Eliza Shearer ’24
This school year, Visitation students have become familiar with the mice population on campus. However this year more than others, these mice have been making their presence known in all but one grade’s common space. The freshmen, sophomores, and juniors have had to share their common spaces with not only 130 other girls, but with a countless number of mice.
Many of the students have found it unfair that they have to deal with this un- wanted presence while there is one grade, the seniors, that is free of mice. As a result, starting with the sophomore class, and the juniors and freshmen joining in later, those three grades have attempted to take over the seniors’ common space: the Lodge.
The Lodge is essentially its own building, free from unwanted guests. Despite the fact that the Lodge is given to the seniors based on their status in the school, the lower grades do not think this system is fair. They believe all grades should have access to private, clean, and mice-free common spaces.
On Thursday, March 30, the first stage of the takeover took place. The three grades walked into the lodge and made themselves perfectly at home. The juniors brought in their crates, moving the seniors’ to make room for theirs. The sophomores and freshmen felt perfectly welcome to lay on the couches and set up their belongings around the Lodge. The seniors were “enraged over this act of in- justice” according to one anonymous source.
The seniors spoke out against the fact that the other grades were freely able to go into their area without repercussions: “Going through mice infested common spaces is a right of passage. The Lodge is senior privilege. If we had to go through all the other common spaces, so would they.” Despite their outspeak, the seniors were not getting any response. So, the seniors went on to protest the course of events in Founders’ Hall.
All the seniors gathered together and left the Lodge to go force the administration to acknowledge and address their com- plaints. They stood outside Dean of Student Life, Raynetta Jackson-Clay and Principal Leonor Ponzio’s offices, voicing their opinion and speaking out until they both came outside. When they stepped outside the office, Clay said that they “want the girls to figure this out amongst themselves.”
Ponzio added on: “They’re sisters, sisters fight. Part of a healthy relationship is working it out without the interference of the administration.”
When the seniors left Founders’, many of them said they “were ready to win this fight on their own, without the useless help of the admin.” However, when they approached the Lodge with their plan ready to carry out, they were unable to open the doors. The other grades had locked them out.
The seniors had to climb into the lodge through the windows. Once they were in, they forced each grade out, one by one. Once all the juniors, sophomores, and freshmen were out, they locked the doors and windows.
Currently, the seniors are in control of the lodge again, but one can only guess who will attempt to take it over next.
The Wicket 