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To the Lawrenceville School,
In solidarity with local and national protests highlighting the urgency of racial justice and systemic disparities towards people of color that have become self-repeating and self-fulfilling; in light of recent and historic acts of police brutality against Black and Brown individuals; and in acknowledgment of the heart-breaking and disgraceful accounts of race-related trauma at The Lawrenceville School, we are writing to demand action by The Lawrenceville School to support its students of color and Black and Brown lives everywhere.
“Through House and Harkness,” reads the school’s mission statement, “Lawrenceville challenges a diverse community of promising young people to lead lives of learning, integrity, and high purpose. Our mission is to inspire the best in each to seek the best for all.”
These are noble goals. But to fulfill this mission, the Lawrenceville School must satisfy the fundamentals: a safe, productive and inclusive learning environment for all of its students. As a boarding school, Lawrenceville’s commitment to its students extends beyond the classroom into their homes, dining rooms, and extracurriculars - into every facet of life. The philosophy of in loco parentis signifies not only the supervision of youth, but also the promise of wellbeing and safety, as well as the latent transference of habits and values.
In the past week, Black and Brown students, alumni and faculty have come forward with accounts of traumatic experiences at the Lawrenceville School (see accounts here and here). These accounts, spanning decades from the 1960s to the current year, include passive or overtly racist language or signage used by white students, physical attacks on students of color, and other expressions of race-related violence. Many accounts describe the absence of reporting mechanisms or support systems, and lack of redress following transgressions. More saddening and unsettling still are the accounts that report indifference or inaction from staff, faculty and other adult figures present - or their central involvement as instigators. In some cases, the impacted parties were as young as 13-years-old.
The accounts make it clear these are not isolated incidents, but a damaging pattern of behavior at The Lawrenceville School. These accounts also make it clear that the school has fallen short of its commitment to the youth it serves and their families: short of providing a safe learning environment; short of fulfilling the duties of in loco parentis; short of providing a global education infused with integrity, inclusion, and seeking the best in others; and short of instilling values becoming of a Lawrentian.
For many Black and Brown alumni and current students, their Lawrenceville School experience is inseparable from race-related trauma. The Lawrenceville Alumni Community is actively engaging in deep discussions about our experiences and observations at Lawrenceville. We are questioning the School’s commitment to building a diverse and inclusive culture, and reflecting on how best to initiate real progress on a path to healing. We ask the Board of Trustees, the Headmaster, and the Administration at large: how is the Lawrenceville School supporting our Black and Brown students today? How are we educating students about effective allyship, inherent bias, white privilege, and systemic racism in the United States and abroad? How are we going to do better?
While we appreciate the Headmaster’s letter of last week, it is not enough to decry racism; we must be actively anti-racist and commit to meaningful action. This will require hard work, discussion, and education. The Lawrenceville School has the obligation and responsibility to undertake this work. Moreover, it is poised to lead in this space -- it has only to choose to do so.
We propose the Lawrenceville School commit to the following action items:
- Full implementation of the Lawrenceville Black Alumni Association’s Anti-Racist Action Plan, which has been shared with the school, with focus on:
- Development of Leadership and Faculty Competency on anti-racism, social justice and intersectionality and Certification of competency, both as applied to on-campus interactions and in-classroom coursework.
- Development of Student Competency on anti-racism, social justice and intersectionality and Certification of competency, both as applied to on-campus interactions and in-classroom coursework. The school's mission obligates it to educate all students to be anti-racist and socially-engaged citizens, equipped to confront the complexity of the challenges faced by our communities.
- Codification and standarized application of consequences for verbal or physical violence towards students of color, as well as the failure to report such actions. The absence of meaningful and practicable enforcement of these rules signals to students that Black and Brown wellbeing does not matter to the Lawrenceville School.
- We welcome Dean Holifield's proposed equity audit as an important foundation for a strategic action plan to ensure that diversity is celebrated and inclusion guaranteed in the Lawrenceville community. We strongly recommend that these steps are carried out with the involvement of third-party auditors, make use of credible external standards and metrics, and that an equity audit becomes a regular annual or semi-annual undertaking in order to provide a longitudinal picture of progress.
- We also ask that the School commit to transparency within its community, by reporting regularly and in reasonable detail on actions adopted, outcomes observed, and adjustments to strategy as set out in items #1 and #2.
The Lawrenceville School’s mission statement speaks of “lives of learning, integrity, and high purpose”; of inspiring “the best in each to seek the best for all.” There is no higher purpose than the call for equity, equality and inclusion. No student, current or future, should have to experience race-related trauma at the Lawrenceville School.
We are committed to holding the Lawrenceville School to a higher standard, and to holding the School accountable to fostering a safer and more equitable learning environment for our peers and each and every student that comes after us.
We look forward to updates from the Lawrenceville School on the school’s plans for concrete and meaningful actions towards addressing these concerns. We look forward to Lawrenceville proving itself a leader in fostering a learning and living environment that empowers students of all backgrounds to thrive, and to develop values more becoming of a Lawrentian.
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