In honor of Sexual Assault Awareness Month, an annual commemoration overseen by the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, Mount Holyoke hosted a panel titled “Ending the Silence: Black Feminists Speak on Racial Terror and Gender-Based Violence” in Gamble Auditorium on the evening of Monday, April 24. In keeping with the 2023 SAAM theme of “Drawing Connections: Prevention Demands Equity,” the keynote panel centered discussions of gender violence examined through an intersectional lens.
Students from the University of Massachusetts Amherst led protests on their campus this weekend in response to allegations of sexual assault made against fraternity Theta Chi. A post on the anonymous social media app Yik Yak alleged a first-year student at the university had been drugged and assaulted by a member of the fraternity at a Theta Chi party on Saturday night, Sept. 18. The following Sunday, Sept. 19, around 300 people gathered outside the fraternity house to protest the member’s involvement in the sexual assault allegations.
Robert Ellis Hosmer Jr., an emeritus Smith College faculty member, was among the clergy members and lay employees named by the Diocese of Springfield, Mass. for sexually abusing a minor. Hosmer was named along with 60 others in a list first published on May 24. At Smith, Hosmer was a lecturer in the English Language & Literature department for 27 years. He retired in 2016 but has since occasionally taught courses. He taught most recently in spring 2020.
BY LIZ LEWIS ’22
Former Mount Holyoke staff member Sean Mulveyhill, according to a Boston Globe article published on April 11, is facing allegations of sexual assault against a Mount Holyoke student. He was fired from his position in Dining Services on March 22 after being placed on administrative leave for several weeks.
BY LILY REAVIS ’21
Content warning: this article references sexual assault.
This is a developing story and the Mount Holyoke News recognizes that the following topic is sensitive. Updates will be available in following print editions and on the Mount Holyoke News website as more information becomes available. — The Mount Holyoke News Executive Board
BY LILY REAVIS ’21
Content warning: this article references sexual assault.
On Oct. 13, the Associated Press (AP) published a story featuring a Mount Holyoke alumna’s account of an assault by a professor while she was a student at the College. Ruth D’Eredita ’84 said that she sent a letter to the College in October 2017 detailing the assault.
