BY MELISSA JOHNSON ’20
On Tuesday, Oct. 16, the Student Government Association’s Senate met for the second time this semester, spending the majority of the meeting collaboratively choosing a focus for the year. Senators split into small groups to discuss their individual ideas, then shared with the whole group. They then voted on each suggestion and settled on a goal for this year: “integration.”
BY MERYL PHAIR ’21
On Thursday, Oct. 11, a small group assembled in the Mount Holyoke College Art Museum (MHCAM) Gallery at 4:30 p.m. for a discussion titled “Faculty in Conversation: Conflict and Commemoration,” featuring Sohail Hashmi, Professor of International Relations on the Alumnae Foundation, and Kavita Khory, Ruth Lawson Professor of Politics. The event was the first in a series of faculty conversations connected to the current exhibition, “Major Themes: Celebrating Ten Years of Teaching with Art.”
BY LILY REAVIS ’21
Content warning: this article references sexual assault.
On Oct. 13, the Associated Press (AP) published a story featuring a Mount Holyoke alumna’s account of an assault by a professor while she was a student at the College. Ruth D’Eredita ’84 said that she sent a letter to the College in October 2017 detailing the assault.
What follows below are the comprehensive demands of student workers. Approximately 170 students have been involved in the process of writing, editing and supporting these demands. The first draft of these demands was written by a group of student workers sharing our stories, grievances and hopes for the future.
BY MELISSA JOHNSON ’20
On Tuesday, Oct. 2, the Blanchard Great Room was filled with Mount Holyoke senators and students as the first town hall meeting of the semester kicked off. The meeting featured three panelists: President Sonya Stephens, Vice President of Student Life and Dean of Students Marcella Runell Hall and Vice President for Equity and Inclusion and Chief Diversity Officer Kijua Sanders-McMurtry. The meeting gave students space to express their concerns and questions they had about their organizations and personal lives on campus.
BY LAYNE MCCARDLE ’22
Hortense Parker was the first recorded African-American student to graduate from Mount Holyoke. On Tuesday, Oct. 2, the SGA Students of Color Committee organized a celebration in honor of the 10th annual Hortense Parker Day. Members of the community gathered in Gamble Auditorium to listen to students, faculty and guest speakers discuss the significance of Hortense Parker’s life and her ongoing legacy, as well as honor the experiences of current students of color.
BY MERYL PHAIR ’21
On Monday, Sept. 17 at 3:30 p.m., Cayley Evans ’20 was making her way along the wooded path off the Upper Lake loop at Mount Holyoke College, concentrating on an observation lab for her biology class. She was passing through a ferny area by a stream when a loud crashing noise caused her to temporarily lose her bearings.
BY ALLYSON HUNTOON ’19
“She believed she could, so she did!” This was the quote painted in gold letters on Mika McKinney ’18’s graduation cap last spring. Despite the many challenges she faced, this phrase became representative of the way Mika lived her life as her resilience and strength inspired those around her.
BY FIONA HINDS ’22
Assistant Dean of Students and Director of Residential Life Rachel Alldis introduced a new meal plan as an option for juniors and seniors in an email to seniors on Sept. 20. As opposed to the original meal plan available for all students, which has unlimited swipes, 30 Dining Dollars and three guest swipes, the new plan would give upperclassmen 19 swipes per week with 200 Dining Dollars with the three standard guest swipes.
BY EMMA RUBIN ’20
Mount Holyoke students, faculty, staff and neighboring community members gathered in Chapin Auditorium on Sept. 25 for a conversation between former secretary of state and Massachusetts senator John Kerry and Dean of Faculty Jon Western. Western facilitated a relaxed discussion with Kerry about his new autobiography, “Every Day is Extra.”
BY MERYL PHAIR ’21
On Wednesday, Sept. 5 at 2:50 p.m., smoke rose from beneath the elevator door in Shattuck Hall. The smoke triggered a fire alarm and Campus Police arrived on the scene. When the reporting officers entered the elevator machine room, located to the right of the elevator door on the ground floor of Shattuck, they noticed something that concerned them on many levels, according to Director of Facilities Management and Planning Paul Breen.
BY ANNA SHORTRIDGE ’19 AND ALLYSON HUNTOON ’19
The Rao’s Coffee Shop located inside Williston Library closed their doors indefinitely on Monday, Sept. 17. The disruption of service is due to an alleged incident in which the cafe’s manager used racially insensitive language when speaking to cafe employees.
BY ANNA KANE ’20
On April 18, President-elect Sonya Stephens announced the appointment of Shannon Da Silva as Mount Holyoke’s new Title IX and Section 504 coordinator. After a national search headed by Vice President for Student Life and Dean of Students Marcella Runell Hall and Five College Director of Compliance and Risk Management Stacie Kroll, Da Silva began her term at Mount Holyoke on April 19.
