Originally published in the February 2023 print edition.
Posts published in “Features”
Kicking off this season’s readings at the Boutelle Day Poetry Center on Feb. 28, Jennifer Chang brought a calm but assertive energy with her writings of war, nature and family. Her soft spoken tone was evocative of childhood memories and reflections of trauma with poems such as “Again A Solstice” and “Dorothy Wordsworth.”
Danny Joubran ‘24, arrived at Smith as an intended English major. Her infatuation with reading and writing notwithstanding, Joubran decided to take CHM 111: Intro to General Chemistry. As expected, taking the class confirmed that a Chemistry major was not for her. However, advised by her chemist father, Joubran enrolled in CHM 222: Intro to Organic Chemistry.
“I’ve always just loved to read,” said American literature professor Richard Millington. “Getting absorbed in books was this big pleasure… My interest was always in literature.” He’s not kidding. Millington’s office is covered in books — stacked and scattered across almost every flat surface.
Located past Elm Street tucked behind Cutter-Ziskind House, a warm white and canary yellow building known as the Davis Center houses Smith College’s Mwangi Cultural Center. This small space on campus is the primary hub hosting and running programming for students who identify as Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC).
Content Warning: Anti-Indigenous Racism, disrespect of human remains
All across Smith’s campus, buildings bear the names of people who have, in some way or another, contributed to the college. While the type of namesake ranges from former professors to famous alums to donors, these names — and especially the names of residential buildings — are instrumental to building the sense of community Smith prides itself on. But when examining some of these namesakes more closely, a darker undertone begins to emerge.
It’s February 2016 at a music center in the Bronx, and Pablo José López Oro, who is currently a Smith professor of Africana Studies, attentively gazes at a group of Garifuna folks rhythmically swaying across the stage. The beat of militant drums echoes across the room as the dancers, dressed in a traditional attire that predates their existence, swing their hips and fervently chant in their native Garifuna language rooted in Carib-Arawak syntax — Carib-Arawak Indians, they claim, are their ancestral origins.
For many students, the Center for Religious and Spiritual Life (CRSL) conjures up an image of the Helen Hills Hills Chapel. But the CRSL is more than that striking white steeple–it’s a subsidiary of the Office for Equity and Inclusion that offers a wide variety of resources to the student body, regardless of religious affiliation.
The Sophian spoke with Dano Weisbord, former director of the Center for the Environment, Ecological Design and Sustainability (CEEDS) and former Associate Vice President for Campus Planning and Sustainability. After 14 years working at Smith College, this October Weisbord began working at Tufts University as the Executive Director of Sustainability and as chief sustainability officer.
In an era where many marginalized groups fear their fundamental rights being stripped away, Carrie N. Baker’s role as a feminist, advocate for social justice and public writer has become indispensable.