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Convocation speakers celebrate TGNC10 announcement BY JESSE HAUSKNECHT-BROWN ’25 MANAGING EDITOR OF LAYOUT | FEATURES EDITOR
Pom-poms in hand and gowns zipped up, the graduating class of 2025 marched down the steps of Gettell Amphitheater while the Five College West African Music Ensemble played energetic music. This processional marked the beginning of the 2024 Convocation ceremony held on Sept. 3, this time at 10 a.m. instead of the usual 12 p.m. Members of the crowd cheered and chanted, many wearing their class colors and some carrying signs to show class pride. Sally Durdan ’81, who is beginning her first year as the chair of the Board of Trustees, spoke first, beginning with a land acknowledgment and then thanking the staff members who made Convocation possible. She spoke about the loss of the copper beech tree outside of Dwight Hall, which stood for over a century before it was struck down by lightning. Then, she turned her attention towards the class of 2025, explaining that she is also a Green Griffin. “Hello to my fellow Griffins, the class of 2025,” Durdan said before being met with loud applause. Durdan introduced President Danielle R. Holley, who began by recognizing each class year. “Mount Holyoke, we are a community that is bold, unique, curious and unstoppable, so are we ready to do the official roll call?” Holley asked. She acknowledged each class year — the first-year Blue Lions, sophomore Yellow Sphinxes, junior Red Pegasi, senior Green Griffins, Frances Perkins scholar Purple Phoenixes and graduate student Teal Owls — who each responded with loud applause. The focal point of the ceremony was the official announcement of TGNC10: Commemorating TGNC Inclusion at MHC. The student-led project commemorates the 10-year anniversary of the College’s trans and gender-nonconforming inclusive admissions policy. “In 1837, Mount Holyoke opened the gate to a rigorous education regardless of gender. In 2014, we cracked that gate wider and we had more students we needed to serve, more students whose diverse perspectives would enhance our academic excellence and more students who would thrive in our inclusive community,” Holley said. “Mount Holyoke’s admissions policy is a 21st century expression of our core mission. The community we’ve built as a result of that policy is and will always be too bold for boundaries.” She explained how, at the 2014 Convocation ceremony, then-president Lynn Pasquerella announced that Mount Holyoke would officially admit transgender women, transgender men and nonbinary people, regardless of their sex assigned at
Photo by Max Paster ’25 Lily Rood ’27, the TGNC10 project coordinator, delivered a poem during her Convocation address.
birth. The College became the first of what were then called the Seven Sisters to initiate a trans-inclusive admissions policy. “We’ll be celebrating this anniversary all year guided by the student-led work, called ‘TGNC10: Commemorating TGNC Inclusion at Mount Holyoke College’,” Holley said. Some audience members stood up and cheered while many waved pom-poms and signs with the TGNC10 logo. Holley asked for the members of the TGNC10 advisory committee — which is comprised of students, faculty and professors — to stand up and be recognized, which was followed by more enthusiastic cheering. Holley then explained that TGNC10 is part of a task force she is creating for the 2024-2025 academic school year called the Presidential Task Force for the Trans and Gender Nonconforming Community. “This group will help me to ensure Mount Holyoke strengthens its commitment to inclusivity and enhancing resources and support for TGNC community members,” Holley said. “Before I close, I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge that we have a lot of work cut out for us,” Holley said. “We are living in a world that needs so much of our attention; we are navigating a contentious election, an ongoing heartbreaking political and humanitarian crisis, the alarming effects of climate change and a world in which too many people are struggling to move forward from the losses of the pandemic.” Student Government Association President Julia Keane ’26 was the next to address the crowd. She discussed her role as SGA President and explained that, throughout her academic journey at Mount Holyoke, she has been in three out of the four main class colors: all but Yellow Sphinx. Keane then introduced the three student members of the TGNC10 advisory committee: Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Fellows Raven Joseph ’25 and Emma Quirk ’26 as well as
TGNC10 Project Coordinator and Founder Lily Rood ’27. Describing the committee’s work, Joseph explained that they are “building on the legacy of trans women of color activists such as foremothers whose names we call forth: Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P. Johnson … who sought full equality for all members of the LGTBQ community.” Quirk explained upon Joseph’s sentiments by highlighting two student activist organizations whose members were advocating on campus in the years leading up to the 2014 policy announcement. “Today, I am proud to call forth the names of student activists and organizations called Femmepowered and Open Gates,” Quirk said. “In 2014, they said what we proudly affirm today: trans women belong at Mount Holyoke.” Open Gates, as described on their Tumblr page, was “a student led community organization dedicated to the full inclusion of trans women at Mount Holyoke College.” Femmepowered was a campus organization dedicated to fighting misogyny on campus by creating space for femme-identified queer people. The “About” page of their Tumblr highlights Femmepowered’s belief that “the full inclusion of trans women on campus, both in admissions policies and campus cultural attitudes, is a vital part of addressing misogyny on campus.” While Joseph and Quirk’s remarks reflected on past trans advocacy, they then turned it over to Rood to speak to the present moment through a poem called “Taking the Stage at Last.” Rood explained that her poem was participatory and would ask questions; she invited audience members to engage with it however they saw fit, whether that be waving a pom-pom or answering aloud. “When we are faced with a moment in history, we must ask the critical question: what do we stand for?” Rood began. “For too long, when my sisters in transition sought
to be here, without fear, on the stage, the crowd was asked: ‘Do you stand with us?’ and the call rang out unanswered. Today however, I am here, without fear, on the stage. I am loud, proud, a trans woman leader speaking to a crowd.” Students, staff, faculty and community members in the audience embraced Rood’s words, many standing up and applauding loudly. She continued by asking a series of questions, pausing after each one as the crowd cheered. “And I need not ask, should I not choose, for at last, I know: Mount Holyoke stands with me,” Rood said. “So for all to see, what I know in my heart, I will ask with no fear but rather with expectation: do you stand with us? Do you stand for gender affirming care? Do you stand for intersectional trans equity and racial justice? Do you stand for a world in which trans women and people of every gender-expansive identity are here, without fear, on the stage?” Speaking in an interview with Mount Holyoke News, Rood explained that she had spent a lot of time envisioning what a “community-wide embrace of TGNC folks might look and feel like,” and that after Convocation, “that dream has begun to be realized.” She closed out her remarks by addressing that there is more work to be done within the Mount Holyoke community to support TGNC people, but that the College has come a long way. “Today we stand united,” Rood said. “We will stand up and fight until every last trans sibling of ours is embraced and supported and loved and handed this microphone here, without fear, on the stage.” When Rood found out in August that she would have the opportunity to speak at convocation, she wanted to honor the TGNC people, especially trans women, who haven’t had the same or similar opportunities in the past. “I wanted to lean into an idea that I think and talk about frequently within my DEI work, which is honoring past, present and future stories all at once,” Rood said. “So, I was inspired by visions of future trans leaders at Mount Holyoke, too. By seeking to honor those who came before me and those who will come after me, I was able to show up as myself in the present moment in a way that felt right.” Zoë Crabtree ’15, a Technical Support & Content Specialist who spoke on behalf of the staff, built upon Rood’s address by speaking about their experience at the Convocation ceremony in 2014. “[2014] was my senior year, I was sitting right back up there, at the top of the amphitheater, next to a Green Griffin I’d recently met. Now, he and I are married,” Crabtree said, drawing applause from the crowd. “In the
last 10 years, I’ve seen the college’s continued commitment to our trans and nonbinary community members.” They highlighted a number of programs that the College has added in the past 10 years including the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion; BOOM, an annual DEI learning symposium; and the Affirming Practices for Trans and Gender Nonconforming People Working Group, which they’ve served on during their time as a staff member. “I wish we didn’t have to push so hard to be recognized and accepted on top of everything else going on in our lives, but as you can, keep pushing,” Crabtree said. “And when you need rest, lean on each other and on the MHC staff that are here to support you.” Assistant Professor of psychology and education Jackson Matos spoke next, referencing his own marriage to a Green Griffin Mount Holyoke alum, and current staff member, Natasha Matos, Laboratory Instructor in psychology and education. “I am a spouse in an interracial marriage, but it’s just not any marriage. I had the good sense to marry a Mount Holyoke alum,” Matos began. “I identify as first-generation, low-income, a person with disabilities, Puerto Rican, Catholic and I am a proud trans man.” As he listed his different social identities, members of the audience interrupted after each one to cheer. Matos continued by prompting the crowd to think about why Mount Holyoke was the first institution of its kind to put a trans-inclusive admissions policy into place. His answer traces back to Mary Lyon’s challenge to Mount Holyoke students back in 1837, “to go where no one else will go” and “do what no one else will do.” Matos explained that, in the 21st century context at Mount Holyoke, this means doing the right thing “not in the service of what’s trendy right now, but in the service of what’s right, always.” This sentiment, Matos said, should be applied to and taken out of the Mount Holyoke community: it looks like caring for neighbors and Community Based Learning partners, using people’s correct pronouns and being in solidarity with, not trying to save, marginalized communities. “The system of oppression prescribed us a gender binary, but we are called to imagine a different world,” Matos said. “As adrienne maree brown says, ‘all social justice work is science fiction. We are imagining a world free of injustice, a world that doesn’t yet exist.’ At Mount Holyoke we work to turn the science fiction of social justice into CONTINUED ON PAGE 5
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Students gather in Great Room to watch live presidential debate BY TARA MONASTESSE ’25 EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
There were scarcely seats available in the Great Room on the evening of Tuesday, Sept. 10, as students gathered to watch a live screening of the presidential debate between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris. While the two candidates debated at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, a projection of the ABC News broadcast played for watch party attendees as they spectated from decorated tables under red, white and blue stage lighting. The event was organized through a collaboration between the Division of Student Life, the Office of Student Involvement and the student-led Mount Holyoke College Democrats. MHC Votes!, a non-partisan student coalition dedicated to increasing voter engagement among students, also tabled at the event. The Mount Holyoke College Republicans student organization was not present at the event, as the group is no longer active on campus this academic year. Emma Cranage ’25 and Rebecca Sandoval ’26, president and vice president of the MHC Democrats
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respectively, introduced the event shortly before the debate began at about 9 p.m. “We’ve put watch parties together before, but never on such a scale,” Cranage said in an interview with Mount Holyoke News. “I really regret that we didn’t until now. It was so wonderful to see everyone show up and just hear everyone’s reactions. It was a really good way of bringing the student body together at such a complicated time.” Overall, Cranage felt that the event “went really great.” The Princeton Review recently named Mount Holyoke #1 for “Most Liberal Students” in its annual rankings last month, which are based on how students rate their schools. With this in mind, the general crowd reactions during the College’s debate watch party were largely unsurprising. Well-timed jabs from Harris typically earned applause and cheers, while comments from Trump were often met with laughter. However, not all of Harris’ statements were met with approval. “I think some of Kamala’s comments were a little disheartening to some people in our crowd, and I definitely understand that,” Sandoval said in an interview with Mount
2 FEATURES: Students celebrate Nightfest
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Holyoke News. Sandoval said that she found Harris’s stance on fracking to be disappointing, especially as Sandoval is herself a resident of Pennsylvania where the presence of fracking is controversial. “When they brought up Pennsylvania, [Harris] brought up fracking. I think maybe she was going towards more of a centrist audience, but I don’t know if she’s going to win over that youth vote with the whole fracking thing,” Sandoval said. “I think the watch party was very helpful because even though it seemed like people were more on the Democratic representative’s side, we still felt like there were some things that we disagreed on with the candidate,” Campbell Waters ’25, a student watch party attendee, said in an interview with Mount Holyoke News immediately following the debate. “ I think [it] is very important to show that we’re not just mindlessly following someone.” According to Cranage, the MHC Democrats are currently planning to host a vice presidential debate watch party on Oct. 1 in collaboration with the same groups as the presidential debate watch party. Planning is also underway for an on-campus election night watch party, to be held on Nov.
Photo by Tara Monastesse ’25 Emma Cranage ’25 (left) and Rebecca Sandoval ’26 (right) introduced the debate’s watch party.
5. The Office of Student Involvement has stated that if the MHC Republicans student organization becomes once again active, they would “gladly include” the group as co-hosts of the vice presidential debate watch party. “I think the watch party went amazing,” Sandoval said. “I went around talking to people quite a bit,
3 A&E: A capella groups perform at O-Jam
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and it was really cool to see people building the sense of community with their other peers on campus, talking about their states, where they’re from, how they think the debate is going.” “I think it’s only up from here,” she said. Quill Nishi-Leonard ’27 contributed fact-checking.
5 S&E: Geothermal project progress update