In 2015, the Brace Center for Gender Studies (Brace Center) held the Secondary School Conference on Gender-Based Harassment and Violence. Today, some recommended initiatives and changes from the Conference’s report have not fully manifested at Andover, while others have lost participation or stopped. Faculty and students reflected on the school’s past and current education, prevention, and support efforts.
Student Activism and Institutional Reform
Jennifer Karlen Elliott ’94, former Dean of Students and Assistant Head of School for Residential Life at Andover, as well as current Principal of Phillips Exeter Academy, recalled the response in Nathan Hale House when a Prefect lost the 2012 school presidential election. She shared the student’s years serving on student council and beloved presence on campus.
“When she lost the election, ninth graders in the dorm declared, if she can’t win, we would never have a chance!” wrote Elliott in an email to The Phillipian. “From there, we launched a working group to redesign the student leadership structure and shifted to the co-president model.”
Student Council voted 20–3 to adopt the co-presidency model in January 2013. The first pair elected that spring were both male-identifying. 12 Seniors promptly organized Feminism=Equality (F=E), a student-led movement advocating for gender equality at Andover. Elliott recalled students in Stowe House pursuing the movement.
“They were deeply interested in exploring and discussing intersectionality, power, gender studies, and justice-oriented coalition-building. They were effective and compelling organizers, and they pulled in fellow students, allies, and faculty supporters,” wrote Elliott.
On April 10, 2015, the Brace Center hosted a conference on gender-based harassment and violence attended by more than 100 educators. The conference’s report, titled “Secondary School Conference on Gender-Based Harassment and Violence: Report Out & Key Recommendations,” recommended nine areas of action, including education, survivor support, student activism, and policy reform.
“The Brace Center outlined a set of explicit recommendations that established Andover as a leader in these efforts among our peer schools,” wrote Elliott.
According to the 2019 summary provided by Elliott, “Promoting a Culture of Consent and Combatting Gender-Based Sexual Violence at Phillips Academy,” Andover’s efforts to address gender-based sexual violence included YES+ peer educators, Mentors in Violence Prevention bystander training, annual dormitory and advisory conversations about healthy relationships, Take Back the Night marches, and RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network) community listening sessions. Policy and resource changes included a Support Resources Flow Chart updated in 2016 and an Affirmative Consent Document of Understanding introduced in September 2018.
Sex Education and EBI
The 2015 Brace Center Conference Report called for a “comprehensive four-year curriculum in sex education that includes violence prevention and provides students with the tools, strategies, and vocabulary to discuss consent, power dynamics, and healthy relationships.” Patricia Har, Director of the Brace Center, said this proposed curriculum had not taken shape.
“The ask here was a four-year curriculum. It didn’t quite happen, but that’s not to say that it won’t,” said Har. “But it’s important, too, that we have… experts in that field design the program. And that it be inclusive and relevant… to the lives of adolescents today.”
Har continued, “The needs of a residential school and the needs of a public school are really different and that’s where it’s hard to navigate where that education happens.”
In May 2025, weekly lunch-period EBI classes for Juniors and Lowers were replaced with six sessions per term across advising, dorms, and class meetings. Susan Esty, Dean of Students and Residential Life, discussed EBI’s curriculum and how student input shapes EBI.
“You can imagine the difference of having a class with mostly the same people from September to May… It’s been harder for us,” said Esty. “It’s felt more like delivering a series of programs instead of having a class that you have all year.”
Esty continued, “The EBI Seniors really have a lot of say… it does vary year to year because they decide within the framework which topics and which resources they want to use… We were able to have some really interesting conversations about gender as a core identifier, but gender also as a social identity within the context of societal power, access, opportunity, empowerment, and oppression.”
Esty also recalled helping establish Youth Educators for Sex Positivity (YES+), Andover’s peer sex education program.
“YES+ is another group that we started about a decade ago that was, again, for us trying to build critical thinking about gender inclusion and healthy relationships. It was intended to broaden people’s understanding of sex education,” said Esty.
Jason Cai ’28 recalled a peer’s response during an EBI consent exercise in his dorm, when students were asked what additional information they needed to understand a hypothetical scenario.
“And one of the guys asks ‘Is she hot?’” said Cai.
Prevention and Survivor Support
The 2015 Brace Center Conference Report recommended bystander training as a collective approach to preventing gender-based harassment and violence. In September 2015, 54 Lower volunteers began Mentors in Violence Prevention (MVP) training with mentors from Northeastern University’s MVP program, supported by an Abbot Grant. The summary of efforts provided by Elliott listed it as ongoing in 2019, but Har described declining participation and redirected resources.
“For a long time, we did have a really active bystander training program through MVP, and that was run through the Dean of Students Office. … Decline in numbers meant that we had to kind of channel resources elsewhere, but hopefully people will be interested again in bystander training,” said Har.
From 2016 to 2023, Andover held annual Take Back the Night marches, bringing community members together for a march and vigil honoring survivors of sexual assault and gender-based violence. Har described reasons organizers moved away from it.
“It seemed like there was declining interest and the Seniors on the [Brace Center advisory] board, I think, were in many ways interested in doing some other things,” said Har. “We are not a college campus. We have students who are 13 and 14 and 15. And the public discussion of sexual assault can be… triggering, can be traumatic for anyone… but for our younger friends on campus, it can be even more challenging,” said Har.
After Take Back the Night did not take place in 2024, students and faculty attended the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center’s Walk for Change as an alternative that April. Har also recalled a self-defense workshop attended by about a dozen students roughly two years ago and distributing teal-ribbon pins for Sexual Assault Awareness Month in April.
Har clarified that the Brace Center maintains one director role to focus on gender studies education and programming, and is not intended to be a student support resource.
“On college campuses, you often have 24-hour counseling services, and we’re just not set up that way. We do have a 24-hour person who’s on call for crisis. And college wellness centers are just bigger and often have different staffing,” said Har. “Often too with college campuses, you have a Title IX office or you have a gender and sexuality resource center, like a women’s center. And those will include people who are trained counselors and therapists… And some of us, myself included, have been trained in trauma informed responses. We don’t have anyone in the Brace Center who is a counselor. We only have one person and it’s me.”
The 2015 Brace Center Conference Report called for mandatory first-responder training for faculty and staff who work closely with students, also adapted and provided for student leaders.
For students themselves, Esty described efforts to publicize reporting pathways through posters, QR codes, PANet, and Core Blue.
“We’ve tried really hard to make reporting processes clear. We don’t ever want someone to feel like, ‘I wanted to report, but I just didn’t know what to do,’” said Esty. “We have a flowchart of what happens next. And it is supportive. It moves as quickly as we can. It’s confidential, all of that, to the extent that we can be confidential.”
Campus Culture and Further Work
Philip Molina ’28 said he was unsure where students interested in activism could turn for help.
“If I as a student right now wanted to create a non-violent form of mobilization, I wouldn’t know how. It doesn’t seem to me like there’s a club or an exact handbook that students can look for when they want to speak up about causes like these,” said Molina.
Madelyn Esposito ’27 said YES+ helped her understand consent and recognize disrespect. She also called for Andover to act when behavior conflicts with its stated values.
“I do think it is helpful to have something, because it gives you the tools to point out when you’re being disrespected. I think especially in terms of consent, it’s very important,” said Esposito.
She continued, “If Andover as an institution believes that it should be respecting all members of its community, then it should actually be taking initiative in enforcing our Core Blue values of respect for ourselves and others.”
