Division of Student Life

COVID-19 booster offered to students via shuttle service

COVID-19 booster offered to students via shuttle service

The Division of Student Life recently announced that Mount Holyoke will be providing shuttles to the University of Massachusetts Amherst COVID-19 Vaccine Clinic. The statement also provided updates to its shuttle service to a CVS in Chicopee, Massachusetts, for eligible students to receive a bivalent COVID-19 booster vaccination. The UMass shuttle will run every Thursday and Friday through Nov. 17 and 18, respectively. The CVS shuttle will run every Wednesday and Sunday through Nov. 13 and 16 respectively.

Mount Holyoke reinstates isolation in place policy

By Mariam Keita ’24

Managing Editor of Web

On Friday, April 22, the Division of Student Life announced in an email to students that the College will once again ask residential students who test positive for COVID-19 to shelter in place within their residence halls starting on April 25. 

The decision to reinstate the isolate in place policy comes from an upward trend in positive testing rates over the last few weeks. 

According to the email, this policy will affect those students who live alone or are currently rooming with a student who has tested positive for COVID-19 within the past 90 days. Students who reside within three hours of campus and have a private vehicle will be asked to isolate at home. 

Alex Moreno ’22 was one of the first student at Mount Holyoke who was asked to isolate in place in their residential hall upon testing positive for COVID-19 when they arrived back on campus for ResLife training during winter break prior to the start of the Spring 2022 semester. 

“I tested positive [for COVID-19] literally the day I got to campus,” Moreno said. “I had taken a PCR at home. Because of the delays … the PCR that was supposed to come back in 24 hours took four days.”

Moreno, who works as a residential fellow, was in a Zoom training session for ResLife when they got the alert that they had tested positive. Upon receiving the alert, they immediately sent a text message to their area coordinator in ResLife asking what their next steps should be. 

“[My area coordinator was] like, ‘I’ll get back to you. You should call a health center.’” Moreno said.

Upon calling Health Services, Moreno’s phone call was sent to a voicemail box which relayed the message that the center was closed for several days. The voicemail then directed Moreno towards a number to call in case of an emergency. 

 “I was like, ‘Okay, I feel like I really need to talk. COVID[-19] like, that feels kind of serious.’ So I call them and then … [the person on the emergency line was] like well this isn’t an emergency so call at a different time and then they hung up on me. Yeah, they were just so mean,” Moreno recalled.

Having had yet to hear back from anyone as to what their next steps could or should be, Moreno described feeling uncertain about what to do. 

Eventually, Moreno received a call back from a Health Services employee during which they were presented with two options: opt into a quarantine and isolation housing space in one of the apartments on campus, or participate in the pilot launch of a new isolation program. 

Since Moreno’s room as a residential fellow contains a private bathroom, they were offered the chance to remain in their room. However, Moreno was given a caveat along with this option — they would be responsible for coordinating having all of their meals delivered to their door, because Dining Services employees were unable to enter residential buildings. 

“I chose to stay in my room just because I had also just moved back from Hampshire. I needed to unpack. I needed to be in my room. I couldn’t just leave all my stuff.” Moreno said. 

Moreno further explained that they were only asked to isolate in place for about three days, as Health Services was following the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines in counting the date that they received the first positive PCR test result as the beginning of their five-day contagion window.

APAU celebrates Black History Month with the theme “Black and…”

APAU celebrates Black History Month with the theme “Black and…”

“Our goal was to steer away from how people usually present Black History Month. Slavery and segregation are a part of Black history, but we really wanted to focus on Black joy,” Black History Month Co-Coordinator for the Association of Pan-African Unity, Geraldine Louis ’24, said.

College Named First-Gen Forward Institution

The Center for First-generation Student Success recently named Mount Holyoke College a First-gen Forward Institution, a national honor recognizing the College’s commitment to advancing first-generation college student success.

Sarah E. Whitley, senior director of the Center for First-generation Student Success, welcomed the College into the 2020-21 cohort of First-gen Forward Institutions. “Through the application process, it was evident that Mount Holyoke is not only taking steps to serve first-generation students but is prepared to make a long-term commitment and employ strategies for significant scaling and important advances in the future,” Whitley said.

Residential Life Student Employees Share Their Experiences With Fall Planning: Inequitable Pay, Room and Board Fees, Increased Labor

Residential Life Student Employees Share Their Experiences With Fall Planning: Inequitable Pay, Room and Board Fees, Increased Labor

Students were asked to decide by July 8 whether they wanted to take up Residential Life positions for which they had been previously hired. These positions, previously titled Senior Community Advisor and Community Advisor have been renamed based on modifications to responsibilities under the new social compact and campus reopening plan: Residential Fellow and Community Assistant, respectively.

Campus Police concerns continue into new school year

Campus Police concerns continue into new school year

Beginning in July 2020, Mount Holyoke and Smith Colleges will operate separate campus police departments. The change was announced to the Mount Holyoke community in an email statement by Shannon Gurek, Mount Holyoke Vice President for Finance and Administration and Treasurer.