Mount Holyoke College

On June 29, 2023, Mount Holyoke's President issued a statement in response to the Supreme Court's ruling on affirmative action which reads as follows: "Mount Holyoke College is deeply disappointed about this Supreme Court decision as it overturns decades of settled law. Make no mistake, however: our values and our commitment to racial equity in higher education remain undaunted...We will do everything we can within the law to continue to champion inclusivity, access and equity in our admission efforts and on our campus."

Following the events of 2020, the college and the Board of Trustees established their own Anti-Racism Action Plans that both bridged to the college’s Strategic Plan for 2023 which commits to numerous action steps in becoming anti-racist including embedding anti-racist values in the curriculum and mandatory anti-racist trainings.

The Common Read which is assigned to all incoming students during Orientation has been centered on anti-racism for 2020 and 2021.

As part of its May 2023 Anti-Racism Action Plan Update, the college reported that "[e]fforts to redesign the employee orientation are underway, which include anti-bias training."

In order to meet Undergraduate Degree Requirements, each student is required to complete a Multicultural Perspectives course that incorporates diversity.

The Office of the President has a site dedicated to the updates and progress on the college’s Anti-Racism Plan of Action listing all actions taken thus far including numerous curriculum changes and trainings on becoming anti-racist including a new course, COLL-208 which uses Ibram X. Kendi’s book as its primary text.

The Bias Education and Support Team (BEST) at Mount Holyoke supports the school’s strategic plan and anti-racist framework by focusing on mutual respect and community accountability within an inclusive and restorative justice framework.

As part of its May 2023 Anti-Racism Action Plan Update, the college reported that the "Provost’s Office worked this year to deepen required search committee training, with a focus on inclusive excellence and equity."

In January 2023, Mount Holyoke hosted a two day Intergroup Dialogue (IGD) workshop, which is a nationally recognized academic, credit-bearing program for students and faculty on issues of diversity, equity, racial bias, and social justice.

The Critical Race and Political Economy program at Mount Holyoke "cultivates an understanding of how race, colonialism, and other systems of power have structured human lives and their environments on local, national, and global scales."

As part of its May 2023 Anti-Racism Action Plan Update, the College reported that in 2020 it "made a commitment to devote $50,000 toward research and scholarship focused on racial equity under the purview of the dean of the faculty." The update includes includes detailed information on how the money has been spent through May 2023.

As part of its May 2023 Anti-Racism Action Plan Update, the college reported that the Athletics Department "applied for and received the DIII NCAA Ethnic Minorities and Women’s Internship Grant" which is a "two-year position that has to be awarded to a woman and/or ethnic minority."

As part of its May 2023 Anti-Racism Action Plan Update, the college reported the following: "Public Safety and Service included diversity training as part of the performance review markers in 2022 for staff yearly evaluation."

Recently, the college hosted a series of events under the umbrella of its "Week of Racial Justice and Reconciliation" under the theme of "Our Interconnectedness Binds Us Together".

Mount Holyoke has launched a new major and minor in critical race and political economy. The department of Critical Race and Political Economy’s (CRPE) curriculum “cultivates an understanding of how race, colonialism, and other systems of power have structured human lives” by approaching “race as a shifting relation through which power and domination are rationalized.”

The Division of Student Life (DSL) is committed to promoting an anit-racist campus by acknowledging “our privilege and positionality in systemic, institutional and individual oppression” and that “systemic racism is a humanitarian crisis.

As part of the college’s Teaching and Learning Initiative, diversity, equity and inclusion efforts “extend beyond specific departments and are embedded in all areas of the College.”

The Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Initiative is a presidential initiative that focuses on anti-racism, diversity, equity, and inclusion.

In 2020, the college announced that it had become an "inaugural member of the Liberal Arts Colleges Racial Equity Leadership Alliance."

Mount Holyoke News reported that on May 17, 2024, the Stoling Ceremony took place which was an "opportunity for graduating students of color along with staff, faculty, their families and friends to get together and celebrate their achievements." The ceremony was "one of many affinity-based celebrations to take place prior to Commencement."

The BOOM Symposium at Mount Holyoke is a "day dedicated to addressing the historical and contemporary realities of injustices, oppression and hierarchy" and an "opportunity to...build upon the anti-racist momentum we work to create each day...."