May 2025

President Danielle Holley Teaches the Dobbs Supreme Court Decision

On April 29^th President Danielle Holley led a virtual class on the Supreme Court’s Dobbs Decision. The Dobbs Decision, June 2024, reversed the Roe v. Wade Decision, 1973, that legalized abortion nationwide. President Holley’s lecture with a question and answer session was open to all alums. Several of our classmates attended. Arlene Anderson asked President Holley if she expected women’s rights to be further attacked by the Supreme Court Justices who espouse an “originalist” interpretation of the Constitution. President Holley says she does. She also expects the attacks by the Trump Administration on higher education will continue and have very serious legal implications.

  In the interest of the safety of Mount Holyoke's international students and faculty, Mount Holyoke will help them stay on campus this summer. The funds available for this effort are not yet sufficient. Our fiinancial support will be greatly appreciated.  

  To donate go to the college website, mtholyoke.edu. Click on "Donate" at the top of the page. The pledge form will show. There, when making your pledge you indicate by scrolling down the menu of, "I would like my gift to support"to "MHC Forward Fund". This is the fund designated for helping students and faculty at risk to stay on campus this summer.

 

President Holley Speaks Publically

Mount Holyoke in the Present Political Environment

President Holley is outspoken in her defense of the Mount Holyoke campus and academic community amid the federal government’s effort to intrude on colleges and universities in the United States. She has made clear that as a women’s college founded “on the premise that women have a right to higher education,” Mount Holyoke will not “capitulate” to federal demands to end DEI standards.

   Boston Public Radio interviewed President Holley in April (link 1 below). When asked about campus unrest in various locations, she stated that Mount Holyoke strongly supports free speech and inquiry within the campus community. Students have a right to raise their voices and are encouraged to do that in a way that allows Mount Holyoke to remain a community of mutual respect. As President Holley states, there is not a right to abuse people on the basis of their race, ethnicity, or religion. Mount Holyoke is “making sure” that protests on campus are peaceful and respectful. Beginning on October 7^th, 2023, President Holley has been present and engaged in person with students of various political, religious, and cultural persuasion. She believes the intrusion of the federal government on the conduct of peaceful protests is unacceptable. 

On matters of federal efforts to intrude and mandate standards for course curriculum, the organization and leadership of academic departments, and faculty hiring, President Holley is also clear. On April 22 she signed a letter against government overreach and political interference. The American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) drafted and published the letter (link 2 below). It calls for “constructive engagement and reform” and includes the full list of over 500 academic and scholarly leaders who signed. They include the presidents of Harvard, Smith, Wellesley, Bryn Mawr, Amherst. Brown, Princeton, Yale, Wesleyan, and Williams, and Lynn Pasquerella, who is president of the AAC&U. She accepted this presidential appointment after her tenure as president of Mount Holyoke College from 2010 to 2016. 

President Holley has also joined a group of college leaders who are strategizing “behind the scenes” to resist the Trump Administration's effort to “attack research funding and academic independence in higher education” (link 3 below).

President Holley’s interview on Boston Public Radio https://www.wgbh.org/podcasts/boston-public-radio/best-of-bpr-4-24-mount-holyoke-president-sees-a-positive-shift-in-higher-ed-standing-up-to-trump

 “A Call for Constructive Engagement” published by the AAC&U is easily accessible. aacu.org

Strategies of a collective of college leaders link. https://www.wsj.com/us-news/education/elite-universities-form-private-collective-to-resist-trump-administration-95a14ff3