Renewing DEI Work

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 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-

rest and calls for social justice. Even beyond challenging the institutional perspective around diversity, equity, and inclusion being at the school’s core, students and young alumni revealed personal experiences that were less than rosy. Within hours, school administrators canceled the fundraiser and issued several statements through social media and direct emails to redouble the school’s efforts to build a more equitable school and just world.

In the following days, Ashtan Towles ’15 spoke with “a multicultural and multiethnic group of alumni who felt very passionate.” The group named themselves USN Alumni for Change, authored 13 recommendations focused on fiscal and social accountability as well as increased representation of people from various racial and ethnic backgrounds and their stories in USN classrooms and curriculum, and gathered 254 signatures from classmates and a few parents.

“In activism work, when demands are articulated the main goal is not to cause offense but to push for the structural changes,” said Towles, who works in the New York City Mayor’s Office for the Prevention of Hate Crimes. “USN is an incredible place. We believe in it. And we believe that it can be even better and prepare young people to go into the world and understand history, their identity, and not only STEM and foundational curriculum but also curriculum centering around respect. Our mission is to invoke change at USN and create an environment of accountability. A lot of these [recommendations] were birthed out of reflections on what we and current students had or had not experienced. We believe that all USN students can and should promote inclusivity and justice out of an obligation and dedication to the community.”

The conversations that began on the school’s Instagram profile evolved into hundreds of one-on-one phone calls between school administrators and students & alumni. Following were five listening sessions for alumni to share their experiences while on Edgehill and their perspective for how the school should move forward to expand its DEI goals.

Two student groups also crafted petitions calling their school to action. Leaders of USN Alumni for Change met with administrators and the Board of Trustees to advocate for more intentional institutional processes. At the same time, students looked to have a more active role in leading the conversation on race while also holding their peers and the USN community accountable.

“What I have learned from those petitions is that this office and I have not done a good job of letting the people in the community know what is going on at USN. I thought the work would speak for itself. We have faculty that are doing really amazing things,” said Roderick White, Director of the Office Diversity and Community Life, listing off colleagues whose have integrated DEI into their daily curriculum — Connie Fink’s social studies unit on Nashville’s historically Black neighborhoods, Joel Bezaire weaving social issues into seventh grade studies of statistics, and Victoria Roca’s creative approaches to second grade. “But we cannot lean so heavily on Black counterparts and a few teachers to lead this movement. If we are truly committed and serious about the work we want to do, we have to use the currency of the school — time and money — to do the work. We cannot open students’ heads up and pour information in; we have to have relationships. We need to be super vigilant at USN to not rest on the laurels of what we have done and constantly question the work we are doing.”

Several administrators and Black faculty spent the following weeks dissecting conversations and the petitions and creating an internal Equity, Justice, and Inclusion Tracker to measure the school’s status and progress on goals related to six categories: 1. Response to June 2020 Social Media Posts 2. Examining Our Curriculum: Curriculum Conversations around Inclusivity 3. Building Our Community: Hiring and Retention of Underrepresented Faculty 4. Building Our Community: Recruiting and Retaining Underrepresented Students of Color 5. Reflecting and Sharing Our Work: EJI Progress and Accountability 6. Caring for and Equipping Our Community: Support of Community Members

Although the tracker remains an internal audit, the concept gained national attention, with the National Association for Independent Schools featuring USN’s tool in its quarterly magazine. The output of that assessment — new efforts to build the school’s collective cultural competence and anti-racist capacity — will be shared with the PDS/USN community through a dedicated DEI report this winter.

Focus on Crucial Conversations

Within a month, Black High School faculty and administrators organized a four-part series of virtual educational experiences for alumni and High School students to engage in thought-provoking conversations with community activists and academics on race, intersectionality, protests, and allyship. They emailed homework — a collection of articles and videos — a few days before each session to prepare them to hear from the Nashville leader of the Black Lives Matter organization, two Nashvillians who integrated public & private schools and participated in the Nashville sit-ins, two professors whose research focused on student activism, cultural expression, and the racial disparities of the American criminal justice

system, and a national activist focused on LGBTQ+ work within communities of color.

“I hope that we provided the opportunity and space for our students past and present to navigate this telling and reverberating moment in informed and productive ways. I hope that we also offered reminders about the commitment and work that authentic, transformative change requires of us all,” said High School English Teacher Dana Mayfield, who co-hosted A Summer Salon Series with Dean of Students Nicole Jules, Communications Director Juanita I.C. Traughber, Head of High School Quinton Walker, and White. They plan to continue that series this spring.

In the ensuing weeks, as Middle and High School Librarian Kate Pritchard saw the same books repeatedly recommended in online chats and articles, she created USN’s Resources on Racism and Antiracism LibGuide, gaining the attention of the Nashville Scene.

“I knew that a lot of our teachers and parents would be looking for books at different age levels, not just books for adults, and I wanted them to have the resources they needed to approach this topic with their children or students,” Pritchard said. “It also seemed like a good place to share booklists that focused on [Black, Indigenous, and people of color] and marginalized authors, since there seemed to be renewed interest among our teachers and families for diverse books to share with students and children [that] include many positive and joyful representations of BIPOC and marginalized people,” Pritchard said. She added the desire to see more books in libraries featuring “children of color in which they get to have adventures, fight dragons, or just embarrass themselves in front of their crushes, instead of always having to escape from slavery or desegregate schools.”

Replicating the process USN librarians use for specific classes or projects, she also created the From Black Arts Movement to Black Lives Matter LibGuide, for a seminar taught by Mayfield.

The High School also reorganized its schedule to begin each school day with at least 15 minutes of advisory, time spent covering crucial yet digestible conversations on contemporary issues, such as the elections and insurrection. Walker created a Thinking Guide to lead that discussion, such as the 4F’s Debriefing Framework for students to share the facts, their findings and feelings, and thoughts on the future.

Fridays have a specific focus on DEI work with White providing colleagues with talking points or a question to guide discussion. “Given there is additional credence to advisory this year, it gives us the opportunity to put these conversations in front of students. It is the perfect opportunity to allow teachers in bite-sized portions to lead these tough conversations,” White said.

Students have discussed performative allyship, reflected on cancel culture and choosing opportunities for learning over public shaming, and learned about a new bias tracker White’s office unveiled for students to anonymously share concerns that lead to corrective action.

“In general, advisory has more programming than it has had in recent years. The ODCL programming is a good part of that and a good way to end the week. I’m grateful to have a channel to have conversations about things that I am not confident enough to broach on my own. It’s been helpful to have this in our toolkit as advisors,” said Dean of Student Life Justin Karpinos. “I can trust the way Roderick has framed discussions with programming that is educational but also gives students a chance to respond and interact. The ODCL programming has been equally responsive and informative.”

In addition to expanding their identity curriculum (see pages 26 to 29), Lower School faculty are planning the “Black Lives Matter Week of Activism” for March to teach students in Grades K-4 about topics like voter suppression, how to start a petition, and how to engage in the civic process before they reach voting age.

In December, USN co-sponsored the daylong Racial Justice in Education and Society Virtual Conference, addressing racial justice in educational settings. More than 20 USN faculty spent a Saturday learning alongside researchers, educators, community activists, policymakers, parents, families, and community members. As usual, faculty and students learned from workshops at the NAIS People of Color Conference and Student Diversity Leadership Conference, bringing back to USN a renewed passion for creating a better learning environment on Edgehill.

“This is not the work of a week or a month, it’s a purpose for a lifetime,” said Director Vince Durnan. “But it begins anew ... right now.” nn

Editor’s Note: To view Pritchard’s Resources on Racism and Antiracism LibGuide and the video recordings of A Summer Salon Series, visit usn.org/publications.