The institution of the amendment presented in the referendum is only effective if brought forward as a ballot question during the next College election cycle. However, the Administration and Office of Student Involvement could choose not to recognize the amendment to the College Government constitution. 

This amendment was introduced after Dean of Students Sheilah Horton announced at the March 4, 2024 Senate that there is no clear explanation as to where the original policy to not release ballot analytics came from, but the College decided to keep it in place to prevent student backlash. A formal complaint was then made stating that Horton’s decision was unconstitutional since she is a non-voting member of Senate. Senator for Severance Hall, Svetlana Greene ’26, has advocated for election transparency since last year’s Gender Ballot Initiative.

“In some parts, it’s very valuable to have [administration] involved in the student decisions, but I think at this point they’re too involved to the point where it’s taking away the power for students to make decisions,” Greene said. “We believe that it’s the College Government’s and the student body’s choice on whether or not we want to release those numbers, not administration’s choice.”

The language surrounding the amendment can be ambiguous since ballot question and ballot initiative are used interchangeably by students. Senator from Claflin Hall, Ailie Wood ’24, explains that a ballot question is a survey, while a ballot initiative is a yes or no question. 

“A ballot initiative is similar to a candidate election where we’re just saying yes or no,” Wood said. “A ballot question is a survey of the student body. It’s like a multiple-choice response where its intention is to gather a wide range of data. A ballot initiation and a ballot question both can’t bring actual action, they’re just showing student support.”

This referendum aims to amend Article 14 of the College Government Constitution, which specifically talks about the purpose and function of ballot questions. Senator for Shafer Hall, Marty Martinage ’24, explains why the amendment was presented as a referendum vote. 

“What you would use a referendum for is if a senate resolution passed and you as a member of the student body don’t feel represented by this decision, that’s when you would trigger a referendum vote,” Martinage said.

 To initiate a referendum, students must write and file a petition, which must receive a certain number of signatures. Once CG receives the petition and verifies the signatures, they coordinate with the Office of Student Involvement to hold a referendum vote. 

“With the ballot question, the whole point of wanting to get more accurate data on the ballot is the idea that it’s important and valuable to actually have an accurate sense of how opinion is distributed across campus, and how much of campus is being represented in that breakdown,” Martinage said.

In this case, it was Horton’s decision to not release election data on ballot questions that triggered the vote since it was a decision that was made without any student input. 

“Our job is to use that power and numbers to convince the College that they do have to act because it’s not some minority of students who feel that way, it’s the full student body,” Martinage said. “It’s the people who, two decades from now, are going to be the alums who they’re relying on for donations. I think if they keep alienating students and kind of patronizing us and acting like we don’t know what we’re talking about when we say what we believe in and what matters to us, eventually, I think that’s gonna come back to bite them in a way that threatens the long-term existence of Wellesley.” 

A new fundraising method was introduced this semester to make fundraising easier for organizations and clubs on campus. The platform aims to phase out the use of personal Venmo and CashApp accounts as the main source of collecting fundraising money. Orgs Chair Gwen Eckl said that the Office of Student Involvement set up a Square payment system for orgs to fundraise.

“This allows for payments to be sent directly to the org’s profit account, which lightens the workload for everyone involved,” said Eckl. “Students are able to pay the most convenient way for them, meaning that fundraisers are no longer reliant on students carrying cash.”

Eckl said that the use of platforms such as Venmo and CashApp as a means of fundraising was never allowed. 

“Although not always enforced, this was a longstanding policy; the use of personal accounts for org business complicated the process and created more work for SOFC and org treasurers alike,” Eckl said. “This policy was not changed for the fall, but cash fundraisers continued to be allowed, as always.” 

A platform through WEngage in the future is a possibility to make the fundraising process more seamless for clubs and orgs. 

Ruhlman Conference 

The 27th Annual Ruhlman Conference will take place on April 11 in the Science Center from 8:45 a.m. to 5 p.m. The aim of the conference is to encourage cooperation among students and faculty from various fields and to enrich the academic atmosphere of the College. It offers a chance for students, faculty, staff and supporters to gather and honor student accomplishments. The Ruhlman Conference promotes academic engagement through hosting a communal, public occasion where students can showcase their work to a broad audience. 

“Renewing Democracy” Summit

On April 6, the College will host a group of scholars, professors, alumnae and students to participate in a summit titled, “Renewing Democracy: Women Leading the Way.” The summit’s panels will focus on the state of democracy globally; how misinformation and AI challenge democracy; voting rights; and higher education’s role in strengthening democracy. Speakers include former U. Secretary of State and former US Senator, Hillary Clinton ’69, and two Nobel Prize laureates: Liberian peace advocate Leymah Gbowee, and Maria Ressa, a journalist based in the Philippines who has reported on the impact of misinformation on democracy. Chelsea Miller, co-founder of the youth civil rights organization Freedom March NYC, and Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson ’99, a voting rights advocate, will be among the panelists. Arielle Mitropoulos ’19, a two-time national Emmy Award-winning journalist, will emcee the summit. In-person tickets are currently sold out, but people are still able to sign up to view the summit virtually. 

Class of 2028

This year, Wellesley received just over 8,900 first-year applications, the largest number in College history. Applicants in the Regular Decision pool were notified of their admission decision on March 16. Overall, 13% of applicants were offered admission to the College. The class of 2028 hail from 47 states plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and APO/AP, as well as 30 countries outside the United States. 18% will be the first generation in their families to attend a four-year college. 10% are international citizens. 52% speak a language other than English in their homes. 15 were admitted through the QuestBridge National College Match program. This was the fourth year Wellesley suspended the standardized testing requirement, making testing optional for applicants.

Health and safety inspections are taking place from March 4-15. Please remove prohibited items from your room such as candles and incense. There will also be a visual check of the room for prohibited items, such as alcohol in possession of residents under the age of 21 and illegal drugs. If you would like ResLife to take off their shoes when entering your room, please put up a sign so Res Life knows to do so. 

Candidate Senate

Candidates running for 2024-25 College Government Cabinet presented themselves at Senate before College Government Elections. 

College Government President

• Naomi Weisner ’25 (she/her)
  • Opened with a quote from “Vienna” by Billy Joel and addressed that all of the discourse on Sidechat and the internet should not coax people to overlook all of her leadership roles and involvement in College Government that have prepared her for the role. 
  • Stated that she will use her religion as a moral compass during her time as president and aims to reduce the division on campus that has shown through the discourse on Sidechat and the internet revolving around the election.
• Write-In: Mia Cadena ’25 (she/her)
  • Wants to make College Government a more collaborative space by creating a non-hierarchical leadership structure, and aims to make themselves more accessible by holding office hours with clubs and orgs on campus. 
  • Will implement time for College Government to address Academic Council with concerns from the student body.

College Government Vice President

• Merete Ogah ’25 (she/her)
  • Will focus on enhancing student involvement through revitalizing the Appointed Representatives Committee (ARC) and fostering active participation in decision-making processes. 
  • Wants to increase transparency by establishing clear communication channels between committees and students, providing regular updates and reports on ongoing initiatives. 
  • Dedicated to empowering student representatives by creating a supportive environment, acknowledging their efforts, and offering opportunities for professional development and growth through regular check-ins and feedback sessions.
• Charlotte Precourt ’26 (she/her)
  • Wants to connect students to the power on campus by facilitating conversations between the student body and administration.
  • Will have open Appointed Representatives Committee (ARC) Meetings for the College community to make the committee more accessible.

Secretary-Treasurer

• Ashley Song ’27 (she/her)
  • Wants to implement a highlight section in the weekly digest for students who might not be involved in College Government or campus life. The purpose of this is to provide a concise and informative section of the digest to increase engagement. 
  • Will draw attention to the resources available to students and what College Government does. 
• Camila Milan ’27 (she/her)
  • Experience as a Student Philanthropy Officer has prepared Milan to handle budgets, fundraising and transparency, all of which Milan intends to apply in serving the student community effectively.
  • Will strive to enhance communication channels and seek student feedback to ensure their needs are addressed in decision-making processes.

Student Bursar

• Katherine Deane ’25 (she/her)
  • Placed a big emphasis on making SOFC more accessible by hosting town halls throughout the year and enhancing communication between student organizations and SOFC.
  • Will address misinformation by creating an anonymous Q&A platform for accurate information dissemination, fostering transparency and reliability.

Committee for Political Engagement Chair

• Maragret Huai ’26 (she/her)
  • To enhance political activism, Huai proposes outreach with peer institutions’ student governments and organizing visits to town halls, legislatures and courthouses. These initiatives aim to demonstrate solidarity and empower students to advocate effectively, aligning with CPE’s mission.
  • Will create a weekly digest of political events to promote non-partisan understanding and campus-wide political awareness, drawing on my experience as Secretary-Treasurer to ensure clarity and accessibility.

Director of On-Campus Affairs

• Sophie Trammell ’26
  • Wants to maximize fun and inclusivity by petitioning for the return of pre-pandemic events like Remix and soliciting community input on LDOC artist genres. 
  • By collaborating with on-campus organizations, Trammell seeks to create diverse and engaging SBOG events, fostering a platform for community feedback and collaboration.

Community Organizing and Inclusion Liaison

• Mikayla Tansil ’25 (she/her)
  • Will increase awareness of COIL and SGA through events, social media engagement, and continue previous initiatives with the support of existing relationships within College Government and faculty.
  • Aims to bring ASL to Wellesley, a process which Tansil has already started during her time as COIL this year.

Orgs Chair

• Write-In: Soo Lee ’25 (she/her)
  • Wants to enhance wengage accessibility by collaborating with OSI to simplify event check-ins and create a feature listing all approved orgs on campus for easier navigation. Will also work with OSI to implement an electronic payment method for fundraising events, expediting its adoption to streamline transactions.
  • Aims to strengthen orgs training by centralizing resources and common questions for e-board members’ reference.

Emergency Contraception Rec. Grant Vote

A vote was held to request a recreation grant for an emergency contraception vending machine. The request for the grant is being led by Sofia Hernandez Santillan ’24 and Coco Plasencia ’24, students at large. A one-time cost of $2,673 will be requested to fund the vending machine portion of this project. The emergency contraception stock (Plan B One-Step) has been provided by external donors (i.e. Advocates for Youth). There are 300+ packets of emergency contraception and a secure place is needed to store and distribute them. Emergency contraception will be free to students. A stack of nickels (or quarters) will be placed next to the vending machine for use in purchasing the emergency contraception, which will be priced at 5 cents. The vending machine will be stored in the space in front of the Office of Student Wellness. This location was chosen because it is a private space accessible to only Wellesley students by swipe access. The building is open seven days a week from 8-12 a.m. 

SOFC Amendment Questions

Head Bookkeeper, Penelope Gordon ‘25, presented the SOFC amendments at Senate. Amendments to the SOFC constitution include a new Conference Fund for orgs to fund trips to conferences, and a clear outline on what the responsibilities of the head bookkeeper, assistant bookkeeper and student bursar. The floor was then open for questions from Senators and students.  

Old Business & Open Discussion

Dean of Students, Sheila Horton, encourages everyone to be careful as the flu and COVID-19 are still going around. Administration will meet this week to discuss the updated COVID-19 guidelines released by the CDC. Horton will send an email with an updated COVID-19 policy from the College, but for now, she recommends that if you contract COVID-19, then you must be isolated for five days. Horton then continued to talk about the decision to hold back to vote count on Ballot Initiatives. After attempting to look into the origins of the policy to hold back the decision count on Ballot Initiatives, Horton said it was clear where the decision came from. Horton continued to say that she has made the decision to keep the policy in place because revealing the details of the vote will not help students move on. Horton further backs her decision up by saying that there has been a lot of community pain that has come from Ballot Initiatives, and releasing the numbers would exacerbate that pain. Many students were frustrated by this, expressing that a lack of election transparency dilutes the purpose of College Government. After a multitude of questions to Horton and College Government President Ingrid Bell, a group of students and senators volunteered to write a Ballot Initiative to release the vote count on Ballot Initiatives.

Constituent Announcements

SBOG will be hosting ice skating at Babson on Sunday, March 10.

The department conducted a self-study in the Fall of 2022 accompanying an external review process. In it, the English faculty discussed the department’s current state and what’s on the horizon. 

The self-study identified some major changes to the department faculty and explained that the majority of senior faculty are made up of members hired since the mid-90s. 

The department is also in search of new faculty members, after having lost five tenured faculty members. The Provost’s office and the Advisory Committee for Academic Staffing are part of the process of deciding how tenure lines are distributed among departments. Since departments do not own their tenure lines, the five open tenure lines in the English department are not guaranteed. Professor Yoon Sun Lee, chair of the English department and Anne Pierce Rogers professor of English, describes the outlook for the future of English department faculty. 

“It’s been made pretty clear to us that we will not return to the original size we were in, say, 2017. We will remain a smaller department – but we’re trying to do the most with what we have, and I think we’re doing a very good job,” she said. 

Lee also spoke to an increased reliance on visiting lecturers. The English department currently has a three-year Newhouse Visiting Professor of creative writing, Yvette Ndlovu, and two visiting lecturers, Professors Kathryn Winner and Odelia Lu. Lee said the hiring of more visiting lecturers was a response to lower faculty numbers and increased student interest in other areas of English and creative writing, including video game writing and television writing, classes among the newest to the department. 

Faculty turnover in the department is often unavoidable, even if students and other faculty have a positive opinion of professors. English and creative writing major Luca Quintana ’25 said that Professor Cindy Juyoung Ok, who taught writing for television for only one semester, was a hard loss.

“I remember sitting in Professor Lee’s office talking about Professor Ok, and Professor Lee was telling me that there were so many efforts to keep her, but she talked about how there were a lot of higher-ups not letting her stay. It was really devastating to hear because she was really loved by everyone, and Professor Lee was just trying to improve the English department,” Quintana said. 

Most recently, the department made a tenure-track hire this spring. Professor Kelly Rich, a current professor of English at Harvard, will join the department in the Fall of 2024. Rich specializes in global Anglophone literature.

Lee said that the search for a tenure track hire that specializes in African American or African diaspora for the 2025-26 year will also begin soon.

Lee is optimistic about the expansion to the English curriculum that Professor Rich and the next tenure-track faculty member will bring to the department. Since each new professor offers four courses, there are eight new English courses on the horizon. 

“One thing that students can expect to see is an exciting broadening of the courses that we offer outside the more canonical English authors and writers,” she said.

This curriculum expansion comes as the English department’s major requirements are changing and the department has a reduced number of courses taught. 

The self-study lays out the current state of courses taught: “The department has gone from teaching 70 courses in 2018-19 to 43 next year (23-24).”

However, Lee explained that enrollment numbers are still high in the department. “Nearly all of our classes this spring had only a handful of seats left in them,” she said. 

Quintana said they took ENG 222, “Renaissance Literature: Identities and Bodies in Early Modern Literature,” in the spring of 2022 because of the high demand for English classes.

“There was a lot of demand for ENG 120 [Critical Interpretation], so they sent us to another Renaissance lit class,” Quintana said. 

Since at least as far back as the Fall of 2016, the English department has taught at least one section of a Shakespeare course every semester. Lee explains that this semester’s lack of Shakespeare is just a fluke. The usual Shakespeare professors are Sarah Wall-Randall and Yu Jin Ko; Ko’s scheduled leave this semester happened to coincide with Wall-Randall’s lighter teaching load while serving as director of the Pforzheimer Learning and Teaching Center (PLTC). 

Lee mentioned that it did affect some English majors, but the department was able to work around it. 

“[It] led to a little bit of scrambling on the part of a small number of students who had actually waited to take their Shakespeare until their last semester – but we’ve come up with solutions for that,” she explained. 

However, Lee also stressed that it did not reflect any disastrous state of affairs in the department. This year saw nothing unusual in terms of the number of leaves.

“We usually have anywhere from two to three, sometimes even more faculty on leave in any given year,” she said. 

The changes in courses are accompanied by other changes to the major. In the wake of the self-study and external review, the department decided that starting with the class of ’28, ENG 120, traditionally about the analysis of lyric poetry, will no longer be a major requirement. Lee said that this was not only a decision born of practical considerations, including the smaller faculty, but also of changes to the English major itself. 

 “[It’s] a recognition on our part that the English major is changing and has already changed in many ways,” Lee said.

The ENG 120 requirement may be replaced with a different course, but these decisions have not yet been made. The other recent shift in the department’s major requirements was the decision to replace the Shakespeare requirement with an extra course in pre-1800s literature. Lee describes the rationale for the change:

“Of all the authors that we teach, Shakespeare might be the one that students are most likely to have had exposure to before coming to Wellesley. Also, Shakespeare commands a lot of recognition, and students are likely to want to take a Shakespeare course even if they don’t have to.”

The other major trend that Lee spoke to was a rise in the popularity of Creative Writing courses. 

According to the self-study, overall enrollments in department courses between the 2012-13 year and the 2021-22 year dropped 27%. However, five creative writing courses accounted for 15% of the cumulative number of students taught in the department in those ten years. 

“Creative writing has become a larger part of our curriculum and part of our department. We’re very proud of the fact that we’ve always integrated these two sides very well,” Lee reflected.  

While the shift towards interest in creative writing courses is encouraging for Lee, the department has also seen a steady decline in English majors. This trend is not Wellesley-specific; in fact, Wellesley is faring better than other universities in the nation, according to Lee. 

“Our numbers of majors have gotten smaller – certainly not as much as at many other places,” she said.

According to the Office of Institutional Research, there were 45 English majors in 2014, as compared to 27 in 2023. The 2022 self-study reported that over half of English majors were double majors. According to available Office of Institutional Research data, 67% of the graduated English majors had no second major in 2014. In 2023, only 42% had no second major. 

The interest in creative writing may provide a reason for optimism and an avenue for creating plans for the department’s future. 

“The demand for creative writing, I think, is actually something that might be an index of this broader shift towards stem as an area of major and English as something more like a complement,” Lee said. She pointed also to upcoming opportunities for creative writing beyond the classroom that can show students that there are career paths that lead from the English major.

“[The department] got a large gift to create internships specifically related to creative writing – that is going to take a year or so to work up, but it will lead to some really exciting opportunities for our students,” she noted. 

The study noted a change in the environment at the College and an increased prioritization of STEM. 

“While we applaud that goal [diversifying STEM fields], we also feel that at Wellesley the humanities are now largely overlooked, taken for granted, or the object of lip service … While we understand there to be an intricate plan for campus renovation that involves other buildings, we cannot help but feel that the new Science Center possesses an outsized significance as a symbol of and material investment in the college’s future,” the study read. 

With the new humanities hub coming to the Clapp Library, more humanities student research on the horizon, and new internship opportunities in creative writing, Lee remains confident in the department’s future. 

“We’re not aware of any particular crisis, but there are these kinds of long-term shifts. I do want to stress that compared to other English departments, our department is really healthy and doing extremely well, so we’re really proud of that.”

When Beyoncé released “Renaissance” in 2022, she stated that the album was the first act of what would be a trilogy. Her new singles, “16 Carriages” and “Texas Hold ‘Em” tease what her eighth studio album has in store. What the songs, along with the visuals, have confirmed is that the new album, set to release on March 29, will be a country album. Beyoncé previously experimented with country music on “Lemonade” with her song “Daddy Lessons,” but her entrance into the country scene is highly anticipated to bring more recognition to the genre’s roots in the African diaspora.  

Country music is often associated with white Southern musicians and audiences, but African Americans have contributed significantly to the genre. For example, the banjo, an instrument that is integral to country music, was originally an African instrument that was brought to America by enslaved Africans. Additionally, blues, a genre that came from experiences of African Americans in the South, played a crucial role in shaping the sound of country music, as well as introducing foundational lyrical themes of love and heartache. For Beyoncé to enter the country scene as a Black woman would be calling attention to the overlooked impact African Americans have had on shaping the genre. While African Americans have contributed significantly to country music, their success within the genre has faced barriers due to racial prejudice and systemic racism. Beyoncé’s presence within country music will challenge existing stereotypes and narratives about who belongs in country music, thereby opening doors for more representation and diversity within the genre. 

Both singles make bold entrances with starkly contrasting moods. “16 Carriages” is a sentimental, pulsing country ballad that is a reflection on growing up. In the song, Beyoncé sings of a stolen childhood from the pressures that come from being forced to grow-up at a young age. The song definitely gives eldest daughter syndrome, but also touches on themes of perseverance as she sings, “Ain’t got time to waste, I got art to make/I got love to create on this holy night/They won’t dim my light all these years I fight.” The song is purely Beyoncé: confident, vulnerable and resilient.

Paired with “16 Carriages” is “Texas Hold ‘Em” — the more playful and upbeat co-lead single. The song is opened by a bouncing banjo, carried by an acoustic guitar, and supported by a steady, simple drum beat. The song beams with classic country elements, but more than anything, it feels like the South. As someone from the South, I’m no stranger to the normalized racism that plagues the entire region of the US, but people often miss the South’s rich diversity and community. Beyoncé truly embodies the aspects of diversity and community of the South in “Texas Hold ‘Em” as a Black woman reclaiming a genre dominated by white men. Country is the sound of the South beloved for its storytelling lyrics, and for Beyoncé to transition to this genre after the first act’s tribute to queer Black music shows a consistent goal of the Renaissance trilogy: reminding everyone what white culture has stolen from Black culture.

Beyoncé is giving credit where credit is due through the “Renaissance” trilogy, but should she have to? As a Black woman who has shaped the music industry while also facing the pressure of representing not just Black artists, but Black female artists in the industry, doesn’t Beyoncé carry enough as it is? Here’s my take: I think she’s the only one that can do this. Her entrance into country music is a powerful statement that will reverberate through the corridors of music history. Beyoncé is beyond any genre (and any human in my opinion). Everything that Beyoncé does carries a weight and strength that only Beyoncé can create, and for a good reason too — she’s Beyoncé. 

“No longer defined by what we are not, we are proud to call ourselves the WOAW faculty – the Wellesley Organized Academic Workers,” they wrote, in an open letter to the Wellesley College community. 

The statement detailed the demands of the FIPs regarding their salaries and benefits as non-tenure track faculty, specifically noting that there have been only incremental changes to FIP faculty salaries, including the 9% raise in 2019, and the salary bump in 2022. From 2008 to 2020, the starting salaries for FIP faculty were frozen after the economic recession at $55,000. According to Professor Brubaker, Senior Lecturer in the Writing Program, the catalyst for organizing the union was the demand for salary benchmarking, which is to make the starting salary at Wellesley for FIP faculty members comparable to colleges and universities in the area, so that FIP faculty can have a livable wage. 

“[The benchmarking] was something that we worked with the Budget Advisory committee to develop a proposal that would allow for us FIPs to have a benchmarking system just like staff and tenure-track faculty have,” she said. “We put together a report, and several of us met with Provost Andy Shennan, and that really didn’t go anywhere. We never got a follow-up from them. We pulled all the levers we could pull with the existing governance structure that we had.”

The starting salary at Wellesley College for Visiting Lecturers and ISLs, who are classified as FIP faculty, is $63,500 , which is 42% less than the starting salaries for Assistant Professors. After becoming a Lecturer, Professor Heather Bryant did not get a raise but did get a course reduction. In order to make a livable wage, she had to take course overloads in order to make a livable wage, which when she started were $7,500 per course. But after Wellesley for the Abolition of Militarism and Incarceration (WAMI) Union and Labor Advocacy task force (UniLAD) organized a teach-in in Spring 2022, and created more awareness about non tenure track faculty’s compensation issues, the overload pay was changed to $10,000. 

After her subsequent promotion to a Senior Lecturer in the Writing Program in 2021, Prof. Bryant got a raise of $5,000. Bryant has taught four or five classes every year, sometimes along with two courses in the summer. For her, one of the major issues for FIP faculty is the lack of stability, not only with their contracts but also in their wages for overload.

“Our salaries are essentially kind of chaotic. It’s just what they think they can get away with,” Bryant said. “They always point to the bad job market, and say that there’s crowds of people flocking to get these jobs, so we should be happy to have them.”

The low salaries also weigh heavily on short-term contract faculty who struggle to attain job security at colleges and universities. Visiting Lecturer in American Studies, Ian Alexander, spoke about the workload that makes it difficult for new faculty to break into academia. 

“Something that is happening in the U.S. across colleges and universities is the increasing casualisation of academic labor, and the increasing precarity of more workers within colleges and universities are facing similar challenges, but very specifically, for contingent faculty, for people who are on short-term contracts like myself, or renewable contracts, or people who are teaching in labs, or postdocs,” Alexander said. “It’s very difficult to establish job security and to find space to be able to grow as a researcher, while also satisfying all of the requirements of teaching, and what is usually a heavier teaching load than our tenure counterparts. We’re often forced to negotiate and bargain individually and to not really know the kind of latitude we have to bargain.”

Discussion about forming a union began in the summer as FIP faculty reached a point where they felt that administration was not listening to their demands. After FIP faculty discussed among themselves, they began speaking to union representatives that worked with academic workers in the area. The faculty decided to join the United Auto Workers (UAW) union, which has more than 100,000 academic workers as members.

Hannah Grimmett ’25, who is involved in UniLAD, WAMI’s union and labor task force, has been advocating for the formation of a union for the past two years, as she believed non-tenure track faculty would not make any major gains without forming a union, which organized the non-tenure track faculty teach-in in spring 2022 that she credited with increasing the awareness of the challenges non-tenure track faculty face. 

Grimmett has experience working with labor organizations, specifically the Kansas National Education Association and Workers United of Upstate New York, and emphasized the importance of academic workers unionizing, especially at Wellesley. While not working as part of UniLAD with WOAW, she spent a significant amount of time advocating for the creation of a union for FIP faculty, considering that the administration seemed resistant to their demands. For her, one of the major issues was specific contract language, specifically language regarding “just cause,” which refers to concrete, defined rules regarding disciplinary action or terminations.

“As we are all familiar with, non-tenure track faculty can be fired at will, which is insane, because they go to school for nearly a decade to get a PhD and they can be fired at will,” she said.

“In particular, [sociology professor] Matt Kaliner being terminated without cause very much inspired me to really push just cause [as a focus of the union’s demands].”

Each of the interviewees pointed to the lack of transparency from the College administration as a major obstacle to creating awareness around the issues FIP faculty face on campus. Brubaker specifically noted that there are no specific numbers provided regarding just how many FIP faculty there are.

“It’s in their best interest in some ways to not signal how many of us there are… They want to promote an image of a residential college that has award-winning faculty who are committed to their research, but also to students,” she said. “The picture of that may change if confronted with the reality that there’s many more people who are moving in and out of the community as faculty.”

The lack of transparency from the College pushed the union to understand the employment status of faculty at Wellesley. Senior Lecturer in the Writing Program, Erin Battat, shared that 40% of Wellesley’s faculty is non-tenure track faculty. 

“The other thing that really matters is that non-tenure track labor, the whole system, our titles, the way we’re paid, and  the culture relies on the assumption that we are temporary and replaceable. That we’re not real faculty,” Battat said. “The truth is that Wellesley actually relies heavily in order to function, in order to run its academic programs. We are vital to the operation of most of the departments. We are vital to the first-year experience.”

 Grimmett also noted specifically that the devaluing of the teaching and mentorship that non-tenure track faculty provide by the administration impacts students on a day-to-day basis.

“The union has put out a lot of information on the devaluing of teaching and mentorship roles, and greater value put on research, which tenure track faculty do more of, “ she said. “Research is what people on the outside see, but mentorship and teaching is what we students experience in our day-to-day lives, and the administration clearly values one more than the other.”

On Dec. 11, the College Government Cabinet released a statement of solidarity with the WOAW-UAW union, encouraging students and alums to show their support by signing the letter from the FIP union outlining their reasons for forming a union. 

“We encourage the College to recognize the union, to issue a statement of neutrality, and to set fair terms for the NLRB election. FIP faculty are valued members of our campus community. We firmly believe that unionizing all FIPs at Wellesley will lead to a better environment for all and that students’ learning conditions will improve when faculty’s teaching conditions improve,” the statement read. 

On Dec. 12, the union held an event in the Science Center innovation hub titled “Sip N’ Solidarity.” The event was an opportunity for the College community to learn more about the intentions of the union, and to hear updates from members about their path to achieve their goals.

“The best thing we can do is to provide security for people who are not going to access this old model of security, which is through tenure,” Alexander said. “Finding ways for faculty to build a life and not have to wonder if they’re going to have to pick up and move, or reapply for their jobs every two to three years and have to face a job market that wants research when they’ve been doing so much teaching that they haven’t kept up with research.”

College Government President, Ingrid Bell ’24, said that representatives from the Registrar’s office will be visiting next week’s Senate to share reminders for the College community as we head into finals season. President Johnson will be visiting at the last Senate of the semester. Bell welcomes all members of the student body to attend if they have any questions for Johnson.

Facilities Presentation

Assistant Vice President of Facilities Management and Planning, Dave Chakraborty, gave a presentation about the ongoing and future renovations of buildings at the College including residential halls, Clapp Library, and academic buildings. These renovations aim to upgrade heating systems, electricity, increase in disability access, exterior masonry and roofing repairs, and interior improvements in paint, flooring, and lighting.

In 2022, the College started a 10 year process to renovate residential halls across campus. This summer, renovations in Severance Hall and Tower Court West were completed. In the summer of 2024, Tower Court East, Claflin Hall, and Lake House will undergo renovations. Claflin Hall renovations will be completed in the summer of 2025. Renovations in the Quint will begin in the summer of 2026 starting with Pomeroy and Cazenove Hall. 

This summer, renovations were done in Founders Hall. Renovations in Green Hall will take place in the summer of 2024. Clapp Library will be closed for renovations during the spring 2024 semester and will reopen in the spring of 2025. Renovations to be made in Clapp include updates to heating, water, electricity, ADA access, fire sprinklers, lighting, and elevators. More classrooms in Clapp will be made during the renovations, as well as a cafe, new furniture, and upgrades to the maker’s space, special collections, and the archives. All library resources and materials will be relocated and available to students online or in the mods during the renovation period. 

Construction on a new building for Health Services and the Stone Center will begin in December and will be completed in the spring of 2025. All renovations include updates to facilities and systems that will aid the College’s efforts in becoming carbon neutral by 2040. 

Concerns about plumbing issues caused by the rushed finish to the Tower West renovations were raised as Chakraborty spoke about the renovation plans for other residential halls. Chakraborty stated that the 12-week time window to do roughly $10-12 million worth of renovations was the main cause of the plumbing issues since the time crunch did not allow for a proper inspection of the building after renovations took place. 

Questions about the possibility of Dower Hall being renovated and reopened as a residence hall were raised. Chakraborty said that Dower will remain closed since the College does not need the rooms in Dower at the moment. 

Sustainability Presentation

The Office of Sustainability Manager, Jennifer Garvin, gave a presentation on the College’s progress to reaching carbon neutrality by 2040. 

The College has reduced conventional electricity use by closing the cogeneration plant, purchasing electricity from the “greener” Massachusetts grid, invested $32 million to improve the central utility plant energy efficiency, and invested another $6 million to reduce electricity usage. As of 2022, 58.6% of grid electricity comes from non-greenhouse gas sources. By 2024, 80% of grid electricity will come from non-greenhouse gas sources. 

In terms of reducing natural gas use, major projects to make improvements to chilled water and steam distribution system efficiency have been completed. The College will continue to work on renovating buildings to improve sustainability performance, use “low temperature” heating hot water, install a geothermal well system, and reduce emissions from other smaller sources, such as dining halls. 

As of now, the College is ahead of its emission reduction timeline by cutting down on 44% of emissions in 2022 instead of 2036, the year originally projected to reach 44% of reduced emissions. Other major sustainability goals achieved by the College include a reduction in natural gas consumption by 44% since 2018, annual electricity consumption being reduced by 15% since 2018, electricity peak demand being reduced by 26% since 2018, and the Science Center being the first LEED Platinum building on campus. 

Open Discussion

A group of students met with Dean Horton to begin a conversation about making changes to the demonstration policy. Their main goal is to remove the Honor Code violation within the demonstration policy if a student who wishes to hold a demonstration fails to notify administration 48 hours in advance of the demonstration. The students stated that they are a committee to see if there should be a committee to update the demonstration policy. They encourage more students to come forward and voice their concerns about the current demonstration policy. Chief Justice, Dhanya Srikanth ’24, encourages students to reach out if they have any questions about the Honor Code. 

SPEC chair, Charlotte Precourt ’26, gave a reminder that any student can write and pose a ballot initiative. A ballot initiative does not guarantee a change, but it elevates the issue by communicating that a large majority of the student body agrees on an issue.

Cabinet Announcements

SPEC presented a Senator Guide 101 and Senator Responsibility Infographic with information on how to speak in Senate, how Senate voting procedures work, what motions are, and how to best function as a Senator. Secretary-Treasurer, Margaret Huai ’26, said Bryn Mawr’s Gender Inclusivity Ballot passed with 84.7% of the student body voting in support of the ballot. The COIL, Mikayla Tansil ’25, said demonstration funds and registration forms will be emailed out this week for utilization. Materials for demonstrations have been ordered and delivered. Srikanth reminds everyone that the Google form from her last email is still open, and anyone who wishes to share their opinions on what should change about the demonstration policy should fill it out. An information session about self-scheduled finals will be coming soon.