Island News
Student Award Named for Matthew Whitehead II ’57
A
new award was established last spring in honor of the late Matthew J. Whitehead II ’57, the first African-American student to graduate from Loomis Chaffee. The Whitehead Award recognizes students whose actions have been instrumental in creating and supporting an inclusive community at the school. The Climate and Inclusion Committee presented three students with the Whitehead Award last spring and plans to choose recipients annually. Creation of the Whitehead Award followed an assessment of inclusion and multiculturalism by the Board of Trustee’s taskforce on diversity at Loomis, says Elizabeth Parada, director of the school’s Office of Diversity & Inclusion. The award is an active and tangible way to establish and sustain a favorable climate of inclusion, she explains. Matthew Whitehead matriculated in 1953, the year before the Supreme Court landmark decision Brown v Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, established the unconstitutionality of segregated public schools. Matthew later became a member of the Loomis Board of Trustees
and spoke at Commencement in 1984, the year his son, Matthew J. Whitehead III, graduated. “One of the goals of this school is to teach the value of justice and compassion … not just achievement and success,” he said in his Commencement address. “I hope you will make powerful individual statements as people who care, and would make society a better place for us all.” Matthew died in 2002. “Matt Whitehead ’84 responded enthusiastically to me, saying that he was very pleased to hear that the school would name the award in honor of his father,” says Nathan Follansbee, associate head for external relations, who communicated with the family about the school’s initiative. “From my perspective,” Nat says, “the Whitehead Award aligns perfectly with the Founders’ vision to establish a school for students from diverse backgrounds and experiences. It truly represents the past, present, and future mission of Loomis Chaffee.” The inaugural recipients of the Whitehead Award, honored in May, were Bobby Cecere ’16 and thenjuniors Ifteda Ahmed-Syed and Sydney Steward.
“The Whitehead Award recognizes students whose actions have been instrumental in creating and supporting an inclusive community at the school.” Matthew Whitehead III ’84 shakes hands with his dad, Matthew Whitehead II ‘57, at the 1984 Commencement. Photo: Loomis Chaffee Archives
Misconduct Investigation Findings On January 10, Head of School Sheila Culbert and Chair of the Board of Trustees Christopher Norton ’76 released a letter summarizing the findings of the sexual misconduct investigation conducted by the law firm Cowdery & Murphy. In a May 2016 letter announcing the investigation, Sheila shared that there had been past incidents of misconduct
at the school and that “we have an obligation to find and address instances or allegations of sexual misconduct at Loomis that may have gone unreported to us or were never fully addressed.” In their summary letter in January, Sheila and Chris wrote, “[T]hank you to everyone who participated in this process and in particular
to those who came forward with information. We know that reporting incidents took great personal courage as well as a commitment to help make a difference for current and future generations of students. … We, along with the entire Board of Trustees and the school community, apologize unreservedly to those affected. We know that no action that we take today
will erase the deep pain caused, but we do hope that our commitment to confront all such behavior now and in the future may bring some healing.”
web+ To read the January 10 letter from Sheila and Chris, go to www. loomischaffee.org/magazine.
Winter 2017
21