Exhibit Shows Political Activism Is a MHC Tradition

<<< They liked Ike--The Ike Club of Mount Holyoke posed with their slogan-covered signs at a Springfield rally for Dwight D. Eisenhower in October 1952. It's one of two dozen photos in a library exhibition that traces MHC students' political activities through the twentieth century.

Mount Holyoke students have been politically active since the century's early years, an exhibit in Williston Library makes clear. Political Activity on Campus over the 20th Century: A History through Photographs is on display indefinitely in the Women in Politics Room on the sixth floor.

Among its visual delights are students (led by a real elephant!) rallying for William Howard Taft's 1908 presidential bid, meeting with government administrators to discuss a proposal for national health insurance (in 1950!), and demonstrating in support of women's right to vote.

There are photos of the famous: future Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi, activist first lady Eleanor Roosevelt, and President Eisenhower all are shown with MHC students. And there are glimpses of those who would later gain renown: Massachusetts state senator Linda Melconian '70 is shown as a student congressional intern.

The long history of MHC activism for political and social causes is documented, from students' support for the 1908 Prohibition Party through anti-Vietnam War protests and abortion and ERA demonstrations. And there are surprises, such as the fact that MHC started the first Washington internship program in the country, in 1949.