“I would just like to ask… Are any members of the administration actually here?”

This question was posed by Michael Duncan ’19 at last week’s fishbowl to address the new inter-dorm visiting policies. In fact, not only was he correct in observing that the administration was absent, but only one faculty member voluntarily attended the event.

Students, who sacrificed their precious hour of free time from the entire school week to join the fishbowl, were promised the chance to give feedback and discuss the new rules; instead, their pleas to consider mental health, student friendships, and sibling relationships were summarized in bullet points on a Microsoft word document, the sole record of the event.

As students of the school, we have seen the student body strongly disappointed that the administration, especially the integral members regarding the changes such as Dr. Arthur Gibb and Ms. Heather Perrenoud, did not attend the fishbowl. Although, Dr. Gibb stated at the Stu-Fac discussion, “My intent for not attending the Wednesday [fishbowl] was… frankly, to allow you to vent for a bit in an environment where we weren’t there to either stifle any of that or have it turn confrontational, ” he may not realize that the key members of the past administration have shown up to the student fishbowls in the last four years. Thus, we believe his justification for not attending the student discussion does not align with the precedent set by the administration to listen and sympathize with the concerns of the students.

Here on the Editorial Board, we have continuously felt the strain that socialization places on a positive Hotchkiss experience. We also understand the frustration that comes when information about said policy was first spread over Snapchat stories during the summer after it was quietly added to The Almanac without a proactive, explicit explanation from the school. And while we cannot fix the policy immediately, we hope to use our platform to foster communication between students, faculty, and staff, a role that has been sorely needed in the past few weeks.

Whether it is sharing student statements so that the 123 faculty members not present at the fishbowl can read students’ feelings, or asking the administration to answer questions, we promise that The Record will work tirelessly to make every voice heard. So, though some community members may seem absent in this time of turmoil, we leave you with one promise: we’re here.