Dear One Card,

I like you just the way you are. For the past three years I may have made snide comments about your mustardy hue. But in light of recent events, I cannot help but appreciate you for what you are. Yellow – bright, possibly even incandescent, yellow.

I must admit that my newfound love for you only surfaced a couple of weeks ago. It all happened one rainy March morning when I misplaced you sometime between making a visit to the registrar and going to the library. I had already slept through breakfast that morning, and with every (loudly chiming) hour I grew increasingly hungry. I retraced my steps multiple times and each time grew more indignant. How quickly could a bright yellow card disappear? After mistaking a fallen leaf for my missing card for the third time, I marched off to Auxiliary Services, praying that someone might have returned my card in the meantime. While waiting for the folks at Auxiliary Services to finish attending to the girl before me, I overheard her say “Oh, it’s blue now!” I can’t remember details since it happened so fast, but it was then that I learned about the decision to make all OneCards blue (this was long before we had emails from Liz Braun and petitions on Facebook). While the girl before me didn’t seem to care so much about her new card, my heart nearly stopped. In that instant all I could think was that if I didn’t find my OneCard, for all useful purposes I would become a sophomore. Needless to say, this was a ridiculous overreaction, but nonetheless I walked out of Auxiliary Services with strengthened resolve to find my OneCard. Fortunately for me, I got an email soon informing me my card had been found—and just in time to get lunch too!

But while students voice their concerns about blue OneCards, faculty, staff and maybe even some students might be scratching their heads wondering why something so trivial could mobilize students in a way I personally haven’t seen since Obama got elected. While professors and deans try to get us rallied around issues regarding the recession or diversity on campus, nothing seems to have galvanized the students as quickly as this OneCard fiasco. Regardless of whether you are a senior or a firstie, domestic or international, horse girl or crewton, the student body for once seems united behind a single matter. And not only have students been outraged at the issue, they have taken progressive steps to express their concerns, be it creating a Facebook group or writing an open letter in the Mount Holyoke News to the Deans on behalf of the student body. Maybe it is a little immature to cry over the color of our cards, and even I cannot fully explain why it matters so much to me that my card remain yellow. But in any case, the reasons for this change offered by the administration don’t really make much sense either. Of the 2,200 students at Mount Holyoke, only a small fraction reclassifies. Many of them, including a couple of my close friends, don’t care about the color of their cards. But if even a few believe that the color of their OneCard doesn’t reflect their true identity then they should certainly be able to pick a color, any color: red, purple, green, blue or rainbow. Certainly this would be better than putting an end to tradition and having the student body petitioning against uniform cards. And most importantly, if we all have the same color OneCards, then how are we different from Smith?

I honestly don’t see the deans budging on this issue. But as a rising senior my checklist for next year not only includes finally attending drag ball and fulfilling my science requirement, but also never, ever, letting my OneCard out of sight. My Yellow OneCard.

Lovingly Yours,
Class Member of the GOLDEN Sphinx

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1. OneCards to be one color
2. Read Between the Lines: Dear Junior Year
3. Read Between the Lines: Dear Egg Girl
4. Forced philanthropy and the new One Card:
5. New OneCard works beyond campus and benefits College