CHRONICLE the harvard westlake
Studio City • Volume 28 • Issue 6 • March 1, 2019 • hwchronicle.com
Pertussis outbreak reaches 30 cases
School plans on updated gender rules An ad-hoc committee recommends changes to promote inclusivity and diversity.
By Sophie Haber
If the whooping cough outbreak at school grows from the 30 cases reported between Nov. 16 and Feb. 26, the next step may be to limit interschool activities, according to the Los Angeles County Health Department Office of Communications and Public Affairs. Eighteen students at Harvard-Westlake have medical exemption from vaccinations, but none of them are among
20 percent of students said the pertussis policy has deterred them from missing school in a Chronicle poll of 318 students. the 30 students who contracted whooping cough, Head of Communications Ari Engelberg ’89 said. “My understanding is that starting in 2016, the law only allows students to be exempted from the pertussis vaccine requirement for medical reasons that must be documented by a doctor,” Engelberg said. “There is no more religious or ‘personal beliefs’ exemption.” According to the LA County Health Department Office of Communications and Public Affairs, school closure due to the whooping cough outbreak is not probable, and there is not a specific number of cases at which the Health Department would tell the school to close. President Rick Commons said that the administration has not contemplated closing the school; however, if they felt that the health and safety of the community was ever at stake, they would make that decision. The outbreak is not unique to Harvard-Westlake, the Office of Communications said. As of Feb. 19, there were three reported clusters of pertussis among 11 to 18-yearolds in Los Angeles County since the end of 2018. There were no prior clusters in 2018, and only two clusters throughout 2017, showing in increase in the disease in the area. To curtail the outbreak at Harvard-Westlake, the Health Department told the school to mandate that everyone who presents cold- or flu-like symptoms at school, or who stays home sick from school, gets tested for whooping cough. • Continued on A5
By Casey Kim and Lindsay Wu
so important and cool and different, and the message of his music is so good. He’s really just a creative genius to me.” As one of the first artists addressing these issues, Mescudi said he initially felt pressure as the de facto spokesperson for those struggling with mental illness. “I didn’t know if I was a role model, not going to college and stuff like that, but I had to be okay with that,” Mescudi said. “I had to realize no matter what, whether I like it or not, people look up to me. That’s a powerful thing and that’s a responsibility, and I have to live up to that responsibility.” The club sought to change the perspectives students may have about who is qualified to address mental health issues, Barris said. “There’s this stigma, especially in the black community, that rappers and artists aren’t as educated and formal, and we want to break that down,” Barris said. “[We are] not just bringing a celebrity down to be a celebrity, but we are bringing a celebrity to talk about something deeper than that. These are educated people, these are creative and smart people.” Mescudi’s story helped to demonstrate the reality and prevalence of mental health issues, BLACC leader Sirus Wheaton ’19 said. The assembly helped bring a sense of
Following over a year of research on how students are gendered within the school, an ad-hoc committee, including middle and upper school deans, teachers and faculty, created a list of 16 to 18 recommendations in an effort to provide more inclusive opportunities on campus. The committee presented their suggestions to school administrators and departments heads, who will decide whether to enact new policies, Coordinator of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and science teacher Nate Cardin said. “We were basically trying to guide but not push [the school] in a certain direction,” Cardin said. “We didn’t go in with an objective of ‘this is what has to happen.’ We just went in saying that no one really has taken the time to look at all of these things in a very thoughtful manner, so let’s take the time to do that now and see what comes up.” Cardin said that he and Director of DEI Janine Jones coled the discussion within the committee. Over the course of the past year, each committee member studied a different gendered activity or gender-specific award which excluded trans and non-binary people, Cardin said. Members presented their findings at four separate meetings and created the final recommendations list. One of the recommendations suggested that Prefect Council should no longer uphold traditional rules that require equal numbers of male and female members. Previously, students voted for their top female and male candidates separately. “I’m proud of Prefect Council and our advisors for [considering] something that has not been done before,” Prefect Caroline Cook ’19 said. “I’m not sure that new gender policies will change the dynamic of the council too much because we are a diverse group already, but I do think they [would] change the dynamic of the elections. I’m excited that students will have the opportunity to vote for their student leaders as individuals rather than the ‘best girls’ or the ‘best boys’ out of the pool of candidates.”
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RYAN ALBERT/CHRONICLE
KIDS SEE CUDI: Scott “Kid Cudi” Mescudi speaks to students about mental health in an allschool assembly hosted by the Black Leadership Awareness and Culture Club in Taper Gym.
Kid Cudi addresses mental health stigma
By Lucas Gelfond and Jenny Li
Grammy award-winning musical artist Scott “Kid Cudi” Mescudi spoke about the stigma surrounding mental health in the black community in an all-school assembly hosted by the Black Leadership Awareness and Culture Club on Wednesday. “People are struggling right now from mental illness,” Mescudi said. “They don’t have answers, and sometimes, music is all that’s there for somebody. It has always been my goal to reach out, to touch those people, and let them know they’re not alone.” Less than three years ago, Mescudi wrote a Facebook post announcing his intent to check into a rehabilitation center for depression and suicidal urges. Mescudi’s vulnerability in his music has both helped himself confront his past and created a unique outlet for listeners facing similar issues, he said. “We wanted to bring someone that [all] sides could relate to, while still talking about something specific to the black community,” BLACC leader Leyah Barris ’19 said. “[The goal was] to bring awareness to the problems in the black community about mental health, and there needs to be more discussion about that.”
Discussion of mental health issues was not common until recently, Mescudi said. When he first started creating music, Mescudi addressed “darker” topics than he had not seen elsewhere in hip-hop. “I was really scared when I dropped my first album,” Mescudi said. “I didn’t know [if] people in the world felt like me. I didn’t know how people would respond. It was always like tell your story, hope that someone out there feels the
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I WAS REALLY SCARED WHEN I DROPPED MY FIRST ALBUM. I DIDN’T KNOW [IF] PEOPLE IN THE WORLD FELT LIKE ME.”
—Scott Mescudi
connection, the vibes [and] can feel you. That was the most important, from day one.” Much of Mescudi’s popularity can be attributed to his courage to talk about issues that were largely stigmatized, Graham Berger Sacks ’20 said. “He was one of the first guys to kind of talk about being an outcast, talking about mental health in his music,” Berger Sacks said. “I think that’s just