AndoverMagSpring2015

“We mustbecome awareof our ownstereotypicalbiases andblind spots.”Gil TalbotKBO Why are we using the terms equityand inclusion instead of diversity?LCG Diversity encompasses all thedifferences that make us unique,including but not limited to race, color,ethnicity, language, nationality, sexualorientation, religion, gender, andsocioeconomics. Equity denotes anenvironment in which each individualmember of a diverse community feelsvalued and is able to fully develop theirworking potential and contribute tothe organization’s success. We havea diverse community here at PA; wedon’t yet have a community that isentirely equitable and in which everyonefeels included. We’re working on it,and we’ve gotten better and better. Butwe’re not there yet.KBO Your new role as assistant head ofschool for equity and inclusion is anexciting and important one, but this istough stuff. Setting our sights on a moreequitable and inclusive community isnot as easy as populating our StrategicPlan with, say, two new buildings. Howdid your new role come about?LCG In September 2014, Head ofSchool John Palfrey, Trustee GaryLee ’74, and I spent three days inWashington, D.C., at a diversity symposiumwith other independent schooladministrators from around the nation.We went as a team because Gary andJohn also understand that this workonly gets done when the top sees it,gets it, and wants it to happen. Truly,none of this would be possible if JohnPalfrey hadn’t said, “This is importantfor everybody. Everybody.”At the symposium, we were askedto strategize and develop a solid andrealistic set of goals related to diversity,equity, and inclusion for our school. WeStudent contributors tothe whiteboard projectgather around LindaCarter Griffith insupport of the school’scommitment to equityand inclusion.left with several very clear strategic goalsabout what we needed to do to level theplaying field and enhance our commitmentto all school contingencies.Some time after that we began toformalize a new role for me, and todayI find myself in a position with a highlevel of support to meet our goals ofequity and inclusion. And I will needto work with all of our constituenciesequally in order to be successful inreaching our shared goals. Instead ofplanning the day-to-day student programming,I will be helping administrators,faculty, trustees, and staff reflectand ask if each area of our school—curriculum, athletics, theatre—is aninclusive, welcoming environment.KBO As dean of CAMD, you spend agood part of your day working directlywith students. Will this change in yournew role?•1820Scholar of the House William Person(Class of 1818), an impoverished foundling,dies while at Harvard. His death is blamedon his hard labors as a scholarship boy.•1827| | | The Philo Society debates theAbbot Female Academy is foundedquestion, “Do females possess mindsas capable of improvement as males?”•1829and welcomes 70 girls to its first class. Itis one of the first schools in New Englandto be founded solely for girls.Andover | Spring 201523