D ate line an d o ver
First Copresidents Elected in Midst of Gender Equity Debate, But… Clark Perkins ’14 and Junius Williams ’14 were elected Phillips Academy’s first copresidents in mid-April voting, besting worthy opponents Farris Peale ’14 and Ben Yi ’14 in the culmination of a campaign that drew as much attention to the issue of gender and access equality as it did to the candidates’ platforms and qualifications.
Palfrey Catches the Spirit for His First HOS Day! Predicting when the head of school will raise her or his symbolic baton to signify an unexpected day free of classes has become for students something of a Phillips Academy intelligence test. This year was no exception, even though it was the first for John Palfrey, and even though he was determined to outfox them.
Scott Diekema ’14 Phillipian
12
Andover | Spring 2013
Warned they might be on to him, Palfrey stole quietly into Paresky Commons during dinner on February 4 and slipped up a back stairwell to upper right. Raising his beloved squash racquet, the deed was done, to the surprise and delight of diners. Then, sprinting back down to lower right where a more expectant crowd had gathered, he entered to music, exuberance, and waiting thank-you signs. The racquet was raised to great rejoicing! Within minutes, the über-connected J-Pal had tweeted a photo of himself with students and the racquet, and within minutes more than 200 “Likes” had appeared on the PA Facebook page, proving the old adage, good news travels fast.
Sally Holm
The copresidential model was introduced in early January by then–school president Hemang Kaul ’13 not only to manage responsibilities and “project an image of collaboration,” but also Copresidents Clark Perkins ’14, second from left, and Junius Williams ’14, center, on their campaign poster. to encourage more girls to run for student government’s top spot. Since and across campus about reasons and remedies for low 1973—when the Academy became coed and the position was female representation at the top, and inspired coverage by the first established—only four girls have served as school president. New York Times on April 12. The ironic conclusion of the vote left Following approval by Student Council, 12 copresimany questions unanswered. dential teams emerged; six were dual gender R ead the New York Times story at www.andover.edu/magazine. and six were all male. The campaign fired healthy and often heated debate in the Phillipian