BRIEF: MHC joins Racial Equity Leadership Alliance

The University of Southern California launched the Liberal Arts Colleges Racial Equity Leadership Alliance, the newest project of their Race and Equity Center, this week. Mount Holyoke College joined LACRELA as an inaugural member.

Mount Holyoke joined 51 other liberal arts colleges across the United States in being named an inaugural member institution. Six colleges, in particular, were named founding institutions, including Macalester College, Depauw University, Oberlin College, Occidental College, Pomona College and Skidmore College. The 51 institutions identified as inaugural members alongside Mount Holyoke include other schools of similar size, structure or endowment, such as Wellesley College, St. Olaf College, Grinnell College and Bard College.

White House Replaces Lead Climate Change Expert

The executive director of the U.S. Global Change Research Program, Dr. Michael Kuperberg, was removed as lead scientist for the National Climate Assessment on Nov. 9 and is expected to be replaced by David Legates, a longtime supporter and advocate for climate change denial groups. The decision came directly from the Trump administration and follows four years of policy decisions that increased environmental degradation and reined in large-scale federal initiatives necessary to adequately address climate change. Nearly 100 environmental and climate change policies have been rolled back under the administration.

Brief: Board of Trustees October Meeting

The Mount Holyoke Board of Trustees met virtually between Oct. 8 and Oct. 10 to discuss the College’s endowment, enrollment and non-discrimination policy.

On Oct. 28, the College released an update via email from Chair of Trustees Karena Strella ’90 about the Board’s recent virtual meeting. According to the update, “a Mount Holyoke graduate and trustee and her family have committed a $10 million lead gift for the College’s upcoming financial aid fundraising initiative.” This donation is the largest gift in support of financial aid that Mount Holyoke has ever received. The update expressed gratitude for this “extraordinary generosity, which ensures that now more than ever students have access to the distinctive, 21st-century liberal arts education offered at Mount Holyoke, and, in turn, give rise to a better world for all.”

Two Georgia Senate Races Head to Runoff Elections

Joe Biden was announced the projected winner of the state of Georgia on Friday, Nov. 13. Leading by 0.3 percent in the state, the win pushed Biden to 306 electoral votes, leaving President Donald Trump with 232. Biden is the first Democratic nominee to win Georgia in 28 years after Bill Clinton last did so in 1992.

“I think we were all really surprised. I feel like it’s kind of an assumption that southern states are normally red. … When Georgia flipped [blue], I was kind of like, ‘Is it real? What's going on?’,” Syd Williams ’23, who was involved with MHC Votes!, said. “I’m happy, but I feel like there is still so much that is in the air.”

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U.S. Pulls Out of Paris Climate Accord

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As ballots were counted, the United States hung in an unprecedented election limbo for results that would define political, social and economic landscapes for the next four years. In the midst of national uncertainty, President Donald Trump made an announcement on Wednesday, Nov. 4 that would further complicate the future of national and global action: the official withdrawal of the United States from the Paris Agreement.

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Biden Is the Projected Winner of the 2020 Election

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On Saturday, Nov. 7, media reports called the 2020 presidential race for former Vice President Joe Biden after he won the electoral votes from Pennsylvania, pushing him over the 270 electoral vote mark needed to win. The outcome of the election took four days to be determined. Although mail-in ballots are still being counted in Pennsylvania and a number of other states, there were so many votes for Biden that it would not matter if the rest of the votes were for President Donald Trump. As of Nov. 11, Georgia, North Carolina and Arizona were still counting their mail-in ballots, with North Carolina leaning toward Trump and Georgia and Arizona leaning toward Biden.

Presidential Race Remains Tight as States Count Early Ballots

“I am really looking forward to the possibility of finally exhaling for the first time in four years,” said Adam Hilton, professor of politics at Mount Holyoke College.

“This is certainly the highest-stakes election of my lifetime, and I think it might be one of the highest stake elections in American history,” he continued. “I will be very relieved to see Trump gone because I think he is a threat to American democracy.”

With issues such as COVID-19, equal human rights, voter suppression and intimidation at play, as well as actions taken by Republican politicians to undermine nationwide confidence in mail-in ballots, the 2020 presidential election has been a political race full of controversy. Due to the drastic divide between supporters of President Donald Trump and Joe Biden, this election is said to be one of the most important in American history. Lynn Morgan, a history professor at Mount Holyoke, compared the 2020 presidential election to that of 1860, which resulted in the secession of the South from the rest of the U.S.

South Hadley Residents Discuss New Voting Format and Divisive Election

South Hadley Residents Discuss New Voting Format and Divisive Election

Whether lined up outside of the public library or following the signs to a ballot dropbox, South Hadley voters participating in the 2020 presidential election have seen processes greatly adjusted to fit the new standards required in a pandemic.

In a video released by the South Hadley Office of the Town Clerk, Registrar Nicole Casolari spoke on behalf of the department explaining the new protocols for the election. While the town continued to offer the option to vote in person at South Hadley High School on Nov. 3, other avenues were also created for citizens to participate. Early voting began Oct. 17 at the South Hadley Public Library and the application for mail-in ballots was open until Oct. 28. Voters who decided to mail their ballots were also able to bring them to a dropbox behind the police station, according to Casolari.

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