The group of student residential staff living on the College’s campus this fall is drastically smaller than previous years and they are working in unprecedented circumstances. Abiding by the social compact, and in some cases enforcing it, the responsibilities of Community Assistants (formerly known as Community Advisors) and Residential Fellows (formerly Senior Community Advisors) have shifted in response to COVID-19’s interruption to campus life.
“Back the Blue” Rally on Village Commons Met With Counter-Protests
On Monday, Sept. 7, a group of Trump supporters participated in a “Back the Blue” pro-police demonstration in front of the South Hadley Village Commons. The event, advertised on Facebook and hosted by Dianna Ploss, whose Facebook profile indicates she is a former Massachusetts deputy state campaign director for Donald J. Trump for President, garnered pushback from Mount Holyoke College students.
Brief: Quarantine policies on Mount Holyoke’s Campus
With COVID-19 affecting schools across the country, Mount Holyoke reversed their plan to bring students back to campus this fall. Instead, the fall semester is being conducted entirely online. This semester, the College is only allowing students to stay on campus if their travel home is restricted, if they cannot effectively work in their home environment or if campus is their legal permanent residence. These students are experiencing a different kind of college life on campus, as they now have specific guidelines to follow in regard to curbing the spread of COVID-19.
College Issues New Anti-Racism Plan
“Mount Holyoke must be persistent and uncompromising in addressing the challenges that members of our community who identify as BIPOC — Black, Indigenous and people of color — have brought to our attention. We must identify and address all forms of implicit and explicit racism, bias and discrimination on our campus,” wrote President of the College Sonya Stephens in an Aug. 27 letter to Mount Holyoke community members.
College reverses fall 2020 reopening plan
On Friday, Aug. 7, College President Sonya Stephens announced the reversal of Mount Holyoke’s original residential reopening plan. Following similar announcements by Smith College and the University of Massachusetts Amherst earlier in the week, Mount Holyoke became the third of the Five Colleges to disinvite students from living on campus for the upcoming semester.
Residential Life Student Employees Share Their Experiences With Fall Planning: Inequitable Pay, Room and Board Fees, Increased Labor
Students were asked to decide by July 8 whether they wanted to take up Residential Life positions for which they had been previously hired. These positions, previously titled Senior Community Advisor and Community Advisor have been renamed based on modifications to responsibilities under the new social compact and campus reopening plan: Residential Fellow and Community Assistant, respectively.
International Students Are “Angry, Upset and Tired” Regarding Revised Financial Aid Packages, Academic Plan
Many rising juniors and seniors — as well as international students living domestically — were unsure if their requests to live on campus during the fall semester would be approved. For international students living outside of the U.S., returning to campus for the fall semester was never an option, as consulates remain closed in other countries.
ICE Rescinds New Guidelines, No Longer Mandating International Students Take In-Person Classes to Avoid Deportation
Photo by Ali Meizels ‘23
By Casey Roepke ’21
News Editor
The Trump administration and United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement recently rescinded a July 6 directive which would have stripped international students of their visas. This reversal in policy comes after a lawsuit filed by Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Days later, the universities were joined in suing the Trump administration by 17 states, led by Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey.
The original July 6 policy was set to bar international students from obtaining visas if their college classes were conducted entirely online. Those students, who were either attending colleges without in-person classes or were unable to reside on campus, would have been required to return to their respective countries of residence.
Bri Rhodes, director of international student advising at the McCulloch Center for Global Initiatives, wrote an email to international students on July 6. In the email, she wrote: “Mount Holyoke College is aware of guidelines released today by the federal government regarding on-line coursework by international students next academic year. While Mount Holyoke’s curriculum has both in-person and online components, this guidance does not address many of the unique situations in which our international students find themselves.”
Because the College’s official fall plan indicates that juniors and seniors will not generally reside on campus, the July 6 directive raised concerns for international students — particularly juniors and seniors — at Mount Holyoke.
“International students of all years are eligible to apply for on-campus housing, so we recommend anyone wanting to remain in the United States for the fall to apply as soon as possible,” Rhodes wrote. “We know this uncertainty is difficult, please know that the College is working on this as a top priority and we will share additional information just as soon as possible.”
According to The New York Times, “To maintain their status, many international students raced this week to enroll in in-person classes, even if they were not connected to their majors, and students at nearly a dozen universities started an online spreadsheet so that American students could try to swap in-person course spots with their foreign classmates.”
On July 8, Mount Holyoke President Sonya Stephens sent a statement to the College community regarding the ICE guidelines. In the statement, she wrote, “This action is of grave concern to us, putting at risk the wellbeing, education, aspirations and freedom of our international students, and the millions of other students and graduates pursuing education and work in the U.S.”
Stephens added, “It is particularly challenging and especially aggrieving in the current context of anti-immigrant rhetoric, stigmatization of Asian individuals in response to COVID-19 and the ongoing brutality and racism experienced by so many.”
Stephens wrote that the College supports these lawsuits, and Mount Holyoke was a signatory on an amicus brief in support of Harvard and MIT’s lawsuit challenging the regulation. According to Stephens’ statement, the College will make international students a priority in on-campus housing applications. It is unclear whether, following the rollback of the regulation, international students will still be prioritized in this way.
Mount Holyoke Releases Official Fall Plan, Including Information on Housing and Student Life
Trump’s Executive Order Stops US Government From Issuing New Work Visas
President Donald Trump issued an executive order to temporarily suspend new work visas on Monday, June 22. This executive order will combine with existing green card issuance restrictions to bar over 500,000 workers from entering the country, according to The New York Times. The order went into effect on June 24 and will continue through Dec. 31, 2020.