Wellesley Activism

The town of Wellesley is home to two prominent higher education institutions: Babson College and Wellesley College. Both colleges are prestigious and known for producing leaders in all kinds of fields. Babson stands out as a co-ed business school, while Wellesley takes pride in being a historically all-women's liberal arts school. Each institution has its unique subcultures, with particularly distinct atmospheres surrounding politics and activism. Although the institutions are a mere two miles apart, they operate in vastly different ways when it comes to speaking up for what is important to the students. 

“Babson College prepares and empowers entrepreneurial leaders who create grow and steward sustainable economic and social value—everywhere.” (Babson College’s mission statement).  

“Wellesley’s mission is to provide an excellent liberal arts education to women who will make a difference in the world.” (Wellesley College’s mission statement). 

At Babson, there is an emphasis on stewardship and innovation, but it is not entirely translated into its social justice endeavors. The college is co-ed, but it is majority male, and it also has a diverse student body with a 30% international population. There is but one major—business—which is divided into concentrations ranging from entrepreneurship to quantitative methods to literary and visual arts. While there are many courses that talk about activism at Babson, such as the required Socio-Ecological Systems courses, there are not that many open conversations about social issues outside of said courses. Sure, there are undergraduate organizations like the Babson Sustainability Club and Habitat for Humanity, but there are only a handful of them, and there are not many events for them throughout the semester. 

In terms of social movements and rallies, the recent rally in support of the Jewish community in Israel was received with mixed reviews from students, but many agreed that it was very bold for Babson in terms of using its voice. The rally was held following the terrorism led by the group Hamas and featured student speakers. Those within the rally believed that the act was truly impactful for them. “People get together and demonstrate their own beliefs. It makes them feel safer knowing that other people believe in the same things that they do,” said Babson freshman Vanessa Moreinis.   

However, that was not the only perspective presented. An anonymous source pitched in during the rally. There were also passersby who came and laughed at the speakers, which made the group feel “disrespected.” Comments on the official @babsoncollege Instagram post are divided between students feeling either supported or attacked. As one of Babson’s few open protests, the idea behind the rally was with good intentions, but the product created tension on a neutral campus.  

While Babson lacks protests, Wellesley and its all-inclusive curriculum has a very active activism scene. The historically all-woman's college is relatively diverse, with 58% of the class of 2027 identifying themselves as domestic students of color. The college emphasizes a liberal arts curriculum and a commitment to gender equality and social change. This is evident in its variety of social awareness organizations, which span from politics to general volunteering. Activism is also simply engrained in Wellesley’s history: students took in displaced children during WW2, practiced Christian charity through the Missionary societies in the 1880s, and were visited by prominent activists like Jane Addams, who was the first woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize in 1931.  

Wellesley College is widely known for its demonstrative activism to this day. “I would say students do speak up a lot and are very vocal. A major experience with activism we recently had at Wellesley was whether to change the wording on the application. Because Wellesley is historically an all-woman's college, the wording is whether one ‘identifies as a woman,’ but some students are non-binary or transgender, who do not identify as women. There was a lot of activisms in the last couple of years pushing for the school to use more inclusive language,” said Wellesley sophomore Miyabi Kadowaki. “We also did have a student walk-out for the Israel-Palestine conflict, as well as a protest.” 

Overall, the atmosphere at Babson, compared to the atmosphere at Wellesley, is very toned down and tame. “Babson is a very interesting mix; it leans slightly more conservative, but it is mostly that no one wants to bring politics into the situation, and no one wants to offend the other side... It’s keeping the school a very neutral and nice place for students,” said sophomore Andrew Vaillancourt. Although it is debatable how “neutral” the school truly is based on student interviews and anonymous platforms like Fizz, there are certainly more ways for business students to connect with each other when politics are dusted under the rug.  

My personal general sentiment, as a Babson student, is closer to Kadowaki’s, however. “Not speaking up is being ignorant, but I do see a lot of cancel culture at the Wellesley campus. A lot of people are on their toes about misspeaking, and sometimes it is taken too far,” said Kadowaki. “But in general, staying silent is never really the answer, and it is important to use your voice and be educated on moral topics.” Indeed, it is more important to learn about current events and issues and see how one can make an impact on them. After all, Babson students are supposedly the stewards of change, so how can we make something change without actively discussing and combatting it?