College creates Child Care Review Group

BY SOLEIL DOERING ’24

STAFF WRITER

Following a public clash over the closure of the Gorse Children’s Center and subsequent contract extension, the College announced the creation of the Child Care Review Group in an email on April 14. The group consists of 12 different faculty members and one student representative, Ananya Singh ’22. The announcement email outlined the group’s mission, stating, “The CCRG will take a broad and forward-looking view of support for working parents — one aligned both with our mission to advance gender equity and the College’s resource constraints — and will make its recommendations no later than June 15, 2021.” 

Gary Gillis, associate dean of faculty, professor of biological sciences and director of the Science Center, and Jennifer Jacoby, associate professor of psychology and education and director of the first-year seminar program, will act as co-chairs of the CCRG. “We will be working for the next eight weeks to gather relevant data, survey members of the broader MHC community and synthesize research on child care options and programs for our final report, which is due on June 15,” Jacoby and Gillis said in a joint email to the Mount Holyoke News. 

The creation of the CCRG is the latest development in Mount Holyoke’s attempts to remedy the harm caused by the Feb. 24 announcement that the Gorse Children’s Center would be closing within a year. The initial statement sparked outrage from the College community, leading to a letter of protest and a petition that gathered hundreds of signatures, as well as a protest at the gates. President of the College Sonya Stephens responded with an email apologizing for the stress caused by this announcement. The College followed up a few days later, announcing an “interim solution” to keep Gorse open past July 2021. 

According to Gillis, the CCRG will develop a community survey “to better understand child care needs and the factors that underlie the choices people make when deciding how to meet those needs.” The group will focus on “the operations, enrollments and costs associated with Gorse” in addition to researching alternative child care resources offered by peer institutions, such as vouchers or scholarships. 

As the student representative of the CCRG, Singh said that the group is currently in the initial stages of development. “We have divided into subgroups and also started to discuss some of the large issues that need to be addressed,” Singh said. “The current subgroups include a survey group; a group looking at contracts, finances and things of that nature; and finally one that is looking at other institutions and how they offer child care assistance.”

Assistant Professor of Politics Ali Aslam, who was personally affected by the announcement of Gorse’s closure, took part in the ensuing protest. Based on his knowledge that the CCRG has met only once as of April 18, Aslam said, “I thought the urgency of our demand would have translated in[to] faster action in the form of more frequent meetings.”

“We know that Gorse, as an institution, resource and community of people, has touched the lives of so many at MHC,” Gillis and Jacoby said. “We know that all of these people want updates on the work of the committee. The committee recognizes this and has committed to providing periodic updates to the broader community on our work. We have not yet decided what form those updates will take, but we anticipate providing monthly reports to the broader MHC community.”