VERITAS SUPER OMNIA www.phillipian.net Volume CXXXI, Number 6 Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts March 7, 2008 Gay Students at Deerfield Targeted By Apparent Copycat of SPS Letters By TIM GHOSH whose information leads to the “I wasn’t really shocked by arrest and indictment of the per- what happened because my work and JULIET LIU petrators, according to an email with CAMD has shown me that Eight Deerfield students last sent to St. Paul’s students. racism still exists,” said Lui. week received handwritten, per- Currently, Deerfield is decid- “Even though the letters were sonally addressed notes targeting ing whether to compare samples sent to another school, I felt like them “based on their affiliation of students’ handwriting to the they were a personal attack on with the Gay Student Alliance,” handwriting on the personalized me.” according to Deerfield Dean of notes, said Emerson. Rachel Cohen ’08 said in re- Students Toby Emerson. “Right now, we’re conduct- sponse to the Deerfield incident, The notes, written on napkins, ing a lot of internal investigation “I’m just so surprised that in an were sent through Deerfield’s in- to get to the bottom of it,” said era where kids are comfortable ternal mail service. Emerson. “The investigation will being openly gay, we’re back at Emerson said that it was continue and exhaust every op- square one.” “speculative, but likely that [the tion to find who is responsible for She continued, “These kids Deerfield incident] was copied it.” feel unsafe, more so than in public after [the incident at] St. Paul’s.” “I think what we’re seeing… school because they live together. On February 19, a number of and what our Head [of School, The community is very upset. I students at St. Paul’s School re- former Phillips Academy Dean would feel very upset. These kids ceived letters in their mailboxes of Students Margarita Curtis] in these communities should feel with images of targets and the really spoke [about] is that, as a safe because this is their home. words “Bang! Bang!” mailed community, we need to support If they feel people in their own from Manchester, NH, as report- the students that were targeted,” home are threatening their own ed in The Phillipian. Emerson said. life and well-being, that’s prob- In response, two targeted stu- “But we also need to sup- ably the worst possible thing.” dents left the school. Addition- port the students who wrote the This year, these occurrences ally, the Concord Police placed letters, because these means of have become disturbingly com- an officer on campus 24 hours a communication weren’t helpful monplace. The events at St. day until Winter Term ended last to our community in terms of ad- Paul’s and Deerfield follow racial week. dressing differences … by send- incidents that took place earlier St. Paul’s has now announced ing an anonymous letter, it’s not in the fall. M. Discenza/The Phillipian that it will match a Crimeline re- opening dialogue about sexual- At Phillips Exeter Academy CAMD Dean Linda Carter Griffith joined Abbot students to discuss troubling events at peer schools. ward of up to $1,000 to anyone ity,” Emerson continued. on September 19, an African- According to Deerfield stu- American girl discovered a racial dent Ellicott Dandy ’09, the epithet taped to the door of her school held a formal meeting dorm room. The next day, a harsh about the incident last Thursday, expletive had been etched onto STuDents Talk Students and Faculty Bond Over when Emerson addressed the the door of a white girl’s room. community and called the inci- Exeter student Sharon Sun ASM Revamp Wed. Dinner in Temporary “UnRopes” dent a “cowardly act.” ’08 said that while the Exeter in- students. This dinner made it so as a Phillips Academy student. Dandy said, “One of my close cident was well-known on cam- By MARI MIYACHI By MELISSA YAN much easier for faculty and stu- He described panty raids that oc- friends got a letter, and my first pus, most Exonians were not re- dents to communicate.” curred after Phillips Academy be- reaction [to the incident] was, ally affected by it. Overheard at Wednesday’s Students are shaping the fu- Mark Efinger ’74, Instructor came co-ed. ‘You’ve got to be kidding me.’ “I don’t think it especially student-faculty dinner: a discus- ture of All-School Meetings, with in Theatre and Dance, said, “I’ve “By the last few raids, nearly I thought we were above that. affected me or anyone else out- sion of the national presidential suggestions about changing ASM heard students say that they don’t the whole male student body was Everybody was so shocked; we side of the dorm [Langdell Hall]. election, a heated Commons ver- including bringing back one of want to be eating lunch and have involved in breaking into a female just had found out about the St. It was a big deal for the dorm sus Uncommons debate and sto- Phillips Academy’s many school a teacher just sit down and start dormitory late at night and taking Paul’s incident. The more I heard because they were worried that ries of panty raids during the early songs, hosting more humorous talking with them. This dinner panties,” Efinger said. people talking about it, the more someone inside the dorm had years following Phillips Acade- speakers with oratory experience, seems to be a safe base.” Students and faculty also I realized that it was such an ab- done it.” my’s transition to co-education. and a ensuring balanced and fair The dinner’s open invitation bonded over trivia. April 14 is the erration from the norm. We can’t On September 28 at the Topics as bizarre as these were amount of political speakers. lacked a predetermined agenda day Fenway Park first opened, the let these incidents define these Loomis Chaffee School, some- discussed as students and faculty About a dozen students pro- and asked for casual attire. schools.” one crossed out the faces of six families shared a leisurely dinner posed ideas for a Philo Forum Tantum Collins ’08, Student Af-Lat-Am President Atima together with special desserts in addressing All-School Meeting, Council President, said, “The Continued on Page A5, Column 1 Lui ’08 was not surprised by the Uncommons’s trial “UnRopes” Continued on Page A6, Column 5 led by Carlos Hoyt, Associate more casual setting seemed to recent events. area. Dean of Students, Rebecca Sykes, make more sense, since we [Stu- The student-faculty dinner Associate Head of School and dent Council] are promoting more provided an opportunity to break Philomathean Society Co-Head casual relations with faculty.” the ice between faculty and stu- Philip Meyer ’08 on Tuesday Discussions at the dinner table dents. Faculty Spotlight: Victor Henningsen night. included a variety of debates and Paul Murphy, the incoming Hoyt, who has been coordinat- anecdotes. Dean of Students, Instructor in ing All-School Meetings this year, Many people described how And Susan McCaslin’s Long Trip at PA Math and Dean of Summer Ses- Uncommons has exceeded their sion said, “There’s a funny, natu- Continued on Page A6, Column 1 expectations. Others discussed By CELIA LEWIS ral barrier between faculty and politics with a Clinton versus With more than 50 years of Obama debate. combined Andover experience, the facebook phenomenon Efinger said that he noticed Victor Henningsen ’69, Instructor this presidential election is the in History and Social Sciences, and see page A7 for a report on the first time polls have been so fo- Susan McCaslin, Associate Dean cused on demographics—for ex- of Faculty and Instructor in Phi- website that has taken the social ample, how many blacks will vote losophy and Religious Studies, have for Clinton or how many women worked under three headmasters, networking world by storm will vote for Obama. taught hundreds of students and Efinger went on to entertain witnessed some of Andover’s major students with his own experiences transformations. As a student at Andover in the 1960’s, Henningsen’s graduating PSPA Offers $5K to Fund Best Student class was all-male. In 1974, Hen- ningsen returned to Phillips Acad- emy, this time as a member of the Proposal for Campus Activities faculty, to witness a newly coeduca- S. Sheu/The Phillipian tional school. Henningsen and McCaslin met in Lower Left and married in ’82. ing above and beyond what we from there,” he said. By ANNIE LI The school offered him a job as finishing his doctorate at Harvard, philosophy and religious studies [PSPA] normally do. The whole “Our purpose is to serve the Assistant to then-Headmaster The- Henningsen also served as a teach- department before being appointed idea is for [students] to have students, so the Board itself met What would you do with odore Sizer, during Henningsen’s ing fellow and Assistant Dean of Dean of Studies in 1989. some fun with it and come up back in January and this [con- $5,000? fifth class reunion. Henningsen said Freshmen Admissions. 1989 proved to be a tough year with ideas about what you want test] was one of the ideas,” said Thanks to a strong year in that the timing of this offer could McCaslin, who had received for the couple, with responsibilities to get done.” Grunbeck. fundraising, Parents of Students not have been better, since a recent her Masters of Theological Studies as deans and parents of two young Every year, PSPA has about He added, “I’ve been work- at Phillips Academy (PSPA) is oil crisis had jeopardized his previ- from Harvard Divinity School, later children.