We are celebrating the majority of our campus, but does the majority of campus know?

I have asked teachers, staff, and students: what exactly do you know about the upcoming mural? Apparently, not much! After asking around, I have realized that many students– and even faculty – are not aware of what the mural is meant to commemorate or that there have been celebration events happening on campus this past year. 

President Favazza appointed Father Benet and Dr. Christine Gustafson from the politics department to be tasked with designing programs and events to commemorate the admission of women at the college. In hopes of creating a permanent method of commemorating this milestone, they reached out to Jill Dittbener who is the wonderful artist behind our new mural that hangs proudly in the Jean Student Center. 

Father Benet helped coordinate and facilitate conversations around the design of the mural. “We’re trying to capture and celebrate women on campus, so Jill, our artist, had several iterations… We vetted different options, different suggestions that she had and we settled on this as a way of incorporating and celebrating women, commencement, graduation, being changed by Saint Anselm and women changing to Saint Anselm.” As Father Benet put it, “it was definitely a community experience,” when working to capture their vision.

I spoke to Lydia Mynczywor (class of 2027), a bright and passionate woman, about her experience on campus. She talked about her experience with what safety and inclusion efforts have looked like, in the past, from a student perspective.

When asking people if they were going to the mural unveiling or knew anything about the mural, shockingly few people knew much about it. Lydia said, “I don’t know much (about the mural), but since it was painted last year I think it has something to do with the 50 years of having women on campus.” The mural unveiling did not make it into Hilltop Happenings and there were no emails that went out the week of the event. Naturally, student turnout was low, despite the importance of the mural, and how beautiful the event itself was. 

From 26 brave women to a majority of the student body, why is the community still largely unaware of the ways we are celebrating the involvement of women on campus? 

As Lydia pointed out, being aware of the struggles that women have experienced throughout history, and still face today, is very important. When asked what her experience was like as a woman on campus, she immediately had an answer; “Fear, to be honest… walking around at night… Sometimes you actually get misogynistic teachers every now and then… I’ve actually had to ask a teacher to leave the room because he was saying things.” Common challenges include safety concerns, cat-calling, being singled out, and getting put down, “Especially with how they treat women’s strengths on campus.” 

The committee that Father Benet is a part of is working to show what Catholic, Benedictine morals, beliefs, and hospitality are supposed to look like: “our goal was to model inclusivity and inclusion also achieved through this mural project.” Feather Benet couldn’t have said it better: “It was a wonderful celebration of the contributions that women have made for more than 50 years. This was really 50 years of women being admitted to all academic programs, but women had played a significant role at Saint Anselm before 1974… so our goal was to commemorate, to celebrate, to honor and also encourage other voices in our common celebration.”

The mural poses the question: could you imagine the Hilltop without women? Father Benet continues, “I could not imagine Saint Anselm College without women, as students, as professors, as professionals, and as administrators. We are very blessed to have such wonderful women leading at the college… I can’t imagine Saint Anselm College without that voice, that perspective.”

Progress toward building inclusivity in the community has been remarkable, and this is just the beginning. “Our work is not done, but we have made great strides in the last 50 years. And we have 50 more years to continue working,” said Father Benet.

Perrin 9/23

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President Favazza appointed Father Benet and Dr. Christine Gustafson from the politics department to be tasked with designing programs and events to commemorate the admission of women to the college. In hopes of creating a permanent method of commemorating this milestone, they reached out to Jill Dittbener, the artist behind the new mural that hangs proudly in the Jean Student Center. 

Father Benet helped coordinate and facilitate conversations around the design of the mural. 

He explained, “We’re trying to capture and celebrate women on campus, so Jill, our artist, had several iterations…We vetted different options and different suggestions that she had and we settled on this as a way of incorporating and celebrating women, commencement, 

graduation, being changed by Saint Anselm, and women changing to Saint Anselm.” 

The mural unveiling did not make it into Hilltop Happenings and there were no emails that went out the week of the event. The student turnout was low.

Lydia Mynczywor (class of 2027) discussed her experience with what safety and inclusion efforts have looked like, in the past, from a student perspective.

Mynczywor pointed out that being aware of the struggles that women have experienced throughout history, and still face today, is very important. 

When asked what her experience was like as a woman on campus, she answered, “Fear, to be honest… walking around at night…common challenges include safety concerns, cat-calling, being singled out, and getting put down, especially with how they treat women’s strength on campus.” 

The committee that Father Benet is a part of is working to show Catholic, and Benedictine morals, beliefs, and hospitality: “Our goal was to model inclusivity and inclusion also achieved through this mural project.”

Benet continued by saying, “This was 50 years of women being admitted to all academic programs, but women had played a significant role at Saint Anselm before 1974… so our goal was to commemorate, to celebrate, to honor and also encourage other voices in our common celebration…I could not imagine Saint Anselm College without women, as students, as professors, as professionals, and as administrators. We are very blessed to have such wonderful women leading at the college… I can’t imagine Saint Anselm College without that voice, that perspective…Our work is not done, but we have made great strides in the last 50 years. And we have 50 more years to continue working.”