BY OLIVIA MARBLE ’21
As a bisexual woman, I often feel very torn about the negative perception of cis men on campus. On one hand, I feel very connected to the queer community and I empathize with the general feeling of wariness towards cis men. But on the other hand, I am in love with a cis man, and the fact that people on this campus judge him solely because of his gender identity feels wrong to me.
BY CHLOE JENSEN ’20
On March 30, Noor Salman, the widow of 2016 Pulse nightclub shooter Omar Mateen, was acquitted of all charges of supposed aiding and abetting. Mateen killed himself after committing this atrocity, but victims and families of the massacre still wanted justice. However, the defense team, according to The New York Times, successfully argued that Salman did not reasonably withhold knowledge about the crime before it occurred, and the jury found her innocent. While the defense team based their argument on whether or not Salman knew about or withheld information about her husband’s crime, there was a huge aspect of the case that was largely left out of the courtroom: Mateen’s history of domestic violence and abuse of Salman.
Dear Mount Holyoke News,
I want to offer a correction to your reporting of “Noche Latina” in the March 29 issue. The student PowerPoint presentation about sanctuary was about immigrant sanctuary and not sanctuary from Hurricane Maria and the Trump administration’s response to the catastrophe. My class, “History of Deportation,” visited Springfield resident Lucío Pérez in sanctuary at the First Congregational Church in Amherst. He has been there since October. The students also held a fundraiser for the Pérez family.
Sex education is a field where inclusion of sexual and gender diversity is key. If the goal is ensuring that those who have the least access to sexual health resources (sexual and gender minorities) receive the most knowledge, we need to provide information that is relevant to queer and trans populations. Despite this logic, many sex ed classes continue to only discuss heterosexual, cisgender encounters. This omission of trans and queer experiences in sex ed can leave queer people feeling uninformed — and results in serious health consequences. For example, trans and gender nonconforming people are at higher risk for HIV infection than the general population. From 2009 to 2014, 2,351 transgender people were diagnosed with HIV in the United States, according to the CDC. Eighty-four percent (1,974) were transgender women and 15 percent (361) were transgender men.
BY SONYA STEPHENS
The College’s Strategic Plan for 2021 articulates four priorities, one of which is: “Mount Holyoke will shape and sustain an increasingly diverse, global and inclusive community of students, faculty and staff in an environment of mutual respect in which all thrive and contribute to the flourishing of others.” Our distinctive diversity demands nothing less. And yet, like many colleges and universities, and like society more broadly, we still have a long way to go to fully achieve this aspiration.
Last week, the director of the FP program and a current FP scholar, who is the secretary of the FP Student Association (FPSA), responded to my article on FP housing in the March 8 issue of this newspaper. Since both articles claim to point out “inaccuracies” in my article, let me state clearly: I got every piece of information that appears in that article from either MHC newspaper archives or official sources. So, any “inaccuracy” began at the source. It would have been in the spirit of the honor code to acknowledge this, but that may be expecting too much at this stage. In this letter, I wish to give a few more details about this story.
BY OLIVIA MARBLE ’21
President Trump shocked the nation when he suggested using the death penalty against drug dealers as part of his outlined plan to combat the growing opioid crisis in a summit last month. The death penalty is almost exclusively used for homicide in the United States, making his statement incredibly unprecedented. While Trump’s plan to deal with this national emergency does include plans for treatment, they are vague, which is problematic because treatment accessibility is key in preventing more overdoses.
I am writing in response to the recent Op-Ed article, “In Light of New Housing Lottery, Are Frances Perkins Scholars Really Considered Equal to Their Peers?” that was featured in your March 8, 2018 edition. As a current Frances Perkins Scholar (FP), I would like the opportunity to not only respond, but to also help clear up some inaccurate information that was included in this article.
I am writing in response to the Op-Ed article in the March 8, 2018 edition entitled, “In light of new housing lottery, are Frances Perkins Scholars really considered equal to their peers?” As the director of the FP Program, I am compelled to answer the question and, in so doing, to correct some of the inaccuracies contained in the original article.
BY OLIVIA MARBLE ’21
One day, while my friends and I were having dinner, a friend of mine who is in a relationship said, “Oh guys, guess what? I have a crush on this girl in my class!” Even though I already knew he was polyamorous, his simple comment struck me. Throughout my relationships, I have felt a crushing guilt whenever I even recognized that someone other than my partner was attractive. Every time I have developed crushes on people while in a relationship, I pushed that person away because the guilt became too much for me to deal with.
BY MRINALINI PANDEY FP
Right after I returned to campus from winter break, I learned about major changes announced by the Office of Residential Life to the Frances Perkins (FP) housing situation. It was decided that next year, all FPs will move out of their current house, Dickinson Hall, to non-residential apartments on 57 College Street, 3 Park Street and 17 Morgan Street. These three buildings will have no wi-fi, no laundry and no housekeeping. When I decided to inquire further into this rather alarming development, I learned from Residential Life that the decision is a “purely financial” one, but will supposedly create a community bond for FP students.
BY RUMI HANDEN ’18
I got a text from my roommate immediately after getting out of my three-hour seminar, warning me, “This line is something else.” I intended, like most of the student body, to go to the Pattie Groves Health Center walk-in hours to get vaccinated for meningitis. The outbreak, as noted in the email from Marcella Runell Hall to all students, was no longer isolated to UMass, having been recently diagnosed at Smith College. We were encouraged in bolded letters “to receive vaccines for both meningitis serotypes.”
BY SRISHTI MUKHERJEE ’21
Justin Trudeau is an incredibly difficult guy to dislike: he looks like a movie star, urges all men to call themselves feminists and is everyone’s favorite liberal mascot. However, his recent trip to India has been somewhat damaging to an otherwise faultless image. Along with inviting Jaspal Atwal — an alleged Sikh extremist — to attend an official dinner in Delhi, another takeaway from his visit was his engagement in activities that some would consider to be cultural appropriation.
BY MADDY RITTER ’20
As I walked into Mead’s common room, spotting a tray of cookies and a few of my peers scattered amongst the plush seating, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. “Peer Led Queer Ed” doesn’t sound like the kind of event I would usually attend on a Tuesday night — I was already pretty well-versed in the nuances of living as a gay woman. I figured we might cover some things that had been left out of my high school curriculum … maybe gay sex! Instead, the “queer” sex ed workshop was completely lacking in adequate or accurate representations of the “queer” sex it claimed to teach. What purpose does the word “queer” have in the title of this workshop if not to describe its content and attract an audience who seeks out this information?
BY CHLOE JENSEN ’20
Since Feb. 11, the history department has attempted to address the protests in which students covered the boards of Skinner Hall with flyers demanding more faculty of color in the History Department. Like many responses to protests demanding more faculty of color, the history department claimed they were in support of the students’ demands, yet did not provide plans to implement change in the future.
BY LILY REAVIS ’21
Mandatory reporting laws exist with the best interests of sexual assault survivors in mind, but they often end up perpetuating trauma, especially for young victims. The government places minimal trust in young adults and complicates their situation without consideration of their personal requests and needs.
BY CHLOE JENSEN ’20
Scrolling through The New York Times website, I frequently see think pieces of a similar style about millennials. Although the specific topic varies, each of these articles seek to achieve one thing: to figure out who millennials are. Baby boomers and Generation X are obsessed with trying to define millennials. Whether it’s telling us we are the coddled and triggered generation, the technologically codependent generation or the generation with the most bizarre sense of humor, we have to be defined as a monolith, and more often than not, a negative one. Baby boomers and people in Generation X are also obsessed with asking what this means for them, and more dramatically, what this means for the planet.
BY OLIVIA MARBLE ’21
On my first day in the dishroom, I was prepared to be completely destroyed by the work I was about to do. I’d heard people were dropping shifts because the work was non-stop. I’ve worked as a cashier and a dishwasher, so I’m not unfamiliar with fast-paced work environments that can drive someone insane if unprepared. I filled up my water bottle, put my phone in my back pocket in case I needed to take an emergency “bathroom break” and headed to SuperBlanch.
