Newsletter

Students engaged with the history of Vaqueros and Black cowboys in conversation and discussion on the evening of Friday, February 26th in the DMC Living Room. Organizers from La Vanguardia (LV) and the Black and Latine Student Union (BLSU) joined forces to educate students on the foundation for the American cowboy, crediting agricultural styles, fashion, civil rights progress, and historic battles to the Mexican and Black cowboys.

Students poured into the glittering halls of the Annex and Events Barn on Saturday, March 7th at 10pm, drawn by the pulse of blasting music and the shimmer of stunning, hand crafted decorations that transformed the space into something electric. The night held a celebration brought to life by the collective energy and vision of student organizers across all five DMC organizations alongside Sadove Programming to create an unforgettable night of urban vibrancy. 

On Wednesday, March 11th at 5:00pm, the Center for Intersectional Feminism (CIF) hosted its Women of Color Banquet at the Annex, bringing together students, faculty, and staff for an evening centered on celebration, reflection, and community. The event created a space to honor the voices, experiences, and contributions of women of color on Hamilton campus, inviting attendees to engage in meaningful conversation.

What does it mean to be a Womanist? Attendees gathered in the DMC on the night of Tuesday, February 24th to discuss the meaning of the Womanist movement and how it diverges from mainstream feminism while exploring the art of zine making in community. Coined by author and activist Alice Walker, the term first appeared in her 1982 publication In Search of Our Mothers Gardens: A Womanist Prose. The movement was made to acknowledge the unique obstacles and challenges faced by Black women.

On February 18th, GSU and CIF collaborated for Aromantic Awareness Week to explore Relationship Anarchy 101, an interactive discussion unpacking the norms that shape how we think about love, commitment, and intimacy. Co-President of GSU Kamya Malhotra’28 opened up the event with a thought experiment: when you hear terms like polyamory, friends with benefits, casual sex, queerplatonic relationships, or committed platonic partnerships, what is your immediate reaction? Do any of these provoke discomfort or skepticism? Students reflected on how our responses often reveal internalized assumptions about what relationships are “supposed” to look like.

Professor Todd Franklin, distinguished Professor of Philosophy and Africana Studies, joined the Days-Massolo Multicultural Center’s biweekly Lammah Community Dinner this week for a fascinating lecture and discussion on Black Joy. Following BLSU’s event on the same topic, Professor Franklin lent his own research on the existential, social, and political implications of various critical and transformative discourses of race. 

Asian Student Union hosted their 4th annual Asian New Year Celebration on Saturday, February 21st in collaboration with Hamilton’s East Asian Languages and Literature Department! The event received a significant turnout, around 145 Hamilton community members attended the event. The celebration showcased a range of foods, festival games, and performances, curating an experience for students, staff, and faculty alike that brought the nostalgia of new years to campus. 

On February 16th, BLSU and CIF opened up this week’s events with Black Women Betrayed, forcing us to confront a devastating reality. Black women and girls go missing at staggering rates, and the country too often responds with silence. In 2022, around 271,492 women and girls were reported missing in the U.S. Thirty-six percent of them (around 97,924), were Black, despite Black women and girls making up only about 14% of the U.S. female population. In 2023, of the 563,389 people reported missing, 40% were Black women and girls. These numbers are not anomalies. They reflect a pattern of neglect.

Hamilton College’s African Student Association (ASA) and Black and Latine Student Association (BLSU) brought students together in KTSA on Friday for an evening to celebrate the styles and techniques of caring for Black hair. Attendees browsed from a selection of hair care products and materials to get them started with caring for their hair and picked up paints, canvases, and easels to paint various styles of hair.

BLSU joined forces with the Writing Center on Tuesday, February 17th to host an educational event on African American Vernacular English, also known as Black English or AAVE. Facilitated by BLSU Fellow DanTe’ya Reedy ‘26 and the Writing Center Assistant Director and Multilingual Specialist  Laura Widman, the event invited students to take a closer look at AAVE, not as slang or broken English, but as a legitimate, rule-governed, and deeply influential language variety.