Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

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.

REP is a performance piece that comes from a collaboration with the Theater Department, Middlesex’s DEI Office and Sojourn Theatre Company. REP explores the impact of race, sexuality, gender and religion in our daily lives at Middlesex. The project started on Zoom during the pandemic and has grown into one of the cornerstones of our in person student orientation for the last four years. Each summer, a new student ensemble revises and rewrites the show to explore current issues on campus. In September, the ensemble performs the show for all entering new students and again for the senior class. After each performance students from the show facilitate conversations around the issues explored in the new script and ask students to name how they want to move forward on creating a community that embraces these challenging topics. Tom KaneHead of Performing Arts Department

REP performance with students acting on stage. Asking the Question How can we work every day to make this an equitable community where everyone feels safe and belongs?

Anti-Racism & Inclusivity Statement

At Middlesex, 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 living and learning in a community built on mutual respect, physical and emotional safety, equity, and belonging. We endeavor to work together in partnership to promote anti-racism and inclusion at Middlesex.

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 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:

AZN (Pan-Asian students)

AZN is Middlesex’s student-run affinity group for all Pan-Asian identifying students. We strive to meet at least once every month, offering a wide range of events, from casual get-togethers to large-scale activities that are open to the entire Middlesex community. Some of our favorite events include the Mid-Autumn Festival, Lunar New Year Gala, and Holi, which we collaborate with SAAG (South Asian Affinity Group) to make happen. As one of the largest affinity groups on campus, our mission is to foster a welcoming and inclusive community for Asian American, Asian international, and mixed-heritage Asian students.

BSU (Black Student Union)

FEMX (Women Affinity Group)

FemX is centered around providing a safe space for all female-identifying students at Middlesex. We aim to support and uplift each other by encouraging collaboration and reducing unhealthy competitiveness among ourselves in order to learn from and grow with each other. As Middlesex is a community full of powerful and successful women, we aim to celebrate one another’s accomplishments and strengthen our community.

ISA (International Student Association)

The International Student Association (ISA) at Middlesex is centered around celebrating the international experience of our students on campus. We aim to create an inclusive space for all students who identify as international to come together and share their unique perspectives of the world. As an international community, ISA strives to create a space for students to connect and grow by learning about the world through one another’s experiences.

JSU (Jewish Student Union)

Our goal for the Jewish Student Union is to foster a tight-knit community of pluralistic Jewish identities. We aspire to form a supportive network of Jewish students through holiday celebrations and regular group meetings to bond over our experiences as Jewish Middlesex Students. We are an engaged group of 18+ students committed to building our community and developing Jewish identities. In addition, we proactively advocate against antisemitism through offering educational seminars and organizing various speaker events.

MSA (Muslim Student Association)

We, the members of Muslim Student Association (MSA), are committed to creating a supportive and inclusive community for Muslim students at Middlesex. We are open to embracing the diversity within the Muslim community and collaborating with other student organizations at our school and beyond to celebrate and appreciate the richness of various cultures and perspectives. We also hope to cultivate a safe and welcoming environment for Muslim students to express their identities, share experiences, and seek support if needed.

MXed (Multiracial Affinity Group)

MXed is united in diversity and focused on celebrating our many backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives while recognizing our commonality. Our mission is to create an inclusive space where people of all mixed racial identities can connect authentically, share experiences, and support each other’s growth. We will foster meaningful discussions across cultural, racial, and social boundaries to build understanding and challenge assumptions. We believe that our differences make us stronger; by coming together across cultural differences, we can create lasting positive change.

Queer Affinity Group

The Queer affinity group welcomes all students who identify as LGBTQ+ in any capacity. This is a completely anonymous group, meaning that the students who attend this group are not known by anyone on campus other than the faculty and other group members. We strive to create a safe space on campus for queer students, whether they are out of or in the closet. While we hold space for queer students to meet each other and make friends, we also facilitate discussions on how to make Middlesex a more inclusive space for us. In addition, we also plan and organize events, such as the Day of Silence. We welcome and encourage all new queer students to reach out and join this vibrant community.

SAAG (South Asian Affinity Group)

SAAG is the South Asian Affinity Group at Middlesex. We strive to create an empowering space for South Asian identifying students to share and celebrate our cultures. We also hope to get together for fun activities on our favorite South Asian festivals such as Diwalii and Holi and share our cultures and traditions with the Middlesex community. We enthusiastically welcome new perspectives and we are eager to collaborate with South Asian students from other high schools to exchange ideas and strengthen our communities.

SOL (Society of Latinx)

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.

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DEI at Middlesex (@deiatmiddlesex) • Instagram photos and videos

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:

The Board of Trustees will:

Provide the School with the resources required to establish additional positions that will work with our Dean of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in support of students and employees in equity and inclusion.
Continue to address Board composition to better reflect the breadth of identities and backgrounds of the student body.
Receive consistent professional development in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.
Incorporate DEI training for all new trustees as part of their Board orientation.
Work with the Alumni Association to create better channels of communication and feedback between alumni, the Board, and the School.
Develop a framework for tracking progress on quantitative diversity measures of representation, access, and equity within the School.

The School will:

Continue our focus on broadening our recruitment and retention efforts, so that we build a more diverse student body and a faculty that better reflects the composition of our student body.
Enhance DEI opportunities for students, faculty, and staff so we are better equipped to manage difficult conversations and understand our own biases.
Continue our review of the discipline process at Middlesex to ensure that all students are treated equally.
Invest in more professional development in DEI for both faculty and staff.
Enhance our faculty evaluation process to incorporate cultural competency as a measure for reflection, feedback, and improvement.
Continue our traditional and ongoing curriculum review and work with department heads and faculty to ensure that a broad range of voices and perspectives are represented in our academic program.
Continue our consideration of the “true cost” of a Middlesex education and provide the resources needed for all students to fully engage with and feel at home in the community.
Support affinity groups that foster opportunities for connection and conversation with the School.

DEI Staff

Jason Sport

Titles: Chief Officer for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion; Head of Landry House

Email:

Starry Zhu

Titles: Associate Dean of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion; Admissions Officer, Admissions Officer

Email:

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