For the past seven months, Luiza had been studying at the London School of Economics (LSE). Her time there was cut short, however, due to the pandemic.

In the middle of her flight home, Luiza’s head started hurting. When she arrived in Brazil last Wednesday, March 18, she quarantined herself in her room as a precautionary measure. While she could not shake the headache, Luiza figured it was just her body recovering from the hours of traveling. She took some Tylenol, and although she felt a little better, the headache persisted. 

“I was not feeling my greatest,” Luiza said. 

She then started hearing about friends at LSE who had come down with COVID-19 symptoms: a few had a fever, others were coughing. Another person’s mother began feeling chest pains. But for those students, many of whom reside in the U.K. or U.S., testing was hard to come by since the students did not meet the at-risk populations or traveling criteria. 

“All my friends have way worse symptoms, but they’re so young [the hospitals are] not going to ‘waste’ resources,” Luiza explained. 

On Friday, March 20, Luiza went to get tested. As luck would have it, her hospital had just started a COVID-19 testing clinic that very same day. She went home to await her results. 

The following day, the hospital changed its policies. The clinic now only tests those who have recently traveled to infected areas or are in at-risk populations — such as the elderly and immunocompromised — because otherwise there would be no way to keep up with the demand for tests, Luiza explained. 

Luiza found out her diagnosis in a rather unconventional way. Though the clinic had promised that she would hear from a doctor, Luiza learned that she had COVID-19 from a journalist’s Tweet. 

Her phone began blowing up with friend’s texts, all asking, “Is this you?” She then began seeing news articles chronicling the diagnoses in Sergipe, her home state and the smallest one in Brazil. The sites reported the recent diagnosis of a “20-year-old woman who traveled from England.” 

“No one told me I was positive,” Luiza said of her situation. “It was a massive failure in protocol.” 

In Brazil, only the national healthcare system Sistema Único de Saúde (SUS), not private providers, can test for COVID-19. Luiza’s family, using personal connections, contacted an SUS employee about her diagnosis. The employee confirmed on March 24 that Luiza was indeed positive for COVID-19. She received an official call from SUS this afternoon, March 25. 

As of this writing, there are over 450,000 confirmed cases and 20,550 deaths from the virus, according to the Johns Hopkins COVID-19 tracker. It originated in China in late 2019, but has spread globally, leading to country-wide lockdowns, economic turmoil and heightened prejudice toward East Asian people. In Brazil, there are 2,297 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 48 deaths as of Wednesday, March 25. The cases are concentrated in Brazil’s major cities, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. As of March 25 , there are 15 cases in Sergipe. The numbers, from the Ministry of Health, were reported by G1, a Brazilian news site. 

But Luiza still feels fine. The headache has been gone for a few days, and she says that she has had a bit of a runny nose. News outlets are now reporting that a loss of smell and taste are being considered tell-tale signs, but she so far has still been able to smell. 

“It just shows how young people can carry the virus without knowing,” she explained. 

Luiza has informed both Wellesley and LSE of her diagnosis. She said that Wellesley in particular has been helpful in the transition from her time abroad, sharing that the communication has been responsive and understanding. The Office of International Study (OIS) has guaranteed abroad students $500 USD to cover airline change fees. According to Luiza, OIS has said it is working on covering the entirety of Luiza’s fees since she is on financial aid. 

“I think they actually handled it pretty well. The response from the College was quick,” she said.  

She is concerned, however, that her situation is far removed from what would happen if a student were to contract COVID-19 while on campus. 

“I feel like my case is not an accurate reflection of what [the College’s] response might look like for students who were on campus this semester and got the virus — and that worries me.” 

Jennifer Thomas-Starck, director of OIS, said that while she cannot comment on any specific cases of COVID-19, she has had many reports of students who are now home and self-isolation.

Representatives at Wellesley College, LSE and Brazil’s Ministry of Health could not be reached for comment.

The pandemic has also thrust a new light on global health policies and government responses. Yesterday, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro downplayed the threat of COVID-19, describing the virus as “at most just a little flu.” 

“What [Bolsonaro’s] doing is irresponsible,” Luiza said. Speaking particularly about Brazil’s favelas, which are crowded and often unregulated neighborhoods, Luiza feels that the Bolsonaro administration’s economic measures will lead to many unnecessary deaths. 

“It’s just a genocide plan,” she explained. “Healthcare is public, but it’s going to take a hit once everyone gets it.” 

As Luiza enters another week of quarantine, she urges young people to stay home. “I’m not dying, but that fact that I’m not dying shows how important it is for young people to stay home.” 

“But I can definitely now say that ‘abroad has changed me,’” she joked. 

Additional reporting provided by Renée Remsberg ’23, News Editor.

This is breaking news. The story will be updated with additional information. 

The statement came nearly a week after the Center for Disease Control (CDC) warned schools and businesses to expect severe disruptions from community spread of the virus.

“We want to assure you that we are developing plans to address the possibility of a longer-term disruption,” wrote Provost Andy Shennan, Assistant Vice President for Human Resources Carolyn Slaboden and Dean of Students Sheilah Horton.

The statement also noted that all College-funded or -sponsored travel to China, South Korea, Iran and Italy would be prohibited and that personal travel to these countries is “strongly discourage[d].” These countries are classified as Level 3, or severely affected, according to the U.S. Department of State. Additionally,  community members who do travel in these areas would be required to self-quarantine for 14 days upon their return. The College also warns against travel to Japan, a Level 2-designated country.

The novel coronavirus, or COVID-19, was first detected in Wuhan, China in late 2019. As of Mar. 3, over 93,000 have been infected globally and 3,168 have died. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the virus a “public health emergency of international concern” on Jan. 29, which constitutes “a public health risk to other States through the international spread of disease and potentially requires a coordinated international response.” 118 cases have been reported within the United States, including one in Norfolk County, MA and a UMass Boston student. Nine people in the U.S., all in the state of Washington, have died.

A number of study abroad and exchange programs were cancelled, affecting 11 students, said Jennifer Thomas-Starck, director of the Office of International Study (OIS). Two of the three students who had planned to study in China were able to return to Wellesley; one opted to switch into a now-suspended program in South Korea. Five Wellesley students in Italy and four in South Korea were also impacted.

“The coronavirus outbreak is a rapidly-developing and fluid situation … The College is closely monitoring developments and changes in advisories and restrictions, and communicating with our international partners and students,” Thomas-Starck said.

Impacts on study abroad programs

For Michelle Shen ’21, the semester at Seoul National University (SNU) and summer internship with the Citizens’ Alliance for North Korean Human Rights was her chance to become fluent in Korean and learn to live in a city she considered returning to after graduation. But Seoul, Korea’s biggest city, became a ghost town as the COVID-19 outbreak spread.

As the situation in Korea worsened and other U.S. universities began withdrawing their abroad students, Shen grew worried that Wellesley would do the same. On Feb. 27, she received an email from Thomas-Starck informing her and the two other Wellesley students at SNU that all programs in South Korea had been suspended and they would need to fly back home immediately.

This upended a number of plans for Shen, who says she is now being forced to take an involuntary gap semester. She responded to Thomas-Starck’s email, illustrating a number of concerns and asking if there was any way she could stay. After all, nearby Yonsei University was using online courses to reduce person-to-person contact, Shen wrote.

But as the College could not support travel to South Korea while the country was designated Level 3, Shen was told to come home. “Pursuing online or other options at SNU will not be possible,” Thomas-Starck responded.

Losing the semester at SNU means Shen risks dropping her East Asian Language and Culture (EALC): Korean major. An English and EALC double major, she was set to finish the equivalent of Wellesley’s third level of Korean language credit. Without it, she would have been unable to take the fourth level and complete the major. 

“I’ve been working towards it for a long time. There’s a lot of options I can take, but it’s not the same in the sense that it messes up the plan that I so meticulously wanted,” Shen said.

The College is offering full tuition reimbursement to the affected students, as well as reimbursement for non-refundable housing payments and ticket change fees.

To Shen, it does not feel like enough, although she recognizes that there may not be much more the College can do.

“I don’t even know what kind of support I would want even if I could receive it,” she said.

Wellesley also promised to set up for students independent study courses with Wellesley faculty and recommended affected students to make up courses at the Wellesley summer school, according to an email Shen received on March 3.

“In the previous email it had been said Career Ed would make contingency plans, but now they’re suggesting we take summer classes,” said Shen, who noted that her summer internship plans conflicted with the dates of the summer program.

Shen returns to her home in Michigan this Wednesday, where she will spend the first two weeks back in quarantine. Being back in the U.S. brings another set of fears, said Shen.

“I’m definitely more scared of the American public. There have been so many stories and cases of anti-Asian sentiment, students like me who are treated poorly or even assaulted,” she said.  “I think it’s a lot scarier to go back to that right now.”

Impacts on summer internships

Other students have had to change or reconsider their plans for spring and summer break. Kiara Liu ’23 planned to participate in the Kyoto Consortium for Japanese Studies (KCJS) Summer 2020 Modern Japanese program, a two-month summer program that allowed students to skip the 201 and 202 Japanese language classes.

The program will be held in the Kyoto Prefecture, where there have been three confirmed cases. The organizers sent out an email to participating students on Feb. 28 about the potential risks and acknowledging that all deposits would be refunded if the program was cancelled.

“My parents are extremely worried… [and] I’m worried about general safety,” said Liu.” “ “If the situation gets worse, I probably won’t go.”

Katie Christoph ’21, who is currently studying in Germany, said that she has had to cancel many of her travel plans outside of her host country. Thomas-Starck had sent out an email to all abroad Wellesley students on Mar. 1 advising them to limit international travel.

“I can’t risk travel restrictions being imposed on me at any time and jeopardize my place in my abroad program while everything is so unpredictable,” said Christoph, who cancelled plans to Italy last week. “What’s unfortunate is that I can’t receive refunds for my flights, so I’m out a bit of money.”

Vivian Zhang ’23 and Etta Chen ’23, international students from Xi’an, China and Guangzhou, China, respectively, originally planned to fly back to their homes during spring break. However, Chen was informed two weeks ago that Hainan Airlines had canceled her flight, and Zhang’s flight with AirChina was unable to be booked.

Chen decided to fly to the San Francisco Bay Area to visit friends instead, but after San Francisco declared a state of emergency on Feb. 28, Chen worried that traveling to California could put her at risk. The SF Chronicle reported that at least 43 have been diagnosed and over 8,000 are in quarantine in California alone, with 26 cases centered in the Bay Area.

“My parents don’t want me to go because they think that [California] is not safe,” said Chen. For now, she has taken precautions for her trip, including purchasing N95 masks and hand sanitizer.

Other students from California say that their parents have expressed similar concerns.

“My parents are trying to convince me not to travel back to California for spring break,” said Hailing Ding ’23, a student from Irvine, California. “So far I’m still pretty set on going but it depends on how the whole thing plays out in the following weeks.”

Earlier this week, Alyssa Robins ’22 posted in the class Facebook pages asking for recommendations for local New England-area outings. She is hoping to connect with other students whose travel plans have changed after she cancelled her trip back home to northern California, where the first cases of community spread in the U.S. emerged.

“It’s certainly not comparable to other parts of the world but I talked about it with my parents and it would be nerve-wracking to travel for a week,” Robins said.

Further into the future, returning home for summer break is an uncertain possibility for many international students.

“Looking at the current circumstances, it might not be possible,” said Chen. “I’m worried I may have to stay in Boston for a longer period of time.”

However, Zhang remains optimistic.

“I don’t think there will be any problems about flying back in May,” said Zhang. “I just bought my ticket for summer break.”

The first love letter I wrote to you arrived the same day I did. It came about two weeks late. I spotted it stuck in the mail slot on our way out to dinner, growing mortified at the thought of you reading the letter in front of me. I’m sure you thought about opening it then and there, teasing me until I turned to dust, but you simply took it, tucked it between some of your neighbor’s mail to pick up when we returned and off we went to get some food. 

Despite the chilly London air, it felt like summer again. When we met, it was still cargo shorts season, for you, at least. You leaned against the traffic post in front of the bar I chose, and I stopped dead in my track at the sight of all your pockets. When you read this, you will say “They’re good shorts!” and I will roll my eyes. 

“He’s my London boyfriend with an American accent,” I tell my friends. All that means is that he sounds like a jackass when he uses British slang and adds a “u” in “color” and “favorite.” I find it cute, but I’d never actually tell him that. 

We learned that we had very little in common almost immediately. We liked different music. Drank different beers. Eating habits. Hobbies. Academic interests. At some point, I would have expected us to just give up. But we managed to carry the conversation all the way back to my flat to start a movie neither of us really had any interest in watching. You played with my hair, and it felt like we had shared years together — not just a drink at a bar. Yet as nice as it was, you would tell me much later that you considered bailing on that walk back. 

Apparently, reciting my favorite serial killer facts to the date I just met is not as cute or impressive as I had thought it would be. 

A few weeks later, conversations about serial killers long-depleted, we walked from a pub back to your flat. It was late summer, and I was going soon. We joked on the first date that we wouldn’t get too attached. But then we passed by the park with the big willow tree. And against my better judgment, I grabbed your hand. Probably against your better judgment, you squeezed it and held it tight. 

“I did a horrible thing last night,” I said. 

“What did you do?” my friend Jack said, patient as ever with my romantic follies. 

“I held his hand.” 

“How long?” Jack was horrified. He knew about the cargo shorts. 

“I don’t know, maybe … three minutes?” 

“DUDE.” 

I promised to myself that I would shake this crush. I needed to focus on returning back to the United States, getting a job, anything but this. Thank goodness it never came to that, huh? 

Months later, I — a former devotee of lazy weekend mornings — wake up before 8 a.m. each Saturday and Sunday to call you. Behind your head, I can just see the letter I sent you taped to your wall, next to the photo of your family and the, sigh, periodic table of elements. 

I don’t remember exactly what I wrote in it. Probably how much I missed you — how much I value the little time we did get to spend together in the same city — how much I will always look forward to seeing you again, until we’re back in the same city. Each and every possible way to say “I love you” without actually saying the words. 

When we pulled the letter out of the mail slot, I saw that a mailman had scrawled “Not enough stamps” on it. “Return to sender” stamped twice, I think. The envelope’s seal was broken. I like to think that the mailman had read a little bit of the letter, felt sorry for us, excused my five-cent deficit in stamps and pushed it through your door with well-wishes for young love. 

At this point, we’ve been apart for more time than we’ve spent together in one place. We’ll be long-distance until we’re not, we tell ourselves. ‘Til then, you just have to keep promising that you’ll never read any of my letters in front of me. Even this one. 

Emails, for better or for worse, have been an inexorable part of daily life at Wellesley. Beyond professors emailing classes and the occasional College announcement, Google Groups have enabled the campus the unique ability to email the entire community body. 

“IN TEN MINUTES,” a subject line proclaims. “ACTION REQUIRED,” reads another, most likely for an org with no more than a 15-student membership.  Students have come to expect a dozen emails like that or more — in the span of an hour. 

The short but well-lived existence of Google Groups has not been without controversy. In past months, the ability to mass email the school has garnered ire and frustration from students who lacked the sensible ability to adjust their email settings to digest. 

Several town halls have been hosted about Google Groups, with the student body, administrators and other community members gathering to discuss solutions to the issues Google Groups have posed and potential replacements for it. However, the change will fundamentally alter the fabric of the campus body in every possible way.

Before Google Groups, and email in general, were introduced to Wellesley students, students received campus-wide communication, a relatively sparse number of administrative and safety announcements, in their mail boxes or in their voicemail boxes. 

This is a time of great mourning for the community. If nothing else, Wellesley College Google Groups leaves behind a plethora of memories, shared amongst generations of students, faculty, staff, alumnae and the unfortunate ones who were forwarded particularly noteworthy threads by their beloved Wellesley loved ones. 

In remembrance, The Wellesley News has compiled a Greatest Hits of Wellesley email of the last five years. This list is by no means exhaustive. 

• OIS’s fatal error
  • A simple error resulted in a 45-reply thread from recently graduated alumni in the Fall of 2018. A worker in the Office of International Study sent an all-school email, but included the wrong class year, inspiring several dozen members of the Class of 2017 to inquire, via reply-all, about opting out of the thread. 
• Lost OneCard
  • This one escapes all logic. Students will send out all school emails stating they lost a card that has their identification information on it. One student had enough and asked if the other could just use the Lost and Found Facebook page or pay $10 to get a replacement. A debate about class, privilege and wealth spiraled out of this as well as students comically asking for pretzels and snacks. This thread gratefully ended: “Thank you for coming to my TedTalk.”
• The greenest umbrella?
  • Amidst a sea of “lost umbrella emails”, one stood out to shine above the rest. One brave soul demanded that there umbrella be returned now, but an even braver soul wanted to let the person know that  they are “color blind, [so un]sure if [the umbrella is] yours. On a scale of 1 to 2, how green is your umbrella?”
• Does anyone have fork?
  • On 11:11 p.m., Broti Gupta ’16 needed a fork and wished that someone in her dorm would be able to provide. Instead of emailing her dorm, she accidentally emailed the entire school. This mistake has led her to opportunity in her career as a comedy writer, even having creating a segment for Comedy Central’s Unsend about the situation called “Broti Gupta’s Fork in the Road.” She did, eventually, receive a fork. 
• Lost Scrunchie
  • A student attempted to inform the entire school to be on the lookout for their lost scrunchie, failing to email two of the present class years and instead emailing two class years that have graduated.
• Stolen Laptop
  • Earlier this semester, someone had their laptop taken while dining in Pomeroy. The student emailed the entire school asking for it to be returned on the hopes that it was an accident. A student responded that it was not best to assume it was stolen and that the original sender should change their tone. A debate raged in the replies defending and arguing against the inclusion of the addendum to the original post.
• ROTC
  • The clickbait to end all clickbait-y emails. Imagine being a stressed out senior and reading about a job after graduation, $600 scholarships or even a full scholarship? Many students clicked and then were met with the realization that they would then have to be apart of the American military industrial complex to reap any of these benefits. As custom, a debate about the military and recruiting was sparked in the comments in the form of emojis, selfies and factoids. 
• Inner Peas
  • Everyone can remember where they were standing when they received the infamous “Inner peas trader joe’s snack” email. A seemingly innocuous attempt to live by the Honor Code, the email prompted an 18-email thread, including a rather generous use of typographical emphasis, the establishment of the “common sense coalition” and a succinct and apt clown emoji.  

January 2020 will be the start of a new year, a new decade and a new academic semester. But most notably, it will the first semester without our beloved Google Groups. Who will fill this hole in our heart previously filled by 18 email replies? We know Wellesley students will find a way. While Wellesley College Google Groups have met their unfortunate demise, their legacy will never be deleted.

Over the weekend, a group of concerned students composed and circulated an open community letter opposing the upcoming Career Education event, “Learning about Opportunities with the CIA.” 

The letter, which was addressed directly to Career Education leadership, states, “We are troubled by Career Education’s decision to allow and allocate Wellesley space and resources to an agency which consistently engages in human rights violations, torture of prisoners and destabilization of democratically elected governments around the world.”

 It includes a link to a petition which, as of this writing, includes 235 signatures. The majority of signatures, 164, were students. Another 60 were alumnae, while staff, faculty and other signatories made up the remaining 11 signatures.

The authors state that the CIA’s record is “fundamentally incompatible with Wellesley’s mission to educate students ‘who will make a difference in the world.’” They cite a number of affairs that the CIA “had a direct hand in,” including the destabilization of democratically elected governments around the world, sponsorship of authoritarian leaders and atrocities against civilians. They conclude the letter with a list of demands and a request for a written response by Tuesday, Nov. 12 at noon. At the time of this publishing, Career Education has not provided a public statement.

At approximately 1:30 p.m. Tuesday,  Jennifer Pollard and Liz Mandeville, co-interim executive directors of Career Education, emailed students who had RSVPed to the event that the CIA had chosen to not move forward with the information session, after being notified by Career Education of  a “potential event disruption,” according to their message. 

“The CIA … is working with Career Education to ensure students interested in the agency are still able to engage with the recruiters freely through different means,” the statement read. The rest of the campus community was not notified by Career Education.

The student organizers who circulated the petition reacted to the news in a statement. “While we are pleased that the CIA will not have a physical space to hold their recruitment…we are committed to ensuring Career Education does not continue to allow the CIA and similar organizations to recruit on campus.” They also noted that Career Education has not released a policy regarding which employers are allowed to recruit on campus and called on them to develop such a policy in a manner “based on Wellesley’s mission and values.” 

Career Education is still willing to help students who wish to do so connect with the CIA on an individual basis. “It is important to have the voices of strong women within all industries. Career Education has notified the CIA regarding the potential disruption and is working to identify recruitment means that will allow students interested in exploring the CIA to do so freely,” Pollard and Mandeville’s statement said. Their statement reflects both the views of Career Education and of Wellesley College. Pollard and Mandeville confirmed that the CIA initiated the event. 

Founded in 1947, the CIA is a U.S. foreign intelligence service which gathers and analyzes national security information through human intelligence. It is the only agency authorized to carry out covert action on behalf of the American president. The agency’s director is Gina Haspel, who was appointed by President Donald Trump in 2018 and is the first woman to serve in the role. 

The CIA has recruited from college campuses since its inception in 1947. The Nov. 13 event is not the first time that the CIA has recruited at Wellesley College. According to a declassified memo from August 1978, Wellesley College was identified as a women’s college that had been visited within the last three years by CIA recruiters. Additionally, in the 1990s, the agency placed paid advertisements in this paper. 

Just as the CIA has been recruiting since the mid-1900s, so have students been protesting. In 1967, 30 student demonstrators at the University of Colorado Boulder faced disciplinary action for protesting the presence of the CIA. In Sept. 1988, students at the University of New Mexico forced recruiters to cancel an event.

Other protests have occurred at Grinnell College in 1966, Ohio State University in 1979, University of Michigan in 1981 and 1984, University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1983 and 1985 and more. A number of these protests have resulted in citizens’ arrests and police involvement.  

National Public Radio (NPR) reported that in recent years, CIA recruiting has become much more visible and “widely welcomed” at universities. “Back then, it was commonplace for students to protest the presence of a CIA recruiter on campus,” said Daniel Golden, a journalist and author who has written a book on CIA recruiting of American students. These days, “recruiters are pretty universally accepted and students sign up in droves for these sessions,” he said in an interview. 

According to the RSVP list on Handshake, 29 students were slated to attend. The majority of attendees registered after the petition letter was circulated and a couple students noted that they became aware of the event from the opposition letter. Emely Larios ’21 is one such student. 

“I am interested to learn more about job opportunities in the CIA, plus am sure that my major might fit into some of their job opportunities,” they said. “I just want to explore more options out there for me.” 

Rose G. ’22 also heard about the event from the petition email. 

“The CIA is mysterious, and who doesn’t love a little mystique. I want to know what the CIA has to offer, because I’m not sure about the scope of what they do,” she explained. 

Community response to the event and the opposition letter has been mixed. 

“I found the petition to be antithetical to Wellesley’s inquisitive spirit and completely lacking in knowledge of how Career Education actually functions as an organization,” Rose G. ’22 said. 

Kylie Hall ’23 has been interested in a CIA analyst position as a post-graduate option for some time. Though she expressed her understanding of the opposition letter’s writers’ perspective, she maintains that national security is paramount and that it is more effective to change the agency from the inside. 

“Instead of shunning any and all interaction with the organization, I think that we should try to improve it, or at least support those who want to do so,” Hall said. “I think we should be flooding the CIA with Wellesley students and alumnae; my bet is that would make it a much better place.”

The community members who have signed the petition have articulated that the CIA’s historical record is cause for concern. English professor Lawrence Rosenwald explained, “Students are right to raise questions about whether the CIA should be welcomed to Wellesley’s campus to recruit. I’m not sure the CIA should be recruiting here, not sure, that is, that we should be normalizing it, treating it as one more organization among many.” 

Angel P. ’20, who presented at Senate this Monday on behalf of the student organizers behind the opposition letter, stated that students should carefully consider the impact of their choices when applying to work somewhere like the CIA. “I know many Wellesley College students desire to serve their community and country, but I would urge them to educate themselves on the bloody history of the CIA, domestically and abroad, before joining an organization that regards human-life with such callous disregard.” 

Rachel K. ’20, a petition signee, questions the College’s decision-making. 

“Why should Wellesley provide resources to an organization whose actions go directly against Wellesley’s stated values of ‘empowerment and social change,’ ‘integrity,’ and ‘diversity, equity and inclusion?’ Why should Wellesley provide resources to an organization that has harmed fellow Wellesley students and alums?” they asked. 

News Editors Renée Remsburg ’23 and Sophie Hurwitz ’21 contributed reporting.

This October, 30 loved ones gathered in Olivia Holbrook’s ’20 Claflin single for a Jury Duty party. The week before, Holbrook was called to jury duty and decided that the best way to prepare for her civic duty was to practice. Acting as judge, she designated three friends to act as the jury, and invited the other partygoers to fill out a Google Form if they would like to accuse one another and have the case brought before the makeshift court. Clad in her graduation gown, miniature gavel in hand, Holbrook laid down the law with several dance breaks in between. The best memory? “When justice was served to the guilty! Especially to someone for being too wholesome and the punishment was that the whole room had to compliment them,” said Holbrook. 

Last winter, Ely Willard ’20 and Camille Brunetti ’20 invited a handful of their friends to relieve some stress before final exams with a Silent Pre, a pregame for the Primal Scream. The Primal Scream, one of the louder traditions at Wellesley, takes place at midnight the final night of reading period. Students run outside of their dorms, release a cathartic scream into the cold winter night and then immediately return to their rooms to review one more chapter. Willard and Brunetti had a different idea last year as they tried to do a silent disco that was meant to be perfectly timed to coincide with the scream. Brunetti had made a playlist that started at 11:47 p.m. and ended at 12:00 a.m., but things did not go entirely to plan. “Everyone was slightly out of sync with each other, so we aggressively lip synced different words at each other,” said Willard. 

Hannah Kernen ’20 invited a group of their friends to a Halloween party this past weekend. Kernen said that the favorite part of their Murder Mystery Party was when “a cowboy, a punk rocker and a drunk sailor performed a bad rendition of ‘I Will Always Love You’ to a shocked crowd. A true party classic.”

True to Wellesley style, Vita S-F ’21 hosted a two-for-one party, celebrating both her birthday and the first time she had sex. In May 2019, she and 22 friends gathered around two cakes, one that said “Birth” and the other that simply read “Sex.” “I had to ask the poor woman at Roche Bros. to write both of those on the cake, and she laughed at me,” said S-F. “I joked that she must get weird requests all the time, but she said this was one of the weirdest ones.” 

Wellesley may never earn its place amongst the legends of college partying, but its students invent the most creative themed parties, bar none. Here’s hoping I get invited to one someday! 

“Wellesley is an institution founded on social justice and equal opportunity. Guided by our values, we will continue to use our voice to advocate for positive change on immigration and other issues important to our community,” wrote President Paula Johnson in an email statement to the community that was sent out Tuesday morning. 

The policy protects undocumented immigrants, known as “Dreamers,” who arrived in the United States as children. Approximately 800,000 individuals are protected by DACA. 

In his 2016 campaign, Trump signaled that he would attempt to rescind DACA, as part of a larger trend in anti-immigrant rhetoric from his campaign and subsequent administration. He claimed that the original program was illegal, but federal courts successfully blocked the administration from ending DACA. 

The nation’s highest court, however, is not considering the constitutionality of the program itself. Instead, the nine justices are adjudicating the Department of Homeland Security’s decision to wind down DACA, which is a completely procedural question. 

The creation of DACA complicates the SCOTUS case. In 2012, Obama issued a presidential memorandum, an executive action that many see as an expansion of the president’s powers. When DACA was considered in front of a federal court in Texas, Federal District Judge Andrew Hanen ruled DACA “likely unlawful” for this reason. Hanen wrote, “If the nation truly wants a DACA program, it is up to Congress to say so.” 

“DACA was likely not challenged originally because of where we were as a country in 2012. The country has changed since then. Immigration has become a significantly more prominent issue on the national stage and has become an important mobilizing issue for the GOP,” said Professor Maneesh Arora, assistant professor of political science at Wellesley. 

Wellesley’s participation in the amicus brief signals the College’s support for undocumented and international students. 

Amicus briefs are submitted to the Court to provide insight that might otherwise not be presented by either party. “They can speak to broader social issues and demonstrate that a larger community will be affected by the court decision and that there may be downstream effects of the decision that have important social consequences,” explained Arora. 

After DACA’s initial rescission, a number of higher education institutions across the nation declared themselves sanctuary campuses, including Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard and the University of Massachusetts, Boston. Wellesley decided not to declare itself a sanctuary campus, drawing ire from students, faculty and staff, according to previous reporting from this paper. 

Wellesley students created Raíz in Fall 2016 to advocate for issues important to the Latinx community and have organized rallies in reaction to the Trump administration’s attempt to rescind DACA. “We aim to empower ourselves by volunteering off campus and raising political awareness on campus,” said `Marielos Calderón ’21, a representative from Raíz.

“Wellesley’s administration has proven time and time again that they will not be the ones provide aid to their undocumented students and faculty. We as a student body must come together and stand in solidarity with our undocumented siblings,” said Calderón. 

In a statement then, Johnson justified the College’s decision: “ … there is no consistent definition of the term [sanctuary campus]; the term carries no legal status or weight; and we believe making that declaration could lead to unintended consequences, such as potential retaliation.”

The College has taken steps to protect undocumented students and DACA recipients by promising not to cooperate with law enforcement unless served with a warrant or subpoena.

Further, Wellesley has continued to accept undocumented and DACA students. “For financial aid purposes, Wellesley considers undocumented and DACA students as international citizens, which means financial assistance is available for a limited number of undocumented and DACA students,” stated the College’s admission frequently asked questions webpage. 

Johnson also established the College’s Working Group on the Effects of Immigration Policy, also known as the Immigration Working Group, headed by Professor Ines Maturana Sendoya, Associate Dean of Students for Inclusion and Engagement.

Johnson credited the Working Group and other members of the community for their continued work on protecting communities affected by the Trump administration’s immigration actions. “Wellesley is working to support those members of our community who are affected by new immigration policies as well as those who are feeling fearful and threatened in the current environment,” said Johnson’s statement.

The international student financial aid application begins the same way as the domestic student application: the CSS profile. This online application, created and maintained by the College Board, collects self-reported information about a student’s individual and family financial situations, which allows participating schools such as Wellesley to calculate need and allocate non-federal aid to the student. 

Regardless of citizenship, Wellesley requires incoming students to submit their parents’ most recent tax documents, said Director of Financial Services Karensa DiFonzo ’07. For domestic students, the application continues with the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), but international students are not required to fill out additional forms beyond the CSS Profile, including FAFSA, a federal program for which international students are ineligible. 

Domestic students are considered for admission on a need-blind basis while international students are considered on a need-aware basis. There are currently only seven U.S. institutions that are need-blind and meet full demonstrated need for both domestic and international students.

In the years of the uncertainty of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA), Wellesley has reaffirmed its position on accepting undocumented and DACA students. “For financial aid purposes, Wellesley considers undocumented and DACA students as international citizens, which means financial assistance is available for a limited number of undocumented and DACA students,” stated the College’s admission frequently asked questions web page. 

According to DiFonzo, typically, between a quarter and one-third of Wellesley international students receive financial aid.  In contrast, about 60 percent of the overall student body receives financial aid. 

The difference in this element is due to the fixed budget from which international student financial aid is drawn. “As we are evaluating prospective international students and making decisions about who to admit from that pool, we are working within the constraints of a budget,” said DiFonzo. The fixed budget, according to DiFonzo, is determined based on projected commitments to domestic students, available endowed scholarships and gift funds for international students. 

Endowed funds restricted to international student financial aid make up less than one third of the total international aid budget each year, said Dean of Admission Joy St. John. In addition to the endowed funds, gift funds and grant support from outside foundations, the majority of the international aid budget is funded by the College’s operating budget. 

Another difference in the domestic and international student financial aid experience lies in the fact that international students do not have the chance to reapply for aid every year. Due to the fixed budget, the Student Financial Services office sets family contribution at the time of admission and keeps it the same for each returning  year, “allowing both the College and the family to budget accordingly,” said DiFonzo. 

But not being required to reapply each year does not bar international students from appealing to the Financial Services office in case situations at home do change. “Aided students whose family financial situations decline to a level that they believe might qualify them for additional aid are encouraged to contact Student Financial Services to discuss their changed circumstances,” said Dean St. John. 

DiFonzo says that one of the biggest challenges in reviewing these applications is understanding the context of different financial situations as it pertains to culture and politics. “Unfortunately, these circumstances are not always outlined by the student or family, so we often find that we have an incomplete picture of their situation,” DiFonzo said. 

Ella Apostoaie ’21, an international student from the United Kingdom, sees both pros and cons to not needing to reapply every year. “Now that I’ve left the house, my mum isn’t having to pay for me to live in the house. So in a way, it looks like she’s doing well. So then if they reassessed our financial situation, they could be like, ‘Oh, we want you to pay more now,’ and that’s not something I could do. I’m really grateful that when I came in, they took my situation as it was and I haven’t been able to deviate from that.”

Apostoaie appealed her original aid package when she was admitted after applying Early Decision Round I. She and her mother sent a letter to the Financial Services office detailing considerations that may not have been apparent in the paperwork they had filed. “That was something so crazy. The financial application makes you feel just so vulnerable,” she said. In the UK, government benefits and child tax credits are not granted after an individual turns 18. This had, according to Apostoaie, a significant impact on her family’s situation. “I felt a lot of pressure because I was an international student with this amazing opportunity.”

In addition, in the United States “[Tuition is paid] upfront. That’s something that’s so foreign to international students, that you just have to drop this [amount of money],” Apostoaie said. Her appeal was denied by the College. 

Since Spring 2016, the percentage of international students at Wellesley has hovered between 13 and 14 percent, according to statistics provided by Slater International Center, which provides a variety of services and support to the international community at Wellesley. Although the percentage has remained relatively stable, the number of individuals has grown by about 40 bachelor’s degree-seeking students from Spring 2016 to Spring 2019, proportional to the total student population increase in that same time. 

“We always offer more aid to admitted international students than our budget allocation,” said Dean St. John. In years when more students than expected accept offers, exceeding the budget, the College must reduce the amount of international aid offered in the next entering class in order to compensate for the budget overage. 

“In the past 15 years the number and quality of international candidates has grown. As a result, we have admitted and enrolled more non-aided international students because the candidates have been competitive and abundant in the applicant pool, and there has been no financial barrier to admitting them in the way we would like,” Dean St. John continued.

“We have not been able to significantly increase the number of admitted and enrolled, aided international students because we have not had the financial resources to do so.” 

First, as much as the town hall and the events leading up to it have shown overwhelmingly what’s wrong with the College, it is undeniable that it also reveals exactly what is right at Wellesley. The Student Coalition, a group of concerned advocates on campus, must be commended for its leadership and indelible mark left on campus. Students, faculty, union members and more are reaching out to each other in solidarity. More so than any other year that I have been a student at Wellesley, the will to change the College for the better is palpable. 

Students are speaking up and the community is actively listening. The institutional avenues of conversation and change remain the same — that is, they remain stagnant even in the face of great disruption. For a college, Wellesley does afford students many positions to sit, listen and advocate. There are designated seats for students on Academic Council, the Board of Trustees, committees, councils, etc. In addition to other responsibilities, students are encouraged to sit in on these decision-making bodies and provide the ‘student voice’ to the issue. 

Yet every representative body faces the same question: who is filling these roles? It could be argued that only a certain type of person is able to take on the role of a student representative in a deliberative campus body. A considerable number of qualified students that the Wellesley community would want to represent the student body are unable to take the jobs because of time commitments and expectations. The barriers for entry are also incredibly low — often a three-question application and a ten-minute interview — and the positions are not necessarily competitive. Committees face the risk of losing potential applicants in the search of more qualified candidates if they increase competitiveness. 

Then, it must be asked: how well do our peers represent us? The mysterious Board of Trustees’ student representative could be in line behind us at a dining hall and likely, most of us would be none the wiser. Having worked on The Wellesley News for three years, I can say that I have considerable understanding of many campus functions and procedures. But if someone were to ask me who best represents students on the Academic Council, I would not know what to say. 

Finally, and this is the question that always ends conversations in an impasse, how do we make it better? We can, as this College tends to do, make another ad-hoc committee on the issue.. We can make the applications harder and the interviews longer. We can even just scrap the bureaucratic system altogether and live in a state of anarchy. None of these options appear attractive, and to be honest, I can’t give an answer that would be well-regarded by everyone on this campus. 

Our campus is fractured and insular, and conversations halt mid-sentence at signs of disagreement or discord. But the student voice is stronger when it raises in volume together, and it can only happen when we are all well-informed. As students of the College, we should expect the upper administration to keep us in the loop when it comes to  important information, especially regarding financial anxieties that the College is facing. The College’s senior staff has shown, however, that they are not interested in sharing even the most pertinent information with the community — unless it can be packaged in a way that shrouds the announcement’s true implications. 

The avenues of communication between administration and students are insufficient and in need of repair beyond the student body’s means. The burden, once again, falls upon tired, busy students to inform fellow tired, busy students. Unfair? Yes. Necessary? Unfortunately, also yes. 

We must, especially these days, listen to the students that are speaking and representing us in pertinent College bodies. And to the students on these bodies who feel like their voices are getting lost in the din: talk to us, The Wellesley News. We will amplify you. 

The issues that have rendered such a town hall necessary paints a difficult and ugly picture in Wellesley College’s history. Our university years are supposed to irrevocably change us as people, but I can safely say that none of us expected this level of burden when we signed away four years of our lives to Wellesley. Even so, the conversations now — in town halls and dorms, in passing and not — will move us forward. But we must be informed, and the only way to do that is to be well-represented.

Though the club has only been constituted since the spring, WCHEC’s backstory began nearly two years ago when a group of varsity student-athletes brought attention to a fast-approaching milestone: 100,000 water bottles filled at the first floor KSC water fountain. WCHEC’s publicity chair Clare Doyle ’20 published a Facebook event to drum up excitement around the campus about reaching the incredible milestone. When the tally read 99,999 bottles, Faye Washburn ’20 and Olivia Holbrook ’20, the org’s co-presidents, stood guard over the fountain, preventing any well-meaning hydration enthusiast from accidentally spoiling their big day. 

Later that day, on Nov. 4, 2017, it came time for the 100,000th water bottle to be filled. A crowd of 60 students gathered, surprising even the organizers of the event and 13 hands held the 100,000th water bottle to be filled — one hand representing each of the Wellesley varsity athletic teams. 

After the event, a smaller group gathered at brunch in Lulu, and the core behind WCHEC was born. They applied for constitution and two years later in spring 2019, the hydration enthusiasts became, officially, the Hydration Enthusiasts. 

“We couldn’t believe our eyes when we got constituted,” says Holbrook, a founding member and co-president of WCHEC. 

At their second meeting on Sept. 26, nearly 20 enthusiasts from all class years including recruits, gathered in the resting area near the famed water fountain. The group introduced themselves, going one after another sharing their names, class years, pronouns and their favorite water bottle. It seemed to come as no surprise to the Hydration Enthusiasts that the 2017-2018 Wellesley Athletics water bottle was a shared favorite amongst the group. 

The org has big plans this year.  Holbrook explained at the meeting that the e-board was hard at work trying to secure collaborations with different water-related companies. Co-president Washburn was spearheading an effort to collaborate with Halsey-Taylor, the company that has been providing stadiums, offices and college campuses just like Wellesley with drinking vestibules since 1912. Washburn’s progress report that week: “I have sent a number of emails that have all been bounced back.” Nevertheless she persists in emailing them. 

The group spent much of their meeting brainstorming ways to give back to the community, thinking of different merchandise fundraisers that could benefit clean water initiatives around the country. A goal for the organization, aside from having fun with those who share a passion for hydration, is to spread awareness about different water issues that parts of the world faces. Tessa Spillane, head crew coach and associate professor of the practice, is the org’s faculty advisor. She says that even though she is a new advisor, she is “really excited about this org and what they hope to accomplish.” 

The meeting ended with a toast to hydration, and the presidents dismissed the group to refill their water bottles at the drinking fountain. The total as of last Thursday stands at just under 140,000, and WCHEC hopes to see it reach 200,000 before the end of the year. 

The ultimate mission of WCHEC is to be a place for Wellesley students to relax and have fun with each other. Doyle, WCHEC’s publicity chair, says, “I think that WCHEC can be an example in a lot of ways to the Wellesley community. Wellesley students are all so driven and passionate about our goals, academics, career plans, extracurriculars, etc. WCHEC shows that there can — and should!  — be space on our campus for orgs and groups that just want to have fun and create a community for each other!” 

“Bottom line: if you’re a person looking for a community, looking for a lighthearted environment — please join us,” says Holbrook. WCHEC meets every other week on Tuesday nights at 7 p.m. in the KSC classroom.