On Campus
The theme of this year’s Trailblazers of Color Leadership Conference was “Looking Back to Look Forward.” According to Mount Holyoke College’s events calendar, the conference aimed to “[mark] a decade of commitment to empowering gender-diverse individuals of color across the Five Colleges, Western Massachusetts, and beyond.”
“This business is proud to say we don’t care about women,” declared a sticker bearing the colors of the transgender flag. This sticker, along with several transgender flags placed into toilets, was found in one of the bathrooms inside Blanchard Hall on March 31, International Transgender Day of Visibility.
Mount Holyoke College Senate held its weekly meeting this past Tuesday, April 2, 2024. To start the meeting, the Mount Holyoke College Land Acknowledgement was read aloud to the senate board, giving the attendees time to reflect on the land they inhabit.
After the land acknowledgment, the E-Board shared updates regarding laundry and the Ways and Means Guidelines for the 2024-2025 school year.
Mount Holyoke College’s weekly senate meeting on March 5 began with the Mount Holyoke College Land Acknowledgement and an overview of the meeting’s agenda. The agenda opened with an overview of the Indigenous Nation of the Month, the Coosuk Abenaki Nation.
On Wednesday, Feb. 28, Mount Holyoke students and community members gathered in Hooker Auditorium to attend a McCulloch Center for Global Initiatives panel. The event, titled “Democracy’s Global Test: Reflections on the Year of Elections,” aimed to explore threats to democracy, important elections and their international impact in the “biggest election year in history.”
On Feb. 7, 2024, 16-year-old Indigenous nonbinary student Nex Benedict went to use the bathroom at an Oklahoma high school. Teen Vogue reported that because of anti-transgender laws in the state, requiring students to use the bathroom that correlated with the gender they were assigned at birth, Benedict was required to use the women’s restroom.
Throughout February, Mount Holyoke College and the Association of Pan-African Unity has hosted several events in celebration of Black History Month. This array of events has ranged from keynote speakers to galas to movie nights. During the week of Feb. 18, the College held several events, including an open mic night and a Black History Month gala.
Mount Holyoke College’s weekly senate meeting began on Feb. 27 with the Mount Holyoke College Land Acknowledgement as well as an overview of the meeting’s agenda. The agenda began with a check-in and debrief and ended with an open floor. The check-in began with the senate discussing their “roses, buds, and thorns” regarding the current Mount Holyoke community. After discussing for a few minutes, students shared their answers.
The keynote speaker for Black History Month this year was LaTosha Brown, one of the co-founders of the Black Voters Matter Fund, which strives to bring out more Black voters in the United States and support local organizations that encourage voter turnout.
Students, faculty and staff gathered in Hooker Auditorium on Feb. 12 for the Mount Holyoke College Association of Pan-African Unity’s ‘‘Voices of Resilience: Black Professors in Higher Education.” The event speakers included Professor of Economics and Critical Race and Political Economy Lucas Wilson; Chair and Professor of Biological Sciences Renae Brodie; and Associate Dean of Students, Community and Belonging Latrina Denson.
Student Government Association Senate opened its meeting on Feb. 20 with a reading of the Mount Holyoke College Land Acknowledgement and the meeting agenda. The agenda included E-Board updates, open floor and a special town hall with Residential Life and Disability Services to discuss the housing process.
Nearly 100 people came to Mount Holyoke College’s Hooker Auditorium on Thursday, Feb. 8, to attend a screening of “Faces of Medicine,” a film showcasing the stories of those who have experienced the struggle and joy of being a Black female doctor in the United States. The film was created by Dr. Khama Ennis, and through it, viewers learned about her life and the lives of other doctors featured in it.
On Feb. 13, Karla Youngblood, associate vice president for Facilities Management, and Carl Ries, treasurer and vice president for finance and administration, announced an update on the ongoing geothermal energy initiative here at Mount Holyoke College. This update provides some key information surrounding upcoming construction, which may impact students.
This year marks the 10th anniversary of Mount Holyoke College’s historic gender-inclusive admissions policy. At convocation on Sept. 2, 2014, former President Lynn Pasquerella welcomed in the school year with the official announcement of the policy, making the College the second historically women’s institution to formally open its doors to female, transgender and nonbinary applicants.
Mount Holyoke College’s Student Government Association opened its senate meeting on Feb. 13 with the Mount Holyoke College Land Acknowledgement, emphasizing the importance of learning about local Indigenous nations.
Afterwards, Vice President for College Relations Kassandra Jolley and Vice President for Finance and Administration and Treasurer Carl Ries were welcomed on stage to present information about financial aid and the College’s budget.
As the second semester of the 2023-2024 school year starts to pick up speed, President Danielle R. Holley has started teaching her first class, titled The Supreme Court, in the politics department at Mount Holyoke College. The course focuses on landmark cases settled by the Supreme Court of the United States since 1803.
On Feb. 2, 2024, the Mount Holyoke College Queer Action Collective, also known as QAC, hosted an event titled “Queer Activism at MHC Through the Years” to inform students of the history of queer activism at Mount Holyoke. At this event, QAC produced a presentation, facilitated discussion amongst participants, and invited Mount Holyoke alum Donna Albino ‘83 to speak on her experiences.
Student Government Association Senate opened on Feb. 6, 2024, with the reading of the agenda and the Mount Holyoke College Land Acknowledgement. Then, the senate leaders discussed the Mohegan Nation as a part of their pledge this year to go beyond the land acknowledgment and educate themselves and the community on local Native nations.
Nearly 100 people came to Mount Holyoke College’s Hooker Auditorium on Thursday, Feb. 8, to attend a screening of “Faces of Medicine,” a film showcasing the stories of those who have experienced the struggle and joy of being a Black female doctor in the United States.
It’s final exam season, which means stress is in the air at Mount Holyoke College, whether it be from projects, exams or presentations. To keep spirits as high as possible, both the College and student organizations have hosted de-stress events on campus throughout the past week.
The Mount Holyoke College Board of Trustee’s decision to significantly raise its cost of attendance for the 2023-2024 school year has inspired renewed conversations about how financial aid is calculated at the institution. Mount Holyoke News reached out to current students, staff members, parents and former students who transferred to other institutions, citing financial struggles as a significant factor in their decision to continue their studies elsewhere, to learn more about financial aid processes at Mount Holyoke College. Mount Holyoke News also spoke with several individuals who have interacted with Student Financial Services to understand better how the office responds to federal financial aid policies, which factors determine how much aid a student receives, and how the appeals process operates.
Senate began on Dec. 5 with a reading of the Mount Holyoke College Land Acknowledgement and the meeting’s agenda, which included E-Board updates, an open floor and a closing note.
The discovery of anti-Black vandalism in a Mount Holyoke College residence hall at the beginning of the November Break period has prompted an investigation by the College. Around midnight on Nov. 22, residents on the third floor of Pearsons Hall found a racist message scrawled across a community bulletin board. The hate message reading “no [N-word]s” expressed that Black students are not welcome at Mount Holyoke.
Since the Israeli state declared war on Hamas militants in October, universities around the world have seen their fair share of student-led organizing in support of Palestine.
Mount Holyoke College is now one of these institutions after a chapter of the international movement Students for Justice in Palestine began meeting early in November. The group led a rally, march, vigil and sit-in for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, Nov. 9, with several students occupying Mary Lyon Hall overnight.
On Nov. 14, senate opened its weekly meeting with a land acknowledgment, a discussion on decolonization, a word from the Student Government Association Diversity, Equity and Inclusion officer and open floor.
The Student Government Association Senate began on Nov. 7 by reading off the agenda, which included the Mount Holyoke College Land Acknowledgment, guest speakers from Dining Services, E-Board updates and an open floor.
“Not all anti-Israel statements are antisemitic, but there was something about this one that was a little bit disturbing,” an alum from the Class of 1986 said in an interview with Mount Holyoke News.
The alum, who requested to remain anonymous for safety reasons, was referring to chalkboard messaging and an antisemitic flier they found while visiting campus with a friend on Oct. 26, 2023.
Making student-oriented decisions, introducing fine-tuned initiatives and engaging with powerful voices are only some of the many undertakings the recently elected Class of 2027 student government board claims they have chosen to pursue in the upcoming academic year.
A group of students organizing under the name MHC For Palestine with support from the Western Massachusetts Action Coalition gathered in front of Pratt Hall in support of a liberated Palestine at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 22.
Mount Holyoke College’s Student Government Association held its first meeting in two weeks on Tuesday, April 16, 2024. Last week, SGA did not hold its weekly senate meeting due to the annual BOOM! Conference. Because of this break, there was much to be addressed at this week’s meeting.