Committee on Challenging Histories

Committee Charge

Committee on Challenging Histories at Phillips Academy: As Andover approaches the 250th anniversary of its founding, we will reexamine our school’s past, particularly as it relates to the legacy of the physical campus and historical connections to slavery. The committee will:

  • Commence preliminary research and investigation of historically significant elements of campus.
  • Establish principles for considering elements of PA’s history that might call for reevaluation in light of PA’s identity and mission and for guiding any decisions about possible alterations to the campus.
  • Develop processes that would generate recommendations of actions to the Head and to the Board of Trustees grounded in these principles.
  • Propose projects to better educate the school community, as well as the public, about the complicated history of PA.

Committee Members

  • Shreya Bajaj ’23
  • Nicole Cherubini, Office of Academy Resources
  • David Fox, Director of Studies, Instructor of Art History and English
  • Christopher Jones, Instructor in History & Social Science
  • Hector Membreno-Canales, Director of CAMD, Instructor of Art
  • Gail Ralston, Chapel Office (retired)
  • Patrick Rielly, Instructor of English
  • Paige Roberts, Director of Archives and Special Collections
  • Nigel Savage ’23
  • Ryan Wheeler, Director of the Peabody Institute of Archaeology