Letter to the Editor: Concerning PPE for Low-Income Students

January 31, 2021

To whom it may concern,

My name’s Mariam and I’m a first-year low-income student who is on campus this semester. While speaking with some other low-income students on campus these past few weeks, I realized that many of us have been struggling to acquire adequate personal protective equipment (i.e. disposable face masks, rubber gloves, etc.) and cleaning products (i.e. paper towels, disinfectant spray, etc.). 

Last week, students received an email from Residential Life stating, “Cleaning materials will be provided for you in all bathrooms starting tomorrow, January 26, 2021 or you can purchase your own. If you need assistance purchasing materials, please consider accessing the Safety Net Fund.”

While the Safety Net Fund does present one point of access for these materials, there are still some things to consider.  

MHC has a limited amount of Safety Net funding available each semester that could hypothetically go towards acquiring personal protective equipment. However, there are a couple of drawbacks that come with this. 

First, many of the first-year, first-generation and low-income students I have spoken to are simply not aware that these funds are available to them, nor do they understand how to access them. 

Secondly, students may hesitate to tap into this funding for things like personal protective equipment when they have more urgent needs to be met. One portion of the Safety Net Fund application form reads, “Funding is not guaranteed, and students may be awarded less than the full amount requested. Each funding application is evaluated on a case-by-case basis. The Safety Net funds are available on a first-come, first-served basis until the fund is depleted.” 

Additionally, the most recent “Dean’s Corner” newsletter reiterated that. 

From this, I understand that I would be able to reapply for Safety Net funding later on. I also understand that I am less likely to receive the amount that I need every additional time that I ask. As a result, I am anxious to request funding for my immediate needs (read: personal protective equipment), lest something financially significant come up later on in the semester. Other students might echo this sentiment. I currently know of students who are planning to request funds for things like winter gear while still struggling to locate personal protective equipment.

Finally, there will undoubtedly be a delay between the time it takes students to request Safety Net funding and the time it takes the funding to hit their hands. This translates to a longer amount of time during which students do not have adequate personal protective equipment on campus. Any barrier toward the distribution of these materials is not only an issue of access but a risk to the entire campus community in the face of a global pandemic.

However, there are a few potential solutions to this problem. Another MHC first-year with whom I recently spoke suggested that disposable face masks and/or other materials be made available for pick-up at the Carr Lab during testing. This is an excellent idea, as it would be an effective and low-effort way to make sure these materials quickly make it into the hands of those who need them most. One institution here in Massachusetts provided a friend of mine with a set of 50 disposable face masks (which lasted her almost the entire semester) upon her arrival. They did the same for all students who were on campus in the fall. If MHC could replicate this model, even if only on a smaller, need-based scale, it would make the campus safer for everyone.

We have brought a significant number of students back on campus during a pandemic. With that, we need to make sure that they have access to adequate resources to live and thrive here safely. If we are going to “open the gates,” then we must do it with caution. 

Best,

Mariam Keita ’24

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Author’s Note: An earlier version of this letter appeared in the form of an email that was sent out to members of SGA, FLIP, Health Services and Mount Holyoke admins. 

Letter to the Editor - Dismantling Racism: Our Collective Responsibility

Here’s what the Dance department is doing.

We’ve heard from Kijua Sanders-McMurtry and Sonya Stephens about the recent killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade and so many others. We have also heard from our academic department — have you heard from yours? While the initial email that we received from our faculty fell short, it helped catalyze conversations among students in the dance department that have been long overdue.

At the Five College Dance town hall listening session, Kiara Badillo ’20 (Hampshire College) brought up the key point that this is not the start of the conversation — what’s changing now is who is in the room and who is listening. As protests began to gain more visibility on social media, Miranda Lawson ’22 messaged our dance group chat to stress the importance of continuing our outrage and action past this initial wave. The next day, we received an email from Five College Dance announcing an online dance festival. The email included no mention of the recent police murders and the protests. Soukeyna Abbott ’20 messaged the chat to urge us to write replies to FCD and its director, Alex Ripp, denouncing this insensitive and hurtful lack of recognition of current events and ongoing racism in the dance field. Lawson called our attention to the absence of teachers of color from the festival schedule. On Wednesday, June 3, we received an email from the Mount Holyoke dance department offering “support and solidarity” yet failing to back those sentiments with action. After Olivia Lowe ’21 replied all to denounce the hollow statement, many students sent emails to Chair of Dance Charles Flachs, cc’ing all dance faculty. After Sophie Clingan ’22 met with Ripp on the morning of June 4, they sent a summary of what they learned to the group chat and called for a meeting among the students in the dance department to discuss next steps.

In this two-hour-long meeting attended by many Mount Holyoke dance majors and minors, hard conversations were had. In our department, as well as across the Western world, focus is often laid heavily on the importance of modern and ballet, yet we fail to recognize the contributions of BIPOC to these forms. Meanwhile, dances of the African diaspora and other non-Western dances fall to the wayside. This is not surprising when our department does not have any full-time faculty of color. Discussing concrete examples of racism, as well as unveiling the trauma and hurt our Black friends and peers of color had experienced, brought us to a list of actionable demands for our department. 

These ideas are not perfect. Certainly, they need more funding than we have — and transparency about said funding is a crucial item on our list. How can we advocate for the hiring of faculty and staff of color, or bringing in a variety of dance companies to perform, when we don’t know where the money is coming from or going to? We want a dance history class that doesn’t focus on white narratives. We want more levels of hip-hop, house, West African and other non-Western dance forms. We want full-time professors of color in our department. We want a stronger connection to people outside our department, specifically with the dance organizations on campus that, it is worth noting, have more students of color than we do in our department. The racism in our department must be dismantled at the same speed at which we invite students of diverse racial and dance backgrounds to participate in our community. 

The intersection of racism and dance was acknowledged by the overarching body of FCD only after numerous frustrated emails were sent. As disheartening as that is, it makes it absolutely clear that the student communities at Mount Holyoke need to get in touch with their respective departments as well. Higher education is an institution built on racist ideologies and white supremacy. Each academic department must actively work to dismantle this foundation. While we are sharing what is happening in the dance department, that is not the only place these conversations are or should be occurring. Did your professors reach out to you when the protests began? Are they having conversations about the classes they teach and the resources they promote, as well as what they may be leaving out? Are you joining your academic community to make a push against the implicit racism that all white students on our campus engage in daily? As white people writing this op-ed, we are working to straddle the tension between not expecting BIPOC students to do the emotional labor of educating us about these issues, while also recognizing that we can’t know what changes to advocate for without listening to the lived experiences of our peers. When BIPOC share their experiences, we need to value the time and energy that takes by amplifying their voices and concerns and demanding action and accountability from those in power. 

On June 16, MHC dance faculty and students gathered for a smaller discussion. These exchanges are an encouraging sign of change to come, yet reveal how much work there is to be done. This is not the beginning of the conversation. Many of us are just showing up. What is your way in? 

- Sophie Clingan ’22 and Izzy Kalodner ’21

Letter to the Editor - Low voter turnout: An urgent national crisis

Amid the current public health crisis and racial justice protests across the country, the U.S. is facing an additional problem: a significant decline in voter registration. According to a recent USA Today article, new voter registration is down 70 percent in comparison to this time four years ago, a substantial decrease that will have serious repercussions for the presidential elections in November. Low voter turnout among young people is not a new phenomenon, because despite being the largest age demographic in the country, people aged 18 to 29 vote at rates 30 percent lower than other age groups on average. This discrepancy needs to be addressed immediately, for young people deserve to express how a plethora of political issues uniquely impact their age group. 

While it is improbable that all young people across the nation will be given easy access to voting resources, outreach on college and university campuses is an effective place to start. It is key that campuses create active voting coalitions to ensure that voting is easy and safe, as well as engage students with the democratic process as a whole. It is imperative that members of the administration, faculty, staff and student organizations work together to actively promote voter registration resources and encourage students to have their opinions represented on Election Day.

Young people will inherit the political decisions made by elected officials, and the effects of these decisions have the potential to drastically impact our lives, for better or for worse. We deserve to have our opinions heard. We must vote.

Kate Murray

Mount Holyoke Student

Student PIRGs Summer Intern

Letter to the Editor: Voting at MHC

My generation, 18-to 21-year-olds, make up the highest eligible voter population in the country, but have the lowest voting rate. Before COVID-19 took over, organizations like Student Public Interest Research Groups (PIRGs) were focusing on campaigns like the New Voters Project on college campuses to motivate students to vote. What can we do to fix this while still making sure people are voting safely?

At Mount Holyoke, in 2018, our campus had a 59.9 percent voter turnout, which means that over 700 students did not vote. For our school, that is more than an entire class year! It is time for our campus to get as excited for voting as we do when we hear “Baby’s starting Mount Holyoke College in the fall.” Our international students will be affected by whatever policy or official is in office so those who have the ability to vote, should!

The state of our college is unknown right now but elections will still take place in the fall even if we are virtually learning. Reach out to your local congressman about how you can vote safely in your hometown.

I vote because it is my right. It is my way of having a voice at an age where I can’t run for office. Mount Holyoke is a place of inclusion and where leaders are educated so our campus should work on being the leading college with voter turnout in the Pioneer Valley. 

Jaxzia Perez

Mount Holyoke Student

Student PIRGs Summer Intern