By Liz Lewis ’22
Publisher & News Editor
On the evening of Wednesday, Dec. 9, the College sent out an email containing updates on the plans for Commencement and reunion 2021. With a vaccine seemingly on the way, plans may change depending on how the COVID-19 pandemic develops over the coming months. However, as COVID-19 restrictions on outdoor gatherings continue to tighten in the state of Massachusetts, an official decision on the class of 2021’s commencement ceremony has yet to be made. Over the following months, the College will continue to monitor the state of the pandemic and inform decisions based on the safety guidelines regarding in-person gatherings and travel. An official decision about Commencement 2021 will be announced by the end of this February.
The Alumnae Association will hold reunion 2021 virtually on May 21 and May 22. The College will also continue to work toward holding an in-person commencement ceremony for the class of 2020 in the spring of 2022, during the class’s two-year reunion.
The email also featured a letter from the office of College President Sonya Stephens with an update on the progress of Mount Holyoke’s anti-racism action plan. Launched in August 2020, the plan aims to rework Mount Holyoke into a more consistently anti-racist institution and community. In the letter, Stephens outlined the plan’s progress this semester in the fields of “faculty and curricular actions,” “education, training and professional development,” “resources and equity,” “planning and accountability” and “understanding and acknowledging college history.”
As part of a motion to hire and retain more BIPOC faculty and staff, the College has partnered with organizations including “the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) Doctoral Scholars Program, the Liberal Arts Colleges Racial Equity Leadership Alliance (LACRELA), and the Consortium for Faculty Diversity (CFD),” according to the letter. These organizations offer ways to connect with and hire new BIPOC faculty as well as providing anti-racism resources and training for existing faculty. Furthermore, over the past semester, the College has hosted numerous anti-racism events, sessions and workshops tailored to BIPOC students, leaders of student organizations, faculty and staff, Health and Counseling services and the greater Mount Holyoke community. Additionally, the College has committed to providing monetary compensation for MoZone peer educators.
Another key goal of the anti-racism action plan is a commitment to redistributing College resources. According to Stephens, the College has awarded over $400,000 directly to students with financial need through the Student Safety Net Fund while also funneling resources into faculty and staff training, as well as the student organizations First-Generation Network and First-Generation and Low-Income Partnership. In an effort to revisit the College’s relationship with its own history, the College has also created the History, Legacies and Memory Task Force, run by Head Archivist Leslie Fields and Chief Diversity Officer Kijua Sanders-McMurtry. Stephens also highlighted a commitment to accountability and transparency, promising further updates on the anti-racism action plan in early 2021.