In 1963, sociologist Erving Goffman coined the term “covering” in his book Stigma, defining it as “persons who are ready to admit possession of a stigma…may nonetheless make a great effort to keep the stigma from looming large.”

Kenji Yoshino, the Chief Justice Earl Warren Professor of Constitutional Law at NYU School of Law and Spence’s featured speaker for the School’s eighth annual Head’s Forum, has used this term as the foundation for his professional work after a “light bulb” moment following a personal experience as an openly gay professor.

With the aim of “weakening demands for conformity” in our society, Professor Yoshino’s 90-page law review article for tenure ultimately culminated in his 2006 book Covering: The Hidden Assault on Our Civil Rights. Since then, Yoshino has dedicated much of his work to help combat this preemptive, “self-imposed” behavior, taking the phenomenon into the public and legal spheres.

Yoshino was invited to bring his views, including extensive research and writing, to the Red Doors, deepening the discourse within the Spence community in a talk entitled “Uncovering Authenticity: A New Model of Inclusion.” This year’s Forum brought together Grade 11 and 12 parents, students and faculty members from all divisions and more than fulfilled the goal of the program to increase the exposure of Spence juniors and seniors to stimulating and provocative ideas.

In his formal presentation in the Theater, Professor Yoshino challenged the audience to “recover the ideal of inclusion.” After sharing his hypothesis as to why discrimination and bias still exist using data gathered since the publication of his 2006 book, Yoshino provided a framework for the concept of covering before offering solutions. Covering, defined by him as “a strategy in which an individual downplays a known stigmatized identity to blend into the mainstream,” involves four areas or axes: appearance, affiliation, advocacy and association. Although not all forms of covering and assimilation are negative (manners, for example), many people cannot present their authentic selves and as a result “live under a value and not up to it.”

Immediate solutions to implement at once for leaders, students included, involve interrupting the demands for covering on each of the four axes: “retiring comments and actions” regarding appearances; encouraging people to “share their stories” or “creating secure forums that permit inter-group learning;” “instilling an ‘ethical bystander’ culture;” and “identifying biases in ourselves.” Working at not the societal but the organizational level, including schools and companies, Yoshino educates leaders and those in their company to help create an environment for all to “responsibly uncover.” Yoshino encouraged the audience to test the boundaries by “uncovering 10-15 percent as an experiment of living”—a method of empowerment to be more fully and more regularly one’s authentic self.

The forum proceeded with a panel of three seniors and one junior: Sophie B. ’16, Shaina C. ’16, Morgan K. ’16 and Takami N. ’17 who each shared individual narratives describing how they cover in different aspects of their lives, impressing guests with “raw” (as noted by our speaker) and honest personal accounts. Their insight and wisdom as well as courage to speak in such intimate ways led to a lively question and answer session moderated by English and World Literature teacher Kelleher Jewett. Parents, teachers and students discussed ideas presented by both Yoshino and the panelists. One question debated at length was Morgan K.’s ending to her presentation when she posed, “Do we grow out of being stereotyped or do we just get used to it?”

Yoshino declared at the end of the conversation, “None of you is alone, but all of you are unique.” To close the evening, Jewett credited both the speaker and the panelists for allowing this great moment at Spence. She reiterated the central objective of creating a space where people can be more authentically themselves, to remove the demands of covering and consequently to take a step towards equality. “Thank you to our speaker and thank you to our panelists for showing us how it’s done,” she commended.

The mission of the Head’s Forum is to increase the exposure of Spence juniors and seniors to intellectually stimulating and provocative topics. Grades 11 and 12 parents and Spence faculty members also join students in the discussion and exchange of ideas. With the goal of examining the complexity around a variety of relevant issues, the Head's Forum provides a platform for speakers to represent multiple sides of an issue in the context of honest and open discussion and debate. The opportunity to experience how experts in a given field grapple with ideas, argue their point of view, and support their stance with evidence and example will broaden students' vision of the world.