Tower 2025-2026
Volume 82, Issue 6 May 22, 2026
The Masters School - 49 Clinton Ave, Dobbs Ferry, N.Y. 10522
MARIA VINIEGRA/TOWER
FOR THE FIRST TIME in this school’s history, two boys will take the Upper School co-chair position for the 2026-2027 school year. David Morris and Wei Hu were selected after a school-wide assembly of campaign speeches. Gender rules for the role were present until the 2017-2018 school year.
First all-boy co-chairs take the reigns Akari Kawabata Contributing Writer It’s hard to imagine the Masters School in 1995; halls swarmed with the teenagers of Gen X wearing top-half-up hairdos, plaid mini skirts and listening to Nirvana on portable walkmans. But the biggest difference between 2026 Masters and 1995 Masters is the presence of male students within the walls of the school. In 1994, a highly controversial decision by the Board of Trustees—and then head of school Pam Clarke—called for the admittance of boys beginning in the fall of 1996. Upper School History Department Head Matthew Ives, whose first year at Masters coincided with the first year of co-educational teaching, recalled the initial resistance and reasons for the change.
Ives said, “A lot of the students at the time didn’t like it. A lot of the alums didn’t like it… I thought in retrospect, it was necessary and it was good. The school was probably going to go out of business if we didn’t make that change.” After the switch to a co-education setting, rules were put in place to ensure equal representation, including the requirement of a mix-sexed council for co-chairs and class presidents. This rule was removed in the 20172018 school year, when then Executive Committee secretary Phoenix Jackson ‘18 and sophomores Sarah Faber and Michelle Wei proposed a bill for the removal of gender stipulations on the leadership positions. Coincidentally enough, in 2019, Faber would be elected with Audrey Lockett ‘20 to make the first only-female co-chair since the bill’s passage. Seven years later, the current 2026
co-chair elections ended in what Faber called a “full circle moment.” This time, the result was a first in school history: An only-boy co-chair council. Ruby McDowell ‘28 spoke on her sentiments of the matter. She said, “I was a bit surprised at first because I thought it would naturally turn out to be one male co-chair and one female co-chair.” Wei Hu ‘27, elected this past week, addressed the possible disappointment of the election outcomes. He said, “I believe that David and I will do a good job being co-chairs because we were voted to represent the student body and are able to listen to everyone’s opinion, regardless of gender.” David Morris ‘27, the other elected co-chair, provided his own assurances. He said, “I’m aiming to make myself someone on campus who is reliable, making sure people know that I don’t care where you come from. I’m just try-
ing to hear your ideas and make campus better, to make Masters a more welcoming community.” Michelle Wei, who first proposed removing the gender-stipulation with Jackson and Faber, gave her own opinions on female representation. “I do think it is important for young women in particular to be in positions of power, speaking publicly and navigating difficult conversations. And part of the function of co-chairs here is to serve the student body in that way.” Wei said. Ives ended, “We were founded –– and are at heart –– a girl school. I do worry if things start to get too male dominated. I don’t think that this particular election is a huge turning point, but it’s a time for us to stop and to think and to reflect back on who we used to be and how that impacts who we are as a school.”