33-year-old New York Times bestselling author and activist Elizabeth Smart visited the Mount Holyoke community on April 29 as part of the College’s Sexual Assault Awareness Month programming. Smart is known for her role in establishing safety legislation to prevent abductions, such as the national Amber Alert system. Smart promotes the possibility of “life after tragedy.”
Since March of this year, uncertainty about the future has become more inescapable than ever. However, in late October, Mount Holyoke students began to gain some clarity on what the spring 2021 semester could look like. On Oct. 28, Mount Holyoke College President Sonya Stephens announced in a letter to the community that up to 60 percent of the student body would be invited to return to campus — or arrive for the first time — for the spring semester, slated to begin in January 2021.
BY MADELINE FITZGERALD ’21
Any mention of the name Sonya Stephens is sure to stir up a heated conversation. In student Facebook groups, memes and jokes criticizing her presidency abound. And in real life, she had a sparsely attended inauguration, where the few audience members were predominantly guests from other colleges. While Stephens’ personal conduct plays a major role in this controversy, the College and indeed the nation at large is experiencing a cultural upheaval. Mount Holyoke has become a microcosm for major debates involving the diversity of race, politics and gender.
BY MADELINE FITZGERALD ’21
This is the first in a two-part series on Sonya Stephens, Mount Holyoke’s newly appointed 19th president.
Warm. Kind. Funny. Aloof. Deceptive. Racist. In her three-year tenure as acting president of Mount Holyoke, a myriad of descriptors have been thrown at Sonya Stephens. She is alternatively depicted as a kindhearted academic striving for diversity and a closed-off fundraiser known among students for her perceived insensitivity. The Board of Trustees appointed her to the presidency with “unanimous enthusiasm” but her inauguration was sparsely attended, with fewer than 50 students present.
