Exeter Addresses ALES’ Requests
On the last school day of the 2017 Spring Term, Exeter’s Afro-Latinx Exonian Society (ALES) staged a sit-in in Principal Lisa MacFarlane’s office demanding that the administration do more to address issues of race at the Exeter. The sit-in followed the online distribution of a video produced by ALES in which students described their experiences with racism on campus. The video was shown at a faculty meeting on the final day of classes, prompting a last-minute, all-school assembly, in which Principal MacFarlane addressed the school but did not refer to or show the video itself.
“It is our intention to bring the same commitment and energy to issues of diversity, equity and inclusion this year as we did to issues of sexual misconduct last year. We will be moving from words to action.”
The sit-in was organized almost immediately after by a group of students who felt that the administration’s response was inadequate, given the gravity of the issues raised in the film but not addressed in the assembly.
Sami Atif, Interim Dean of Multicultural Student Affairs and adviser to ALES, said the assembly was held because, “In general, faculty were mostly shocked and appalled: there was a measure of disbelief in the vulgarity and blatant displays of racist behavior [shown in the video]. I suspect that a vocal majority were so moved by the film that they felt burdened to address its contents prior to all students departing.”
Many students felt that when it came to addressing issues of race, the assembly was too little and too late. ALES Vice President and senior Charlotte Polk said, “The fact that Principal MacFarlane heard these narratives in February and waited to even publicly acknowledge them, if you can even call [that assembly] an acknowledgement, was unacceptable to us. Since she failed to address the issues in assembly, she has been in contact with the board about changes she plans to make.”
MacFarlane acknowledged that the assembly was not a powerful enough affirmation of the administration’s dedication to making change. “Many faculty were, I think, stricken by what they saw in the video, and several spoke passionately about the need to do something in that moment—hence the assembly,” she said. “I appreciate ALES’s clear and thoughtful feedback, and they were right: that was a mistake. The better thing to do would have been to work purposefully and steadily to change the conditions that led to the stories the students experienced.”
Assistant Principal Karen Lassey expressed a similar view. “In hindsight, the most supportive and appropriate action will be to continue to listen to the voices and experiences of our students and respond every day with actions that honor them.”
Over the summer, the administration has taken steps to make Exeter more inclusive and equitable. For example, the Racial Literacy Task Force—which has focused on community, equity and diversity since its creation spring term last year—hired a consultant, Robert Greene, who, according to Dean of Faculty and head of the task force, Ellen Wolff, was brought on “to work with us on sustained strategic diversity planning.” “He has been here for three full days [during the week of Aug. 27], providing an intensive week of mandatory cultural competency training for faculty, administrators and staff,” Wolff said. “This training will be ongoing and will include the trustees at their October meeting.”
Wolff believes that training in cultural competency should be important to all Exonians—students, staff, administrators and faculty alike. “Cultural competency skills are essential because they allow diverse communities to move from diversity to inclusion, equity and excellence,” she said. “Without cultural competency skills we cannot realize the promise of our distinctive pedagogy and our deed of gift.”
Additionally, the administration dedicated Club Room B in the Phelps Academy Center to ALES and increased Atif’s budget for the Office of Multicultural Student Affairs. The administration will also relaunch its search for a Director of Community, Equity and Diversity, and the ALES video will be shown to the entire community this fall, with discussions among students and faculty to follow.
Atif is appreciative of the progress that has been made so far in meeting ALES’s requests. However, he also sees his new role as a member of the principal’s staff as an avenue through which he can guide the administration toward further action. “There has been some traction institutionally, but we are in the beginning stages,” Atif said.
Lassey sees the cultural competency training as a first step in the administration’s larger effort to shoulder the Academy’s responsibility to all of its students, “I am excited to put our best efforts and intentional focus into following through on our commitments to all of our students, and especially to those who feel marginalized and experience the impact of oppression,” she said.
In her email chain to the ALES Board, MacFarlane emphasized the school’s commitment to ALES. “It is our intention to bring the same commitment and energy to issues of diversity, equity and inclusion this year as we did to issues of sexual misconduct last year. We will be moving from words to action,” MacFarlane wrote in a message to the ALES Board during the summer.
A strategic planning document—which has been carefully crafted by faculty members in the last year to centralize the school’s focus for the coming years—includes many passages that reaffirm this dedication. At its core, the school values “a diverse, equitable and inclusive community accessible to and supportive of qualified students of all backgrounds” and hopes that “the Exeter experience will nurture globally competent individuals who understand their own culture and identity.”
This work is crucial to MacFarlane, and she has expressed hope that the Exeter community as a whole will be a part of the ongoing process. “I cannot be the person I want to be without taking on, with all who want to help, the challenge of ensuring that everyone who comes to Exeter is able to thrive, to feel respected for the fullness of who they are,” she said. “No Exonian can truly excel without every Exonian’s full inclusion in our school.”