SGA holds a chest binder drive for the student community

Graphic by Sunny Wei ‘23.

By Rebecca Gagnon ’23

Staff Writer

As its second major move in the 2022-23 academic year, the first being free menstrual products in the bathrooms around campus, the Student Government Association has introduced a chest binder drive for the students of Mount Holyoke.

On Jan. 26, the SGA president, Maille Romulus ’24, sent an email announcing the binder drive that would take place the following day. 

The email stated, “Tomorrow at 5 p.m., SGA will be releasing a pre-order form for chest binders which will be first come first serve, because we have a limited amount of spots.”

With this message, a link to the website gc2b was attached where students could browse the variety of sizes and colors available to prepare to place an order for a binder when the form opened. 

Historically, chest binders have been used by transmasculine and nonbinary individuals to make their physical body reflect their gender identity. In addition, binders were used for fashion, cultural dress and even religious purposes. The concept of binders has been around for centuries, starting with tight corsets used to accomplish a desired figure. They also have taken the form of simple fabric strips wound around the chest to flatten one’s breasts. 

Today, instead of fabric strips, there are many companies that produce chest binders for purchase. However, they are not always affordable. This is the problem the SGA at Mount Holyoke wanted to tackle to meet the needs of the College community.

“[SGA] wanted to get binders to people that wanted them on campus,” Romulus explained. “The Lavender Committee was in charge of doing it last year and this year they were not able to and so we wanted to keep the tradition going … we just had to find the funding for it and get people chest binders.”

The Lavender Committee is a division within the SGA with the mission “to celebrate and support the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans/Transgender, Queer/Questioning, Intersex, Asexual/Aromantic and other identities community on the Mount Holyoke Campus.” However, because the committee isn’t as prominent on campus this year and is unable to hold the chest binder drive, Romulus concluded that the general SGA would present it since she had previously had students reach out and request it. 

In addition, there was a specific group of students that Romulus was hoping to provide for. “We really wanted to center first-gen[eration] low-income students that wanted binders and wouldn’t have been able to get them otherwise because … they’re $40,” Romulus stated. “That’s an expense … and not everyone has $40 to spend, so we really wanted to center that group of people so they can have the care that they need.”

It has been Romulus’s goal throughout her presidency to create an environment where everyone on campus feels like they belong. Her approach has been to listen to all the needs of other students and assist them when able.

With this in mind, Romulus began searching for a company to partner with. Romulus asked around and received a unanimous recommendation from friends to use the website gc2b.

“We really wanted to center first-gen[eration] low-income students that wanted binders and wouldn’t have been able to get them otherwise because … they’re $40. …We really wanted to center that group of people so they can have the care that they need.”

— Maille Romulus

gc2b’s mission statement states, “Over the past three years, we have sponsored 100+ LGBT organizations and donated over 6000+ chest binders to be distributed to people in need. We’ve attended numerous conferences and Pride events, and we’ve collaborated with local and global organizations committed to positive change. Our core mission has evolved: we’re not only a brand providing gender-affirming apparel, but an active part of a movement.”

However, at 8:00 a.m. on Jan. 27, nine hours before the form was supposed to open for people to order chest binders, another email was sent by Romulus. In this, she stated, “There are some concerns about the safety of GC2B binders, so we will be purchasing binder[s] from another company, FYTIST.”

“I got feedback from people telling me that [gc2b] is not the best, and here’s some other [companies] that we should work with,” Romulus stated. “Most of the research that I’ve seen shows that the quality has gotten worse over time and so I think last year … we didn’t get any complaints from it, but this year, people that have purchased binders from the company have complained about it, and so it … was safe last year, but this year, not so much.”

“Some people already use [gc2b], and they said that the binders hurt,” Ellie Do ’25, the vice president of the SGA, added. “So we … switch[ed] to another binder company that they would recommend [because] … it’s better for you. I don’t know if there’s a difference in price, but [there] is definitely a difference in quality.”

The FYTIST website states that “Binding should not be categorized, it is an essential and fundamental need for some. However, we have learnt that this basic need is significantly undervalued.” 

Therefore, this company has been formed to provide this basic need to society. In addition, the website mentions concerns about safety, such as the risks and side effects of wearing a binder, if one can exercise while binding and how to establish a plan for wearing one.

Unfortunately, changing the company the SGA would order from on such short notice provided some challenges. Romulus explained that gc2b has all their products in stock, which would mean students would obtain the chest binders fairly quickly. However, many of the new company’s items were out of stock. Romulus swiftly concluded that she would rather wait longer to get more durable and safer binders than purchase ones that would bring discomfort and more risks. Although the company was out of stock, Romulus and the rest of the SGA E-Board members were determined to get the orders as quickly as possible. They continued with the drive as planned and monitored the website to see if the company restocked.

At 5 p.m. on Jan. 27, the SGA released the order form and students were allowed to order a chest binder from the website.

“After 30 minutes of opening the forms, I think we’re already at our limit,” Do stated. “That is why … they have to send an email out a day before to say ‘oh, this is happening. Here’s a form. This is a time that is happening. So you guys should be … prepare[ed] for it’ and once we open[ed] the form, only thirty minutes later it was out.”

Romulus immediately closed the form when they hit their maximum number of 70 orders so the SGA would not have to tell students “no.” In the following few days, she and the other board members continued to monitor the FYTIST website. 

“Tahin Osborne [‘23], the DEI officer, created a spreadsheet and … went on the website to see what was in stock and what wasn’t in stock,” Romulus explained. “So with 70 orders, they have this color-coded [spreadsheet] of ‘okay, this is in stock and this is added to the cart.’”

Through this method, the SGA was able to purchase 30 binders in the first batch which will be arriving around Feb. 15. The following 40 orders were purchased shortly after when they noticed the company had restocked. 

“We [Romulus and Osborne] were in [a] seminar and we had a 10-minute break and during the 10-minute break … I was like, ‘Oh, I wonder if … the binders are in stock,’” Romulus recalled. When she went on the website, Romulus saw that almost all the products were restocked and up for purchase. 

“And so [Osborne] stepped out [and] they called the company,” Romulus continued. “They spent the whole 10 minutes of the break from our three-hour seminar ordering the last 40-something binders.”

The new batch of binders will be arriving toward the end of February, with a hope of distribution sometime next month. Although it depends on the following SGA presidents, Romulus foresees the chest binder drive being held annually. 

“A binder [is] such a special thing,” Romulus finished. She stated how, in her friends who wear chest binders, she noticed a major difference once they started using them. “[It’s] just a confidence. How they think about things and something that … cisgender people have the privilege of not thinking about. Trans people, or just people that wear binders and nonbinary individuals, just are always thinking about [these feelings] and so I can just see how essential … a binder is.”

Deconstructing and Decolonizing Wellness Fair shows cultural and religious practices

Photo courtesy of Nafeesah Ahmed-Adedoja '23. The Muslim Student Association's booth, pictured above, featured dates, a prayer mat, and more.

By Jesse Hausknecht-Brown ’25

Managing Editor of Layout & Features Editor

Numerous colorful flags from countries around the world hung from the balconies in the Great Room in the Blanchard Community Center on Sunday, Nov. 13, during Mount Holyoke’s first-ever Deconstructing and Decolonizing Wellness Fair. Mount Holyoke Peer Health Educators hosted the fair in collaboration with some of the campus’ cultural and religious organizations. Peer Health Educator and Wellness Chair Nafeesah Ahmed-Adedoja ’23 led the event planning along with the other two members of the Wellness Team, Raven Joseph ’25 and Sean Fabrega ’23, as well as Be Well Area Coordinator Sarah Garijo-Garde.

Ahmed-Adedoja explained that Joseph had read an article about decolonizing wellness and shared the idea with the team. From there, they came up with the idea for the fair. “We felt it was important to highlight practices that may not appear in the mainstream and bring awareness to [them] in our community,” Ahmed-Adedoja said.

The team had been working on planning this event since September. They wanted to make sure that they were presenting authentic cultural traditions and wellness practices. In early October, they reached out to the following groups and organizations: Mount Holyoke African and Caribbean Student Association, La Unidad, Jewish Student Union, Muslim Student Association, Origami Club, Students of Hinduism Reaching Inwards, Asian Center for Empowerment, Counseling Service, Health Services, Daughters of Zion and FAMILIA.

“Firstly, we wanted to ensure that we were accurately representing cultures and spiritual [and] religious practices from around the world and decided to get organizations on campus involved to reach our goals,” Ahmed-Adedoja said. “We also had to do a lot of research on food, drinks and other items to make our event come to life.” Seven restaurants catered the event: Priya Indian Cuisine, Jamaica Spice Paradise, El Comalito, Oriental Flavor, IYA Sushi and Noodle Kitchen South Hadley, Bernardino’s Bakery and LimeRed Teahouse.

The Wellness Team wanted to publicize the event early on and tabled in Blanch for two weeks prior to the fair. They raised money for the Crisis Text Line and The Trevor Project by selling “flowers and tea” goodie bags. The team anticipated a 40-person turn out and were happily surprised to see over 100 people attend the fair and, as Ahmed-Adedoja stated, “learn about cultural and religious wellness traditions, make stress balls, spin the wheel and get a bite to eat.”

Joseph was also surprised to see how many people showed up and was “relieved” to see that students were having a good time and engaging with the booths. “This event was necessary because it acknowledged the disconnect we have with the origins of wellness practices seen in mainstream media today,” Joseph said. “Notably, the portrayal of wellness often reflects how it has been stripped of its history to become inaccessible and more profitable.”

Ahmed-Adedoja hopes that the Peer Health Educators host more wellness fairs in the future, especially because the team received positive feedback from students regarding the fair. “During and after the event people were hoping it would become a long-standing tradition which excited [Fabrega], [Joseph] and I,” Ahmed-Adedoja said.

Ahmed-Adedoja serves as the secretary and Five College representative for the Muslim Student Association board and enjoyed running the MSA’s booth at the fair. “Our booth included dates, prayer beads, sweets, quran, henna, prayer mat and zam zam water. As Muslims, we have many ways which we connect to Wellness through our faith and items that are of huge significance in Islamic history and our everyday lives,” Ahmed-Adedoja said. “We hoped to share and enlighten others of what some of these practices were and also provide other Muslims with a sense of empowerment and recognition.”

Joseph enjoyed getting to work with other student organizations on campus. “I’m glad we collaborated with them because we couldn’t have done this without their hard work,” Joseph said.

Ahmed-Adedoja enjoyed getting to work with Joseph and Fabrega and is excited to plan similar events with them in the future. “Working with [Fabrega] and [Joseph] has honestly been the highlight of my semester and I am excited to see what we do next semester as we work toward part two of the Deconstructing and Decolonizing Wellness Fair, [which will include] a speaker and more.”

AccessAbility Services changes name to Disability Services

Photo by Tzav Harrel ’24.
Disability Services’ office is in Mary Lyon Hall.

By Arianna Peña ’25

Staff Writer

Content warning: This article mentions ableism.

What is the best way to serve and affirm disabled students on campus? This question has been posed by students, fellows and staff at the newly-named Disability Services office, some of whom hope that this name change alters the perspective of students across campus regarding the use of the word disability.

 On Sept. 1, 2022, the Disability Services team sent an email to students across campus with updates regarding office and staff email communication, staffing, drop-in hours, making appointments, note-taking and accommodations for the upcoming 2022-2023 school year. The first part of the email announced the recent name change of the office from AccessAbility Services to Disability Services. 

In the email, team members C. Ross, Emily Dean and Zemora Tevah addressed that “over the years, the office staff, students, staff and faculty raised questions about the office’s previous name, AccessAbility Services.” They continued by explaining that in Spring 2022, the office staff partnered with Dean of the College and Vice President for Student Success Amber Douglas and “engaged in conversations with students and campus partners about alternative names that reflected the work of the office and communicated [its] commitment to support students with disabilities on campus.”

As described on their website, “Disability Services works with students to provide reasonable accommodations for those that have documented disability, and/or disability-related needs.”

While the Disability Services office provides accommodations, assistive technology and support to students with documented disabilities or disability-related needs, as stated on their website, it also works to provide those who need accommodations for religious purposes.

Earl Wren ’24, a Disability Services fellow for the 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 school years, was part of the name change process that began last year. “The name change was proposed by the 2021-2022 disability fellows and I believe I was actually the first fellow to mention it. We were able to fit the name change in at the second semester I believe, and focus groups were held in the same semester open to all students registered with the office … to express student opinions on what the new name should be,” Wren said.

Karis Knoll ’25 attended these focus groups. As someone who has used Disability Services since their first semester, they were very interested in the name change process. “We talked through why ‘AccessAbility’ as a phrase wasn’t a good phrase, because it insinuates … that a student who uses ‘AccessAbility’ services needed to access ability, that there was something inherently inferior about the student that they needed help accessing something,” Knoll said.

“They — wider society, not just MHC — are trying to say that disabled people can do just as much as non-disabled people, which [is] a statement that, on a surface level, sounds progressive but when you dig deep, it is rooted in ableism and disability erasure,” Wren said.

Knoll and Wren, who both identify as disabled, agree that ‘disabled’ should not be viewed as a bad word. “My many debilitating disabilities do limit what activities I can do and what kind of life I can live in, and that’s okay. Some people believe admitting disability equals admitting the disabled person is lesser, but that is not true — it only reflects the person and society’s attitude towards disability, not the inherent worth of the disabled person,” Wren said.

While some students have mentioned that the change in name may further isolate students who are disabled from students who are not, Grace MacIntyre ’25, a fellow for Disability Services, added that “words and phrases like ‘AccessAbility,’ ‘differently abled,’ ‘special,’ etc. further reinforce in people’s minds that disability is a bad word that should be avoided and, by extension, disabled people too. This is primarily for the comfort of abled people, who don’t want to actively interact with the complexity of disability,” MacIntyre said.

Wren and MacIntyre also explained that while the change to Disability Services reflects how the office staff seek to affirm disabled students, it was also changed for clarity and ease. Students seeking accommodations or support from the Disability Services will now have an easier time searching for the offices as the purposeful misspelling of “AccessAbility” often made it harder to find the office online, a sentiment shared by Wren, Knoll and MacIntyre. Wren added that when they were a newly accepted Mount Holyoke student, the title “AccessAbility Services” made them nervous and hesitant to reach out.

“I personally feel like Disability Services correctly communicates what the actual services are and helps students know where to go to get their disability needs met,” Knoll said.

Overall, Wren, Knoll and MacIntyre are happy with the name change, citing that they hope it sparks conversation among nondisabled students and the Mount Holyoke community at large about why disabled is not a negative word. MacIntyre adds that they “hope with this name change, disabled students feel more supported and understood and nondisabled students will start to learn more about the Disability Justice Movement.”

For any student who may feel like they need the services provided, Disability Services can currently be reached by email at disability-services@mtholyoke.edu or in their office on the third floor of Mary Lyon Hall, which their website states is wheelchair accessible through the entrance on the ground floor. Open hours are Tuesday, Thursday and Friday from 1-2 p.m. while the College is in session.

Students fight for stricter campus COVID-19 regulations

Photo by Carmen Mickelson ’24.
Pictured above, the COVID-19 Testing Center, which isn’t currently operating. While students were required to test twice a week during the last school year, they are not required to test at all this year.

By Rebecca Gagnon ’23 & Jesse Hausknecht-Brown ’25

Features Editor | Managing Editor of Layout & Features Editor

Content warning: This article discusses ableism.

Petitions, signatures, demands and fear are just a few of the reactions that arose in the Mount Holyoke community when the announcement of relaxed COVID-19 regulations were heard.

After three semesters of required twice weekly testing for COVID-19 in addition to masking in virtually all public indoor areas, the College has now determined that these regulations and procedures will be removed for the 2022-2023 academic year. 

On July 28, 2022, Interim President Beverly Daniel Tatum distributed a newsletter to the community about the new expectations in place for the upcoming semester, under which COVID-19 regulations were loosened. In the newsletter, Tatum wrote, “While we have not yet reached a point where we can officially say that COVID-19 has moved fully from a pandemic stage to an endemic one, strategies are shifting, locally, nationally and internationally, toward policies that help us live with COVID-19 as an ever-present part of our daily lives. To that end, we are aiming to return to pre-pandemic operations as much as possible, with some additional precautions in place for the launch of the semester.” 

Under these new guidelines, students were required to have a negative COVID-19 test before arriving on campus. However, weekly testing is no longer required for students throughout the school year. Instead, only those who are symptomatic may receive a test through College Health Services. Employees faced the same expectation of arriving on campus with a negative COVID-19 test, and have been asked to obtain their own tests locally. 

“I remember reading [the new guidelines] and being like — we could do better. We can do better. Why aren’t we doing better? Since then, it’s kind of become my goal, my mission, to do better because if the school can’t do it,
I can do it.”

— Soli Guzman ’24

As for masking — contrary to the Spring 2022 semester when students were required to wear masks in any non-dining, indoor public space at all times — mask mandates for this semester tentatively end on September 30, as announced by the College’s Health and Safety Committee on Sept. 14. Another change is that visitors are now welcomed back to the College at any point. All guests are asked to self assess symptoms while overnight guests must be registered and fully vaccinated. 

After reading the newsletter, students, faculty, staff, alums and parents of the Mount Holyoke community have expressed concerns about the new guidelines and their ability to keep people safe.

“I was really frustrated about it because I felt like in the past couple of years, … this was kind of a bubble that was safer,” Sophie Coyne ’24 expressed. “That was something that made me feel a lot safer … being on campus and more comfortable, at times relaxing my own [COVID-19] restrictions because I was aware of what the [COVID-19] rates on campus were like, or if the people around me were getting tested.”

For Soli Guzman ’24, the new policy did not meet the needs of vulnerable students in the College community. “I remember being extremely angry because the school is constantly saying that ‘We care about our students, we care about our trans students, we care about our disabled students’ and they pull shit like this,” Guzman stated.

Coyne feels the new policy is potentially dangerous for the health and safety of disabled and immunocompromised members of the Mount Holyoke community. “Also, generally — as somebody who is potentially immunocompromised or at least chronically ill — it’s really scary,” Coyne said. “I know for other chronically ill and disabled students on campus this can be very much a life or death thing. But also … [COVID-19] can disable anyone.”

From these concerns arose an idea to begin a petition demanding that the College return to its previous guidelines to keep the entire community safe. This petition was started by Coyne and Guzman on change.org and circulated to a variety of members of the Mount Holyoke community throughout the summer of 2022.

“I remember reading [the new guidelines] and being like — we could do better. We can do better. Why aren't we doing better?” Guzman said. “Since then, it’s kind of become my goal, my mission, to do better because if the school can’t do it, I can do it.”

Coyne expressed a similar idea as to why they chose to begin the petition. “We were like, ‘If we’re going to email [the College], it will look better if there are more people on that side.’ It also gets the word out to students who, coming into the year, weren’t thinking about how [COVID-19] might be on campus, since there is [such] broad support, at least, for testing. Also for continuing masking if there’s no testing, because people liked the peace of mind of it.”

In the introduction of the petition, Coyne and Guzman call to all students, faculty, and staff to truly think about the guidelines for the upcoming year and if they keep the community safe. The document states, “Previous relaxing of COVID-19 restrictions led to increased cases on campus, particularly toward the end of spring semester 2022, and it is deeply concerning that [COVID-19] precautions that proved effective this past year are not going to be available this upcoming semester.” 

To this extent, Coyne and Guzman asked for the reinstatement of mandatory asymptomatic testing twice a week for all students and staff, that mask mandates remain in indoor facilities — especially classrooms — to reduce the risk of the spread of airborne diseases and a call for “a more detailed action plan” on the emergent monkeypox virus.

At the commencement of the Fall 2022 semester the petition had accumulated 346 signatures. In addition, several of those who had signed it were inclined to comment on their reasoning for returning guidelines to their previous state.

“Without required asymptomatic testing it’s impossible for anyone to make informed decisions — also rendering it impossible for the College to make changes if there were (and with conditions as they are, this is very likely) a large-scale break out on campus,” an anonymous Mount Holyoke junior wrote in the comment section of the petition. “No required asymptomatic testing = no information. If no changes are made to the current plan in time for the semester to start, student, faculty and staff safety is going to be actively undermined.”

After returning to campus, the aforementioned student’s worries have only gotten worse. They described feeling like they know COVID-19 is going around campus and are scared that there is no way to know the full extent of the problem without regular testing. “As recently as this week, I’ve spoken to an RA who told me that their residents have come to them, panicking, when their roommate has [COVID-19], not knowing what else to do,” they said. “One student has even gone as far as to sleep in the common room to try and avoid infection.” 

Community members, not just those physically on campus currently, are concerned about the College’s new policies. Anneke Craig ’22 added a comment on the petition which read: “I’m a ’22 grad. Last year, MHC’s exceptional COVID policies kept me, my fellow students, and my loved ones — including immunocompromised and health care worker family members — much safer. Without the testing program and masks, my parents and sibling would not have been able to see me graduate. I urge the college to reconsider this decision and restore the testing and masking policies for this year. Protect disabled students, faculty, staff and community members now!”

Another alum, Lauren Fuller ’22, stated, “I signed the petition because I support the Mount Holyoke community, and I believe that everyone in our community deserves to access our spaces with minimal risk. I feel we have an obligation to minimize [the] risk of contracting COVID-19 wherever possible. … Mount Holyoke was the only place I lived in where I had the assurance that everyone in my community was not only masked, but tested frequently. I think it was the only place I've experienced during the pandemic where I was not very worried about contracting it.”

“Also, generally — as somebody who is potentially immunocompromised or at least chronically ill — it’s really scary. I know for other chronically ill and disabled students on campus this can be very much a life or death thing. But also ... [COVID-19] can disable anyone.”

— Sophie Coyne ’23

With the signatures and concerns from fellow students, alums, faculty and parents from the petition in mind, Conye and Guzman brought their efforts to the school’s attention in an email sent to Dean of Students Amber Douglas, Health Services, Medical Director Cheryl Flynn, the Office of the Provost and Dean of Faculty and Disability Services.

In this email, Conye and Guzman brought up the three main points in their petition, expanding their reasoning. They remarked on the impacts of relaxing guidelines last year and the effect it had on students, including an uptick in COVID-19 cases. They went on to state that students who catch COVID-19 not only will be unable to make it to class, fall behind and potentially lose academic standing, but they run the risk of passing it on to other students, especially if they are asymptomatic. In addition, both Coyne and Guzman emphasized in their email that this virus, doesn’t just affect disabled students but can cause disabilities as well, citing a Time article which states, “A study posted online in June as a preprint (meaning it had not yet been peer-reviewed) found that reinfection adds ‘non-trivial risks’ of death, hospitalization and post-COVID health conditions, on top of those accumulated from an initial SARS-CoV-2 infection. Organ failure, heart disease, neurologic conditions, diabetes and more have been linked to SARS-CoV-2 infections.” 

The anonymous student echoed this sentiment and explained that they feel unsafe as a chronically ill, high risk student. They stressed the fact that all students — including able-bodied ones — are at risk of severe health complications. “Even if one believes that they will not get severely ill if they contract [COVID-19], more and more studies are showing the incredibly dangerous, long term impacts of this disease, even [in] mild cases. … The risk of all of this is known to only increase with each repeated infection.” 

Without free testing provided by the College, Coyne and Guzman are concerned about the inaccessibility of COVID-19 tests. Pioneer Valley Transit Authority buses and shuttles are offered at times that may not align with local business hours to obtain testing. In addition, a great number of pharmacies are now prioritizing drive-thru testing, which makes it difficult for students without access to a car to get tested. Coyne and Guzman’s email also reflects on the impact that insurance may have on one’s ability to obtain a test and the effect purchasing a test would have on low-income families.

In their email, Coyne and Guzman also mentioned the effectiveness of masking, drawing attention to a Boston University study published by the American Medical Association that demonstrates the importance of masking in a classroom.

To conclude the communication, Coyne and Guzman reminded the College about the importance of providing accommodations for the students most at risk from COVID-19 and ensuring that all students feel comfortable and safe returning to the campus for another semester.

“As a school that claims to be so progressive, we should be on the forefront of protecting disabled students and protecting students from becoming disabled, potentially,” Coyne stated. “I don’t want to wait until we have a student die of it, because that would be horrific. Luckily, nothing like that has happened yet, but you shouldn’t have to be forced to walk into a classroom where you might catch a deadly illness, and none of your classmates are potentially protected from it either.”

Guzman is passionate about fighting for this issue because they have seen that other students are worried about the new policies as well.

“I think our biggest push was seeing disabled students on Instagram complaining and being like, ‘I don’t feel safe.’ On top of that, seeing people on Twitter being like, ‘This doesn’t feel good for us,’” Guzman stated. 

Speaking from personal experience, Guzman went on to point out that it is not possible to know which community members may be impacted by shifts in COVID-19 restrictions. “I’m disabled [and] I don't look it. … I already have an autoimmune disease and for me — as someone who took an entire year online — the most important thing is for me to have a normal college experience. I have worked too hard to get here and not have that.”

Although Coyne stated that they had low expectations for their email to the College, they and Guzman did receive a response from the Health and Safety Committee. In their response, the Committee stated that vaccinations are still “one of the most effective ways to limit spread and severity” of COVID-19 and to that extent, “The College will continue to require all students and employees to receive a primary COVID-19 vaccination series and one booster for the 2022–2023 academic year.” In addition to this, the email also expressed that, since the CDC changed their guidelines to reflect that an asymptomatic person who has not knowingly been exposed to COVID-19 does not need to be tested, the College would not mandate it. However, every student may obtain a test through College Health Services. 

In addition, the Committee stated that they plan to monitor Hampshire County’s COVID-19 levels and make determinations based on their statistics. Finally, if any students wish to mask, they may. Immunocompromised students can contact Disability Services to discuss any accommodations that may be made in the classroom or help them through these guideline changes. 

After receiving this email, Conye and Guzman responded again to the Health and Safety Committee asking questions for clarification such as, “Does Mount Holyoke intend to increase or create shuttle services to locations providing PCR tests?” to help lower-income students and students without their own transportation on campus; “Will Health Services be providing PCR tests or rapid antigen tests to students with symptoms?” since PCR tests are the ones that are more likely to identify COVID-19 and “We ask: why is Mount Holyoke unable to offer optional, asymptomatic testing for students who may want it? If cost is a barrier, can you give us evidence that all COVID-19 mitigation funding the College received from the government has been used?” In addition to their questions, Coyne and Guzman stated that if testing was no longer an option available this academic year, mandatory masking in classrooms is the most effective alternative proven to keep students, faculty and staff safe. 

In the final email sent by the Health and Safety Committee, they once again stated their determination to monitor cases and indicated that Health Services would be available for testing for symptomatic or recently exposed individuals, additionally stating that masking was always welcomed in the community, even if not mandatory. 

This response was not satisfactory to Coyne or Guzman.

“They responded,” Guzman stated. “They responded to us like we didn’t read their email and [like] we didn’t read the current [COVID-19] policies. … Their response was basically sending us everything [they had already sent].” 

Guzman went on to state that although the Committee cited the CDC and stated that they were going to enforce vaccinations and boosters, the College hasn’t sent out any reminders of those things, which further upset them.

“I think what was frustrating was, it felt as if they didn’t really read our email or consider what we said, particularly in the second email they sent us. It genuinely looked like they hadn’t even read what we’d written,” Coyne expressed.

Members of the College administration could not be reached for comment by Mount Holyoke News. 

Although Coyne and Guzman have not responded to the last email the Committee sent, they do not plan to stop here.

“We are now considering what other methods could be potentially [used],” Coyne stated. “Maybe going through SGA or something like that to continue to raise the concern since it’s clear that the email route isn’t really working.”

Both students feel as though student voices are not being heard under the COVID-19 guidelines and wish to keep pursuing the matter. Coyne and Guzman want to stand up not only for their concerns, but also the concerns of parents, alums, faculty and other students who do not feel able to stand up for themselves.

“I want the student body to fight for this,” Guzman finished. “My biggest worry is that we’re just [going to] give up and people are gonna get sick. … We’re saying this because we want to live, and we’re not going to be able to live without caring about other people. It’s just a simple form of humanity, and that’s why I think we need to get [testing and masking] back.”