Academy Life Day Spurs Discussion of Racism
Exeter’s busy fall academic calendar came to a halt as dorms gathered for activities instead of attending classes this past Monday for Academy Life Day. But this year was different. In lieu of traditional activities such as going to the beach, students and faculty members viewed the Afro-Latino Exonian Society video made by Ori Evans. The ALES produced the film after combing through anonymous submissions which detailed encounters with racism on and off campus. The principal’s office worked with the Office of Multicultural Student Affairs to generate a program for this day. Besides watching the ALES video, students attended two required discussion sessions in which they talked about racism on campus and steps the community can take to make Exeter a more inclusive place.
The day began at 9 A.M. with students and faculty gathering in the assembly hall. Principal McFarlane thanked everyone for attending and highlighted how Exeter wasn’t alone in the “effort to make a more just and more inclusive, happier place.” She emphasized how inclusion and equity for all results in excellence and how we cannot make Exeter the place we want it to be, nor can Exeter exhibit the values of the of the deed of gift “unless every Exonian is able to fully participate.”
She acknowledged that even though everyone may have a literal seat at a Harkness table, not everyone’s voices are equally heard or valued in other aspects of school life. “Equity asks the next question: Each of us may be seated at the table, but does each of us have what we need to take advantage of that seat?” McFarlane asked. Dean of Students Melissa Mischke reiterated McFarlane’s message, saying, “We need to treat each other with decency and respect.”
Sami Atif, Dean of Multicultural Affairs, detailed the history of Academy Life Day and addressed the controversy surrounding the changes made this year. “The first Residential Life Day took place on Monday, October 2, 1995. However, the day was renamed Academy Life Day in 1998 after it was determined that students and faculty should be able to articulate what is being learned in residential life. We are naming the behaviors that we will not permit, we are moving forward with a collective mission,” Atif elaborated. “It may not feel traditional enough, it may not feel conducive for bonding, it may not seem like a rest from academic grind. So I ask this; how strong are our bonds if in this room people feel like their voices are not welcome?”
Once Atif had finished speaking, he stepped aside and the film began to play. The first vignette was about a student of color feeling overlooked by his teacher and classmates. The second was about how a boy switched out his dorm after another student made him feel unsafe by saying the n-word even after being told why he shouldn’t. The third one was about a girl of color being cyberbullied after accepting an invitation to Evening Prayer. The fourth one was about a student having racial slurs hurled at them while crossing the road.
Afterwards, students returned to their dorms and divided into groups. The discussions were based off of seven questions provided to faculty related to being an active bystander, intent versus impact and effective methods to highlight and address racial inequity both on campus and outside the Exeter bubble.
In general, students found the discussions to be meaningful and informative. “I thought that the first discussion section was very meaningful because in my dorm we have people of very different political beliefs,” lower Isadora Rivera said. “We discussed the first question, about how race plays a part in being an Exonian and we talked about how race adds a layer of complexity. We also talked about the freedom of speech on campus and what that means for people. Overall, I think it was very impactful.”
Upper Elizabeth Yang echoed Rivera’s sentiments. “The discussions I had were actually very impactful,” she said. “The students were engaged and interested, and the faculty members that were moderating the discussion really set the tone well.” Upper Sophie Faliero said that she “believes that these conversations were a necessary action” and she “looks forward to seeing the result.” Faliero also highlighted the difference between speakers talking about racism and students actually having a conversation. “We have had a lot of people come talk at us about how we should act or ways to change the situation going forwards,” she said. “But I think that being part of a conversation helped drill the ideas in our heads a little better.”
However, the conversations would occasionally go off topic. “During the discussions, there were a lot of new lowers and preps,” lower Genesis Baez said. “So they didn’t really know what the stories were on. I guess their way of relating to racism was to bring up sexism.” Baez attributes students bringing up sexism because it was something they could relate to and understand. However, she feels like shifting topics wasn’t “very accurate because we experience sexism as well, but we experience it on a higher level as colored women.”
Expressing an opinion was also difficult for some students. “A lot of people were afraid to express their opinion because they felt that they might offend someone without intending to, due to the touchy manner of the subject,” prep Max Oulundsen said.
After lunch, students reconvened in advisee groups to discuss three scenarios. In the first scenario, a prep claims to other students in her/his dorm that racial injustice is a black and white thing, so it doesn’t really involve her/him. Students were asked to reference the thirteen culturally competent communication skills to decide the best way to educate the prep. The second situation entailed a video being posted online of a white male student saying that he didn’t have time to watch an assembly about police brutality against minorities. In the final scenario, some students discover a book making sexist and racist remarks about individuals in the prep class.
Even when the day had ended, the decision to discuss racism on Academy life day was still met mixed reviews. Some students supported the change. “I think it is appropriate that we discuss this on Academy Life Day because it pertains to residential life,” senior John Woodward said. Senior Kyle Jamatz agreed, saying that Academy Life Day was “an appropriate time” to “flush out the problems on campus.”
Some students felt like the discussion of racism deserved its own day of classes off. “I understand how Academy Life Day was the reasonable day to do this, but I do think that it would have been better to have these discussions another day,” Yang said. “Especially because a lot of people came in with a sour taste in their mouths, because they didn’t get the dorm bonding they expected of this day.” Yang also emphasized how the discussions were important to the community and they were “critical enough” to set aside a different day.
Baez noticed as well how students weren’t as receptive to conversation because dorm activities were cancelled. “I know a lot of kids who blamed ALES and people of color for having their Academy Life Day taken away,” she said. “I just feel like there could have been another day for this topic that wouldn’t have disrupted anyone else’s schedule.”
“It felt like the school was saying: ‘We care about racism enough to have this conversation, but we don’t care about it enough to have a separate off day for it,’” senior Jacqui Byrne said. “We could have missed Wednesday classes. This way, people wouldn’t have felt like something was being taken away from them.” To Byrne, it felt like “a neglect for conversation” because it seemed like the administration put the day together to “look good” instead of truly caring about these issues on campus.