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From:Chair LHRC 4lhrcchair@gmail.com Subject:Letter to LexObserver -DRAFT for LHRC committee review Date:July 15, 2023 at 12:04 PM To :Stephanie Hsu stephanieh295@gmail.com,Mona Roy MonamidRoy@gmail.com,Salvador Jaramillo sjaramillo@college.harvard.edu,Amber Iqbal amber.iq@gmail.com,Colleen Dunbar CDUNBAR@lexingtonma.gov,Tanya Gisolﬁ tgismcc@icloud.com,Larry Freeman LDFREE@yahoo.com,Melissa Interess minteress@lexingtonma.gov On behalf of Sal, Steph and myself, Hello team :) Please see the draft letter below. A couple of additional thoughts were raised in the process of putting this draft together. Consider the timing of the letter - perhaps more people would read it if it went out in September when families are back in town In light of the recent challenge to LGBTQ inclusive curriculum "Serious Talks", this speaks to the bigger picture of sowing fear and division. I guess this is just a point and not an action, but wanted to put it out there to the group. For feedback, please send any comments/feedback/edits to this email address only so that we are in compliance with open meeting law. Thank you! Letter: This past May, a Lexington Observer article on residents’ opinions on affirmative action garnered heated comments about who deserves to gain acceptance into prestigious institutions. There is no denying that affirmative action and college admissions is a complex topic. We, the Lexington Human Rights Committee (LHRC), believe that the contentious nature of this issue should not lead us to avoid the topic. Instead, it should give us more reason to listen and understand those within our community that disagree with our own point of view. GPA and standardized test scores are only two measures by which colleges judge the strength of an application, there are also a number of other significant measures such as teacher and counselor recommendations, personal statements, and extracurricular activities that play an equally significant and often forgotten role in a successful, holistic college application. It is important to acknowledge that Affirmative Action did not exist within a vacuum, it existed amongst preferences for students with a certain athletic ability, preferences for legacy applicants, and preferences for donors, all of which the merits of can and should be debated, but undeniably skew towards a certain demographic of students. [ref 1] Our concern as the LHRC, is not the differences of opinions, but the personal and misleading characterization of entire groups of people of different racial backgrounds and lived experiences. As a Town Committee, our mission is to build a more unified community that recognizes our commonalities and respects our differences. There are times when we must confront statements and actions that conflict with these core values. In doing so, the Committee works to foster civil public discourse. In this instance we felt it prudent to address the hurtful and divisive nature of some comments. Public platforms such as email lists and online comment sections are often a challenging space for fully communicating one’s true thoughts and intent. While it is important to recognize that people have the right to express their beliefs candidly, statements that unnecessarily pit one group against another are inherently divisive and ultimately hurt the goal of learning and participation in community dialogue. For example, many comments