Issue 9

THE AMHERST THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF AMHERST COLLEGE SINCE 1868

STUDENT

CROSSWORD page 14

VOLUME CLI, ISSUE 9 l WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2021

AMHERSTSTUDENT.COM

Resurgence of Party Culture Unleashes Rampant Vandalism Sophie Wolmer ’23 Managing News Editor

Photo courtesy of Amherst College

The college announced that it will be ending the legacy admission preference beginning in the 2022-2023 academic year. The change aims to show that students "need not have family connections to get in" to Amherst.

College Ends Legacy Admissions, Expands Financial Aid Caelen McQuilkin ’24E Assistant News Editor In an email sent to the college community on Oct. 20, President Biddy Martin announced that starting in the 2022-2023 academic year, the college will end its legacy admission preference — which confers an admissions advantage to children of alumni — as well as implement an expanded and simplified financial aid program.

Legacy preferences have long been a controversial aspect of the college’s admissions policy, with critics arguing that they exacerbate socioeconomic and racial inequities on campus. Nationally, the majority of selective private universities and most liberal arts colleges still practice legacy admissions, making Amherst one of the only institutions of its kind to abandon the practice. It joins Pomona College, John

Hopkins University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and California Institute of Technology in its decision.

As it stands, around 11 percent of each class year consists of legacy students. For the class of 2025, around 18 percent of first-year students were first-generation college students.

The new changes are part of continual efforts to make Amherst “the college we want to be — the created community that stands for opportunity and academic excellence,” wrote Martin. She outlined several components of the enhanced financial aid program, including greater transparency in the awarding of aid, more generous grants and scholarships, an increased amount of direct funding to cover student expenses, and a work-study expectation reduced to four hours per week from six hours.

According to a press release, the

college will “increas[e] its commitment to student financial aid to $71 million per year” and, in so doing, “provide support for 60 percent of its students, among the highest proportion of any need-blind liberal arts college.” “​​ We want students who are considering Amherst to see that: 1) Amherst can be affordable for them; 2) their financial aid will not make loans a part of their aid package, allowing them to graduate without enormous debt; 3) they will have funding to help with necessities after they arrive; and 4) they need not have family connections to get in,” Martin added.

Ending Legacy Admissions The changes were received positively by large swaths of the Amherst community, including students, alumni and faculty.

“Ending legacy admissions in

Amherst is one of the many steps every academic institution needs to make to address educational inequality,” said Ana Abreu ’24E, who transferred to Amherst this semester. “I’m happy to be part of a community that will every year become more diverse and inclusive, giving everyone, without exceptions, the chance to succeed.”

“How did @AmherstCollege celebrate its bicentennial? By ending legacy admission. Oh yeah, and increasing financial aid another $4 million. #ProudAlum #TusksUp,” tweeted Anthony Abraham Jack ’07, a sociologist focused on the relationship between disadvantaged students and elite colleges.

Alumni, students and professors from peer institutions such as Williams, Dartmouth, and Harvard began calling on their administra-

Continued on page 4

On the morning of Sunday, Oct. 17, Community Advisor (CA) Dylan Bryne ’24 woke up to find Plimpton House trashed. A glass window on a door was shattered. Blood, from a student who had injured themselves smashing the dorm the night before, covered the carpet. The destruction of Bryne’s residential hall is one of numerous vandalism instances that have occurred this semester.

With the return to a fully populated college campus, students, administrators and campus safety officers have observed a dramatic shift in weekend culture. The resurgence of parties has coincided with an increase in reports of vandalism and alcohol overdose calls. The college’s renewed “work hard, play hard” mentality, as Dean of Students Liz Agosto put it, has jeopardized student safety and led to the destruction of college property.

According to Agosto and Chief of Police John Carter, the increased intensity of on-campus party culture has harmed students in two ways: property destruction and emotional well-being. Bryne noted that the toiletries of residents are commonly left squirted on the bathroom floor.

He expressed sympathy towards residents who are unsure about the security of their dorms. “[This vandalism] means that going back to your dorm doesn't necessarily mean you're going back to a ‘safe place.’ You know that one night

Continued on page 4

News POLICE LOG

Oct. 18, 2021 – Oct. 25, 2021

>> October 18, 2021

12:23 a.m., Jenkins Dormitory Community Safety Officers (CSO) and Community Safety Assistants (CSA) responded to a report of loud music and partying. >>October 19, 2021

2:13 p.m., Railroad Tracks A Detective responded to a report of a group walking on the train tracks.

2:37 p.m., Valentine Dining Hall A Detective responded to a report of a stolen sweatshirt.

11:49 p.m., Mead Art Museum D​​etectives responded to a report of individuals on a roof. No one was found in the area upon their arrival. >>October 20, 2021

5:58 p.m., Off Campus Locations A Detective responded to a report of a vehicle that may have come to campus after the occupants possibly harassed some teenagers.

1:48 a.m., Charles Pratt Dormitory Residential Life (ResLife) staff responded to a complaint of loud music and voices.

>>October 23, 2021

2:04 a.m., The Quadrangle Detectives spoke with an

Max Hoffman

individual involved with causing damage.

Department of Chemistry

Max Hoffman is a chemistry major. His thesis looks at the computational modeling of excited nanocrystals. His thesis advisor is Professor of Chemistry Jacob Olshansky.

9:52 a.m., Mayo Smith House A Detective responded to a report of a broken door.

11:10 a.m., Newport Parking Lot A Detective responded to assist a motorist with their vehicle and identification.

12:25 p.m., The Quadrangle Numerous vehicles were moved due to blocking traffic.

2:35 p.m., Quadrangle Road Detective responded to a minor motor vehicle accident with no injuries.

6:05 p.m., Barrett Hill Drive A Detective responded to a report of vehicles parked and blocking a crosswalk.

10:18 p.m., Hitchcock House Student Affairs staff confiscated a cooler used to contain a common source of alcohol. >>October 24, 2021

10:23 a.m., Morris Pratt Dormitory A detective took a report of a vending machine that was broken and the contents stolen from it.

>> October 22, 2021

4:05 p.m., The Quadrangle A detective investigated a report of the theft of a photo banner, which was recovered.

Thoughts on Theses

>>October 25, 2021

3:06 p.m., King Dormitory A Detective followed up on an on-going case.

11:35 p.m., Valentine Quad A Detective took a report of tent classroom tables damaged.

Q: Can you give a brief overview of your thesis?

A: [For my thesis] I wrote a computer program that models the excited state of quantum dots, which are semiconducting nanocrystals that have several applications ranging from solar energy to artificial photosynthesis. By taking basic properties of semiconductors, and assuming that the quantum dot behaves like a particle in a box, I can model a lot of the different electronic and optical properties of the quantum dot.

Q: How did you get interested in this topic?

A: In regards to computational chemistry, I got into it back when I was a freshman. I was in Introductory Chemistry and Introduction to Computer Science I and really enjoyed both classes. I thought that mixing the ideas from both classes would be really fun.

In regards to this specific project, I applied to SURF [Summer Science Undergraduate Research Fellowship] in the summer of my sophomore year. During that semester, we all got sent home and the world started to fall apart. When I got the acceptance email, it said that there would be a virtual SURF and that I would be working with Professor [of Chemistry Jacob] Olshansky, who was a new professor. I was really excited because all the other labs that I was looking into before didn’t completely match what I wanted to do. Over the summer, I started working on this project with Professor Olshansky and it was basically what I imagined myself doing in my freshman year.

Q: What have been your favorite and least favorite parts of the research process so far?

A: My thesis research has been primarily split up into two different parts — the first part is figuring out new math to apply, and the second part is figuring out why [aspects of the project] don’t work.

My favorite parts are when I get to write new code and do new math. My least favorite part is when things don’t work, [because] I have to go back and figure out what’s not working and debug code. But even when I’m doing [that], I still enjoy the process — it’s just that it moves a lot slower than actually figuring out the math I need. Another part that frustrates me is when I have to go through literature and find certain values that were calculated experimentally, because it can be really hard to find them. In the past, I have spent weeks trying to find one value, and it doesn’t end up doing anything for my model at all.

Q: Have you run into any difficulties? If so, how have you worked to overcome them?

A: Professor Olshansky is really good at thinking ahead about what we’re going to do next.

Whenever I’ve gotten stuck, there was always another direction I could take, especially because I’m doing computational research and not working in a lab. I can leave something alone for a little bit and work on something else and come back to it with a fresh mind.

There definitely are times when I can’t explain what I see experimentally with the model, and sometimes it takes weeks to come to a realization. But when I finally do, it feels very refreshing.

Q: What is the most important thing that you have learned while writing your thesis?

A: I have learned that I really do enjoy doing this type of research.

It has helped shape my career aspirations and be[come] aware of what I want to do, which takes away a lot of the stress of what I’m going to do after college. I actually feel like I know what I want to do, so now I just have to get my applications for graduate school done.

Q: What advice would you give to students who want to write a chemistry thesis?

A: Apply for SURF as soon as possible, and talk to your professors and advisor about what you think is interesting! Talk to your favorite professor from your favorite class, see what they’re doing, and ask them what other people in the department are doing to get a better idea of what is being done at Amherst. Also talk to your professors to see if you’d be a good fit for working with them in their research and talk to the students in their lab.

If you want to do a thesis, make sure to find a group that is good for you, as much as a group that you’re going to be good for."

—Kyle Hur ’25

News 3

The Amherst Student • October 27, 2021

As Infections Remain Low, College Repeals Covid Restrictions Tana DeLalio ’24 Assistant News Editor After months of ever-changing Covid-19 guidelines, the college announced its return to operating with fully in-person activities and appropriate Covid-19 protocols in place.

The decision to begin Level 1: Baseline Covid Operations was announced to students on Oct. 20 after infection rates remained low following the Fall Break. This means that there are no longer restrictions on student and college-sponsored travel, limits to gathering and event capacities have been lifted and Valentine Dining Hall has expanded to 100 percent occupancy. Students will now be able to experience the most open campus since the start of the pandemic in March 2020. While students anticipate enjoying the newly permitted activities on and off campus, some still wish for a more complete return to normalcy.

Despite its shift to a low-risk operating status, the college’s indoor double-masking mandate, biweekly Covid-19 testing requirement, and capacity limits for, “pre-approved indoor events where some participants may be unmasked,” remain in place.

Many students are confused by the seemingly inconsistent levels of enforcement for these guidelines.

Emily Jones, Director of Student Health Services, described that the college suddenly changed its operating status because low numbers of positive cases were sustained for several weeks on campus, numbers in the local area, including at UMass Amherst, have continued to decline, and cases did not increase after fall break travel.

Some students expressed support for the new Covid protocols because it means a real acknowledgment of the way that students have, in practice, been bending the rules for some time now. Having the college’s actual rules in line with de-facto prac-

tices will keep students safer, some said.

“While the college was aware that parties were happening (because CDCs [Community Development Coordinators] and CSOs [Community Safety Officers] were shutting them down every weekend), there was no way to register a party, which I believe became a safety issue,” said Talia Ward ’23.

Ward explained that in attempt to fix the situation, an informal Google Doc was created for teams to sign up to use different spaces on campus. “It was an imperfect system. The sheet didn't reach affinity groups,” she said. This ended up in a division among which groups ended up actually being able to use spaces to host social events, a dynamic which ended up falling along the lines of the divide between varsity athletes and non-athletes, and the divide between white students and students of color, she said.

“The lack of a formal way to register a party created unsafe environments for both students and the CDCs/CSOs on duty,” she added. “When parties are occuring, and the school willfully ignores them while continuing to react with punishment, students don't feel safe reporting incidents that occur at such parties.”

Lucas Romualdo ’24 also agrees with the college’s logic behind loosening Covid restrictions at this point in the semester.

“I do think that some of the protocols at the start of the semester, like double-masking for example, were a little bit extreme. I think that given the very low positivity rate, the frequent testing protocols, and the other measures the school is taking to make sure that we are safe, it definitely makes sense to loosen restrictions a little bit and provide students with a return to normal as the semester progresses,” Romualdo said.

He mentioned that the new protocols are, “definitely a wel-

come change,” and that “the loosened travel restrictions have just created less of a mental burden.”

Mike Gallagher ’24 is also, “glad that things are starting to open up,” but feels that there is some inconsistency in the restrictions given that Val is at full capacity while other buildings are not.

Where does this leave mask mandates?

The College’s operating status at Level 1 means that the same mask mandates implemented at the start of the semester remain in place. Students are required to wear face masks in all indoor spaces on campus, with only the exception of being alone in a private personal office or residence hall room. Furthermore, the College requires that either a KN95 mask or doubled disposable, pleated, filter face masks must be worn at all times in classrooms and other academic spaces that are operating at 100 percent capacity. The College does not currently require students to mask outdoors.

As a member of the men’s hockey team, Mike Gallagher ‘24 doesn’t mind the continuation of the college’s indoor mask mandate.

“Masking in the hockey rink and in the locker room is the only protocol that is different than in a normal year. On the ice we don’t have to mask as long as we have negative Covid-tests and don’t miss a test,” Gallagher said. “Given that Covid is still a risk, I think it’s important that we take these steps just so that we can keep playing hockey and be able to play against other schools. If we have to keep wearing masks in the locker room and stuff like that I think it’s worth it so that we can have a regular season.”

Frances Burton ’25, a member of the women’s squash team, pointed out that the college’s masking policy is not the same across all winter sports. Unlike hockey, squash players are re-

quired to wear masks while they play. As a result, she notes that practices require more exertion than usual. “It’s very hard to breathe while wearing a mask in the confined space of a squash court. It’s so hot down there that it makes it really difficult to train.”

Sean Kim ’25 feels that the college’s masking policy should be changed, or at least made clearer. “I would like there to be more clarity on the double-masking policy because I feel like there’s not a lot of agreement among professors about whether we need to wear a double-mask or a KN95 mask or a single pleated mask, and I think the single pleated mask is sufficient enough — given the low Covid-19 numbers and the fact that we’re all wearing masks already and are vaccinated. I wish the school would just clarify that,” said Kim. It is unclear if the college plans to eliminate its indoor double-masking policy in the future. It emphasized that its decisions regarding masking and other protocols are heavily conditional on student’ behavior.

The Oct. 20 email noted that, “Our ability to remain at Level 1 depends on a number of factors including student compliance with our testing and masking protocols. If student testing compliance falls below 90 percent for two consecutive weeks or if there are widespread reports of students failing to wear masks indoors, then additional protocols will be instituted.”

How are all the protocols being enforced?

Furthermore, while the email noted that the college will continue strongly enforcing the testing protocol, it did not explicitly detail how it will enforce masking or capacity limits: When it comes to testing, “the Office of Community Standards will continue to follow up individually with students who fail to comply with our testing requirements. Faculty and staff

compliance is also monitored, with appropriate steps taken to address non-compliance,” the email reads.

But for other areas of restrictions, systems of enforcement are not as explicitly laid out. Karinna Cvijanovich ’25 explained that as a result of this inconsistent enforcement, the change in protocols haven’t really affected her. “I’ve been leaving campus a lot more now and enjoying that, but I don’t notice much of a change in students' ability to do so because there was not a lot of enforcement before.”

What does the future hold for Covid restrictions?

Students wonder what restrictions and enforcement will be in place going forward, especially given the growing prevalence of booster shots. However, Jones said, “the availability of booster shots will not influence what restrictions the college has in place, but we continue to monitor CDC recommendations regarding booster shots and their availability and encourage those members of our community who are eligible for a booster to get it.”

Instead, Jones detailed that the college, “will certainly be cautious as the weather grows colder and more activities move indoors, and as members of our community travel for the November break. As we did after Fall Break, we will return to Level 2: Enhanced Covid-19 protocols immediately following the November break until test results give us confidence that community members have not returned to campus with active Covid-19 infections.”

Jones believes that this precaution “will be critical to our ability to complete the remainder of the semester without significant disruption.”

Kim hopefully posited that “As long as there is a culture of respect and a culture of ‘Let’s keep everyone else safe,’ I think Covid restrictions could be loosened.”

The Amherst Student • October 27, 2021

News 4

Legacy Students Still Have "Unfair" Advantage of Privilege Continued from page 1

tions to make similar moves over Twitter. “I hope @Harvard follows suit,” Tweeted Brian Na, an alumni of Harvard College. “I remember as an immigrant kid in NYC, I was able to attend the @AmherstCollege Diversity Overnight, which absolutely opened my eyes to what opportunities were out there. Not surprised that they are at the forefront of this!”

Kevin Gutierrez ’24 expressed his support for the decision but acknowledged overarching structures of privilege and said that it would be “naive to believe” that ending legacy admissions will “actually fundamentally change much.”

He explained: “People who were legacy in the first place already have more access to resources than the average student because their parents went to a school like Amherst and likely ended up being fairly successful in their careers,” he said.

“While you are directly taking out the fact that someone is a legacy and holds that position by virtue of them being born to a certain person, it doesn’t actually fully erase any of the benefits that people have because of the circumstances of their birth.”

Similarly, Taylor added, “We see the rich getting richer and using whatever advantage they can for having money to get their children into college … there is a huge advantage that people who are privileged have, to get their kids trained for the various tests, to get them professional help on writing an essay … that kind of an advantage, to me, is unfair.”

Anna Penner ’24 also expressed her support for the policy change. “I think that this change is really important … to make sure that access isn’t limited,” she said. “I think that the more we can do to cut away at the inherent privilege and discrimination within those communities is only going to make us more cohesive and better able to acutally support everybody at the school and make everybody feel included.”

Penner does not believe the policy will stop legacy students from applying to the college, however. As a legacy student herself, she stated that a large part of the reason she applied to Amherst was because she knew “what my mom got out of [attending Amherst] and that she had an amazing experience.”

Other community members had thoughts on how the policy change will affect legacy students themselves. Dean of Students Rick Lopez stated that he “is very enthusiastic about the new policy,” and stated his hope that “it allows legacy students to feel confident in their abilities, without any cloud of doubt hanging over their heads about their talent.”

Following her initial Oct. 20 email, Martin sent a follow up email addressing this question. Martin wrote, “Each Amherst student, whether they have family members who are alums or not, was admitted as part of a very careful selection process and deserves to be here …

A change in policy does not change the fact that legacy applicants are often among the most gifted and promising in our applicant pool.”

Gutierrez said he found Martin’s

comments about the competency of legacy students frustrating. “I understand, you have to keep the funding that comes from these legacy families … But you do have to understand how that comes across to the rest of the student population.

It kind of shows what the school’s priorities are in that moment. They kind of want to have their cake and eat it too,” he said.

Penner added that she found the follow up email “bizarre.” As a legacy student, she said, “I don’t think that I don’t deserve to be here, but I think that there are a whole lot of people who didn’t get in here who also absolutely deserve to be here,” she said. “I hope that [this change] means that people who deserve to be here will be let in regardless of other factors, like having a family member who went here, in order to make it more diverse and not quite as much of a family-tradition based school.”

While she appreciates the decrease in required work study from 6 hours to 4 hours, she knows that “people are still going to work, regardless of if hours are cut back.

Money is money, and we need money,” she said. “I just don’t really see how our day to day life is going to change, from a FLI student perspective.”

Increasing Financial Aid The college’s commitment to increase financial aid expenditures is another result of the growing endowment and its belief that there “should be no doubt that a worldclass undergraduate education is within reach for all income groups,” Martin put it. In addition to the $4 million increase in financial aid spending, the college is enhancing the program to make it “transparent, easy to understand and even more comprehensive.”

The college acknowledged that its exceptionally large endowment — now close to 3.8 billion dollars —

is part of what makes this decision possible. “We are doing what we’re doing because we can, and because we should,” said Martin in an interview with the New York Times.

The results of these changes mean that students from 80 percent of U.S. households will receive scholarships that cover full tuition at Amherst, and students from families earning less than the median will “typically receive a scholarship that covers not only full tuition, but also housing and meals,” according to Martin’s email.

Many members of the community expressed excitement and pride at the college’s financial aid and admissions decisions, and others looked at the decision as one step in a much longer and more complex process. Carson Taylor ’67 stated that he supports the college’s decision: “Legacy should not be a factor in admissions … I don’t think that’s appropriate. You’re not going to diversify, you’re not going to broaden the student population when you have any kind of advantage for a legacy child.”

While many community members expressed excitement and support for the increases in financial aid, some were left with questions. “I didn’t really see how this increased financial aid would affect my day to day [life],” said Jeanyna Garcia ’23. “FLI students don’t have dental care or eye care, and that’s one of the biggest setbacks that [I] face.

I didn’t really see Biddy addressing any of those holes in our financial aid packages, or what it takes to be here.”

dispensers have gone down. We also had an exit design that was broken multiple times.”

Aidan Cook ’24, who lives in Cohan dorm, experienced vandalism first hand, ““Late on Saturday night I heard a lot of banging from my room so I went out into the hall and saw that the shower wall in one of our bathrooms was completely smashed in, with pieces of plaster all over the bathroom floor. I really don’t understand why someone would think doing such a thing is fun or a good idea.” Cook expressed that he feels for

the maintenance employees that had to fix the wall.

Agosto attested that Hitchcock Dormitory was ravaged the weekend of Oct. 16: “Last week, in Hitchcock, groups of students ripped down shower curtains, stuffed wet paper into the drains, and removed soap dispensers. That impacts your ability to feel comfortable and safe.”

In the past five years, the college has spent a quarter of a million dollars repairing destruction of college property due to weekend night activities according to Agosto. The funds

have gone into cleaning up after parties, fixing exit signs and repairing soap dispensers. “[Vandalism has cost] a lot of money, time and effort.

A quarter of a million dollars over five years is a staff position or student’s aid,” Agosto said.

Agosto commented that, individually, dorm restoration costs seem small. However, the expenses accumulate over time. The perpetual trashing of residential halls also impacts the morale of staff, particularly our custodial and grounds staff. “The money may come in small amounts,

but it adds up because we were seeing exit signs, soap dispensers and common spaces destroyed every weekend,” Agosto said.

The burden of fixing the property and cleaning up falls on the custodial staff. Custodial Supervisor Liz Pereira expressed that the additional cleanup has taken a toll for those who clean the dorms each day. “When students vandalize the dorms or grounds, without regard for how it impacts staff who take pride in their

Lingering Questions Some are still left with questions about how the college will implement these changes regarding legacy admissions. For example, the Common Application, which many students use to apply to Amherst, requires students to provide their parents’ names. Some wondered how, or if, the college will effectively ignore this information in the admissions process.

Taylor also brought up that legacy students are granted additional opportunities to communicate with the administration during the application process. Though Admission Dean’s Day, a day where children of college alumni are invited to come learn about the college and speak to college deans, has been formally discontinued, legacy students still have more resources than other applicants by virtue of alumni-admissions contact. Many have been left asking whether the decision to end legacy preference will extend to practices such as this.

“The goal should be a broad, diverse, fairly chosen group of people into every institution, taking into account that some are more disadvantaged than others,” Taylor said.

“There Might Be Blood All Over Your Bathroom” Continued from page 1

you may come back — like what happened last week — and there might be blood all over your bathroom.

That's hard for a lot of people,” he said.

In Morris Pratt Dormitory (MoPratt), similar destruction has occurred. CA Carolyn Thomas ’23 noted that the lower floors are usually littered with empty beer cans. Higher up on the fourth floor, Thomas said, the damage is more permanent.: “A couple of times, our paper towel

Continued on page 5

News 5

The Amherst Student • October 27, 2021

Students Believe Unregistered Parties Responsible for Damage Continued from page 4

work, staff feel disrespected, which takes an emotional toll and affects their wellbeing,” Pereira said.

Char, a custodial staff member who cleans MoPratt, noted that the mess places a significant strain on himself and his co-workers. He said that he is “used to cleaning up the mess now,” but is tired from it.

Alyssa Houn, another member of custodial staff, was originally assigned to clean the Morris Pratt Dormitory. After a few months in that dorm, Houn requested a change.

Houn said that she switched dorms because “cleaning the mess had taken such a toll.” She had broken all of her nails and could not handle the physical demands of cleaning the extra trash.

Holding the right parties accountable for these acts of destruction is not always straightforward. Carter noted that the damage may be from those outside the college community, but that is most likely from students.

In a statement to The Student, Carter

communicated that there have been cases where individuals “not directly affiliated with the college” were responsible for damages. He did conclude that “it is more likely that the damage is done by our own residents within the residence halls.”

Carter detailed that students who are found to be responsible for the destruction of college property are subject to criminal courts proceedings. “Any incidents of vandalism in which an Amherst College student is identified as having participated is managed through the college's Community Standards process. If the vandalism is particularly egregious in scope or intent, it may be addressed in the criminal court. If an incident involves a student from another of the Five Colleges, the college will work with the other relevant college(s) or ACPD may seek a criminal complaint,” he wrote.

Beyond cases of damage to college property, students have noticed a change in culture from the previous spring semester. Though Bryne is unsure as to whether the number

of parties have increased from the spring, he has observed that students are partying much more openly. As opposed to hosting parties in campus buildings, “there were a bunch of woods parties last semester. I suspect that the number of parties have increased, but if nothing else, then the amount of parties is certainly more visible this semester than it was last semester,” Bryne noted.

For Bryne, the unregistered parties are disruptive to student living: “The resurgence of these kinds of parties comes with disruptive elements that are pervasive in a lot of party cultures. My theory of it is just like the greater amount of parties leads to greater amounts of vandalism.”

Some students believe that the reason why dorms are left in disarray is because parties have gone underground. Before the pandemic, students filled out an official Amherst College Party Notification form to register all student events. They would reserve dorm spaces and notify the college of the date, time, ex-

pected attendance and location of their party. In fall 2020, the college stopped allowing students to register parties in an attempt to combat Covid protocol transgressions, and has not yet reversed the change.

Agosto said that all parties have been unregistered ones, “What's been happening is actually that all the events that have been occurring are unregistered. The original policy was that no events with alcohol were allowed on campus.”

Thomas said that she believes that registration is the key to decrease vandalism and mess. “I remember my first year when we had registered parties, there was like a culture to clean up and put everything back where it was. I feel like that's not the norm anymore,” she said.

The administration eliminated party registration to discourage students from breaking the Covid rules. “If you are going to a party and drinking, you’re removing your mask indoors. We know that limit reduces inhibitions for maintaining a six-foot distance and maintaining your mask

wearing,” Agosto said.

To combat vandalism and encourage students to clean up, the registration process is planned to relaunch for Halloween weekend.

Registration for parties will be available through the Office of Student Activities Event Registrations on the The Amherst College Hub. Heading into the Halloween weekend, administrators and the ACEMS Board of Directors advise students to be conscious of their alcohol consumption and stay safe. On behalf of the ACEMS board, Director of Personnel Cece Hong ’22 stated, “It's always smart to be aware of how many drinks you've consumed in one night. Students should call x2111 in any medical emergency, even if they aren't sure what's going on. It's always better to call us and have us ready and waiting in case someone needs our help. Anyone that calls ACEMS will have medical amnesty, including friends or bystanders that call on behalf of other students. We are here as a resource and a service to help everyone on campus!”

Photo courtesy of Sophie Wolmer '23

Photo courtesy of Office of Residential Life

A vending machine in the laundry room of MoPratt has been shattered and emptied multiple times this semester.

A bathroom on the third floor of Cohan was found this past weekend with its wall smashed in.

News 6

The Amherst Student • October 27, 2021

College Hosts First Family Day Since Pandemic Began Brittney Nguyen ’25 Staff Writer On Oct. 23, the college celebrated its first in-person Family Day since 2019. The event was highly anticipated, with the college seeing its largest-ever number of registrants for a family event, according to Director of Regional and Parent Programs Kim Roeder.

The excitement of students

to reconnect with their families was palpable on campus as the day approached. When the awaited visitors finally made it to campus, families shared warm hugs and hellos to make up for lost time.

For many families, this event provided a much-needed reunion. Therese Quijano and her dog were able to reunite with her son Kieran Quijano ’25 for the first time since he had been

dropped off at college. They “ran and hugged [each other] and the dog went crazy,” Therese Quijano said.

“The last time that [my parents] were both here was when I was moving in as a freshman, so it’s been nice to reintroduce [them to] the campus,” said Caitlyn Lambert ‘25.

Check-in began bright and early on Saturday at 8:45 a.m. on the Main Quad. Upon arriv-

al, families checked-in at a tent with their proof of vaccination and received name tags and other Amherst College memorabilia. They enjoyed bagels, refreshments, and lawn games like giant Connect 4 and cornhole.

The event included student performances, pumpkin painting, lawn games and relaxing by fire pits on the quad. “With the current health and safety guidelines in place, our focus

was on choosing outdoor events that would give visiting families a little taste of campus life and the opportunity to connect with their children and with other Amherst families,” Roeder said.

But even before the in-person family events began, the college kicked off the weekend on Friday, Oct. 22 at 8 p.m. with the annual Family Weekend

Continued on page 7

Families gathered Saturday morning on the Main Quad in Amherst College memorabilia, enjoying refreshments and playing lawn games like giant Connect 4.

Photos courtesy of Brittney Nguyen '25

Many outdoor activities were made available to visiting family members throughout the day. Above, Linda Siegel P'97 and Sam Spratford's '24 cousin Charlotte pose with their painted pumpkins.

News 7

The Amherst Student • October 27, 2021

Families Enjoy Fall Foods, Student Performances on Main Quad

Photo courtesy of Brittney Nguyen '25

The Choral Society was one of several student groups that performed on Family Day, singing from a stage erected in front of Frost Library.

Continued from page 6 Choral Concert, which featured the Glee Club, Chorus, Concert Choir, and Madrigal Singers in Buckley Hall for students and staff. Families could attend the concert via livestream.

For many student performers, this was the first time in two years that they had the chance to showcase their talents in front of a physical audience. “It’s been a long time; we’re really excited to perform for everyone again,” said Mina Lee ’22, a senior member of the choral society.

Following a conversation

with Provost and Dean of Faculty Catherine Epstein at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday, President Biddy Martin took to the mainstage at 11:00 a.m. to address the families, give updates on campus happenings, and provide a Q&A session to address families’ inquiries, particularly those regarding the college’s recent announcement to increase financial aid funding and end the practice of legacy admissions on campus.

At noon, families and students headed to a community lunch designed to “bring the community together to celebrate

the students, families and friends of Amherst College,” Director of Dining Services Joe Flueckiger said in a statement to The Student. Valentine Dining Hall closed for lunch to make way for the self-serve selection of fall-themed New England foods provided by Dining Services in a tent on the Valentine Quad.

Choices included baked mac and cheese, BBQ pulled pork sliders, salads and hot mulled apple cider, as well as options for those with dietary restrictions.

The food was accompanied by student performances by the jazz group Storm Clouds and the

Choral Society at the main stage.

Some families took their lunches to the fields to support their students in their field hockey, soccer and football games. Others traversed the Pioneer Valley’s many hiking trails or shopped in the surrounding towns.

Families convened on the main quad again at 4 p.m. to paint pumpkins, play lawn games like corn hole and Connect 4 and grab dessert from a cannoli truck.

The student performances continued into the night, with showcases from the a cappella groups, Mr. Gad’s House of

Improv and the Green Room, among others. Student summer research projects in STEM were also displayed on the patio and amphitheater on the west side of the Science Center. Families and friends gathered around the fire pits to watch, warm up and chat as the sun set over Memorial Hill.

Students whose families were able to attend were thankful for the reminder of home. “I was starting to feel homesick. There are parts of home that I miss a lot and having [my parents] here is really nice,” said Karen Lee ’25.

Writing Center Narrows Focus to Academic Writing Support Margo Pedersen ’25 and Sophie Wolmer ’23 Staff Writer and Managing News Editor As of late September, the Writing Center has decided to shift resources away from non-academic writing support, as well as pause many of its extracurricular projects, such as its creative writing circle and annu-

al speaking contest. The changes come as part of a developing Strategic Plan to advance equity, access and justice, which aims to clarify the center’s priorities and align them with the college’s broader Anti-Racist Action Plan. Students, though generally optimistic about the changes, said that news of the plan came as a surprise to them and that they would like the anti-racist

aspect of the plan to be more clearly communicated.

Before the recent changes, the Writing Center assisted students with application writing and personal writing projects, such as creative writing or essays for publication. According to Director of the Writing Center Jessica Kem, appointments for application writing have comprised about 12 percent of the

Writing Center’s caseload over the past five years. Associates will now encourage students to make use of other resources on campus, such as the Loeb Center and the Fellowship Office, for their non-academic writing needs.

Such a shift is meant to focus resources on the center’s priorities as outlined in the new plan, amid the college’s over-en-

rollment and a consistently high demand for appointments.

“The plan is about allowing us to focus on what matters most and what the Writing Center is most essentially here for, which is academic support,” said Kem. “It’s about prioritizing support for students with their writing, reading and speaking in the cur-

Continued on page 8

News 8

The Amherst Student • October 27, 2021

"Indefinite" Pause Put on Writing Center's Extracurricular Programs Continued from page 7

riculum.”

Temporarily stopping the Writing Center’s extracurricular projects and non-academic support will also give it the “cognitive space” to “engage in meaningful, reflective assessment” of how it can contribute to promoting inclusivity, equity, and justice for all students, Kem stated. This is toward the plan’s stated goal of “understand[ing] and reduc[ing] barriers to equity, both in its own practices and as a part of the Amherst academic community.”

Avid users of the Writing Center were unaware that it was undergoing structural changes but understood the rationale. “I don't really have a sense of how much of a burden it is on them to do non-academic writing, so it was surprising to me that they feel like getting rid of that … is this huge deal,” said Ryan Kyle ’23, who said she uses the Writing Center “on average, once a week, sometimes even twice a week.”

Charlie Sutherby ’22, who has used the Writing Center for application writing in the past,

hopes that its “participatory approach to working on student writing” will be preserved. “My experience with places like the Loeb Center is that they’re less participatory and more transactional — instead of ‘Let’s sit down for an hour and hash this out together,’ it’s an email with ‘Here are my edits,’” he said.

“While that’s also helpful, it has definitely not been as strong of a learning experience for developing my writing skills,” continued Sutherby. “So, I would hope there’s some coordination with the resource centers to whom the non-academic [writing] is being transferred, so that the learning experience side of non-academic writing isn’t lost as a result of this change.”

Senior Writing Associate Kristen Brookes stressed that the Writing Center does not plan to reject any students who are seeking guidance — even if their writing needs are extracurricular. “We can’t imagine turning students away,” said Brookes.

Kem added: “This transition is not about pushing students away, but actually about helping them make good decisions about ‘What are the right resources for

what I'm doing?’”

Kyle noted that the Loeb Center has “beefed up” its resources for helping students with applications in recent years. Based on her conversations with Writing Center staff, she added that many feel that the Loeb Center staff is more qualified to help people with applications. “Especially when it pertains to particular career fields, that's just not [the Writing Center’s] specialty,” said Kyle.

Brookes agrees. She said that since the Writing Center’s founding in 2008, other resource centers on campus have been greatly expanded, filling gaps that were once the sole responsibility of the Writing Center. By communicating with other departments and administrators, she believes that the Writing Center will identify the forms of writing that are directly in its purview. This in turn will help students attain the best possible support, Brookes expressed.

The new plan also puts on pause a number of extracurricular programs that the Writing Center has facilitated over the years. These include projects such as a creative writing group,

the Interterm creative writing residency, the annual February speaking contest and occasional one-off events. The pause on these activities is “indefinite,” according to Kem. “In time, we may reintroduce these programs if we find they would enhance how we meet our goals.” The Writing Center does still plan on hosting the 3MT: Three Minute Thesis competition for students to share their thesis research with a wide audience.

Students expressed a desire to see more specificity around the anti-racism aspect of the plan.“I can’t say I totally understand the connection between reducing non-academic writing usage and anti-racist pedagogy,” said Sutherby.

“Can’t creative writing be just as anti-racist (or more so) as any academic writing?” he continued. “I’m glad to see that the Writing Center is assessing their own role in developing a more equitable campus, but I wonder if there are more concrete/relevant things they could be evaluating with regard to DEI… One of their goals is that all students have ‘access’ to individualized support, but maybe the focus

should be less on the abstract of ‘access’ and more on the concrete of actual utilization rates.”

According to Kem, the plan is still in its early stages, so clarification around specific anti-racism goals will emerge with time.

She stated that the center’s staff is “still figuring out how to describe this in a way that makes sense to students.”

As the Writing Center works toward these goals, it will be seeking student input to guide its programs and policy changes. The plan states that a student inclusion group will be launched to “inform and assess practices from a student perspective.”

The center hopes to define the mission and expectations for the group by January, and hire students for it in the spring, said Kem. In the meantime, staff encourage students to reach out with any concerns that they may have. “There are going to be gaps, there are going to be miscommunications, and if there are students who feel like the thing that they need is not available or not visible, then we would want to hear about that,” Kem communicated.

From the Red Room: Oct. 25 AAS Meeting Updates Kyle Hur ’25 Staff Writer On Monday, Oct. 25, the Association of Amherst Students (AAS) held its fifth weekly meeting of the Fall 2021 semester. Senators approved the Budgetary Committee’s (BC) recommendations, discussed Committee on Priorities and Resources (CPR) allocations, nominated representatives for an upcoming Judiciary Council (JC) hearing, and went over on-campus issues and projects.

The meeting started with BC requests, most of which were approved. Funding requests totaled $21,259.30 and were made by organizations including Quiz Bowl, the Korean Students Association, La Causa and Home-

less Connect.

There was a lengthy discussion over a request from Intersections Dance Company to fund their upcoming performance. Since the AAS historically only funds clubs allowing equal access to all students, the objection arose from Intersections’ audition-based nature, with some Senators arguing nonetheless that the request should be approved because the performance will be accessible for viewing to the entire student body. A motion was held, and the majority of the Senate voted against the request.

Afterward, the Senate quickly came to a consensus that they would allow a school-wide email informing students of the second iteration of the Marriage

Pact to encourage participation, before moving on to discussing CPR priorities.

Senators requested more funding for additional student housing, better dining hall menu options, greater access to basic hygiene supplies, more student common spaces, summer study abroad programs and improvements to ACData, among other things. The Dining Hall Committee also discussed the possibility of opening up more food options at night and allowing students to use meal swipes at Schwemm’s.

The Senate then addressed the upcoming JC hearing, which was prompted by a complaint made against a letter the AAS sent in May of 2021 condemning the violence of the Israeli gov-

ernment toward the Palestinian people. Maira Owais ’23 and Cole Graber-Mitchell ’22 were nominated to represent the Senate at the hearing, but additional nominees will be put forward during next week’s AAS meeting to give Senate members more time to think about the decision.

Committee elections were held next. For the Counseling Center Search Committee, Graber-Mitchell, Anna Leake ’23, Kya Rincon ’22 and Courtney Resch ’22 were chosen. For the Mental Health Committee, Michael Bai ’25, Lori Alarcon ’24, Sydney Ireland ’23 and Hannah Kim ’25 were elected. And for the Student Town Advisory Board, Mia Griffin ’24 was appointed.

The meeting ended with

“on-campus check-ins” and “Senate project updates.” Rincon mentioned the lack of school support for students desiring remote learning options due to safety concerns surrounding Covid. Instead of being allowed to partake in remote learning, some students were told to withdraw from the semester.

Shreya Mathew ’25 then suggested introducing coffee machines in prominent school buildings, such as Frost Library and the Science Center.

In response to Mathew’s project, other Senate members brought up the possibility of creating a late night coffee shop to provide more dining options for students at night.

The next AAS meeting is scheduled for Monday, Nov. 1.

Op pinion

w

A Lasting Legacy At long last, future generations of Amherst students will no longer be selected on the basis of their legacy status. Last Wednesday, President Biddy Martin announced that the college would officially end legacy preference in the admissions process. It is a decision that is long overdue — The Student, for example, has been critiquing the college’s legacy admission policy since at least 2010 — but nevertheless exceedingly welcome.

The pursuit of equitable admissions is, of course, a deeply complex task. But at its heart, it requires the elimination of any factors that orient themselves around an applicant’s access to privilege. Legacy is one of these factors, and thus its explicit removal is a definitive step in the project of fairer admissions. Indeed, the college has this week established itself as a leader among our peer institutions, as we are among the first to drop legacy preference alongside our expanded financial aid program.

While the importance of last week’s change cannot be understated, we must recognize that this is not a panacea for the limitations of admissions. The complexity of the process stems from the fact that it is inherently human and therefore inherently biased, and there are problems of equitability that lay beneath admissions policy. But this move is one of concrete and positive change to the way the college builds its student body, and that is to be applauded.

Let us be clear: ending legacy preference is the ethical choice. It is simply unfair to prefer some students based purely on heredity. Since Johns Hopkins ended their legacy preference policy in 2014, for example, the number of students they have admitted who are eligible for Pell grants has increased by ten percent, to 19 percent of the first-year class, while the number of legacies has decreased by 9 percent to 3.5. Schools that have long-standing legacy preference policies have massive disparity in legacy admits: 77 percent of Harvard legacy admits were white, while just 5 percent were Black and 7 percent Hispanic. Indeed, legacy admissions has historically been a tool to preserve institutional prejudice, allowing for the overrepresentation of white applicants of greater privilege — something clearly

preventing class diversity, according to Johns Hopkins’ institutional experience. So not only does getting rid of legacy actively promote a more diverse student body, it rids the college of a deeply damaging practice.

Of course, once the selection process is over, the college also has the responsibility to ensure that every accepted student can actually attend. Thus, the college’s major increase in financial aid is therefore an excellent and necessary use of our fastincreasing endowment that will significantly lessen the financial burdens of the students most in need. Moreover, the administration promised to formalize a permanent Student Emergency Fund, an improvement in access grants, and a decrease in the work-study requirement to four hours per week from six — changes that students have long been asking for from administration. Each of these will have measurable impacts as they give more students the opportunity to attend and begin to take financial stresses off of current students.

Least certain about this policy change is how it may be implemented in the admissions office. It is impossible to completely eliminate human bias, and a commitment to holistic admissions means applications can’t be void of a student’s family background. The Common Application will continue to ask where an applicant’s family went to college and so while it is undeniable that the college has taken a necessary first step, it needs to remain transparent about the measures they are taking to ensure that legacy truly does not bias admissions.

No change alone could ever make a system as broad as college admissions equitable. Even so, the size of the step that the college took this past week should not be understated.

Despite the room left for growth, the college’s ending of legacy preferential admissions is representative of a commitment to their student body and is, if nothing else, a start to the process of ensuring a future that is ever more inclusive.

Unsigned editorials represent the views of the majority of the Editorial Board — (assenting: 15; dissenting: 0; abstaining: 5)

THE AMHERST

STUDENT E X E C U T I V E B OA R D Editors-in-Chief Ryan Yu Rebecca Picciotto Managing News Sophie Wolmer Yee-Lynn Lee Assistant News Caelen McQuilkin Tana Delalio Managing Opinion Scott Brasesco Skye Wu Assistant Opinion Kei Lim Dustin Copeland Tapti Sen Managing Arts and Living Theodore Hamilton Brooke Hoffman Alex Brandfonbrener Managing Sports Ethan Samuels Liza Katz Liam Archacki Managing Podcast Sam Spratford Maggie McNamara Managing Design Anna Smith S TA F F Publishers Emmy Sohn Digital Director Sawyer Pollard Social Media Manager Emi Eliason

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The Amherst Student • October 27, 2021

Opinion 10

Seeing Double: Seeking Student Spaces in the Student Center

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Building a black box theater equipped with lighting and sound in the new student center would give Amherst’s student-run performing arts groups an adequate space to share their talents, encouraging students to partake in their artistic passions, Graber-Mitchell argues.

Cole Graber-Mitchell ’22 Columnist Every night for the last month, the Octagon’s upstairs room transformed between 5 and 7 p.m. No longer was it the horribly creaky eight-sided classroom with, somehow, both too many and too few dilapidated wooden chairs. Instead, it was Sidney Bruhl’s office, a handsomely converted colonial stable replete with a writer’s desk, old typewriters, a buffet with glasses and liquor decanters, theatrical posters and a wall covered with hanging weapons.

If you didn’t catch last week’s performances of “Deathtrap” or read The Student’s excellent review of the play — disclaimer: I stage-managed the show — then you probably have no clue what I’m talking about. You may have even had class in the room and not noticed that each night, we transmuted it into an entirely different space.

To do this, we hauled all of the room’s furniture out of the way, removing some of it and pushing the rest to the corners

of the room. We kept costumes crammed behind the staircase, lamps in a corner by the door and our special locking desk near the fireplace. All of our props rested in the cases on the balcony that overlooks the room — we schlepped an ax, a crossbow, two typewriters, various knives, two guns (fake, of course), suitcases and other comedy-thriller necessities up and down that toosteep-for-the-building-code spiral staircase dozens of times.

When rehearsal finished each night, we would run the process in reverse, returning everything to its previous position as nearly as we could. The room is first and foremost a classroom, so we had to make sure that professors could teach there the next day.

All of this room rearrangement was a tremendous strain — physically and temporally. It took hours of time out of our rehearsal schedule and left us with countless bruises and sore arms.

And it was highly unusual for a theater production.

Take Emma Ratshin ’22E’s senior acting thesis “Bad Jews”

by Joshua Harmon, which per-

formed the same weekend as “Deathtrap.” They used the Holden Theater, where the crew could build their set, leave it up, and make use of a sound system, lights, changing rooms and an actual backstage, none of which the Octagon has. The Octagon is about as suited to theater as my co-columnist is to empathy.

So why did we choose the Octagon for our play? Well, we had no other choice. There are three good theater spaces on campus — the Holden, Kirby Theater and Webster Studio 3 — and it’s rare that student-run theater gets to use any of them: the Theater and Dance Department needs all three for its students’ theses and class performances. There’s also the Ford Event Space and the Powerhouse, but both have walls of windows that make true blackouts really difficult, among other defects. And we can’t leave a set in any of the rooms on campus.

Just like the Theater and Dance Department, the Green Room, which is the only student theater group on campus, needs space to put on our performances — real space, not makeshift rooms

that need to be set up and torn down every night. We produce four performances a semester, from massive plays like our Lord of the Rings parody (performed in Ford) to smaller ones like “Deathtrap”. We do student-written theater and Broadway hits.

Each year, we provide cast and crew roles to many dozens of students — in fact, we’re one of the biggest clubs on campus.

And yet every semester, we have to scramble for almost prohibitively poor rooms. At this point, our lack of options dramatically constrains our ability to put on plays. We’re forced to cut our artistic visions short, limited by all the time and energy we have to spend moving furniture and procuring adequate lighting and sound.

Thankfully, we have a chance right now to make space for extracurricular student theater on campus. The new student center will anchor this campus for the coming decades, and it’s still being designed.

The new student center should have a student-managed black box theater — a place where we

needn’t worry about disrupting classes or losing props. A space with built-in lighting and sound and, crucially, no windows that make black-outs impossible. It could even have a costume and prop storage room so our stuff doesn’t get moldy in the Porter House basement. The Green Room would happily work with the architects to design a space that fits our needs.

Besides the Green Room, other clubs like DASAC, Gad’s and the a cappella groups would benefit from a fully-teched black box set aside for student performances and nothing else. We’re lucky to have a wealth of student art on campus, and we should empower students to make the most of their artistic passions. Sometimes that means putting on fantastic art theses, like Ratshin’s. But it also means supporting student-run performance groups, which involve far more students.

I’m graduating this year, so I’ll never get to see what students here could do with a dedicated student performance space. But there’s no better gift that Amherst could give to its student artists.

The Amherst Student • October 27, 2021

Opinion 11

In the Mind of Your ‘Model Minority’ Tara Alahakoon ’25 Staff Writer

“Well, you’re only human.”

Upon expressing my stressors to a friend, I was struck by their response. Not only did this sentiment bring me no comfort, I somehow felt minimized. But why did I feel that being “only human” implied being inferior?

I then recognized that I’d been holding myself to inhuman standards — and as an Asian American, I’m likely not alone in this.

I come from one of the many Asian immigrant families who arrived in the United States with hope and firm belief in the “American Dream.” My parents

worked tirelessly to establish themselves in this country, and as I’m the first in my family to be educated in America, I assume responsibility for executing this belief as we continue to take root.

As the daughter of civil war escapees, I was raised in a household in which mental illness is not perceived as real suffering, and I learned from a young age to bottle up any psychological distress. When I struggle, as all humans do, seeking help is never an instinct. I know that this is an experience shared by many other Asian Americans as well — every day, we bear the weight of fulfilling an oversimplified “Ameri-

can Dream” without regard to how this affects us mentally, and shouldering that burden has become our normal.

On top of any other struggles we may be experiencing — which we often downplay and disregard — many of us subconsciously view ourselves through the lens of the “model minority” myth: the stereotype that generalizes Asian Americans as smart, hardworking, submissive and socioeconomically successful. Even understanding it to be false, we endure an inescapable pressure from our communities to live up to these unattainable expectations. We internalize this obligation to succeed, endan-

gering our mental well-being as we scrutinize our failures in contrast to the perfection we are supposed to so easily attain.

Even as the myth leaves us susceptible to feelings of inadequacy, it discourages Asian Americans from accessing mental health resources when we need them, leaving us underrepresented as patients as we strive to align with our racial profile.

And as the myth entails self-reliance and healthy mental functions, even those who do seek help are often undertreated.

In light of the recent discussions surrounding mental health, I ask that campus health professionals be trained to contextual-

ize each individual’s needs and experiences within their unique cultural mindsets, as the impact of the “model minority” myth, or any racial stereotype for that matter, cannot be overlooked.

Cultural training for one particular subgroup, such as anti-Black racism, is not sufficient preparation to treat all groups with their respective issues; people of color cannot all be effectively therapized the same.

Within the Asian community, we cannot continue to uphold our members as model minorities: an unrealistic, oversimplified idea about a diverse category of people. We’re only human, after all.

Letter to the Editor: Preserving Alumni Relations Matt Mascioli ’07 Former Director of Giving DePauw University I applaud the college’s decision to abandon legacy-preferential admissions. I applaud this even with the knowledge that my own daughter, Jiyon, now seven and a dual-legacy (as Ha Mijung, the mother of my daughter, is also an ’07 alum) will no longer receive preferential treatment.

I’m fully in favor.

Jiyon is smart, and owing to the help the college has given her parents, will already have advantages that many others won’t have — private school, tutors and standardized test prep, to name a few.

I know full well the difficulty of competing against this multitude of socioeconomic advantages because I, myself, came from a relatively poor family from West Virginia. I was fortunate to be accepted to Amherst College without any of the myriad benefits that Jiyon will have.

I didn’t even know you could study for the SAT until my first year sitting in Val. And I know many other low-income students struggle with that same gap in knowledge today!

Halfway through my first year, I realized some of the so-

Photos courtesy of Amherst College

Charles Pratt Dormitory, named after Charles M. Pratt (pictured on the left), is one of the many Amherst structures named after prominent alumni who have contributed significant funds towards campus development. cioeconomic differences which Amherst helped address. I was able to attend due to a fully need-blind and need-based scholarship; I was poor enough to attend for free. I appreciated then the generous funding of alumni who made financial aid packages like mine possible, and I still do.

As I graduated and eventually worked in higher education to raise money for low-income students and give them opportunities similar to my own, I

learned a bit more about higher-ed funding models. They have existed for at least 300 years, and while I am certainly no expert on whether Amherst’s recent decision is good or bad, I can certainly attest to the fact that what Amherst is doing is bold.

Many people, including former low-income students such as myself, are worried that the future of students whose education entirely depends on Amherst’s generosity could be compromised by such a change. We

needed the support of the Pratts, the Moores and other wealthy you-know-the-names to make it possible for us to be at Amherst College in the first place.

I trust that Amherst wouldn’t make such a change without having a plan for how to proceed. I hope, however, that the college and its students don’t see this as a purely moral cause of low-income prospective students versus wealthy alumni.

The college is fortunate, because of its endowment, in ways

many other schools are not. And while it may seem counterintuitive, alumni are essential in giving others, including first-generation students, a chance to make it in higher education institutions, where the cost would otherwise be prohibitive. I don’t say this out of privilege, but out of gratitude, and hope that Amherst’s abandonment of legacy admissions does not mean an end to the close relationship with alumni that makes so many lives better.

The Amherst Student • October 27, 2021

Opinion 12

Letter to the Editor: “Legacy-Blind” Admissions

Willard M. Dix ’77 Former Associate Dean of Admission Amherst College

As an Amherst alumnus (class of 1977) and a former admission dean there from 1990 to 1998, I am pleased that the college has decided to end legacy preferences in favor of broadening the consideration of applicants. Making Amherst’s resources available to students from a wide variety of backgrounds is critical to “illuminating the world,” as the college’s motto, “Terras Irradient,” would have it. However, aside from the announcement itself, I haven’t heard anything about the mechanisms by which it will be achieved.

In considering what is meant by “giving preference” to legacies, it’s important to recognize the constellation of elements contained in that phrase. Most people simply assume that the end of legacy preference means that “legacy status will no longer factor into the College’s holistic admission process,” as President Biddy Martin announced. But reading applications while put-

ting such a policy into practice is much more complex than most people assume.

The “end of legacy preference” is a polite fiction that assumes those reading applications will have no information about an applicant’s economic status or status as an alumni child. But you can’t have a “holistic” admission process without context. Anyone reading an application can infer an applicant’s economic status by their address, high school (e.g. boarding or public? selective or community high school?), summer and extracurricular activities (e.g. paid work? volunteering? hiking in Nepal or working at the local hot dog stand?), and various other elements.

The same is true for legacies, who are often in middle- or upper-economic strata anyway.

(We’re not even talking about so-called “development” cases, applicants whose family backgrounds contain the promise of a large future contribution to the institution.) How much is the college willing to excise from an application to ensure its goals?

Aside from what may or may not be contained in the application, there have been systemic ways of helping legacies along in the admissions process itself.

For example, in the 1990s, the Amherst admission dean would meet with parents of prospective applicants during alumni weekends and reunions. She would give them advice and counsel that they might not otherwise have received. The dean re-read all legacy folders after they had been rated by staff members and sometimes decisions were reversed for various reasons, including a “president’s interest” request.

Additionally, alumni parents whose children had applied were given advance notice of negative decisions in order to forestall angry phone calls. Siblings of current students were given special consideration as well. While some of these programs have come to an end, other similar practices may still exist and contribute to an institutional legacy preference. For a “legacy-blind” policy to be truly so, these elements have to be addressed as well if they are still active.

Photo courtesy of Amherst College

Former admission dean Willard M. Dix ’77 voices his support in the college’s decision of ending legacy preference and sheds light on past admission processes.

Photo courtesy of Amherst College

Willard M. Dix ’77 questions how the college intends to proceed in their commitment to being legacy-blind.

I don’t know the current policies of the Amherst Office of Admission, but I wonder how far they are willing to go. Will they eliminate all targeted contact with alumni during on-campus and off-campus events? What about admission officers meeting with alumni in cities they visit to recruit students or when they attend accepted student open houses in the spring? Will the college ban all alumni-admission contacts? What will make the admissions process truly “legacy-blind?”

An unintended consequence of this policy may be the disadvantaging of future alumni who come from non-privileged backgrounds and were perhaps the first in their families to go to college. For many, “legacy” seems to be shorthand for “scion of rich white parents who already have all the privilege they need.” But what will happen now that it includes a significant number of non-white, nonwealthy (or maybe non-white and wealthy) applicants whose parents attended the college? If the immediate goal is to maintain a healthy number of those students at the college, and the larger goal is to help them attain

the kind of status we currently associate with college success and to ensure that they help create a more just and enlightened society, what will or should become of the policy?

Amherst is not unique in this area. Every college that wants to pursue a legacy-blind policy will have to consider all these elements and more. It is simplistic and reductionist to assume that simply adopting a policy can cure all admission-related (and societal) ills or to assume that it’s as easy as not considering the facts of an applicant’s existence. As long as human beings are doing the work, it will be impossible to eliminate conscious or unconscious bias one way or another.

(I would never consider adopting a purely mechanistic or algorithmic methodology for college admission, just for the record.)

I don’t question by any means Amherst’s (or any other college’s) good intentions or even ability to achieve its goals. But the question isn’t really about being blind to the facts of an applicant’s life, but being conscious and aware in ways that will assure as equitable a result as possible in a process that is inherently inequitable.

The Amherst Student • October 27, 2021

Amusements 13

Education Backfires

Red Herring

Boba King

by Isaac Streiff ’24

by Emi Eliason ’23

Satire

Legacy Preference Eliminated to Expand Athletics Preference Andrew Rosin ’25 Satire Columnist Amherst College announced last Wednesday that it would be eliminating legacy admission preference in an effort to create more space for athletic recruits.

“Legacy students currently account for 11 percent of each class,” the college wrote in a press release. “Due to the removal of legacy preference, we’re hoping an extra 11 percent of next year’s incoming class will be comprised of much-needed quarterbacks, power forwards and center fielders.”

The press release stated that the policy will increase the number of reserved admission spots each sports team is allotted, furthering Amherst’s mission of “enrolling talented, energetic and diverse student-athletes.” Presi-

dent Biddy Martin emphasized the importance of student-athletes at Amherst: “The success of our lacrosse team is integral to our campus community and our overall mission as an institution.

This change in admissions preference will ensure that our lacrosse team can recruit a lineup of superior athletes to take Amherst to NESCAC Championship glory.”

The college added that with the increased latitude for athletic recruits, it would consider creating varsity equestrian, handball and quidditch teams.

“Expanding athletic preference will allow our admission office to better blur the line between qualified and unqualified candidates,” Martin noted. Martin, an avid equestrian fan, has said that she has had her eye on a talented rider for over a year now.

“Now, I won’t have to worry about

this rider’s test scores or GPA and can focus exclusively on her performance in Hunt Seat Equitation Over Fences,” Martin concluded.

Students responded to this change by sharing the college’s announcement to their Instagram story and then promptly forgetting about it the next day.

“I was so proud of Amherst for doing whatever they did with admissions, um, about the legacy and stuff,” said Carl Folger ’23. Prominent news outlets like NBC and the New York Times also covered Amherst’s change to their admissions policy: “Ending legacy admissions preference serves as an important reminder that as hard as colleges try to make admissions more fair, they can never take down the glorious social construct we call organized sport,” said NBC anchor Zinhle Essamuah.

Amusements

w

Campus Creeps | Crossword ACROSS 1 Medical privacy law: abbr.

6 Activity with safewords, for short 10 Autumn yard cleaner 14 Poker concession 15 Auditioner’s aspiration 16 List-ending abbr.

17 “Twin Peaks” director 19 Texter’s sign-off 20 Half of the group behind “California Dreamin’” (1965) 21 Lake near Reno 22 1971 Doors song or album 25 Had words 27 “Just watch me!”

28 Campus candy source 31 What X and Y do in math 32 Madame Curie 33 Acorn producer 34 Frequent nightclub music: abbr.

35 Amherst’s abandoned edifice 37 Actress Farrow

38 Overtime inducer 39 Admiral Ackbar: “It’s ___!”

40 Infamous “College Dropout” 41 Pale people-drinkers 43 Toque, in Chicago 45 Exuded (as a wound) 46 Home to dancing spiders?

47 Flourless cake 49 Sorkin of “The West Wing” 50 Where most people live 51 Mama who is not married to Papa 56 Jr.’s exam 57 Amherst’s skeletal inhabitant 58 Where to find a Halloween costume on campus, maybe 59 Rock climbing documentary “Free ___” 60 Junk 61 Actor Carell

Liam Archacki ’24 Managing Sports Editor

Solutions: Oct. 20 DOWN 1 Concealed 2 “___ tree falls in the forest...”

3 Personal angle: Abbr.

4 Payment to an ex 5 Uncle Fester or Morticia 6 Actor Cranston 7 Puts on (as in a Halloween costume) 8 Utah’s cap.

9 Verbal shrug 10 Second shot 11 Right now 12 Ring victory 13 “Legally Blonde” protagonist

18 “Hilarious!,” in a text 21 Certain hair dryer 22 “SNL,” e.g.

23 Easternmost national park 24 Cursed campus commemorative 25 Doc’s written order 26 Punxsutawney groundhog 28 Bareilles and Gilbert 29 “Game of Thrones” actress Williams 30 See-you-l8r boy 32 Cincinnati baseball mascot 35 Corn

36 Raison d’___ 40 “Is that right?”

42 Insta-famous campus werewolf ?

43 Road shoulder 44 Paperless novels 46 Very high 47 Siphons off 48 ___ buco 49 “Chiquitita” group 51 Telly network 52 ___ Lingus 53 Charlemagne’s domain: Abbr.

54 Causes mononucleosis, for short 55 Reuben bread

Arts & Living 15

The Amherst Student • October 27, 2021

WAMH X THE STUDENT

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

Sweden is likely not the first place you associate with hip-hop, a genre that had its beginnings in the 1970s in New York City. However, Stockholm-based artistic collective Drain Gang, is a strong force in the world of underground hip-hop today.

Drain Gang was formed in 2013 by the musicians Bladee, Ecco2k and Thaiboy Digital, alongside producers Whitearmor and Yung Sherman. The idea for the collective came up during a night of partying in Stockholm. Thaiboy Digital and Bladee were freestyle rapping using Whitearmor’s beats, and the three decided to form a group based around rapping and singing using autotune.

Drain Gang’s music builds on the characteristics of hip-hop that preceded it but still creates a unique, new sound. The group’s music consists of ethereal, dreamy beats, often punctuated by trap-influenced hihats. They almost always autotune their vocals heavily, an intentional artistic choice pioneered by mid2000s albums like T-Pain’s “Rappa Ternt Sanga” and Kanye West’s “808s and Heartbreak.” These are characteristics of cloud rap, a genre Drain Gang has had a significant hand in developing.

Cloud rap and Drain Gang emerged almost simultaneously.

Cloud rap was originally developed in the late 2000s in the southern United States when producers began utilizing dreamier samples in their beats along with the ubiquitous Roland TR-808 drum machine, which is often used in trap.

The genre was quickly recognized by online music communities as a novel take on hip-hop. Producer Clams Casino is often credited with bringing the genre to both underground and mainstream audiences, producing Lil B’s “I’m God” in 2009 and many songs from A$AP Rocky’s “LIVE.LOVE.A$AP” in 2011. Lil B is an independent rap-

per with a cult following online, and A$AP Rocky has gone on to become one of the biggest names in hip-hop.

The Drain Gang strain of cloud rap is more closely related to Lil B, as the bulk of their popularity is due to their dedicated internet following. “Drainers,” as Drain Gang fans often call themselves, are constantly creating memes about the group and carefully follow the collective’s every move. This is a daunting task, as the collective’s members rarely post online, despite how much their music is informed by internet culture. When they do post, it is often cryptic, much like their music.

While I describe Drain Gang’s music as hip-hop and cloud rap throughout this article, it is inaccurate to pigeonhole them within these labels. The group experiments with genres often, especially in newer releases like Bladee’s “The Fool” and Ecco2k’s “PXE.” Much of the “The Fool’s” 32-minute runtime is filled with layered synths characteristic of trance music, and “In The Flesh” from “PXE” is a sugary pop song featuring fuzzy guitar tones.

The collective is not chained down to a single sound, a quality that is becoming increasingly common for much of modern music.

Many common threads run through Drain Gang’s lyrical content. The group’s music is simultaneously depressive and hedonistic, a concept that is less contradictory than it sounds. For example, in “Romeo,” Bladee celebrates his wealth by singing “feel like Romeo, Moncler coat when it’s cold” in the first line of the song, then later laments “to feel something, I’d do anything.”

Numerous other songs by the group discuss drug use in both celebratory and regretful ways.

The group also often sings about their struggles with mental health.

Depression, anxiety and loneliness are common topics. Many of Bladee’s lyrics read like symptoms

Photo courtesy of Flickr

Rapper and singer Bladee is one of the most famous members of Drain Gang, a Swedish music collective that has defined the genre of hyperpop. of depersonalization and derealization disorders. In “Who Goes There,” he sings “this world feels so distant,” and “my week is a dream, I’m just walking in my sleep.” This is also an example of how Drain Gang uses characteristics of emo music in their work to create a style of lyricism rarely seen in mainstream hip-hop. In addition, the group sparingly discusses romantic or sexual relationships, which is also uncommon in hip-hop and in modern music more generally.

The racial and national identities of the members also inform their art. This is especially true for Thaiboy Digital and Ecco2k. Thaiboy Digital was deported from Sweden in 2015 after his mother’s work visa expired, making it more difficult for him to collaborate with the other members. The group’s 2019 album “Trash Island” was mostly recorded in Bangkok and was inspired by the time that the group spent together in Thailand that year. Ecco2k’s music often discusses feeling like an outsider as a Black man in Sweden.

He sings, “Everywhere I go, they look at me wrong” in his song “Peroxide.”

Another defining characteristic of Drain Gang’s style is the way they approach ideas of masculinity and femininity. All three vocalists in the group use an androgynous

vocal style, and they discuss ideas of success and belonging in ways that eschew the masculine and aggressive ethos common to hiphop. In the hook of Bladee’s song “It Girl,” he says, “In this world, you gotta work to be the It Girl,” using the archetype of the “It Girl” as a symbol of his own success, despite being a man. Ecco2k’s latest project “PXE” was released as an audio-visual project featuring a masculine character, “Ecco,” and a feminine character, “Echo,” which symbolize Ecco2k’s struggle with gender identity.

The visual art style of Drain Gang is also an integral part of their approach to art. In the cover art images of their discography, the group uses both maximalism and minimalism in compelling ways.

The cover art of Bladee’s “Icedancer” and Thaiboy Digital’s “Legendary Member” are barrages of color filled with symbols, scribbles and indiscernible drawings. This is fitting, considering these two albums are two of the most densely produced works in the collective’s discography. On the other hand, the cover art of Ecco2k’s “E” consists of only a large e-mark and the album’s tracklist in small text. Concurrently, many of the album’s tracks are sparse.

All of these characteristics have

heavily influenced the internet music scene — particularly the burgeoning genre of hyperpop.

Hyperpop is a genre that developed almost fully through internet networking, beginning with the PC Music collective established in 2013, whose maximalist pop music homes in on the most sugary and catchy elements. Since cloud rap and hyperpop are two internet-based genres that have developed simultaneously, it isn’t surprising that the two genres have often influenced one another. Many hyperpop artists like Ditzk and d0llywood1 have discussed being influenced by Drain Gang. This can be heard clearly in their music — newer hyperpop uses elements of cloud rap such as skittering hi-hats, heavy bass and ethereal synths.

Drain Gang’s art is a direct representation of the ways late Millennials & Gen Z express themselves.

The group discusses mental health, gender expression, drug enjoyment and drug addiction by combining absurdist elements — which are defining characteristics of Gen Z internet culture — and perfectly literal language. The group is compelling yet divisive due to their esoteric approach to hip-hop and music at large, making them one of the most exciting groups of artists in the modern underground music

Arts & Living 16

The Amherst Student • October 27, 2021

And the Show Went On! The Future of Broadway

Sarah Weiner ’24 Staff Writer

The show must go on — and go on it will. After a hiatus of more than a year and a half due to the Covid-19 pandemic, dozens of Broadway shows have opened or reopened within the past two months, with more to come. With rehearsals underway, lengthy standing ovation videos flooding social media, and the broadcasting of the 74th (a.k.a. the 2020) Tony Awards, it certainly feels like Broadway has made its grand reentrance. But in an era of persistent Covid anxiety, is Broadway really back? I spoke with Lisa Buxbaum, a theater-goer, my mother, and a Broadway stage manager of almost 30 years who returned to work this month.

Before the pandemic started, Buxbaum was the stage manager for “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” When Broadway went

dark, the play was still in previews, set to open just weeks later. Timing and scheduling concerns made its return to Broadway unfeasible; several other plays and musicals also did not return for various reasons.

Now, she is the stage manager of “To Kill A Mockingbird,” which reopened on Oct. 5. When I asked her about the cast and crew’s general sentiment about returning to work, Buxbaum said they are “thrilled.” But, she also acknowledged some difficulties nevertheless remain. “It’s demanding to do eight shows a week,” she reminded me.

Although some actors and crew members have worked sporadically throughout the pandemic, some haven’t worked at all. No matter who you are or what you’ve been doing, everyone needs to build back their physical and emotional strength to get through the fatiguing work week. As a result of ne-

gotiations with Actors’ Equity Association, shows have the option to do seven performances a week instead of eight for the first eight weeks after reopening. “To Kill a Mockingbird” is doing seven.

Another thing that has changed during the transition back to Broadway is the implementation of Covid protocols. There is now a vaccination requirement for all performers and crew members, with testing procedures in place for unvaccinated audience members. There is also a mask requirement for everyone in the theater — including actors, except when they are on stage. There are minimum testing requirements for everyone, set by Actors’ Equity Association and The Broadway League, but the protocol can vary by show.

Despite the trepidation of some that now accompanies being in an enclosed space for extended periods of time with strangers,

Buxbaum said current audience members are “very enthusiastic to come and are more than happy to comply with Covid protocols.”

As a theater fan herself, she would have no hesitation going to see a show, should the opportunity arise. However, “a large part of the industry are tourists,” Buxbaum explained. Ticket sales are largely dependent on tourists returning to New York City, and as Buxbaum mentioned, “not only for the theaters, but all the other things the tourists come to New York for,” emphasizing the significant role of tourists in the city’s economy.

I was curious to ask Buxbaum about any differences she could perceive between pre-pandemic shows, and the ones that are open now. I expected a Covid-related response, but Buxbaum actually said that the biggest differences she sees “have more to do with the Black Lives Matter movement and a call for equity and inclusion in

Photo courtesy of Pexels

After a year and a half in the dark, Broadway’s lights reilluminated in September. With the reopening of fan favorites and new productions, a beloved cultural fixture of New York City returns.

the industry.” She noted that “‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ has some very sensitive content, and that is being addressed in our reopening” and that “content around sexual diversity in ‘Jagged Little Pill’ [is] being addressed in different ways.

I think all shows are addressing diversity, equity, and inclusion in new and better ways.” The changes address both artistic and human resources issues, making waves onstage, backstage, and at administrative levels.

These changes come after activist group We See You White American Theater released a testimonial letter, “Dear White American Theater,” in June 2020. The collective has since put forth a list of demands and “principles for building anti-racist theatre systems.”

In September, “The Tony Awards Present: Broadway’s Back!” event also alluded to the call for racial equity, with “Broadway’s Black Tonight,” Leslie Odom Jr.’s parody line of the opening number’s chorus, “Broadway’s back tonight.”

When I asked Buxbaum about the importance of Broadway’s reopening, she immediately responded, “nobody wants to see the art form disappear.” Broadway is home to all types of artists: designers, performers, writers and choreographers. Buxbaum also added that there is an economic perspective at play, since Broadway “is such a muscle for New York City.” But for her, it really is about the art: “a world without theatre would be terrible,” she asserted.

As utterly exciting as this landmark is, the reality of the pandemic leaves some questions hanging. At the beginning of this month — and after only one performance — “Aladdin” closed for 12 days following a Covid outbreak among its cast members.

Although the show is now back on its feet, Broadway has never before permitted the routine closing and reopening of shows. With the new threat of temporary closure, supposed action towards inclusion and equity on the horizon and a revitalized appreciation for live theatre, what will the future of Broadway hold?

Arts & Living 17

The Amherst Student • October 27, 2021

Amherst Families Jam with the Jazz Ensemble

Davis Rennella ’24 Contributing Writer

On Saturday, Oct. 23, the families of Amherst students gathered on campus to finally explore the grounds of the college and spend time with their kids, having been kept away by Covid-19 restrictions for the past year and a half. For the occasion, the student performing arts groups appeared in force. Kicking off the event was Storm Clouds, the college’s own student jazz ensemble.

They took the stage just after noon, following an optimistic speech on the state of the college by President Biddy Martin and some half-joking, half-not-joking interjections by Professor Austin Sarat. A decently sized crowd formed, some filling the plastic chairs in the audience, while others milled about the quad. Everyone snapped to attention at the unexpected first downbeat from Director of Jazz Performance Bruce Diehl.

The first number was “Blues Five Jive.” The bass guitar and brass sections hada snappy musical conversation, before the saxophones carried on the tune with a bright, bouncy melody. The band then broke into solos, with Ari Dengler ’24 on tenor sax rising first from her chair onstage, playing a jaunty, carefree line over the classic blues-y harmonies in the rhythm section. Siobhan Angeles ’24 followed up on alto sax with a smooth melody that walked up and down the keys. Partway through Connor Barnes ‘25’s trombone solo, the entire rest of the band joined in, backing up the soloist with their own licks and lending a hair-raising boost of energy to the music and adding momentum to the next section of solos.

Guest guitarist Bob Ferrier played a slow, sweet-sounding solo, and Diehl took a step back from directing the band to watch Ferrier at work, with a little smile on his face. He asked the drummer, Annika Ridky ‘25, to make an adjustment partway through. Whether this was planned or a spontaneous decision was unclear, but his relaxed presence during the little chat onstage gave this moment a special charm and was perfectly in character with the genre of

jazz’s informality. The band closed the piece firing on all cylinders, with a booming triplet crash leading into the final, sustained note.

Fitting for the beautiful foliage above the First-Year Quad, the ensemble then performed the classic “Autumn Leaves.” Ferrier’s musicianship really shone through in the introductory notes of the piece; in each measure, he effortlessly picked out arpeggios which climbed up to strummed chords at the end of each phrase. Paired with Lydia Silver ’25’s gentle melody on vocals, they gave us a memorable duet. Silver’s light and measured voice complemented the dance of Ferrier’s fingers on the strings. The entrance of the full band came as a surprise, as their musical texture was much more dense and rhythmically complex than the introduction. Listeners emerged from this transition disoriented. However, as the band came back to their familiar melody, this time at a faster tempo, it became clear that the previous section had been a foil to the core

melody, one that contrasted its beauty with a moment of relative tension.

Moving into the solo section, Angeles provided a variation on the main melody that stuck to its general shape, but with a smoother rhythm, and added a few dark notes that tactfully highlighted the bittersweet tone of the song. Diehl later spoke with Silver for a moment, and she got back up to give a punchy scat-singing solo. Diehl paired her exit with a little clapping gesture and a subtle look of pride on her behalf. After the solos, a swing rhythm brought the energy up and led back to a trumpet solo by Cameron Chandler ’20, who played the original melody in bright tones that rang across the Quad. The band performed a compelling rendition of this beautiful tune, giving it their own funky and unorthodox flavor through biting transitions.

Next up was “Bye Bye Blackbird,” a performance that proved to be a delight. The whole band sounded a joyous melody, all together, which then broke into a dance between the brass

and the saxophones. Each section brought out the other, and the line went back and forth, like two voices singing to one another. A transition to the main section followed, which briefly pulled back into more fraught territory when a moment of tension preceded the serenade in the vocal section. The song had an affectionate tone, and the upbeat tempo imbued the tune with a distinct brightness.

On her sax solo, Dengler conveyed the song’s joyous energy and indulged in the sweeter notes. Ferrier shined again on this number, starting out his section with a steady swing rhythm which steadily sank down into a luscious phrase in the lower register. On the final line of the song, Silver belted out “Bye” for several measures, and the band changed chords underneath before they both moved to the final, resolving statement. It was an impassioned performance, and my personal favorite.

They then performed Count Basie’s “Splanky”, featuring a big band sound with a bold, sassy per-

sona that picked up from the more delicate energy from the tune before.

The song took its power from its simplicity, and the band played to this strength by carrying out their performance with intensity. It started out with a low dynamic and a laid back attitude. The line rose and fell over a simple chord progression repeating underneath. The song featured solos from every type of saxophone, with Benjamin McMaster ‘22 dealing out a punchy line to the audience on baritone sax.. Right after Barnes’ trombone solo, just as the overcast skies started to clear a bit, as if on cue, the band took the song up a notch. With the return of the main melody, they started to blast the air with electrifying sound. They made a few rounds through this fanfare, and then moved up to a new key after the drum solo, which was an exciting surprise. The brass traded off lines with the saxophones every couple measures, before the song came to one last impact to finish things off with style.

Photo Courtesy of Liam Archacki ’24

Family Day on Oct. 23 featured a lively performance by the Amherst Jazz Ensemble. Led by Jazz director Bruce Diehl, student performers wowed parents, playing on a temporary stage on the First Year Quad.

Arts & Living 18

The Amherst Student • October 27, 2021

Amherst in an Abbey: Alum Unveils New Novel

Madeline Lawson ’25 Staff Writer

Lauren Groff ’01’s new novel “Matrix” follows a 12th century nunnery’s rise under the leadership of Abbess Marie. After being declared unsuitable for marriage, Marie leaves her life with her stepmother, the Queen — she is an illegitimate child of nobility — and her lover, Cecily, to become a prioress at the abbey. She lives there from age 17 to 72, eventually becoming abbess — the mother of the abbey.

After her appointment to abbess, Marie receives a series of 19 visions from the Virgin Mary and grows convinced that the abbey must be isolated from society, going so far as to create a labyrinth surrounding the grounds to keep others out. Under her leadership, the abbey grows from destitute to prosperous and lucrative. Along the way, the novel explores the relationships between the nuns, many of them gay, and their relationships to the world beyond the abbey.

Though ripe for analysis, “Matrix” is not quite suitable for a leisurely read. The novel has little dialogue and is about 60 percent description, particularly in the first half. Fortunately, the descriptions in the book are largely rich and concise, although it occasionally spends too long on unimportant details. There is little description of the labyrinth Marie orders to be built, but we are meant to feel like those who visit the abbey: blindfolded, led only by someone who knows every turn. The descriptions elevate the novel and take precedence over much of the actual story. The novel has no male characters, which creates a sense of a true feminine utopia, with few mentions of God, but many mentions of the Virgin Mary. The story it tells is both deeply religious and profane. The nuns seem to worship the Virgin Mary over God, something a few nuns question but is inconsequential to the overall plot. Deliberate in every word, “Matrix” is not for light entertainment, better suited as a literary novel.

The pacing within “Matrix” is jarring. The story takes place over 55 years, and the only indication of time the reader receives is Marie’s age. The novel skips decades without warning. Marie moves to the abbey, but beyond small discomforts and issues with the abbey’s wealth, there is no clear conflict that the plot focuses around.

Marie’s visions do not start until midway through the novel, and there is so little context for them that they seem inconsequential at first. The abbey’s labyrinth is one of Marie’s grandest gestures, yet it is only mentioned a handful of times. There are a fair amount of details regarding the financial rise of the abbey, but they are overshadowed by an emphasis on the relationships in the novel.

Although relationships are the foundation of stories, there were too many characters in the story for all of them to be fully fleshed out. There are a few romantic relationships between the women, seen as a necessity in the abbey, but only that of Marie and her childhood best friend Cecily is fully explored. Cecily is a one-dimensional character, but their relationship is nevertheless one of the strongest parts of the novel.

The idea of independence is contrasted with the options for women at the time: getting married or becoming a nun. Throughout the novel, the nuns challenge this idea, with one of the obates — a girl raised within the convent — deciding to get married and becoming head of finances for the abbey. The nuns cut themselves off from society in an attempt to preserve their way of life from outside influences. Yet, their isolation leads to no real consequence. As with Marie’s visions, this plot thread was not explored deeply enough to have much of an impact on the book as a whole.

Overall, the book feels unfinished. It has a definite ending, but it lacks a plot besides simply following Marie’s life. It is hard to find an overarching conflict throughout the novel. There are troubles within the abbey, but they are quickly resolved and have little lasting impact. The closest

Photo courtesy of Edgeeffects.net

Set in a medieval nunnery, Amherst alumna Lauren Groff ’01’s newest novel, “Matrix” reimagines life in the Middle Ages but suffers from a convoluted plot. thing to a conflict is when Marie seals the abbey off from the world, but this is so rarely discussed that it cannot be called a real conflict.

The novel seems more like a series of vignettes than a narrative with a complete plot. The prose and writing style is good, but the lack of a full plot makes the novel feel more like an extended short story.

“Matrix” takes an uncommon historical stance, as there are few historical fiction novels regarding the Middle Ages and even fewer focusing on women and queer relationships in that time period. Yet, it is not a light read. It is a novel to let simmer rather than read over a weekend. It has a similar tone to Nick Laird’s 2017 novel

“Modern Gods,” another observation of profane and religious zeal, though set in modern times.

Neither novel focuses on the religious aspect as much as expected, but instead on the relationships between characters. It is worth a read simply for the uncommon subject matter, but it is not a vacation read.

Arts & Living 19

The Amherst Student • October 27, 2021

“Bad Jews,” Good Play: Senior Theater Thesis Thrills

Tapti Sen ’25 Assistant Opinion Editor

As the lights dim in Holden Theater and the audience’s whispers fade away, a man sits on a couch in a modern apartment, playing a video game the audience cannot see. Several seconds of silence follow, broken by the door opening. A woman enters, asking why her cousin is sitting in his boxers after their grandfather’s funeral.

This is the opening to “Bad Jews,” a dark comedic play by Joshua Harmon, presented at Amherst last weekend as Emma Ratshin ’22E’s senior thesis. It tells the story of three cousins trying to decide who should receive their recently passed grandfather’s heirloom, a Chai necklace that is deeply important to their Jewish family’s history (their grandfather recounts having hid the necklace under his tongue for years during the Holocaust).

The cast of the play is relatively small, consisting of the three cousins, Daphna/Diana (played

by Ratshin), Jonah (Miles Garcia ’25), and Liam (Eli Quastler ’22E), as well as Liam’s girlfriend Melody (Caroline Seitz ’22).

These four actors do an amazing job in creating the scene of the play and establishing a fascinating family dynamic. The play takes place almost in real time over one night in these four people’s lives. Even within just that one night, we get an amazing insight into these four characters and their complicated relationships.

Simply put, “Bad Jews” is like watching a trainwreck unfold slowly and surely, but in an amazing way. Most of the play consists of arguments between the characters, and that is where we truly see the actors shine: their performances are loud and emotional, effectively capturing the audience’s attention while also managing to jolt us in our seats.

I personally still shudder when thinking about Liam’s “Shut the fuck up!” to Daphna, a defining moment in the play where Quastler reaches the highest decibel I’ve heard from an actor on stage

so far. The story primarily being told through arguments and the nearly tangible tension between the characters made the play very stressful to watch — I was hanging onto every word during the last 40 minutes of the play.

When the play ended in the same quiet way it began — a man on a couch playing video games —, I was surprised, feeling as though it had been left unfinished somehow. And yet, that was the ultimate point of the play: a conflict set this deep cannot be resolved over the course of one night.

Snigdha Ranjan ’25, assistant stage manager for the play, described her experience working on the crew: “It was simply amazing. The cast was amazing, the director was amazing, and my fellow crew was amazing too.

The cast and crew was all very responsible and communicated really well, and overall, I’m really happy I got to be a part of this production.”

The central conflict of Bad Jews is centered around Daphna and Liam’s opposite approaches to their religion: Daphna, who

feels deeply connected to her religious identity and cultural history, is a devout Jew, while Liam is an atheist who distances himself greatly from his family’s Jewish identity. However, the most effective aspect of “Bad Jews” is that the audience is truly not on anyone’s side- mostly because both of these characters are deeply flawed people. Daphna takes her religiosity to extremes, claiming that Liam marrying a non-Jewish person is ruining their culture and otherwise is portrayed as a straw feminist.

Meanwhile, Liam is incredibly rude to his brother and family alike (90% of the loud yelling is from him), and to be honest, the only person he’s a vaguely decent human being to is his girlfriend Melody. (We are led to feel a lot of sympathy for Jonah and Melody, who are mostly caught in-between the arguments of the other two characters, although there is plenty to say about them as well.) In the conversations and arguments that occur between Daphna and Liam, we explore questions of identity, of what it

means to be Jewish and of what role religion should play in our lives. Along the way, we’re also encouraged to think about how our cultural heritages shape us and what it means to be a member of a community.

Anyone who has dealt with any of those issues will find themselves pondering these questions after the play — I know that I certainly did. I feel as though American media usually shys away from conversations regarding religion and especially about the conflicting ideas within certain religions. That makes it extremely refreshing that not only does the play embrace exploring those intra-religious conflicts, the actors do too. They have constructed their characters in a way that makes their personas terribly, terribly unlikeable, and at the same time, terribly, terribly human. When I came out of the theater, I realized how apt the title is, because no matter whose points you agree with more, and who you think really deserves the Chai, the characters are all, in each other’s eyes, bad Jews.

Photo Courtesy of Emma Ratshin ’22E

Emma Ratshin ’22E’s senior thesis, a performance of Joshua Harmon’s “Bad Jews,“ was provocative, homing on tensions in an embittered family.

Sp ports Dominant Defense Leads Football Past Hamilton, 21-0

Photo courtesy of Amherst Athletics

Tailback Kellen Field ’22 breaks a tackle as he crosses midfield on a day where he amassed 110 all-pupose yards in a 21-0 rout against Hamilton College.

Jackson Reydel ’23 Staff Writer The football team cruised their way to a 21-0 win over Hamilton at home on Saturday, Oct. 23. The defense was the dominant unit for the Mammoths in this game, holding the Continentals to only 305 yards of total offense in the game.

The Mammoths’ secondary came to play, intercepting four passes on the day, including a pick-six by Ricky Goodson ’22.

One of the Mammoths’ team captains, Goodson led the defense with two interceptions, three pass breakups, and three tackles, and helped to set the tone for the game defensively.

Returning to the lineup after missing the past two games due to injury, quarterback Brad

Breckenridge ’24 got the Mammoth offense moving again after the unit notched a subpar game last week at Bowdoin.

In stark contrast to last week’s contest, the Mammoths were able to move the ball well in the first half but still struggled to convert in the red zone early in the game. Hamilton blocked three consecutive field goals in the first half, keeping the score tied at zero through the end of the first quarter. However, the Amherst defense helped to weather the offensive woes, continually forcing turnovers throughout the first half.

Impressively, the defense recorded interceptions on four consecutive Hamilton drives, giving the offense great field position on multiple occasions. Goodson’s first interception and stellar re-

turn got the Mammoths the ball on Hamilton’s 14-yard-line. A few plays later, Breckenridge took a quarterback sneak into the end zone on a huge fourth down conversion, giving the Mammoths a 7-0 lead. Two plays later, Goodson got his second interception and streaked down the sideline for 30 yards and a touchdown to widen the Mammoth lead.

Neither team could muster any offense for the rest of the second quarter, and Amherst went into halftime up 14 points.

The second half saw the Mammoth defense continue to excel, stuffing Hamilton on every drive despite the Continentals winning the time-of-possession battle.

The offense finally put the game out of reach in the fourth quarter, scoring on their first drive of the quarter.

Tailback Louie Eckelkamp ’24 took his first carry of the game 33 yards for a touchdown to put Amherst up 21 points. From there, the defense kept Hamilton off the scoreboard to finish the game with a score of 21-0.

The Mammoth offense did what it needed to do to get the win on Saturday. With the defense locking Hamilton’s offense down, Breckenridge and company were able to take advantage of good field position and string together a clutch fourth-quarter drive to win the game.

Breckenridge threw for 183 yards, and also ran for 31 yards and a score. Kellen Field ’22 led the Mammoths with 88 rushing yards, and is now fourth in the conference in rushing. Carson Ochsenhirt ’23 had four catches for 83 yards to lead all Amherst

receivers.

The Mammoth defense played one of their best games of the year to shut out the Hamilton offense. Goodson earned NESCAC Defensive Player of the Week for his stellar performance. Not to be outdone, the defensive line and linebackers were flying around the field, recording 11 tackles for loss, including seven sacks. Defensive backs Ryan Monteleone ’24 and Logan Shooster ’23 each caught an interception, and the Mammoths defense as a whole stopped Hamilton three times on fourth downs and were relentless in the red zone. The team will look to build on this success next week. However, the whole team will face a tough task when they take on undefeated Wesleyan on the road Saturday, Oct. 30, with kickoff slated for 1 p.m.

The Amherst Student • October 27, 2021

Sports 18

Men’s Soccer Cruises Past WPI, Colby and Trinity Leo Kamin ’25 Staff Writer Three home games. Three wins.

After losing to No. 4 Tufts in overtime on Oct. 16, Amherst men’s soccer closed the regular season on a strong note, beating Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) 1-0 before dispensing NESCAC rivals Colby College and Trinity College 2-0 and 3-0, respectively.

With the wins, the Mammoths secured the number-two seed in the NESCAC playoffs. They kick off the postseason at home this coming weekend.

WPI The game against WPI, played the night of Oct. 20 at Gooding Field in Amherst, was hard-fought and closer than the final score might indicate. The Mammoths, accustomed to dominating games — especially against out-of-conference opponents — only outshot WPI 11-9, with both teams putting four shots on net. Amherst goalkeeper Kofi Hope-Gund ’22 was forced to make four saves. The team, who usually thrives on set pieces, won just one corner kick.

The game could have taken on a radically different complexion in the 24th minute, when a shot from WPI’s Franco Bazzini narrowly missed, bouncing off the crossbar.

Instead, the deciding goal came in the 39th minute via a German Giammattei ’22 freekick — one of Amherst’s best goals of the season.

After a WPI foul just outside the 18-yard box, Giammattei calmly shaped the ball with his right foot, producing a swooping effort that started a few feet outside the goalpost before curling into the topright corner.

Amherst held onto their narrow margin across the final 45 minutes of the game, securing a much-needed bounce-back win.

Colby The momentum continued into the weekend, which saw the Mammoths pick up a convincing win over the Colby Mules in their second-to-last game of the regular

Photo courtesy of Clarus Studios

Members of the team celebrate a goal earlier this season. The team, currently ranked in the top 15 nationally and in second place in the NESCAC, will take on Colby College on Saturday in the NESCAC quarterfinals. season on Oct. 23. With a large crowd of Amherst students and their families in town for Family Day looking on at Hitchcock Field, the Mammoths played some of their best soccer of the season.

Amherst thoroughly dominated possession, as the Mules struggled to advance the ball beyond the halfway line. On the rare occasions in which they lost the ball, the Mammoths seemed to win back the ball immediately. The final score — 2-0 — perhaps flatters the Mules, who were outshot 13-2 and failed to put a single shot on net.

The Mammoths, who typically rely heavily on set pieces to generate their offense, were able to effectively break down the Mules’ defense in open play. Ada Okorogheye ’24 tormented the Mules’ left-back all afternoon, cutting in from the wing and dribbling past Colby defenders seemingly at will. In the 44th minute, he drove

down the left side towards the goal line before cutting the ball back into the box. First-year defensive midfielder Laurens ten Cate ’25 made a strong run towards the net, nudging Okorogheye’s cross past the Colby goalkeeper to open the scoring. The goal was the first of the season for ten Cate, who has started nine games in his first season as a Mammoth.

Amherst doubled their advantage in the second half by way of Jonny Novak ’24. Niall Murphy ’25 won the ball off a Colby defender at the top of the 18-yard box and then played a ball into the box to Novak, who calmly slotted a low shot past the Mules’ goalkeeper.

The win was the Mammoths’ 28th in their last 31 matchups against the Mules.

Trinity The offensive onslaught picked back up at Gooding Field on Oct. 26. The Mammoths matched their

highest goal total of the season, putting three past the Trinity goalkeeper.

As expected, the Mammoths saw the lion’s share of possession against the Bantams, who have not won a game in the conference all season.

In the first half, the Amherst offense came tantalizingly close to scoring, hitting the woodwork three separate times. Despite coming within inches, the Mammoths failed to convert until the 60th minute, when ten Cate headed a Giammattei cross past the Bantam’s keeper, notching his second goal in two games.

The insurance goal came eight minutes later. Giammattei caught the Trinity back line sleeping, running into the space behind the two central defenders to meet an inch-perfect swinging cross from Ignacio Cubbedu ’23, and then placing a header beyond the keeper’s reach. It was his eighth goal of

the season.

With less than 12 minutes remaining in the regular season, and most of their starters resting on the bench, the Mammoths again added to their tally. Jack O’Brien ’22 slid a pass across the face of goal, threading the needle between the Bantam’s keeper and a defender; Joe Raymond ’24 sent the point-blank chance into the back of the net.

The final whistle marked the end of another impressive season for the Mammoths: 12 wins, two loses, one draw, and a number-10 national ranking. Seeking to return to the heights they reached last season (2019), in which they fell to Tufts in the Division III National Championship Game, the Mammoths begin their postseason run on Saturday, Oct. 30 with a conference quarterfinal matchup against the Colby Mules. The game will be played in Amherst, with kickoff at 12 p.m.

The Amherst Student • October 27, 2021

Sports 22

Women’s Soccer Wins, Clinches Regular Season Title Violet Glickman ’25 Staff Writer On Saturday, Oct. 23, women’s soccer took to Hitchcock Field, led by the team’s 10 seniors, to face off against Colby College. From the starting whistle (and Mika Fisher’s ’24 save in the fourth minute), it was clear that the Mammoths had this game more locked down than the world in March of 2020. Case in point, just five minutes later, a shot off a free kick taken by Sophia Fikke ’22 struck the crossbar with a reverberation that the Johnson Chapel bell could only ever dream of achieving.

Fikke must really dislike round objects because that girl’s connection to corners is undeniable; within the first 18 minutes alone, she sent five corner kicks soaring into the box. Natalie Landau ’22 and Julia Ralph ’22 were both able to capitalize on Fikke’s affinity for right angles with shots in the 10th and 14th minutes, respectively. In the 16th minute, Fikke created a perfect opportunity for Sierra Rosado ’25 to put one on the scoreboard for purple, with the first year notching her first goal of the game to make the score 1-0 in favor of the Mammoths.

Despite holding the lead, the Mammoths’ attack was unrelenting: Patience Kum ’25 tested the Mules’ keeper with a header in the 18th minute, before Ruby Hastie ’22 put one in the back of the net just four minutes later to extend the lead.

Rosado then struck again, sending a beautiful strike from outside the box into the top corner of the goal in the 26th minute. The team ended the first half with 10 shots recorded and leading the Mules by a score of 3-0.

True to her name, Hastie quickly got the action going in the second half, notching a shot less than a minute after the half began, with Ralph following only seconds later with an attempt of her own. The team’s fourth goal would come in the 49th minute, courtesy of Isabel Stern ’23. With the goal, assisted

by Carter Hollingsworth ’25, Stern showed the Mules she did not come to play games — no pun intend-

Photo courtesy of Greg Chin

Forward and team co-captain Ruby Hastie ‘22 celebrates scoring a goal on senior day against on Colby College. Hastie would also score the NESCAC-title-clinching goal in overtime against Trinity only three days later. ed. Following the fourth goal by purple, the Colby offense tried to retaliate and managed to disprove the old adage “the third time’s the charm,” thanks to the Amherst back line and Fisher.

To add insult to injury for the Mules, Kum bent it like Beckham and found the back of the net in the 58th minute to make the score 5-0 for the Mammoths. In the next few minutes alone, Cassidy Duncan ’25 hit two shots just inches off frame, and Alyssa Huynh ’25 had a scoring opportunity of her own. The Mammoths left the field on senior day with a win, 20 shots to Colby’s nine, yet another shutout and four saves for Fisher, and a 7-1-1 conference record.

On Tuesday, Oct. 26, women’s soccer took on Trinity College in their last regular season game.

Two minutes after the whistle blew, the Bantam offense hit a shot that was rejected by Fisher faster than a NARP trying to get into Jenkins before 11p.m.. Landau struck back in the 11th minute with a kick that was just barely saved by Trinity

goalkeeper Jennifer Stuart. As the clock ticked on, the game got dirtier; three fouls were called against purple and two against blue in less than 15 minutes of game-action.

Despite the dirty play, Amherst kept pushing for a breakthrough; Stern took David Guetta’s lyrics to heart with her shot in minute 34 that ricocheted off the post.

Less than a minute later, the crowds saw the score change to 1-0 in the Mammoths’ favor due to an own goal resulting from the scrum inside the box that Stern’s shot created. After more back-and-forth play and multiple shots from each team, the Trinity offense managed to break through the Mammoths’ back line to bring the score to 1-1 in the 43rd minute.

Coming out of the halftime break, Trinity resumed play with energy and passion, sending a ball soaring past Fisher’s fingers 15 minutes into the second half. But unlike Mammuthus columbi, to whom we owe our name and our livelihood, women’s soccer refused to accept the threat of extinction;

an excellently placed header in the 65th minute by Claire Nam ’22, off a well-struck free kick by Liza Katz ’24, brought the score back to an even 2-2. The tying goal seemed to re-energize the Mammoths: Kum and Landau led the charge against the Trinity defense, pelting them relentlessly with shot after shot, and Katz and Abby Schwartz ’24 joined in on the fun with their shots in the last three minutes of regular time.

Intent on wrapping up the last game of the regular season, the Mammoths hit the ground galloping at the start of overtime.

Schwartz and Rosado saw their shots fly mere inches off frame six minutes into the first overtime; but not to be deterred, Trinity countered with two shots of their own in the following minute.

And then, everything changed.

Time stopped: the rain that had been falling all evening seemed to hover in mid-air. The sounds of the crowd and the cars passing by on Route 9 faded into nothingness. The clock read 98:26 as Hastie dribbled past four Bantams, made

her way into the 18-yard box, and wound up to make contact with the ball. The white blur hurtled through the mist, soaring past the Trinity keeper’s outstretched fingers. As the ball swished into the back of the net, time resumed.

The air was filled with cheers and screams. Proud spectators wiped the escaping tears from their faces as the players and various enthusiastic members of the football team, who had been cheering the team on throughout the second half and overtime, rushed the field, moshing with more intensity than the sticky common room of MoPratt has ever seen.

And just like that, the Mammoths were crowned the 2021 NESCAC regular season champions. What a glorious day to be an extinct apex predator. But the fun doesn’t stop there: The Mammoths will return to action at home this weekend, with a rematch set with Trinity in NESCAC quaterfinal play on Saturday, Oct. 30. Roll Hitchcock Field to watch women’s soccer keep their winning streak alive.

The Amherst Student • October 27, 2021

Sports 23

Volleyball Comes Back Strong After Dropping Two Straight Mike Schretter ’23 Staff Writer The volleyball team was back in full force this week after falling short in two straight NESCAC games at Tufts University and Bowdoin College, dropping their record to 5-3 in conference play.

The Firedogs were looking for a big bounce-back weekend, as they look to return to their winning ways in time for NESCAC playoffs, which start in two weeks. This weekend, they did just that, dominating their two matches this weekend against Wellesley College and Westfield State University, winning both by a score of 3-0.

On Oct. 22, the Firedogs competed against Wellesley College and took home a 3-0 sweep. The Firedogs came out strong, winning the first set 25-17, and kept their momentum going from there. Led

by Jamie Dailey ’22E and Sophie Launsbach ’22, Amherst kept the

flow of play on their side into the second set, where the Firedogs again dominated 25-14 and took a commanding 2-0 lead.

The Firedogs’ chemistry was one of main contributors to their success, with Carly Cooper ’24 leading the team with 33 assists on Friday evening. However, the team had grit their teeth in the third and final set, and battling through strong opposition in order to clinch the victory. It was a back-and-forth contest and Wellesley was not giving up without a fight, giving Amherst everything they had.

In the end, through great determination and stellar execution, the Firedogs were able to squeak out the win in a 25-23 third set off a kill from Caroline Tilton ’23, her fifth of the evening. Fittingly, it came from a great assist from Cooper.

The next day, the Firedogs faced off against Westfield State at 2 p.m.

Amherst hosted the Owls earlier in the season and beat them in straight

sets. This game would not be much different, as the Firedogs carried over their momentum from Friday into this game, notching another dominant 3-0 sweep over the Owls.

The Firedogs came out of the gates dominant, winning the first set 25-16. The team’s stellar play was capped off by a beauty of an ace by Sami Underwood ’23. The Firedogs got contributions from many players on Saturday, and the team’s collective success continued into the second set. Their performance was arguably even more impressive in this set, winning in a 25-11 landslide. Katelyn Hamasaki ’24 finished off the set with a kill off a great dig from Lizzie Papalia ’25 and an assist from Jacqueline Kortekaas ’23. It would be one of Kortekaas team-leading 16 assists of the day as the Firedogs headed into the third set up 2-0.

The third set did not prove to be as dramatic as the Wellesley game on Friday, but it brought a lot of

Photo courtesy of Clarus Studios

Makaela Weeda ’22 prepares to recieve the ball in a match against Emmanuel College in October 2021. excitement for the Firedogs, who capped off another win by a score of 25-18. Kortekaas ended the match with a kill, putting the final touches on an excellent match for her, and improving the Firedogs’ record to 13-3 overall and 5-3 in the NES-

CAC. The Firedogs will be traveling to Boston on Oct. 26 to play against UMass Boston and then return home for NESCAC matchups against Hamilton on Oct. 29 and Williams on Oct. 30.

We’ve printed coverage of shortages in Counseling Center resources, an editorial on the subject, and a Letter to the Editor from Jackie Alvarez, the director of the Counseling Center.

This episode of Tusk Talks clarifies where exactly the discrepancies lie between students’ experiences with the Center and the staff’s assertion that the Center is working hard to provide for students’ mental health needs.

We sat down with Jordan Barnard, a psychologist from the center, and two randomized panels of students to talk about structural issues, communication failures, and the future of student mental health on Amherst’s Campus.

Listen now wherever you get your podcasts.

Produced by Sam Spratford ‘24 and Spencer Michaels ‘24; edited by Cole Richards ‘23.

The Amherst Student • October 27, 2021

Sports 24

Sky Soar Past Mercury, Chicago Wins WNBA Title

Melanie Schwimmer ’23 Staff Writer For the first time in franchise history, the Chicago Sky are on top of the basketball world after beating the Phoenix Mercury 80-74 in Game Four of the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) finals. Led by hometown hero Candace Parker, who joined the team this past off-season, the Sky became the 10th team to take home WNBA hardware. With the Sky’s win, coach James Wade became the third Black coach to hoist the WNBA trophy.

This year’s final served as a rematch of the 2014 WNBA championship where the Mercury swept the Sky handedly, in large part due to the MVP performance of Diana Taurasi. In 2021, however, the Sky rewrote the narrative, holding the arguable G.O.A.T. to under 20 points in every game.

Chicago became the lowest seed (sixth) to win the title after finishing 16-16 on the season. The Sky had to win to get into the playoffs, beating the Minnesota Lynx in the first round single-elimination game, 8976. Their postseason success after a rollercoaster season demonstrates the depth and perseverance of the team led by the two players with the longest tenures: Courtney Vander-

sloot and Allie Quigley.

Known as the “Vanderquigs,” the married couple were both on the team when the Sky lost seven years ago and used that experience to power their team to success. Vandersloot, who has been with the franchise since 2011 when she joined the WNBA, hit the final points of the game from the free-throw line, finishing game five with 10 points and 15 assists. Vandersloot also started the rally to bring the Sky back after trailing by as much as 14-points.

Quigley finished the game with 26 points, the most for any Sky player in the finals. The Vanderquigs’ leadership, sportsmanship and experience became essential to power the Sky through the season. They were also key pieces in bringing Parker to the team, with Parker sharing that they sent her local delicacies in the offseason and that their work ethic helped inspire her to come home to Chicago.

Parker returned home with one goal in mind: bring hardware to Chicago. She did just that. Parker proved to be the missing piece in the Sky offense, finishing Game Four with a double-double consisting of 16 points, 12 rebounds, five assists and four steals. Starting this week, Parker will be sharing her insights on NBA TV with a recent Time

profile explaining, “If a basketball is bouncing these days, Candace Parker will be there.” Alongside Parker, Stefanie Dolson has become the talk of basketball in 2021 after securing Olympic gold in the new three-onthree events and helping the Sky win with her dominant presence on the board.

With a star-studded lineup, it was unclear who would break out and take home the series MVP until Kahleah ‘KFC’ Copper turned up her level of play throughout the series. Copper proved impossible to guard as her speed and agility left the Mercury answerless. She made it clear that she had come to play in the first game, scoring 21 points and picking up 10 rebounds, and never slowed down. During the series, Copper averaged 17 points, 5.5 rebounds, 1.3 steals and shot 50 percent from the field and 36.4 percent from behind the circle. Copper, who had a breakout season in the Wubble last year, credits Parker with taking her game to another level.

While the WNBA championship featured some of the game’s best on their biggest stage, the support gap between men’s and women’s basketball continues. This postseason, the 17 games averaged 367,000 viewers, which marked a 63 percent increase from the 2020 postseason, but the

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Stefanie Dolson shoots a free throw for the Chicago Sky in a game during the 2021 season. games still lack the support they deserve. Similarly, fans around the country were appalled by the small turnout at the celebration parade in Chicago, especially after a viral video showed the team on buses surrounded by what looks like average Chicago traffic. One Chicago-based Twitter user shared, “I feel bad for them, I only found out we had a

team last week when they made it to the finals, the league needs to do better to put a spotlight on their league.” As female athletes continue to succeed and bring change on the highest stages, the parade in Chicago serves as another reminder of the work that remains in the sports world and beyond to center and support female athletes.

SAT GAME SCHE DULE

Field Hockey vs Williams, time TBD. Women’s Soccer vs Trinity, time TBD. Football @ Wesleyan, 1 p.m.

FRI

Volleyball vs Williams, 2 p.m.

Volleyball vs Hamilton, 7 p.m.

Men’s Soccer vs Colby, 12 p.m..

SUN Men’s Cross Country @ NESCAC Championships, 11 a.m.

Women’s Cross Country @ NESCAC Championships, 11 a.m.