In September, Head of School Mr. Craig Bradley announced during an all-school meeting that the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) has been renamed the Office of Pluralism and Community (OPC). Ms. Ashley Aluko and Mr. Pierre Yoo will serve as co-directors of the office after Mr. Daymyen Layne, former director of DEI, left the school last spring.

In his address announcing the change, Mr. Bradley cited as influential his work with the Aga Khan Developmental Network, where he led the construction of residential International Baccalaureate schools in Kenya, Mozambique, and India. Mr. Bradley credited the foundation with instilling in him a commitment to pluralism as a core principle of education. Despite the recency of the name change, Mr. Bradley has referred to the school as an “intentionally diverse, pluralistic learning community” for years.

The OPC will largely do the same work as the DEI Office. The Council of Pluralism and Community (CPC)—formerly the DEI council—will still meet as a group every two weeks and with Mr. Bradley once a month. The council remains composed of select students and faculty. The Walter Crain Fellowship, another diversity initiative at the school, will continue supporting faculty members of color in collaboration with the Klingenstein Center at Columbia University’s Teacher’s College.

Despite the current presidential administration’s hostility toward DEI initiatives in education, the school has not cited the political climate as part of the rationale behind the decision.