Q: Would you be willing to share a general overview of your teaching role at the College?

I teach pretty much everything—from introductory 100-level classes for non-majors, to courses for other majors who need to fulfill a requirement, to intro and mid-level classes for majors. I’ve also taught cross-listed and 300-level classes, including some I’ve designed myself.

Q: Do you mentor any majors or theses? 

I do have advisees and have advised theses in the past. Since I don’t conduct my own research, thesis students I’ve worked with are typically doing research with someone elsewhere. My role is to help keep them on track, ask informed questions and provide feedback — without necessarily being an expert in the specific field. It’s one way students can pursue research in areas not directly supported at Wellesley.

Q: Generally speaking, how has the strike affected your experience as a non-tenure track faculty member thus far?

Barely at all.

Q: Are you a member of the union?

No. That was a decision made last year.

Q: Could you walk me through your decision to continue teaching during the strike? Were there particular factors — personal, professional or financial — that weighed most heavily in your decision?

I agreed to the contract that I’m now on and felt it was a reasonable contract — reasonable terms, reasonable pay, reasonable workload. I like teaching and I don’t feel the same grievances that the union is expressing in the same way. 

Q: Was this a difficult decision for you? Why or why not?

Not particularly. I would like the union to achieve its objectives — if people want to pay me more money and give me more benefits, then great! But I didn’t feel a reason for me to go on strike. 

Q: Do you feel your position is understood or respected by colleagues who chose to strike?

I haven’t talked much with many colleagues about this. The reason that I ask for this to remain on-background is that there are strong feelings on both sides about the strike. I think that no matter what I say and no matter what quotes you publish from this, someone will get angry at it, and so I didn’t want to jeopardize those relationships. 

Q: Have you experienced any pressure from colleagues or students regarding your decision not to strike?

No. My colleagues, particularly the tenured and tenure tracks, have been studiously either avoiding the subject or not bringing it up with me. So I think there may have been a directive not to talk about this. 

Q: As an NTT faculty member, do you feel your labor and voice are valued by the institution? How has the strike changed or reinforced that feeling?

I feel like in general I’ve had good relationships with people at the institution. The way that organizations value labor is by a salary, and so that number is a very precise statement of how much they value my labor.

As for my voice, there are many things I don’t say. Not necessarily because I’m NTT, but because speech can feel stifled on campus. If I cared enough, I’d speak out regardless, but I don’t want to just offer casual opinions that could become inflammatory.

Q: Do you think there are structural challenges that make it harder for NTT faculty to participate in collective actions like this strike?

You know, you see these daily emails from Courtney Coile, and there is quite a bit of sensationalism on both sides. I mean, I don’t personally feel as pressured as I think some people are.

Q: What kind of changes would you like to see in how NTT faculty are treated or supported at Wellesley?

You know, like any job, there are parts of it that I really like, like teaching, and there are parts I don’t. I don’t know whether the downsides are about being NTT specifically, but they’re not the kinds of things that are addressed in the union grievances. For example, I’ve had a senior colleague speak to me in a manner that made me wonder: Would this person have talked to me that way if I were tenured? Were they just having a bad day? Am I being a jerk? For any kind of minority or precarious position, there’s rarely outright prejudice. But, it happens from time to time that there are these ambiguous situations that are more an issue of personal respect than of salary or workload or titles. I invite my students to call me by my first name because I know that you will assess me and have respect for me based on my demeanor in the classroom, how responsible I am, etc. Not based on whether I have a title or not. 

In this way, I think that the issues of the strike are a little bit off from the issues that are being addressed on the picket lines. So that’s the vocabulary that’s available, to address what seems to me to have at least as much a psychological component as an economic component. 

Q: What do you think students and the broader community often misunderstand about the NTT experience in academia and teaching?

I think that students have not historically been as aware of who is tenure track and who’s not tenure track. I think Katie Hall even said this in one of her recent communications, and this is something that I’ve known as well. And ironically, it’s the union that has brought that to prominence. Now, everyone knows who’s tenured and who’s not. So, what reports to be a movement that levels these status divisions has actually exacerbated them because now everyone knows this person is tenured and this person is not tenured.

Also, there is this assumption that a two-year position will attract “better” candidates than a one-year one. But people take jobs for many reasons, and not everyone wants a permanent job. More stability is not necessarily better.

The tenure process is so psychologically powerful for those who go through it because it was so significant for them. For people who’ve gone through the tenure process, being on the tenure line is an unmitigated good. But there are pros to not being tenure track that not everyone is aware of. I never wanted the administrative responsibilities that come with tenure: the committee memberships, the governance of whatever limited governance tenured faculty have in the College. In fact, I’m very willing to forego a higher salary to avoid those burdens and really just concentrate on teaching and pursuing my own interests which may or may not align with publishing research papers.

Q: Have you felt supported or acknowledged by the administration as an NTT faculty member during this time? Do you feel there has been clear communication from the administration about expectations and procedures during the strike?

I’ve heard nothing from the College about anything. I have to fill out an attestation form every week which is something new, and there is this presumption that I’m not teaching unless I tell them that I am. 

I have very little contact with the administration. I think they’re just kind of making it up as they go along. 

Q: Has the current situation changed how you view your relationship to the institution or your job security?

It has underscored that my relationship to the institution is purely transactional, that I am trading my time and my labor for money. Any feeling of attachment on my part to the institution is sentimental foolishness. That is not to say that I’m not attached and care deeply about my students. But, you know, that’s the nature of capitalist exchange. That was always the case, but it’s just more salient now. 

Contact the editors responsible for this story: Phoebe Rebhorn and Sazma Sarwar.

The “Associate Provost for Equity and Inclusion” at Wellesley recently became the “Associate Provost for Inclusive Pedagogy and Engagement.” 

In a statement to The Wellesley News, a spokesperson for the College said that conversations about the position title began informally in 2024, and the name of the position was formally changed on Feb. 1, 2025.

“The change was made so that the title would more accurately reflect – to people both on and off campus – the broad range of the work being done in this position,” the spokesperson said. 

The change comes after President Trump’s Jan. 21 executive order on “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity.” In section five, the order states that within 120 days of its issuance, the Attorney General and Secretary of Education shall “issue guidance” to state, local, and higher educational institutions that receive federal funds about what they must do to comply with Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College, the Supreme Court case that reversed affirmative action. 

The executive order, then, would entail that Wellesley College, as a higher education institution receiving federal grants and participating in federal student loan assistance, would receive this guidance. 

The spokesperson for the College maintained that the Associate Provost Office of Inclusive Pedagogy & Engagement position “is designed to support all faculty in departments across the College with our Inclusive Excellence commitment.” This includes developing curricula, teaching initiatives, and promoting a “vibrant and restorative community.”

The change in context

While the College did not state that the position title change was influenced by any current presidential administration policy, the change occurred alongside the presidential administration’s push to affirm its anti-diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) stance. 

Two weeks after the change, on Feb. 14, the Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights of the Department of Education, Craig Trainor, released a letter condemning DEI in all its forms in all American educational institutions. 

The letter “provides notice of the Department’s existing interpretation of federal law,” and lays out the ways the Supreme Court ruling against affirmative action “applies more broadly.” 

Trainor says that “DEI programs, for example, frequently preference certain racial groups and teach students that certain racial groups bear unique moral burdens that others do not.”  

Trainor stated in the letter that federal law prohibits covered institutions from using race in decisions concerning admission, hiring, promotion, compensation, financial aid, scholarship, discipline, housing, graduation ceremonies and “all other aspects of student, academic, and campus life.”

The letter advises all educational institutions to ensure that their policies and actions comply with civil rights law and cease any efforts to circumvent those laws by indirect means. It concludes by stating that institutions that fail to comply will face potential loss of federal funding.

The News first reported on Feb. 5 that before the new College website was launched on March 11, the Wellesley website included a “Diversity and Inclusion” page with messages from President Paula Johnson, Dean Peach Valdes and their diversity recruitment team. That page has now been replaced with one titled “Where You Belong.” 

The College also previously told the News that their admissions process is already compliant with the Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College Supreme Court decision, and they did not anticipate any changes. 

A Department of Education letter

On March 10, the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights issued a letter to 60 higher education institutions — including Wellesley College — to remind them of their legal obligations under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.
On Mar. 14, General Counsel Karen Petrulakis and Director of Nondiscrimination Initiatives and Title IX Coordinator/504 Coordinator Justin Bell sent a letter to the Wellesley community. 

In the letter, they stated that Wellesley continues to condemn antisemitism and all hate and discrimination and that “since well before this letter, Wellesley has taken action to ensure that all our students, including Jewish students, have a strong sense of belonging at Wellesley.”

The letter goes on to assert that the College is complying with Title VI policies through encouraging reporting of discrimination and harassment and establishing mandatory Title VI antidiscrimination training for students, faculty and staff.

Meghana Lakkireddy ’25, one of the YDSA co-chairs, explained the purpose of the event, “We’ve been planning it for a few months now. It was just supposed to be an illustration to the Board of Trustees and also the campus community as a whole that the student body on campus really does care about sustainability and climate issues because we’ve kind of felt that it’s kind of been pushed to the backburner by administration.”

While Lakkireddy and Schofield feel like there is not as much discussion now as there was during the 2020–21 academic year, when there was a divestment student initiative, they both believe that there is still student support.

“[It is] not that the students aren’t talking about [climate action and sustainability], but that the administration believes the students aren’t talking about it. …,” Schofield said. “The school’s administration tends to believe that students don’t care and are just not worth the time of teaching sustainability programs.”

Of the climate action recommended on campus, Schofield and event attendee Liz Huang ’24 emphasized divestment from fossil fuels. During the 2020–21 academic year, the College released a plan to become carbon-neutral by 2040, which includes reducing overall fossil fuel use for heating and cooling and prohibiting new investments in fossil fuels. However, Schofield explained that divestment from fossil fuels remains a troubling issue for the College.

“The real reason why YDSA and EnAct started talking is that waste management is a huge issue at this school and people don’t know how to recycle or compost, and that’s not to even talk about what’s happening behind the scenes, but that students don’t know what’s going on in regards to sustainability …,” she said. “Divestment is concerning, our portfolio’s [fossil fuel] exposure increased by [about] 20 million dollars in the past year, and so that meant our exposure increased to 4.1 percent, which is a lot! A year ago, it was 2.9 [percent], and we’re seeing that at the face of literal energy crises in most of the world, let alone in the United States [where] people had to decide between getting groceries or going to their work.”

EnAct and YDSA believe that divestment and other action items featured in Schofield’s speech need to be undertaken by the College. Maeve Galvin ’25, the other YSDA co-chair, said that Schofield’s speech was an important moment to focus on the intentionality of the event and to restate what is expected of the College. Galvin also noted that the speech alongside the other performances affirmed the idea that there can be joy and appreciation alongside seriousness in activism.

“[Schofield’s speech] partnered with Scuba Kitty … added a good mixture of the seriousness of why we’re here and the importance and the weight on our shoulders for what this means, and then also a celebratory time …,” Galvin said. “It was also a gorgeous day, so we can appreciate our Earth, on this Earth weekend, and appreciate each other and have this moment and pause for why we’re here and what we wanna do.”

Galvin, Schofield and Lakkireddy all emphasized the importance of community. Lakkireddy mentioned that the Knitty Committee, another student organization, helped teach some attendees how to crochet, which was an affirmation of community to her.

“It was just really beautiful to see. … It was one of the moments at Wellesley where I feel like I’d very tangibly seen people being intentional about community and taking time to connect with each other and, I don’t know, crochet is something that is such a sweet act,” Lakkireddy said. “Seeing people pass the craft on in the name of sustainability and the cause we’re fighting for was really cool to see.”

Through the initial event, Huang said that the organizers centered “taking activism slowly” and creativity in activism.

“The organizers did a really great job centering art and creativity and self-care and I love the final event as it came together because I think it did a really great job, you know, uplifting students and energizing them at a time where everyone feels really tired and finals are coming up,” said Huang.

Galvin, Lakkireddy and Schofield were clear that they, and their organizations, have also been involved in some of the more traditional kinds of activism and advocacy, such as having discussions with administration and, for the event, writing a letter to the Board of Trustees. This letter contained an invitation for the Board of Trustees to attend the crochet-in, a list of practices and policies that YDSA and EnAct strongly suggest the College adopt and a list of signatures. In response to this letter, the secretary of the Board of Trustees suggested contacting Dean Sheilah Shaw Horton with students’ concerns, and did not address the contents of the letter. 

The three organizers are not done advocating for sustainability on campus. A week after the initial event, there was another event to stitch the crochet squares into a banner while watching “The Lorax.” Schofield mentioned that the community support demonstrated by student participation in sustainability events is uplifting to them.

“To see everyone kind of come together at the event and to see people walk up on the field behind College Club and to sit on blankets [and] join the music or join in crocheting or sing along to ‘If I Were a Fish’ — which is an excellent song … I was obsessed when Scuba Kitty did it — … that was really special to me,” she said. “A lot of the meetings we’ve been having have been really long and really tedious, and so to be like, ‘Oh, but the community supports this’ and like, ‘The community’s always supported this’ … is always really nice.”

President Candidates

Ingrid Bell ’24 (she/they)

Dear Wellesley,

My name is Ingrid Bell (she/they), class of 2024, and I’m so excited to announce my candidacy for College Government President!

I served as a senator my first year and as CG Secretary-Treasurer my sophomore year. Through these positions, I learned how CG works and contributed to initiatives including purchasing and distributing free KN-95 masks to students and getting Cabinet invited to admin’s senior leadership meetings. After being abroad this fall, I’m back on campus and ready to jump back into CG with both feet.

But this election isn’t about me – it’s about you. The student body knows what they need from administration and College Government, and it is up to Cabinet and especially to the CGP to bring admin attention to the issues that need it most. Every student’s voice is important and valuable, and as CGP I will do everything in my power to make sure your voices are heard.

I plan to solicit feedback from students on which Senate guests and topics would be most helpful, and to invite students to present at Senate on issues that are important to them. Senate should be a space where all students feel safe to voice their opinions and confident those opinions will be valued. That said, an hour a week to sit in the Academic Council Room should not be a requirement to have an active voice in the running of the college, so I plan to run regular office hours for myself and encourage the rest of Cabinet and all senators to do the same. I will also work to make information about all of CG’s initiatives and processes as accessible as possible so that students know how to get involved and what resources are available.

Outside of Senate, the CGP works with various members of admin and is often asked to communicate the opinion of the student body to inform admin decisions. In these settings, I promise to set my own opinions aside and represent overall student sentiment as best as I can. I will actively seek out input from students across campus and will make a particular effort to work with orgs representing marginalized students in order to ensure that CG is advocating for the needs of all of our sibs.

Wellesley students have given me such a wonderful community and I look forward to working in the next year to make this school a better place for us all, whether as you CGP or not.

Please reach out to me (ib104@wellesley.edu) with any questions and don’t forget to vote!

Vice President Candidates

Anna Boland ’24 (she/her), Vice President Candidate

Hi Wellesley!

My name is Anna Boland ‘24 (she/her), and I am running to be your next College Government Vice President!

The Vice President chairs the Appointed Representatives Committee, or ARC, which handles the appointment of student representatives to Academic Council and Board of Trustees committees, as well as various administrative task forces. I have been a member of ARC during both of my years as a Senator and have gained a substantial amount of insight into its potential in that time.

My investment in and love for College Government has been a defining characteristic of my experience at Wellesley. As a First-Year Senator for Freeman, I furthered my involvement by becoming one of four Academic Council Representatives, a position that entails attending and reporting on the monthly council meetings of faculty and administration. With my fellow representatives and in conjunction with NASA, I co-authored the (eventually successful) resolution for the college to recognize Indigenous People’s Day. After my first year, I took a leave of absence for two and a half semesters, but I was thrilled to rejoin Senate as an Executive Senator for Tower Court, and as an Academic Council Representative once again, this past fall.

I have always been fascinated by details and logistics, and I am intensely passionate about the dissemination of fact-based information. I believe that one of our greatest strengths as a student body is our commitment to transparency and accountability, and the existence of more than 60 student representative positions on various committees is a testament to our dedication to ensuring our voices are heard at the highest levels of decision-making at the college. These positions are vitally important, and we would be remiss to not take full advantage of them. If elected, I would interface with the current CGVP to discuss continuing our goals of improving student representative training, expediting the appointment process, and shifting the application timeframe to the spring. This final goal would give ARC more time to vet applicants, and also allow appointees to start the subsequent school year ready to serve in their positions. I would also initiate an overhaul of the ARC application grading rubric and institute a new documentation system to improve institutional memory and ensure the success of future ARC committees.

As your Vice President, I would be absolutely committed to heightening your voice as a student. Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions, concerns, or ideas! My email is ab6@wellesley.edu. Thank you!

Chief Justice Candidates

Dhanya Srikanth ’24 (she/her)

Hi Wellesley!

My name is Dhanya Srikanth (Class of 2024; she/her) and I’m excited to run for the position of Chief Justice. I’ve spent a year as a representative on the Honor Code Council and have seen first hand the strengths and weaknesses of our current process. I love Wellesley’s history of student-led commitment to the principles of the Honor Code and would be delighted to build on the work of previous justices and the student body as a whole in order to make the Honor Code a more equitable, transparent, and integrated presence at Wellesley. In order to make this happen, I plan to focus on the following:

Removing Campus Police from Hearings: We must continue our work to remove the presence of campus police from the hearing process. Although a lot of progress has been made, it is necessary to entirely eliminate their role during hearings.

Faculty Training/Guidance: As of now, the faculty and administrative handbooks do not mention the Honor Code process, let alone the promises and rights that it grants for students. There is also no general faculty training provided on the Honor Code. We must implement faculty-specific trainings and embed resources on the Honor Code in faculty guidelines. More knowledge about the Honor Code from potential charging parties will help ensure that students undergo a fair and respectful process in what is inevitably a stressful situation.

Transparency: I will work to implement student recommendations in the process of faculty appointments to the council. In addition, I will continue the council’s work to process and release data about hearings throughout the year. Transparency also applies to the information that students receive about courses before they are able to drop or switch the grading basis for a class. HCC will amplify student concerns to ensure that course descriptions include information about the finals structure of a class and syllabi cover the varying definitions of acceptable academic conduct as they apply to specific classes.

Outreach: I will increase the intensity and frequency of our work with other organizations around campus. There are a lot of misconceptions about the Honor Code at Wellesley, as well as legitimate concerns about its limitations and harms. Representatives from Honor Code Council should meet with students in open office hours throughout the year and be assigned to a group of organizations throughout the year as an extra resource for questions and concerns. Every student at Wellesley should play a role in deciding the future of the Honor Code, and increased outreach will amplify student voices.

Student Bursar Candidates

Rin Tsavalyuk ’24 (she/her)

Dear Wellesley,

My name is Rin Tsavalyuk (she/her, ‘24), and I’m excited to be running for the Student Bursar position!

I became a bookkeeper in the Bursar’s Office during my sophomore year and enjoyed being in the office and sitting on SOFC these past two years. At every SOFC meeting, I feel that I’m connecting more with student activities on campus and that we, as a committee, are making a great impact on our community. While I have seen a lot of change in student organization funding, there is still much work to be done. I’m running for Student Bursar because I want to address all the difficulties I had as a treasurer and all the feedback we get from treasurers. My goal is to make funding less stressful and provide more opportunities for students to engage in different activities.

For all these reasons, my priorities are:

– Foster the spirit of equity and inclusion in SOFC and Bursar’s Office. I would like to incorporate a required implicit bias training for bookkeepers and have training for all members of SOFC on DEI and how it fits into organizations’ funding.

– Provide training resources to treasurers coming from different backgrounds. We have a lot of treasurers who have been in this position for multiple years, and we have first-year treasurers who are still adjusting to being at Wellesley. I believe it is important to have more extensive treasurer training for those treasurers who need extra support.

– Revise the application format. The last time the application was updated was many years ago, and we all can agree that the format is far from perfect. The new format, potentially a google form, should save treasurers and SOFC readers time, be more convenient for linking spreadsheets and other documents, and be a better way of keeping application records.

– Maintain transparency and connection between SOFC and the student body. I hope to organize more events open to the whole school so that people can learn more about organizations’ funding and how to get involved.

– Collaborate with Orgs Chair on making organization funding a more efficient process. There needs to be a clearer way of communicating between CORA and SOFC, and having a student liaison between the two would be very beneficial.

I’m very excited to make SOFC more equitable and accessible. I’m happy to answer any questions you may have et103@wellesley.edu. Thank you for your time and consideration of my candidacy.

Secretary-Treasurer Candidates

Celine Yung ’26 (she/her)

Hi Wellesley!

My name is Celine Yung ‘26 (she/her), and I am so excited to be a write-in candidate running for College Government Secretary-Treasurer!

As a first-year student, I focused on being deeply involved in the Wellesley community by engaging with various campus orgs like Tupelos, WZLY, TCO, and WCC. I am currently also a senator of Tower Court, and I gained valuable experience in advocating for the needs and interests of my constituents. CG allowed me to learn more about the resources and staff on campus that I wasn’t aware of before while giving me the opportunity to spread this information to those around me.

Through my different roles this past year, I have developed strong communication and collaboration skills, allowing me to connect with many people around campus.

My goal as Secretary-Treasurer is to increase transparency between the CG and the student body. I found that many first-year students are unaware of what CG does and what discussions happen during senate. I believe that I can bridge the gap by making the weekly minutes and digests more accessible. I think it would be helpful to have two versions of senate minutes: the one we currently have coupled with a shortened one-page version. I hope to strengthen CG’s social media presence by creating highlight reels on Instagram featuring all the events and spam that will be happening that week, allowing students to gain awareness about the many events that happen on campus. I hope to also create a Google Calendar that will be available to the entire student body, allowing everyone to be able to plan their time and commitments for upcoming events. By doing so, I aim to ensure that CG remains accessible to everyone.

Thank you so much for reading all of this, I am so grateful for your time and consideration. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to me @celyung on Instagram or cy106.

Director of On-Campus Affairs (DOOCA) Candidates

Kaya Crosby ’24 (she/her)

Hi Wellesley! My name is Kaya Crosby (she/her) ‘24, and I am so excited to be running for the position of Director of On-Campus Affairs (DOOCA). The DOOCA serves as the head of the Schneider Board of Governors (SBOG), and is a liaison between the administration, the board, and the Wellesley community as a whole.

When I joined SBOG my first year, the only Wellesley that I knew was immensely isolating and largely devoid of social events- it being the thick of the pandemic. My time on the board has involved much discussion around what the social atmosphere of Wellesley looks like now, how it has changed, and what the future of on-campus events might look like. In many ways, we are all still working to rebuild the sense of community that existed at Wellesley before the pandemic. This applies to the community within SBOG, but also to our role as a board that serves the entire campus.

As your DOOCA, I would like to continue to work to rebuild the connections that existed between SBOG and the larger campus community prior to lockdown. I hope to foster collaborative relationships with other student groups on campus to make SBOG’s events as inclusive and varied as possible. It is critical that our events are accessible, inclusive, and serve as safe spaces where students can enjoy themselves. One of my favorite things about SBOG are the legacies that our events carry, from Remix to Lake Day to the LDOC Concert (looking at you, Macklemore), and I hope to find ways to build on our rich history while adapting to meet the needs of our present and future campus community.

For the last year and a half, I have served as the treasurer of SBOG. This role has given me a deeper understanding of the board’s position as the student organization with the most funding, and the responsibilities that come with that. It has provided me with experience in communicating with campus partners and off-campus representatives, in addition to teaching me the importance of clarity and organizational skills. My role on SBOG has been one of the best parts of my time at Wellesley, and it would be a privilege to bring everything that I have learned to the position of DOOCA. I am committed to serving the interests of the student body above all else- because without you, SBOG wouldn’t exist!

Thank you for your time and consideration. It would be an honor and privilege to serve as your DOOCA If you have any questions or just want to chat, please email me at kc108@wellesley.edu!

Political Engagement Chair Candidates

Sara Popkin ’25 (they/them)

My name is Sara Popkin (they/them), I’m a sophomore majoring in Peace & Justice Studies and Economics, and I’m running to be your next Political Engagement Chair. I am prepared to take on the responsibilities of serving as the chief spokesperson of the Committee for Political Engagement (CPE), keeping students informed about local political events, and planning on-campus events for political education and discussion. I have vast experience in how CPE meetings are run and events for the student-body are organized. I hope to bring my values of love, healing, community care, transformative justice, peace, justice, and kindness to this position.

I have been involved with College Government since I started studying at Wellesley. My first year, I served as a Senator for Lake House. That fall, I served on Community Organizing Resource Collective (CORC) as my committee assignment, researching and organizing for the free laundry initiative. I joined CPE the next semester, and I served on both CORC and CPE as Lake House’s Senator. Then, I was elected to CPE E-Board for the 2022-2023 academic year as Organizations Liaison.

As your Political Engagement Chair, I will continue popular events like Bipartisanship and Bubble Tea, and Spectrum Night that allow students to express their views, learn more about political topics, and engage in discussion with fellow sibs. I also hope to introduce new events that explore more avenues for political engagement, such as community-building oriented events and poetry open mics. I believe that politics does not stop at the poll booths, and contributing to democracy can be done through creativity: art, music, poetry, in addition to electoral politics.

I believe that embodying Wellesley’s value of Inclusive Excellence requires acknowledging that many of the the identities that we and our fellow sibs hold are politicized, and that our commitment to equity and inclusion must support all people of marginalized genders, especially our trans and nonbinary sibs. We must take care in how we facilitate political discussion on campus and respect people with different backgrounds and identities than us. Politics is linked to injustice and structural oppression. In order to present political issues in a balanced and educational manner, we must empower and support sibs directly impacted by oppression and value their lived experiences.

Sincerely, Sara Popkin (they/them), Class of 2025, sp104@wellesley.edu

Community Organizing and Inclusion Liaison (COIL) Candidates

Liz Huang ’24 (she/her)

Dear Wellesley,

My name is Liz Huang (she/her), Class of ‘24, and I am running a write-in campaign to be your next Community Organizing and Inclusion Liaison (COIL). You may know me as “Liz the PEC,” your faithful Political Engagement Chair on this year’s College Government Cabinet. Politics is all about power, and my aim for next year is to nurture and facilitate your power as students. I want the Wellesley community to strive for, as #BlackLivesMatter co-founder Patrisse Cullors has put it, “leader-fullness.” In the spirit of our motto, “Non Ministrari, sed Ministrare,” we can all be leaders, striving for the betterment of our campus community.

As a student organizer and E-Board member of Wellesley for the Abolition of Militarism and Incarceration (WAMI) and Students for an Accessible Wellesley (SAW), I am familiar with the needs of Wellesley’s organizing and inclusion landscape. I am leading a long-term transformative justice project with the Coalition for Transformative Justice (CoTJ), co-leading Wellesley Covid Action Plan (WCAP), and opened dialogue with administrators about various campus accessibility issues (e.g. transportation, testing centers, dining halls). I have also been involved in projects including the current ballot initiative, a faculty disability training workshop, and the pilot Student EMT program. Moreover, as a student of color, I am deeply sensitive to issues of racial justice. In May of 2021, I co-organized a 400-attendee AAPI Month rally in my hometown in response to the deep racial hurts reverberating through my community.

I wish to continue fighting for all these marginalized communities in my capacity as COIL. Just as importantly, I am excited to learn more about all the vital organizations and leaders that I have not yet had the pleasure to connect with. I have deep faith in the power of community building to strengthen trust and foster intersectional dialogue. For all the members of social justice, cultural, and spiritual organizations on campus, I would delight in joining you for lunch or attending an open meeting to get proximate to your needs. I am an open book–talk to me, and I will listen. I aim not just to pursue my own passions, but to empower you to do the same.

I will work hard to protect your right to safely speak, assemble, and protest. In order for Wellesley to cultivate leadership that is impactful, democratic, and sustainable, we need breathing room for student organizing to grow and thrive. I will work with you to get the organizing projects you care about onto the administrative table, acting as a conduit and facilitator. And I will serve as a resource, so that your organizing efforts may flourish.

May we all be leaders, and Wellesley College be leader-full.

Thank you for your consideration! Please email me at eh102@wellesley.edu for any questions or to chat about advocacy.

With love, Liz Huang, ‘24

Orgs Chair Candidates

Gwen Eckl ’25 (she/her)

Hi Wellesley!

My name is Gwen Eckl, and I’m excited to be running as a write-in candidate for Orgs Chair- please write in “Gwen” for Orgs Chair!

As a current sophomore, I spent my first year on campus in an odd sort of limbo- the shifting guidelines and changing restrictions around Covid made it hard for the community to engage with one another. Many student orgs struggled to come together, and many students were unable to get fully involved until this year.

This made me realize that for my fellow students to be able to fully enjoy the community and connection provided through our orgs, they would need an Orgs Chair who could help facilitate clear communication between students, orgs, and administration about current policies, as well as help reinvigorate orgs after the pandemic.

I want to increase transparency and communication between students, College Government, and orgs. Better communication and clarity of expectations will allow a more efficient, more pleasant experience for everyone involved. Ultimately, I want to provide a positive and supportive environment for orgs, encourage student involvement, and make Orgs Fair a more welcoming experience for everyone.

Thank you for considering me for this role! If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me by email at ge102.

“In 1952, the Bengali people who, at the time, were part of Pakistan, engaged in protest basically to have their language spoken, and it was … very bloody,” said Hossain. “We commemorate the martyrs who died for our language to be spoken and celebrate the fact that Bangladesh is currently the only country named after its language and really prides itself on that linguistic solidarity.”

The BSA’s Instagram account posted a graphic detailing more of the history to further contextualize the Coffeehouse. Starting in 1948, when officials of what was then West Pakistan (now Bangladesh) implemented an Urdu-only policy. Dhaka University students organized mass demonstrations, culminating in police opening fire on Feb. 21, 1952, killing several protestors and injuring hundreds. This propelled the Bengali self-determination movement further, eventually leading to Bangladesh’s liberation.

To amplify this sentiment of cultural and linguistic diversity, BSA’s Coffeehouse has “historically been an avenue for Wellesley students to come together and share the rich cultures behind their mother tongue languages,” according to BSA’s Instagram post announcing the event.

“I think the Coffeehouse is such a great way for us to share our BSA community with the greater Wellesley campus, and so it’s such a healing and open space. It’s often really emotional and really funny,” said Hossain. “People laugh, people cry, and it’s just a great way for people to see how special BSA really is, because we put on this event where people come forth and talk about their relationship with their language and their culture, and often their really difficult relationship with their language and culture.”

While hosted by the BSA, the event was not exclusive to Bangladesh. Performances included Bangla, Spanish, Chinese, as well as translations in English and were comprised of music, spoken word, and a zine. 

Hossain also made a note of the importance of the location of the Coffeehouse. While the event was held at El Table this year, she highlighted the historical location and its significance.

“Historically, Coffeehouse has been at Pub [Punch’s Alley], and unfortunately we [weren’t] able to have it there,” she said. “I think we really want to affirm our relationship with the co-ops and just support them on campus, and that’s why it’s so important for us to commit to doing it in this space [El Table] this year.”

Affirming the importance of the co-operatives in relation to this event furthers both their and the BSA’s goals for providing a space for marginalized and underrepresented students. Hossain emphasized the importance of these spaces and how they can impact the broader Wellesley community.

“Diversity on this campus is not just about your ethnicity, your race. It’s also about your culture and the way that you were raised, the languages that you were raised with — even if it’s not within your own family, thinking about the languages you heard growing up in your neighborhood, in your schools [is important],” said Hossain. “I just hope that everyone can see the importance of International Mother Language Day and its relevance to their personal lives.”

The event featured performances by student organizations, including BlueNotes, Wellesley Widows, Yanvalou and Blue Jazz, as well as open mic time. DIY stations in the visitor’s center included stations for making Aloe Vera hand/foot scrub and Yerba Mate face masks, aromatherapy and a coloring station. 

Nafisa Rashid ’23, a WCBG Student Assistant who led organizing efforts for the event, explained her excitement to revive a Wellesley tradition she had not experienced since her first year. 

“It was really nice to bring a part of the Wellesley community back because, especially since we started off a second semester with COVID-19, there’s been a lot of Wellesley traditions that have been lost, and I feel like it’s only been recently that some of those … traditions and events are coming back,” Rashid said. 

Marcela Hernandez ’23, another WCBG student assistant who helped organize the event, explained that a lot of the work to create the light show was based on trial and error. 

“Because we’re the first class to do it [since COVID-19] … we didn’t have people that had done it before, to give us tips or [tell] us how things had happened in the past,” said Hernandez. “It was a lot of looking at photos, seeing what was done before, and starting from scratch. … But it was really cool. … I think it also gives [sic] us a lot of liberty as well.”

Rashid said that part of the event’s goal was to create a tranquil environment for those visiting the greenhouse.

“We really wanted it to be a night where people could hang out … or just come and look around and feel relaxed in the space, whether that was doing the activities or just walking around … I feel like it’s a really relaxing and calming space, and I wanted people who came for the first time to be able to really see that and feel that,” Rashid said.

Rashid also expressed her feelings seeing all of the planning and work come together.

“It was nice to see people enjoy the space and get to see the plants at night, and sometimes for the first time. … And people who were working for the Botanic Gardens seemed to really enjoy … seeing the greenhouse at night. … I think one of my favorite parts was when we put lights in the fish tanks and the ponds. … We thought people would probably enjoy seeing other parts highlighted in the greenhouse, other than the trees,” Rashid said. 

Hernandez explained that the event was part of a longer-term initiative to reconceptualize how the greenhouse is utilized, especially after being closed for so long.

“Since we’ve started working here … the Botanic Gardens has really wanted to … reimagine the greenhouse … making it more inclusive and showcasing the cultural aspects of plants and really emphasizing the idea that plants have so much meaning outside of just being nice to look at. … Having this place be like a communal spot for all Wellesley students to come in was really important. … And that’s work outside of the light show that we continue to do here,” said Hernandez. “Making this place seem approachable for all Wellesley students because it was so closed for so long. … It’s really an open space for Wellesley students to come and hang out with plants.”

Corrected on Feb. 24, 2023. A previous version of this story misspelled Nafisa Rashid’s name. The News regrets this error.

McPhee was born in Manhattan and grew up in New Jersey. After earning a BA from Princeton University and an MFA from Rhode Island School of Design, she started as a professor at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design. McPhee is currently exploring the desert west of the US and is best known for her works that capture complex stories about nature, geology and humankind. McPhee has won numerous awards for her work.

Before discussing her works, McPhee acknowledged the importance of her former teachers.

“I want to acknowledge how much they meant to me,” McPhee said. 

McPhee also emphasized how her family — especially her grandmother — played a key role in influencing her work. 

“The world of our fathers resides within us,” McPhee commented. 

McPhee then explained how she first started photographing her family in New Jersey. After she accompanied her father on a trip to Iceland, she was fascinated by the turbulent and dynamic landscape of the country. She later returned to Iceland with her college friend to photograph the place and eventually found her calling in landscape photography.

After a few years, McPhee was offered a residency in rural Idaho. As someone who had grown up in New Jersey, McPhee was initially hesitant about the offer, but she eventually decided to take up the challenge. Being from a populous place, Laura was shocked at the issues that were dividing the mere 100 people that lived in the place she was documenting — mining, logging and dams. In fact, a lot of this division had to do with land management. McPhee attempted to capture her observations in her work. She also studied how climate change disrupted adult salmon activities and attempted to capture this in her photography. Thus, McPhee attempted to raise awareness about key social issues and told important stories through her work.

Commenting on McPhee’s works, audience member Ahana Basu ’25 said, “I find [McPhee’s] connection to land and how she showcases it to be really intriguing. There’s a sense of danger as well as beauty in her work. Capturing those two feelings in a singular picture is incredibly challenging, but she makes it look effortless.”

At one point in her career, McPhee was introduced to a local family including a young girl named Maddie, who eventually became the protagonist of McPhee’s work. McPhee displayed a picture of her holding birds, which was emblematic of her grandmother — a girl born in the West at the dawn of the 21st century. This has eventually become one of McPhee’s most popular works. 

One of the main themes that McPhee discussed was the role of language in her works. She argues that her work encompasses a visual way of naming things. 

“I am in love with language and think about my work [in relation to] language,” McPhee said.

McPhee also acknowledged how a photograph of something benign often has a deeper meaning to it.

“Visual cues are at odds with the facts [and reality of the situation],” McPhee said. 

Fire is another important subject in her works, as fire remains significant in the West. McPhee has worked extensively with her colleagues to create an immersive experience on fire. McPhee recalled how she witnessed a man accidentally start a fire before leaving the valley she was observing. The fire burnt down thousands of acres, and it took millions of dollars to put it out. After witnessing the aftermath of the fire, McPhee suddenly observed (and began to analyze) a garden that had formed that didn’t exist before.

“[I found] a metaphor about loss and the regeneration power of the life cycle,” McPhee said. 

McPhee’s talk ended with a long applause. 

Reflecting on the talk, Basu said, “I loved her talk. It’s clear from her work that she really cares about what she chooses to photograph and puts a lot of time and energy into it.”

On Feb. 14, Wellesley students hosted the Love, Not Guns event, a vigil to honor the lives that have been lost to gun violence in the United States and to mark the passing of five years since the tragic mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Gathered on Chapel Green, students lit candles and held moments of silence in honor of lives lost. Following moments of silence, student speakers discussed the importance of remembering these lives, the continuing impacts of gun violence and the need for action to end gun violence. 

Lillie Stewart ’26, co-leader of the event, explained, “We were specifically interested in holding a vigil because the thing that’s been communicated from families of Parkland victims is that the day of the 14th is still really a day of mourning and appreciation for the lives of their family members, and so, we really wanted to respect that and kind of bring that perspective into our advocacy for the reduction of gun violence.” 

Stewart and Sidney Briggs ’26 collaborated to lead and plan the event, supported by their co-host Wellesley for the Abolition of Militarism and Incarceration (WAMI). Stewart and Briggs recognized Hannah Grimmett ’25 and Liz Huang ’24, who spoke at the Love, Not Guns event, for their support in creating the event. 

Both Stewart and Briggs have participated in community organizing to end gun violence in their home states of Oregon and North Carolina, respectively, and both were motivated to mark Feb. 14 as a day of mourning and remembrance. They hope that vigils on this date will continue to occur on campus in coming years. 

“One of the goals here is to bring a continued awareness to this day of mourning and, as the years wear on … I think we definitely see this as an opportunity to bring that awareness back to the Wellesley community,” Stewart said. 

During the vigil, a group of students formed a circle on the Green and, lighting electric tea lights, held a moment of silence. Stewart described the silence as “a moment of reflection and holding space for elective grief and remembrance.”

Stewart reflected on holding the vigil, “It opens the conversation, and … it’s not trying to have the whole conversation all at once. It’s just putting the space out there.”

Following this moment of silence, Briggs spoke about the importance of remembrance, as well as communities’ work to end gun violence. She described the speech as “ … talking about how … much we’ve been impacted by [gun violence] as a generation, as students, and also the importance of remembering those who have been lost and the importance of working in the moments to come.” She also noted that Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida is named after a Wellesley alum, an activist and conservationist, who graduated with the class of 1912.  

“In a lot of ways, we have a responsibility as a Wellesley community to remember the violence going on …,” said Stewart. Later, she added, “It was powerful to observe the connection that each of us [has] with gun violence. … I think it really has touched everybody in one way or another, and remembering that that’s the case really motivates me to change that for the future.” 

Briggs’s speech addressed the ongoing pervasiveness of gun violence, which continues to cause trauma and end lives. In one recent instance of this violence, on Feb. 13, according to recent reporting, three students were killed and five more were injured in a mass shooting at Michigan State University. Briggs explained that the news of this tragedy broke while she was working on her speech for the vigil the following day, the anniversary of the Parkland shooting. 

Speaking of the Love, Not Guns event, Briggs said, “It really made me realize that we’ve all been impacted by the epidemic of gun violence in some way, and there’s a way to foster a community both in grief and in hope that we won’t have to mourn more lives.” 

The Love, Not Guns vigil ended with another moment of silence, during which students laid their candles in the center of their circle in honor of the lives lost to gun violence.

On Feb. 1, the first FaculTEA event of the semester was led by computer science Professor Jordan Tynes. Organized by a group of resident assistants (RAs), the event took place in the Shafer residence hall. 

The event was organized by Isabel Orozco Piedrahíta ’24, the RA of Shafer Hall’s third floor. Piedrahíta had taken a course with Tynes previously and saw the event as the perfect opportunity for students to gain insight into the game design space. 

“I think it is a really cool opportunity for people to come outside of the classroom setting and connect with professors on a more human level. It’s in the dorms. It’s beyond teaching hours. It’s very casual,” said Piedrahíta. “I think the opportunity for students to have those moments with professors is really special.” 

Tynes recalled how the efforts of the organizers made him feel welcome and comfortable in delivering the talk.  

“I immediately had a chair to sit in and people were asking me questions and it was very well attended,” said Tynes. “It was just very comfortable. There was a short introduction and I spoke for some 30 minutes straight before they started asking questions. So a lot of my expectations were very well met.” 

During the event, Tynes shared his passion for game design and discussed his academic and career trajectory leading up to his time at the College. He began by introducing himself and speaking about his time as an undergraduate student at the University of California, Santa Cruz. When the computer science track did not work out as he had planned, Tynes discovered his “creative vision” within the art department of the university. 

“I discovered that the art department had a pretty robust digital media focus . . .  so I started by taking a class called electronic intermediate, and I learned that I could code creatively,” said Tynes. “I sort of saw the code as a reflection of my creative process. It probably would not have earned an A in any sort of code checker algorithm for grading. But, for me, it showed a thought process that I thought could be explored in other ways.” 

After earning a degree in studio art with a minor in the history of art and visual culture, Tynes enrolled in graduate school at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University and developed an interest in theater as well as freelance videography. 

“I started writing different codes for processing video and doing really interesting things with manipulation of the video as a medium,” said Tynes. “Professionally, I became really involved in public access television … I also started a studio space in Dorchester, with seven other people [now] called the Dorchester Art Project, after which I got an interview at Wellesley.” 

When asked about his experience, Tynes acknowledged that the interactive conversation in the setting of the common room was unique. 

“I saw [the event] as an invitation into [students’] home, and I was being very respectful of what it means to invite somebody into your home,” Tynes said. 

Reflecting on the FaculTEAs series, Tynes emphasized the importance of conversing beyond the classroom. 

“I would be interested in more events like this [one]. Breaking down the hierarchy in the classroom is important,” said Tynes. “I think that there is this mentorship aspect in the relationship between a professor and a student. But … we’re all also human beings.”  

  Piedrahíta shared similar enthusiasm and was happy to see the community come together for the semester’s first FaculTEA. 

“I think it went really well the first time. Everyone left feeling really fulfilled, and happy … It was really nice,” Piedrahíta said.

The purpose of this event series was to spread awareness about data and data use across disciplines. Amaral was involved with this event at a former institution and wanted to bring it to Wellesley.

“[Last year] we decided to start very modestly with interactive events on the white board in the library …  the goal was always to have a week where we could celebrate the use and understanding and how data really crosses disciplines,” Amaral said.

On Feb. 13, there was a community science workshop held by Professor  Elizabeth Minor from the anthropology department. Hafner highlighted Minor’s discussion on her research and how to use community science in various projects. 

 “She spoke about her research, her fieldwork, and how to use community science in projects,” Hafner said.

  On Feb. 14, there were open houses in the Book Arts Lab at Clapp Library. Students were taught how to use the letterpress and were able to print historical maps of the campus. 

On Feb. 15, there was a data visualization workshop led by Professor Alden Griffith and Professor Jeremy Wilmer from the environmental sciences and psychology departments respectively. 

“They both have applications that they teach their students to use that they have actually created from the ground up to make data visualization more accessible to people,” Hafner said.

Feb. 16 included two events. The first was a Geographic Information System (GIS) workshop led by Tracy Tien, the GIS and data instructional technologist at LTS. Students took the historical maps that were printed during Tuesday’s event and learned how to georeference them. The second event of the day was the Thesis Lightning Talks event, where thesis students had three minutes to present their thesis topics to an audience. 

Feb. 17 brought the highly attended event titled ChatGPT and Higher Education. It was hosted by Carolyn Anderson, assistant professor of computer science, in conversation with four faculty panelists from across a variety of disciplines including arts, writing, cinema and media studies, and philosophy. The event focused on the rise of artificial intelligence softwares like ChatGPT and issues of socio-cultural bias, factual grounding, and ethical safeguards. The question most commonly raised by students was about the faculty’s response to these new technologies and their impact on student learning and assessment. 

Panelist Professor Julie Walsh of the philosophy department stated, “tools like ChatGPT are going to interface with [different] disciplines in different ways … and each of us on the panel has a different outlook on the drawbacks and possible advantages of it.” 

Walsh emphasized that interdepartmental events like this are essential to “intellectual growth” and “giving students the opportunity to watch [faculty] be vulnerable.” She added that during these events, professors can also talk and learn about things they may not know everything about.

Amaral said that it was an incredibly positive experience to be able to work with people across departments and disciplines.

“LTS and both faculty and staff across campus are so collaborative that it was just interesting and fun to learn from each other and work together on such an exciting group of programs. It is so much fun to work with the students, both as presenters and as attendees. The students here ask such informed questions that led to such great secondary conversations that were maybe not part of our original assumptions of how the conversation will go,” Amaral said.

Hafner and Amaral hope to make Love Data Week an annual event.