Update regarding on-campus early education

February 28, 2021

Dear members of the Mount Holyoke Community,

I am writing to acknowledge and sincerely apologize for the extraordinary stress that the College’s recent announcement to suspend on-campus child care operations at the Gorse Children’s Center has caused for so many in our community. The Center is clearly beloved on campus and more widely, and for good reason.

We have been listening very attentively to the community’s understandable concerns and frustration. Your disappointment, distress and anger have been heard — by me, by the trustees, and by the leadership team. Over the weekend, we engaged in a challenging but necessary interrogation of our decision, as well as of the process leading up to it. Learning from this process, and from the response to this decision, will be critical in informing future consultation, collaboration and both short-term and long-term decision-making that serve the best interests of the College and advance Mount Holyoke’s mission.

We are very grateful for and moved by the many emails, texts, individual conversations and personal testimonies shared in response to the announcement. I want to express my deep appreciation for your continued engagement with us, and with each other, as we try to find the best way forward together.

Efforts are underway to assure some level of continuity of care. Here are some important updates:

• We are actively exploring a viable bridge solution to offer on-campus early education through next academic year, with the goal of supporting the ten Mount Holyoke families currently enrolled and the seven Mount Holyoke families who have indicated specific plans to enroll at Gorse Children’s Center this spring. The leadership team and I are currently in discussion about how we might minimize the stress on and disruption to these families, and we hope to have more information to share soon.
• We invite other Mount Holyoke families who were planning to use the Gorse Children’s Center during the above time-frame to let Cindy Legare know of your plans, so that these can factor into our immediate efforts to secure continuity of care.We will also honor our commitment to provide access to funding for flexible, portable financial support for childcare to other faculty and staff. That support will be offered through the Employee Emergency Fund, as previously shared, and will be effective July 1, 2021. More detailed information will be provided in late spring.
• The ad-hoc working group of faculty, staff and students will be convened immediately to seek feedback on how best to serve the needs of our community’s many families, while ensuring equitable deployment of resources within the constraints of the College’s current and future operating budget. The working group charge is being finalized now, and we will communicate when we have more details..

Our concern for our campus community remains paramount — particularly for those who are providing education, service and care to our students on campus; those who are working remotely to do the same; and for those who are among the 261 staff who have experienced work disruptions, such as furloughs, over the course of the last 8 months.

There is certainly more for all of us to discuss about decision-making, shared governance and other important factors that support or erode the mutual trust and respect for which we are all striving. Early in February, I was in conversation with the College Planning Committee and the Faculty Conference Committee about a way for us to engage in some immediate collaborative planning, consultation and decision-making. I hope we can launch those opportunities very soon, and that, as we work through our current challenges, we can come together, in and beyond existing governance structures, to reach a shared understanding of what we must do, and what it will take to further advance the education and excellence for which Mount Holyoke College is known.

Sincerely,

Sonya