\u201cWhat if ours could look different?\u201d Verma asked herself. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The best way to make that happen, she reasoned, was to do it herself. Regardless of the outcome of the competition, even the prospect of having something she\u2019d made etched in stone was a good motivator. \u201cI didn\u2019t really expect my submission to be selected,\u201d she says. \u201cI just wanted to give it a try.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yet the rhetoric and theater major\u2019s design was indeed selected, by a vote of the senior class. (Voters did not know who the designers were.) It now adorns Pettengill itself, installed by Bates mason Ron Tardif on May 25, just to the right of the front door entrance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It features a few very specific motifs. There\u2019s the Bobcat (not unusual, the Bobcat can also be found on 2011\u2019s and 1929\u2019s stone) but just below the cat\u2019s noble face is a sign of the times circa 2020\u201321: a pandemic face covering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAt first I thought about not including anything related to COVID-19 in the design,\u201d Verma says. \u201cBut it felt incomplete to me. It would be a disservice to everyone who was adversely affected by this pandemic in different ways to completely skip over a tough but important part of our Bates experience.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The mask, Verma felt, was the \u201cmost universal symbol for the pandemic\u201d but it was also a reminder of one good thing: \u201cthe efforts the Bates community put in to keep each other safe.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n She softened it by adding a few ivy leaves growing around it, a very deliberate choice to represent how the campus community grew from the experience. \u201cI wanted to make it look dynamic, hopeful and a step towards better,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Verma also made the bold move of including a raised fist, the century-old, iconic symbol of resistance and activism made freshly ascendent in the Black Lives Matter movement. For a class that witnessed the country explode in powerful protest after the June 2020 murder of George Floyd by police officers in Minneapolis, it made great sense to Verma that the symbol be present.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201dOur class has been around to experience and more importantly, stand up and highlight that by protesting the oppression of marginalized people,\u201d she says. Included in that was taking a stand close to home, to interrogate the story of Bates\u2019 founding <\/a>and to issue a wake-up call to Bates \u201cto do more in the struggle for equity, inclusion and antiracism.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cTo me, [the fist] symbolizes the non-violent strength of the masses. People power,\u201d she says, mentioning causes like feminism, socialism, labor rights, and the Black Power movement. \u201cBut that\u2019s just a personal take. I understand different people and generations associate it with different types of resistance.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n It was already resonating even before the mortar was dry. “Power to the people,” said Tardif approvingly as he put the finishing touches on the 2021 ivy stone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is one of the very few ivy stones to make direct reference to contemporary events. The Class of 1970 seems to feature the Earth \u2014 though it could be the sun \u2014 on its stone, perhaps in homage to Earth Day, first held in April 1970. <\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/north-america-ap-top-news-mitch-mcconnell-climate-change-politics-9791f1f85808409e93a1abc8b98531d5\"](\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2021\/06\/210527_verma_ivy_Commencement_Afternoon_3599.jpeg\")
![\"Muskan](\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2021\/06\/210525_Ivy_Stone_Installation__0101.jpg\")
![\"Muskan](\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2021\/06\/210525_Ivy_Stone_Installation__0058.jpeg\")
![\"Muskan](\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2021\/06\/210525_Ivy_Stone_Installation__0048.jpeg\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2021\/06\/210608_1970_ivy_161002.jpg\")