Around 40 students were unable to get an assigned room for the fall 2025 semester after slots were quickly filled during housing selection today.

In response, the Office of Residential Life (ORL) will “continue working on housing assignments throughout June and July as spaces become available,” but affected students may not receive a housing assignment until July 26, according to an email from the ORL to students who did not get housing. 

Students who did not receive housing were asked to provide the Office with their building preferences, name of a preferred roommate and any additional living preferences.

In a statement to the News from the Associate Dean of Housing and Community Life Brittany McDaniel, this year’s housing timeline “created some unique circumstances.” Some students selected rooms they ultimately may not need due to unfinalized fall study abroad plans. Nearly every student also submitted the housing application on time, which is not typical, according to McDaniel.

Room selection this year was split into two days, with the earliest time slot starting at 9 a.m. and the last ending at 4 p.m. Current juniors selected housing on Tuesday, while current sophomores and first-years selected housing today. 

Sophomores could start selection at 9 a.m. this morning and most first-years selected this afternoon. Each person was randomly assigned a 15-minute time slot. 

By 2:45 p.m. today, April 30, Starrez, the housing portal the College used to assign rooms, showed that no more dorms were available for selection. The latest time slot for selection was 4 p.m. 

This is not the first time students have experienced delayed housing selection. Back in 2021, students also experienced a similar situation when 50 students could not find rooms during initial room selection and were placed on an “open assignment” list, meaning they would be assigned rooms as they were made available in the summer.

In 2019, dozens of students were displaced due to a Starrez glitch and were housed in temporary housing with no guarantee of a permanent room. 

Rooms available to students each year are often subjected to changes due to the incoming class yield rate, the number of students going abroad and renovation progress.

90% of students live on campus and the College guarantees housing for all students, according to its website.

The “Associate Provost for Equity and Inclusion” at Wellesley recently became the “Associate Provost for Inclusive Pedagogy and Engagement.” 

In a statement to The Wellesley News, a spokesperson for the College said that conversations about the position title began informally in 2024, and the name of the position was formally changed on Feb. 1, 2025.

“The change was made so that the title would more accurately reflect – to people both on and off campus – the broad range of the work being done in this position,” the spokesperson said. 

The change comes after President Trump’s Jan. 21 executive order on “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity.” In section five, the order states that within 120 days of its issuance, the Attorney General and Secretary of Education shall “issue guidance” to state, local, and higher educational institutions that receive federal funds about what they must do to comply with Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College, the Supreme Court case that reversed affirmative action. 

The executive order, then, would entail that Wellesley College, as a higher education institution receiving federal grants and participating in federal student loan assistance, would receive this guidance. 

The spokesperson for the College maintained that the Associate Provost Office of Inclusive Pedagogy & Engagement position “is designed to support all faculty in departments across the College with our Inclusive Excellence commitment.” This includes developing curricula, teaching initiatives, and promoting a “vibrant and restorative community.”

The change in context

While the College did not state that the position title change was influenced by any current presidential administration policy, the change occurred alongside the presidential administration’s push to affirm its anti-diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) stance. 

Two weeks after the change, on Feb. 14, the Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights of the Department of Education, Craig Trainor, released a letter condemning DEI in all its forms in all American educational institutions. 

The letter “provides notice of the Department’s existing interpretation of federal law,” and lays out the ways the Supreme Court ruling against affirmative action “applies more broadly.” 

Trainor says that “DEI programs, for example, frequently preference certain racial groups and teach students that certain racial groups bear unique moral burdens that others do not.”  

Trainor stated in the letter that federal law prohibits covered institutions from using race in decisions concerning admission, hiring, promotion, compensation, financial aid, scholarship, discipline, housing, graduation ceremonies and “all other aspects of student, academic, and campus life.”

The letter advises all educational institutions to ensure that their policies and actions comply with civil rights law and cease any efforts to circumvent those laws by indirect means. It concludes by stating that institutions that fail to comply will face potential loss of federal funding.

The News first reported on Feb. 5 that before the new College website was launched on March 11, the Wellesley website included a “Diversity and Inclusion” page with messages from President Paula Johnson, Dean Peach Valdes and their diversity recruitment team. That page has now been replaced with one titled “Where You Belong.” 

The College also previously told the News that their admissions process is already compliant with the Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College Supreme Court decision, and they did not anticipate any changes. 

A Department of Education letter

On March 10, the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights issued a letter to 60 higher education institutions — including Wellesley College — to remind them of their legal obligations under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.
On Mar. 14, General Counsel Karen Petrulakis and Director of Nondiscrimination Initiatives and Title IX Coordinator/504 Coordinator Justin Bell sent a letter to the Wellesley community. 

In the letter, they stated that Wellesley continues to condemn antisemitism and all hate and discrimination and that “since well before this letter, Wellesley has taken action to ensure that all our students, including Jewish students, have a strong sense of belonging at Wellesley.”

The letter goes on to assert that the College is complying with Title VI policies through encouraging reporting of discrimination and harassment and establishing mandatory Title VI antidiscrimination training for students, faculty and staff.

For the past few months, I’ve been quietly keeping predictions to myself, but now I’m breaking my silence as more evidence rolls in. When I say ’80s fashion, I know most of you think of something akin to neon leotards and leg warmers, but there’s so much more: bold silhouettes, sequins, color blocking, workwear, and yes – shoulder pads.

Where We’re Coming From

For the better part of the past decade, Americans have been inundated with fashion heavily inspired by the 1970s: long, flowy skirts, earthy naturals, platform mules/clogs, western boots and belts, and a revival of crochet and knitwear. The ’70s didn’t just influence our fashion; we’ve seen a ’70s revival in culture and media: think “Daisy Jones & the Six,” “The Holdovers” and “A Complete Unknown,” the new Bob Dylan biopic.

Where We’re Going

Rather than continuing with the ’70s trend, the Fall/Winter 2024-25 runways screamed what I’ve been whispering for months… the 1980s are back: bold browns, electric greens, dazzling purples, shimmering fabrics, brash blazers, and unapologetically chunky jewelry. The Spring 2025 shows doubled down with dramatic sleeves, ruffles galore, sheer and mesh fabrics, ostentatious florals, geometric motifs, polka dots and large collars.

What’s more, the cinematic world isn’t far behind. “The Substance” (2024) –– starring Margaret Qualley alongside ‘80s icons Demi Moore and Dennis Quaid –– channels the TV aerobics-craze pioneered by Jane Fonda and Richard Simmons. 

Why and What Will It Look Like?

Studies have indicated that fashion trends follow alongside economic ones: when the economy goes down, heels get higher, hair gets shorter, hemlines get longer, and overall, the pendulum swings back into a more conservative style. 

While the 1980s were characterized by a booming stock market which gave way for bold colors and big statements, it is unclear if everything from the ’80s will return this go around, given our current financial climate. After the peak of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, former President Biden rebuilt parts of the American economy to the point of outperforming the rest of the world. Despite such, mainstream dialogue surrounding the everyday price of goods caused the economy to become the number one issue on voters’ minds this past election. Although President Trump will inherit the growing economy that Biden left behind, economists predict that Trump’s imposed tariffs on China, Mexico, and Canada will significantly affect consumer prices. The “Hemline Index”, transitioning from micro-mini skirts of the past few years to the new high-low and midi-length revival, could indicate the environment of mass economic uncertainty. 

If you’re like me, the first thing I think of when I think of the ’80s is big hair, and the second is the corporate “9 to 5” culture where women flooded en masse into the workforce: riding the second wave of the 1970s, women were educated and for the first time ever, legally protected from employment discrimination. This new ability to obtain success, coupled with the desire to take up space in the office as men did, culminated in the legendary “power suit”. Vogue’s October 1985 editorial spread titled “Power Dressing” displays women hovering above men with text reading, “The women dressing to be noticed … and gain the upper hand. Men can fuel fantasy. But women set the direction … and the tone. You get the sense that things are changing.” 

Following suit (pun intended), designers like Claude Montana, Emanuel Ungaro, Theirry Mugler, Jean Paul Gaultier, and Yves Saint Laurent launched collections containing exaggerated boxy shapes, harsh angles, bright colors and peplums –– all of which blur the lines of traditional men’s workwear with women’s high fashion, letting the wearer declare her power via her wardrobe.

So now, with current and imminent threats

facing women’s autonomy, I find it the least bit surprising that blazers, shoulder pads, and double-breasted silhouettes have started to reappear.

Viva la power suit, viva la 80s.

Contact the editor responsible for this article: Ivy Buck 

For one political science course, POL1 210: Campaigns and Elections, taught by Professor Maneesh Arora, the 2024 election was a direct part of the course curriculum.

The course description for POL1 210 notes that the course addresses issues relating to the election and its long campaign cycle including  “the impact of voter apathy, civic education, and the interplay of national and local politics on the health of American democracy.”

 Students in the class had assignments related to the 2024 election.

“We’ve been looking at voter behavior and how it’s influenced by personal factors like personal identities and political factors like socioeconomic/political conditions,” said Eliza Karim ’27, a student enrolled in the course.

Semester readings have included academic studies alongside articles that delve into various factors of the 2024 election and each major candidate’s campaign tactics. Students in POL1 210 also participated in a nationwide competition called Election Madness in which players compete to accurately predict the winners of the 23 closest local elections and the 2024 presidential race. Students were assigned one of those local races to research in-depth and present to the class, and all researched the presidential race. Classmates’ findings were used to submit picks for the winners on the website. Finally, students submitted two research papers by election day — one for each race they looked at.

On Thursday, Nov. 7, the course met for the first time since the election was called. 

“The class was pretty obviously dejected post-election.” said Karim. “We just discussed how we felt about everything for about the first half of class. The conversation was pretty casual and it was just good to get some of those thoughts off our chests.” 

Other political science professors also prepared to cover the 2024 election. Professor Jennifer Chudy is teaching both POL1 337: Seminar: Race and American Politics and POL1 200: American Politics this semester.

“I had a lot of election readings early in the semester, so that by the time the election came around, students would have some political science tools to be able to understand the results,” said Chudy.

Professor Christopher Candland teaches POL 123: Logic and Rhetoric for Political Analysis and POL2 204: Political Economy of Development and Underdevelopment.

“I asked that we think about ways to help protect one another from harm,” Candland said in an email statement to the News.

In the English department, Professor Kelly Rich started ENG 334: Law in Literature on Wednesday, Nov. 7 with an activity where words were written on the board to represent peoples’ feelings about the election. Students were released for 20 minutes to write a journal entry about their feelings about the election. 

Professor Rich tied conversation about When the Emperor was Divine, a book about Asian American internment during WWII, back to the election and how everyday actions can be seen as a form of resistance. Professor Rich ended class by sharing the internet browser extension called “Make America Kittens Again,” which replaces Trump’s face with a picture of a kitten for all news sources and online websites. 

On Friday, Professor Smitha Radhakrishan asked her SOC 108: Thinking Global: An Introduction to Sociology class the question, “What is the world that we want to build?”

While initially reluctant to share, her students shared about the grief they were feeling, particularly in regards to how the election would influence their home states. 

As professors across Wellesley create spaces for students to process the reasons for the election results, Chudy offers some advice as a political scientist.

“There’s so many efforts to try to understand what happened and pointing to all these different factors with the candidates in the campaigns, but … you know, don’t miss the forest for the trees. Kind of keep your eye on these macro conditions,” Chudy said. “And that seemed to be salient to many students as they tried to reason through the results.”

Contact the editors responsible for this story: Sazma Sarwar, Galeta Sandercock, and Ruby Barenberg