On Tuesday, April 14, students filled the Faculty Lounge to attend the first Open Discourse Forum of the fourth marking period. Led by Asher Blake ’28, Alex Gish ’26, Alex Jiao ’27, and Daniel Zhang ’26, the hour-long forum explored questions about the inclusion of transgender athletes in women’s sports.
The conversation followed the International Olympic Committee’s recent policy restricting participation in the women’s category to “biological females,” defined as the absence of the SRY gene.
Unlike forums in past years, the event was set up as an open conversation, rather than a debate with two opposing sides. Jiao said, “Usually open discourse is a debate with pairs of two who like to duke it out, but we wanted to have more of a discussion.”
The forum was moderated by Stacy Benn ’28, Khloe Kim ’28, Ethan Choi ’26, and Bea Yorke ’26, who posed questions and facilitated a Q&A with audience members.
Mr. Rick Hazelton, director of the Center for Global Understanding and Independent Thinking, said, “The goal of the forums is to model what civil discussion can look like and show that disagreement is both expected and healthy. By having it be more of a discussion than a debate, we allowed room for a wider array of viewpoints, as the goal was not to necessarily argue two specific stances and reach a definitive answer.”
Student reactions to the format were varied. Tyler Kwok ’29 said, “I agreed with a lot of the points being made and liked how the speakers reached an agreement on some of the topics. But it was sort of underwhelming, since I thought it would include more research and facts rather than just being a casual conversation.”
In an email to fellow organizers reflecting on the impact of the event (which he shared with The Record) Jiao said, “The topic was controversial, which I think is good. However, I heard people voice concern about the choice of this specific issue at a time when trans rights in general are under attack, and what that might imply. I think we should have started the discussion with a statement affirming trans identity and rights, and focusing in on the athletics issue in particular.”
The next forum will be held near the end of May, with the topic to be announced.
