Photo taken by Tzav Harrel ‘24
By Declan Langton ’22
Editor-in-Chief
On Tuesday, Nov. 30, senate convened in the Great Room to discuss the 2021 Student Conference Committee survey results.
The meeting opened with a land acknowledgment read by Viveca Holman ’22, the PR Officer of the SGA Executive Board. The E-Board then updated senate on “Spirit Week” events, namely Small Business Saturday, where students can gather in the Great Room to sell products from their small businesses or their own clothes. This event still has sign-up slots left.
Once introductory business concluded, the group moved to their main discussion on the SCC survey, led by Ananya Singh ’22, Sophie Vincent ’22 and Juliet Porter ’24 .
Singh, Vincent and Porterpresented data collected from the 2021 survey with additional analysis dating back to 2016. Extra emphasis was placed on the spring and fall 2020 semesters.
Data relating to demographics revealed that 23.4 percent of the student body responded to the survey. The presenters concluded that the response rate dropped this past year due to the pandemic. Going forward, the goal is to receive above a 50 percent response rate for the data to be more accurate, according to the presenters.
Data from the 2021 survey revealed, among other things, that most students attended Mount Holyoke fully remotely last year, that over half of the student body is white, that over half identify as cisgender women and that most students are middle class.
Each year, the survey draws conclusions about departmental satisfaction — that is, which departments students are most confident receiving support from. This year, faculty ranked the highest, rather than LITS, which is usually the highest, according to the presenters. Residential Life and Public Safety and Service ranked the lowest.
When discussing incidents of bias, the survey showed that 12 percent of respondents have experienced incidents of bias in the past year. 20 percent of those students reported the incidents.
The final category discussed was “personal well-being.” Overall, personal well-being dropped by five percent between 2020 and 2021. Academics were cited as the main area of stress, as well as establishing a work-life balance between academics, jobs and time zones.
Those presenting the survey also clarified that student identifiers in the survey, such as sexuality, racial identities and class, are not defined in strict terms.
Following the SCC survey discussion, org and hall senators brought forward upcoming events, including a Hanukkah party hosted by the Jewish Student Union on Friday, Dec. 3 at 6 p.m. in the Eliot House, and the annual Vespers concert, taking place this year in Abbey Memorial Chapel on Sunday, Dec. 5 at 4:30 and 7 p.m.
Senators also raised concerns about the Dining Hall. One asked about the timeline for putting up signs on the Tranquility Room to limit noise in the space. Another senator raised concerns about hair in the ice cream containers. Another raised concerns about the Dickinson House radiators. The senator was encouraged to continue conversations with Facilities Management.
Before the meeting concluded, the E-Board discussed plans for the spring semester, including petitions for feedback, next steps for goals and introducing more town hall events, particularly with different departments.