Editorial: The Canceled MLK Workshop Was Miscommunicated but Rational
A Call for Continued Conversation, Followed by A Message from the Principal
By the 146th Executive Board
On Jan. 14, the night before the Academy’s celebration of Martin Luther King Day, students who had signed up for the workshop “Reflections on Palestinian-Black Solidarity for Liberation” were informed that the session would no longer be held. The cancellation of the workshop disappointed and distressed many Exeter students and faculty, with several students taking to Instagram under the handle @black.palestine.pea to protest what they felt was the Academy’s censorship of the community’s efforts to engage in dialogue around the ongoing devastation in the Middle East. However, it appears that rather than the Academy demonstrating “its lack of care for the multitude of students who found a space such as this workshop safe for their academic and curricular growth,” as interpreted by students, the cancellation of the workshop was a miscommunicated administrative effort to carry out a conversation about the Israel-Palestine conflict at a later time with more adequate support.
Organized by Instructor in English Mercy Carbonell and Instructor in History Khalid Madhi, the workshop was first introduced to the community in a list of MLK day programming options sent by Director of Equity and Inclusion Stephanie S. Bramlett on Jan. 8. The description reads as follows:
Reflections on Palestinian-Black Solidarity for Liberation
This workshop explores how systems of oppression and exploitation operate concurrently and how anti-oppressive struggles are, too, connected. We will investigate meaningful acts of resistance, listen and learn from one another, and discuss how movements work together to build bridges to walk in solidarity with marginalized communities at both the global and local levels. This workshop will focus on what Angela Y. Davis means by Freedom is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement.
What is solidarity? What is our responsibility to bear witness? In what ways might historical and current Black Palestinian solidarity connect with social justice issues the participants know and care about? We will invite participants to explore some of the roots of Black Palestinian solidarity and to imagine and to reflect on the various methods of resistance within and across our communities.
Carbonell and Madhi shared that the workshop was designed based on academic materials and historical evidence. “We designed the Workshop for MLK Day 2024’s ‘Black Pain and Black Joy in Resistance’ to address students’ needs for a space to reflect on the various expressions of solidarity between Black-Americans and Palestinians,” they explained. “Our approach drew on classes already being taught in History, in English - e.g. US History, Race: a Global History, English 320 Race in Literature, Modern Africa, The Art of Protest, Harlem Renaissance, Toni Morrison, among others.”
According to Carbonell, Madhi, and the students running the Instagram account, the cancellation of the workshop defied the core values with which the day celebrating King was founded. “The disappointment with the cancellation, the timing and the rationale is widespread,” observed Carbonell and Madhi. “It is based on the disconnect with MLK Day’s historical emphasis ‘on a day in which the entire community gathers to honor and celebrate the legacy of Dr. King to consider the ways his legacy has endured and how the work he and others began must continue in new and essential ways,’ and the structural design of workshops to ‘...offer a range of perspectives and work, along with a range of pedagogical styles…With each workshop, our hope is that our leaders create the possibility for our students to learn, unlearn, and find ways that they can play an active role in the essential changing of our society.’”
The student response to the abrupt cancellation is understandable. It is certainly frustrating that the administration made the decision to cancel the workshop so abruptly and without offering an explanation or public statement to the community. We hope that in the future, there is more transparency offered to the broader community if such a significant decision is being made, and that the students and faculty can engage in collective, thoughtful conversation around important topics.
However, it is also understandable that the administration made the decision to exercise caution around these types of conversations. In light of the recent presidential upheavals at major universities and harmful actions and rhetoric on both sides of the conflict, the Academy’s responsibility to keep Exeter a welcome learning environment for all is more important than ever. In spite of the @black.palestine.pea post suggesting that “the institutional silence and suppression of conversation are perpetuating the emotional toll our students are experiencing from processing global events,” the school has encouraged discussion of the conflict in the Middle East.
For example, Oct. 10, Principal Bill Rawson sent the community a message encouraging “adults to accommodate the stresses students may be facing, while noting that we should take our cues from the students and others on whether they wish to engage regarding these events.” On Oct. 18, several faculty members, including Carbonell and Madhi, held a session for both those who “are in deep pain and are seeking emotional/spiritual support” as well as those who “wish for a space to ask questions out of a genuine desire to understand historical contexts and nuances.” This event focused on the collective destruction in the Middle East rather than either side of the conflict, serving as a beneficial, neutral conversation for those in need of support. As the conflict persists, however, continued active communication has not. The Academy should have continued and regular inclusive discussions across the community.
As we conclude with a statement that Principal Rawson has requested be shared with the community, we hold the administration to their promise to have these important conversations with students in a way that is equitable and constructive for all.
[To read lower Truman Yee’s perspective on the effects of the cancellation on the Exeter community, flip to page 13.]
A Message from Principal Bill Rawson:
The workshop was cancelled to provide time to gather additional input and perspective around how to structure and offer opportunities for important conversations in our community on these and related subjects. We know that many students and teachers were disappointed, and that many students want to have opportunities to learn and discuss important topics related to the war in Gaza and the longstanding conflicts in the Middle East. To that end, we will work with faculty, student advisers, and student leaders to create appropriate opportunities for such engagement on campus, meeting students where they are, and understanding that the needs of students will vary. These conversations have begun.
The devastation and destruction in Gaza and suffering and death of Palestinian people is deeply distressing to witness, as was and is the violence, death and suffering that occurred on October 7 and the suffering of Israeli hostages and their families that continues today. As I said in my statement on October 10, we are all affected by these events, and many in our community with ties to the region bear a particularly heavy burden. I said further that we must hope or pray for peace in the Middle East, and work to create a world where in all regions the dignity and equal worth of every human life is understood and respected by all.
Our mission and values guide us in this work as in all other work that we do as a school and community. Our vision for diversity, equity and inclusion at Exeter is inseparable from our vision for learning, and it calls upon all of us to strive to learn with and from each other as best we can. We seek to cultivate the empathy, understanding, and respect necessary to be open to thoughts, perspectives and experiences that differ from our own — to be able to hear and learn from stories that differ from our own. This is difficult work under present circumstances, and we will take our cues from students concerning whether and how they would like to engage. We also will continue to provide support and resources in the many ways described in Rev. Bonnie-Jeanne Casey’s email of October 22, in which she urged us all to “focus on empathy, on holding space for our common humanity, and on embracing each other’s goodwill during this time of unimaginable fear and sadness.”
We reject antisemitism, Islamophobia and all forms of anti-Palestinian, anti-Israeli, and anti-Arab hate, discrimination, or violence, as well as any other forms of identity-based hate, discrimination or violence.
