Update (Oct. 29, 2021):  The head of Middlesex School, David Beare, will be taking a leave of absence after the school pulled its invitation from Nikole Hannah-Jones to speak to students. The Boston Globe reports the leader announced his exit over an emailed statement on Thursday. 

“I care deeply about Middlesex and feel that this leave serves the best interest of the students and the School,” Beare said in his written message. “Thank you to everyone in the School community who has reached out to me and my family during this challenging time.”

Beare came under fire from alumni as well as staff members at the school after he and the board of trustees made the decision to rescind the journalist’s invitation to speak to students during a Black History Month appearance. At the time, the school said the lecture was canceled due to worries of “noise.”  According to Boston.com, the school released an email statement to parents announcing it would be conducting an independent investigation into the issue. 

“As we move forward from this week, please know that the Board is committed to understanding in full the events leading to the decision to rescind the invitation to Professor Nikole Hannah-Jones,” the letter stated. “To this end, we are initiating an independent review to determine the facts and draw the necessary lessons.”

Original (Oct. 25, 2021): Famed journalist and Howard University professor Nikole Hannah-Jones revealed on Twitter earlier this week that an invitation to speak at Middlesex School in Concord, Massachusetts, was rescinded by the school's president and board. According to her Twitter thread, she said the school decided against her speaking engagement due to worries that the "noise" her lecture would bring might "take away from the overall experience."

“They were likely afraid that by having me — a [New York Times] journalist & college professor — there, they’d invite backlash & another of the ‘woke’ people are ruining America stories,” Hannah-Jones said in the thread on Monday. “I’m good. I’m done fighting my way in. But the lack of courage in these times is so very sad.”

The school didn't respond to Hannah-Jones directly but confirmed in a statement to The Boston Globe that her speaking appearance had been canceled. The school promised to offer a more "formal apology" to the journalist. 

“While we are confident that her insights would have been valued by our students, we were concerned that individuals from outside our community might inadvertently distract from the insights and perspective that she intended to share,” the school's principal David Beare said.

Hannah-Jones told HuffPost that, as of Wednesday, she still hadn't personally received any type of apology from the school. 

The move deeply upset several faculty members, who wrote to the school's board of trustees. According to a follow-up story from the Boston Globe, the group said they “unequivocally reject Head of School David Beare’s decision to rescind Middlesex’s invitation to Nikole Hannah-Jones to address the school on her Pulitzer Prize-winning journalism.”

The letter prompted a response of a different tune from the school. Beare and the board issued another joint statement calling their previous decision "a shameful mistake" and vowing to work to rectify the situation. 

“We deeply regret it and have had many gut-wrenching conversations within our community regarding the decision, how it was made, and the disrespect we showed Professor Hannah-Jones,” the statement read, adding that they are planning to apologize to Hannah-Jones in person at some point. 

The educator and the board added that the decision was not in line with its previous "commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.” Ironically, days prior to the news, Middlesex released a "letter to the community" promising a refreshed commitment to diversifying the school from top to bottom among faculty and students. It also wrote that it would support various points of view up for debate, despite how polarizing some opinions might be. 

“As an educational institution, we believe an open exchange of viewpoints is vital to student development and intellectual excellence. We believe that respectful debate and disagreement are not only healthy, but the very ground upon which a learning community thrives,” the statement continued.

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