Following the violent attack on Capitol Hill on January 6, Director of Equity and Inclusion Dr. Rachel Myers sent an email to students and faculty condemning the actions of the rioters, providing resources compiled by the Current Events Resource Group (CERG), and offering a Zoom event as an opportunity to process and reflect on the attack as a community. Committees such as CERG and Driving Equity at Choate (DEC) work in tandem to provide support to the Choate community in such situations.
“The charge of CERG is to provide resources and support to the Choate community when events in our local community, nation, or world prove challenging, divisive, or especially complex,” said Dr. Myers in her email.
CERG is not a standing committee, but instead may be activated when events demand it. CERG prepared resources in response to last June’s Black Lives Matters protests, and, more recently, Head of School Dr. Alex Curtis asked that CERG be activated in anticipation that the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election would prove divisive.
Once CERG was activated after the attack on the Capitol, members of the group began organizing events and compiling resources. “My role was to help plan [the] community event that occurred on Saturday,” said Chinese teacher Mr. Ian Wollman. The community conversation, which began at 10:00 a.m., was held on Zoom. Adult facilitators, including members of CERG, Counseling, Equity and Inclusion, and Spiritual Life, were present during the entire conversation to help members of the community discuss their reactions and feelings as well as gain a better understanding of recent events.
Collaboration between teachers helped organize a faculty response and coordinate class discussions. “Many people shared resources among the faculty using Microsoft Teams,” said Mr. Wollman. Resources included tips on how to address students’ concerns about the attack and its historical context.
Many teachers rely on the resources provided by CERG for guidance on how to approach complex issues in their classrooms. “My math teacher dedicated our class on Friday to smaller breakout discussions and larger discussions on how we were feeling, what facts we knew, and implications of this for the future,” said Luke Barrett ’21.
