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The Sophian is the weekly independent student press of Smith College, serving the students, faculty, and staff of the Smith College community. We publish on Mondays and Friday throughout the academic year. Note: The views expressed may not reflect those of the college policies, faculty, administrators or trustees. The Sophian is strictly a student paper with no faculty or staff adviser overseeing the work.
Happy fall break Smith! Check out some of the latest stories from our great staff writers at The Sophian! Perfect to read while traveling or on campus during the break. Read these full articles and more at thesophian.com.
Photos by Sherry Li and Betty Pu.
Under the previous housekeeping management, employees could purchase and be reimbursed for their own uniform pants. According to facilities management, this policy had been a temporary solution that lasted only a couple of years, while multiple housekeepers claim it was in place for about eight years with no indication of changing. Now, management is requiring housekeeping staff to wear specific pants from a supplier picked out by the college.
The Sophian interviewed six housekeepers belonging to Service Employees International Union (SEIU) 211, who asked to be kept anonymous, about their experiences with this and other changes under new management. They expressed that the try-on day for the uniforms was humiliating and the pants extremely uncomfortable, but that management was largely unsympathetic. They also shared other concerns about management’s oversight of the department, particularly in regard to monitoring of breaks, increased scrutiny of their performance and lack of care for workers’ comfortability.
Awareness for this issue spread when the newly formed student-run group, Smith College United Student Labor Action Coalition (USLAC) began circulating email templates about the uniform policy change and encouraging students to send them to various administrators.
Read the full article here: https://thesophian.com/we-get-treated-like-crap-housekeepers-react-to-change-in-policy-under-new-management/
📣Special Announcement📣 The Sophian has merch! Support Smith College's one and only independent, student-run newspaper by repping one of our awesome new tote bags or stickers, featuring designs by Emilia Tamayo and Hannah Rappaport. Your purchase helps keep The Sophian running (and keeps you looking cute on and off campus!)
We will be opening up the initial round of pre-sale TODAY at the 413 Ethnography student art show. If you're in the Northampton area, stop by the Masonic St. Laundry from 6-8pm to view some incredible student artwork and be one of the first to snag your very own Sophian merch. For those who aren’t able to make it out tonight, stay tuned for info about our next fundraising event. The Sophian thanks all of you for your continued support of student journalism!
Just two weeks ago, The Sophian announced our Translation Marathon. Today, we are overjoyed to present the first edition of our Translation Newsletter, a semesterly issue dedicated to showcasing translated articles submitted by Smith community members and our team of staff in the Translations Section.
This spring, we received translations in Spanish, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, French, Italian and Japanese from students representing almost all class grades. Many thanks to all of our contributors, the professors and staff of Smith’s language departments, and the many tutors who helped to bring this Translation Marathon to fruition.
You can view the full online edition of this newsletter at the link below.
https://www.flipsnack.com/smithsophian/translation-marathon.html
The Sophian's team of staff in the Translations Section works hard to make our content more accessible to those in our community who speak other languages. Thi
The story you’ve all been waiting for: Arts & Culture Editor Raina Okonogi-Neth reviews “Fearless (Taylor’s Version)” for The Sophian.
For those torn between the original and the re-recording, she recommends blasting the objectively higher-quality 2021 recording at Smith basement parties and the 2008 recording while lying on your dorm room floor drowning in nostalgia. You can read the full review at our website now.
Smith College’s Black Students’ Alliance (BSA) hosted its 13th Biennial Conference entitled “Investing In Ourselves: Black Wall Street and Collective Economics” on April 10-11. A reflection upon histories of wealth inequality and racial violence in America, as well as a celebration of Black resilience and ingenuity, the conference is a testament to BSA’s vision for racial justice at Smith and beyond.
You can read more about the inspiration for the conference and the ongoing work of BSA at the link below.
https://thesophian.com/bsa-conference-2021-visions-of-black-liberation-through-collective-economics/
Just days ago, former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was convicted on all charges brought against him in the death of George Floyd. For some, the verdict has brought relief. For others, it has brought renewed anger and sorrow over justice still yet to be served.
Visit The Sophian’s website now to read more about the trial and its aftermath.
Are you a senior with opinions about the resources and support--or lack thereof--that Smith has extended to the class of 2021, in particular regarding Praxis funding? Do you have something to say about the posters around campus a few weeks ago? Would you be willing to be interviewed about the college's response to the specific ways in which COVID-19 has affected this year's class?
Please email Emily Meschertson ([email protected]), News Staff Writer at The Sophian, to be featured in a piece! You can also reach out to The Sophian at [email protected]. Thanks, and please spread the word!
Earlier this week, news broke of a graphic video showing a police officer shooting 13-year-old Adam Toledo of Little Village, a predominantly Latino neighborhood on Chicago's West Side. This just days after the shooting of Daunte Wright in a city 10 miles north of Minneapolis, where Derek Chauvin is currently on trial for the murder of George Floyd.
In the midst of this ongoing period of immense grief and loss, The Sophian stands with our Black and Brown students, faculty, staff and community members calling for an end to racial violence, especially at the hands of the police. We also reaffirm our commitment to consistent reporting not only in response to incidents of racial injustice, but in celebration of the work of BIPOC-led organizations and initiatives that deeply impact our community.
We now turn your attention to this article on violence against Black children published today on The Sophian's website. While this was written prior to reports out of Chicago, we recognize that it is all the more poignant now as a study in the piece cites the increased risk of death by police shooting for both Black and Hispanic children. Special thanks for staff writer Helen Bezuneh in the Opinions section. We hope that you will give this article a read.
https://thesophian.com/i-am-a-child-why-wont-cops-let-black-kids-be-kids/
Opinions I Am a Child: Why Won’t Cops Let Black Kids Be Kids? By Helen Bezuneh April 16, 2021 67 0 Comments On Feb. 1, 2021, police body camera footage surfaced online of a nine-year-old Black girl being dragged through snow to a police car, handcuffed, and pepper sprayed. The officers responding ...
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is a comprehensive antidiscrimination law that guarantees equal access to everything from government services to employment for people with disabilities.
At the April 1 Presidential Colloquium, President McCartney sat down with disability rights activists Judy Heumann and Tom Hehir to commemorate the law's impact and to reorient the community towards next steps in the ongoing fight for disability justice.
Read more about the event at the link below. Article by Emily Meschertson ‘24 and photo via the Smith College website.
https://thesophian.com/smith-college-celebrates-the-30th-anniversary-of-the-americans-with-disabilities-act/
Campus, Local, News Smith College Celebrates the 30th Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act By Emily Meschertson April 12, 2021 74 0 Comments On April 1, President of Smith, Kathleen McCartney, hosted a Presidential Colloquium on the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990. Joinin...
Open today, the newly renovated Neilson Library stands as a beacon of hope and excitement among the Smith College student body and the Northampton community.
Head to The Sophian’s website to read more about the new Neilson and the resources offered to students this semester under new COVID-19 health guidelines.
Photos by Nic Lehoux.
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The Sophian is the weekly independent student press of Smith College, serving the students, faculty, and staff of the Smith College community. We publish on Thursdays throughout the academic year. The Sophian distributes 2,000 print copies across campus each week. Note: The views expressed may not reflect those of the college policies, faculty, administrators or trustees. The Sophian is strictly a student paper with no faculty or staff adviser overseeing the work.
