Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, & Justice

Established in 2017 as a shared space for the integration of opportunities and programming for spiritual growth, social responsibility, and justice/human rights advocacy with a key focus on moral and servant leadership. Read more...

The D’Amour Center for Faith, Service & Justice partners with multiple student groups for Canterbury’s annual Social Justice Series, which creates spaces for students to deepen their knowledge and engage in conversations around issues that are critical to building a more fair, just, and equitable world. The series kicks off each year on Martin Luther King Jr. Day with service opportunities supporting local organizations and continues weekly with sessions of vital, topical programming. Read more...

Formed in 2016 by a 2019 graduate; a program that provides a literal and figurative space for current students and faculty to, simply, speak. It began as a way for community members to share pieces of themselves, explain their stories, and, in highlighting differences, find similarities. It has since become a designated part of Thursday School Meeting. Read more...

• Women of Canterbury: Formed in 1992; Canterbury's longest-running affinity group
• CDIC (Canterbury Diversity and Inclusion Club): Formed in 2016 by students; this group later transitioned to AHANA (see below)
• Interfaith Council: Formed in 2017
• AHANA (students of African/Hispanic/Asian/Native American heritage): Formed in 2019 by and for students of color
• GSA (Gender & Sexuality Alliance): Formed in 2019 by students
• JSA (Jewish Student Association): Formed in 2021 by students

• 2022: Student Leadership Training on Diversity, including sessions on the SCARF Model (Status, Certainty, Autonomy, Relatedness, Fairness) and Identities and Biases.
   

• 2021: Training centered on putting The Saints Promise into action in our community, a set of guiding principles inspired and shaped by the nine student Community DEI Committee members and designed to serve as a roadmap for growth and accountability for the entire Canterbury community. 
   

• 2020: Mirroring the faculty DEI training that took place in August 2020, Student Leaders received training that was grounded in the principles of diversity, inclusion and servant leadership.
   

• 2018 & 2019: Leadership Training grew from a one-day program to a three-day retreat model. Student Leaders brainstorm and determine each year’s community theme (2019-20: Sense of Belonging). 
   

• 2017: Transition from Student Body President to Sixth Form Council in order to broaden the representation of seniors impacting the leadership and direction of the school.
   

• Ongoing training and feedback for our Proctors (dorm leaders), Sixth Form Council (student government), Sacristans and Interfaith Council (spiritual leaders), and International Student Ambassadors.
   

• Consistent communication and collaboration between the adult leaders and students in these groups focus heavily on school culture. The intention is to have students focus on inclusion while also opening up lines of communication between students and faculty.

COMMITTEES

• Faculty DEI Committee: Original committee of faculty and administrators formed in 2019 and expanded in 2020 to build the School’s DEI strategic roadmap.
   

• Community DEI Committee: Formed during summer 2020 as an expansion of the inaugural faculty committee, this Committee included various intersecting community roles to ensure broad representation and to sustain its work and function for years to come.
  
  2020-21 Committee included:  
         AHANA (African, Hispanic, Asian, and Native American students) Faculty Advisor
         Chief Advancement Officer
         Dean of Faculty
         Dean of Students
         Director of the D'Amour Center for Faith, Service & Justice
         Director of Curriculum
         Director of Dining Services
         Founder of Saints on the Hill and founding member of AHANA
         Head of School
         Member of Board of Trustees 
         Member of Society of Alumni Executive Committee  
         President of Board of Trustees

Nine Fourth, Fifth and Sixth Form students passionately joined the Community DEI Committee in the 2020-21 school year. Initial work centered on four key areas of a Needs Assessment and Action Plan framework (Academic Curriculum, Campus Audit, Student Experience, Recruitment/Retention).

The Community DEI Committee developed The Saints Promise (see top of page), a set of guiding principles inspired and shaped by the nine student members and designed to serve as a roadmap for growth and accountability for the entire Canterbury community.   

• DEIJ Council: As the next evolution of our collaborative community work, the DEIJ (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice) Council was formed in the 2021-22 school year. An outgrowth of strong student interest in the Community DEI Commitee, membership on the DEIJ Council is a student leadership position, for which students apply and interview each year. Currently comprised of 13 committed students spanning all Forms, student life faculty, and faculty advisors to AHANA, GSA, and other student affinity spaces. They have organized into four subcommittees: Current Events/Response, Amplifying Voices, Student Leadership Expectations, and Social Justice Series. A Faculty/Staff DEI Committee works in tandem with the DEIJ Council to support its work and initiatives, with much of the same representation that was selected for the Community DEI Committee:
  
         Assistant Head of School for Student Life
         Chief Advancement Officer
         Director of Campus Ministry
         Director of Curriculum
         Director of the D'Amour Center for Faith, Service & Justice
         Director of Dining Services
         Form Dean
         Head of School

FORUMS

• Faculty, staff, and students engaged in anti-racism forums throughout the summer of 2020 (bi-weekly each for students and for faculty/staff).

• In the fall of 2020, students and faculty met in small groups on five Saturdays to discuss topics ranging from community norms and Canterbury’s commitment to providing each student with a sense of belonging to the presidential election and a viewing of The Social Dilemma.

Conferences

Attended by Faculty:

• 2022, 2021, 2020, & 2019: National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) People of Color Conference (PoCC)

Attended by Students:

• 2022, 2019, & 2018: National Student Diversity Leadership Conference (SDLC)

• 2021 & 2020: Online SDLC

• 2019 & 2018: Connecticut SDLC

Professional Development

On-Campus:

• In August 2022, all faculty viewed a presentation on Diversity, including sessions on the SCARF Model (Status, Certainty, Autonomy, Relatedness, Fairness) and Identities and Biases.
   
• In spring 2022, all faculty were invited to listen to a NAIS New View EDU podcast: Schools for Growing Citizens. A key takeaway discussion session was then facilitated by faculty members of the current DEIJ Council. 
   
• DEI-focused professional development for all faculty took place in August 2020 prior to the start of the 2020-21 school year, consisting of a five-day program co-facilitated by 12 faculty members trained by DEI consultant Margenett Moore-Roberts.
   
• The work of this 12-member faculty team has continued as they lead the work of our DEI Faculty Pods and continue their partnership with Ms. Moore-Roberts, including participation in the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI).
   
• In June 2020, Duchess Harris, J.D., Ph.D. '87 joined our Academic Committee in creating frameworks to ensure the diversity of voices within Canterbury's curriculum, the historical accuracy of its courses, and the long-term planning required to sustain this work. A professor of political science and American studies at Macalaster College (MN), Duchess is an academic, author, and legal scholar whose books on race and Black feminism have received widespread acclaim.

Off-Campus:

Administrators and faculty attended conferences/sessions centered on DEI training:

• CAIS Conference on Governance: September 2021
  Session topics included:
  Truth, Justice, and the Governance Way
  Language Matters
  Understanding DEIJB (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Justice and Belonging)
  How Leaders of Color Impact Community Change
   
• CAIS Conference on Anti-Bias Teaching: Summer 2021

HIRING ​

• ​​​Participated in National Employment Minority Network (NEMNET) Diversity Recruitment Career Fairs: 2020, 2021
   
• Attended NEMNET Diversity Faculty Recruitment Training: November 2021
   
• Attended Carney Sandoe & Associates FORUM/Diversity hiring conference and professional development symposium: 2021, 2022

In recent years, Canterbury has reviewed and updated its curricula to provide a broad range of historical and cultural experiences and to help students learn to appreciate different perspectives and embrace diversity in a socially responsible way.

Below is a partial list of these experiences reflected in current course offerings. 

Honors Identity and Culture (Fifth/Sixth Form English Elective)

Syracuse University Project Advance: Gender and Literary Texts (Fifth/Sixth Form English Elective)

Holocaust (Fifth/Sixth Form History & Social Sciences Elective) 

Modern Middle East (Fifth/Sixth Form History & Social Sciences Elective)

Modern Times (Fifth/Sixth Form History & Social Sciences Elective)

Revolutions and Revolutionaries (Fifth/Sixth Form History & Social Sciences Elective)

Religions of the World (Theology Minor Course)

Theology III: Introduction to Morality (Theology Minor Course)

Theology IV: Social Justice and the Common Good (Theology Minor Course)

• In February 2020, we administered a Climate Survey to measure student perceptions around community, belonging, and inclusion. The survey has been repeated annually since then.
   

• In 2019 we began interviewing all Sixth Formers before they graduate to learn about their experience, including their sense of belonging while students at Canterbury.