Post-Summer Conversations, Exeter Implements Anti-Racist Policies

By  Otto Do, Amy Lum, Andrea Luo  and  Hansi Zhu

In response to racist incidents shared by PEA students on the Instagram account @BlackatExeter, administrators and individual academic departments worked during the summer to implement anti-racist policies and practices.

Principal William Rawson highlighted the changes that have been implemented since his June 29 letter to the community. “I can’t begin to do justice here to all the work done by Director of Equity and Inclusion Dr. [Stephanie] Bramlett, by Dean of Faculty [Ellen] Wolff and by other administrators, staff and faculty,” he said. 

“For my part, I was particularly interested in getting the two new positions posted, which has occurred,” Rawson continued. “I have been working with the new trustee [Diversity, Equity and Inclusion] Task Force, as has Dr. Bramlett. I met with faculty of color and student leaders to discuss a variety of issues raised in Black@Exeter and in other correspondence. A lot of time was spent by Dr. Bramlett and others to plan for the anti-racism work that we intend to do this year.  We are moving forward with a new bias response reporting form.”

The Classics Department faculty reflected on their previous cultural portrayals of the languages they teach. “A lot of people think of the Ancient Greek and Roman world as being this all white world, but it actually was quite diverse. We haven’t done as good a job as we can in representing that diversity of the ancient world in our classes,” Department Chair Matthew Hartnett said.

Additionally, Hartnett noted that the department reworked several of the narratives in Ludus, the department’s introductory Latin textbook. “Most of the stories in there are told from male characters, so Mr. Langford rewrote some of the stories and even created a whole new story that’s told from the point of view of a female slave,” Hartnett said. “Additionally, we want to make sure that slaves aren’t always depicted as being passively related to whatever actions are happening, but instead giving them some agency.”

Members of the Science Department were encouraged to devote a substantial portion of their professional development to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion-related work. 

Science Instructor Kate Hernandez explained the personal work she carried out this summer: the creation of a “cultural competence” document for instructors, in particular. According to Hernandez, “It’s an opportunity for all of us to develop a skill of recognizing when a well-intended comment may have had an unintended impact. It references common or potential microaggressions and why those might be problematic or harmful. It gives folks a path forward.” 

Reacting to the stories shared in numerous @BlackatExeter posts, the English Department released the following departmental statement:

English Department Anti-Racism Statement

The Exeter English department acknowledges the harms expressed most recently in the @Exeter Instagram posts. Structures of racism and inequity have affected both policies and practices, and past calls for change have not led to sufficient results. The department is committed to full participation in our overdue national and institutional reckoning on race and equity by listening to the ideas and stories of faculty and students present and past to develop a targeted agenda for addressing harmful structures and habits in the year ahead. Our efforts will aim not only for immediate progress, but also for the sustained and constant work necessary to fulfill our institutional commitment to becoming an anti-racist school and our departmental goal of creating classroom communities in which BIPOC/Queer students feel welcomed, included, safe and celebrated. 

Our response to the Black@Exeter posts and other recent calls for greater commitment to antiracist work have included these initial steps this summer:  

Reading of Black@, Queer@, Asian@Exeter posts by all department members and opening discussions with particular attention to the Black@Exeter posts.

Full-department participation in a September 2 discussion of the Black@Exeter posts and systemic anti-blackness. This discussion was facilitated by Dr. Aretina Hamilton, Associate Director of Equity and Inclusion at Interlochen Arts Academy, who will continue to work with the department as an independent outside expert and facilitator. 

Participation by over half the department in summer anti-racist education and professional development.  

Adoption of a departmental policy eliminating the n-word from class discussion. 

Our ongoing efforts will include, at a minimum, the following:  

An open forum series beginning in fall term to hear student ideas, stories, and feedback.  An invitation for collaboration with student and faculty affinity groups.  

Ongoing professional development for all department members with the goal of cultural competency and elimination of classroom practices or habits that center whiteness and marginalize any students or student groups. Progress towards these goals will become part of the review process.  

Examination of our hiring and retention practices to increase the number of BIPOC faculty in the department.  

More deliberate departmental discussion and sharing of pedagogical and curricular practices that will foster a trusting and equitable environment in our classes.

As referenced in the above statement, the English Department released their first formal n-word policy, prohibiting its use by all students. “Students will receive this policy along with all the usual first day of class English policy sheets,” English Instructor Courtney Marshall said during the Academy’s Anti-Racist Vision webinar. English Instructor Mercy Carbonell noted that similar policies have been discussed over the years, including one crafted by Director of Equity and Inclusion Dr. Stephanie Bramlett. However, none of the previous policies came into practice.

In the wake of the @BlackatExeter posts, many of which specifically called out English teachers for their ambiguous n-word policies, Marshall emailed English Department Chair Nathaniel Hawkins, proposing a new department-wide statement to forbid students of any race to say the word. Though there was no in-person discussion, English faculty voted and ultimately approved the statement through email.

“I thought, ‘Is it at all possible to craft the policy as a part of our attempt to be anti-racist?’” Marshall said. “This policy is one way we can reduce harm.”

For a number of years, certain instructors—including Carbonell—have read a formal land acknowledgement in their classes. Carbonell noted that, though this kind of statement is not required by the department, “it should become a practice for all educators/public speakers.”

Carbonell shared the land acknowledgment she has used since 2017. Written by Isabella Shey, it reads as follows:“We would like to acknowledge the Squamscott/Penacook peoples who were the first peoples of this land. We would like to honor their ancestors, descendants and future generations for caring for this area and allowing us to be here today.” 

However, Hawkins said there is no plan for a required statement acknowledging the native land on which the Academy is built. “Personally, I respect any teacher’s personal acknowledgement or statement. But I am not in favor of a departmental policy mandating for all teachers a political or moral statement not directly related to English.”

History Department Chair Kent McConnell said he and his colleagues reworked their syllabi to decenter whiteness, while Mathematics Department Chair Gwyneth Coogan said her department worked on paring down materials to create more space for different voices. 

“I believe that we were all ‘called in’ by the Black@Exeter posts, whether our name appeared in the text or not. I hope that the posts encourage all of us to affirm the Black students in our classes, our dorms and our teams so that we can make a safe space for all,” Coogan said. “However, it is our own responsibility to make these changes. Students should not have to be our teachers.”

Modern Language Department Chair Evelyn Christoph shared that her department worked on empowering students through new selected readings. “French and Spanish teachers… revised readings to represent a wider array of cultures apart from traditional, centralized focus on France and Spain,” Christoph said. 

The Health and Human Development Department committed to dedicating one of their three units for new students to anti-racism, cultural competency and identity. “In addition to that, we try to tie in DEI topics in units where we can and it is appropriate,” Department Chair Michelle Soucy said. “For example, when discussing COVID-19 we included an article about health disparities.”

The Athletics Department affirmed their commitment to anti-racism. Many of the athletics faculty were on vacation this summer, but the Director of Athletics and Physical Education Jason Baseden shared plans for department-wide discussions this fall. 

According to Department Chair Hannah Hofheinz, the Religion Department “is deeply committed to being anti-racist in our pedagogies, our curriculum and also in our interactions on campus.” Specific initiatives and curricular changes are to be announced.

The Art Department developed a new anti-racist curriculum and launched an exhbition this summer which focuses on identity. Department members also read Ijeoma Oluo’s So You Want To Talk About Race, which has helped them  have more productive discussions on cultural competency and inclusion.

As a result of their work, the Art Department made an addition to their departmental student policy. “The Art Department is committed to maintaining an Anti-Racist curriculum, and artwork that depicts or celebrates racist ideology will not be tolerated,” the statement reads.

Music Department Chair Kristofer Johnson shared that the full-time music faculty drafted ten commitments to anti-racism over the summer, which will be reviewed by the larger music faculty this fall. Some of these commitments include: engaging guest artists and composers from Black and Brown musicians; programming greater diversity of repertoire for individual musicians’ study and performance ensembles; and supporting the creation of an affinity group for student musicians of color to highlight their voices and address their experiences. The department will publish a department statement about music and race later in the term.

Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) participated in professional development training around issues of equity and inclusion. CAPS also helped to bring training on trauma informed care to faculty and student leaders in order to better tend to the social emotional needs of the students. 

Members of CAPS were also intentional about reading the @BlackAtExeter posts throughout the summer. “We are paying attention, listening, and reflecting. We had department wide conversations about these stories and discussed how we can individually and as a department better support our students,” Director of CAPS Dr. Szu-Hui Lee said. There is now a feedback form on the CAPS page on Exeter Connect where students can anonymously submit feedback about their experiences with CAPS.

Of the many policies shared by the departments during the Anti-Racist Work block last Thursday, the n-word policy, in particular, has generated student responses.

To many students, an official policy like this has been long overdue. “I think them setting it as a rule now is the bare minimum because it shouldn’t have taken a whole Black Lives Matter movement for them to be like, ‘Oh, we shouldn’t say the n-word in English class,’” upper Ifeoma Ajufo said. “It should’ve been common knowledge.”

The policy also provoked some to think carefully about potentially harmful interactions in the classroom. “I was intrigued by the fact that they said that nobody can say it,” upper Marina Williams said. “But then I was thinking about how there might be teachers that say, ‘Let’s have this Black person in our class say it,’ and that kind of singles out the person, so I guess it’s a good thing that nobody can say it.”

In addition to departmental work, the Board of Trustees has also published a new Diversity, Equity and Inclusion statement, which commits to creating and supporting a diverse student body. “Diversity and inclusion are critical to sustaining and strengthening our tradition of excellence in all aspects of life at Exeter,” the statement reads. “Fostering an experience where all participants feel they can bring their full selves forward is not merely aspirational. It is fundamental to our educational mission and method.”

“It was a busy summer,” Rawson concluded, “and I hope the comments I made during opening assembly convey the urgency and determination with which we intend to pursue our anti-racism work this year.”