Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion

What we believe

We believe that creating healing, connection, and friendship across lines of difference makes a stronger community.

The pre-kindergarten-12 Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Program empowers our community with stress reduction strategies, spaces for practicing the navigation of difference and sameness, and the freedom to make mistakes. It includes direct training for faculty, staff, and parents; school-based student leadership development; and ongoing practice with regional and national partners.

Rhonda Brown
Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

What we're doing

Our goals

Sustainable Environment

The creation of an inclusive campus environment that empowers students, parents, teachers, and staff to engage in brave ways across lines of difference. It includes the creation of affinity spaces and moments for co-curricular cross-cultural dialogues between community members.

Inclusive Spaces

An increase in faculty diversity and support of capacity-building measures designed to strengthen our ability to engage students in culturally competent ways that model what it means to be a “person of virtue,” as defined by Haverford’s Honor Code.

Leadership Engagement and Commitment

The adoption of a shared vision of and commitment to diversity and inclusion. This active engagement serves as the strategic foundation that weaves diversity and inclusion into the operational fabric of the School.

Initiatives

Lower School

Age-appropriate conversations in the Lower School include participation in the Brotherhood Project, designed by members of the Upper School Diversity Alliance to build relationships across the Lower, Middle, and Upper Schools. In a recent project, Lower Schoolers taught their older "brothers" about the social-emotional work they have been practicing with Kimochis characters like "Lovely Dove" and "Huggtopus." Essential questions centered around diversity are discussed as our youngest members of the community learn to value different cultures, ideas, and perspectives.

Middle School

I’m Not Kidding (Middle School Diversity Alliance) participated in the Young Men of Color Symposium and (Re)Defining Power Conference in November 2018; read their reflections on our blog. The conference features opportunities for both young men of color and young white men to explore their racial and gender identities while learning the skills needed for building community.

Annually, Haverford hosts the Middle School Diversity Conference, one of the region’s largest, which attracts 400 students. The conference will be held March 4, 2020 and features Dr. Javier Ávila's one-man show "The Trouble with My Name." Contact Donta Evans for more information.

Upper School

In partnership with our sister schools, Baldwin and Agnes Irwin, students elect to take a Human Relationships Seminar. The course covers topics on love, family, friendship, racial literacy/implicit bias, gender, feminism, masculinity, and mindfulness.

The Upper School Diversity Alliance sends a delegation of faculty and students to the annual People of Color Conference and NAIS Student Diversity Leadership Conference, hosts annual retreats that bring 80-100 students from across the Delaware Valley region, and organizes weekly lunches that create space for inclusive dialogues.

Alliance/Affinity Groups

Diversity Alliance Leadership Team

Diversity Alliance consists of a team of student leaders with a shared vision for inclusion at The Haverford School. The leadership team operates as an umbrella organization for student-run and faculty-advised Upper School affinity groups. The organization meets regularly to share ideas, coordinate activities and plan programming that promotes story sharing and courageous communications across all lines of difference.

Black Student Union

The mission of Black Student Union (BSU) focuses on promoting unity throughout the Black community as well as supporting inclusion among students of other cultures at The Haverford School. BSU is an active student group which sponsors cultural and social events, provides leadership opportunities, and encourages networking among Black students. The BSU is involved in numerous activities including Poetry Slams, film screenings and regular current event driven dialogues. All students, faculty, and staff are invited to the weekly meetings.

Gay-Straight Alliance

The mission of the Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) is to educate members of the Haverford community on LGBTQ+ issues to promote inclusive practices and supportive relationships. The GSA provides a “safe space” for all members to talk about their experiences and current events. The GSA also networks with other schools in order to share experiences LGBTQ+ students from other schools have in their own communities. The GSA organizes various events and speakers to generate dialogue between students and faculty about LGBTQ+ issues in ways that bring people closer through shared experience.

Pan Asian Students Association

The Pan Asian Association (HPAA) creates an environment where everyone feels comfortable to share their stories and experiences as Asian students. All are welcome but HPAA primarily consists of the Asian community. During meetings students have critical dialogues, plan ideas for events, and interact with other school's Asian Affinity Groups. The goal is to create a space where everyone is encouraged to be themselves and share stories about their lived experiences.

Professional Learning Communities

Professional Learning Communities (PLCs)—which harness “an ongoing process in which educators work collaboratively in recurring cycles of collective inquiry and action research to achieve better results for the students they serve”—are a common and proven practice to promote teacher collaboration that increases student achievement. (Source)