Student-run ARC pushes for antiracist action in the CGS curriculum
Ben Bockmann ‘21
At Catlin Gabel School (CGS), the student-led Anti Racist Collective (ARC) is the newest facet of the school’s progress towards antiracism.
The collective functions as three teams: facilitation, education, and outreach. CGS senior Anushka Gupta is one of the education team’s leaders.
“[The collective] started out as a book club… but in our first meeting, only two students showed up to one of the groups, so we decided to expand our work to the Catlin community as a whole,” said Gupta.
Currently, the ARC is divided into three sub-teams, each containing about ten students. Gupta co-leads the education team along with her friend, junior Nayan Murthy.
“I got involved in the ARC when I started to reflect on this whole movement that’s going on, and my experience at Catlin as a person of color,” said Murthy. “I didn’t observe this while in the moment, but reflecting back I realized a lot of change needs to happen.”
Although CGS has a Diversity Action Council (DAC), which is made up of both faculty and students, the ARC is currently the only student-led organization working towards antiracism at the school. However, it is important to recognize that many students choose other paths for antiracism work.
“There are a bunch of other subsets of students who are working very much in activism towards antiracism that are putting their energy outside of Catlin Gabel, and I don't want to lose track of that,” said CGS head of Upper School Aline Garcia-Rubio
Gale Castillo, President of the Hispanic Metropolitan Chamber and guest at ARC’s Hispanic Heritage Month assembly. Photo courtesy of Oregon Business.
As a school, CGS fosters an environment in which students are encouraged to follow their passions. The school also has a longstanding dedication to inclusion and diversity, something which Garcia-Rubio said has taken on a new meaning over the course of 2020.
“The goal for us is to unlearn what has been hurtful, as well as relearn [ways to be antiracist],” added Garcia-Rubio.
To aid in this learning, the education team of the ARC is working on a number of strategies to elevate the voices of people of color.
“We’re looking to center minority voices in the [CGS] curriculum,” said Murthy. “We’re also hoping to center more Black voices in the community, whether that's through an educational medium, or just more conversations.”
The CGS community has already started to see some of the results coming from the ARC. In the past month, the ARC has organized two major conversations surrounding the voices of people of color.
According to Gupta, the first took the form of a Hispanic Heritage Month assembly, featuring guest speaker Gale Castillo, who answered questions about the experience of being Hispanic in Portland. The second was a series of videos and discussion questions which were meant to educate students about the importance of Indigenous People’s Day.
“Right now, the education team is working on a student experience survey, a parent experience survey, and a teacher and faculty experience survey,” added Gupta, “so that we can gauge how racism is impacting our community.”
At the time that this article is published, it is possible that the surveys will already have been approved and sent out to the community. The ARC plans to use the results of the surveys in a presentation for the Board of Trustees about what needs to be done at CGS.
However, there is one major addition that the ARC is looking to implement in the CGS curriculum.
“Catlin is considering an Ethnic Studies class as part of an antiracist curriculum,” said Garcia-Rubio. However, what she really hopes for is that CGS will become antiracist in every course available to students, and not just in an Ethnic Studies course.
Of course, the ARC is conducting research into these classes, and how they are being instituted in other schools across the Portland area.
“[Ethnic Studies classes] have become mandatory in multiple other schools across Portland, including the Portland Public Schools system, and Jesuit is thinking of having one,” said Gupta.
Although Gupta and other student members of the ARC are in full support of a mandatory class, Garcia-Rubio maintains a cautious approach to how one should be implemented.
“The balance is always wanting to get students involved in any kind of social work... but doing it in a way so that students have voice and choice,” clarified Garcia-Rubio. CGS aims to give students enough choice in their schooling so that they are authentically engaged, she added, “so that they are not just checking a box.”
Whether or not a mandatory Ethnic Studies class is created at CGS, it is clear that the ARC is in a position to have a lasting impact on the lives and educational experiences of people in the CGS community.
If you are a student at CGS and would like to get involved with the ARC, please email senior Catie Macauley or any of the other core members, who can be found at the bottom of this article.