On Feb. 14, Wellesley students hosted the Love, Not Guns event, a vigil to honor the lives that have been lost to gun violence in the United States and to mark the passing of five years since the tragic mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Gathered on Chapel Green, students lit candles and held moments of silence in honor of lives lost. Following moments of silence, student speakers discussed the importance of remembering these lives, the continuing impacts of gun violence and the need for action to end gun violence. 

Lillie Stewart ’26, co-leader of the event, explained, “We were specifically interested in holding a vigil because the thing that’s been communicated from families of Parkland victims is that the day of the 14th is still really a day of mourning and appreciation for the lives of their family members, and so, we really wanted to respect that and kind of bring that perspective into our advocacy for the reduction of gun violence.” 

Stewart and Sidney Briggs ’26 collaborated to lead and plan the event, supported by their co-host Wellesley for the Abolition of Militarism and Incarceration (WAMI). Stewart and Briggs recognized Hannah Grimmett ’25 and Liz Huang ’24, who spoke at the Love, Not Guns event, for their support in creating the event. 

Both Stewart and Briggs have participated in community organizing to end gun violence in their home states of Oregon and North Carolina, respectively, and both were motivated to mark Feb. 14 as a day of mourning and remembrance. They hope that vigils on this date will continue to occur on campus in coming years. 

“One of the goals here is to bring a continued awareness to this day of mourning and, as the years wear on … I think we definitely see this as an opportunity to bring that awareness back to the Wellesley community,” Stewart said. 

During the vigil, a group of students formed a circle on the Green and, lighting electric tea lights, held a moment of silence. Stewart described the silence as “a moment of reflection and holding space for elective grief and remembrance.”

Stewart reflected on holding the vigil, “It opens the conversation, and … it’s not trying to have the whole conversation all at once. It’s just putting the space out there.”

Following this moment of silence, Briggs spoke about the importance of remembrance, as well as communities’ work to end gun violence. She described the speech as “ … talking about how … much we’ve been impacted by [gun violence] as a generation, as students, and also the importance of remembering those who have been lost and the importance of working in the moments to come.” She also noted that Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida is named after a Wellesley alum, an activist and conservationist, who graduated with the class of 1912.  

“In a lot of ways, we have a responsibility as a Wellesley community to remember the violence going on …,” said Stewart. Later, she added, “It was powerful to observe the connection that each of us [has] with gun violence. … I think it really has touched everybody in one way or another, and remembering that that’s the case really motivates me to change that for the future.” 

Briggs’s speech addressed the ongoing pervasiveness of gun violence, which continues to cause trauma and end lives. In one recent instance of this violence, on Feb. 13, according to recent reporting, three students were killed and five more were injured in a mass shooting at Michigan State University. Briggs explained that the news of this tragedy broke while she was working on her speech for the vigil the following day, the anniversary of the Parkland shooting. 

Speaking of the Love, Not Guns event, Briggs said, “It really made me realize that we’ve all been impacted by the epidemic of gun violence in some way, and there’s a way to foster a community both in grief and in hope that we won’t have to mourn more lives.” 

The Love, Not Guns vigil ended with another moment of silence, during which students laid their candles in the center of their circle in honor of the lives lost to gun violence.

“Writing is hard and lonely … I honestly feel like I wouldn’t have been able to write a book without all the support I’ve gotten from Wellesley professors, staff, alums and even current students excited about my book,” Bartels said. 

Her book is a nonfiction exploration of people’s love for pets in life and different ways of loving and mourning pets when they die. Bartels first began exploring this topic while completing her MFA program at Columbia University. When she was not working on her thesis, Bartels wrote personal essays about her past pets and her experiences of grief when these pets died. As a child, she felt like her pets were close companions, especially as her older siblings grew up and spent more time away from home.

“My pets were really like my best friends and my companions,” Bartels said. “I loved animals. I felt like I could be my weird self around them and they wouldn’t judge me.”

She remembers her classmates showing interest in her stories and sharing their own experiences with pets and mourning. Bartels was fascinated by her research on the significance of pets and traditions for mourning them. She sold the book in 2019, and her own relationship with pets shifted as she wrote it.  

“I think that writing this book … made me a little less anxious about all the ways pets can die and made me feel more appreciative of just thinking about now and appreciating the time we have together, even if it’s short,” Bartels said.  

She was interested in writing from a young age and first fell in love with nonfiction in high school when asked to write a collection of vignettes based on her life. Towards the end of high school, Bartels took a Wellesley summer course on creative nonfiction and decided that she would continue studying the genre. 

“I totally fell in love with writing and nonfiction and felt like [nonfiction] was a way that I could express myself … in a way as creative and artful as fiction but with tools that I was better equipped with,” Bartels said, who always felt that nonfiction writing came more naturally to her. 

Bartels gained confidence in her writing at Wellesley, where she was a staff writer for Counterpoint and wrote a monthly column about her experiences studying abroad in Russia. She recalls her faculty advisor supporting her work by sending her email responses about her column. 

Throughout her career, Bartels has gained experience through freelance writing and teaching writing, and in 2021, she joined the Wellesley Office of Communications & Public Affairs staff. Presenting her book at Wellesley, she hoped to continue to share her writing experience with students and others who love pets or are interested in writing. Although Zhao has not had many pets in her life, she found the book moving. 

“Good Grief is a really great book,” Zhao said. “I remember really enjoying it and really feeling a lot of emotions about pets and what happens when they’re alive and what happens when they die.” 

During the event, Bartels read passages of her book and answered questions from Zhao and members of the audience. According to Zhao, Bartels invited her to moderate the event after their many conversations about writing. Zhao’s upcoming book Dear Wendy is set to be released in 2024, and she meets with Bartels occasionally to talk about writing and publishing.

“It’s been really nice talking together about books,” Zhao said. 

Bartels shared that she enjoys connecting with other writers through Wellesley events and alum networks. 

“My one piece of advice to any Wellesley student who is interested in writing is to definitely reach out to Wellesley alums,” Bartels said. “The Wellesley community has just been so supportive of me as a writer,” she added.

“[The theme] was reflective of the amalgamation of different cultures at Wellesley,” Merchant said. 

The Culture Show began with Wellesley Asian Dance Organization’s (WADO) performance of Annual Rings, a graceful traditional Chinese dance using fans, and it ended with the annual Culture Show Fashion Show, a celebratory event during which students walked down the aisles of Alumnae Hall and stood on stage together, wearing clothes and holding flags significant to their cultures and traditions. Rahnuma Aroshi ’25 wore a green anarkali dress and held a flag to represent Bangladesh. 

“Everyone was so talented, and I loved seeing everyone’s performances,” said Aroshi, reflecting on the night. 

This year’s Culture Show was the first held in person since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“I’ve always loved the Culture Show. I’m glad I got to have a final one on campus,” said Hazar Ghaith ’23, Slater president. 

Following WADO’s dance, Wellesley Kapatid performed the Sakuting, a Filipino cultural dance significant to the Ilocanos using bamboo sticks. Hui o Hawai’i performed a dance to the traditional song ‘Ulupalakua,’ Wellesley Aiko performed Kiyohime with drums and the Wellesley Shotokan Karate Club performed intermediate fifth-level and beginner first-level kata, choreographed fight sequences. Ghaith performed Dabke, a Levantine Arab folk dance popular in Palestine, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan, as a member of the Arab Student Alliance (ASAL). Ghaith first began performing in the Culture Show with ASAL as a first-year, and wanted to enjoy the Culture Show behind the scenes and onstage as a senior. 

“You want to do as much as you can, knowing that it’s your last culture show. Being president, you want it to go well and for people to have fun,” Ghaith said. 

ASAL was followed by the first-year members of Slater performing a group dance to a creative medley of K-pop songs.

The Culture Show organizers, Merchant and Khanna, worked to include as many cultures and traditions as possible in the show. While Merchant and Khanna led organizing efforts, the show was created by all members of Slater e-board, who participated in different task forces to share their strengths. 

“This entire culture show … really showed me the power of teamwork and collaboration,” said Merchant.  

Slater partnered with many departments and student organizations for the show, including the Pakistani Students Association (PSA). In partnership with Slater, PSA raised funds at the event for the Dastak Foundation’s Dignity and #ForYouMaa Campaigns, which aim to support menstruating and pregnant individuals adversely affected by the flood crisis in Pakistan through the provision of dignity kits – which include sanitary napkins and pads, underwear, soap, tissue paper and other essentials – and Maa Kits/prenatal kits to support pregnant people.

The second half of the Culture Show began with Wellesley Wushu’s powerful performance of its “Traditional Act,” a showcase of Chinese martial arts weapon forms based on the Shaolin and Taolu traditions. Shantha Venugopal ’23 sang a rendition of Shayad, a Hindi song by Taba Chake, and the Yanvalou Drum and Dance Ensemble drummed Ijexa, an Afro-Brazilian song of resistance. The final performances included a group dance by Slater e-board, choreographed by Ghaith, Angel Liu’s high-energy solo dance to Beyonce’s “Partition” and the Fashion Show.

“[Participating] was a nice way to celebrate my culture and to see how other people represent their own cultures,” said Aroshi. She encourages students to attend the culture shows hosted by student organizations throughout the year. 

“I feel like it’s a great way to get to know the community,” she said.

Ghaith and Merchant both described seeing the beginning of the show and the enthusiasm of the large audience, as well as time spent with the Slater e-board after the show, sharing food, taking photos and thanking everyone for their work, as highlights of the night. 

Ghaith joined Slater during her second year, as a Middle East and North Africa representative alongside Natalie Ayoub ’23, current vice president, and hopes that, through events like the Culture Show, they can continue the welcoming environment they found there. “Being an international student can sometimes feel … alienating, so having that community of people who know what you’re going through, where you’re all supporting each other, seemed really nice to me when I joined,” said Ghaith. “I wanted to continue fostering that environment … It made me feel so much more at home here.”

Merchant felt inspired seeing the Slater e-board, performers and audience members come together to share in the final event. “The… aim of the culture show was to try and showcase the amalgamation of diverse cultures that we have at Wellesley and how powerful the appreciation of different cultures can be … these cultures coming together and interacting with each other can just be so beautiful… we hope that that was conveyed,” said Merchant.

In addition to inviting all students to ask questions, the orientation panel supplemented the information about ADR provided during first-year orientation.

“Orientation can be super helpful, but can be kind of overwhelming because there is so much information. We wanted to plan something … just to provide students with a little bit more personalized information about ADR and with the opportunity to ask questions they might not have had the opportunity to ask,” Melville said. 

Iris Martinez ’24, an SAA who worked closely with the ADR team to lead the organization of this event, personally found it somewhat difficult to absorb information during their virtual first-year orientation.

 Through their work as an SAA, Martinez hopes to create more space for the discussion of accessibility and disability on campus. 

“I’ve always wanted to be in a bit of an advocacy role because there’s not always a ton of information about it … , but there are things we can do … to make the world better for accessibility,” Martinez said. 

SAAs aim to act as advocates and as a resource for all students, particularly providing support for those who do not feel comfortable discussing their needs and questions with administrators. They host weekly office hours for students and respond to emails or direct messages sent through the ADR website. In addition, SAAs organize events like the student orientation panel, take on administrative tasks and help to provide student resources, like the network of student note-takers coordinated largely by SAA Lidewij Florusbosch ’24. Martinez’s most recent projects include updating the ADR website, including its page for students seeking note-taking support, and creating captions for video course materials.

During the hybrid event, Melville introduced students to the role of ADR on campus. As SAAs, Sasha Leys ’23 discussed Assistive Technology options, Florusbosch discussed some differences between high school and college accommodation processes and Martinez discussed the role of SAAs on campus. The team distributed zines containing information about resources available through ADR, including Kurzweil, a text-to-speech program that recently became free to download for all members of the Wellesley community. All resources can be found on the ADR Assistive Technology page. Melville noted that ADR can work with students registered with its office to access other forms of Assistive Technology and to make Assistive Technology financially accessible. 

Despite the small student turn-out for the orientation panel, Martinez and Melville hope that students will discover available resources through conversations with the ADR staff and by visiting the ADR website and Linktree. In addition to scheduled meetings, Melville will also offer weekly drop-in office hours, listed on the ADR website, as a new resource for all students. 

“I have started doing … drop-in hours because I have recognized that…sometimes, people don’t know what they want or need … or just have a quick question, so they don’t necessarily want to wait a week to get in to see me,” Melville said.

Martinez recognized that there is much to be done to improve accessibility on campus. They and Melville share the goal of encouraging a more proactive approach to accessibility on campus that will make a greater number of resources more universally available and make spaces more accessible before people need to use them. 

As ADR works to improve and extend accessibility and disability resources, Melville looks forward to engaging with students through a greater number of hybrid events planned for the year.

In the coming months, Martinez will host meetings for the ADR book club that they founded this year. The book club highlights a diverse array of stories written by and about people with disabilities.

“I’m trying to [help] make sure that people are aware of accessibility issues on campus and … aware of the really diverse range of experiences that [people with] disabilities have,”  Martinez said, speaking of their work as an SAA.

The course is structured around a central theme: “place.” Along with other related topics, the course explores the effects of the climate crisis on different places and the relationship between sense of place and perceptions of climate change. It also discusses the human experiences of the crisis in different places, with attention to the role of power differentials in determining these interactions. 

The syllabus states that “By sharpening and deepening your understanding of place, [ES 125H] is designed to make the climate crisis more vivid and meaningful to you.”

Students will keep journals recording their reflections on the course, observations of the natural environment on campus and “phenology,” which Professor Selden defines as observations of the seasonal phases of different organisms. A course newspaper will archive observations from each student’s journal. 

“What I’m trying to instill is this idea of a shifting baseline, where if all you know is what you’ve seen in the last few years, it’s hard to see the changes … we really are having this big impact, and in ways that it’s every tree around us,” Professor Selden said. 

Professor Selden researches climate change as a part of her work specializing in fisheries. In her research and in the course, Professor Selden discusses the influence of climate change on natural resources and human livelihoods.

“I’m hopeful that when we take this livelihood perspective, it can motivate action,” Professor Selden said. 

According to the course syllabus, Professor Turner will teach about the scientific mechanisms and effects of climate change, as well as mechanisms of sustainability, while Professor Chiasson will discuss, among other things, ways of observing and describing nature, place and change. Professors Turner and Chiasson were unavailable for an interview. 

Professors Confortini and Burke have little experience researching climate change and are both learning from the experience of teaching the course. They hope that the course will encourage students to consider how their own interests and specialties relate to work in addressing the climate crisis. 

“While Wellesley offers a lot of courses and programs that are around climate change and sustainability, they’re really more for the specialists,” Professor Burke said. “It’s not just environmental science majors that are going to be working professionally on climate change.”

According to Professor Confortini, she has been able to draw on experience with feminist organizing and research about peace, conflict, justice and gender in teaching the course. She stresses the importance of intersectionality in organizing to combat the climate crisis. A central theme of her lectures will be “how the crisis affects differently gendered people differently, but also how differently gendered people react, respond, and organize vis-a-vis … climate change.”

Professor Burke’s research focus is on American politics. He is conducting new research for his lectures in the course, and he plans to incorporate his previous research by discussing the effects of place and political partisanship on climate policy. 

The professors hope that Wellesley will continue to grow its number of interdisciplinary courses. Following a similar model, future courses focused on the climate crisis could approach the issue from more perspectives currently not included in this course. 

“[The class is] a window into what Wellesley could be if we really collaborated more with each other, between faculty, with students, if we … had a curriculum at Wellesley that was really organized around these synergies,” Professor Confortini said. 

According to Professor Selden, a major benefit of this course is that it makes engagement with scholarship and action related to the climate crisis more broadly accessible to students.

“One of my goals is to … build a large, critical mass of students on campus who have this shared passion and this shared climate literacy and hopefully can maybe motivate action on our own campus or broader action,” Professor Selden said. 

The course is slated to run again in the 2022-23 academic year.

In September 2021, DaQuana Carter, who also goes by Dee, joined the Wellesley College community as the new director of Nondiscrimination Initiatives, Title IX coordinator and Section 504 coordinator. Over the course of her career, Carter has used her training in mental health counseling, law and education to practice law in a wide breadth of fields and to offer her clients both legal and mental health counseling. Carter has dedicated much of her life to supporting victims of sexual misconduct, sexual assault and rape, first as a staff attorney for the nonprofit Women Against Rape and then in her work with Title IX laws. Now, Carter looks forward to working with members of the Wellesley community to maintain a safe, inclusive and equitable environment at the College. 

For seven years, before working at institutions for higher education, Carter was a corporate attorney and an associate at Pepper Hamilton, LLP, dealing mainly with white collar crime cases in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries. According to Carter, she left this role as a corporate attorney in search of a job that would allow her more trial practice in the courtroom. She then began working as a staff attorney for the nonprofit Women Against Rape, assisting clients with all legal issues, except for their criminal cases. She worked in family law, civil rights law, employment discrimination and immigration law, among other specialized fields. It was here that Carter decided to return to school to gain counseling skills that would help her to better support victims of rape, sexual assault and trauma. 

“I realized that I was a good lawyer, probably a great lawyer … but [my clients] really needed help getting their life back together after suffering such a traumatic, horrific incident … they did not train me for this in law school,” Carter said. 

Carter earned a master’s degree in education with a focus in mental health counseling from the University of Pennsylvania. She then worked as an attorney specializing in Title IX  before working at the University of Hartford in the dual role of deputy general counsel and Title IX coordinator. According to Carter, she came to Wellesley because she believes in its mission. 

“That really resonates with me … to be able to have an impact on so many young [people’s] lives, knowing that their goal … their desire is to make change in their community, this country and the world,” Carter said. 

According to Carter, at Wellesley, she responds to all matters involving discrimination, harrassment, retaliation, sexual misconduct and related events that concern anyone in the Wellesley community, whether they are students, staff or guests, on or off campus. As Title IX coordinator, she responds to reports of sexual misconduct or harassment, and as 504 coordinator, she addresses appeals or grievances that people have regarding their 504 accommodation requests. In addition to responding to reports of discrimination and harrassment, Carter, in conjunction with other administrative departments, creates Wellesley policy regarding nondiscrimination and Title IX. 

Title IX laws change frequently, requiring the College to update its policies. According to Carter, she is driven to ensure that Wellesley policy not only reflects the law but upholds the College’s values and serves the best interests of members of the community. She also works to provide clarity regarding expectations for conduct. 

“Part of my responsibility here is to take a look at our policies and procedures and see where any improvements can be made,” Carter said. 

The College modified its Title IX policies in August 2021 in accordance with changes to state law, and previously did in August 2020, in accordance with changes to federal Title IX law under the Trump administration. Carter’s appointment also comes at a time when the Wellesley administration’s strategic plan has promised to renew the College’s commitment to maintaining inclusion on campus.

According to Carter, she looks forward to coordinating more with other departments at the College and engaging with and learning from students. Recently, Carter provided Title IX training for RAs and is scheduled to meet with College Government (CG) to discuss their own Title IX training, cooperation between her office and CG and CG’s needs. 

“Is there anything that we can improve? Is there anything that you students are looking for? I always … want to keep my ear to the ground for things like that,” Carter said. 

Carter has an open-door policy in her office and encourages students to come and talk to her about anything on their minds. According to Carter, she is available to discuss concerns pertaining to discrimination, sexual misconduct and accomodations, but she also hopes to talk about ways in which she can support the community, to answer any questions and to share her experience.

For Neeraja Deshpande ’23, an economics major, the change was not surprising.

“Increasing the tuition by a few thousand dollars is part of a bigger mechanism that allows the College to function, especially since the College subsidizes all of its students. It costs around $100,000 to educate one student for one year, which is more than the tuition for full-pay students.”

According to Deshpande, the reason why this cost may be so high is due to the “arms race” that Wellesley is participating in.

“Wellesley doesn’t operate in a vacuum. It operates in a marketplace,” Deshpande said. “Every college is trying to attract students with newer facilities, better food, nicer dorms, etc. And that means higher cost structures.”

 According to Advisory Committee on Budgetary Affairs (BAC) reports from 2017, the College has been running on a budget deficit for several years. While donor gifts from alums have allowed for the construction of new buildings like the Lulu Chow Wang Campus Center , constructed in 2004-05, the report stated that maintenance of older buildings is funded solely through the College’s depreciation expense, which have only grown in the past years. ​​As the institution faces high costs and a budget deficit, the choice to increase tuition has imposed a greater economic demand on students, which will affect students’ lives to varying degrees, with particular implications for students unable to pay full tuition, and has caused many students financial concern. 

On March 15, a letter from the Office of the President was emailed to all Wellesley families, stating that there would be a 3.7% increase in tuition for the 2021-22 academic year. While some, such as Deshpande, who had studied similar topics in her economics classes, expected the tuition increases, it came as a shock to other students and families.

“I think [Wellesley has] an obligation to tell students as well as their parents,” Wendy*, a rising junior, said. She had learned about the tuition increase from her mother.

Though Wendy’s family is able to pay full tuition, she is aware that her tuition expenses constitute a large economic demand for her family. Not only are her parents now paying a higher tuition, but because of a private family agreement, Wendy is also responsible for paying a percentage of her college tuition. While Wendy has always worked to contribute to her tuition payments, the tuition increase has resulted in Wendy feeling a greater sense of responsibility to work hard and ensure that her family can rely on her contributions. 

The increased tuition has particularly affected students who are unable to pay full tuition, particularly low-income students.

Wanda* has been receiving financial aid since beginning her Wellesley education two years ago. She, too, believes that better communication between the College and students would allow people trying to understand the tuition increase and its personal implications better transparency.

She first became aware of the tuition increase when, before her financial aid package for the 2021-22 school year had been issued, she noticed a tuition payment charged to her on Workday for the 2021-22 academic year. Neither she nor her family could afford to pay the balance.

“It was very scary at first when I saw that huge number,” Wanda said.

After reaching out to Student Financial Services (SFS), Wanda received her complete financial aid package, which made Wellesley affordable for her and her family, as it credited to her account aid that had been pending when she first noticed the larger Workday tuition charge. Though she does not know why her aid package was pending when the charge appeared on Workday, according to Wanda, the delay could have occurred because of a missed deadline for submitting her financial aid application to SFS. Before receiving her aid package, Wanda received little communication about how the tuition increase would affect her, and she feared that, as tuition increased, she would be asked to pay higher tuition amounts than she had in previous years. 

Because SFS adjusted students’ aid packages in response to the tuition increase and the economic strains caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Wanda now pays less in tuition than she did in 2019, during her first semester at Wellesley. 

In the midst of concern from many students and families, SFS has been able to grant some students additional financial support as a result of the Higher Education Emergency Relief Act under the American Rescue Plan. In her letter announcing the tuition hike, President Paula Johnson assured families of Wellesley’s dedication towards making the College affordable, acknowledging the economic implications of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the increasing national cost of higher education. 

“I want to assure you that we are committed to keeping Wellesley accessible,” Johnson wrote.

However, rising tuition rates have created uncertainty and concern among students. The amount of financial aid available to individual students varies. In addition, students who have already received financial aid packages but are still unable to meet tuition expenses or have since experienced a change in finances as a result of the pandemic must appeal to SFS before their aid packages are considered for modification. In addition to being a concern for students receiving full financial aid, Wanda added that she believes the tuition increase to be a major concern for students and families who are not deemed eligible for full financial aid but who still struggle to meet tuition demands. As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to magnify pre-existing and new obstacles to higher education, the decision to increase tuition has created another obstacle for Wellesley students and families to navigate. 

*Name changed to protect student’s privacy

A way to build community and solidarity 

“We all cry … It’s kind of nice to know you’re not alone,” said Gottfried. “I really appreciate knowing that people care.”

Gottfried became administrator of the page in 2020, after previous administrator Caitlyn Chung graduated, and wants the page to be a place where people can share their experiences of crying when they want to, be reminded that they are not alone in needing to cry sometimes and remember that people care about them.

 In February, Gottfried created a “Pisces season crying thread.” In December, she invited members to share the number of masks they had dampened, and last summer, she posted a TikTok video showing the places she has cried and inviting others to duet. According to Gottfried, she prefers to cry near the lake. 

“There’s water in my eyes and water in the lake,” Gottfried said, laughing. 

The Wellesley Places I’ve Cried group has become a part of an online community of social media pages run by Wellesley students. Eshika Kaul ’23 and Sarah Meier ’24 started following the page because it was created and followed by other Wellesley students. 

Meier posted on the page in March. She was having a bad day following a break-up and found herself crying spontaneously in different locations on campus.

“In the past six hours … Bates dining hall, tables outside Bates dining hall, behind the trees outside Bates dining hall, Stone Davis common room, adirondack chairs outside Stone Davis,” she wrote. 

Meier did not post because she was looking for reassurance from others but because she wanted to acknowledge and express her emotions. According to Meier, trying to write with humor about her experiences helped her to acknowledge her own emotions and to feel some relief. However, she also took comfort in the fact that students read about her experiences. 16 people responded to her post, some with likes, others with hearts and virtual hugs. 

Meier appreciated that the page encourages people to express their emotion. She knew that she was not the only person to have cried on campus, and after posting, she felt supported.

“I feel so perceived,” Meier said. “We all have feelings. We’re all people.”

Meier called crying an important emotional outlet. Sometimes, crying helps Meier to find some release of tension or emotions. She has a memory of sitting in the Spoon Holders at sunset, looking out at the lake and crying at the sound of a Taylor Swift song. 

A perpetuation of stress culture 

While Meier enjoys interacting with the page and believes it to be a helpful outlet at times, she worries that it might also promote some competition, encouraging students to compare their experiences of stress and perpetuating Wellesley stress culture. 

“It’s definitely a mixed experience,” Meier said. 

Meier is not alone in her concern. Gottfried has noticed that larger numbers of people join the page at times when the volume of academic assignments is especially high. During the first finals week of the term system, she received a high number of follow requests. Gottfried agreed to run the page because she has appreciated its interactive community and its sense of camaraderie. She values having a place where people can vent stress, express their emotions, support each other when they are stressed and be reminded that crying is an important outlet. However, she also worries that the page sometimes glorifies stress and pain. 

“It’s part of the Wellesley stress culture to glorify the pain and suffering of being in college … In that sense, I don’t think [the page] is very healthy,” Gottfried said.

When Meier first arrived at Wellesley, she was worried about the possible stress culture and felt intimidated by the other Wellesley students whom she found so impressive. When she began interacting with the Wellesley Places I’ve Cried page, she was glad to see that students were supportive of one another and that they felt comfortable sharing their emotions. 

“At least here … people are in touch with their emotions … and people aren’t trying to keep up this image of being perfect,” Meier said.

However, she recognizes  that the group could play a role in the stress culture at the same time. When discussing stress culture, Meier, Kaul and Gottfried all mentioned that they have heard conversations during which students have compared hours of sleep to prove that they are sleep deprived, commiserating but also sometimes glorifying sleep deprivation. Meier and Gottfried fear that a similar competition to prove stress levels might arise on the page. Kaul believes that Wellesley students are generally more supportive than competitive, but added that Wellesley can be a high-pressure environment.

“[The] pressure I feel comes from me,” Kaul said.

Gottfried suggested that stress culture contributes to pressure, sometimes causing people to doubt themselves when they are not stressed.

Gottfried acknowledged that a lot of people are going through hard times, especially this year. She hopes that the page will be a place of comfort or catharsis and that it will remind people that, though each person’s experience is distinct, they are not the only ones who have started crying somewhere on campus. 

Most importantly, Gottfried wants students to take care of themselves, their own needs and their mental health. The Facebook page reads “crying is valid, but also, please take care of yourself.” Important resources for finding professional mental health care and support are listed on the page.

Gottfried encourages people to seek care for mental health and to remember that their feelings are important and valid. 

“My advice is … remembering, it’s okay to cry. You’re not alone. It’s also okay to not cry. Your feelings are valid, and drink lots of water,” Gottfried said.

On the Wellesley Places I’ve Cried page, some students find a sense of solidarity and the opportunity to express their emotions within an accepting community, and some try to find humor in the ways that they describe their own crying experiences. Some believe that the page reflects stress culture at Wellesley. Regardless of how it is perceived, the page has amassed a substantial following and resonates with many Wellesley students.

If you are in need of mental health care, please reach out to a professional. 

National Suicide Hotline: 1-800-273-8255

Stone Center: 781-283-2839 (https://www.wellesley.edu/counseling)

Other Resources: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists

Kate Pittignano ’24 began working in Tower Dining Hall as a dining hall community ambassador at the beginning of the 2020-2021 school year. Pittignano is responsible for disinfecting dining hall tables each time they are used during meal times. Recently, she has grown concerned about her risk of exposure and the safety of the Wellesley community, as this semester’s dining policies have caused a drastic increase in the number of students eating in the dining hall during meal times. Wellesley guidelines now stipulate that students must eat meals only in dining halls or dorm rooms, and because only three dining halls are open, according to Pittignano, Tower Dining Hall has been filled to maximum capacity during many meal times. The number of students in the dining hall fluctuates, but it peaks during certain meal times, especially dinner. 

“There are days when every single table is full, and it’s honestly scary to be in there,” said Pittignano. 

 Three times each week, twice during dinner and once during lunch, Pittignano disinfects all the dining hall tables on either side of the large hall, and she finds it difficult to physically distance as she moves about the room. In the midst of crowds, she is exposed to aerosols for up to two hours during her shifts. Pittignano discovered her position as a part of the Wellesley work-study program. When asked how the College could support her efforts to work, Pittignano stated that the College could reduce crowding in the dining halls, either by lifting the policy limiting the areas in which people are permitted to eat or by creating additional seating areas. While the new dining policy was designed to promote community safety, Pittignano questioned its effectiveness, calling dinner shifts “intense.” 

“In those moments, I really question the decision to say ‘only eat in the dining halls,’ Pittignano said. “There just isn’t the capacity.”

And while Pittignano believes that the issue of overcrowding can be solved and has generally felt respected and supported by the Wellesley community, she has experienced more unfriendly encounters while working in the dining hall than anywhere else on campus. 

You really don’t care about me at all?

Caroline Francois ’23 worked in Wellesley as a Starbucks employee during 2020 shared a similar experience. She was struck by the lack of consideration shown for service workers by people who were able to wear masks but chose not to in their interactions with employees. 

“You really don’t care about me at all?” Francois asked rhetorically. 

Gabi Leovan ’23 believes that respect for service workers must be expressed structurally. As an employee of Jimmy John’s in Minnesota, Leovan’s risk of exposure is dependent on state guidelines determining dining policies. In addition, during and before the pandemic, Leovan has worked many jobs alongside other service workers, working part-time during the school year and longer hours during breaks. She does not believe that United States legislation has gone far enough in protecting the wellbeing of service workers. 

“When I think about appreciating essential workers, I see it as paying them a living wage, making sure they have accurate insurance, accurate benefits …” Leovan said, adding that many of her coworkers rely on service jobs for security and have received limited wages and benefits. 

Students Working During the Pandemic

For many Wellesley students working off campus, work demands have increased during the pandemic. Many positions are understandably understaffed, and due to health protocols, employees are tasked with new responsibilities. As a shift manager, Leovan is responsible for disinfecting store surfaces while also preparing food, managing other employees and serving customers. Often, she has been asked to serve long lines of customers alone. Francois too became responsible for disinfection at her Starbucks franchise in addition to serving customers, and she was often needed for shifts, expanding her work schedule, which already included her responsibilities as a residential assistant and as a staff member of the Child Study Center. 

I don’t think anyone at work feels like a hero right now.

Ella Rockart ’23 works as a part-time employee of the Carolina Living and Learning Center, a residential facility in North Carolina that serves adults with autism and adults with intellectual disabilities. Rockart enjoys her work and looks forward to seeing residents every day, but she and the other employees of the CLLC have also experienced challenges as a result of COVID-19. The facility is understaffed, leaving employees stretched thin, and the staff is often frustrated that they cannot provide a typical routine to residents due to safety protocols. Residents can no longer receive visitors, and regular activities have been modified. 

“I don’t think anyone at work feels like a hero right now. People are tired. People are frustrated. But also, people are grateful to have the jobs,” Rockart said. 

Working as a Student

During the school year, Rockart, Pittignano, Leovan and Francois have worked part-time hours while also taking classes, but each of their experiences have been distinct. For Rockart, work is flexible and a welcome opportunity to provide services at the CLLC that are immediately necessary to other people. Before she began working, when she was not in her dorm room knitting and watching Star Trek, Rockart was doing school work, and due to the pandemic, worrying about the future she was working towards. 

“I felt like I was preparing for a future that no longer existed,” Rockart said. 

Work has prompted Leovan and Francois to finish their school work efficiently. However, they have both faced challenges when managing their time at school. Leovan has sometimes found it difficult to complete school work on time as a result of her work hours, and Francois has felt isolated, as it can be difficult to find time to spend with friends while fulfilling her work and school responsibilities. Pittignano and Aliyana Young ’24 find it easier to balance their time, as their work-study jobs offer limited hours. Young described her ability to work part-time while taking classes as a privilege for which she is grateful. However, Young believes that students would benefit from more outreach from the College about how to find work-study jobs. 

As a first-year, Young was told that she was eligible to find a work-study job on Handshake, but she did not know what Handshake was or how to use it. When she asked other students about Handshake, she discovered that many students had trouble finding on-campus jobs. 

“It was that aspect [of finding jobs] that was difficult … just getting thrown into it and not really having much support,” Young said. 

Since the end of Fall 2020, the Wellesley COVID-19 guidelines have prevented students living on campus from working off campus. Francois had begun working off campus to supplement her income, as on-campus jobs offer limited hours, but had to leave her job at Starbucks in order to continue living on campus. In 2020, a statement from the office of Finance and Administration and from Admission and Financial Aid acknowledged that policies regulating off-campus employment have financial implications for students and have generated more demand for on-campus employment. In response, the College replaced Spring 2021 work-study expectations with grant aid in student financial aid packages. 

I felt like I was preparing for a future that no longer existed.

Leovan has continued to work off campus, as she is living in Minnesota. She believes that the College could more openly acknowledge the unique challenges faced by students who work while taking classes. 

“I just know that it’s something they never address, and it’s something that should be addressed because it is hard, and especially in the term system …” Leovan said.

Leovan acknowledged that the College is making changes to student employment procedures. Human Resources announced this spring that beginning Fall 2021, Student Employment will be managed by Human Resources, rather than Student Financial Services, and work-study positions and applications will be posted on Workday.

 During the COVID-19 pandemic, health concerns and protocols influence the experiences of Wellesley students working in-person jobs. Individuals experience risks to different extents, and risks and challenges are imposed on frontline workers whose work nevertheless continues to bolster communities. Individual students’ work experiences reveal new challenges, as well as opportunities for communities to express respect and consideration for frontline service workers.