As most of you know, one of our school-wide goals resulting from the AIMS accreditation process focuses on diversity. That focus has taken many forms, including the creation of a Board of Trustees committee on diversity, equity, and inclusion. In the first year of its operation last year, this committee—which consists of staff and faculty, as well as Trustees—revised Holton's Diversity Mission Statement. Holton has had a Diversity Mission Statement since 1996; more than 20 years later, it was time to revise it. Here is the new statement approved by the Board of Trustees last May:
DIVERSITY, EQUITY, AND INCLUSION MISSION STATEMENT
The Holton-Arms community recognizes and values the uniqueness of each of its members, including current and former students, faculty, and staff. We strive to create an inclusive environment that sees and supports diverse identities and experiences, cultivates engaged and civil discourse, and empowers our students to be thriving members of the global community.
At Holton-Arms, each of us is responsible for fostering an equitable, respectful, and just community. Holton is committed to helping its members
- Discover, develop, and value their full authentic selves.
- Deepen awareness of one's own personal and systemic biases and be accountable for the impact of one's words and actions on others.
- Develop an understanding of the historical origins and perpetuation of systems of power and privilege.
- Engage in open and brave conversations that promote growth, understanding, connection, and agency.
- Be advocates for supporting the diverse identities of others in the community.
As you might imagine, the Committee carefully considered virtually every word contained in the statement. There is a great deal to unpack here and I cannot do justice to the full meaning of the statement in this column. Nevertheless, I want to share a few thoughts.
Let's begin with: "cultivates engaged and civil discourse." Ensuring "engaged and civil discourse" in an era of political polarization presents a challenge. However, we as adults need to model such discourse and provide direction and even training for our students so they learn how to participate in dialogue around issues that are sensitive or about which people may disagree. It's important to note the use of the word "dialogue," which implies learning from one another; debate, by contrast, demands convincing the other side of one's position. Students currently learn these types of skills in their classes and through DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) work, especially in the context of our student-run Middle and Upper School diversity conferences and the Learn Well, Live Well, Lead Well (LW3) Seminars (which eventually all students will take each year).
Next, let's look at: "awareness of one's own personal and systemic biases." Through the work of professors Mahzarin R. Banaji and Anthony G. Greenwald, inventors of the IAT (Implicit Bias Test) and authors of Blindspot: Hidden Biases of Good People, we have learned that we all have biases—biases we often don't recognize. I was stunned to discover that, despite my deeply held beliefs in female equality, I harbor anti-female biases. If you have never taken the IAT, I encourage you to do so (and the book is fascinating). Not only is it essential that we recognize the biases virtually all of us have and act to overcome them; we also need to understand the "systemic biases" in our society. Most of our personal biases stem from systemic biases, such as racism and sexism, and these, in turn, undergird "systems of power and privilege," which I will address below.
To be "accountable for the impact of one's words and actions on others" is also critical, as we all live and work in diverse communities. Intent and impact are different and intent does not absolve us from impact. We need to be able to listen and learn when our words or actions impact others in ways we don't mean.
As I suggested above, "systems of power and privilege" are closely tied to personal and systemic biases, with biases and systems reinforcing one another. These work in our society and economy in multiple ways. Some practices such as redlining are no longer legal, but their impact persists to this day. In other areas, such as medicine, biases continue to impact practice. For example, as explored in a feature in our latest Doorways magazine, black mothers experience significantly higher maternal mortality rates than other ethnic groups. The fight over equal pay, highlighted this summer by the U.S. Women's Soccer Team, represents another example of systemic bias, as well as a reaction against systems of power and privilege. Understanding both biases and systems of power and privilege, along with their histories and how they are perpetuated, helps us and our students understand the world in which we live and gives us a foundation for addressing inequities and social injustice.
These topics can make people feel very uncomfortable. However, if we genuinely wish to create an equitable society—even an equitable culture within Holton—we need to acknowledge that there are systems of power and privilege, as well as recognize who benefits from them. This is particularly difficult for someone like me as a white person, because we probably don't see the ways our privilege operates to our advantage. Just as we have an obligation to understand our biases, we have an obligation to understand our privilege—whether that comes from race, gender, socio-economic status, education, age, or some combination thereof—and the power that accompanies it. We don't need to feel guilty about it, but we should leverage it to address inequality.
The Committee discussed using the word "safe" to describe the kinds of "conversations" we want, and I urged us instead to use "brave." It is crucially important that we engage in conversations across differences, and I worry that the term "safe" could preclude some of those conversations. While certain topics may require an especially sensitive approach (for example, talking about sexual assault with someone who has experienced it), in general, we need to prepare ourselves and our students for brave conversations. Safe Spaces, Brave Places by John Palfrey, the former Head at Phillips Academy, Andover, helped me think through this. A lawyer by training, Palfrey explores diversity and free expression, arguing that we need both. Indeed, while in today's environment it can feel as though advocates for diversity often oppose free expression, he shows that historically, movements expanding people's rights, such as the civil rights movement, have expanded freedom of expression. Building on this history, he argues, "There is a deep connection between the benefits to be gained through diversity in education and those resulting from a culture of free expression on campuses." (61) We need both safe spaces and brave spaces. Palfrey believes, as I do, that "Campuses at large need to remain places where students learn to confront the uncomfortable and the unfamiliar and respond in ways that enable them to grow." (30) This means, I would say, that we need to ensure that we have spaces that feel safe so people can be brave. This takes effort, including training for students and adults, but it's essential to the educational process and to creating the citizens and leaders of tomorrow.
The last statement, "Be advocates for supporting the diverse identities of others in the community," sounds pretty straightforward, and most of us probably believe we do this. However, to truly do it well, we need to dig deep and to ask questions, because we may not be doing it as well as we think. We need to find out from the people representing different identities what they need to feel fully a part of this community and genuinely supported.
Mission statements should state what an institution does while also being aspirational. That certainly describes Holton's new Diversity Mission Statement. We work hard to live up to this mission, and we recognize that we have work to do, both as individuals and institutionally. Personally, I am on a journey, one on which I am constantly learning. As I said in my Convocation speech, that is what it means to be "educated."
