When I heard about the men that came to campus the day after the election, waving Trump signs and spewing hate speech, I was devastated. The Wellesley campus has been the only place where I have ever felt completely safe as a woman, and these men violated that space. For my first two years at Wellesley, I took that feeling of safety for granted. But then I spent my junior year studying abroad in Russia, where I felt vulnerable and in danger every moment. In Russia, I was harassed, I was catcalled, and I was sexually assaulted not once, but twice on the subway. When I returned to Wellesley for my senior year, I appreciated just how special that safe space is for women. And now, having been out in the world away from Wellesley for six years, I miss the comfort and safety I felt on the Wellesley College campus every single day. Please never stop fighting to keep the campus the magical haven that it is for young women.
The Wellesley campus is the only place I have ever felt completely safe as a woman.