Phil Trout apologized once, twice, and then again. Yet many people remained angry about the three words he had said. Those three words were “All lives matter,” a fraught phrase in a time of racial strife.
In recent months, a phrase that might sound at first like an inclusive or innocuous statement has proved divisive. Politicians and celebrities who’ve used it have seen an immediate backlash. Among supporters of the Black Lives Matter movement, an article in The New York Times explains, the slogan “is not seen as a Kumbaya sentiment but as a way to remove focus from the specific grievances of black Americans.”
Gasps arose from the audience. Some people got up and left. Within seconds, social media was ablaze with criticism.
This time, the scene was an education conference. Last Thursday, Mr. Trout, the departing president of the National Association for College Admission Counseling, known as NACAC, spoke here at the group’s annual gathering.
During the opening session, Patricia McGuire, president of Trinity Washington University, gave a rousing keynote speech about college access. Afterward, Mr. Trout, speaking from prepared remarks, urged spectators to reflect on “a time of profound anxiety and distress in our country.”
According to a copy of his remarks provided by the association, Mr. Trout then referred to the recent death of Tyre King, a black teenager who was shot by a white police officer in Columbus. Expressing support for the local community, he said: “We join them in their call for justice and for [an] end to the violence. This tragedy challenges us once again to remember that all lives matter.”
Gasps arose from the audience, several attendees recalled later. Some people got up and left. Although Mr. Trout wasn’t solely responsible for those words, he was the one who delivered them — and he took the heat.
Within seconds, social media was ablaze with criticism. “He doesn’t get it,” one observer tweeted. “#tonedeaf,” said another. Several responses on Facebook were much stronger, even profane, and some members called for Mr. Trout’s removal from the association.
Bryan Nance, a regional recruitment manager for Ohio State University, was one of several black members of the group who described their immediate reactions. “It felt like a kick in the stomach,” he told The Chronicle.
The question of intent complicates many discussions of “all lives matter.” Although some prominent speakers who’ve said the words surely have meant to rebuff or condemn “Black lives matter,” others apparently hadn’t understood why the expression might upset anyone.
I didn’t know that ‘All lives matter’ was so completely dismissive of, or a rejection of, Black Lives Matter. I totally and completely abhor those who reject that.
Mr. Trout, a white college counselor at a high school in Minnesota, put himself in the latter category. In an interview with The Chronicle on Saturday, he said he had encountered the phrase several times before. A while back, someone gave him an “All lives matter” wristband; though he didn’t wear it, he took the words as benevolent.
“To me, it was a statement of sympathy and solidarity,” he said. “I wasn’t aware of the code. I didn’t know that ‘All lives matter’ was so completely dismissive of, or a rejection of, Black Lives Matter. I totally and completely abhor those who reject that. I never intended to do harm.”
Wearing a light blue tie emblazoned with NACAC’s logo, Mr. Trout was visibly shaken as he described the previous three days. The evening before the conference’s opening ceremony, he said, he and other members of NACAC’s Board of Directors agreed that the association should somehow acknowledge recent incidents of violence throughout the country. “The consensus was that we must recognize the painful experiences that a whole lot of people in our profession have experienced,” Mr. Trout said.
Yet the inclusion of a loaded phrase shattered that message. How did “All lives matter” find its way into the script? In an interview, John McGrath, NACAC’s deputy chief executive, said that the organization’s staff — himself included — had helped craft it. “It was literally added the morning of,” he said. “That was really thoughtless, and really careless, and all the hurt that it caused was justified.”
Still, Mr. Trout said that as NACAC’s president, he should’ve known the weight of the words he spoke. “It makes me feel like an idiot,” he said, “because how could I be so unschooled?”
The morning after his remarks, one attendee approached him and swore at him. Others, such as the black woman who stopped in a hallway to embrace him during an interview with a reporter, expressed their support. “There are people who’ve come up to me who’ve said they knew what I was trying to say,” he said. “There are people who’ve come to me who’ve said ‘This has hurt me more than you could know.’”
Marie Bigham, director of college counseling at Isidore Newman School, in New Orleans, was shaken by the incident. “As a profession of people who help students get to college, we have a greater responsibility for the fight for social justice than just about anyone else,” she said in an interview on Saturday. “To hear that phrase at a conference, people of color immediately think, ‘Oh, I don’t belong here.’”
We have to be hyper-aware of the challenges our students face, so we don’t misstep and hurt them. This was a misstep.
Ms. Bigham, a departing member of NACAC’s board, has known Mr. Trout for many years. Although she describes him as a “great man,” she couldn’t understand how the implications of the prevalent phrase could have eluded him: “We have to be hyper-aware of the challenges our students face, so we don’t misstep and hurt them. This was a misstep.”
Mr. Trout, who has been a college counselor for 35 years, is highly regarded within his field. As the conference drew to a close, several NACAC members privately expressed dismay over the controversy. “We’re at the point that there isn’t anything people say that won’t offend someone,” said one vice president for enrollment.
Some admissions officials said it was important to keep Mr. Trout’s remarks in perspective, especially because he’s known widely as a passionate advocate for students’ interests. “When it comes to this whole issue, intention matters,” Angel B. Pérez, vice president for enrollment and student success at Trinity College, told The Chronicle on Saturday. “Phil is a man of good character. His intentions are good, but he just didn’t realize the pain and symbolism of the phrase he used.”
Mr. Nance, from Ohio State, said Mr. Trout had been on the receiving end of “a general lashing out” during a time of racial unrest. “When you’re angry about people being shot in the street and all this other stuff … generally there isn’t one person to point to,” he said. “Phil made himself a target of convenience.”
Yet Mr. Nance hoped that the moment would spark discussions about the importance of cultural awareness. “It’s a wake-up moment for him and the organization,” he said. “While there are some screaming folks, there are some folks there who are engaging in some intellectual discussions around this, and that can only be a good thing.”
At NACAC’s annual membership meeting, on Saturday, Mr. Trout apologized once more. Then he uttered the phrase that he said he should have used in the first place: “Black lives matter.” And to some listeners, those three words mattered a lot.
Eric Hoover writes about admissions trends, enrollment-management challenges, and the meaning of Animal House, among other issues. He’s on Twitter @erichoov, and his email address is eric.hoover@chronicle.com.
