Arjun Bhamra ’22

Albert Chen ’23

Episcopal Academy recently banned students from playing music with racially charged words or other epithets of a similar vein out loud on campus. Students caught in violation of this policy will be disciplined. An EA student was recently asked to leave the school following a serious incident regarding a racial slur, and Michael Letts, Head of Upper School, hopes to uphold school values through this ban.

Letts says, “There are certain words that can never be used in this community. You can not say these racial epithets to anyone, about anyone, in any context, at any time in this community.” He wants this policy to include the forms of media students consume and play on campus.

The specific punishment would be decided on a case by case basis. Letts hopes that the policy will encompass all offensive language related to “gender, gender identity, race, etc.” Letts explained the scope of the policy: “We still need to determine exactly how to police this rule. Obviously we’re not going to check what each person individually is listening to.” 

The purpose of the policy, Letts explains, “is that we build a culture of understanding that some words are extremely offensive to individuals. Whether it’s in the context of pop music and cultural contexts or whether it’s meant as […] a horrific use of hate speech, we hope that kids understand that within the EA community, we believe in respect, trust, honesty, and we rely on the stripes. That’s where we hope that [students] make those appropriate decisions, understanding that [they] should be respectful of their peers and listening to that kind of music, whether it’s on headphones or over in a more public environment over a loudspeaker, that [they] would say, that’s not okay.”

Ayinde Tate, Head of Diversity and Inclusion at EA explains that playing music with these words “obviously has a negative impact, because by using the word more and more, you’re prone to normalizing that word and reducing the significance of it.” 

On the other hand, students are divided. Prince Omuyeh ‘22 mentioned how “it’s changing the meaning and the effect of the word, like they could be singing a song and say a racially insensitive word, but justify it by saying, ‘It’s just a song.’”

Journi Norris ‘23 stated that “I think it is a little extreme. I understand the motive, but I think that it will have little effect because people will be primarily listening to music with their headphones anyways.” 

Arya Venugopalan ‘21 says, “Certainly, people who listen to this music shouldn’t be labeled as racist, but it is important to consider how those groups mentioned in the music feel. Thus, while hardcore discipline seems harsh, it is a worthwhile precedent to set in order to make sure everyone feels welcome and safe in the EA community.”

Overall, many believe that the policy will have a positive effect, and should be implemented. Omuyeh explained , “You should definitely be mindful of where you’re playing the music, because someone could get offended.” Despite this, he says, “Most people listen to music to have fun or to relax, and music nowadays commonly has such phrases, so it’s going to be difficult to implement.”

Letts hopes that the policy will have a beneficial impact on the community and that it won’t be seen as a punishment towards the student body. “We want to be careful that we are educators. We want to use these opportunities to educate, and explain, and in certain instances where a student doesn’t fully understand the severity of their language, we want to clarify why.”