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The Swellesley Report

Since 2005: More than you really want to know about Wellesley, Mass.

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FIXT

Letter to the Editor: Addressing environment impacts of Wellesley College campus events

May 16, 2025 by admin

Have you ever wondered about the environmental impacts of campus events at Wellesley College?

That’s what the Wellesley College ES 300 (Environmental Decision-Making) capstone class worked on figuring out this semester.

ES 300 is one of two capstone courses the Environmental Studies (ES) department offers for the ES major. It is a semester-long, student-run course led by Camilla Chandler Frost Professor of Environmental Studies Beth DeSombre that centers around an environmental project to address an environmental problem relevant to Wellesley’s campus. The course allows students to apply the knowledge they have accumulated from the major and apply it to a project with real consequences for the College. After conducting analysis on the environmental problem, the class publishes a full report which contains recommendations to the College for where to improve.

Wellesley College ES 300 (Environmental Decision-Making) capstone class
Wellesley College ES 300 (Environmental Decision-Making) capstone class

 
This year, the idea for the project came from the Facilities Management office. They wanted to work on changes outside of energy generation, since the College already had a thorough plan for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions through energy projects. Jennifer Garvin, Office of Sustainability Manager, believed students would be passionate about waste. So, Facilities requested that the class investigate the negative environmental impacts of on-campus events and deliver actionable suggestions to decrease these impacts.

The class chose to focus on the impacts of waste and GHG emissions from events.

To estimate the total amount of waste generated by on-campus events, the 18-student class audited over 35 representative events, both past and current, during a two week period. Students used an in-depth online auditing form created by the class to ensure uniform data collection (Appendix B). They then used the College’s event reservation platform with the audit data to estimate the total amount of waste produced at events over an entire academic year. Amount of waste could be translated into GHG emissions by looking at the lifecycle of waste products. Recommendations were made based on four metrics: ease, cost, GHG emission reduction and waste reduction.

The 200-page report covered Wellesley’s current waste stream system, the audit process, how they narrowed down recommendations, the metrics they used for evaluating recommendations, and their proposed recommendations.

The ES 300 students estimated that on-campus events produce 17,691 kg of trash and 67,815 kg of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) GHG emissions per academic year. Of that, events with food and beverage produce the most waste and emissions, compared to audience-based, creative and giveaway events.

ES 300 strongly recommend four primary options:

1. Creating an easy-to-find website with information about event sustainability.

2. Expanding institutional composting to the Science Center and Alumnae Hall.

3. Mandating that beef may not be served at any college event.

4. Mandating that campus events may not distribute single-use plastic items or any plastic swag.

They also propose two alternative options that have smaller environmental impacts:

1. Mandate that all distributed plastics must be recyclable (with proper recycling receptacles available).

2. Create a storage room with shared resources where event organizers have access to reusable event materials.

Jennifer Garvin hopes that the College (or future ES 300 classes) will continue to look at waste production and diversion on campus in the future, as peer institutions are diverting more compared to Wellesley.

If you would like to learn about ES 300’s project, or learn how to evaluate waste in your community, you can read the report below. This class was student-run, so it goes to show that anyone can do a project like this!

Sincerely,

Camille Newman, Wellesley College ’25

Filed Under: Environment, Letters to the Editor, Wellesley College

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We’re so proud of all Wellesley’s graduates—here’s how to avoid them

May 15, 2025 by Deborah Brown

Commencement season arrives tomorrow, with Wellesley College taking the lead in sending 531 newly minted graduates out into the world. Be prepared—roads leading to Wellesley College, Babson, MassBay, Wellesley High School, and Dana Hall become clogged with traffic moving at a snail’s pace both pre- and post- ceremonies. Before you find yourself caught in a slow crawl behind vehicles with out-of-state plates, here’s when to avoid the areas. Note: all ceremonies are private, ticketed events.

Wellesley College

DATE: Friday, May 16
TIME: 10:30am-1:30pm
AREAS TO AVOID: Wellesley Square, the College’s rt. 135 and rt. 16 entrance vehicle entrances
SPEAKER: Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Isabel Wilkerson.
ATTEND VIRTUALLY: livestreamed here


Babson College

DATE: Saturday, May 17
TIME: undergrad, 9:45am-12:30pm; graduate, 2:45pm
AREAS TO AVOID: Great Plain Ave.; Forest St., Wellesley Country Club (plan your tee times accordingly)
SPEAKERS: Boston Globe Media CEO/Co-Owner Linda Henry (undergrads); and Blink UX Co-founder and former CEO Karen Clark Cole (grad students)


MassBay graduation

DATE: Thursday, May 29
TIME: 6pm
AREAS TO AVOID: route 9; Centennial Park parking area on Oakland St.; Oakland St. in general

MassBay graduation speaker
Massachusetts Secretary of Education, Patrick Tutwiler
(Photo via MassBay)

SPEAKER: We just learned that Massachusetts Secretary of Education, Patrick Tutwiler, will address the Class of 2025. Tutwiler directs the Executive Office of Education, which oversees early education, K-12, and higher education. Secretary Tutwiler sits on each of the boards governing the Commonwealth’s education agencies, as well as the University of Massachusetts system. He is Governor Maura Healey’s top advisor on education and helps shape the Commonwealth’s education agenda.

Before being sworn in as Secretary, Dr. Tutwiler served as the senior program officer at the Boston-based Barr Foundation, a grant making organization focused on arts, climate and education. Prior to that, Secretary Tutwiler was superintendent of the Lynn Public Schools and headmaster in the Boston Public Schools. As superintendent of Lynn Public Schools, he spearheaded a collaborative, equity-centered effort that translated into higher graduation rates and a more racially diverse staff while also overseeing the creation of the Commonwealth’s second largest early college program.


Dana Hall School

DATE: May 31
TIME: 10am-noon
AREAS TO AVOID: Grove St.; stretch of Washington St. (rt. 16) near the school; Cameron St., Hampden St. and other side streets near the school.


Wellesley High School

DATE: Friday, June 6
TIME: 5pm
LOCATION: Hunnewell Field
AREAS TO AVOID: Rice St.; Smith St., stretch of Washington St. (rt. 16) near the high school.


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Filed Under: Babson College, Dana Hall School, Education, MassBay, Wellesley College, Wellesley High School

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Wellesley College gets woolly with visiting sheep & lambs

May 7, 2025 by Bob Brown

Wellesley College has invited more than a dozen sheep and lambs on campus to munch on the Meandering Meadow next to Paramecium Pond as part of an effort to improve the wildlife habitat.

The special guests, courtesy of Natick Community Organic Farm, are there until May 9.

You can see the site from the main campus road; park in the visitor spaces at the garage if you go there by car.

The sheep have been taking part in numerous activities, including a live drawing session by students earlier in the week.

@swellesleyreport Sheep & lamb @Wellesley College ♬ original sound – swellesleyreport

electric fence meandering meadow wellesley college sheep meandering meadow wellesley college sheep

meandering meadow wellesley college sheep


See something? Send something. The baaaaaa-r is low: theswellesleyreport@gmail.com

Filed Under: Animals, Wellesley College

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Rain or shine, Wellesley College’s annual hoop rolling event is ‘full circle’ moment for graduating seniors

April 27, 2025 by Jennifer Lambert

Arushi Ghosh, Wellesley hoop rolling champ
Arushi Ghosh, the winner of Saturday’s hoop rolling race at Wellesley College, posed in her graduation gown with her hoop (Photo by Jennifer Lambert)

 
Not even heavy rain could dampen the excitement Saturday morning as Wellesley College seniors ran down Tupelo Lane with wooden hoops in one of the school’s oldest traditions.

The annual hoop rolling race, which dates back to 1895, marks a celebratory right of passage for Wellesley seniors. During the race, seniors sprint about an eighth of a mile while rolling wooden hoops. The objective is to keep the hoop rolling upright, but many seniors dropped their hoops, picked them up and kept running—even if it caused them to fall behind a bit. 

Originally, it was said that the winner would be the first to marry, but today she “will be the first to achieve success, however the winner defines it,” according to Wellesley Magazine.

This year’s winner, Arushi Ghosh, was thrilled to fulfill what she sarcastically called her “ultimate purpose” at Wellesley.

Arushi Ghosh stood proud in Lake Waban after being tossed in by two of her friends.
Arushi Ghosh stood proud in Lake Waban after
being tossed in by two of her friends
(Courtesy photo from Arushi Ghosh)

 
“The reason I came to Wellesley was to win hoop rolling,” joked Ghosh, an economics major from Hong Kong. “Forget about the bachelor’s degree–now I get a hoop rolling degree.”

Ghosh and her friend, Gabriella Olavarria, were the first seniors to arrive. About two rows of people there were underclassmen saving spots for their “Big Sisters.” Some of those “littles” had been there since 6 a.m. Ghosh and Olavarria arrived around 8:10 a.m., almost an hour before the race’s 9 a.m. start.

“We were texting from bed, and we were like, ‘Should we do it? Should we rally? Should we try to win?’” Ghosh said. “And then we got there, and we were the first seniors there, and all these underclassmen were bullying us because they were saving spots for their bigs, which is really sweet. But we were like, ‘OK, we’re here to win.’”

@swellesleyreport Annual hoop rolling race @Wellesley College ♬ original sound – swellesleyreport

 Seniors Arushi Ghosh and Maya Lu-Heda, who were freshmen year roommates, posed in front of Lake Waban, where they also jumped into their freshmen year.
Seniors  Maya Lu-Heda and Arushi Ghosh, who were roommates as first-year students, posed in front of Lake Waban (Photo by Jennifer Lambert)

 
Around 200 seniors participated in the race–about a third of the approximately 600-person class of 2025. The race, which lasted only about 45 seconds, ended with Ghosh crossing the finish line and being tossed into Lake Waban by two of her friends. Throwing the winner into Lake Waban is a tradition that dates back to the 1980s, following a prank where a Harvard man posed as a Wellesley senior and won, according to WBUR.

For many seniors, Saturday’s race was a full-circle moment. Ghosh recalled her first year at Wellesley, when she and her freshman-year roommate, Maya Lu-Heda, jumped into the lake together as part of the “Lake Jump” tradition. In this tradition, resident assistants pick a random day to knock on freshmen’s doors and bring them outside to jump in Lake Waban together.

For many Wellesley seniors, who will graduate on May 16, the day was bittersweet.

“It feels weird because I’ve been to watch hoop rolling, and now we’re the ones doing it,” senior Jessica Cohen said.

hoop rolling
Students gathered to take photos after the hoop rolling race (photo by Jennifer Lambert)

 
The rain and potholes posed some challenges for the students, but they still embraced the spirit of the tradition.

“I’ve been excited for this since sophomore year, so it’s a shame that it’s raining but a beautiful day nonetheless,” senior Ellie Gurguliatos said.

For the seniors, many of whom had once stood on the sidelines cheering for older classmates, Saturday’s event marked an emotional milestone.

“Everyone goes, but only the seniors roll the hoops,” senior Alaina Fox said. “It’s such a big tradition, especially in the rain. I’ve never seen it like this before.”

Ghosh was happy she could finish her college experience by winning the race.

“Now I’m at peace,” she said. “I’m like ‘I can graduate now.’”

Wellesley College seniors Nyssa Youhn, Ellie Gurguliatos, Kathy Li, and Maya Lu-Heda posed with their hoops after the race.
Wellesley College seniors Nyssa Youhn, Ellie Gurguliatos, Kathy Li, and Maya Lu-Heda posed with their hoops after the race (Photo by Jennifer Lambert)

 
This story is part of a partnership between the Swellesley Report and the Boston University Department of Journalism.
 


 

Wellesley College community: Please consider supporting The Swellesley Report‘s independent journalism venture with a tax-deductible donation.

Filed Under: Wellesley College

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Newton-Wellesley Orthopedic

Wellesley College non-tenured faculty members end strike amid continued contract negotiations

April 24, 2025 by Deborah Brown

The Wellesley Organized Academic Workers (WOAW-UAW), the union representing Wellesley’s non-tenure track faculty, has agreed to end its strike, while continuing negotiations toward a final contract. The 300 non-tenured academics walked off the job on March 27. Their demands include maintaining a four-course workload for its members, and an increase in both salary and job security.

Striking  faculty will return to classes on April 25.

Wellesley College strike, non-tenured faculty
Strikers and supporters on day 1 of the strike.

“We are grateful to the WOAW-UAW’s bargaining team and members for coming to this decision. While the strike is ending, the critical work of negotiating a final contract that recognizes the significant contributions of our NTT faculty is continuing. Our next bargaining session is April 28,” College administration leaders said in a memo on the College’s unionization website.

For the past few weeks, union members and supporters that included tenured faculty and students held signs in front of Wellesley College’s pedestrian entrance at the corner of Central Street and Weston Road. The College maintained a visible police presence there, and at other entrances to the highly selective women’s college.

Union bargaining committee leadership in an update letter said, “As the semester comes to a close, we are ending our current strike and will return to the classroom tomorrow for the last week of class, with our strength established and our community stronger than ever. While we are returning to work, the fight is not over. We have yet to reach a final agreement, and we will not be worn down by Wellesley’s anti-worker tactics.”

MORE: Wellesley non-tenured faculty member strike begins (March 27, 2025 coverage)


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Filed Under: Jobs, Wellesley College

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Boston Marathon serves up Wellesley College-Babson College rivalry we’ve been waiting for

April 22, 2025 by Bob Brown

Wellesley College students were on their Boston Marathon sign game with a mix of funny, encouraging, and not-so-friendly messages for participants.

While we’ve always found Wellesley College and Babson College to co-exist rather peacefully alongside each other in town, one Wellesley College student held aloft a sign with some fighting words on it: “If a Marathon was Easy it would be called Babson College.” (We saw racier versions of this describing certain family members…)

Did Babson students have an answer to this shot from Wellesley College further down the course?

boston marathon 2025
The sign reads: “If a Marathon was Easy it would be called Babson College”

More signs:

 boston marathon 2025 sign that reads "Who needs toenails anyway?
“Who needs toenails anyway?
Boston Marathon 2025
“Keep Going: I trained hard to hold this sign”

Filed Under: Babson College, Boston Marathon, Wellesley College

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