"Mount Holyoke College: A winter wonderland; A summer mirage"

Mount Holyoke College has one of the most beautiful campuses in the nation. It offers the best classroom experiences a student can have. And with a tuition freeze at 56 thousand a year, it is one of the best value colleges for undergraduate studies. It’s a very good school — during the school year, that is. But when it comes to summer housing, Mount Holyoke falls far behind.

Mount Holyoke College has gotten away with treating its summer residents with a complete lack of consideration. This is in part due to the fact that, unlike all of the other members of the Five College Consortium, it does not offer a summer program.  Despite not holding summer classes, the college allows some to stay on campus during the hotter months of the year, including students who work for the college, those doing research, and international students who have nowhere else to go.

Last year, a group of more than 150 students stayed on campus during summer vacation. Pheona Williams gathered more than 25 of them to write letters to Rene Davis (Dean of students), Donna Van Handle (Dean of international students), and a representative from the Office of Residential Life. These letters expressed the students’ concerns about the poor summer housing conditions which they were forced to endure. The letters were sent, along with a petition of 50 signatures, requesting a hearing with college administrators to try to solve the housing problems for future summers.

Students who stayed on campus claim the college made them move to different resident halls at least 3 times during the summer due to ongoing building maintenance. According to college residency policies, “students are responsible for transporting their belongings to and from their summer residence hall assignment… [And] residents may be required to move during the summer.” They were given little advance notice, and had to move without any assistance from the college.

Moving from one dorm to another with all of your belongings is not as simple as it sounds. “I had to move from 1837 to Dickinson in the middle of pouring rain without any assistance from res life,” said Luong Nguyen, one of the students who signed the petition for better housing conditions.

Housing is not provided for the entire summer and not everyone qualifies for it. Students are required to move out for summer vacation on May 8^th, but summer housing is not provided until June 1^st.  Summer housing ends on August 15^th, but the semester does not start until September 5^th. What does a resident do in the mean time? Where can they go?

If you are living at Mount Holyoke College during the summer, not only will you be required to move if the college wants you to, but you must pay for the privilege: $450/ month for a single and $350/ month for a double. Ironically enough, Rene Davis, Dean of students, says that the college doesn’t “want to secure revenue on the backs of the students.”Not on their backs, but from their pockets. It is more expensive to stay on campus than if a group of students split the cost of a rented house minutes away from campus. But without a car, or public transportation, students are left with no other option.

Students who stayed on campus last summer claim that the college did not provide any sort of transportation. The PVTA does not make stops at Mount Holyoke during the summer. Why? SGA pays for it during the school year, but their budget does not extend to pay for service during the summer. Zipcar only has two cars for over 150 students, and it is unsure they will have cars available.

The Global Initiatives program was responsible for funding shuttles to help students get to grocery stores nearby, but the “shuttle taking us to Big Y [ran] maybe once in 2 weeks” said Meara Algama, another student who signed the petition. Why did the shuttles run so sporadically? I don’t know. I tried speaking with representatives from the program, but they bounced me off to Dean Davis, who in exchange bounced me back to them, and I never heard back from them again. The fact of the matter is, “we had absolutely nothing to do and no way to escape… many students were getting very depressed [and others were] rushed to the hospital for binge drinking. We developed some really bad habits,” said Meara.

Last year, the college did not provide a meal plan for those staying over the summer, and students were responsible for cooking their own meals. That’s all fine and dandy, except that there was only one kitchen available for over 100 students. “The kitchen in 1837 [was] a total mess,” said Luong Nguyen, “it was way too small for the [amount of] people in the building.” The kitchen size is not the only problem. Students were also barely able to feed themselves because the trips to the Big Y grocery store were way too scattered.

Although representatives were informed of the situation, little has changed to improve the summer stay conditions for the upcoming summer. On April 5^th Teresa Picard, the Administrative Assistant to the Office of Residential Life, sent out an email to the student body, informing them about the changes that were made to summer housing. Unfortunately, the college insists on not providing transportation to students, because that’s the SGA’s responsibility. They raised the rent prices, and singles are not guaranteed. Students will still be required to move without assistance if, and when, the college wants them to. There was only one kitchen available for over 100 students. “The kitchen in 1837 [was] a total mess,” said Luong Nguyen, “it was way too small for the [amount of] people in the building.” The kitchen size is not the only problem. Students were also barely able to feed themselves because the trips to the Big Y grocery store were way too scattered.

Last year, students were able to walk to the Big Y. This summer, they won’t have that option anymore, because the one down the street closed down. The Peter Pan bus, which ran through South Hadley and connected us to major cities like New York and Boston, will not be here in the summer. The college now provides a meal plan for those who qualify, but it costs an extra $250 and does not include breakfast or weekend meals.  It also does not cover the entire summer stay.

The college’s offices are open during the summer, but there are no student services available. Mail services, counseling services, and health services are unavailable. “The students have to figure that out,” said Dean Davis. “We need to attend to deferred maintenance.”

Having summer housing without summer courses has turned out to be more of a problem than it is a solution. The college needs to accommodate over 150 students over the summer, and funding it is very difficult without any revenue. The college manages to get by through conferences and summer camps, but without an official summer program, students suffer. Those who stay here over the summer do so because they have no other choice. International students sometimes can’t afford to go back home, and others students have equally complicated reasons to stay during the summer. This kind of living conditions would not be tolerated during the school year, then why does the college treat students this way during the summer? Is it because they don’t want students to stay? If it is a matter of revenue, then I would say “charge them more, but don’t force them to live like this.”

During the spring, Mount Holyoke College is a paradise of colors, with wild flowers blooming in every corner, and sunsets disappearing behind the ever green mountains. It is a dance floor for brown autumn leaves, and a winter wonderland. Mount Holyoke is a college student’s dream. It is no wonder the college has been ranked one of the most beautiful college campuses in the nation. But during the hottest season, the school’s prestige melts away, and all that remains is a mirage.