04/15/2014
Class of 1997,
Over the weekend, I received a copy of a terribly offensive email from someone purporting to be from “Concerned Lawrenceville Alumni” and/or a “Save Lawrenceville” campaign. I responded to the email but since the author(s) decided to remain anonymous and all responses are directed to an email address called “[email protected],” I decided to re-post my response here.
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To Whom it May Concern,
I write in response to your email of April 12, 2014, in which you expressed your deep dissatisfaction with the current climate at Lawrenceville and you asked me to support your campaign. I am deeply troubled by and strongly disagree with your attack on diversity at the School.
You write, with great horror, that “Multiculturalism, globalization, and diversity are the hallmark standards of the Admissions Office today.” You describe it as “PC Gone Wild.” In explaining this point, you state that the school now is only a mere 55% “Caucasian American.” (You mean “white,” right? Let’s call it like it is. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/07/sunday-review/has-caucasian-lost-its-meaning.html). You lament an alleged decreasing focus on legacy admissions and you describe the increased racial diversity at Lawrenceville as “increasingly distracting.” Distracting from what?
When I arrived at Lawrenceville over 20 years ago, my world was fairly small. I grew up in the suburbs of Trenton and Princeton, New Jersey, and most people I knew were more or less like me. That all quickly changed as I met my classmates: students from across the world and all income brackets. My friends were from the South, the Midwest, the West Coast, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. They came from both the kind of wealth and the kind of hardship I had never experienced. But the most important thing was what happened once we all got there: we learned to be a community and to find common ground. I learned that I had a lot in common with people who were, on the surface, quite different from me, and this has contributed greatly to my personal and professional life since I have left Lawrenceville.
You pay lip service to the idea that diversity is “certainly a valuable feature.” But do you really mean that? And really, where would you draw the line? 75% white students? 80%? 90%? Just enough to have the “right” numbers but not enough to make you uncomfortable? Notably absent from your letter is any mention of how students are harmed by this increased diversity. Note that I said students, not alumni. Because it’s about the students, right?
Another part of your email criticizes the administration for “openly promot[ing] and advocat[ing] the benefits of alternative life styles [sic].” You cite as examples the formation of a “Diversity Council” and the presence of gender-neutral bathrooms. Again, this criticism just hangs in the air, standing there on its own, with no mention of any actual harm to students.
When I was at Lawrenceville, I do not recall that any of my fellow students were openly gay. But of course, looking back, there they were, hiding in plain sight. While the rest of us were being teenagers, dating, growing up, they were waiting for the day (college? after college?) when they could be themselves. Have you ever thought about what that might be like? There were gay students at Lawrenceville when you were there too. Are you more comfortable just pretending that they didn’t exist? Is that “living a life of honor” – something you claim you learned at Lawrenceville?
Your email does raise some other issues that are worth discussing, including the rapidly-rising cost of tuition at the School. I hope someone else takes on that task. I wouldn’t support your campaign if you guaranteed tuition-free admission to Lawrenceville for each and every one of my future children.
Very truly yours,
Jessica Rank Divine ‘97
