The local school district has agreed to change how it promotes a high school affinity group for students of color after receiving a complaint from a think tank known for opposing “woke” anti-racism curricula.
The complaint was sent in December to Mt. Ararat High School Principal Chris Hoffman by the Foundation Against Intolerance & Racism, or FAIR, a New York-based nonprofit that contends many ongoing problems faced by minority groups are being falsely attributed to racism.
“While reasonable people disagree on the meaning, impact, and nature of systemic racism, many of our institutions are now presuming differential group outcomes are always the result of racism or other bigotry, overlooking our nation’s successes, and promoting a grievance-based, race-essentialist ideology that defines people by their immutable traits and groups them accordingly,” FAIR’s website states.
In a letter dated Dec. 8, FAIR Managing Director of Legal Advocacy Leigh Ann O’Neill wrote that the Topsham high school had potentially stepped afoul of the law in promoting a group for students of color to discuss their shared experiences in a safe space.
O’Neill referenced a Mt. Ararat brochure stating that “affinity groups allow students who share an identity — usually a marginalized identity — to gather and talk in a safe space about issues related to that identity. … The first group planned will be for students who identify as students of color.”
O’Neill wrote that while the school “might offer affinity groups in order to provide a space for students to share common experiences and foster understanding, it is likely that organizing them solely based on skin color will inadvertently reinforce stereotypes and contribute to division rather than unity among students. It is crucial that schools adhere to anti-discrimination laws while promoting diversity and inclusion.”
O’Neill cited, among other cases, the 2023 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Students for Fair Admissions Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College, which barred the Massachusetts college from considering race as part of its admissions process.
“The Supreme Court went further in ‘Students for Fair Admissions’ by signaling the beginning of the end for any form of differential treatment based on race, even those that once had a justifiable purpose, when it stated: ‘Eliminating racial discrimination means eliminating all of it,'” O’Neill wrote.
Maine School Administrative District 75 Superintendent of Schools Heidi O’Leary responded to FAIR in a Dec. 21 letter, writing that the district would revisit how it promotes the affinity group. MSAD 75 covers Harpswell, Topsham, Bowdoin and Bowdoinham.
“Promoting inclusion and belonging for all students is an admirable goal that I wholeheartedly support. However, we recognize that any initiative must align with applicable laws and policies,” O’Leary wrote. “To that end, the school district plans to add clarifying language to student handbooks stating that affinity groups and clubs are open to all eligible students regardless of sex and race or any other legally recognized classification.”
O’Leary added that “all communications and promotional materials” would likewise clearly indicate that the groups are open to any interested student.
“By being explicit about eligibility, it is our hope to alleviate any confusion or perception that certain groups are exclusive while still allowing students to gather and connect around shared interests and experiences,” the superintendent wrote.
Hoffman, the Mt. Ararat principal, responded to the Harpswell Anchor’s request for more information about the affinity group by sharing language included in the high school’s latest extracurricular activities brochure.
“The Students of Color Coalition allows students to gather and connect in a safe space,” it says. “We aim to foster a sense of belonging, allow every voice to be heard, and have a positive impact at (Mt. Ararat). We celebrate our varying cultures, go on field trips, and learn together.”
District officials declined a request to speak with students or advisers involved in the group.
FAIR was founded in 2021 by entrepreneur Bion Bartning, who objected to the way his children’s public school was teaching about racism in the wake of the George Floyd protests, according to The New Yorker. Bartning was later ousted from the group’s leadership by its board, the news and literary magazine reported.
FAIR, as described in the New Yorker article, was founded with the aim of challenging what those who conceived the group with Bartning viewed as a divisive focus on race and identity in education, advocating for an approach rooted in “dignity and our common humanity.”
Much of its activity has revolved around opposing K-12 curricula it describes as “critical race theory.” One target of FAIR’s criticism has been Alabama-based civil rights group the Southern Poverty Law Center, which offers free anti-racism educational materials to schools.
O’Neill indicated in her letter to Hoffman that FAIR had received a complaint about the Mt. Ararat affinity group from a local resident. “We have grassroots chapters and tens of thousands of members nationwide, including in Maine,” she wrote.
Dmitry Bam, vice dean and provost of the University of Maine Law School, said the conservative-controlled Supreme Court’s decision to end affirmative action in college admissions has emboldened groups such as FAIR to go after other perceived instances of special treatment being given to people of color in academic settings.
For example, he said there are groups challenging the legality of scholarships awarded specifically to members of ethnic minority groups or women.
Bam said MSAD 75 acted appropriately from a legal standpoint by emphasizing that any student can participate in the Students of Color Coalition. Still, he noted that Chief Justice John Roberts’ majority opinion in the Harvard case leaves the door open for race to play a tangential role in admissions, and, by extension, other academic benefits.
“First of all, the case is so recent that I think there’s still a lot of law to be developed here,” Bam said. “I think there’s an argument that could be made that, as long as nobody’s being denied any particular benefit with the presence of (race-based affinity groups), they’re still permissible under the court’s rationale.”
However, Bam said “the safer approach” is for school officials to say all students are welcome to join any affinity group.
“They’re groups to discuss shared experiences, to come together, but no one is denied access to any club or organization entirely based on race,” he said.
Allen Sarvinas, a Topsham parent and conservative advocate who objected to the high school’s promotion of the Students of Color Coalition, said O’Leary’s response to FAIR shows a “good faith effort” on the part of MSAD 75 officials to address the concerns of parents who oppose clubs exclusively for nonwhite students.
Sarvinas is the Maine director of Oregon-based advocacy group Parents’ Rights in Education, whose website says it opposes “radical gender ideology” and “anti-American, anti-white, and anti-capitalist sentiments” being taught in schools.
He said many of the more conservative parents within MSAD 75 feel that their concerns are often ignored or dismissed, although he acknowledged that school officials are in a difficult position having to accommodate parents’ conflicting political views.
“I understand there’s a lot of things that go into this issue, or any issue, to be honest with you,” he said. “A lot of things go into making the school work.”
