Volume 152, Issue 22

Presidential Scholar Saidiya Hartman read excerpts from her unreleased book, “The Crow Jane Chronicles.”

Hartman Satirizes Institutional Antiracism

Peter Finnerty ’26

Staff Writer

Presidential Scholar Saidiya Hartman, a professor of English and comparative literature at Columbia University, came to Johnson Chapel Thursday, April 6, as part of the President's Colloquium on Race and Racism and the Center for Humanistic Inquiry’s “Black: Here and Now!” Symposium.

The event featured a reading of Hartman’s work and an opportunity for students to ask critical questions surrounding the pitfalls of contemporary antiracism and institutional co-optation.

The recipient of a MacArthur "Genius Grant" and a Guggenheim Fellowship, among other

FEATURES 5

Housing Selection Resurfaces Familiar Concerns

Jerry Levy ’26 Staff Writer

This year’s housing selection process, which began on April 11 and will run through April 13, resurfaced long-standing student concerns about the process. Students especially lamented the disparities between the quality of housing options and social difficulties created by the housing process.

awards, much of Hartman's prior work focuses on recovering the inner lives and agency of enslaved people and their descendants.

Hartman gave the audience a glimpse into an in-progress novel titled “The Crow Jane Chronicles,” reading a segment titled “Crow Jane Makes a Modest Proposal to Improve Race Relations.” The novel follows protagonist Crow Jane — whose name parodies the infamous Jim Crow — as she (unsuccessfully) attempts to combat racism through corporate talks and an emphasis on civility.

“I suppose I could apologize in advance for this raw, undisciplined writing,” Hartman said in her opening remarks. “But I won’t apologize. At least not here, on Nonotuck land, at Amherst Colle-

Fresh Faculty: Sonia Chajet Wides ’25 speaks with Becky Hewitt, assistant professor of environmental studies.

ge, with the tiresome and melancholy topic of race and racism.”

Hartman describes the character of Crow Jane as an unrelenting pragmatist who fails to imagine possibilities beyond surface-level change.

“Reform and recalibration are promising words,” she said, “unlike terms like abolition, or reparations, or sovereignty, which are guaranteed to stymy and derail the conversation every time.”

Despite her work in the field of race relations, Crow Jane is one who, in the name of pragmatism, tacitly accepts the status quo.

“Crow Jane, like other realists, finds it easier to imagine the rapture than the end of the racial order,” Hartman said.

Hartman’s story expressed a

OPINION 8

sardonic skepticism to the bureaucratic platitudes of corporate antiracist work.

“[Crow Jane’s] audience neither expects nor wants a real answer. So they leave, saying that she suggests, ‘The most important thing is to establish a commission to study the problem, then produce a white paper, releasing the report with the requisite pomp and circumstance, detail the long course ahead, and what will be required of all of us, use the words pipeline and inclusion,” Hartman droned to a laughing crowd, “assure everyone that reform is doable and within reach and that it won’t be painful, or jeopardize anything.”

Continued on page 3

When Financial Aid Fails: Willow Delp ’26 examines a “glaring gap” in the college’s financial aid policies.

The concerns come in the wake of last year’s housing selection process, which controversially ended the practice of “room groups,” meaning that students were no longer able to receive housing assignments alongside their friends. Separately, over 200 students that year were stranded on a waitlist, unable to receive an assignment until the summer, although Director of Housing and Operations Marie Lalor said that a waitlist of this size is not expected to recur this year.

More broadly, though, the selection process has been in flux since the pandemic upended the typical patterns of campus in 2020. Matt Vitelli ’24, who entered Amherst as a member of the class of 2023, said that the housing process had felt different every year he had been at the college.

“It’s just always confusing as to what’s going to happen next. Like, what can I expect for next year?” Vitelli said.

Continued on page 2

ARTS&LIVING 11

“Hope Springs”: Dustin Copeland ’25 reviews the student play “Hope Springs,” a thesis project starring and directed by a theater major.

Photo by Jesse Gwilliam courtesy of Amherst College

News POLICE LOG

>>April 5, 2023

9:10 p.m. Valentine Loading Dock

ACPD responded to a suspicious person trying to get into someone's vehicle. The individual realized they

were trying to gain access to the wrong vehicle.

>>April 6, 2023

2:17 p.m. Kirby Theater ACPD took a report of a minor motor vehicle accident.

>>April 7, 2023

12:25 a.m. Charles Pratt ACPD responded to a beam alarm, which was activated by students hanging decorations.

>>April 7, 2023

1:30 p.m. Barrett Hill ACPD responded to a report of a driver that was possibly

under the influence of drugs. The driver was gone upon arrival.

>>April 7, 2023

8:16 a.m. College Street

ACPD stopped a motor vehicle on College Street as the operation was impeding traffic.

>>April 8, 2023

2:23 a.m. Moore Hall

ACPD spoke with a student about suspicious activity on their cell phone.

>>April 8, 2023

9:33 a.m. Campus Grounds

ACPD took a larceny report after a college sign was reported missing.

College Anticipates Smaller Housing Waitlist This Year

Continued from page 1

With regard to the housing process itself, many students cited concerns about the disparities between different housing options. Tyler Community Advisor Nick Torres ’25 pointed to maintenance issues, especially among the dorms on the hill.

“The facilities are definitely not equal. Tyler is just in disrepair. Our bathrooms are not appropriately sized,” Torres said.

George Blalock, the Community Development Coordinator for First Year Quad East, said that the location of the hill dorms can also contribute to student dissatisfaction. Dorms like Tyler, Plimpton, and Marsh, he said, are located in areas with poorer lighting than the rest of campus, along with occasionally treacherous conditions in winter when the hill becomes sleek with ice.

“[The Tyler hill environment] creates this habit or this routine, where you go to your room to sleep, you come out, go to class, and you go right back,” Blalock said. “You don’t really have a lot of incentive to engage with the campus, or you don’t really feel as a part of it as you should being a student who’s here, and I don't think that's something that can be solved within a year or two. I think that’s a long term planning process.”

However, concerns over housing extend beyond the hill dorms. Students also lamented the difficulty of being able to live alongside friends, especially with the loss of the option

to select as a group beginning last year.

Luke Kline ’26 said that the selection process had created some difficulties for his social circle.

“In my friend group we have a bunch of different people who all would definitely be happy being roommates,” he said. “It’s definitely difficult, especially if there’s an odd number of people. I know that people were still stressing about finding roommates recently.”

Kline said that larger housing groups might fix some of these problems. “It would be nice to be on a floor with a lot of your friends,” he said. “Fewer people will be forced to room with somebody that they barely know at all.”

Gent Malushaga ’25 expressed his worry that a lack of control over particular campus spaces since the end of room groups has made it difficult for students to connect with both their living space and each other.

“If everyone who wanted to had their own space to do what they wanted with, people would have many more options socially," Malushaga said.

Blalock echoed this sentiment, citing the Greenways as a space intended to be a social hub but that is not utilized as such. Blalock argues that instead of being a neutral meeting hub like Frost, the Greenways created an isolated separate community, one that is hard for others in the larger community to engage with.

One measure that could reduce the issues with housing, Torres

said, is improved communication between the Office of Student Affairs (OSA) and students. “Everything needs to be more simple,” he added. “If OSA and the CDCs had an easier line of communication with each other, everything would be better.”

From Blalock’s perspective, a key issue is high staff turnover rate.

“Without the staff and retention needed, we kind of go backwards on any type of consistency that we do build up,” Blalock said. “I think the longest CDC here has been here for maybe three years now. That’s not even a full cohort of students.”

Despite the persistence of many

housing problems, waitlisting issues appear to be lessening. Lalor, the director of housing and operations, projects that this year will see far fewer students relegated to the summer waitlist.

“Instead of seeing 209 students on the waitlist like last year, I am anticipating fewer than 75 this year,” Lalor said. “Unfortunately, there is a necessary waitlist every year following the Housing Selection Process and then, over the summer, many spaces become available or are reconfigured.”

Lalor explained further that waitlisted students should remain in communication with OSA, and

stay vigilant so as to secure their spot.

“Processing room changes and swaps over the summer is a priority for us,” she said. “So, to all affected students, please check your email, complete the required forms, and keep in touch! We aim to enter the fall semester with as many students ‘settled in’ as possible.”

According to Blalock, reducing the issues with housing is in the interest of students and staff alike.

“At the end of the day, making students happy makes our jobs a little bit easier,” Blalock said. “Whatever makes students happy, we’re willing to do.”

Graphic courtesy of Nina Aagard ’26

Saidiya Hartman Reads Excerpt From Unfinished Novel

Continued from page 1

Hartman repeatedly noted Crow Jane’s eloquence and rhetorical skills, emphasizing that these disguise the true content of her message and the hollowness of her antiracism.

“When Crow Jane restates it, the plan for our obliteration sounds like a promise to do right by us,” Hartman said.

During the question and answer segment, Hartman noted that her work was, in a certain sense, a message to both her and the audience — ironically, Crow

Jane herself even attends a Presidential Scholars talk in the novel.

“I think it’s about the failure of political speech as performative, and really thinking about that,” she said. “So that’s what I was trying to wrestle with as I was poking fun at everyone in this room.”

The bold message and literary skill impressed the audience, who often nodded along or chimed in with support during Hartman’s reading. Mel Arthur ’25 was captivated by Hartman’s engaging reading and presentation style.

“It was like a sermon. She

has a very powerful voice, a very powerful way of speaking and bringing everyone in,” Arthur said.

Arthur also appreciated the nuances of Hartman’s analysis and her self-awareness that she was somewhat mirroring Crow Jane’s institutional participation.

“She had a lot of complex ways of looking at it, a lot of meta-analysis,” Arthur said, adding that the talk drew her into Hartman’s conundrum of “ thinking through what I could do to enact the change or how I can view these systems in a different way.”

The event drew attendees from across the Five College Consortium. Mount Holyoke College student Alex Harbury ’24 found Hartman’s critical stance on institutional co-opting sorely needed.

“Just last week in class, we were talking about how institutionalization and diversity work is something that’s at the core of keeping [institutions] going while co-opting the language of justice, without ever having to change,” Harbury said. “It was really striking how Professor Hartman was bringing that to front and center — it felt really important being

inside this institution and also in many ways despising the institution.”

For Hartman, the most effective attitude for approaching racial injustice is not blind optimism nor nihilism, but one that prioritizes imagination in rethinking how the world is structured and rejecting defeatism.

“Imagination keeps us alive. I think imagination animates the Black struggle for freedom for hundreds of years,” Hartman said. “For me, that’s different than something like optimism and realism.”

Faculty Discuss Budget Cuts, Student Mental Health

Maggie Sher ’26 Senior Staff Writer

In a faculty meeting held on Tuesday, April 4, President Michael Elliott and Dean and Provost of Faculty Catherine Epstein led discussions surrounding impending budget cuts, student mental health and skill levels relative to those observed before the pandemic, and a number of other topics.

In light of anticipated 15 percent budget cuts for all college departments in the 2024 fiscal year — beginning in July — Epstein communicated to faculty the areas where they could cut spending, and encouraged them to be more thoughtful when requesting services from staff. Epstein said that staff are already being told to plan for the impending decrease in funds and resources and reduce programming accordingly.

“Please know that staff are really worried about what happens when they say no to faculty,” Epstein told faculty. “Please consider the power relations or positionality involved when you ask staff to do things.”

According to Epstein, the college can expect less social programming across campus next year as part of decreased spending. Additionally, the registrar’s office will continue to send graduating students their individual diplomas in the mail following Commencement, and hand each graduate a generic ceremonial stand-in during the ceremony. The

practice, initially adopted in 2020 for hygienic purposes, makes the jobs of registrar staff less stressful and time-consuming, Epstein explained.

Epstein emphasized the importance of restoring trust between college employees and the administration, which has apparently dwindled coming out of pandemic restrictions with the launch of Workday and various understaffed departments.

“I urge everyone to take every opportunity that you can to get to know your colleagues, both faculty and staff,” she said. “When we rebuild our community, we will have more accountability.”

The college administration had previously announced that, in light of the cuts, no new staff positions will be created in the 2024 fiscal year and that the hiring process for vacant positions will be stricter moving forward.

But at the April 4 meeting, Professor of Economics Jessica Reyes — citing Elliott’s commitment at a Feb. 7 faculty meeting to only fill positions “critical to the college’s mission” for the next 18 months — questioned whether this new ethos was honored when two open positions for assistant football coaches were posted in an email to faculty from the office of Human Resources.

“Athletics does not appear in the mission statement,” Reyes said. “How could a wide receiver coach possibly be core to the college’s mission?”

She said this question went

unanswered in a letter to the Faculty and Executive Committee (FEC); she prompted Elliott and Epstein for an answer during the meeting. Among Reyes’s other requests for the FEC was a moratorium on “such redundant athletic positions” until the college’s “core mission” is met.

In response, a representative from the FEC said that the funding for assistant coach positions can only be used for such positions, but that the broader question remains whether athletics is core to the college’s mission in light of reduced spending.

Another concern, brought up by Professor of Biology Josef Tra-

pani, was about how professors can support students through mental health struggles continuing out of the pandemic. He requested more programming to help students navigate anxiety levels in the classroom, citing students’ apparent inability to sit through class without “leaving for long periods of time,” which roused knowing laughter from the room.

“It would help to know that there are legitimate reasons why that's happening,” he said. “I have to imagine that there's valid reasons why they can't sit through class.”

Professor of German Christian Rogowski read a eulogy for Professor of German Donald White, who died

in December, followed by a moment of silence in his honor.

Other announcements from Elliott included the hiring of a new Chief Financial Officer from Middlebury College, Michael George, who had begun his work at Amherst a week prior to the meeting.

Elliott also commented on his and President of AAS Sirus Wheaton’s “State of the College” addresses, an event with low student turnout. Elliott said that Wheaton commented on his experience with last semester’s impeachment trial with “grace and humility,” which he contrasted to that of “other national figures.”

College values were questioned amid a faculty discussion of budget cuts.

Photo courtesy of Amherst College

Candidate Statements for the 2023-2024 AAS E-Board

The Editorial Board

On Thursday, April 13, the Association of Amherst Students (AAS) will hold elections for president, vice-president, secretary, treasurer, and Judiciary Council chair. A speech night will be held on Wednesday, April 12. The students below have announced their candidacies for these elections.

President Lori Alarcon ’24

I’ve been in the Red Room every Monday night for the last three years. I have always been an active advocate for the Latino community in AAS, and for the FLI community. I am realistic about the financial situation at Amherst and plan on working with the administration to pay for more of our more costly expenses, like transportation shuttles, so we can have more money in our discretionary budget. I created an undocumented immigrant committee for AAS, and I know how out of touch people in senate can be about specific issues. I’ve made changes in the way we treat the undocumented community. I never stopped advocating for La Casa; now Newport is getting new renovations this summer. The Latinx house was neglected for far too long by the administration, but now we’re getting new amenities, bathroom renovation, and re-carpeting done. I also have plans that will benefit the entire student body, and I know most of the administration and have gotten things done. This is only the start of what I’m hoping will be a successful transition in senate. We need to spread love, awareness, and community. I hope I can receive your vote!

Allie Ho ’24

Hey, Amherst. I’m Allie Ho. Homies call me (The) Ho. I got 200 words to tell you what I’m about, so I’ll make it quick: I’m fighting to make Amherst College a better place for us and for future students, Amherst residents, higher-ed, and for the intersections of our collective global impacts.

What does “better” mean, though? To me, it looks like pushing for a social justice-oriented institu-

tion through more programs and policies; continually challenging and adding to the college’s anti-racism plan; fostering a more cross-cultural/ organizational community; refurbishing responsibilities of the AAS; and pushing for a college that drives change.

Who is Allie? People call me multiple things: musician, activist, two-time senator, artist, friend, lover, queer, Taiwanese/Canadian, adventure-seeker, and sometimes tree-hugger. But most importantly, I am a learner dedicated to making a place better than when we found it.

Why Allie? That’s up to you. My drive was instrumental to providing drinking water on this campus and to creating the Office of Sustainability — among other projects. The other candidates are also great ex/ senators who dedicate their lives to their communities — just as I do.

I only ask you one thing: vote.

Read my longer-than-200-words platform on Instagram: @allie.ho

Zane Khiry ’25

Hi everyone! I’m Zane Khiry. In my time at Amherst, I’ve become a passionate advocate for social justice, and have helped make numerous progressive changes on campus. As President, I’d like to continue these efforts by working to center community, public service, and a more efficient and accessible senate.

I believe every Amherst student should have the opportunity to experience themselves as belonging to a greater college-wide community. As president, I plan on pushing for more structure to be added to the sophomore year, more group-friendly housing policies, and the revival of some of our beloved Amherst traditions.

Second, I strongly believe Amherst College should do more than only pay lip service to public service — and I’ve been instrumental in the fight to make that happen. I’d like to push Amherst even further in advocating for the further creation and maintenance of public service career pipelines, as well as increasing the visibility of opportunities to volunteer in the local town.

Third, I’d like to advocate for more efficient debate guidelines,

support the Committee on Public Relations, and ensure that the AAS is made accessible to everyone.

Vote Zane Khiry ’25 to get the job done!

Shreya Mathew ’25

For those who don’t know, I am the Senator who brought Grammarly Premium subscriptions to you all. As soon as I stopped being a Senator, no one was able to follow through with the program. After that, I went on to implement the #SustainableMenstruation campaign as the Zero-Waste Fellow to distribute free menstrual cups on campus and work towards equity and inclusion in our admissions process as a Diversity Outreach Intern. I was able to accomplish a lot by myself, so I know that the Senate could be doing a lot more with the resources they have. As thePresident, I will advocate for allocating more discretionary budget for AAS to spend on clubs and student activities, improve the culture of Sexual Respect on campus by taking steps to help students understand their rights and options for seeking support and justice, and work to make integration with the Five Colleges more seamless by making courses and event registration much simpler;;organize more Senate-funded campus-wide events to celebrate diversity and increase engagement of the student body with Senate;bring back Grammarly Premium following popular demand! I am a candidate who can and will execute tangible changes for you! Vote Shreya!

Vice-President

Erik Arciniega ’26

When I first came to Amherst, I was excited by the idea of our student government. But like many of you, I have been disappointed by its inefficiencies and lack of representation. As a senator whose seat was left vacant for six weeks, I know firsthand how frustrating it can be to feel unheard and underrepresented. However, my experiences have also fueled my passion to make the senate a more efficient branch of the AAS. As Co-Chair of La Causa, I have demonstrated my dedication to restoring engagement with our members

to pre-pandemic levels. As a member of the AAS, I have also argued on the senate floor about the need for a more effective constitution. If elected, I will restore structure, promote order, and ensure that every student’s voice is heard on the senate floor. I believe that the AAS has the potential to be a powerful force for positive change on our campus. As vice-president, and in turn president of the senate, I will work tirelessly to make this a reality.

Thank you for your consideration, and I look forward to earning your vote.

Shane Dillon ’26

Hi everyone! My name is Shane, I am a current freshman from Springfield, and I live in South! In my time in the Senate, I have worked to establish transparency from the Board of Trustees, begun working on new senators’ training, training for new club members on how to request BC funding, and have been exploring options to bring back Grammarly Premium! I want to bring a new, diligent structure to the Senate, establish debate rules, and continue to build working relationships with all administration departments to ensure everyone’s Amherst experience is what they deserve. In my experience in the Senate and leading my high school class, I believe I can execute the Vice President’s position with everyone’s interest at the center of my work. It will be a learning opportunity, but we will be in it together, as one Amherst, built by so many different experiences and perspectives. This is a time to rebrand AAS and capitalize on building relationships with every member of the student body. I look forward to seeing and continuing to meet everyone! Please reach out with any questions or ideas!

Judiciary Council Chair

Jaimie Han ’26

Hey hey hey! My name is Jaimie Han and I’m a current first-year senator. This past term, I helped plan the Major Fair, created the survey to get better rice at Val, and most importantly, served on the Judiciary Council (JC) and experienced responding to your petitions and

concerns first-hand. There’s little public information on how to make petitions and suggestions to senate, and it’s unclear how to hold senate accountable. I’ve gone through the constitution and found many of the inconsistencies (and typos) that I aim to resolve. As JC Chair, I plan to simplify the language of the constitution and bylaws and clarify the content that is actually relevant to students, like BC procedures and the duties of your senators — so you can ensure that they’re meeting your needs and interests. Receiving the impeachment trial complaint on JC showed me that the student body and Senate are too disconnected. I want JC to be accessible, so that all of your complaints and calls for change are actually heard and initiated. My leadership experience and dealing with JC and law specifically has prepared me to actively lead change in JC and advise AAS. Vote Jaimie for JC!

Treasurer

Min Ji Kim ’25

Having been on the Budgetary Committee for the past two years, I have seen the BC’s changes firsthand. Furthermore, as the current treasurer of both the Korean Student Association and the Asian Student Association, I have plenty of experience managing and budgeting money. As your new treasurer, I promise I will do my best to get us out of the deficit and return to past budgetary policies.

Secretary

Hedley Lawrence-Apfelbaum ’26

Hi, I’m Hedley Lawrence-Apfelbaum, a first-year on AAS Senate. I aspire to make AAS more organized, active, and impactful in our daily lives without having to be a constant focus. As Secretary, I hope to promote efforts to recruit the best members of our community for at-large committees, work with the E-Board to set a general mission for the year, and communicate these goals effectively to the rest of the Senate. I also want to do more outreach with the Elections Committee to encourage participation in Senate races. Please let me know if you have any questions or suggestions!

Features Rebecca Hewitt Fresh Faculty

Sonia Chajet Wides: What do you teach here?

Becky Hewitt: I teach Introduction to Environmental Science [with lab]. And then I teach Ecosystem Ecology. I also teach Introduction to Environmental Studies, and a climate change science course.

SCW: And what do you research?

BH: I research the impacts of climate change in arctic ecosystems, both boreal forest and tundra. I used to work in the Russian Far East, but now my research is in Alaska. One of the most recent projects is looking at how forest treelines may expand into tundra [where there are usually not trees] … that is important because boreal forest trees represent a really dark land cover type, so as they migrate, they reduce albedo [a surface’s light reflectance], which can then cause regional warming and impact global climate. They also represent a large stock of carbon. So understanding what regulates that ecotone [boundary] between boreal forest and tundra, in light of climate change, has been an active area of research for a really long time, but one we still don’t fully understand. I’ve been doing that work in the Brooks Range in Alaska, the northernmost mountain range in Alaska, [but] I’ve studied treelines all across the state of Alaska.

I’ve also been really focused on how wildfire activity has changed with climate warming … we’ve seen more intense, larger, more frequent wildfires in the boreal forest. And so one thing that

I’m really interested in is, when a forest has burned, how does it recover? And is it the same suite of tree species that establish after a wildfire?

For both of those projects, I’m focused on fungi that are in soil, called mycorrhizal fungi, and what role they have in the ability of trees to perform their basic ecological functions, like take up nitrogen, take up water, and just exist as healthy beings. After wildfire, there can be a real shift in the mycorrhizae that are present … Interestingly, … those fungi themselves represent a substantial amount of carbon and nitrogen just in the soil volume. And so they’re really interesting in their own right, from a biogeochemical perspective.

SCW: Like you’re describing, you’re excited about belowground systems and soil. What do you feel like is something that people don’t know or consider about soil?

BH: I think that the thing that really has driven all of my research, probably since I was working on my dissertation, is that … I find it really exciting that there’s this world beneath our feet that is very important … ecologically … but we’re just starting to get a grasp of how it operates.

Because it’s hard to characterize the structure and function of what’s belowground, and it takes a lot of really advanced tools from molecular biology or geochemistry, … we’re just starting to put together … our ideas around what a large store of carbon and nitrogen there could be in plant root biomass and their associated my-

corrhizal fungi [that] needs to be factored into things like regional or global models as we’re thinking about scenarios of climate change.

SCW: How did you end up in this area of research, specifically?

BH: I was a student of environmental studies and biology as an undergraduate. And then I got a few really pivotal research positions as an undergraduate, doing really different things. The first one was in pollination biology … [then I looked] at aquatic invertebrate communities on my study abroad program in Botswana, working with Conservation International … And I always love being in the mountains and in Alpine ecosystems, which was the closest thing I could get to something remotely like the Arctic in the lower 48. When I was looking for Ph.D. programs, I was really focused on places that were studying other very high altitude or latitude ecosystems, because … those are changing so rapidly with climate warming, and that’s what I wanted to study. I ended up going up to Alaska.

Then, one of the first research trips that I took in the field with scientists at University of Alaska Fairbanks, a mycorrhizal specialist was on [the trip] … and I guess I had been very inspired by some mycorrhizal research that had been published in the timeframe when I was applying to graduate school. I thought it was super cool to look at mutualisms belowground because I had been studying pollination biology, so mutualisms with flowers and whatnot.

The place where I was studying pollination biology, I was studying a clonal plant. So we ended up spending a few afternoons digging up these clones … And we just saw these massive networks of fireweed that spanned these really large areas … And it was so cool to me, to see this all connected belowground. You just had no idea, it could be meters and meters away, and it was the same individual when you trace the rhizome back. I think that was the beginning of it, and then I read a few papers about mycorrhizal ecology, and what I thought was so cool was, from the plant ecology perspective, you think of competition and more antagonistic interactions. But if we start to see what’s happening belowground, it’s easier to think about things like facilitation and sharing of resources. And that just fascinated me.

SCW: In your classes, you’ve brought up shifts in thinking about environmental science and coproduction of knowledge. You’ve talked about the book “Braiding Sweetgrass” by Robin Wall Kimmerer, and you’ve talked about these different ways of thinking about ecology — I would love to hear more about how you think about that.

BH: Well, all of the Kimmerer books are amazing. When I was in my first undergraduate research experience studying pollinators, I read “Gathering Moss,” and I think what spoke to me so much was, I loved literature as an undergraduate student, and I just felt like there was this person who was articulating wonder … and connection to the natural world, with such beautiful prose. And it just was so amazing to see that kind of writing … that was also really based in the science, and explored what was so cool about the science of biology and nitrogen cycling associated with mosses. And then, of course, “Braiding Sweetgrass” is so beautiful for so many reasons. But I think the way [Kimmerer] brings together these different stories about her own identity was

particularly powerful, as a mother and a scientist. But the whole idea of coproduction is such a powerful idea that’s really being elevated in ecological science. It’s really an important focus of my own research community in Alaska right now. Because we just see the need for different ways of knowing and different perspectives to understand such a dynamic landscape in light of climate change, not only how it’s responding, but also what that means for people living on that landscape.

There’re a lot of different ways to coproduce knowledge. Research suggests the most effective way … is with an iterative conversation, where … all stakeholders [are] involved. So that could be local community members and scientists, for instance, working together. Where questions are being defined by everyone, not just by the scientists … The idea is that people are working together to define questions that are meaningful, to design the approach to how we synthesize our understanding, and then [decide] what we actually do with that knowledge. That’s, I think, the most efficacious way to practice that.

SCW: I know that you’ve lived and worked in a lot of really different places over the course of your life and your career. Can you talk about that? The things you’ve learned and experienced in those different places, doing science, while also just living your life.

BH: It’s always really interesting to see a new place … to see not only a new ecosystem, but also just see just how people are, what they’re doing, how they relate to the environment … Just like anyone who’s had the opportunity to be in a lot of places, you get to a new place, and it just sort of shifts … not only [how you] see that place, or … whatever expectations you might have, but then also helps you reframe how you’re thinking about where you’re from as well.

For the most part, my research

Continued on page 6

Photo courtesy of Amherst College

Rebecca “Becky” Hewitt is an Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies who researches the impacts of climate change on arctic ecosystems, with a particular focus on forests and belowground fungal interactions. Hewitt received a B.A. from Middlebury College in 2005 and a Ph.D. from University of Alaska Fairbanks in 2014.

Hewitt Discusses Environmental Research, Personal Life

Continued from page 5

in the last few years has been in the Arctic … primarily in the US Arctic and in Russia … I guess I just got the bug as an undergraduate and then kind of took whatever field jobs were available … When I was just out of my undergraduate, I was in Colorado at Rocky Mountain Biological Lab, and then I went to Archbold Biological Station in Florida … Then I worked in a plant physiology lab at Harvard … I did a postdoc in Flagstaff, Arizona, but then still had research up in Alaska and in Russia, and … my postdoc advisor had work in South Africa, so we went to South Africa for a bit. I think there are so many good reasons to travel. But it’s really a gift, to me, at least, to learn the plants that are there, to get to sample soil. There’s something to that tactile experience of being in these places. You might choose to visit Kruger National Park [in South Africa], because it’s awesome. But to then be able to go out and study it just adds such a different layer.

SCW: And then what brought you to Amherst?

BH: I’ve always been interested in ultimately landing at a smaller school. I went to a smaller school, Middlebury College. And as I referenced a few times, I got into ecology as a student, and I really like working with students. I think it’s awesome watching them discover science, in little pieces, for the first time. And there’s also something really awesome about teaching in a smaller setting. The sorts of questions I get, it’s just fantastic. It really pushes me to understand things that I’m teaching about through a different lens or with a different depth.

And I’m originally from New England, so I didn’t know if I was going to come back to New England, but it’s been really special to return to this place.

SCW: It’s really cool that you have students in your lab who are doing theses about their own interests, but obviously, under the umbrella of the stuff that you've been researching. How has that experi-

ence been?

BH: That’s really cool. Because I haven’t been here that long, the students that have done theses already, those were really directly tied to my research. And this year, what’s really fun is that we’ve got a mix of things like research projects … that are broad collaborations with people from all over the U.S. and the world. And students are going to get plugged into a piece of that and have their own piece of that. And then, I’ve got one student who is asking similar questions, but more local to Western Massachusetts. I think that is gonna be really fun, because she’s going to bring me to her field.

Just talking about teaching and research makes me think of these collaborations that I have with this artist community in Alaska. Where similarly, we’ve gotten together as part of this collaborative group where they’re making art that is inspired or derived from their experiences in a changing Alaskan landscape. It started off as, sometimes they have questions about what they’re seeing.

And I think that this kind of gets back to your question about coproduction, just carving out time to interact — whether it’s students that have different interests, or this artists’ community, or people that are different stakeholders in the landscape you’re studying, I feel like there’s always such a benefit to seeing another person’s perspective on the same one by one meter that you’re studying.

SCW: What does it look like in your lab? What kinds of things are you doing?

BH: I’ve got students who are studying impacts of wildfire on plant mycorrhizal interactions. And then I have a lot of students who are working on thinking about plant-mycorrhizal interactions in that treeline study. What that looks like is a lot of time on the microscope, which could sound tedious, but can be really fun if we’re all in the lab together. And we’re going to be doing a lot of molecular work, using DNA base tools to characterize the fun-

gi that are associated with those root systems ... Lots of weighing of plant biomass and sorting … leaves from stems from roots, and then doing chemical analyses of those.

SCW: What do you feel like is advice that you would give to students more generally, just about being in college or next steps?

BH: Take advantage of being here. I just loved going to a liberal arts school because I took classes in so many different departments, even though I had two majors. Going back to the coproduction question you asked, it all does inform how you’re thinking about things. So I just feel like, take advantage of that … I was recently sharing with students that some of my colleagues who are scientists studied anthropology as undergraduates. And so it’s okay to come at different points to your engagement with environmental issues.

And I think there’s a lot of concern by students that if they’re in their second semester, and they don’t have a research position, then they couldn’t possibly go into a STEM field. And I just don't believe that. I think that there’s a lot of opportunities to become engaged in environmental science of whatever flavor throughout your time here. It’s okay to not have your full plan set up from the outset.

So even for people who aren’t declared Environmental Studies majors, I would still hope that they would consider taking some classes, if they’ve got an interest in environmental science … because I think that it’s so important to understand how the natural world works. It’s just one of the most pressing issues that we’re facing … I just want people to, as they’re walking to go get a bagel or whatever, just see the landscape that they’re operating in differently, to interpret it through a lens that is really important. It is our life support system.

SCW: Do you have any favorite memories or experiences from the time that you’ve been teaching

here and working with students?

BH: I really do love being in the field with students … I think it’s so cool to watch people get their hands dirty, literally, in the soil and start to piece things together through that experiential process. That really is the thing that brings me the most delight. A lot of the things that are pretty special have to do with just seeing how students want to take the information that we’ve been discussing in a course and move forward with it. It’s very satisfying to hear from a student who’s not going to go into STEM say, ‘The intro course gave me a strong background and I want to do policy, but I feel like I understand this now.’ That makes my heart sing.

SCW: What do you do for fun outside of being here?

BH: I have two very small children. So I’m basically wrangling babies. We go hiking, skiing … kayaking. Just a lot of things that allow for quiet time outside, that has become less quiet with a three year old, and now a one year old. But it’s also really cool to watch these kiddos. Our three year old is really interested in the flowers that are coming in right now … [It’s] fun to transfer the appreciation for that experience outside.

SCW: What’s your favorite hike that you’ve taken in the area?

BH: Our first summer here, we went to Buffam Falls … We just went on this amazing hike in the woods along the stream, and it was beautiful. It’s so close … and there are a few pools that you can swim in ... All those years in Alaska, the one thing I really missed was swimming in New England in the summer.

SCW: What are some of the coolest or craziest things you’ve encountered in your research? I’m thinking about the bear charging, but you don’t have to tell that story.

BH: The bear incident ended up being part of that whole water quality story that came out of the Brooks Range. So in 2019, my colleague and I flew into the Salmon

River in the Brooks Range [Alaska], which was made famous in ‘Coming Into the Country’ by John McPhee … Two things happened. One is that when we were flying in, we noticed that there was orange water in some of the tributaries that were going into the Salmon River. And we thought it was thermokarst, which is where the landscape collapses because permafrost has thawed. We thought it was sediment input, but we never saw visible subsidence anywhere. So we took that information, and we got dropped off on a gravel bar, and we were packrafting the Salmon River to go set up these research sites at treeline.

And we had these — honestly, I can’t really remember how many — but maybe like three notably antagonistic interactions with grizzly bears, who were very thin. The sort of thing where they don’t respond to any sort of warning activity ... they just were not deterred by loud noises. They were not deterred by anything … Normally, a warning will cause [a bear] to run off, like if you’ve sort of stumbled into each other. But these were predatory interactions.

The other piece of this was that we had expected to fish to eat dinner, we thought we would be fishing on this trip. And we were not able to catch any grayling, which we thought we’d be able to catch. And so low fish, weird orange water, and then these really hungry, angry bears. And it turns out that this pattern, of this orange discharge into the water, was then observed over the next two summers across … 30 different watersheds where my colleagues in Alaska made these observations. So yeah, that was a pretty wild trip.

I also got trampled by a hippopotamus when I was studying abroad. My tent got run over by a hippopotamus. I didn’t get crushed, but I was in the tent. Those are my two megafauna stories. Hippos totally freak me out … Research has led to a few pretty exciting things.

—Sonia Chajet Wides ’25

Opinion

Repurposing Space, Preserving Place

There is much to be excited about when it comes to the new Student Center and Dining Commons — the joint project that will extensively repurpose the existing structure of the currently deserted Merrill Science Building. Designed by Swiss architectural firm Herzog and de Meuron, the center’s spaces will be built under four guiding principles: well-being (exercise areas, prayer rooms, and party venues), engagement (homes for various student organizations), gathering (lounges and event spaces), and creating (makerspaces, performance areas, and an indoor greenhouse). Advertised as a bridge between upper and lower campus, the Center is intended to be a crossroads of interests and affinities.

But there is also reason for trepidation about the project’s potential impact on campus life. When the center “replace[s] the dining facility located in the aging Valentine Hall, which is nearing the end of its useful life,” the dynamic of campus will radically change. Val has long been the nucleus around which Amherst orbits. As our only dining hall, it draws just about every student on campus (excluding residents of the Humphries House food co-op) at least once a day. Many students plan their housing selections around proximity to Val, with some even living in Val’s residential second level. Val also serves as a social hub, a place for students living on opposite sides of campus to meet up, bump into one another, or spend many consecutive hours studying at a table as part of a practice known as “Val-sitting.”

The construction of the center will lead to a drastic reorientation of campus space, as student life will begin to revolve around an entirely difficult focal point: one that is (at Merrill’s current site) much further south. It should be noted that this shift could isolate those who live in dorms on the north and west parts of campus: Residents of the Triangle or the Hill, for instance, will be situated even further from the center of campus life than they already are.

A new use for the first floor of Val has not yet been decided. With the new center on the horizon, it’s important to consider ways in which Val can best be repurposed to avoid creating an unbalanced campus.

If Val were to be kept as a second dining hall, there could be shorter lines, more culinary options, and Grab-n-Go for dinner. However, it’s preferable

THE AMHERST STUDENT

EXECUTIVE BOARD

that Val does not remain as a second dining hall. Such a purpose may reinforce a bifurcated STEM-humanities campus — an extension of the existing Science Center/Frost Library study space dichotomy — as busy students will naturally gravitate towards the more convenient dining hall located closest to where they spend their time. This speculation reaffirms how college’s notorious “fishbowl effect” is in fact valuable: Unlike larger schools in which divisions are necessary for the sake of organization, Amherst can share a communal space in which students are exposed to others pursuing different academic and extracurricular endeavors instead of being segregated by interest. Thus, although Amherst should remain a singledining-hall campus, the Editorial Board proposes that Val be fashioned into a new student space to counterbalance the social shift towards Merrill.

With a location for social gathering as a broad umbrella, Val becomes a space open to possibilities. At the very least, it should continue to function as a dorm as the college continues to overenroll amid a long-existing housing crisis. Val could transform into a cafe setting or a late night hangout location, comparable to the role of Schwemm’s pre-Covid. It should be noted that according to findings from the recent sexual assault prevention talk, researchers recommend that colleges add such public spaces to congregate. Ingredients could be stocked in its kitchen for students to practice selfsufficient cooking skills. It could possibly even serve as student storage, eliminating the need to pay for Boomerang. In any case, student opinion should lead the way.

Though the Editorial Board believes that Val would be best furnished as a multipurpose common space, the more urgent issue is bringing this impending shift in student life into campus consciousness. As the administration is still deliberating on what to make of our beloved Val, the student body must voice their opinions on this drastic modification to their campus life. After all, as a strong sense of place is integral to the Amherst experience, it stands to reason that we must consider with sensitivity the changes made to our shared space.

Unsigned editorials represent the views of the majority of the Editorial Board — (assenting: 8; dissenting: 0; abstaining: 3).

Editors-in-Chief

Liam Archacki

Sam Spratford

Senior Managing

Dustin Copeland

Kei Lim

Managing News

Ethan Foster

Leo Kamin

Michael Mason

Managing Features

Sonia Chajet Wides

Caelen McQuilkin

Eleanor Walsh

Managing Opinion

Tara Alahakoon

Yasmin Hamilton

Tapti Sen

Assistant Opinion

Stacey Zhang

Managing Arts & Living

Cassidy Duncan

Madeline Lawson

Noor Rahman

Managing Sports

Hedi Skali

Slate Taylor

Managing Puzzles

John Joire

Managing Podcast

Andrew Rosin

Assistant Podcast

Karina Maciel

Managing Design

Andrew Kim

Brianne LaBare

Managing Photo

Claire Beougher

Slate Taylor

Managing Graphics

Nina Aagaard

DEI Editor

Erin Williams

STAFF

Publisher

Robert Bischof

Digital Director

Sawyer Pollard

Social Media Manager

Emi Eliason

Letters Policy

The opinion pages of The Student are intended as an open forum for the Amherst community. We welcome responses 50-800 words in length to any of our recent articles and aim to publish a diversity of views and voices. If you would like to submit a response for consideration, it must be exclusive to The Student and cannot have been published elsewhere. The Student will print letters if they are submitted to the paper’s email account (astudent@ amherst.edu) or the article response form that can be found on The Student’s website, by 8 p.m. on Saturday, after which they will not be accepted for the week’s issue. Letters must bear the names of all contributors and an email address where the author or authors may be reached. Letters may be edited for clarity and Student style. The editors reserve the right to withhold any letter because of considerations of space or content.

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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 © 2023 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.

When Amherst Financial Aid Fails

Willow Delp ’26 Staff Writer

Amherst College prides itself on its progressive financial aid policies. It claims to be a loan-free school that fully meets demonstrated financial need for all students. Its website affably advertises its generous policy under “Financial Aid & Costs,” assuring prospective students that “If your family shows that it can pay only a small portion of tuition and costs — or maybe none at all — Amherst pays the rest.” For Zoe Callan ’25, this isn’t the case.

Two years ago, she traveled across the country from her home in Albuquerque, New Mexico, excited to embark on a new adventure and explore the world. She was interested in Amherst’s study abroad programs, and knew a member of the Native and Indigenous Students Association (NISA), who urged her to enroll.

Since becoming a student, Callan has been incredibly active on campus — as a registered member of the Navajo nation, she serves on the e-board of NISA. She is a member of the Ace/Aro Grey Space and the Stage Combat Club. She’s on the e-board for Amherst Safe Space for Kinksters. She has acted in multiple Green Room shows and has held an array of different jobs on campus since her freshman fall — at the Fitness Center, the Science Center

café, at Grab-n-Go, for the communications office, and for the Phonathon. She’s an English and Spanish double major and speaks fondly of classes she’s taken, such as “Emily Dickinson” with Professor of American Studies and English Karen Sanchez-Eppler. She has also taken advantage of the Center for Counseling and Mental Health. Although her Amherst experience has been stressful at times, she’s made strong connections with friends and professors and enjoyed the school’s programming and student organizations.

But Callan will have to leave campus after this semester. In just two years, she has accumulated $30,000 in student loan debt.

Callan’s situation is somewhat unique, as she entered the college as a dependent student but became an independent student after getting married in 2022. Dependent students need to report all guardians’ financial information, while independent students only report their own financial information. With the change, it would be cheaper to go to her state university in New Mexico and pay full tuition than to continue attending Amherst with her current financial aid. The initial financial aid offer she received this year was not promising, but she believed that it would improve after being reviewed in Jan. 2022, when her mother quit her job to take care of Callan’s

grandmother. It didn’t. Despite all that she had done for Amherst, the college did nothing for her in return.

Callan has tried hard to stay at Amherst. She has attempted to appeal, and has met with the financial aid office several times, all with minimal success. “I have never left a meeting with financial aid without crying,” Callan told me, “I’ve heard that it’s not an uncommon experience.” The last person she spoke with seemed like he cared, she said, but didn’t actually do anything useful or helpful. She was told they would look at her application “with as much compassion as possible,” which has produced little concrete action. “At this point, I’m just so tired,” Callan said. “It’s really hard to keep trying when, after everything, it just feels hopeless.”

When asked about her plans for the future, Callan admitted that she wasn’t entirely sure. “I have applied to other institutions to transfer,” she said. “I’d love to stay here, but I just can’t do it anymore.” The process of trying to secure sufficient financial aid has been “stressful for [her], stressful for family, stressful for friends.” She says that she “can’t keep holding out hope for a miracle.”

Amherst’s need-based financial aid seems ideal on its surface. But as Callan pointed out, “The problem with need-based financial aid is that the college determines your need …

They can do that in a variety of ways that don’t necessarily match what you can afford to do.” Another major pitfall of the model is that outside scholarships are calculated against determined need, so Callan cannot benefit from her veteran father’s GI Bill education benefits. Receiving outside aid would lessen the impact of her existing aid from Amherst. She implores the administration to reconsider their financial aid policy regarding outside scholarships “because it hurts so many people.”

Callan urges students to “know the policy. Don’t be afraid to advocate for yourself. Know that you’re not alone. This is an exhausting, stressful thing, and it’s OK if sometimes

that’s overwhelming, and it’s also okay to go somewhere else where that’s not a problem if you need to.”

While many students can, thankfully, benefit from financial aid, there are glaring gaps for those who don’t fit the mold. Callan’s situation reflects a failure of the ostensibly need-based system that Amherst claims to offer. She has invested two years of hard work at Amherst, and for her diligence, ingenuity, and leadership, she has received tens of thousands of dollars in debt. The college must do better to accommodate Callan and all students suffering from a similar plight. Until all need is truly met, Amherst cannot call itself “loan-free.”

The Jig Is Up: Amherst Needs To Lower its Tuition

Stacey Zhang ’26 Assistant Opinion Editor

On March 7, we were informed that the college has increased comprehensive fees (including tuition, room, and board) by almost $4,000 the next year to $84,210, a 4.9 percent increase from the fees of the current year. In the past ten years, the college has, on average, increased the tuition by 4 percent each year, pacing more than twice the inflation rate. Many other elite private universities across the United States have driven their prices up by similar degrees, much higher than tuition at similarly prestigious, international institutions. I’ll point

out the obvious: this is absurd. Tuition at Amherst must be lowered to help to make a liberal arts education truly accessible and desirable to all.

High tuition is often justified as a form of “rich tax” that allows the college to essentially request funds from its top 1 percenters and use it to fund financial aid and student services. As a result, tuition increases could seem trivial for financial-aid students with the same expected financial contribution, perhaps even beneficial for the student experience at Amherst.

However, we should be suspicious of the priorities that are fueling rising tuition. While tuition increases significantly outpace inflation, has student financial needs

at Amherst seen significant changes in recent years? Where are the additional costs being funneled to?

I don’t have an answer, but the high-tuition phenomenon is not uncommon among American elite universities and is widely explained by the arms race of prestige pricing among elite colleges (to increase demand for an education by treating it as a luxury good) and an ever-expanding administrative apparatus. The former continues to concentrate resources and prestige to elite universities away from public universities and trade schools, while increasing demand for an elite education by treating it as a luxury good. The latter shifts American

universities to look increasingly like corporations guided by market forces rather than a place of education and scholarship. With shifting focus to investment in administration and infrastructure, colleges could end up needing to divert funds (such as faculty salaries) from other areas to support the unending need to build newer makerspaces or further complicate its branching trees of administrative structure. While Amherst's specific spending breakdown is not available (in contrast to public institutions), it's plausible that Amherst shares many of these practices that continue to drive its tuition up.

At the same time, lowering tuition at Amherst can help better the

American higher education landscape. By lowering tuition, Amherst can bring awareness to the problematic pricing of American universities, help halt an arms race of prestige pricing, shift the culture around college education and hiring practices, and call for more federal funding into education. From international needblind admissions to stopping legacy admissions, Amherst is not unfamiliar with pioneering new practices in higher education to make a good liberal arts education accessible to all.

Beside the financial problems tuition costs breed, the astronomical sticker price of college impacts

Continued on page 9

Amherst cannot truly call itself “need-based” and “loan-free," writes Willow Delp ’26.

Graphic courtesy of Nina Aagaard ’26

Questioning the Steep Price of Higher Education

Continued from page 8

students’ relationship with and expectations of their education, contributing to the contraction of enrollment in humanities. Personally, I’m a greedy shopper of the course catalog — whether it be English, History, Anthropology, or Environmental Studies, many departments have a place on my saved schedules. However, as I began to seriously plan my schedule last semester, some subtle guilt always weighed my tuition against my compulsion to take more humanities courses.

Just maybe, reading García Márquez or Nabokov would not be worth the Amherst price tag? I’m fully aware that a college course goes far beyond a book club, but perhaps my simplified intuitions reflect larger student anxieties about the humanities.

Historian Benjamin Schmidt claims that the plunge in humanities enrollment “seems not to reflect a sudden decline of interest in the humanities.” Instead, with job inse-

curity after the financial crisis and high tuition costs, students can only justify such educational expenses as financial investments, and expect matching returns from their careers.

Thus, it’s a paradox for a liberal arts college like Amherst to ask for a whopping $84,210 dollars in tuition. Amherst prides itself with a rich liberal arts tradition (opposing vocational training) and a racially and socioeconomically diverse student body. However, at the same time, students from less than upper-class backgrounds are incentivized toward spending their time in classes and internships that they believe yield more financial returns. Amherst’s open curriculum can also be further damaged as no distribution requirements exist to prevent students from swarming to more career-specific courses and specializations.

Financial aid does not seem to completely close the financial gap for many students either. Anecdotally, there are many students at Am-

herst and other institutions, like Zoe Callan ’25, whose financial aid packages changed during their four years and were forced to resort to student loans or transfering. Work-study requirements of financial aid packages create additional burdens for low-income students navigating through college. The uncertainty of changing financial aid packages alone can dissuade students from pursuing a private university compared to an in-state school. Meanwhile, middle-class families find themselves stuck awkwardly in the dilemma of “too rich for aid, too poor for tuition” at private universities. Many more lower-income students were turned away before the college application process even started and saw high tuitions at private universities as completely out of reach. Many private institutions attract students of lower socioeconomic status by focusing its recruitment efforts in select urban poor communities or schools, while only impressing poor rural students as highly inaccessible luxuries. The

cost of high sticker-price tuition does not just dissuade students away from humanities, but also creates distressing and long-lasting impacts on the financial, social, and academic lives of many students.

But, is it possible for private universities to maintain their high-level operations while cutting student fees? St. John's College, a liberal arts college known for its Great Books curriculum, responded in the affirmative. Citing the problems of prestige pricing of elite universities, St. John's announced in 2018 that it would slash its tuition from $53,000 to $35,000, while supplementing its financial vitality using donation campaigns. A bold financial move, St. John’s has seen success from increased donations, applications, yield and general financial stability. While Amherst and many other colleges are still recovering from the pandemic, there are reasons for us to believe that lowering tuition could be feasible and beneficial for Amherst if it so willed.

At the same time, perhaps American elite universities do not need to operate the way they always operated. With impending budget cuts, Amherst administration and individual departments will have to identify waste in their spending and identify the core missions that they value and commit to funding. Just perhaps, we don't need $300 trivia prizes or pay an administrator triple the salary of a tenured professor. Despite many efforts to aid its less privileged students, Amherst still has an imperative to investigate its increasing fees to help stymie the pricing practices and spending trends of elite universities. Amherst has this imperative, not because of a romantic imagination of its utopian liberal arts identity, but because lowering the tuition would not only make an Amherst education more accessible, but would encourage transformations in higher education beyond Amherst. Wouldn’t this be a real act of leadership that “enlightens the lands”?

American Punch Bowl

by Alice Burg ’23

by Quinn Nelson ’25

Amusements

Puzzle Palooza | Sudoku and Minis — Wednesday, April 12, 2023

ACROSS

1 Ultimate frisbee kick-off

5 Role voiced by Chris Pratt in a 2023 film

6 A cube has twelve of them

7 “___ you the clever one?”

8 “Super Smash Bros.” character from the game “Earthbound”

Puzzles

DOWN

1 San Diego athlete

2 Cravings

3 Property claims

4 Like someone that doesn’t have things mapped out?

5 Cantankerous

ACROSS

1 Past student

5 Shack

7 It’s never right?

8 Department that may throw pitches

9 Uncle Owen in “Star Wars”

DOWN

1 Moments of realization

2 Like a neighborhood school, perhaps

3 The lump in the back of your throat

4 Coin collector

6 What’s more, per a common adage

Solutions: April 5

John Joire ’26 Managing Puzzles Editor

John Joire ’26 Managing Puzzles Editor

John Joire ’26 Managing

Editor

Arts&Living

“Hope Springs” Offers Antidote to the Tyranny of Order

Dustin Copeland ’25 Senior Managing Editor

The desert setting of “Hope Springs,” lee folpe’s ’23 mammoth play about the relationship between people and the spaces they inhabit, literally bifurcates the audience. The play, which ran last weekend in the Holden Experimental Theater, is performed in-between two groups of seats, not unlike a runway show or a high school football game. The setting, a permaculture and art center right on the border of Joshua Tree National Park, becomes impressively immersive by letting characters and set-pieces span wider than the audience’s field of view. It takes on the expansiveness and also the smallness of desert living — one gets the sense that, besides the few visible structures, the land in the world of the play is uninhabitable and empty, open and yet completely inaccessible.

“Hope Springs” follows Miriam (Cameron Mueller-Harder ’23) and Alex (Erin Williams ’26) through their summer job as laborers on a farm and arts center owned by Lakshmi, played by Smith alumna Hero Marguerite. Her approach to farming uses the precepts of permaculture, which attempts to recreate systems and arrangements that are observed in natural ecosystems. Theoretically, this self-sustaining ecosystem allows the desired crop to flourish without requiring any input from outside forces. As she repeats obsessively throughout the play, the farm must remove all unnecessary inputs, and the land is made better by creating a more closed system. To Lakshmi, in a feat of optimization-focused thinking conveniently aligned with the profit motive she has as landowner, the ideal permaculture farm employs no workers at all.

When Miriam and Alex come to Hope Springs, they meet several more experienced workers. Kat, played by Eva Tsitohay ’23, is an experienced farmer who is vying for the vacant site manager position and

doesn’t appreciate the newcomers’ inexperience. Nura, played by Snigdha Ranjan ’25, is a skilled worker and one of the few truly kind faces on the farm. She mediates between Kat and Miriam, who face early tension over Miriam’s inexperience and their ambitions for a permanent position on the farm. In reality, Kat asserts, neither of them have a chance at site manager since Lakshmi’s “old school” values will only permit her to hire someone white and with a degree in agricultural sciences. Neither Kat, who is Black, nor Miriam, who is non-binary and completely new to farming, fit into Lakshmi’s vision of a good site manager, but their enmity ends up serving the interests of Lakshmi even while she makes their lives miserable. In fact, Miriam’s ambition and their discord with their fellow worker becomes fodder for their own exploitation — a feature of capitalist labor abuse that slots nicely into Lakshmi’s devotion to the removal of “unnecessary inputs.” Lakshmi’s communal desert paradise, at its core, is just a business, desperate for the approval of constantly visiting investors and the removal of anything that could detract from profit.

Lakshmi’s vision of efficiency is not limited to the business of her land, however. She builds a case for the equivalency of land stewardship and the care of one’s body as she explains, at one staff meeting, her plans for a solo meditative retreat and her diet of no food or water — just nutrient-rich juice. Lakshmi had previously commented on how thin Miriam is, and her comments about her own weight as well as memories of her mother and sisters’ bulimia reveal an upbringing where those closest to her went through incredible pain to control their own bodies. This approach to her body clearly informs her philosophy of land management, which ignores the needs of the land to impose a contrived and beautiful order, just as she fetishizes spiritualists who go months without eating while meditating in caves. This ignorance ex-

tends to the center’s community, too — Lakshmi’s division of her workers leads to their discontent with each other, and the audience experiences visceral discomfort at watching the workers live with each other while they are so deeply unhappy.

Nura is the only really kind character we see in the play’s first half, as she runs away from the awful environment of the center the first chance she gets — great for her character, sure, but Nura goes underdeveloped as the play focuses on bigger conflicts on the way to its second half, and the audience misses out on seeing more of Ranjan’s acting.

The only real outlier in the toxic community dynamic established in the play’s first half is Seth, played by a laid back Will Amend ’24. Seth is the heir to a line of homesteaders who “settled” the land the center is built on — it is hinted that Lakshmi bought the land from his family, leaving him without any property but still living in the place where he grew up. Lakshmi worships Seth’s “indigenous” knowledge of the area Lakshmi now owns, conflating Seth’s empire-settler forebears with people actually native to the lands he now lives on. Seth is essentially disenfranchised by Lakshmi’s purchase of his land, but he maintains a class position above those of the workers because of his special knowledge and Lakshmi’s favor. He has access to private spaces that the other workers don’t, he’s allowed to slack off, and he doesn’t depend on Lakshmi for his livelihood. In fact, it’s probable that he just lives off whatever money came to him by the sale of his land. He’s kind of a ghost, then, who is allowed to exist within the system but not to partake in it. Of course, he still reinforces it — Seth is the one who installs the irrigation system that will replace the center’s workers. Mostly, though, Seth chills out, strumming guitar or throwing his hatchet or sitting and smoking somewhere on stage. And his final disappearance, into the desert night after taking some hallucinogenic seeds, is emblematic of his status apart from the

other characters. Without his property, he’s powerless, but his status means he isn’t exploited by the other workers. He occupies the in-between, liminal space of the bullshit job, which can only end in insanity.

The second half of the play introduces Cybele, a bubbly-mannered dreamer and artist played by the Mount Holyoke student Molly Malloy. Malloy embodies Cybele’s charming bounciness, which is fueled by her excitement for learning about the earth and for making art. Lakshmi’s farmer-artist paradise is therefore perfect for Cybele (on paper), so she’s eager to work at Hope Springs for as long as she can.

Lakshmi, however, is no kinder with Cybele than with the other workers. When Cybele stays out overnight, Lakshmi accuses her of abandoning the farm for some man before promising to purchase one of Cybele’s pieces of art, thus buying her loyalty while undermining her autonomy.

Conflicts come to a head after Lakshmi leaves for her retreat, and the remaining scenes grow heavier and more emotional. But as the mood darkens, Alex comes into his own. His grim acceptance of living at the farm only to support Miriam despite having no interest in organic farming himself starts as his sole trait. His loneliness quickly becomes overpowering, however, and he blossoms in the second half into a character who advocates finally for himself. He does not want to do anyone harm, perhaps less than any other character in the play, but he cannot stand his loneliness, and he needs to be loved. His arc is the most satisfying in the play, and Williams’ performance is just perfect — after seeing “Hope Springs,” I can’t imagine anyone else playing Alex.

After a confrontation with Miriam about their diverging ambitions, Alex resolves to leave Hope Springs without them. That leaves Miriam emotionally fraught when they take a powerful hallucinogen with Seth and Cybele — prompting Seth’s final disappearance into the desert. What

follows is an inspired use of stage lighting and costuming, as director Grace Bertuccelli-Booth ’12 brings Miriam’s nightmare to real, actual being on the stage. The result, with spotlights against total darkness and masked figures moving strangely across the stage and Lakshmi’s return as the dancer she was in her youth, is almost shocking to watch. The crew was able to do more with the stage than I ever could have imagined.

Early on in the play, Miriam reveals that their interest in farming comes from a pipe dream about starting a “big queer supportive non-biological chosen family farm” — to which Seth responds, “So, a cult?” But a cult, where a toxic community is held together by the dogmas of a twisted but charismatic leader, sounds a bit more like Lakshmi’s Hope Springs to me. There is immense danger in placing one’s faith in an ideology like beauty, in succumbing to the allure of efficiency and of a controllable system. Closed systems, as Bertuccelli-Booth says in her directors’ note, don’t exist in the real world. Believing that profit will create something beautiful leads Lakshmi to live in an imaginary world, where her workers are able to subsist on self-sustaining gardens that have all died, where the earth can be beautiful because it is orderly. These intoxicating ideas bring about her inevitable failure in her pursuit of stewardship. She refuses to take responsibility for the people who help her and for the earth that sustains her. This is her fatal flaw, the first mistake that begets all of the others.

Above all things, “Hope Springs” asserts that we must take responsibility for what we belong to: our earth, our communities, and our bodies. If we do nothing else, we must put that before all other things. We cannot put our beliefs — in profit, efficiency, or order — before the caretaking of life. Stewardship is the most essential virtue. Everything else will follow.

Context, Creation, Come-Up: Taz Kim ’23, Cellist

CONTEXT, CREATION, COME UP

Kobe Thompson ’24 Columnist

“I was good at something,” admitted Taz Kim ’23. “And being good at something is worth so much as a young kid.” In this edition of 3C’s, I spoke with Kim about the “Context” of his relationship with classical music, the “Creation” of his upcoming thesis performance, and what’s on the “Come Up” as Kim prepares for graduate school with some heartfelt goodbyes.

“It’s funny, I was always really in love with the saxophone.” These are not the first words I expected to hear from a talented cellist like Kim. Kim’s relationship with the instrument began in the basement of St. Gabriel’s Church in New Rochelle, New York, where he attended an after-school music program. The program was a volunteer-run effort to introduce young children from underprivileged backgrounds to playing music. At his very first lesson, Kim was in for a surprise: “I’m expecting there to be a saxophone, and there’s a cello. What’s going on here?” This sax switcheroo was orchestrated by none other than Kim’s own mother.

Time and patience made Kim understand the matter on a deeper level. “It’s funny. it’s like the Asian thing of ‘play an instrument,’” he said. “Playing an instrument well, for [his parents], was a means to an end.” For Kim’s mother, these ends were building social skills, growing a resume, and learning to believe in himself. Neither Kim nor his mother predicted that his playing music would transcend its “means-to-an-end” status and become “the end” in and of itself over the next fifteen years.

people.” He could lay claim to a level of skill few around him possessed. “That gave me a lot of confidence during a time where a lot of kids struggle finding it,” he said. “I was good at something, and being good at something is worth so much as a young kid.”

“It ended up working out for the best. I absolutely fell in love with the sound,” Kim said. He described how his love for the cello crept throughout his entire body, much like the resonant vibrations of the instrument itself. Kim added that the projection of sound deep within your body could create an intimate physical connection between the player and the cello. “You feel it to your core, you sit down and you place it against your chest and legs,” he told me. “There’s a good deal of vibration that goes through your body. The feeling of it is indescribable. It’s incredibly warm, incredibly rich.”

An after-school program could only take Kim so far. Because the volunteers were teenagers, Kim’s first teachers eventually graduated and moved away to college. This marked a transition for Kim — after his student-teachers left, he was passed on to their instructor, David Krieger.

Kim’s relationship with Krieger exemplifies the strong interpersonal connections he built through playing the cello. Krieger taught Kim the intricacies of the instrument from elementary school until his high school graduation. Kim described Krieger as “one of the biggest impacts on [his] life,” “insane,” and, “simply amazing.”

Kim’s natural aptitude as a cellist motivated him to continue his hard work. “The whole practicing thing was kind of a buzzkill. No kid in their right mind in the third or fourth grade wants to spend time practicing for an hour when they could be doing anything else,” Kim said. “[But] until I found a real love and passion for it later down the line. What really kept me going was the fact that I got great feedback from

Kim was also profoundly impacted by his own experience as a teacher. “Once I got into late middle school, eighth grade, I started to volunteer [at the program] to start teaching other kids,” Kim told me. “I did that from eighth grade until the end of high school as well.” Although Kim’s students were only a few years younger than him, he was invested in sharing his knowledge of the cello with them. “[Teaching] was a really great outlet for me,” Kim said. Sharing his knowledge with his students and inspiring in them the same passion for music that he felt was a formative experience for Kim. He understood from personal experience that learning to play classical music was a rare opportunity outside of affluent households. Providing this opportunity to underprivileged children allowed him to take on the role of a mentor for his students, , just as his past cello instructors had mentored him.Kim has a striking love for classical music, as his instrument may suggest, but the cello is more complex an instrument than to be boxed into a single genre. “If you look up ‘cello’ on YouTube, you would get so many different kinds of performances. You get the very traditional classical performances, but you get people playing electric cellos, or rock music, or pop arrangements.” While Kim’s mother wasn’t enthusiastic about this deviation from classical cello music, this variety motivated him to continue to push himself as a cellist. Kim saw firsthand that the cello was a launchpad into a world of feeling and expression. The cello was a way for him to take chances and make choices, especially during a time when he lacked autonomy.

In elementary school, the music Kim listened to was regulated by his parents: “It was whatever was on the radio that wasn’t explicit.” In middle and high school, however, Kim became captivated by hip hop and rock

music, which, at least for the time being, was a heavy deviation from the cello suites and concerto pieces he was accustomed to.

As he explored these genres on the cello, he used his more traditional pieces to work on sight reading and explored playing by ear with the Beatles’ cello arrangements. He emphasized that this alternative approach to the cello that wasn’t completely entrenched in the customs of classical music is what kept him challenged and interested in playing.

Recently, Kim was given the opportunity to help work on the soundtrack for an art exhibit in Fayerweather Hall by Ohan Breiding, the college’s current artist-in-residence. “I could draw that back to being young and listening to all these different people playing on YouTube.” The cello is an instrument that plants the musician in place, yet Kim has been able to explore the field of sound and find beauty in every note, inspiration in every measure.

There is a common expectation for classical music that places it in a rigid box, but Kim defies that expectation. Classical music is seen as an exact art, without mistake and steeped in tradition that can confuse those outside of the loop. But Kim compares the work of a classical musician to that of an artist performing Shakespeare. Perhaps every word of the script is known, and every story

beat and plot twist has become obvious, but the beauty of the performance arises in the interpretation of the same story. Classical music’s capacity for personal interpretation has helped Kim discover his most sincere and vulnerable self, allowing his body to become a vessel of the music and his cello a conduit for the angst, excitement, and fervor of a composition. By stripping himself bare like this, Kim grew both as a cellist and person.

Now, Kim is faced with the largest culmination of effort and training of his entire cello career: his senior thesis, “Inspiration and Reinvention.” Kim likens the scale of the project to his early days listening to CDs from cello greats like Yo-Yo Ma, claiming, “It took me from fifth grade to a sophomore in college to be able to start [learning his music]. That shows you how much time it takes to master and get to the point to approach [a piece like that].”

But Kim doesn’t have a decade to master his thesis. Having started in December 2022, he had a little over four months to curate and practice the pieces he will eventually perform on April 22. “From February until now, I’ve been trying to play it as fluidly as possible." With such a...

Taz Kim ’23 has been a cellist for fifteen years. He is preparing for his thesis, the culmination of his cello career.

Photo courtesy of Taz Kim ’23

“Survivor”: Season 44, Episode 4 Recap and Review

Vaughn Armour ’25 Columnist

On Wednesday, April 5, the tribes merged! The merge episode is always one I especially look forward to. It’s fascinating to see how players adjust their strategy for the individual phase. It’s also fun to see these people meet after getting to know them individually in the pre-merge — all my favorites on one beach!

Early on, we learned that the dissolution of Tika would not end the drama. Josh and Yam Yam’s feud was still very real — those two wanted each other gone. Even when Josh pitched a mutually beneficial alliance, Yam Yam nodded along unconvincingly. He craved the petty satisfaction of eliminating Josh himself.

Josh was sloppy out of the gate. He told Brandon that he had an idol, but then disclosed to Jamie that it was fake. He had already lied to Carolyn and Yam Yam, telling them he had a real idol. Of course, this would get around to others, and he didn’t think quickly enough on his feet to cover his tracks. The conflicting stories made him look untrustworthy, and Josh became

an immediate target.

Carolyn struggled with fitting in initially. Interacting with 11 other people was overwhelming for her, as she hates small talk. Luckily, she was able to reconnect with Carson. They were close before Carson got swapped from Tika, so their relationship was easy to rekindle.

Carson successfully reunited Yam Yam and Carolyn in this episode, creating a trio that can do damage in this game.

Matt and Frannie remained cute together throughout the episode, which surprised no one. They whisper to each other at night and hold hands while others aren’t watching. I’ve been very impressed with how they’ve managed to stay under the radar as a couple. Both of them are in fantastic positions socially, and the further they get, the more dangerous their bond becomes.

The merge challenge had the same format as in “Survivor 43.”

Players were split into two groups of six, with one group winning immunity at the first vote. Carson, Frannie, Matt, Carolyn, Jamie, and Brandon won decisively, sending Kane, Lauren, Heidi, Josh, Danny, and Yam Yam to tribal. The main

VALHACKS

Make your mornings more sweet with a delicious smoothie bowl. Ivy Haight ’25 provides an easy-to-make recipe for your next breakfast treat.

On mornings where I’m short on time and warm food isn’t what I’m in the mood for, I usually go for a yogurt bowl with toppings from the smoothie station. One day, I decided to make it a little extra special by adding in a smoothie.

Smoothie Bowl

Directions

• Add one to two scoops of Greek yogurt to a bowl.

• Pour in half of a smoothie cup or more. For a thicker

reason it was a blowout was that Carson knew the puzzle: It was one that he had 3D printed in preparation for the season! It was inspirational to see his love for the game benefit him in such a massive way.

Josh and Yam Yam were the two names initially on the chopping block. Although Josh’s lies made him a target, they also somewhat helped him — people were scared that his idol was real, especially Brandon and Matt. Despite Carolyn’s assurance that Josh’s idol was fake, Matt remained unconvinced. Just like last episode, Carolyn was ignored. Matt wanted Kane to go home, which became the new plan.

Carson told Kane that his name was brought up, and Kane took it from there. A lot of players panic when they find themselves in this position, but Kane didn’t. He calmly started convincing people to vote Yam Yam out. There was no idol suspicion about Yam Yam, so he’d be an easy vote. In the end, the tribe split the vote between Yam Yam and Josh to protect themselves from an idol. Josh had no idol to play, so he went home regretting his lies.

The real winner of this episode was Carson. He strengthened bonds with Yam Yam, Carolyn, and Kane in this episode alone and managed to keep all of them safe. Even Brandon seems to be rather close to Carson. Multiple players trust and want to work with him. That’s a fantastic spot to be in.

11 players remain in the game. Four are originally from Ratu (Brandon, Kane, Jaime, Lauren), four are from Soka (Danny, Frannie, Heidi, Matt), and three are from Tika (Carolyn, Carson, Yam Yam). Tune in next week to see how the merge continues to unfold.

consistency, use less than half of the smoothie, and for a thinner consistency, you can add the whole smoothie.

• Mix well.

• Add toppings like granola, fruit, honey, protein powder, spirulina, chia seeds, and whatever else your heart desires!

Ivy Haight ’25 mixes up your next simple, fruity morning meal. The best part: Val makes the smoothie for you!

Photo courtesy of Ivy Haight ’25

The newest episode strengthened alliances and drove competitors further apart as “Survivor” transitions to the individual competitor phase.

Graphic courtesy of Nina Aagaard ’25

The Indicator ×

THE STUDENT

These pieces were initally published in The Indicator’s 2022 Fall issue “Bridges” and are presented here in collaboration with The Indicator.

阿嬤，我想你

“7-11 Parking Lot ”

acknowledge a man’s fearless service with a buck fifty, cash. And here is where I abandoned all principle. My fatal flaw, if anything, is that I care too much.

To be loved

Is to wake up to a bowl of steaming hot 稀飯

Tender, bright orange 地瓜 floating

In a sea of glistening 白飯，

To have the table mat set out already Smoothed out by wrinkled, veiny 手

Worn by years of 煮菜 and 洗碗。

Those same 手 have placed Wooden 筷子 and a 湯匙 on each side

A bowl of 肉鬆, a jar of 酸黃瓜，

And your favorite 麵筋 in front of you

A clean metal spoon in each, ready to be scooped。

My 阿嬤 還沒吃飯

Instead, she sits next to me, watching me as I slurp

Imitating the satisfying sound of me inhaling food

While she inhales air

Shhhuuuulp, shhuulp

Happy that I am happy that 我愛吃她做的菜, 因為 I am savoring her 愛

With every spoonful of her 地瓜稀飯。

And to feel love

Is to 哭 when you are five

Facing the dark ceiling as you try to sleep

With no warmth of 阿嬤 in the bed snoring softly next to you。

Hot, salty tears, sliding uncomfortably down your ears

Your neck

Wetting the sides of your pillow，

You get up and ask 媽媽 to 打電話給阿嬤

So you can weep softly into the phone, crying 阿嬤，我想你

阿嬤，我想你

When she’s already halfway across the world。

I don’t usually give bums money, because I know they’ll just use it on drugs. I have such profound empathy for those experiencing drug addiction, and I would hate to enable such a vicious cycle. If anything, I’ll give a member of the unhoused community my leftovers from dinner. It’s the kind thing to do, and eco-friendly, too.

But I wasn’t thinking, and I gave him cash. The unhoused man outside the 7-11. I should first clarify that under typical circumstances, I would never go to a 7-11 (I don’t support big chains). But I was meeting my plug in the parking lot, so I compromised. One of many moral compromises I gave into that night.

His leather jacket, camo pants, and combat boots were almost chic. But he looked tired, and his clothing hung loosely to his frame, and not in an anorexic-model-off-duty way. It occurred to me that maybe his weathered look was not a stylistic choice, but rather an allusion to legitimate veteran status. I have profound respect for the heroes who fight so bravely for our country. Surely I had the patriotic duty to

First, I needed to gauge the legitimacy of his veteran status. To determine whether or not he earned his scars as a patriot or a bum. I would walk past him, but I would not engage. I would look his way and say nothing.

She approaches the 7-11. He stands by the entrance, but not close enough to be registered by the motion sensor of the automated doors. Her pace slows before entering the store. She looks toward him, and in doing so issues an invitation. Her brief glance is consent to engage.

“Darling, could you spare a dollar,” the man asks.

“Oh, I don’t have cash on me, but I’d be happy to buy you some food,” she offers.

He relents. “That’s very thoughtful, but could you spare a dollar, sweetie? I almost have enough for a pack.”

Read the rest of the piece at www.amherststudent.com

Evelyn Chi ’25 The Indicator Staff Writer

Anna Wetzel ’26 The Indicator Staff Writer

“7-11 Parking Lot” utilizes perspective shifts to represent a single moment in time.

Art courtesy of Evelyn Chi ’25

Around the Herd: April 4 to April 11 in Athletics

Hedi Skali ’25 Managing Sports Editor

Men’s Tennis

This past weekend, the men’s team improved their regular season record to 7-4 after a 7-2 win against Hamilton College. The Mammoths were able to sweep the doubles matches, and only lost in their first two singles seats. Georgios Chaidemenos ’26 and Jakob Esterowitz ’26 were able to 6-0 their first sets.

Women’s Tennis

The women’s team also faced Hamilton this past weekend, recording the same 7-2 victory as the men’s team. With this, they extended their winning streak to five games, having only lost to Pomona-Pitzer so far this season.

Against Hamilton, Calista Sha ’23 was able to 6-0 in her second set as the Mammoths dominated throughout the ladder.

Baseball

The Mammoths played three games against Tufts over the weekend but were only able to win one of them.

After falling down a run early in their first game, Amherst was able to fight back to take the lead in the bottom of the sixth off of two separate RBI doubles from Jack Sampedro ’25 and Jack Dove ’23. Nevertheless, the Jumbos were able to hit a few singles to score two runs and take the lead in the top of the seventh. The Mammoths earned another run, but it proved futile as Tufts won 4-3.

The Mammoths absolutely dominated the next game. The team immediately gave up two runs at the start but then scored 15 runs completely unanswered to win the game 15-2. Javier Irizarry ’24 scored four runs, and Sampedro recorded six RBIs in the win.

After leading for most of the game, Tufts was able to score

five runs in the eighth inning to retake the lead. The Mammoths needed two runs in the ninth to at least push the game to extra innings, and they delivered. Jackson Reydel ’23 got an RBI with a ground out, and Irizarry was able to hit an incredible clutch single to score Michael Perales. Unfortunately, they were unable to pull out the win as Tufts came out with an 8-7 win through ten innings.

Last night’s game against Brandeis started like their second one against Tufts as the Mammoths fell down two runs in the first inning. Yet again, they bounced back with eight runs in the second inning, only letting the Judges score once as they dominated the game to win 14-3.

Softball

While the softball team has been unstoppable as of late, recording only three losses so far this season, they could not

secure a victory in their four games this week. They lost 1-9 and 2-8 in their doubleheader against Tufts, only playing five innings in the first game due to the eight-run mercy rule. On Sunday, in their doubleheader against Middlebury, the Mammoths were unable to follow up on both of their early leads, losing 3-5 and 5-8. Still, the team holds an impressive 13-7 record.

Men’s Lacrosse

The Men’s Lacrosse team went up to Maine this weekend to face Colby, who have not been able to secure a single win against a NESCAC opponent. The game started off tied at 2-2, but a beautiful strike by Jake Bennett ’24 was able to kick off a series of six unanswered goals, giving the Mammoths an 8-2 lead by the start of the second quarter. The Mules were able to cut the lead down to 13-11, but Bennett kicked off another series of three unanswered goals and Colby

was never seen again. The Mammoths won 16-12, improving their record to 8-2.

Track and Field

At the Amherst Spring Fling, the Amherst College women's track and field team saw junior Mia Bawendi set a new pole vault record and sophomore Eliza Cardwell win two events. The team secured victories in

eight events overall. Meanwhile, the men's team broke two Amherst records that had stood for decades, with first-year Charlie Spurrell breaking the hammer record and the 4x100m relay team setting a new school record. The men's team won six events in total. Both teams will compete next weekend at the Silfen Invitational and the Coffey Invitational.

The women’s tennis team boasts a five game winning streak after this win against Hamilton.

Charlie Spurrell ’26 broke the record for hammer throw at Amherst this weekend.

Photo courtesy of Slate Taylor ’25

Photo courtesy of Clarus Studios

Mammoths Fall to Mules in Intense Overtime

Maya Reiner ’25 Staff Writer

In a close, long-fought battle, women’s lacrosse lost to Colby College 12-13 on Saturday, April 8.

The Mules took charge in the first quarter, scoring five goals. However, Bridget Finley ’26 broke their streak, adding one goal for the Mammoths late in the first period.

During the second period, Colby scored two more goals to start off the quarter, while Clara Sosa ’26 and Finley scored late in the quarter, making the game a

four-goal differential.

The Mammoths opened strong in the third quarter, with Morgan Lebek ’26 scoring a goal off a free-position. The Mammoths used Lebek’s momentum, as Sosa scored another goal, which was followed up by attackers Emily Peterson ’26 and Sydney Kang ’25.

Their strength powered through to the fourth quarter, where the Mammoths opened with two goals to tie the game. Sosa, who scored four goals and had one assist on the day, scored on a free position, and Guttman followed to tie the game.

The Mules took the momentum back, scoring two goals after. Though, the Mammoths were determined until the end. Sosa and Sydeny Larsen ’23 each scored, putting the score at 1111.

The game continued to be a ping-pong match, as Colby scored another goal, but then Fiona Jones ’23 scored with under a minute left to conclude regular time. When the regular time ended, the Mammoths and Mules were tied, 12-12. The Mammoths came back from their five goal deficit, forcing it into overtime. The fuel that Colby started with

allowed them to end up on top as the game concluded.

“The first 10 or so minutes of the game, Colby ran up the score, and we spent the rest of the game chasing,” defender Annie Rosenman ’25 said. “We outplayed and outscored them the last 50 minutes of the game, but the first 10 made our comeback ultimately unsuccessful. We’re still looking to put a full 60 minutes together, and I think we really learned the consequences of not doing that against a top opponent.”

The Mammoths take on Connecticut College in New London, Connecticut on April 12. Fol -

GAME SCHEDULE

MEN’S TENNIS

April 15: vs Skidmore College 1 p.m.

April 16: @ Wesleyan University 10 a.m.

WOMEN’S TENNIS

April 15: @ Skidmore College 1 p.m.

April 16: @ Wesleyan University 2 p.m.

MEN’S GOLF

April 18: vs Little Three Championship

WOMEN’S GOLF

April 15: @ Cortland Martin / Wallace Invitational 11:30 a.m.

April 16: @ Cortland Martin / Wallace Invitational 10:30 a.m.

TRACK & FIELD

April 14: @ Coffey Invitational 12 p.m.

April 14: @ Silfen Invitational 5:45 p.m.

April 15: @ Coffey Invitational 9 a.m.

lowing Wednesday’s game, the Mammoths will host Williams College on April 15 for their Senior Day. The Mammoths now stand at 7 and 3 and have four more regular season games to compete in.

“Our team has grown a lot this past season,” Rosenman said, “particularly in our ability to be resilient and taking on new roles on the team. A lot of returners have shifted their roles this season with Coach O’Brien’s arrival and our strong freshman class, which definitely says something about the flexibility and resiliency of our team.”

MEN’S LACROSSE

April 12: vs Connecticut College 6 p.m.

April 15: @ Williams College 1 p.m.

WOMEN’S LACROSSE

April 12: @ Connecticut College 6 p.m.

April 15: vs Williams College 1 p.m.

BASEBALL

April 12: vs Salve Regina 3:30 p.m.

April 14: vs Williams College 4 p.m.

April 15: @ Williams College 1 p.m.

April 15: @ Williams College 4 p.m.

April 16: @ Hamilton College 2 p.m.

April 19: @ Trinity College 6 p.m.

SOFTBALL

April 12: vs Springfield College 3 p.m.

April 12: vs Springfield College 5 p.m.

April 15: vs Trinity College 12 p.m.

April 15: vs Trinity College 2 p.m.

April 16: vs Bates College 12 p.m.

April 16: vs Bates College 2 p.m.

April 19: vs Western New England University 3:30 p.m.