Johnson’s statement reads in part, “This process, which began in March 2017, could not have happened without the leadership and hard work of many members of our community, in particular, a steering committee that included faculty, students and senior leadership who brought important perspectives that strengthened our work immeasurably.” 

The NECHE evaluates the schools it is responsible for overseeing every ten years. During this accreditation cycle, Bryan Burns, a professor of classical studies and Pamela Taylor, the Assistant Provost of Institutional Planning and Assessment and Director of Institutional Research co-chaired the steering committee. The steering committee is a group of students, faculty and staff that are responsible for evaluating the school and writing the self-study required of NECHE for accreditation. 

Taylor said in a written statement to the Wellesley News that “the accreditation steering committee spent two years gathering the data and information needed to describe and evaluate our current processes and identify those areas where we wanted to improve in the future.  The accreditation self-study and the NECHE response are being used to inform Wellesley’s strategic planning process, so I know that this work will have long-lasting effects on the College.”

Burns told the Wellesley News that one of the challenges of leading the steering committee was writing about policies that were under submission at the time. “Because we spent over a year preparing a written report, and then the review process lasts over six more months, it was often challenging to write about policies [which] were under active discussion at the time – such as the grading policy or the multicultural requirement,” he said. 

The steering committee asked for feedback from the greater Wellesley community when writing its self-study. An early draft of the self-study was open to members of the Wellesley community from Nov. 14 to Nov. 30 of 2018 for comment. Additionally, a Nov. 2018 email from President Johnson titled “College Announcement: Identifying Wellesley’s Institutional Values” announced that the steering committee has “identified a need to review, reconsider and hone the expressed values of Wellesley College.” Johnson attached a Google form to the email and asked members of the college community to answer the question, “What aspect of Wellesley has had the most powerful effect on you?” The email received a large response from the campus community, and helped inform the “Mission and Purposes” section of the self-study.

After reading the self-study and visiting Wellesley in March, NECHE produced a report and a response to the findings of the self-study and conversations they had with members of the college community. The response praised Wellesley for producing an excellent self-study as well as the College’s many accomplishments in the last decade, including completing “the largest fundraising campaign in the College’s history, ahead of schedule and ahead of its $500 million goal; completing campus renewal projects including renovations to residence halls, arts buildings and teaching spaces; launching new programs in public speaking and writing; and establishing the Albright Institute for Global Affairs and the Center for Career Education.” The response also commended Wellesley for its strong culture of faculty engagement, its history of approaching institutional challenged collectively and its dedication to providing students with a holistic experience. 

NECHE asked Wellesley to submit an interim report on its progress in Spring of 2024, five years before the College is due for another re-accreditation. The NECHE said that Wellesley must focus on the following four areas moving forward: formulate a comprehensive strategic plan that includes campus renewal and financial stability, evaluate the effectiveness of academic institutional government structures, achieve student diversity goals and enhance the culture of assessment to examine student learning outcomes. 

Burns says that it is “gratifying to see how the Commission has described the College’s strengths and encourages us to continue working on the big projects of improving facilities on campus and strengthening academic success for all students.”

The NCHE’s full response and report can be found on the accreditation section of Welesley’s website. 

“My friends would see me around and laugh, but I didn’t care. It was just so cold,” Lam said in an interview with The Wellesley News. 

This year, when Lam arrived at Wellesley, the weather was far from her largest concern. Lam, along with other members of College Government (CG) and student residential life, arrived on campus early for leadership training and first-year orientation. Lam said that helping first years on move in day is one of her favorite CG memories to date. 

“I honestly can’t even put the experience into words. College Government aside, just to be at move-in day as a senior is … It’s a weird feeling to be the one who is receiving the questions and not asking them anymore,” Lam said. 

Lam found her passion for leadership and CG early on in her Wellesley career. During her first semester of college, she became a senator of Bates Hall. She has since held several CG positions, including Executive Senator of Bates Hall and Vice Chair of the Student Organizations Committee (SOAC).

Lam said that her time with CG has been integral to her Wellesley experience and has “given me so much room for leadership development and growth in a way that has changed my life. The chance to be involved with leadership to this degree and to be in a room with staff members, administration and faculty members is just an enormous opportunity.” 

The political science major and economics minor has also utilized the leadership skills she developed in CG in other student groups on campus. Lam is a former business manager of The Wellesley News. Additionally, she was a two-time member of the Ministrare Council, which is a body of thirty students that helps lead the Civic Engagement program within Wellesley’s Career Education Program. 

Lam decided, in part, to run for CGP last spring because she felt the position would give her the platform to help build community at Wellesley. “I think that my three years of CG taught me that we, as Wellesley students, are never at a loss for ideas for change. But good community change takes an entire community behind it. I think it’s impossible to talk about community change if we don’t first have a sense of community,” Lam said. 

Since assuming the role of CGP, Lam has taken several steps to build community on campus. She has continued to foster the relationship between CG and administration by meeting with several administrators to discuss the body’s goals for the academic year. Additionally, Lam is implementing office hours for students to speak with her and other CG members about community concerns and suggestions they have for making the campus better. 

Lam wants first years who recently arrived Wellesley to remember that everyone, even student leaders, face struggles during their four years on campus. Lam noted that it is easy for features pieces to “showcase your highlight reel without ever really giving a head nod to mistakes, without giving a head nod to all of those moments where you’re just in a bedroom crying and your best friend is patting you on your back. Those moments happen during your four years at Wellesley. I’m not just saying in the College Government space, but I’m also saying in the academics and as you start to pursue careers.” 

She urges students who are interested in finding leadership roles to consider all of the opportunities that Wellesley has to offer. Lam says that all student groups on campus, be it CG or The Wellesley News, have the common goal of making the campus better. 

“Think about your strengths as a leader and think about what avenues best fit those strengths. Then, give yourself and give the people around you the grace to make mistakes as you try and become that leader,” she said. 

When searching for internships in the Spring, Kasper knew she wanted to work in New York City and gain curatorial experience. She made a list of her favorite museums, and went to each of their websites to learn more about their internship programs. “I went to the Met’s website and honestly thought it would be a longshot but decided to apply anyway,” Kasper said in an interview with The Wellesley News. 

Months after applying to the Met, Kasper received a congratulatory email accepting her to the internship program. “My stomach dropped and I just couldn’t believe it. It was like I had been holding in all of this tension and then it was just gone,” she recalled. 

She spent most of her time at the Met fact checking and editing the catalogue for an upcoming exhibition on Tiffany & Co. Silver. Kasper put the skills she acquired as a student guide at the Davis to use when she gave tours of the American Wing. However, for Kasper, one of the most valuable aspects of the internship was the weekly speaker series. Every Friday, interns attended a talk or a panel led by influential figures in the art world, many of whom worked at the Met. 

Kasper said that the speaker series gave interns the chance “to ask tough questions and hear tough answers … We were able to engage with the political dimension of contemporary discourse in the art world.” 

Ken Weine was one of Kasper’s favorite speakers in the series. After learning she was a Wellesley student, he connected her with alum Lulu Chow Wang. Chow Wang is a Wall Street pioneer who funded the construction and design of Wellesley’s campus center. Additionally, she is a trustee at the American Wing of the Met and is involved with the yearly event “Women and the Critical Eye.” 

Kasper met Chow Wang at a cafe after work one day and said the alum’s passion for Wellesley “comes out in waves.” She has a special appreciation for Chow Wang’s program at the Met because it “highlights the importance of women as artists and collectors. There isn’t nearly enough emphasis on women collecting in the art world.”

Kasper recommends that students interested in curatorial internships “cast a wide net” and apply to several museums and types of positions. She added, “I would also recommend not discounting yourself. I realize looking back that the likelihood I was going to get an internship at the Met was small but really so much of it is up to chance in terms of what they need at the moment.” 

Now that Kasper is back at Wellesley, there are several memories from the summer she cherishes. However, her favorite is the daily “golden hour” at the Met. This is the window from nine to ten where the museum is open only to employees of the famous museum. 

“You’re walking through all the galleries and they’re completely empty. For that hour, it’s just you and the art,” Kasper said. 

Professor Taylor said she wanted to bring the event to Wellesley because she believes “that at our top women’s college with a big STEM focus, many of our science majors would be professionally interested in learning more about cutting-edge research on MBC, and that on a personal level, all women should understand more about this stage of breast cancer, for which there is treatment but no cure.” 

Professor Taylor has taught at Wellesley College for twenty years and served as the director of the Quantitative Reasoning (QR) Program for seventeen years. The issue of MBC became personal for her in 2015, when she was diagnosed with the disease de novo during a routine mammogram. Carol Chaoui, the founder of Carol’s Corner and Taylor’s longtime friend, has lived with breast cancer for ten years and MBC for four years. The friends have worked together since their diagnoses to raise funds, educate the public on MBC and support each other during the journey. 

Professor Taylor expressed that “from the beginning of knowing that we both had this disease, we decided that we didn’t want to join online groups of MBC patients. We just wanted each other to talk to. I realized that it’s important to have someone who knows what you’re going through when you’re dealing with something like this.” 

Ann Velenchik, the dean of academic affairs at Wellesley College, gave the opening remarks at the fashion show. She said in a statement to The Wellesley News that the work Taylor and Chaoui put into the event “showcases the power of friendship, particularly among women, to nurture and support us through the most difficult times and to make the world a better place.” She added, “No one I know embodies the idea of loyal and enduring friendship, in bad times and good, in celebration and in work, better than Corri Taylor.”

After Dean Velenchik opened the Vintage Vogue event, President Paula Johnson gave her remarks, where she praised Professor Taylor for her commitment to raising awareness for MBC and for the contributions she has made to the Wellesley community. Taylor and Chaoui then joined leading MBC oncologists and researchers, Drs. Eric P. Winer, Ian Krop and Nancy Lin on stage for a panel, where they discussed the disease, barriers in treatment and the progress the medical community hopes to make in the future. Dr. Winer hopes that in ten to 15 years, MBC will either be curable or a chronic illness that patients can live with over a long period of time. 

Marc Tetel, a neuroscience professor at Wellesley College, was one of approximately 30 models who took the stage on Sunday night in support of the fundraiser. He thought that the expert panel “addressed a number of important issues around MBC, including how it can spread to the brain and some of the subsequent effects.” What struck him most about the evening, however, was “how inspiring it was to see Corri and her daughter Rebecca walk the runway together.”

Rebecca told The Wellesley News that she felt “honored” to join her mother on stage for the second year in a row. When a close friend asked her if she felt sad given the event’s purpose, Rebecca said no. Instead, she felt “cared for” because of “all the hard work people put into the show so my mom and I could share a glamorous evening together with her loved ones.” The environmental research analyst added that the event gave her hope that “in the future, there will be no more MBC diagnoses, or that such a diagnosis will not be life-threatening.” 

Professor Taylor also walked away from the event feeling hopeful about the future. She acknowledged that the research being done on MBC will not affect her prognosis, but she is moved to know that “the current research can do something for future generations. To know we are having a part in that is really rewarding.” 

Professor Taylor feels confident that the curriculum at Wellesley College prepares students to make the best decisions for themselves if they were to face an illness such as MBC. She wants students to remember that “the quantitative reasoning they learned at Wellesley, whether it was the QR 140 or their Stats courses, are intended to make sure they have the capacity to understand the statistics that affect them in everyday life.” 

She added, “When sickness happens, you want to know how to maximize your probability of doing well. Your doctors, of course, know a lot of things, but when options are presented for different kinds of treatments, you need to know how to weigh those options. These are the kinds of critical thinking skills that students develop at a place like Wellesley.” 

Professor Taylor hopes that the Vintage Vogue Runway for Research can take place at Wellesley every year and that more students can become involved with the event in the future. She said, “I heard from so many people from the town of Wellesley that they love the venue, they loved seeing the campus, and they loved forming a connection with the school. People within the college were just really pleased to sponsor the event, which is raising money for something that is primarily a women’s issue.

The Senior Gift is one of Wellesley’s oldest traditions. Usually, it is the first time graduating students have the opportunity to donate to Wellesley College as alumni. The money raised for the Senior Gift goes to the Wellesley Fund, which provides funding for the College’s annual budget. However, students have the option of donating to distinct destinations, including financial aid, departments, orgs and residential halls. In addition to their financial contributions to the College, students who donate to the Senior Gift are factored into Wellesley’s alumnae participation rate. This rate is considered in rankings such as U.S. News and World Report.

Simone Archer-Krauss ’19 and Iletze Porras ’19 are the co-chairs of the Senior Gift Committee this year. They said in a written statement to The Wellesley News that they feel students should donate to the Senior Gift because “it is a class’ chance to leave behind a legacy at Wellesley, and one of the first opportunities to be a part of the Wellesley alumnae community.” They also encourage students to donate because it provides them with an opportunity to give back to “a specific part of campus that means a lot to them, be it a dorm, an org or a department.”

Archer-Krauss and Porras also explained that it is not uncommon for the Senior Gift Committee to create incentives for students to donate to the Senior Gift. In past years, the incentive was to make the Senior Gala free for all members of the graduating class. Since the Senior Gala is now free to all graduating seniors, the Senior Gift Committee and the Senior Class Council created the Senior Shuttle Campaign as a new incentive for students to donate.

However, the Senior Shuttle Campaign was not well-received by all members of the graduating class. After the campaign was announced via email, a few students criticized the Senior Shuttle campaign via email chain. The primary criticism of the campaign was that it was unfair to low-income students given that it will be more difficult for them to pay for bus tokens during Senior Week if the Senior Gift Committee does not reach its 80 percent participation goal.

Miranda Hardy ’19 was one of the students who criticized the Senior Shuttle Campaign in the email chain. She wrote, “It is cruel to bargain things the school could easily provide to make the lives of low-income students easier.”

In spite of some of the controversy surrounding the Senior Shuttle Campaign, Archer-Krauss and Porras said that the Committee’s goal for the year was to make the Senior Gift more inclusive to all students. In past years, a popular Senior Gift initiative was the Champagne Flute Campaign, which provided students who donated $10 to the Senior Gift with a champagne flute at Senior Soiree. Several students criticized the initiative for being unfair to low-income students since those who could afford to donate $10 got champagne flutes while those who did not got plastic cups. The 2019 Senior Gift Committee responded to this concern by replacing the Champagne Flute Campaign with the Sip for a Sib Campaign, which ensured that all students got a champagne flute if enough students donated. Enough students donated for members of the class of 2019 to get champagne flutes at the Senior Soiree, and the Sip for a Sip Campaign has been the Senior Gift Committee’s most popular initiative of the year thus far.

The co-chairs explained that “Our goal of inclusivity was matched by running a campaign as a way for everyone to get a champagne flute and our bus campaign has the same intention. We want everyone to benefit from the donations.”

They added, “Without this challenge the buses would still cost money over the weekend of Senior Week, as during the school year. This challenge provides an opportunity for low-income students, and the whole class, to have increased access to the buses, and Boston, during their final week on campus. Donations as little as $1 count towards this goal, compared to the $6 roundtrip that it costs to go into Boston on the weekends.”

Graduating students still have the option of donating to the Senior Gift. Archer-Krauss and Porras want students who are hesitant to donate to know that they  “do not need to donate an extraordinary amount. $1 is the minimum donation and many other students only give that much.”

On Sat. April 23, members of the Wellesley community gathered in Jewett Auditorium to watch Aiko’s final show of the year. The show was titled “Reflections.” Aiko was founded in 2007 by three Wellesley students and is currently the only Taiko group on campus. Members of Aiko performed several pieces and invited Wellesley’s Yanvalou Drum and Dance Ensemble and The Genki Spark to showcase their work as well. Yanvalou is a faculty-directed group at Wellesley that performs “the folkloric music and dance of Africa as it exists today.” The Genki Spark is a Boston based pan-Asian women’s arts and advocacy organization that “uses Japanese taiko drumming, personal stories and creativity to build community, develop leadership and advocate respect for all.” Women and gender studies Professor Elena Tajima Creef is a proud member of Genki Spark and got to perform in front of several of her students and colleagues on Saturday night. In addition to the stellar performances by Aiko, Yanvalou and Genki Spark, “Reflections” featured a video presentation honoring Aiko’s graduating seniors.

Wellesley’s Hui O Hawai’i hosts 14th annual Lū’au

Wellesley College’s Hui O Hawai’i hosted its 14th annual Lū’au on Saturday afternoon in Tishman Commons. The 14-year tradition is a way for Hui O Hawai’i to teach members of the Wellesley community more about Hawaiian culture. The event included live music and hula performances from Hālau ‘O Keikiali’i, a traditional Hawaiian cultural group based in Northern California that strives to “help perpetuate the rich culture of the Hawaiian people through educational workshops, performances and other cultural events.” Local Hawaiian dishes such as duck fat kalua pig, Shoyu roasted chicken and mac salad were also served at the Lū’au.

Dead Serious holds seriously funny comedy festival

Wellesley College’s only student-led improvisation group, Dead Serious, held its annual comedy festival the week of April 18-21. The festival kicked off on Thursday with a performance from Liquid Fun, Boston University’s improvisation group. On Friday, Broti Gupta ’16, a Wellesley alumnae and writer for the shows “Speechless” and “Friends from College,” delivered a lunchtime talk. Dead Serious concluded its comedy festival on Saturday afternoon with an open mic stand up event at El Table.

Robyn Fouhou from Silver Spring, Maryland was one of the many prospective students who attended President Johnson’s speech. She expressed in a written statement to the Wellesley News that the events that unfolded felt “awkward and surreal” as an audience member.

WAAR is a student- led group whose members are, according to its mission statement, “dissatisfied with the resources offered to disadvantaged students and the state of mental health on campus.” In addition to the protest held during SOC, the group released a petition a few days before SOC demanding that Wellesley’s administration offer more accessible resources to disadvantaged students on campus and reform the Stone Center. The petition has since received over 620 signatures from students, faculty, staff, parents, alumnae and incoming members from the class of 2023.

Corrine Yoder-Mulkey ’20 is an active member of WAAR. She said in a written statement to the Wellesley News that the large number of signatures suggests that she is not “the only student who has found this campus to be the opposite of accessible.”

Yonder-Mulkey got involved with the group because of her “experiences with disability access on our campus” after she broke her ankle in February. She discussed how a tree fell in front of the only accessible entrance to the Stone Center and Health Services during the second week of February, making it difficult for several students to access the facilities. Yonder-Mulkey shared that the issue was finally resolved last week after “[WAAR] alerted the administration to the situation.”

In addition to the tree being removed, immediately after the protest, one of the demands on the group’s petition was met: Wellesley began running a wheelchair-accessible van for mobility-impaired students.

Rachel Korkodilos ’20 and Aviance Obie ’20 are the co-founders of WAAR. Korkodilos and Obie said in a written statement to The Wellesley News that the group’s demands for more accessible resources and better mental health care didn’t “come out of nowhere.” They explained that the group chose to protest during SOC because “students have been advocating for these things for years, but are met with silence from administrators, and as a result nothing changes. We needed to get the attention of the school and administrators who have ignored these concerns in the past, and SOC was the perfect time to do so.”

Regardless of WAAR’s efforts to advocate for the student body, some members of the Wellesley community disagreed with the group’s decision to protest during SOC. One member of the class of 2020, who asked to remain anonymous, expressed concern over the protest in an interview with The Wellesley News. She stated, “I’m sure [WAAR] had the right intentions. However, I honestly think timing the protest during Spring Open Campus was inappropriate and unfair to the prospies. Wellesley isn’t perfect, but I don’t regret coming here. If students had been protesting when I visited, it definitely would have influenced my decision.” She added, “I think that’s a huge problem because how one group of students feels about Wellesley doesn’t reflect the opinions and experiences of all the students who go to school here.”

In spite of student concern, Korkodilos indicated that the response WAAR received from prospective students was mostly positive. They recounted a conversation they had with a group of prospective students who witnessed the protest. “Some prospies who were actually sitting near us when we dropped the banners and began to chant actually found Aviance and me in Clapp later that day. We had a really great conversation with them – they seemed excited that Wellesley students were honest about the realities many face here,” Korkodilos stated.

Fouhou had mixed feelings about the protest that took place during SOC. While she believes that the protesters likely had valid points, she is unsure of whether SOC was the appropriate place to voice them because it might have “dissuaded students from coming to Wellesley, which probably wasn’t their intention.” The protest also made Fouhou question whether Wellesley is a place where student voices are heard by administration. She now wonders whether protests are “the only way to incite actual change here. If that’s the case, however, it does worry me as a prospective student. I really like this school, but I don’t like that such extreme measures have to be taken to get my voice heard.”

Overall, the protest impacted Fouhou’s perception of Wellesley in two ways. “First, I learned that students here really aren’t afraid of taking risks in order to stand up for what they believe in. I really do respect that,” she said. The protest also made Fouhou aware of the “darker side of Wellesley in terms of mental health and dropout rates.”

Fouhou shared that it is “too early to see if this will cause me to reject attending Wellesley, but I don’t foresee myself turning down this school because of the protest.”

Korkodilos shared that they and Obie met with Dean Horton last week to discuss the first half of WAAR’s demands “point by point.” They will continue to discuss these demands with Horton, and have also spoken with Claudia Trevor- Wright and Dean Garcia. The Wellesley News reached out to representatives of Health Services but did not receive any comments.

In the meantime, Korkodilos urges students who are interested in getting involved with WAAR’s efforts to email aobie@wellesley.edu or rkorkodi@wellesley.edu.

Geoscience major Lucy Wanzer ’19 and economics major Sophia Zupanc ’19 both earned Thomas J. Watson Fellowships this year. Recipients of the fellowship are given $30,000 to pursue a twelve month dream project outside of the United States. This year was the most competitive application process in the Thomas J. Watson Fellowships’ 51 year history, and only 41 college seniors across the United States were selected. Wazner intends to use her geoscience background and passion for canoeing to study how fishermen, conservationists and boat builders in island communities in Greece, Japan, Indonesia and New Zealand connect with the ocean. Zupanc will travel through Greece, India, Australia, New Zealand and the Netherlands and study how “dignified death” is socially and medically constructed in these countries.

Diversity coalition to host second annual faculty/staff vs student soccer game

This Friday, members of the Wellesley community will gather for the second annual faculty/staff versus student soccer game. The diversity coalition began the tradition last year, with the hopes of using soccer as a way to build comradery among students, faculty and staff. Yu Jin Ko, the chair of the diversity coalition and a professor of English, said in statement to the Wellesley News last year that the coalition chose soccer because it is an “activity that would attract people of all ethnic backgrounds, including those who were born outside of the U.S. or grew up connected to other cultures. Soccer is the most global of all sports.” While Ko assembles the faculty-staff team, varsity soccer player Gabriela Portilla ’19 is hard at work recruiting students for the game. All members of the Wellesley community are encouraged to play in the soccer game, regardless of their experience level.

Wellesley for Adequate and Accessible Resources creates petition

On April 4, the student led initiative, “Wellesley for Adequate and Accessible Resources” released a petition demanding that the college “take immediate and effective action to improve the welfare of all students.” Members of the campaign feel that Wellesley College does not provide adequate resources for disadvantaged students on campus. Additionally, members are generally dissatisfied with the mental health resources on campus. So far, over 400 members of the Wellesley community have signed the petition in support of Wellesley for Adequate and Accessible Resources.

The first case of measles in Massachusetts this year has been confirmed.  The infected individual lives in the greater Boston area, and visited multiple locations across the state during their infectious period. Measles has been on the rise across the United States, with a large outbreak in a suburban New York county prompting a state of emergency just last week. Since measles can be spread through the air and can remain alive in the air for up to two hours, it is highly infectious. People without the vaccine are, of course, the most vulnerable.

Massachusetts secretary of state already concerned about return rate for the 2020 Census

William Galvin has been Massachusetts’ secretary of state since 1995. Though he has been through two census counts, he is particularly worried about the 2020 census. Massachusetts has always been a difficult state for the census, due in part to its large immigrant population and high number of students. With President Trump’s plan to include a question about citizenship, the return rate could be even lower, and Galvin is not happy. A Democrat in a state with 1 million immigrants, about 25 percent of whom are undocumented, Galvin is fighting back against Trump, saying that his plan has only one purpose, which is  “to scare people from responding.”

Electric scooters come to Massachusetts with launch in Brookline

The scooters ubiquitous in other cities and college campuses across the United States are now in Massachusetts. A pilot program with 200 scooters will be running in Brookline until the fall. Brookline closely borders Boston, where the scooters are not allowed yet because it is unclear as of now if they are illegal in the state of Massachusetts. Since Boston is a restricted area, scooters are allowed to cross into the city but a trip cannot be started there. However, one reporter found his scooter slowing down when he crossed from Brookline into Boston, a safety hazard.  Also casting a shadow on the scooters’ success was an injury at their launch. A woman fell off a scooter and was sent to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical center, where she received four stitches. Supporters tout the electric scooter as a more sustainable mode of transportation to driving while still being convenient.

Median home sale prices in Massachusetts increased this year

The year-to-day median home price sale in Massachusetts, which currently sits at $356,000, has increased by 4.9 percent in the past year. However, seven of the 14 counties located in Massachusetts have year-to-day median home price sales that fall below the statewide average. The general trend is that it has become more expensive to live in areas closer to Boston and cheaper to live in communities further from the city. Two exceptions to this rule are Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket, which are far from the city but have year-to-day median home prices  well above the state average. Though counties further from the city offer more affordable living options, residing in these areas present some challenges for workers who commute to Boston. These include traffic congestion and sometimes unreliable Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) services.

Sullivan’s decision to defend the man who has become a central antagonist to the #MeToo movement has sparked outrage amongst Harvard students and beyond. Many of these students feel that Sullivan’s decision to defend Weinstein will interfere with his ability to be a resource for the undergraduate students he is responsible for as a faculty dean. Shortly after Sullivan joined Weinstein’s defense team, over 50 students marched outside of Massachusetts Hall — the oldest surviving building at Harvard — and demanded that the law professor be removed from his role as the faculty dean of Winthrop House. Additionally, over 300 individuals signed a petition to have Sullivan removed from his position at the College. Harvard’s administration has been largely responsive to student concerns, and is currently conducting a “climate review” of the Winthrop House to determine whether Sullivan should remain faculty dean.  

Individuals on both sides of the debate have weighed in on whether the decision of Sullivan to accept this representation is at odds with the #MeToo movement and whether a Harvard law professor and faculty dean is morally justified in taking Weinstein’s case. In most cases, it is dangerous to judge a criminal defense attorney on the person they are defending. This is because the criminal justice system guarantees everyone the right to a fair trial and operates under the assumption that the accused are innocent until proven guilty. However, this is a unique case because as a faculty dean at Harvard, Sullivan is responsible for overseeing undergraduate students who live in Winthrop House. In choosing to represent Weinstein, Sullivan is compromising his ability to be a resource for these students, who should feel comfortable coming to him with instances of sexual assault and harassment.

The Los Angeles Times Editorial Review Board wrote an article on March 6, 2019 supporting Sullivan’s decision to represent Weinstein and dismissing the concerns of students who said they would feel uncomfortable reaching out to Sullivan if they were a victim of sexual misconduct.

The article reads in part, “The idea that lawyers should be judged by their clients is a familiar — and dangerous — one. During the Obama administration, prominent conservatives objected to the fact that lawyers in the Justice Department previously had represented or advocated for suspected terrorists. Never mind that the American legal system depends for its legitimacy on an adversarial process, and never mind the fundamental tenet that accused criminal defendants deserve to be represented by counsel.”

An editorial published by Stephen Clark at Bloomberg News also criticizes Harvard students for objecting to Sullivan’s representation. He even compares critics of Sullivan to those who smeared the lawyers who represented Communists during the McCarthy Era. “Judging the morality of lawyers by the morality of their clients carries echoes of the McCarthy Era, when Red-baiters would smear lawyers who represented Communists,” he writes.

The Los Angeles Times and Bloomberg News have a point. It is true that the American legal system gives every criminal defendant the benefit of being assumed innocent until being proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. This concept is embedded in the due process clause of the 14th Amendment of the United States Constitution. If every attorney declined to represent clients who are accused of unthinkable crimes, how would individuals defend themselves against charges levied against them by the state? The right to counsel is fundamental to our legal system, and editorials like the ones written by the Los Angeles Times and Bloomberg News are correct to point out these fundamental truths.

However, this is where the Los Angeles Times and Bloomberg News are wrong. Ronald Sullivan is not just a criminal defense lawyer who works for the state or the federal government. Nor is he an attorney who works for a law firm and has agreed to take on this case. He is more than that. He is a professor at one of this country’s most esteemed universities. Additionally, as a faculty dean of a residential house, he is the primary faculty member an undergraduate student should feel comfortable reaching out to in instances of sexual misconduct.

Harvard students’ objections to Sullivan’s representation of Weinstein, which are shared by other students across the country including at Wellesley College, should be heard and considered. His decision to represent Weinstein, who is arguably the most prominent alleged sexual harasser in recent times, is a slap in the face to the #MeToo movement and to the students at Harvard. While Sullivan can try to take refuge in the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment, by doing so he is missing the point. He cannot have it both ways. If he wants to represent defendants who are accused of committing despicable crimes, then he should be free to do so. But, as long as he is working as law professor and a faculty dean at Harvard University, his allegiance should be to the students and on the side of this critical social media movement that is exposing the real problem of sexual harassment within our society. His decision to defend this client, as well as the media outlets supporting him, reflect the tone-deaf attitude which has allowed sexual harassment within our institutions to fester and continue unchecked until the birth of the #MeToo movement. If Sullivan wants the fame and money that arguably will come from representing Weinstein, that is his choice. However, he should not be permitted to stain the reputation of Harvard and the #MeToo movement and should step down as faculty dean of Winthrop House.