The Feb. 8 SGA senate meeting opened with a land acknowledgment by Chair of Senate Shula Mathew ’22. The agenda for the meeting included an info session with Library, Information, and Technology Services in order to discuss the recent Wi-Fi outages on campus. Senators were asked to gather with their commission groups at the beginning of the meeting to submit questions for the info session.
Mount Holyoke RAs negotiate for higher pay
Student repeatedly targeted with antisemitic graffiti
“I might be loud and vibrant and outspoken. However, that does not give you the right to put up hate signs against me,” an anonymous resident of 1837 said. The student, a member of the Jewish community, was the repeated target of antisemitic graffiti at Mount Holyoke College in fall 2021.
As previously reported by Mount Holyoke News, a Nazi swastika was found drawn on the mirror of the single stall bathroom on the third floor of 1837 Hall on Oct. 6. Since then, two further incidents of antisemitic vandalism have occurred on this floor, all explicitly targeting this student.
Spring semester begins with virtual learning, testing requirements
Following changes to the spring semester move-in plan, Mount Holyoke students and community members have begun adapting to two weeks of remote learning as well as new COVID-19 quarantine and isolation procedures. On Jan. 13, President Sonya Stephens announced significant changes to the College’s spring semester plan, which included details regarding move-in, remote learning and testing requirements. This email was sent 11 days prior to the start of classes.
Dining options restricted at the start of semester
“There is no eating anywhere in Blanchard Hall or the Great Room until further notice,” Marcella Runell Hall, dean of students, wrote in an email sent out on Jan. 21.
Other dining hall updates listed in the email took effect on Jan. 18. Students with Accessibility accommodations will be allowed to sit in the dining hall, while all other students are required to eat in dorms or outside until further notice. Mount Holyoke employees are also not allowed dining hall access until further notice. The meal plan will remain the same and commuter students may purchase meal swipes on the dining hall website.
Childcare Review Committee chooses new provider
After an extensive search, the Child Care Review Group has selected Valley Opportunity Council as the new provider for on-campus childcare. The Child Care Review Group was formed in April 2021 after the College announced that childcare provider Bright Horizons would end its contract with the Gorse Children’s Center on June 30, 2022. The group of community members is chaired by Shannon Gurek, vice president for finance and administration and treasurer, and Jennifer Jacoby, associate professor of psychology and education and director of first-year seminars.
College to start spring 2022 with remote classes; College requires 3-layer masks
Mead opens for spring housing; Merrill students to return
In an Oct. 22 email obtained by Mount Holyoke News, Rachel Alldis, associate dean of students and director of Residential Life, officially announced to all students currently living at Hampshire College that they would be moving to the Mount Holyoke campus for the spring semester. The email confirmed that Mead Hall, the residence hall struck by lightning in August, will open in January for student housing.
Indigenous remains repatriated from Mount Holyoke over 30 years later
“It feels good that we got to this place, but it is tempered with [the fact] that it should have never happened in the first place, and [that] it took this long for it [repatriation] to happen,” Aaron Miller, associate curator of visual and material culture and Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act coordinator at Mount Holyoke, said.
Former Mills College student responds to merger with Northeastern
Mills College was the first historically women’s college to be founded west of the Rocky Mountains. Now, it will be the first West Coast HWC to become formally co-ed. Mills agreed to a merger with Northeastern University in spring 2021 that will take effect on July 1, 2022, according to the Mills College website. Discussions of a possible closure or merger at the College have been ongoing since 2020.