The administration constantly stresses the importance of diversity to students, but ironically, the range of perspectives and topics presented in All-School Meetings has been shockingly narrow. Since the administration considers diversity to be so important, it should apply this ideal to our intellects by expanding the range of speakers and topics. A quick look at this year’s All- School Meeting schedule shows that six of the eight speakers focused on issues pertaining to human rights and sustainability. These two values are repeatedly discussed at the expense of other principles, despite the school’s emphasis on the significance of diversity. During a recent conversation with Mrs. Chase, I asked her why the ASM topics have been so limited. She explained that speakers are chosen to address issues important to the Andover community. She went on to say that since human rights and sustainability are core values of the school, it is appropriate for them to be discussed persistently. However, having such a homogenous group of speakers and topics bores students and fails to stimulate intellectual thought. Dave Knapp ’10 said, “I feel like the school should bring in a comedian because I just want to laugh. I think it is safe to say that if we have one more talk about sustainability the students are really going to get fed up.” A comedian may not be a bad option if the administration wants to regain student interest. By having such limited ASM topics, the school is not challenging students to their full intellectual potential and is not communicating the complete ideology of the school. Other fundamental values of the school such as honesty, equality and integrity have received little to no attention. The school is failing to uphold its highly-held ideal of diversity in our intellectual development. Even more troubling is that the school often seems to fail in presenting us with impartial political and social values by not showing us the other side of issues presented at ASM. For example, having Senator Barrios discuss his views on same-sex marriage presented the student body with a one-sided political view on an issue of national importance. The lack of diversity in the political views of the faculty is shown in a recent Phillpian poll in which 94 percent of the 108 faculty polled said they would vote for a Democratic candidate. Students should question whether or not these faculty political views increase the possibility of bias in the choice of ASM speakers; we should be concerned about the political neutrality of ASM. If the administration chooses to discuss current political issues in ASM, it is also critical that they foster intellectual diversity by presenting multiple viewpoints. When asked about the school’s politics, Andrew Khang ’10 said, “Phillips Academy is an extremely liberal school to begin with; it’s only natural that political bias is apparent within its community. If that All-School Meeting had featured a speaker who was anti-same-sex marriage, it would have gone against some of our school’s most valued principles.” Regardless of the school’s political stance, ASM should incorporate all political positions so students can be thoroughly informed when determining their individual opinions. In order for students to truly appreciate ASM, they need to believe that the school’s purpose in choosing topics and speakers does not include a hidden motive. If the administration chooses to present a diverse range of speakers and topics in ASM, the student body will be intellectually challenged and student interest in ASM will increase. If instead they appear to push particular set of values through ASM, especially political values, student interest in the meetings will justifiably wane. I sincerely hope that the administration chooses the former course, since one-sided perspectives and spoon-fed ideals do not do justice to any student body. Andover is a community of intellectually passionate students who desire to learn about a wide spectrum of issues. That desire should be encouraged on campus and reflected in the content of our All-School Meetings.
