Dear Mount Holyoke community,
Today, we reach out in solidarity with our Jewish peers and condemn the horrific incident that took place the night of Oct. 6 in 1837 Hall. Shortly after 6:30 p.m., a Nazi swastika was found drawn in the third floor single-user bathroom in the residence hall. The incident was then reported to the Jewish Student Union, Public Safety and Services and the College’s bias reporting website.
Dear Mount Holyoke community,
In the second week of September, Black student organizations at the University of Massachusetts Amherst started receiving racist emails. This has since developed into an ongoing onslaught of bigotry and racist language. On Sept. 17, an email was sent to Black student organizations at UMass by a group called the UMass Coalition for a Better Society.
Content warning: this article discusses rape and drugging.
While higher education seems to have student safety in mind as we readjust to the “new normal” pandemic world, the sexual assault case at the Theta Chi chapter at the University of Massachusetts Amherst on Sept. 18 compels us to question if these institutions are really monitoring student welfare.
On Aug. 24, 2021, Democrat Kathy Hochul was sworn in as the Governor of New York, the first woman to hold the position. Former Governor Andrew Cuomo’s resignation after a string of sexual assault allegations should have been shocking — he was so adored in 2020 that his fans were dubbed “Cuomosexuals.” To many, though, this was just another name in a long list; men in power taking advantage of their young, often female, subordinates is a tale as old as time.
In a world where the COVID-19 situation is constantly evolving, keeping up isn’t an easy task. It is essential to be on top of the facts and make way for conversations that address a simple yet crucial question: What’s next?
Mount Holyoke College President Sonya Stephens’ email in March 2021 was a breath of fresh air for many, bearing the news that Mount Holyoke would open its doors for all students in the fall semester. While many rejoiced at this decision, there were still questions and concerns littering students’ minds about masks, testing and overall safety about in-person school. Before the fall semester started, these initial questions regarding COVID-19 were answered.
At the beginning of September, Mount Holyoke students re-introduced themselves to campus. Freshmen and sophomores got their first taste of in-person learning, while juniors and seniors found themselves adjusting to being on campus for the first time in a year and a half. Those who went home as first years in 2020 returned as juniors while 2020’s sophomores are now completing their final year. The leap forward has left some Mount Holyoke upperclassmen unsure of where they stand. I spoke with several students who talked about feeling like they’d lost part of the “Mount Holyoke experience.”
On Wednesday, Sept. 14, Californians will vote in a special election with just two questions on the ballot. Should the state of California recall Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom? If so, who should replace him? On Wednesday, Sept. 14, Californians will vote in a special election with just two questions on the ballot. Should the state of California recall Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom? If so, who should replace him?
In just two weeks, from July 8-22, the number of new U.S. COVID-19 cases jumped from roughly 23,000 to over 63,000, in a trend mirroring July 2020. (These numbers go up when we consider infections among populations in prisons are unreported in many states). Yet, just by looking at the measures taken by state governments, you would think COVID-19 has been all but eradicated.
August 2021
Dear Mount Holyoke community,
It has been a little over a year since Mount Holyoke News released its anti-racism plan with the intent of completing our goals in May 2021. In this following letter, we will walk through our successes, shortcomings and steps taken to diversify MHN and dismantle the systemic racism within our institution.
For over six years, Yemen has been torn apart by war. The United States has been supporting a Saudi-led coalition’s military campaign against Houthi rebels from the mountainous northern provinces of Yemen. When Saudi Arabia and its allies launched Operation Decisive Storm in 2015, they were expecting an outright victory within weeks. This assessment was too optimistic.
The movie “Eat Pray Love” directed by Ryan Murphy situates the viewer in India through quick shots of crowded streets. Bikes and rickshaws furiously honk at each other over the evening traffic. Children run across streets with sheer abandon, and vendors prepare food for the gathering crowds. M.I.A.’s “Boyz” plays in the back as Julia Roberts enters the scene in a cab, eyes reeling at the reckless driving and noise around her. As the cab slows down, she offers her hand to the bunch of children gathered by her window, guarded. A sense of exasperation permeates both her and the audience at the sight of this chaotic surrounding. India, as seen here, is an impenetrable and uncivilized mess.
American children are bombarded with messages from every angle telling them that there is an ideal way to eat and that being thin is both healthy and desirable. The education that children receive about nutrition from parents, schools and the media involves policing food choices, regulating exercise and monitoring weight, often via the inaccurate and misleading body mass index measurement. These practices place moral judgments on what children eat and what their bodies look like. While efforts from adults to teach the youth about nutrition are well-intentioned, they often end up laying the foundation for children to develop unhealthy relationships with food and their bodies.
I grew up in a very small Vermont town; at the time my high school had less than 700 students. I was a junior in February 2018, when Nikolas Cruz killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Even in Vermont, I was scared to go to school some days, and that fear didn’t dissipate until I graduated over a year later.
