On Dec. 2, at the Parliament House, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern declared a climate emergency. Stating that climate change is “one of the greatest challenges of our time,” Ardern committed the nation to the development of a carbon-neutral government by 2025. Ardern implored the country to act with urgency, confirming that the motion recognizes “the devastating impact that volatile and extreme weather will have on New Zealand and the wellbeing of New Zealanders, on our primary industries, water availability, and public health through flooding, sea-level rise, and wildfire.”
White House Replaces Lead Climate Change Expert
The executive director of the U.S. Global Change Research Program, Dr. Michael Kuperberg, was removed as lead scientist for the National Climate Assessment on Nov. 9 and is expected to be replaced by David Legates, a longtime supporter and advocate for climate change denial groups. The decision came directly from the Trump administration and follows four years of policy decisions that increased environmental degradation and reined in large-scale federal initiatives necessary to adequately address climate change. Nearly 100 environmental and climate change policies have been rolled back under the administration.
U.S. Pulls Out of Paris Climate Accord
As ballots were counted, the United States hung in an unprecedented election limbo for results that would define political, social and economic landscapes for the next four years. In the midst of national uncertainty, President Donald Trump made an announcement on Wednesday, Nov. 4 that would further complicate the future of national and global action: the official withdrawal of the United States from the Paris Agreement.
Athletic trainers end care for dancers and club sports teams
When Anna Stone ’20 Club Sports Council president at Mount Holyoke, met with Lori Hendricks, head of the College Athletic Department, for their monthly meeting on Sept. 11, she was notified that club sports athletes would no longer receive medical care from the athletic trainers or be granted access to the athletic training room.
Hampshire College begins layoffs, tensions rise in community
Hect named new chief of police
College introduces CashCourse and offers tax workshop
College confirms on-campus animal policy
BY MERYL PHAIR ’21
The only animals allowed within Mount Holyoke residence halls are fish contained in a tank or bowl of five gallons or less, according to Assistant Dean of Students and Director of Residential Life Rachel Alldis. In an email outlining pet policies that was sent out to the Mount Holyoke student body on Jan. 30, Alldis explained that the only exceptions to this rule are emotional support animals (ESAs) and service dogs or animals.
‘Black Feminism Now’: Morris on biological racism
BY MERYL PHAIR ‘21
“This series is meant to signal not just the immediacy of the now, but the permutations of past and future, negotiated by boundaries and borders that are never fixed,” said Kimberly Juanita Brown, Chair of Gender Studies and Associate Professor of English and Africana Studies at Mount Holyoke College as she introduced a new speaker series hosted by the gender studies department on Thursday, Jan. 24. Brown went on to introduce Courtney Desiree Morris, the first in the six-part ‘Black Feminism Now’ speaker series to the audience gathered in Cleveland L1.
Leah Penniman discusses race, food justice
BY MERYL PHAIR ’21
“I feel like so often we’re supposed to have everything figured out,” said Leah Penniman, a black Kreyol educator, farmer, author and food justice activist to the audience gathered in Hooker Auditorium on Thursday, Nov. 29. “But the first step in healing and making change is to admit that we don’t know everything.”