Chronicle the 30-year anniversary of the
Harvard-Westlake • Studio City • Volume 30 • Issue 4 • March 24, 2021 • hwchronicle.com
Anti-Asian hate crimes fuel outrage
Media reacts to anti-racist initiatives
The community gains international attention after revising its curriculum.
The school grapples with the racist implications of the Atlanta shootings.
By Ethan Lachman and Kyle Reims
By Quincey Dern and Caitlin Muñoz Six Asian American women were killed during multiple shootings in Atlanta on March 16. The attacks occurred in three different Asian-owned spas, and eight people suffered from fatal bullet wounds. The racial identities of the spa owners and six of the victims have brought clarity to the racially-charged intentions of the suspect, and the mass-murder is being widely received as a hate crime. Asian Students in Action (ASiA) leader Mia Shelton ’21 said she felt devastated when she heard about the shooting, an emotion that was only amplified by the media’s hesitancy to identify the attack as racist. “Eight people were killed, six [of whom were] Asian American women, and it was not the most prevalent thing that was populating my news feed or my social media,” Shelton said. “As more information has been found and released, as the press conference occurred, as there is a refusal to call this a hate crime, that sadness very quickly turned to anger.” At the start of the pandemic, former President Donald Trump referred to COVID-19 as the “Chinese Virus” and the “Kung Flu” on multiple occasions, placing blame on the Asian community for the spreading of the virus and instigating a rise in anti-Asian sentiment, as detailed by ABC News. Between March 2020 and February 2021, 3,795 racially-charged attacks against Asian Americans were documented, according to a report published by the non-profit organization Stop AAPI Hate, which records incidents of racism against people who identify as Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) in the U.S. The group was founded in response to the racially-motivated assaults on Asian Americans as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Chinese Teacher Bin He said he has observed higher rates of racism against Asian Americans since the term “Chinese Virus” emerged. He said in China, people associate America with freedom and equality and that the • Continued on A3
Guest Editorial: Thomas Schramm ’21 responds to journalist Bari Weiss’s article, “The Miseducation of America’s Elites,” which was published March 9 in City Journal magazine. The letter provides a firsthand perspective of the school’s initiatives. hwchronicle.com
Max Thompson ’23 said he greatly enjoyed his days on campus and the opportunity to rekindle friendships, an aspect of in-person school he longed for while learning remotely. “It felt like real school; it felt like everything was going back to normal,” Thompson said. “The best part of [being on campus again] was seeing people that I hadn’t talked to in a while or wasn’t even friends with before the pandemic. I feel like that’s the experience that I’m missing out on the most during quarantine: meeting new people or being pushed into those social interactions that you don’t really get when you’re just on Zoom.” While on campus, students in art courses were able to utilize visual and performing arts facilities. Sculpture II student Adrienne Usher ’22 said that having access to on-campus resources has completely changed the dynamic of her artistic production. “I definitely feel more motivated because, before we were
Media outlets such as City Journal, Newsweek, Fox News and The Atlantic published articles criticizing the school over the past weeks, with much of their focus on the community’s anti-racism and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives. All referenced @wokeathw, an anonymous Instagram account that posts its critiques of these initiatives. At the forefront was an article titled “The Miseducation of America’s Elites,” written by former New York Times staff writer and Opinion section editor Bari Weiss and published in City Journal magazine on March 9. The piece, which focused on multiple “elite” private schools across the United States, interviewed anonymous parents, teachers and students who talked about their specific grievances regarding the DEI and anti-racist curricula changes implemented across the institutions. The article was promoted by prominent conservative figures such as Texas Senator Ted Cruz, Political Commentator Ben Shapiro, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and author and psychology professor Jordan Peterson. On March 8, Newsweek published its own piece on the school. The headline, “L.A. Prep School Graphic Teaching Students ‘Fat, Short, Unattractive’ People Are Oppressed,” was used to describe the content of a post from @wokeathw. The post featured a graphic displayed in an eighth grade human development course that presented different characteristics and circumstances that contribute to the privilege people may or may not have. Fox News also put out a story covering the same post. Former Harvard-Westlake Upper School Dean and English Teacher Caitlin Flanagan wrote an article in The Atlantic about the hypocrisy and inequity of the private school system. Flanagan went into depth on academic institutions across the country and used examples from @wokeathw and her own experiences as a faculty member.
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SPINNING INTO SPRING BREAK: In between online classes on campus, Chloe Fribourg ’23 and Lauren LaPorta ’23 catch up as they spin together in the bright red chairs outside the visual arts department March 9.
One year later, students return to campus following drop in COVID-19 case rates By Milla Ben-Ezra
assigned two days out of the sixday cycle. As students arrive on Nearly a year after the campus, they must present the school’s initial closure due to the Aux Safety App Screening, Trace COVID-19 pandemic, students App and iHW check-in screen to and faculty returned to campus allow for contact tracing, ensurMarch 9 while the school begins ing that the school community is to implement the new cohort kept safe. Vita Saffari ’22 said the school learning structure and precaumade her feel more tionary COVID-19 comfortable by taksafety systems. As Los ing extensive efforts Angeles County conto prevent exposure to tinues to distribute COVID-19. vaccinations and coro“The amount of navirus cases decrease, precautions there are students will enter a is what really made me full-scale hybrid modfeel safe,” Saffari said. el, moving between “We have to have three different classrooms on white’s different apps and they campus alongside their Adrienne really do enforce the peers beginning April Usher ’22 social distancing; like 19. Each cohort, assigned based when we were all out on the on English classes, is allocat- quad during our breaks, there ed a designated classroom and were teachers everywhere reoutdoor space where students minding us. Everyone has to are able to attend online Zoom wear a mask, and just especially classes and spend free time with how thorough [the school is has] their classmates. The specific days helped me.” Although he initially feared in which students can physically attend school in-person are di- the cohorts would not feel similar vided by grade level; each grade is to a natural school environment,
KHWS Anniversary:
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Students celebrate 10 years of KHWS radio, a platform which connects listeners through a shared love of music. KHWS members commemorate the friendships formed and the music played in the last decade.
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Jewish Voices:
Members of the HarvardWestlake Jewish Family Alliance (HWJFA) learn about three Jewish students’ experiences navigating college life during a Zoom meeting March 3.
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