Generous Orthodoxy: Organizational Stewardship & Institutional Evolution Framed by
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Presentation by Ari Betof, Ed.D. Generous Orthodoxy: Organizational Stewardship & Institutional Evolution Framed by Malcolm Gladwell & Hans Wilhelm Frei NAIS Annual Conference Presentation March 2018
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Generous Orthodoxy: Organizational Stewardship & Institutional Evolution Framed by
- 1. Generous Orthodoxy: Organizational Stewardship & Institutional Evolution Framed by Malcolm Gladwell & Hans Wilhelm Frei Ari M. Betof, Ed.D. #NAISAC| March 9, 2018
- 2. In Our Hour Together Introduce the concept of generous orthodoxy Explore within the context of independent schools Discuss where generous orthodoxy could help move our schools forward Critique generous orthodoxy within the context of our commitment to equity and inclusion
- 3. But first a story…
- 5. Hans Wilhelm Frei “Orthodox” – to be committed to tradition “Generous” – to be open to change “Orthodoxy without generosity leads to blindness & generosity without orthodoxy is shallow and empty”
- 6. The Story of Chester Wenger Mennonite minister steeped in the community Orthodox with generous leadings
- 7. If no one questions your loyalty, you can get away with that kind of subversion. Chester Wenger walked that fine line, orthodox but also generous… …until one day Chester’s son, Philip, comes to him and the line becomes almost impossible to walk at all.
- 8. The Story of Chester Wenger College age son (Phil) comes out to his father A year later: “Dad, this is for real. I'm gonna identify as being gay, I’m going to tell other people I’m gay, I'm going to date other guys. And you know, you're gonna have to get used to this.” Phil is excommunicated
- 9. The Story of Chester Wenger 2014: Twenty+ Years Later… Gay marriage is legalized in PA Performs his son’s wedding An Open Letter to my Beloved Church “I am profoundly reluctant to write this letter because I know there are those it will wound deeply. But I have also come to the conviction that I can no longer hide the light the Lord has lit within me, under a bushel.” Stripped of credentials
- 10. Returning to our story…
- 11. Discussion What is the most complicated and important change initiative at your school? How could generous orthodoxy help move your school forward?
- 12. Hans Wilhelm Frei “Orthodox” – to be committed to tradition “Generous” – to be open to change “Orthodoxy without generosity leads to blindness & generosity without orthodoxy is shallow and empty”
- 13. Critique of generous orthodoxy within the context of our commitment to equity and inclusion
- 14. Princeton University and Woodrow Wilson President of Princeton University (1902-1910) Governor of New Jersey (1911-1913) President of the United States (1913-1921) 2015 Student Protest about the Naming of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and Wilson
- 15. Princeton University and Woodrow Wilson November 2015: Student protests led by Black Justice League (BJL) 32-hour protest and sit-in at Princeton President’s office Board of Trustees appointed Wilson Legacy Review Committee (10 members, half people of color) Alumni and community discourse
- 16. Princeton University and Woodrow Wilson April 2016: Board of Trustees retains name: “[T]he committee recommends that both the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and Woodrow Wilson College should retain their current names and that the University needs to be honest and forthcoming about its history. This requires transparency in recognizing Wilson’s failings and shortcomings as well as the visions and achievements that led to the naming of the school and the college in the first place.
- 17. [T]he only way people like this are going to listen to the protesters is if they think the protestors care about Princeton, care about Princeton the way it is. They'll accept generosity only if it comes with some orthodoxy…But instead, what do they hear?
- 18. Critiquing Gladwell’s Commentary on Protest Defining Sacrifice: “Instead of talking about what they were owed by Princeton, they should have talked about what they were willing to give up. Generosity mixed with orthodoxy. I am giving up my place at one of the world’s great universities in order to save it from itself certainly has a better shot than a sleepover in the President’s office.”
- 19. Wilglory Tanjong’s Response “To say that I did not sacrifice as much as a 96 year old retired pastor is to completely dismiss the very real sacrifices I made to help make Princeton’s campus a more welcoming environment.” “To withdraw myself from the university is to rob all those who impacted me and those who I will undoubtedly use my diploma to impact…It would instead allow those made uncomfortable by my actions to remain complicit in their racism.” http://revisionisthistory.com/episodes/09-generous-orthodoxy
- 20. Critiquing Gladwell’s Commentary on Protest Defining Sacrifice: “Instead of talking about what they were owed by Princeton, they should have talked about what they were willing to give up. Generosity mixed with orthodoxy. I am giving up my place at one of the world’s great universities in order to save it from itself certainly has a better shot than a sleepover in the President’s office.” Role of privilege Effectiveness Update
- 21. Update: Princeton University Princeton and Slavery Project November 2017: “Princeton Digs Deep Into Its Fraught Racial History” (NYT) Playwrights on putting the ghosts of Princeton’s racial past onstage
- 22. Discussion How do those of us with power and privilege ensure that we creating spaces for this work to happen? - Opportunities to air hard things that need to be said by those at risk of being marginalized - Inclusive processes for moving our institutions forward How do we educate all of our students so they can both listen deeply, have their voices be heard, and speak their own truth?
Editor's Notes
- Who is in the audience (teachers, administrators, heads, trustees, other)?
- “Really positive buzz”
- Chester Wenger had a position in the Mennonite administration in Lancaster at the time and attended a local Mennonite church. One Sunday morning, the pastor got up and made an announcement.
- Chester Wenger had a position in the Mennonite administration in Lancaster at the time and attended a local Mennonite church. One Sunday morning, the pastor got up and made an announcement.
- Pairs then whole group
- Questions from previous slide: What is the most complicated and important change initiative at your school? How could ”generous orthodoxy” help move your school forward?
- Chester Wenger had a position in the Mennonite administration in Lancaster at the time and attended a local Mennonite church. One Sunday morning, the pastor got up and made an announcement.
- Chester Wenger had a position in the Mennonite administration in Lancaster at the time and attended a local Mennonite church. One Sunday morning, the pastor got up and made an announcement.
- Chester Wenger had a position in the Mennonite administration in Lancaster at the time and attended a local Mennonite church. One Sunday morning, the pastor got up and made an announcement.
- We risked a lot. And I don’t believe that that same risk is on par with Chester Wegner’s. Wegner’s actions, standing in solidarity with gay rights, took great courage and faith. But considering our vast age difference, the comparison is completely misleading. At the time his opinion letter was written, Wegner was 96 years old. When I participated in the sitin, I was 19 years old. Wegner had already lived a great majority of his life. I had just embarked on one of the biggest chapters of my own. The stakes are much higher when you have the rest of your life ahead of you. To say that I did not sacrifice as much as a 96 year old retired pastor is to completely dismiss the very real sacrifices I made to help make Princeton’s campus a more welcoming environment. “My degree is not my own. It is for my mother, my family, the organizations that helped me, the teachers that guided me, the black bodies that paved the way, and the black and brown kids across the world who are told that they cannot achieve higher. I am an embodiment of the fact that they can. To withdraw myself from the university is to rob all those who impacted me and those who I will undoubtedly use my diploma to impact. Furthermore, I would never willingly give up my position at Princeton. Which in fact, would undoubtedly make many students, administrators and alumni beam with happiness. It would instead allow those made uncomfortable by my actions to remain complicit in their racism. My very presence forces the university to continue confronting the issues BJL has brought forward. Gladwell’s argument reveals a much larger issue with the perception of black commitment. Black people are constantly expected to sacrifice twice as much as a white person for access to the same rights and norms. As black people, the sacrifices we make are often ignored and dismissed. To say that sitting in the President’s office was simply a ‘sleepover’ completely dismisses the importance sitins have had not only on college campuses, but also the wider civil rights movements. And despite the trauma, the harassment, and spells of depression some members fell into, BJL members still submitted their assignments, took exams, maintained campus jobs, attended classes, and led campus organizations. And our juniors, successfully wrote 40 page plus junior papers and our seniors, wrote 100 page plus senior thesis (some even wrote two). And after all this, they graduated. Gladwell’s argument reveals a much larger issue with the perception of black commitment. Black people are constantly expected to sacrifice twice as much as a white person for access to the same rights and norms. As black people, the sacrifices we make are often ignored and dismissed. To say that sitting in the President’s office was simply a ‘sleepover’ completely dismisses the importance sitins have had not only on college campuses, but also the wider civil rights movements. And despite the trauma, the harassment, and spells of depression some members fell into, BJL members still submitted their assignments, took exams, maintained campus jobs, attended classes, and led campus organizations. And our juniors, successfully wrote 40 page plus junior papers and our seniors, wrote 100 page plus senior thesis (some even wrote two). And after all this, they graduated. When I said that “I owe Princeton nothing, Princeton owes me everything,” I was referring to the fact that the literal foundation of Princeton was built by slaves, slaves whom some members of BJL are descendents of. My statement encapsulated a very real sentiment about black exploitation and the lack of reparations. Georgetown University recently agreed to memorialize the 272 slaves that were sold in their name that kept the university afloat. Institutions do not deserve a pat on the back for basic human dignity. They have a duty to confront their embattled histories and do their best to repair them. To say that I and my fellow students did not do enough is a slap in the face to a community that still suffers from the society that keeps us oppressed. As student activists we are expected to excel in academia, while sacrificing and convincing our universities that our experiences should be valued at the same level as our white peers. We are criticized by intellectuals like Gladwell who, intentionally or not, have done the task of stripping us of our humanity, our pain, our struggles, and deemed our efforts not enough or misled. Yet these same critics, refuse to pose the question: why, in the 21 st century, are students still fighting for their humanity to be validated? As the recording of me screaming at the top of my lungs towards my university president played, Gladwell then suggests “she probably regrets her words.” As I listened to the podcast, I felt that Gladwell could not be more wrong.
- We risked a lot. And I don’t believe that that same risk is on par with Chester Wegner’s. Wegner’s actions, standing in solidarity with gay rights, took great courage and faith. But considering our vast age difference, the comparison is completely misleading. At the time his opinion letter was written, Wegner was 96 years old. When I participated in the sitin, I was 19 years old. Wegner had already lived a great majority of his life. I had just embarked on one of the biggest chapters of my own. The stakes are much higher when you have the rest of your life ahead of you. To say that I did not sacrifice as much as a 96 year old retired pastor is to completely dismiss the very real sacrifices I made to help make Princeton’s campus a more welcoming environment. “My degree is not my own. It is for my mother, my family, the organizations that helped me, the teachers that guided me, the black bodies that paved the way, and the black and brown kids across the world who are told that they cannot achieve higher. I am an embodiment of the fact that they can. To withdraw myself from the university is to rob all those who impacted me and those who I will undoubtedly use my diploma to impact. Furthermore, I would never willingly give up my position at Princeton. Which in fact, would undoubtedly make many students, administrators and alumni beam with happiness. It would instead allow those made uncomfortable by my actions to remain complicit in their racism. My very presence forces the university to continue confronting the issues BJL has brought forward. Gladwell’s argument reveals a much larger issue with the perception of black commitment. Black people are constantly expected to sacrifice twice as much as a white person for access to the same rights and norms. As black people, the sacrifices we make are often ignored and dismissed. To say that sitting in the President’s office was simply a ‘sleepover’ completely dismisses the importance sitins have had not only on college campuses, but also the wider civil rights movements. And despite the trauma, the harassment, and spells of depression some members fell into, BJL members still submitted their assignments, took exams, maintained campus jobs, attended classes, and led campus organizations. And our juniors, successfully wrote 40 page plus junior papers and our seniors, wrote 100 page plus senior thesis (some even wrote two). And after all this, they graduated. Gladwell’s argument reveals a much larger issue with the perception of black commitment. Black people are constantly expected to sacrifice twice as much as a white person for access to the same rights and norms. As black people, the sacrifices we make are often ignored and dismissed. To say that sitting in the President’s office was simply a ‘sleepover’ completely dismisses the importance sitins have had not only on college campuses, but also the wider civil rights movements. And despite the trauma, the harassment, and spells of depression some members fell into, BJL members still submitted their assignments, took exams, maintained campus jobs, attended classes, and led campus organizations. And our juniors, successfully wrote 40 page plus junior papers and our seniors, wrote 100 page plus senior thesis (some even wrote two). And after all this, they graduated. When I said that “I owe Princeton nothing, Princeton owes me everything,” I was referring to the fact that the literal foundation of Princeton was built by slaves, slaves whom some members of BJL are descendents of. My statement encapsulated a very real sentiment about black exploitation and the lack of reparations. Georgetown University recently agreed to memorialize the 272 slaves that were sold in their name that kept the university afloat. Institutions do not deserve a pat on the back for basic human dignity. They have a duty to confront their embattled histories and do their best to repair them. To say that I and my fellow students did not do enough is a slap in the face to a community that still suffers from the society that keeps us oppressed. As student activists we are expected to excel in academia, while sacrificing and convincing our universities that our experiences should be valued at the same level as our white peers. We are criticized by intellectuals like Gladwell who, intentionally or not, have done the task of stripping us of our humanity, our pain, our struggles, and deemed our efforts not enough or misled. Yet these same critics, refuse to pose the question: why, in the 21 st century, are students still fighting for their humanity to be validated? As the recording of me screaming at the top of my lungs towards my university president played, Gladwell then suggests “she probably regrets her words.” As I listened to the podcast, I felt that Gladwell could not be more wrong.