Mount Holyoke College - Inside Scoop

School Slang

• .chat - Short for mhc.chat, this is one of the MHC-only newsgroups, and the most popular. Here is where students will argue, beg each other for rides, enlighten each other on political matters, keep each other awake during finals, and much more. If you don’t read it, you’re slightly out of the loop.
• .plan - Another feature accessed through the telnet shell, this is a text file that attaches to every MHC user’s account (an artifact of UNIX), which can be made Word readable if desired. A popular form of communication, it’s taken on a life of its own, with students using their plans like a combination of online bulletin board and online journal. You can literally write anything you want here. Others’ plans are accessed by using the finger command (defined above) with that person’s MHC username. Many people write shout-outs to their friends that reference those friends’ plans, leading to the phenomenon of “plan chains” (finding the username of someone else who has a plan while reading a plan, and then going on to read that other person’s plan), which can keep a bored student occupied for hours. Some people even find that they are beginning to call their friends by their usernames instead of their given names, and wonder why their friends haven’t updated their plan within the last 24 hours.
• Dis-O - Stands for Disorientation, the bonding event that takes place every fall between first-years and seniors. A more detailed description is in the Traditions section.
• Fac-Man - Short for Facilities Management, the people who maintain order and cleanliness throughout campus. (As in, “The only light in my room just burned out! I have to call Fac-Man!”) Some old-schoolers will still refer to them as B and G, as the name for this department was Buildings and Grounds until a few years ago.
• Finger - The command used from within the telnet shell to check another user’s information, including their .plan.
• First-year (or firstie) - What we call our freshmen. There are no men here!
• FP - Frances Perkins student, older than traditional college-age students.
• HP - Short for Hall President. This designates the one student chosen by Res Life to oversee dorm life in the dorm in which she lives.
• Jojo - Our president, Joanne Creighton.

• J-Show - Junior Show. More information in the Traditions section.
• J-Term - January Term, a mini-semester during the month of January, in between the fall and spring semesters. Students can choose to take a class during this time, take advantage of some of the many non-credit courses and just for fun activities, or just chill out with their friends. Some students also take this time for an extended vacation and return to campus with the beginning of the spring semester.
• MoHo - Short for “Mount Holyoke,” connotative of other things, this nickname started out as a slightly derogatory designation for Mount Holyoke students, but in recent years it seems to have caught on with students, who now proudly use it to describe themselves.
• NoHo - Short for Northampton—home of Smith College and a lot else. It’s a popular destination for students who need a break from the lack of commercialism in South Hadley.
• OneCard - The piece of plastic that gets you into your dorm, allows you to eat meals on campus, serves as a photo ID, library card, and a debit card with your MHCXPress account (a debit account granted to every student), and probably does some other things besides. Since so many necessary functions are attached to this one card, it’s best to take good care of it.
• Pine - The e-mail program that works with the telnet shell (defined below). You don’t need to use it anymore, as Mount Holyoke now offers Web-based e-mail, but you’ll still hear students talking about going off to “check their pine.”
• Prospie - Prospective student.
• PVTA - The Five College bus that goes back and forth between all of the Five Colleges.
• SA - Stands for Student Advisor. This is essentially the same thing as what other colleges call an RA.

• Smithies - Smith Students
• The Blanch - Blanchard Campus Center and Café. Students tend to abbreviate many names on campus and this is one that gets cut down often.
• The Confessional - The Mount Holyoke Confessional, a web site (http://holyokeconfessional.com) that allows students to post and respond anonymously to topics that range from serious campus issues to ridiculous queries. The confessional is generally frowned upon and its format is used by many colleges.
• The Delles - North and South Mandelle Hall.
• The Dirty - Students will often call the Thirsty Mind (coffeehouse across the street from campus) by this name, short for the “Dirty Mind.”
• The Green - Skinner Green, between Blanchard and Skinner Hall. Site of sunbathing in warm months, treacherous ice fields in cold months, and various festivals in spring months. The center of campus. (The most coveted dorms, closest to the center of campus, are said to be “on the Green.”)
• The Jolt - The Daily Jolt, a Web site (http://mhc.dailyjolt.com) that features daily menus, a rundown of what’s happening on campus and on other Five College campuses for the next few days, online forums, weather reports, and cool professor quotes, among other things. It’s updated regularly by Mount Holyoke students, although the Jolt format is used by many colleges.
• The Rockies - North and South Rockefeller Hall.

Things I Wish I Knew Before Coming To School

• It is freaking cold in the winter. You will never regret that extra blanket, or pair of gloves, except when they turn up the heat in the dorms. Then you’ll be sleeping in a T-shirt and shorts in the middle of a snowstorm.
• Most MHC students are very friendly.

• Most MHC students change their major at least once. Some students graduate and still don’t know what they want to do with their lives.
• The dining halls serve a lot of tofu (and various other items that are used as meat substitutes). You might actually start to like it, but, in general, stay away from anything called “seitan.”

• You don’t need to bring a lot of stuff. You’ll spend most of your time doing things, not sitting in your room.
• You will, however, want to bring a lot of posters to cover your walls with. Just make sure you also bring a hammer and some sturdy nails or tacks, because those dorm room walls can be hard as a rock, and quite often tape or other sticking methods won’t survive the humidity.

Tips to Succeed

• Ask questions in class; don’t be afraid to look stupid.
• Don’t pay for cable TV in your room—you probably will barely watch it. Most people wind up in the TV room for communal TV watching.
• Get to know at least one of your professors outside of class time.

• Get your distribution requirements out of the way as soon as possible. That way, you won’t be a senior still scrambling for a PE class, and you’ll have more leeway to change your major halfway through your college career.
• Go for the workshops, the fellowships, the internships, the lectures, the cultural opportunities in the area. You only get to go to college once, and you may not ever have this many great opportunities at your fingertips again.
• Go to class! Going to class is 10 times more helpful than doing the reading.

• If you’re not already an e-mail fiend, become one. Some communication happens lightning-fast, and you’ll be out of the loop if you haven’t checked your e-mail in the last five hours.
• Try at least one thing you’ve never tried before. Allow your friends to drag you places you would never have gone to on your own.
• Understand that you can’t do everything. Go to the activities fair at the beginning of the year, gather information from all the clubs you desire, heck, even put your name on all the mailing lists you want, but don’t try to participate in everything that interests you—you’ll spread yourself too thin. Pick one or two things, and really devote yourself to them. You’ll be much happier in the long run.

Urban Legends

• Ghost stories abound: there is a ghost room in Wilder where a student supposedly killed herself many years ago, there are wraiths that wander the halls of 1837 and the Mandelles, incorporeal beings that pull the fire alarm in Pearsons, and if you’re walking at night across the bridge by Willits and you hear someone calling to you, don’t look under the bridge—or you’ll find a corpse! Mary Lyon used to be buried in her gravesite on campus, but some students from Wheaton College, which she also founded (or was it Wellesley?), stole her remains. Mount Holyoke students stole them back, but doubt remains as to whether they really only stole an empty casket, the original thieves having been careful to remove the body.

• If you walk under the main gates as an undergrad, you won’t graduate.

Traditions

• Big/Little Sisters - Juniors are paired with one or more first-years who become their “little sisters.” There is an ice cream social planned for the very beginning of the school year at which the two classes are encouraged to mingle and, traditionally, juniors escort their little sisters to fall Convocation. A mentoring relationship may or may not ensue.
• Canoe Sing - Part of the final days leading up to Commencement in the spring, this event is when seniors go out on Lower Lake in canoes and paddle around in different formations as their classmates sing from the bank. It is held at night, with colored lanterns both strung from the canoes and on land. There are fireworks afterwards if the weather is good.
• Class Colors - Each class, upon entering, is assigned a class color and class mascot. These stay with the class all four years and only get “recycled” when the class graduates. The four mascots are: Blue Lion, Green Griffin, Red Pegasus, and Yellow Sphinx.
• Disorientation - A sort of initiation for the first-years combined with a bit of dorm competition, this tradition is meant to provide a bonding opportunity for seniors and first-years. The seniors in each dorm plan activities for “their” firsties—activities that range from wearing their clothes inside out and backwards to stealing another dorm’s dorm banner. Dis-O lasts for a week in the fall beginning with a nighttime rally where seniors roust firsties from their beds to go out to the Green and cheer, chant, and sing with dorm pride. Participation is voluntary and activities are never allowed to cross the line into hazing or outright destruction.

• Elfing - This is the bonding opportunity for sophomores and first-years. Sophomores become “elves” for a week, while first-years become “elfees.” Elves leave small gifts and notes for elfees during this time, along with placing magazine cutouts with original captions around the dorm. (On the first night, it’s traditional to cover an elfee’s door with newspaper, giving them a surprise when they try to leave the room in the morning!) At the end of the week, elves reveal themselves at a special M and Cs.
• Faculty Show - A once-every-four-years event, this is a variety and comedy show that showcases the faculty’s talents and “talents.” It, like Junior Show, makes fun of aspects of the school, but from the faculty’s perspective.
• Founder’s Day - On Founder’s Day (November 8, or nearest Sunday), seniors gather at Mary Lyon’s grave early in the morning, wearing their graduation robes, to eat ice cream served by the President and other faculty and staff. The day, which celebrates MHC’s founder, culminates in a special dinner that features a special (though not necessarily tasty) dessert: Deacon Porter’s Hat. Founder’s Day is celebrated during the first days of the Seminary, and the dessert comes out shaped like a top hat, and tasting like a not-very-sweet spice cake.

• Junior Show - Performed every year in the beginning of the spring semester, this is the juniors’ chance to show off their school spirit while making fun of any and every aspect of the school. The show is entirely student-written and produced, and features a number of skits starring juniors. It is performed on three separate nights: faculty/staff night, when faculty and staff get in for a reduced price; little sister night, when first-years get in for a reduced price; and senior night, when seniors get the reduced price. (Juniors always get in for free; sophomores can get in for free if they’re willing to wear the juniors’ class color!) Senior night is notoriously raucous, with seniors writing their own versions of the skits and interrupting the performance in various ways.
• Laurel Parade - Part of the commencement/reunion festivities held in late May, this tradition brings together alumnae from reuniting classes with the graduating class, who become the newest alumnae. All classes dress in white with touches of their class color, except for graduating seniors, who wear only white. Each class parades through campus, holding signs and their class banner. Last of all come the seniors, carrying a chain of laurel. When the beginning of the parade gets to Mary Lyon’s grave, the alumnae part to form an aisle through which the seniors walk amidst cheers. Seniors then weave around the grave site until everyone surrounds the grave. They then place the laurel on the fence and sing “Bread and Roses,” an old suffragette song, while the President places flowers on the grave.
• Mountain Day - Once every fall, on a day that is meant to be unknown in advance, the President announces that classes have been cancelled. The Mary Lyon bell tolls for five minutes straight at 7 a.m.; that’s the signal that you really can go back to sleep. Everyone is free to do what they want for the day. It is traditional to climb Mount Holyoke. If you are there at the right time, the President will be at the top with ice cream.