Dear Berkshire Students, Parents, Guardians, Faculty, Staff, and Alumni,
I write today to follow my earlier communication to our extended community in response to the recent killings of Black Americans and to the latest racial crisis spilling out into the streets across the U.S. and the world. I write again in profound anguish for our Black students, families, faculty and staff, and alumni as these events leave you more afraid, more isolated, more outraged, more uncertain, and needing Berkshire to assure you that you are safe, seen, and heard here. I write to reiterate that your lives matter; that Black Lives Matter; that I and all of Berkshire will only work harder to ensure that you can be all of whom you are at Berkshire.
I write humbly. I write understanding my privilege, my role as our head of school, and my leadership responsibility to all of you. I hope that I can get this right, and yet I’m sure I will make mistakes. I also write amidst the concurrent global pandemic which has left everyone wrought, fatigued, fragile, and struggling. But I write from my heart, and I’m buoyed by my unwavering faith, hope, and belief in Berkshire.
I write to share that I can be better. That we can be better. That Berkshire can and must be better. I write to acknowledge that if we are to truly honor and embody our mission as an institution serving a diverse, global community, then we must be an anti-racist institution. I write to reiterate Berkshire’s institutional responsibility, our role, and our duty to dismantle systemic racism, injustice, and inequity. I write to make clear that our core values of curiosity, integrity, respect, inclusion, perseverance, and resilience demand this of us and of our school. My hope is that our collective conviction to rise up to meet this only becomes clearer, only becomes stronger, only becomes louder. Berkshire will only be better as it does.
I also write to share that I welcome the initiative, perspective, and free exchange of ideas from all members of our community as these help us to become a more inclusive community. This is the responsibility of all academic institutions. I trust that these will be shared in a spirit which supports our most productive dialogue, our collaborative partnership, and our most successful path to making Berkshire better. And I hope the outreach from all those who care deeply about our school is congruent with our values and with how we live and learn at Berkshire. Our path forward must be grounded in listening, empathy, and mutual respect. We must come to the table and lean into any discomfort while respecting everyone, respecting their perspective, their lived experience, their opinion, their voice, especially if these are different than our own. Anything less is bound to divide us rather than unite us around the change we all know is needed.
There is much work to be done, and we all must be willing to do our share. There is much at Berkshire that is good, and just, and ours alone. This must be stewarded to honor our spirit, our culture, our shared experiences that define us as Bears. There is also much that must evolve and change, as it always has at Berkshire over our 113-year history, to ensure that our spirit, culture, and shared experiences continue to define us in the best of ways and for all Bears.
We are currently hard at work with our rising student leaders to facilitate and engage our internal community of students, faculty, and staff in a Community Conversation next week. The passion and principle of these young people, just mere weeks into their leadership roles for the coming school year, is inspiring and fills me and us with great hope. We look forward to welcoming similar forums for both parents and alumni in the weeks to follow. Listening, learning, and committing to the work will guide these important conversations.
Our faculty, staff, and administration will also spend much of the summer continuing the commitments made in both our 2015 Strategic Plan and our 2019 Strategic Plan for Diversity & Inclusion. The following diversity and inclusion initiatives are among many guiding our work:
- The review of our academic curriculum and teaching practices to ensure they are broadly representative and authentically prepare our students for college and their lives beyond.
- Meeting our admission objectives to ensure a diverse, talented, mission-appropriate student body.
- Meeting our hiring objectives to recruit and retain a more diverse faculty and staff.
- Diversifying the administration and the board to ensure our strongest school leadership.
- Targeted fundraising and endowment giving to support financial aid and faculty/staff compensation and retention.
- Dedicated funding to train students and faculty in social justice education, and requiring this training for all student leadership positions.
- Extending our affinity groups for all members of the community, students and adults both.
- Creating new digital resources through the library, website, and archives to support this work.
- Additional leadership roles that support Akilah Edgerton as our Dean of Diversity & Inclusion.
In closing, it is clear to everyone that we have so much more to do. The current crises in our country and world underscore this in profound ways and implore us to redouble our commitment to preparing Berkshire students to be leaders of the change so clearly needed in our world today. Even in the face of these challenges and this daunting responsibility, I am proud of the commitment that our Berkshire community is making. I call on all of you to join us in this commitment. We are at our best when we all stand together with each and every member of our community.
Respectfully,
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