CAPS Presentation Criticized for Decentering Racism

By Taraz Lincoln, Sophie Rašková and Anya Tang

The Academy’s Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) team recounted personal observations and experiences regarding the intersection of race and psychological services during Oct. 8’s Anti-Racist Work block. Students voiced criticisms regarding the session’s de-centering of anti-Black racism, citing two specific segments of the webinar: the first when one of the counselors shared a personal story of being stereotyped as a conservative based on wearing a bowtie and being white, the second when the same counselor condemned students’ usage of the word “townie.”

Lower Yasmin Salerno felt that the counselor’s comments de-centered discussions about anti-racism. “I do not see how the bow ties, the word ‘townie,’ and classism towards townspeople relates to an anti-racist seminar,” Salerno said. “I am not sure why a conversation that should be about how Black students are treated in Exeter is being centered around these other things.”

Although the counselor, Dr. Chris Thurber, clarified that he did not mean to compare his own experiences with that of Black and Indigenous people of color (BIPOC), students criticized his decision to share the story at all during a time-constrained format expressly focused on anti-racism. 

Quoting the opening sentence of his personal statement, Thurber emphasized: “The abusive and violent treatment of Black, indigenous and other people of color by white European Americans makes any personal story from me trivial by comparison.” 

Lower Isidore Douglass-Skinner felt the seminar was targeted more towards white Exonians. “It was insulting. I didn’t feel like it was made to support people of color,” Douglass-Skinner said. “I felt like it was a feel-good seminar for white students, just to reassure them. It didn’t feel like the organizers had listened to what people of color wanted.”

“[The presentation] seemed like it wasn’t really capturing the essence of what the anti-racist block was for,” senior and StuCo co-Secretary Phil Horrigan said. “The focus of that CAPS meeting was all over the place and not ideal.”

Senior Zoë Barron said the Thurber’s comments deprioritized students of color. “It is disrespectful to use an anti-racist workshop as a space to defend ‘townies,’ neglecting that these townies are the same people who shout racial slurs at us when we cross the street, the same people who have blocked the sidewalk with Trump flags and the same people who have caused us students harm,” Barron said. “I want to know why we always come second. Sitting behind a screen and being lectured at about ‘townies’ without being able to respond feels a lot like being silenced. This is not what we worked and pushed for.”

CAPS members were aware of some student criticisms submitted through the Zoom seminar’s chat question and answer function; Thurber noted that he had not directly received any expressions of concern, but said Lee had relayed some student concerns that fellow faculty had communicated to her.

Thurber went on to apologize for his comments at the seminar, saying that his intent was “to share personal experiences.” 

“I understand that some people were hurt by the things that I shared that diminished the importance of their own experiences,” he said.

“[Mentioning that] helped to provide context within which I felt I could share some of my experiences, again, that highlights the intersectionality,” Thurber added. “I was equating my experience being misunderstood as being Republican for wearing a bow tie to an experience. When somebody says, ‘We know you’re going to vote for Donald Trump,’ or ‘We know you voted for Trump the first time around,’ ‘Are you going to vote for him again?’ I’m deeply hurt.” 

“It hurts to be thought of as someone who supports such a destructive social message. And my goal as a clinician has always been to empathize with my clients.”

In spite of the criticism about the “townie” phrase during a session designed to focus on anti-racism, members of Student Council (StuCo) released a statement pledging to ask its members to not use it anymore.

“We’d [the StuCo Executive Board] like to publicly acknowledge that we were called in during Thursday’s anti-racist block on our use of the term ‘townie.’ We will commit ourselves to stop using the term and to learn about its classist connotation, and we implore all members of council to do so as well. However, while the message on the term’s classism was necessary, it was given at the wrong place and time. As an anti-racist presentation, we feel the message about classism appealed more to the sentiment that white people’s oppression is ignored and deserves recognition even though racism and other forms of systemic oppression is only now a focus.”

Student Council co-Secretary Siona Jain commented on the Student Council response: “When we were talking about what our initial thoughts and reactions were, we strongly agreed that we should denounce using the term ‘townie.’”

“However, [we] also agree that it felt out of place, and it felt like we are extending far too much empathy towards white people because of their hardships, even though it doesn’t seem like they’re being held accountable as often as they should be in terms of anti-Black racism,” Jain continued.

CAPS designed and presented the anti-racism seminar independently, with guidance from Dr. Stephanie Bramlett, Exeter’s Director of Equity and Inclusion. “We are the people that designed [the seminar] and created the content,” CAPS Director Dr. Szu-Hui Lee said. “We consulted [Dr. Bramlett] about the framework that we came up with, our takeaway and that we were going to use personal narratives, but she was not part of the designing.”

The seminar featured personal narratives as a method for creating change through individual reflection. “It can be daunting to think how an individual person can make change, so we boiled things down to a micro level, into a personal way of trying to change lives, through reflection that we all experienced individually,” CAPS counselor Marco Thompson said. “We talked about how personal narratives could show how to make big changes as a community when we work together, doing small things, one step at a time.”

“We wanted to go beyond what you can already learn by a website,” Lee said. “It can be vulnerable to stand in front of all the students and all the faculty and share something so personal, but it was a risk that we were willing to take, because I think we owe that to the students and to the adults.”

Lee reminded students that feedback is appreciated. “As a department, on our website we have a survey that’s put out,” she said. “We want to hear from students, their stories and their experiences working with us.”

Following the seminar, StuCo contacted Lee to schedule a meeting on CAPS’ Anti-Racist Work block. “We’re working on scheduling a meeting with Dr. Lee to discuss both the calling in of Student Council, because we were called in, and also the content of their anti-racist block,” Horrigan said. 

Moving forward, students expressed the desire to center Black voices. “I wish that they would have more Black speakers to share their truths about the Academy and how they handle race,” Salerno said. “While the ability for people to have discourse with opposing views is important, right now, we should be bringing forward more Black voices who have historically been silenced.”