THE ONYX, Volume 27, Issue 2
10 November 2005
One year later, Collegiate remembers Wells
Sarah Alexander, Co-editor
The sun glistens on the lake as it has a thousand days before, perched in anticipation of sunset. In front of Macmillan a crowd of about 75 onlookers gathers upon the stone steps to attend an event Collegiate has organized to remember the Board of Trustees October 2, 2004 decision to change Wells College into a coeducational institution.
Last year the front steps were covered in chalk, posters, pajama clad Wells women fighting to keep their college what it was to them. The lawn was crammed with dozens of tents and Macmillan was full of anger, hurt and sadness as students gave their all in a fruitless fight. One year later, some remember that fight.
On October 2, 2005 Wells is a much different place than just one year ago. Wells is a coeducational college. Wells women are joined with Wells men in their remembrance. Before anyone speaks the space is still. Students wipe tears from their cheeks, others let them stream down their faces.
Many students also chose not to attend. Sarah Waugh '07 explained, "I just couldn't get myself to go to the coed 'remembrance' ceremony. All that I fought for and all the hurt past and present being condensed into a couple hour ordeal."
The space is not safe and comforting. Security guards patrol the scene of distraught students, under strict orders to escort any alumnae spotted off campus -- off of the place that was once their home. Members of Collegiate were also asked to sign a contract promising to report any alumnae to the security guards.
The event begins with Appointed singing gospel songs. After this, Holly Davidson ‘72 and Tica Barr ‘68 stand at the front of the group and offer words of advice and tell stories about Wells from their better days at the college.
Pausing for tears, they make their way through their stories. Tica’s mother, a Wells alumna, told her to choose any college she wanted, then went into the kitchen and began to sing the Wells alma mater. Holly tells tales of hitchhiking on Route 90 to the liquor store and of lifelong friendships with her Wells sisters.
The students then proceed down to the lake. Perhaps the students could not be trusted to look both ways as a campus safety vehicle is parked across the center of the road with its lights flashing. The students gather in a new tradition, picking up rocks from the shore and taking them to the newly constructed cement dock. Students are instructed to make a wish and throw their rocks into the cool fall water. Many oblige, some sit on the shore and a few merely jump in.
Following the throwing of the rocks, the newly coed Henry’s VIII sing, then the students return from the lake up the green hill of Main and under the Sycamore tree, which is draped with black ribbon. They proceed to Faculty Parlors where the Whirligigs perform and the students enjoy pizza as they watch a slideshow of Wells memories.
Caitlin Pratt ‘08 attended the event in attempt to lift her spirits about the coed decision. “It wasn’t a commemoration, it felt like a final goodbye,” she stated, “I wanted help through the extremely hasty transition and being told that I just have to embrace this and move forward wasn’t a good enough answer for me. I wanted to know that the things that made me fall in love with Wells -- which are also the things that made me decide to stay -- were not going to be forgotten, but they seem to be slipping away every day. The upperclass women were thrown into the ring not knowing what to expect from this year and I think it has a lot of people sad, confused, and angry.”
As Wells progresses through this epimorphic phase, the shadows of not just last years struggle but all that Wells was still lurks within the students and the communities, the spirit is changing too. A conscious transition could help contain what seems to be slipping away. Now the challenge lies in the hands of those students who do know Wells for what it was to keep telling stories, embodying the Wells they remember. Time will show what will become of the small college by the big lake where dreams now rest in rocks on its floor.