Issue 15

VOLUME CLI, ISSUE 15

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2022

amherststudent.com

THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF AMHERST COLLEGE SINCE 1868

College Loosens Initial Spring Covid Protocols Caelen McQuilkin ’24E, Tana DeLalio ’24, Sonia Chajet Wides ’25, and Eleanor Walsh ’25 Managing and Assisting News Editors

Photo courtesy of Corri Hickson '25

The college has loosened some Covid restrictions after the success of its protocols for move-in and the first week of classes. Students expressed understanding for stricter protocols, while yearning for a return to near-normalcy.

Instagram Account Confronts Sexual Violence Sofia Rodrigo ’24 Staff Writer Content warning: This article contains mentions of rape and sexual assault.

An Instagram account with the handle @amherstshareyourstory emerged over the winter break, posting anonymous accounts of sexual misconduct at the college. After making its first post on Dec. 10, the account quickly gained attention from students, alumni, and members of the Five College community, amassing a large number of followers and re-posts across social media.

The account’s first post described itself as “a student run

OPINION

account with the intent to be a safe and empowering platform for all students, faculty, staff, and alumni survivors to anonymously and confidentially share their stories of sexual misconduct and or violence at Amherst College.”

Since then, the account has regularly posted anonymous narratives submitted by members of the community, detailing various forms of sexual violence and misconduct, such as coercion, intoxication, slut-shaming, stalking, and manipulation.

Several stories also describe the mental and emotional challenges survivors experience due to the lack of support and validation from close friends and other community members. Posts expressed frustration at the lack

10

How Structural Differences Disadvantage Int’l Students: Isaiah Doble ‘25 applies the concept of the "hidden curriculum" to international students.

of material response from the administration, including inadequate resources at the Counseling Center.

In an anonymous interview with The Student, the creators of @amherstshareyourstory spoke about their intentions in creating the account: “We are survivors within this community. Our experiences have made us painfully aware of the persisting rape culture at Amherst College. We knew we weren’t alone. We knew we deserved a strong, anonymous space for survivors that helps empower and heal members of the Amherst community.”

Providing a platform to share these experiences, they continued, “​​gives agency to survivors that is otherwise stolen and di-

ARTS & LIVING

minished by rape culture.”

Across campus, the account has been a topic of discussion and reflection for many. “It helps facilitate conversation,” said Adrian Friedman ’24, a member of the men’s track and field team.

“I have had multiple conversations with my friends and teammates about the stories shared on the account, which is a good thing as it spreads awareness.”

Brooke Alexander ’24 affirmed a need for a space like @ amherstshareyourstory, “where [survivors] can tell others about their experiences to both raise awareness about the issues facing Amherst students and also to have a space where they are able

Continued on page 4

16

“Reasons to Leave”: A Sensational Senior Thesis: Sebastian Son’s ’22 thesis in music composition integrated original music with strong theatrics.

SPORTS

The past few months have seen a number of changes in the college’s Covid policy. On Feb. 8, the college detailed a plan to relax its Covid protocols following the success of its initial adjustments to begin the spring semester, which were disseminated in a Jan. 11 email.

While Covid cases spiked over the January term (J-term) in the wake of the Omicron variant, the delayed start and remote first week of classes seem to have mitigated the influx of cases following move-in for the spring. Students and faculty expressed an understanding of the need for continued Covid protocols, but still yearn for a return to near-normalcy.

The college’s initial decisions about spring Covid protocols came in the wake of a national rise in Covid cases, particularly of the Omicron variant. After cases surged in late December, the college modified plans for the January term by recommending that classes be held online. It also encouraged students to stay off campus during the month if possible.

Covid cases rose higher during J-term than in the fall. “Consistent with the case rates in the area and across the country, we did see a higher number of cases during

Continued on page 4

20

Former Coach, Alleging Racism, Settles With College: After six months, the college reached an out-of-court settlement with Rashad Devoe.

News POLICE LOG

Fresh Faculty Thirii M. Myint

Dec. 6, 2021 – Feb. 7, 2022

>>December 6, 2021

11:18 a.m., Campus Grounds A magnetic vehicle sign was stolen off of a vehicle. >>December 8, 2021

2:29 a.m., Hitchcock House Residential Life staff, a sergeant, and a detective assisted a student with removing an unwanted guest from campus. >>December 9, 2021

5:51 p.m., Charles Pratt Dormitory A detective responded to a report of someone stuck in the elevator.

8:36 p.m., Greenway Building C A detective took a report of someone defecating in a bathroom sink.

11:42 p.m., Hitchcock House Student Affairs CSA staff responded to two noise complaints for the same party. They requested CSOs’ assistance after the second call. >>December 10, 2021

12:07 p.m., Campus Grounds The chief was notified of a drone possibly flying in the area without prior permission. >>December 15, 2021

10:31 a.m., Garman House Residential Life staff confiscated two rice cookers, which are not permitted in the residence hall. >> December 18, 2021

11:59 p.m., King Hall Student Affairs confiscated

a grill from inside a residence hall.

Department of English

Thirii M. Myint is an assistant professor of English. She received a B.A. in Literary Arts and International Relations from Brown University, an M.F.A. in Prose from the University of Notre Dame, and a Ph.D. in Creative Writing from the University of Denver.

>>January 8, 2022

2:05 p.m., Amherst College Police A detective confiscated a fake ID when identifying someone's property. >>January 18, 2022

11:01 a.m., Morris Pratt Dormitory A detective responded to a report of vandalism and theft to a vending machine. >>January 24, 2022

8:15 p.m., College Street Detectives responded to a report of an individual approaching students and engaging them in unintelligible conversation before walking away. The individual left the area prior to detectives' arrival and area search did not locate the person on campus. >>January 25, 2022

8:12 a.m., The Quadrangle The Senior Detective responded to a report of an individual not affiliated with the college stapling flyers to trees. The person left upon request. >>February 4, 2022

12:20 a.m., College Street A Sergeant stopped a vehicle for operating a vehicle without its lights. The operator was shown how to turn on the lights and they left the area without incident. >>February 7, 2022

1:42 p.m., Newport House A student reported theft of their passport from their unlocked room.

Q: How did you become interested in writing?

A: Well, I always wrote when I was a kid. Growing up, I would write stories [and] make up stories that I didn’t write down. But I didn’t really consider it as a career or as something I could pursue as an adult until I was in college and I took a creative writing class. I actually took one just as an elective my freshman year, and I really fell in love with the format of the class. I ended up changing my major and becoming a creative writing major. So I do have my professors to thank, because they kind of opened my eyes to the possibility of pursuing [writing] as an adult.

Q: Are you currently writing anything? How did you become interested in the topics that you’re writing about?

A: I had a book come out earlier last year in the fall, and I’m kind of in between projects right now.

I’m starting a new project, but it’s very new, so I feel a little superstitious talking about it as a book. I usually don’t think of my writing in terms of books until at the very last minute when that’s clearly what it is, because I don’t really want to jinx it. And I think it’s not helpful for me to think of my writing in terms of really big projects and also in terms of publication, because it adds a lot of stress.

But I am writing shorter pieces too on the side, which is always helpful to take off the stress on a big book project.

Right now, I’m writing an essay

about Amherst, actually, but really more about naming, and the birth of my child, and realizing that [Amherst] is going to be his hometown. [The piece] is going to be part of this anthology on belonging, place, and identity.

Q: How did you end up coming to Amherst?

A: Amherst was actually my first job out of graduate school.

I came here as a visiting writer, which was supposed to be a three-year renewable gig. In the English department, they have visiting writers come every few years, and then they’ll leave and new people come. We came here — my husband and I — and we really loved it here. We really liked the department, we really loved the students, we loved the town. But I didn’t think I could stay because I was in a visiting position, so I went on the job market last year with the blessing of my department.

I got an offer at another institution, and so did my husband, and we were going to take it and move. But at the last minute, Amherst had a counteroffer, which was unexpected but really amazing. Since we loved it here so much, we made the last-minute decision to stay. It was not a traditional route for sure — we really didn’t think that we would be staying here when we first came here, but we’re happy and lucky to be here.

Q: How was your first semester teaching at Amherst?

A: It was an adjustment, but it

was great. I was really, really impressed by the students, and that was my main experience. I just loved the Amherst students and how excited they were, and how hardworking they were. And I didn’t have to do any of the parts of teaching I dislike, like being a disciplinarian.

But aside from that, the department was great and the students were great. It was an adjustment because I had been a graduate student for such a long time. To be honest, when I first came to Amherst, it was really hard to deal with the new sort of privilege and access of opportunity and time that I had.

I think that it’s taken me a while to adjust to that and take advantage of it without feeling guilty.

It’s definitely hard to go from being a graduate student and living paycheck to paycheck to suddenly having privilege and power, and learning how to deal with that and use it responsibly and generously with students and others while still having boundaries.

Q: To close out the interview, if the pandemic was suddenly over today, what’s the first thing you would do?

A: Oh my gosh. I would fly across the country and see my parents and have them meet my son. They met him when he was born, but they haven’t seen him in eight months.

—Karima Maciel ’25

The Amherst Student • February 9, 2022

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Students Blindsided by Plethora of Housing Difficulties

Photo courtesy of Pavan Nagaraj '22

Pavan Nagaraj ’22 was shocked to discover that his new room assignment was an utter mess.

Tana DeLalio ’24 Managing News Editor On Jan. 18, the Office of Student Affairs (OSA) Operations Team sent an email at 11:34 p.m. to all students with vacancies in their rooms notifying them that they had until 10 a.m. the following day to find new roommates, or else Housing Operations would assign them roommates at random.

This was just one of the difficulties students reported experiencing while trying to finalize housing plans for the spring semester. Students described that the administration failed to communicate whether they could secure housing for J-term and for the spring semester, while others detailed how they were incorrectly excluded from room draw and assigned to uncleaned rooms. Students expressed feeling frustrated and stressed out by the administration’s lack of response to their

concerns, with many still left in the dark as they moved back to campus.

Tylon Crump ’24E, who lives in a two-room suite of four people, explained that the administration never contacted him about the vacancy in his room prior to the Jan. 18 email.

“In the fall, I never received communication from ResLife [Office of Residential Life] about what they were planning on doing about the vacancy,” said Crump. “I was kind of under the assumption that when my roommate left, the suite was now just the three of us instead of the four of us, and I’d have that room to myself.”

Crump added that the timing of the email made it nearly impossible for him to find a new roommate. “It was just short notice in general to give somebody 12 hours [to find a new roommate], but they gave us all the worst possible 12 hours,” he said. “I started firing off

texts right away and I was staying up until 2 a.m., but … it was just really hard to even get in touch with anybody.”

As a result, Crump responded to the email immediately asking if he could get an extension on the decision. “Having to adapt to living with a random roommate, who is like a stranger, was just a stressor that I didn’t really need.

I have practice from 9 to 11 p.m. at night, and if I’m coming in [to the room] at midnight while my roommate is asleep, that’s something they shouldn’t have to deal with,” Crump explained.

He shared that Housing Operations was unwilling to grant his request for extra time to find a new roommate, regardless of his circumstances. As of two days prior to his move-in date on Feb. 4, Crump said he still hadn’t heard from the administration about whether he would have a new roommate.

“Especially since I’m moving in on the last day possible, I’m giving them all the time in the world to keep me in the loop — and they just haven't,” he said.

Like Crump, Dania Hallak ’24 received little information regarding the vacancy in her current room and returned to campus without knowing if she would have a new roommate in the coming days.

“I asked [Housing Operations], ‘What are the chances of me having a roommate?’ and they were like, ‘It’s very, very slim, but we never know. The chance of you getting a roommate is still there,’” Hallak recalled. “It’s just so frustrating to never get a definitive answer.”

As Hallak seeks a potential room change, she said that the administration’s ambiguity surrounding her housing situation has persisted. She noted that when Housing Operations agreed to provide her with a new room, she was told she would receive a list of available rooms to choose from.

She never received that list, however, despite repeatedly following up with the administration about it.

Weeks later, Hallak said Housing Operations offered her a oneroom double and told her it has a registered female resident, but did not give her a name. “I thought I would have a roommate, but when I walked in [to the potential new room], there were no personal belongings in it,” she recalled. “I was like, ‘So does that mean I won’t have a roommate?”

“I think the most frustrating part is I never got a name for who I would be living with in either room,” Hallak added.

In addition to the lack of communication regarding vacancies, students seeking housing — both for J-term and for the spring semester — also experienced a series of difficulties obtaining rooms.

Pavan Nagaraj ’22, who was not on campus for the fall but lived on campus for J-term to compete on the men’s squash team, said he was granted temporary housing only two days prior to his move-in date.

“Getting a plane ticket [to travel to Amherst] was a difficult venture,” Nagaraj said. “Ideally, you would know you have a room at least a week in advance, instead of learning [about room availability] the day you have to make a booking [for a plane ticket].”

The lack of clarity surrounding his rooming situation continued once he arrived on campus.

“When they [Housing Operations] said temporary housing, I was under the impression that I’d be only staying there for a week or so and would go to my permanent residence for the rest of J-term. That didn’t happen, because weeks later I’m still in the same room,” Nagaraj said.

Nagaraj relayed that after experiencing several delays in the housing selection process, he finally walked into his new room assignment — only to discover that the room was in a state of utter mess.

“There were alcohol bottles — some of which were broken — and a bunch of food wrappers everywhere,” he said. “The student who had departed the room didn’t clean it at all — it was just completely destroyed, for all intents

and purposes.”

Nagaraj added, “What was shocking was that they [Housing Operations] didn’t even look into the room.”

He described feeling frustrated by the lack of transparency from the administration throughout the process. “When I spoke to the CA [Community Advisor], she said that the Housing Ops team was just inefficient [and] that it takes a week or so for them to clean the room,” Nagaraj said. “But then, when I went directly to the Alumni House, they said they’d get it [cleaning the room] done the next day, which they did. I wouldn’t have minded if the process was a little slower just so I could be apprised of everything.”

Like Nagaraj, Margaret Werner ’22, who returned to campus to compete on the squash team, reported that the administration gave her seemingly ever-changing information about obtaining housing for J-term. She recalled, “[The room draw] was actually originally supposed to be very early December. Over the course of December, I would get emails the day before the room draw was scheduled saying that they pushed it back another week, then another two weeks. Then finally, on the Friday before the office closed for break, they [Housing Operations] said, ‘You're gonna have temporary rooms.’”

According to Dean of Students Liz Agosto, temporary housing was provided for J-term because vacancies for the spring were in flux and not yet vacated.

Werner expressed confusion regarding the timing of the administration’s communication. “When I reached out to [Housing Operations], I was curious about how I would learn about my room, because … the office [would be] on break,” she said. “We [students on campus for J-term] actually moved in before the office was back and running again, which meant that there was literally no one to reach out to if we had any questions or concerns.”

Continued on page 5

The Amherst Student • February 9, 2022

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Account Gives Survivors Platform to Tell Their Stories Continued from page 1 to begin to process.”

The creators of the account emphasized that the platform they provide is intended to do more than spread awareness.

“Awareness is insubstantial without action, and we want to inspire palpable impact,” they said.

“We have already seen a growth of awareness among our student body, administrators, faculty, alumni, and members of the Five College community. With this level of support, we believe the ripple of change will be significant.”

On Feb. 3, President Biddy Martin sent an email to students,

faculty, and staff in which she acknowledged the “recent anonymized descriptions on social media of sexual harassment and assault at Amherst,” calling the stories “heartbreaking and infuriating.”

In the email, Martin announced the launch of a comprehensive review of the issue of sexual assault on campus, to follow up on a 2012 report she commissioned on the same topic. The college will enlist the help of Gina Maisto Smith and Leslie Gomez, whom the college employed for the 2012 report as well. The report will assess the state of sexual misconduct at the college and review the college’s

policies and practices in addressing it.

“I believe that the review Biddy announced will help us to better understand what is happening for students and what we can do collectively to address it,” said Title IX Coordinator Laurie Frankl to The Student. In the meantime, Frankl highlighted that the Title IX office provides support services to survivors of sexual assault and expressed her support for any student who needs it.

In response to Martin’s email, @amherstshareyourstory made a post expressing disappoint-

Continued on page 5

Photo courtesy of Amherst College

The campus community gathers on Nov. 2, 2012, prompted by Angie Epifano's '14 op-ed on her experience of sexual assault at Amherst.

Students and Faculty React to Mask and Testing Enforcements Continued from page 1 J-term than any previous time,” said Director of Student Health Services Dr. Emily Jones. “Thankfully, most positive students have been only mildly symptomatic and some had no symptoms.”

Tyra Redwood ’25 reflected on her experience testing positive for Covid over J-term. “Overall, my Covid experience was chill,” she said. “It was a nice simple inn that was comfortable and calming so I got to start off my New Years in peace. Every day at 11 a.m., they would give me a bag of food that ideally would last a day and a half, though if you were a big eater they had extra snacks. I could do laundry as well; they gave me quarters and detergent . … I had a person check up on me once a day (for mental well-being) through text.”

Following new CDC recommendations for shortened isolation times, President Biddy Martin announced in a Dec. 30 email that students are now required to isolate for five instead of 10 days. The college also specified that Valentine Dining Hall and other non-academic indoor spaces would operate at 50 percent capacity and required KN95 masks inside all spaces.

The same email increased the frequency of required PCR testing from two to three times a week until

Feb. 18.

On Jan. 14, Dean of Students Liz Agosto and Provost and Dean of the Faculty Catherine Epstein sent an email addressing Covid testing compliance. “Last fall there were a number of students who consistently failed to comply with the testing and masking protocols. In addition, student testing compliance fell below 80 percent several weeks in a row,” the email reads.

As a result, students who fail to test on two consecutive testing days will receive communication from the college, and on three consecutive days their ID cards will deactivate.

If a student’s ID card is deactivated more than three times during the semester, they will be administratively withdrawn from the college.

Agosto cited last semester’s problems with testing compliance as the reason behind the strict rules.

“We heard from many faculty, staff and students who were concerned about the number of students who were not complying with the measures that are so important to protecting the health and safety of our community,” Agosto said. “That was one of the motivators behind the new non-compliance policy.”

For the most part, students understand the college’s motivations behind the stricter rules introduced by these emails, although some expressed mixed feelings about testing

three times a week.

“I will say the testing three times a week is certainly an ‘in your face’ kind of thing. All my friends always make sure to remind each other because we are kind of scared of the penalties. We just hope this [rule] doesn’t last long because it is a little stressful, though I understand what caused the college to do this, and concern for safety,” Redwood said.

Mia Kintiroglou ’25 agrees. “The strict three times per week testing is a lot but, honestly, I can’t be annoyed with the school for wanting to keep us healthy.”

Catherine Charnoky ’24 reflected on mask wearing and testing, saying “I think that it's probably good that they're still wanting students and professors to wear KN95s and that we’re testing frequently to make sure we catch any cases.”

Charnoky also expressed that “I do think it's very extreme that if you don’t comply for long enough you have to leave campus. That's definitely unnecessary. … I think there are other forms of punishment that could be used, or incentives that could be used instead,” she said.

Staff have also been affected by these changes. Epstein asked faculty members to remind students to mask correctly and request they leave classrooms if they persistently break protocol. Faculty will also be informed when students fail to

comply with testing protocols, and are advised to request that those students not attend class.

“I don’t think faculty want to be in the position of monitoring testing but given how important this is, we can play this role when we get contacted about a student,” said Pawan Dhingra, professor of American Studies. “No faculty member wants a student to miss class, and students equally want to attend class. I hope that this new intervention will help students with testing compliance.”

William McCall Vickery 1957 Professor of the History of Art Nicola Courtright expressed, “I would not say ‘you can't come to this class,’ I would have a personal conversation with a student and say, 'This is why it's important.”

The college views its move-in protocols as successful thus far.

Chief Strategy Officer Kate Salop noted, “While 38 students tested positive for Covid-19 during the move-in period, that number would have been much higher, given the number of students who tested positive — and therefore isolated — at home before traveling to campus.

Extending the move-in over a longer period also allowed us to manage a fewer number of cases each day (typically anywhere from four to 11), rather than having 38 over the course of one or two days.”

The Feb. 8 email announcing the

college’s plans to relax the stricter aspects of the spring-term Covid restrictions shows light at the end of the tunnel for students hoping for a return to near-normalcy.

After Feb. 14, all indoor spaces, including Valentine Dining Hall, will return to full capacity. On that date, masking in residence halls will also become optional — except during programmed residence-hall events — although KN95s will still be required in all other indoor spaces.

While indoor restaurant dining remains prohibited until Feb. 18, students may walk to town to pick up meals or prescriptions. Feb. 18 will also bring a return to twice-aweek Covid testing. Additionally, visitors with boosters or negative test results taken within 72 hours may attend official college indoor events, including athletics contests, at the discretion of hosting departments or programs.

Going forward, Jones and Director of Emergency Management Matthew Hart said, “We appreciate the community’s willingness to continuously adapt to the changing circumstances of the pandemic; to take the necessary measures to keep yourselves, your peers and our college community healthy; and to bring your energy, optimism, and flexibility to bear as we continue to navigate this together.”

The Amherst Student • February 9, 2022

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Spring Housing Complications Leave Students Scrambling Continued from page 3 As a result, Werner said she has called Housing Operations nearly 20 times over the course of the last two months. “I’ve asked questions about all the changing deadlines that they’ve given, and about accessibility and accommodations, and there were just no answers,” she recalled.

The administration’s lack of communication made the process of moving in much more stressful than usual, said Werner. “I didn’t know if I was going to be able to come back to campus to compete with my sport, because I knew that I would have to be living on campus and in the college’s testing protocol in order to participate, and I didn’t even know if I would have a room for weeks,” Werner recalled.

Following the host of issues students experienced obtaining housing for J-term, the structure of the spring room draw created even more stressors for students.

According to Agosto, the spring room draw ​​ only includ-

ed students who did not have a housing assignment in the fall and students with housing accommodations approved by Accessibility Services.

“We do not have enough vacancies to accommodate all students who wish to change rooms from the fall semester,” she said.

“Once spring semester arrival is complete, and data are confirmed as updated and accurate, we will be able to open up additional room options for swaps or changes with the vacancies available.”

Agosto also noted that the date for addressing requests for direct swaps and independent room changes is Feb. 16, a couple weeks after students move back to campus. She added, “We do not expect to have a sufficient vacancy rate to provide for students’ top preferences, and for some students we may have no options.”

Molly Cooper ’22, who lived on campus during the fall, said she sought a new room for the spring before the fall semester even ended, but on the day of the spring

room draw, Cooper realized from speaking to other students that the administration had left her out of it. She explained that after emailing and calling multiple times that day without receiving a response, they confirmed that she wasn’t included in the room draw.

“I spoke to my CDC, who said she would send me a list of available rooms within the following week. A week passed, and I didn’t hear from her, so I emailed her again. Another week, I didn’t hear anything — so I tried again, and again the next week,” Cooper recalled.

Cooper described being told that she wasn’t eligible for the room draw because she lived on campus during the fall and didn’t have accommodations. However, she says she had accommodations prior to that date and told the administration such. Cooper added she was eventually given a new room assignment.

She feels that the whole housing process this semester was really stressful. “I literally couldn't

sleep in my room [last semester] because it was just so loud. It was difficult to know what was going on - I didn't know if they [Housing Operations] were going to offer me a [new] room, if I would even hear from them, or whether it would be possible for me to go back to campus,” Cooper.

In response to the host of communication challenges students underwent, Agosto stated, “As Dean of Students, I take full responsibility for the timing, communication, and housing challenges students experienced this January. I work closely with [Senior Associate Dean of Students] Dean Gendron, who provides oversight and support for a small group of staff called the Student Affairs Operations Team (OSA Ops). While there are a range of factors involved in the delays and errors, we will not fall back on those as excuses. One of the priorities for Student Affairs this semester is clear and consistent communication. Students deserve to know what to expect and

to be given enough time to make informed decisions. We apologize for the strain the poor communication caused during this period of time and are taking steps for improvement.”

Agosto said that Student Affairs staff are managing issues for students who have arrived on campus and encountered barriers. She also added that the administration is now reviewing responding to emails sent to OSA Operations, which includes Housing Operations, and taking corrective actions.

Agosto added, “We will be communicating regular information about upcoming deadlines and processes soon. The process for students interested in changing rooms will begin on Feb. 16 and will prioritize students who have already submitted requests. Before the end of February, students will receive dates for the spring Housing Selection Process (HSP), move-out dates for the end of the spring semester, and more details about both processes.”

Account Reveals Lack of Admin Response to Sexual Misconduct Continued from page 4 ment with the administration’s message, asking, “If significant change has been made since the 2012 investigation, why are the same conversations around sexual misconduct still happening?”

“How can survivors possibly feel safe going to the school’s resources when there are so many stories about how they are not reliable?” they added on the following slide. “How could that issue be ignored in a statement calling for change?”

Other students interviewed also felt that the approaches outlined in the email are insufficient. Conner Glynn ’24 remarked, “I can’t quite wrap my head around why Biddy chose to hire the exact same people for the exact same job 10 years later. If they weren’t able to reduce sexual assault on campus in 2012, why do we have confidence

that they'll be able to do so now?

Why are we making the exact same decisions and expecting a different outcome?”

Friedman agreed with Glynn, stating that “the email sort of underlined the fact that the administration hasn’t been stepping up during the past decade.

It is almost as if the college is addressing these stories now only because of the recent large media presence, not when the abuse and misconduct occurred. … If they knew it was a problem all along (via students filing the reports), why didn’t they do it sooner?”

The creators of the account intend to bring light to long-standing history of sexual violence at the college and put pressure on the administration to enact tangible change, stating that “as this platform progresses, we aim to inform the community of the aspects of Amherst

College’s buried history in regards to sexual misconduct, and to create demands that promote an Amherst College that supports survivors and condemns rape culture.”

So far, about five of the account’s posts share information about the history of sexual assault at the college, although regular submissions also include experiences recounted by alumni. In a post on Feb. 6, the account posted excerpts from a 2012 ACVoice article written by Dana Bolger ’13, in which she recounted that “according to a Title IX committee meeting I attended last spring, Amherst has expelled only one student for rape in its entire history — and only after a criminal court sentenced him to time in jail.”

The account has frequently posted that they “will be demanding justice soon.” On Jan. 21, the account asked for input

from the Amherst community to make a list of demands to release to the administration. They told The Student that they are “currently reviewing them and creating a concise list to release to the community.” They aim for a “thoroughly researched set of demands with long-term goals to support survivors and condemn rape culture.” In addition to these goals, @amherstshareyourstory “aim[s] to have more substantial resources from the Counseling Center, Title IX Office, Case Management, etc.” The account will release its shortterm demands in the next couple of weeks, the creators said.

Reflecting on the work of running the account thus far, the creators said: “We have received so much love, support, and graciousness from the community.

It is evident that we were not the only ones who needed this space to exist. People have thanked

and applauded us for our work.

It warms our hearts to watch this space be formed and to see so many people feel affirmed and safe.”

Running the account has not come without its challenges, however. “We were sometimes overwhelmed by the submissions we received. Many were heartbreaking and familiar, appalling and violent, and angering and emotional. It is painful to learn about the atrocities that happened on this campus,” the creators said. “We make sure to take time from the account during the day, especially when the content becomes triggering.

We presumed it would be difficult, but it was a lot harder than we thought. We were in shock by the sheer number of submissions within one month. Although managing the account can be stressful, the impact of our platform gives our work purpose.”

The Amherst Student • February 9, 2022

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From Nose to NoReply: Tracking the Journey of a PCR Test Sophie Wolmer ’23 Editor-at-Large All students are familiar with the ritual of a Covid PCR test: double check the label, uncap the vial, take out the swab, collect the sample and then place the vial in the red collection bin.

The tests, which students were required to take twice a week in the fall, will be a thrice-weekly occurrence — on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays — for the first two weeks of this semester.

Despite such familiarity with the PCR procedure, many know little about the fate of testing samples.

After the swab has left the nose, what is its next destination? How does a collected sample turn into a test result received via email the following day?

The PCR swab’s journey begins with a transport to The Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, a biomedical and genomic research center located in Cambridge, Mass. At the Broad, the sample undergoes an automated system for Covid test-processing, with an average turnaround time of less than 24 hours. The culminating step of this process is the performance of an RT-PCR assay (the origin of the PCR test name) that measures the amount of viral genome present, rendering a positive, negative, or inconclusive test result that is made available on a patient’s clinical research sequencing platform.

The Student spoke with the Broad Institute’s Director of Communications David Cameron, Director of Student Health Services Dr. Emily Jones and Director of Emergency Management Matthew Hart to further elucidate the process of PCR diagnostic testing, reveal the costs associated with the procedure and gain a better understanding of the college’s partnership with the Broad.

The Journey to the Broad Following collection at the testing center, samples are sorted and packaged for transport to the Broad Institute. According

Photo courtesy of Corri Hickson '25

Students go through the familiar ritual of taking a Covid PCR test inside the Alumni Center. to Jones and Hart, “there are one to two couriers [who transport samples to the Broad Institute] a day. On student testing days this spring, couriers will depart campus at 3 p.m. and 8 p.m.”

The college currently enlists the services of Courier Express, a Springfield-based incorporated company, to deliver the samples.

“A courier picks up the packaged samples from Alumni House and drives them directly to the [Broad Institute] laboratory in Cambridge. Once there, the lab processes the samples and provides the college and our community members with their results,” Hart wrote.

According to Cameron, after arriving at the doorstep of the

Broad, the samples are ushered into the seam sessioning step (the process of linking a physical sample to a patient’s information). This ensures that everyone receives their own test results.

The Broad’s team of process development associates are then charged with adding a lysis buffer to samples, in order to negate the danger of the virus. Incubating test samples in a lysis buffer for 20 minutes allows for all viral RNA to be released.

Following lysis buffering, samples are passed on to the liquid handler, which executes the critical extraction step. The automated liquid handler puts samples onto a master plate, which is then loaded into a re-

al-time q-PCR machine. The machine runs an assay which ultimately detects the presence, or lack thereof, of the Covid genome in the sample. The PCR test uses two “probes” to test for the presence of different regions of the Covid viral genome.

Put more simply, if the machine detects a strong enough signal of the virus’s genetic material on each probe, then the plate is marked as a positive test result. If a signal is undetected or negligible on both, then the result is negative. When only one probe detects the presence of the virus, it yields an inconclusive test result. Recipients of inconclusive results receive an email requiring them to retest as soon

as possible.

Cameron also noted that false positive results are improbable.

“Genuine PCR false positives are extraordinarily rare, if at all,” he said. “When people say ‘false positive,’ that usually refers to[when] the PCR detects the virus, but the virus is at such a low quantity that the person does not get symptoms. In that sense, the virus's presence is ‘subclinical.’

That's the tradeoff with a test that is as sensitive as the PCR.” Once a test result has been determined, Broad Institute staff input it into the Broad’s Clinical Research Sequencing Platform, and the tester is notified of their

Continued on page 7

The Amherst Student • February 9, 2022

News

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Affordable Covid Tests Supplied Through Broad Institute Partnership

Photo courtesy of The Broad Institute

Once Covid samples from the college have been collected, they are tested at the Broad Institute in Cambridge, Mass.

Continued from page 6 result via email. Hart and Jones relayed that “[the] current system sends an email to the patient, as well as the staff members who are responsible for notification and support, as soon as the result is released by the lab.”

After a sample has been processed, Cameron mentioned, it has reached the end of the road — it cannot be reprocessed.

The Numbers: Pricing and Total Tests Collected The high cost and scarcity of Covid testing has been covered and commented on throughout the pandemic. And yet, the Amherst community has had

continuous access to both rapid and PCR testing for over one and a half years. The nationwide shortage of testing has led many to question how much funding the college has spent on its testing program.

Jonesand Hart said that “the budget for testing (the Broad is now charging $8 per test) is covered by the college and is eligible for reimbursement from FEMA [Federal Emergency Management Agency].” They emphasized that they believe the testing program, along with other protocols such as providing masks, to be a critical investment in keeping the community safe and allowing for in-person programming on campus.

During the fall semester, the college collected an average of more than 5,500 tests from approximately 3,000 individuals each week. According to an estimation calculated by The Student, between convocation (Aug. 29) and the final day of finals period (Dec. 17), the college spent about $704,000 on q-PCR tests eligible for FEMA reimbursement.

The Partnership with the Broad In March 2020, the Broad Institute converted its highly-automated Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments-certified laboratory into a processing center for Covid-19 tests.

Later on in May, the Association

of Independent Colleges and Universities in Massachusetts (AICUM) reached out to the Broad for support in implementing a large-scale testing initiative. To facilitate the return of in-person higher education, the Broad initially partnered with 108 colleges and universities, Amherst being one of them.

Cameron said, “Amherst was listed in our initial announcement, so it was definitely among the first [to join forces with the Broad].” At the time, the Broad charged a cost of $25 per test, significantly lower than the $100 to $150 per test charged by some private labs.

From the beginning, the Broad has provided an indis-

pensable service, Jones and Hart said. “The Broad has been a great partner to us and many other institutions and communities from the start of the relationship.

When we first launched our testing program, it was important to choose a partner that we had confidence in because the entire enterprise was so new to everyone,” they stated.

The college trusted the institute from the get-go, they continued, because “the Broad has an excellent reputation and is affiliated with MIT and Harvard.

In addition, and importantly, it was one of the first and only organizations in the region to offer Covid-19 testing at affordable prices.”

The Amherst Student • February 9, 2022

News

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Presidential Search Committee Releases Position Profile Ethan Foster ’25 Staff Writer On Jan. 12, Chair of the Board of Trustees and Presidential Search Committee Andrew J. Nussbaum ’85 sent an update to the college community on the search for a new president to succeed President Biddy Martin after she steps down from the position following this semester.

The update included a finalized position profile for potential candidates, which details the qualities that the committee will be seeking in presidential candidates, ranging from personal warmth to administrative prowess. The profile also outlines challenges and opportunities that the next president will encounter, including uniting a diverse college community and overseeing an expanding endowment.

The search committee, selected in October, will now focus on “identifying, recruiting, and vetting promising

candidates,” wrote Nussbaum, who encouraged community members to continue sharing nominations and ideas with the committee using their confidential email address.

The presidential profile was compiled using “the advice and input of more than 400 students, faculty, staff, alumni, trustees, and friends of the college,” said the email. In an interview with The Student, Kate Redmond ’23, a student member of the search committee, also emphasized that the finished profile “came directly from the community” as a result of “hundreds of emails and surveys.”

“While Committee members have our own opinions, we tried to focus on the feedback we received and base our profile on that,” Redmond said.

The presidential qualities listed — which Nussbaum told The Student will “serve as guideposts as we evaluate individual candidates” — span a wide range of interpersonal,

academic, and administrative characteristics. According to the profile, a successful presidential candidate should have “unquestioned integrity and sound judgment,” a dedication to equity and inclusion, and an ability to unite members of the community in times of crisis, all while maintaining transparency and a balanced perspective. Candidates must also be “accomplished scholar[s] and broadly engaged intellectual[s]” with demonstrated dedication to the liberal arts and higher education more broadly.

Furthermore, these qualities should be accompanied by a “successful record of administrative leadership and strategic management,” the ability to sustain a “culture defined by excellence,” and a “commitment to fundraising … and making the philanthropic case for Amherst.”

Candidates must also show “a keen interest in becoming immersed in the college,” its history, traditions, and

communities.

Additionally, the profile underscores the importance of presidential integration into the community by highlighting many of the college’s defining qualities, such as its dedication to “independence and initiative” through practices such as the open curriculum. It also emphasizes the importance of maintaining Amherst’s “intellectually intense, inquisitive, and passionate” students, and its faculty, which is “distinguished in scholarship and research.”

The profile also describes the work that lays ahead for the new president. Amid the shifting conversation on race both within the college community and the U.S. more generally, the profile states that future leadership must create “structures of support … that can span the divides and differences within a racially and economically diverse community.” The next president is also charged with

working to strengthen aspects of student life outside the realm of academics.

Such challenges do not come without exciting and unprecedented opportunities, as the profile goes on to highlight how the next president will be uniquely situated “to engage in critical national conversations” and convey the “message of how a liberal arts education prepares its students for lives of consequence and of leadership,” while also overseeing the college in its “extraordinarily strong financial position.”

As the committee moves to recruiting and evaluating candidates, it continues to seek input from the college community. “The committee welcomes continuing input from our Amherst community,” said Nussbaum. “Our search is both exciting and important for Amherst, and we appreciate the community’s engagement.”

From the Red Room: Feb. 7 AAS Meeting Updates Kyle Hur ’25 Staff Writer On Monday, Feb. 7, the Association of Amherst Students (AAS) held its first meeting of the spring semester. Conducted over Zoom, the meeting included a town hall with Dean of Students Liz Agosto to answer questions from students about the new semester. Senators also discussed the student activities fee, as well as Budgetary Committee (BC) funding recommendations.

The meeting began with Agosto providing current statistics on positive Covid cases at the college, in addition to information about the expected timeline for lifting Covid protocols on campus. She relayed that 40 students are in isolation at the moment, and that she anticipates protocols will be loosened soon.

Agosto also apologized for the lack of communication regarding spring housing for students, stating that efforts are currently being made to address room changes and housing concerns.

The floor was then opened up for students to ask Agosto any questions

they had. Senator Jaden Richards ’25 asked for an explanation for the poor management of spring housing. Agosto responded that housing selection was initially scheduled in December, but was pushed back to late January due to a lack of knowledge on which rooms were available and the tightening of Covid protocols. She also noted that there were several data issues and inaccuracies on which rooms were actually occupied, contributing to the poor communication surrounding room selection. However, Agosto added that the data is now constantly being updated and room change requests will receive responses starting next week.

Treasurer Jae Yun Ham ’22 asked about professors being notified when students miss testing and when Val would go back to full capacity. Agosto said that faculty members will only be notified when a student’s ID is turned off, meaning that a student has missed three consecutive tests. She added that Val is expected to go back to full capacity on Monday, Feb. 14. President Angelina Han ’22 questioned what would

happen if isolation housing filled up, but Agosto responded that this is not likely because neither location for isolation housing is currently filled up. Naya Burshan ’22 questioned whether having an excused missed test would also result in a student ID being disabled. Agosto responded that an excused missed test will not be held against an individual, but they will be expected to get a test as soon as possible.

Senator Cole Graber-Mitchell ’22 asked how the administration intends on improving its communication with students moving forward.

Agosto said the administration is working on a more visible platform that will compile all important dates and deadlines for students in one place. She added that students should have move-out dates by the end of February.

Senator Sofia Guerra ’22 followed by asking about the logistics of Commencement. As of now, Agosto said she is hopeful that the college will be able to hold a more traditional and less restricted Commencement, although she doesn’t have specific dates for when a decision will

be made and information sent out about the ceremony.

Senator Shreya Mathew ’25 requested more information on the status of booster vaccination within the student body. Agosto reported that 98 percent of students are currently boosted and that those who are not are regularly being urged through email reminders to get the shot. Unless exempted, further actions will be taken for students who do not get boosted per the college’s requirement.

Senator Gent Malushaga ’25 asked about the guidelines for quarantining close contacts of positive cases. Agosto responded that close contacts are not being required to quarantine, unless the individual is not vaccinated. Finally, Senator Lorett Alacron ’24 asked if the testing center will remain open until 8 p.m. for the rest of the semester. Agosto said that the 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. testing period will continue throughout the course of the semester, as it was meant to create easier access for students.

After the town hall, senators discussed the student activities fee.

Ham relayed that the administration had proposed a semesterly student activities fee of $280 for next year, which is $30 more than the fee for the 2021-2022 academic year, but $70 lower than the fee prior to the pandemic. Senators were concerned that the fee of $280 would not be sufficient to fund all student activities, mainly due to an increase in club activities and a gradual return to normalcy. Since an increase in the fee would still be covered by the college’s financial aid packages senators argued for a higher fee. The motion to keep the fee at $280 failed by one vote, and a new motion to raise the fee to $300 was passed.

The meeting then shifted to the approval of the BC’s funding recommendations, which totaled $15,240.

Among the groups requesting funds were Amherst Dance, Green Room, Amherst STEM Network, Muslim Students Association, and Marsh Arts House. Afterward, Mia Griffin ’24 and Hannah Kim ’25 were chosen from the senators to be new members of the BC. The AAS will meet again next week on Monday, Feb. 14.

Op pinion

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Preventing Sexual Misconduct Content warning: This article contains mentions of rape and sexual assault.

Over the course of winter break, an Instagram account sharing student stories of sexual abuse at the college caught the attention of students, faculty, and administration. @amherstshareyourstory has created a much needed platform for individuals to share their stories anonymously without repercussions. It not only creates a sense of solidarity and gives a voice to survivors, but also makes their stories accessible and drives our community to reflect upon the sexual harassment which happens on our campus.

While many of these stories detail experiences arising at parties — which are commonly recognized as places where rape and harassment occur — others shed light onto other forms of abuse such as stalking or dating violence. The account reminds us that sexual misconduct doesn’t only happen at parties or in the form of physical harassment — it comes in physical, visual, and verbal forms, and can happen in any setting on campus.

But in addition to reflecting, the Amherst community must also concretely improve how it responds to student sexual trauma and broaden the ways it can help survivors and prevent future assaults.

And it is imperative that this work must exceed just administrative action. While the administration certainly has plenty of room to further develop their institutional responses to sexual trauma — whether through expanding education, providing greater resources for those impacted by sexual violence, and establishing more trust and empathy between students and the staff managing sexual assault — this work alone is simply not enough, and it doesn’t attack the root of the issue.

Resources already exist on campus, and programs like the Peer Advocates and Student Health Educators are designed to disseminate the tools and information to create a culture of sexual respect. Despite all of that, mandatory sexual respect training and resources on campus like the Women and Gender Center (WGC) have failed to accomplish that mission — evidenced all too clearly by the number of stories pouring into the account. Oftentimes, resources put into these programs promoting sexual safety aren’t taken seriously by all of the student body. And yet, that is exactly what is needed: a serious reckoning, from all of us.

The work our community must do to create a safer environment goes beyond creating a better equipped counseling center or asking people to educate themselves. There are social cultures and patterns

ingrained into our community that reinforce and perpetuate harmful behaviors. So to create true change regarding sexual respect, we must work on shifting the culture at the college surrounding sexual respect and consent.

But while it’s obvious that our campus culture needs a drastic change, how exactly do we generate it? There are often calls to action that are easily consumed on social media, but they tend to be harder to implement in real life — it’s easy to get stuck when looking for tangible ways to enact the necessary change.

In fact, that is exactly what happened when the Editorial Board met to discuss our stance. Our discussion felt almost fruitless, as so much was said, but so little of it felt tangible, worthwhile, or changemaking. We suggested measures for positive change from 24-hour counseling support to a campus-wide movement to change the language we use. All of us affirm that we, both on the Board and off it, need to reflect on our understandings of consent and add nuance wherever we can. And yet, we found no calls to action that didn’t ring empty. Anything we felt could be said in a typical editorial seemed just too broad — addressed to everyone, and so also no one.

One thing that all of us agreed on was the enormity of the issue. This is not an issue immediately solvable by the administration, nor can it be immediately solved by the student body. It is a slow, continuous, and difficult process, and one that requires serious reflection on all of our parts. We were all disturbed by the dismissal of stories as “trauma porn,” and want to emphasize that the stories being shared are real — that they are happening right now, to people we know. @amherstshareyourstory has demonstrated thoroughly the pervasiveness of sexual violence at the college, affirming that past administrative attempts at preventing sexual violence have been ineffectual. But though the change we need can’t be effected overnight, the stories that have been shared encourage us to demand more, and they show us that our voices can be heard, that our community will keep fighting for better.

If you or someone you know has experienced sexual misconduct, resources are available both here at the college (such as the Title IX Office, Amherst College Police Department, Counseling Center, and Survivor Support Group) and in the local community (such as the Center for Women and Community, 24-hour help hotlines, and the Victim Rights Law Center).

Unsigned editorials represent the views of the majority of the Editorial Board — (assenting: 14; dissenting: 0; abstaining: 12).

THE AMHERST

STUDENT E X E C U T I V E B OA R D Editors-in-Chief Yee-Lynn Lee Ethan Samuels Managing Editors Theo Hamilton Liam Archacki Editors-at-Large Scott Brasesco Sophie Wolmer Managing News Caelen McQuilkin Tana DeLalio Assistant News Eleanor Walsh Sonia Chajet Wides Managing Opinion Kei Lim Dustin Copeland Assistant Opinion Tapti Sen

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S TA F F Publisher Robert Bischof Digital Director Sawyer Pollard Social Media Manager Emi Eliason

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The opinion pages of The Amherst Student are intended as an open forum for the Amherst community.

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The Amherst Student is published weekly except during college vacations. The offices of The Amherst Student are located in the basement of Morrow Dormitory, Amherst College. All contents copyright © 2021 by The Amherst Student, Inc. All rights reserved. The Amherst Student logo is a trademark of The Amherst Student, Inc. Additionally, The Amherst Student does not discriminate on the basis of gender, race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation or age. The views expressed in this publication do not reflect the views of The Amherst Student.

The Amherst Student • February 9, 2022

Opinion

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How Structural Differences Disadvantage Int'l Students Isaiah Doble ’25 Contributing Writer The hidden curriculum: a fascinating, yet profoundly disheartening, sociological concept.

Renowned education sociologist Anthony Jack ’07 investigates this overlooked topic in his work, “The Privileged Poor: How Elite Colleges are Failing Disadvantaged College Students.” He summarizes this phenomenon as “unwritten rules, unexplained terms, and a whole host of things that insiders take for granted,” which result in academic success being largely determined by “insider knowledge rather than ability, drive, or talent.” The research concept investigates tacit rules that “insider” students follow to promote their success and well-being in education and how those rules hinder the ability of unaware students to succeed in comparison, regardless of their innate academic potential.

Consider our college’s use of office hours, for example. A professor may brush by the purpose and technicalities of their office hours policy during their first class, based on the assumption that such information is common knowledge. Yet unfamiliar students may find themselves unable to make use of this resource, and consequently need to jump over academic hurdles throughout the year that accustomed students, who can access this resource with ease, do not. This is a common, albeit relatively mild, instance of the hidden curriculum at play.

While Jack’s research focused on the socioeconomic discrepancies of domestic U.S. students in his application of this term, I am greatly interested in its application to the international student experience. During several deep conversations I’ve had with my international peers about adjusting to college life, many of them referenced significant cultural and academic discrepancies from their experiences back home, which have proved to be significant hindrances to their academic achievement. The concept of

the “hidden curriculum” seems to provide a rationale for many of the undefined, yet common, experiences that international students at Amherst face. Applying this concept to these discussions reveals the seemingly individual struggles of these students to be visibly systemic.

The primary aspect of my research involved interviews with several international students about their adjustment to Amherst, both academically and more broadly. While the “data set” I collected was quite small, there were clear emergent commonalities that raise serious concern for the college community. The following three primary themes of concern were evidenced in most, if not all, of the international students’ dialogue: Invisible Codes: Cultural Discrepancies in the Classroom When teaching a class of mostly domestic U.S. students, it is easy to practice U.S.-centric cultural norms without second thought. And yet, these downplayed practices exclude international students. In my interviews, these experiences of cultural discrepancies varied between students, yet everyone expressed some form of frustration with the unspoken norms that they had to autonomously discover and adopt.

One first-year was exasperated by the academic supports and systems in place within the classroom, especially related to grading. They did not understand, for example, the concepts of “grade curves, or students ‘upping’ their grades by emailing faculty,” much less how to successfully navigate and utilize the system. They mentioned how none of these topics were “explicitly explained,” but rather unstated rules that students were expected to know and use to their advantage.

Another student, a sophomore, shared that he struggled with participating in discussion-based classes, especially his first-year seminar. He explained that “it was challenging because

where he is from, students are not expected to talk in classes in high school — their classroom participation was based only on listening and writing.” Thrown into numerous discussion-based courses without any introduction to discussion skills, he often felt categorized as less intelligent or uninterested by his teachers when he did not participate in them frequently.

All the interviewees identified the dominance of American culture and the English language as a source of struggle, with one first-year especially noticing the impact. She shared that she often struggled with writing about her personal experiences, saying that she feels “a cultural barrier” when trying to convey her experiences — often involving language-specific emotions and objects — in a paper in English. She also mentioned that “the American pronunciation system makes [her] hesitant to speak in class for fear of sounding unintelligent.”

Fierce Independence: The Glorification of Academic Self-Reliance All of the international interviewees mentioned that in their preparation for higher education, they were trained to be self-reliant in their studies and to not be dependent on teacher or communal support, a mindset that has backfired at Amherst. One firstyear student recalled that, back in high school, “asking for help [was] looked extremely down upon,” and that she initially believed that this enforced sense of self-sufficiency prepared her for college “because in high school it was up to [her — she] was taught to be very independent.” She described her discovery of the college’s unspoken expectation — even necessity — for students to rely on faculty support in order to succeed as a “culture shock.”

She noted that she “struggles to grasp that professors are actually here to help.”

A sophomore described a similar discrepancy. Compared to his college professors, his

high school teachers were “much colder. They tell you what to do and that’s it — ‘shut up.’” He said when he arrived at Amherst, “it didn’t come to my mind to ask for help — I tried to do everything by myself.” He noted that even after understanding the college’s emphasis on and resources for academic support, he still struggles with this entrenched necessity to be independent: “I still don’t find the [support systems] very successful. … I’m just not necessarily comfortable with getting help.”

Shifting Expectations: From Admission to Campus Life Getting into college is one thing; succeeding on campus is another. Yet this transition proves especially jarring for international students. The extreme expectations placed onto them for gaining admission — something especially difficult for international students — often contradict the unspoken standards they face once they get to Amherst.

One student noted the extreme pressure placed on them to have outstanding extracurricular accomplishments in high school, explaining that “in order to get in as an international student, you have to be exceptional. I put most of my focus on my extracurricular profile in order to have a

chance of admission.” And yet, when they arrived on campus, “[they] found [themself] having to focus solely on academics, and not outside activities.” They expressed discombobulation and frustration in discovering the sudden, yet unspoken, shift between high school and college in what determines a successful student. They struggled to respond to and navigate dynamic shifts in institutional expectations thrust upon them without any forewarning or guidance — even though it was simply expected of them.

My conversations with international students at Amherst unearthed a realization that seems invisible to the majority of the Amherst campus: a cultural hidden curriculum is greatly at play.

My goal is for these discoveries to alarm you, the reader, into heightening your own and others’ (especially professors’) awareness of the numerous discrepancies that international students are likely facing in their sudden transition to Amherst; I am sure there are many more than the few that I have identified here. May raising our awareness be the first of many steps in pursuing educational equity for Amherst students, regardless of geo-cultural background.

Photo courtesy of Amherst College

In his book "The Privileged Poor," Anthony Jack '07 discusses the hidden disadvantages that exist within top colleges and pose disproportionate struggles for their less privileged students.

The Amherst Student • February 9, 2022

Opinion

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Coping With Campus: The Isolationism of the Quad

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia

Yale University's Old Campus quad sits in the center of New Haven, but a student sitting here could very easily forget that fact.

Dustin Copeland ’25 Managing Opinion Editor A quadrangle is the defining space of the college campus. It facilitates frisbee-throwing, academic inspiration, and community-making. But it also facilitates an insularity, an inwardness that is more exclusive than inclusive.

“College Life” is a sort of myth, defined by rituals enacted by students and administrators alike.

There’s a reason people on Main Quad throwing frisbees or reading in Adirondacks or trying to put up hammocks look so unrealistically collegiate — those are images straight out of a brochure, acted out by students who looked at those brochures long before attending. The quadrangle, as the essential organizing principle of a college’s self-image, is the primary mode by which it mythologizes its importance.

The modern university, of publicly accepted degrees, of research and determined curricula, is an invention of medieval Europe. The university in this sense is not at all the first example of an institution of higher learning — far older centers of education have existed since at least four thousand years ago in places like

Egypt, India, China, and classical Greece. However, the kind of university that informs the contemporary colloquial understanding of the word has its roots in 1088, in Italy.

The University of Bologna is the oldest university in continuous operation in the world (established nearly two hundred years before the first classes at Oxford).

It is coincident with the city of Bologna in such a way as to be essentially indistinguishable from the air. In the U.S., college campuses stick out from surrounding areas, cloisters of rectangular symmetry and green courtyard-space — one of my favorite games as a senior in high school was to try and find schools that I planned on applying to on Google Earth simply by searching from the air as a bird might. If schools took after Bologna’s haphazard-but-integrated design, my game would have been much harder. Luckily for twelfthgrade me, later colleges would iterate on this initial form in their attempts to create an academic environment conducive to student success.

Oxford University is a collection of constituent colleges that departed significantly from Bologna’s congruence. Taking inspira-

tion from the cloisters of abbeys and gated religious communities, the university effectively closed itself off from the surrounding city by building imposing, castle-like walls. The same Gothic spires that impress and inspire students of higher learning cowed and intimidated those plebeian outsiders who might dare to venture a glance inside that hallowed ground. College architecture thus co-opted religious imagery and architectural themes in order to shut itself away — to symbolically and literally isolate the privileged few deserving of education from those decidedly undeserved constituents of the dirty city.

Early college designers used this language of exclusion to promote student success, following a dictum of sacred and aloof focus on one’s studies to simultaneously assert the superiority of their universally well-off students and allow them to take pride in their facilities. If a student were to go to university (and, eventually, pay for the privilege), they had to be validated at every step in their commitment to “learning for its own sake.” After all, who would want to learn for the sake of learning in an office block?

Doesn’t it feel so much better to

be part of an in-group which gets the special right to live and learn somewhere beautiful, somewhere other (lesser) people don’t have access to? The structure of the quadrangle, and the language of religious holiness from which it is derived, assists and legitimizes the rituals of student life, from initiation to graduation. To convince its students of their own importance, a university must be beautiful, no matter the conditions of the surrounding town.

Luckily for the college’s constituents, those quadrangle walls are just as hard to see out of as they are to peer into.

Yale University has a budget this year of a little over $4.27 billion. New Haven, a city whose population numbers more than seven times that of Yale’s academic staff and students, has a budget this year of roughly $704 million. Certainly no small chunk of cash, but even if you multiplied the money the city has allotted for spending this year four times over, it still wouldn’t match Yale’s allocation. That disparity between college and town isn’t limited to Yale. Amherst College hasn’t committed to reparations that the town of Amherst has promised to fund, and private college en-

dowments have increased wildly in the past year for the benefit of those schools and those schools alone. Colleges are not the places they are located in, and in fact, they function as completely separate entities, as if they truly are educational oases, far from civilization. A college quadrangle is a sort of courtyard. It’s space held and used exclusively by the privileged few, while remaining off-limits for most. Yale’s Gothic spires look like castle walls in a way that becomes literal on some level to both students and outsiders. Amherst College is up on a hill, and its quadrangle, too, is a space exclusive to only those of us who “deserve” to be here.

College has always been a place for the privileged few, and, as we enter a new semester, I find it worthwhile to look back at the maps of the colleges that preceded us. Oxford’s medieval cloisters for their invariably Christian students are beautiful, sublime. They reappear at Cambridge, Harvard, Yale, UChicago, Bowdoin, and here. As we move forward, it might be worth investigating exactly what that implicit isolation means for Amherst students, and how our town-gown insularity might be changed for the better.

The Amherst Student • February 9, 2022

Opinion

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Seeing Double: Amherst’s Diversity Mirage Thomas Brodey ’22 Columnist One of the most noticeable things about Amherst College is its commitment to diversity. We see the word constantly invoked, as though some kind of gospel, in the administration’s emails, speeches, and posters. The problem is that Amherst has about as narrow-minded and superficial a notion of diversity as is possible. At Amherst, diversity pretty much just means racial diversity and gender diversity. These types of diversity are important, but the college’s myopic perspective blinds it to countless other types of diversity that are necessary for a rich college environment.

In its website’s Diversity page, Amherst College promises “A Community that Looks Like the World.”

That choice of word “looks” is revealing. It’s great to have a visually diverse school if your only concern

is the student body’s appearance on a brochure. But how about having a student body that thinks like the world, or has the same sets of values as the world? Amherst is a place for deep moral and intellectual growth, not an aesthetic.

What is the point of diversity?

For my money, Amherst should pursue diversity for two reasons.

Firstly, to ensure that everyone has access to an Amherst education, regardless of historic underrepresentation. Secondly, diversity enriches the liberal arts experience by offering a wide range of perspectives and worldviews.

Amherst’s superficial diversity does little to achieve either of those goals. The school’s impressive racial diversity conceals class homogeneity. Like most elite schools, Amherst students (even non-white ones) are overwhelmingly wealthy. Here, 21 percent of students come from the top 1 percent of wealthiest families,

and about 60 percent come from the top 20 percent. These numbers have remained almost constant for the past ten years. At Harvard, 71 percent of Black and Latino students come from wealthy backgrounds, and there is no reason to think the numbers are very different at Amherst. In overwhelmingly prioritizing race over class in admissions, Amherst is either deliberately ignoring economic diversity, or operating under the ludicrous assumption that all racial minorities come from poor backgrounds.

One of the most important kinds of diversity is geographic diversity. Amherst’s admission, however, tends to recruit from very specific locations. About 53 percent of Amherst students come from just four states: California, New York, New Jersey, and Massachusetts. Each of these states is significantly more liberal, affluent, and urban than the national average, and they account for

less than 23 percent of the country’s population (not even to mention the rest of the world). These geographic divides lead to a skewed student political spectrum, even leaving aside the political leanings of the faculty and staff.

Amherst’s indifference towards diversity even extends to age. Nationally, 29 percent of undergraduate students are 25 or older. At Amherst, that number is just 1 percent. Amherst’s homogeneity in age is unfortunate, because one of the best ways for students to prepare for their life after graduation is to get advice from peers who already have experience facing the adult world.

Of course, Amherst might argue that students who are older, more conservative, or less wealthy apply to Amherst at a lower rate than they do to other schools across the country. But that does not alleviate Amherst’s responsibility to ensure diversity. Application rates

by Black students also used to be very low at Amherst, but thanks to a program of affirmative action, application numbers increased. At the moment, however, Amherst says that it puts no weight on either geographic location of applicants or their religious background—two things that obviously shape both students’ perspectives and their historical access to college in the same way that race does.

Of course, it is not possible to completely replicate world averages for everything. I don’t care whether Amherst admits 90 percent right-handed people and 20 percent people who can wiggle their ears.

What Amherst should pay attention to is any trait that offers a unique or marginalized perspective. Race is one of these, but so are class, age, politics, and religion. The problem is that Amherst uses its impressive diversity in a few select areas as a mask to hide its hollow homogeneity.

Difficulty Over Artistry: The Evolution of Women's Figure Skating Olivia Lynch ’25 Contributing Writer With the Winter Olympics kicking off last Friday, Feb. 4, there has been a renewed interest from the general public in the world of competitive figure skating. As when every four-year cycle rolls around, the top ladies’ singles skaters have taken center stage, as spectators around the world eagerly await their performances. This year’s competitors come with the promise of an exciting event to watch, as they mark an important milestone in Olympic figure skating history: the first attempts by women to land quadruple jumps. While this is a thrilling prospect for the evolution of the sport, it has brought with it a slew of issues — issues which have been enabled by the current scoring system, and which some fans say are killing the sport.

After a judging controversy at the 2002 Olympics raised an uproar about the subjectivity and vulnerability to abuse of the 6.0 scoring system then in use, the International Skating Union (ISU) implement-

ed a new, more comprehensive judging system called the International Judging System (IJS), which continues to be used today. The IJS awards an individual score to each element a skater executes, rather than one number for the entire performance. Each element is broken down into four levels with four corresponding base values. Regardless of the technical call, each element also receives a number from each member of the judging panel, which together determine the Grade of Execution (GOE) that is added to (or subtracted from) the technical base score. In addition to the score they receive for their technical elements, skaters also receive an artistry score for their performance as a whole, which is broken down into five categories: skating skills, transitions, performance, composition, and interpretation of the music. Each category is scaled from -10 to 10.

While there are many positives to the IJS, it unfortunately has also shifted the focus of figure skating away from performance to technical difficulty. When awarding base

value points to a jump, the technical panel doesn’t look at whether or not the skater actually landed; rather, they look to see if the skater had completed the necessary number of rotations by the time their blade hit the ice. So, for example, if someone were to attempt a triple jump and fall, but still do three rotations, they would get the base value points for the triple and simply suffer a fall penalty and lowered GOE. For most skaters, this risk is worth the reward — the base value of a triple axel, for instance, is 8 points, while the base value of a double axel is only 3.63 points. Given the way GOEs and penalties are awarded, this means that if someone were to fall on a fully rotated triple axel, they would likely score the same if not better than someone who cleanly landed a double axel.

This scoring system has been pushing skating to transform at an accelerated pace. Back at the 2010 Olympics, American skater Evan Lysacek managed to win gold without landing a single quad. Since then, other competitors have pushed the sport to a place where Lysacek’s

once impressive display has become obsolete. Over the course of the past two Olympic cycles, quads have become a staple in men’s skating, with the majority of the world’s best male competitors having added them to their programs.

For the ladies, this evolution is more recent, but it is experiencing some growing pains. This is best exemplified by the 2021 World Championships and the performance of Russian female skater Alexandra Trusova. After a disastrous short program, Trusova found herself in 12th place, 16 points off the lead.

(That’s a lot in figure skating). In her free skate, Trusova attempted 5 quads, only landing two of them.

If you watch her program, it’s not particularly exciting or interesting, as she glazes through her choreography, just getting to the end rather than performing. For this imperfect and unremarkable outing, Trusova earned a score high enough to catapult her to third place. To the untrained eye, her skating is impressive, but one would likely be confused by her high numbers. When you look closer at the scorecards,

you’ll see that Trusova was one of only two women to attempt quads at last year’s world championships.

The single other quad attempt came from her Russian teammate Anna Shcherbakova, who opened her free with a quad flip that was called with a quarter under-rotation, and who won the event. Even with clean skates and beautiful performances, the other women in the field could not keep up with the technical power of the Russian ladies. Trusova and Shcherbakova swept the podium along with their triple-axel-landing teammate Elizaveta Tuktamysheva simply because they were able to land these difficult jumps.

What does this mean going into the contest for Olympic gold? For the ladies specifically, it means that the event will be unusually focused on technical merit, and that the beauty and entertainment value of less technical programs will go unrewarded. There are just a select few female skaters in the world who plan to attempt quads at the Olympics, and as long as they rotate their jumps, they are sure to sweep the podium.

Amusements

w

The Amherst Student Crossword | Ryan Yu ’22 ACROSS 1 Cape Canaveral org.

5 What has 16 legs and might do 56-Across?

10 "Hey, you!"

14 "Business Goes ___ Usual" (Roberta Flack song) 15 Western Hispaniola 16 Remini of "The King of Queens" 17 *Crossing between Val and the Alumni House 19 Leave alone 20 Had for supper 21 Java neighbor 23 Japanese fox god 24 Record producer that collaborates with MF Doom, J Dilla, Freddie Gibbs, etc.

25 Dollar divs.

26 Life story, for short 29 Thai's neighbor 30 Company abbr.

31 Overcast 33 Santa ____ (Desert winds) 34 *Dated term for intellectual women 38 "Read 'em and ____!"

39 Emulate Hitchcock, say 40 Computer science pioneer Lovelace 41 Liverpool lav 43 "All in favor, say ____" 44 "____ Poetica" 47 Animosity 49 West Pointer 51 *Possible farewells after a Zumba class?

53 Miserly sort 55 Extra stout?

56 In the church style, or the specialty of the starred clues 58 Clutter-free 59 Rapper who needs a one dance 60 Slightest sound 61 1999 Ron Howard film 62 Host of this year's World Cup 63 Appends

DOWN 1 Type of flag cross seen twice in this puzzle's grid 2 Consecrate 3 Steamy spots 4 Fall bloomer 5 "____! Our table! It's broken!"

6 Brother of Abel 7 ___ Pan Alley 8 Summers on the Seine 9 *Seventh tone in major scale 10 Implore 11 Resolving, as an argument 12 *Teenage witches, maybe 13 Kindergarten character studies?

18 Fit to consume 19 "Hilarious!," in a text 22 Thurman of "Pulp Fiction" 27 What Apple devices run on 28 Surpass 29 Stretchy fabric 31 Tea holder 32 "____ Wanna Know?"

(Arctic Monkeys song) 33 Picnic pest 34 Besmeared 35 Skinless chicken breasts, e.g. 36 Essential 37 Glacial mass 38 Dangerous place for an embedded journalist, perhaps 41 Ravel's "Ma mere ___" ("Mother Goose") 42 Metal-in-the-rough 44 Confused 45 Staggered 46 Handbag holders 48 "60 Minutes" network 50 Colombian cornmeal cake 52 Bareilles of "Waitress" 53 Ceremonial Maori dance 54 Abbr. on an old phone 57 Garfield, e.g.

59 *Where to order a Blizzard, for short

Solutions: Dec. 9

The Amherst Student • February 9, 2022

Amusements

14

Red Herring: Time Flies

by Isaac Streiff ’24

Wordle for Credit

by Emi Eliason '23

g Arts&Living Featuring a Festival: Sundance Comes to Amherst!

Photo courtesy of Amherst Cinema

Brooke Hoffman '23E interviews Yasmin Eisenhauer, executive director of Amherst Cinema. The theater was chosen to be a screening location for the Sundance Film Festival.

Brooke Hoffman ’23E Managing Arts & Living Editor Since 1978, thousands of filmmakers and film enthusiasts have gathered in Utah each year for the Sundance Film Festival. While this year’s festival transitioned to virtual viewing due to Covid, Sundance succeeded in continuing its legacy of promoting new works in the world of film and cultivating meaningful viewer engagement. For the second year in a row, Sundance expanded its programming to include screenings at several satellite locations, in an effort to provide greater access to audiences across the country. With a wide selection of movies — from feature films to shorts to indie episodics and more — this year’s festival had no shortage of brilliant films for attendees to enjoy.

Adding to the excitement of the festival’s return was the selection of Amherst Cinema as one of seven satellite screening locations for this year’s Sundance lineup. I sat down with Executive Director of Amherst Cinema Yasmin Eisenhauer to get the inside scoop on

the festival in Amherst.

Amherst Cinema has a long-standing relationship with Sundance: Amherst’s programming team has attended the past 10 Sundance festivals, and the cinema itself was one of 23 theaters recognized nationwide by the Sundance Institute Art House Project for achieving excellence in programming. According to Eisenhauer, the Sundance Film Festival is a place Amherst Cinema programmers go to find films “to consider for first-run titles, as well as smaller works that may not have the same kind of stars and talent attached to them, but [that they] think would be wonderful for providing a real diversity of offerings and potentially spark conversation.” Amherst Cinema’s continued relationship with Sundance resulted in an invitation to apply for the satellite screens program.

Once selected, Amherst Cinema’s satellite screen programming team — consisting of Eisenhauer, Creative Manager & Programmer Alex Hornbeck, and General Manager & Programmer George Myers — met weekly with Sundance orga-

nizers to discuss the types of films they wanted to screen and how they could effectively cultivate the Sundance experience in Amherst.

Amherst’s programmers wanted to include and amplify filmmakers and works that are not typically seen in mainstream art house selections, while also considering which films in the Sundance program might have a connection to the Amherst area.

The final selection of films was deliberately curated to span multiple genres, explore pertinent topics, and promote representation, while still including “marquee films” — films with stars attached to them.

Eisenhauer commented that “the mission of Amherst Cinema is very much in alignment with the mission of the Sundance Film Festival, which made the process and the work over the past couple of months really a pleasure to enter into.”

As a satellite screening location, Amherst Cinema screened eight feature films and five short films from Jan. 28-30. Programming also included a Q&A with Hope Tucker, a professor of video and film at

Hampshire College, whose work “What Travelers are Saying About Jornada Del Muerto” was one of the short films screened. “We brought her in via Zoom to have a conversation about her work and previous works, as she had previously been featured at the Cinema. It was just a pleasure to speak with her and make connections with local audiences,” said Eisenhauer of the Q&A. In an effort to expand discussion to the craft of filmmaking, Amherst Cinema programmers also brought in Shaka King, director and co-writer of the award-winning film “Judas and the Black Messiah,” for a panel discussion via Zoom.

Moderated by Smith College Professor of Film and Media Studies Anaiis Cisco, “it was a beautiful session between Shaka King and Professor Cisco, who really has an experience and connection to filmmaking that made that talk really robust,” said Eisenhauer.

With the inclusion of audience participation, both Q&As were enriching experiences that enabled individuals across occupations and experience levels to engage meaningfully with one another, noted Eisenhauer. “People who came in — whether they were filmmakers, aspiring filmmakers, sound and design engineers, or simply film enthusiasts — all had a chance to engage in that conversation, which was very cool.”

As the only Sundance satellite screening location in the Northeast, Amherst Cinema attracted individuals from all across the state. Excitement for the festival was strong, with audience members even braving a nor’easter to attend. Eisenhauer remarked that “the nor’easter really brought forward those who had pre-planned to attend and those die-hard film enthusiasts. Every customer who crossed the threshold had a story to tell. But once they crossed the threshold, it was just this magical experience. We were all hunkered

down, watching movies and eating popcorn together, having crossgroup conversations. It was a wonderful experience.”

While it’s difficult to choose top films, Eisenhauer noted that “‘Free Chol Soo Lee’ was a hidden story that Amherst programmers felt should be told because of its significance as the beginning of a pan-Asian American movement.”

In terms of popularity, however, the film “Alice,” starring Keke Palmer and Common, emerged as the most popular film of the screening weekend.

After a weekend of great film and fruitful conversation, Amherst Cinema wrapped up Sundance 2022 and excitedly looks forward to its forthcoming programming: • “Late Nights”: Friday nights at 9:45 p.m., beginning March 4; “best cult, genre, and other outré film.”

• “Stage Russia” Series: March 28 at 7 p.m. (Stage Russia, Boris); April 18 at 7 p.m. (Stage Russia, The Iran Conference Date); guest-curated by Amherst College Professor of Russian Boris Wolfson; “an intercultural project that films performances presented by the finest theater companies in Russia and distributes them in HD, translated and subtitled, into cinemas, arts centers and universities across the globe … to share the beauty of Russian culture.”

• Screening of “Breathing Free”: March 9 at 4:30 p.m.; a visual album by filmmaker and researcher-in-residence at the Center for Humanistic Inquiry, Smith College Professor of Film and Media Studies Anaiis Cisco (co-sponsored

by Amherst Cinema and the Amherst College Music Department).

• (Recurring) The Bellwether Film Series.

• (Recurring) Science on Screen.

The Amherst Student • February 9, 2022

Arts & Living

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“Reasons to Leave”: A Sensational Senior Thesis Alex Brandfonbrener ’23 Managing Arts & Living Editor

If you could leave your past entirely behind, would you? This was the premise of “Reasons to Leave,” Sebastian Son's ’22 senior thesis in music composition.

The one-night performance, which took place on Saturday, Feb. 5, in Buckley Recital Hall, was the first live performance of the spring semester. The musical starred four main performers — Scott Romeyn ’22, Annika Paylor ’24, Anika Grimsrud ’24, and Alfred Kidowen ’23 — bared on a stage without any decor or set pieces. Each performer played multiple characters over the course of the show, all connected by a desire to leave the world they know behind, but each for different reasons.

Through a series of emotional musical numbers combining song and acting, each character expresses what’s pushing them to leave, the doubts and reservations keeping them from leaving, and what they expect to be waiting for them beyond the stars.

Son says that the premise of the musical was inspired by his own “sense of restlessness [and] unhappiness during the pandemic.” He shared that, during the long months stuck at home, he felt much like the characters of “Reasons to Leave”: “I had this sense of wanting to get away, and combined with all the bad news I was consuming about the rest of the world, it felt like the wistful solution was to pick up and leave the planet entirely.”

The show kicked off with an overture featuring Son’s varied musical inclinations, taking influence from pop rock and jazz, as well as employing unconventional rhythms. It was a strong introduction to the musical’s tone and themes, an upbeat and curious beginning that contrasted with its mournful lyrics.

This juxtaposition was a constant presence throughout the play. The characters’ doubts about whether to leave were made clear onstage when they

sang about their pains while sporting smiles.

The playful, lighthearted, and earnest nature of the musical made for some of my favorite moments. For instance, I liked when Grimsrud danced during the bridge of her solo song, swinging her legs across the stage like a rejected Rockette.

I also enjoyed the song that followed, a satirical ragtime piece that echoed the 2019 hit musical “Hadestown.” During the song, the four performers kept themselves rigid and upright, chiming about respecting one’s “body and soul” — a motif that Son continued to use throughout the play — like a stifled church choir.

Another playful moment could be found in Romeyn’s solo song, where he played an eccentric scientist pushing himself to leave his past behind because of hair loss, making use of dynamic acting and unexpected sounds to bring the humorous character to life. It was in these lighthearted moments that the musical settled into a groove and immersed me in the intersection between music and acting.

And yet, the serious parts of the musical were impactful as well. A standout moment was Kibowen’s solo song, which was elevated by his singularly impressive voice. Flexible, lyrical, and resounding, he played off the musical’s unorthodox rhythms as if he were improvising. The song was immersive and emotionally charged, showing off both Kibowen’s performative flair and Son’s use of tempo to create narrative.

Of course, Son’s music was the backbone of the musical. All of the musicians — the singers, a talented set of supporting musicians, and Son himself on piano — had moments to shine both individually and as a unified ensemble. The instrumentation also felt varied and lively, which Son attributes to the creative freedom given to him by his thesis advisors: “I didn't have to get the concept approved, I could

Photo courtesy of Alex Brandfonbrener ’23

Sebastian Son's '22 senior thesis in music composition integrated original musical pieces with strong theatrical performances. It was the first live performance of the semester. choose my own instrumentation, and that really let me flourish creatively. [Andrew W. Mellon] Professor [of Music] Eric Sawyer was a big help — he's really great with giving suggestions about how my songs could be made more interesting with a few more details. Professor [of Theater and Dance] Jude Sandy also spoke with me about the concept of the show and helped run my first table read, which was a fantastic help.”

Yet, Son’s clever music and writing, filled with tricks and unexpected moments, truly came to life through the performances of the show’s four actors. All four appeared comfortable and well-rehearsed, with enough space to breathe, move, and explore. I was impressed by how Son divided emotions and themes between them, giving each distinct roles that shifted as the play progressed.

Paylor in particular blossomed over the course of the

show, delivering her most compelling performance in the penultimate song, where she and Romeyn played a failing couple who can’t seem to get on the same page. At the beginning of the musical, I thought that Paylor was an understated presence, at risk of being overshadowed by the other three, who each maintained unique tones of voice.

Only in this song did I see Paylor’s acting technique, which relied on using her body and voice in harmony. She started the song gripping her high-waisted jeans uncomfortably. Then, when Romeyn’s character began to take more control, she moved her hands into her pockets, mirroring his positioning — as if she were yielding to him. By the end of the song, though, she had spoken her mind against him, swinging her hair confidently and freely. It was not only a well-acted progression, but also one that seamlessly integrated the acting with the music and

the writing.

At the start of the show, Son said that writing a musical was his “dream.” As a viewer, I take that as an insight into just what it took to create “Reasons to Leave.” I was struck by how much work must have gone into writing a full production of music, uniformly filled with surprise and suspense. The musical was a testament to Son’s creative vision and resilience, as well as a proper opening to a new semester of live performances.

After the show, I asked Son what he would like to say to everyone who watched “Reasons to Leave.” He responded, “You don't need a ‘good’ reason to justify your own unhappiness, or your own ‘reason to leave.’ … What matters is the truthfulness of the emotion, and embracing it sincerely — and when enough people come together in that sort of honesty, anything is possible. Even flying away on a rocketship.”

The Amherst Student • February 9, 2022

Arts & Living

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WAMH X THE STUDENT

Photo courtesy of Mindies.es

WAMH Events Coordinator Nii-Ayi Aryeetey '23 reviews electronic pop artist yeule's new album, "Glitch Princess," an ambient yet unsettling exploration of body dysmorphia.

Singaporean artist Nat Ćmiel, known better as “yeule,” has been creating icy, ethereal music since their teenage years. Currently based in London, they are one of the most exciting forces in independent music. Their newest full-length album, “Glitch Princess,” is their most well-developed and cathartic release to date.

Yeule’s 2019 debut full-length release, “Serotonin II,” is a deeply emotional album filled with pillowy synths, soft singing, and carefully crafted soundscapes.

When I discovered this album, I was immediately enamored with its production techniques, along with its calm, ambient sound. However, I felt that some of the tracks could have been developed further. I wished that the album had a wider range of sounds, and I thought it could have benefited from more abrasive textures. Yeule delivers that and more on “Glitch Princess,” building on “Serotonin II” in exciting ways.

“Glitch Princess” certainly lives up to its title. The album’s

12 tracks are meticulously produced, featuring unique vocal processing, off-kilter drum beats, and glitchy, ethereal instrumentals, which make for a variety of interesting textures. At the forefront of many of the instrumentals is the guitar, an instrument that yeule has seldom used in their previous music.

The use of guitar is especially effective in “Don’t Be So Hard on Your Own Beauty,” which is put together with nothing more than simple acoustic guitar, yeule’s vocals, and minor additional instrumentation. Fuzzy guitar playing, coupled with thumping drums, closes out the track “Perfect Blue” and creates a hypnotic texture. The new guitar textures found on this album are a welcomed evolution of yeule’s music, and indicate to me that yeule themselves feel like they are evolving.

Adding to the diversity of sounds found in this album is the use of droning tones in many tracks, such as “Flowers Are Dead,” “Eyes,” and “Fragments.”

Yeule has used sustained notes

and sounds in previous releases, but the use of drones in this album — often coupled with piano or guitar — creates a more cohesive sound than in their previous music. At some moments in the album, the drones are abrasive and noisy, which held my attention by creating atmospheres previously unexplored on the album.

In the second half of “Glitch Princess,” yeule introduces dance-inspired beats, increasing the tempo of their tracks.

“Too Dead Inside” is a synthfilled track with a beat inspired by dancehall, a Jamaican dance genre, and still sounds uniquely like a yeule creation. “Bites on My Neck” leans in even deeper to dance music, building up to a booming trance and house-inspired beat in its chorus. The inclusion of dance influences may be partially inspired by PC Music founder Danny L Harle, who is known for producing lively pop songs with Charli XCX and Caroline Polachek, and is a co-producer on “Glitch Princess.”

Brought to you by the WAMH blog, where it can also be found, and The Student’s Arts & Living section. Written by WAMH Events Coordinator Nii-Ayi Aryeetey '23.

Many songs on the album are beautiful yet unsettling. A key example of this is “Flowers Are Dead,” which consists of droning guitar and a drum beat that never settles into a groove. The instrumentals effectively emphasize yeule’s lyrics, expressing sentiments of feeling unlovable and uncomfortable in their own body. In general, the lyricism of the album is dark and unnerving, in comparison to the prettiness of the instrumentals. In “Don’t Be So Hard on Your Own Beauty,” yeule sings, “You make me cry and wipe my eyes, and make me feel something other than desolated nothing,” lyrics that contrast with the floating, calming acoustic guitar-based instrumentals.

A common lyrical theme in “Glitch Princess” is dissatisfaction with one’s own body, and the corresponding desire to disassociate from that body.

Yeule discusses these feelings in relation to health struggles like gender dysphoria and eating disorders.

The album most directly approaches this theme in “Too Dead Inside,” where yeule sings, “I can only get so close to look-

ing how I want to be.” They also sing about wanting to be reconstructed — for instance, in the line “Sew me up, stitch me up, put me back together” from the chorus of “I <3 U.” This lyrical content makes the album especially impactful. Feeling trapped inside one’s own body is a serious, potentially debilitating feeling, and yeule has crafted beautiful music that wrestles this difficult topic.

My highlights of this album are “Electric,” “Don’t Be So Hard on Your Own Beauty,” and “Too Dead Inside.” However, every track is certainly worth listening to, and the album is an incredibly cohesive collection of songs.

The sequencing of “Glitch Princess” is smooth, and the detailed production style encourages me to return to the album to discover sounds I hadn’t noticed the first few times. Upon first listen, yeule once again impressed me with their immersive soundscapes and cathartic songwriting. I am excited to see where yeule goes with their music in the future, and I recommend this album for anyone who loves creative production, ethereal sounds, and raw lyrics.

The Amherst Student • February 9, 2022

Arts & Living

18

“Succession”: An Exploration of Power and Pride Theo Hamilton ’23 Managing Editor “Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely.” It’s a tale as old as time, but few shows have managed to portray the toxic influence of wealth as insightfully or hilariously as “Succession.” Halfway between a dark comedy and a prestige drama, the HBO series (you should be able to watch it through XFINITY On Campus) chronicles the endless infighting of the Roy family, owners of a Fox News-style right-wing media conglomerate, as they jockey for power within the company. The third season of “Succession” just finished on Dec. 12, further developing the series’ mixture of fascinating characters with sharp comedy and social commentary.

At the series’ center is the family’s aging patriarch, Logan Roy (Brian Cox), a self-made businessman who is utterly convinced that he has earned his position at the top of the world. In reality, Logan is more American Nightmare than American Dream, clinging to power not by being smarter than anyone else, but by being louder, more intimidating, and more determined to win at any cost. Or, as he describes his life philosophy, “Sometimes it really is a big dick competition.”

Turning 80 at the start of the series, Logan finds himself stepping up his violent performance of masculine authority. He begins lashing out at the slightest sign of opposition and gleefully thwarting his children’s attempts to take on a role that he is clearly no longer capable of performing himself. Overall, Logan is one of the most watchable villains I’ve ever seen: equal parts pitiable and terrifying, out of touch and unstoppable, disgusting and charismatic.

Logan’s four children are caught in his orbit throughout the show, each balancing their own ambitions, a desire to escape their toxic family, and a twisted sense of loyalty to their father. It would have been easy to cast any of these characters as the show’s protagonist, but each of his children instead appears to be as deeply misguided and status-ob-

Photo courtesy of Wired

Managing Editor Theo Hamilton '23 breaks down the reasons to watch the new third season of "Succession," from its sharp wit and fascinating characters to the intriguing themes of its story and brilliant acting. sessed as Logan.

Kendall (Jeremy Strong) is comically insecure and driven forward by a desire to prove to the world that he is a sharper businessman than his father. Siobhan (Sarah Snook) is probably the most competent of Logan’s children but is kept out of the company at the start — primarily for being a woman. As she works her way into the corporate world, however, Siobhan rapidly loses sight of her morals and finds it easier and easier to justify the actions that benefit her most, no matter their consequences. Roman (Kieran Culkin) is witty and a borderline sociopath, constantly utilizing humor as a means to avoid responsibility for his decisions. Connor, the eldest Roy sibling, is a libertarian trustfund man-baby who mostly functions as much-needed comic relief from the other siblings’ incessant backstabbing.

“Succession” is not always flattering in its depiction of the characters surrounding the Roy family either. High-level executives like Gerri Kellman (J. Smith-Cameron) use their legal expertise to keep Logan safe from a wide array of com-

pletely just lawsuits, while corporate ladder climbers like Siobhan’s husband, Tom (Matthew McFadyen), casually treat their employees like footstools. In one memorable scene, Greg (Nicolaus Braun), a second cousin of the Roys who was recently brought into the company, announces his intention to sue Greenpeace for his grandfather’s will.

As the series moves from character to character, “Succession” effortlessly mocks the ways in which our cultural obsession with wealth and power brings out the worst in all of us. Throughout their constant power struggles, the cast of “Succession” not only damages the world around them — we see them spreading climate denialism and hiring alt-right news presenters, as well as buying out rival media brands and firing hundreds of employees — they universally fail to make their own lives better. Three seasons in, plenty of the show’s characters are richer than they started, but not a single one of them is any happier.

In many ways, the most impressive balancing act “Succession” pulls off is its ability to document all of this evil while still remaining

genuinely fun to watch. This is due in part to the high level of acting — nine different actors on the show have been nominated for Emmys in recent years — which manages to depict each character’s humanity while also condemning their actions. There is also plenty of catharsis to be found in watching deeply unlikeable people ruin their own lives. The most important element of “Succession’s” entertainment value, however, is the simple fact that it is one of the funniest shows on TV. Despite the show’s grim setting and serious themes, “Succession” often feels as much like an “Arrested Development”-style comedy as a “Game of Thrones”-style epic narrative. Long stretches of dialogue consist of characters hurling increasingly creative insults at each other. In one scene, Roman reacts to his brother Connor’s decision to run for president by asking him, “Do you think that’s like a natural progression for you? From ‘never done nothing ever’ to ‘most important job in the world.’ … Could you maybe get a little experience at, like, a CVS first?”

Other moments rely heavily on

characters’ cringeworthy actions to get a laugh, like when Kendall raps an excruciating two-minute tribute to his father in a room full of confused investors. Many scenes hardly need dialogue at all to land a joke and make a point, such as when Greg watches a training video declaring that Waystar makes all “hiring decisions without regards to race, religion, age, national origin, ancestry, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual preferences, …” while a seemingly endless line of middle-aged white men file out of an executive meeting behind him.

This constant interweaving of comedic and dramatic elements brings out the best of both genres.

The narrative keeps the laughter aimed at discrediting corporate greed and its destructive place in our society, while the jokes keep the drama fun instead of depressing. Used alongside some of the best scriptwriting and acting around, this combination makes “Succession” both thrilling and thought-provoking. If you have some extra time this semester, I can’t recommend it enough.

The Amherst Student • February 9, 2022

Arts & Living

19

Sitcoms: The Crux of Comedy and Comfort

Photo courtesy of Wired

Why is it that, when looking for comfort shows, we usually turn to sitcoms? Assistant Arts & Living Madeline Lawson '25 analyzes the conventions of television's most bingeable genre and how streaming reinforces the role of sitcoms like "Modern Family" and "The Middle" in pop culture.

Madeline Lawson ’25 Assistant Arts & Living Editor Why is it that, when looking for comfort shows, we usually turn to sitcoms? Why are “Friends” and “The Office” two of the biggest cult shows of all time, remaining in pop culture years after they originally aired? The typical sitcom is easily digestible, usually with stand-alone episodes and a plot that is easy to catch up on, so new fans don’t have to learn much to jump into the show. While the number of sitcoms airing has declined in past years, classic sitcoms are widely available on streaming platforms, advertised under the “Feel-Good TV” and “Bingeable” categories.

I spent a good part of winter break binging sitcoms, specifically “Modern Family” and “The Middle.” “Modern Family” is one of the classic sitcoms of the last decade, following the everyday hijinks and conflicts of three separate family units. It ran for 11 seasons, ending in 2020. I began watching it in the

sixth season with no practically no confusion, and I could binge four episodes in a row without noticing how much time had passed.

“The Middle” is a more niche sitcom than “Modern Family,” never achieving the same level of popularity despite running for nine seasons. It follows a working-class Indiana family and their financial and personal struggles. Beyond their shared family settings, both of these shows have humorous and easy-going tones, as do many other sitcoms, even those with entirely different premises.

Most sitcoms follow a specific formula. Episodes are typically self-contained (though there are callbacks to previous story lines), and the aim is comedy, not major character growth. The lack of character development is intentional — a strategy that contributes to the bingeability of these shows. Additionally, sitcoms often have two or three plot lines in one story, with every conflict resolved by the end of the episode. While there are

notable exceptions to this (“The Good Place” comes to mind, as it is a sitcom with a specific plotline that has to be watched from the beginning), the vast majority of sitcoms follow this same formula with a simple setup, whether they last one season or over a decade.

How do these shows go on for so long, and with such considerable notoriety, when they have such similar foundations? While they may change settings or situations, most sitcoms have the same recognizable, lighthearted mood.

Their conflicts are only slightly stressful, lasting no longer than the span of one episode. That is exactly why they continue to be so many people’s comfort shows. People could watch an episode of “Parks and Recreation” without seeing any of the previous seasons, and still feel a sense of familiarity with the show.

There is an abundance of sitcoms, and while many — such as “Santa Clarita Diet” and “Freaks and Geeks” — are canceled after

just a few seasons, others have gone on to dominate pop culture for decades. In the case of “Friends,” viewers were clamoring for a reunion even after 10 seasons.

The widespread acclaim of these shows demonstrates that the audience’s love of sitcoms is not about their setting or plot, but about characters and how much viewers resonate with them. Characters often follow established archetypes, contributing to the familiar feel of sitcoms. We don’t really care about the plot of the show, only about the characters’ reactions. No matter how many implausible situations we see our characters get into, we want to watch them in even crazier conflicts.

Sitcoms remain go-to shows to binge for many people. In the age of streaming, one might expect the popularity of sitcoms to decline, seeing as their main appeal was a new episode once a week, with plenty of time to watch other shows and build anticipation for the next episode. Instead, classic

sitcoms are more popular than ever. Since viewers do not have to wait for them to air on cable or purchase multiple DVD sets, the shows are even easier to enjoy now.

The tendency to rewatch old sitcoms may hurt newer sitcoms, however. Although one might expect streaming to help promote new shows by offering recommendations based on viewers’ preferences, streaming makes it much easier for audiences to remain with their favorite media. Streaming services are creating sitcom reboots in an attempt to cash in on viewers' nostalgia, as well as to promote their services. HBO Max did this well: their entire appeal was that they would have “Friends” available alongside a cast reunion, rather than new shows that would be on the platform. New shows have difficulty breaking out among shows that already have a place in the public sphere, as viewers are less likely to give them a try, turning instead to those cherished shows that never seem to get old.

Sp ports

Former Coach, Alleging Racism, Settles With College Alex Noga ’23 Managing Sports Editor Almost six months after filing a 48-page legal complaint against the college, former men’s lacrosse coach Rashad Devoe has reached an out-of-court settlement with the college. The parties issued a joint press release on Jan. 12 announcing that the case was resolved after filing a stipulation with the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts requesting that the lawsuit be dismissed “with prejudice” — ensuring Devoe cannot refile the same complaint.

Devoe, who is Black, filed the lawsuit against the college on Aug. 13, 2021, just over two months after he was terminated as head coach on June 10. The complaint — which listed 11 claims, including fraud, negligence, and infliction of emotional distress — alleged that Devoe

was fired “because of his race and in retaliation for engaging in protected activity.” It named the college’s board of trustees, Provost and Dean of Faculty Catherine Epstein, and Athletic Director Don Faulstick as defendants.

The complaint alleged that Devoe was hired to change the “racist and, frankly, elitist demeanor that historically permeated the College’s lacrosse program.” However, Devoe claimed that his efforts towards cleaning up the lacrosse program’s culture were persistently undermined by the college. Devoe’s ultimate termination came after he refused to participate in an investigation involving three Black student-athletes in May 2021. He maintained that this was a false pretense for the college to retaliate against him.

Devoe was only employed as the head coach of the men’s lacrosse

program for about 13 months and did not coach a single game due to the lacrosse team’s probation that was only lifted this past June. He alleged that he was “lured” away from his head coaching position at Hampton University, a historically Black university, “under a fabricated ruse of championing a movement toward human decency.”

The Jan. 12 press release states that “Amherst College and Coach Devoe are both committed to increasing diversity across collegiate sports, and particularly in men’s lacrosse.” It adds that both parties “move forward with mutual respect for the work each has done to achieve this goal.”

When asked for further comment, college administrators referred back to the press release. Current head coach Sean Woods, along with current members of the team, declined to comment.

Photo courtesy of Amherst Athletics

Former coach Rashad Devoe sued the college last August.

Women's Lacrosse Coach To Retire at End of Season, Her 27th Liza Katz ’24 Managing Sports Editor In the lead-up to Amherst women’s lacrosse’s first season of competition since their 2020 season was canceled after only five games, head coach Chris Paradis has announced that she will be retiring from coaching after the 2022 season, her 27th year leading the Mammoths. She also previously held the position of head coach of the field hockey team from 1995 to 2003.

Of Paradis’ career, Athletic Director Don Faulstick said, “Chris has had such an amazing coaching career. … [She] has made such a positive impact on the lives of many women’s lacrosse and field hockey student-athletes as a coach, a mentor, and [a] friend. She truly cares more about her students’ success and experiences off the field as well as their success on it.”

A staple of the athletic program who has been coaching at Amherst

since the 1995 season, Paradis has turned the Mammoths into a consistent force in women’s lacrosse and one of the best teams in the nation.

She has led the team to a 312-116 (.729) record, with those 312 wins putting her at 10th on the NCAA all-time wins list, and fourth on the Division III (DIII) all-time wins list.

She was also named the NESCAC and Berkshire Region Coach of the Year twice (both in 2014 and 2018), and brought one National Championship trophy back to Amherst in 2003, for which she was named the DIII National Coach of the Year.

On the field, the team has enjoyed some of its best years under Paradis. These accomplishments include back-to-back NESCAC Championships in 1997 and 1998, 10 trips to the NCAA Elite Eight (1996, 1999, 2001-2004, 2006, 2008, 2014, 2018), six Final Four appearances (1999, 2001-2004, 2014), three National Championship appearances (1999, 2001, 2003), and winning

the 2003 National Championship, the first in program history. Overall, she has led the Mammoths to a 27-13 (.675) record in 14 trips to the NCAA tournament.

This success wasn’t unexpected.

An athlete herself, Paradis played both lacrosse and field hockey at William & Mary and was selected to both the United States National and World Cup lacrosse teams before beginning her coaching career. In addition to her stellar work on the lacrosse field, she coached the Amherst field hockey team to eight straight postseason appearances, including three NCAA Tournament berths (1996, 1999, 2000) and a trip to the National Championship game in 1999. All of this contributed to her induction into the William & Mary’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 1998, as well as the New England Lacrosse Hall of Fame in January of 2004.

Paradis will not leave Amherst following her retirement from coaching; she will continue to work in the

Athletic Department in a non-coaching role following the completion of the 2022 season.

“I want to thank every student-athlete, assistant coach, colleague, and opponent who helped build this program into what it is today,” Paradis stated. “I am forever grateful to have had this opportunity, and for all the members of the program before me and throughout my career who have contributed to my growth as a person and professional. Lastly, I appreciate the colleagues at Amherst who supported both me and our lacrosse program. I am forever grateful and honored to be a Mammoth!”

However, the transition won’t come without hiccups. Just a week before Paradis’ retirement announcement, the program hired a new assistant coach — Ellen Arena, a former lacrosse star at William Smith College and the daughter of men’s hockey coach Jack Arena. And to top it all off, former assistant coach Kelsey Fee an-

Photo courtesy of Amherst Athletics

Paradis will leave after the current season ends. nounced she would be stepping away from the program as well, taking an opportunity to coach at the Division I level at the University of New Hampshire. With the coaching staff in flux and a big season ahead, it will be interesting to see how the team gels in its return to play, and how many wins the team can bring home on Coach Paradis’ farewell tour.

The Amherst Student • February 9, 2022

Sports

21

Hometown Fan’s Ode to Tom Brady: Undisputed GOAT Jackson Reydel ’23 Staff Writer The greatness of Tom Brady is indisputable. He has won more games and Super Bowls, thrown more touchdowns, and accumulated more passing yards than any other quarterback in NFL history. He seems to hold nearly every regular season, postseason, and Super Bowl passing. This piece, however, is not about Brady’s record, but rather his effect on the countless New England fans who grew up with front-row tickets to the TB12 experience. As a New England native, I’ll forever be spoiled by getting to watch the greatest quarterback of all time.

Growing up in Massachusetts, New England Patriots football was a religion, with our Sunday church lasting from the start of preseason in August to the playoffs and Super Bowl in early February. For 20 years, my family and friends would gather around the television and pray to our God Bill Belichick and our Messiah Tom Brady to deliver us yet another win. As benevolent Lords often do, they delivered victory upon victory for two decades. Year after year, rooting for Brady and the Pats in the playoffs was a guarantee, as over the course of his career, he never had a losing season.

Admittedly, I was pretty young during the first Patriots dynasty, which lasted from 2002 to 2005 and during which Brady won his first three Super Bowl Rings. In fact, my first real memory of a Patriots game was watching Peyton Manning rip out my six-year-old heart in the 2006 AFC Championship. The Patriots blew a 21-3 halftime lead, and a Brady screen pass to Kevin Faulk on fourth down came up just short of the first down, costing them the game. Still, I became a true believer in the Patriot religion during their nearly undefeated 2007 season.

Watching Tom Brady connect with Randy Moss for seemingly impossible touchdowns was something beyond comprehension for my young mind. I implore the Buffalo Bills fans who taunted me about their offensive prowess against the Patriots this season to watch the highlights of New England’s 2007 Week 11 Sunday

Night Football matchup to witness true dominance. Seriously, my father thought the late John Madden was going to throw a fit while broadcasting that game. While the undefeated Pats ended up losing to Eli f — ing Manning in the Super Bowl, the 2007 season was just a preview of hundreds of more Tom Brady wins and celebratory high fives between my dad and myself that were to come.

Over the next several seasons, the Patriots continued to be elite and Tom was consistently a top-five quarterback in the league, but the team kept coming up short in the playoffs. The Ravens and Giants just seemed to always have the edge during the postseason, and heading into the 2014 season, many thought that the prime of Brady’s career was over. I distinctly remember a Monday-night game in 2014 where the Chiefs crushed the Patriots, and Brady got benched for Jimmy Garoppolo. The doubters lit a fire under Brady, and, in true Brady fashion, he elevated his game to another level — taking the team on a 10-2 run to finish the regular season with a record of 12-4. The 2015 playoffs were simply incredible, as Brady pulled off a crazy come-from-behind win against the Ravens that featured an awesome trick play and clutch interception late in the game to seal it. The next week, they crushed the Colts in the infamous “Deflategate” game, which became quite the sports-talk radio topic for years to come. Honestly, there is nothing quite like a bunch of guys with Boston accents yelling about how air pressure had no effect on the Pats rushing for 200 yards for three straight hours.

Nevertheless, the Patriots went on to come from 10 points down in the fourth quarter to win the Super Bowl in Brady’s euphoric return to glory. At the time, it was the largest Super Bowl comeback ever, but Tom was ready to break his own record in 2017.

Of all the great Patriots wins, the 28-3 second-half comeback against the Falcons is my favorite. Earlier in the season, Brady had to serve a four-game suspension, a culmination of the Deflategate scandal. As a Pats fan, I was about to witness the ultimate revenge tour that would end

with the infamous Roger Goodell handing Brady the Vince Lombardi Super Bowl Trophy yet again.

When Devonta Freeman ran in the Falcons’ fourth touchdown of the day midway through the third quarter, the hopes of Patriots fans everywhere to witness such a glorious moment seemed to die with it.

However, Tom Brady would not let us down. He became an unstoppable force, pushing forward through true willpower and determination alone.

He made every big throw on third and fourth down. He was scrambling for first downs and talking trash to all who would listen. As the Falcons’ lead dwindled, Tom removed all fear in my heart and doubt from my mind. When the Patriots won the overtime coin toss, the game was all but over. After this game, we all learned to never give up as long as Tom Brady was in the game.

The next season, Brady took the Pats back to the Super Bowl and almost brought us back from another huge deficit. I include myself in the group that thought the Patriots dynasty was nearing its impending conclusion following that loss to the Eagles, but if there was one thing I learned from my time watching the GOAT, it’s that any slight against him would grow into a chip on his shoulder that motivated him to achieve the impossible. The following season, Brady led the Patriots to their sixth and final title. The game from that championship run that stands out to me is not the dull, low-scoring affair that was the Super Bowl, but the shootout in Kansas City against Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs in the AFC Championship. On the final few drives, the Patriots took the aging Rob Gronkowski out of the garage and drove him like the sports car he was in his youth to beat the Chiefs. I distinctly remember former Cowboys quarterback and “NFL on CBS” analyst Tony Romo predicting one play after another as Brady hit Gronk and Julian Edelman on consecutive third-and-longs to set up the game-winning touchdown. Tom came through in the clutch just like he had been doing for the past 20 years. That Super Bowl might be my final jubilant celebration as a Patriots fan, as the next season made it appar-

Photo courtesy of Alexander Jonesi, via flickr

Tom Brady played in the NFL for 22 seasons. ent that the legendary run was over.

I remember the exact place I was the last time I saw Brady wear a Patriots jersey. My family was traveling in Christchurch, New Zealand, and my father and I found the one sports bar in the town not devoted to rugby or cricket to watch the Patriots play against the Titans in the 2019 Wild Card game. Derrick Henry broke our spirit, running for 184 yards and a touchdown, and Tom threw a pick-six to ice the game late in the fourth quarter. Our hero and savior left New England just a few weeks later for the warm weather of Tampa Bay. I was devastated that the 20-year marriage of fan and star quarterback was over. However, I was not surprised when Brady, Gronk, and the Buccaneers ended up in the Super Bowl once more. It was bittersweet to root for Tom as he excelled in the game, taking home another ring and another Super Bowl MVP trophy. I was glad that Brady had found a new young team that made him happy, but I still wondered what might have happened if we could have kept him around for one last run.

This past season, Brady returned to Foxboro and beat the Patriots in an emotional Sunday Night Football game that would prove to be his last in Foxboro. Of course, Brady being Brady, he led a late game-winning

drive to break our hearts once more.

However, the video tributes and rooting against him just one time made me feel a deep level of appreciation for everything he did for the Patriots and for me. So many NFL fans struggle with bad coaches, owners, and quarterbacks such that they may never experience watching their team win a title in their entire lifetime. With Tom Brady, I was granted that experience six times in 21 years and, for that, I am so lucky.

Now, here we are in 2022, and Tom has officially retired. He was terrific in his final game, bringing the Bucs back from 24 points down to tie the game late in the fourth quarter. Unfortunately, Matt Stafford and Cooper Kupp completed a huge play in the final minute that resulted in Brady losing on a last second field goal. Reading his retirement post on Instagram post made me emotional. Tom playing football every week during the fall has been a fundamental part of my life from the time I could walk. True, he didn’t mention the Patriots fans at first, but honestly why should I be mad at him? He has provided so many great moments in my life. If this is truly the end of his playing career, it has been an honor and a privilege to witness it firsthand.

Thanks for everything, Tom, but now I'm on to Mac Jones. Go Pats!

The Amherst Student • February 9, 2022

Sports

22

Ranked 11th, Women’s Basketball Keeps Rolling Luke Padian ’24 Staff Writer Due to multiple cancellations and postponements in December, the Mammoths returned to action against conference rival Williams on Jan. 8, more than a month removed from their previous match on Dec. 3. The Mammoths won the game in a decisive manner, defeating the Ephs 72-54. The Ephs’ defense was no match for a relentless Mammoth offense led by point guard Reeya Patel ’24, who dropped 16 points in the win. Not only did Patel lead the team in points, she also led the team with four steals. Other notable Mammoth performances came from Gabrielle Zaffiro ’22, who finished with 12 points, and Courtney Resch ’22, who hauled in 11 rebounds, tying her season high. With Amherst dominating on the boards, in the paint, and behind the arc, Williams was no match.

After another cancellation against out-of-conference opponent Lehman College, the Mammoths played a conference game on Jan. 14 at Lefrak Gymnasium against their opponents from the high north, the Bates Bobcats. Despite a valiant effort from Amherst — with Dani Valdez ’22 leading the Mammoths with 14 points, and Zaffiro adding 11 points and nine rebounds — the Mammoths lost a close one, 52-49, dropping their first game of the season.

The Mammoths had no time to dwell on the tough loss, though, as they traveled to Medford, Mass. for a massive game against ninth-ranked Tufts the very next day. The Jumbos started off as the stronger team, taking a 31-22 lead into the halftime break. After an even-matched third quarter, however, in which both sides scored 13 points apiece, the Mammoths’ resiliency shone through. Trailing by as much as 11 points early in the frame, the Mammoths outscored the Jumbos 27-9 in the final quarter to defeat Tufts 6253. Zaffiro balled out in this game, dropping a season-high 23 points and adding 10 rebounds to complete the double-double. Valdez and AnLing Vera ’25 also had great performances, racking up multiple boards

Photo courtesy of Clarus Studios

Forward Dani Valdez '22 high-fives her teammates while running out onto the court before a game. and points to help the Mammoths overcome the nationally-ranked Jumbos.

Coming off the win, the Mammoths traveled east to Williamstown to once again battle their rival Ephs.

Powered by another strong performance from Valdez, who scored an impressive 20 points against the tough Ephs defense, the Mammoths won by a final score of 73-59. Vera had another strong showing, dropping an impressive 15 points in 19 minutes of play before exiting due to injury. Lauren Pelosi ’22 also made a significant contribution with 14 points and 10 rebounds for a double-double.

On Saturday, Jan. 22, the Mammoths suffered a tough loss at home to Hamilton, with a final score of 52-43. Valdez led the Mammoths with 12 points, 13 rebounds, and two blocks while shooting five-ofeight from the field, notching her third double-double of the season and fourth straight game scoring in double figures. Pelosi also hit double figures in the game, with 11 points to go with five boards.

The Mammoths started their late-season revenge tour off right, defeating out-of-conference opponent Babson on Jan. 25 by a score of

58-41. After a closely contested first half, an 8-0 run by the Mammoths early in the third quarter widened the lead to 12, and a 10-0 run later in the quarter put the game out of reach, with the lead standing at 16 points. Valdez and Zaffiro again led the way offensively, each netting 12 points in the win, and Vera dished out six assists to lead the way for the Mammoths.

Next up — the Mammoths were back to NESCAC play, facing Wesleyan at home and beating them 61-54 on Jan. 28. After jumping out to a quick 7-0 lead to begin the game, Amherst’s offensive firepower proved too much for the Cardinals’ defense to handle, and they never trailed en route to a clinching the Little Three title. The team was powered by strong performances from Valdez and Vera, who scored 20 and 13 points, respectively, as well as Patel, who did it all on her way to a 10-point, nine-rebound game.

After the milestone of the winning Little Three title, the Mammoths continued their win streak, recording back-to-back dominating road wins against Misericordia University and Worcester State University, beating the Cougars and the Lancers by a combined 47 points.

In their 73-36 over the Cougars, the Mammoths went on their longest run of the season, putting down a 19-0 run in the second quarter that turned a tight affair into a blowout in the span of 10 minutes. These games were where the team’s depth really shone: first-year center Alix Stuart ’25 recorded seven points on a perfect three-for-three from the field over the course of the two games, while Jade DuVal ’22, Abbey Skinner ’24, and Kori Barach ’25 made major contributions both in the scoresheet and on the boards.

Having now hit their stride, the Mammoths returned to the NESCAC with victories against Colby and Bowdoin on Feb. 5 and 6.

Against Colby, it was Valdez and Pelosi who led the Mammoths offensively. Valdez’s high scoring has become the norm this season, and her game against the Mules was no different. She recorded 17 points in the contest, her fifth game of the season with more than 15 points.

But in Waterville, it was Pelosi who had her breakout game: she scored a career-high 17 points, going 5 for 8 from the field and 3 for 4 from three, as well as recording four rebounds and two assists in a season-high 32 minutes of action. These perfor-

mances powered the Mammoths to a 59-47 victory.

The Mammoths put in another strong team effort on Sunday, sending the Polar Bears home in style with a 72-54 win. Not to be outdone by her teammates’ performances the day before, Vera put the team on her back, recording a 26-point, five-assist performance that included two buzzer-beating three-pointers, one of which came from two-thirds of the way down the court to beat the halftime horn.

In their third game in four days, the Mammoths returned to Amherst to face the Middlebury Panthers in a game that was initially postponed due to Covid concerns. After a layup from Valdez and a three from Zaffiro on their first two possessions, the Mammoths jumped out to a 5-0 lead and didn't look back, maintaing that momentum on the way to a 72-56 victory.

The Mammoths are heading into the home stretch of the season with a 16-2 record and are ranked 11th in the country according to D3hoops. com. With the end of the season on the horizon, the team hopes to continue its recent run of form into the NESCAC tournament, set to begin on Feb. 19.

The Amherst Student • February 9, 2022

Sports

23

Men’s Hockey Struggles To Find Mid-season Rhythm Mike Schretter ’23 Staff Writer Amherst men’s hockey’s 2022 season has been filled with postponements and inconsistent results, logging big wins but also unfortunate losses. Since the beginning of January, the team has gone 6-4-2 on the ice. Nevertheless, the Mammoths took a great opportunity in Maine this past weekend to position themselves for a higher seed in the upcoming NESCAC tournament.

Due to postponements, the Mammoths did not start when they were initially scheduled to, with their contests against Colby on Jan. 7 and Bowdoin on Jan. 8 each being moved to the following day. The game against Colby on Jan. 8 saw the Mules beat the Mammoths 3-0 at Orr Rink. On the ninth, the Mammoths came back with a stronger effort, resulting in a tie with Bowdoin. After a scoreles overtime, the game ended at a score of 2-2, with goals from Ryan Tucker ’24 and Matteo Mangiardi ’22E in regulation. The tie against Bowdoin helped the Mammoths gain some momentum, as they went on to capture a 6-3 win against Middlebury. The team’s performance was highlighted by a career-first hat trick from Michael Pitts ’23, and goals from Sean Wrenn ’22, Ben Kuzma ’25, and Connor McGinnis ’24.

The Mammoths continued their high-scoring ways into their matches with Connecticut College and Tufts, where they bested the Camels 6-2 and the Jumbos 5-3. The Connecticut College win included five second-period goals from Mangiardi, Tucker, Pitts, Kuzma, and Connor Merrill ’23, with Quinton Fox ’24 scoring his brace in the third. In the Jumbos contest, the Mammoths saw goals from Wrenn, Joey Verkerke ’23, Kuzma, Mangiardi (who netted the game-winner with 1:45 to go), and Matt Toporowski ’25. The Mammoths’ stellar stretch of games moved them to 4-4-1 in NESCAC play and 5-6-1 overall.

The Mammoths next took the ice for a big matchup on Jan. 18, playing No. 15 Curry College and holding their own in a 1-1 tie. Beating No. 10 Trinity earlier in the season, the Mammoths have shown they can

Photo courtesy of Clarus Studios

First-year forward Ben Kuzma ’25 handles the puck in a game against St. Michael's College. play with some of the top teams in the country, and this game was no different. Mitchell Shults ’22 scored the Mammoths’ only goal of the game at the 13:45 mark of the third period and secured the extra point.

Continuing the trend of postponed games, the Mammoths had their next two matches against Hamilton and Anna Maria College postponed.

On the 23rd, the Mammoths played their postponed match against the Continentals, getting revenge for an early-season loss to Hamilton and continuing their hot streak with a 2-1 win. A goal from Pitts and a short-handed game-winner from Wrenn, in addition to a season-high 38-save performance from netminder Dan Dachille ’23, moved the Mammoths to 5-4-1 in NESCAC play and 6-6-1 overall.

However, the Mammoths’ schedule got much tougher following this

win, and with that came some difficul losses, starting with their Jan. 25 contest at Babson College, who was ranked No. 9 in that week’s national rankings. The Mammoths fought hard and competed against a top 10 team, but the Beavers took home the victory 3-2. The Mammoths got goals from Mangiardi and Pieter von Steinbergs ’22E, but it wasn’t enough as Babson scored two goals in the final period to secure the victory. The team’s next contest was a matchup with Trinity, who they bested 3-2 earlier in the season. Unfortunately, this rematch did not end the same way for the Mammoths, as the Bantams won 3-1 at Orr Rink and the Mammoths fell to 5-5-1 in NESCAC play and 6-8-1 overall. The Mammoths’ lone goal came from Merrill at the 13:50 mark of the third period. Dachille continued his stellar play in this game, stopping all 15 shots he faced

in the first period and recording his fourth 25+ save game of the season.

The Mammoths’ final contest of January came against Wesleyan. The Mammoths came out of the gates hot, jumping out to a 2-0 lead after the first period. The Mammoths started with goals from Greg McGunigle ’23 and Kuzma, but Wesleyan outscored the Mammoths 3-0 the rest of the way and took home a 3-2 win. With the loss, the Mammoths fell to 6-9-1 overall and 5-6-1 in NESCAC play.

The Mammoths looked to rebound from their loss to the Cardinals on Saturday, Feb. 5, against Bowdoin and Sunday, Feb. 6, against Colby in another set of NESCAC rematches. On Saturday, the Mammoths traveled to Brunswick and ended the afternoon by beating the Polar Bears with a score of 5-3. After going to 1-0 early in the game, Kuzma continued his streak of good

form, netting two goals in total. Bobby Luca ’25 recorded his second goal of the season soon after. McGinnis and Wrenn also scored in the win.

The Mammoths then followed up the dominating offensive performance with a stellar defensive one, pitching a shutout against 15th-ranked Colby to finish the weekend. Dachille was the team’s MVP in this one, saving all 32 shots he faced. A goal by Merrill with 3:10 to go in the second period would prove to be the difference in the game, which ultimately ended in a 1-0 Mammoths win.

With the 2-0 weekend, the Mammoths move to 8-9-2 overall and 7-6-1 in NESCAC play. They will return to the ice on Friday, Feb. 11, taking on Connecticut College at 7 p.m. in New London, before closing out the season on the road against Tufts, and at home versus Middlebury and rival Williams.

The Amherst Student • February 9, 2022

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Swim and Dive Teams Off To Strong Start Violet Glickman ’25 Staff Writer Women’s Swim and Dive Union College: The women’s swim and dive team traded bubbly and confetti for bubbles and chlorine this New Year, ringing it in style in Pratt Pool during the first meet of 2022. Facing off against Union College on Jan. 1, the Mammoths dominated in their first meet in almost a month, finishing with a final score of 145-102 and sweeping five separate events. Cora Spelke ’25, Ali LaCroix ’25, Grace Walker ’24, and captain Marie Fagan ’22 snagged first place in the 200-yard medley relay and paved the way for two other Amherst teams to place second and third. Megan Lee ’25 demonstrated her endurance coming in first place in the 1,000-yard freestyle. Lauren Eng ’24 logged her first collegiate time in the 200 free and took first place. Adams led the way for the fifth Amherst sweep of the day, winning in the 100 free. Sabrina Comess ’24 and Sophie Kubik ’23 both got their first wins of the season, and Eng, Lee, and Jessica Gordon ’23 won two individual races each to complete the Mammoths’ stellar team performance.

Williams: On Jan. 8, the Mammoths headed to Williamstown for the rivalry dual meet against Williams. First-year Sydney Bluestein ’25 made quite the splash — or quite the opposite, if we’re being technical — with her win on the 3-meter board and second place finish on the 1-meter. Teammate Hannah Karlin ’22 secured first place in the 1-meter event and third place in the 3-meter.

While the Mammoths put up a great fight, the battle was ultimately lost, and the meet ended 103-196 in favor of the No. 13-ranked Ephs.

Conn College: Not to be deterred, Amherst bounced back from the tough loss in their home meet against Connecticut College on Jan. 22. Karlin dominated in both the 1-meter and 3-meter competitions.

Katie Hoffman ’25 secured the top spot in the 100 breast, and LaCroix placed first in the 200 breast. LaCroix then went on to join Eng, Fagan, and Grace Tarantola ’23 in the 200-yard medley relay, and secured

the top spot for the Mammoths at 1:49.55. Fagan also racked up points for the Mammoths with her win in the 100-yard fly. The meet was a great way to celebrate the team’s four seniors — Karlin, Fagan, and captains Caroline Needell ’22 and Julia Merrill ’22 — with the 192-106 win bringing their season record to 5-1.

Springfield College: Amherst swim and dive headed to Springfield College on Jan. 30 for their last dual meet of the season. The meet was especially exciting for the women’s diving team, as performances by Karlin and Bluestein qualified them for this year’s NCAA Diving Regionals on the 1-meter board. Tarantola, LaCroix, Fagan, and Walker set the tone for the meet with their win in the 200 medley relay. Fagan went on to win two individual races: the 100-yard freestyle and the 200-yard butterfly. LaCroix once again dominated, winning both the 100 and 200- yard breaststroke. Gordon took first place in both the 200 and 500-yard freestyle, Lee racked up another win for her team in the 400-yard medley, and Hoffman led a Mammoths sweep of the 100-yard butterfly. With the win of 178-105, Amherst women’s swim and dive is ranked 21st nationally.

The women’s team will be heading to NESCACs on Feb. 10, hosted at Colby College. The recent return of the rest of the student body and the subsequent spike in Covid cases means some team members will not be able to compete; however, “the women’s team is staying safe, keeping spirits high, and preparing both mentally and physically for next weekend,” according to Hoffman.

The team remains excited to see their hard work pay off and to compete together one final time this season.

Men’s Swim and Dive Union College: Men’s swim and dive also won their dual meet against Union College, taking the top three places in six of their events. The Mammoths started off by sweeping the first three spots in the 200-yard medley relay, led by the winning quartet of Andrew Yuen ’25, Gary Sun ’22, Nolan Scanlan ’24, and Christian Moy ’23. Yuen then went on to win the 100-yard backstroke,

Photo courtesy of Clarus Studios

Amherst swim and dive has enjoyed a successful start to the 2021-2022 season. leading an Amherst sweep with sophomore Justin Papagelis ’24 and sophomore Jeff Gerber ’24 pulling in behind him. Gabriele Lunardi ’25 set a personal record with his firstplace time of 9:55.81 in the 1,000yard freestyle, and Will Taylor ’24 touched the wall in second place just a few seconds later. Amherst firstyears dominated in the 200-yard free, with Tor Metelmann ’25 and Andrew Bernstein ’25 finishing first and second place, respectively. The Mammoths also took the top three places in the 100-yard breaststroke, thanks largely to captain Malcolm Scannell ’22 with his best time of the season at 58.76. In the 200-yard breaststroke, Sun led yet another sweep, followed by Andy Ni ’24 and Scannell. Gerber collected first place in the 100-yard fly with junior Mitchell Mortenson ’23 and Scanlan snagging the following two spots.

Classmates — and roommates — Yuen and Metelmann had an exceptionally good meet, with the former winning one individual event and two relays and the latter winning two individual events. The Mammoths won every single event at the meet, posting a final score of 149-97.

Williams: The men’s team took their first loss of the season on Jan. 8 against Williams, but found some success with three individual wins.

It started with captain Scott Romeyn ’22, who took first place in the 50yard freestyle. Metelmann won the

200-yard breaststroke, and Lunardi placed first in the 500-yard free.

Romeyn, along with Tyler Knightly ’24, Papagelis, and Taylor, finished just two seconds behind Williams in the 400-yard freestyle relay. The meet ended 101-186 in favor of the Ephs.

Conn College: To kick off the Jan. 22 Senior Day meet against Conn College, Romeyn, Sun, Kevin Ma ’23, and Kenneth Woodsum ’24 finished first in the 200-yard medley relay. Romeyn then went on to win both the 100 and 200-yard free, as well as the 200-yard free relay alongside Ma, Taylor, and Moy. Lunardi demonstrated his versatility by securing wins in both the 500-yard free and 200-yard fly. Yuen won the 100-yard backstroke and Loveless took the win in the 100-yard breaststroke. Metelmann finished first in the 200-yard breaststroke, and his time of 53.07 in the 100-yard medley broke the pool record previously set by Tristan So ’21 in 2020 by one one-hundredth of a second.

The men’s team is currently without their team’s lone diver, who is spending the spring abroad, meaning the team headed into the dual meet already down 26 points. Firstyears Yuen and Metelmann spoke on the team’s performance against the Camels, with Yuen noting that “[Conn College] had some fast guys and some increased depth, especially this year, and we were coming off

the peak of our training in season.”

The win paid tribute to the team’s five seniors: Romeyn, Scannell, Peter Baird ’22, Jack Dengler ’22, and Austin Lee ’22.

Springfield College: After their meet against MIT on Jan. 29 was canceled due to inclement weather, the team took on Springfield College the next day. The Mammoths again defeated the Pride 162-118.

The team began with a first-place finish by Ma, Sun, Woodsum, and Romeyn in the 200-yard medley relay. Romeyn also took first place in both the 100 and 200-yard freestyle races, with the Mammoths sweeping the 100 free. Woodsum won both the 100-yard backstroke and butterfly. Knightly won the 400-yard individual medley, and Metelmann racked up another 100-yard breaststroke win. Fighting to clinch the win early on, Ma powered his way to a victory in the 50-yard freestyle with Gerber securing second, the two of them clocking times of 21.89 and 22.57, respectively. The 200yard backstroke brought a collegiate victory for Dengler who claimed his first-ever gold in 2:00.45. Sophomores Ni and Loveless also swept the first two places in the 200-yard breaststroke, with Ni taking his first collegiate win in 2:14.75.

The men’s team will follow the women’s team to NESCACs, also held at Colby College, a week later than their counterparts, on Feb. 17.

The Amherst Student • February 9, 2022

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Men’s Basketball Seeks Improvement From Winter Ryan McIntyre ’25 Staff Writer After beginning the season on an undefeated 8-0 run, Amherst men’s basketball came back from their shortened winter break looking to build upon their early success. While they have faced some tough tests, they now boast a 15-6 overall record and sit at 5-3 in conference play heading into the final stretch of the regular season.

The Mammoths suffered their first loss of the season against Babson College on New Year’s Eve, falling to the Beavers by a score of 70-59. The game was tight heading into the second half when a late three-pointer from Garrett Day ’22 made it 4946 Mammoths. However, it was all Babson from then on, as they went on a 12-0 run and didn’t look back.

Despite the loss, Day had a monster 35-point performance, and Ryker Vance ’25 controlled the defensive end with four blocks.

Looking to get back into the win column, the Mammoths matched up against a formidable Wesleyan team.

In what turned out to be a wild game, Amherst fell to the Cardinals 94-85 in triple overtime. Day led the way with 32 points, and Michael Schretter ’23 contributed 13 of his own. Ten different Amherst players recorded a basket in a complete team effort that fell just short. Although Wesleyan is a NESCAC opponent, this game did not count toward either team’s conference record but was played as a part of the “Little Three” Championship that is contested every year between Amherst, Williams, and Wesleyan.

The Mammoths officially opened up NESCAC play on the road at Middlebury College on Jan. 7. Both teams started off cold, shooting a combined 2 for 17 in the opening minutes. However, both teams soon got comfortable, offenses began to flow, and the game was knotted at 31-31 at the half. It stayed tight for the majority of the second half, but with 2:42 to go in the game, Middlebury took a 63-55 lead and went on to defeat the Mammoths 78-64. Will Scherer ’25 nearly notched a double-double with 12 points on 6-for-7 shooting and nine rebounds. Canin

Reynolds ’25 added 15 points in the loss.

The Mammoths returned to Massachusetts with little time to dwell on the loss, as they traveled to No. 17 Williams the next day. Similar to the Middlebury game, this contest was a back-and-forth affair in the first half, with neither team able to pull away. In the second half, however, the Mammoths began to create some separation. Senior captain Grant Robinson ’22 scored 20 of his game-high 27 points in the second half and shot 14 for 14 at the freethrow line to help the Mammoths keep the game tight. Free throws proved to be the difference-maker, as the Mammoths shot 23 for 26 from the charity stripe, while Williams went 4 for 7. At the final horn, Amherst handed Williams their first loss of the season with a 73-65 win.

Sitting at .500 in NESCAC play, Amherst returned to their home floor on Jan. 14 against Bates. The Mammoths’ resiliency was on display as they came all the way back from an 11-point deficit and tied the game at 57-57 on a pull-up jump shot by Robinson. Amherst held the Bobcats without a field goal for the final seven minutes of the game and closed out on an 18-2 run to complete a 63-58 comeback win. Robinson chipped in 23 points, while Day contributed 11 points and Dan Schlakman ’24 tallied 10 points to join his teammates in double-figures.

The Mammoths remained at home for another NESCAC matchup against Tufts the following day, Jan. 15. While Amherst led by as much as 12 in the first half, they couldn’t hang onto their lead, falling by a score of 74-66. Tufts took advantage of their dominance on the offensive glass, turning 12 offensive rebounds into 17 second-chance points. Day had 18 points and shot a perfect 8 for 8 from the charity stripe. Robinson also added 14 points, and Noah Helmke ’25 contributed nine to pace the Mammoths.

Amherst looked to bounce back with a mid-week, non-conference rematch against Williams on Jan. 19.

The Mammoths went on a 14-3 run to tie the game at 40 apiece with 11 minutes to go, but the Ephs quickly responded with back-to-back threes

to retake the lead. They maintained their lead the rest of the way to defeat Amherst 60-54. Robinson and Day ended with 17 and 12 points, respectively.

On Jan. 22, the Mammoths traveled to upstate New York to battle the Hamilton Continentals in what shaped out to be quite a low-scoring affair. Amherst shot just 32 percent from the floor, and Hamilton didn’t shoot much better at 35 percent.

Robinson hit two free throws with just six seconds remaining to give the Mammoths a 53-52 lead. However, Hamilton managed to tip in a rebound right as time expired, defeating the Mammoths 54-53.

Following the heartbreaking loss, the Mammoths traveled to Brooklyn, N.Y., to take on Pratt Institute.

Amherst was in control from the jump, leading 46-13 at the half with three-pointers by Tim McCarthy ’22 and C.J. Mitchell ’25 capping the frame. Thirteen different players tallied a basket, and the Mammoths drained 17 threes en route to a lopsided 90-29 victory. Pratt’s 29 points were the fewest allowed by an Amherst men’s basketball team in 40 years.

Looking to build on their momentum, the Mammoths traveled to Wesleyan on Jan. 28 for a crucial NESCAC showdown. With the game tied 75-75 with a few seconds remaining in regulation, the Mammoths had a good chance to win it, but their shots fell just short. The Wesleyan crowd seemed awfully excited to make it to the overtime period, but their excitement would prove to be short-lived. Down one with 10 seconds to go, Robinson lined up a three and drilled it to give the Mammoths the lead. The Cardinals came down the floor anxious to tie the score, but their hopes were thwarted by a McCarthy steal that sealed the 83-81 win for the Mammoths.

The Mammoths didn’t have much time to rest after Friday’s thriller before a Sunday evening matchup at Misericordia University on Jan. 30. With just under five minutes to play, Amherst went from down three to up four after Robinson scored seven unanswered points in a row. The Mammoths didn’t relinquish the lead from there, helped

Photo courtesy of Clarus Studios

Guard Garrett Day '22 pulls up for a jump shot. by key plays from Beluolisah Oranye ’24 down the stretch. Robinson scored 19 points and went 3 for 5 from beyond the arc, Schretter had nine points and 10 rebounds, and Oranye scored nine and grabbed nine boards as well.

The Mammoths continued the second half of their NESCAC campaign on Saturday, Feb. 5, returning to Lefrak Gymnasium at home to take on Colby. Before the game, the team took the time to honor their four seniors: Day, Robinson, McCarthy, and Devonn Allen ’22. The game itself saw these seniors go out in style, with all four starting the game and scoring for the Mammoths during a contest in which they never trailed.

With a four-point lead late in the second half, the Mammoths turned on the jets, going on an 11-2 run to put the game away. Day had 27 points in his 100th career game, including recording his 1,000th career point on a three-pointer midway through the second half.

Not resting on their Senior Day success, the Mammoths returned the following day, Feb. 6, to take on Bowdoin in another crucial NESCAC matchup. Again, the Mammoths jumped out to an early lead that they wouldn’t relinquish. A Robinson jumper with 8:34 to go in the first half gave the Mammoths their largest lead of the period at 13 points,

but the Polar Bears stormed back, cutting the lead to three at the break.

The second half saw the Mammoths regain their momentum; a Day three-pointer put the lead back at eight points with 13 minutes to go.

The lead would stay at eight until two minutes of intentional fouling at the end of the half drove the final score to 68-56 in favor of the Mammoths.

Day continued his hot streak, posting a team-high 24 points, a total that was matched by Robinson. With the win, the team moved to 15-6 overall and 5-3 in the NESCAC. If these past 14 games showed us anything, it’s that this team is comfortable with adversity, which will suit them quite well come playoff time. Robinson was recently awarded the NESCAC Player of the Week Award for his performances against Wesleyan and Misericordia, averaging 16.5 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 7.5 assists per game during that stretch. With the team firing on all cylinders, the Mammoths head into Hartford for a matchup against Trinity on Feb. 11. They will look to continue their hot streak and gain some ground in the NESCAC standings. Following Trinity, Amherst has one contest remaining in the regular season, against conference opponent Connecticut College, before the NESCAC Tournament begins on Feb. 16.

The Amherst Student • February 9, 2022

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Track and Field Finds Success Early in Season Leo Kamin ’25 Managing Sports Editor Amherst track and field found success on both the team and individual levels during the January term. Both the men’s and women’s teams qualified a number of athletes for the New England Championships. Both squads also claimed first place overall in the Middlebury Winterfell.

On Jan. 15, Amherst, Williams, and Wesleyan met in Middletown, Conn., for the annual Little Three Championships. With all three teams depleted by Covid-19 protocols, there was no team scoring at the event, and thus no team was declared champion. Individual competition continued, though, giving the Mammoths a chance to compete in their first indoor meet in almost two years.

Kolya Markov-Riss ’24 took first in the men’s 600-meter. His time qualified him for the New England Championships at the end of the month, along with Charlie Clary ’24 and Jack O’Hara ’25, who came in a few seconds behind.

First years dominated the longer events for the women’s team. Julia Schor ’25 won the 800 in her track debut. Less than a second behind her was fellow first year Ava Zielinski ’25, who came third. Sidnie Kulik ’25 won the 3,000-meter race by almost 17 seconds. All three will be running at New Englands.

The men found success in the distance events, too. Wilson Spurrell ’24 came second in the 800-meter; Nick Edwards-Levin ’25 (Managing Sports Editor) came third in the mile; and Ajay Sarathy ’22 won the 3,000-meter contest by more than eight seconds. All three qualified for New Englands.

In the pole vault, Troy Colleran ’22 claimed second place for the men, breaking a 44-year school record in the process. He cleared 4.6 meters — more than 15 feet, roughly the equivalent of Shaquille O’Neal standing on Yao Ming’s shoulders.

Jordan Hecker ’25 and Mia Bawendi ’24 qualified for New Englands in the women’s event.

Julia Zacher ’25 took first place

and qualified in the high jump with a mark of 1.62 meters, or around 5 feet 4 inches — 4 inches higher than her closest competitor. Fellow first year Eliza Cardwell ’25 won the long jump, qualifying alongside Muffie Mazambani ’24 and Samantha Tichelaar ’22.

The success continued into the following weekend, as the Mammoths headed north to the Middlebury Winterfell in Vermont on Jan. 22. The women finished first in a field of 10, while the men came first of nine. Both fields included a Division I program — the University of Vermont.

The men’s team qualified 11 new athletes for New Englands. Henry Buren ’22 took first in the men’s 60-meter. Adding to his qualification in the 800-meter the week before, Spurrell came second in the 600; he will race in both events at the end of the month.

Owen Daily ’23 won the mile.

Keon Mazdisnian ’23 came just milliseconds ahead of Theo Dassin ’24 in the 5,000 — both will run at New Englands. Colleran and Jack Trent ’23 qualified in the 60-meter hurdles.

The Mammoths dominated the jumping events. Camden Heafitz ’25 edged out Colleran in the high jump. The two will compete at New Englands — the third event in which Colleran has qualified. Chris Gong ’23 won the long jump, jumping more than 22 feet; Kelechi Eziri ’23 took the triple jump.

The women continued their dominance in the longer events in Vermont. Anna Madden ’22, Casie Eifrig ’25, and Juanita Jaramillo ’22 finished first, second, and fourth respectively in the 400-meter. All three runners got under the one-minute mark and qualified. Repeating the pattern, Katie Lingen ’22, Zielinsky, and Ava Tillman ’23 came first, second, and fourth in the 600-meter, all qualifying. Schor placed second in the 1,000-meter, adding a second New Englands qualification. Margo Pedersen ’25, three seconds behind her, qualified as well. Sophia Wolmer ’23 (Editor-at-Large) and Mary Kate McGranahan ’23 came first and third in the 5,000-meter.

Cardwell added a first-place in

Photo courtesy of Amherst Track & Field

Wilson Spurrell '24E and Kolya Markov-Riss '24 sprint to finish the 800 meter run. the 60-meter hurdles and a third in the triple jump to her long-jump success the week before. Eve Giancarlo ’25 came second in the pole vault, breaking the school record with a height of 3.4 meters, or more than 11 feet.

At the Tufts Cupid Challenge, held Feb. 4-5, the Mammoths saw much tougher competition. Nonetheless, they enjoyed another flurry of New Englands qualifications and personal bests.

It was another successful weekend for the middle-distance trio of Madden, Jaramillo, and Eifrig, who came second, third, and fourth in the 400-meter. Lingren joined them for the 4x400 relay; the quartet paced the field, posting a time of 3:59.22.

Cardwell improved on her triple jump mark from the week before, covering 18 feet, 3 inches — good for third place and qualification.

In the longer events, Wolmer took third in the 3,000. She ran a little under 1.9 miles — what is roughly the distance between Amherst College and the massive skyscraper library at UMass — in 10:13.39. The time qualified her for New Englands.

Sylvan Wold ’25 ran the 1,000 meters

in 3:08.05, good for fourth place and a New Englands bid.

The event saw Amherst’s pentathletes compete for the first time this season. Trinteje Nydam ’24 came second, with a combined score of 2,866. Annelise Romero ’23 posted a score of 2,309. Romero won the shot put within the heptathlon — she threw the 8.8-pound ball 30 feet, 5 inches.

For the men, Buren qualified in the 200-meter, with a time of 22.81, good for third. Spurrell claimed victory in the 800-meter, running a 1:58.01, his collegiate best and first win as a Mammoth. Markov-Riss added a second New Englands qualification in that event, finishing a half second behind Spurrell in fourth.

The 1,000-meter saw a whole slate of mammoths qualify for New Englands: Aydin Williams ’23, Gent Malushaga ’25, Alexander Rich ’25, and Robert Innes-Gold ’22. Sarathy picked up another qualification, running the 5,000 meters in 14:58.47 — a personal best. Dassin and Oliver Spiva ’24 qualified in the 3,000, finishing sixth and eighth, respectively.

Eziri picked up a second-straight triple-jump victory and added the

long jump to his New Englands schedule, posting a personal-best 6.57 meters. He finished seventh overall.

Alex Robin ’25 cleared 4.15 meters in the pole vault — good for sixth place and a berth at New Englands.

Perhaps the highlight of the event for the men was the heptathlon.

Reigning New England Champion in the heptathlon, Colleran added to early-season success, winning the seven-part event. His score of 4,952 was one of the 10 best Division III performances of the year. Trent finished behind him overall but won the 60-meter hurdles. A personal-best 4,444 points for Trent earned him qualification.

The Mammoths have just two regular-season meets remaining in the 2022 indoor season. They are set to make a second trip to Vermont this coming Saturday, Feb. 12, for the Middlebury Field and Track Meet, before the Ruddy Invitational at Bowdoin on Feb. 19. Amherst athletes have just two more chances to punch their tickets to New Englands, which will also be held at Middlebury on Feb. 26 — after that, Nationals awaits in early March.

The Amherst Student • February 9, 2022

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Women’s Hockey Has Inconsistent Winter Nick Edwards-Levin ’25 Managing Sports Editor The Mammoths’ January began as many teams’ winter plans did — with cancellations and postponements. The team’s first three scheduled competitions were each either postponed or canceled. Even so, the Mammoths were not deterred.

Immediately snapping a threegame losing streak from before winter break, Amherst defeated Connecticut College on Jan. 8 in a definitive 4-1 away performance.

Thirteen minutes into the second period, Carley Daly ’23 broke the deadlock with her third goal of the season. In the third period, a power-play goal by Rylee Glennon ’24 five minutes into the period opened the floodgates. Less than three minutes later, team captain Angelina Wiater ’22 tacked on another goal, and with less than five minutes remaining, first-year forward Anna Baxter ’25 found the goal again to widen the lead. The Mammoths were unable to record the shutout as, just over a minute later, Conn forward Melissa Alexander scored their only goal of the game, putting the game at its final score.

On Jan. 11, the Mammoths defeated University of Massachusetts Boston in an away game, winning a tight contest in overtime. The final score is misleadingly close, as Amherst dominated shots in the game, outshooting UMass Boston 11-7 in the first period, 21-5 in the second, and 16-10 in the third. After conceding one goal in the first period, Glennon and Stephanie Nomicos ’22 scored to put the Mammoths up 2-1 after two periods of play. The Beacons equalized just past the halfway mark of the final period to send the game to overtime. The Mammoths made extremely quick work of overtime, though, scoring after just eight seconds to secure their second win in a row by a score of 3-2.

The Mammoths saved their very best for conference rivals Williams, lengthening their winning streak to three games with a 5-0 trouncing on Jan. 14 in Williamstown. Kate Pohl ’23 scored two goals in the rout. The Mammoths’ strength on the power

play was clear, as they scored both goals in the first period while the Ephs were shorthanded. Pohl and Avery Flynn ’23 were the goalscorers in the first period, with their goals coming only two minutes apart. Pohl added another with the sole goal in the second period, and Jayna Park ’24 and Daly were the lone goalscorers in the final period en route to their win.

A day later, on Jan. 15, the Ephs sought revenge in a rematch, defeating the Mammoths in Amherst 1-0, snapping their win streak. Amherst was unable to capitalize on any of their three power play opportunities in the game, and was outshot 25-32 over the 60 minutes. The decisive goal, from Williams’ Brianna Hill, came early in the third period.

Amherst goalie Caitlin Walker ’22 made an impressive 32 saves in the game, her second 30-plus save game this season. With the loss, Amherst’s record fell to 5-7-0, and 2-6-0 in conference play.

The result was no better their next time on the ice, as the Mammoths lost 0-1 in a tight competition at No. 9 Norwich University.

Although Amherst outshot Norwich 33-26, Norwich goalie Alexa Berg recorded the Cadets’ first shutout of the season, saving every shot that was leveled at her. While Amherst was unable to capitalize on any of their three power-play opportunities, they successfully killed their only penalty of the contest and proved that they could hang with the country’s best teams, holding a top-10 team to only one goal.

Amherst’s next two games, both conference matchups against Trinity, were both postponed, giving the Mammoths a week-long break until their Jan. 25 competition against Connecticut College. This break was effective; the Mammoths returned to the win column on Jan. 25, defeating the Camels 2-1 in a home victory on the ice at Orr Rink. Amherst got off to a good start, with Wiater scoring the first goal of the game with 1:32 left in the first period. But Conn would not be shut out, equalizing with a goal eight minutes into the second period. Nearly halfway through the third period, though,

Photo courtesy of Clarus Studios

Defenseman Avery Flynn '23 handles the puck in a game against Middlebury.

Amherst regained the lead thanks to a goal from Glennon. This lead remained intact through the finish, as Amherst returned to their winning ways and began another unbeaten streak.

On Jan. 31, Amherst defeated NESCAC and Little Three rival Wesleyan 2-1 in an away victory.

Both goals for Amherst came on the power play from junior defenseman Flynn. She scored 15 minutes into the game on a rebound of Glennon’s initial shot to give Amherst the advantage. In the second period, with only 27 seconds remaining, Flynn scored again — this time on a slapshot assisted by Glennon. Flynn’s stellar game seemed to motivate her teammates: in the third period, the Mammoths were able to kill a rare five-on-three power play. But they were unable to keep a clean sheet, with Wesleyan scoring just 1:12 from the close. The victory saw Amherst’s overall record rise to .500, with seven wins and seven losses on the season.

A day later, on Feb. 1, the Mammoths defeated Wesleyan in another away victory, this time completing the shutout with a 2-0 win. Amherst took the lead just 2:36 into the game with a goal from Alyssa Xu ’25. Walker stopped all 27 shots she

saw during the game to maintain Amherst’s 1-0 lead. With just 45 seconds left in the game, Wiater scored to double the Mammoths’ lead and see the game out. The win brought Amherst’s conference record to an even five wins and five losses, and put their overall record above .500 for the first time this season.

On Amherst’s Senior Day, Feb. 5, the Mammoths finished with a 2-2 tie on home ice against the Bowdoin Polar Bears. After a scoreless first period, Bowdoin opened the scoring with a goal 11:58 into the second period. Five minutes later, though, Amherst capitalized on a power play with a shot from Glennon into the top corner, evening the game at 1-1. In the third period, with 10 minutes remaining, Amherst took the lead with Pohl tipping the puck past Bowdoin goalie Dani Marquez.

But the lead wouldn’t last long, as three minutes later the Bears tied the game into overtime. Despite chances for both sides, neither team scored in the five-minute, three-on-three overtime, and both teams left the ice with a tie.

The next day, Feb. 6, the Mammoths dominated the Bears, winning 3-0 in a conference shutout on home ice. Like the day before, the

first period remained scoreless, but midway through the second period, it was the Mammoths who scored first, with Glennon taking advantage of the power play for the second time in two days. Just a minute later, Xu redirected a Glennon pass for the second goal of the game. But the Mammoths weren’t done. With 1:50 left in the third period, Julia Weiss ’25 scored an empty-net goal to seal victory for the Mammoths.

On Feb. 8, the Mammoths continued their homestand against Trinity College. The Bantams jumped out to a 2-0 lead, but the Mammoths fired back with two third period goals. Xu converted first to get the Mammoths on the board, and Glennon recorded a power play goal to even the score with six minutes to go.

The Bantams responded by scoring the game-winner with two minutes left to stop the comeback effort and defeat the Mammoths 3-2.

The loss leaves the Mammoths with their current record standing at 9-8-1 overall and 6-6-1 in the NESCAC, putting them in fourth place heading into an important stretch of games to close out the regular season. Amherst will be back in action for a rematch against Trinity in Orr Rink on Feb. 9 and 7 p.m.

The Amherst Student • February 9, 2022

Sports

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Squash’s J-Term Highlighted by Chang’s Perfect Game Hedi Skali ’25 Staff Writer Women: After their devastating 0-9 loss to Drexel University on Nov. 21, the Mammoths resumed their season in January with six dominating victories.

On Jan. 11, the Mammoths headed to Maine to face the Bowdoin Polar Bears. Daksha Pathak ’23 led the ladder in a difficult win against Bowdoin’s Amanda Cowhey. The Mammoths added to Pathak’s prowess, sweeping the rest of the ladder and recording zero dropped games.

The team stayed in Maine the following day, facing the Colby Mules on Jan. 12. Colby featured a ladder of only underclassmen. The Mammoths capitalized, winning all 27 games in a 9-0 win.

The Mammoths traveled to Bates on Jan. 13. While the score was closer, key individual sweeps from Lilly Soroko ’22, Lauren Weil ’23, and Isabelle Tilney-Sandberg ’25 in the middle of the ladder were essential in Amherst’s 6-3 victory.

The following weekend, Amherst hosted Hamilton and Haverford in the Pioneer Valley Invitational.

The Mammoths swept both games, beating both the Continentals and the Fords by 9-0 scorelines. The

Mammoths’ dominance was evident all weekend, headlined by Supriya Chang ’25 winning her match in just over ten minutes, without losing a single point.

In their next time out on the courts, a commanding 8-1 victory over Middlebury on Jan. 19 ended a decade-long losing streak to the Panthers, and extended their winning streak to six matches. However, that hot streak would come to an end only a few days later, with an 1-8 loss to then-No. 12 Tufts, and another brutal loss to Harvard, the No. 1 team in the country.

With the annual Little Three Championship against Williams and Wesleyan postponed, the Mammoths didn’t take the floor again until Feb. 1. Soroko, Keeley Osborn ’22, Emma Spencer ’23E (Managing Photo Editor), and Margaret Werner ’22 were honored in their final appearance at the Davenport Squash Courts in their loss to No. 12 Dartmouth.

In their final matchup of the regular season, the Mammoths faced Connecticut College. Led by the DeLalio sisters at the top of the ladder, the team only dropped two games en route to a sweep.

Despite a 10-8 record, the Mammoths enter the postseason ranked 13th in the nation. The ladder’s depth

GAME SCHE DULE

stands as their strength ahead of the NESCAC tournament this weekend.

Sophomore Maggie Pearson ’24 said as much, stating, “Overall our team’s January matches showed us that we should have more faith in ourselves, after going up against [tough] teams like Midd and Bates, we’ve proved that we can compete and win against tough competition, which is a great mindset going into NESCACs this weekend.”

Men: After a short break, the men’s team resumed their season in a difficult 3-6 loss to Bowdoin on Jan. 11. Adam Lichtmacher ’24, Yeshwin Sankuratri ’24, and Andrew Leung ’23E won their matches in the loss.

However, the Mammoths bounced back with a 7-2 win over Colby the very next day. While Robinson Armour ’23E was unable to finish off Jonathan Sosa after a 2-1 start, Nate Mossé ’23 avenged him in his own match, winning at the No. 8 spot in a spectacular 3-2 comeback.

In their narrow 5-4 victory over Bates on Jan. 13, Lichtmater delivered again in another nail-biter. Facing a 0-2 deficit, Lichtmater rebounded to tie the match, winning the third and fourth games by scores of 11-6 and 11-4. Like in the two previous games, Bates’ Ramlee was not able to

FRI

put Lichtmater’s tenacity away in the deciding final game, and Amherst returned from Maine victorious, going 2-1 during their roadtrip.

The men swept Hamilton and Haverford at the Pioneer Valley Invitational on Jan. 15 and 16 in dominating fashion. They lost only three games in a 9-0 sweep of Hamilton, and didn’t drop a single game against Haverford. Against the Continentals, six different Mammoths won their games in 25 minutes or less.

The Mammoths’ burgeoning win streak extended to five after a breezy 7-2 victory over Middlebury on Jan. 19. Lichtmacher, Mossé, Leung, and captain Charlie Sutherby ’23E all swept their matches 3-0 in yet another stellar performance. With their momentous victory, the Mammoths ended a 20-game losing streak against the Panthers, earning their first win against their bitter NESCAC foe since 2008.

However, a three-match Boston road trip provided stiff competition.

In a close contest at MIT, Abhi Gupta ’25 was the only Mammoth to win in straight sets, and a loss in the final match of the day handed the Mammoths a heartbreaking 4-5 loss. Their tough weekend continued the next day, with Sutherby the only victor in an 1-8 loss to Tufts. No. 1 Harvard then swept the Mammoths, ending

SAT

Women's Basketball vs. Trinity, 7 p.m.

Women's Basketball vs. Conn College, 3 p.m.

Men's Basketball @ Trinity, 7 p.m

Men's Basketball @ Conn College, 3 p.m.

Men's Hockey @ Conn College, 7 p.m.

Men's Hockey @ Tufts, 4 p.m.

Women's Hockey vs. Trinity, 7 p.m.

Women's Swim & Dive NESCAC Championships @ Colby

Track & Field Middlebury Field and Track Meet @ Middlebury

THU

Women's Squash NESCAC Championships @ Hamilton

Women's Swim & Dive NESCAC Championships @ Colby

WED

Women's Swim & Dive NESCAC Championships @ Colby

Women's Squash NESCAC Championships @ Hamilton

Amherst’s road trip with another loss.

Dartmouth visited for the Mammoths' final home match of the season on Feb. 1. Despite a Dartmouth sweep, spirits were high, and the Mammoths fought hard in every match in honor of their graduating seniors Armour, Leung, Sutherby, Shayan Hussain ’22, and Pavan Nagaraj ’22 who were honored before their last match at the Davenport Squash courts.

An 8-1 win over Conn College on Feb. 2 offered a much-needed confidence boost to end the regular season. Numbers 2-9 on the ladder showed no mercy, winning all 24 games in a rout of the Camels.

The Mammoths kicked off their NESCAC tournament run against Bates on Feb. 5. The match could not have been closer, with six of nine matchups going to five games. The entire match ultimately hinged on the final matchup of the day between Sankuratri and Bates’ Jairaj Singh.

Sankuratri pushed the match to five sets, fought off four match points, and had three chances to seal the win. In the end, though, he fell short, losing the final game 19-17. However, the Mammoths found some solace, closing the season with backto-back consolation bracket victories, taking down Hamilton 8-1 and Tufts 7-2 to claim 5th place.

SUN

Women's Swim & Dive NESCAC Championships @ Colby Women's Squash NESCAC Championships @ Hamilton

MON

Women's Basketball vs. New Jersey City College, 6 p.m.

TUE

Women's Hockey vs. University of New England, 7 p.m.