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FA Holds First Alumni Forum on Diversity and Anti-Racism

Passionate about current events and the role Falmouth Academy can play in fighting systemic racism, alumni reached out to Matt Green to learn more about DEI activities at school, encourage action, and get involved. 

Outraged by the deaths of George Floyd and others and eager to catalyze change locally, more than 165 alumni signed a letter sent to Mr. Green in early June urging the school to take a close look at curriculum, dedicate resources, and expand programming to prepare current and future students to address issues of diversity and systemic racism.  The letter prompted a quick response from Mr. Green, who wrote to the entire alumni body describing current diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and invited them to participate in a forum hosted by the Alumni Council designed to engage alumni in an open dialog about this important topic.     

Thirty-three alumni and FA Board members participated in the July 7th Alumni Forum on Diversity and Anti-Racism moderated by Alumni Council president Ben Baum. The hour-long discussion focused on curriculum, the  FA mission statement, admission efforts as they relate to creating diversity at the school, and how to engage  the predominantly white student body in the cause of social justice.

During the meeting, Mr. Green acknowledged that while the school has made progress in recent years in the area of diversity, equity, and inclusion, there is still much work to be done. He noted that the school had just completed a strategic planning process that “weaves diversity, equity and inclusion, sustainability and climate change education throughout the plan. We are committed to diversity in our demographics, students, faculty, the board and partnerships within the community.”

Board member Andrew Kingman ’00 who worked on the strategic plan said, “During strategic planning, we reached out to stakeholders who indicated that DEI [diversity, equity, and inclusion] was an issue. We learned that it is more important to be direct on our DEI initiatives and we needed to do a better job. We want to be more fruitful and understand what we need to do.”

School Counselor and DEI Coordinator Carol DiFalco also participated in the meeting and updated alumni on a number of initiatives that the school has launched in recent years, including the formation of several student groups devoted to diversity and social justice—Students of Color, Gay Straight Alliance, and Social Justice—as well as a Faculty DEI Alliance. She noted that students recently worked with the Woods Hole Diversity Action Coalition to host “Listen Up!” (an event during which students read the works of other students describing their experiences as students of color in Falmouth) and participated this year in No Place for Hate’s annual Martin Luther King Breakfast. She added that diversity training, including an examination of “white privilege,” has been a part of faculty and student advisory meetings over the past year.

She noted, “Last fall we asked alumni of color to share their experiences, what they wanted us to know about attending a mostly white school. We asked the same questions to our students of color. While we did not receive many alumni responses, students asked us to pay attention to the implications of being a mostly white school with a mostly white faculty and encouraged us to review the curriculum, particularly in the humanities and further develop our capacity to engage one another in potentially uncomfortable conversations about race, privilege, and implicit bias.”

While participants seemed pleased to learn about the school's recent efforts and commitment to build on those activities in the months and years to come, the group recommended having a list of specific action items and next steps, as well as a plan for how the school would hold itself accountable.
 
Keegan Krick ’12 acknowledged that direct communication was important and that having forums like this was productive. He said, “Keeping goals broad can be good. But people want to see achievements and discrete goals and accountability.” He asked, “Where can you build in metrics and explicit goals into the strategic plan?” 

While the noticeable lack of racial diversity on the Cape presents certain challenges, Mr. Green agreed that FA needs to develop a list of next steps, metrics and evidence of outcomes, citing some means of doing so and inviting alumni to weigh in. 

Currently more than 40% of our current families already receive tuition assistance, a financial commitment that makes up nearly a quarter of the annual operating budget.  While many of the change initiatives the school is currently implementing or planning to implement can be achieved inexpensively, the kind of transformational change we are all seeking will be more completely realized through the collective energy and support of the school’s many supporters. 

The Alumni Council billed this forum as the first of many conversations they will be hosting on this topic. Alumni were encouraged to get further involved. Ms. DiFalco invited alumni to visit and contribute to our new DEI web page where she is crowd-sourcing information and resources for students, faculty and parents. 

Mr. Green reminded the group that, “As a member of the Alumni Council you can be an agent of change. If you’re interested in joining the Council, contact Ben Baum or Barbara Campbell.” He noted that the alumni Mariner newsletter, which comes out bimonthly, will keep alumni updated about FA’s DEI progress.
 
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