ALES 50 YEARS: J. Smith Tackels ALES Needs
“I asked Principal MacFarlane a very simple question,” alumnus Marvin Bennett ’17 recalled. “I asked, ‘Do you care about the students of color at this school?’ I was hoping for a simple answer, an ‘of course’ or a ‘yes.’ What really hurt me was that she paused, like she was thinking. The first word out of her mouth was ‘well.’”
Tensions ran high at the end of the last school year when, on June 1, 2017, almost 60 Exonians, many from the Afro-Latinx Exonian Society (ALES), flooded into Principal Lisa MacFarlane’s office in response to an assembly held earlier that day. The students believed that the assembly had failed to sufficiently address issues of diversity, equity and inclusion that the group had been urging the administration to recognize.
“I get that it takes a lot of time and deliberation to plan a thoughtful event where you can have a good discussion and talk about pertinent issues without ruining it.” Polk said. “It takes very deliberate work and very deliberate planning. But we were all so angry.”
ALES began calling for greater administrative action to combat racial injustice on campus in 2015, when the club’s 49th Board drafted a proposal asserting that “the Academy has taken insufficient steps to create an inclusive environment and provide the support and resources needed to promote the academic success and well-being of all Exonians.”
The proposal consisted of statistics demonstrating ways in which students of color are disadvantaged at Exeter and requests that the administration prioritize diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives on campus. Specific clauses included the hiring and retention of more black and Latinx faculty, required cultural competency training for employees, a more culturally inclusive curriculum and greater support for the Office of Multicultural Affairs (OMA).
After completing the proposal the following year, the 49th ALES Board met with MacFarlane and other members of the administration on two separate occasions in February of 2017.
Bennett recounted that it had taken considerable effort to obtain an audience with the administration. He said, “It was very difficult to get to that point where we could present to [the administration]. There was a lot of conversation and a lot of times when we would reach out and not get a response back. A lot of people told us how bold we were, asking for something from Principal MacFarlane and the other administrators. We tried again and again. There was a lot of push back, a lot of distancing.”
Senior and Vice President of ALES’s 50th Board Charlotte Polk nonetheless expressed her appreciation for MacFarlane’s willingness to communicate with the group. “She did a good job of meeting with us and making sure we felt heard. She made herself available to us, even though we didn’t achieve as much as we had hoped or she had hoped,” Polk said.
Members of ALES used the first meeting to present the completed proposal and the second to share anonymous student narratives detailing personal encounters with discrimination on campus.
These same four narratives were included in a four-minute video produced by the ALES Arts Committee and released on May 25. The group was invited to present the video at a faculty meeting on June 1, the last day of the school year. The meeting ran long, and a required assembly was announced at the last minute, presumably to share the video and the accounts it put forth with the entire community.
The video was not shown at the assembly, however, and members of the ALES Board were not given the opportunity to speak. Instead, MacFarlane called on Interim Campus Minister Heidi Heath to lead the Exeter community in prayer.
“In the tradition that I come from, when we have caused harm to each other, or there has been harm within a community, we practice repentance. This morning, we confess and we say that we are sorry. This is a moment of repentance. We come to you asking forgiveness. Forgiveness for not keeping you safe, and with the commitment that though we are imperfect people, we will do better. We love you and we are sorry,” Heath said while surrounded by dozens of faculty members on the assembly stage.
Dissatisfied with this assembly, some ALES members convened in Dean of Multicultural Affairs Sami Atif’s office. “I get that it takes a lot of time and deliberation to plan a thoughtful event where you can have a good discussion and talk about pertinent issues without ruining it.” Polk said. “It takes very deliberate work and very deliberate planning. But we were all so angry.”
With encouragement from Atif and other faculty members to communicate their sentiments to the administration, dozens of ALES members headed over to the Principal’s Office. As word of the sit-in spread through social media, dozens more students joined them.
Bennett recalled the group’s frustration. “Everyone was excited about the assembly. The whole school was talking. We thought we had a lot going in our favor at the time. Then everything changed. Not only did they not show the video, but they didn’t talk about the issues we had addressed. They actually turned it into something like a kumbaya moment, as if we should all be friends, and forget everything we had communicated to them,” he said. “I don’t get angry often, but I was so upset that day. We decided we couldn’t just sit there and keep talking amongst ourselves—we had to at least speak up and say something.”
Students spoke with MacFarlane for 15 minutes following the sit-in and sent her an email later that afternoon. “To reiterate what we discussed, we want a clear apology today. We want follow-up reminders of your commitment to these issues throughout the summer, a statement on the Exeter website about your commitment to cultural competency and the wellness of all students, distribution of the video, and a clear action plan for implementing the proposal. Please bring these suggestions to the faculty of color and let us know what your expected timeline is,” the email read.
As requested, MacFarlane sent out a school-wide apology that evening. “Our goal in that assembly was to let our students know that the faculty had heard them and is committed to taking action. However, in our haste, we did not craft a thoughtful response. I did not provide the essential context about the film, its power, or the faculty meeting and the students’ compelling introductory remarks. Because of that, many of our students left the assembly confused; others left angry; others hurt. We are sorry,” she wrote. “We are grateful for the courage and candor of the students who came to the faculty this morning and for their powerful film. We also know words are insufficient. Over the summer, we are going to complete and add to the plans already underway. We will write to you about those plans, as we prepare for action when the school year begins. We will hold ourselves accountable.”
Upper Rose Martin described the sit-in as a “key moment in Exeter history.” She emphasized the importance of holding the administration accountable in their commitment to the proposal. “I don’t want what happened to be forgotten and the proposal to get thrown out again, only for a new proposal to pop up a few years later. I want these changes to go through and I think for that to happen, we don’t have to be fully “woke” but we have to be willing to do the work for it,” she said.
Since last June, the administration has sent numerous updates to ALES regarding progress on the proposal. In her most recent update on May 1, MacFarlane noted the hiring of Dr. Stephanie Bramlett as the new Director of Equity and Inclusion, the Academy’s close collaboration with diversity consultant Robert Greene, the expansion of OMA as well as various diversity and equity conferences and training sessions that the Academy has funded for faculty and staff. She elaborated on the augmented diversity of assembly speakers and campus events, in addition to the fact that numerous departments have been revising their course offerings by diversifying reading lists and adding non-western history courses. MacFarlane added in a separate statement that the administration has also been working with various coordinators for affinity groups centered around gender identity, race and class, and has been developing a flowchart that demonstrates various ways in which students can share their thoughts and concerns with the Dean of Faculty so that individuals can be held accountable and appropriate reactionary measures can be taken.
“We have much work to do to build a community that is truly inclusive and equitable, and we know that. However, we have made this a central strategic direction for the whole school; we have put in place the foundations for making measurable progress; the senior administration has worked steadily over the last thirteen months; we have hired a director to support our continued efforts; and the trustees have joined in with their own statement of support. We are determined to live up to our promise to serve, truly, youth from every quarter,” MacFarlane said.
History instructor William Jordan voiced his appreciation for increased community and institutional efforts to have difficult discussions and address issues of race. “I think the school as a whole wants to do a better job of dealing with issues of diversity, equity and inclusion. You hear those words a lot. It’s been good to have that come not just from administrators, but from students,” he said.
Dean of Faculty Ellen Wolff lauded the Academy’s recent progress, saying “we have been working hard all year on building cultural competency skills and heightening awareness of the skills needed to work deliberately toward equity and inclusion. I am feeling heartened by the clear institutional commitment to this work, from trustees and from the principal’s leadership team.”
Wolff acknowledged that there are still great strides to be made, however. “Some of the things we’ve done this year [...] are significant, but they are far from enough. The road is long but we’re on our way,” she said.
Martin emphasized a need for more significant and grounded progress. “Readings depend on the teacher you have, and I have not heard anything about faculty retention. The administration is trying in some sense, but without understanding that they are only scratching the surface,” she said. “Following through the ALES proposal and bringing in more speakers of color is nice, but it won’t solve most of the problems because there are still students getting slurs yelled at them on campus and in the town.”
English instructor Mercy Carbonell agreed, emphasizing that more work remains, particularly in the Academy’s response to issues of race and current events occurring outside the institution. “How long has it taken for us to have a Director of Equity and Inclusion? Or consider the effects of what happens any time there is silence around an event—Ferguson, Charlottesville. When events like those happen, if the administration and leadership doesn’t speak to those moments immediately, when there is a profound delay, students feel that those silences, accumulated overtime, affect their overall experience and well-being. And so they ask, are left to ask: ‘how important is it truly?’”
Many others expressed that the Academy still has yet to prove its dedication to issues of diversity, equity and inclusion, including alumnus Russell Washington ’88, who pointed to the contrast between Exeter’s perceived commitment to these issues compared to Andover’s. “Two Afro-Latino student organizations from prep schools turned 50 this past year. Ours and Andover’s. I know about their 50th [reunion] because they’ve been screaming it across their social media for the past couple months,” he said. “Not our school. I can’t say it any better than that.”