Through the Anti-Bias Taskforce, two juniors say they have committed themselves to prevent discrimination and bias here at DP. Anastasia Li (11) and Tiago Eckstein (11) have got the Anti-Bias Task Force back up and running, after initially being started last spring. Anastasia says that they adopted the task force after founder Sophie Suh graduated last spring. “Naturally we just [kept] working on it. Especially since we didn’t want it to die out. So we kind of just stepped into that,” Anastasia said.

The task force also serves as a way for students to work alongside administration to ensure bias is properly taken care of and a priority within our school. Tiago and Anastasia say their main goal is to ensure all students feel safe and comfortable within school, and that discrimination or bias is not preventing students from feeling safe and accepted here at school. “We’re just really working towards making this the safest possible place where people can have a good experience,” Tiago said.

Within the task force, members learn to target and address prejudice and discriminatory comments and actions on campus. They additionally serve to educate and spread awareness about the severity of discrimination and how to develop the skills to combat bias and discrimination. “I think spreading awareness, educating people about how to deal with those situations and making sure that everyone has the skill set and the knowledge to not only not partake in that kind of behavior, but also how to deal with it,” Tiago added. The task force aims to address the prejudiced culture and misconduct within the education system and society as a whole, ranging from racism to sexual harassment and everything in between.

This fall the task force has been preparing a presentation to be shown during seminar in the near future with the hopes of educating students about discrimination and ways to dismantle the pre-existing prejudice culture within the community. The presentation strives to be engaging and informative, and stresses the importance of being an advocate for yourself and others. With this presentation, the goal is to have a discussion afterwards discussing the importance and seriousness of the matter. “I think making sure that students are able to engage, get their stories out, share their experiences, and kind of give their opinions on this is also very important,” Tiago said.

The work the anti-bias task force aims to be both in and out of the classroom, with a large emphasis being on how teachers and faculty respond to unacceptable behavior. “I also think making sure teachers are making sure their classroom environments don’t facilitate that,” Anastasia said.

As of now, the task force meets weekly to discuss new updates and work towards completing their seminar presentation in the upcoming months. Currently, the task force consists of leadership student representatives and Anastasia and Tiago, as they establish their plan of action for the upcoming year. Once the presentations are finished and the word is out, the anti-bias task force will begin meeting as a club during lunch for all students to join.

“I know we can’t change every single person’s biases, beliefs, or perspectives, but overall, making DP something that people don’t feel is a scary place or like a place where they’re going to get discriminated against,” Anastasia said.