Deans Revisit Academy Life Day Activities

Next year’s fall term Academy Life Day will be devoted to dorm bonding. The Academy Life Day Task Force has proposed holding one Academy Life Day per term. Academy Life Day has traditionally been a time for dorm and advisory bonding, with many students spending the day apple picking or at the beach. Last year, however, the Academy utilized the day to hold discussions on race and discrimination on campus.

Dean of Residential Life AJ Cosgrove explained that fostering conversations around race became the administration’s top priority after controversy surrounding the Academy’s response to a video ALES produced that highlighted instances of racism at Exeter.

“Dean of Multicultural Affairs Sami Atif and I felt like discussing race was an appropriate use of Academy Life Day’s time,” he said. “In the past, Academy Life Day has been great fun, and while we recognize that eliminating that was a sacrifice, it was a worthwhile one.”

Future Academy Life Days will revert back to dorm bonding with the purpose of fostering positive relationships and inclusivity within dorms. “The way that students envision Academy Life Days is as a time when dorms can have some fun,” Cosgrove said. “This day will be returned to dorms and day students.”

Academy Life Task Force member Olutoyin Augustus noted how discussing race on Academy Life Day was also a form of bonding. “One might argue that we never stopped bonding—we just made it look different,” she said. “I get that that makes some people uncomfortable, but it’s okay to do things differently sometimes. In fact, it’s healthy.”

Upper and ALES member Rose Martin worried that by changing Academy Life Day to dorm activities, important conversations surrounding social justice and equity would be disregarded. “When I heard the news regarding Academy Life Day, the students around me cheered,” she said.  “However, my friends and I looked at each other, wondering the same thing, ‘What’s going to happen to the ALES video? What will happen to the discussions?’”

“While I also missed the dorm activities, I was happier to know that we had a day to discuss the video, the proposal, and how to become more culturally competent,” Martin continued. “It felt that not a lot of people shared this sentiment and were more joyed about ‘bringing back their Academy Life Day.’”

The Academy Life Day Task Force has addressed this concern by proposing to have one Academy Life Day per term. According to Cosgrove, having three Academy Life Days each year would provide time to accommodate dorm bonding and discussion of social issues on campus. “We’re not saying that dorm bonding is more important than discussing race; we’re saying that both topics are important and both will happen over the course of the year,” he said. “ Inclusivity is a community value and will continue to be part of Academy Life Programming.  Of course, conversations about race must be a big part of these continuing conversations.”

What exactly will take place on these days remains undecided; however, Cosgrove anticipates discussion on topics that will arise throughout the coming year. “The Academy Life Day Task Force envisions a group of class coordinators working in conjunction with the Dean’s Office, the Dean of Faculty, Director of Student Well-Being, Director of Equity and Inclusion, dorm heads and various student groups to oversee all academy life programming on campus,” Cosgrove said. “The focus of these days will be fluid, but ultimately it will provide opportunities for embracing the values of the PEA community.”

Augustus advocated for three Academy Life Days, as they create firmer bonds and strengthen the community. “If we want to mitigate negative behaviors and strengthen the positive ones, then we need to build a foundation of trust and community,” she said. “It takes more than just one day of fun to do that. We need to make an investment in building the kind of community we want to see.”

The idea for three Academy Life Days is still only a proposition, and many members of the Exeter community are currently unaware of the proposed change. Atif had not previously heard about the proposition, and said he had “no comment at this time.” Dean of Students Melissa Mischke said, “We haven’t talked about it as a principal’s leadership team.”

However, students and faculty have thus far been receptive to having three Academy Life Days per year, as it allows for both the discussion of race and time for dorm bonding.

Senior Hans Fotta thought that this year’s change to the purpose of Academy Life Day, while well-intentioned, detracted from dorm cohesion and bonding. In his opinion, having three Academy life Days is a worthwhile compromise between two crucial components of life on campus. “I think what they did recently, discussing racism, was beneficial for the community,” he said. “However, I think we also need a dorm bonding day in addition to what we have already.”

Senior Oge Ezekwenna noted how devoting a day to dorm bonding will lead to more constructive discussions about race. “I think the conversations about race should be organic. When you set a day about race that early in the fall, kids will be hesitant,” he said. “Honestly, having an Academy Life Day to cultivate relationships early will lead to more meaningful discussions about race later in the year.”

According to Mathematics Instructor Kevin Bartkovich, this year’s Academy Life Day was an important moment for the community. “There’s never enough discussion; our work with race is never finished,” he said. “However, if the three Academy Life Days are well planned, then this proposition will be worthwhile for the school.”