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“Exploring the Ethical Dimensions of DEIB Events” – A Virtual Panel with the Ethics Institute and DEIB Office

“Exploring the Ethical Dimensions of DEIB Events” – A Virtual Panel with the Ethics Institute and DEIB Office
  • Ethics Institute Leaders
  • Kent Place Faculty

On Tuesday, January 24th, the Ethics Institute hosted a virtual discussion with the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) office on “Exploring the Ethical Dimensions of DEIB Events.” Ms. Ariel Sykes, the Assistant Director of the Ethics Institute and Ms. Walidah Justice, the Chief Equity and Inclusion Officer at Kent Place spoke about the heritage month and holiday celebrations at Kent Place – what they are and the ethical considerations that go into organizing the different events. 

Each month throughout the school year, Kent Place highlights the history, traditions, and cultures that are represented within our community through educational opportunities for students.  Ms. Justice described the heritage months as a way to offer “mirrors and windows” to all the students at Kent Place and highlight the diversity of our school community.  In addition to heritage months, Holiday celebrations differ from heritage months in that these are for specific religious or cultural holidays and the observance of them can vary from a no-school or no-homework day to a school assembly or advisory activity. 

As the discussion continued, Ms. Justice spoke about some of the ethical questions that they consider when deciding which heritage months and holidays to observe and how to observe them.  One of the first considerations that came up is how we decide which heritage months and holidays to celebrate. This is largely determined by the experiences, knowledge, and identities of members of the Kent Place community, although there is always the possibility that some groups might not be represented and time is a constraining factor on how many heritage months and holidays we can include during the school year.  Another ethical issue that was talked about was the risk of tokenism – that events might observe or celebrate a holiday or cultural event in name only without conveying the full importance of the holiday or providing any substantial education to the rest of the community.  On the one hand, we want to uplift as many cultures and holidays from our community as possible, but on the other hand we run into constraints of time and resources to plan events.  Ms. Sykes observed that the key values that were showing up in the conversation were visibility, belonging, and trust – visibility and belonging being important motivations for having a robust calendar of DEIB events, and the KPS community trusting that the events will be done well. 

Parent attendees talked about some of their experiences attending cultural and holiday celebrations at Kent Place over the years, and many shared appreciation for the openness and welcoming spirit of these events.  The opportunities to learn from other parents and students about their cultural and religious traditions are both educational and strengthen the bonds of respect, understanding, and community within the school. 

  • DEIB
  • Ethics