Issue 18

Men’s Lax Tops Bates in Season Opener See Sports, Page 9

THE INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER OF AMHERST COLLEGE SINCE 1868

VOLUME CXLIII, ISSUE 18 • WEDNESDAY, MARCH 5, 2014

Mead Works with FBI to Recover Missing Painting Jessie Kaliski ’15 Staff Writer

Three-peat!

Men’s Basketball Celebrates Third-Straight NESCAC Title Page 12

Amherst

93 Williams 82

Photo courtesy of Niahlah Hope ’15

College Considers Res Life Changes Sophie Murguia ’17 Managing News Editor Although this year’s room draw will bring few changes, bigger plans to rethink residential life at the College are underway, members of the Dean of Students Office and Strategic Planning Committees said this week.

In recent meetings, some members of the Strategic Planning Committee for the Integration of Curricular and Co-Curricular Learning have been discussing wide-reaching proposals to transform residential life in a way that aims to foster community within dorms. However, these discussions are still in the early stages, said Director of Residential Life Torin Moore. His office has not yet been involved in these conversations, and there will be only two slight changes to this year’s room draw.

The first change involves an adjustment to the required gender ratio in dorms. Next year, each building must have at least 40 percent male residents and 40 percent female residents.

“Last year, we upped the gender ratio from 35 percent to 45 percent of any one gender in a building, and so we’re going to bring that down to 40 percent this year because we had heard from students that it was a bit too much of a change,” Moore said.

He added that during last year’s room draw, some students were frustrated when they were shut out of a building due to gender ratios. Moore said that he hopes this year’s gender ratio will strike a better balance.

“The other thing that we’re doing on the students’ side is to encourage students who are forming room groups to do co-ed room groups,” Moore said. He explained that co-ed room groups will likely have more options in the room draw because they will be less likely to push a building’s gender ratio over the limit.

The second change to this year’s room draw will be the closing of Plaza and Waldorf Dormitories.

“Both buildings will be removed to make way for the construction of new residence halls,”

Moore confirmed in an email.

As the College prepares to remove Plaza and Waldorf, administrators are working with Kyu Sung Woo Architects to determine what kind of dorms will be best for the space.

“We’re well into the planning phase for the project in which fundamental aspects of the dorms are defined,” Director of Design and Construction Tom Davies said in an email. “This phase will transition into the design phase later this semester, and design will continue until early 2015.”

“The architects have done a good job of reaching out to lots of student groups,” said Chief Student Affairs Officer Suzanne Coffey.

The Dorm Design Student Advisory group, made up of randomly selected students, has been formed to give input on the design of the new buildings. Davies said that the group has already offered ideas regarding social spaces and the mix of room types in dorms.

Continued on Page 3

Amherst College’s Mead Art Museum is home to over 18,000 objects, from American and European paintings to Mexican ceramics, from Tibetan scroll paintings to West African sculpture. However, one of these objects has been missing for just over 39 years.

Now, the Mead is working with the FBI to recover a painting that was stolen on Feb. 8, 1975.

During a wintery snowstorm that night, thieves broke into the Mead, stealing three paintings dating back to the 18th century or earlier. After the Massachusetts State Police Barracks in Northampton received an anonymous tip, Amherst College Police headed to the scene of the crime.

“The night of event seems as if it came out of a movie,” said Elizabeth Barker, the Mead’s Director: footprints in the snow marked the path the thieves took after breaking the museum’s window and stealing three Dutch canvasses.

The stolen paintings included Hendrick (Cornelisz) van Vliet’s The Interior of the New Church, Delft, Pieter Lastman’s St. John the Baptist and Jan Baptist Lambrechts’s Interior with Figures Smoking and Drinking.

Fortunately, in January 1989, two of the three paintings were recovered in a scene that also seemed as though it could have come from Hollywood. While conducting an undercover drug sting in Illinois, police retrieved Van Vilet’s and Lastman’s paintings from Myles J. Connor, Jr. Connor, notorious for stealing art, acknowledged in his 2009 best seller “The Art of the Heist”: Confessions of a Master Thief that he stole two of the three missing paintings from the Mead back in 1975.

The third missing piece had only been in Mead for a few years prior to its disappearance. The picture is on a 57 cm x 49.5 cm canvas, painted using oil.

Immediately following the theft, the Mead registered the lost artworks with the Art Dealers Association of America, an organization that notifies potential buyers of paintings’ problematic origins.

With two of the three stolen pictures found, not Continued on Page 3

Faculty Offer Ideas to Strategic Planning Chairs

Emmett Knowlton ’15 Editor-in-Chief

The Red Room reached full capacity last night as the faculty turned up in full force for their second meeting of the spring semester.

Dean of the Faculty Greg Call began the meeting discussing the Committee of Six’s most recent minutes. New courses, the College’s oversight rules and the recent faculty job satisfaction survey results were among topics discussed. Call also explained that the Committee of Six unanimously agreed to stand by their decision to let Provost Peter Uvin run Orientation. This was met with some scrutiny by the faculty, several of whom questioned the role of faculty governance, particularly in relation to the Committee of Six. President Biddy Martin then began her re-

marks to the faculty, which included a brief report of her visit to the White House to discuss sexual respect on college campuses. Among the other college presidents and administrators present, Vice President Joe Biden also attended the conference and, according to Martin, acknowledged that, while problems of sexual assault do not begin on college campuses, the White House is prepared to hold colleges more accountable and step up its enforcement.

Concluding her remarks, Martin said that the search for a “more narrowly defined” Dean of Students will be beginning, as the process to select faculty and students to serve on the search committee will begin shortly.

Martin introduced Professors Judith Frank and Rhonda Cobham-Sander to speak to the faculty regarding the work of their work as chairs of two Strategic Planning Committees.

Frank, chair of the Committee for the Integration of Curricular and Co-Curricular Learning began, first thanking the faculty serving on said committees for their “energy, imagination and enthusiasm.”

Frank’s remarks included a discussion of the idea of busyness of the Amherst campus, and how it has become a “badge of honor.” She explained that one of her committee’s central considerations has been how to change this notion.

Cobham-Sander, chair of the Committee for Diversity and Community then discussed the College’s Diversity Principles and the role of diversity at Amherst in 2014. She encouraged the faculty to reach out to her for smaller conversations regarding the role of diversity.

After the two professors gave their remarks, Martin opened the meeting up to the faculty for questions.

Frank responded to questions about ways to combat busyness on campus, by offering several ideas that she and her committee have brainstormed: ways to disrupt the forward momentum of the semester, allotted time for campuswide writing groups (faculty on their research and students on their papers), a focus on only one course for the week following spring break and scheduled time for no co-curricular or extracurricular activities were all posed. Frank also noted that the while the importance of moving learning outside the classroom was a central focus of her committee, the idea of learning within the classroom, notably the value of the College’s open curriculum, is also being discussed.

Professor Ronald Rosbottom questioned the role of athletics in the context of Frank’s comContinued on Page 3

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News

“The two pieces that were retrieved in 1989 in the undercover drug sting are currently exhibited in the Mead.”

FBI Investigates Stolen Painting Page 3

Feb. 26, 2014 to Mar. 3, 2014

>>Feb. 26, 2014 1:45 p.m., Mead Art Museum An officer investigated a fire alarm and discovered it was accidentally set off by a contractor.

11:05 p.m., Taplin House An officer investigated a report of unauthorized entry into a student’s rooms. After an investigation, the responsible person was identified as a student and he provided an explanation. >>Feb. 27, 2014 3:38 p.m., East Dr. An officer investigated a motor vehicle accident.

4:45 p.m., Converse Lot A person working on campus reported his vehicle was struck by a bicyclist while he was on Rt. 9. Report taken. >>Feb. 28, 2014 3:07 p.m., Morrow Dormitory An officer investigated a smoke detector sounding in a first floor room and discovered it activated when a hair dryer was used too close to it.

10:17 p.m., Waldorf-Astoria An officer discovered an unauthorized party in the common room. Alcohol was present and a beer pong table was set up.

The event was shut down and the alcohol was confiscated. >>Mar. 1, 2014 3:13 a.m., Cohan Dormitory A caller reported an unfamiliar older male was banging on the exterior doors of the building.

Officers checked the area but the man was not located.

12:20 p.m., Railroad Right of Way A caller reported seeing a woman on the railroad tracks near the O’Connell parking lot. An officer checked but the woman could not be located.

3:19 p.m., Kirby Dr. An officer responded to a park-

ing complaint. A vehicle was ticketed.

8:43 p.m., Orr Rink An officer working at a hockey game removed from the building a student who was banned from associating with another student.

10:37 p.m., Barrett Hill Dr. An officer found a 30-pack of beer on the ground along Barrett Hill Drive. It was retrieved.

11:07 p.m., Crossett Dormitory An officer investigated a 911 hang-up call from a phone at Crossett. No problem was found.

11:25 p.m., Barrett Hill Dr. A man was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct, assault and battery, minor in possession of alcohol, possession of a false license and resisting arrest. >>Mar. 2, 2014 2:31 a.m., Hitchcock House Officers responded to a noise complaint and found an authorized party which exceeded capacity and had evidence of hard alcohol. The event was shut down.

10:23 p.m., Crossett An officer responded to a report of an opossum near the building. It fled the area. >>Mar. 3, 2014 12:21 a.m., Hitchcock House Officers responded to a complaint of a loud party on the first floor and located approximately fifty people. Alcohol was present. The gathering was shut down.

12:48 a.m., Garman House An officer responded to a complaint of loud music and people in the first floor common room.

The group was dispersed.

Reported Incidences of Sexual Assault At the beginning of every month, The Amherst Student will print incidences of sexual assault as reported in the Clery Report during the previous month. Except for the month in which the assault occurred, all details of the incidences will be omitted to protect the identities of the victims.

Judy Yoo

A report was received by Amherst College Police of a sexual assault that occured in 2012. The matter has been referred to the Title IX Team and the Amherst Police.

Anyone that may have witnessed the incident or may have information is asked to contact the Amherst College Police at 413-542-2291.

Resources and information regarding Sexual Misconduct are available on the College’s Sexual Respect and Title IX webpage here: https://www.amherst.edu/aboutamherst/sexual_respect

Thoughts on Theses Department of Art and the History of Art Judy Yoo is a senior double majoring in Art History and Asian Languages and Civilizations. Her senior thesis focuses on the work of Japanese architect Ando Tadao. Her thesis advisor is Professor of the History of Art and Asian Languages and Civilizations Samuel Morse.

Q: What is your thesis about?

A: My thesis is on Ando Tadao, a contemporary Japanese architect. It examines Ando Tadao, but it also takes into consideration Japan’s modern architectural profession and its historical development because it seeks to understand how Ando has progressed in his profession.

I am interested in how Ando stands within the context of the 21st century. Chapter one focuses on the conflict between Japanese aesthetics constructed by an external gaze and an internal gaze. Chapter two debunks Ando’s affinity to certain traditional aesthetics. Chapter three describes his earlier works and its qualities.

Chapter four shows how he diverts from many of his signature qualities. Chapter five ultimately articulates his interpretation of architecture and how the identity he assumes as a “Japanese” architect in the 21st century. Chapter five is significant because I propose that Ando straddles between the generation of older architects like Kisho Kurokawa and Arata Isozaki who popularized constructed ideals of Japanese aesthetics and the generation of younger architects who feel that being an architect is as natural for them as it is for their Western counterparts and therefore justification trumps their artistic consciousness.

Some of the questions I pose are: Where does Ando, at the final stage of his profession, stand? Has he removed himself from ongoing debates about nationhood and identification? It is more appropriate to see him as an individual appreciative of tradition and historicity, but open to new ideas and concepts. He seeks to re-evaluate traditional elements and give them a new meaning that is particular to the location in which he builds.

Q: What has been some of the best parts of writing a thesis?

A: The best parts of writing a thesis is doing research and rereading what you wrote. You get a certain amount of satisfaction producing something you worked hard for.

Q: Why did you choose this particular topic?

A: I chose this topic because I am a fan of Ando’s buildings and I also enjoyed learning about architecture. I have actually never taken an architecture class here at Amherst College, so I thought it was a stimulating experience to learn about contemporary architectural theory. I also wanted to study some of the residential designs of the 21st century.

Q: When you have finished your thesis, what will you do with it?

A: I’ll probably not look at my thesis for a long time, but I’d like to reread it if I get the chance. I think the best part of producing a long paper is the sense of accomplishment you get when you read the finished product.

Q: What has been some of the most difficult parts of writing a thesis?

A: The most challenging part is the beginning. I had to reformulate my argument over and over again because I came across new research or reading in the middle of my process. The writing/editing is cumbersome as well. It’s a big task to take on.

Another part that made my research difficult was that I didn’t get to visit many of the architectural sites I talked about. Therefore, I felt that sort of reduced my credibility as a researcher.

Q: Where are you in the process? What do you have left to do?

A: I am editing my draft right now. I have five chapters and my final chapter is still in process.

I also need to organize my bibliography and list of illustrations. I am probably going to spend the month of March editing and polishing my awkward sentences/paragraphs.

Q: Have there been any surprises in the process? Did your research turn out the way you expected it to?

A: I don’t think there were any surprises yet.

I hope there won’t be any. At this point, I just want to produce a good paper and make a solid argument. The research is extensive but it’s interesting as well as informative in helping me build my arguments.

— Sophie Chung ‘17

Strategic Planning Chairs Speak at Faculty Meeting Continued from Page 1 mittee, a consideration that sparked considerable dialogue and seemed to move certain heads upwards from their iPads. (Faculty ... they’re just like us!)

Professor Adam Sitze noted that a 2013 alumni survey showed that recent alumni believed that athletics should receive less emphasis on campus. He also said that one negative result of the prominence athletic teams on campus is an increased focus on competition, which in turn can be reflected on campus as students compete with one another for certain jobs. He concluded his comments by stating that alternatives to competition-based organizations did exist on campus, including music ensembles, and wondered if this could perhaps serve as a model going forward.

Next, Frank mentioned the committee’s considerations of Residential Life. She noted that the “social engineering” used to place first-years in their dorms is the most successful model of

Room Draw, and expressed her hope that similar engineering could occur throughout students’ four years at Amherst, and was aware that this would break up large clumps of athletes living together.

Professor Natasha Staller chimed in toward the end of the meeting that her class “The Sixties” could perhaps serve as a useful model for community building going forward; after teaching “The Feminine Mystique” in class, Staller mentioned her students meeting outside of class to further discussing the topic. She even went as far to mention that one student, after reading “The Feminine Mystique,” said she had to break up with her boyfriend — all of which is to say, to Staller, more seminars will provide a healthier and less-fractured campus community.

After a hearty applause for Frank and Cobham-Sander for their thoroughness in response, Martin adjourned the meeting, though not before some faculty members were already making their way up the over-crowded stairwells.

The Amherst Student • March 5, 2014

News 3

FBI Investigates Case of College Considers Ways to Painting Stolen from Mead Create Community in Dorms Continued from Page 1

much progress was made on identifying potential avenues for the third stolen artwork, Lambrechts’s Interior with Figures Smoking and Drinking.

However, Mead Head of Security Heath Cummings has investigated the museum’s files and archives to flesh out and hopefully uncover details about the night of the theft and its current whereabouts.

“Once the book ‘The Art of the Heist’ was written, it renewed my interest in the case and provided a few leads and filled in the story,” Cummings said.

Since then, evidence has started pouring in and filling in the missing gaps. Working since 2010, Cummings has finally developed enough information to reopen the case with the FBI. The Mead is working with the Boston Division of the FBI and the FBI’s Art Crime Team in an effort to find Lambrechts’s painting.

With the case finally reopened, the missing painting has been listed in the National Stolen Art File.

“We are optimistic that it will be found, knowing that it is not uncommon that art is missing for decades before it is uncovered,” said Special Agent Greg Comcowich, the FBI’s media coordinator for its Boston office.

“The amount of media attention this has gotten is astounding,” Cummings said.

In fact, he said that someone might own the painting and not realize that the piece was not purchased legitimately.

“We hope that this story will eventually go worldwide and that somebody will recognize the painting and give us a tip on where it might have been at any given point in time,” Cummings said.

Since 1975, and more recently with the hiring of Cummings, the Mead’s first director of security, the Mead has been upgraded and renovated with state-of-the-art security systems.

“We are in a completely different world now,” Barker said. “The exact same crime could not be repeated.” From an alarm system and cameras to changing the lighting outside the building, the biggest contribution to the Mead’s security has been its frontline protection, its security force.

“The role of the Mead, is to help expand the imaginations of our visitors by giving them access to wonderful works of art,” Barker said.

The two pieces that were retrieved in 1989 in the undercover drug sting are currently exhibited in the Mead.

“We would be enormously grateful to have the opportunity to bring the painting back and to be able to share this painting with students and other visitors,” Barker said.

First Generation Student Summit Held at Amherst Andrew Kim ’17 Managing News Editor Amherst College hosted the second annual First Generation College Student Summit on March 1. A total of 125 students and several faculty members from 23 different college campuses came to attend the event and discuss the issues first generation college students face.

The event was created by Class Action, a nonprofit organization based in Boston and founded in Hadley that, according to its website, aims to “explore class-consciousness and dismantle classism, with a particular focus on the intersections between class and race.”

“The summit is not just about helping first generation students but to make higher education more accessible and more equitable, and to have students be a driving voice on their campuses,” said Anne Phillips, outreach and development director of Class Action.

Class Action held its first summit last year at Brown Univ., and 37 students from seven colleges attended, including students from Amherst. Since last year, the summit and the organization have gained more attention and support from colleges around the New England area. While this year’s participant turnout has increased since last year, the summit’s goal has remained the same.

“Our goal for this year was to do the same as last year and to refine the roughness of Brown,” said Timothy Gaura ’15E, one of two Amherst organizers of the event. “We also wanted to create a place of networking and community and to educate and bring up self-awareness [among first-gen students].”

The event opened with a speech by keynote speaker Kevin Jennings, executive director of Arcus Foundation, a global foundation focused on social justice and conservation. In his speech, Jennings shared the challenges he faced as a first generation, low income student in Harvard and is eventual success as teacher, gay rights activist and government administrator.

After the introductory events, students attended various breakout sessions throughout the morning and afternoon. Some sessions involved presentations regarding first generation student identity, race and socioeconomic class. Others were discussion panels where students shared possible changes to their schools’ policy regarding first generation and underprivileged students.

Sessions were led and directed by faculty, students

and administrators from various colleges and universities including Harvard and Williams.

Gaura and Student Life Fellow Flora Chan, the two Amherst College organizers of the event, directed one of the afternoon breakout sessions, a workshop called “Shifting from Negative Perceptions into a Community of Belonging.” The session aimed to be a safe space for participants to discuss the alienation from community, friends and family that can be common for first generation students. The workshop then moved from focusing on isolation to focus on finding community, and included an activity in which students make pipe cleaner figures that they put together to symbolize the transition.

The event concluded with a campus caucus, in which students from the participating colleges met with other students from the same college to share their insights and discuss possible solutions to improve college life for first generation students.

Participants said that the summit was important because it put a much-needed spotlight on issues faced by first generation students and also showed the challenges Amherst College faces.

“President Martin touts [Amherst’s first generation population], but it’s still invisible on campus,” Chan said.

Many first generation students at Amherst agreed that the first generation identity on campus has largely been hidden from the main student body.

“It’s not something people identify each other as,” said Micah Stewart ’17, one of the Amherst student representatives at the summit. “It doesn’t seem like a relevant part of our identity, even though it affects a lot of our experience.”

Stewart and Sophie Delfeus ’17, who participated in the summit, are planning to create an affiliation club for first generation students in Amherst. They said summit provided valuable insight and inspiration for their new club.

“I realized the importance of at least creating a space [for first-generation students],” Delfeus said. “I had reservations coming in about whether people will support it or not, but in the end of the day we just need a space for these students. Our school has made a big push to make diversity on campus, so it’s the responsibility of the administration and students to support the diversity here.”

There will be a planning meeting for the firstgeneration club on March 7 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. in the terrace room in Valentine Hall.

Continued from Page 1

To encourage students from different class years to live together, the new dorms will contain a mix of singles, doubles and suites.

“The current planning also includes a fairly good-sized room for student activities such as performances, parties, movies, etc.,” Davies said.

Other potential features that have been discussed include a bike shop, kitchen space, a space for fitness class and a room that can accommodate both study groups and seminar classes.

Additionally, Davies said the architects hope to design skinny buildings that will let in plenty of sunlight and highlight views from the south.

“Our architects also had a meeting with the students in the Green Amherst Project to discuss sustainability features, which will be emphasized,” Davies said.

Although many elements of the design are still in flux, Davies said it is “very likely that the final design will include four buildings surrounding a green, some of them connected by glassy lounge-bridges.”

For their part, members of the Strategic Planning Committee for the Integration of Curricular and Co-Curricular Learning are hoping that the new buildings “might foretell the future of residential life,” Coffey said.

Coffey added that she is particularly excited for the new social spaces being discussed for the new dorms.

“There will be a space that we hope will invite community in a way that we really lack on campus right now,” Coffey said.

In the Strategic Planning Process, the Community Subcommittee of the Committee for the Integration of Curricular and Co-Curricular Learning has also been discussing other ways to

create a greater sense of community through residential life.

“We’re investigating a kind of neighborhood model,” said George Tepe ’14, President of the Association of Amherst Students and a member of the subcommittee. “What that means is clustering dorms by geographic location into neighborhoods, where that neighborhood could be a place where you have some sense of community.”

He suggested that neighborhoods of dorms might organize programming for themselves that could involve anything from group dinners at Lewis-Sebring to competitions between different neighborhoods.

“We’ve heard from students that they would appreciate this ability to eat together, to cook together, to do that within the residence halls or within a cluster of residences,” Coffey said.

“Those neighborhoods might work really well together in a way that gives students more social options.”

The neighborhood concept is only one idea being discussed by the subcommittee. Other ideas to improve residential life include increasing faculty engagement in dorms through dorm talks or other events. Later in the year, the Committee for the Integration of Co-Curricular Learning will consider these and other ideas as it starts to form more concrete proposals.

For now though, nothing is final. Coffey said that the subcommittee is still in the process of thinking in more broad and ambitious terms about what kind of community it would like to see at the college.

“I would like to see us get to the point where there’s an identity that’s associated with where you live, and you feel a sense of pride in that identity,” Coffey said.

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Opinion Editorial

Ruminating on Room Draw In the past couple of days, students have received emails from the Office of Residential Life about room draw. Room Draw can be extremely stressful; after all, the placement of one’s room draw group on the room draw list might determine a significant portion of the quality of one’s social experience at the College for the entire next year. This is to a large extent unavoidable. There will always be heterogeneity in the quality of rooms and residences, and as long as a scarcity of ideal living spaces persists, the current system of prioritizing by seniority and randomizing among groups with equal seniority seems most equitable way of allocating rooms.

Nonetheless, there are certain measures that Residential Life can take to improve the Room Draw process. In the short term, this year Residential Life has lowered the required gender ratio from 45 percent of any one gender in a building to 40 percent. Based on the experiences of many students who were forced to opt out last year because of the gender quota, 45 percent was too high a number, and the reduction this year demonstrates that Residential Life has been receptive to student feedback. In the long term, however, the present system is far from optimal and there is potential for substantial change. Where students live and who they live with plays a critical role in campus social life and culture.

Many of the problems with social life at the College, such a fragmentation, isolation, etc, begin with Room Draw, and reforming Room Draw presents an opportunity to help achieve broader campus goals.

For example, in order to promote gender diversity within residences, Residential Life currently relies on a quota for each building.

Based on the frustration of many students who were forced to opt out last year, this system is problematic. We argue that allowing greater creativity and flexibility in determining the ranking of room draw groups would be a powerful tool in incentivizing students to adopt certain behaviors. Room draw should be random, but it does not have to be

uniformly random. At present, if two room draw groups have the same LUV score, they have the same, uniform probability of landing higher than the other on the room draw list. If the College, however, wanted to incentivize students to enter Room Draw in co-ed groups, it could — not necessarily provide coed groups a higher LUV score — but provide them better odds of landing higher on the room draw list than non co-ed groups with the same LUV score. This of course would not guarantee gender diversity within buildings because students in the same room draw group can always choose to live in different residents, but it still may be a useful and less rigid tool than a quota in promoting that goal.

On the other hand, the current LUV system also disincentivizes Room Draw groups of students from multiple class years because it excessively punishes students from higher class years from entering room draw. For example, a Room Draw group with four sophomores and four juniors would have a LUV score of four and would choose ahead of the entire sophomore class and behind the entire junior class. Usually this is would be enough to dissuade the juniors from entering Room Draw with the sophomores even though they may be close friends and genuinely want to live with each other. Instead, what if a multiclass group with a LUV score of four, was able to be placed on the Room Draw list in the middle of the junior groups with a LUV of 5, but no higher, or the middle of the sophomore groups with a LUV of 3, but no lower, and with an equal probability of anywhere in between. This would still favor seniority but would be far less rigid than the current system and may help promote intermingling among class years.

This are just ideas, which may be not at all practical. The point is, however, that with a bit more creativity and a greater willingness to experiment, Residential Life has the potential to do more for the College then simply administer the minimum bureaucratic necessities.

“Already stressed about room draw?”

“No one is going back to their homes until they find the Venezuela they went out looking for. ” Venezuela’s Poltical Crisis... Page 5

A Love Letter to Anxious Ladies Writing from the Left

Meghna Sridhar ’14 Meghna Sridhar ‘14 is a Law, Jurisprudence, and Social Thought major with a penchant for coherent incoherency.

She writes from a leftist perspective on global and local politics and political theory.

I’m an extremely anxious lady. I get anxious about going to Val for lunch; I get anxious about giving myself five versus seven minutes to get to the bus stop every morning; I get too anxious to move from my bed to my backpack across the room to get a simple draft I could revise and send in five minutes out to work on. I get anxious about big things, like the future and my place in changing or being complicit in the evil capitalist order, and earning enough money for health insurance next year, and I get anxious about the horrifically minute things, like not giving myself the time to do one reading out of the fifty assigned over the semester for a class, or an insidious comment I made in class that I feel will make somebody hate me for life, or a friend’s being irritable that I wonder might spell the end of our friendship forever.

Lately — and maybe these are just the people I attract, but I have a feeling that this is more pervasive than just my limited social circle — I feel that I am not the exception in my near-paralyzing anxiety, but the norm. I’m surrounded by anxious ladies, and everybody that I love has recently confessed to me some form of anxiety or the other. Anxiety manifests in these driven, amazing, beautiful ladies I call my best friends in diverse ways: some show it in their bodies, with wrecked sleeping and wrecked appetites.

Some stay in and sleep all day; some can’t sleep at all. Some can’t eat anything; some find their only comfort in eating. Some chain smoke endless cigarettes, and some hit the gym and run their frustrations out. Some feel averse to work, and shun it, and hide in the blankets and see TV all day. Some make themselves “high functioning sociopaths” (as a close friend once described herself to me, though I doubt she is a sociopath at all) and go through the motions with eerie efficiency and with prolific production of emails and papers and reading commentaries and organize and attend endless meetings and events.

Some care too much, and spend days agonizing and worrying and thinking out loud and thinking to themselves; some deal with it by saying that they don’t care at all, donning protective apathy and jaded weariness as a shield from how much caring can hurt.

I’m not here to dissect these forms of responding to anxiety; nor am I here to trace their roots. Why ladies? Why now? Why so pervasive? There are many things that can give us answers to these questions, not the least the impact of being a woman in a time that is at crossroads with the demands of capitalism for entrepreneurship, leadership and selfish individualism, and the patriarchy’s demands for submission, motherhood and sexual availability. Being women at an environment that is highly liberal, individualizing, toxic, competitive and “sees you as equal to men,” we yet embody a subjectivity that is always already imbued with a contradictory set of principles of behavior. Again, feminist theory probably has a volume of text on this subject, and says it more powerfully and eloquently than I possibly could or am interested in for the purposes of this article. A close examination of the effects of late capitalism, social media and radical individualization at this current moment in time too will no doubt give us more fruitful insight into the genesis of these anxieties: we are at an unprecedented moment of surveillance, expectation, economic uncertainty and neoliberal devastation. But again, that’s somebody else’s

article, or perhaps mine, another day. This is probably why my love life is so bad, really: this is not meant to be an investigation, or an academic inquisition. This is a goddamn love letter.

I’m not very good at love letters, so bear with me if I falter. Dear anxious ladies, everywhere, in all ends of campus, and in all ends of the world: I am currently in a state of mind where I hate most things, but know that I feel an intense, solid, strong bond of affection and solidarity for you. Affection — and admiration tied to this affection — for how strong and brave you are to get through days of trials nobody but you see as trials; affection and admiration for the fact that you go to bed every night and wake up the next day and do it all again (and affection and admiration for all the times you wake up and you can’t do it all again, because you’re still living in a screwed up world and that surviving is an act of strength in and of itself).

Dear anxious ladies, I feel solidarity with your struggles, even though I don’t always understand your anxieties and you will not always understand mine. I feel love in this solidarity, love whether I know you and have told you this personally, or whether I have never met you, because you are someone who can empathize so deeply with my own experience, because you are someone who can understand the depth of what I am feeling, because you are someone I want to take care of in order to take care of myself, but not in a selfish way, or in the way of a self-sacrificing martyr. Taking care of people, friends, with anxiety, is a way of self-care in how radically communitarian it is, in how much it shows that you are not alone and you are capable of love: love of both yourself and others that mirror yourself.

Dear anxious ladies, do not ever feel invalid, isolated, frustrated with the depths of your own anxiety, or alone. Do not feel frustrated because you are too strong willed, too hopeful, too full of dreams and aspirations, too full of caring and opinions, too full of worries and demands of yourself, to be able to be the perfect subject of capitalist competition, of the job market, of the demanding academic culture or of the demeaning hetero-patriarchy. Do not feel that you have shown weakness in your anxieties: by contrast, you have shown incredible strength and resilience, because you are too infinite and uncontainable to be fit into the narrow categories the social order demands of you, and anxiety is just your reflex resistance to the status quo trying to accommodate you within it. Do not feel alone, or like a freak, or a hopeless case: we are increasingly becoming the norm, and we are becoming the norm because there is an increasing body of resistant and strong women who, pulled between contradictory and forceful demands in the current oppressive social order we inhabit, chose not to surrender quietly. Do not ever feel invalid, because your emotions and sensitivities take over you at moments nobody else considers important, and because they cripple you from action: celebrate, instead, the capacity to care so strongly, to feel so much, because it constitutes a part of your empathy, of your thoughtfulness about the place in the world around you, of your incredible selflessness in your instinctive placement of your worries and values above your own self-preservation.

Dear anxious ladies, fight on. We’re going to win this.

The Amherst Student • March 5, 2014

Opinion 5

Venezuela’s Political Crisis Diego Recinos ’16 Contributing Writer

Photo courtesy of Green Garage

Green Garage Business Solutions Hao Liu ’16 Contributing Writer Have you ever wondered where the fridges of the graduating seniors go after commencement?

Have you thought about buying a second-hand fridge?

Green Garage is a student-run social entrepreneurship initiative at Amherst College. With funding support from an Amherst alumnus, contribution from each of the members on the team and support from the Social Innovation Leadership Team (SILT), the Green Garage was founded in February 2013 with a dual focus on both business success and generating social impact by reducing waste on campus. We operate a business of buying used furniture and electronic appliances from graduating seniors, storing them during the summer and selling them to new and returning students in the fall.

Graduating seniors face problems disposing of their bulky durables after graduation. Immediately after the graduation ceremony, seniors have to move out of their dormitories with their baggage. Throwing away items such as fridges and couches creates unnecessary environmental and economic waste. Furthermore, the Amherst College Facilities Department has to clear the items on behalf of the seniors, thereby creating unnecessary inconvenience for the College annually.

At the same time, incoming first-years purchase second-hand appliances such as fridges through Amazon or Craigslist before they start their College semester. However, the prices of such appliances on these online portals are high and Craigslist transactions might be inconvenient for freshmen without a car.

Furthermore, transportation of fridges from the post office to the dormitories has also proven to be a huge inconvenience to the students. Thus, the new students lack an approachable, accessible and affordable option. There exists an immediate need for a social entrepreneurial start-up to purchase quality second-hand durables from graduating seniors while providing an alternative channel for incoming first-years to buy such appliances.

Last year, we started Green Garage in an effort to reduce environmental wastage on campus while providing students with durable second-hand appliances at a lower rate. With support from SILT, we organized a Senior Sale during finals week in May for seniors to sell their used appliances to the

Editors-in-Chief Brendan Hsu, Emmett Knowlton Senior Editing Advisor Brianda Reyes Managing News Sophie Murguia Managing Opinion James Liu, David Chang Managing Arts and Living Meghan McCullough, Lizzie Paul Managing Sports Andrew Knox, Nicole Yang

general student population. Our start-up received strong support from the Class of 2013 as many had registered with us to sell their fridges, TVs, bicycles and lamps even before the end of finals.

Experimenting with our business idea for the first year, Green Garage went around the dormitories across the campus to purchase fridges from graduating seniors before they moved out of their dormitories. After a few days of hard work carrying and transporting fridges, we collected 50 fridges from the Class of 2013. We cleaned and maintained the fridges during the summer to ensure that they remained of good quality.

In the fall, we generated a campus-wide publicity campaign for students to learn more about our social entrepreneurship and purchase fridges from us. Throughout the first week of fall semester, we received enough requests to purchase fridges such that the demand exceeded our supply. In the end, we managed to sell all of them to current students on campus. In appreciation of the support from the student population, we delivered the fridges personally to their dormitories.

Furthermore, we also offered free exchange or refund for any dysfunctional fridges. We managed to make a decent profit from our hard work and, at the same time, received positive feedback from the students, which shows that students’ problems on campus can be solved with a business approach.

In addition to creating a successful enterprise, Green Garage also intends to foster the spirit of social entrepreneurism on campus. We are sponsoring the annual Business Idea Pitch Competition in April this year with a portion of our profits and hope to encourage more students to come forward with sustainable business ideas. Furthermore, we hope to attract potential business collaborators who are interested in sharing business ideas and solutions with us.

This coming May, the Green Garage hopes to sustain its business success and social impact by purchasing fridges from the general student population, particularly from the graduating Class of 2014. We intend to expand the range of appliances we purchase to further reduce wastage on campus. With continuing support from SILT, the Green Garage would like to benefit more graduating seniors and incoming freshmen in the upcoming years ahead. We hope, with our new initiative, that we can highlight the importance of environmental friendliness and social entrepreneurship on campus.

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“Aut Libertas aut nihil.” The message from the Venezuelan students cannot be clearer: “freedom or nothing.” As the events since Feb. 12 have shown, Venezuelans are willing to give their lives for the cause of peace and justice and the “exit” of the President Nicolás Maduro. This is not the first instance of civil unrest in the past decades in which the opposition seeks to oust the regime in power. However, the context of current events is very different to previous ones and in the eyes of the student movements, provides the perfect conditions for a victory.

Nicolás Maduro took power in April 2013 after a less than reassuring victory (less than one percent margin) over the opposing coalition leader, Henrique Capriles Radonski. Maduro, who is not a military officer, gained the support of the PSUV (Chavista Party) as Hugo Chávez chose him to be his successor in the presidency.

His government has been characterized by an increase in the participation of the armed forces in governmental duties, and particularly in the application of economic policies through what he calls a “Civic-Military coalition.” And yet, his government has not been able to efficiently manage the economy given the current high inflation, loss of monetary reserves, high unemployment, strict currency exchange controls and product shortages.

The week previous to Feb. 12 consisted of a series of peaceful student demonstrations, which led to the arrest of several protesters in the states of Mérida and Tachira. Students protested the high levels of violence and the poor management of the economy. On Feb. 12, students in several parts of the country flooded the streets to demand the release of the arrested students and the resignation of President Maduro. Since then, protests have intensified and participation has extended to the most important cities and across the socioeconomic spectrum.

In the middle of these protests, the Venezuelan government assures that they are victims of a fascist conspiracy sponsored by the right-wing Venezuelan extremists, United States and Colombia.

A possible coup d’etat, which in this case the protesters would justify as a restoration of democracy and constitutional order, rests on the Venezuelan armed forces’ willingness to act. Although Maduro and the President of the National Assembly, Diosdado Cabello, have kept a strict command over the armed forces, the arrest of General Camacho Rincones on the 25th is not the first evidence of discontent and insubordination among the military. The nature of this movement was truly spontaneous. A few small protests turned into a student-supported movement, which then inspired many other Venezuelans to join the cause of freedom and democracy. However, the spontaneous nature of this movement left no room for the election or sudden rise of one specific leader who can give these protests a clear direction.

From the beginning of the protests, everyone’s eyes, including Maduro’s, turned to the main opposition leader, Henrique Capriles, who almost defeated Maduro in the presidential elections last April. Capriles has urged students to negotiate their demands with the government, instead of supporting the street demonstrations, a decision that the students did not take as a supportive one and led the students to distance themselves from Capriles.

Since then, Capriles has continued negotiations with the regime, expressing his concerns regarding the regime’s policies. Students believe that this strategy is based on the assumption of a democracy and a constitutional government, which, therefore, makes it completely useless. Instead, students argue that they are going to win their freedom back on the streets. All these factors have given a sense of anarchy to the whole movement.

On the other hand, Leopoldo López, former major of Chacao and opposition candidate in the primary elections, encouraged every Venezuelan who believed in the need for a change in the political regime to go out to the streets, where this “struggle belongs and where the necessary strength can be gathered.” López, who has been previously criticized by the student movements, decided to lead the people from the street and to

certain degree became the face of this movement.

It didn’t take Maduro a long time to issue an arrest warrant for López. On Feb. 18, López turned himself in to the police and is now one of the many detained protesters. This measure, rather than instilling the intended fear, reassured the Venezuelan people’s motivation, which could be argued to be the very same right to protest.

Venezuela’s government has failed to control and effectively respond to the strong discontent of the people. They have applied repressive measures, distinctive of an authoritarian government.

The government has made use of armed civilian groups protected by the Bolivarian National Guard (GNB) in order to “control” the protests by shooting, brutalizing and torturing protesters. The use of semi-automatic guns, small explosives, plastic bullets and tear gas against protestors has been common occurrence to suppress the protests. The GNB has taken oppressive measures a step further by targeting private residences and buildings in protesting neighborhoods since last Monday.

There is also the strong possibility that those repressing the protesters are not only Venezuelan radical supporters of the regime, but also Cuban militants sent by their own government to aid the Maduro regime. This has raised greater concerns and discontent about the level of influence and infiltration that the Castro regime has in the Venezuelan government, which would be a strong degradation of Venezuelan sovereignty.

Government repression, however, has gone beyond the realm of physical violence. On the 14th, Maduro ordered the ban of the Colombian based news agency NTN24 from Venezuela after presenting “biased” information on the events of that day. Maduro also threatened the international agency, CNN, to either provide a “balanced coverage” of the events “based on respect to Venezuelan laws” or leave the country. NTN24 has condemned these actions and described them as an “attempt against freedom of expression.” As a response and in protest to these actions, several journalists from state-run news agencies have quit their jobs.

On Feb. 17, Maduro ordered three American Embassy officials to leave the country, accusing them of recruiting students to join the anti-regime protests, now the third time Maduro has expelled U.S. officials from Venezuela. This incident, together with the amount of violent repression and the arrest of opposition leader Leopoldo López has raised concerns in the U.S. government as John Kerry stated: “The government’s use of force and judicial intimidation against citizens and political figures, who are exercising a legitimate right to protest, is unacceptable and will only increase the likelihood of violence.”

Venezuelans have made a call to encourage the international community to denounce these acts.

Although the international attention has been more substantial than in previous Venezuelan crises, the movement has lacked the support from other Latin American leaders. Only the Presidents of Chile, Panamá and Colombia have publicly condemned the Venezuelan governments actions. The politically guarded rhetoric of Brazilian President Dilma Roussef and several others are of no help at all and leaves the doubt as to who they support and as to whether or not these leaders are just trying to maintain the status quo in terms of their dependence on discounted Venezuelan oil prices and recent capital ventures in Cuba.

After two weeks, the intensity of the protests, repression from government and radical groups and general discontent of the Venezuelan people has nothing but strengthened. Venezuelans have realized that this opportunity has risen with the necessary conditions to achieve their goals: a government that lacks the popular support to make repressive measures a sustainable mechanism of maintaining power, an economic crisis that has caused discontent not only in the economic elites but also in every other level of the socioeconomic spectrum and general uncertainty in the armed forces as to whether their loyalty lies with this repressive regime or with the Venezuelan people.

Protests continue, now stronger and larger in numbers. Venezuelans protect their neighborhoods with barricades from Maduro’s guns and bombs, pots and pans clatter through cities, casualties increase day by day but it seems that no one is going back to their homes until they find the

Arts&Living

“This exclusion from the family sphere can weigh heavily on me.”

Milk and Milk and Cookies: Page 7

You Should Definitely Go See “Probably”

Image via Liz Mardeusz ’16

“The Chalkboard Project” is a community outreach endeavor that examines questions related to sexual respect.

Liz Mardeusz ’16 Staff Writer Are you familiar with the process of writing an honors thesis? Perhaps you’re a regular reader of The Amherst Student’s “Thoughts on Theses” column, an underclassman curious about undertaking a capstone project or a thesis-writing senior who knows all too well the frequent advisor meetings, sleepless nights and writer’s block associated with the endeavor. You might, however, know a lot less about the Theater and Dance Department equivalent of the honors thesis. Student majors in their final year of study must complete a senior project integrating what they’ve learned about production and performance. These projects are unique because they often include an artistic, public performance component and a written component reflecting upon the student’s creative process.

The department produces six to eight senior projects per academic calendar year; these projects comprise Amherst’s theater season. Have you supported a classmate by attending a senior thesis show yet this year? “Probably,” the work of English and Theater and Dance double major Owen Davis ’14, is sure to be a highlight of the spring semester’s performance offerings. “‘Probably,’” Davis said, is a play about “the difficulty we as college students have about communicating about sex and intimacy.”

It tells the story of four friends who attend a college much like Amherst. At first the characters speak candidly — even crudely — with each other about

relationships. This vulgarity fades away when a member of the group is sexually assaulted. She now must deal with the trauma of her experience and figure out how talk frankly about it with her friends. The three other students, too, face a difficult task in learning how to speak honestly and thoughtfully about intimacy. After the assault, the crassness and humor of their conversations about sex just don’t seem appropriate anymore. Above all, “Probably” explores the role of language in human relationships. How do the words we use influence the way we treat one another, especially in matters as sensitive as sexual respect? Davis’s play asks the difficult questions that the Amherst College community has been grappling with since the publication of Angie Epifano’s essay in The Student during October 2012. His work is timely and thoughtful, and will surely bring a fresh perspective to the matter of sexual respect in theatrical form.

“Probably” has been a year-long process for Davis, who said he began working on the script halfway through this past summer. He noted that writing consistently during football season in the fall was challenging. Davis has played for the Jeffs for all four of his years at Amherst, two of which included NESCAC championship wins.

When asked if his talent and interest in playwriting ever surprise people, he noted, “I think from outward appearance, and if they know I play football, people are kind of confused [by it].”

However, the Winchester, Mass. native is no stranger to theater, or writing creatively. Davis first got involved in

musical theater in the fifth grade and acknowledged that he began writing short stories during middle school.

“I grew up loving language,” he said.

Chris Tamasi ’15, a member of the “Probably” cast and a teammate of Davis, attested to that, saying, “Owen probably has the best command over the English language of anyone I’ve ever met.”

Davis’s thesis advisor is Theater and Dance professor and Amherst playwright-in-residence Connie Congdon. She is co-directing “Probably” with Will MacAdams, Visiting Assistant Professor of Theater at Hampshire College. Davis noted that both Congdon and MacAdams have been indispensable to the writing and production of “Probably.”

“They’re willing to ask the difficult questions that I’m not willing to ask myself,” he said. Congdon and MacAdams meet with Davis to discuss drafts of “Probably” and advise him on all aspects of completing a senior project.

They also organized the production’s audition process and offered Davis their opinions for the final casting. Five actors appear in the play: Davis, Tamasi, Sheron Torho ’15, Forrest Hejkal of Hampshire College and Ginny Chesson, also of Hampshire.

Theater is about the visual as much as it is about language and performance. Reilly Horan ’13 brings the world of “Probably” to life as the production’s set designer. When asked to describe her plans for the set pieces for “Probably,” she said “the play takes place in a number of institutional spaces on a college campus, most frequently a stock dormitory bedroom, and the set will nod to those places. But the largest element of the design is the way we will incorporate language about sex onto the walls of theater itself.”

The play’s theatrical space has taken on a larger significance in the form of “The Chalkboard Project,” a community outreach endeavor developed

by Davis and Horan to examine the same questions “Probably” grapples with before it is actually performed for the public. Horan designed four chalkboard installations of varying size to be placed in Webster Hall, on the FirstYear Quad, in Frost Library and in the gym. These pieces feature prompts relating to sexual respect and communication for Amherst community members to respond to in chalk. “The Chalkboard Project” will be on campus beginning March 3 and will last until March 9. After this period, Horan plans to incorporate the installations into the

design of the play’s performance space.

Additionally, Davis and Horan, (along with Five-College staff members, specifically Kris Bergborn of Mount Holyoke and Danielle Hussey of Amherst’s Women’s and Gender Center) have organized optional dialogues to be held after each performance. These conversations will allow audience members to discuss “Probably” and the questions it

“

How do the words we use influence the way we treat one another, especially in matters as sensitive as sexual respect?

”

raises in a small group environment.

The senior projects of the Theater and Dance department differ from the honors theses of most other departments because they are more creative in nature; however, the research aspect ingrained in more traditional thesis projects has been part of Davis’ undertaking, too. He sat down with people he knew to talk about the issues he wished to address in his work and kept their thoughts in mind when crafting a story and characters. The resulting play, Davis said, is somewhat of a “conglomerate of a bunch of different experiences.”

The Theater and Dance thesis is also an exercise in teamwork, from the writing process to rehearsal and performance.

Tamasi praised the environment surrounding the production, calling it

“very open to collaboration.” He also noted that while at first he didn’t have plans to write a thesis himself, his involvement in “Probably” has broadened horizons in terms of his thoughts on future academic opportunities at the College. The production has “opened up a world into possibly pursuing a creative thesis or creative study,” he said.

Davis is highly appreciative of the support he’s received in the creation of “Probably.” He spoke highly of his fellow actors and the encouragement he receives from Congdon, MacAdams and Horan. “I have an incredible support network here,” he said. As the play’s performance dates approach, Davis claimed to have more nerves about acting in front of an audience than the reception of his writing. It seems he should have little to worry about, anyway, as Congdon praised Davis’s progression as a writer throughout his years in the Theater and Dance department, saying that he has “grown exponentially with every project he’s done for me.”

If you’d like to change your perception of what a thesis at Amherst College can be, clear space on your calendar for March 27-29 at 7:30 p.m. “Probably” will be performed in Studio 3 in Webster Hall on these dates. By themselves, the notions of communication, intimacy in human relationships, and sexual respect dealt with by “Probably” are worthy of attention. The production also exhibits the talents of many hardworking members of our community, and that most of all is deserving of our support.

Image via Liz Mardeusz ’16

Installations of The Chalkboard Project can be found in Frost, the First-Year Quad, the Gym, and Webster Hall.

The Amherst Student is in dire need of a comic strip!

Interested?

Email mmccullough15@amherst.edu or epaul16@amherst.edu

The Amherst Student • March 5, 2014

Arts & Living 7

Milk and Milk and Cookies

Queeriosity Bonnie Drake ’16 Queeriosity is a bi-weekly column dedicated to discussing LGBTQ student life at Amherst College. If you are interested in contributing to the Queeriosity column, contact the Amherst College Pride Alliance at pridealliance@amherst.edu.

When many people think of the gay community, they picture wild raves and drunken sex. These images come at the expense of any sort of family life, especially one involving children.

The reality lies somewhere in between.

Just as some straight people don’t want families, some gay people don’t want children. However, many do. I consider myself to be in that group — I love children, I babysit at every opportunity and I make an utter fool of myself when there are small children in Val. Still, I often feel myself excluded from both the ideal and the reality of family life, even in peripheral contexts. I’m queer,

and I hesitate to even disclose my sexuality when company comes over with kids. Will the parents be upset if their children know I like women? What if they think I’m trying to “convert” their kids? What if, what if, what if.

When children and queer people are included in family life, tension builds quickly. Many heterosexual parents see LGBTQ people as threatening, and want to “protect” their children from us. Naturally, this is not comforting for people like myself who see themselves as being parents, but continually feel rejected from any conception of family. I look around, and the

Image courtesy of discovere.binghamton.edu

Queer people can often feel left out of the heteronormative idea of the nuclear family.

only images of families I see in ads and the media are heteronormative (not to mention of a single race, within the gender binary and able-bodied). Shows like “Modern Family” and “The Fosters” are starting to surface, but they have not been received free of controversy and are nowhere near being seen as the norm. Although same-sex marriage is making strides, reception to gay couples having children is strikingly harsh. Last year, when France was in the process of legalizing same-sex marriage, 300,000 people marched against the law, not because they were against same-sex marriages, but because the law would enable gay couples to adopt children.

This exclusion from the family sphere can weigh heavily on me. I distinctly remember when, two years ago, I was on a walk and I broke down crying thinking that I would never be able to have my own children. There are still moments of despair, but being here at Amherst, more specifically in Pride Alliance, has helped. I’m the co-chair of Pride, and my wonderful co-chair, Matt Randolph, had a brilliant idea last semester. National Coming Out Day is October 11th, which fell during last semester’s Mid-Semester Break.

We decided to watch Milk (2008), a movie about San Francisco’s former city supervisor, Harvey Milk, who was an openly gay man, and Matt came up with the idea of “Milk and Milk and Cookies.” We would watch the movie while having milk and cookies. Seems simple, right?

Well, for me, it felt like much more

Image courtesy of spotlightonlaw.wordpress.com

Every National Coming Out Day, The Pride Alliance watches “Milk” while eating milk and cookies! than simple. It felt beautiful. Milk and cookies are ingrained in childhood tradition. There is something comforting about warm cookies and cold milk, something that takes us back and makes us feel protected and safe, like there is nothing more important to do than just hunker down and enjoy a piece of our childhood. It is ironic because I don’t enjoy milk. And yet, the sense of tradition and comfort that I get from having cookies dipped in milk is overwhelming. It is enough to start healing the scars from people telling me I don’t deserve to be married, that my “lifestyle” is damaging to children, that I shouldn’t have a family. I feel a sense of communal inclusion that was

lacking, and all this just because of milk and cookies.

It has now become a Pride tradition to have milk and cookies at movie screenings (stay tuned for our next one this month!) — not only are they delicious, but people can come together over memories of their childhood, and know that they already have a family. A Pride family.

The queer community needs more images of family. After all, many of us are estranged from either our biological or our chosen families, creating a gap that yearns to be filled. The exclusion from having children only compounds this, and yet, somehow, milk and cookies make it all better, for now.

Racism on Twitter: Fantastic Four Cast

Johnathan Appel ’16 Staff Writer

As we’ve discussed before, I love superheroes. If anyone needs proof, please look back on my previous articles or find me in Val to hear about my intense bordering-onobsessive love for the Caped Crusader. That love also extends to Marvel’s universe. Having seen massive success with “Thor,” “Iron Man,” “Captain America,” “The Avengers” and the hype for the upcoming “Guardians of the Galaxy,” the Marvel Universe will soon see its next potential hit: a “Fantastic Four” reboot.

A little over a week ago, the new cast was announced. Miles Teller (“Divergent”) will play protagonist, Mr. Fantastic. Kate Mara, who we’ve all loved watching in “House of Cards” as the intrepid reporter Zoe Barnes, will be Sue Storm, the Invisible Woman. Jamie Bell (“Billy Elliot”, “Adventures of TinTin”) will be the ever-loving blue-eyed Thing.

Finally, Michael B. Jordan (“Chronicle”) will play the Human Torch (previously played by Chris Evans). Although admittedly I haven’t actually heard of Teller or Bell, I was overall pretty excited when I heard the casting report. I’d been among those to finish Season 2 of “House of Cards” in a weekend and I really enjoyed “Chronicle,” so Invisible Woman and the Human Torch seemed to be in safe hands.

That was until I heard what Twitter had to say. Apparently, Michael B. Jordan is black and the original Johnny Storm isn’t. So people took to their keyboards to let the world know that “seriously, you cast a black dude to play the human torch in the reboot? That’s so not right!!! (Not being racist, no offense).” Now, I usually disdain when people go to twitter for news but clearly this user “wasn’t being racist.” The fact that the Human Torch is white has virtually no effect on his character. And neither would his recasting as black change anything at all about him.

In fact, many people on Twitter and other blogospheres confirmed that, while they weren’t racist, they weren’t exactly okay with Johnny Storm being black. While this once again confirms that people sometimes are simultaneously stupid and terrible, it’s worth looking through a few facts to try to clear this whole thing up. “Thor” and its recent sequel both had Heimdell, a traditionally white allpowerful Norse God, played by Idris Elba, a black guy. This didn’t negatively affect the plot, sales or even the character itself. It just added some much needed diversity but more on that later. In fact, the “Thor” movies have actually been pretty good, despite this “clearly politicized” casting just to be “P.C.” Some superheroes movies (I’m thinking of the last Fantastic Four films and “Spider-Man 3” here) were just awful. Like really, really, bad.

And, to the surprise of no one, had an almost entirely white cast and white male leads, as per tradition.

Looked at in a historical context, we can see that these kinds of casting decisions are not only acceptable; they’re necessary as we move into the 21st century. While we do have a black president, racism is not over. Desegregation actually wasn’t that long ago and we’re still making unconscious but racially biased choices all the time. Look no further than Twitter. This is why it’s crucial that we work actively to change the privilege inherent in our media rather than passively accepting it as “tradition.”

The “Golden Age” of comic books was during the late 1930’s to late 1950’s. Bob Kane and Bill Finger created Batman in 1939. Superman first appeared on pulp paper in 1938.

Spider-Man came late in 1962 with Stan Lee at the helm. Finally, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby dreamt up the Human Torch, along with the others in the Fantastic Four, in 1961. A few things are similar about of the major players in comic books (and comic book films):

Image courtesy of www.businessinsider.com

The “Fantastic Four” reboot is facing controversy online in response to recent casting decisions. they’re all white and were all created before MLK’s famous speech and before LBJ signed the Civil Rights act in 1964. Keeping these characters from deviating from their original images means that they will continually embody the values of the time in which they were created: the values of the pre-Civil Rights period, one of segregation and intense racism.

Another point of ignorance that needs to be addressed is the idea that, if a white character can be recast as black, then a black character necessarily should be recast as white.

The example brought out the most seems to be Black Panther, the first black superhero in mainstream U.S. comics. White characters in comic books and all of media or pop culture are, by default, white, especially in that time period. Black Panther, however, derives his name, powers and identity from being the chief of an African tribe. His identity is inherently rooted in his race. White characters face no such dilemma. In fact, in today’s

world, white privilege is so pervasive that white doesn’t have to be thought of as a race, especially in comparison to the current disadvantages people face for other skin colors.

Finally, we get to the Human Torch specifically and how Twitter believes that he can’t be black because Sue Storm, his sister, is white. Anyone who asks, “when was the Human Torch ever black? His sister is white?

WTF,” should remember that both adoption and half-siblings exist. Or better yet, they should stop caring because it’s a movie about four people with superpowers (and the guy who you’re complaining about can fly because he’s on fire).

I’ll end with this: these kinds of casting decisions and active reversing of institutionalized privilege are crucial to ending racism and segregation. Ultimately, the people who take to Twitter or blogging or don’t understand their privilege, and the fact that they’re pretty racist (even if they start with “I’m not racist but…”).

8 Arts & Living

The Amherst Student • March 5, 2014

Faith in Animated Television Restored

Image courtesy of web.poptower.com

“Rick and Morty” is a breath of fresh air for animated television, the perfect combination of sci-fi and comedy.

Marquez Cummings ’16 Contributing Writer When it comes to animated television, I have become a bitter skeptic.

With the steady decline of “Family Guy” into an echo of its former glory along with the inevitable conclusion of “South Park” looming in the near future, I was beginning to lose hope. As I finished up another particularly unfunny episode of “Robot Chicken” on Adult Swim during Christmas break, a commercial began to play. The image of an older man in a lab coat accompanied by a frightened-looking teenager flashed across my television screen.

At first, the skeptic in me rebelled.

“What a ridiculous concept! Who the hell could be responsible for this heap of garbage?” Suddenly, I saw a name flash across the bottom of the screen: Dan. Freaking. Harmon. (If you do not know this name, find a Hulu account

and watch “Community” immediately.) I then proceeded to aggressively scour the internet for the pilot.

“Rick and Morty” is a breath of fresh air for modern animated television. This series follows the antics of Rick Sanchez (voiced by Justin Roiland), a super-genius scientist who resembles Doc Brown from “Back to the Future.” That’s where any comparisons between these two characters stop. Unlike Doc Brown, who based his scientific research in the theory of time travel, Rick is focused on the theories of space-time and inter-dimensional travel (“Doctor Who” fans will feel right at home here). Additionally, Rick is a sociopathic, alcoholic and outright selfish individual who will do whatever it takes to develop his scientific research. Morty (also voiced

by Justin Roiland) is Rick’s grandson and “Marty McFly” sidekick. Unlike his grandfather, Morty is a naïve, pan-

icky, anxiety-riddled 14-year old that constantly finds himself dragged onto his grandfather’s life-threatening tours into other dimensions.

From an outside look, the title characters of “Rick and Morty” come off as unpolished and slightly offbeat.

First and foremost, both characters tend to stutter during any given dialogue sequence. Rick also frequently belches and hiccups when he speaks (damn you alcoholism!). At first, these constant interruptions can be jarring when trying to follow what each character is saying, but soon enough these imperfections become signature attributes to “Rick and Morty” akin to the yellow-skin of The Simpsons or the crude construction paper look of “South Park.” Secondly, the relationship between Rick and Morty seems utterly two-dimensional. During each episode, Rick aggressively muscles his way to a science-based objective, with or without the consent of innocent Morty. Although this relationship dynamic seems shallow, it proves to be a staple of the show’s appeal (I will get back to this point later on).

As a duo, Rick and Morty couldn’t be any more different. Essentially, they are two sides of a coin: Rick represents cynic realism, while Morty embodies innocence and youthful ignorance. Yet, despite the conflict that these viewpoints inherently present one another, Harmon utilizes these opposing forces to create a dialectic synthesis that brings the show to life.

In one episode, Rick refers to the universe as a “crazy and chaotic place.”

This statement presents a commentary on reality itself: nothing is guaranteed and one should always be prepared for the worse. However, Morty resists this claim; to him, anyone can tip the balance of fate. Although I will not spoil the conclusion of this episode, which to me stands as one of the most powerful and raw moments in animated tele-

vision history, we see that neither Rick nor Morty’s view is absolutely correct.

In fact, these ideals perpetually steady each other in a relationship that Harmon skillfully portrays in each narrative arc of the show.

With all of this talk about “Rick and Morty,” it can be easy to forget to mention their family. Jerry and Beth, Morty’s parents, are former high school sweethearts with a failing marriage on their hands (in fact, their union only began once Beth became pregnant with Summer, Morty’s older sister). Although this family dynamic seems utterly depressing, it also represents something beautiful and unique to Rick and Morty. Throughout the history of animated television, and the majority of sitcom television history, the family dynamic has always remained intact. “Family Guy” has often jabbed at Peter and Louis’ struggling marriage, which even comes to an end for the majority of an episode or two. Hell, even the Simpsons, America’s premiere animated family, has briefly played with the idea of Homer and Marge separating. Yet, no animated show has ever fully committed to a consistent and ever-present threat of divorce. To me, this caters to the desire of many viewers to escape into a world where families epitomize stability. Thus far, Rick and Morty has resisted this trend. Throughout each episode, we clearly see that Beth and Jerry are just not right for each other. This stems from a number of issues: their shotgun marriage, their disparity in income (Beth earns much more than Jerry) and their respective stances concerning Rick’s influence on Morty. Yet, despite their many issues, the family always finds a way to avoid total destruction by the skin of their teeth. Now, not only do we focus on the adventures of Rick and Morty, but we also find ourselves rooting for the success of the family as a whole. As a

result, this cartoon family takes on a sense of realism that I have never encountered before in an animated show.

Now, I want to return to my previous point about the show’s overall appeal. To me, this lies in Rick and Morty’s seemingly two-dimensional relationship. As Rick coerces his poor grandson into each dangerous adventure, the initial reaction is to feel disgusted. Rick does not seem to regard Morty as anything more than a pawn in his numerous plans; one could even go as far as to say that Morty is expendable to Rick. But by the end of the pilot, amidst Rick’s hilariously incoherent monologue, something so simple yet so powerful emerges. Rick says to Morty, “the outside world is our enemy … we’re the only friends we got.”

The true nature of this show becomes painstakingly clear: these two characters are outcasts. Rick, a lonely old man whose extreme intellect has prevented him from building any meaningful relationships, has been forced to move in with his daughter and her train wreck of a family. On the other hand, Morty seems to openly suffer from a social disorder that affects his interactions with others and impedes his performance in school. But as interdimensional travelers unbounded by neither time nor space, Rick and Morty have found a way to overcome and escape society’s restrictive conventionalism.

Yet, Rick hardly mentions this power over civilization. What Rick truly seems to care about is his friendship with Morty (he literally repeats the phrase, “Rick and Morty forever!” more times than I care to count). To me, that’s what this show represents: a relationship that can, against all odds, withstand anything the universe can throw at it. I, for one, can get behind this beautiful idea.

“Rick and Morty” airs every Monday at 10:30 p.m EST on Adult Swim.

Body Image at Amherst and Beyond

Katie Warshaw ’16 Contributing Writer

In a society where even the J-Laws of the world are criticized for having bodies that don’t fit preconceived standards of beauty, it can be hard for both women and men to find acceptance with their bodies. While people of all ages experience negative feelings about their bodies, it is a common problem in the college environment, where students engage in a lot of comparison with others. This week, the Student Health Educators are hosting the third annual “My Body is Beautiful Week,” which focuses on the promotion of positive body image. The week features a film screening, a talk by Professor of Psychology Catherine Sanderson and culminates with a dinner and conversation about body image.

Professor Sanderson, James E. Ostendarp Professor of Psychology, says that college is a time in which students are very self-aware and self-conscious. Thus, “college students engage in huge amounts of comparison with others, and lots of research in psychology shows that comparing ourselves to others causes real problems.” These feelings are not limited to physical appearance, and can include insecurities about intelligence or popularity.

Feelings of insecurity can manifest themselves in negative self-talk, or in more serious cases, disordered eating. It is important to remember that while making changes to one’s appearance may seem like the key to happiness, this is rarely the case. “People of all ages have the

belief that if they just lost ten pounds, or had a flat stomach or clearer skin, they would be happier,” says Professor Sanderson, “but the reality is that we adjust to changes in our lives and no longer experience the same benefit in terms of happiness.”

While the media is a common source of blame for body insecurities, it is not the only factor. Genetics, family upbringing and personality contribute to the development of problems related to eating, exercise and body image. Those who exhibit perfectionist personalities are susceptible to developing disordered eating and exercise habits. At an elite school like Amherst, where many students strive for perfection in all areas of life, it can be a dangerous environment for body insecurity. For cases of disordered eating and exercise there are resources available through the health center and Eating Disorder Assessment Team. The resources are available for both students who are struggling themselves and for friends of someone who is struggling to get advice on how they can and can’t help.

Negative body image and anxiety can affect everyone, and while it does not always manifest itself in disordered eating and exercise, it can have a negative effect on day-to-day happiness and quality of life. “My Body is Beautiful Week” began when the SHEs became concerned with the frequency of “fat-talk” on campus. “Fattalk” is the tendency to make negative comments about one’s body. When one person engages in fat-talk, others in the conversation may feel compelled to chime in with similarly selfdegrading remarks. The SHEs hope to foster a

Image courtesy of the SHEs

“My Body is Beautiful Week,” which focuses on the promotion of positive body image, is brought to us by the SHEs. culture of positive body image and loving one’s body.

The events of “My Body is Beautiful Week” will promote body positivity by encouraging students to share what they love about their bodies. There will be an Instagram campaign, where students can submit photos with captions about why they love their bodies in order to enter a raffle for t-shirts with the slogan “be-you-tiful”.

Professor Sanderson will speak about body image on Wendesday night at 8 p.m. in Merrill 4.

The culminating events will be two dinners, a men’s dinner and a women’s dinner, where SHEs will facilitate a discussion about body image.

“The women’s dinner has always been my favorite part of the week,” says student health educator Sarah Martell ’15. “It’s very empowering and eye-opening to get a bunch of strong, beautiful women in a room together and allow them the opportunity to be vulnerable and to open up to one another about body image at

Amherst. It is helpful to remind people that we are all subject to the same unrealistic expectations of beauty and that we can and should support one another.”

The SHEs are introducing a men’s dinner this year to bring attention to the under-addressed issue of male body image. “Everyone in our community faces challenges to their body confidence because of the unrealistic standards of modern culture,” says SHE Johnathan Appel ’16. “It’s seen as particularly shameful for men to express this. I hope that this dinner will bring this conversation to the whole community.”

The women’s dinner will be held on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. in O’Connor Commons. The men’s dinner will be held at the same time in the common room of Charles Pratt.

The SHEs will be tabling in Keefe Wendesday and Thursday. Stop by to make a pledge to be body positive, or to learn more about body image.

The Amherst Student • March 5, 2014

Sports 9

Men’s Hockey Trumps Conn. in Comeback Win Jeffs to Face Archrival Williams in NESCAC Semifinals

Greg Williams ’16 Staff Writer The second-seeded Amherst men’s ice hockey team started their NESCAC tournament off on the right foot with a win against seventh-seeded Conn. College on Saturday at Orr Rink. Despite trailing late in the third, the Jeffs rallied and put home three consecutive scores to come out triumphant with a 4-2 victory against the Camels.

Both teams were held scoreless to start the first period despite some potential opportunities on both sides. Amherst notched the first goal midway through the first when Mike Rowbotham ’15 shot the puck past the Camels goaltender off

an assist by senior captain Andrew Kurlandksi.

That point marked Rowbotham’s fifth score and Kurlanski’s seventh apple on the season. The remainder of the first was scoreless even though Amherst outshot the Camels 13-6.

Just under seven minutes into the second period, Conn. got on the board first thanks to a goal from captain Mike Sinsigali. The defense was on point for both sides for the remainder of the period, and Cunningham racked up six more saves before the buzzer rang.

“We felt pretty uneasy in the locker room after the second period because the game was tied up, and there was the possibility that Conn. could get the next goal, which would give them the lead

Photo courtesy of Rob Mattson

Junior Forward Mike Rowbotham scored the first goal for the Jeffs against Conn. College last Saturday, his fifth on the season.

at a critical moment in the game,” Elliot Bostrom ’14 said.

Although Amherst opened the third period with a power play, it was the Camels again who managed to score and take the 2-1 lead 1:08 into the frame. Amherst was unable to capitalize on their only two man-up opportunities of the night, while the Camels were 1-3 on power plays over the game.

“I personally never thought we could ever lose, but I was nervous that we wouldn’t be able to repsond if Conn. gained the lead in the third period. Conn. did gain the lead in the third period, and visions of our season ending started to creep into my head,” Bostrom added.

The Jeffs didn’t relent, however, and Bostrom let off a slap shot 3:34 into the third period that found the back of the Camels’ net to tie up the game. The unassisted goal was the senior defender’s third of the season.

With the game squared at two apiece, Amherst looked to their dominant netminder to keep them in the game, and Cunningham did just that by making a number of excellent saves.

He finished the night with 23 saves, 11 coming in the critical third period. The sophomore has 538 saves on the season and a 92.3% save percentage.

After fifteen minutes of hotly contested play, including two penalties from both teams, Brendan Burke ’16 took the puck down the left side of the ice past the Camel’s last line of defense to score the game-winning goal with less than three minutes remaining. Burke has nine goals on the season, which makes him the second leading goal-scorer behind fellow sophomore Conor Brown, who has found the back of the night 10 times this season.

Senior captain Brian Safstrom wrapped up the scoring for the day when he scored an emptynetter with just under a minute left in regulation

to seal the victory for Amherst. It was his eighth score on the season, and that play capped off the Jeffs’ come-from-behind-win to allow them to survive and advance to next weekend. Despite being seeded seventh in the tournament, Conn. still put up a tough fight, as Amherst only outshot the Camels 30-25.

“Conn. was probably the hottest NESCAC team heading into the playoffs, so we fully expected the game to be difficult and low scoring,” Coach Jack Area said. “I was pleased with the team and how they stayed focused and were committed to what we wanted to do. Conn.’s style is a bit different from a lot of NESCAC teams, and it forced us to change the focus of the way we play.

The players didn’t panic when we fell behind and kept doing what we asked of them.”

Next Saturday, March 8, the Jeffs will face Williams in the NESCAC Semifinals, hosted at Trinity. It will be the third time these two teams have met on the season. The Ephs managed to take home the first game at Orr Rink with a 1-0 win in December, but Amherst won their second contest decisively to close out the regular season with a 4-1 victory in Williamstown.

Both teams finished 15-7-3 on the year, but the Jeffs had a better conference record (12-4-2) to take the second seed, while the Ephs are the third seed (10-5-3). In their quarterfinal contest last Saturday, Williams cruised past Colby for an easy 7-3 victory.

“Williams is a team that is very similar in style and composition to us. I think our two games have reflected that and I’m sure Saturday’s game will be very tight and probably come down to who makes the big play at the right time,” Arena said.

The winner of the Amherst-Williams will play the winner of Bowdoin-Trinity in the NESCAC Finals, to be held at Trinity on March 15.

Lacrosse Teams Defeat Bates in Season Openers Both Men, Women Start Spring Campaigns Off Strong

Greg Williams ’16 & Holly Burwick ’16 Staff Writers Men The Amherst men’s lacrosse team began itsseason with a statement win against Bates in their season opener on Pratt Field this past Saturday.

The Jeffs’ offensive prowess was on display, racking up 17 goals. The defense performed equally well, holding Bates to just eight goals.

Scoring was rampant in the first quarter with Amherst taking a 6-4 lead by the end of the period. Sophomore Dylan Park scored the first point of the Jeffs’ 2014 campaign. Park went on to score a second and had eight total shots on goal.

The second period was all Amherst as they extended their lead by four more goals and scooped up 13 ground balls before the end of the half.

The Jeffs continued to roll through the second half. They scored four more goals to Bates’ lone point in the third, and each team was able to find the back of the net three more times before the final buzzer rang. Amherst took 44 shots, showing their efficiency on offense to Bates’ 55.

“I was proud of the way our guys came out flying around versus Bates. We have focused almost exclusively on ourselves this year, rather than our opponent, so it was nice to see the guys play so hard when in fact there was an opponent on the field,” Coach Jon Thompson said.

Kane Haffey ’16 and Aaron Mathias ’14 led the Jeffs’ scoring with three goals apiece. Park and Devin Acton ’14 had two each, while seven other players contributed a goal each. Sophomore Quinn Moroney racked up an impressive gamehigh five assists for the Jeffs.

Greg Majno ’14 started the game in goal and finished with six saves, while Cody Tranbarger ’17 took over for the second half, racking up 12 saves in his first collegiate career action.

Thompson acknowledged that his team should not get comfortable this 17-8 victory and

that there are still improvements to be made in the upcoming week of practice.

“There were some areas that need to be addressed. We adjusted well at the face-off stripe, but we’ll need to practice facing off more if we intend to hit our goal for improvement. We also need to develop some depth at defensive midfield. We have quite a few young men who can play there right now but need to be sure that our depth is improving every day in terms of on ball defense,” Thompson noted.

Amherst looks ride the momentum from their first game when they travel to Maine to play the Bowdoin next Saturday. The Jeffs will remain on the road until Saturday, April 5 when they return home to Pratt Field to face Colby.

Thompson also pointed out that playing on the road is yet another obstacle for his team to overcome in order to succeed this season.

“We have a big push ahead. We go on the road for the first time, which is no small task in the NESCAC. We’ll sleep in different beds, we’ll eat different food, we’ll have a slightly different schedule.

The question is, will we allow those differences to affect our style, our pace, and our type of lacrosse?

We all hope the answer is no, but only time will tell.”

Women After much anticipation, the Amherst women’s lacrosse team opened its 2014 campaign on the right note with a 12-8 victory over Bates College. The 13th-ranked Jeffs traveled to Lewiston, ME for their first contest of the season, and their efficient style of play yielded some promising results going forward.

Caroline Holliday, one of the five senior captains for the Jeffs, started off her final season with six points garnished off of three goals and three assists.

“We played as a cohesive unit throughout the field, which is great to see so early on,” Holliday

said. “On the attack, we had a bunch of different players scoring and assisting. On the defense, we played as a solid unit and caused a lot of turnovers as a result. As a team, we’re excited to finally be competing after two weeks of preseason, and we’re working hard to keep getting better every day.”

Coach Paradis corroborated this analysis, adding how impressed she was with the defensive effort, which featured many hustle plays and double teams as well as tight one-on-one defense that took place all over the field.

Offensively, many different players stepped up for the Jeffs. Rachel Passarelli ’16 had four points off of two goals and two assists, while Elizabeth Ludlow ’14 and Meghan Mills ’15 each scored two goals. Mia Haughton ’16, Devin O’Connor ’16 and Priscilla Tyler ’15 also contributed to the scoring with one goal each.

The Bobcats started the game off with a 2-1 advantage. This lead was short-lived, however, thanks to a 4-1 run by the Jeffs that would take them to a 5-4 edge at the end of the first frame.

In the second half, the game remained tight, as the teams went back and forth to reach a 6-6 tie.

However, another 4-1 offensive spurt of goals by the Jeffs put them ahead 10-7 with 7:16 remaining.

Despite one last retaliatory score by the Bobcats, Amherst scored twice more to finish the game with a 12-8 victory.

Goalie Christy Forrest ’16 made 11 saves to earn the win, while the Bobcat’s netminder stopped six shots. The teams were fairly evenly matched, as they tied 20-20 in shots. Bates held a 13-11 edge in ground balls and Amherst won 12 of the 22 face-offs.

Like Holliday, Paradis is confident that the team will stay motivated and work hard to continue to improve. She is excited about the depth the squad will have this season, especially as many injured players are scheduled to return to the field within the next few weeks.

The Jeffs will look to establish a win streak when they take on Babson for their home opener this Wednesday, March 5 at 5 p.m.

Photo courtesy of Janna Joassainte’17

Patrick Moroney ’14 had four shots on goal and was able to notch one score against Bates on Saturday.

10 Sports

Schedule WEDNESDAY Women’s Lacrosse vs. Babson, 5 p.m.

THURSDAY Men’s Indoor Track & Field TBD FRIDAY Women’s Basketball vs. Springfield (@ Lambros Arena, Oneonta, N.Y.), TBD Men’s & Women’s Indoor Track & Field @ ECAC Championships (@ Reggie Lewis Center), TBD

The Amherst Student • March 5, 2014 SATURDAY Women’s Lacrosse vs. Bowdoin, 12 p.m.

Men’s Hockey vs. Williams (NESCAC Semifinals) Men’s Lacrosse @ Bowdoin, 1 p.m.

Women’s Tennis @ MIT, 1 p.m.

Men’s Basketball @ NCAA Second Round, TBD Women’s Basketball @ NCAA Second Round, TBD Men’s & Women’s Indoor Track & Field @ ECAC Championships (@ Reggie Lewis Center), TBD

Women’s Hockey Loses Heartbreaker to Colby

Holly Burwick ’16 Staff Writer

After a very successful regular season, the Amherst women’s hockey team lost their NESCAC quarterfinal match in a heartbreaker against Colby College this past Saturday. Despite outshooting the Mules, the Jeffs fell 3-2 after conceding a goal with 1:18 remaining in the final period.

With Amherst seeded second in the NESCAC and Colby seeded seventh, the Jeffs’ loss was not the only upset in the quarterfinal matches this weekend, as top seed and fourth in the nation Middlebury fell to the eighth seed of the tournament, Conn. College.

After sweeping Colby during their regular season series with 4-1 and 2-1 wins, the Jeffs lost to the Mules for the first time in five seasons.

Despite a decisive 45-10 advantage in shots, the Jeffs could not come out victorious, as Colby netminder Brianne Wheeler’s astounding 43 saves solidified the win for the Mules. Wheeler led the league in save percentage this season, and Coach Jeff Matthews said that the Colby senior “stole the game.”

Amherst’s defense dominated the Mules in the first period, not giving up a single shot on net.

“Preventing a team from getting a single shot on net while maintaining an aggressive style of play is extremely hard to do in the game of ice hockey. Especially with Colby being a good team,” Matthews said.

In the second period, however. Colby was able to break through twice to gain a 2-0 lead.

Amherst would stay behind for the majority of the remainder of the game, but Erin Martin ’16 was able to find the back of the net for her 10th goal of the season off a pass from senior co-captain Courtney Baranek.

Despite amassing a 22-4 shot advantage in the second period, including a goal that was waved off and a shot that hit the post during a power play, the Jeffs entered the third period

trailing 2-1. After a psychologically challenging second period, Amherst was still full of aggression, creating even more opportunities in the third period.

These attempts culminated in a breakthrough for the Amherst to even the score at 2-2. The team’s leading scorer, Tori Salmon ’15, buried a slap shot into the upper ninety corner of the goal. It was Salmon’s 16th score of the year thanks to an assist from senior co-captain Hayley Opperman. Coming back from a 2-0 deficit, the Jeffs appeared to have the momentum as the end of the game neared. However, with 18:42 on the clock, Jess Barkely of Colby snuck a rebound past a diving Kerri Stuart ’14.

The heart-wrenching score put the Jeffs down a goal with just over a minute remaining.

Despite the shock, the Jeffs mounted some dangerous attempts on net after pulling Stuart to gain an advantage. However, Conn. gained the puck in the corner and managed to kill the clock to preserve the win.

“As I told our players after the game, they certainly deserved to be on the winning side of Saturday’s contest and that we were proud of their effort, but unfortunately in the game of ice hockey sometimes, this can happen,” Matthews said after the game.

Unfortunately, it appears unlikely that the Jeffs will get an NCAA bid, especially with Middlebury also getting upset in the NESCAC tourney. Only eight teams make the NCAA tournament, and Amherst would be the third selection from the NESCAC at best. It’s a disappointing ending for a team that achieved so much throughout the year.

“Overall, we improved upon last season, finishing in second place in the NESCAC, and were ranked in the top 10 for pretty much the entire season, fluctuating anywhere from fifth to 10th, said an optimistic Matthews. “We are excited to continue our hard work to take another step next season.”

ATHLETE SPOTLIGHT

Dave Cunningham ’16

Naomi Bates ’14

Favorite Team Memory: Beating Trinity this year in their barn Favorite Pro Athlete: Nomar Garciaparra Dream Job: SportsCenter anchor Pet Peeve: People who wear socks to sleep Favorite Vacation Spot: Disney World Something on Your Bucket List: Postcollege cross country road trip with the boys Guilty Pleasure: Dunkin Donuts Medium Iced Coffee, cream and sugar, of course.

Favorite Food: Anything from D.D. Favorite Thing About Amherst: My teammates

Favorite Team Memory: When I injured my hamstring a week before 2013 NCAA’s, I couldn’t compete, but my teammates still earned an All-American performance Favorite Pro Athlete: Allyson Felix Dream Job: Professional singer Pet Peeve: When people talk just to hear the sound of their own voice Favorite Vacation Spot: Cape Town Something on Your Bucket List: Visit Italy Guilty Pleasure: Pretty Little Liars or Dance Moms Favorite Food: Sushi or hot dogs Favorite Thing About Amherst: Nice weather at the end of the year

Melton Lifts Jeffs in All New Englands Meet

Chris Rigas ’16 Staff Writer

Thanks to senior Matt Melton’s third place finish in the 400-meters, the Amherst men’s track team took 27th in the field of 37 teams that competed in the NEICAAA Championships. The meet, also known as the All New Englands, included athletes from Div. I, II and III, but Melton’s time of 47.91 seconds was good enough to beat everyone but Rhode Island sophomore Kebba Nasso and Southern Connecticut State senior Logan Sharpe. The time was also the fastest in Div. III this year.

“Matt was awesome in the 400m,” Head Coach Erik Nedeau said. “[He] got under 48 seconds for the first time to go along with placing third.”

No other Jeffs finished high enough to earn points, although sophomores Dan Crowley (8:35.79) and Jeff Seelaus (8:40.99) turned in notable performances in the 3000-meters, finishing 12th and 20th. Junior Romey Sklar was 15th in the mile with a time of 4:15.69, and the distance medley team of Lucas Lebovitz ’15, Jamie Sandel ’17, Jesse Fajnzylber ’17 and Kevin Connors ’17 took 13th in 10:20.03.

Finally, junior Nick Codola ran a 1:56.66 in

Browne Closes Squash Season With 20-7 Record Lauren Tuiskula ’17 Staff Writer

Photo courtesy of Niahlah Hope’15

Courtney Baranek ’14 tries to create offense for Jeffs in their loss against Colby. She closes her Amherst career with 16 goals and 21 assists in 101 games.

the 800-meters, which was good for 27th in the prelims.

“Nick had a big PR in the 800 and the guys running the DMR were all awesome,” Nedeau said.

The Jeffs’ schedule includes two meets this week: the Tufts Last Chance on Thursday and the ECAC Championships on Friday and Saturday. According to Nedeau, a distance medley team will try to qualify for the NCAA Div. III Championships (March 14-15) at the Last Chance meet, while the rest of the athletes will focus on the ECAC Championships.

None of the Amherst women finished high enough to win points, but Naomi Bates ’14 (25.10) and Karen Blake ’17 (25.35) impressed in the 200-meters. Bates’ time was the eighth fastest in Div. III this year, and put her in 10th place after the preliminaries, two spots outside of qualifying for the finals. In the 800-meters, Hannah Herrera ’17 took 14th, finishing in 2:18.59, while senior Amy Dao ran the mile in 5:05.32, finishing 18th. Junior Kelli Ellingson ran a 3:03.99 in the 1000-meter prelims, which was good for 20th.

The women will also compete in the ECAC Championships this Friday and Saturday, March 7 and 8.

Sophomore phenom Noah Browne represented Amherst men’s squash at the 2014 CSA Individual Championships held at Univ. of Penn. this past weekend.

Browne, ranked 33rd in the country, posted a 1-2 record for the tournament after facing a tough draw.

In the opening round of play, Browne suffered a 3-0 defeat to Ramit Tandon of Columbia, who is ranked third in the country, by a score of 11-2, 11-3 and 11-5. Tandon would go on to advance to the semifinals.

Browne moved on to the consolation bracket, where he went the distance in a fivegame victory over Yale’s Neil Martin, ranked 14th in the country. The two went back and forth in extremely competitive play, but Browne prevailed with a 13-11, 6-11, 11-6, 4-11, 11-7 win.

This upset pitted Browne against 24ndranked Ahmed Hatata of Bates in the consolation quarterfinals. Despite an 11-7 victory in the first game, Browne dropped the next three, falling 3-1 by a final score of 11-7, 3-11, 9-11, 3-11 to end the sophomore’s run.

The only Jeff participating in the individual championships, Browne posted a 13-5 record in dual-match play for Amherst this season and is a first team All-NESCAC selection.

Highlights of his season include a five game win over 25th-ranked, Kah Wah Cheong, of Yale to be the sole win for his team against the Bulldogs. Browne was also the sole victor for the Jeffs again against Middlebury, Franklin & Marshall and Williams.

Notably, Browne defeated seventh-ranked Abhishek Pradhan in the F&M match by a tight five game score, 6-11, 14-12, 7-11, 11-8, 11-7. Head Coach Peter Robson believes this match to be arguably one of the biggest wins of Browne’s career.

The Amherst Student • March 5, 2014

Sports 11

Women’s Basketball Falls in Let’s Kick Some Balls Questions? Patrick Can Field Them NESCAC Finals to Jumbos

Patrick Canfield ’16

Dori Atkins ’16 Sports Section Editor The Amherst women’s basketball team fell short of another NESCAC title, losing to Tufts 62-46 in the NESCAC Championship this past Sunday. Even with the loss, the Jeffs will continue their season in the first round of the NCAA Tournament after receiving an at-large bid. Despite the gut-wrenching end to the regular season, Amherst still proved to be a team to watch with their decisive victory over Bowdoin in the NESCAC Semifinals.

The Jeffs took on the Polar Bears on Saturday at Tufts, and walked away with a narrow 45-42 triumph. The game was a tight contest throughout, with the neither team’s lead larger than six points. Despite turning the ball over 12 times in the first half, Bowdoin remained on top, 20-16, going into the intermission.

The Jeffs finally took the lead 14 minutes into the second half 26-24 on a Marley Giddins ’16 layup. Amherst continued to build a cushion, despite a strong individual effort from Anna Prohl of the Polar Bears.

The Jeffs continued to lead by one-possession for the last 10 minutes of the game.

“On Saturday our defense held at crucial moments especially in the second half,” said Coach Gromacki.

The Jeffs had an answer to every comeback attempt mounted by Bowdoin and ended up hanging on to win by three points.

While first-year Ali Doswell led all scorers with 15 points, the Jeffs also saw strong performances from Giddins, Hannah Peterson ’17, Jaimie Renner ’17 and Savannah Holness ’15. Giddins contributed 11 points, eight rebounds and two blocks, while Peterson had eight points and six boards. Both Renner and Holness had four steals and blocks.

“Saturday was a very competitive game,” said co-captain Cheyenne Pritchard ’16.

“Bowdoin played extremely hard, and ultimately our defense and some key rebounds won the game for us. They have a lot size so we had to adjust our play, and we did what we had to do to win.”

Coming off a well-deserved win on Saturday, the Jeffs could not find their rhythm in Sunday’s contest.

“We were excited to play for a NESCAC championship, but could not get our shots to fall and missed some defensive assignments,” added Gromacki.

The Jeffs lost to Tufts during the regular season as well, so this was especially heartbreaking. Although getting off to a fast start with a Pritchard three-pointer, the Jumbos of Tufts answered with an immediate 6-0 run, led by Liz Moynihan.

After tying the score at 10 midway

through the first half, the Jumbos continued their momentum and went on an 11-1 run.

The Jumbos added to their lead right at the start of the second half with another 8-3 run, forcing Amherst down 12 points.

With just over five minutes remaining in regulation, Ali Doswell brought the team back within 11 after finding the long range.

A Haley Zwecker ’16 two-pointer and a Doswell free throw further reduced the margin to eight points, but this was not enough to stop Tufts, as they responded with a 12-2 run in the last few minutes of the game to halt the comeback attempt.

Ultimately, Tufts’ defense carried them to victory, as they only shot 37.3 percent from the floor. The Jeffs were limited to a 28.6 percent shooting percentage. The Jumbos also out-battled Amherst on rebounds and second chance points in the paint.

“Tufts is well coached and they play as a unit,” said Pritchard. “There are things we practiced and didn’t do, so we know we can play with them if we get another chance. Obviously we wanted to win Sunday, but our ultimate goal is still here. We are looking forward to this weekend and are extremely motivated — it’s do or die now.”

After falling short of their fifth straight conference title, Amherst will look to get back into a rhythm starting this weekend against Springfield College.

Despite losing over the weekend, the Jeffs still played exceptionally well in the regular season and have the potential to go far in the NCAA Tournament.

In off-the-court news, star junior Megan Robertson was home this weekend to get knee surgery.

Her absence has been a major adjustment for the Jeffs, but the young team has managed to step up fairly consistently throughout the season. Although she could not be a physical presence for her team, Robertson still had valuable input as the Jeffs move forward.

“I think we learned a lot this weekend from both games,” said Robertson. “We were able to persevere throughout a tight game on Saturday and gain experience under pressure.

As a team, we did not perform at our best on Sunday, and I think that we were able to learn some valuable lessons that will help us as we head into NCAAs. It will definitely provide motivation as well.”

The Jeffs will face Springfield College (who enter play with a 17-11 record) on Saturday, March 8. If both the Jeffs and Jumbos win their first three games in the NCAA Tournament, the pair of NESCAC rivals would be on track to square off in the National Quarterfinals. Another familiar NESCAC foe, Williams (20-5) could meet Amherst in the National Semifinals if both teams advance that far.

Three Divers Qualify for NCAA Tournament Patrick Yang ’16 Staff Writer The Amherst men’s and women’s diving teams traveled to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York to compete in the NCAA Regional Diving Championships from February 28 to March 1.

44 divers from the Northeast-North Region’s 65 schools competed for seven available spots in the NCAA meet.

The student-athletes qualify in one of two ways: by meeting the qualifying standard twice during the qualification period or once at their conference championship meet on either diving board.

Senior Lizzy Linsmayer qualified on the women’s side, finishing the 3-meter championship in second place with 512.80 points, and fourth in the 1-meter championship with

a score of 462.90.

Colin White ’14 and Mark Idleman ’15 both qualified on the men’s side. In the 1-meter dive, Idleman placed second at 537.55 points while White came in fourth at 512.55.

The tables turned in the 3-meter dive.

White finished in second with a score of 561.35 and Idleman finished fifth with 499.75.

The qualifications mean a lot for the divers. “I’m excited to have qualified for nationals a second time, and I’m looking forward to competing with my two fellow Amherst divers in Indianapolis,” said Idleman. “I’m just focusing on being relaxed and diving consistently in the time leading up to NCAAs.” The NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships will be held from March 19 to March 22 in Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis.

With soccer becoming an increasingly popular sport in both America and around the globe, the world is anxiously awaiting the 2014 World Cup that is to be hosted in Brazil. Patrick breaks down the favorites to win the most coveted trophy in sports and analyzes the American chances to bring home their first ever crown. Will the Americans fail to live up to expectations again, or will they play to their potential and advance deep in the tourney?

Every four summers, soccer fandom in the United States reaches new heights. As the best players around the globe gather in search of the most coveted trophy in soccer, everyone seems to be in a better mood. The combination of competitive soccer, summer and patriotism leads to a special atmosphere around every World Cup. Worldwide, there are 250 million soccer players in over two hundred countries, making soccer the world’s most popular sport. The 2010 World Cup in South Africa saw an average of 400 million viewers per match, and 700 million were expected to tune in for the final.

American interest in soccer has seen substantial growth in recent years. An average of three million Americans watched each World Cup game, up sixty percent from 2006 while the U.S. team remained in the competition. The final drew 24 million American viewers. Behind basketball and baseball, soccer is the third most played team sport in America with thirteen million participants. An ESPN poll ranked soccer as the second most popular sport among the 12-24 age group.

33 million Americans now describe themselves as avid soccer fans, and for the first time, the NBC Sports Network live broadcasts every English Premier League game in the U.S. Major League Soccer, the highest level of American soccer, has seen average attendance rise to 18,000 per game, above the NBA and NHL. The MLS hopes to be among the top soccer leagues by 2022 and shows signs of progress, improving the level of competition by importing European stars in the twilights of their careers. Unfortunately for the MLS, only 7.2 million of the 33 million avid American soccer fans are fans of MLS. This number will only rise as the league attracts more talent and established stars.

Although the U.S. Men’s National Team reached the quarterfinals of the 2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan, much of its success has come in the last five years. In the Confederations Cup, an exhibition tournament that takes place a year before the World Cup, the U.S. beat number one ranked Spain in 2009 before losing 3-2 to Brazil in the final.

One year later, the United States had a strong showing in South Africa, winning its group for the first time since 1930. In the next stage, the Round of 16, Ghana eliminated the U.S. 2-1 in heartwrenching fashion, scoring the decisive goal in extra time.

Jürgen Klinsmann has since replaced Bob Bradley as head coach. Under Klinsmann, who previously managed the German National Team and renowned German club Bayern Munich, the U.S. has adapted a more fluid play style that is fun to watch. Recently, the team beat Italy 1-0 in 2012 for the first time in U.S. history and second-ranked Germany 4-3 in 2013 en route to a twelve-game winning streak.

Americans playing in Europe have long been stigmatized as hardworking players ultimately lacking the skill and feel for the game required in top leagues. The current men’s team, however, has plenty of European experience. Casual American soccer fans likely know the names of established national team players such as Landon Donovan, Tim Howard, Clint Dempsey and Jozy Altidore.

Michael Bradley played in the top Italian league before returning to the MLS and may be the best position player for the U.S. in Brazil. The shiny bald midfielder excels at turning defense into offense with quick counter-attacks toward the opponent’s goal.

Several new players who have seen their stock rise under Klinsmann will be looking to establish themselves on the international stage as well. Graham Zusi is a creative midfielder who plays with a flair rarely seen in an American team, and Geoff Cameron, a starting right back in the Premier League, combines solid defense in the air with

composure on the ball. Aron Johannsson, a promising young striker, has scored an encouraging thirteen goals in Europe and will attempt to make a name for himself at this World Cup. The U.S. faces a tough challenge in the group stages, having drawn Germany, Portugal, and Ghana. If they can advance, the Americans will likely play Belgium or, ideally, Russia in what look to be difficult but winnable match-ups. In all likelihood, Argentina will be awaiting the U.S. in the next round, should the Americans advance.

The Brazil World Cup marks the first major international competition since 2006 in which Spain will not be the heavy favorite. Spain enters Brazil coming off of back-to-back European Championships, winning in 2008 and 2012, as well as a 2010 World Cup title. Now it appears as though Spain’s reign as the world’s best team is coming to an end.

Germany looks poised to take the helm with its ruthless counter-attacking replacing Spain’s relentless possession. The Germans combine precision offense with stout defense but have yet to put it all together in a major tournament.

That may not occur this year ­— no European nation has ever won a World Cup in South America. Brazil, the host nation, has been pegged as the favorite to add another title to its record five. Brazil boasts a young squad with world-class talent at every position — although goalkeeping could be a weakness. Look for Neymar to make a statement.

He combines speed and agility with great dribbling skills, finishing, and vision.

Argentina is considered to be one of Brazil’s greatest challengers. Lionel Messi, widely recognized as the best player in the world and Neymar’s teammate at Barcelona, will view anything less than winning the title a failure. The two South American nations are soccer powerhouses with a great shot at winning the whole thing. Still, a championship for Germany or Spain would hardly come as a surprise.

In each World Cup, the player who scores the most goals is awarded the Golden Boot. Thomas Müller of Germany won the award in 2010 with five goals. Several competitors will be vying for the award this year. Among South Americans, likely candidates are Neymar, Messi and Sergio Agüero (Argentina), Edinson Cavani and Luis Suarez (Uruguay) and Falcao (Colombia) if he has recovered from injury in time. Of the Europeans, Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal), Robin van Persie (Netherlands), Romelu Lukaku (Belgium) and Mario Balotelli (Italy) all stand a chance. For many South American strikers, there may not be enough goals to go around. Suarez has arguably been the best striker in the world this season, but I don’t see Uruguay progressing far enough for him to win the Golden Boot. As the focus of a very talented attack and without a top tier striker in front of him, Neymar is my choice as winner of the Golden Boot.

Brazil is the easy favorite to win its group, which would afford it a relatively simple path to the semifinal. Germany will likely face Brazil in the Semis after they dispatch a talented but unsteady France. Argentina also appears to be a favorite to reach the Semis. A face-off between Argentina and the United States is not a promising one for the American men; the magic created by Argentina’s many gifted attackers will prove too much for the Americans to hold back.

Spain and Italy look primed to meet each other in a closely contested match in the quarterfinals.

Spain is the better team and, with tons of experience, will ultimately overwhelm the Italians. Brazil can beat Germany and will advance to the final.

A match-up with Argentina seems too good to be true and I think that Spain has the acumen to take advantage of Argentina’s weakness in defense. In the final, Brazil’s young team will be cheered by an entire nation, propelling them to an exciting victory over Spain.

Sports

“Junior forward Mike Rowbotham scored the first goal for the Jeffs against Conn. College...”

Men’s Hockey Advances... Page 9

Photo courtesy of Niahlah Hope’15

Connor Green ’16 continued his strong sophomore campaign as he poured in 21 points against Williams in the NESCAC Finals Sunday. The Jeffs will look to continue their hot shooting in their first NCAA tournament game Saturday.

Men’s Basketball Dominates in NESCAC Finals

Beats Rival Williams for Third Consecutive Championship Jason Stein ’16 Sports Section Editor With their 93-82 victory over Williams on Sunday, March 2 in the NESCAC Championship, the Jeffs triumphantly cut down the nets at LeFrak Gymnasium after earning their third straight NESCAC title and the seventh overall in program history. As a testament to Amherst’s outstanding performance in the NESCAC Tournament and strong overall body of work, the Jeffs were one of two teams, along with Emory University, awarded a first round bye in the NCAA Tournament (also for the third consecutive year), proving that the Jeffs are widely regarded as one of the nation’s top teams.

After Amherst won the NESCAC regular season tittle for the third straight season and defeated Colby in the NESCAC Quarterfinals Saturday, Feb. 22, the Jeffs’ road to the NESCAC Championship began with a convincing home win over the Trinity Bantams in the NESCAC Semifinals.

On Saturday, the Jeffs proved to be too much for the Bantams. While Trinity managed to stay in the game through the first half, Amherst outlasted the Bantams with a particularly strong second half to pull away with the victory.

As the Jeffs held a 24-23 lead with upwards of eight minutes left in the first half, five consecutive points from Bantams center George Papadeas ’15 gave Trinity a 28-24 lead over Amherst.

The remainder of the half, the Jeffs were not denied on offense. Over the final six minutes, the Jeffs outscored the Bantams 17-6 to take a 43-38 lead into halftime.

Senior guard Aaron Toomey scored 21 points in the first half, including shooting five of eight from deep.

After halftime, the Jeffs cruised the rest of the way. Less than three minutes into the second half, senior Tom Killian’s triple gave the Jeffs a doubledigit lead at 50-39. The remainder of the game, Amherst continued to build their lead and finished with an 80-62 victory.

Offensively, the Jeffs and Bantams were evenly matched with regard to shooting percentage in the first half, but the Jeffs performed better in the second half. On top of that, Amherst held a significant edge in shooting from three-point range throughout the game, as the Jeffs managed to shoot 45.8% from behind the arc overall, while the Bantams shot a measly 14.3 percent. Amherst also did a better job controlling the ball and limiting turnovers.

Toomey led Amherst past Trinity, finishing with a whopping 36 points. Toomey’s offensive stat line was highlighted by sharpshooting from behind the arc and from the charity stripe, as he converted all 14 free throws he attempted. David Kalema ’14 and Killian each added 12 points, while sophomore guard Connor Green turned in an 11 point effort complementing Toomey’s offensive performance.

Of late, the offensive unit has really clicked. “I think we have found our rhythm,” Killian said. “Everyone is sharing the ball and we are taking high percentage shots almost every possession.”

Continuing his impressive performance on the defensive end, David George ’17 blocked an astounding seven shots, tying a career-high, and pulled down six rebounds.

In a combined 26 minutes, junior forwards Joseph Mussachia and Alex Levine combined for 10 rebounds, six of which came on the offensive glass, to combat the Bantam’s size and the physicality.

The Jeffs had a quick turnaround after their win over Trinity, as they squared off against Williams for the second consecutive time in the NESCAC Finals Sunday.

Killian shouldered the load early on, as he scored 17 straight points for the Jeffs. While Amherst held a 22-17 lead against Williams with 12 minutes remaining in the half, the Ephs surged with a 20-7 run. Ephs forward Duncan Robinson’s three gave Williams a nine-point cushion over Amherst with 5:50 remaining in the half. Yet, the Jeffs got right back into the game behind the play of Killian and Green. With time winding down in the first half, senior Connor Gach’s three-pointer

pulled Amherst to within one heading into half.

In 16 first-half minutes, Killian hit seven of eight and scored 20 points. Late in the half, Green caught fire and finished with 10 points in the period.

Early in the second half, the NESCAC archrivals traded buckets as no team gained a clear edge, but in just over two minutes of action midway through the second half, Kalema, Green, and Killian each buried a shot from behind the arc, giving the Jeffs command of the game. The Jeffs finished the game on a 19-7 run to seal the deal with a 93-82 victory.

On the day, Killian poured in a career-high 31 points. He was incredibly efficient as he converted 10 of 12 shots. Killian was recognized as the NESCAC Player of the Week for his efforts.

While Toomey did not repeat his 36 point performance, he contributed a great all-around effort, turning in a triple-double with 12 points, 12 assists, and 10 rebounds.

Green (21 points) and Kalema (15 points) both provided key sparks to the offense, while George contributed nine points and 10 rebounds.

“I think our team was very determined,” Kalema said. “We had put in a lot of work to be able to host the NESCAC Championship. Both of those games were challenging in their own right. Trinity was physical and Williams had a chip on their shoulder from our previous matchups, but when it came down to it, we pulled away because we were determined to defend our home court.”

After winning the NESCAC Tournament and earning a first round bye in the NCAA Tournament, Amherst now stands five victories from defending its national title and picking up its third National Championship in program history (Amherst also won in 2007).

Amherst’s 2014 tournament appearance marks the fourth consecutive year that the Jeffs have made the NCAA Tournament.

“The seniors have been incredible,” Coach David Hixon said. “I think the seniors are doing a

great job. As a team, the guys are doing terrific, but the seniors are really leading and I couldn’t be more proud of a group than what our seniors have done.”

The graduating class of 2014—who are 9-2 lifetime in the NCAA Tournament—will look to make their third career trip to the Elite Eight and repeat as national champions.

“Repeating is on all of our minds, but taking each game one at a time is critical,” Killian said.

“Our motto this year has been ‘one more’. We just want to win the next game and keep moving forward that way. When you start to think only about a national championship, upsets happen.”

On Saturday, March 8, the Jeffs take on the winner of Rhode Island College (20-8) and York College (21-7). Amherst earned a 20 point home victory over the Anchormen from Rhode Island College at the end of January.

A Jeffs’ triumph over the winner of Rhode Island College and. York sends the Jeffs into the next week of play, with both the Sweet 16 and the Elite Eight scheduled for the weekend of March 14-15.

A potential third round match-up for the Jeffs would be a familiar opponent in Plattsburgh State, whom the Jeffs defeated 89-72 in the second round of the 2013 NCAA Tournament. Amherst could be on track for a rematch against Cabrini (25-1) in the Elite Eight, whom the Jeffs beat last year. The Jeffs could also possibly face a familiar NESCAC opponent, Bowdoin, in the Elite Eight. If both the Jeffs and the Ephs win their regions, they would be on a collision course to meet again in the Final Four on Friday, March 21 in Salem, Virginia.

“We are definitely moving in the right direction,” Kalema said. “We had a couple setbacks this season, but we have found our stride recently. With that said, I still think we can raise our level of play.

Last year, we played our best basketball in March and April so we know how difficult the tournament can be especially when you’re matched up with teams you haven’t seen before. I think our best basketball is yet to come, which is scary to think about.”