AROUND THE QUADS
From Diverse Backgrounds Toward Common Ground
T
RUSTEE Pauline Chen ’82 held the Olcott Center in rapt attention during a fall convocation as she told the stories of two boys whose journeys to Loomis Chaffee could not have been more different but who shared the same uncertainty about their place at the school. One was a refugee from a war-torn country who spoke little English. The other was the son of a physical plant engineer who spent his boyhood on campus but felt separate from the school community. Pauline’s tale narrated the lives of both boys as they became LC students, encountered a deep sense of belonging, and thrived. Long after their graduations, she noted, both remain closely connected to the school. Then she introduced the two “boys”: Trustee Dang Phan ’79 and science teacher Scott MacClintic ’82, director of LC’s Kravis Center for Excellence in Teaching. As the two men stood amid the audience, thunderous applause and more than a few tear-filled eyes acknowledged them. Pauline’s talk culminated an emotional convocation celebrating the school’s commitment to diversity and launching the next stage of an initiative to further that commitment. The full
Board of Trustees joined the campus community for the event.
at Loomis Chaffee? And what should we do in support of our mission?
“We see having a diverse community as a strength. We also see self-reflection as a strength,” Christopher Norton ’76, chairman of the Board of Trustees, told the gathering of students, faculty, staff, and Trustees. For both of these reasons, he and Head of School Sheila Culbert established the Diversity Task Force last year to examine and enhance diversity at the school.
An Assessment of Inclusivity and Multiculturalism, a program developed by the National Association of Independent Schools, will seek answers to these questions. The project will include focus groups with many members of the school community as well as a confidential survey of community members via the Internet. The task force hopes a large portion of the LC family — including students, alumni, parents, faculty, staff, and administrators — will complete the survey because the broader the participation, the more accurate the resulting picture. The task force plans to presents its findings and recommendations to the Board of Trustees by the end of the school year.
The 11-member task force, chaired by Pauline, includes several other trustees and faculty and staff members, several of whom spoke at the convocation. The group spent last year examining three key questions: What is diversity? Why is it important? What should our mission be regarding diversity? The task force this year plans to gather input from as many members of the LC community as possible to answer two additional questions: What are we doing to support or inhibit diversity
Trustees Dang Phan ’79 and Pauline Chen ’82 The full Board of Trustees attended the convocation, including William Flammer Jr. ’43, who was honored for his decades of commitment to Loomis Chaffee. Seated in front of Bill are Trustee Andrew Carter ’58 and Linda Rossi, assistant to the head of school. Shown seated behind Bill are Trustees Steven Rosenthal and Harvey Struthers Jr. ’60 and science teacher Jeffrey Holcombe.