A MESSAGE FROM THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES

BY ROBERT CHARTENER ’76, P’18

The Trustees held three days of committee and full-board meetings in Lakeville at the end of September and beginning of October:

Opening of the 2022-23 year – Students returned to a largely COVID-free campus for the first time since March 2020. Only the incoming seniors had experienced Chapel before, when they were preps during the 2019-20 school year, and there was enthusiasm for a return to Chapel and other campus traditions that had lain dormant. The emphasis on community time and events has become important this year. The School opened with 601 students, 16 higher than the target of 585 because of an increase in the yield to 64% (up from 46% five years ago). With the Memorial renovation now underway and a higher initial number of students, dormitory space is tight. Common rooms that had been converted into student space during COVID “de-densifying” remain in use this year.

Almanac revision – The Almanac was comprehensively revised over the summer. There is now a greater emphasis on a valuesbased approach, and the departure from no-chance discipline meant a new drug and alcohol policy and new procedures regarding the disciplinary process. The Almanac has required thorough revision with respect to disciplining students who now remain at Hotchkiss as an alternative to withdrawing. Class deans now have expanded discretion.

Investment results – The School’s performance during the 2021-22 academic year was a decline of 10.1% during choppy and uncertain markets. That said, the School still placed in the top quartile. Our endowment stood at $531.6 million at June 30. We ended the year at $530.4 million. We continue to trust our diversification benchmarks, which enable us to exhibit lower volatility. The liquidity reserve is at 8.7%, which is above our target of 6%.

New faculty members and administrative changes – Hotchkiss welcomed 17 incoming members of the faculty this fall. There is a stronger emphasis on mentoring new faculty members, particularly on building community skills, and for all faculty members there is an increased emphasis on the residential and co-curricular aspects of their work. We have a new director of college advising, Serena Oh Castellano; Rick Hazelton, the prior head, is now in charge of the Center for Global Understanding and Independent Thinking. The DEI office is led by Kinyette Henderson, instructor in English and Crain Fellow, and Dr. Lisanne Norman ’94, an instructor in humanities and social sciences and director of the Hersey Scholars program. The School is searching for a new director of athletics.

Opening of Courage Garden – Following the meetings on Saturday, Oct. 1, the trustees attended the dedication of Courage Garden, a new area lying just north of the sixth fairway. Prior to the opening of the garden, several students performed in the Elfers Hall, and Craig Bradley expressed in moving terms the School’s heartfelt apology for past episodes of sexual misconduct. Funded by private contributions and the School, the garden is a campus space for healing and contemplation.

MacLeish and Hersey Scholars – Hotchkiss has two summer programs for students to research archival material, relying upon original documents rather than on another person’s opinions or interpretations. The Hersey Scholars Program, named for John Hersey ’32, uses Harvard’s significant collections of historical and sociocultural materials. These upper mids were the first high school students granted access to Harvard’s materials. A similar program, the MacLeish Scholars, is named for Archibald MacLeish Class of 1911 and focuses on literary archival study at Yale. Students spoke with great enthusiasm about their work.

Move away from AP courses – Like many other schools, Hotchkiss has moved away from AP courses in the last three years. There has been a concurrent growth in the number of different course offerings. Specifically, we have traded several sections of particular AP courses for a greater array of elective courses at the honors level. Hotchkiss is working on optimizing the appropriate balance between the breadth and depth of the upper-level curriculum.

Campus construction and renovation

– John Grube ’65, the chair of the committee on buildings, grounds, and the environment, described extensive work being done on campus. The Memorial Hall renovation, which will be completed by September 2023, requires large staging areas in front of and behind the building. It is an extensive project. Despite the challenges of dealing with an older building, it should be completed on time. Dormitory renovations continued over the summer with updates performed on Tinker during 2022. In the MAC, expanded fitness facilities were created from storage space and the former wrestling area, which is being relocated. Several trees were added in honor of Rusty Chandler ’53, P’82,’85,’87, GP’10,’14,’16,’22. Work on decarbonization and energy savings continue. The archives are being relocated to the Chapel basement in preparation for upcoming work on the Dining Hall.

New Trustees – The board welcomed two new trustees. Joe Baratta P’24 lives in New York City and is the global head of private equity at Blackstone, a major investment firm. Joe attended Georgetown University, where he is a member of the board of regents. Michael Mars ’86 attended Duke and founded mTerra Ventures after managing several business units for Mars Incorporated. Michael’s father, John, is a member of the Class of 1953.