January 28, 2005
MHC
Newsmakers
Admissions and
the Times
Mount Holyoke
was prominently featured in a January 16 New York Times article
examining the policy of MHC and other colleges to waive tuition
fees and offer special consideration in the admissions process
for the children of campus employees. "The Other Legacies: Fac
Brats," which appeared in the "Education Life" section, finds
similarities among the policies of MHC, Harvard, Yale, and other
selective colleges. The article, by writer Laura Randall, noted
that the tuition waiver was one of the reasons Mark McMenamin,
professor of geology, came to Mount Holyoke. (His daughter Amy
is currently a sophomore, while her older sister, Sarah, graduated
in May with a degree in biology.) Although the practice of preferential
admission for the children of alumni, known as "legacies," has
come under attack, little criticism has been leveled at the admission
of employees' offspring. Rather, "Easing the way for employees'
children (and sometimes their spouses, too) is explained by some
institutions as a way to build loyalty among the faculty, and
the children are presumed to come from backgrounds that place
a premium on learning," Randall wrote. Jane Brown, vice president
for enrollment and college relations at MHC, commented, "Typically,
we find the daughters of faculty are well qualified." The article
concluded, "For Sarah (McMenamin), who graduated in May with a
3.74 grade point average and is now a doctoral candidate in developmental
biology at Stanford, the biggest adjustment in attending Mount
Holyoke was 'going to a school where I have known most of the
faculty for the better part of my life.' 'It sort of creates an
interesting and odd dynamic,' she says, 'but I don't feel like
it's made a huge impact on my college experience.' And, she insists,
it didn't mean she was cut any slack at grading time: 'If anything,
I got more closely watched.' "
MHSeafarers
The January Term seamanship course taught by Christopher Pyle,
professor of politics, aboard the tall ship HMS Bounty drew coverage
from the St. Petersburg Times. Staff writer Robert Samuels spoke
with Pyle and several of the 11 students -- ten from MHC, and
one from Amherst College -- as they were preparing to set sail
on the trip that would take them to the Dry Tortugas, Key West,
and back to St. Petersburg. Pyle told Samuels that the students
would be learning "how to make the boat move, how to handle knots
and ropes, and how to keep yourself safe. When you know how to
do these things, other tasks come a lot easier." The January 9
article noted that the students were posting a running Web log,
or blog, about their trip, using a satellite phone and a laptop
computer. Samels quoted two passages from the blog, including
this, from Nicole Brun-Cottan '06: "It happened sometime in the
night, while I slept blissfully in spite of the constant motion
above and below me. This morning I stumbled bleary onto the deck
and scanned the horizon for land, but there was none. Sometime
in the night we lost sight of terra firma. Somehow this magnifies
the feeling of being at sea and the understanding that this small
vessel of timber and steel is the only piece of solidity between
us, and the murky deep." The blog can be read at mhcbounty.blogspot.com.
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