Last Friday, during my last class of the day, a "student" I didn't know showed up in the Zoom waiting room (we were remote last week but went back to in-person this week, which I don't think is a great idea, but whatever). I messaged them and told them I couldn't let them in because they weren't on my roster. They replied that they had just been transferred into my class, something that has indeed happened in the past. So I let them in.
They soon typed a series of obscenities in the chat directed at one young woman in the class in particular. "Holy fuck. "Cindy" (name changed), you are hot as fuck." I was in the middle of watching and discussing a documentary on keystone species with the class, but I did notice the comment right away. I removed the "Zoom bomber" immediately, apologized, etc. We sort of carried on with class but it was a major distraction. I emailed the Dean of Students and attached a screenshot of the comments, and explained what had happened. I never heard anything, either Friday, or over the weekend, or all day Monday.
Over the weekend, I had a ton of different things on my mind not even related to school, but this incident stuck with me and started to really fester and seem more and more serious, as well as presenting as a possibly significant learning experience for the class. We didn't meet again until today, and I wrote a letter that included questions I wanted them to answer, just to keep the processing out of the open conversation territory. However, I sent the letter and idea for processing to the Dean of Students, Head of School, and Head of Upper School, just to be sure, before working through the incident with the class.
It turned out the student who had been addressed in the chat by the Zoom bomber had told her parents, and her parents had contacted school administration, unbeknownst to me. Also, the student was uncomfortable with any processing with the class and really just didn't want to do it. I showed her the letter, she read it, and she said it was great, and she wanted me to send it to her dad, but she didn't want to bring up what had happened on Friday because "everyone has already forgotten about it," and "I would feel like a target." Another interesting angle was that the Dean of Students wanted to "make some edits" of my letter, and I found that kind of odd.
Of course, I wanted to respect the student's wishes, so the activity I had planned was canceled, and we just did biology work. I'll be on Zoom with the Dean of Students tomorrow morning, so we'll see how that conversation goes. Shrug. I am disappointed that the young woman who was targeted by the comments doesn't want to pursue any processing around the incident. But, as far as I am concerned, her wishes in this particular situation do take priority and should be respected above all.
The whole series of events just leaves a really gross feeling lingering around. I started to reflect more deeply on why the incident was so disturbing to me, and it really unfolded out into a lot of different areas. I expressed all of that very well in the letter to the students, but it will have to wait. The rest of the interactions today also just seem very odd, and blocked or unsupportive somehow. I feel like my intention to do some deep work with the students met with fear and denial even on the part of adults in the community. I am guessing that admin is swamped with all sorts of crazy COVID chaos, and the energy at school is quite heavy these days, so who knows. I guess I'll get a chance on Zoom tomorrow to feel that out a little more. My intuition is really not great though, with my gut telling me that I am not on the same team as school admin around this.
I'll post the text of the letter here, just to have it out there.
Dr. B
Biology D Block
January 11th, 2022
Hello biology students:
My thoughts regarding our biology class being “Zoom bombed” last Friday.
This letter is an outline of some restorative justice around the incident.
Perhaps the incident was disturbing or uncomfortable for you, or maybe you feel it was “not a big deal” or just a minor distraction. This process is my effort to explain to you why the incident feels serious to me, and is worth processing in depth, in a context of community and restorative justice.
As you read this, note that I ask some questions. Please take some time to write or type your responses. Submit your responses on classroom.
1. During the class itself, honestly, I was shocked. The person at first was in the waiting room under a name not on my roster, and a name I was not familiar with. I told them in a chat message I couldn’t let them in. They then changed their Zoom name to include “I transferred into your class” and I thought maybe that was true. I have had a couple students transfer in, before they had official schedule changes. I didn’t want this supposed “new student” to miss anything. I let them in at that point. It seems ironic to me that I let them in because I was concerned for their education. We were in the middle of watching and discussing the documentary on food chains. I was definitely distracted. When the obscene comments appeared in the chat, it really took me totally by surprise. In all of my hundreds of other Geffen Zoom experiences, I never had to worry about this. It only occurred to me after class that I could have ended the meeting, and restarted to clear the chat. Questions: What was the incident like for you? What impact did it have on you?
2. I am a strong advocate for consent, respect, strong boundaries, and safety for all members of society, but especially for women. I am appalled and disgusted by the comments that were written in the chat. Whoever lied to me, gained access to our class, and then posted those comments would benefit from growth, learning, education, and awareness of baseline, ordinary respect, kindness, boundaries, and how communities work. On top of that, whoever it was *also* needs to more clearly understand and truly *get* the dynamics of a misogynist, sexist, toxic culture where public spaces or shared spaces are not safe for women, and where consent is trampled, boundaries are crossed, and the personal integrity and dignity of women is violated. There are many ways that women are exposed to violence in our culture. This is an example. The person who lied to get into our class would benefit greatly from really getting it that this kind of violence is absolutely not acceptable, sustainable, or even remotely funny. In sexual harassment law, one of the main forms of harassment is a “hostile workplace.” This incident definitely would qualify as an example of the kind of thing that creates a “hostile workplace.” Questions: How do you gauge whether or not your attempts at humor or rebellion or whatever are effective, skillfully done, and not harmful? What do you do on a daily basis to create a safe, respectful, consent-based, inclusive world?
3. Imagine a student walking into our actual classroom, saying those things to one of our class members loud enough for all to hear. Imagine the response. Questions: How was doing this on Zoom different? In what ways does the internet encourage or promote bullying and misogyny, sexism and a toxic culture? What was the person who did this relying on and why is that a serious issue currently, in American culture?
4. While this process is only partially about me personally and professionally, I will share that several of my foundational, core values were violated. I build trust with students over long periods of time. The attempt to gain access to class, and then to lie, in and of itself, violates my core value of mutual trust between teachers and students. I value the safety and relaxed, open- minded atmosphere of the classroom. I have so far valued the overall atmosphere of trust and integrity in the Geffen Academy community. This incident was in stark contrast to that. I value respect for all individuals, especially around sensitive and personal issues, appearance, body image, sexuality, etc. The comments that were left in the chat were repulsive to me on that level. I value a school community where people take care of each other and realize they have an obligation to be mutually supportive. This was a glaring violation of that. I value teaching and learning in productive and trusted space, and I hold education to be a sacred value, not to be taken lightly nor interrupted by violence. This incident was a violation of that value. These are at least some of my core values that were violated. I could probably name and explain some others. Write down as many of your own values that were also violated by this incident as you can think of. Explain why those values are important to you.
5. I want to know who this person was, because I think they would benefit in deep ways from a restorative justice process. I think whoever it was needs growth and understanding, and needs to make amends and reparations to our class, directly, and sincerely, and to the individual who was addressed in the chat. I am uncomfortable as a member of the Geffen community without restorative justice in this case. This document is as far as I personally can go to engage in restorative justice around the incident at this time, in addition to implementing stronger security measures if we need to be on Zoom again. (Measures which, honestly should not even be necessary at Geffen). Can you think of other manifestations of restorative justice we could engage in, in order to provide some clarity and repair for this breach of trust? Please take some time to write your thoughts and submit on classroom.
Re-write or type the Geffen Academy Honor Code. What are some of the ways the person who interrupted our class and disrespected one of our classmates violated the Honor Code? Feel free to write anything else you want. Remember, this process is not primarily about me, but about our school community, our shared values, and our ability to trust and respect everyone. I’m honestly interested in what you think.
Anyway, that's the letter. I'll be curious to know what the Dean of Students would change. The whole situation just feels precarious and odd.
