I was really able to do as much my freshman year. It’s really nice to get to know all these people. I think that makes a lot of the discourse that happens in the classroom really fun. But it also means that you’re continuing all those conversations way beyond the classroom, because you’re also spending copious amounts of time with these people. That has been really enjoyable for me. It’s also really nice because I think CSS helps build a cohort across grades, so it’s really nice to be a sophomore coming into a community that has seniors in it, and to now be a senior in a community that has sophomores in it.  

A: You’re working on a thesis, right? How is that going?

RC: It’s been going pretty well. I’m doing a historical analysis of my hometown, which is Point Reyes Station, California. It’s a town of 900 people on the coast of California, about an hour north of San Francisco. It’s very rural. That’s the important context. My thesis asks questions like, “What does it mean to become local?” and “What can the local teach us about inclusion and exclusion?” especially as it relates to the “coastal elite” and the way in which the coastal elite do actually exist in certain places, as well as more broadly, “What does it mean to be building an inclusive community?”

So this summer I got a Davenport [Study] Grant, which meant I was able to go home and do research for about a month. I went to the local library. I went to a couple of different museums and archives, and I conducted many oral interviews. I was basically going through everything trying to just get a broad idea of what exactly happened in Point Reyes—and focusing specifically on moments of inclusion and exclusion, moments of big shifts in the community. What did it mean to be from Point Reyes, and at what point did that cultural understanding shift? 

A: There’s definitely a common thread of you wanting to be involved in your community and wanting to help make it better. Where did these seeds of activism first get planted for you?

RC: I came to Wesleyan, and I didn’t join all these clubs because I was like, “I need to make everything perfect.” I have a distinct memory of walking from Usdan into my dorm sophomore year and being like, “Oh, I want to be involved in stuff because I feel like I need to understand all the systems and structures in place.” I don’t feel like I could call a place home if I don’t understand who’s in charge of it, and who’s in charge of what specifically. 

In middle school, I got elected to be a part of Marin County Youth Commission, which is a group of 23 commissioners ages 12 through 23, who live, work, or go to school in our county. That was a really eye-opening experience for me to understand a bit about the systems and structures that were in charge of where I had grown up. It was really interesting to learn so much about who was in charge of what and how to work on these projects. I really enjoyed being able to learn [about a problem]—especially if it’s a smaller problem—and being able to identify who’s responsible for solving it. I really liked being able to play that role growing up. I think that’s a lot of why I especially wanted to join the WSA, which is the first thing I did. I don’t think I’ve hardly had any Sundays on campus when I haven’t had a [general assembly] meeting in the evening.

More broadly, my mom was really involved in our community during my childhood. And she’d never take no for an answer, which, as a child, stressed me out. But now, as I’m starting to enter adulthood, it’s something I really admire and strive for. 

A: You have so many different interests. If you could do anything in the world, what would it be?

RC:  I think a lot of it just sort of depends on the character of the world. There’s a lot of things I find interesting, but I’m more concerned about imminent, pressing issues. In terms of a fun job, I was a librarian growing up. That has been hands down the healthiest working environment I’ve ever been in. And I really love that. Sort of in a similar vein, I would love doing work on historical monuments, especially with the U.S. [National] Park Service. Whatever work I end up doing, I want it to be a combination of helping to solve problems that are important and a certain kind of education, because I really think a lot of problems can be solved through the right kind of education. But it’s really hard to do.

A: What’s a fun fact that most people don’t know about you?

RC: If you look at the Daily Wire article talking about Wesleyan’s Moodle about sex and sex education—it’s a great read, very entertaining—I actually wrote that section of the COVID-19 Moodle. I don’t think people really know that. I take great pride and joy in that. It’s actually linked on my LinkedIn page, too.

A: That’s amazing. Final question: What would you tell someone walking into this school as a first-day freshman?

RC: I’d tell them to read Disorientation.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Rachel Wachman can be reached at rwachman@wesleyan.edu.