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Student Reporter Beat
Alumnae and Students of Color Conference 2007
Anindita Dasgupta ’08, this year’s Alumnae Association student reporter, writes about the successful launch of the first Mount Holyoke Alumnae and Students of Color Conference 2007: Defining our Future, held on campus November 2-4.
If there was one thing that Mount Holyoke students took away from last weekend’s Alumnae and Students of Color Conference, it was that our older sisters went through a great deal for us to enjoy the safe space we have today.
The conference—the first of its kind—brought together a diverse group of nearly 150 alumnae and students. Keynote speakers included Ninotchka Rosca, founder of GABRIELA, the women’s rights organization of the Philippines, and former political prisoner under the Marcos regime; and Debra Martin Chase ’77, Emmy-nominated motion picture and television producer film producer, who received her honorary doctorate from Mount Holyoke in May 2007.
Events began Friday evening with a reception for Zowie Banteah ’96. A student at Mount Holyoke in the mid-’90s, Banteah spearheaded the effort to create a cultural space for Native American students on campus. On Saturday morning, she joined Linda Yu Bien ’75, Twila Perry ’75, and Krysia L. Villón ’96 for a panel discussion on the history of women of color at the college. Alumnae from classes spanning the generations told stories about a very different Mount Holyoke than the one we see today.
Moderator John Grayson, professor of religion at MHC, introduced the panel by reminding the audience that the college did not graduate a woman of color—Hortense Parker, the first African-American student at Mount Holyoke—until 1883. To the shock of many, Grayson stated that at one time Mount Holyoke had joined many other academic institutions, including Smith College, in not permitting students of color to live in the dormitories.
After Grayson’s introduction, Perry began the panel discussion with her story. She arrived at Mount Holyoke as one of 26 African American first-years, all of whom looked up to the four African American seniors on campus. Laughing, Perry told stories about the administration worrying about students “clumping” together, a worry she and her classmates did not share.
Bien and Villón spoke about their respective experiences as Asian American and Latina students. Villón described the emergence of La Unidad in 1976 and the ebb and flow of that organization over the years. Banteah described a Mount Holyoke full of rallies and sit-ins, as students pushed to establish cultural spaces on campus. There was a need, she explained, for designated areas in which students of color could explore their heritage and search for their own identities. She recalled her classmates’ confusion when she explained she was a Zuni from New Mexico. “I came alone,” Banteah said. “It never occurred to me that I would be asked about my heritage”
Both Villón and Banteah recalled “The Coalition,” a below-the-radar organization comprised of all the cultural groups operating in the ’90s. Meetings were held in dorm rooms and basements; Villón vividly remembered the smell of mold in Wilder basement mixing with the smell and taste of cilantro in the Latin-flavored food she and others helped prepare.
The conference ended on a forward-looking note on Sunday morning. Alumnae and students came together in Blanchard’s Great Room for an open discussion about the best ways to continue fostering a safe environment for women of color at Mount Holyoke. On the stage facing the audience was a beautiful posterboard display, created by Villón, of archival images and photographs that documented the history of women of color at the college. Moving forward while remembering the challenges of the past—a fitting conclusion to the first Mount Holyoke Alumnae and Student of Color Conference.
