Dear President McKenna,

We were recently made aware of the news that a group of male Central students participated in a group chat which involved threats of rape, blatant racism, homophobic and transphobic slurs, and misogyny. We are disgusted as alumni; Central’s diversity is its strongest asset and is something we feel immensely proud of our school for prioritizing. Philadelphia is one of the most segregated cities in the country, which has resulted in segregated schools as well, so fostering diversity is one of the most important ways Central stands out and attracts the brightest students in the city.

While we recognize that the ignorant actions of individual students do not represent the school as a whole, your statement on the matter does; it felt like a canned response and it was disappointing to not see a strong condemnation of the attitudes displayed by your students. A tempered response may be called for if an investigation is required to confirm details of what occurred, but the screenshots are available to you and there is no denying what was said or who was involved. Furthermore, your response only noted the misogynistic content of the group chat and completely neglected the racist and anti-LGBTQ+ content. There is no space at Central for the violently racist, sexist, and anti-LGBTQ+ attitudes displayed by the students in that group chat—which is what we would have expected the president of Central to communicate after seeing the content of those messages.

Having reviewed the CHS Harassment Policy, it is clear the actions taken by these students violated five of the seven items listed as examples, including:

·         The use of racial epithets, slurs, or insensitive and/or derogatory language

·         Sexual slurs, displays of sexually provocative pictures, sexual remarks

·         Offensive sexual conduct

·         Hostile, offensive, or derogatory speech or writing

·         Technology used that may include social networks, messaging, email, etc.

Considering expulsion is a potential consequence per the policy, we expect to see Central take the appropriate action of expelling every student that participated in the group chat. Any action less than that sacrifices the emotional and physical safety of the BIPOC at Central, as well as the integrity of our school.

Sincerely,

Alumni of Central High School