Daniel Maddigan ’24

Halfway Out The Door

As simmering student tensions burst into a spring of protest and disruption over the conduct of the Israeli military in their conflict with Hamas, Holy Cross Seniors are fighting their own war against injustice: extortionist Senior Week ticket prices. Although SGA released ticket prices several weeks ago, students only recently took notice of the high sticker cost of these obligatory senior events: $135 for a boat cruise (booze not included), $65 for a dinner in the “great” state of Rhode Island, $30 dollars for food trucks, and $25 for a Senior pub night. Of course, for fear of missing out, Seniors have to participate in these events, otherwise they might miss one of the last opportunities to experience time with their classmates prior to graduation.

 Last Tuesday, members of the senior class set up tents around the Hoval, Kimball Quad, and Memorial Square in an effort to bring awareness to the issue. One senior who wished to remain anonymous commented, “What we need is for the college to divest from retaining brilliant professors and invest in making Senior week cheaper. What is Senior week about other than celebrating one last bender with the boys before the soul-crushing reality of corporate life sets in?” Another senior noted the decline in Senior celebration since COVID, “The pandemic killed the school’s pride for graduating seniors. Just because you got out of it one year doesn’t mean you get to screw seniors year after year.” 

After several days of protest, underclassmen also settled into the encampments in solidarity with the senior class. Several I spoke to believed that fighting now would create a brighter future for all current classes, not just this year’s seniors. 

Not all seniors are happy with the encampments and protests, however. Senior Brian O’Day criticized the protestors as dramatic, saying, “If it was really so expensive, they could just put a second mortgage on one of their many beach houses. Every Holy Cross student has at least three.” Brian will not be graduating until the fall after one of his father’s donations failed to register for this academic year. 

Many students expressed little opinion or indifference to the protests, other than annoyance that the tents are prohibiting them from epic springtime spikeball matches, “I really need to start honing my game for this summer, so these protests are a total bummer,” said sophomore Dylan Droofus. 

So far, the encampments pose little risk to graduation activities, but the admin has warned that should they continue, they might need to excise a “protest tax” on all senior week activities. “I hope these students know they’re putting their future on the line,” one administration member commented. The coming weeks will reveal just how true that statement is. 

Copy edited by Lauren Backstrom