The Whitlock Lecture: On Fugitive Pedagogy
One of the highlights of observing Black History Month this year was the February 23rd visit of Dr. Jarvis Givens, a professor… Read More
Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) are core values of Middlesex. To that end, we are committed to building a diverse, equitable, and inclusive community. We honor the ideal, articulated by Fredrick Winsor, our school founder, of “finding the promise” in every student, and we work together in an atmosphere of mutual trust and shared responsibility to help students bring their talents to fruition. As a community, we respect the individual interests, strengths, and needs of each student. We also value the rich diversity of belief and experience each of us brings to the School. As such, we commit to live and learn in a diverse community built on mutual respect, physical and emotional safety, equity, inclusivity, and belonging.
Orientation – REP Performance
REP, which originally stands for the Racial Equity Project, has been a signature orientation program for new students and faculty since 2021. With the guidance from professional theater artists and DEI practitioners, a group of selected student leaders collaborate with each other during the summer to devise their own scenes to address DEI issues that students commonly experience at MX. Through their performance, they want to emphasize the importance of creating an upstander culture and building a community where everyone feels accepted, appreciated, and celebrated.
Affinity Groups
Affinity groups at Middlesex are student-led and student-centered spaces where everyone shares a particular identity, such as race, ethnicity, gender, religion, and sexual orientation. Affinity groups provide students, especially those with marginalized and minoritized identities, with a safe and brave space to connect with each other, share about their experiences, and advocate for their collective needs. These groups play a vital role in ensuring an inclusive environment where all are valued, included, and empowered to succeed. Here is the list of affinity groups at Middlesex:
Equity and Inclusion Officers
The senior Equity and Inclusion Officers are key contributors helping to foster an inclusive and welcoming community for all members of the School. From their very first day on campus in the fall, these leaders begin facilitating DEI programs during senior leadership training and new student orientation. Throughout the year, they help with creating DEI programs, selecting
DEI Throughout the Middlesex Experience
Throughout the course of the year, there is robust and meaningful curricular and co-curricular programming in DEI: orientation (community lunches, MLK Day, Community Life Symposium, affinity groups, and clubs. Students also have the opportunity to engage in collaborative meetings with other schools and in programs run by outside organizations.
The initiatives contained within the diversity, equity, and inclusion programs are not add-ons to the Middlesex community, but instead they are integral aspects of the school community. Combined, these programs aim to develop within our students a lifelong empathy, a willingness to listen and learn from others, an eagerness to engage, and the confidence to speak up and out to assist themselves and those around them.
Board of Trustees and Head of School Joint Commitments for Advancing Diversity, Equity and Inclusion:
We are a Board of 34 individuals who care deeply about Middlesex. Together, we are uniform in our belief that the breadth of personal identities within Middlesex is a key element that makes the school a special, vibrant place of learning and growth. The Board recognizes that there is still work to do between our foundational ideals and the actual lived experience of many Black, Hispanic, Asian American Pacific Islander, LGBTQIA+, Jewish, Islamic, international, and disabled students, faculty, staff, and alumni.
As an educational institution, we believe an open exchange of viewpoints is vital to student development and intellectual excellence. We believe that respectful debate and disagreement are not only healthy, but the very ground upon which a learning community thrives. We realize that, at times, that discourse may become uncomfortable.
There is no ground, however, for any behavior, policy, or social climate that elevates some individuals over others based on race, class, religion, gender, or identity. It is antithetical to our Mission and our desire to develop an inclusive community.
The Board recognizes the need for increased accountability when an individual’s personal identity is used against them. The use of power in support of harm is deeply concerning and fundamentally unacceptable at Middlesex.
We will work with faculty, staff, and administration to take the following steps to allow the unimpaired pursuit of individual promise, as well as the promise of a truly inclusive community.
The Board of Trustees will:
The School will:
One of the highlights of observing Black History Month this year was the February 23rd visit of Dr. Jarvis Givens, a professor… Read More
In celebrating the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on what would have been his 95th birthday,… Read More
A veteran English teacher and novelist, Alex Myers noted that he “frames the whole world in terms of story.” Speaking… Read More