From the Board of Trustees

A MESSAGE FROM THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES BY ROBERT CHARTENER ’76, P’18

The Board of Trustees met on campus on May 6 and 7 and discussed many School issues, including the following:

Admissions results – We received 2,421 completed applications in early 2022 and accepted 270 students. This was the most selective year in memory: 11% of applicants were offered admission. While the number of applications declined compared with the prior year, this was probably due to COVID risk that saw campus visits drop from about 4,000 to just 400. The vast majority of admitted students and families saw Hotchkiss for the first time when they attended revisit days. (The School will offer in-person visits this coming fall, along with virtual interviews.) Hotchkiss yielded 63% of the students to whom it offered a place, a figure that has grown steadily and consistently from 2017 when 46% of admitted students matriculated. About 35% of new students will receive financial aid, 41% are students of color, and 13% are international students. We will welcome about 599 students in the fall, a slightly higher number than we had anticipated.

College placement – Test-optional policies continued this year, dramatically changing the demographics of applicant pools and the composition of incoming classes. Colleges continue to take a larger percentage of new students from early admission as opposed to regular decision: over 90% of our seniors applied for early admission, which includes Early Decision, Early Decision II, Early Action, Restrictive Early Action, and Rolling Admission. The most popular colleges this year were Chicago and Columbia (with eight students attending each), Georgetown (seven), Cornell and Princeton (five each), and Bucknell, NYU, Colby, Wesleyan, Stanford, UVa, and Brown (four each). Hotchkiss appointed Serena Oh Castellano as the new director of college advising; she is replacing Rick Hazelton P’19,’22, who will lead the Center for Global Understanding and Independent Thinking. (Tom Drake, who will reach the remarkable milestone in 2022-23 of 40 years at Hotchkiss, will return to full-time teaching after running CGUIT for several years.) Most recently the director of college advising at the Convent of the Sacred Heart in New York, Ms. Castellano has held previous positions at St. Paul’s, Princeton, and Wellesley.

Emissions work – The Stone House Group has been assisting Hotchkiss with its plans to reduce its carbon emissions. Hotchkiss already has the lowest greenhouse gas emissions within the Eight Schools group and has a leadership position among schools and universities. Notably, Hotchkiss has reduced its net emissions by 47% since 2007, the main drivers being our biomass heating facility, solar panels, and significant conservation and efficiency projects like campus-wide LED lighting. There was a discussion about purchasing carbon credits versus upgrading heating/cooling systems, replacing oil heating and hot water systems with greener alternatives, and relying increasingly on local farming and local sourcing. The board expressed a strong desire to maintain its leadership position by improving systems, and in the near term Hotchkiss will not seek to purchase carbon credits or offsets.

Dormitory renovations – The Memorial Hall renovation began in June, and the building will be closed for the entire 202223 academic year. We are also beginning the next phase of dormitory renovations with the remodeling of Tinker, which will take place over three summers but will not necessitate the closing of Tinker during the academic year. A renovation of part of the MAC is also being done this summer. No-chance policy – The board reviewed the faculty’s recent decision to eliminate the no-chance disciplinary policy at the beginning of the 2022-23 academic year. The policy has been in place for over 40 years, but there is a strong feeling that Hotchkiss’s expanded health programs, increased faculty attention to reducing substance use, and problems with appropriate enforcement argued for a change in the policy. The new policy was in place when School started in September and is published in The Almanac.

DEI progress – Dr. Lisanne Norman ’94 and Kinyette Henderson, a Walter Crain Fellow, have been appointed co-directors of diversity, equity, and inclusion. The DEI committee expressed particular approval of recent faculty hiring and of admission efforts to acquaint historically underrepresented applicants with Hotchkiss.

Faculty retirements – John Cooper P’08,’11, a mathematics instructor and an Independence Foundation Chair, and Letty Roberts P’12,’15, also a mathematics instructor and the holder of the George and Jodie Stone Teaching Chair, retired this year. Having taught at Hotchkiss for a total of 65 years, they were recognized by the Board of Trustees and gratefully thanked for their many contributions to life at Hotchkiss. The Board also thanked Steve McKibben P’22, an English instructor, dean of community life, and coach, who retired after more than 10 years of service to the School.