Reconsideration of Academy and Race Continues Fall Term

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

Building upon conversations held this summer, academic departments plan to continue their antiracist work throughout the fall term. After coordination between the Office of Multicultural Affairs (OMA), the Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Stephanie Bramlett and the Dean of Students Brooks Moriarty, Exeter’s schedule now includes a weekly anti-racist block, hosted for the first time last Thursday.

Panelists of the first webinar included Bramlett, Principal William Rawson, Moriarty, Dean of Multicultural Affairs Sherry Hernandez and Dean of Faculty Ellen Wolff. During the meeting, they highlighted particular departments’ work from their summer discussions, as well as school-wide work to be done.  

This work will be supported by a new Principal’s Discretionary Fund, announced by Principal William Rawson on June 29. “I have a particular interest in supporting efforts to increase the number of Black and other faculty of color, and funding will be required to support those recruiting efforts,” Rawson said. “Which initiatives will be supported from the new discretionary fund, versus the operating budget or endowed funds, remains to be determined as we move forward.”

Racism was also the theme of the first school Assembly on Sept. 15, which featured psychiatrist Dr. Nicole Christian-Brathwaite. At assembly, Christian-Brathwaite explained the lasting trauma that results from microaggressive racism. Christian-Brathwaite also served as the keynote speaker for Faculty Week and will work with groups such as the Academic Advising Committee, the Community Conduct Committee, the College Counseling Office and the Student Listeners Program to support anti-racism initiatives throughout the year.

Student Council Co-Presidents Charlotte Lisa and Senai Robinson plan to share the Council’s initiatives during the Anti-Racist Work Block this coming Thursday. “We are working to come up with a very specific conversation about the major problems Black Exonians are currently facing on campus and possible, tangible solutions to those problems,” Lisa and Robinson said.

Departments are also engaging in continued work specific to their disciplines. The Department of Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) has initiated a search for a new counselor, following the retirement of former counselor Constance Morse. “We are being intentional about how the counselor can increase the diversity and clinical expertise of the existing fabric of our team. We will work hard to continue to expand our representation of identities,” Director of Psychological Services Dr. Szu-Hui Lee said. 

Similarly, Hernandez said that OMA will work to be intentional in individual and organizational self-examination, challenge racist policies, introduce an International Student Orientation reflection and require anti-racist training for Academic coaches. OMA will also be offering Zoom “drop-in” hours.

A major focus for OMA will be on student support. “The OMA Team will be identity-informed practitioners, supporting students at the intersection of their identities. This includes being driven by data to help quantify the present issues and track for change,” Hernandez said. “In an event when a student has come forward to discuss their experiences with racism. . . we have gathered other related faculty, advisers [and] deans to further surround the student with support.” 

Dean of Faculty Ellen Wolff described the critical role the new Assistant Dean of Faculty will have in creating a more diverse faculty body. “One of that colleague’s primary responsibilities will be recruitment and hiring, with an emphasis on cultivating a diverse candidate pool… I am thrilled that we will soon have an assistant dean who can partner with us (and an assistant director of equity and inclusion) to redouble our efforts,” she said. “We need to do better, in both hiring and retention.”

Wolff and Bramlett are also convening an anti-racist teaching collaborative open to all faculty. “It’s going to be a kind of think tank or idea generator, a resource and a conduit for ideas about how to be an antiracist educator,” she said. “It’s going to ensure that that focus pervades all of our thinking about teaching this year.”

Though the Assembly Committee did not meet over the summer, assembly coordinator Alex Myers worked with ESSO Diversity club adviser Augustus Toyin and Bramlett to plan a diverse lineup of speakers.

Myers described his focus on making assembly responsive and informative for students on campus. “How do we make assembly relevant to Exonians’ lives today? How do we inform the community about important topics?” Myers asked. 

The Art Department opened submissions over the summer for the Lamont Gallery exhibition “Critical Joy,” which focuses on the diversity of the Exeter and art community. The exhibition is already open and will remain available for the remainder of fall.

As a department with an international staff, the Modern Languages Department largely consists of immigrants. Chair Evelyn Cristoph announced that the department will be starting a podcast to share the stories of immigrant faculty, in an effort to empower students of color. “[Spanish Instructor Diego] Ardura will be heading a podcast project for colleagues to tell their stories, both in the language of the country they left and the language of the country they now call home,” Cristoph said.

On Feb. 1, Principal Bill Rawson sent an email to the student body announcing an investigation of the Academy’s ties to slavery. History Department Chair Kent McConnell, Head of Archives and Special Collections Magee Lawhorn and former History Instructor Cameron Brickhouse were appointed to steer the project, which has now been paused due to the pandemic and Brickhouse’s departure from the academy.

According to McConnell, “the project is ongoing but its efforts have been greatly hampered with the closing of archives across the country due to the COVID crisis. Additionally, Ms. Brickhouse left the academy, so a search for her replacement is taking place. Once things open up concerning historic materials, the project will get underway again.”

Classics Department Chair Matthew Hartnett noted the lack of diversity of the department’s instructors. “We’re not in the position to add another teacher to the department at the moment, but, when the opportunity comes, we will do everything we can to bring in a faculty of color,” Hartnett said. “However, we can’t just wait for candidates of color to come to us. We have to be proactive and go find them, so we’ve already begun networking and preparing for when we do hire.”

In the afternoon activities block, the Music Department has offered new classes that cover a more diverse range of topics than previously offered. “Offerings that particularly expand opportunities beyond our current curriculum are the Electronic Music Composers’ Collective, Music of Protest, Music Research and Critical Writing, Music Theater Workshop, Contemporary Music Listening and Ensemble Leadership,” Department Chair Kristofer Johnson said.

Some students noted that the Academy’s webinars felt unproductive. “I wish we could have actual conversations instead of having them talking at us,” upper Ifeoma Ajufo said. “In [Langdell], we’re doing a dorm meeting where they’re gonna try to set up activities that we can do for antiracism. What the whole school can do is have conversations within each dorm or in familiar groups like sports teams.”

“I’d rather talk about it with my classmates and see how they feel. I feel like there’s a lack of an actual community conversation and more of a lecture,” upper Juliette Ortiz added. Other students noted that, due to limited time, many questions went unanswered. 

However, upper Nathan Zhou felt that the webinar sparked productive conversations. “I watched it with guys in the dorm, so it was good because for some things we could call each other out about it,” he said.

The Academy will continue to work towards becoming an anti-racist school. At the Anti-Racist Vision webinar, Wolff reiterated the Academy’s commitment to this goal. “Racism, trauma and equity are the lens with which the faculty will be conducting their work for this year.”