DEI initiatives updated on campus
BY GILLIAN PETRARCA ’23
On Oct. 9, the Mount Holyoke community received an email update on the Diversity Equity and Inclusion initiative (DEI) from Kijua Sanders-McMurtry, Chief Diversity Officer and Vice President for Equity and Inclusion.
The email highlighted the launch of new diversity training and workshops, which staff will attend to better meet students’ needs. Other new initiatives include a new name change policy, which will be shared with the community in November. Coming in January, a week of human rights and social justice will be established in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Coretta Scott King.
Sanders-McMurtry ended the update by listing upcoming DEI Programs, with the soonest being, “The Reunion Project at Mount Holyoke College: Appreciating Generational Diversity in Dialogues Across Difference,” which will be held on Monday, Nov. 4 from 2-4 p.m. in Gamble Auditorium. This program will feature Mount Holyoke alums from the 1950s and 60s sharing their life stories from the past 70 years.
Blanchard dishwasher breaks down
BY KATE TURNER ’21
Around 10 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 25, the Dining Commons dishroom was shut down due to a blown fuse in the dishwasher. For the next three days, Dining Services operated using exclusively compostable dishes and flatware until they could acquire and install a new fuse for the machine. During this period, student workers assigned to the dishroom were informed that the machine was temporarily inoperable, but were asked to report to their shifts regardless, where they would be instructed what to do by a manager. Other permanent members of the Dining Commons staff also reported to work as normal during this time.
According to Mount Holyoke’s Director of Dining Services Richard Perna, the Dining Commons stocks at least seven days worth of emergency compostable materials at all times in case of a malfunction or emergency, and so they did not need to source any materials to account for the malfunction beyond the new fuse. As of Monday, Oct. 21 at 1 p.m., the dishroom has been fully operational.
Swastikas discovered on Smith buildings, Five College community responds
BY KATE TURNER ’21
Beginning Thursday, Oct. 24, Campus Police at Smith College responded to multiple reports of swastikas drawn in marker on the walls of various buildings on campus. After a more extensive search, police reported finding similar drawings in three academic buildings: Seelye, Bass and Burton Halls.
Smith College President Kathleen McCartney released a statement to the Smith College community later that day to “condemn in the strongest terms this act of hatred and cowardice.”
McCartney was joined by President Sonya Stephens, who described the vandalism as “an ugly reminder of the work that remains ahead of us,” in a letter to the Mount Holyoke community.
“The use of this symbol is meant to terrorize and demean our Jewish friends, family and colleagues,” Stephens wrote of the swastikas. “This symbol is an act of violence perpetrated against our entire community but has specific implications for the Jewish community, given the history and legacy associated with it.”
According to McCartney, campus police at Smith College are working with the Northampton Police Department to conduct a full search of campus for further vandalism.
Initial reports by Students in Alliance for Israel at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst stated that there were swastikas found on the Fine Arts Center on Wednesday, Oct. 30. More updates are expected in the coming days.