In so many ways, the upcoming spring season will be unprecedented. As a Fifth Former who is well aware that his Sixth Form year is just several months away (time flies), it comes as a bit of an anomaly that the Class of 2022 has had the experience of just one spring term at Westminster. For the Fourth Form, who now approach upperclassmen age, and are at a point to begin considering “the next step” in their academic career, these upcoming months will be their first spring semester that remotely resembles the pre-pandemic era. A lot has certainly been lost, but what really? Is there a hole in our collective memories? What is spring at Westminster even like?

I’ve always found it endearing that the community holds a shared spirit towards each term. Fall is the season of beginnings, reunifications, rapture, and the annual assumption of roles and responsibilities. Winter is a more solemn one: we retreat inside from the piercing wind, the dark reigns tyrant, individual sorrows are felt. Yet, amongst the frozen landscape, Westminster stays glamorous. Candlelight and the Winter Musical come to mind. Always unforgettable, Winter Formal remains an endlessly romantic jewel, kindling kindred spirits in an otherwise unforgiving season.

The spring though? I am at a loss for words. The Fifth Form’s only recollection of spring comes from our freshmen year, some twenty-two months ago. I am aware that most students can draw up a laundry list of spring events – yes, the season starts with lacrosse, salmon shorts, and ends in Commencement; yet, I think the emotional ties to the spring term are lackluster when compared to its peer seasons.

But this amnesia should not deject the community. It should excite us. Our Forms can set the tone for future springs to come, and that is a remarkable opportunity. When in the past has there been such a clean slate to define the spirit of an entire term? I think we would have to go back to, I don’t know, the Second World War, perhaps.

​To accomplish such a goal, I urge the community to entertain three possible approaches: preserve tradition and normality to the greatest extent possible; connect and leave a mark on a younger student; and, finally, show up to things. The United States is heading in a direction of renewal and rebirth. The nation, and Westminster, have lost so much; yet, like generations before, it is up to us to raise the bar and remake this special community.

Martlets around the world, who have been joining Westminster via Zoom for the past six months, are looking forward to returning to campus.

Alice Tao ’24, who has completed quarantine on campus, said "It was such a long whirlwind returning to campus, but it was worth it in the end." Alice shared that she quarantined in Singapore for two weeks before arriving on campus to quarantine again in Cushing. When asked what she thought about the experience, Alice said, "I’ve always said that I wanted to come to campus and have the experience that we all signed up for. I was very excited to meet new people and make new friends especially meeting the ones I have already met online." Alice commented that she especially enjoyed being in "the dorms and hanging out with friends," saying that it was, "everything she had expected and more."

Some members of the class of 2023 and 2022 have also returned to campus after six months of remote learning. "It is amazing," they said, "to walk across the quad with friends." They especially pointed out that "the dining hall soup truly hit close to home."

Martlets who are yet to return to campus are equally excited about having the in-person experience at Westminster. Aleyna Baki ’21 noted, "The thing I miss the most is probably the euphoria I feel after I leave the dining hall and walk towards the Fearn hall in the mornings. I would always look in the direction of the chapel and watch the sunrise. For some reason, it would always be so beautiful and serene, and it would fill me with so much excitement for a new day."

Some members of the class of 2023 are looking for ways to possibly return to campus in September. They are thinking of quarantining for two weeks in another country, perhaps Dubai or Singapore, before flying to New York. The thought of returning to campus, of walking across the quad, of heading to the dining hall with friends is exciting, and they look forward to returning to campus.

However, Zoomers appreciate the excellent online experience Westminster provides. Aleyna mentioned that, "during the pandemic, education should be virtual, not distant. Westminster aspires to do that with its great education program."

Whether joining Westminster from afar or in-person, Martlets are excited for an excellent spring term.

She did everything “right.” She wore bright clothing and sensible shoes. She walked on heavily populated and well-lit roads. She called her boyfriend while she walked. At around 9 p.m. on March 3, Sarah Everard, a 33-year-old marketing executive, left a friend’s house in Clapman Junction, South London to walk home. One week later, her remains were discovered in a large builder’s bag in Hoad’s Wood, Kent, more than fifty miles from where she was last seen.

Nearly two weeks after her kidnapping and murder, Metropolitan Police officer, Wayne Couzens, was charged for Everard’s murder. His plea hearing is set for July 2021, and his trial will follow up in October. Though his fate remains unclear, the Metropolitan Police report to be ‘utterly appalled by the dreadful news,’ according to Police Commissioner, Dame Cressida Dick. However, women are less than satisfied by this response from the Metropolitan Police Force and the stringent misogynistic conversations that followed, which included a proposed policing bill that would impose significant restrictions on protest, and grant more power to the police. Everard’s death, along with the violent police response at the “Reclaiming the Streets” vigil in her honor, has convinced many British women that the police are an active threat to their safety.

​Recent polls throughout London have highlighted a very concerning statistic: more than 70% of respondents have experienced some form of sexual harassment in public. Even more alarming is that 97% of respondents between the ages of 18-24 have experienced such harassment. Taking into account these colossal numbers, it becomes all the more concerning that only 4% of these women had actually reported their experiences, and that 45% thought that reporting would not change anything.

The movement that this tragedy sparked has expanded far beyond London and has inspired a worldwide outpouring on social media of women’s experiences of sexual assault and harassment, as well as their fears and anger. They have even shared ways men can make women more comfortable on the streets. The tags #reclaimthestreets, #notallmenbutenough, #saraheverard, and #shewasjustwalkinghome have blown up on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook as people continue to spread awareness about Everard’s story and how more tragedies like this can be prevented down the road.

Women are shining a light upon, and breaking down, the double standard that they have long had to grapple with: women are expected to adapt their behavior based on personal risks and are expected to carry pepper spray or hold their keys between their fingers, just in case. These unreasonable expectations fuel the victim-blaming culture and detract the focus from the perpetrators. As Andrea Simon, director of End Violence Against Women Coalition (EVAW), so wisely put it, “We rarely hear about what drives perpetrators to harm women and what needs to be put in place to stop this behavior.”
 
Sources:
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/police-officer-charged-kidnap-murder-sarah-everard-case-gripped-u-n1261010 
 
https://news.yahoo.com/sarah-everards-killing-womens-groups-184510967.html?ncid=twitter_yahoonewst_sjwumo1bpf4
 
https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/12/uk/sarah-everard-body-identified-gbr-intl-scli/index.html
 
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/wayne-couzens-know-officer-arrested-23694346
 
https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/13/uk/sarah-everard-officer-charged-gbr-intl/index.html
 
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-03-20/sarah-everard-death-one-week-on/13261376
 

The recent March 16, 2021 shooting in Atlanta has brought a new wave of anti-Asian violence into the public eye. Although it is true that the pandemic led to an upsurge of Asian targeted hate crimes, COVID-19 was certainly not the only culprit in creating a platform for this violence.
 
The history of anti-Asian violence can be traced far back into the nation’s history. As early as 1875, the country’s very first restrictive immigrant law -- The Chinese Exclusion Act -- was aimed at Chinese immigrants. The significance of this act lies not in its effects on the Chinese immigration process, but in the fact that it marked the beginning of sexualizing Asian women. In modern history, more than 70,000 Japanese Americans were faced with the danger of internment by the US government after the Pearl Harbor attack.[1] Following the Vietnam War, Southeast Asian war refugees became the victims of hate crimes, discrimination and attacks from white supremecist groups such as the Ku Klux Klan.
 
In 1982, Vincent Chin, a Chinese American, was beaten to death by two autoworkers in Detroit simply because they thought he was Japanese. The two murderers were sentenced with zero time in prison, which soon fueled activism for Asian American rights. The original sentence was overruled -- this was perhaps the very first time Asian Americans were protected federally as a class. In recent years, more and more racial violence has been reported: in January, an 84 year old Thai man died during an assault in San Francisco; in March, a 23 year old woman was punched in the face while walking on the streets of New York; a 91 year old man was shoved to the ground in Oakland Chinatown; a 16 year old boy was accused of having the “Chinese virus” and bullied on his school bus. From March of 2020 to February of 2021, more than 2800 cases of anti-Asian assaults were reported to the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) organization including both physical and verbal assaults.[2] In fact, hate crimes targeting Asians increased by nearly 150% amid the emergence of COVID-19 in 2020.[3] Just two weeks ago, the Atlanta shooting resulted in the death of six Asian women. This reflects the lasting impacts of the aforementioned Chinese Exclusion Act and the spreading of bias and perhaps the white-supremicism it has catalyzed. Sexualization of, and prejudice against, Asian women are used as excuses for murder, sexism, racism and even misogyny. The Coronavirus has been racially categorized, being called the ‘Chinese virus’ or the ‘Kung flu’. Teenagers in San Francisco have even initiated racial violence challenges such as the ‘slap an Asian challenge’.
 
Asian Americans have never been excluded from the process of racialization, and anti-Asian violence has never stopped; yet, the ‘model minority’ label might have shied Asians away from speaking up for themselves. People watch with apathy as Asians are being spat on, yelled at, and assaulted. Pressing injuries finally bring to the forefront deep-rooted racism towards Asians. Now, more than ever, this needs to stop.
 
 
Sources:
Cheng, Anne Anlin. "Opinion | What This Wave Of Anti-Asian Violence Reveals About America". Nytimes.Com, 2021, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/21/opinion/anti-asian-violence.html.

Mineo, Liz. "A Long History Of Bigotry Against Asian Americans". Harvard Gazette, 2021, https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2021/03/a-long-history-of-bigotry-against-asian-americans/. Accessed 29 Mar 2021.

Yam, Kimi. "Anti-Asian Hate Crimes Increased By Nearly 150% In 2020, Mostly In N.Y. And L.A., New Report Says". NBC News, 2021, https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/anti-asian-hate-crimes-increased-nearly-150-2020-mostly-n-n1260264.

[1] Mineo

[2] Cheng

[3] Yam

Mark Rutte, the Dutch prime minister, and his entire cabinet resigned after accepting the responsibility for criminal allegations by the national tax authority on fraud which brought a financial crisis to thousands of families on the basis of ethnicity. The cabinet is still to be placed to help manage the coronavirus pandemic in the country, though the prime minister went to The Hague to discuss the terms of his resignation. He argued that it was about the thousands of citizens who had been crumpled under the nation's wheels (Hooligan, 2021). Many families had been forced to repay thousands of euros which led to bankruptcies and unemployment. The tax officials had wrongly accused families over childcare subsidies, but, even worse, most of the families had been targeted based on their ethnic origin and nationality. This discrimination-based intent comes as a major moral violation in the political sphere.

What went wrong?
Parents were regarded as ‘fraudsters’ due to minor issues such as missing signatures on their papers, for instance, where they were then forced to pay tens of thousands of euros that the government gave to offset childcare costs. To those affected, it ruined families in the state, who referred to these political forces as enemies of the people. Mothers spoke tearfully on the financial and psychological crisis they had suffered after being the tax authorities' targets.

The tax officials came to admit that more than 11,000 people had been subjected to act due to their dual citizenship. This confession upheld a certainty by many cultural minorities in the Netherlands that discrimination had been institutionalized against them. The act of sacrificing their power to the admission of government failures was interpreted as a self-preservation act to avoid losing no-confidence votes.

What the wrongly accused families said.
It all began in 2012, with more than 2600 parents potentially involved. They had lost faith in the country's cabinet and called for officials to step down. Though one called on the taxing authorities to pay back 42,000 euros: Having explained that she had made a mistake, the authorities withheld a mother’s childcare allowances and benefits. She suffered arrears in energy companies, while officials refused to provide regular supply. The mother lost her job and couldn't secure another one since she was seen as a ‘fraudster.’ She broke her relationship with her child as the pressure took in. Rutte said how terrible that was, and no one in the Netherlands was to go through such.

As the COVID-19 pandemic hit, however, ministers actively worked to bring down the spread of the infection. And, ultimately, it has been decided the cabinet is to stay in the caretaker role to help reduce the pandemics spread until a parliamentary vote is held. This was not the first time the Dutch government resigned in the gesture of taking responsibility. In 2002, for instance, the ministers and the military were criticized for failing to prevent the Muslim massacre during the Bosnian war, and the cabinet stepped down thus taking responsibility.

​In conclusion, the compensation plan is set to being, paying 26,000 euros to every wrongly accused parent. Many parents have argued that it is not enough to compensate for the crisis they have and continue to face. The leader of the liberal D66 party, Sigrid Kaag, showed the importance of being accountable and taking responsibility for the report and injustice that the parents had been subjected to.

Sources:
Hooligan, A. (2021, January 15). “A colossal stain”: Dutch Government resigns over tax scandal. Retrieved from www.abc.net.au website: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-01-16/dutch-pm-mark-rutte-government-resign-over-tax-subsidy-scandal/13063574

PRESS, A. (2021, January 15). Dutch government resigns over child care subsidies scandal, media reports say. Retrieved March 19, 2021, from Daily Sabah website: https://www.dailysabah.com/world/europe/dutch-government-resigns-over-child-care-subsidies-scandal-media-reports-say