CHRONICLE THE HARVARD WESTLAKE
Studio City • Volume 28 • Issue 7 • March 20, 2019 • hwchronicle.com
School receives subpoenas By SOFIA HELLER KAITLIN MUSANTE
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Prosecutors subpoenaed the records of two alumni March 14 as part of a further investigation into what is being called the largest college admissions cheating scam ever prosecuted, Head of Communications Ari Engelberg ’89 said. More than 50 people allegedly participated in a nationwide scheme to gain admission into prestigious universities through fraud, bribery and lies, according to the Los Angeles Times. College counselor William “Rick” Singer orchestrated the scheme and helped students cheat on standardized testing exams and fabricate sports recruitment profiles in exchange for large sums of money, ranging from $200,000 to $6.5 million, according to CNN. U.S. Federal Prosecutors from the District of Massachusetts indicted the accused March 12. Former and current Harvard-Westlake students used Singer’s services in their college processes, student Violet* ’19 said. Violet said she started using Singer as a college counselor two and a half years ago when friends recommended him. After Singer helped her discover one of her current top-choice schools, she said he offered to set up a meeting with that school’s athletic director, despite the fact that Violet does not play any sports. Singer did not offer to help Violet’s family raise her standardized test scores through illegal means, she said. “It came about as a natural extension of ‘How can we get you into these schools?’” Violet said. “It was just another thing on his list. It struck us as a red flag.” Violet and her family declined this proposition but continued using Singer as a college counselor, she said.
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CALL TO ACTION: Eighty students at Ethical Culture Fieldston School in New York lock themselves inside of a building to protest bias, bigotry and racism on campus in light of the administration’s response to a racist video that surfaced this month.
High schools nation-wide grapple with racism, homophobia, anti-semitism By SOPHIE HABER AND JENNY LI
Sixty African-American and Puerto Rican students barricaded themselves inside the administration building at Ethical Culture Fieldston School in New York on March 23, 1970. The students protested the school’s failure to implement long-standing demands to enroll more African-American students, hire more faculty of color and integrate the African-American and Latin-American experiences into the curriculum, according to the New York Times. Almost exactly 49 years later, 80 Fieldston students barricaded themselves in the administration building once again March 11. Catalyzed by the school’s response to a video released of Fieldston students using the phrase “crack n****r,” this protest, organized by the newly created group Students of Color Matter, aimed to bring to light
the still-pervasive racism at the school, student leader Elisabeth Di Domenico (Fieldston ’20) said. “The video was not an isolated incident,” Di Domenico said. “There have been so many incidents like that, and it’s created a culture that is unresponsive to racism. It would be a little bit different if our school didn’t claim to be super ethical, progressive, supposed to produce the leaders of the world, accepting of everyone. If you say we’re going to be like that, then we should actually be like that. There were cultural changes that needed to happen, but there [are] systemic changes that needed to happen in our institution.” The protesting students outlined a list of immediate and longer-term demands, many of which were the same as those created almost half a century ago, Di Domenico said, including updating the curriculum and accepting more students and faculty of color. “It makes us nervous because
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Faculty to vote on schedules for 2020 By SABA NIA
Following the second pair of late-start block schedule days March 11-12, members of the Scheduling Committee have prepared two proposals for altering the current schedule, Head of Upper School Laura Ross said. Academic departments are currently reviewing the proposed changes to the schedule, and the Faculty Academic Committee will vote on the two final proposals April 16. Ross said both proposals
will include more community time, at least one late start day per cycle and longer blocks of time for classes. During the second pair of trial days, students met for 60-minute classes with 15-minute breaks and no ‘X’ periods. Periods four, three, two and one met the first day, and periods eight, seven, six and five met the second, in that order. In a Chronicle poll of 281 students, 45 percent said they liked the 15-minute breaks
during the second trial block schedule days. In response to feedback from the first pair of late start block schedule days, the Scheduling Committee also extended the common lunch period from 25 minutes to 45 minutes. Students said that while they support the administration’s desire to alter the current schedule, the late start block schedule days were an adjustment. “The [block days are] better
what if we are back in 49 years, instructing the next group for almost the same thing we are asking for?” Di Domenico said. After two days of the lockout, the administration sufficiently agreed to the list of immediate demands, including a written apology, releasing the official disciplinary records of the students in the video and an investigation into the systemic racism at the school, Di Domenico said. By the end of the lockout, most of the student body, as well as middle schoolers, had been participating in sit-ins and workshops in various buildings at the school, Di Domenico said. High schools across the nation have recently come under scrutiny for similar incidents. On March 15, staffers discovered racist and homophobic graffiti spray-painted on William G. Enloe High School in Raleigh, North Carolina. Eight days before that, racist usernames and swastika symbols, anonymously
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The [block days are] better than what we currently have, that’s for certain. However, there is much room for improvement. Classes were too long, and school ended too late.”
than what we currently have, that’s for certain,” Will Evans ’19 said. “However there is much room for improvement. Classes were too long, and school ended too late.” The Scheduling Committee has compiled research gath-
— Will Evans ’19
WHITE’S
ered from trips to other schools and from a study conducted by Challenge Success, a company associated with Stanford University, based on a survey students took last year. English teacher and Scheduling • Continued on A5