Principal Steps Down, Returns To UNH Post
The Academy’s 15th Principal Lisa MacFarlane announced her forthcoming resignation in a letter addressed to the Exeter community on Friday, Feb. 2. MacFarlane first came to the position in 2015 after leaving her post as provost and senior administrator at the University of New Hampshire (UNH). She will be leaving the Academy in June to return to UNH, as her contract with the university allowed her to return within three years if she desired. An interim principal for the 2018-19 school year will be selected in the coming months. In the meantime, a committee consisting of trustees, faculty and staff has been established to lead a nationwide search for the 16th Academy Principal.
MacFarlane recalled her former experience as an Exeter English department intern and cited her wishes to continue her teaching career and other personal reasons for her decision to leave. “It’s really important to think about what it means to have a healthy and balanced life, with hard work, and family and friends and time for play—I want that for each Exonian and for myself, too. Maybe I can model a bit how to think about what’s important and how we decide to spend our time together,” MacFarlane said.
She expressed pride and gratitude for the community as she reflected on the numerous challenges and accomplishments of her tenure, such as the establishment of new campus facilities and community positions. MacFarlane acknowledged, in particular, her efforts to address important issues on campus through the hiring of a Director of Student Well-Being and laying the groundwork for a Director of Equity and Inclusion. She detailed the Academy’s collaboration with Prevention Innovations Research Center (PIRC) and HAVEN, a New Hampshire violence protection and support services agency, as well as the facilitation of campuswide discussions on diversity and the creation of all-gender dorms. “It has been a challenging time for all schools and for society. Many, many institutions in the country are confronting histories of sexual misconduct, and all schools, including Exeter, are coming to terms with that. Nationally and globally, we are living in a time when people are struggling with how to live in a pluralistic society, with real equity and inclusion,” MacFarlane said. “We at Exeter are having long-overdue conversations about that. We have put a lot of pieces in place.”
“I think we still have a lot to do in terms of engaging with difficult topics like race and equity at school, but we definitely have the tools to do so. I think Ms. MacFarlane has equipped us with these tools.”
MacFarlane informed the Trustees of her decision to resign shortly after a meeting in January, while some members of the administration were notified just hours before Friday’s letter. In a supplementary statement, President of the Trustees John “Tony” Downer thanked MacFarlane for her tireless efforts and initiatives at the Academy through “a challenging period” in its history. “Over the past few years, the Exeter community has had to face aspects of its past in which we fell short in our duties and in upholding our values of doing all we can to ensure the wellbeing of the young women and men entrusted in our care,” Downer said. “[MacFarlane] has been a passionate advocate for the community values of equity, diversity and inclusion, of financial equity and for bringing closure to the PEA survivor group. These are just a sampling of all that she has done.”
The unexpected announcement has led many community members to speculate about the motives and circumstances of MacFarlane’s departure. One student, Macy*, thought her decision may have been due to the vast amount of sexual assault allegations, issues of diversity and inclusion and negative media coverage that the Academy has received in recent years. “Principal MacFarlane has had to be the face of our school in times of incredible hardship. When she came to take this job, she thought she could make this school better, but that was before all issues and cases had surfaced. Dealing with sexual assault was not what she came here to do. She came here to move things forward, not jump over obstacles,” she said.
Science Instructor Richard Aaronian, who has served at the Academy for 47 years, remarked that the challenges MacFarlane has had to face in her position are unprecedented. “I can’t recall another Principal who has encountered so many challenges in the first three years as Principal and recognize how difficult it must have been to work effectively, especially dealing with events which have come forward from many years ago,” he said.
Another student, Albert*, agreed. “Very few principals, not just at the Academy but in general, have had to deal with the level of scandals and criticism and negative attention that this principal has. To a degree, we should commiserate with how difficult this experience has been for her,” Albert said. “I think any principal instructor, when they take on the position, should expect a certain level of criticism, a certain level of scandal. But this is beyond what anyone could have expected and I don’t blame her.”
Dean of Students Melissa Mischke expressed that MacFarlane’s three-year tenure, though much shorter than the average 17 years of previous Exeter principals, was not particularly surprising in light of the recent trend amongst New England boarding schools to oversee more frequent head of school turnovers due to similar issues and difficulties. “In the past, principal tenures were much longer. The terms have definitely gotten shorter. It’s a different world now, and I think there have been challenges for any head of school,” Mischke said. Indeed, MacFarlane was the Academy’s third principal in the last ten years/
Many believe that community responses to the decision have not reflected as much gravity as one might have expected. Several Exonians have been posting jokes and “memes” on a student-run Facebook page since Friday’s announcement. Albert expressed that this could be a reflection of the student body’s dissatisfaction with MacFarlane’s leadership. “If you look at the student and faculty reactions to the firing, at least among the people I know, there was no sentiment of grief or of loss,” Albert said. “There was no deep emotional weight.”
Another student, Ariel*, voiced that MacFarlane’s excessive caution regarding sensitive issues had often prevented her from effectively confronting challenges and controversies at the Academy. “[MacFarlane] seems quite passive about these issues because she doesn’t want to step on a lot of toes,” she said. “She takes a neutral stance, but that doesn’t further any of the efforts. I get that from just seeing her around campus and the emails that she sends.”
Some were particularly disappointed by MacFarlane’s response to the video produced by the Afro-Latino Exonian Society (ALES) last spring and communicated these sentiments to Trustees, who visited the Academy late January. “We talked [with the Trustees] about how there are so many students on campus who want to be involved and want to make change. We have clubs like ALES that reached out to her, and then when nothing happened, they took it even a step further to make that video and call them out on their inaction. And still, nothing really happened,” student Haley* commented. “[We need someone] who has tools in her belt already, and I think for the changes that people want on campus to be done correctly, we need people who already have that experience with them. We need someone who already knows what they’re doing, not learning on the go with the rest of us.”
Albert expressed concerns about MacFarlane and the administration’s consistent unwillingness to provide information pertaining to sexual assault investigations and allegations. “I understand that privacy has to be valued and that this is a process that takes time, but it felt like information was hoarded for every scandal,” Albert said. “We weren’t able to feel a sense of community because everything was being hidden. This is an environment where we’re supposed to celebrate Harkness and we’re supposed to celebrate the sharing of information, viewpoints and ideas. It felt like those things were constantly being withheld from us.”
Many addressed the general lack of contact between MacFarlane and the student body, though some suggested that the disconnect was perhaps an inevitability of the position. “I don’t feel I know her closely. She doesn’t have a lot of time to sit down one-on-one with students and really get to know them or to allow the students to get to know her. It’s not her fault. She has been trying to get involved and we see her around campus all the time. But it’s hard for us and her to find the moment or the setting to sit down and have a conversation,” Ariel said.
Upper and Student Council (StuCo) Co-Secretary Elizabeth Yang agreed, discussing the council’s frequent but unsuccessful attempts to communicate directly with MacFarlane. “We’ve been trying to find a meeting time with her. We met with her once as an Executive Board, and she told us a little bit about what she was striving to do, a little bit about strategic planning. We were planning on scheduling a time for her to come to Student Council, but that never happened,” Yang said.
Regardless of some students’ frustrations, many students and faculty members have also shared their appreciation for MacFarlane’s efforts. Upper Michaela Phan, a member of the Dean’s Council, applauded MacFarlane’s efforts to heed the Council’s suggestions. “She’s come to some Council meetings and spoken to us. She seems to really enjoy talking to the students about ideas. I think she’s been really successful, but I also don’t have a comparison,” Phan commented.
Religion Instructor Russell Weatherspoon recognized MacFarlane’s work during a challenging and controversial period at the Academy. “We hoped she would lead us into the many changes the school must face in a changing society and world,” he said. “We hoped to spend at least a decade together, but she led the school through an intense, turbulent time.”
Dean of Faculty Ellen Wolff is grateful for the forward strides that MacFarlane has made in addressing issues of sexual assault. “Ms. MacFarlane’s efforts have made Exeter a leader in responding to sexual misconduct: a model for other schools,” she said.
Dean’s Council member and upper Grace Gray believes that MacFarlane has allowed the Academy to make significant progress in addressing important campus issues. “I think we still have a lot to do in terms of engaging with difficult topics like race and equity at school, but we definitely have the tools to do so. I think Ms. MacFarlane has equipped us with these tools,” she said.