Administration Provides Kilts for All Seniors, Sparks Controversy

On Monday morning, Director of Student Activities Joanne Lembo sent an email to the Academy’s seniors announcing that the Dean of Students Office decided to provide E/A kilts to all seniors this Friday. Since the fall of 2001, Exeter’s four-year seniors have donned red checkered kilts to celebrate their fourth and final fall Exeter/Andover game as students. The sixteen-year streak of four-year kilts will come to an end this year.

According to Lembo, the adoption of kilts began in the mid 1990s, when old, unused field hockey kilts were given to the Student Activities department with the purpose of generating “Big Red pride for E/a weekend.” A lottery for the kilts was administered, and a select group of four-year seniors were afforded the privilege of wearing the kilts and storming the assembly stage at the Pep Assembly finale.

In 2005, the Student Council voted to distribute kilts to all seniors, but before they could put the proposal in effect, Hurricane Katrina demolished the kilt factory.

The protocol for kilt distribution remained unsettled. In 2011, the Dean of Students, Principal and Student Activities resolved to extend the kilt-wearing ritual to all seniors. However, pushback from the student body led the Academy “to revert back to only giving kilts to 4 year seniors.” Student Activities withdrew their discretion, stating that “they did not feel right giving [kilts] to some, but not others based on length of time at the Academy.”

From then until this Monday, Student Council has had control over the allocation of kilts. In October 2013, the Student Council voted 76-6 with 9 abstentions to reserve the kilts for four-year seniors, despite faculty concern of exclusivity.

Lembo, along with the senior class advisors, Principal Lisa MacFarlane and the Academy Life Task Force (which focuses on implementing change to better students’ experiences) believes the abolishment of four-year kilts will promote inclusivity within the senior class.

“We have been working hard on community this year, building a community in which each and every one of us feels equally respected and valued,” she wrote. “For many years, we have retained a tradition that communicates a different message to some...the practice of reserving E/A kilts for 4-year seniors.”

According to Assistant Principal Karen Lassey, the faculty also aimed to “promote shared experiences and access to fun and celebration, rather than creating tiered distinctions between members of the same class.”

Four-year senior Reed Ouellette wished the administration had communicated with seniors earlier in the term. “This kilt decision seemed very abrupt, announced with a quick email four days before E/A,” he said. “The faculty sprung this on us without consulting the student body.”

Other four-year seniors expressed their disappointment in the decision. “Since prep year, I looked forward to walking the quad in my kilt as a proud four-year,” said senior Vivienne Kraus. “I think there is meaning in honoring the seniors who began and ended their whole high school careers together at PEA.”

Four-year senior Cora Payne considers the matter too trivial to enact any real change. “I don’t see why this is something that has to be expanded completely. It’s not a value judgement, it’s just a kilt,” she said. “I think that if the school is truly committed to diversity and inclusion, the problems are not with the kilts. There are bigger issues, and focusing on this is not really helpful, because it’s just creating more tension within the senior class.”

Postgraduate Paul Miller understands the four-year seniors’ chagrin in response to the decision. “I haven’t even finished my first term here and I can’t imagine four years here. It’s a tough place,” he said. “I get why they want to stand out for one day.”

Some students’ harsh condemnation of the resolution perturbed three-year senior Meg Bolan. “I will never understand the disappointment of four years, and that feeling of incentive or hope or whatever the kilt represents to them,” she said. “What upsets me the most is the backlash from four years. I don’t even feel fully comfortable giving a quote about this. We [non four-year seniors] didn’t ask for this, it was a decision made by the administration.”

Nonetheless, three-year senior Sam Stone looks forward to wearing his kilt this Friday. “I understand why four-years are upset, but I just don’t think it’s that big a deal. I’m excited to wear one this year.”

Four-year senior Ivy Tran also approved of the equitable kilt distribution. “It’s not like the faculty are taking the kilts away from us. They’re just trying to make everybody feel included,” Tran said. “The only argument opposing this decision that I understand is the sadness surrounding the end of a so-called tradition. But if it’s only been around for eleven years, four-year kilts can hardly be called a tradition at a school that’s been around for more than two centuries.”

Spanish instructor Caroline Meliones agreed. “Kilts only for four-year seniors was one of Exeter’s many rituals that I never understood,” she said. “It doesn’t make sense to differentiate seniors by how long they have been at this school. They are all at Exeter now and they will all graduate together this spring.”

While the kilt contention may vex many seniors this week, four-year senior Lucas Schroeder believes the controversy will abate with time. “In the end, I think it comes down to people's resistance to change,” he said. “When you really think about it, breaking the tradition is so minor and nobody will care about it in ten years.”