Friday, Sept. 15, 2017 was not a typical school day at St. Louis U. High. It was announced mid-morning that St. Louis Police Officer Jason Stockley had been found not guilty of first degree murder. Stockley, a white police officer, was on trial for the shooting of Anthony Lamar Smith, a black man, in 2011. Since the verdict, SLUH has continued educating students on issues of racial equity and justice through the Association for Cultural Enrichment at SLUH (ACES), Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs, and the Voices of SLUH program.

Stockley’s acquittal came just three years after Darren Wilson, the officer who shot and killed Michael Brown in Ferguson, was found not guilty. After the unrest following Wilson’s verdict, racial tensions in St. Louis remained high. SLUH administrators feared a public backlash similar to that which occurred after Ferguson.

The announcement of the verdict during the school day required the administration to act quickly. Since SLUH is located in the city, there were concerns of protests endangering the campus and the students.

“We were looking at what happened with the Ferguson situation (in 2014),” said Principal Ian Gibbons, SJ. The verdict came during his first two weeks as principal. “We couldn't really predict what was going to happen, but we knew we needed to be ready in case things spiraled very quickly. They did.”

With help from Co-Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Frank Kovarik and then-ACES Moderator Dan Schuler, the administration prepared a response that would help cushion the blow caused by the verdict.

Nobody is completely innocent of the challenges we face through the legacy of slavery and racism.

- Fr. Ian Gibbons, SJ

“We decided to do an emergency ACES meeting, so I wrote up an announcement that Dr. Kesterson read over the PA, just explaining the verdict and letting people know about the ACES meeting,” said Kovarik.

Student reactions were mixed. Many were devastated that Stockley was not convicted.

“I felt like it was a punch to my stomach, like a punch to my soul,” said then-junior Austin Sexton-Warner ’19 in a recent interview.

Part of SLUH’s response was to release students early from school. Many students saw this as a reason to celebrate, not to mourn the outcome of the case.

“A lot of the students were upset about the verdict and upset about what they were hearing from their classmates,” said Kovarik. “The reactions to the verdict ranged from outrage and shock and sadness to mocking laughter and almost celebration. That range of reactions was doubly traumatizing for kids who were upset about the verdict to see that there was such a difference in the way that some people were receiving this news.”

“A lot of students were laughing about it, joking about it, cheering,” said Sexton-Warner. “You had this total clash; it was almost like the election. But substitute Democrats and Republicans for people who felt sympathy and empathy for the situation and then other people that felt like the verdict was right.”

Spanish teacher Kate Toussaint recalls feeling uneasy about the mixed reactions. She saw it as something that went against SLUH’s ‘men for others’ rhetoric.

“We talk about brotherhood a lot, but like, how is this verdict affecting your brothers?” said Toussaint. “If you’re aware that your brother is in pain, maybe think twice about cheering that you get to go home early.”

The emergency ACES meeting took place during Activity Period and then extended into the following class periods. Moderators felt it important to give students space to decompress instead of forcing them to go to class.

“Mainly, it was just giving students a chance to share their feelings and express what they were thinking,” said Kovarik. “The room was packed, and just guys were really open to sharing and speaking their thoughts.”

I felt like it was a punch to my stomach, like a punch to my soul.

- Austin Sexton-Warner ’19

Students and faculty from all corners of the school came together for the ACES meeting that day. The verdict paved the way for a broader dialogue between students and teachers about police brutality and racial equity in general.

“This was the first time that students and faculty worked together for a solution,” said Toussaint.

“Opinions were all over the place and the teachers were kind of like deer in headlights. They were trying to do the best they could,” said Sexton-Warner.

The discussion of race and racism did not end with that meeting. The verdict helped to reignite the importance of addressing these issues at SLUH.

“Nobody is completely innocent of the challenges we face through the legacy of slavery and racism,” said Gibbons. “And that's something that we’re very deliberately looking at.”

SLUH was committed to addressing the emotions caused by the verdict. The administration wanted to foster a safe, open discussion among the students about what the verdict meant. Their response manifested in Voices of SLUH, a program designed with help from then-junior Sexton-Warner and then-sophomore Peter Curdt ’20. 

“Voices of SLUH is critical because people are terrified of talking about different issues of serious degrees, especially with those who disagree with them,” said Curdt. “When SLUH provides an organized, safe space for people to share their personal opinions, that has to be productive because it makes people feel comfortable having friendly discussions about difficult issues.”

The goal of the program was not to create division between people with different viewpoints but to discuss differences and be open to opinions other than one’s own.

“When thinking about Voices of SLUH, whether you're Democratic, Republican, white, black, gay, or straight, if you're a part of SLUH, you have a voice,” said Sexton-Warner.

Different members of the SLUH community presented their perspectives about the day, and then students and teachers broke out into small group discussions.

“We gradually came up with a model of bringing everybody to the Field House and having these talks but framing them in a careful way,” said Kovarik. “Then we gave people some space to talk in small groups after that but did not require people to do that. So we thought that could build some more good will if people felt like they would still have some space in their day.”

Many in the SLUH community agreed that Voices of SLUH was a success. It has continued annually since 2017 with a new theme each year.

​​“I think the Voices of SLUH program is going to be one of the things I'm most proud of in my time here at SLUH,” said Gibbons. “It’s going on six years, and it's going very strong.”

“We need to have these conversations all the time regardless of whether there is a terrible killing,” said Toussaint, who now organizes Voices of SLUH. “We also need to just educate ourselves, for teachers, on how to talk to students, and for students, on how this is just part of the world.”

“I think Voices of SLUH is a very successful program, especially when it comes to what they talk about in Voices of SLUH and the people that they have on there,” said senior Elijah Oden, who leads the Black Student Union. “I think it's a good thing for the SLUH community.”

The theme for last year’s Voices of SLUH assembly was the pandemic. This year’s theme is civil discourse. Toussaint hopes to prepare students to have constructive political discussions as the 2024 elections grow nearer.

Voices of SLUH has maintained conversations about social justice issues in the years since the Stockley verdict. This year, the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion department is using Advisory Periods to expand the diversity curriculum.

“We’ve done training with our board, with our administration, and with groups of faculty, but now we want to systematically train all of the faculty and we want to systematically train all of our student body as well,” said Gibbons.

“We’re always talking about Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion,” said Toussaint. “Teachers are always learning how to be better and how to talk to students. Typically freshmen come in with a mixture: some kids know more, some kids never have talked about this before. We have a curriculum now with Advisory, it’s going to get better.”

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion education will differ by grade level. Freshmen will be introduced to the concepts, sophomores will focus on gender, juniors will focus on race, and seniors will prepare to go out into the world after high school. DEI programs will occur during one Advisory period each quarter.

We need to have these conversations all the time regardless of whether there is a terrible killing.

- Mrs. Kate Toussaint

“Over the summer, a group of us who work within DEI at the school got together to make placemats for content that we wanted students to have by the end of each grade. By the time you're ready to graduate, we want you to have a really great holistic view of the school, the city, and the world,” said Co-Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Dan Shields. 

These existing and new programs are inspired by Jesuit teachings and the SLUH mission statement. The goal is to prepare students to be well-rounded people once they graduate and to be comfortable with different points of view.

“We say we are a college prep school. If we want our students to be successful in college, we’re going to have to teach you how to talk and be in classes with people that are different from you,” said Toussaint.

Gibbons believes teaching students about the complex effects of racism is integral to forming students to be men for others.

“We say that we're men and women for others through Jesuit education,” said Gibbons. “It's not just to be educated for getting a really good job, to hold on to our social status, to hold on to our wealth, or to hold on to a narrative of who we are. All of it is designed really to build God's kingdom. And racism is one of the greatest impediments to building that kingdom.”