Fall 2025 Updates from Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

CW: mention of climate disaster and devastation

Dear community members,

As we settle into a new academic year, I am drawing inspiration from our Common Read — Octavia E. Butler’s “Parable of the Sower.” I grew up in Altadena/Pasadena and have family members whose lives have been permanently impacted by the devastating fires that destroyed the historically Black community where Octavia Butler’s journey as a writer began. I’ve spent much of the year reflecting on Butler’s prescient view of a world where our collective sense of humanity is in peril. In the Parables — “Parable of the Sower” and the sequel “Parable of the Talents” — Butler’s protagonist, Lauren Oya Olamina lives with hyperempathy feeling deeply the pain experienced by others. As a young person, she develops a belief system and later cultivates hope through the formation of Earthseed, a community where humans recognize and value their interdependence in the midst of chaos and pain. Activist Mariamme Kaba notes that “hope is a discipline” and in the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, we view this as an essential component of the work we do in community with each of you.

For Latine/Latinx Heritage Month (LHM) this year, Mount Holyoke’s theme is “Sanando Juntos: From Pain to Power” (Healing Together: From Pain to Power). It’s been wonderful to see so many of you around campus participating in educational programs, enjoying community gatherings at the Eliana Ortega Cultural Center and experiencing the collaboration between La Unidad and Archives and Special Collections! Our community is continuing to host events: today, Monday, Sept. 29, Dr. Alan Pelaez Lopez begins a two-day Latine/Latinx Heritage Month residency and next week, on Wednesday, Oct. 8 we’ll host DEI’s seventh annual Honoring the Ancestor, Gloria Anzaldúa event welcoming beloved musical artist I-SHEA as well as Holyoke poet Mishie Serrano to campus for a lunch break filled with creative connection.

We’re also joyfully in the midst of the Cultural Center Homecomings and the 2025 Hortense Parker Celebration Week, which honors Mount Holyoke’s first known student of color to graduate and the first known African American student to attend the College. Learn more and join in this year’s celebration: “Rooted in Rebellion: Our History of Collective Resistance”.

This week, from the evening of Wednesday, Oct. 1 through Thursday, Oct. 2, members of our Jewish community will be observing Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement and the holiest day of the Jewish year. We wish all who are observing an easy fast and time of repentance and forgiveness. The Office of Community and Belonging continues to provide opportunities for Interfaith engagement through their monthly Interfaith Lunch series on Thursdays along with weekly Jumma Lunches for the Muslim community and Kabbalat Shabbat for the Jewish community on Fridays.

Updates

Earlier this month, we welcomed Dr. Hiram Ramirez as our Assistant Vice President for Inclusion and Innovation. Hiram brings 16 years of experience in diversity, equity and inclusion work and will be instrumental in our team’s continued ability to work toward our community’s DEI goals. Just a few weeks ago, the College received our sixth Higher Education Excellence and Distinction (HEED) Award from Insight Into Academia — an award that recognizes colleges and universities across the country who, like Mount Holyoke, are striving to live into their commitments to academic excellence and belonging.

Upcoming Events and Educational Programming

We hope faculty and staff have made plans to join us this afternoon, Monday, Sept. 29 from 5 to 7 pm, for the annual Five College Faculty and Staff of Color Reception. This year the gathering is being hosted at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. We also hope to see you tomorrow, Tuesday, Sept. 30 from 4:30 to 6:30 pm for the 2025 Hortense Parker Celebration Ceremony: “Demanding Better Care: On Community Organizing, Accountability, & Future-Making" with Dr. Alan Pelaez Lopez.

Tomorrow, Tuesday, Sept. 30 is the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation, also known as Orange Shirt Day. It’s a day we honor the Indigenous children who were taken from their communities and raise awareness of the horrific conditions of their attempted, forcible assimilation through the residential boarding school system. The Zowie Banteah Cultural Center along with the Offices of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and Community & Belonging will be tabling in the Blanchard Vestibule and at the Hortense Parker Celebration. Please stop by to learn more and get an orange ribbon to show your support.

Later this week we will launch our educational programming for Disability Awareness Month with disability rights activist and author Emily Ladau. Join us this Friday, Oct. 3 for a virtual talk: “Creating a Culture of Accessibility & Inclusion: How to Become an Ally to the Disability Community.”

We are proud to partner with the President’s Office, LITS, the Zinn Education Project and the Odyssey to celebrate Banned Books Week, Oct. 5–11. We will launch the week with a Banned Together: The Fight Against Censorship film screening, book giveaways and opportunities for you to share your favorite banned book! LITS has also organized a display of banned books, a Banned Books Trivia Contest and a South Hadley Public Library card sign up. Be on the lookout for more information and resources shared via social media and, in the meantime, check out the Banned Books Week 2024 page of the LITS Book Display LibGuide for some inspiration.

For Indigenous Peoples Day on Monday, Oct. 13, we are honored to continue our tradition of taking students, faculty and staff from across the Five Colleges to the Indigenous Peoples Day Ceremonial Celebration in Newton, MA, which was co-founded by Mount Holyoke alum Krysia Villón ’96. If you’d like to go with us, you can learn more and register here. On Tuesday, Oct. 14, we will host our Indigenous Peoples Day Teach-in with a virtual talk led by Dr. charlie amáyá scott. Dr. amáyá scott is an educator and scholar whose work toward a more just and liberating future celebrates Black and Indigenous Queer and Trans Peoples. We’ll welcome Dr. amáyá scott to campus Nov. 5–6 for a two-day residency where they will meet with community members and give a public keynote in honor of Native and Indigenous Heritage Month and Trans Awareness Month.

On Wednesday, Oct. 15 we will celebrate International Pronouns Day, a day created to affirm the use of pronouns and ensure that individuals who identify as transgender, non-binary and gender non-conforming are treated with dignity and respect by having the pronouns that affirm their gender identity honored. At MHC, this important tradition includes educating our community about pronoun use, sharing pronouns resources and inviting people across campus to visit our tables to learn more and pick up stickers and buttons.

On Thursday, Oct. 23, we are proud to partner with the Yiddish Book Center and the Department of Religion to host Ibrahim Miari’s one-man show “In Between,” a semi-autobiographical one-man show that portrays the complexities and contradictions inherent in Palestinian-Israeli identity.

The fall calendar is overflowing with opportunities to connect, learn and live into our values. In the coming weeks, I hope to see each of you around campus, and to have the opportunity to continue our shared work of cultivating hope through care for one another and our community.

With care and in solidarity,
Kijua