When Women Become Men at Wellesley
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The Wellesley News THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF WELLESLEY COLLEGE WELLESLEY, MA 02481 • ESTABLISHED 1901 THEWELLESLEYNEWS.COM WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2014 VOLUME 115, ISSUE 6 NEWS IN BRIEF Administrators react to By NASREEN AL-QADI ’18 Assistant News Editor College updates community on North 40 sale A decision regarding the future of the North 40 NYT article “When Women was set to be announced at the end of October at the Town of Wellesley Special Town Meeting and the meeting of the College’s Board of Trustees. Due to the controversy that has risen Become Men at Wellesley” and the many ideas on how to handle the sale, the Town of Wellesley and Wellesley College have postponed any announcement about the sale of the property to a later date. Both the Town and the College have been working since May to come to a final decision; however, the administration has indicated that it needs more time to finalize its plans. A new date for the final decision will be set in the near future. College hosts Family and Friends weekend The College welcomed Wellesley students’ parents and friends, as well as alumnae and almost three hundred prospective students to campus for Family and Friends Weekend, Homecoming and Discover Wellesley Weekend. Events for prospective students included class visits, an overnight stay in a residence hall, campus tours and other activities to help with the college application process such as a college essay-writing session. People on campus for SOOJIN JEONG ’17, PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR Family and Friends Weekend and Homecoming President Bottomly, Dean DeMeis and Kris Niendorf discuss trans issues on campus in response to New York Times piece. also had full schedules with a special breakfast with President Bottomly, faculty lectures, class By XUEYING CHEN ’16 have to be the same because we are a women’s college, sit-ins and varsity sports games, as well as a Co-Editor-in-Chief and how we decide to define that is up to the conversation Head of the Charles send-off for the crew team. we have in this community on campus,” Bottomly said. Wellesley also had its first induction ceremony The administration aims to seek an approach that they “I think these things can go side by side more easily than to the Wellesley College Athletics Hall of Fame, believe best serves students as the College re-evaluates you think.” which everyone was invited to attend. its role as a women’s college in light of the recent trans While Wellesley will be defined as a women’s college at and gender fluidity issues that have been gaining traction. the institutional level, the College will review the use of Health Services offering free flu shots President of the College H. Kim Bottomly, Dean of language, such as pronoun preferences, on all levels. Flu season has started, and with hundreds of Students Debra DeMeis and Director of Campus and Currently, individual professors and departments people living closely together, students, faculty Residential Life Kris Niendorf emphasized this mission determine whether the language they use in classrooms and administration alike are at risk of catching the as a priority while speaking with The Wellesley News in a focuses solely on cisgender women. Bottomly stated that flu. Someone with the flu coughing or sneezing press conference on Monday. their discretion exercises freedom of speech. can infect a healthy individual up to six feet away. The New York Times Magazine published the article “But I think we should absolutely agree that we respect The flu virus also lives on doorknobs, phones and “When Women Become Men at Wellesley” last week the individual’s desire to have their own preferences other objects that are usually handled by many that focused on stories from Wellesley College students for language pronouns — sisterhood, siblinghood — people. Health Services is still offering free flu concerning trans issues. The administrators believed as they wish to participate on campus in our academic shots by appointment at their clinic and setting the article presented the diverse and conflicting issues community,” Bottomly said. up stations around campus. On Monday, Bates that arise when a women’s college explores how gender DeMeis pointed out that the College risks fragmenting its Dining Hall set up a mobile free flu shot clinic fluidity affects its admissions policy. community by not re-evaluating the identity of a woman during lunch. On Oct. 23 from 5 to 7 p.m., free In the article, some students and alumni at Wellesley at an institutional level. The question arises in multiple flu shots will be offered at the Keohane Sports expressed that the College would defeat its purpose by areas DeMeis oversees such as health or counseling, but Center. Health Services has also encouraged also serving students who identify as men. The article also she believes that students need know what the College students to get their flu shots over breaks when points out that women’s colleges aim to remedy the sexism represents as a whole. they travel back home. Alternatively, students can women encounter by breaking down gender barriers. Trans “If we don’t come to an answer together, we are each receive their flu shots for free from pharmacies students and students who have fluid gender identities going to craft our own answer, and I worry about the kind near campus such as CVS and Walgreens. can also accomplish this goal by deconstructing the rigid of experience students will have, that you’ll get different gender binary. Yet, another student also pointed out that experiences depending on which office or person you are Upstage sells out Peter Pan tickets the College would be wrong to exclude one marginalized dealing with,” DeMeis said. Wellesley College Upstage will be performing community for the sake of supporting another. The concept of gender fluidity has gained public its first production of the year, “Peter Pan, or The All three administrators agree that the question of what attention only within the past couple decades. Therefore, Boy Who Would Not Grow Up: A Fantasy in it means to be a woman today lies at the heart of the some of the students, faculty, staff and trustees are more Five Acts,” directed by Carrington OBrion ’15. discussion. familiar with trans issues than others. The performance is an adaptation of the original “It’s important to continue to look at ourselves and “This is a moment when if we don’t bring people along Peter Pan classic by J.M. Barrie. Showings will what are the questions that we need to ask to best support with us in the discussion and educate them about what begin Thursday at 7 p.m. at the Ruth Nagel Jones our students and to be able to educate them really well,” it means to have gender fluidity as sort of a baseline Theater. The entire production is student-run Bottomly said. “If you don’t do that, then we’re missing conversation, we’re going to leave them behind,” from the actors to the directors, and auditions a big opportunity, and you’re disadvantaging all members Bottomly said. were open to students of all experience levels in of a college community.” To avoid dividing the community, the administration early September. Currently, tickets for opening Bottomly explained that as a college president she must believes all members of the Wellesley College community night, as well as for the Friday, Saturday and refer to Wellesley College specifically as a women’s must know enough about trans issues to participate Sunday performances are sold out. Students college at the institutional level. Wellesley’s mission is and comfortably in future discussions and policy evaluations. can place their names of the standby list of has always been to grant women the best education, but The administration will appoint students, alumni, faculty the sold-out shows in case of cancellation. All the College must decide on what it means to be a women and staff to an advisory committee that will take charge of performances are free for Wellesley, Babson, today. The term “women’s college” doesn’t necessarily educating the community among other duties. Bottomly Olin and MIT students and Wellesley faculty and limit the College from accepting trans students. has already appointed Professor Adele Wolfson from the $5 for other guests. “I don’t think that says that the people on campus all ADMINISTRATORS, page 2 CONTENTS NEWS.......................... 1 ARTS, 9 OPINIONS, 7 FEATURES................. 5 OPINIONS................. 7 Vera Pavlova, Newhouse bring Professor Bu: ARTS............................ 9 Russian poetry to campus “I am not a Communist spy” SPORTS...................... 11 2 THE WELLESLEY NEWS OCTOBER 22, 2014 NEWS College releases updated My inTuition financial aid calculator By NASREENOnline AL-QADI ’18 tool now calculates students’ estimated loan burden Assistant News Editor Wellesley College has recently made improvements to its online My inTuition calculator. The updated financial aid calculator was released last Monday, Oct. 14 and builds upon the original by adding a new system that estimates the size of loans inside a student’s financial aid package. When the calculator was first released last year, it only calculated the amount students and their families would be expected to pay after financial aid. Economics professor Phillip Levine created the statistical algorithm behind the system and hopes the improved calculator will alleviate some of the concerns incoming students have when it comes to college financing. Most prospective students are only aware of a college’s sticker price of over $60,000, which could cause these students to shy away from SOOJIN JEONG ’17, PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR Wellesley. Wellesley is working toward My inTuition, a simplified version of other financial aid calculators found at other colleges, takes around three minutes to complete.