The University of Chicago’s Lab School violates the principles of institutional neutrality

The University of Chicago Laboratory Schools is a high-class private school, affiliated with our University, that was founded by John Dewey in 1896. It extends from kindergarten through the last year of high school (grade 12), so if you’re lucky, your kid can get a solid education right at the University of Chicago. Here’s a bit about the school from Wikipedia:

The University of Chicago Laboratory Schools (also known as Lab, Lab Schools, or U-High, abbreviated UCLS) is a private, co-educational, day Pre-school and K-12 school in Chicago, Illinois. It is affiliated with the University of Chicago. Almost half of the students have a parent who is on the faculty or staff of the university.

Primary School (grades 1 and 2), Lower School (grades 3 through 5), Middle School (grades 6 through 8), and High School (grades 9 through 12). Many children begin in nursery school and continue through their high school graduation, and 75% of applications are for nursery school or 9th grade. The student/teacher ratio is 8:1.

. . . In 2007 The Wall Street Journal ranked the high school fourth in the nation for its record of sending graduates to 8 elite colleges including its parent university, University of Chicago

Look at that low student/teacher ratio!

As you can see, its reputation is high. I’ve talked to the students (nicknamed “Labbies”) about both evolution and ducks (the younger ones used to come to the pond), and all of them are smart as hell and full of questions. Their teachers are dedicated and hard working.  If I had kids I’d send them to this school.

I believe faculty get a break on the tuition, as it’s about as expensive as the University of Chicago itself (undergraduate students pay $62K per year). Here are the latest Lab-School tuition figures (about 10% of students get a tuition reduction); if you pay the full ride, it’ll cost you about $700,000 to sent your kid there from first grade through high school:

But the point of this piece is that, as a part of the University of Chicago, the Lab Schools should be obliged to abide by our Foundational Principles, including the Free Expression Principle and the Kalven Principle of institutional neutrality.  But the ambit of these principles had never been tested until this year, when parents of Lab School students became aware that the Science Department had issued three separate statements dealing with indigenous land acknowledgments, climate change (averred to be anthropogenic), and diversity. This was apparently okay with everyone at the Lab School, for it’s a hotbed of “progressives”.

The land acknowledgment statement from the Science Department was publicized in this piece from u-high Midway, the schools’s newspaper. Click to read:

Here’s the Land Acknowledgment that was published with the help of (of course) DEI:

Middle school science teacher Tony Del Campo originally proposed the idea of the land acknowledgement statement. In the first semester, middle school counselor Lyneth Torres held a workshop explaining what land acknowledgements are. The topic was also highlighted during the middle school’s Diversity Week.

“This was kind of just an ‘ah-ha’ moment for me,” Mr. Del Campo said. “We have a diversity statement. There’s no reason not to have a land acknowledgement statement.”

This idea was brought before the rest of the science department and executed with the help of Priyanka Rupani, director of diversity, equity and inclusion.

According to Dr. Hund, DEI work is at the forefront of Lab, which motivates them to add more diverse topics to their course curriculum.

“I think most importantly we’re taking time to acknowledge to our indiginous students that we see you,” Mr. Del Campo said. “We want it to be known publicly that we recognize the history of the land that we sit upon and what that means for your heritage and we don’t want to be silent anymore.”

And the official position (their bolding):

UCLS Science Department Land Acknowledgement:

Indigneous people over generations have recognized the land that Chicago sits upon as the portage between the life-giving waterways of the East and West. We echo this acknowledgement as the portage between the past and our future work as the Science Department within the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools.

To model our call to recognize and address injustices as stated in our department’s Diversity and Climate Change Statements, we would like to acknowledge that we educate our students on the traditional homelands of the Council of the Three Fires: the Potawatomi, Odawa, and Ojibwe Nations; the Illinois Confederacy: the Peoria and Kaskaskia Nations; and the Myaamia, Wea, Thakiwaki, and Meskwaki Nations. The Ho-Chunk, Menominee, Kiikaapoi, and Mascouten Nations also call the region of northeast Illinois home. This is one of the steps in how we are cultivating responsible citizens of the Earth, because silence only continues to perpetuate ignorance and inaction.

This is pretty much a violation of Kalven, as it takes a debatable position: owners of previous land must be mentioned not only to dispel ignorance but to create “action”. Presumably that action is to somehow make up for stealing the land (I doubt that the U of C just took the land, but can’t be sure).

Of course these acknowledgements are the quintessence of performative virtue signaling, as they accomplish nothing but flaunt the virtue of the issuer.  No land is ever given back to Native Americans, nor are they compensated for the “theft”. And of course many people have discussed the issue of who really “owned” the land given that, in most cases, land changed hands many times since the first people descended from Siberian migrants trod the turf. In fact, some people claim that at least some groups of Native Americans had no concept of owning land.

This land acknowledgement would not stand at the higher level of departments of the University itself, and since the Lab School is part of the University, it shouldn’t stand there, either. (In fact, any land acknowledgement like the one above violates institutional neutrality, and shouldn’t be part of any University’s platform.)  Some parents beefed to the lab school about this, and, mirabile dictu, the University of Chicago made the Lab School take the statement down. Click to read the article, also from the Lab School paper:

An extract:

The situation at a glance…

The Kalven Report

In the politically turbulent 1960s the University of Chicago president appointed a committee to define the role of the university in terms of “political and social action.” The committee, chaired by law professor Harry Kalven Jr., determined that most political statements — with a few exceptions — made by any University of Chicago department or unit could undermine the diverse perspectives of individuals and exclude minority views. The findings, known as the Kalven report, formalize the university’s neutrality in political matters.

Land Acknowledgement

In 2021, the Laboratory Schools science department decided to create a land acknowledgement statement. Given the history of science largely excluding non-Western philosophies, members of the department said they saw value in having a land acknowledgement statement which was included along with their own statements about diversity, equity and inclusion and climate change, found in syllabuses. Land acknowledgements are formal expressions of recognition for Indigenous peoples who preceded European colonizers.

The University’s Choice

After the science department’s land acknowledgement was brought to the university administrators’ attention, they notified Laboratory Schools Director Tori Jueds that such a statement was in conflict with the Kalven report. Ms. Jueds informed the U-High faculty of this at the Oct. 4 faculty meeting, explaining why the university made this decision, emphasizing that individuals can still express their opinions, like including personal land acknowledgement statements in their syllabi. Before it was removed, the science department’s statement acknowledged the Ojibwe, Odawa, Potawatomi and other Indigenous peoples.

Some of the faculty beefed about this, one saying that it was a “gut-wrenching punch”; and the statements in the paper suggests that most teachers disagree with banning that statement as political. But there’s little they can do about it since it was a University decision.

Yet two “official” Lab School Science Department statements remain. The first, a climate-change statement, seems to me a clear violation of Kalven (this is from 2021):

UCLS Science Department Climate Change Statement

The University of Chicago Laboratory Schools Science Department recognizes that human activity is primarily responsible for our current climate crisis. 

Of course I agree with this, but many people don’t, so it’s a debatable issue. That would put it in the realm of “political assertions”, but it toes the line of also being a scientific assertion. It’s another thing altogether to discuss whether secondary-school science departments should be issuing such statements, but so far it remains despite complaints.

There’s also a Science Department diversity statement below, and you can judge for yourself whether it’s political. I think it is, though there’s a Lab School-wide “Diversity, Equity & Inclusion” statement online that is tamer than this and probably doesn’t violate Kalven. That statement applies to the whole school.

But for the Science Department that wasn’t enough. They wanted their own diversity statement, and a stronger one, and so confected one.  It’s below, and was sent home with some science students, with parents asked to sign it and send it back to the school (I assume that signing just meant that you read it and didn’t necessarily agree with it.) This is a screenshot, and the notations are by a parent:

Compared to the schoolwide DEI statement linked above, this one is clearly far more political and contentious. It blames white males for perpetuating systemic racism and excluding others, even now, and of course is both contestable and divisive. Very similar statements have been taken down when posted by individual departments of the University of Chicago.  Since the Lab Schools should adhere to institutional neutrality in the same way as do university departments, this statement should also be taken down or rescinded. So far, despite complaints of some parents, it remains in force.

The principles of institutional neutrality and free expression should hold for all grades of a University-affiliated school, although of course young children cannot be expected to understand them. Yet that’s one of the best reasons to prevent their teachers from promulgating their own political views!

I’m informed that other positive changes are in the works, and that these are being engineered by the Lab School director, Victoria “Tori” Jueds. Kudos to her!

My overarching view is that no educational institutions should be issuing political or ideological statements, whether or not they be affiliated with universities. The business of education is education, not social engineering.