Equity Balance and Inclusion (EBI) uppers Frank Hu ’26, Yui Takeuchi ’26, and Eliza Francis ’26 are done teaching for the term.
An email to Juniors and Lowers on April 11 informed Underclassmen that Equity, Balance, and Inclusion (EBI) classes are cancelled for Spring Term. The email relayed hope to instead see students at campus events meant to foster community and individual wellbeing. This cancellation came one week after the loss of a student by suicide.
Brigette Leschhorn, Transitional Director of the EBI Program, spoke on the main reason for the cancellation. She, among others, felt that the priorities of the EBI curriculum did not match up with what the student body needs right now.
“Usually the priority of EBI is developing social emotional skills and community building skills. Now the priority has to be how do we care for ourselves and each other. You cannot learn things if so many folks around you are in distress. It makes more sense to shift to caring for the community rather than developing skills. That is our priority now,” said Leschhorn.
Leschhorn had invited the EBI Uppers to an optional lunch to talk about the next steps of the EBI program this spring. During the conversation, student leaders reflected on their experiences in the program. Frank Hu ’26, an EBI Upper who participated in the conversation, explained the difficulty of EBI to meet the students’ and faculty’s needs.
“The takeaway before [Leschhorn] made the decision was that it’s very difficult for EBI to meet everyone’s needs. Some lowerclassmen weren’t affected at all, and some were deeply affected. Same with teachers — some were very affected, some not at all. Her rationale was that EBI doesn’t have the resources to give a tailored experience to people at different points in the grieving process so she decided to cancel it,” said Hu.
Hu further explained the difficulty of returning to normal programming and shared appreciation for Leschhorn’s decision, as it eased the workload of many students and gave them time to connect with friends and reflect on what happened.
“For EBI 9 in Spring, it would cover things like life skills and time management. Important topics, but it feels strange to teach that right now. If we were going to talk about mental health, I wouldn’t even know how to approach it. It was the right decision. Everyone’s in different places. One thing we talked about was how the 50% reduced workload gave us time to reflect. [Leschhorn] really considered that and wanted to give us back those extra 40 to 50 minutes per week, so EBI wouldn’t be an extra burden,” said Hu.
For some students, the decision to cancel EBI this term felt like a thoughtful response to the varying ways people were grieving. Ryan Baek ’28 noted that the unstructured time gave students space to process individually.
“The cancellation allowed everyone to process the situation in their own way. I think grief is personal, and having less structured time gave people space to cope however they needed to. Plus, based on last year’s [State of the Academy,] where I think only about 15 percent of students found EBI to be effective, it makes sense that the school chose not to continue it this term,” said Baek.
Leschhorn elaborated on the campus events she is hoping to organize for the Juniors, Lowers, and Seniors, as Upper Carnival is already set in place for Uppers. She stated her main goals for these upcoming events
“[For] the events that I’m trying to put together, the planning is happening this week and next week. Hopefully I can announce them soon… I have to make sure that it’s something that will be appealing to students and will be helpful. The goal behind them is to make the campus feel more enjoyable and fun and so our campus can come together and bond over these events. We should come together as a community and find joy in each other’s company in really difficult times,” said Leschhorn.
