The account’s beginnings

It was the last block of the day on Thursday when students opened computers and phones to read a message from Head of School Bryn Roberts. Roberts sent an email May 16 to the St. Paul Academy and Summit School community informing them of an anonymous Twitter account spreading rumors and allegations surrounding faculty equity.

The account posted roughly once per day between May 13 to 21. The user noted “racism,” “discrimination,” and “high turnover” rates regarding teachers of color at SPA. The individual also created a website with an anonymous tip line for submitting information.

The Rubicon reached out to the account via DM for an interview but the account holder declined.

The account followed over 500 users affiliated with SPA, its students and faculty, and “has gone to great lengths to conceal their identity,” according to Roberts’s email. It appears that the user purchased a domain with an anonymous registrar and set up an encrypted email address for their platform.

According to Roberts, the administration learned of the account on May 13 when community members contacted him expressing concern. Administration set a course of action that day:

“We came together and talked about it, and immediately decided that it was very important that we respond to it and figure out how to respond to it. And quite honestly,” Roberts said.  “When you confront something like this, where you’ve got an attacker going after your school, and spreading rumors and untruths like this, and misrepresenting facts, it’s really pretty worrisome. It’s like a gut punch.”

Considering the account holder’s insistence on anonymity, a sense of mystery shrouded the incident. Students mused over theories surrounding the account and their intent.

As Roberts explained, there was little hope for uncovering the user’s identity.

“I asked our tech department if they could discern who that was, and we discovered pretty quickly that we weren’t going to be able to find out,” he said.

However, uncovering the identity of the account was far from his priority.

“We were curious,” Roberts said, “but that was never my focal point. My focus was really on responding to it and determining how to respond to it. Because I thought first of what was the right way to respond on behalf of the school.”

The administration quickly resolved to send a community-wide email as opposed to remaining silent. The carefully worded memo focused on the issue and not the account holder. Admittedly, it drew new attention to the account in the few hours after it was sent, sparking a flurry of conversations among students.

Most students were oblivious to the account prior to Roberts’s email. Some wondered why the administration decided to notify the entire community so promptly—but Roberts explains that it was the only option.

“I thought it was important for us not to hide. I thought we should let people know where we are, and it was very important for us to get a message out that was affirmative and accurate,” he said.