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In Search of Diversity
By E. Mendelsohn
On Thursday February 16, faculty, students, parents and trustees met to discuss diversity at Chapin. The meeting served as a debriefing of two NAIS conferences in Dallas, Texas attended by members of the Chapin community this past December. Three faculty members and one parent participated in the NAIS people of Color Conference. At the same time, four Chapin Upper School students went to meetings and workshops at the Student Diversity Leadership Conference.
Stephanie Howze, chairperson of the Person of Color Committee and a Chapin parent, joined computer science teacher Cordenia Paige, head of drama department Luc Hotaling and English teacher Suzanne Epstein in sharing their experience of the Dallas conference. All were impressed by the national rallying of teachers, students, parents and administrators open to engaging in honest dialogue about diversifying the students and employees of independent schools. Ms. Epstein added that the students now in kindergarten will become adults around the year 2050 in a world very differently than the one we live in now. She asked, “What will that world look like? How are we preparing them?”
The four students spent their time in Dallas at a coinciding student conference focusing on leadership. At the end of the three days, the two groups merged and participated in exercises and discussions, led by students. For the Thursday meeting, the four Chapin girls who attended the conference led the room in an exercise demonstrating the unequal division of resources that exists throughout the world and manifests itself nationally in independent schools. Participants were surprised to learn that only one percent of the world’s population owned computers and that fifty percent of the world suffers from malnutrition. Students pointed out that in discussing diversity issues specific to Chapin that these statistics rarely came up since the Chapin student body has access to meals and computers. Most discussions centered around the percentage of "non-white" students in Independant Schools, including Chapin, compared to the percentage of "non-white" people in New York or the nation.
The Thursday meeting concluded with discussion groups that centered on two questions. As a school interested in diversity, where are we and what do we do next? Ideas for further progress included more events that provoked school-wide awareness and more space for discussion among Chapin's many diversity groups such as the Cultural Awareness Program (CAP), Ruby Bridges, Gay-Straight Alliance, or Seeking Educational Equity and Diversity (S.E.E.D.) For the most part, the participants were pleased with Chapin’s progress. One older alumna remembered when diversity at Chapin meant boys in the Kindergarten. Fortunately, the face of Chapin, and the face of Independant Schools nationally, is changing.
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