Mount Holyoke walks out to demand sanctuary

Mount Holyoke walks out to demand sanctuary

BY HANNAH ROACH '17

Mount Holyoke campus erupted with cheering and chanting at 3 p.m. on Wednesday Nov. 16.  Noise could be heard, echoing through academic buildings, leading to the library. There, hundreds of students, staff and faculty had started gathering as part of the MHC #SanctuaryCampus Walkout. 

"Love and peace will overcome this hate": Mount Holyoke reacts to the election results

"Love and peace will overcome this hate": Mount Holyoke reacts to the election results

BY HANNAH ROACH '17 & LEAH WILLINGHAM '17

The morning after Donald Trump was chosen as the president-elect of the United States was drizzly and quiet. Students walked with bags under their eyes — many had stayed up to see the results come in early Wednesday morning.

Drag Ball to be hosted by FAMILIA

Drag Ball to be hosted by FAMILIA

BY HOA NGUYEN '18

After a queer student of color wrote an article criticizing Mount Holyoke’s Drag Ball for perpetuating appropriation on campus, OUTreach, the umbrella LGBTQ group that had organized the event for the last two years, decided to stop hosting the event. 

Professor Kate Ballantine wins environmental award

BY NICOLE VILLACRES '18

Clean Water Action, a national environmental group, has awarded the Environmental Ground-Breaker Award to professor Kate Ballantine for her work with the Restoration Ecology Program. The program was created in 2012, when Ballantine and her environmental studies students noticed that Upper Lake had a severe problem with algae blooms caused by excessive nutrient pollution. One facet of the program is the Project Stream restoration site, which is focused on restoring the wetland and stream that feeds into Upper Lake, so that the nutrients would be naturally filtered out.

Sajia Darwish ’18 builds library in Kabul, Afghanistan

BY NICOLE VILLACRES ’18 

With funding from Afghan Girls Fi-nancial Assistance Fund, Sajia Darwish ’18 opened the Baale Parwaz Library this summer in Kabul, Afghanistan. Although a native of Kabul, Darwish has been in the United States since she was 13. The idea to build the library came out of a conversation between Darwish and the co-founder of AGFAF, Joseph Highland. AGFAF supports Darwish’s education at Mount Holyoke through financial assistance.