Communication Breakdown: Talbot Speaker does more to hurt than help community

By MARGOT BECKER ‘20

Author’s Note: This article is not to discount any of the positive lessons that may have come out of Mr. Herren’s talk; it is a reflection on the negative emotions and feelings that may have emerged as a result of certain sections of the talk. Any students distressed by this article or still in distress in regards to the assembly, please contact the health center at 617.898.2470

Chris Herren is not what we expected he would be. Billed as a speech about drugs and addiction, Mr. Herren’s talk strayed far from its anticipated track. His speech touched on topics such as domestic abuse, suicide, and self-harm, topics which the community had not been prepared for in advance of the speech itself. In a conversation with an ISS representative who wishes to remain anonymous, it was revealed that “Mr. Herren did not give any forewarning to any counseling staff of what the content of his speech would be, therefore losing the possibility for a trigger warning.” Far from integral issues in the context of addiction, Mr. Herren’s unexpected discussion of these sensitive concepts left many students focusing more heavily on the presentation of Herren’s talk than on its message. Additionally, the use of stories about suicide and self harm in Mr. Herren’s talk was unwarranted by the subject matter at hand in that just five years ago, Mr. Herren spoke at the Academy and did not rely on any of these topics. While the Counseling staff had anticipated a talk about Herren’s inspiring story of overcoming addiction, they were surprised to find a set of dark stories with a somewhat confused and unintelligible message.

The same ISS representative stated that: “I expected him to use his platform to tell his own story and shed light onto major issues through his own experiences, which I believe would have been very successful and engaging. His actual presentation felt a lot more like a usage of clichés and the stories of others to convey a point that felt a lot less like a message and more like a warning, which I believe did not leave the community in a productive place after the presentation.”

While a discussion of domestic abuse, self harm, and suicide could likely strengthen our bonds as a community and inoculate us further against unpredictable events like this one, Mr. Herren’s talk was not the appropriate place for the community to have a learning experience surrounding these issues. The lack of a decompression space following the assembly only compounded the problem as students who had been deeply affected by Herren were left the choice of making a trek to the health center or ignoring their experience and attempting to go on with their day. Though some of these emotions may have been productive for certain students, the lack of a space to examine them simply changed the nature of the experience to one that was more likely traumatic than healing. This forceful effect promoted an attitude more inclined to dismiss his message than accept it, leaving students tempted to make jokes about the uncomfortable subject. By the end of the day, students who had been silent leaving the ACC for fear of Herren’s selective wrath were joking about his attitude in the Stu.

On the whole, Mr. Herren’s talk was filled with potential good for the community, yet ended up causing considerably more harm than anticipated. While a discussion of addiction—and its greater context in terms of goal setting and leading a healthy life—would likely have been productive for our community, Herren’s speech came off as one about fear rather than healing. If Herren reached his one student in our community, than I admire and am glad for that student, but we have to ask ourselves whether the collateral damage he caused to other members of our community balances the reward.