In the most recent MHC This Week newsletter email, sent out to students on July 22, the College announced once again that it is preparing to welcome students back to campus for a full residential experience this fall.
Plans include a reversion to the 15-week semester system and in-person instruction. This is a departure from the 7-week module system enrolled students participated in during the 2020-21 academic year.
Mount Holyoke changed its school-wide meal plan for the 2021-22 academic year. Starting August 26, the Dining Commons will be open from 7:15 a.m. until 10 p.m. on weekdays and until midnight on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights. Late night will now begin at 8 p.m. The dining hall will no longer be closed from 4-5 p.m. In previous, pre-COVID-19 years, the dining hall was open until midnight each night.
“The Movement for Black Lives calls for us to … actively invest in systems that promote the wellbeing rather than the harm of Black people,” Adam Reid said at South Hadley’s annual Town Meeting on June 9, as he proposed a police budget decrease. The proposal, which would reallocate some money from the police budget to public schools, was shot down by voting members during the meeting.
Mead Hall was struck by lightning on Saturday, July 17. According to an email sent to the Mount Holyoke community by the Office of Communications, Mount Holyoke Public Safety and the South Hadley fire department were on the scene at just after the event, around 6 p.m. EDT. The building was unoccupied at the time of the lightning strike and the College reported no injuries. Reportedly, there was a fire on the top floor of the building.
Robert Ellis Hosmer Jr., an emeritus Smith College faculty member, was among the clergy members and lay employees named by the Diocese of Springfield, Mass. for sexually abusing a minor. Hosmer was named along with 60 others in a list first published on May 24. At Smith, Hosmer was a lecturer in the English Language & Literature department for 27 years. He retired in 2016 but has since occasionally taught courses. He taught most recently in spring 2020.
