This article was originally published in the November 2024 print edition. On Oct. 24, 2024, President Sarah Willie-LeBreton announced a review of the college’s policies…
Posts tagged as “sophian”
Today, The Sophian is Smith’s only student newspaper, read and appreciated by many online and through print. However, unbeknownst to many, its start in 1952…
You are the reason we are here. You are the reason we stay. All of you — The trans students; DACA students; the first gens. The cis students; the US citizens; the international students; the third-generation Smithies
This article was originally published in the October 2024 print edition. What does true diversity look like in an era of systemic inequality? At a recent Smith College training conference, I encountered a reminder of the work that still lies ahead. The conference focused on refining our leadership skills, but what struck me as most compelling was the presentation of a “power wheel” that ranked marginalized identities based on their proximity to power. This graphic illustrated a profoundly outdated and two-dimensional understanding of diversity, reducing complex experiences to a hierarchy defined by race, class, sexuality and more.
On Oct. 20, former President Donald Trump donned a yellow-and-gray McDonald’s apron, complete with golden cufflinks, no hairnet and slippery dress shoes, to salt fries and pose for photos with supporters. It seemed he would do anything to win more votes and troll Vice President Kamala Harris.
In a Study of Women, Gender and Sexuality seminar, Gender and Violence, taught by Professor Carrie Baker during the fall of 2024, a discussion on self-defense classes highlighted the availability — or lack thereof — of such resources at Smith. As early as the turn of the twentieth century, self-defense, particularly physical training, emerged as a means of personal and political empowerment for women.
During my first week on the Smith College campus, I was struck by the absence of outdoor trash cans. When I had something to throw out, there was nowhere to put it. I began to look for them, and after three weeks of searching, I only found a singular trash can outside of the bookstore — one that, as far as I could tell, wasn’t affiliated with the college.
Recently, I forced my girlfriend through the ordeal that any number of my friends, partners and casual acquaintances have been subjected to in the past — a showing of the 1982 classic “The Snowman.” Based on a picture book of the same name, “The Snowman” is a hand-illustrated silent short film accompanied by an original symphonic score. All aspects which my willing or unwilling viewers have no doubt found riveting. Not to mention that it inflicts more emotional damage than any children’s Christmas movie has a right to. Call it my artistic appreciation (or early onset depression) but its bittersweet mood is one of the many reasons it was my favorite film as a child.
On Rally Day, Feb. 22, 2024, President Sarah Willie-LeBreton announced that five distinguished leaders — Maria Luisa Arroyo Cruzado, Ruth E. Carter, Ertharin Cousin, Jill…
On Jan. 16, the Botanic Garden of Smith College announced that five trees on campus will be removed early this year, including the long-standing sugar…