By Emma Quirk ‘26. A ‘Free Palestine’ sign placed on the walkway by Porter Hall.
By Madhavi Rao ’24 & Melanie Duronio ’26
Features Editor | Features Editor & MANAGING Editor of the web
CORRECTION: In a previous post, an incomplete draft of this story was inadvertently published. The story has since been updated to the correct final version.
Around 1 p.m. on Feb. 9, President Danielle Holley posted three Instagram stories documenting a visit to the Starbucks Headquarters with Mount Holyoke College alums employed at the corporation.
In light of the ongoing Starbucks boycotts as part of the pro-Palestine movement, Mount Holyoke students took to various social media platforms to criticize President Holley’s posts.
The first of the three-story posts featured a picture of Holley with four Mount Holyoke alums, with the caption “A great visit with Mount Holyoke alums who work @starbucks.” The second story is a picture of a building with the caption “Starbucks support center (headquarters).” The third story is a picture of three people standing in front of a quote painted on a wall, presumably at Starbucks HQ, with the caption “MHC alums tell us about the Starbucks mission.”
On the wall behind them reads the Starbucks mission statement: “With every cup, with every conversation, with every community — we nurture the limitless possibilities of human connection.”
“I was shocked,” Maille Romulus ’24 said. “When I saw [the Instagram stories], my heart dropped. … I couldn’t understand why [she was] posting it, and not only posting it but posting it three times and having three different stories.”
This trip was part of Mount Holyoke’s alumni networking and engagement efforts, which are “fostered in a variety of ways, including in-person group gathering of alums on campus and in locations across the country and around the world,” Director of News and Media Relations Christian Feuerstein wrote in a statement emailed to Mount Holyoke News. “Off-campus visits are held in private residences and places of employment, such as Starbucks headquarters, so the College can interact with several alumni at once.”
Feuerstein expanded on the alumni community, explaining that Mount Holyoke alumni are sought as volunteers for admissions recruitment, to serve as career advisors and mentors and to support “important initiatives and activities that directly benefit the campus community.”
“Our alum community — more than 40,000 alums strong — must remain active and vibrant to be able to support one another and the campus community; this ensures each new generation of students is able to embark on rewarding careers and reshape their communities and the world in their own distinctive ways,” President Holley said in an emailed statement delivered through Feuerstein to Mount Holyoke News. “I look forward to meeting more alum chapters and groups in the coming months.”
In the hours following Instagram story posts, students turned to the anonymous social media platform, Fizz, to condemn what many perceived as President Holley's alignment with the Starbucks organization.
A comment to a Fizz post of Holley’s first story by an anonymous user reads: “not them cheesin for a picture like ‘1..2..3.. genocide!’” In response to this post, another user commented: “All that for a free fucking frappe,” with the ‘unamused face’ and ‘skull’ emojis.
Other students expressed their disappointment in President Holley’s actions online through social media. “It’s honestly so upsetting as a [person of color] that Danielle continues to fuck up,” one anonymous Fizz user said. Another anonymous user posted, “not Danielle supporting Starbucks … had such high hopes for her.”
Romulus, who is president of the Mount Holyoke College Student Government Association, told Mount Holyoke News that she spoke to President Holley on Wednesday, Feb. 14, five days after the stories’ uploads. According to Romulus, “She told me this was not a statement, and she didn’t think that she was going to get that much backlash. It was simply visiting alums at a corporation that ended up being Starbucks.”
An article from Starbucks Stories & News, a website promoting news about the corporation, stated, “We [Starbucks] condemn violence, the loss of innocent life and all hate and weaponized speech. Despite false statements spread through social media, we have no political agenda. We do not use our profits to fund any government or military operations anywhere – and never have.”
In an interview with Mount Holyoke News, a first-year student, who asked not to be named, reiterated a feeling of disappointment, connecting it to the pro-Palestinian movement on campus.
“Students, particularly student activists, have been demanding so much of the administration,” the first-year student said. “We know that [President Holley] is aware of these boycotts. And Starbucks is one of the very popular boycotts by Americans and people across the country.”
The ongoing boycott of Starbucks by activists is in response to the corporation suing Starbucks Workers United, a union of its workers, for posting “Solidarity with Palestine!” on Oct. 9, 2023, on X, formerly known as Twitter.
The company alleged that the post violated its trademark name and logo by posting in support of Palestine and “angered hundreds of customers and damaged its reputation,” according to AP News. In response, Workers United stated that Starbucks “defamed the union by implying that it supports terrorism and violence.”
However, as of Feb. 27, Starbucks and Starbucks Workers United have agreed to talk about labor agreements and “[establish] a positive relationship in the interests of Starbucks partners,” in an announcement posted by Starbucks Executive Vice President and Chief Partner Officer Sara Kelly on Starbucks Stories & News.
According to TIME Magazine, the boycott against the Starbucks chain was not initiated by Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions, although it has backed the union. However, Starbucks’ alleged history of mistreating its workers and its lawsuit against the union have each contributed to the boycott by consumers. As such, Starbucks has become associated with the “big three” boycotted corporations in the pro-Palestinian movement alongside McDonald’s and Disney.
“We all as a community have a duty to know the news and know what’s going on,” the first-year student said. “I think part of that is being aware of what social justice actions we’re taking and how that plays out.”
In the weeks following President Holley’s Instagram stories, signs reading ‘Free Palestine’ and ‘Say No to Genocide’ appeared around campus. Signs were placed beside dorms and walkways, with one sign appearing in front of the Mount Holyoke College sign facing the turn between College Street and Church Street.
Many were placed outside President Holley’s house along her fence, walkway and front steps. Some residents in Pearsons Hall, located to the front-right of the President’s House, even placed homemade signs in their windows.
“My window faces pres holley’s house directly and i put up a sign [that] says ‘free palestine holley do better’ word for word [—] FREE PALESTINE,” one anonymous Fizz user said, with two ‘double mark exclamation mark’ emojis. In a reply to the original post, the user added, “we have to speak our truth/let the word out somehow to this woman apparently that specializes in racial/gender politics and ‘speaks our truth’ as people of color.”
Photos by Melanie Duronio ‘26 and Betty Smart ‘26.
As of the time of reporting, President Holley has not made a statement regarding Israel or Palestine. “I don’t think she [Holley] ever wanted to give a statement,” Romulus said. “I don’t think the College wanted her to.”
Within the Five College Consortium, Mount Holyoke College and Hampshire College are the only two that have not made an official statement regarding the events of Oct. 7. However, in 2009, Hampshire became the first College in the United States “to divest from companies on the grounds of their involvement in the Israeli occupation of Palestine,” according to the BDS website. All Five Colleges have taken a stance of neutrality.
“I think neutrality is a very interesting concept because that implies that there isn’t a right and wrong,” the first-year student said. “I would say a lot of students on campus feel that there is an explicit right and wrong in this situation — and [to disagree] with that is to stand on the side of the oppressor. And I think there’s also this idea that it’s a really complicated situation, so people are hesitant to speak out on it. … I think there is a time for neutrality [but] personally, I don’t think this is the time.”
Mount Holyoke student activists, like the group Students for Justice in Palestine, have requested transparency regarding the College’s investments and financial ties, particularly towards Costa Coffee, an acquisition of the Coca-Cola Company. These demands have not been met at the time of reporting.
“It’s not like we can hop on a plane and start giving out humanitarian aid, so a lot of people feel complicit,” Romulus said. “The one thing that we can control is what happens at the institution that we attend and the place that we’re giving our money to.”
One Fizz post questioned President Holley’s motivations, stating, “Random and weird PR stunt with Starbucks during a global boycott as if to rub it in our face, so pathetic.”
“If anything, it communicates ignorance,” the first-year student said. “In the scenario that she doesn’t know Starbucks has a connection … then it’s ignorance about not having learned about that and [seeing] a connection. And if she did do it intentionally, I think that speaks to something else. But I don’t have a way of knowing whether it’s intentional or not.”
Overall, the first-year student wants the Mount Holyoke administration to “think about the social impact that this [situation] has on your students, particularly students of color and your student activists.”
“I feel like as an administrator, you have a duty to the students … to communicate with them and meet their needs,” the first-year said. “And to not only go against something that students have been fighting for but to actively take an extra step, I wouldn’t say I was surprised, but I would say [I was] disappointed.”
According to Romulus, after the two of them were able to meet, “[President Holley] understands why people are upset, [why there was] a backlash and that she shouldn’t have posted it,” she said. “She points back to a lot of her work [as a] human rights lawyer, and so people should keep that in mind when making certain judgements on her, her character and her actions.”
Editor’s Note: Mount Holyoke News reached out to President Holley for direct comment, but was referred to Christian Feuerstein for a statement.