Fall 2022 Edition 1 August-September 2022

August - September 2022

AugustSeptember 2022

In This Issue:

p.3 - Student Activists Fight to Make Abortions Accessible on Campus and in Geneva

p. 4- Club Spotlight ‘HWS VOTES’

p. 5 - Opinion on Sodexo p.6 - The Search for VP of DEI

p. 7 - Orientation: First Year Perspective

p. 8 - A Conversation With President Gearan p. 10 - Perspectives on Civil Discoursefrom two Hobart Alumni

p. 10 - New Boathouse for HWS Rowing

p. 11 - Letter from the Editor

The Herald

Established 1879

By and for the Students

of Hobart and William Smith Colleges

Paul Janes, Editor-in-Chief

Kyle Mast, Design Editor

Jack Hanson, Design Editor

Caitlyn Carr, Copy Editor

Hrithik Biswas, Operations Manager

Contributors

Elinor Brunner

Kylie Rowland

Spencer Pinque

Aidan Grieff

Copy Editing

Caitlyn Carr

Cover Photo Summer Vion

Caitlin Carr

Paige Wilson

Paul Janes

Submission Guidelines

The Herald is currently accepting submissions for upcoming issues.

Must include:

1. Name and Class Year

2. Individual phone number or e-mail E-mail submissions must be made via file attachment.

If criteria are not met , The Herald may not be able to print the submission.

Layout Paul Janes Jack Hanson Kyle Mast

Student Activists Fight to Make Abortions Accessible on Campus and in Geneva

By Kylie Rowland ‘24 Staff Writer

Following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade last June, move ments across the country sprung up to defend abortion rights. In New York, abortion is legal—but legal does not al ways mean accessible. Both the Geneva Women’s Assembly and HWS student activists have been organizing and de manding increased access to abortions and other reproductive healthcare in the Finger Lakes. After months of meetings, rallies, and marches, the group won their first win—right here on campus—start ing October 1st, Hubbs Health Center will offer Plan B to students in need.

The Geneva Women’s Assembly, a local grassroots feminist activist group, spent the summer organizing around the cri sis of pregnancy centers, LGBTQ+ rights, and abortion access through a series of “mass meetings” in Seneca Falls. There, seasoned activists and newcomers alike worked together to talk about and re search the reality of abortion access in the region. Associate Professor of Writ ing and Rhetoric Hannah Dickinson, an organizer of GWA, tells The Herald that the mass meetings “were really a response to the call from socially conscious peo ple across the Finger Lakes to get togeth er, and get to work to fight against the evisceration of our fundamental rights.”

Although Governor Kathy Hochul has claimed that “abortion remains safe, ac cessible, and legal in New York,” the GWA found that the reality of trying to get an abortion in rural New York is a lot more complicated than it seems. In fact, after contacting local medical providers, the group found that no local health centers provide abortions. Finger Lakes Medi cal Centers, local OBGYN’s, and Wom en’s Health Centers all refer patients to Planned Parenthood and cite mor al reasons for their lack of reproductive healthcare. But the closest Planned Par enthood offices, those in Canandaigua, Rochester, and Ithaca, are all booked up for months at a time—much too long to wait for a person in need of an abortion.

“Women and all people who need abortions in this country, especially poor and work ing class people, are counting on us to make New York a real safe haven for abortion seekers. And right now throughout most of central, western, and northern New York, a person has to travel 40 miles or more to access an abortion or any form of gender affirming healthcare.” says Dickinson.

One student attendee of the GWA’s mass meetings, Senior Student Trustee Irini Konstantinou ‘23, added abortion access at HWS to the group’s agenda. After in vestigating Hubbs Health Center’s re productive health services as part of a re search project last spring, Konstantinou brought attention to the fact that there is no access to abortion medication on campus, despite the fact that other col

Konstantinou and the GWA then decided to bring the fight to campus with a “March, Rally Rage for Expanded Abortion Access” event on August 26th. Starting right outside the Scandling Center, students and community members joined together to demand that Hubbs Health Center on cam pus and Finger Lakes Medical Center in Geneva both provide medication abortion. Following the march, Konstantinou worked with Becca Barile, the Vice Presi dent of Campus Life and Dean of Students, to increase reproductive health services on campus, while Maddi Meyer ’24 and Britta Wilkerson ’24 drafted letters to members of the administration as part of an internship with Professor Dickinson and the GWA.

Meyer tells The Herald, “For HWS to take a stand as powerful as offering medi

leges, including all SUNY schools, pro vide medication abortion to students. “I started to wonder what, if any, re sources I would have available to me on campus in an emergency healthcare sit uation,” says Konstantinou. “After realizing that Hubbs does not offer holistic, all-inclusive reproductive healthcare, I grew more passionate about rural access to abortion medication and how this lack of healthcare impacts HWS students.”

cation abortions on campus, it would be leading the way for small liberal arts schools and proving to the world that this school respects, supports, and em powers its female-identifying students. With our choice being threatened nationwide and here in Geneva, we need pro tection via access, and we need it now.”

Maddi Meyer ’24, pictured center, participates in a march for women’s rights

Photo courtesy of Hannah Dickinson

Club Spotlight: ‘HWS VOTES’

By Elinor Brunner ‘26 Staff Writer

Of the many student organizations on campus, perhaps none are more relevant than HWS Votes. The 2022 midterms are coming up this November, with elections in all 50 states, and the majority of students will be eligible to vote. That’s where HWS Votes comes in.

since her freshman year. She helped with the registration efforts during the 2020 election, when HWS had a voting rate of 68.9%. This was double the 2016 election’s rate of 35.7%, and HWS was recognized by the ALL IN Campus Democracy Chal lenge for this improvement. Now Kate and her co-presidents Samari Brown ‘24 and Katelyn Oswalt ‘24 (who is study ing abroad this semester) are working to keep the ball rolling. Midterm elections historically have smaller turnout than those in presidential years, but they’re hoping to improve upon the 39.1% na tional voting rate for the 2018 election.

Their main goal is to get students to vote; this includes educating them on how to register to vote and how to request an ab sentee ballot. The members have conducted over 60 classroom visits so far this year. They’ve also held some special events to promote voter registration, and they talk to CAs, faculty, and the athletics department so their message can spread to students who might not interact with them directly. Kate Equinozzi ‘23, one of the co-presidents of HWS Votes, wants to highlight three things about the organization.

“It’s non-partisan. That’s the biggest core value. We’re not supporting a party. We’re not supporting a candidate. It’s just voter education. It’s also student-led. We re ally want to get student voices involved and have as many people as possible at the table chatting. That’s why we always have at least two co-presidents. And final ly, it’s an initiative…It’s about going into classes and putting the word out there.”

Kate has been a member of HWS Votes

One of the most important parts of what they do is making students realize why they should be voting. Kate points out that “small choices make large change…Espe cially with local elections, your vote really counts. And it is really just a ten-minute action of requesting an absentee ballot or registering to vote. It’s a very simple process, and we try to make it simpler.” She adds that all postage is free for students’ election mail; CCESL covers it, whether it’s for registration forms or absentee ballots.

If you want to get involved with HWS Votes, or if you just want to learn more about how to register to vote or request an absen tee ballot, there are several ways to do so. They have a table at Scandling on Tuesdays between 5:30 and 7, and they hold office hours in Trinity Hall between 3 and 5 on Thursdays. They are also available at their Instagram @hwsvotes and their email votes@hws.edu. There will be a text voting drive on October 25, and Vote Early Day is October 28. If you’re interested in voting ad vocacy, now is the time to join HWS Votes.

Making Abortions Accessible continued

On September 21st, just a month after the Rage Rally, HWS students won a bit more access to reproductive healthcare; slipped into a lengthy email about “Health and Wellness Resources,” Campus Life included the news that Hubbs will now provide birth control prescriptions, free

condoms, transportation and referrals for reproductive needs, and, most no tably, free Plan B starting October 1st. Despite this lack of communication from Campus Life, Meyer, Wilkerson, and Konstantinou stress that Plan B and transpor tation to Planned Parenthood are a big deal for students. Professor Dickinson points to the combined efforts of the GWA and HWS students as a reason for success: “student organizers have been instrumental in building the movement for abortion access and queer liberation in the Finger Lakes. By linking the reproductive health care needs of HWS students to the fight for abortion access in Geneva, they’ve helped to build a stronger movement and a pow erful sense of intergenerational solidarity.”

This is a win on campus, but the fight in the community is far from over, reminds Kon stantinou. She says, “while these are great steps in the right direction, the fight for eq uitable and accessible reproductive healthcare is not over. In Geneva, abortion is still not available on demand. Until we gain full access to abortion, we have an obligation to continue to mobilize for all-inclusive re productive healthcare in our community.”

Professor Dickinson says that as they continue to put pressure on medical centers in Geneva, the GWA’s next steps will be to send Governor Hochul and lawmak ers in Albany a list of demands, “spell ing out what, in our view, is necessary to make New York truly an abortions rights safe haven—by ending crisis pregnancy centers; making abortion free, accessi ble, and delivered with dignity to college students, people in rural areas, poor and working class people, trans and nonbina ry people, and anyone who needs an abor tion regardless of what state they live in.”

Anyone looking to get involved in the mass meetings or learn about other actions and events in the fight for abortion rights and queer liberation can email gwa@geneva womensassembly.org or follow @gene va_womens_assembly on social media.

Students paint a window in Scandling;

Photo Courtesy HWS Votes

Opinion: It’s time to bite the hand that feeds us

By Aidan Grieff ‘25 Staff Writer

Editors Note: For more background on the problems raised in this article, look to the 2020 & 2019 articles regarding Sodexo found on the Herald’s website.

When students walk into saga, they enter an environment ripe with systematic flaws, employee abuse, and managerial incompetency. In the research process for this article, I was struck by the fear that many non-student workers displayed when confronted with the possibility of speaking out against their employer, to the point that I had to turn to student workers (who are protected by the school). Sodexo employees are genuinely afraid that even a word of open dissent could result in them losing their jobs. From that unfortunate starting point, I turned to the student workers (the one interviewed for this article wished to remain anonymous).

The first thing the student noted was the environment of fear is created at Saga by management. Employees are routinely screamed at in front of other students and staff. Causing emotional damage, espe cially to those who work outside serving food. Many workers maintain a very strict and monotone attitude due to this fact, which makes food service less enjoyable for everyone. Employees are made to know that they are replaceable, and that small mistakes will not be tolerated.

“Management just simply doesn’t care about us at all, they scream and yell at everyon in front of other students, including the disabled members of our staff,” the student said.

In the face of breakdowns and family emergencies, employees are indiscrimi nately reprimanded, publicly and harshly. Many workers have their jobs threatened in front of coworkers over things like requested time off and personal or fami ly-related matters.

To make matters worse, poor organization and mismanagement make the job more

difficult for workers. Shifts are assigned on a week-by-week basis with the caveat that hours are subject to change. This makes it very hard for student workers to keep a consistent schedule, something which many students find essential to succeed in college. Making other com mitments becomes hazardous because

Sodexo.

That binding contract with the school, which sees the school paying Sodexo $13 million a year, secures Sodexo’s place at this school and ensures that HWS does not have the power to oversee operations in the dining hall. On the non-student

hours are volatile, and missing work is an immediately fireable offense to some. Student workers are essentially restricted from joining clubs or extracurriculars for this reason.

A recent new rule made scheduling even more difficult for students and staff. It used to be that night shift workers were allowed to take food home after their shift, but that privilege has been removed. Managers claim that workers are “taking advantage of them” and Sodexo. This pres ents a serious problem for employees who have nowhere to go for food because the on-campus options are closed by the time their shifts end. This further contributes to systematic damage to workers’ mental health and disrupts students from pursu ing their education

Through all of these complaints, the stu dent strongly emphasized the severe lack of oversight on the part of Sodexo. Many complaints over poor and abusive man agerial behavior have been filed with HR over the last few years. This rarely leads to an investigation, and when it does, management has always gotten off clean without so much as a warning. Student workers are also unable to bring issues that they have up with HWS HR due to the nature of the school’s contract with

side of things, saga workers on campus do not have a union. This leaves all workers without a confidant, and in constant fear of losing their jobs.

“The job is simply no longer a prestigious or desired position for local Geneva residents or students anymore,” the student said.

Saga workers are paid $1.20 an hour more than other on-campus employees, and yet they currently are understaffed by a stag gering 21 openings, in saga alone. This leads to an increase in workload for those who have continued working there, and it also slows turn-around from cooking to serving food. Not only has this misman agement and abuse affected workers and their personal lives, but it affects students and our ability to comfortably dine at saga.

But as Sodexo’s tired contract draws to a close, I sincerely hope that HWS makes the right decisions; keep the current non-student workers employed, ensure that HR of whatever company is actively involved in keeping employees safe and comfortable, and finding a way to order a sufficient amount of food, so students don’t go hungry.

Photo Credit Ani Freedman ‘22

The Search for the New Vice President of DEI

By Paige Wilson ‘26 Staff Writer

As the 2022-23 school year commences here at Hobart and William Smith Colleges, so does the search for our new Vice President of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. With the former Vice Presi dent Khuram Hussain stepping down at the end of the 2021-2022 academic year, the Colleges are more than eager to begin the search for the next VP with such a vital role in our campus community.

Over the summer a search committee was formed of students, elected faculty and staff, and co-chaired by Vice President for Campus Life and Dean of Students Becca Barile and Provost and Dean of Facul ty Sarah R. Kirk. This committee will be working along with a search firm to find the individual most fit for this position. The committee focused on establishing a set of characteristics and qualifications they felt were the most important that

dation of diversity, equity, and inclusion the school has worked hard to create.

The search committee is looking at a wide range of candidates from many different types of backgrounds that would benefit them in this role, this person will be ed ucated in current research on diversity,

portunity,” Dean Barile says. This person won’t be a passive advocate, but an active and trustworthy member of our com munity who will help improve it by being a leader of change, hosting workshops for staff, and implementing policies that will allow us to feel safe and seen here at Hobart and William Smith Colleges.

this person should have, with the input of the student body through surveys, and student, faculty, and staff listening ses sions to create a set of prerequisites for the position. Some of those prerequisites include someone who has an interest in the Colleges students, staff, and culture and wants to build upon the strong foun

equity, and inclusion programs across the nation and will be able to help our campus stay educated and grow into a place where everybody feels comfortable being their whole unapologetic selves. As of right now the search firm has taken these qualities and contacted over 800 candidates who may be interested in the position, they will conduct informal interviews with those interested to nar row down that pool after the applicants have been vetted for the desired qual ifications. Hopefully, by November we will begin to see prospective candi dates on campus visiting and get ting to know our community as we get to know them. Once hired, the search committee predicts that this person’s presence on campus will be felt almost immediate ly. This person will be building authentic relationships with everybody on campus by meeting faculty, attending minority stud ies classes, going to club meetings, or just hanging out at the library with students.

“I think we are all looking for someone that has energy, that wants to come on day one and understand this place and spend time getting to know students and getting to know areas of strength and op

The position is expected to be filled by the spring semester of 2023, right about the same time the Intercultural Affairs cen ter is predicted to be done with expansion construction, this will provide ample op portunity for this person to hit the ground running once they arrive on campus.

“A fresh lens whether they are being new to the position or new to this campus, and getting their unfiltered feedback on campus life as a division and as an atmo spheric culture can improve,” Dean Barile replied when asked what she was most excited about the promise of a new VP on the way. The school has had a strate gic diversity plan in place for some time now and this new VP will now have the opportunity to improve upon the plan and ensure our goals as a community is met.

In an ever-changing world, we all know there will always be room for improvement when it comes to ensuring everybody feels included in our campus culture. No mat ter our differences. Once this new Vice President of Diversity, Equity, and Inclu sion is hired, we will have a ‘guiding light’ for the destination we want to reach as a campus community in regards to equi table practices, putting equal amounts of energy into educational initiatives, and providing the most well rounded and in tellectual education to the students of Hobart and William Smith Colleges. New Vice President of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion we cannot wait to meet you!

Vice President for Campus Life and Dean of Students Becca Barile and Provost and Dean of Faculty Sarah R. Kirk pose for a photo on the Quad.

“A fresh lens whether they are being new to the position or new to this campus, and getting their unfiltered feedback on campus life as a division and as an atmospheric culture can improve”

Photo credit Kyle Mast

A First Year’s Perspective on Orientation

By Spencer Pinque ‘26 Staff Writer

Orientation all began on a Thursday. The chaos of the student arrival: the sea of cars, and the inevitable cries of parents lingering in the air. When matriculation came, smiling faces were literally every where. The shaking hands with the Col

more than the ride itself honestly with the perfect excuse to talk to new peo ple. If you weren’t too busy being scared of heights, the view was rewarding; you would be shocked at how close students really are to Lake Seneca and how beau tiful the campus looked from up high.

Orientation doesn’t stop for the week end: look at Saturday. The day began with

time without structure, we would begin getting anxious, so it is no shock that the orientation schedule was jam-packed.

My roommate Nate said it best, “I think that before the start of classes, orientation felt like summer camp.” You’re in a group with the same twelve or so people, and tasked with all of these silly retreat-like activities for days at a time. The only dif ference is that now that “summer camp” is over, we get to live in the same place for the next few years, and that perpet ual agenda of activities has now shifted to free time between multiple classes to seize the day. Personally, I would like to go back to the mindless innocence (and lack of homework) of my first days on campus after being here for a month.

leges President, which is regarded as a very important benchmark because it will be followed up with another handshake upon graduation. The move-in was made easier with the help of the Orientation Mentors. The huge Welcome Ceremony felt very formal, and for good reason, we were the ones being celebrated joining a community. There was even a CA (Community Assistant) meet too because knowing your floormates is an easy passageway into the social scene. That night, being called down to the football field and being corralled like cattle appeared boring, but personally I thought that the Illumina tion 2026 Photo looked phenomenal. After that, the walk to HWS Fest was a scene of Hamster Balls and Ice Cream stands that had my jaw on the floor for one.

Orientation continued into Friday. The generic surveys and class registering was expected as was the helpful information sessions and panels in various rooms around campus during the day. It was fun Friday with BINGO games and a Do nut Truck for us. There was even a hot air balloon ride, but I enjoyed the long line

the Day of Service around Geneva. It was one of the highlights of the Orientation experience, designed to get our energy out and serve our community simulta neously. But after the work, there was surely play, with the plethora of oppor tunities, like getting Snow Cones or at tending the HWS Carnival that evening. Orientation concluded on a rainy Sunday. The LOVE Geneva Tour introduced us to the local businesses and restaurants in downtown Geneva to better integrate us into our new homes. There was a Campus Wide Open House that involved many op tions to embark on, so my roommate and I decided on climbing St. Mark Tower, which gave a view that exceeded my expectations after a claustrophobic winding staircase. Despite how fun it was, the majority of first-years I asked would immediately just talk about their exhaustion from ori entation. In my eyes, every student can talk about how much they loathed it but whether they know it or not, the aspect of making new friends in a new place, was a lot easier to do when everyone possessed the shared interest of wanting to just take a nap. If the student body had a lot of free

Students I spoke to said they wished that they could have posted their phone num bers or social media accounts to more eas ily contact others. An example they gave was that if they knew who was in their classes, they would have some resourc es, that way if they had any homework questions down the line - the best advice is to reach out. Even if someone is shar ing a dorm, having this method of con tact is better to foster a sense of community. You may never know the kids in the room right across from you. It can be as difficult or as simple as one wants it to be.

My peers said that in high school they knew all the kids around the same age group as them, and in the surrounding area. Thus, every first day of school back then was not as daunting as it was to step onto HWS campus. They said that if they were allowed to be dropped on a lawn or a big room for an hour and could mingle freely, they would have had a better time connecting with others. Naturally, that may work for some of the class, but not others, since everyone has a specific way of socializing. Although, the class of firstyears to college all share a common goal to make the most out of their time at Hobart & William Smith. Then it’s good that Orientation gave the Statesmen and Herons the spark they needed to start the fire!

Photo credit Kyle Mast

Questions and Answers with Mark and Mary Gearan

By Paul Janes ‘24 Caitlin Carr ‘23, and Aidan Grieff ‘25 Editor-in-Chief, Copy Editor, and Staff Writer

met great people on campus, and then I went to see the schools. And I remember say ing to Mark, ‘I don’t know if it

that we would like to enhance and fos ter… It really came to me a few Fridays ago when we were first here at the Smith Op era House because there was a documen-

How does it feel to be back and what drew you back?

It feels great to be back we are very honored and excited for this next chapter, this is a special place, Hobart and William Smith. We were here for 18 years, and then our daughter came here in the interim when we are away, so we saw through the lens as parents. So to be a part of this next chapter in history of the colleges is a very welcomed but unexpected honor.” – President Gearan

I’ve loved this place ever since I first came here. When Mark was first interviewing in August of 1999, he suggested I come up for his second interview when he was coming for his second interview. And I said ‘you think so?’ and he said yes, ‘I think you will like it, I think you need to see it because I like. So I’ll never forget arriving in Geneva, I toured the Geneva His torical Society, and got a sense of the history here the background,

will happen and you’ll get this job, but it’s exactly the kind of place I would love to raise Madeline and Kathleen.’ – Mary Gearan

How do you both plan on fostering a sense of community here and building on what President Jacobson did?

I’ve admired what President Jacobson did during very stressful times, she’ll be great for HWS in the Economics Depart ment bringing her teaching excellence and scholarship. For me it was interesting, last year while I was at Harvard, I read a book called “Relationship Rich Education how Human Connections foster Student Success”. But I thought at the time rela tionship rich education, that is HWS. The relationships students have with faculty members, with staff, with coaches, wheth er its Laura in the Dining Room or coaches, or faculty. This is a place where it’s a rela tionship rich education, and that’s what I think is the kind of tight knit community

tary about Ukraine. So we just went be cause supporting Ukraine, and then there was a Hobart Student, a junior whose on the hockey team whose from Ukraine. The second largest city there. He spoke powerfully, beautifully, about what’s happening in that country. His mother and brother are in Switzerland, his father is in Ukraine. The entire hockey team was in the first two rows support him, so was Coach Taylor and the assistant coach. The WS Soccer team was there in solidarity with him and Ukraine, and the William Smith Coach Allison Wilbur and her assistants. Faculty members were there and the Geneva com munity. And we sat there and I thought this a relationship rich education, this is HWS faculty, staff, coaches, students, Geneva community, at our best. In support of this young man and his journey and his fami lies journey and his countryman’s journey, en that connection. – President Gearan

President Mark Gearan and his wife, Mary Gearan, pose for a photo.,

Photo courtesy HWS Office of Communications

Once we’re all settled, I used to have an open house every Friday. And I realized, sometimes it’d be too hard to pick different days. So I got into a habit of saying it’s Fri days, at five, you don’t need a reservation, please come, come for five minutes, come for as long as you’d like. I often thought of it as a way for students to meet someone that they didn’t know through their classes or their housing, and hopefully that was the case for many students. And so we will start doing that again. And I also, one of the special parts about this campus is not just getting our students into the community, but I think it is also great to get kids, espe cially high school students to campus. We used to have the Geneva Heroes program, where every Saturday in the spring, there would be high school and middle school students who would come to campus. They would have a service activity and then they would have lunch on campus either in scandling or at one of the houses. But that was a great program and I’m hoping that with COVID being eased up that we’ll be able to recreate that as well. And then get ting high school students to come to some of the cultural club activities they would like Caribbean Student Association, inter national students, Asian students Associa tion, LAO, that would always be fun having like some high school students come to ei ther their events or come to hear lectures go to Vandervort, you know, events. So I think alsoit’s a great chance for kids to see what it’s like to be here with what oppor tunities they would have.” Mary Gearan

How do you think HWS will bring social life back, and is now the time or are we still waiting for a green light?

Right, right now I regret what we saw that last year because last year Harvard was in session, but there were massive restric tions. I mean, obviously, you know, the most important thing is safety and health. We will be guided by those decisions and the protocols that will keep the communi ty safe. I think that’s central, and the most important thing, and then from there, I am encouraged by what HWS has done. I think this has been a pretty responsible community, meeting students as well, you know, people have really risen to the disappointing realities of what the pan demic meant for social life. And so I re gret that and saw through that lens as a parent with our daughter here. So I think

it’s constant evaluation, you know, this is an uncertain pandemic/virus. But I think we’ve learned a lot. We know a lot. And I think, to date, the classes and opening up and monitoring cases, I think it’s been a reasonable, a very good start to the year in that sense. So but guided by science, it’s really a public health question. But I wouldn’t like to think that with continued progress, we can’t have the kind of normal college experience that everyone prizes.

I mean, this is why we’re all here to see each other face to face. Engage, I think it has to be respectful of everyone’s decision. And we need to be mindful of people like we have, you know. In this space, and in the spirit of this place, individual inclu sion has to be understood and respect ed as well. And I think I see nothing that contradicts that here. – President Gearan

You both have always been very in volved in the community., What kinds of things could we as students do to help you guys connect with the community?

Well, I come to this from the lens of we’re coming up to our Bicentennial 200 years. And for 200 years, Geneva has been a re markable host to the college’s they liter ally built dorms. They literally endowed scholarships for Geneva kids to come here. They work here, you know, and then the engagement with students. So it’s been a phenomenal host to HWS for two centu ries. And you know, as for where we are a nonprofit entity, we sit on some of the best real estate in the community, and have that advantage as a nonprofit, tax wise. So on so many levels, our engagement with Geneva is important. But centrally as an educational matter to the scale here is such a great advantage. It’s a wonderfully di verse community. The school system has been a majority-minority district, since our girls were in it. It has challenges. And in many ways, a lot of the challenges we see nationally are played out here, local ly. So if you want to study food scarcity, or environmental issues, or learning loss from COVID, this is a definable academ ic area. And then the need of community service. You know, I think it was pretty in tentional one of the things I first worked on when I got here is that orientation, first or second day, let’s go into commu nity service. And I think Katie said it’s the 23rd year which must be when we started, and I think that’s an intentional signal

to everyone, to students to say, Welcome to College. Welcome to HWS. Welcome to Geneva you’re citizen here, right. And that’s a value that we think is important, and to the community as we welcome students here, we are partners in service.

So I think there’s a lot of things I need to get up to speed on. I’ve written to the city council, the school board, the board of su pervisors, the mayor, just to reintroduce myself, or in some case, introduce myself, I’m going to be meeting with them. Gene va 2030, its predecessor was Geneva 2020. This group, we started because I had served on an Obama Task Force on communi ty solutions. And I read this piece about collective impact. The Stanford Journal of Social Innovation, where it’s kind of a sim ple theory, but it’s proof that if organiza tions all unite together, it was modeled on Cincinnati, in common metrics, common goals, properly communicated, change can really happen. And it started here at Geneva 2020 because the school was un der state watch. Risking accreditation, like this campaign we have so many great people here. So we had the bankers, the faith community, private sector, the colleges and community all united. Say, here’s what we want to do in Geneva by 2020 At that point, Common metrics, communicated by a backbone organization which was HWS. And I think it met some of the goals.

So I think it’s the first incidince for the students to grow as academic.I think it’s a rich opportunity to understand issues and think about or regulate to engage with con versations, internships, volunteer experience, and then the service which is real, I mean, it really honored the mission to say, we want to prepare you for life of conse quence. The brilliance of that phrase to me is that it’s highly individualized. Your defi nition may be different, appropriately. So what is a consequential life. But through the curriculum and these experiences, you get to reflect and inquire what is a conse quential life, for me. – President Gearan

Perspectives on Civil Discourse from two Hobart Alumni

By Jim Anderton ’65 & Nick Hurd ‘64

Editors Note: The opinions shared in this arti cle do not reflect the overall position of The Her ald, but rather offer insight from the authors.

Please allow us to use this forum to explore some of our concerns about education today and how our undergraduate years at HWS prepared us to deal with them.

We are all familiar with the seeming ly overworked terms “woke” and “crit ical race theory.” But, what do these terms mean and how might they affect education in today’s classrooms?

“Woke” primarily relates to discrimina tion and racial prejudice. To help ame liorate these troubling wrongs, “political correctness” is (too often?) employed. This alleviative, at its core, seeks to elim inate untoward sensibilities relating to race, LBGT, sex, and gender. Unfortu nately, various perspectives seek to ex pand this basic definition to support their other biases – frequently political biases.

“Critical race theory” deals with institu tional discrimination. Some examples are red-lining with respect to housing, tax policies that favor the rich, college ad mission criteria that favor legacies or the rich, gerrymandered voting districts, and school districts that place poorly regarded teachers in low income neighborhoods.

So, how might the above affect today’s ed ucation in the classrooms of HWS? Are they used to educate our students through open discussions or are they employed to indoctrinate students to become polarized ideologues that are not open to listening and free speech? Are students penalized when they disagree with their profes sor’s perspectives? These are primary concerns of ourselves and many alums of our era about liberal arts education today.

Using Churchill’s language, the above is, “A riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.” Are students free to speak; are professors

open to listening; can a thoughtful, ratio nal classroom dialogue occur in which all perspectives are given the opportunity to speak and all perspectives are heard and respected? Listening skills are just as import ant as speaking skills. No one ever learns by speaking – learning occurs by listening. The entrenched position of a woke or nonwoke ideologue, or a critical race theorist or non-critical race theorist ideologue usually precludes listening and learning and all involved - students and professors - be come victims of entrenched philosophies.

Because students and professors come from a multitude of different backgrounds and experiences, there is no singular, non-nuanced position relating to woke or critical race theory. Singular positions are usually found in dictator-type coun tries and institutions and from extremist groups who refuse to consider alternatives to their narrow point of view. Freedom is the hallmark of American society and, gratefully, one of the values revered by an education during our undergraduate years. We hope this open perspective con tinues today at HWS. We have learned that we can have prioritized passions, but we try not let them impinge on the rights and freedoms of others. Hopefully this open ness with respect is worth perpetuating.

Anderton has a Ph.D. in Higher Education Administration and Policy, was a community college President (16,000 students at that time), and served as Chairman of the Teach er Education Accreditation Council, now CAEP, that accredits college and university programs that graduate certified teachers.

Hurd served as a Managing Director of Russell Reynolds Associates (an executive search and consulting firm) for more than 20 years. He led and collaborated in its en gagements for a broad range of for-profit and not-for-profit organizations including searches for college and university executives.

New Boathouse Expected to Unite HWS Rowing Teams

By Caitlin Carr ‘23 Copy Editor

On Saturday, September 24, members of the Hobart and William Smith crew teams, alumni, friends, and family gath ered along the Cayuga-Seneca Canal to dedicate the Colleges’ brand new, stateof-the-art rowing center, the Miltenberg er and Bennett-Hooper Rowing Center. Hobart Rowing Alumnus Randall Hooper ‘20, whose family was a crucial donor to the project, says both teams desperate ly needed an improved training center.

“We needed the new boathouse because both of our teams compete at a high level. Our men’s team is a top 20 competitor in the country, which makes us the smallest liberal arts college to consistently race at the IRA’s (Intercollegiate Rowing Association National Championship Regatta).” Hooper also speaks highly of the Herons, emphasizing the importance of unity. “When our teams were working to gether, that was when we were at our highest caliber. Building this boat house reunites the team in line with the goals that Coach Bugenhagen has had since taking over the women’s team.”

More practically though, rowers have com plained of having no consistent area to change clothes during practices, and the inconvenience of having to hold practices on campus, ten minutes away from the boathouse, where equipment may not al ways be available. The MBH Rowing Center has over fifty brand new rowing machines in a spacious room overlooking the canal, in addition to a kitchen area for meal preparation, a coach’s office and sitting area, men’s and women’s locker rooms, clothing warmers and wringers for wet unisuits. Over 400 alums, parents, and friends of HWS Rowing contributed to the proj ect. Hooper and the rest of the alumni are excited for what the new boathouse means for the future of both teams.

“Having a home for a family like this is what can unite us to con tinue the historic legacy of HWS.”

Letter From the Editor

Dear Readers of the Herald,

Welcome back to the Colleges, and a warm welcome to the Classes of 2026!

We are back for another fall semester; for some, it is the first of many lasts, and for others, it is the start of a new chapter in their life. The beginning of any semester is always an exciting time, but there is the feeling that this semester will be special. We welcome President Gearan and his wife back to the Colleges after a five-year absence; we are celebrating our Bicentennial as an institution, and for the first time in what feels like forever, there is a sense of normalcy that has been missing since the pandemic. This is not an exhaustive list, every day, students and faculty around this campus do things that are worth celebrating, but sometimes they are not given the recognition they deserve. Our goal at the Herald is to highlight those unrecognized actions and bring attention to the things on this campus that we feel the community deserves to know about.

The role the Herald has always served and will continue to serve on this campus is as “a voice for the students.” In my time at the Herald, I have seen what being “a voice for the students” really means. Each member of the Herald and each Editor who came before me views our role differently. For me, though, being a voice for the students means we have a duty to report on what the students want to hear. To every student, we want to listen to your stories, your complaints, and anything that you think the rest of the community deserves to hear. The Herald is a platform for students to broadcast their voices and share their stories, and if anyone is interested in sharing that journey with us, then we cannot wait to hear what you have to say.

I am looking forward to this coming year as the Editor of the Herald, and I cannot wait to see what it brings. This is just the first of many meaningful issues to come, and my hope is that our community here at the Herald will only grow larger as the year goes on. I cannot do this alone, so I must give a lot of credit to every person who has contributed to this edition. Thank you to everyone who is part of the staff, shows up to the meetings, or picks up an edition when they come out. Without all of you, the Herald would not have been around for 142 years, and I hope that as long as HWS is an institution, the Herald will continue to fight the good fight that is student journalism.

Sincerely, Paul Janes

Editor-in-Chief of the Herald

Additional Note: The Herald does not cite Yik Yak as a journalistic source and will not so in the future.