Just last year, The Agnes Irwin School updated its Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging philosophy statement and reaffirmed its commitment to DEIB. The Board of Trustees acknowledged that the current statement no longer fit with AIS’ ongoing work to meet the progressive demands of the Agnes Irwin community. The Board decided to summon a subcommittee to draft an updated statement that can evolve as Agnes Irwin does (agnesirwin.org).
Many students believe that AIS does a very good job at listening to them, but when it comes to taking the initiative, the school becomes a little lackluster. When asked if she believes that AIS has been following up on its commitment, Yamen Oraegbu, a co-head of BSU, said: “I think that AIS follows up on students when they ask for a certain thing they want to add to our DEIB program or certain initiatives,” but she also thinks that “AIS could definitely improve on not waiting for students to ask first and instead make moves on their own, since a lot of students feel pressured to always have to be the ones to go to the school to have certain things that the school should have already been on.”
Other students have commented that AIS has made a lot of progress in recent years, but there are still a lot of improvements to make in regard to curriculum. When I asked a leader of Compass, who has asked to be kept anonymous, whether she believes that AIS has followed up on its commitment to DEIB, she said that although her knowledge of the program is limited, since she did not attend AIS before the program was really established, she “[thinks] the Agnes Irwin School has made progress by setting up events like CIA Day and the parent SEED program, but [she thinks] AIS could do a lot more for DEIB.” She went on to say that “one of the most important steps Agnes Irwin should take to move forward with DEIB is to improve the course curriculum.” According to her, “Agnes Irwin offers a few electives, like African American History, that center marginalized communities, but they are all optional. I have signed up for multiple classes like this, and oftentimes, they do not run because there is not enough faculty available to teach them or there is not enough student interest. I think that Agnes Irwin should make these classes part of the required curriculum because every student at Agnes Irwin should learn this material, and many will not sign up to study it in an optional course.”
A year ago, AIS made a commitment to DEIB and has stuck to that commitment by implementing many improvements such as the anti-racism form on the AIS website, Friday Forums, and Community in Action days. These actions help a part of the community that had previously not been reached. I’ve been deeply impressed by the things that AIS has done in the past year, many of which I honestly would have never imagined before then. The only thing that I can hope is that AIS keeps up this commitment for the years to come.
