USN renews focus on diversity, equity, inclusion efforts By Juanita I.C. Traughber, Communications Director
It
was a sultry summer afternoon — amid an international pandemic and the outset of a national racial reckoning — when a poorly-timed fundraiser and corresponding social media post thrust University School of Nashville administrators into a fiery self-examination. USN had long held itself as a role model in the diversity front: being among the first Nashville independent schools to integrate and establish a top-level administrator focused on diversity; attending and even hosting conferences related to diversity, equity, and inclusion work in education; priding itself on its commitment to creating an educational environment that mirrors the cultural and ethnic composition of Nashville and serving its neighbors. As much of the country began learning words like “anti-racism” and “performative allyship,” students and young alumni pushed the school into a period of deep introspection.
On June 3, 2020, the school shared on its social media accounts the first of a series of posts for a long-planned campaign to promote giving. Within an hour, comments from young alumni began to trickle in criticizing the post and plans for a fundraiser just weeks after white Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin knelt for more than eight minutes on the neck of George Floyd, a handcuffed Black man, ultimately suffocating him. Floyd’s death incited protests against police brutality, systemic racism, and 400 years of oppression of Black people in the United States. The movement for Black lives included a call-to-action to demand firm stances on
UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF NASHVILLE
human rights issues and increased corporate social responsibility even from institutions who fashioned themselves as apolitical. While some chose to take part publicly in a social media blackout, Director Vince Durnan wrote several letters to parents regarding current events. The Communications Office shared a general statement of USN’s commitment to diversity and inclusion on social media. Those words went largely unnoticed and overlooked. The USN community demanded more and chastised the school for highlighting its philanthropic needs during a time of national un-
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