By Liz Lewis ‘22
Publisher & News Editor
On the final afternoon of Module 1, the student body received an email announcing the immediate beginning of a “24-Hour 2020 Mountain Day Experience.”
“It’s noon in South Hadley, 4 p.m. in Accra, 5 p.m. in London, 10 p.m. in New Delhi and midnight in Beijing,” read the email from College President Sonya Stephens. “This year’s Mountain Day is a 24 hour, self-directed and physically distanced adventure that begins for students once you’ve finished your Module 1 assignments and exams today, and goes from 4 till 4 EST.”
According to the notice, the 24-hour Mountain Day format was an attempt at making the tradition “as global and inclusive as our community, to celebrate together while apart and to make sure the spirit of Mountain Day reaches every corner of the globe and launches the mid-semester break, giving everyone, wherever they may be, plenty of time to join in.” It had already been announced that Mountain Day would take place during the intermission between modules, as previously reported by the Mount Holyoke News.
While the 24-hour format may have been more inclusive for the global Mount Holyoke community, many were quick to point out that the timing made Mountain Day inaccessible to any student with semester-extending academic accommodations. Students working from the United States received the announcement email several hours before finals had officially concluded.
Sawyer Klein ’22, who missed out on Mountain Day festivities due to extended deadlines, said the decision “felt like a bit of a slap in the face.”
Along with the accelerated pace and new remote curriculum of the module system, “this semester has already been trying for those of us who require accommodations,” Klein said, citing technological difficulties as a new layer to the challenges of distance learning.
Mountain Day overlapped with the tail end of the official module, even for students without extensions. Klein found the timing especially unfavorable considering that many extensions last two days at least.
“I’m not sure how much fun anyone else had during a pandemic, but I spent my Mountain Day writing papers, and the school has yet to acknowledge that this was how many students experienced the day,” they said. “Mountain Day was the perfect example of how much this school is okay with ignoring certain students.”
This incident marks the second Mountain Day-related controversy in two years. After Mountain Day 2019 was scheduled during Rosh Hashanah, Stephens and the College administration received backlash from the Jewish Student Union and the student body at large.
Despite the controversy, many students were still able to celebrate this Mountain Day in their own unique ways. Attached to the original email from Stephens was a webpage dedicated to the celebration, where the Mount Holyoke community could find suggestions on how to spend the day. Many of the self-directed activities listed on the website were variations of standard Mountain Day festivities, such as eating ice cream, enjoying the outdoors, applying temporary tattoos and connecting with other community members. Also provided on the website were Zoom backgrounds, graphics for social media, resources for finding local hikes in any area and a recipe for apple pie, courtesy of the Dining Hall staff.
In an effort to remain connected as a community through this beloved tradition, the 2020 Mountain Day Planning Committee also set up a social media hashtag, a community-curated Mountain Day playlist, a virtual M&Cs event and a livestream of a hike up to the Skinner State Park Summit House on Friday, Oct. 16.