On Monday Nov. 4 at 7:30 PM, Student Assembly (SA) hosted a Town Hall meeting in the Annex. The two main topics of discussion were mental health and sustainability; these topics were selected by the student body in a poll sent out via email by SA.

While less students turned out for this Town Hall compared to past years, it was evident that those in attendance were passionate about the issues discussed. Most of the E-board from the recently-formed Sunrise Club, which focuses on sustainability and environmental justice, came with posters that detailed potential solutions they believe can address Hamilton’s environmental and sustainability efforts.

As part of an effort to engage all attendees in the process of brainstorming solutions to the problems discussed at the Town Hall, every table featured a poster divided into columns that read STOP, START, and CONTINUE; sticky notes were available for people to write down their ideas and paste them under the corresponding categories on the poster. Once students had a chance to think through and write down their ideas, the sticky notes were used to facilitate larger group discussions.

The Town Hall began by focusing on the topic of mental health on campus. Students repeatedly expressed their concerns about the availability of professional counselors on campus, asking, “Why we don’t we hire more counselors?” In response, representatives from the administration said that that they hear students’ concerns regarding mental health services on campus, but added that these issues will not be solved by simply hiring more staff. Jeff Landry, Associate Vice President for Student Affairs, led this portion of the discussion and addressed students’ frequently asked questions.

Landry detailed the evolution of mental health services for students on campus, saying previous Counseling Center locations included “the attic on the second floor of the old health center.” In addition to taking its place in the new Health and Wellness Center that opened last academic year, Landry said the Counseling Center has grown from “a staff of 3 to a staff of 14 in 5 years.” He also highlighted the additional resources available to students, including peer counseling, sound healing, and biofeedback, among others.

In response to students’ questions about hiring additional counselors, Landry said, “The plan for us isn’t necessarily to hire more counselors, it is to figure out how can we deploy our counselors better, how can we treat our students and make sure they get the resources they need.”

Some also asked questions about the issue of, in the words of one student, “a lack of persons of color in the Counseling Center.” Some described racism they had experienced on campus, and said it was difficult to talk to counselors at times because they felt the counselors often could not relate to the issues they were facing.

In response, Landry said, “We try so hard to fill that need for our students so we make sure when we advertise the position we are advertising in places that we can recruit persons of color into the job.

We bring persons of color on campus to do the on-campus interviews we offer at an incredibly high rate. The reality is that it’s hard to attract persons of color to live in Clinton, New York.”

Terry Martinez, Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students, said Hamilton administrators are actively working to make the campus more inclusive of diverse populations.

“This summer we held a retreat with the senior leadership to really set goals around diversity and inclusion in particular,” she said. “Each vice president has come up with a list of goals in his or her areas to help us address some of the issues. We just hosted a program for faculty members on inclusive practices in the classroom and how to minimize bias.”

The next part of the Town Hall turned to small groups discussions. Relative to the Counseling Center, some students proposed solutions such as increasing the hours of operation, working to raise additional awareness of mental health issues on campus, and expanding the training opportunities available to help students be effective resources for one another.

The Town Hall’s second topic of discussion was sustainability. Karen Leach, Vice President for Administration and Finance, provided details about Hamilton’s Climate Action Plan, which includes the College’s goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2050.

In the Q&A session with administrators, students expressed concerns for their future stemming from impending climate crises. In response, David Wippman, President of the College, addressed these concerns and shared some specific insight into the administration’s views on divestment from fossil fuels.

“Where we part ways a little bit has to do with the utility of divestment as an approach to solving the problem,” he said. “We haven’t invested new resources in fossil fuel industries in recent years, our investments have been declining, we have about 30 million dollars of the endowment invested in fossil fuels, that’s about 3 percent of the total.”

Wippman said that, among the Board of Trustees, there is “some skepticism of the practical utility of divestment. I’m not really aware of a really meaningful change to say that if a college like Hamilton divests it will have an actual impact on climate change […] We are not going to invest in fossil fuels, but we are going to continue to use them on a daily basis ourselves.” He added that it is the Board’s responsibility to maintain the financial stability of Hamilton, and that, at the time they last considered the issue in 2014, it would not have been in the best interest of the College to divest.

After this discussion, students once again split into small groups and brainstormed various solutions for minimizing Hamilton’s impact on the climate. Some solutions included asking professors make their classes completely digital and making cheap reusable water bottles that feature students’ art available.

Isha Parkhi ’21, an SA representative for her class, provided further details on the reusable bottle proposal, saying, “The bottles could be individualized by having different student artists make different cups […] so they aren’t all the same […] and selling them at the bookstore at subsidized costs.”

Many students hoped that this forum would effect a change in how Hamilton approached its involvement in the climate issue, but some said they left feeling unsure about the lasting impact these conversations would have on administrators and policies of the College. Parkhi also worries that people have “lost hope” and suggested this reasoning as an explanation for why relatively less people attended this Town Hall.

“Conversation should continue,” she said, “but we want action.”