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Posts tagged as “opinions”

On the S.A. Allegations at UMass Amherst

How do you begin the opinion piece about sexual assault on a college campus? Maybe, if you’re like me, you’ve had a decade or so of practice in the area. You know the talking points by heart– you know that assault is especially pervasive among college students. That universities tend to prioritize their donors, not their survivors. Maybe you’re like 27% of my peers: you’re practiced at managing the aftershocks of your own assault as you navigate higher education.

Letter to the Editor

We, the Community Health Organizers, constructively disagree with the article, “How to Have a Good Convocation,” published on September 1st in The Sophian. Although we recognize that the article was not meant to be taken seriously, all Smith students have a responsibility to model safe and inclusive practices for living in community, meeting new people, partying, and participating in consensual sexual encounters. This is even more important during a pandemic, to keep everyone safe and healthy. 

But What Can We Do About the Peeping Toms at Convocation?

Women of color need to be protected at all costs because our identities have been marketed to evoke sexual utility by an industry that makes our bodies readily accessible to anyone on the internet. While we are conditioned to feel vulnerable, men are miseducated to believe that our bodies are objects for them to take, distort and photograph.

Ode to Hubbard

The coolest of the cool had slept through the unconscionably early dining hall breakfast, only to convene two hours after its close in the beautiful light of the Hubbard dining room at 11am, cherry-white chocolate chip scones in hand.

Un año sin precedentes: empezando la universidad como miembro de la clase “covid”

Ha pasado un año y medio desde que me aceptaron en Smith, nueve meses desde que tomé mi primera clase universitaria y tres meses desde que llegué por primera vez al campus. Como una alumna de primer año durante la pandemia, siento que comencé la universidad por etapas; el otoño pasado, experimenté una carga de trabajo a nivel universitario. Este semestre, viví en el campus fuera de casa por primera vez, y el próximo otoño (toquemos madera), finalmente tendré la experiencia universitaria completa: vivir en el campus, ir a clases, juntas y presentaciones en persona. En cierto modo, este ajuste gradual hizo que la introducción a la universidad fuera más fácil y menos abrupta. Pero hace un año, la perspectiva de no tener una transición normal a la universidad fue devastadora para mí.