Administration grapples with diversity recognition: what is a “women’s college”?
The title of a “women’s college” is heavily debated. On its website, Mount Holyoke uses the term “women’s college.” Most prominently, it is found on the College’s “About” page, where the College describes itself as “a women’s College that is gender diverse,” going on to say, “we welcome application from female, transgender and nonbinary students.”
Walker brings magic to English department
Senate aims to increase transparency
Hampshire community faces the future by commemorating the past
n the midst of the chaos at Hampshire College stands a 6-by-15-foot portrait of two symbolic Hampshire College activists: former professor James Baldwin and alum Cara Page. Both Baldwin and Page reflect values that Hampshire College has embodied such as community service and advocating for equal opportunity.
Shani Mensing ’15: Mount Holyoke alum behind the newly renovated Fimble Makerspace
In the new Mount Holyoke Makerspace, sunlight shines through the large floor-to-ceiling windows from the lake outside and pools around alum Shani Mensing ’15. Mensing’s role within the newly constructed space is the Fimble Maker Innovation Lab Coordinator and Technical Specialist — but she was also there from the beginning, when the Makerspace was just a small room and a big idea.
Shifting landscapes: A look into Blanch before it was “super”
When they arrived on campus in the fall of 2017, the members of the class of 2021 became the last to experience Mount Holyoke’s traditional dining arrangements before the renovated Dining Commons opened in Blanchard Hall in January 2018. Before this, Blanchard served several different purposes for the College.
“Be Well, Be Ready” series begins with housing advice
Has MGM lived up to its economic promise?
BY KILLIAN DOBROTH
An older man in a blue overcoat and a gray vest stood by a translucent slot machine, ordering a drink. His face was spotted with brown freckles and wrinkles and he wore a pair of roundish glasses. “There’s an old adage,” said the man, John Tranghese of Chicopee. “It goes like this: ‘any port in a storm will do. This casino is our Pioneer Valley port in a storm.”
Dis-O: Mount Holyoke, what’s happening to me?
Mount Holyoke hosts Five College Philosophy Conference
On Feb. 15 and 16, Mount Holyoke College hosted the annual Five College Philosophy Conference, sponsored by the philosophy department and the Philosophy Society. The first day consisted of a series of workshops geared towards philosophy students. On the second day, students presented their ideas on topics ranging from environmental ethics to just war theory.
New Living Learning Communities introduced
BY SAACHI KHANDPUR ’22
Rachel Alldis announced in an email to the Mount Holyoke community on Feb. 5, 2019 that Residential Life is launching three new Living Learning Communities. These new additions contribute to a total of fourteen LLCs at Mount Holyoke, each based on a common interest or shared identity.
MoRomance: Dirty Dancing
SGA Spotlight: Committee Yourself Week
BY ANNAMARIE WIRE ’22, SAEE CHITALE ’22 AND SAM HERSH ’19
Student Government Association (SGA) Committees are student-run focus groups that work to solve problems to plan and to regulate systems that enable the smooth functioning of various aspects of the Mount Holyoke community. In honor of Committee Yourself Week, the Mount Holyoke News wanted to take the time to feature a few of the many committees that are now accepting new student members.
Mary Lyon’s vision prevails: Campus remains residential
Springie Spotlight!
New Makerspace opens in Prospect
Discussions of diversity in philosophy spark curriculum changes
Kijua Sanders-McMurtry: Mount Holyoke’s first chief diversity officer
BY ANNAMARIE WIRE ’22
Mount Holyoke’s first chief diversity officer Kijua Sanders-McMurtry began her work with diversity at an early age. Raised in Pasadena, California, her parents were activists who belonged to an organization that was in part responsible for the founding of Kwanzaa. “I really feel like my parents being in this very radical organization, [that was] honestly misogynistic in the way it treated women, made me really question and interrogate [...] differences, culture and diversity,” she said.
Students speak out with “Mount Holyoke Doesn’t Teach Me” photo project
Mara Kleinberg ’22 holds a sign reading “Mount Holyoke doesn’t teach me any other music for vespers besides Christmas carols which violate my faith.”
Hunar Anand ’21 holds a sign reading “Mount Holyoke doesn’t teach me about my religion — Sikhism.”
Lynn Shen ’19 holds a sign reading “Mount Holyoke doesn’t teach me non-Euro-American centric environmental issues/actions/histories.”
Sophie Vincent ’22 holds a sign reading “Mount Holyoke doesn’t teach me the histories of acts of violence committed against ethnic minorities outside the U.S.A.”
BY GABRIELLE SHANG ’22
Representatives from six student organizations organized a photo campaign at Blanchard Community Center called “Mount Holyoke Doesn’t Teach Me” on Nov. 1. The goal of the campaign was to promote the representation of people of color — and many other marginalized identities — in liberal arts education. Students were provided a dry-erase board and a marker to respond to the prompt “Mount Holyoke Doesn’t Teach Me.”