June 10, 2020
Dear Loomis Chaffee Community,
On May 30, I wrote to students, faculty, and staff in the wake of the killing of George Floyd and the unfolding protests against racism across the nation. In the days that followed, I shared that email with parents and alumni, met with PRISM students, and met with faculty and staff. Thank you to those of you who responded to my letter and engaged in the ensuing conversations. Many of you asked questions, while others provided further context regarding their experiences at the school. As I write this note, 16 days have passed since George Floyd was killed. Sixteen days of protest. Sixteen days of anger, outrage, and grief from people across the United States and around the world. In reality, of course, it hasn't been just 16 days—it's been 10 weeks since Breonna Taylor was killed, four months since Ahmaud Arbery was killed, five years since Ferguson. And we could go on. In reality it's been centuries of systemic racism and violence against black people.
Black Lives Matter. Until our individual, school, and societal actions demonstrate this to be true, we need to recommit ourselves to this pledge every day. As a school, we have not always lived up to our mission or our commitment to our black students, faculty, staff, and alumni and to the larger issues of diversity, equity, inclusion, and social justice. We have not done enough to create an environment where all of our students not only feel welcome and respected but also can thrive. I tell students that this is their school—but it is clear that not all students have felt or feel that there is truth in this statement.
We are a historically white institution. While our Founders had a progressive vision, it did not, in the beginning, include a commitment to racial diversity, equity, and inclusion. As an academic institution, we often take too long to make changes that seem obvious in hindsight. The decision to change the name of Mason Hall comes to mind. Knowing what we know of John Mason's actions, why did it take so many years for us to decide that we did not want his name on one of our buildings? Why have we not made more progress in hiring and retaining faculty and staff of color? Why are our curriculum and required readings still so white? Why do hurtful incidents of hate speech and racism continue to happen?
Some of you have rightly asked what we have done to help the school be more inclusive.
Here are some of the steps we have taken recently. Last year, I promoted Elizabeth Parada to the senior team as dean of diversity, equity, and inclusion and gave her a broad mandate to promote a more inclusive and equitable community. I charged academic departments to look at the content of their curricula, readings, required assessments, awards, and gatekeeping around access to advanced courses with an eye toward reflecting our commitment to inclusion and equity. We have made diversity training part of ongoing professional development for all faculty and staff. We have reviewed our disciplinary system to ensure that it does not treat students of color unfairly. We have introduced new courses on race. We have engaged a series of excellent speakers on a variety of topics related to systemic racism, and we have incorporated difficult conversations about race into our first-year and sophomore seminars. We have increased our financial aid budget and have increased the number of students of color on our campus. We have made the hiring and retention of faculty and staff of color a top priority. We have made clear our zero tolerance for hate speech. Earlier this year, we added diversity, equity, and inclusion as one indicator for every standard that is part of our New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC) reaccreditation self-study.
These initiatives are good—but we need to do better, and we need to do more. As head of school, I commit Loomis Chaffee to undertake the following initiatives:
Academic/Co-Curricular Programs
Students/Student Life
Faculty and Staff
Administrative
Both as individuals and as a school, we must do more to be actively anti-racist. We owe it to our students to do everything we can to teach the complexity of the issues before us and to give all our students the tools they need to thrive and lead in this world. To do so, we must hold ourselves and each other accountable to get the necessary training and to understand the issues. The problem of systemic racism is ours to solve. We have made mistakes—we need to do a better job of learning from them. We must do more, and we will. The steps outlined in this message are the first of those next steps in this necessary journey.
I especially want to thank those of you who have written to me or who have posted comments on social media. Your voice and your experience matter. Please do not hesitate to send me your comments and further suggestions; you can reach me at sculbert@loomis.org. Thank you for working to make us a better school and for caring enough about your school to want to make us better.
Sheila
The Loomis Chaffee School • 4 Batchelder Road • Windsor, CT 06095 • 860.687.6000
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