Owen Maier ’20
Justin Chen ’20
Sejin Park ’20
EA-Haverford/AIS day has been a long-valued tradition in at Episcopal, being one of the community’s most anticipated days of the year. Although the event may stir emotions and promote fierce competition, it is also accompanied by sportsmanship and school spirit. However, this year’s EA-Haverford day was accompanied by particularly intense hostility, resulting in some disdainful actions from members of the Haverford community. These actions purposely attempted to deface many of our school’s key core ideals, destroying the value that both school’s communities associate with the day and its competitions. The insults even included aspects of homophobic remarks directed towards athletes, elevating the issue beyond what many consider just a rivalry between two schools. Leading faculty members in both schools currently are pursuing actions to prevent issues like this from arising again.
There were two particular events that magnified the hostilities during this year’s EA-Haverford day. The first incident was a Facebook post by a Haverford student shortly before the competition on the weekend. The Facebook post contained extremely obscene language directed at the Episcopal student body; however, the primary issue of the message was the use of the word “fairy” in referring to students and “fairy-ville” to refer to the school, acting as substitutes for homophobic slurs. If the crude language of the message had not already violated the sanctity and competition that many value in EA-Haverford day, the inclusion of homophobia amplifies these issues beyond a violation of sportsmanship, approaching levels of hate speech.
The second incident that occured that weekend was a poster by Haverford students of the Episcopal chapel building in flames. Chapel is one of the most significant aspects of Episcopal, offering students an environment to nurture their respective beliefs and reflect on their spirituality. For Haverford to have attacked the spiritual symbol that binds our community was enraging for many, disrespecting one of our school’s most significant and held dear ideals.
Furthermore, EA students experienced much hostility within the crowd during the football game in particular. Rahul Khullar, ‘20, had a particularly hostile experience at the football game, stating, “The atmosphere was really bad, and walking up to the Episcopal stands I was harassed by a bunch of Haverford students.” Khullar was late to the event, having to walk alone while the entire Haverford stand was situated. As Khullar walked past the stands to Episcopal’s seating area, he was harassed as Haverford students shouted obscenities and harsh remarks at him.
Mr. Michael Letts, Head of the Upper School, conveyed the need for teacher involvement in these issues. Letts elaborates that he understands that the weekend is very emotionally driven and can thus result in some inappropriate actions in both schools. However, he states that, “… the tone, the overall decorum, and the extreme animosity reached a level this year that I was completely uncomfortable with and disappointed in.” Letts proceeds to say that despite this, he believes EA students responded formidably despite the events during that weekend, and would continue to state that our restraint was commendable in the face of a barrage of insults and taunting.
Letts also explained the need for communication with both Haverford and Agnes Irwin to restore the values that many associate with this day. The goal of these talks would not be to stop the greatly valued tradition, but would rather be a discussion on how to achieve a level of fierce competition while also maintaining school spirit. Letts explains the need for this atmosphere, stating “…it’s okay to be supportive of your school, but it’s not okay to speak about your competition in derogatory or defamatory ways.” Hopefully, through this discussion, future EA-Haverford days will be able to avoid these harmful altercations.
The utmost issue that Letts stressed concerning the weekend was a lack of response by educators, particularly concerning the Haverford community. Letts explains that it is an educator’s responsibility to intervene in these types of scenarios like those that occured that weekend. Letts states that there appears to be a lack of communication by Haverford faculty or staff to address the issues. Letts’ elaborates that even though all students make mistakes regardless of what school attend, “We can’t keep you guys from making bad decisions, but we can try and redirect you, try to educate you, and certain have a responsibility to step in … and address these issues.” But as he proceeds to state bluntly. ”I didn’t see that happen.” Lett’s main concern is that there was an extreme lack of intervention or regulation by Haverford’s staff and faculty in response to the poor actions of these certain students.
Letts concluded that ultimately, the EA student body acted very impressive in the face of great hatred and frustration, which was ultimately a result of the continued emphasis on respect and sportsmanship. Ultimately, this idea is the most vital to ensuring that future EA-Haverford days can proceed without issue.
In addition, Director of Diversity, Mr. Ayinde Tate also deliberated upon the issues, particularly including the homophobia present in the Facebook post: “It’s sad that people would stoop to a point where they are discriminating against a group of people, in general. It seems very homophobic and that is not right to do.” Tate explained that it is not right for anyone to talk about another person’s identity in such a derogatory manner and that he was “glad that the vast majority of the EA community did not stoop to that level.”
After the event, Head of the Haverford School Dr. John Nagl made some remarks to the Haverford senior class, expressing grievances about the overall conduct of high school students. He wrote “Unfortunately, I was not and am not so proud of everything that
happened last weekend. We were not good hosts to all who visited our campus.” In addition to the speech used over that weekend, he thinks that “we said vile things on social media about EA, creating lasting bitterness in our InterAc community.” Dr. Nagl remembered one moment in particular that hit hard. One member of the Haverford community, after overhearing Episcopal students and parents talking about the conduct of Haverford kids, said “I thought they made gentlemen at Haverford. I guess I was wrong.”
This year’s EA-Haverford Day displayed animosity that had not been seen in past years. The symbol of the burning chapel and the homophobic slurs used against the Episcopal community demonstrated how the spirit of competition can turn into disgraceful and disrespectful conduct. Despite the offensive hostility, one positive note that can be taken from these events is the values of the Episcopal Academy. Dr. Thomas Locke explains: “our values became clearer. We care deeply about sportsmanship; we are an education institution; and we are rooting for our team in a positive spirit. I am very proud of our school and our set of values.”