A Call for Change
When I was thirteen years old, I came into the Severn School as a wide-eyed and bushy tailed Freshman, eager to be a part of an institution — a community, even — larger than myself. One that prides itself on ensuring that every student is “known and valued.”
Known is easy to achieve. Anybody can memorize a name and attach it to a face, but there was no effort to make me feel valued.
To be frank, Severn failed me in numerous ways. I was silenced. I was ostracized. I was tokenized and made a face of diversity — the very thing that Severn lacks. I craved community and a sense of belonging. Instead, I was stripped of my identity and made into a shell of who I once was. In the eyes of the administration, I was nothing more than a Black body to draw in more money. I was nothing more than a face to pander to potential Black families. I was nothing more than a person taking up space in an institution that was not made for me, and I was reminded of that often.
As a Junior, one of my peers said the n-word while driving in the car with my fellow Black classmate. Although I was not present at the time of the incident, I received a text message from her profusely apologizing for what she said. She admitted to saying it to a faculty member, and a group of my peers and I went to the former Upper School head to express our concerns. In return, despite admitting to what she said and a brief reminder of Severn’s alleged zero-tolerance policy, the girl was not punished for saying a racial slur, and the student body was given a fifteen minute speech from “Headmaster” Doug Lagarde about how racial slurs and bullying were not permissible at The Severn School.
As a Senior, I passionately cheered on the boys’ basketball team in a home game against St. Mary’s. As most home rivalry games go, the gym was packed, and the energy level was high. After a poor call from the ref, I stood up in frustration, but so did every other person in that gym. A white grandmother from the opposing team grabbed me from behind and yelled at me to sit. In that moment, I was overcome with embarrassment, fear, anxiety, and anger. In that moment, it felt like not a single person saw me. In a crowd full of people, the weight of insignificance was crushing, and I felt small. There were hundreds of people in that gym, but at the end of the day, I was alone.
What was I to do as a 17-year-old Black girl surrounded by a sea of blue eyes?
The gym was packed that day. The dean of students and Doug Lagarde stood on the other side of the gym. My favorite teacher, whom I believed to be an ally, stood a few feet away. Silently, I pleaded for someone to save me. No one did. A week later, that teacher told me that he saw what happened. He chose to leave me as the white woman’s victim under the false pretenses that I had everything “handled.” I was terrified. I was seventeen.
The Severn School robbed me of my adolescence. In a world that insists on stripping Black children of their childhoods, I needed protection — a temporary bubble shielding me from the horrors of the real world. Instead, by forcing me to defend myself and silencing my voice, Severn not only failed to protect me, but also contributed to the notion that Black children are not allowed to simply be.
As a student of the institution, I was given a great education, that I cannot deny, but at what cost?
A year removed from my graduation, Severn continues to fail me. Two weeks ago, I was subjected to recounting my Severn experience to Lagarde. Not only was he on the verge of laughter, but he sat on a Zoom call of Black alumni with confidence and told us that our experiences and opinions were merely accusations. Last week, I was prompted to share my story again to both Lagarde and a larger group of alum to which he barely responded: “I apologize,” while audibly sighing. Not once did he take accountability for the culture that he created, nor did he apologize for his failure to enforce a zero-tolerance policy for hate speech and racially discriminatory acts.
As a 2019 Severn graduate, I had the privilege of watching Doug Lagarde operate in recent years, and I have watched him perpetuate a racist system and neglect and fail to protect his most vulnerable students time and time again.
Late last week, I conducted a survey trying to gain a better understanding of the opinion of Severn School amongst a wide range of alum and was pleased to receive responses from a very diverse group of people. An overwhelming majority, particularly graduates from 2005 and beyond (coincidentally the time in which Lagarde has been in office), revealed strong dissatisfaction in the culture of Severn School.
To quote directly from the survey, alum and student, alike, said that the Severn culture is/was:
- “Problematic and exclusionary to anyone that doesn’t conform to their conservative, upper middle class+ wealthy heteronormative experience;”
- “White, monolithic, insular, provincial, static;”
- “Elitist. Classist;” and
- “An erasure of my existence.”
The primary purpose of an institution is to provide a holistic education, while cultivating a safe, welcoming environment for students to learn. While I agree that Severn provides an excellent education, I would argue that by failing to ensure that each student is safe in that environment, the education becomes tainted. It is a problem when a white member of the administration can say to me with confidence that the silver lining in my Severn experience was that it prepared me to deal with racism in the real world. It is an issue when students can express their concerns to faculty and nothing will be done. It is a problem when the well-being of all students — in this case BIPOC, in particular — is not prioritized. It is an issue when the “Headmaster” has to be begged to release a statement about what is going on, when people that look like the minority students are dying. It is a problem that he requested for Black alum to sit and trauma bond on numerous occasions, offering only laughs and snickers in return. It is a problem when his only effort against racism was suspending one student in over a decade, when countless others, who used harmful, racist slurs, were permitted to matriculate through Severn without so much as a slap on the wrist.
As a result, I have concluded that Doug Lagarde is unfit to continue as the “Headmaster” of the Severn School. It is apparent to me that he is incapable of creating a safe, welcoming environment for students, and his vision does not align with the steps towards anti-racism that Severn claims to be progressing towards.
Lagarde, I will admit, showed great devotion to one aspect of Severn’s mission statement: knowing the students. That is evident through his efforts to learn each student’s name; however, the aspect of “valued” is lost on him, as his efforts are superficial at best. As a result, it would behoove the Board of Trustees to consider Lagarde’s hasty removal, as continuing to allow Lagarde to be the face of the Severn School would further the narrative that Severn is a community that promotes complacency and surface level activism, and is, to be blunt, diversity and inclusion’s graveyard.
-Morgan Skinner, Class of 2019
