Issue 9

The Contra’s Hamas Article Draws Criticism

Dylan Vrins ’26 Staff Writer

During the week of Oct. 16, The Amherst Contra, a publication that voices unconventional opin ions through often anonymous submissions, sparked controversy with a piece titled “In Defense of Hamas.” The article concerned the Israel-Palestine conflict, arguing that “while Hamas may aptly be called a terrorist organization, if they are one, Israel and the U.S. government are equally as violent and less justified.”

The Contra, which is edited by Ross Kilpatrick ’24E, allows students to submit opinion pieces that challenge the campus’ gen erally accepted point of view on a topic. Kilpatrick has expressed that one of his primary goals for the publication is to start discus

sion among Amherst students, as he believes that students tend to agree on most issues.

The piece was placed in var ious locations across campus on Monday night, Oct. 17, and im mediately prompted strong re actions from many students. In an interview with The Student, Kilpatrick noted that he had to reprint and redistribute the article on Wednesday afternoon as it had been removed or thrown out by students.

Yet, this didn’t stop a picture of the article from circulating online. Several news sites, including The Jewish Journal, published articles critiquing the college for the arti cle. The article was also circulated by several accounts on Twitter. On Oct. 19, a Twitter account titled “StopAntisemitism” posted an im age of the article accompanied by the caption “Horrifying - @Am

herstCollege students newspaper ‘CONTRA’ publishes a piece ‘In Defense of Hamas.”

Several people also took to Ins tagram comment sections to voice their opinions on the article. The Contra’s official Instagram page has been flooded with comments tagging the college and President Michael Elliott’s Instagram pages. One comment read, “To defend an organization that outwardly advocates for the death of all Jews is not activism, its antisemitism.”

Other comments left under multiple unrelated posts on the of ficial Amherst College Instagram expressed further disdain for the article, labeling the college as a fa cilitator of antisemitism.

On campus, many students found the article offensive. Kilpat rick reported that several Jewish students reached out to him ex pressing their concerns regarding

the article and explaining that they felt marginalized by its pub lication.

Immediately following the spread of this article across the in ternet and campus, steps were tak en by the administration to sup port students hurt by the piece.

Laurie Frankl, the director for civil rights Title IX coordinator, hosted an open conversation On Wednesday, Oct. 26, in collabora tion with Rabbi Bruce Seltzer for students affected by the article, as announced in an Oct. 25 email sent to Jewish students by Chief Student Affairs Officer and Dean of Students Liz Agosto. Frankl also opened her doors and emails to anyone who wanted to reach out and talk about it.

“I received several emails about the article,” Frankl said.

Continued on page 2

College Community Celebrates Inauguration of 20th President, Michael Elliott

Cal Gelernt ’24 Staff Writer

On Oct. 28, a brisk Friday af ternoon, an estimated 1,600 stu dents, faculty, alumni, and other members of the college commu nity gathered in front of the War Memorial to watch the inaugura tion of Michael Elliott ’92 as the 20th president of Amherst Col lege. The inauguration followed a packed day of events kicking off Homecoming weekend, which in cluded open houses for the Emily Dickinson Museum and the Office of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, as well as a conversation in the Mead Art Museum about the history of Amherst’s presidents.

The inauguration featured a number of speeches from mem bers of the Amherst community. Speakers included an alumni, sev eral professors, Elliott’s sucessor as the dean of Emory College, the Association of Amherst Students President Sirus Wheaton ’23, and Haoran Tong ’23, who read an original poem. In addition, the event featured performances from the Amherst Symphony Orchestra and the Glee Club.

In his speech, Wheaton cen tered on a message of hope, tell

Continued on page 3

FEATURES 9

Rethinking Research: Caelen McQuilkin '24E details the shifts that the research and instruction department has undergone in the past decade.

OPINION 13

How To Navigate Coursework: Mikayah Parsons ’24 offers sage advice on managing a heavy academic load given her experience as a quadruple-major.

ARTS&LIVING 17

Kachow!: Noor Rahman ’25 reviews Green Room’s first show of the semester, “Cars: A Parody,” noting the talent of the cast and the wit of the writing.

Elliott’s inauguration speech focused on the question “What does it mean to love a place?”

Photo courtesy of Amherst College

POLICE LOG

>>Oct. 21, 2022 10:39 a.m., Barrett Hill Drive

A student reported being called and asked for per sonal identifiable informa tion.

>>Oct. 21, 2022 4:03 p.m., Morris Pratt Hall Community Safety re sponded to a report of students playing drinking games.

>>Oct. 21, 2022 4:33 p.m., Webster Circle Community Safety re

sponded to a report of students playing drinking games.

>>Oct. 21, 2022 6:08 p.m., South Pleasant St

ACPD was notified of a person swearing and yell ing at the intersection of College and South Pleas ant. Responding ACPD reported the person had left the area.

>>Oct. 22, 2022 12:18 p.m., Keefe Health Center

ACPD responded to a report of a person yelling obscenities at students by College Hall. A person from the Town of Amherst was identified and left the area upon the request of police.

>>Oct. 24, 2022 9:17 p.m., Tennis Barn/ Caddy Shack ACPD took a report of a minor motor vehicle acci dent.

>>Oct. 26, 2022 8:22 p.m., Nicholls Biondi Hall

ACPD responded to a pre-fire alarm caused by burning incense.

>>Oct. 26, 2022 8:53 p.m., King Hall Community Safety re sponded to a noise com plaint. The music was turned down upon re quest.

>>Oct. 28, 2022 7:01 a.m., Off-Campus Location ACPD provided Holy oke PD with information regarding a person in their station.

>>Oct. 29, 2022 02:22 a.m., Memorial Hill ACPD put out a small fire that had been rekindled by people at the base of

Memorial Hill.

>>Oct. 29, 2022 4:02 p.m., Beneski Earth Sci & Natural History Mu seum

ACPD confiscated an unli censed keg

>>Oct. 29, 2022 5:56 p.m., Eighmy Power house

ACPD took a report of a past theft of inflatable Hal loween decorations.

>>Oct. 30, 2022 2:50 a.m., Hitchcock Hall ACPD took a report of substantial vandalism discovered by Community Safety.

“In Defense of Hamas” Incites Claims of Antisemitism

Continued from page 1

“The students who contacted me described concern about an anon ymous endorsement of an inter nationally recognized terrorist organization.”

Seltzer also held several con versations with students affected by the article. “The article impacts some students’ Jewish identities and comfort in expressing sup port for Israel, the only Jewish country and the home of family and friends of campus members,” he said.

Seltzer also mentioned future support opportunities on campus, including collaboration with the Center for Restorative Practices to have conversations regarding an tisemitism and personal identity surrounding the Israel-Palestine conflict. He also emphasized that “one important thing is to remem ber that a person is not just a belief or viewpoint, but a member of our campus community who has feel ings and relationships that may be impacted by the discussion.”

Ian Behrstock ’26 reported that the article caught his attention for being intentionally provocative.

He felt he could engage with the content of the piece itself, but had issues with the title of the article, which he found overly inflamma tory. “In a debate that is so polar ized — and this one is as polarized as it gets — you really don't want to shut people down,” he said.

Kilpatrick expressed regret regarding the title of the article which, in openly claiming to de fend a terrorist group, caused harm to many readers. “In retro spect, I wouldn’t have titled [the article] that,” he said, “because it doesn’t really accurately reflect the content of the piece.”

He felt that the article was ru ined by the title, and any discus sion regarding the material what soever was halted because of it.

At the Association of Amherst Students meeting on Monday, Oct. 24, senators discussed the article and what they should do about it.

Some senators expressed dis approval of The Contra’s publi cation standards and advocated for the defunding of The Contra, which received funds from the AAS earlier in the semester to help cover its printing costs.

“We should remove funding for the rest of the semester or not fund them in the future until bet ter editorial practices are put into place,” said senator Gillian Quinto ’23.

Others noted that defunding may not be allowed within the AAS’ policies, and some ques tioned the timing of this push to defund The Contra, noting that the publication had also previ ously published articles that were harmful to other groups of stu dents.

Behrstock agreed with this sentiment, referencing a past Con tra article calling to end Native American Land Acknowledge ments as harmful to Indigenous students on campus. He found it interesting that no one seemed to care about that article and the effect it could have on Native stu dents on campus.

While the AAS may treat The Contra differently in the future, the college will not be taking action against the publication. Kilpatrick explained that the ad ministration did reach out to him about the article and said the content was within the college’s

speech codes. Thus, it is classified as protected free speech on cam pus.

In a statement to The Jewish Journal, the college likewise main tained: “Amherst prizes and de fends freedom of speech and the freedom to dissent in a respectful manner. As the College’s state ment on academic and expressive freedom states, ‘At times, the de sire to foster a climate of mutual respect may test the college’s duty to protect and promote the unfet tered exchange of ideas. On such occasions, the college’s obliga tions remain clear. The liberal arts cannot thrive absent the freedom to espouse and debate ideas that are unpopular, controversial, dis comfiting—and even seemingly wrongheaded or offensive.’”

Regardless, the controver sy has certainly caused concern among the student body regarding The Contra and its future publica tions. “I feel skeptical of the ap proach that they’re taking — [it] seems like they’re being somewhat intentionally controversial,” Behr stock said. He added that overly provocative pieces are unable to create an environment for discus

sion, and instead serve only as an opportunity to spread controver sial opinions and hate speech.

Community members also expressed concern regarding The Contra’s structure as an anony mous publication. “The anony mous nature means [students] don’t know if they are sitting next to the author in class or in Valen tine, which adds to their discom fort,” said Seltzer.

In light of all this, Kilpatrick expressed his regret for the harm the article brought to students on campus. “I can see why it caused controversy,” he admitted. “And it upset some students, which is not our intention. That was just our mistake.”

Despite backlash from the stu dent body, the future of The Con tra seems unshaken. The publica tion is in the process of becoming a Registered Student Organiza tion. Plans are also currently un derway to release a website with all of the published articles avail able online. Although, Kilpatrick explained that the “In Defense of Hamas” article’s title will be changed to more accurately reflect the content of the piece.

“What Does It Mean To Love a Place?”: Elliott Inaugurated

ing those gathered that “Amherst’s future is something I will always hope for. We here at Amherst are special. We are zesty, we are full of curiosity, and life and culture, and I will never ever place my bets against us changing the world.”

Tong’s poem, titled “Our Sto ry Keeps Writing Itself,” focused on what it means to spend time at Amherst: “We collect a fleeting sense of permanence, breathing the same transience of an unsta ble time for our lives to steadily tremble/to grow with fractures, yet develop still/ to fill our eyes with sparks of memories and find our hearts a home.”

Following these presentations, several members of the commu nity presented Elliott with the gifts

of the President’s Office, which included “keys to the college,” a cane, as well as the college seal and charter.

Elliott then gave an address to the audience, focusing on one question he said has “consistently perplexed and bewildered [him]: What does it mean to love a place?”

“We come to love this place, because this is where we feel some thing in ourselves that seems in woefully short supply right now,” he said. “We feel optimism. … We feel the possibility of becoming, of growth, of stumbling forward into a better future for ourselves and for our world. Our love endures because we know that the future can be greater than the past.”

Elliott also addressed his aspi rations for Amherst’s future. “We need the sensibility that is at the

core of a liberal education, which is relentless in its search for truth, rigorous in its evaluation of evi dence, and rooted in ethical rea soning,” he said. “That sensibility guides Amherst in our shared vi sion for the future. It is the basis of our claim to educate students who can lead meaningful lives and lead the society in which they live.”

He concluded with a message to students, telling them, “This Amherst is now yours. You may come to love it in the way I de scribed, or you may not.” He add ed that a liberal arts education is a “verb” that requires faith among its students: “You must have a be lief in your own potential to learn, to grow, to make mistakes, to take chances, to be vulnerable. And, ul timately, to contribute to the com mon good.”

He closed by offering one final message of hope to the hundreds of students gathered on the quad: “No matter what else you take

away from today, I hope that you remember how many people are behind you and beside you and who believe in you.”

AAS Revises Club Funding Policies Amid Budget Crisis

Pho Vu ’23 Staff Writer

The Budgetary Committee (BC) of the Association of Am herst Students (AAS) announced a set of stricter funding policies in an email last Sunday, Oct. 23: Food and travel will no longer be funded unless they are “in tegral” to a particular event or to the club’s general operations, respectively, and emergency funding will no longer be pro vided to those who are simply unable to attend the weekly BC meeting.

The changes, which were dis cussed in a meeting of the BC on Oct. 17, come as a response to the AAS’ ongoing budget crisis. Already, the AAS has exceeded its allotted discretionary fund for the semester — the money set aside for clubs to request on a weekly basis — and continues to deplete the money accrued from past surpluses, the Rainy Day Fund.

The budget deficit problem is the result of past AAS over spending coupled with the re duced student activities fee, which was entirely eliminated

during the off-campus Covid period, and now stands at $300, $65 less than its pre-Covid fig ure, AAS Treasurer Dania Hal lak ’24 said at the Oct. 17 meet ing, according to the meeting’s minutes.

For many clubs, the BC’s more restrictive food policy will have the most immediate effect. It reduces the cap on funding from $10 per student attending an event to $8, and reduces the absolute cap on funding for food from $500 to $300, in addition to limiting food to events where it is “integral.”

“BC defines integral to mean that the event would be impos sible to exist without food,” the Oct. 23 email read. The BC re serves the right to determine whether food is essential for any proposed events.

Hallak provided several ex amples of the new food funding guidelines. “[If] you’re getting food for your speaker event, that’s not integral because you can still hold a speaker event [without food],” she said. “For [events like] the Freshmen Bar becue where they would buy groceries and cook them, [re

questing funding for food still] makes sense.”

Hallak expressed some disap pointment at the need for these changes, stating that she thought it was useful for clubs to be able to incentivize event attendance with food, but that “unfortu nately, the BC can’t continue to afford that trend.”

Under the new, more restric tive travel policy, many club trips that would have received funding in past years will now be in jeopardy. Yet, travel that is central to the missions of certain clubs, such as competitions for Model United Nations, Ultimate Frisbee, and Debate Club, will continue to be funded after care ful review and consideration.

These clubs’ trips to tourna ments are essential for student members to use the specific skills they have trained. “I mean, you can’t practice debating until you have an event,” said Hallak. “For frisbee, I’ll just be playing frisbee but like, it doesn’t really make any sense without a tour nament [either].”

This policy change has result ed in the cancellation of at least one planned club trip. In its Oct.

23 newsletter, the Anime Club e-board announced to its mem bers that the club would not be traveling to New York City for a November convention due to “concerns regarding funding.”

Under the new guidelines, emergency funding will no lon ger be provided to clubs whose members fail to attend BC meet ings. “In previous months, peo ple would forget to show up at the BC [meeting, saying some thing like,] ‘I just forgot to show up because of an exam and I needed this much money,’” Hal lak said.

But now emergency funding

will be reserved for instances that the BC deems actual emer gencies. The new policies define these as “changes in circum stances, such as [your] driver dropping out or having to pay a fee that if not paid would not allow a sport club to play for the remainder of the semester.”

The BC has approached the administration about increas ing the student activities fee to relieve the strain of the budget crisis, but received “pushback,” Hallak said.

For now, the new policies are the main weapon in the fight to keep AAS financially afloat.

The inauguration was attended by a crowd of approximately 1,600 students, faculty, alumni, and other members of the college community.

Photo courtesy of Amherst College

from page

Converse Hall, where the Association of Amherst Stu dents meets each week.

Graphic courtesy of Nina Aagaard '26

College Hosts Anthropologist To Discuss Iran Protests

Maggie Sher ’26 Staff Writer

Political anthropologist Negar Razavi spoke to community mem bers on Friday, Oct. 21, as part of the college’s response to an alumni peti tion for Amherst’s formal support of students in Iran amid ongoing pro tests.

Razavi’s talk, entitled “The Irani an Feminist Protests in Global Con text,” was sponsored by the Office of the Provost and Dean of the Faculty Catherine Epstein and moderated by Professor of History and Asian Languages and Civilizations Moni ca Ringer. In his Oct. 12 letter to the college community introducing the talk, President Michael Elliott said that the conversation was an oppor tunity for students to “learn more about and discuss the situation [in Iran] and its ramifications.”

Held in Fayerweather Hall’s Pruyne Lecture Hall, the event fea tured among its attendees Elliott, students from Ringer’s seminar “In side Iran,” and other students and members of the larger Five College community. Ringer kicked off the event by thanking Navva Sedigh ’21, who led the petition effort, for “mobilizing our college community around this pressing issue” and El liott for his “thoughtful” letter to the community in response to Sedigh’s petition.

Ringer then introduced Razavi to the audience. Razavi is a postdoctor al research associate at Northwestern University’s Kaplan Institute for the Humanities; she holds a Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of Pennsylvania and a master’s degree in social anthropology from Oxford University.

Razavi joined the event via Zoom from Washington, D.C., where she bases her current ethnographic re search on the role of D.C.-based experts in shaping U.S. foreign pol icy in Iran and Egypt. Her work also draws on the fieldwork she has conducted in Tehran and Cairo. She prefaced her presentation by empha sizing that her scholarship does not qualify her as an expert on the cur rent protests — those experts are in Iran, “on the streets or supporting

the streets.”

Accompanied by a slide presen tation, Razavi first contextualized the protests through the “concentric circle” theory: that we can analyze the movement by considering vary ing levels of its political support. The smallest and most important of these circles is understanding what is hap pening on the “streets” — a proverbi al, she said, for the people physically “frontlining” the movement. She emphasized elements that are dis tinct about this particular movement as compared to the 1979 Iranian Revolution or the 2009 presidential election protests, including its par ticular focus on female liberation.

“‘Women, Life, Freedom’ is the slogan that’s bringing everyone to gether,” said Razavi. “That’s very un usual.”

Razavi also noted the mass mo bilization of Iranian youth, with whom she worked closely during her fieldwork in Iran — specifically, the lower-middle class youth of Tehran, Iran’s capital. “Wealthy minds dis miss [these] young people as either too conservative ideologically and religiously or too economically dis enfranchised to protest against the government upon which many of them are financially dependent,” she said, and yet these very communities have now joined the struggle. Finally, protesters are calling for revolution, a fact that distinguishes these protests from those of 2009, which were re formist in nature, Razavi said.

The people making up the next level of support are those in Iran who support the protests, but aren’t physical frontliners. While no official statistics exist to gauge the percent age of non-protesters in Iran who support the revolutionary cause, studying previous revolutions can provide insight into what these num bers might look like, said Razavi. Ac cording to her, “fear factors” might stop people from protesting, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a “much larger population” that supports the streets.

The last two levels, the Iranian di asporic community and internation al support, respectively, are where Razavi focuses her studies. She has a vested interest in “the politics of knowledge production,” and how,

“for better or worse,” outside inter pretations of the movement in Iran are “mediated by diasporic forces.”

One upside of this, according to Razavi, is that diasporic forces pro vide a politically engaged interna tional community willing to stand in solidarity with protesters. The group, Razavi said, is made all the more vital by the absence of international media stationed on the ground in Iran. Members of this diaspora, such as Sedigh and some of those who signed her petition, prompted the college’s initial reaction to the events in Iran.

The downside, she said, is that di asporic communities run the risk of misinterpreting or oversimplifying the demands of protesters; she ref erenced a recent call with members of a D.C.-based think tank during which a participant made a claim “on behalf of the 86 million people of Iran,” a clear signal for Razavi of the “forces of translation” that sift the news coming out of Iran.

Razavi said that the key idea she wanted audience members to come away with is that events happening in Iran are filtered through all these layers, which leaves many facts with the potential for misconstruction. She encouraged audience members to “trace the voices back” to their sources on the ground in Iran, and to question the potential biases in news sources.

Given the chance to speak direct ly to Razavi during the Q&A portion of the event, one attendee — Univer sity of Massachussetts Professor of Engineering Golbon Zakeri — asked whether the U.S. should take a more proactive approach in its support for Iranian protesters, especially con sidering the absence of free press and a democratic political party in Iran with which negotiation would be feasible. Zakeri also pointed to a recent statement made by former President Barack Obama expressing his regret for not taking a stronger stance in 2009 in support of the Ira nian people.

“This is something that former politicians do a lot,” Razavi respond ed, “which is to say, ‘I learned my lesson’ after the fact ... that’s not a signal that U.S. policy is going to fundamentally shift.” She explained

that to U.S. leaders, intervention in Iran is “not a simple calculation” — statements such as Obama’s only represent a perspective in an internal debate within the U.S. government, and doesn’t necessarily translate to action.

In an interview with The Student, Zakeri, who attended the event with her 80-year-old mother from Iran, expressed her concerns with Raza vi’s talk. Zakeri attended the event hoping to become “enlightened in terms of what the U.S. government ought to do,” she said. Specifically, she would have liked to know what “morally correct” routes of media tion the U.S. government could take in line with its constitution and U.N. charters.

“I certainly did not get anything like that out of the talk,” she said.

Zakeri also expressed her doubts with what she perceived as a “slant” of Razavi’s that U.S. support would “taint” the uprising in Iran if it were to voice its explicit support for pro testers. “This seems highly aligned with a very far-left point of view that says whatever the U.S. says or touch es must be wrong.”

Feeling like the talk was a “missed opportunity,” Zakeri said that she wished the college had invit ed a panel to represent the diversity of opinion that might better illustrate the “spectrum of Iranian society.”

Another attendee, an Irani an student who wished to remain

anonymous due to safety concerns for her family in Iran, appreciated what she perceived to be an “unbi ased and realistic” account of the movement since the death of Mah sa Amini. Amini was a 22-year-old Iranian woman who was arrested by the Guidance Patrol for not wearing her hijab in accordance with the Is lamic Republic’s official dress code. She collapsed in police custody, with several witnesses reporting she had been severely beaten.

The student also expressed sim ilar sentiments to Zakeri; she had hoped that Razavi’s talk would be more action-oriented. “What should we do on the outside?” she asked. “How can we amplify the noise?”

She was disappointed in Razavi’s low expectations for U.S. support for Iranian protesters, referring to Ra zavi’s conjecture that “human rights have never been the center of U.S. foreign policy.”

The student’s impression of Raza vi’s slant is that the U.S. “isn’t going to help [Iranians] anyway”, and there fore shouldn’t interfere with the pro tests, she said. She found this to be “unrealistic,” especially considering the oppressive nature of the Islamic Republic and the restricted internet and media access of its citizens.

“I think people [on the] outside are… as important as people [on the] inside,” she said. “because if it wasn’t for us… nobody would have known what the hell is happening.”

Razavi is a postdoctoral research associate, and is current ly engaged in ethnographic research in Washington.

Photo courtesy of Northwestern University

Student Activities Sees Upswing in RSOs Following Pandemic

Julia Gentin ’26 Staff Writer

Twenty new Registered Student Organizations (RSO) have been ten tatively approved this semester, the highest since 24 in Fall 2018, when Jelani Johnson started as Associate Director of Student Activities, he said.

Following a drop in approved RSOs due to the pandemic, includ ing a record low of nine applications expressing interest in Fall 2020, this

semester has seen a significant rise in new affinity groups and organiza tions sponsored by academic depart ments, Johnson said.

The reasons accounting for the RSO increase include the “greater need for community development, support and access to resources,” Johnson said.

While non-RSOs can still re quest funding from the Association of Amherst Students, being an RSO guarantees them access to funding within the Budgetary Committee’s

policies.

“Students form RSOs for the perks of consistent funding, clout, and being able to attract students un der a credible name,” said president of the newly-founded Veggie Club Tim Carroll ’25.

In order for an organization to become an RSO, Johnson must ap prove them, on behalf of Student Activities, which requires registering through the Hub within the first two weeks of the fall semester and fulfill ing the criteria for consideration.

“The window is so tight,” said Tom Ye ’25, Bridge Club treasurer. “I have some friends who wanted to start a cooking club and got the idea together the third week of the semes ter, which was too late already.”

For organizations that register in time, Johnson reviews their applica tion materials, provides feedback on their drafts of their constitutions and budgets, and if everything is in order, signs off on their RSO status.

Amid this wave of new-RSO reg istration, The Student spoke with the leaders of four newly-created orga nizations to examine the process of approval and what they hope to add to campus culture.

Weightlifting Club

Weightlifting club was originally rejected last spring when it was pro posed as a club sport, due to liability issues with coaching and inability to reserve the weight room.

However, by shifting the club to be affinity and discussion-based, club president Ellerman Mateo ’25 was able to move forward with the approval process.

“People already go to the gym to work out, which is the physical com ponent, but the mental and emotion al components of weightlifting aren’t talked about,” Mateo said. “Often, people start working out because it’s their only source of therapy.”

Mateo wanted to form a space for conversations and awareness about “breaking into the weight room”: re ducing intimidation and destigma tizing an experience that many do not see as accessible.

One of the club’s initiatives is a mentorship program in which someone new to weightlifting is paired with someone who has more experience, keeping in mind that “they’re not coaches and the club is not giving out professional advice,” Mateo said.

The club plans to use its funding to stream professional weightlifting championships and attend com petitions themselves, hopefully in tandem with UMass Amherst and Smith College in the future, Mateo said.

Hiring a coach, ideally someone who is capable of working with peo ple with diverse arrays of experience

and goals, is another idea, Mateo added.

“This new turnover of ideas is what keeps the club going,” Mateo said. “We’re not just sticking to one thing and expecting it to work.”

Veggie Club

Tim Carroll ’25 said that Veggie Club, which caters to students inter ested in a plant-based diet, is unlike other more niche clubs that might struggle with sustainability in future years, because “you live this every day; it’s a lifestyle.”

“It was an easy sell,” Carroll said. “Vegetarians are a specific portion of the population, and nationally, it’s growing at a fast rate.”

Through discussions about the transition to a plant-based diet with food from local restaurants, as well as movie screenings about factory farming and meat’s impact on the environment, Carroll said that the club can help demystify the process of becoming vegetarian.

Some discussions will center around the cultural struggles of be ing vegetarian as “people definitely find it hard to refuse food from their family because of their new diet or lifestyle,” Carroll said.

The club’s main event is “Veggie Febbie,” a month-long challenge for people to reduce the amount of ani mal products they eat, accompanied by a daily newsletter, he added.

Bridge Club

Michael Xu ’25, also known as “Big Mike,” is a multiple-time col legiate world bridge champion who was “super enthusiastic about the game” and getting a club started, said Bridge Club’s treasurer Tom Ye ’25.

What started as friends coming together to play a card game that’s “very heavily skewed towards retired people” has now evolved into an RSO, Ye said.

“The barrier to entry is a bit high, as it’s not something you can sit down and learn in an hour,” Ye said. “Part of the mission of our club is that you’ll come for a few hours each week and eventually learn all the skills.”

There’s pretty intense national

The 20 RSOs tentatively approved in 2022 represent an increase from the pandemic years, when new club formation slowed.

Photo courtesy of Nina Aagard '26

Meet (Some of) the Newly Approved Clubs on Campus

cially with being granted funding.

competition around the game, Ye said.

The club participates in this broader community through semi-weekly tournaments in the Western Massachusetts area.

Queer Trans People of Color Club

The Queer Trans People of Color Club (QTPOC) is meant to be a safe space to get to know and respect in tersectionality, said co-founder An dres Valenzuela ’23.

“The consensus was that it’s iso lating to be a queer person of color, especially in white queer spaces like Pride Alliance,” Valenzuela said. “We felt overlooked and unheard by some of the people there and like we couldn’t talk about our issues with out being silenced.”

Valenzuela added that they felt very supported by the administra tion throughout the process, espe

“As a [first-generation low-in come] student myself, I know it can be overwhelming to try to host an event and not have money to do so,” Valenzuela said.

The goal is to have social events for members of the community to get to know each other, in addition to gender-affirming programs.

In addition to publicizing through Instagram and GroupMe, the group uses its connections to other resource centers like the Queer Resource Center (QRC), Women and Gender Center (WGC), and Multicultural Resource Center (MRC), as well as overlap in mem bership with La Causa and the Black Students Union (BSU) to reach out to new people.

In collaboration with the WGC, QRC and Womxn of Color Collec tive, QTPOC is putting together a gender-affirming makeup event and hopes to hold an event on World AIDS Day.

Mammoth Moments in Miniature: Oct. 18 to Nov. 1

The Editorial Board

Val Installs Digital Menus

In the past several weeks, dig ital monitors have been installed in various locations across Valen tine Dining Hall. These monitors serve as digital menu boards, dis playing the dining hall’s fare for each meal of the day to students as they enter the building and ap proach the serving area.

Administration Requests Feed back on Masking Policies

On Monday, Oct. 24, Dean of Students and Chief Student Affairs Officer Liz Agosto sent an email to students requesting feedback on a potential update to current masking policies. Referencing the wide range of responses the administration has received following the an nouncement of current protocols on Sept. 29, Agosto relayed that the college has since been con sidering changes in protocol that would make masking optional in

classrooms and labs, barring in structor opposition. Moving for ward, feedback will be reviewed by the Health Readiness Group and various members of the ad ministration as part of their eval uation of the existing policy.

Amherst Labor Alliance Calls for Halt to Alumni Donations

Over Homecoming week end, the Amherst Labor Alli ance (ALA) chalked messages on sidewalks and displayed banners across campus as part of their broader call on alumni to halt all donations to the college until cer tain demands regarding employ ee rights are met. One such ban ner over the entrance to Val read “Raise Wages for Val Workers.”

The broader demands, enumer ated in a pledge on the ALA’s In stagram page, include providing a living wage for all employees, a method to report concerns, and health care.

Emergency Management Man dates Attendance for New Pre

paredness Sessions

On Nov. 1, the administra tion announced in an email to the student body that all students will be required to attend one of several emergency prepared ness sessions, which will be held throughout the remainder of the semester. Sessions will begin on Monday, Nov. 14, and all students must sign up for one 45-minute period prior to entry.

AAS Holds Referendum Over Attendance Bylaw

In response to a petition brought forward by over 20 stu dents about a recent amendment to its attendance policy, the As sociation of Amherst students (AAS) announced on Oct. 31 that a campus-wide referendum would be held to determine whether or not the amendment will remain in effect. Students can voice their support or op position for the amendment through a google form, included in the AAS announcement, up until 11:59, Nov. 2.

The Amherst Labor Alliance hung this sign over the entrance of Valentine Dining Hall during Homecoming.

Photo courtesy of Amherst Labor Alliance Instagram

The Wrestling Club faced difficulty when applying to be a club sport, but now prospers as a club.

The Bridge Club playing in the Science Center.

An array of food at a Veggie Club meeting.

Photo courtesy of Amherst Weightlifting Instagram

Photo courtesy of Amherst Bridge Club Instagram

Photo courtesy of Tim Carroll '25

Human Rights Leader Discusses Israel-Palestine Conflict

Noor Rahman ’25 Assistant Arts & Living Editor

On Oct. 19, international human rights attorney Omar Shakir, the Is rael and Palestine director at Human Rights Watch (HRW), gave a talk in Stirn Auditorium on the organiza tion’s 2021 report that found the Is raeli government guilty of apartheid against its Palestinian population.

One of the largest internation al human-rights organizations headquartered in the U.S., HRW researches and reports on global hu man rights abuses.

The event was hosted by the Environmental Justice Alliance in collaboration with Liyang Amherst (a Philippines-focused human rights group) and Amherst Amnesty Inter national.

According to two of the event’s organizers, Meenakshi Jani ’23 and Mollie Hartenstein ’23, the event was intended to serve as a starting point for more balanced and in formed conversations about this issue on campus, and they hoped that Shakir’s expertise would inspire students to learn more about the Is rael-Palestine conflict.

Shakir’s presentation was a summary of the 214-page report in which HRW defines the Israeli treat ment of Palestinians as apartheid. He began by providing a summary of the situation: The Israeli govern ment rules over the area between the Jordan river and the Mediterranean sea, and it systematically privileges Jewish Israelis while repressing Pal estinians.

His argument was systematic and empirical in nature, which is part of what made the presenta tion “extremely convincing,” said attendee Hannah Kim ’25. The first step was understanding the on-theground reality in Israel through case studies and past data. “The question was, ‘How does Israel treat Palestin ians?’” said Shakir. The second step was to apply the legal definition of apartheid to the facts the report identified.

Shakir defined the crime of apartheid under international law as “inhumane acts committed with the intent to dominate amid a context of systematic oppression of one group

over another.” During his presenta tion, he applied the case studies and data to each element of this defini tion: (1) Israel’s intent to dominate, (2) systematic oppression of Pales tinians, and (3) inhumane acts car ried out against the Palestinians.

He first explained Israeli in tent to dominate through strategic management of land ownership. In Jerusalem, Israeli policy-planning documents lay out the goal of main taining a Jewish majority in the city, even including target demographic ratios that would ensure a solid Jew ish Israeli majority. In the West Bank, Israel’s policy has been to maximize Jewish Israeli land and isolate Pales tinian populations in order to, ac cording to the plans,“make it hard for Palestinians to create territorial contiguity and political unity.”

The second element of apart heid is the systematic oppression of an out group. In this case, Shakir referred to the 15-year closure and blockade of the Gaza Strip, which se verely restricts entry and exit to and from the territory. “For the first three years of the closure, Israel calculated the average caloric intake they want ed to maintain for the population of Gaza and restricted what food was allowed in to match that target level,” reported Shakir. He also pointed to the fact that the majority of families in Gaza frequently lack electricity, unlike Jewish Israelis, as further evi dence of such systematic oppression.

Shakir also discussed the sep arate legal status of Jewish Israelis and Palestinians in the West Bank. A Jewish Israeli and a Palestinian who commit the same crime and who live in the same neighborhood are subject to different laws and are tried in different courts. While the Israeli has due process rights under the law, the Palestinian does not. This creates a system in which Palestinians re ceive harsher sentences than Israelis for committing the same crimes.

Having shown the systematic oppression of the Palestinian people, Shakir explained, HRW identified five clusters of inhumane acts, the third element of apartheid, being carried out against Palestinians.

The first is the sweeping restric tion of movement of Palestinians. This includes the 2.1 million Pales

tinians effectively trapped in the 25by-7 mile territory of the Gaza Strip. Other examples of these restrictive policies include the requirement that Palestinians obtain permits to enter large portions of the West Bank. The second category of inhumane acts is the mass confiscation of Palestin ian land, which is often re-allocated for illegal Israeli settlements. Oth er categories include policies that prevent Palestinians from building homes, schools and businesses, the limitation of the right of Palestinians to live in their cities of origin, and the suspension of Palestinian civil rights, including free expression, as sembly and association.

The data in the report, compiled by HRW and other humanitarian groups such as Amnesty Interna tional, Al-Haq, and B’Tselem, al lows HRW to conclude that Israeli authorities are guilty of apartheid against Palestinians, said Shakir.

Shakir also acknowledged the existence of threats to Israeli securi ty, but he noted that “none of these policies are even justified by the Israeli government in the name of security.” “Just as ... security doesn’t justify torture, it doesn’t justify apartheid or other crimes against humanity,” he added.

Shakir also brought up the hu man rights abuse carried out by the Palestinian Authority and by Hamas authorities, noting that “they are a significant part of human rights abuses on the ground.” Still, he high lighted the inequality between the populations. “A single system me thodically engineered to ensure the domination of one Jewish Israeli at the expense of another Palestinian is not a conflict between two equal parties,” he said.

The report concludes by recom mending that perpetrators of the apartheid be investigated and held accountable for their crimes, and that third party states cease complic ity in the apartheid.

Shair ended his presentation with a reflection on why the desig nation of apartheid matters. “The first step to solving a problem is to diagnose it correctly,” he remarked.

Both Jani and Hartenstein char acterized the event as a success. “I felt like we were kind of able to cre

ate space for honest conversation,” Jani said, adding, “I was happy with the attendance at the event.” Harten stein was also impressed by the di versity of attendees, “I think a good amount of people from different parts of campus and … of different beliefs showed up.” She also felt that the event succeeded in “shift[ing] the baseline assumption” that “an ti-Zionism is violent toward Jewish people.”

Hartenstein, who described her self as a “Jewish woman on this cam pus who’s also anti-Zionist,” thought the event was specifically important to “try[] to challenge the narrative of Jewish support for the Israeli gov ernment … on this campus.”

She added that the designation of apartheid shifts the conversation from a moral judgement of the State of Israel to a judgement of apartheid — this allows for more productive and fact-based conversation of the issue, she said.

Jani also believed that the event was especially important for Am herst students due to the United States’s complicity in the Israel-Pal estine conflict, a point Shakir also made in his presentation: “[Un derstanding the issue] is really our responsibility, because the United States is one of Israel’s strongest al lies,” he said. “We are all connected to this.”

Jani was impressed with the speaker’s field-based experience: She called the event “a unique chance to hear from someone who was on the ground.” Shakir had spent several years in Israel observing the situa tion himself before being deported.

For Jani, this first-hand knowledge contributed to her sense that he was presenting “very concrete parts of the situation.”

Hartenstein echoed this senti ment: “It’s really hard to challenge … someone who works for one of the largest human rights organizations in the country, who goes all over the world.”

Jani, Hartenstein, and Kim were receptive to the fact that Shakir re peatedly encouraged criticism of the report and of his presentation.

“Please don’t take me at my word,” he said during the Q&A. “I want you to read the report, go Google criticisms of the report. Read those criticisms, make your own decision, make your own opinion.”

For Hartenstein and Jani, the discussion of the Israel-Palestine is sue on campus is far from complete. Hartenstein’s vision for the discourse around the topic is “a recognition that anti-Zionism is not anti-Semi tism, that although Israel is a Jewish state, the actions of its government do not reflect Jewish values.” She believes that more public forums in volving experts like Shakir will help inform a more productive conversa tion in the future.

“This is a campus of people who … care about learning,” Jani said. “There are definitely many students who … have a clear vision of what [they] want the world to look like.”

The event was an important mod el of “bringing together education and advocacy,” Jani added, and she hopes that the college will continue to host more events like this one in the future.

The event was intended to serve as a starting point for more balanced conversations about the Israel-Palestine conflict on campus.

Photo courtesy of Hannah Kim '25

Features

Thoughts on Theses

Q: So you’re writing two theses. What are they about?

A: For psych, basically I was here over the summer doing thesis re search. I was showing slideshows to kids ages four and five. Just pictures or videos with puppets that would be like, ‘Oh, I’m gonna equally give three things to this person and three things to this person.’ Or it would be unequal, with one thing versus five things. And we were asking, ‘Do you think this is a nice puppet? Do you think they’re gon na continue to be nice?’ And simi lar things like, ‘Do you think this is a smart puppet? Do you think that they will continue to be intelligent?’ [The purpose of the project was to see] how they evaluate others based on their actions versus their appearance, and how they predict that going forward. It’s an interest ing new study because we’re giving the kids anonymity. We’re having them make their decision while we close our eyes because, theoretical ly, they have on rosy-colored glass es, where they’re like, ‘Everyone’s super nice. Everyone’s super smart.’ But if we let them make that deci sion on their own, we’re seeing if it is an innate thing or if it’s social pressure that makes them that way.

My music thesis is on passion music, which is basically the stuff they play at Easter time. It’s about the crucifixion in Christianity, basi cally telling the story of [Jesus] and how it’s beneficial to Christians. What I’ve been doing is just going through and getting an overview of passion music and seeing how Je sus is portrayed in the music versus how he’s been portrayed through history and in words and art.

Q: How did you land on these top ics?

A: For psych, I knew I wanted to do a thesis from the very beginning. I will be honest and say I came [into college] with the idea that I was probably gonna [study] math and history, and that has clearly not come to any kind of fruition. But when I took “Intro [to] Psych[olo gy]” I was like, ‘Wow, I love this.’ So I decided to be a psych major. I had to declare relatively early because I went abroad last year. I knew I wanted to do a thesis for psych, and I knew I wanted to do it in child development, so [Associate] Professor [of Psychology Carrie] Palmquist was my first choice [for an advisor]. I talked to her, and she was saying she had all these ideas for studies. She had a thesis student who was doing something simi lar to me without the anonymous part. And we sort of just sculpted this.

For music, I was originally thinking of doing a performance thesis. I was working at the library last summer and [Professor of Mu sic Klara Moricz] was here, and she happened to come in and say, ‘Oh my goodness, when you come back from being abroad you have to tell me what you wanna write your the sis on with me!’ While I was abroad I didn’t do that much with music, but I got more into it in the third trimester. I had taken this old mu sic course with [Moricz] where we focused on passion music, and I knew we both loved it, so I took a course on it in Oxford which they specifically designed for me. So that’s how that ended up happen ing.

Anna Buswell

6 to 8. I think that’s about it. Oh, and I’m on season 8 of Game of Thrones right now.

Q: What would you say has been the most challenging part of writ ing your two theses so far?

A: Definitely how unscheduled it is.

Q: And conversely, what would you say your favorite part about the thesis process is?

Q: How have your advisors helped you throughout the thesis process?

A: I meet with them on a weekly basis. Mondays are music; Fridays are psych. I think it’s been real ly helpful because I know a lot of people don’t necessarily meet with their advisors that often for the sis stuff. But at least for me, every time I go to a meeting with Pro fessor Moricz, she is so sweet. She really knows how to make people enthusiastic and inspired. So I go into meetings like ‘I have no idea where I’m going with this thesis.’ And then I come out being like, ‘Oh, yeah, now I know exactly what I need to research.’ And then for psych, I think it’s been a lot more chill because I did the research over the summer. I know where the writing is going, so I’m definitely a lot more prepared for psych right now than I am for music.

Q: What does a typical day look like for you?

A: So, the frisbee team has decid ed that we’re going to do 7:30 a.m. gym sessions. So that’s Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, 7:30 to 8:30 a.m. Then I get breakfast with some of the team. And I do a tutoring thing — I tutor with this program called Ringle teaching South Ko rean students English. A lot of the time, that’s my 9 to 10 or 10:30. And then I try to go to Arms [Mu sic Center] to practice whenever I can, because it kind of slips my mind sometimes. [I usually have] lunch and thesis stuff in the after noon. Then, I have class between 1 and 4. After that, I do some more thesis stuff [and] practice from

A: I think the writing itself is the most fun. I decided that I wanted to be a psych major because the first time I wrote a psych research paper, like yeah, I procrastinated. But when I was doing it, in the moment, I was like, ‘Wow, this is the most fun I’ve had writing in a while.’ So that’s definitely why I wanted to do a psych thesis. For music, I think I ended up doing it because a lot of what I’m doing is history-based, and like I said, I came in thinking I might want to study history. So that’s really fun for me as well, writing about the history of passions.

Q: Looking back, what advice would you give either to a young er student or to your younger self?

A: In terms of thesis writing, I had a meeting with one of the reference librarians and she showed me all these cool things on the Frost web site and on online library websites which are really useful. [I] would highly recommend that. And I’ve been struggling to do this, but get ting your thesis advisor whatever you’ve been working on the night before your meeting — and not during your meeting — is really helpful because they can actually give you feedback when you’re to gether. That has definitely been re ally useful as well.

Q: What do you hope that fellow students or other readers will get out of your theses once they’re complete?

A: For psych, it would just be cool to see what other people think of in terms of future studies. To see my work referenced in another study, that would be so cool. For music, I

think the number of people I have talked to that actually know what a passion is is so few. So just in terms of not even knowing what it is in a religious sense, but even just in a musical sense, because passions are gorgeous. And some of them are short enough that you don’t have to sit there for three hours. A lot of them are that long, but some of them are less than an hour, and they’re really beautiful. I had a key board while I was abroad that the school gave me. And at one point, I was doing some passion research. And I was like, ‘Oh my goodness, this chorale is so pretty I gotta sight-read it.’ So I finally plugged my keyboard in and I sight-read it and thought to myself that ev eryone should hear this because it’s so pretty. And there have been hundreds of [passions]; I don’t even understand how people have that many ideas. So just letting people know they are out there would be cool.

Q: Is there anything else you’d like to add or make sure that our read ers know about?

A: I just think it was really funny because I went from being abroad in England where nobody double majors — so they were like ‘Oh my gosh. You can do psych and mu sic?!’ — to here where the shock was about doing a double thesis.

The amount of the ‘you’re insane’ looks I’ve gotten here — definitely valid. I guess I just really wanted to have something to show for it, because I’ve been doing music for, what did I say, 15 years of my life, so I didn’t want to go all the way through college without having anything to show for it. And I defi nitely wanted to do a psych thesis. So yeah, hmm, anything else … you should join frisbee. I’ve said in the past maybe my vibes are getting a bit too frisbee-based, but I think I’ve just embraced that now. So yes, join frisbee.

Read the full interview online at www.amherststudent.com

Photo courtesy of Anna Buswell '23

Anna Buswell is a music and psychology double major who is writing a thesis in each department. Her psychology thesis examines how children evaluate other people, and her music thesis delves into Christian passion music. Her thesis ad visors are Associate Professor of Psychology Carrie Palmquist and Professor of Music Klara Moricz.

College Librarians Rethink and Reframe Research

Caelen McQuilkin ’24E Managing Features Editor

The experience is one almost every Amherst student knows: You’ve been assigned a paper to write, but have no idea where to begin. So what do you do? The college’s research librarians are here to help.

According to the website for Amherst’s research and instruction department, the librarians “teach research skills in the context of specific courses and assignments” by providing “approaches and strategies as well as particular sources and tools.”

Over the past decade, the department’s mission has evolved: Increasingly, the librarians see expanding the meaning of knowledge and research as a key part of their role. To get a sense of the department’s evolving purpose, The Student spoke with the six research and instruction librarians to learn about how they understand their own roles and the service they provide to the community.

Evolution of the Department

Before 2010, the department had just three librarians, who were known as reference librarians. Their role was defined more rigidly than it is today: They were to help students access library resources, provide them with relevant materials, and offer guidance when necessary.

Their job began to broaden, said Head of Research and Instruction Missy Roser ’94, after she took the department’s reins in 2010. One of her key goals was to have librarians take a more active hand in teaching

students core research skills, and how they can be applied.

These changes in the department came alongside larger shifts in the college as a whole, “a real time of growth,” Roser said, with the college aiming “to recruit a more diverse student population.” But these changes in the college’s makeup were not always accompanied by the structural changes needed to support an increasingly diverse student body with a wide range of distinct interests and forms of knowledge.

“[The college] expected this really different community to somehow navigate the hidden curriculum and tacit norms of an institution that had historically been built for white men,” said Roser, “something I knew firsthand from my time as a student.”

So the research and instruction department began to imagine and advocate for ways that they could help lead the shift toward supporting and embracing the institution’s increasing diversity. They resolved to support students by uplifting their unique research interests and passions, while also teaching them core research skills.

These new ideas about how to support students matter, research librarians said, because it allows students to be more fully themselves — in their work and at the institution — rather than having to adapt to a cookie-cutter model of what knowledge or research should look like.

The emphasis on teaching that the department began to develop during this time helped address the gap these institutional problems

could create if left unaddressed, working to form bridges between class assignments and students’ personal interests and passions, and showing how they can become one and the same when viewed from new perspectives, librarians said.

During this time, the department nearly tripled its number of instruction sessions, which led to the hiring of more full-time research and instruction librarians to meet the growing demand.

The changes weren’t isolated to Amherst, according to Roser. They accompanied broader shifts in the field of librarianship.

For example, the Framework for Information Literacy and Higher Education, which was officially adopted by the Association of College and Research Libraries board in 2016, introduced new core concepts into the field of librarianship. One aspect of the new framework is that it encourages librarians and students to think through how society places different values on information depending on the context and process by which it is created.

Better understanding the process behind that creation — whether it is, for example, the unspoken rules that coworkers in a restaurant develop to help one another in the workplace, or the development of an academic manuscript — can help consumers of that information

better understand it.

Today, the librarians’ main values represent this shift. “We have a belief that research extends beyond looking for books, and articles for academic work,” said Sara Smith, the research librarian for Architectural Studies, Art and the History of Art, European Studies, Film and Media Studies, Music, and Theater and Dance. “Research can mean all kinds of things in your life… good research skill connects to many different things that you might care about or be interested in.”

According to Smith, academic research is really a “set of techniques and agreed-on protocols around things that we all do as humans all the time.” The research process could also just be called curiosity about the world around us, or the desire to piece together different aspects of our lives, they said.

For this same reason, Roser said she views one big part of the job as “recognizing the huge diversity in what students are bringing, their interests and their motivations, and trying to go beyond what is on a syllabus page.”

“If we just hand them a syllabus and say that your learning is only what happens in this class on the syllabus, then we’re kind of leaving them to flail when they go off and try to continue that knowledge,” she said.

What It Looks Like in Practice

One of the main ways these theoretical ideas come into practice, many of the librarians said, is by viewing themselves as research partners for students to work with, rather than as instructors or arbiters of knowledge.

“We are often, to some extent, also not knowing things when we’re working with students,” said Kelly Dagan, the department’s user experience strategist. “We accompany and guide when we teach, but I think that there is something meaningful for both the students and for us, of getting to have that experience of learning with each other and practicing what it’s like to learn together, and to research together.”

To learn together means understanding and working with each student’s specific expertise.

“I think, as a research librarian, I’ve gotten much better at listening to stories for … the points that energy is located in,” said Smith.

“If somebody’s telling me about the thing they want to research, I listen for the parts of the story they’re telling me, [where they] sound really excited, or really full.”

“[Imagine that] you came [to get help], and you have this general idea of, ‘I’m going to research the history of recording devices,’”

Photo courtesy of Claire Beougher '26

Research Librarian Blake Doherty works with a student at the reference desk.

Two research librarians, Blake Doherty (left) and Stephanie Capsuto (right).

Photo courtesy of Claire Beougher '26

Research Librarians Reflect on Their Role at Amherst

out, ‘How did that work later on?

Smith continued. “But then I find that when you’re talking about the invention of pocket devices, you start to talk faster, or you start to have more thoughts or more questions that are coming up. Instead of saying ‘OK, well let’s look at this and this and this,’ I say, ‘Well, let’s start with talking about pocket recording devices.’”

The research librarians have a distinctive role on campus that necessitates thinking about “research as community,” said Roser. It also means spending a lot of the time on the job learning about how students learn, how their classes work, and what their interests entail.

Alana Kumbier, the research librarian for Black Studies, Classics, History, and Philosophy, said that one of their favorite parts of the job is co-teaching the Black studies 300 course, “Research in Black Studies.”

“It’s valuable to just watch for students, how they as researchers are able to take what we’re doing and what they’re learning and put that into practice,” they said. “I get to see students who practice something like concept mapping early in the semester, [and] find

Did that practice still resonate? Is it something that students who come back the next year to talk to the incoming class share about?’”

Research librarians also play a role in helping students examine new perspectives in their work.

Stephanie Capsuto, the research librarian for Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science, Environmental Studies, Geology, Mathematics and Statistics, Neuroscience, and Physics and Astronomy, spoke about the importance of looking at research in “a full, whole picture.”

“When you think about ‘old Amherst,’ or when you think of a higher education institution, you think of an economics professor who only studies economics and has theories and all this stuff,” she said.

“I feel like our department has been a big advocate for interdisciplinary thinking and research and moving out of the traditional ‘I’m only looking at this one thing.’”

This could, for example, mean asking a student researching climate change to also consider the financial impact natural disasters have on people living in the area, she explained.

Realizing their new set of values, the librarians said, requires

reworking traditional academic concepts. As an example, Smith referenced citation, an academic practice that is often framed as key to “being a responsible scholar, where you show that you read things, that you didn’t plagiarize, that you’re following the conventions.”

While this is important, viewing citation as just a convention runs the risk of reducing it to a “good guy/ bad guy logic,” Smith said. Instead, they look at citations as “a space of expressing appreciation, and giving credit to those who have influenced you and the ways you think.”

“I always think of a bibliography as a place to say ‘this is my community of thinkers and makers,’” Smith said. This could mean citing a conversation you had five years ago with your grandmother in the bibliography, they added, because that conversation influenced the way you thought about the paper.

Ordering citations by importance and framing them in this way is “a really useful exercise to remember that this isn’t just something you’re doing for school so you can get the A, but it’s your life,” Smith noted.

“Just as much as you can reflect on the sources you’re drawing on

as actual real people who live or did live,” they said. “Who are you now connected to through your thinking and through your work?”

Many of the librarians also emphasized the importance in continually evaluating the department’s constantly changing role at Amherst. One key part of this, said Blake Doherty, the research

available to them to get support, or maybe don’t feel very comfortable utilizing those resources,” she said. “I think that the research and instruction department has a role in helping to build awareness for the variety of ways that students can get support at the college.”

Research librarians said that a big part of their department’s role in creating broader change at Amherst is tied to their job’s emphasis on listening and uplifting. “Part of what we do is not set the tone, but we try to read the room,” said Smith. “What is it that we could do to be more supportive of what people are caring about or trying to be successful in now? What do we see people needing?”

librarian for French, German, Latinx & Latin American Studies, Spanish, and Sexuality, Women’s, & Gender Studies, and department outreach, is communicating about what the department is here to help with.

“One of the things that I have come to see about Amherst is [that] students often either don’t know about the resources that are

Reading the room, when it comes to the research and instruction department, can lead to many changes, but ultimately it centers around understanding what students care about.

Achieving this understanding requires a concerted effort on the part of the librarians. “It’s about listening to and collaborating with the people and communities using the services, resources, and spaces you’re providing,” Dagan said, “so that you’re meeting their needs and the ways they work.”

Public Art Installations Electrifiy Town of Amherst

Pho Vu ’23 Staff Writer

Over the last few years, in tricately painted electrical boxes and other public structures have become a fixture of downtown Amherst. Dating back to 2018, these paint-decorated public utilities were established by the Public Art Commission through a project called Electrify Am herst! The Electrical Box Make over Project. Since their estab lishment, these painted boxes have continued to liven up the town’s public spaces through two years of fighting off Covid.

Origins and Goals

Current Chair of the Public Art Commission Shoshona King

said that the idea for the project first came from Amy Crawley, who served on the Public Art Commission for six years (from 2015-2021) and now serves on the Historical Commission.

“She’s a real dynamo and the kind of person you want on your committee,” said King. “She’s got a lot of ideas, and she knows how to execute.”

Crawley added that “If you start as small as public art, like electrical boxes, everybody can see how nice that is. They will want to support having some thing bigger on the side of the building.”

King explained that one of the PAC’s central goals for the project was to bring more pub lic art downtown. “[We wanted]

something that people can really see and just make people happy,” shared King.

Crawley further explained that the project was actually in spired by Northampton’s 2016 pilot program.

Crawley also cast her mind back to the notes she was taking while looking at other neighbor ing towns and cities — Somer ville, Easthampton, Greenfield, and Belchertown — that had done similar projects in a search for ideas.

With their ideas decided, the project organizers went be fore the Amherst Design Re view Board — a town-appointed board — to see if they had any questions about the project. The main question of the ADRB was

if there was going to be any ad vertising on the boxes, which it strongly opposed.

The project also needed to be approved by the Department of Public Work (DPW). According to King, permission to paint the town’s electrical boxes was “an easy ask” that was granted after a couple days of review from the DPW.

“I and one other Commission member presented before the Se lect Board at that time before the town changed into its current Town Council,” said Crawley. “There was a lot of the ground work that very first year.”

After many rounds of appli cations, the council was able to start painting boxes for the first time in 2018, Crawley told The

Student. “In a quick nutshell, there is the Massachusetts Cul tural Council, which is a state organization, and each town has a local cultural council,” she said. “They receive money from the state. Each town gets a por tion of the different amount de pending on how many residents need different things. So we ap plied for the Amherst Cultural Council Grant.”

Outside of that grant, the Cultural Commission also re ceived some in-kind donations, which included gift card dona tions from Cowls Building Sup ply and paint donations from Sherwin-Williams Paint Store down the street on Route 9.

This isn't just something you're doing for school so you can get the A, but it's your life ... who are you connected to through your thinking and through your work?

“

”

Embellished Electric Boxes Brighten Up Downtown

Starting the Process

In 2020, the project’s third year, Crawley co-led the project with Bill Kaizen, who was the Public Art Commission’s chair person at that time.

The projects had a lot of mov ing parts, as far as Crawley was concerned. She explained that whoever takes the leadership po sition at the committee should work to set some expectations and bring something different to the table.

To start the 2020 painting process, the project needed to decide which utility boxes to paint. Crawley explained that, for 2020, the Commission decid ed to keep their work centralized downtown in the cultural dis trict.

Once they had chosen spe cific boxes, the PAC also had to get permission from DPW to paint those boxes. The DPW’s considerations included a vari ety of factors, from whether the electrical boxes would need to be replaced soon to planned future roadworks in the area.

Interested artists had to ap ply through a digital form on the Amherst Town Hall’s website from around October to Novem ber in 2019. King explained that the first thing that would elimi nate a design was if it contained any sort of copyrighted mate rial. “There was this one about UMass athletics that seemed like it would be a good idea, but [it had] the UMass logo which we couldn’t use, because that’s copy righted,” said King.

According to King, the group also prioritized highlighting a range of artists’ work. They had some local artists who submitted more than one proposal, which “would have been great,” but they were more keen on giving new people a chance, so as to prevent it from being a one-per son show.

In February 2020, the board notified the chosen artists of the Commission’s decisions. From then until September of the same

year, the focus was on getting ev eryone together and figuring out how to install the designs. “It was how it was done during the pan demic,” said King. “That was the peak of the pandemic with social distancing and everything.”

The Painting Process

The painting process itself oc curred in September. “We want ed to make it so that it happened when the students came back, and we could be part of it,” said King. According to King, a lot of the Public Art Commission’s activities surprisingly revolve around the academic calendars.

The painting activity was on Sept. 14, and took eight hours to wrap up. The public was invited to stop by anytime between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. to see the art ists perform live. “The event was promoted as an exhibition where you could walk through and watch these local artists paint the electrical boxes. [In that way,] it acted as a happening and an in stallation piece at the same time,” added King.

Before the painting itself could begin, the oil coating around the electrical box had to be completely de-greased. King said all of this work was done by a volunteer group of local resi dents and college students.

By the end of 2020, a total of eight boxes had been painted over the programs’ three years of running.

Peter Zierlein, a paper cut artist who did the paintings of a plethora of dogs on an electrical box near Amherst Dog Wash, shared his procedure of getting the design done. “First, I did the design in a paper cut using a small format paper cut to size in relation to the size of that electric box,” he explained. “Then I en larged the design and cut a sten cil from it. I put the stencil to the box and spray painted sculpted. So that’s the process — and also because I liked the dogs.”

It took Zierlein, who was also interviewed in a short doc umentary King made, two to three hours to finish the paint

ings that September afternoon.

“That whole box was painted during the pandemic, and every body was still wearing masks,” he said. “I think at the time we had so many bad news events.

Whenever you turned on the news, the whole world was so negative. [There was] so much to get burned down on it. For a long time, I did art that was influ enced by the political goings-on at the time. I decided to just do something that is not political, [and] that just was about feeling good. It makes it feel good when you look at it, you know.”

“What was nice about the project was that in a couple of hours, there was a whole bunch of people from the community who passed by, but stopped by and gave a little talk,” Zierlein added. “That’s what I kind of en joy, like being in the community and hearing from the people that are seeing this every day and that was really nice.”

Zierlein didn’t know before hand that his box would be near Amherst Dog Wash. “[That] was just a nice coincidence that they worked out,” he said.

Looking to the Future

For the most part, the project has been very well-received, al though there was some vandal ization of the Emily Dickinson box within the first month of its completion. “Someone put a bullet hole kind of thing right in the middle,” King explained. “But, Jeff Wrench, the artist who painted it, was happy to come back and fix her. She got fixed within a couple of days.”

King said that her personal favorite box is one that she notes “you don’t see much because it is the outlier.”

“It’s over where Pomeroy Lane meets Route 116 in which there’s a traffic signal,” she said. “[The box was painted] by an artist named Stormslegacy — that’s her artist name — and [the painting] is this mystical scene with a wolf through magic. She also did [the art on one of] the jersey barriers, an initiative by Amherst Business Improvement District, that you see around town.”

King said that there was a lot of appreciation among local residents for the project, and for

art-related events more general ly.

September 2020 was the last time that people gathered to paint the box. When asked about the project’s operation during the pan demic, King remarked that “it kind of fell apart in 2020 … [for safety reasons,] nobody wanted to do it anymore. I remember actually doing interviews with people that I recorded with this long micro phone, so I wouldn’t have to be near them.”

More recently, the commission has been thinking about rebooting the program. Crawley referenced Northampton’s recent repainting activity as a model. Within the last two years, some of Northampton’s original boxes have been repaint ed by completely new artists with completely new designs.

For the project to occur again, the art commission will need to once again go through the ap plication process. “If you want something done, the DPW is good at getting stuff done,” King said. “Also, because the project was al ready done one [or two] times before, getting approval to do it again would be easier.”

The Belle of Amherst, Emily Dickinson, features on one of the towns new elec trical box paintings.

Photo courtesy of Pho Vu ’23

Restore the Student Activities Fee

A WAMH concert canceled, Senate projects a shadow of their former glory, club events with food nearly a bygone memory — the effects of the Association of Amherst Students (AAS) budget crisis have been deeply troubling. At only around halfway through the semester, the Senate has already exceeded its discretionary fund — the money set aside for clubs to dip into during the term — by $56,000, forcing it to draw from the Rainy Day Fund, its rapidly depleting piggy bank, which is on pace to bottom out in the foreseeable future. And while the Budgetary Committee has changed several policies to reduce expenditures, a more drastic step must be taken: It’s time to raise the student activities fee.

As it stands, the student activities fee costs each student $300 per semester, the sum of which is allotted for the AAS to distribute to student organizations, clubs, and special interest groups. The fee, which was eliminated during the offcampus period of the pandemic, has since been gradually increased, but is still well below its prepandemic level of $365.

Some students, especially those for whom paying tuition already poses a substantial burden, might be reasonably concerned about any increase to college’s comprehensive fee. However, it’s worth noting that the student activities fee makes up only 0.7 percent of the annual price to attend Amherst, and it’s one of the first costs covered by financial aid. It should also be noted that an increase of the fee by $100 per student — to $400 — would yield an addition to the AAS’ budget of nearly $200,000, undeniably netting a transformative difference in the college’s student life.

It wouldn’t be enough for the fee just to return to its absolute pre-pandemic level: Inflation must be taken into consideration. Last academic year, the college acknowledged that necessity when it increased the comprehensive fee by 4.5 percent, as stated in an email sent by former President Biddy Martin on March 11. The student activities fee should follow suit.

Furthermore, the AAS has been attempting to increase its spending caps alongside inflation, so that students are not forced to spend out of their own pockets to cover event costs, which would place an unfair economic pressure on students in club leadership positions, and may even make these positions inaccessible for some students. However, it’s easy to see that increasing spending

caps to keep pace with inflation is an unsustainable policy if the AAS’ revenue remains static. In order to ensure equity, the college must ensure that the AAS is adequately funded.

The importance of raising the student activities fee goes beyond increasing the number of Insomnia cookies or Antonio’s slices the AAS is able to fund, though — it’s a matter of expanding students’ democratic power. Whether it is by providing club sports teams with the resources to train and compete, bankrolling free PVTA access for all students, or printing

the page you’re reading this article on, the AAS — as the only democratically elected body representing students — has a unique ability to fund the events, clubs, and programs that students actually care about.

Moreover, President Michael Elliott’s new administration has based much of its rhetoric on the notion of the liberal arts being essential to a healthy democracy. As one of the only sources of democratically controlled funding on this campus, the AAS budget embodies the college’s renewed mission, simultaneously ensuring that resources are allocated where students want them — allowing students to practice, as Elliott put it in his Opening Convocation speech at the start of the year, “democracy with a lowercase d.”

Now more than ever, as we move toward rebuilding post-pandemic, it’s important to think about where we, as a college, allocate our resources. Although it represents roughly 0.7 percent of the total annual cost of attendance, the student activities fee funds a huge portion of the events and institutions that create community on this campus.

While the Editorial Board acknowledges that we may not have a complete understanding of all the logistics of managing and distributing the budget, we think it imperative that the college’s policies reflect the times. To improve student life, ensure equity, and as a step toward the college’s renewed emphasis on democracy, we believe that the administration and the AAS must work together to increase the student activities fee to its pre-pandemic level, accounting for inflation. The wheels of progress are oiled only by collaboration.

Unsigned editorials represent the views of the majority of the Editorial Board — (assenting: 17; dissenting: 0; abstaining: 0).

THE AMHERST STUDENT

EXECUTIVE BOARD

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STAFF

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Letters Policy

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

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Kayah’s Korner: A Guide to Navigating Coursework

Mikayah Parsons ’24 Columnist

Anonymous writes, “I’m already overwhelmed with work! It feels like it takes me one hour to read one page! Help!”

Dear Anonymous,

As an English, American stud ies, Black studies, and history ma jor, I know a lot about the struggle of endless reading in the human ities. Your question thus prompts several responses, but I will limit my advice to four key points.

1. Organize your time.

You are the best judge of your learning style. Some students like to crank out work in a five-hour chunk of time, while others break their day up by alternating be tween two-hour bursts of work and leisure. Some students use a planner — monthly, daily, hourly (if you’re anything like me, you’ll use all three). The challenges of this are that sometimes our learn ing styles change or that we can’t always accommodate them. There have been semesters where I com pletely abandoned all three of my planners and instead relied on a daily to-do list app (I recommend “Do!” for all your listing needs).

Some of those semesters, I didn’t have time to write everything down in three journals. Some trial and error might be necessary, but try to focus on pinning down an organizational tactic that works for you within the first few weeks of a new semester.

2. Learn how to skim.

During my first year, I thought I had to read every single word of every assigned text to fully under stand the material. While I would encourage getting as much of the assigned reading as possible done, there are moments when it simply isn’t possible. In those moments, you have to rely on yourself to skim the material. One trick that often works for scholarly human ities readings is to first read the introduction, which will often map out the author’s main argument and the trajectory of the rest of the book. Then read the conclu sion, which will often restate the author’s argument and summarize the results of their findings. If you have time, also look at the first and last paragraphs of every chapter.

On this note, if you lack confi dence in your ability to contrib ute to discussion without reading all of the material for a particular class (looking at you, philosophy), consider your strengths and weak

nesses. Are you able to synthe size the material from your Black studies class well enough to form an insightful discussion question from just a single sentence in the reading? Perhaps you do all of your philosophy readings and only part of the readings for your Black stud ies class. No matter what, always make sure you bring points of dis cussion to the day’s class.

3. Tap into your resources.

We are fortunate enough to engage with extremely empathet ic professors on the daily. While I can’t speak for every professor or every course, I think Amherst pro fessors are generally open-minded and recognize each student as a holistic human being. Communi cate with your professor that you’re struggling, and you’ll be surprised at the advice and strategies they can offer to help out! One semester, when I was working upwards of 40 hours a week, my professor told me which readings to focus on and which were less foundational to the course. I revisited some of the texts I couldn’t get to in a later se mester, and I was extremely grate ful for this professor’s flexibility. I was a much more engaged student having completed only half of the readings than if I had sacrificed my personal needs to get the reading

Mass. Insider: On the Ballot

Shane Dillon ’26 Columnist

I have spent much time in this column writing about the Gover nor and Lt. Governor’s race — but let’s talk today about the other names lining the state ballot this cycle.

The most exciting part about this election cycle in the Com monwealth is that the nominees in five of the six statewide races are women. This is the first time Massachusetts has had this many women running for statewide of fice, and it’s about time. In fact, all six nominees would have been women if the almost 30-year in cumbent State Secretary of the

Commonwealth had not decided to run for yet another re-election.

In the Attorney General race, former Boston City Councilor and Council President Andrea Campbell reigned supreme in the Democratic primary. Many in Western Massachusetts polit ical circles have argued that Ms. Campbell won the nomination only because gubernatorial nom inee Maura Healey endorsed her in the lead-up to the primary — an argument which, given Camp bell’s lackluster political record prior to this race, may not be too far off the truth.

Regardless of party endorse

done before the original deadline.

4. Lastly, and most importantly: Shift your mindset.

Much of the anxiety of low-in come students comes from a need to prove oneself. Again, I can’t speak for every low-income stu dent, but I can share my personal experience and the experiences of those close to me. I wasted much of my time here at Amherst try ing to give to the institution as if I hadn’t earned my spot here, as if I had started from a place of incom petence and needed to work my way up. I spent much of my study sessions thinking of the “right way” to do the reading. I could also try the following bridging sentence just before it: Since much of the ad missions process was spent trying to prove our level of intellect, many students come to college with the assumption that the purpose of college is to demonstrate knowl edge one has already gleaned. The secret to college is this: You aren’t here to show off knowledge that you already have, such as figures or facts. I’m not suggesting those things aren’t important, but they’re not the destination. If they were, the entire conception of college as a transformative educational experience would need to shift. You’re here to expand your knowl

edge and apply it, to push your mind past its limits until you real ize there’s no such thing. There’s a point at which you realize that you must make the institution work for you. College, despite its often uniform requirements, is not as one-size-fits-all as public discourse would have it seem. The reality is, you’re here to discover your inter ests, where your contribution feels most valuable, and what work feels most fulfilling to you. Remem ber that this is your education. Where do you find yourself feel ing the happiest? What makes the most impact in your personal life? Where do you see yourself mak ing the most impact? This is not to suggest that you should abandon or shut your mind to other endeav ors. It’s to say that it’s okay if you can’t give 110 percent of yourself to every single thing that you’re doing. As you find your place here, you’ll begin to prioritize what you feel suits yourself best as a student, and that is ultimately exactly what you should do.

I hope I was able to address some of your concerns. Best of luck on your journey for the rest of the se mester!

With love, Mikayah

Shane Dillon ’26 with Democratic nominee for Attorney General Andrea Campbell.

Photo courtesy of Shane Dillon ’26

Meet the Other Massachusetts Candidates

Gardner Museum in Boston.

I have one of DiZoglio’s lawn signs on my lawn back in Spring field, and they are the biggest lawn signs I have ever seen. She told me a couple months back at an event that she wanted a picture of her on the lawn signs, so voters un derstood that she was the Italian “woman” in the race. I like Sen. DiZoglio a lot and believe that she will use the full power of the Au ditor’s office to seek and root out the corruption and systemic in justices within our state agencies.

percent state income tax on an nual taxable income exceeding $1 million. I am voting yes because I believe that the wealthy need to pay their fair share.

YES on Question Two would expand access to dental insurance throughout the state and help be gin to close healthcare inequities. I am voting yes on question two.

ment, Campbell boasts a strong set of qualifications. According to the Berkshire Eagle’s endorse ment, “Ms. Campbell’s resume includes time as a legal services attorney with EdLaw, an employ ment attorney, general counsel at the Metropolitan Area Planning Commission, and legal counsel to Gov. Deval Patrick.” Her moti vations for running for the state’s top law-enforcement position are clear, too: She often references the tragedy of her brother’s death while incarcerated, endowing her campaign with enormous mean ing and drawing attention to the awful conditions endemic to the prison system. It’s clear Campbell is qualified for the job, but can she beat her opponent?

Campbell will face Repub lican Jay McMahon, who ran unopposed in his primary. A lit tle-known name in politics, Mc Mahon believes that there is too much “wokeness” in the Attorney General’s office. On his campaign website, he promises to, among other things, “initiate ‘Extreme Prosecution.’” According also to his website, “laws are supposed to prevent the bad guys from doing bad things. Therefore, laws that

prevent good guys from doing lawful things do not reduce crime, they in fact enhance crime.” While researching and participating in state politics, I have never seen a campaign website as unserious and utterly ridiculous as this one. McMahon is dangerous, and if a candidate as unserious about the position as he is were to win the election, our Commonwealth’s fu ture would be very dark indeed.

Thankfully, according to a recent UMass Amherst poll, Campbell is expected to electorally annihilate McMahon 58 percent to 33 per cent.

Next up, the State Auditor’s position. The State Auditor’s is perhaps the least known of the statewide offices, but its race is one of the most important. Ac cording to the Massachusetts Auditor’s website, “the Office of [the] State Auditor (OSA) con ducts audits, investigations, and studies to promote accountability and transparency, improve per formance, and make government work better.”

Boston area State Sen. Diana DiZoglio won the Democratic primary race for the Auditorship despite her lack of Democratic Party endorsement. Her oppo nent, Chris Dempsey, who has

never held an elected office and is possibly most famous for hav ing led the effort to keep the 2024 Olympics out of Boston, was en dorsed by the current state audi tor, Suzanne Bump, and won the state party endorsement in June. Dempsey won the party establish ment endorsement, but DiZoglio triumphed.

DiZoglio spent most of her primary campaign appealing to young, progressive voters in the state and capitalizing on already being an elected official from eastern Massachusetts. DiZoglio made headlines in 2018 when she broke a non-disclosure agreement on the Massachusetts House of Representatives floor in order to make a statement against NDAs. Since then, she has advocated in the legislature to support victims of NDAs. One of her campaign pitches was that as Auditor, she would audit the Massachusetts Legislature to root out the appar ent corruption — corruption like the silencing she faced when she had to sign her NDA years ago. More on her auditor plan can be found here.

In the general election, DiZo glio faces fellow Italian Ameri can Anthony Amore, the head of security for the Isabella Stewart

I only know a little about Amore. I have yet to see him at a single event in the western part of the state throughout this cam paign season — a fact perhaps reflective of commonly-held per ceptions of the region’s impor tance. To be fair and honest, I had no clue who Amore was until I had to look him up to write this. I fully support DiZoglio.

Finally, in the Treasurer’s race, Deb Goldberg is running for re-election. Her only opponent is a Libertarian nominee, and third parties, like in the rest of the country, do not stand a chance in Massachusetts. I fully support her return to the office.

Also on the ballot are four questions. YES on Question One would establish an additional 4

YES on Question Three ex pands the ability of retailers to sell alcoholic beverages. I am leaving this question blank because I am not of drinking age. A NO vote would not change any alcohol-re lated laws in the state.

Finally, Question Four. YES on Question Four would allow un documented immigrants to apply for and receive a driver’s license in the state of Massachuesetts. The Massachusetts legislature has already passed this law and it will take effect in July 2023. A yes vote would keep the law in place and a NO vote would repeal it. I believe in expanding access to citizenship and the resources one can receive under it, so I am voting yes on question four and encourage ev eryone else to do so as well.

This column is being published just a week before election day! Please plan to get to the polls any way you can on Nov. 8 and make your voice heard!

Shane Dillon ’26 with State Sen. Diana DiZoglio at a State Committee meeting in Springfield, Massachusetts.

Deb Goldberg, Democratic incumbent nominee for State Treasurer.

Continued from page 13

Photo courtesy of Shane Dillon ’26

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia

Let’s Talk About Israel and Palestine

Mason Quintero ’23 Staff Writer

I am a Zionist. Think about your reaction. Agreement? Disgust? Curi osity? When I call myself a Zionist, I mean that I believe the Jewish people should have a nation in the land of Israel. Some may think that as a Zi onist, I must be anti-Palestinian. But that’s not the case. I firmly believe Palestinians should have a nation in the land of Palestine.

On this campus and many oth ers, Jewish students who believe in self-determination for their own people are afraid to say so public ly for fear of backlash. Last year I spent four months doing research at the Hebrew University of Jerusa lem. Most students talk about their study abroad with anyone who will listen, but I look over my shoulder anytime I’m about to bring it up. I’m concerned that others will make snap judgements about me just be cause I visited the Jewish state. Many feel the need to go even further: in a Brandeis Center survey, roughly half

of Jewish college students reported at times hiding their Jewish, never mind Zionist, identity.

In order to have a respectful dis course on Israel/Palestine, we have to start by listening to each other’s narratives, something that can be painful and too easily derailed. Both Jews and Palestinians have a histori cal connection to the land, and their need for self-determination has been demonstrated by the way they have been treated in lands controlled by others.

The Jewish connection to the land dates back thousands of years, and Jews have maintained a pres ence there ever since we were exiled by the Romans nearly 2,000 years ago. Those of us in the diaspora pray facing Jerusalem, our holiest reli gious sites are there, and every year after our Passover Seder, we exclaim, “Next year in Jerusalem!”

I can only give my perspective and don’t presume to speak for Pal estinians yearning for a state of their own. That being said, the Palestinian connection to the land dates back

over a thousand years. Jerusalem is a place of religious significance for Muslim and Christian Palestinians. Many of the Palestinian refugees still have the keys to their homes in Israel proper, to which they hope to return.

The connections that both have to the land are undeniable, and the distressing situations of each in lands controlled by others is proof of the need for a nation for both peoples.

Since being exiled from the land of Israel, Jews have faced persecution and expulsions in many of the plac es we’ve lived. This includes the ex pulsion of Jews in England, France, Spain, and Portugal in the Middle Ages, and the approximately 850,000 Jews expelled from Iraq, Libya, Mo rocco, and other Middle Eastern and North African countries in the 1940s-70s. From 1946 to 1948, the British interned more than 50,000 Holocaust survivors, fleeing to Man datory Palestine, in detention camps in Cyprus, where 400 of them died. Ever since Jews rebuilt a state in their ancestral homeland, surrounding nations have invaded it many times,

including in 1973 on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year for Jews. Even in the U.S., antisemitic inci dents made up more than half of religious based incidents of hatred in 2020, despite Jews only making up 2 percent of the population. Given this, having a state that Jews can turn to in times of need is critical.

Palestinians have also faced per secution living in lands controlled by others. From 2011 to 2020, Syrian forces killed over 3,000 Palestinians, nearly 500 due to torture. Palestin ians born in Lebanon are denied work in dozens of professions, access to full health care, and education in Lebanese schools. In the West Bank, the Israeli government has restrict ed Palestinian movement so that they must go through checkpoints — where they face humiliation and abuse — in order to get to their jobs, visit family, and attend friends’ wed dings. Shortly after Hamas, a U.S. and E.U. designated terrorist orga nization, seized power over Gaza in 2007, Israel and Egypt began enforc ing a blockade there that monitors

everyone and everything going in and out. This has led to high levels of unemployment, increased aid dependency for basic necessities, and limited ability to travel outside of Gaza. Palestinians living in Gaza, under Hamas, and parts of the West Bank, under the Palestinian Au thority, have not had parliamentary or presidential elections since 2006, taking away even that measure of self-determination. Given their cur rent situation, Palestinians also need a state that they can turn to.

We must understand that not everyone who declares themselves pro-Palestine hates Zionists and not everyone who declares themselves a Zionist hates Palestinians. Let’s work toward a world where that is true of all people who call themselves pro-Palestine or Zionist. It begins with recognizing that both Jews and Palestinians have claims to the land of Israel and Palestine, and under standing that both need a nation that they can turn to in times of need. Once we agree on that, the hard work begins.

Red Herring: Wisdom Teeth Recovery

by Isaac Streiff ’24

Amusements

A Swift Solve | Crossword - Nov. 2, 2022

ACROSS

1 A Dr. Martens, perhaps

Glass container

8 "Company" company

12 Outside the box

14 City found on 3am Edition

15 Song on "folklore" that intro duces fictional love triangle be tween Betty, James, and Augus tine

16 "Brave" protagonist

17 Where most people are from

Squeeze out

19 Artist whispering in "Snow On The Beach," to fans

23 Musical exposé allegedly about Taylor's relationship with Jake Gyllenhaal

28 Rules that limit free speech in Congress

30 Undertaker undertaking?

31 Fish eggs

32 Boater's barrier

33 Aflame

34 With 39-Across, song in which Taylor declares, "I'm the problem, it's me"

35 Taylor's tenth album which has taken all the Top 10 spots on the Billboard 100

39 See 34-Across

Snakelike fish

"I can't wait!"

47 Broadway star Noblezada

Conehead by Zero Gravity Craft Brewery, e.g.

49 Sold-out sour beverage at Fall Fest

51 Taylor's response to being called a "snake" in 2016

54 Percussive dancing style

"___ Duke" (Stevie Wonder hit)

56 Bro

58 Month claimed by Swifties

61 Album released two days be fore Taylor's birthday

Food Guy

Home Depot purchases

Marine plant that can grow to

100 feet tall

Spearheaded

"Let ___" (Beatles hit)

Discrete email option

Iota

Spangled Banner" contrac

Halloween puppet

Benefits

to do with the kidneys

Baseball Hall of Famer Rod

U, Next" singer, to fans

"___ the Science Kid"

Airport org.

Aunt in Acapulco

Orange tea

of TeamRocket

Some TVs

Sound of satisfaction

International grp.

Spanish mission where an

battle occurred

Kindling

East ending

Auction unit

Floral necklace

Squid Game contestant that lost his marbles

Baby beginning?

sprinkler splashes to fireplace ___" ("You're On Your Own, Kid" lyrics)

away

a drink may be ordered

Cartoon cat

Singer of "America the Beautiful" at Super Bowl LV

lady?

whose subgenres in clude drill and emo

is usually made of willow in

Laudatory poem

right!"

there?" response

Pei designed his pyra

a doubt

Richard III

Pinnacle

a new Tavlor album

brings, to Swifties

playing, in gamer speak

application

SCOTUS justice who vis

Amherst, for short

Solutions: Oct. 19

Brianne LaBare ’25 and John Joire ’26 Managing Arts & Living Editor and Managing Puzzles Editor

Arts&Living

Green Room’s “Cars: A Parody”: Kachow!

Noor Rahman ’25 Assistant Arts and Living Editor

The weekend of Oct. 21-23 was an exciting one for the many “Cars” fans at Amherst: The Green Room student theater club per formed its first show of the semes ter, “Cars: A Parody.” As a lifelong fan of the original “Cars” franchise, I had high expectations for the performance — and Green Room did not disappoint. The mixture of faithfulness to the original film and the creation of a new identity was perfectly balanced. It was an experience that was both nostalgic and enthralling, leaving me with nothing to say but “kach-wow!”

The idea for the “Cars” paro dy began several years ago as an amusing hypothetical. Each year, Green Room writes and performs an original parody of a franchise, and the group knew that it was time to act when the idea of “Cars” was brought up again during this

year’s parody planning discus sions.

Once the parody had been picked, the writing process be gan. Led by Shay Hernandez ’23, the writers started by watching the original “Cars” film together. Each writer was then assigned to write certain scenes, and the edit ing process ensured that a cohesive narrative developed.

The show explores the theme of graceful aging. Hotshot race car Lightning McQueen (Lily Brenner ’26) relentlessly pushes his body, training harder to win races but refusing to acknowledge that he might hurt himself in the longterm. In a key divergence from the original film, Doc Hudson (Reina Corcoran ’23), grumpy-but-loving elder no longer, is an organ-har vesting cult leader. He murders the cars who have the misfortune of driving through Radiator Springs in order to implant their parts into himself to achieve immortal

ity. He manipulates various other cars into participating in these murders, such as the Sheriff (Sarah Boyle ’26) and Luigi (Teddy Ste phens ’26).

Sally (Isabelle Anderson ’25) is no longer a city Porsche with a newfound penchant for smalltown life, but instead an undercov er spy intent on revealing the mis deeds of Doc and his associates. In a refreshing departure from the movie cliché that every male-fe male friendship evolves into ro mance, Sally’s role as McQueen’s love interest is altered as well. In stead, both Sally and McQueen find themselves in love with Mater (Ella Rose ’23), who hilariously (and accidentally) friend-zones both of them.

Perhaps the single most import ant metric of success of a parody is its ability to make the audience laugh. In this regard, “Cars: A Parody” was certainly successful. The show was funny all the way

through, at times sophisticated and at times absurd in its humor. The performers poked fun at the original film — why, indeed, do the cars have tongues? — and sat irized the American healthcare system.

In a memorable yet ingeniously simple scene, Chick Hicks (Erin Williams ’26) ran about the stage yelling “Bang! Bang!” repeatedly. (Hicks was promoting his racing sponsor, the energy drink “Bang Energy.”) The absurdity of Wil liams running around screaming elicited laughs from the entire au dience. Williams’ acting chops are not to be understated; the ability to turn a simple concept with only one line of dialogue into comedic gold is impressive.

But the subtle, human-focused, contemporary themes are what set the show over the edge. Rust-eze, McQueen’s racing sponsor, was bumper ointment in the original film. It was adapted to human ac

tors by being a skin care product instead. Dynaco was the highly coveted sponsor in the original; it is Amazon Prime in the paro dy. These subtle changes created a shared culture between the actors on the stage and the audience — the thoughtfulness apparent in these numerous details was strik ing.

A review of the production would not be complete without acknowledging the range of act ing talent on display in the show. Corcoran’s portrayal of Doc was incredible, perhaps my favorite aspect of the show. They captured the machismo of a midwestern cowboy, the irreverence of a mur derous cult leader, and the growth of a character who is forced to con front his mortality. With each step they took across the stage, each smirk leveled at another character, they perfectly captured the spirit of the cult leader. This feat was espe cially impressive considering that, more than for any other character, the parody’s Doc was a complete departure from the original film.

Brenner’s satirical portrayal of a Gen Z-inspired McQueen in jected a dose of light-hearted wit. She mastered the art of saying “kachow” with just the right body language and intonation to convey a specific meaning. Rose’s Mater was brilliantly true to the original. The happy-go-lucky, carefree tow truck was seamlessly transformed into human form through Rose.

And Anderson’s Sally contained the same audacity of spirit that made her original character icon ic. But she also gave Sally agency and an independent voice which had been lacking in the original film.

Above all else, the show had an air of fun to it. The actors clearly enjoyed the performance at least as much as the audience did. As Ella Vacchi ’23, a member of the directorial team, remarked, “If it looks like the actors were having fun on stage, they were having 10 times more fun than it seemed.”

Assistant Arts and Living Editor Noor Rahman ’25 reviews Green Room's "Cars: A Parody," which debuted on Oct. 21, noting the talent of the cast and the wit of the writing.

Photo courtesy of Shay Hernandez '24

WAMH THEX STUDENT

the answer to their different per formance styles lies in their gener ational differences.

Harry Styles has taken the world by storm since his time in One Di rection, and he’s always a hot topic on social media. His concerts are known for their fun, colorful vibe, emphasized by his extravagant outfits. In turn, the audience at his shows arrive in their most stylish concert garb, too. His fanbase is diehard and recently started claiming on Twitter that he is “the next King of Pop.” As much as a fan that I am, I disagree with equating him to such a pop legend as Michael Jackson.

be the best concert performance I’ve seen so far: Bruno Mars. Last year, Mars and Anderson .Paak launched their musical duo, Silk Sonic. According to Rolling Stone India, during their residency in Vegas they were known for locking the audience’s phones away during the show. Bruno Mars did the same thing for his show I saw in Boston, and it only added to the spectacle that was his multifaceted perfor mance.

A couple of months ago, I had a conversation with my mom about how my generation has missed out on real pop stars. Going to concerts is one of my favorite things to do, no matter the performer. But when I hear my mom say she’s seen people like Prince, Michael Jackson, and Madonna perform live, I’m imme diately filled with a deep longing to experience a performance as iconic.

On Sept. 10, I saw Harry Styles perform live at Madison Square Garden. The next night, I saw Bru no Mars at MGM Music Hall in

Boston. These two artists have re peatedly been in the top five of my Spotify Wrapped, so this weekend was monumental for me.

It took me at least a week to fully process my starstruck 48 hours, and afterward, I revisited the concerns

I had shared with my mom. Bruno and Harry both put on beautiful shows, but they are very, very dif ferent performers. It’s also true that Mars has been a favorite of mine since childhood, while Styles’ music has only become integral to my life in the last five years or so. Maybe

I saw Styles once before in 2018 when he was touring for his self-ti tled solo debut album. Though it’s been four years, I was confident that I knew what to expect, perfor mance-wise. In 2018, he did a lot of running around, waving flags, jumping, and reading fan signs. In 2022, he did the same, albeit in a more playful outfit, with the added joy of singing “Happy Birthday” to a fan with the whole arena. I enjoyed every second and sang my heart out.

The reliability of Harry’s perfor mance eased me into what would

I think it’s safe to say that Bruno Mars has always been an amazing performer. He sings, dances, and commits to a certain character as an artist: the suaveness of the ’70s, and a 24k magic, player, rich-boy charmer vibe. He and his band had a different choreography for each song, and his transitions between songs never failed to excite the au dience. It was obvious how much thought was put into the lighting as well, which regulated the emotions and ambiance with each change of verse. The theater would light up with a range of cool-toned colors for his sad, emotional songs, and flash a variety of colors along with the beat for his more exciting songs.

What struck me the most about

the Bruno Mars concert was not just his performance but also the audience. It ranged from middle schoolers to elders, and everyone knew every word of every song. Perhaps that’s the key to being a star like Michael Jackson and Ma donna and Bruno Mars; they have reached a wide range of audienc es. But then what is it about these artists and their music that allows them to appeal to so many? I think part of why we don’t have new stars like this today is because of the hyper-accessibility of music now. There are so many artists to listen to, and their music is only a click away. I don’t think that the accessi bility of music today is a bad thing, and there are certainly pros to the large volume of musical artists and genres we are exposed to today. But it feels impossible to have a popstar on the level of past icons when we can so easily find thousands of dif ferent artists within one genre, and even more in each subgenre of that genre. Even so, I can’t help but won der why the growing saturation of the music industry has consequent ly lowered the overall performance level of artists. We’re in desperate need of a new icon.

Brought to you by the WAMH blog, where it can also be found, and The Student’s Arts & Living Section. Written by Victoria Thomas ’25.

Concerts have returned in full force, but are they as impactful as iconic pop performances of the past? Victoria Thomas ‘25 reflects on her recent experiences seeing Harry Styles and Bruno Mars live.

Photo courtesy of hit-channel.com

The Indicator

THE STUDENT

Jackeline Fernandes ’24 The Indicator Staff Writer

A'Cora Hickson ’25 The Indicator Staff Writer

red button bloodshot blood’s hot stinging of the eye burning sensation a very familiar sensation

not what she want to feel but she is the best at it

(Why stop now?)

wet momentum crawling down her face Doesn’t that feel sensational?

(Why stop now?)

flushing waters: her favorite pas time locked doors: her signature piece

yet no one sees: a closed exhibit (So why stop now?)

tracing past, tracing a dotted line wasting time wasted time between space missed opportunity missed glances i miss her.

tracing the past sporadically isolating

glue nor tape will fix it

(She should stop.)

Maybe it’s no one’s fault. And all the while my bag hangs heavy on the belts; in its gray dull bin.

6:38 p.m. She finds herself on the platform dialing the number at about the same time she began to think about pulling out her phone from the front pocket of her jeans. In fact, he has already declined her call. She’s probably thinking he

he thinks, as she rolls her eyes and angrily shoves her phone back into her pocket, think ing he won’t show. He runs out of work and is driving through rush hour traffic now, regret ting leaving so late as he honks at the old geezer in front of him driving at a snail’s pace. 6:40 p.m., she reads in glowing font, looking up at the display screen with the train schedule times above her. 6:43 p.m., he mutters under his breath, stepping on the accelerator as the Jeep touch screen radio flashes the digits 6:41 in a menacing neon green. Will he get there on time? Doesn’t matter. What re ally matters: whether he has time to stop at the lo cal liquor store to grab a beer. She steps over the gap between the train and the platform and finds a seat by the window, her eyes settling on the local li quor store across the street, and wonders wheth er he stopped to grab a cold beer. He doesn’t grab a beer, and instead finds himself running up the platform stairs, briefly stealing a glance at the watch on his wrist, 6:42 p.m. Sprint ing now, he peers into every train car window for a famil iar face to find the darkened faceless presence of his rep licated biological cells rushing past behind the glass as the train

lurches forward, the time now reading 6:43 p.m. Remember this — she thinks to herself as she presses her face up against the window, bearing witness to the blurry two-dimensional cardboard cutout that was her father on the platform, looking particularly cartoonish in his navy blue windbreaker and over sized jeans and big floppy New balance sneakers — because she might not even see him in his fleeting atomic presence next time. Next time, he thinks to himself. Next time? she asks her self. The promise of the intima cy of parallel gazes, of solemnly looking at the train together as she waited on the platform with him, was no more and would be no more, for they were to now direct their gazes towards dif ferent things. Propelled forward into time, she faces the front of the train car. Remembering his time with her when she was younger, he turns away, feel ing detached as though he were watching former events unravel in the third-person instead of the first-person. He finds him self walking across the street towards the local liquor store at about the same time he enclos es his hands around a nice cold beer to forget.

“There is no stopping Her”

pieces

initally published in The Indicator’s

issue “Break” and is presented here in colloboration with The Indicator.

“6:43 P.M.”

Who Was the Inauguration Really For?

Ross Kilpatrick ’24E Staff Writer

On Friday, Oct. 28, Amherst woke up for a cold afternoon and remembered it was an institution. It had to inaugurate the 20th president of Amherst College, Michael A. El liott, with all the gravitas and pomp it could muster.

The inauguration was a chance to remember the purpose of Amherst. It’s easy to forget, while we’re buried under our classes, lives, and respon sibilities: that we’re part of a collec tive institution. It’s easy to forget that a common undercurrent mo tivates all our activities, that there exists a real, sustained commitment

to a higher goal in every thing we do. More often than not, we're reminded of the institution and its purpose through jingoistic invocations of our motto and contrasts with our peer schools. It's either Terras Irradient — let them en lighten the lands — a ref erence to Isaiah 6:3 whose Christian undertones are barely suppressed, or its Williams jokes. For us, Amherst is an institution precisely to the extent that we can be proud about it, and proud that it’s not Wil liams.

But really, the inauguration wasn’t for us. Obviously, in one sense, it was for President Elliott. But I mean in a deeper sense: it wasn’t for us. We weren’t the intended audience.

The inauguration was for the faculty and the administration. The pro fessors had front row seating, and were actually part of the ceremony, dressed up in doctoral robes.

The first remarks were from An drew Nussbaum, the chair of the Board of Trustees. He quoted David Foster Wallace and spoke about the worthwhile goals of the institution. It was a bit self-congratulatory, and for good reason. Education is hard.

President Elliott’s successor at Emory, interim dean Carla Freed

man, praised Elliott in her re marks. She mentioned that he liked Ursula K. LeGuin, and spent most of the speech talking about ceremony. She said that Amherst is obsessed with cer emony. Watching the inaugu ration, that was easy to believe. Any other time, I would have been a little more credulous.

President Elliott ended the in auguration by talking about the history of Amherst, and loving a place. He said all of this suspend ed perfectly before a background of trees and the Holyoke range.

There is history all around us, but most of the time that feels like window dressing for a liberal arts education with the serial numbers rubbed off. If you asked the student body for a description of Amherst, I’m sure you would get 2,000 different re sponses. Many of them would be about the buildings at Amherst, or the trees, or the view. None of that is Amherst, none of that re ally picks out Amherst in partic ular, outside of its happenstantial geography. Because, Amherst, as an institution, doesn’t really exist for us.

That’s not Elliott’s fault, and that’s not Amherst’s fault either. We students are a hungry lot. We’re ambitious and “driven” and all of us worked too hard to get here. For us, there is success and money, and Amherst is just rungs on a ladder.

Amherst has tried to appeal to that hunger. Amherst is a top-tier educational institution. It cannot afford to present it self as having a distinct sense of identity beyond that of being rigorous and demanding and elite. It has reduced itself down to something just beautiful and appealing enough to attract a slate of very ambitious students. The Amherst we were sold is a product, which promised to take in money and time and spit out success. The Amherst we were presented with was a product, because we live in an age where education is a commodity. We don’t love Amherst. We love what Amherst gives us.

For the alumni, Amherst exists as a falsified memory, a montage of youthful exploration, parties, and intellectually stimu lating classes, before their lives bent their own ways. The alumni love Amherst because everyone loves their past.

But another Amherst does exist. It exists for the faculty. In places we never go, the facul ty cultivate ideals, debate, and produce substantive scholarship. And they do meaningful, real ly meaningful work: they teach. Every single professor chooses to dedicate their lives to some thing bigger than themselves. For them, there is a real Am herst, Amherst as an institution of higher education, not simply as a product. This Amherst exists for the administration, too. They have the impossible task of fund ing those dreams and ideals.

That’s what I mean when I say the inauguration wasn’t for the students, or even really the alumni. It was for the faculty and the administration, to re mind themselves of why they do it. All the pomp and ceremo ny and robes and speeches and music were weird. The inaugu ration was cold and long and the seats were uncomfortable. It was self-congratulatory, anxious about the past, and only slightly hopeful about the future.

It was all a little off-putting. It was an articulation of Am herst’s values and goals, about trying to make the place better.

It was a reminder that Amherst is an institution. But none of that is directed at the students. Nor should it be. We are not making Amherst better or worse. We are not Amherst’s operators, we are its subjects. Michael Elliott is not our president, he is the faculty’s.

Still, Michael Elliott will be someone to us. Sometimes, he will be the figurehead of a most ly tiring bureaucracy. But some times, talking to him will be a symbol of having “made-it,” of living the small liberal arts col lege dream. We will love him, we will hate him. And, hopefully, like Amherst, he will outlast us.

Ross Kilpatrick ’24E reflects on the inauguration of President Michael Elliott and the division between faculty and students at elite academic institutions.

Photo courtesy of Rebecca McGeehan ‘26

Reflections on the Itaewon-ro Stampede

Pho Vu ’23 Staff Writer

While browsing Facebook at around 11 p.m. last Satur day, I saw some friends mark themselves as safe during “The Stampede at Itaewon-ro, Seoul, South Korea.” In today’s digital era, this is one of the fastest ways that young people can keep their families and friends reassured about their wellbeing. Initially, I didn’t look into the event further, brushing it off as one of the mi nor tragedies that happen every day. Little did I know, however, that the incident claimed more than 150 lives, leading President Yoon Suk-yeol to call for nation al mourning just hours later.

Young people had flocked to Itaewon-ro, one of the most di verse districts in Seoul, to cel ebrate Halloween in colorful costumes — and some of them never came home. The victims, primarily people in their 20s, were either trampled by a rush of people or suffered from asphyx iation.

If I type “Itaewon” into a search engine right now, the re sults are full of ominous photos of the incident: Chic restau rants and stylish bars are over shadowed by sirens’ lights and emergency responders. When I watched videos uploaded to social media, I was in disbelief at the sight of groups of people scattered across the street, des perately performing CPR on fallen bodies, hoping to save as many lives as possible. Students in South Korea have shared condolences as well as phone numbers for reporting missing people who may have been at Itaewon.

The festive night turned dead ly reminded me of my own ex perience roaming the streets of Itaewon. At this time one year ago, I remember spending a night at the same place as the disaster with my friends. Halloween is a special holiday in South Korea when people traditionally flood the streets to celebrate. Last year, due to the high-flying success of

Squid Game, hordes of young people flocked to the nightlife district of Itaewon dressed in costumes inspired by the glob ally popular television series.

I still vividly remember taking pictures of my friends with one of the cosplayed characters. Back then, pandemic regulations still ruled, and everyone wore masks due to the surge in Covid cases.

Last year, I recall a sea of people — but at least there was space. I can’t imagine what it was like for 100,000 participants to gather in the small alley this year.

The way the police handled the emergency reminds me of the Korean Coast Guard’s de layed response to the Sewol ferry accident in 2014. It speaks to the problems with Korea’s admin istrative management in urgent circumstances. On the night of the Itaewon tragedy, it took 90 minutes for help to arrive.

Itaewon is designed for pe destrians, and perhaps the lack of accommodation for vehicles impeded timely assistance for victims stuck in the heart of the street.

While the police admitted that their “inadequate” response was partially to blame for the mass casualty, the impatient in dividuals pushed and shoved in response to the slow-moving crowd should be identified as one of the major causes of the high death toll. A video depict ing a violent push that caused people to topple forward has gone viral.

Amidst the deluge of news re ports about the deadly incident, I found an NPR piece that offers eight helpful tips if we ever find ourselves in a massive crowd. I strongly favor the first tip it presents: leave immediately as the crowd builds up.

Living in South Korea as an international student gave me an unusual perspective. When I was in Itaewon, I did not join the crowd for fear of losing my passport and other paperwork that allowed me to stay in Korea legally. As soon as I realized that the exit was going to be blocked by increasing numbers of par tygoers, I quickly signaled my friends to leave.

It’s heartbreaking and enrag ing to see so many young people my age lose their lives in this tragic way. They deserve a care free night to celebrate after expe riencing so many pandemic-re lated constraints in the last three years. As frustrated as I am, I feel grateful for still being here and for all my friends who have made it home safely.

For my Sculpture course’s Halloween wearable sculpture assignment, I decided to com

memorate the victims by de signing a strapless tank top with a yellow fringe mini-skirt. The back of the top is painted with pink and topped with yellow paint splatters, representing the early enthusiasm of the celebra tion. I then covered the front of the top with black paint to rep resent the fatality of the night. The skirt is yellow to evoke the yellow ribbons used to com memorate the victims from the Sewol Ferry sinking incident in 2014. After finishing the assign ment, all that was left inside of me was a sense of relief, equal to my gratitude for all my friends in South Korea still doing okay.

Amherst is a community where we care about one anoth er. Make sure that anyone you know in South Korea is safe and sound. This tragic incident is a lesson we can all learn from in the future.

On Saturday, Oct. 29, a stampede in the Itaewon district of Seoul, South Korea, claimed over 150 lives. Pho Vu ‘23 reflects on the tragedy in Itaewon, a place that she herself has frequented.

Photo courtesy of Pho Vu '23

Swift’s Sun Starts To Set on “Midnights”

Brianne LaBare ’25 Managing Arts and Living Editor

Over the past several years, Taylor Swift has been busy. From releasing two folk albums during the pandemic, complete with elaborately interconnected lore, to reclaiming her stolen intellectual property by rerecording her older albums, Swift has managed to stay on top of the game, rebrand her self, and expand her discography. So, perhaps it shouldn’t be a sur prise that she sheds her skin again on “Midnights,” her 10th studio album.

On Aug. 28 at the MTV Video Music Awards, Swift unexpectedly announced the release of “Mid nights.” In a statement released via social media, Swift described the album as “a collection of music written in the middle of the night, a journey through terrors and sweet dreams. The floors we pace and the demons we face. For all of us who have tossed and turned and decided to keep the lanterns lit and go searching — hoping that just maybe when the clock strikes twelve … we’ll meet ourselves.”

At midnight on Oct. 21, Swift’s 13-track album was released worldwide. “Midnights” pays hom age to Swift’s earlier pop albums but still establishes an entirely new sound based in low-pitched auto tuned vocals, synth-pop, and ex perimentation.

While Swift spent her two pre vious albums writing about com plex, fictional characters in the third person, the focus of “Mid nights” is firmly on herself. She sings about private and profession al matters with a degree of candor not present since 2019 ’s “Lover.” By examining a few specific tracks that exemplify the album’s distin guishing marks, I hope to explain what prospective listeners can ex pect.

The boldly self-reflective “Lav ender Haze” opens the album and hooks listeners with the title, cast ing the 1950s term — “all-encom passing love glow” — in a modern light. The glossy nature of the lyrics and layered vocals give the track a dreamlike, atmospheric quality. In

the opening track’s chorus, Swift sings, “I feel the lavender haze creeping up on me / Surreal / I'm damned if I do give a damn what people say / No deal / The 1950s shit they want from me / I just wanna stay in that lavender haze.”

Similar in its contemplative na ture, “You’re On Your Own, Kid” narrates Swift’s longing for true love. She braids past and present together, reflecting on her child like fantasies of being “saved by a perfect kiss.” Only when she “learn[ed] that you never cared” can she replace the life she thought she wanted for a better one unen cumbered by unrequited love. She’s not only on her own but figuring out how to be herself.

Swift’s return to synth pop after her last two indie/folk-pop albums implies a desire to explore exper imental sounds. Throughout the album’s duration, Swift and Jack Antonoff — Swift’s long-time col laborator, singer, and producer — twist and push her gleaming vocals in new directions. I see this in the ethereal vocal manipulations of “Labyrinth.” Notably, in the outro, Swift’s voice is (presumably) al tered and repeats three times in a distorted tone: “Uh oh, I’m falling in love / Oh no, I’m falling in love again / Oh, I’m falling in love / I thought the plane was going down / How’d you turn it right around?”

Using post-production editing to fluctuate Swift’s voice between high notes and an almost mascu line lower register underscores the standalone essence of the album. This is a detail we have not seen in Swift’s work before, and it places “Midnights” in a unique catego ry among her other pop albums, crafting an individual identity through its experimental flairs.

This inventive quality can be at tributed to Antonoff: “Midnights” is almost entirely written, pro duced, and performed with him. Together, they layered vocals and synth drums to curate a sound that melts Swift’s voice with the album’s instrumentals.

The melodic instrumental sounds that quickly transform into upbeat notes in “Bejeweled” em phasize the layered composition of

the album. The song’s chorus em bodies the album's theme of dual ity through lyrics that intensify in sound. Constructing the chorus in this way has an astral effect on the verses: “Best believe I’m still bejew eled when I walk in the room / I can still make the whole place shimmer / And when I meet the band, they ask, ‘Do you have a man?’ / I can still say, ‘I don’t remember’ / Famil iarity breeds contempt, don’t put me in the basement / When I want the penthouse of your heart / Dia monds in my eyes, I polish up real, I polish up real nice (nice).”

In addition to the album’s initial release at midnight, Swift rolled out an extended version of the al bum later that morning, featuring seven additional songs. In a state ment released on social media, Swift explained her motivation for the auxiliary anthems: “Surprise! I think of Midnights as a complete concept album, with those 13 songs forming a full picture of the intensities of that mystifying, mad hour. However! There were other songs we wrote on our journey to find that magic 13.”

Like the original 13 songs, the seven bonus tracks reflect on Swift’s life, but are not buoyed by a response to particular events like “reputation” and “Lover” were. “Midnights” allows Swift to draw on topics from her life for the first time in what feels like a decade. In “High Infidelity,” Swift sings can didly about the final days of a re lationship, expressing how she no longer felt loved. “You know there’s many different ways that you can kill the one you love,” she laments. “The slowest way is never loving them enough / Do you really want to know where I was April 29th? / Do I really have to tell you how he brought me back to life?”

Although Swift’s album did have gleaming moments of ex perimentation, as midnight faded and the sun began to peak through the darkness signaling dawn, the cracks began to show in her work.

As a diehard fan of Swift’s albums “folklore” and “evermore,” I drew a stark contrast between the lyrical artistry of her two previous albums and “Midnights.” Audibly, “Mid

nights” is reminiscent of Swift’s pop albums but lacks the lyrical intricacy of her folk albums, which are tales told in the third person. In particular, Swift’s self-deprecating and victimizing track “Anti-Hero” introduces a bizarre comparison: “Sometimes I feel like everybody is a sexy baby.” While it is not new that Swift includes her in ner thoughts and feelings into her work, I found this line to be an un settling comparison.

Additionally, in track 11, titled “Karma,” Swift uses the concept to warn people who betrayed her in the past and forebodingly an nounces that justice will be served in her favor: “Karma is a cat / Purring in my lap / Flexing like a goddamn acrobat.” These lines not only presented themselves as incomprehensible musings, but as a longstanding fan of her work, I found that these verses soured my taste buds and caused me to disen gage from the body of work.

Even so, the surprising lack of lyrical intricacy and the album’s experimental nature did not stop fans from gushing over the tracks or her brilliance. Since the album’s anticipated release, “Midnights” has quickly become a fan favorite. The album rose to Spotify’s most-

streamed album in a single day, and Swift broke the record for the most-streamed artist in a single day in Spotify history.

According to initial reports from Luminate, the album has sold over 800,000 copies in the U.S. through its first day across all avail able formats (digital downloads, CD, vinyl, and cassette variants). It has already logged the most signifi cant sales week for any album since her album “reputation” in 2017, is so far the top-selling album of 2022, and has set a modern record for single-week vinyl album sales.

Although the highly anticipated album topped the charts and rein forced Swift’s fame, “Midnights’” synthetic tones and safe melodies fall short of her previous work. Still, the Grammy-winning singer manages to successfully pivot yet again in terms of genre and exper imentation. The album’s experi mental nature is present in tracks such as “Mastermind” and “Mid night Rain,” but holistically, the album lacks a distinguishing mark seen in her earlier works. While the multiform voice on “Midnights” suggests a body of work meant for deliberation, ultimately the album struggles to tell stories or introduce scenarios that surprise anyone.

Managing Arts and Living Editor Brianne LaBare ’25 an alyzes Taylor Swift’s latest album, “Midnights,” which dropped last week to online buzz and record sales.

Photo courtesy of Twitter

“The Loneliest Time” Is a Great Time

Miles Garcia ’25 Staff Writer

Don’t think of her as the “Call Me Maybe” girl — Carly Rae Jepsen’s dexterity extends far be yond that decade-old, overplayed radio hit. After 2012’s “Kiss,” the album containing that hit single, audiences and critics began to recognize her artistry in full force in her third studio album, “Emo tion” (2015). She showcased her appreciation for the pop of the ’80s while also bringing a unique Carly kick, such that everything from the radio-friendly bangers (“Run Away With Me”) to the slower, powerful ballads of de sire (“Favourite Color”) became the building blocks of her sonic persona. On her fourth album, “Dedicated” (2019), the punch she packed in all of the album’s tracks extended far beyond her previous influences. The album revealed her ability to hold her own against newer, rising stars with songs that stay ripe and fla vorful for me, even after many (many) plays of the album.

Her latest album, “The Loneliest Time” (2022), follows through by delivering the sound she’s been developing over the years, while also experimenting with new ideas, like transition ing from a country ballad to a disco tune, one after another. Although this experimentation made “The Loneliest Time” seem less cohesive than Carly’s previ ous works, it also leads to some of the album’s most exciting mo ments.

However, I do have issues with this project in the moments when it feels like Carly doesn’t go as wild as I know she can from her past work, despite the exper imental quality of the album. In trying out so many new sounds, she sometimes misses the mark on her trademarks, especially compared to “Dedicated.”

But let me say right off the bat — I loved listening to “The Loneliest Time.” It’s not even close to her best work, and it still goes hard. Although the album doesn’t stand up to her other al

bums, 1) lightning can’t always strike twice (or rather, three times), and 2) even if this isn’t lightning, it’s still electrifying as hell.

In all of her music, there’s a deep sense of longing — roman tic idealizations, imagination, shyness; emotion. She delivers these feelings with a sense of vigor that makes them feel real and present, as if I am blushing toward the same lover that she is. This skillfulness continues in “The Loneliest Time,” where desires are bass-boosted and in flamed with rhythm.

This is most evident in the single “Talking To Yourself.” “Are you thinking of me when you’re with somebody else?” she sings.

The anxious thoughts direct ed toward the “you” in the song are as sticky as the hook. The heavy bass guitar underneath her voice adds a ton of ferocity, too. “Talking to Yourself” is an exam ple of the signature quality that carries many tracks in her oeu vre — and many tracks on this album, too — to great heights.

Even though she treads ter ritory that’s familiar among her pop peers, Carly emerges supe

rior. The opening track “Surren der My Heart” represents, in my mind, everything that separates her from other contemporary pop artists. It follows a typical pop-song theme: finding one’s worth, facing the uphill battle of self-love, and revealing one’s flaws to a potential lover. But this bravery never feels self-aggran dizing. It’s an honest and at times tongue-in-cheek admittance of weakness, empty of cliches. Poi gnant lines like “But the benefit of all the broken hearts / That I broke before they could break me / Is a little bit of life regrets” do not feel like didactic lessons, nor like the trite expressions found in the multitude of un bearable pop tunes with similar themes (e.g. “Fight Song,” “Roar,” “Stronger”). And in the song “Beach House,” what would have been shallow from any other art ist comes across with great tonal intention by Carly. The song’s lyrics and vibes perfectly mirror the flippant remarks in the lyrics that make fun of bad first dates (“I got a lake house in Canada, and I’m probably gonna harvest your organs”).

Often Carly’s experimentation

goes beyond simply and cre atively undermining pop music norms. She takes many avenues that she’s never taken before, and it pays off. One of the catchiest tracks, “Shooting Star,” uses a noticeable amount of post-pro duction editing of her voice as a tool to give the song an electron ic, delirious feeling. The song sounds like something Prince would have made if he lived long enough to be a fan of Remi Wolf and The 1975.

“Go Find Yourself or Whatev er” also experiments by testing the waters of country music. One of her longest songs to date, the track takes its time building to its satisfying end, with lyrics about two lovers splitting ways and try ing to find purpose afterward.

The title track that closes out the album transitions into a dis co feel. It sounds like something John Travolta could groove to if “Saturday Night Fever” was set in 2022.

The tracks that I would call “weak spots” on the album aren’t even that weak, but just pale in comparison to some of the great moments mentioned above. “So Nice” feels especially elementa

ry for how far she’s come up to this point, with a simplistic gui tar pattern and lyrics that feel like they come from before her stylistic progression over the 10 years since “Kiss.” Likewise, “Bad Thing Twice” and “Far Away” sound good on their own. But when I put them in dialogue with the more experimental tracks, they feel like filler — simple de tours on a journey that would be more exciting if they were just skipped.

As a whole, “The Loneliest Time” ends up being a messy al bum; some classic bops, some ex perimental risks that pay off, and some that do not. That quality of inconsistency is exciting but definitely feels strange coming from her. I would have preferred a more confident sense of direc tion. As is, she puts all her cards on the table and “surrenders her heart” for sure; and that strategy ends up being hit-or-miss.

But to be fair, it’s mostly “hit.” Even if you just listen to the singles, you’ll be getting a well-rounded experience of Car ly Rae Jepsen’s music that is in dicative of her true talent to tran scend One-Hit-Wonder status.

Carly Rae Jepsen’s latest album “The Loneliest Time” was released on Oct. 21, 2022. Staff writer Miles Garcia ’25 details the well-rounded album’s sparse weaknesses and many strengths.

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

“Survivor” Season 43: Episodes 5 & 6, Reviewed

Vaughn Armour ’25 Staff Writer

Episode 5

On Wednesday, Oct. 19, “Sur vivor 43” narrowly avoided a ca tastrophe. The most widely de spised twist in the show’s history came back for round three, but was eliminated hours later.

The episode began at Coco Beach, where Geo saw immedi ate repercussions for his vote at the last Tribal Council. He opted to vote for Cassidy when every one else voted for Lindsay, just in case Lindsay had an idol. This was a solid move — it protected him from Lindsay idoling him out. However, voting for some one who ends up staying always has social consequences. Cassi dy was angry, and as soon as she found out it was Geo who voted for her, their relationship was dead. Geo was now even further on the outs, along with Ryan. Because of their connection to Karla, though, the duo believed they still had the numbers.

At Baka Beach, Jeanine found the Beware Advantage. Just like with Karla and Cody, this meant she lost her vote until she col lected beads from each of her tribe members’ bags. Once she finished that, she’d have her vote back, along with a hidden im munity idol. I wish that produc tion had created a different task for each tribe’s Beware Advan tage, because watching a player try to get the beads from their tribemates for the third time was not interesting.

Also, since we had already seen two people do this success fully, I never felt like Jeanine would realistically fail. Jeanine and Elie chose to tell everyone in their tribe about the advantage, except for Gabler. I didn’t love this move — the odds of Gabler finding out and resenting them for it were very high. Sami told him, but unfortunately, it was too late. Jeanine had the beads and her immunity idol.

Jeanine and Elie are a tight duo, and they think they’re run ning Baka. However, they have a

massive blind spot — Sami and Gabler are much tighter than they think. Owen is positioned as the swing vote, and is still undecided as to which pair he’ll side with. The power lies with him, not with the two women.

It’ll be fascinating to see Owen’s decisions moving forward, as well as if Jeanine and Elie catch on to the fact that their situation is less rosy than they believe.

Jeanine, Jesse, and Geo went to a separate beach, and were tasked with the same dilemma as we’ve seen multiple times in this season. Each could choose to either protect or risk their vote. Risking means a shot at an advantage, but only one exists, and failing to get it means you lose your vote at the next Trib al Council. For the first time ever, all three castaways decid ed to risk it. Geo was the lucky one, meaning Jesse and Jeanine are both without a vote at their next Tribals. Geo opened his ad vantage back at Coco Beach and read it — it was the Knowledge Is Power advantage. At this point in the episode, I paused my tele vision. I left my room, walked around my dorm, and contem plated whether there was jus tice left in this world. Why, why would Jeff Probst do this to me?

The Knowledge Is Power ad vantage is awful — with this ad vantage, you can ask any player at Tribal Council whether they have an idol or advantage before the votes are read. They aren’t al lowed to lie, and if the answer is yes, they have to give it to you. So much is wrong here. Restricting players from lying is antithetical to the whole point of “Survivor.”

At its core, it’s a social experi ment. People live together, creat ing their own society within the basic rules of the game.

This is far too restricting, and feels gimmicky. Also, it’s not an interesting advantage. If the person with Knowledge Is Pow er just keeps the advantage to themselves, they can ruin some one’s game with something that the player never knew existed. It’s basically “Survivor’s” version

of a swap hands card in UNO — no one asked for it, and it just makes everyone mad.

Thankfully, this advantage has never actually worked. In both “Survivor 41” and “Survi vor 42,” the holders of Knowl edge is Power told others about it. Once the advantage and who holds it is common knowledge, it’s easy to overcome. This led to awesome moments in both seasons, like Xander Hastings tricking Liana Wallace into asking him if he had the idol in “Survivor 41.” He had given it to Evvie Jagoda before tribal, so the answer was no. However, an advantage that only leads to entertaining results when mis used is a bad advantage. I was shocked that “Survivor” decided to bring it back, but thankfully it didn’t last long. For some reason, Geo chose the same path as Li ana, and Drea Wheeler (“Survi vor 42”) after her. He told Karla about the advantage, stripping away its power. Unbeknownst to Geo, Karla had an idol, meaning that she was uniquely threatened by his new advantage.

Coco lost the immunity chal lenge, largely because of Ryan’s failure in the last portion. Ryan actually wasn’t disappointed that they lost — he thought he had the majority in him, Karla and Geo. Because of this, he over played his hand. He pretended to be fine with going home in order to make Cassidy feel safe, while planning to take her out. I was very disappointed in Ryan here. This move was executed poorly, and the whole idea was incredi bly transparent — if Cassidy was actually in danger, she would’ve been able to tell. To make things worse for Ryan, she was never even actually in danger. Karla, James, and Cassidy were the ma jority, as they always had been. The trio chose to blindside Geo because of his advantage. Geo left, as did the Knowledge Is Power advantage — restoring justice to the Survivor world. Ryan was blindsided as well, and is now left alone at the bot tom of his tribe. At least he now

knows the reality of his tribe’s alliance structure. Thirteen re main, and we have officially sur vived the Knowledge Is Power advantage (at least until “Survi vor 44”). Tune in next week for another strategy-packed hour of “Survivor” goodness.

Episode 6

On Wednesday, Oct. 26, the tribes merged! Well, sort of. “Survivor 43” repeated much of what the past two seasons did at the (not) merge, with some key differences.

The remaining castaways were split into teams of six and com peted for immunity at the first vote of the individual portion of the game. This time, though, the winners actually kept their im munity. There was no hourglass twist, where the other half ended up immune. This was a welcome change, as I really think it gave fans the best of both worlds. The hourglass twist was awful. Play ers were lied to and disadvan taged for winning. Removing it was necessary.

However, the idea had some merit. Having only six people vulnerable instead of 12 works much better as large merge votes tend to lead to a huge consensus. This forces players to navigate a tighter space, and illuminates tribal fractures. Karla, Gabler, Jeanine, Dwight, Ryan, and Jes se won the challenge and were rewarded with their new merge buffs and a merge feast. Since the tribes merged at an odd num ber, Noelle got to choose which group to align with. She chose correctly and was also safe.

This was a fun and organic “mergatory” episode. A lot of the pre-merge set-up paid off in spectacular fashion. While com plimenting Cody’s easygoing personality early in the episode, Noelle unknowingly revealed to Elie and Jeanine that Cody had an idol. She casually told them that he collected their tribes’ beads for a palm frond hat, not knowing that the beads were the activation for the idol. Elie and Jeanine’s poor treatment of Ga

bler also paid off in a major way. They gave him no agency in the game, and thought he believed every lie they told him. He saw right through them, and was un derstandably offended by their view of him.

James, Cassidy, Sami, Elie, Owen, and Cody were the six available for elimination. Gabler saw this opportunity and ran with it. At the merge feast, he blew up Elie’s game, telling ev eryone that she searched his bag on day three. This was an epic moment. Jeanine sat close by in shock while Gabler stomped on her “Survivor” dreams noncha lantly.

Jeanine and Elie did it to themselves, honestly. Elie played very sloppily throughout the epi sode, as she has all season. Gabler gave Elie a chance to save their relationship, asking her pointblank if she looked through his bag on day three. She could’ve apologized and owned up to it, but she instead chose to lie un convincingly and thus kill their relationship. She also threw out multiple names for elimination during this episode, and thought she’d get away with it.

With a group this large, what goes around comes around. In every conversation she has with anyone besides Jeanine, she tells people what to do. She constant ly gives directives and never asks for input. This makes people dis trust her; those aren’t the mak ings of a partnership.

Elie treated players like chess pieces the entire game. She thought she and Jeanine were the only ones playing and that everyone else was along for her smooth ride to a million dollars.

It’s rare for a duo to be as cocky as Elie and Jeanine were, so it was satisfying to see Elie’s torch snuffed in this episode. In a nearly unanimous vote, Elie be came the last player eliminated before the merge. Jeanine is now alone, and will have to face the fact that other people are playing hard as well. Twelve castaways remain — tune in next week for the real merge episode!

Volleyball Secures No. 4 Seed in NESCAC Tournament

Alex Noga ’23 Managing Sports Editor

The volleyball team conclud ed their regular season this past weekend with two important wins in Maine, defeating Bates on Fri day, Oct. 28, before routing Colby on Saturday, Oct. 29.

In their first match of the week end against Bates, the Mammoths came out uncharacteristically slowly, losing the first set 18-25, before dispatching the Bobcats in the following three sets. After the loss in set one, the Mammoths quickly regained their grip on the match in set two, never trailing at any point during the set. They jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead af ter two kills from Anaya Thomas ’25 and one from Caroline Tilton ’23. Their lead then ballooned to 13-5, and though the Bobcats fought back with four straight points, the Mammoths went on a four-point run of their own to extend the margin to 17-9. The teams proceeded to trade points, but Sami Underwood ’23, who fin ished the game with 12 kills, ended the set with an ace for a 25-16 win.

The Mammoths faced more adversity in the third set, finding themselves down 11-9, but a cru cial 5-0 run swung the momen

tum back to their side. Carly Coo per ’24 ignited the run, setting up kills for Thomas and Tilton before causing three straight attack errors off of her serves. The Bobcats made things close once again late in the set, shrinking their deficit to just two, at 17-15, but an Underwood kill and consecutive aces from Lani Uyeno ’23 pushed the Mam moths’ lead back up, and they saw out the set for a 25-17 victory.

In what turned out to be the fourth and final set, the Mam moths again capitalized on an opportunistic run to extend their lead. With the set tied at 10 apiece, the Mammoths scored the next seven points to swing the game in their favor and take a 17-10 lead. Tilton started the run with a kill of an Uyeno assist, and the Mammoths racked up the next six points off of services from Katelyn Hamasaki ’24. The Mammoths closed out the match with another ace from Underwood, ending the set 25-15 and taking a 3-1 win.

The Mammoths then traveled even further north to take on Colby. They didn’t let the long bus ride deter them, though, as they dominated the Mules in a 3-0 sweep.

After a relatively simple 2516 win in the first set, the Mam

moths ran into some trouble in set two. The Mammoths just couldn’t seem to put the Mules away — a 14-7 Amherst lead shrunk to just two points after Colby rallied to score five consecutive points, and after the Mammoths reached set point with the score at 24-18, the Mules scored five straight points once again to narrow the lead to one. However, Thomas finally sealed the set with a kill for a 25-

23 win. The third and final set was a much more comfortable victory for the Mammoths, with a com bined block from Thomas and Kinsey Cronin ’25 concluding the game for a 25-13 third-set victory.

With a final record of 13-6 overall, including a 7-3 mark in NESCAC play, the Mammoths have earned the fourth seed in the NESCAC tournament for the sec ond time in the past three seasons.

On Friday, Nov. 4, they will travel to Middletown, Connecticut, for the conference tournament host ed by No. 1 seed Wesleyan, to play No. 5-seeded Bowdoin, the tour nament’s defending champion. Bowdoin defeated the Mammoths in last year’s semifinal round 3-2, but the Mammoths were victori ous when the two sides met on Sept. 30. The match is scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m.

Heartbreaking Loss Ends Field Hockey’s Tournament

Alex Noga ’23 Managing Sports Editor

The No. 8 field hockey team fell in heartbreaking fashion this past weekend, losing to Williams in the dying seconds of the NE SAC quarterfinal. The loss elim inated the Mammoths from the tournament, taking away the op portunity to secure an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament with a conference tournament victory.

The quarterfinal contest, which was played on Saturday, Oct. 29, at Hill Field, was a defen

sive battle right from the opening whistle. There were only 10 shots registered all game, only four of which were on goal. The Mam moths had the best chance of the first quarter when Abbey Kays ’25 ripped a shot from the top of the circle that went just wide of the cage to the Williams goalie’s right.

The Ephs were the story of the second quarter, however. Williams generated all four of their penal ty corners and half of their eight total shots in the second frame. The pressure ended up paying off, as they found the back of the net to take a 1-0 lead with 6:16 left in

the quarter. That margin held into halftime, with the Mammoths in dire need of a response.

Entering the final half of the contest, the Mammoths tightened down their defensive hold and did not allow a shot for the entire third quarter. Williams similarly clamped down defensively, how ever, and the Mammoths were unable to generate any scoring chances of their own.

It wasn’t until the dying mo ments, with 4:22 left in the fourth quarter, that the Mammoths were finally able to capitalize on an op portunity. Kat Mason ’25 received

the ball near the top of the circle off a penalty corner and slid a pass to her left where Beth William son ’23E was waiting. Williamson sent a brilliant no-look backhand pass to Kays, who fired a shot to ward the net where Sam Maynard ’25 deflected the low shot past a pair of Eph defenders and the netminder to tie the game at one apiece.

The game looked to be headed into overtime knotted at one, but Williams generated a golden op portunity in the final seconds of regulation. Regaining possession in their half of the field, the Ephs

connected on a dangerous pass into the circle and managed to backhand a shot past a diving Sara Nidus ’24 with just 12 seconds left on the clock for a 2-1 lead. The goal was too much to overcome in such little time, and the game tragically ended with a last-sec ond defeat for the Mammoths. With their conference title bid now over, the Mammoths will wait and see if their season will con tinue in the NCAA Tournament, which begins early next week. The team will find out whether they made the 32-team field on Mon day, Nov. 7.

Volleyball ended their regular season on a high note with two crucial NESCAC wins.

Photo courtesy of Clarus Studios

Football Falls to Wesleyan in Homecoming Thriller

Drew Stephens ’26 Staff Writer

In front of stands full of cheer ing alumni who had returned for this past weekend’s Homecoming festivities, the football team could not add another tally to the win column, falling to Wesleyan 13-7 in this year’s Homecoming game. The Mammoths took their Little Three rival all the way to overtime on Sat urday; however a Mike Piazza ’24 pass was batted down on fourthand-goal from the seven-yard line to end the game.

The Cardinals got on the score board first after blocking a punt from the Amherst 25-yard line and returning it for a touchdown late in the first quarter. The scoopand-score put the Cardinals up 7-0 with 39 seconds left in the frame. However, neither team would score again until the fourth quarter, as both defenses put up stout perfor mances. Leading the way for the Amherst defense was Luke Har mon ’26, who recorded seven tack

les and an interception, as well as Matt Monteleone ’26, who contrib uted five tackles, a forced fumble, and a pass break-up. Charlie Par kinson ’24 also contributed a sack and a pass break-up.

It was early in the fourth quar ter when the Amherst offense kicked into gear. Following Har mon’s interception on the Amherst 13-yard line, the Mammoths drove the length of the field, using a mix of long passes and runs to notch multiple big gains. The drive wasn’t completely flawless. The Cardinals picked off Piazza in their own ter ritory, but the interception was fortunately negated by a defensive holding penalty. The Mammoths ultimately marched on, gradually picking up chunks of yardage. They made it all the way to the Wesleyan four-yard line when, on third-andgoal, Piazza found Jack Betts ’24E near the back of the end zone for a four-yard touchdown. The score plus the extra point capped the Mammoths’ 14-play drive and tied the game up at 7-7 with 10:53 left in

regulation. Neither team was able to score before the fourth quarter ended, as the Cardinals missed a game-winning field goal as time expired, sending the game to over time.

In the NESCAC, overtime consists of alternating possessions from the 25-yard line, with both offenses given the opportunity to score. The game ends when one team scores and the other is unable to match.

In Saturday’s overtime period, Wesleyan got the ball first and were able to convert, punching in a oneyard rushing touchdown to go up 13-7. They missed the extra point, however, giving the Mammoths a shot to win if they were able to score both a touchdown and convert the extra point on their next drive. On that next possession, Amherst end ed up in a fourth-and-10 at the 25; however, Piazza was able to find Betts for a clutch 15-yard recep tion to keep the Mammoths’ hopes alive. After a sack, another comple tion to Betts put the Mammoths at

the 7-yard line with two plays to score. Both pass attempts failed, however, and the Cardinals walked off the field victorious.

The loss dropped the Mam moths to 1-6 on the season. They

will take to Pratt Field at Lehrman Stadium for the final time this sea son next weekend against Bowdoin (2-5), with the team set to celebrate Senior Day. Kickoff on Saturday, Nov. 5, is scheduled for 1 p.m.

Women’ s Soccer Advances to NESCAC Semifinal

Violet Glickman ’25 Staff Writer

Saturday, Oct. 29, was a big day at Amherst College. Not only was it the college’s Homecoming, but it was also the day of the quarterfinals of the 2022 NESCAC women’s soc cer tournament, hosted on Hitch cock Field by our very own Mam moths. To set the scene: Crowds of students, past and present alike, flocked to the field to watch the No. 1-seeded Mammoths defend their stomping grounds against the (objectively less threatening) No. 8 seed Connecticut College Camels.

The game’s tension was palpable right from kickoff, as national-No. 8 Amherst kept the pressure high with multiple early possessions leading to corner kicks. While Fio na Bernet ’25 and Abby Schwartz ’24 were able to get their heads on those services into the box, they were unable to convert. Un deterred, the Purple and White

continued to badger the Camels’ keeper with rapid-fire shots from Schwartz, Patience Kum ’25, and Brooke Ingemi ’26, but none were able to find the net. Meanwhile, the Amherst defense kept their guard up, only allowing one threat on their cage in the first half — a shot that the Camels sent wide of the goal.

The Mammoths found their breakthrough in the 35th minute: Schwartz beat her defender to the endline and found Sarah Sullivan ’23, who managed to send a onetouch finish past the Conn. keeper for Amherst’s first goal of the game. But as usual, the high-achieving Mammoths were not satisfied with just a 1-0 lead — they made sure to keep the pressure high through the end of the first half, but were unable to convert on any other chances.

Amherst returned to the field for the second half with their spirits high and their energy higher. Ella Johnson ’26 and Charlotte Huang

’25 challenged the Conn. keeper with shots to start the half, setting the tone for what was to come. Shortly after, (Managing Sports Ed itor) Liza Katz ’24 brought the score to 2-0, winning a tackle against the Camels’ keeper before sending the ball into the open goal as the open ing notes of the Mammoths’ classic celebratory goal song began again. The two teams battled back and forth for a few minutes, but anoth er Amherst goal could not be pre vented. In the 68th minute, Alyssa Huynh ’25 sent a corner kick into the box that dangerously bounced around before making its way to Huang. After a quick turn, she sent it flying past the keeper into the top left corner for her first career goal.

To the Camels’ credit, they tried their very best to stay in the game, with a shot on goal that Mika Fisher ’24 stopped easily. Try as they might, however, they were no match for the Mammoths, who took their eighth win in a row when

the final whistle blew.

As the number one seed, the team will now host the rest of the tournament this coming weekend, with the Tufts Jumbos facing the Mammoths on Saturday, Nov. 5, in the NESCAC semifinals. Kickoff is

set for 11 a.m. If they win on Sat urday, the Mammoths will face the winner of the other semifinal game, either Trinity or Wesleyan, in the Championship game on Sunday, Nov. 6 at 12 p.m. As always, roll Hitchcock Field to support.

Photo courtesy of Amherst Athletics Football lost the Homecoming game 13-7 against Wesleyan.

Photo courtesy of Amherst Athletics

Women's soccer got their eighth straight win on Saturday.

International Student-athletes: A Mammoth Adjustment

Maya Reiner ’25 Staff Writer

The experience is one that every Amherst student knows: You pack up all your belongings, head to col lege, and embark on the next chapter of your life. For many, this transition alone is daunting. You leave behind many of your life’s staples, from hav ing immediate access to your family to the comfort of your own home.

This already unsettling change is exacerbated for those who enter college in the U.S. after having spent their life in a different country. And with the added pressure of playing a collegiate sport, the transition period can become even harder to manage. The Student spoke to three international student-athletes — Anna Aiello ’26, Jonny Novak ’25E, and Sarah Park ’23 — about their experiences handling this transition. While there were broad similarities across all three accounts, each faced a nuanced and unique set of chal lenges.

Aiello, who was born and raised in Hong Kong, hasn’t faced any drastic challenges in her first two months living in the U.S. and attend ing Amherst but has noticed stark differences between the two cultures that she has found hard to get used to. To tackle this, she has sought sup port and guidance through the field hockey team.

“My transition to the U.S. has

been relatively smooth thanks to the support of my teammates, coaches, and friends,” Aiello said. “When I first arrived, I experienced culture shock, but I’ve been lucky to have my friends guide me through the everyday norms and cultural mis understandings I’ve had.”

Park is from Seoul, South Korea, and was recruited to Amherst to play tennis. Like Aiello, she found significant differences between the culture in South Korea and in the U.S., although for Park many of these differences are specifically re lated to her sport.

“The tennis academy I trained [at] in Korea followed a lot of tra ditional Korean norms,” Park said. “It was very strict and conservative. To be honest, it wasn’t the best ex perience. When I came to the states, [and] it’s probably because I am [on] a team now, my teammates are more supportive of each other and really focused on trying to cultivate an encouraging and healthy team cul ture.”

On the other hand, the transi tion from a foreign country to play ing a sport at Amherst is sometimes minimally shocking. Novak, who is from London and plays on the men’s soccer team, wasn’t overwhelmed at all upon arriving at Amherst. As a child, he had made a number of visits to the states to see his extended family who live here — his parents were also born in the U.S. But he ex

pressed some similar sentiments as Aiello and Park.

“It was still a notable transition given the different culture,” Novak said. “I was a freshman at Amherst during the Covid year [2020]. Not only was it challenging to live in a different country, it was also chal lenging to be living in a different world during that Covid year.”

And while that made the initial transition a little harder, Novak was able to handle it in much the same way as Aiello and Park. “I made friends, met people who looked af ter each other which made the tran sition better and [more] fun,” Novak said.

For international student-ath letes who play fall sports, the ad justment period can become much

more taxing, as they struggle to as similate while training and compet ing at the same time. When Aiello arrived at campus, her field hockey season began immediately. On top of adjusting to living in a new con tinent, she also had to acclimate to a different style of play in the sport she loved.

“There definitely are quite a few differences,” Aiello said. “In Hong Kong, field hockey is just as popu lar among guys as it is among girls. [In terms of] style of play, there are different strategies. More strategies are used in the U.S. For example, a player’s position is very fixed on the pitch, whereas in Hong Kong one’s position is [much more] flexible.”

Though there have been strik ing, significant challenges for Park

and Aiello, they are thankful to have made the decision to come to the U.S. to continue their academic and athletic careers. And Novak, who may have experienced the smooth est transition of the three, also shares the sentiment.

“I’m really happy that I made the decision to play soccer in the states,” he said. “I love soccer. It is something that I have cared about so much for such a long time. Being a part of the Amherst men’s soccer team is really one of the best parts of life right now.

A part of it is being in the U.S., but the main thing that makes it such an enjoyable experience is being part of the team, my coaches, competing alongside my teammates, and work ing for each other makes it really so fruitful and enjoyable.”

Victory Over Wesleyan Sends Men’s Soccer to Semifinals

Carter Hollingsworth ’25 Staff Writer

The No. 6 men’s soccer team took to Hitchcock Field against Wesleyan in a quarterfinal matchup on Saturday, Oct. 29, with a spot in the semifinals on the line.

The game began as an even contest, as the two teams spent equal time in their attacking halves, but defensive efforts by both teams kept the score at 0-0. With a strong chance, first-year Ioannis Hadjiyiannis’s ’26 header forced the Wesleyan goalkeep er to make a phenomenal diving save, and junior Declan Sung

’24E cut in from the left wing to pounce on the rebound and took a powerful shot that barely missed the net. The Mammoths entered the second half tied 0-0 but had definitely taken the mo mentum.

This momentum paid off in the 61st minute, when sopho more Aidan Curtis ’25 netted his fourth goal of the season to give Amherst a crucial 1-0 lead. The play began with classmate Fynn Hayton-Ruffner ’25, who tracked back to win a ball in his defensive third. He then found Curtis on a diagonal ball over the top, who was able to slip it past the keeper

despite a powerful challenge from a recovering Cardinal defender.

For the rest of the game, Am herst did not let up on either front, with Niall Murphy ’25, Mi cah Valadez Bush ’25, and Lau rens ten Cate ’25 leading the way offensively and the Mammoth defense keeping the Cardinals off the scoreboard. Goalkeeper and team captain Bernie White ’23E made two key saves to keep the score at 1-0 in favor of Amherst. When the final whistle blew, the Mammoths advanced to the semifinals.

“It was a tough game, but we managed to pull through,” Mur

phy said. “Keeping a clean sheet is vital, especially in playoff time. The atmosphere on Hitchcock was also electric. We are now fo cused on preparing for Saturday’s game against Midd. Should be a fun 90 minutes.”

For his play over the last two games, during which he notched two goals and an assist, Curtis was named NESCAC Player of the Week. Despite the honor, Curtis only spoke about his team and looked to the future. “Awards are cool, but honestly I am just happy that the team is playing so well and we are moving on to the next round,” he said. “It was awe

some to be able to contribute to a great team victory. No one on our team has won a NESCAC cham pionship, or even made the final, so winning two games next week end is a big goal of ours.”

With a NESCAC final in sight, the team will travel to No. 2 seed Williams to face the fourth-seeded Panthers in the NESCAC semifinal round on Sat urday, Nov. 5, at 1:30 p.m. If they win on Saturday, the Mammoths will face the winner of the other semifinal game — Williams or Connecticut College — in the Championship game on Sunday, Nov. 6, at 12 p.m.

Maya Reiner '25 gains insight into the unique adjustment process for intl. student-athletes.

Photos courtesy of Clarus Studios

Cross Country Competes, McGranahan Wins at NESCACs

Liza Katz ’24 Managing Sports Editor

On Saturday, Oct. 29, the men’s and women’s cross country teams took the course at the NESCAC Championships hosted by Ham ilton in Clinton, New York. While the men placed seventh, the wom en’s team found more success, with Mary Kate McGranahan ’23 winning the NESCAC individual championship and the team notch ing a second place finish.

Women

McGranahan completed the 6-km course in just over 21 min utes, with her time of 21:15.3 more than 15 seconds faster than the runner-up from Williams. The race marked her fourth individual win of the season, and made her the ninth Mammoth to win the NESCAC individual champion ship — the first since 2017. It also earned her a place on this year’s All-NESCAC First Team. For her performances all season, she was named the 2022 NESCAC Most Outstanding Performer, becoming the eighth Mammoth to garner the honor.

"It was kind of surreal," Mc Granahan said of her individual victory. "I immediately started looking back and looking for ev

eryone else [who was running] be cause I knew we had a really good shot as a team, too."

McGranahan is staying ground ed, though, remaining fully aware that there are still races to be run.

"The season is not over yet, [so] I'm trying not to get too caught up in it," she said.

Backing up McGranahan’s stel lar performance, Sophie Wolmer ’23, Allison Lounsbury ’26, and Julia Schor ’25 all placed in the top 15 and earned All-NESCAC Second Team honors. Wolmer and Lounsbury crossed the line only a second apart, placing ninth and 10th with times of 22:05.6 and 22:06.6, respectively. Schor was only six seconds behind the pair, with her time of 22:12.5 bagging her a 14th place finish. Daphne Theiler ’26 was the final Mam moth scorer, with a collegiate-best time of 22:25.4, good for 17th place, wrapping up the team’s sec ond-place finish. It was the team’s best finish since 2007, and it was a complete team effort: in total, nine Mammoth runners placed in the top 50.

The team is currently ranked 13th in the nation and second in the region by the USTFCCCA in their latest Division III poll, and the team’s strong performance at NES CACs has them well positioned

to make their second consecutive NCAA Championship appear ance this season. They will look to assure themselves of a bid at the NCAA Mideast Regional Champi onships at St. Lawrence University (Canton, New York) on Saturday, Nov. 12. The winning team at that meet will be awarded with an auto matic berth in the NCAA National Championships.

Men

On the men’s side, the Mam moths ran good races across the board, despite the team’s perfor mance not being immediately ob

vious on the scorecard. Theo Das sin ’24 paced the team with an 18th place finish, completing the 8-km course in 24:48.0. He averaged just under a five-minute mile through out the race on the way to a colle giate-best time.

The rest of the Mammoths’ scorecard was rounded out by firstyears, with all four crossing the line in the top 50. Henry Dennen ’26 was the next Mammoth to finish, crossing 28th in 25:10.8 in his NES CAC Championship debut. Thom as Stephens ’26 was next, posting his best time of the season by fin ishing in 25:28.1 to earn 37th place.

GAME SCHEDULE

George Cahill ’26 was close behind, also setting a season-best at 25:31.4 and placing 39th. Aidan Gemme ’26 was the final scoring Mam moth, recording a season-best time of 25:46.2 to take 50th place.

The Mammoths are ranked fifth in the Mideast Region in the latest USTFCCCA Division III poll. Like the women’s team, the men will return to action on Saturday, Nov. 12, at the NCAA Mideast Region al Championships at St. Lawrence University. And, like for the wom en’s race, the winning team will earn a berth at this year’s NCAA National Championships.

FOOTBALL

Saturday, Nov 6: vs. Bowdoin, 1 p.m.

VOLLEYBALL

Friday, Nov. 4: NESCAC Quarterfinal vs. Bowdoin @ Wesleyan, 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, Nov. 5: NESCAC Semifinal vs. TBD @ Wesleyan, Time TBD (if necessary)

Sunday, Nov. 6: NESCAC Final vs. TBD @ Wesleyan, 12 p.m. (if necessary)

WOMEN'S SOCCER

Saturday, Nov. 5: NESCAC Semifinal vs. Tufts @ Williams, 11 a.m.

Sunday, Nov. 6: NESCAC Final vs. TBD 12 p.m. (if necessary)

MEN'S SOCCER

Saturday, Nov. 5: NESCAC Semifinal vs. Middlebury @ Williams, 1:30 p.m.

Sunday, Nov. 6: NESCAC Final vs. TBD @ Williams, 12 p.m. (if necessary)

Photo courtesy of Clarus Studios

Mary Kate McGranahan '23 finished first in the individual portion of the NESCAC championship, becoming the ninth Amherst runner to win the honors.