Alumni Contribute to Search for Principal

In addition to input from faculty, students and various members of the Exeter community, the Principal Search Committee has reached out to the 21,000-member alumni network in an effort to gain their opinions and advice as the quest for the Academy’s 15th principal progresses.Not only is the committee, composed of 13 faculty, trustees and staff, seeking suggestions and opinions from alumni via email, they are also hosting “alumni get-togethers” in major cities throughout the United States. Under the guidance of Spencer Stuart, the firm hired by Exeter to assist in the search for the next head of school, the forums are intended to assist in acquiring the greatest amount of information and opinions possible in order to look for patterns that will help narrow the search and carry out its overall mission. Locally, several forums were held Wednesday for the campus community.

Dean of Faculty Ronald Kim, who serves on the search committee, spoke of the events and their purpose. He explained that the “listening events” aimed to help the committee as a whole in their mission to “know what qualities we should be looking for and what members of the Academy community see as the challenges and opportunities ahead for the next principal.”

Co-chair of the committee and trustee Tony Downer echoed Kim’s observations, but emphasized that the purpose and importance of the sessions “is to ensure that the committee has extensive input from the community as to what we should be looking for in a 15th principal.”Downer noted the value of alumni input. “We are devoting considerable time and effort through our off-campus listening events, our on campus Exeter Leadership Weekend and Family Weekend sessions, and our web-based communications to ensure that the alum have the opportunity to share with us their views,” he said.By reaching out to alumni, the Principal Search Committee has allowed and encouraged contributions from all alumni with an interest in the process. While Exeter itself is situated in New Hampshire and only current students and faculty walk the paths for the majority of the year, Downer stressed the much broader reach of the Academy and its importance in making a decision as large as selecting a principal. “Exeter is also very much a community which lives in the hearts and minds of the thousands of women and men,” Downer said. “We want to make sure that the 15th principal shares that community’s appreciation of Exeter’s past, its sense of the challenges and opportunities of Exeter's present, and the excitement which is the promise of its future.”So far, many alumni from a range of decades have expressed trust and enthusiasm towards their involvement in the search process. George Kalikman ‘71 said that he was confident in the committee and had faith in the process, as it is composed of representatives “who care deeply about Exeter as an institution.”Others were pleased with the committee’s active solicitation of viewpoints from every alumnus/a. “They have emailed all of us asking for input on specific candidates or qualities we might find important,” Russell Washington ‘89 said. “My read is that the academy wants to hear from us and that our opinion is relevant, and I am quite happy to contribute and serve in any way that I can.”Keunyoung Ma ‘14 appreciated the attention to alumni as a significant portion of the process. “I think alumni should be able to have a say,” Ma said.Indeed, though to some the perspectives of alumni seem to be weighted less than those of faculty and students, their contributions continually play a vital role in all decision-making. “The alumni base cares deeply about Exeter and particularly the capabilities, character and vision

of its principal, and the alum are amply represented on the committee,” Downer said. “The six trustees on the search committee are all alumni, and both Jack Herney and Russell Weatherspoon are honorary members of PEA classes.”Whatever the age of alumni, most agreed that the next principal of the Academy should be both receptive to the various groups of the Exeter network while also addressing important issues and goals off campus. “So many decisions are made by the board of trustees or a select group of teachers, so it is the job of a principal to not only be a figurehead and raise money but also to actually have a close relationship with all the students, to help foster a more welcoming community,” Ma said. “It would require more work on the principal’s part, but they should be someone that is very available and approachable for students at the school.”Washington, who shared a similar point of view, believed that if the 15th principal does embody this “communicative nature,” s/he will be able to harvest a more intimate environment on and off campus.“Talking to students is not the same as talking to alumni, and talking to alumni is not the same as talking to faculty,” Washington said. “Someone who can cross those boundaries and communicate with people and leave them feeling that they’ve been communicated with well, is very, very important.”Tez Clark ‘13, who has previously expressed her feelings in The Exonian criticizing the counseling services offered at Exeter, urged the committee in to focus on a principal that will acknowledge the problems facing Exeter today, many of which she believes are centered around the mental health community.Clark, who has been interviewing subjects all summer about sexual assault and mental health pressed the administration and principal especially to be “able to reflect on the failings on the school and make it a safe place for all students.”Other alumni, however, were more focused on finding a principal that could follow in Hassan’s footsteps, by continuing a mission they believe has guided the Academy, especially by continuing to teach throughout his tenure.Regardless of whoever is selected to replace Hassan, the position is no easy task, so both alumni and the search committee will be keeping an open mind as they begin considering the list of candidates in the coming months.“The inward and outward facing roles of a principal could easily be done by separate people,” Washington said. “Those are huge for one person to fill.”