Dear Wellesley,
This past weekend, members of Cabinet and other representatives of Wellesley met at Mt. Holyoke for the annual Seven Sisters Conference for Student Government Associations. There were representatives from Wellesley, Mt. Holyoke, Smith, Barnard, Bryn Mawr and Vassar College. Some of the of the hot topics during the weekend were how to define the Seven Sisters council, how to determine membership, and the mission of the Seven Sisters Council. An obvious focus of this discussion was whether or not Vassar College should be considered a Seven Sisters school today. Vassar became coeducational in 1969. While the school is obviously one of the Historic Seven Sisters, can we consider it a Seven Sister school today? I will be meeting with members of the Seven Sisters council in Washington D.C. on Dec. 15 and we’ve decided that we will bring these questions back to our respective schools so that our student bodies can weigh in on the issue. Should we be the Seven Sisters? The Six Siblings? If Vassar is included, should Harvard be invited now that Radcliffe has been merged with Harvard (fully integrated since 1999)? As we continue to explore what it means to be an educational institution for women, it’s important to ask these questions. For myself, I personally consider Wellesley and other women’s colleges to be institutions whose express purpose is to educate and advance traditionally marginalized populations. This philosophy is more inclusive to our trans-identified student population. However, I understand that this opinion is simply my own and does not necessarily reflect the views of the great student body. I would love to hear your opinions on this—please email me or contact me directly.
A few others items to follow up on:
Fall Frenzy feedback surveys will go live later this week. Please fill one out; it’ll be a Google form!
Planning and executing Fall Frenzy has been a great pleasure for us while also offering us an invigorating challenge in attempting to serve the as many students as possible and appeal to a wide array of interests. It’s essential that we hear back from you about what you want FF to be in years to come – the event is for you!
Culture Shock is here! Brought to you by the Diversity Committee and the MAC, Culture Shock brings difficult dialogues about diversity into a public forum where they can be worked through face-to-face. The first program will be tonight (Wednesday 11/16) from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. in the Library Lecture Room. The first discussion of the series this fall is Culture Shock: Believe It or Not, and it will be on the topic of religion. Believe it or not, there will be Truly’s Yogurt to enjoy!
Last but not least, there is no Senate until 11/28. This is our second to last meeting of the semester and all are welcome. Please enjoy the Thanksgiving Holiday and take some time off, as this has been a very busy semester!
Sincerely,
Kirstin
CGP ’11-‘12