Issue 3

THE AMHERST

THE INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER OF AMHERST COLLEGE SINCE 1868

STUDENT VOLUME CXLVII, ISSUE 3 l WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2017

Football Dominates Bates in Season Opener See Sports, Page 9 AMHERSTSTUDENT.AMHERST.EDU

College Hires New Administrative and Support Staff Emma Swislow ’20 Assistant News Editor

Photo courtesy of Faith Wen ’20

The college’s many summer construction projects include the new landscape design and pathway between Keefe Campus Center and Merrill Science Center.

Construction Projects Aim to Improve Campus Ariana Lee ’20 Staff Writer The college took on new construction projects around campus this summer, including continued construction of the new science center, landscaping to the west of Keefe Campus Center, improvements to Marsh, Plimpton, Moore and Newport dormitories and rearrangement of resource centers in Keefe.

The most prominent project — the new science center, which began in the summer of 2016 and is slated to finish in the summer of 2018 — aimed to create more common spaces and laboratories to foster interdisciplinary partnerships among students of various science departments, according to the college’s website.

“The biology and chemistry departments will share multiple research labs, with student write-up space nearby, which will create opportunities for

students involved in different projects to engage with and learn from one another,” the site said.

Dorm improvements were made to create “better ... common spaces for student use,” Director of Design and Construction Tom Davies said in an email.

The biggest challenge, Davies said, was “the tremendous amount of construction activity … compressed into the 11 or 12 weeks between reunion [weekend] and when students return for the next semester.”

In addition to the time limits, Davies said the college faced issues in renovating older buildings and discovering hidden conditions that needed attention.

“An interesting example of this was at Marsh, where it was discovered that the large columns’ foundations were largely decayed,” said Davies.

“The building was temporarily supported with columns hanging from above, old crumbed foun-

dations removed and new concrete foundations built. This made a very interesting sight for passersby.”

These unexpected difficulties meant that some projects, such as the outside stairs near Keefe and Merrill Science Center, furniture on the balcony of Valentine Hall and the addition of lounge furniture in the improved dorms could not completed over the summer.

Although the completed projects are relatively new, Davies said he has received positive responses showcasing the impact of these improvements.

“The various centers in Keefe Campus Center are excited about the potentials that the new spaces afford them, [such as] the Women’s and Gender Center’s new and larger space on the second floor,” he said.

The new fire pit outside of the campus center

Continued on Page 3

The college announced new staff hires over the summer. Some of the most significant additions include Chief Advancement Officer C.J. Menard and several members of the Office of Diversity and Inclusion.

Menard was hired after several months of searching. During this time, candidates interviewed with the board of trustees and President Biddy Martin. The process culminated with nine applicants visiting Amherst for interviews with a committee comprised of Dean of the Faculty Catherine Epstein, Chief Financial Officer Kevin Weinman, Special Assistant to the President Susan Pikor and trustee Andrew Nussbaum ’85.

“From the start, it was clear to me that C.J. was a really strong candidate, and I’m delighted that he chose to come to Amherst,” Epstein said.

“I really look forward to working with him.”

At Amherst, Menard will help steer the college in the Campaign for the Third Century, which was outlined in the 2015 strategic plan.

The campaign, which launches in the fall of 2017, will focus on goals such as continuing efforts create a diverse community at Amherst and helping the liberal arts educational philosophy. Throughout this project, Menard hopes to learn more about Amherst as an institution, build relationships with donors and help move the college forward.

“I’ve had a number of different titles through the years, and it seems like every time that someone figures out that our name means fundraising, they change it to something else,” Menard said. “We use the term ‘advancement’ because the nature of our job is to support the advancement of the institution, making sure that it’s not sitting still, that it’s always moving forward and being the very best that it can be.”

Menard graduated from Colgate University in 1984 and worked in various corporate,

Continued on Page 3

Title IX to Remain in Place Despite DeVos’ Speech Kathleen Maeder ’20 Staff Writer Following Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos’ speech on Sept. 7, in which she discussed plans to remove or alter portions of Title IX guidelines, the college’s administration vowed to continue in their efforts to prevent and manage sexual misconduct cases.

DeVos’ announcement targeted a Title IX guidance letter for colleges issued by the Obama administration, which created a new set of regulations for managing sexual misconduct cases on campuses across the U.S. Title IX protects individuals from sex-based discrimination in any federally funded education program or activity. DeVos emphasized her concern that these guidelines went too far, leading to the possible mistreatment of those students accused of sexual assault.

“There is no way to avoid the devastating reality of campus sexual misconduct: lives have been lost,” DeVos said in her speech. “Lives of victims, and lives of the accused.”

President Biddy Martin responded to DeVos’ announcement in a statement released Sept. 8, as-

suring members of the Amherst community that both Title IX and the college’s policies regarding sexual misconduct remain in effect.

“It is important for you to know that Amherst will not pull back from our commitment to preventing sexual misconduct, to redressing the harm that it causes and to following processes that offer necessary safeguards both to those who are accused and those who bring complaints,” Martin said in her statement.

She also noted that the college’s current policies exceeded the Title IX policy and guidance established under the Obama administration.

In the aftermath of DeVos’ announcement, student groups on campus have begun to discuss the repercussions of possible changes to Title IX guidelines. Various organizations on campus, both college- and student-led, address issues of sexual respect and consent, including the Student Health Educators, the Women’s and Gender Center and Peer Advocates of Sexual Respect.

The Peer Advocates, who work for Amherst’s Title IX office, have been especially mindful of potential shifts in Title IX legislation. In an online interview, Peer Advocate (PA) Catherine Lindsay

’19 said their work concentrated primarily on preventing sexual assault through student workshops and other programming. PAs are also trained in “respond[ing] to individuals who have come to us to talk about their sexual assault,” Lindsay added.

“We’ve discussed DeVos’ announcement at length,” Lindsay said. “At this point, nothing she’s announced will affect either how the PAs operate or how Amherst College’s Title IX operates.”

If, however, DeVos “further rolls back protections guaranteed under Title IX or heightens the burden of proof on victims,” the PAs would provide opportunities for students on campus to contact their political representatives to dissuade them from pursuing these policies, Lindsay said.

Lindsay described the PAs as a resource for students in need — whether they require transportation to the Cooley Dickinson Hospital after an incident of sexual assault, help understanding the disciplinary process for misconduct cases or simply a safe space to confidentially speak their concerns. “I want Amherst College students to know that PAs are genuinely, 100 percent here for you,” wrote Lindsay.

In the days following DeVos’ announcement,

the college’s Title IX office has also been working to address possible changes to Obama-era policies. In an email interview, Title IX Coordinator Laurie Frankl said that the college’s “fundamental legal obligations under Title IX [would] remain unchanged” even if the Department of Education revokes the guidance letter issued by the previous administration. Frankl noted that the direct effect of a repeal of Obama-era guidance on the college’s policies is currently unknown.

Regardless of changes to Title IX policies, however, Frankl said the college will persist in its commitment to community and individual safety, education and prevention efforts against sexual misconduct and equitable and fair treatment of students involved in Title IX procedures.

Frankl encouraged members of the Amherst community to contact the Title IX office with any concerns or questions regarding the Department of Education’s announcement. “[Our office’s] day-to-day work of supporting students, staff and faculty around gender-based concerns, responding to reports of sexual misconduct and working to keep the community safe has not and will not change,” she said.

News

Christine Kim Sept. 11, 2017 - Sept. 18, 2017

>>Sept. 11, 2017 3:59 p.m., Hitchcock House An officer investigated a smoke detector sounding in a secondfloor room and discovered that the resident had burned a candle, which is prohibited under housing regulations. A microwave oven was also confiscated. The matter was referred to Student Affairs. >>Sept. 12, 2017 2:32 a.m., The Quadrangle An officer responded to a report of a car alarm sounding. No alarm was found upon arrival.

6:16 a.m., Morris Pratt Dormitory Officers investigated a smoke detector sounding on the fourth floor but no cause was identified.

10:48 p.m., South Pleasant Street An officer assisted a bicyclist who had fallen from his bicycle.

11:37 p.m., Seelye House While in Seelye, an officer discovered a table had been broken. >>Sept. 13, 2017 9:37 p.m., Tyler House An officer investigated a smoke detector sounding in a secondfloor room and found that the resident sprayed an insect with an aerosol can, which tripped the detector. >>Sept. 14, 2017 11:58 a.m., Campus Grounds A student reported receiving a call from a person, claiming to be from the FBI, who wanted $5,900 as tax payment on a student loan.

The student terminated the call.

4:00 p.m., Valentine Dormitory Officers and the Fire Department responded to an alarm and found it was activated by a detector in a third-floor mechanical room for an unidentified reason. Facilities was notified.

10:08 p.m., College Street An officer assisted the town police with the arrest of a motorist on College Street.

11:16 p.m., Lipton House A caller complained about loud noise from a registered party in the basement. The party sponsor was contacted and advised to lower the volume of music. >>Sept. 15, 2017 1:35 a.m., Seligman House Officers responded to a report of two naked people running around outside of the building. They were not located.

10:33 p.m., Moore Dormitory An officer discovered an unauthorized party on the third floor with alcohol. The gathering was shut down. >>Sept. 16, 2017 12:22 a.m., Hitchcock House Officers shut down a registered party of approximately 150 people

due to significant party policy violations.

12:27 a.m., Triangle Street An officer responded to a complaint about a loud party near Tyler and located it at an off-campus address. The town police were notified.

2:16 a.m., Charles Pratt Dormitory An officer responded to a noise complaint at a third-floor room and issued a warning to the resident.

2:34 a.m., Charles Pratt Dormitory While investigating a noise complaint at a third-floor room, an officer confiscated alcohol as the resident was underage.

2:35 a.m., Charles Pratt Dormitory While investigating a noise complaint at a third-floor room, an officer confiscated a marijuana grinder and a pipe used for smoking marijuana. The matter was referred to Student Affairs.

10:16 a.m., Morris Pratt Dormitory Officers investigated a smoke detector sounding in a fourth-floor room but no cause was identified.

9:34 p.m., Campus Grounds An officer encountered an underage student with alcohol. It was confiscated and the matter was referred to Student Affairs.

9:35 p.m., Campus Grounds An officer encountered an underage student with alcohol. It was confiscated and the matter was referred to Student Affairs.

11:45 p.m., Hitchcock House Officers responded to an unauthorized party involving nearly 200 people. The event was shut down and people were cleared from the house.

11:53 p.m., Sellen Street An officer encountered a student urinating in the middle of the street near Hitchcock. He was identified and the matter was referred to Student Affairs. >>Sept. 17, 2017 9:35 p.m., Lessey Street A caller reported being accosted by a person in a car while walking along Lessey Street.

10:57 p.m., Mayo Smith House A town resident complained about loud people and music at Mayo Smith. The responding officer located an unauthorized party and shut it down. >>Sept. 18, 2017 12:40 a.m., Hitchcock House A caller complained about a loud group of people outside the building. The responding officer found approximately 20 people outside and asked them to move along.

Thoughts on Theses Interdisciplinary Major

Christine Kim ’18 is an interdisciplinary major. Her thesis, titled “The Role of Medical Humanities in U.S. Education,” explores the evolving role that humanities play in medical school education. Her advisers are Professor of History John W. Servos, Professor of the History of Art and Asian Languages and Civilizations Samuel C. Morse and Health Professions Advisor Richard A. Aronson.

Q: What does it mean to be an interdisciplinary major?

A: Many people don’t realize that being an interdisciplinary major is even an option. I was originally an art history major until I spoke at length with my residential counselor at the time, who was an interdisciplinary major himself. He convinced me to become an interdisciplinary major.

While it comes with certain requirements, such as having to take at least six relevant courses that you choose and having to write a thesis, I certainly think it’s a rewarding experience.

Q: How does the subject of medical humanities contribute to your thesis?

A: It’s certainly a broad topic. It’s a topic that has been around since around the 1970s and is a heavily researched topic. Medical humanities describes the intersection of humanities in medical education. I decided to narrow the topic down to U.S. medical schools. Basically, I’m looking at medical schools as educational institutions and exploring the role of humanities and how they play into the training of doctors.

Q: How do you plan on approaching this topic?

A: I was convinced that the best way to approach this would be to do interviews of students and faculty at U.S. medical schools and analyze the social and cultural challenges that the humanities departments at medical schools face. To get a wellrounded understanding, I plan on interviewing 10 students and faculty involved in medical schools with humanities departments and 10 students and faculty that are not involved in humanities in their medical schools. The background here is a movement that started about 50 years ago of attempting to produce more humane doctors: exploring exactly what it meant to be a humane doctor and more importantly, teaching medical students how best to communicate with future patients. However, this movement has not yet been entirely incorporated into medical school curricula. It was only just recently, for example, that they added social sciences to the MCAT [Medical College Admissions Test]. This step has been long anticipated. Many doctors give lip service to being more humanistic, caring, compassionate and being good listeners, but the fact that we live in a biologically-centered Western society gets in the way of including the humanities in medical school education. Because of this, I plan on interviewing current faculty and students, but also reviewing historical literature concerning this movement.

Q: How do you think the Western focus on the biological disrupts this incorporation?

A: It has a lot to do with the history of how medical schools were set up. Most medical schools in the U.S. still feel the impact of the Flexner report [a book-length study on recommendations for medical school reform published in 1910].

Flexner’s report revolutionized how medical schools taught and selected students — and it revolved around research. It made the push to turn medical schools and hospitals into research hubs. The social, cultural and political context of the U.S. at the time facilitated his recommendations coming to fruition. However, we are seeing a harder time bringing humanities in lockstep with contemporary medical school curricula even though this incorporation would further their goal of producing better doctors — likely because of our overwhelming focus on the biological that ignores the many contributions that the social sci-

ences and the humanities can and have played in advancing medical outcomes. Crucially, medical schools tend to follow trends in general education as a whole, mainly because they themselves are educational institutions as as well. The general vogue in higher education has been including more STEM [science, technology, engineering and mathematics] classes and less humanities, and medical schools have similarly followed suit.

Q: What do you think are the consequences of not including enough humanities in U.S. medical curriculum?

A: We lose an opportunity to sharpen an important skill in the medicine: communication. While it’s true you are treating disease as a doctor, you are interacting with people, and people of different backgrounds view or perceive disease and medicine differently through different cultural lenses.

The humanities in medical training provide an important opportunity to improve the cultural sensitivity of future physicians and to provide a crucial awareness of how medicine is looked at and approached differently by those of different backgrounds.

Q: What inspired you to pursue this thesis?

A: I came to Amherst as a pre-med student not really knowing what doctors do in real life. I had no idea what it was like to be a doctor on a dayto-day basis. I took the courses I needed for premed, but not really caring that much … because I lacked the passion for it. I feel as if I did it for the sake of doing it. Between sophomore and junior year, however, I took a gap year to work as a paramedic in Cambridge — that is what interested me in EMS [emergency medical services]. I went to paramedic school, and that allowed me to get clinical exposure. I also did clinical research at the oncology unit at a hospital and got a different exposure in the sense that I was now part of the hospital “system,” rather than simply field experience.

However, I was pretty disappointed by my time at the hospital. We often have ideas about what the medical system is or ought to be, and I think more often than not our medical system disappoints the individuals it intends to serve. My experience as a paramedic and a researcher helped show me many of the ways in which our medical system fails us.

Seeing how our medical system is broken helped me to start asking questions about why doctors face such challenges delivering proper care under this system. Also, like I said, before I took a gap year I was an art history major, and I had a conversation at the time with a professor from Harvard who takes medical students to art museums and teaches them how to formally critique art. He did a study that showed something like a 30 percent increase in correct diagnostic skills after teaching medical students such skills. These experiences were the inspiration behind my thesis.

Q: What classes helped you develop your idea for this thesis?

A: I kept seeing patterns in many of my classes.

In particular was “Social Class” by Professor [of Sociology Ron] Lembo, which encouraged me to do interviews on top of simply literature review.

His class in particular taught me the value of interviewing and how there is only so much that can be learned through literature without confronting the actual lived experiences of individuals in real life.

— Eddie Rego ’19

The Amherst Student • September 20, 2017

News

3

AAS Senate Candidate Statements for Class of 2021 On Friday, Sept. 22, the AAS will hold elections for eight senators from the class of 2021. The students below have announced their candidacies for these elections. Students who are interested in hearing from these candidates, or interested in running but were unable to submit a candidate statement, should attend Speech Night on Thursday, Sept. 21 at 7 p.m. in Merrill 1.

Hayley Fleming: If elected, I will: 1) ensure that all members of the freshman class can understand what’s going on behind the scenes at Amherst, 2) work to make Amherst a more inclusive and accepting environment for all community members, regardless of race, income or sexual orientation and 3) always accurately convey the opinions and concerns of the freshman class to the rest of the student body, faculty and administration. My goal is to make sure your voice is heard, and I hope you’ll let me be your voice.

Andrea Webb: Inclusion and accessibility. These words are the backbone of my campaign. I have served as class president and founder of the Contra Costa Democratic Society, where I’ve found that the biggest upsets among my constituents mainly revolved around feeling silenced. I plan to completely eradicate this problem by 1) instituting an online AAS “suggestion box” to allow students to take part in student government from the comfort of their dorm and 2) adding advisory positions to the AAS for student-athletes to eliminate the athlete/non-athlete divide. I promise to be your voice.

Jeremy Thomas: I’m a prospective English and LJST double major from Houston, Texas. I’m interested in the functions of our school and would love the opportunity to make it even better. My mom told me growing up that “I should be quick, to cut someone hustle. So, don’t get comfortable.”

My mom didn’t say this, but I will serve you with this mentality once you elect me as senator.

Margot Lurie: I care about making positive change in the Amherst community. I am a skilled listener and speaker, a combination that allows me to gather your input and communicate it effectively. I have experience with student government, and I held a variety of leadership positions throughout high school. I am very comfortable working and negotiating with others to arrive at the best outcome. If elected, I will work to create the Amherst you want!

Witter Swanson: I promise to always be open to suggestion, to be committed to practicality and to always work towards making life at Amherst the best that it can be. I’ve only been here a few weeks, so I’m not going to pretend I know many of the problems on campus or even solutions, but I’ll make sure to have an open mind and work diligently to solve any issues that may arise.

Haley Greene: While it is clear that we attend a remarkable institution with abounding opportuni-

ties for success and intellectual freedom, I believe we as students have the ability to perfect Amherst College and create an environment catered to our vast interests and personalities. Instead of articulating my personal hopes for our community, I would like to express my interest in identifying the aspirations of our diverse class and being your voice if given the opportunity to represent the student body.

Sonakshi Dua: I want to represent you amazing people because I want to make sure your voices are heard. I’m super easy to talk to (and spot because I have red hair and a British accent) and as a debater, I’m good at conveying your ideas. I will bring my experience from my three years of student government to the AAS. Not only do I want to be a bridge between you and the administration, I also want to find ways to bridge the student-athlete divide and the gap between our taste buds and Val food.

Matthew Sanders: I’m a student-athlete on the swim team from New Jersey. I love learning from people and look forward to making new friends.

I’ll work to foster a tight-knit community by bridging divides and working to achieve prosperity through collective bonding. I believe the best way to promote camaraderie and friendship is through molding consensus among diverse viewpoints. I’m excited for the relationships we’ll build in the future and to spend the next four years with the talented, curious and friendly bicentennial class of 2021!

Catie Burkhart: I am passionate about working diligently for our community and will work hard to help achieve your individual goals. I am organized, dedicated and outgoing. I think that my positive attitude and work ethic would help me be a productive member of the AAS. I hope that I can build on Amherst’s positive atmosphere and make it an even more enjoyable place for all students.

Jack Kiryk: I guarantee I will listen to your ideas and fight to implement change that you want to see. In addition to always being open to your ideas, I also aim to resolutely push for a green campus, where we offset our emissions by investing in green energy sources. As our needs and wants shift, I’ll vote accordingly for change that benefits and is relevant to us all!

Ashira Mawji: As Amherst students we share a collective identity — and on a campus the size of a molehill, there’s no escaping each other. Take a moment to appreciate our unique opportunity!

When again will we spend four years in such close quarters with one set of people? I envision a single unit that finds power in solidarity and creates strength from diversity. I believe that we, the class of 2021, can make a mountain out of our molehill.

I have a mammoth vision for Amherst.

However, there are times when I feel more can be done for inclusion on campus, starting off with the idea that we “diverse” students may not be as different as you think, and we deserve equal opportunities and representation. That is what I will work for.

Rafael Gonzalez: I will make myself approachable so that I can best advocate for the interests of the student body. Moreover, as a person who respects and values diversity I will also strive to make Amherst’s diversity shine and to create an environment that fosters both intellectual and emotional growth. I believe that Amherst is the best school on earth, and as a class senator I’ll work with you to make it even better.

Ryan Wagner: I hope to represent YOU. During my PROLIFIC high school career, I gained extensive experience in student government. I served my first three years as Class Officer, and as Class President during senior year. Teachers praised me a “MAN OF THE TIMES,” my fellow classmates called me their “FEARLESS LEADER.” My experience is EXTENSIVE, and my impact will be IMMEASURABLE.

Hunter Lampson: I am from Portland, Oregon, and I play on the football team. While at Amherst, I want to bridge the gap between student-athletes and non-student-athletes. As an athlete here, I have a passion for solving this issue. I believe we, as athletes, must be proactive and outreach to ALL students. I chose Amherst because I want to be a part of an incredibly engaging community that fosters uniqueness, diversity and compassion towards all. I hope to represent you all this year.

Isiaha Price: I was writing my statement for candidacy when I found myself tackling the issue of social hierarchy on campus, the fact that if you aren’t in an athletic club you are a “NARP.” That implies that to be more than a “regular person,” you must be in an athletic club. Through this process, I was told that it was best if I toned it down, and not because they disagreed, but because they didn’t think this issue was palatable enough. I was being told get elected OR hold a modicum of integrity. I refuse. I’ll do both.

Bella Edo: I was a member of my high school student council for four years and served as a co-head of our recreation committee for my last two. I was also a member of a group of students who acted as a liaison between students and faculty during conversations surrounding the reforming of specific policies. I have a lot of experience with planning events for students as well as discussing policies, and I’d love to continue doing those things at Amherst as a senator for the class of 2021!

Julia Ralph: I’m from San Diego, California, and I’m a member of the women’s soccer team. I’m also planning on being a part of Big Brothers Big Sisters and Olio here on campus. I’ve been an oil painter, pianist, athlete and participant in multiple community service initiatives throughout my life, so I believe my experience as a member of all these communities will allow me to well represent each sector of Amherst College.

Waleed Babar: Standing for diversity and acceptance, Amherst has often supported students from all backgrounds — internationals, people of color and transsexual people. Each such student has their own unique story, but they all share common ground: underrepresentation and lack of awareness of their presence. As an international, I have felt welcomed at Amherst from the start.

Navid Rahimi Larki: Through hard work, meticulous organization and close teamwork, I revolutionized my high school’s student council, completely rewriting its constitution and supervising successful fundraising and social action projects (e.g. supporting those with mental health issues) as well as modernizing school equipment and administrative systems. Although I love Amherst, I believe that there are still a great number of improvements necessary, from issues of dining, discrimination, administration and even the role of AAS itself. I want to utilize my experience, passion and leadership skills to make these changes a reality.

Jake Grossman: I thought to myself, “How do I begin to write this candidate statement when, truthfully, I’m probably less experienced in governing than most of the students running?” In just a few weeks, I have noticed that many of my classmates are extraordinarily talented at pretty much whatever they do. To be honest, it’s been incredibly humbling. But that moment is when I realized I don’t need to be “incredibly experienced in student government roles” or have “the perfect skill set to affect positive change.” These are just taglines. If elected, my job is, quite simply, to represent you.

Campus Construction Includes Science Center, Keefe and Dorms Continued from Page 1 has also been used by several student groups and programs.

Davies hopes to continue enhancing other areas around campus.

“The softball field is being improved starting very soon and in time for the next season with dugouts, better batting cages, et cetera,” Davies

said.

Currently, Davies said, the new science center remains the focus of his department.

“As the largest project in the college’s history, it demands a great deal of attention,” Davies said.

Miskiyat Jimba ’20 said that she appreciates the renovations to the dormitories and the vision for the science center. She said, however, that students miss the recreation areas in Keefe that disappeared

after resource centers were reorganized.

For Siobhan Marks ’20, the loss of “spaces for hanging out,” such as the game room, resulted in Keefe “losing its campus center feel.”

But the addition of the fire pit outside of Keefe is a plus, said Mary Yoo ’20. “I really like the changes ... and how they planted trees around Keefe,” she said.

Alejandro Nino ’18 also said “the new spaces

have a lot of personality” but believes that the new styles and designs in dormitories are “not very timeless and they’re going to age pretty quickly.”

“I’m curious why we’re moving to a grey brick over the traditional colonial, but I’m excited to see the whole space as a whole and how it comes together with the landscaping they’re putting in,” he said. “I think it’s going to look beautiful in 20 years.”

New CAO and ODI Staff Join College Community Continued from Page 1 development and film production roles before accepting the position at Amherst. His previous experience includes development positions at Colgate, Harvard Law School and Northwestern Law School.

Working in development at a liberal arts college has been one of Menard’s longtime goals.

“The recruiter, who I worked on this job with, is somebody I’ve known for a while,” Menard said. “About eight years ago we had breakfast in Boston and he said to me, ‘What is your ultimate job? What do you really want to do?’ and I said that I really wanted to be the chief

advancement officer at one of the top liberal arts colleges. He delivered that in spades.”

The Office of Diversity and Inclusion has also made several new hires this year, many of whom were announced in an email sent to the college community in June from Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer Norm Jones.

In April, Dina Levi joined the office as the new director of inclusive leadership. In this position, she works to “bring strategic alignment that supports Amherst’s overall diversity and inclusion mission and vision through development of personal cultural competency, inclusive leadership and community engagement,” Jones said in a separate email interview.

Levi’s work over the next several years will focus on creating employee resource groups and offering workshops for faculty and staff on topics of diversity and inclusion, according to Jones.

The Office of Diversity and Inclusion also hired five new people for positions that focus on supporting students at the college. Director for International Student Engagement Hanna Bliss’s office is new to Amherst this year. John Martin was named the new director of the Queer Resource Center (QRC). Babyface Card joined as program director for the Office of Diversity and Inclusion and is a race, gender and sexuality education specialist. Paola Gallego works

as the administrative assistant to the Resource Centers, and Ismaris Ocasio now works as a dialogue coordinator. Angie Tissi-Gassoway, the former QRC director, is associate dean for diversity and inclusion.

Most of these new employees will work in Keefe Campus Center, where all the resource centers on campus are located. A new space in Keefe has been added for the Office of Campus Diversity and Student Leadership, which is led

by Associate Director of Diversity and Leadership Tenzin Kunor. This office focuses on supporting Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals students, veteran students, transfer students and first-generation students, according to Jones.

Opinion

THE AMHERST

STUDENT

Tracing Patterns

E X E C U T I V E B OA R D

Editorial With an open curriculum, it can sometimes be jarring to look back on your transcript and attempt to trace a line of continuity through your coursework. Though some majors may have stringent trajectories, many are quite open-ended, and it is possible to end up with all kinds of patterns in levels and sub-topics even within one discipline.

It is worth sitting down and thinking about our academic paths. Even the act of looking at an ordered list of courses can stir up links between subjects you might not have thought of before. You might recall different things about a certain course when viewing it in the context of other classes. You might not notice the growing narrative of your college experience until you piece together where the hours and days went. This exercise is worthwhile because it can help you identify your academic interests with more specificity. The reflection can help give you language to both explain your degree to yourself and to others — you can name the patterns, the motions of your interests, as opposed to just one topic or the next. It also helps you identify the gaps. What do you feel like you are missing? And if you take on this mindset before senior year, you might find yourself with fewer what-ifs when commencement rolls along.

Perhaps we can also use this model of broad-view reflection to consider other aspects of our Amherst

experience. When you think about your Amherst friendships or even just important conversations you’ve had over your time here, can you also see a continuity emerge? Sometimes we can get defensive or minimize the importance of this kind of self-reflection when the administration or a program gives us a form to fill out. It can feel overly structured or too emotional. It can also be awkward to look back and think about the embarrassing moments or moments that we perceive as failures. But arguably, there is a lot of worth in this kind of exercise.

Of course, it does feels better when it comes about organically.

Could you contain your Amherst experience in a sentence? Or rather, could one sentence gesture at your Amherst experience? What would that sentence be? It would be narrow-minded to assume you could define your experience in a few words, but it can be worth thinking about how words can at least approximate our experience. How you remember Amherst should not be only thought about when Amherst is a memory. Try sitting down and free-writing. Allow yourself to say more than you want to say, and go from there.

Practicing this mode of broad thinking can help make life seem less opaque. And when we move away from Amherst in the near future, this is certainly a skill that may be helpful to us in mapping out our futures.

In Solidarity: A Letter from Alumni Kobina Quaye ’15 Contributing Writer Note: The following is a letter sent by an alumnus to The Student as well as several other publications. It has been edited for style and clarity.

To the Amherst Community, No doubt, the present climate (both on campus and as it relates to society at large) is one of volatility, discomfort and palpable fear.

Instances such as these challenge the character and resilience of community and can foster division, magnify mistrust and force us to belabor each other’s faults and shortcomings if not handled properly. As promogulated in the message below, I believe apathy yields silent complicity, ultimately working to perpetuate problematic instances like the one that transpired on Sept.

5. It’s incumbent upon all of us — victims, allies, and bystanders — to reject a passive ideology and to work diligently and actively for the change that we hope will materialize, both on campus and in the world.

On Sept. 9, I wrote the message below to members of the administration, to which scores of alumni from vastly different ethnicities, class years and walks of life affixed their names in solidarity. To be clear, the administrative response was swift and reassuring, noting among other things the severity with which they are treating the issue, the despicable nature of the act itself and an intention to take seriously the concern and plight of students through active dialogue.

In sharing this message with the community, I hope it provides solace to people of color, women and all students who may see facets or tenets of their own experiences through recounting mine. In so doing — and as the compendium of signatures make clear — I hope you recognize that you are not alone, that there are people to which you can always reach out to for advice, that your struggles and strife — while unique and potent presently — will not bind you forever, that you will be able to overcome these obstacles and that through adversity we are tested and made better and more resilient.

I pray that in times of hardship, both present or future, you will always be reminded of this message from students who came before you.

In addition, I hope this clarifies for allies and other students the hardships and realities particular members of the community are forced to internalize and fight on a daily basis, and that it can provide a frame of reference by which to empathize and assist in constructing a campus community that works to involve all of its members.

I write in response to the disturbing and inexcusable racist actions that transpired on Sept. 5, involving the hanging of a noose on Pratt Field. Such a deliberate act of hate cannot go unpunished and cannot be remedied with words alone. Every reflection on these instances requires the same preface: we know racism still exists, there are institutions (public and private) devoted to its posterity, this is not the first of these instances (and won’t be the last) and once again, the aggrieved is forced to assimilate to “normalcy” in their daily activities despite all of this.

In the public imagination, as well as in practice, Amherst’s reputability as an academic institution remains largely unchallenged. Its diverse and open curriculum, the caliber of its faculty, the rigor of the community’s academic ethos and its emphasis on fostering intellectual skepticism promulgate this fact.

The scope of its opportunity, assessed from history through the present day, is virtually limitless. Former presidents and politicians, federal and U.S. Supreme Court justices, award-winning authors and actors and artists all claim alumnus status. The value of the Amherst education can hardly be overstated, of which I am a product and proponent (I am currently studying at Columbia Law, and I don’t doubt that the education I received accounts for a significant portion of my current circumstances).

While I acknowledge the academic value of the Amherst education, as a person of color, I

never found myself with much “school spirit.” I did not cheer for the football or lacrosse teams with pride. I did not wear Amherst clothing with a sense of honor, but rather with marked infamy and shame. I felt an imperative to self-isolate and self-segregate as more and more places on campus shifted from feeling merely uncomfortable to patently unsafe. The classrooms started to reek of entrapment, the community spirit felt more diminished, the air more fraught with division, the dining hall less welcoming to persons with brown and black skin, the campus itself too volatile — indeed, over time, my Amherst experience began to feel like something to be merely endured, not one to be enjoyed. It was marketed as a grand experience; however, it was one to which I could not fully claim entitlement, because of certain (obvious) immutable characteristics. Of course, every criticism has a corresponding qualification, as I mentioned earlier: I indeed met people I am proud to call lifelong friends and allies, including faculty, students and staff from all walks of life.

However, empirical exceptions are too often relied upon to dispute non-universal claims and truths. The establishment of some good cases cannot be properly said to mitigate or annul the rising ubiquity of egregious ones. The list of campus “incidents” targeting women and students of particular religions and color is long, and would be longer still if not for a palpable fear of reporting on behalf of the marginalized population.

The Multicultural Resource Center (MRC) initially lived in the basement of Keefe, their move being delayed so that a game room may take priority. Countless anecdotes demonstrate that classroom microaggressions have overlooked and posited as overreactions. Students crying political foul defaced a week devoted to recognizing the value of black lives. A young woman failed to find any recourse after the most physically and emotionally scarring experience imaginable (and hundreds more have been forced into silence). A murky sense of

Continued on Page 5

Editors-in-Chief Drew Kiley Jingwen Zhang Managing News Shawna Chen Assistant News Editor Emma Swislow Managing Opinion Kelly Chian, Spencer Quong Managing Arts and Living Paola Garcia-Prieto, Olivia Gieger Managing Sports Nate Quigley Managing Design Justin Barry S TA F F Head Publisher Emily Ratte Mark Nathin Design Editors Katie Boback, Zehra Madhavan, Zavi Sheldon, Sivian Yu

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The Amherst Student • September 20, 2017

Opinion

5

Letter to the Amherst Community Continued from Page 4 free speech rights has been prioritized over the bodily security of students. An athletics team was discovered to have systematically spoken in a degrading manner about women and people of color. Students in the socials and cars in the snow have borne racial expletives. The few non-obligatory “days of dialogue” again placed the onus upon the aggrieved to educate their aggressors. People of color face and internalize countless such instances and experiences on a daily basis.

The world itself provides no further solace.

White supremacy, racism and Nazism permeate politics and social interactions. We have an executive who encourages police brutality, openly discriminates against minorities and revokes programs under the guise of nationalism; indeed, “Make America Great Again” sounds more like a dictatorial salute than a weak political slogan.

Philando Castille, Alton Sterling, Tamir Rice, Trayvon Martin, Freddie Gray, Eric Garner, Walter Scott, Michael Brown, Sandra Bland and Laquan McDonald: all victims of a system designed to bring about their untimely and unjust deaths.

This is all to say, in sum, two things.

First, in my experience and that of several others, the relevant question isn’t the harm, but the subsequent silence that yields tactful complicity of that harm. (As a metaphor, murder isn’t what intimidates the public; it’s the thought of murderers roaming free, without justice finding them.) A noose, while trauma-

tizing and reminiscent of a shocking historical fact, is made more terrifying by the silence that emboldens its proponents. People of color, of particular religions and of certain ideologies and beliefs are not just insecure, they are being commanded to live in constant fear by those who seek to harm them and by the complicity of those who fail to actively denounce them.

Secondly, considering these facts, it is incumbent upon us all to recognize the inadequacy of passive judgment and the need for active recourse. In a world where solace cannot be found in school, on the street, on the television or radio or even sometimes in our own homes, it is imperative for those with power and privilege to use it. Denunciation, even in its strongest form, is not adequate to allay the well-founded concerns of students of color. Securing peace of mind requires substantive action: to commit to holding the individuals responsible with harsh sanctions, to institute mandatory cultural competency education for sports teams and social groups, to provide incentives (such as cancelling sports seasons or social initiatives) to yield timely reporting of these instances, to diversify administrative, scholastic and athletic faculty boards, to liaison with persons of color and affinity organizations often and much, and most importantly, to treat this on par with any other substantive threat that may face the Amherst community.

To be clear, this is not an “incident,” and none of the aforementioned cases are isolated.

It is a threat to the physical and mental security of all persons who would like to call Amherst College their home. I would hope (and expect)

that the circumstances would be treated as severely as, say, knowledge of one walking around the school with a weapon — the exigency is tantamount.

I offer these opinions with no particular recourse in mind beyond what I have mentioned. I have been away from the school for some time, and it’s plausible that some of these suggestions may have been instituted and may therefore be gratuitous (in which case, I obviously apologize for my oversight). Even assuming the truth of this, however, a larger problem still remains: the recurrence of these instances.

I believe patterns and frequencies are illustrative of circumstances, of cultural tendencies, of ideologies and of priorities. It’s important that we continue to ask questions about why these instances recur, how they may relate to admission and administrative structures and how we may be complicit in their perpetuation. However, what’s imperative following this incident is that substantive attention is given to the plight of current students and to an approach that prioritizes their well-being and proposed initiatives. It is a day that I never thought I would see or hear of on the Amherst College campus and one that will be carved into its historical annals for time immemorial.

Amherst has demonstrated its capacity for “positive” change in the past: the MRC was moved, attention to student concern was granted and the problematic mascot was done away with. Indeed, I hope that same spirit of amelioration can be carried through here, and it’s primarily from this belief in the administration that I convey this message. Too often, a bit of

advancement becomes a license to atrophy, and moral reactive attitudes become supplanted by apathy. And unfortunately, often each instance of change comes after bitter work and is not generally or immediately accepted with openness.

I am an Amherst alumnus, and as such, I am uniquely interested in its trajectory. But I am also a person of color who can understand instantly the fear students now face even more potently walking around campus. We all still share that fear either walking down the street, or in predominately white neighborhoods, or around police officers. Make no mistake: the resilience of the aggrieved community will always outweigh the spite of the hateful, but such a battle will always be waged without comprehensive steps toward appropriate sanctions and community healing.

I remain grateful for the time I spent at Amherst, and in full reflection, the experience I had there. But as stated before, recognition of the good cannot overshadow the specter of the heinous.

It’s nothing short of unjust for this paranoia to bleed so potently into a place devoted to safety and learning. I hope that this serves as a reminder of the progress that has yet to be made, of the doubtless need for liaison with current students and groups and of the suffering of those who still strive to call Amherst a place to look upon with fondness.

I hope you’ll agree.

Best, Kobina Quaye ’15

In Solidarity Aida Orozo ’14 Albert Joo ’15 Alejandro Javier Paulino ’14 Alexander Sondak ’13 Alexandra James ’16 Alina de Cordoba ’16 Allyson A. Leach ’14 Andrew Drinkwater ’17 Andrew Lindsay ’16 Araceli Aponte ’17 Arlette De La Cruz ’09 Ashley Felix ’15 Ashley Finigan ’08 Ashley McCall ’12 Ashley M. Montgomery ’16 Asia-Sierra Millette ’11 Benaias Esayeas ’18E Bolatito Kolawole ’14 Briana Hanny ’13 Brianna Wiggins ’15 Candice Jackson ’17 Caroline Katba ’15 Caryce Tirop ’17 Changhee Han ’12 Chloe McKenzie ’14 Christina Croak ’13 Christina Gutierrez ’09 Christine Ayanna Croasdaile ’17 Christopher Lewis ’13

Christopher Porras ’12 Cole Morgan ’13 Constance Paige ’15 Cristian Navarro ’16 Daejione Jones ’15 Daniella Bennett ’17 David Huante ’16 Dee Mandiyan ’10 Donna Kim ’16 Elena Villafana ’14 Elias Baez ’15 Emerson King ’16 Emily Figueroa ’11 Erika Sologuren ’13 Evan Nabrit ’06E Everlena Tenn ’16 Farah Haidari ’16 Francis Comesanas ’13 Gabriel Wirz ’15 Greg Genco ’10E Hyunsun Roh ’15 Imani Marshall ’16 Irma Zamora ’17 Jacqueline Chavez ’16 Jake Samuels ’13 Janna Joassainte ’17 Jeanne Lee ’16 Jelani Long ’14E Jelani Rooks ’13

Jensen Bouzi ’14 Jessica Maposa ’17 Jessica McMillin ’15 Jesus Zelaya ’16 Jia Liang ’17 Jia Mizell ’13 Joelle Comrie ’14 John Riggins ’12 Juan Enrique Davila ’06 Karen Blake ’17 Kayla Collado ’16 Lauren Carter ’17 Lauren Horn ’17 Lexi Ligon ’17 Lilia Paz ’16 Lorraine Thomas ’16 Maïkha Jean-Baptiste ’10 Mapate Diop ’16 Matt Randolph ’16 Maya Sisneros ’13 Mbatang Acha ’17 Megan Kim ’16 Melissa Aybar ’14 Mercedes MacAlpine ’16 Myles Gaines ’17 Natalie King ’14 Nia James ’15 Nicole Sanches ’13 Nneka Ugwu ’16

If I May: Sean Spicer at the Emmys Jake May ’19 Columnist

At the annual Emmy Awards this past Sunday night, host Stephen Colbert began a joke by saying, “Is there anyone who could say how big the audience is?” He then turned away and delivered part one of the two-part punchline: “Sean, do you know?”

At this moment, part two of the joke appeared. The “Sean” in question was none other than Sean Spicer, the disgraced former press secretary in the Trump White House. He walked out on stage pushing a podium reminiscent of the one used by Melissa McCarthy during her impression of Spicer on Saturday Night Live. Spicer went on to parody his assessment of Trump’s

inauguration crowd, saying, “This will be the largest audience to witness the Emmys, period.” Ha! It’s like when he said, “This was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration, period,” months ago. That’s so funny.

If you couldn’t tell, I was being sarcastic when I said that it was funny. To me, and to many others reacting to this decision to include Spicer in the Emmys, it was incredibly inappropriate to give Spicer a platform to rehabilitate his image. The man chose to ally himself with a racist, sexist and incompetent man just to land a job. Spicer spent seven months vehemently defending lies and spewing fallacies from the White House press room podium. The very line that they parodied regarding inauguration crowd size was a bald-

faced, irrefutable lie.

Actor Zach Braff provided an apt reaction to the situation on Twitter.

“I’m not ready to laugh ‘with’ Sean Spicer,” he wrote. “I think he is an opportunistic liar that hurt our country.”

Former Obama foreign policy adviser Ben Rhodes also offered an insightful take on the incident. “Harvard and the Emmys based on 7 months of lying,” he tweeted. “America is not exactly a meritocracy.” The “Harvard” that Rhodes is referring to is the fact that this fall, Spicer will be a visiting fellow at Harvard Kennedy School’s Institute of Politics.

In my view, the people in charge of making these decisions to normalize and legitimize Sean Spicer should be embarrassed. As Braff noted, the coun-

Noely Mendoza ’17 Tomi Williams ’16 Ornella Noubissie Wafo ’16 Paula Escobar ’13 Pierre Joseph ’15 Quincy Ogutu ’16 Rachael Abernethy ’16 Rachel Duong ’16 Rachel A. Johnson ’15 Rachel Nghe ’16 Ralph Washington ’16 Rebecca Chun ’17 Rebecca Emiru ’11 Robert Edney ’14 Sabrina Lee ’15 Samanta English ’15 Saran Hall ’15 Seanna McCall ’17 Shanera Brodie ’16 Shaunpaul Jones ’17 Sidney Lin ’17 Siobhan McKissic ’12 Stephanie Sneed ’08 Susanna An ’13 Talia Plummer ’15 Thais Calderon ’17 Thais Laney ’16 Thomas Matthew ’16 Uchechi Onyebuchi ’15, Valerie Salcido ’17

try should not be laughing with him after he peddled lies to us for months.

Also, like Rhodes pointed out, Spicer has no business offering advice and instruction to young political minds, considering that he did a terrible job as White House press secretary.

I’m not exactly sure who is in charge of appointing visiting fellows at Harvard, but according to a CNN article about Spicer’s appearance at the Emmys, it was Stephen Colbert himself who suggested the bit. I was disappointed to discover this fact. Colbert is a comedian I have admired for a long time; The Colbert Report was a fantastic commentary on the rift between political parties, and throughout the 2016 election cycle as well as after Trump was elected, Colbert has been

responsible for some of the most biting and insightful criticism of Trump on late night television. However, I cannot find any justification for this decision, and frankly, I am shocked that he made it. The same CNN article also included a source involved in the production who said that Colbert was not worried about normalizing Sean Spicer and that Donald Trump himself had already normalized him. This is a very troubling mindset. Donald Trump is the epitome of everything that is wrong with America. Those associated with him are complicit in a bigoted and horrible view of our country. To me, it is precisely because of Spicer’s involvement with Trump that we should never think of him as legitimate or normal again.

Arts&Living

Graphic by Justin Barry ’18

Summer 2017 saw an abundance of artists releasing new albums hoping to leave their mark on the summer music scene, causing some to go unnoticed.

The Five Albums That Slipped Under the Radar This Summer Hugh Ford ’19 Staff Writer Summer 2017 was filled with huge releases from the likes of Lana Del Rey, DJ Khaled, Lorde and Tyler, the Creator. We were inundated with new projects from Meek Mill, A$AP Ferg, XXXTentacion, 21 Savage and Young Thug. There was so much new music released that I delayed my listening of Lil Uzi Vert’s album by two whole weeks. Two weeks! With all of these new albums coming in from big names, it is inevitable that some music will go unnoticed. That’s why I’m here with some albums that may have slipped under your radar this summer.

Odds are that if you keep up with new music in some capacity, you didn’t miss all of these albums. Maybe you missed the release completely, but more likely you saw the album, listened to a single or two and moved on to “Flower Boy” (I certainly wouldn’t blame you; it’s one hell of an album.) Anyway, without further hubbub, here are the albums.

5. “american dream” – LCD Soundsystem LCD Soundsystem is back and out of retirement with some fresh and funky sounds on their new album. It’s no wonder their 2007 album “Sounds of Silver” is often called one of the best albums of that decade, and the band proves they still got it (at least most of it) on “american dream.”

You might say this album is not low-key enough for this list, but you can make your own list if

you want. The truth is, “american dream” did not exactly create the buzz expected from such a big-name artist. While it’s certainly not their best work, “american dream” is worth a listen.

The opening track “oh baby” and the single “tonite” are high points of the album marked by LCD’s trademark synth sound. David Bowie’s heavy influence is evident in both the composition and vocals. If any of this sounds interesting to you, definitely check out this album.

4. “Freudian” – Daniel Caesar You might have heard of this album in passing and thought it sounded cool, but if you haven’t gotten a chance to really listen to it, I recommend it. “Freudian” is Daniel Caesar’s debut album. It’s chock-full of slow, sweet and soulful R&B tunes. Caesar proves himself a competent singer throughout this ten-track project. The album is an intoxicating 45 minutes of love ballads, complete with complementing features from Syd, H.E.R., Kali Uchis and Charlotte Day Wilson. I had personally never heard of the latter two, but they shine on their respective parts. While the biggest hit from the album is definitely the opener, “Get You,” my personal favorite is “Neu Roses (Transgressor’s Song).”

The song has a beautifully simple a capella intro, which transitions into a funky bass-backed verse about apologizing.

3. “Saturation” – BROCKHAMPTON Some might say this album is outdated because of the release of Saturation II, but it’s not my

fault BROCKHAMPTON decided to release two albums in the span of two months. Besides, should I even really discuss Saturation II if I don’t first talk about Saturation? You see the difficult situation in which I find myseld. Anyway, this album has no bad songs, with the perfect mix of bangers and summer jams. If you aren’t familiar, BROCKHAMPTON is a hip-hop “boy band” that met through the Internet. All things considered, the strength of this project is really outstanding. If you like alternative hip-hop groups like Odd Future, BROCKHAMPTON is the group for you. Check out this album and Saturation II, and look forward to the release of Saturation III this fall (they release music very frequently).

2. “Thot Breaker” – Chief Keef This may be the first project on this list that flew under your radar completely. Chief Keef ’s “Thot Breaker” mixtape had almost no buzz when it was released and probably has even less now. However, I think it would be a huge mistake to overlook this release. If you’re a fan of Chief Keef for his characteristic bangers like “Love Sosa,” this might not be the project for you. On “Thot Breaker,” Chief Keef delves into his more emotional side, exchanging loud trap bangers for melodious love songs. The resulting product is surprisingly good. Chief Keef takes on a large part of production and his accompanying raps feel genuinely heartfelt most of the time. “Thot Breaker” also has some fun, upbeat cuts on it like “Can You Be My Friend?”

and “Going Home.” However, if you prefer Chief Keef ’s more traditional sound I’d suggest checking out his latest mixtape, “The W.” 1. “Black Ken” – Lil B The BasedGod is back with his long-promised “Black Ken” mixtape. Despite having released countless mixtapes, Lil B is more commonly known for his absurd YouTube hits like “Wonton Soup.” Most of his hype, however, has died down since his “XXL Freshman” selection in 2011, and “Black Ken” probably went unnoticed by many one-time fans. Nevertheless, the mixtape is worthy of the spotlight on this list. On “Black Ken,” Lil B has put together a 27-track opus that not only highlights his progress as an emcee but also showcases his continued ingenuity in hip-hop. The project, produced entirely by the BasedGod himself, is one of the most interesting and unique listens of the summer. Lil B shines across a diverse tracklist. “Black Ken” includes his distinctive silliness alongside more intense songs with low-key, old-school West Coast flows. While every song isn’t a classic, the resulting tape is a fascinating assortment that shouldn’t be ignored.

Hopefully, you check out at least one of these albums and enjoy it and show it to your friends. Then, maybe they’ll show it to their friends, sparking a chain reaction to popularize these overlooked songs that deserve more attention.

The Amherst Student • September 20, 2017

Arts & Living 7

Immigrant Art at Amherst: Vital to Fueling Cultural Conversation

Photo courtesy of Omotara Oluwafemi ’18

Oluwafemi’s artistic talents lie in her passion for form and attention to shape, as is clear in her construction of a structure out of laundry detergent containers (left), which she translated into an architectural installation imagined on Pittsburgh’s Andy Warhol museum (right) and in her charcoal self portrait (center).

Olivia Gieger ’21 Managing Arts & Living Editor This fall’s political conversations and actions surrounding Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), Dreamers and the border wall have revived fears and questions of what our country would look like without immigrants.

Our minds first go to political questions of American life without immigrants, but how would America’s — and Amherst’s — culture change with the restriction and exclusion of immigrants?

For Omotara Oluwafemi ’18, an artist and architecture major who was born in Nigeria and has lived in Canada and the United States, concerns lie in the loss of the conversation that different cultures and perspectives bring to art.

“You have better dialogue with what is considered art and how everyday objects are art when you are able to talk with international people and dialogue with different definitions of those kind of

things,” she said. “My biggest fear is that the art community will be closed off, and we won’t be having the conversations we need to have about who decides what art is important and who decides who should be in museums and all that.”

At Amherst, the contributions of immigrants and non-Americans make up a large portion of artistic expression on campus. The Mead’s current exhibition, “Tell It Like It Is — Or Could Be” features photographs from artists across the globe, including Kenya, England, Russia, Canada and South Africa. Each piece offers a glimpse into scenes from around the world and raises questions and issues most of us do not encounter in our daily lives, as Tim Hetherington’s photos of vulnerable, sleeping soldiers in Afghanistan do.

However, at the same time, they reaffirm the human similarities we all share that transcend national boundaries, such as Kenyan artist Mimi Cherono Ng’ok’s photograph “Everyone is Lonely in Kigali.”

Diverse, international and immigrant perspectives also imbue “The Belong Campaign,” a photo compilation by Maria Stenzel and Jonathan Jackson ’19 and sponsored by the Office of Diversity and Inclusion. The exhibit captures images of students coming together and sharing their thoughts on the topic of belonging, while their diverse backgrounds and homelands shape their answers.

The same rings true for Oluwafemi. Her experiences living in vastly different settings — ranging from Nigeria and Onterio to Western Massachusetts — have significantly shaped how she thinks about buildings and architecture.

“I’ve noticed, from living in different cities, the way that the architecture changes the environment,” she said. “That is one of my main interests in architecture: the way people interact with space and the cohesion that comes with the way people have structured the areas. I feel like I notice that more, because I have lived in different areas.”

Although Oluwafemi hesitates to call herself an artist because she seldom creates art on her own outside of class, it is clear from her keen attention to form, shape and structure that she has the eye of an artist and designer.

Though others might not notice it, Oluwafemi sees a connection between international students and art on campus.

“I actually do think there is a strong immigrant artist community here at Amherst,” she said.

Just in my art classes, there tend to be immigrants or other Nigerians.”

“We do talk to each other [about the questions that come with being an international artist],” she explained. “Those are the times when I really connect to the international student artists.

Those kind of conversations are where we have a community. Being artists, there’s already so much uncertainty about your future, so having other people to talk with about those big fears is so important,” Oluwafemi added.

Woolfalk Weaves Fantasy and Reality in Her Latest Utopian Work

Photo courtesy of Amherst College

Woolfalk’s exhibit The Empathetics“ depicts a fictional world where women merge with plants and is on display in the Mead’s Rotherwas Room.

Annika Luntstad ’21 Contributing Writer Saya Woolfalk’s project, “The Empathetics,” highlights issues of gender, culture, identity, technological advances and commercialization in an innovative series of works that combine technology with art and storytelling. The exhibit, featured in the Mead Museum, examines the lives of women, called Empathetics, in a fictional world where they can modify their genetics at will and

fuse with plants. Focusing on one particular Empathetic, the exhibit joins a greater story which builds off of two of her earlier projects: “No Place” and “ChimaTEK.” Through these projects, Woolfalk examines how technology and corporations change and commodify identities in our relationship with the world.

Saya Woolfalk was born in Gifu City, Japan, in 1979 and has since spent most of her life in New York — first in Scarsdale, then New York City. She received degrees from Brown University and The

Art Institute in Chicago. Throughout her career, Woolfalk has both worked at and exhibited in prominent museums around the world.

The story featured in her exhibit in the Mead takes place in a fictional world inhabited by the Empathetics. They are women who have developed the technology to be quite literally empathetic with their surroundings, both being changed by and changing them. Her other major projects, “No Place” and “ChimaTEK,” show a similar combination of science fiction and fantasy as well as a focus on the effects of corporate technology on our daily lives and identities.

In an interview with the International Sculpture Center, Woolfalk said that in “ChimaTEK,” she aimed to explore “how technology can effect changes in consciousness” as well as what happens to utopian dreams over time and how those ideals might be commodified. In her futuristic world, ChimaTEK is a company that enables people to buy and download new identities at their choosing. The company was started by a research institution called the Institute of Empathy, which discovered a method for humans to change their genetic makeup and modify objects around them.

These discoveries make it possible for individuals to change aspects of their identity through the company. She uses these ideas to explore what identity means and how culture, experiences and other aspects of our identities can, or could, be commodified. This investigation of technology and ideals, combined with her project “No Place,” led her to start the “The Empathetics.”

The current Mead exhibit studies a senior Empathetic who is a professor at the Institute of Empathy and has worked for ChimaTEK in the past.

She develops technologies to access the ChimaCloud, which is a digital world currently beyond our reach. She has created technologies with which an Empathetic can upload the essences of physical objects from a variety of times and locations into the ChimaCloud. The upload is done not simply to study the objects, but to alter and then export them. It allows Empathetics literally to change the essence of substances around them, possibly creating hybrids.

In the exhibit, Woolfalk invites the viewers to participate with ChimaCloud by viewing the works through an app on their smartphone called Refrakt. This is an augmented reality app

which, when pointed at a work, allows the viewer to see more dimensions of it. For instance, there is a mannequin in the center of the room wearing a “Cloud Catching Costume.” When viewed through Refrakt, one can see an extra element from the ChimaCloud on the costume.

Woolfalk’s works seem to glow, regardless of whether or not they are on a screen. Her colors, while reminiscent of colors one might see in nature, have an eerie and almost surreal look that mirrors the way objects in this fictional world are altered by the Empathetics. Additionally, her works appear to combine a variety of textures into the finished piece, which add to the themes of hybridization and modification. For instance, in a collection of digital prints on display in the Mead titled “The Four Virtues,” the images seem to have the bodies of Greek statues, while their heads and parts of their attire have a variety of influences, textures and designs. Some of the masks on the Virtues are reminiscent of masks that might be used in some religious traditions.

Through her position as a woman of color in the art world, Woolfalk explores issues of identity and cultural appropriation. In her fictional world, the characters seem to soak up the identities of those around them because of their intense empathy. These women are open to all kinds of influences, digital or physical, and absorb the customs, essence and symbols of those around them. This extends even to the point of changing their genetic makeup to adapt to their surroundings. While empathy is far from an evil characteristic, her work suggests that too much of the wrong kind of empathy devalues the meaning that we find in our different customs. Furthermore, Woolfalk is critical of large corporations and suspicious, at least, of the effects of technology. Her work raises important questions and guides our thinking of identity and technological progress.

“The Empathetics” is a part of the Rotherwas Project, a biannual exhibition series which features current artists in one of the Mead’s most historic rooms. This exhibit will remain on view until Dec. 17.

Woolfalk will speak at Amherst on Friday, Sept. 22 at 4:30 p.m. in the Mead Museum; this event is free and open to the public. Earlier that day, she will also hold an informal Artist Lunch in the Women’s and Gender Center from 12 to 1 p.m.

Arts & Living 8

The Amherst Student • September 20, 2017

Taking Time Off: Four Seniors’ Breaks From Amherst College

Photo courtesy of Frank Tavares ’18

Photo courtesy of Alli Bennett ’18

Photo courtesy of David Green ’18

Paola Garcia-Prieto ’18 Managing Arts and Living Editor As the class of 2018 came back to campus for their fourth and final year, people reunited with friends who had gone abroad during junior year.

As the date of commencement looms over the horizon, seniors commiserate in a mix of relief and terror that college is soon to be over. While dauntingly close, the finish line also feels impossibly far with theses, comps and 400-level seminars staring down at us. The mantra of choice, “Well, we’ve made it this far,” reminds us that, at three-quarters of the way there, we may be exhausted but we have to push through.

But who says we have to push through in order to finish college in four years? The value of your degree does not change depending on the date of your graduation. Quite a few of my classmates have decided to take first semester of their senior year off for a variety of reasons. For most, this is their first time taking time off from college, and I was curious about their reasons behind this decision now that they’re “almost there.” I conducted an interview over email asking some of the people I knew were taking time off about how they came to this choice, what they’re doing during this time and how they think their experiences will shape their return to campus.

Frank Tavares ’18 is currently in the Silicon Valley living on NASA grounds as he continues the co-op internship program he started this summer working for the public affairs office at NASA’S Ames Research Center. While away from campus, he is still working closely with his favorite subjects.

FT: Communications for NASA is a really great combination of my two majors, English and astronomy, and is letting me live out a dream I’ve had for basically as long as I can remember! I decided to look into a co-op position, instead of just a summer internship, because I thought working for the same office over a long period (I’ll be returning next summer as well) will give me the chance to not only learn from my co-workers, but stick around long enough to use what I’ve learned to become an active part of the office, and getting the sense of what being a full-time employee here is like, which is hard to get in just 10 weeks.

And when I leave, I’ll also have a better sense of whether this is a career path I want to continue…

It is strange being away from Amherst, but I think the distance is good, too. It’s been a good reminder that the stresses that feel so monumental and essential to our futures at Amherst (whether that’s grades, or finding success in our extracurricular activities) aren’t that big a deal,

and we’ll all have lives after college that’ll be pretty great too. There are definitely things I miss — my friends and the convenience of Val being the most severely felt absences at the moment — but I’m glad I’m doing this, and was pleasantly surprised at how accommodating the school was with the decision. Though it wouldn’t have been a deal-breaking factor, the fact I can walk with my class a semester early means a lot. Small things like that show how taking a semester off really isn’t an interruption of your college career but just an interesting detour that can give you a lot of good along the way you may not have found otherwise.

Top row left to right: Frank Tavares ‘18 (far right) has been working at the NASA Ames Research Center since June; Alli Bennett ‘18 recently worked on the production of “The Scarlet Professor;” Brian Zayatz ’18 spent his summer working on a New Orleans farm (seen here with Mabel the Chicken). Bottom Row: David Green ‘18 is currently touring London before starting work in Belgium.

I hoped that this time off could prevent a worse breakdown further down the road… For me, it was the difference between knowing I would be completely miserable for another nine months or taking the time I needed to hopefully not be miserable and being able to actually enjoy myself when I return.

Brian Zayatz ’18, meanwhile, has stayed in the area and is working for a farm called Simple Gifts.

David Green ’18 decided that he wanted to go abroad, but didn’t just want to study at another institution. Instead, he spent his junior year looking for jobs abroad and eventually landed a job working for a statistics professor at Ghent University in Belgium. Before Green starts his job in October, he’s traveling solo around the U.K. and has, unsurprisingly, made plenty of friends along the way.

BZ: This summer I felt less anxious and more like myself than I have in a few years. As I prepared to return to Amherst for my senior year, attempting to finalize fellowship applications and my thesis proposal, I felt a sense of dread and kept putting off this work until I realized that I just didn’t want to be in school. I realized that to jump back into an Amherst semester would completely overturn some of the mental equilibrium I had found over the previous months. I’m living in town now, working at a nearby farm, and I hope that I’ll be able to return in January with some strategies to more sustainably approach academics and other commitments and better articulated ideas of what I hope to gain from my final year of undergraduate studies (if nothing more than a degree).

DG: My journey thus far has taught me the immense value of leaning into every possible opportunity, even if it seems superfluous, and being boldly open to forming new friendships. I hear from many Americans studying abroad that they haven’t met any locals despite weeks spent here, and I am overjoyed that my circumstances have forced me to quickly reach out to strangers from all walks of life. What led me to temporarily remove myself from Amherst in this dramatic fashion was largely a feeling that my life had entered an unpleasant rut. Returning to campus semester after semester until senior year without many tangible changes was beginning to take a toll on me, and thus I developed the following philosophy: In life, we generally do school, we

Alli Bennett ’18 has also decided to stay close during her time off. She currently lives in town and has continued to participate in extracurricular activities here at Amherst, while trying on a new campus for size.

AB: This semester, I’m taking two classes at UMass in an effort to make myself excited about class again in a less overwhelming environment.

It was important for me to be close to all the amazing friends I’ve at Amherst as I felt I would be too lonely if I stayed at home for the semester, while also being able to take space from the institution itself. At the end of junior year, I felt more burnt out than I ever had before. There was something going on, but I was unsure exactly what was affecting me so negatively. I’d been happy to leave during first semester of junior year to go abroad, but when I got back, I felt worse than ever. I couldn’t focus on work, and I couldn’t bring myself to care. Eventually I realized that a semester off would hopefully be a solution to some of my problems. My mental health had taken quite a blow over the past three years, and

Photo courtesy of Brian Zayatz ’18

work, and then we die, so why not school, work, school, work, die instead? Variety is, after all, the spice of life. With this semester away from campus, I hope to see whether statistics would serve me as a viable career, give myself space to actually enjoy my senior year upon my return, figure out what aspects of life I actually find important (beyond the odd and often trivial microcosm of Amherst), and reassure myself that I can develop a supportive contingent of friends from scratch no matter where I find myself post-graduation.

I chose to present these students stories not to show how stressful Amherst is (although we do have a high percentage of students who take time off at some point in their four years due to stress issues), but to de-stigmatize the idea of not graduating in four years.

Bennett said, “If you’ve ever thought about taking time off, you’ve probably had similar thoughts: will it look bad to future employers?

What will my parents say? It’s just a few months; I should just get it over with. Am I a failure because of this?”

As we strive to normalize mental health issues across campus, we should encourage students to continue taking time off not just as a last resort, but as a way to experience something other than college for a few months, whether that’s a job, traveling or taking classes somewhere else.

Not only does it allow for students to return with renewed energy, but also it allows provides them with a different perspective to guide them when trying to figure out life after college.

The Amherst Student • September 20, 2017

Sports 9

Football Brushes Aside Last Season’s Woes With Rout of Bates Talia Land ’20 Staff Writer On Saturday, the Amherst men’s football team opened its season with a resounding 4117 victory over the Bates Bobcats. This was a morale-boosting win for a program that was coming off of a disappointing 4-4 season, which saw the Mammoths devastated by a rash of injuries to key players.

The purple and white opened up the scoring with a seven-play drive, culminating in a 49-yard pass from Ollie Ebert ‘20 to James O’Regan ’20 in the back of the end zone.

“Although there are many things we hope to improve upon as a team from last year, the most important may be our ability to make big plays when our back is against the wall,” senior captain Bolaji Ekhator said.

After this early touchdown, Bates and Amherst held each other scoreless for the remainder of the first quarter.

In the next period, after forcing a punt, the Mammoths put the ball in the hands of Jack Hickey ’19, who ran for a four-yard touchdown at the end of a four-play, 55-yard drive.

On its next possession, Amherst marched down the field once more, scoring on an 18yard touchdown catch by senior tight end Beau Santero ’18.

The Mammoths dominated defensively in the first half as well. Bates scored just one field goal as time expired, and Amherst entered halftime with a 20-3 lead.

In the third quarter, the Mammoths again played stellar defense, taking the ball away from Bates multiple times with an interception

by Andrew Sommer ’19 and a fumble recovery.

The Mammoths’ offense capitalized on this opportunity with a run of 21 unanswered points. Craig Carmilani ’18 and Bo Berluti

’19 both caught touchdown passes, and Andrew Dorogi ’18 had a seven-yard run for a touchdown, making the score 41-3.

In the fourth quarter, Bates responded with two touchdowns, but it was too late to affect the game’s outcome.

In an overall promising day for the Mammoths, Amherst outgained Bates 383 yards to 218.

Even more impressive was the fact that

the purple and white defense limited Bates’ quarterback to just 56 passing yards, compared to Ebert’s 211.

Carmilani led the team in receiving yards, with 97 yards on two receptions. On the defensive end, Sommer ended the game with a team-high seven tackles.

“This team wants to be the first [Amherst College football team] to be 9-0,” injured quarterback and co-captain Reece Foy ’18 said

before the game. “We will do this by being a family and really loving and believing in one another.”

The team will look to continue its good form next Saturday, when the Mammoths face Hamilton College away at 1 p.m. The Continentals are coming off of a 35-28 overtime loss to Tufts. Amherst beat Hamilton last year 34-0 and has not lost to Hamilton in several decades.

Photo courtesy of Clarus Studios

Avery Saffold ‘18 had two punt returns totaling 56 yards that provided great field position for the Amherst offense.

Women’s Tennis Performs Well at Individual MIT Invitational Jordan Rhodeman ’20 Staff Writer The Amherst women’s tennis team served up quite the 2017-2018 season debut this past weekend at the MIT Invitational, held at duPont Tennis Courts and J.B. Carr Tennis Bubble. After its abrupt and unanticipated elimination from the first round of the NESCAC tournament and the second round of the national tournament last year, the team will no doubt look forward to this season. With head coach Jackie Bagwell entering her 27th season this fall, the team entered the MIT Invitational with nine individuals for the singles match and four teams for doubles.

Camille Smukler ’20 led a series of

Photo courtesy of Clarus Studios

Jen Chen ‘20 made it to the finals of the consolation bracket for doubles.

impressive performances. This past weekend, she successfully fought her way through the first round of singles against Kat Wiley of Tufts, 6-1, 6-0, and the second round versus Wesleyan’s Zoe Klass-Warc, 6-1, 6-2. In the third round, Smukler then defeated Wesleyan’s Alissa Nakamota, 6-2, 6-1, to advance to the finals. Facing MIT’s Libby Rickeman, she fell in two sets, finishing the invitational as runner-up.

Camilla Trapness ’19, while unseeded in this invitational, surprised a number of higher ranked opponents. She battled through the first round after dropping her first set against MIT’s Marina Zhan, 1-6, 6-2, 10-6, and her second round opponent before ultimately falling in the third round to Wesleyan’s Alissa Nakamoto, 6-2, 6-1.

Despite sophomore Anya Ivenitsky and senior Avery Wagman’s individual losses in the first round of the singles tournament, both athletes returned to win the first and second round of doubles against Wesleyan’s Klass-Warch and Kiseleva, 8-6, and MIT’s Das and Rickeman, 8-1, before bowing out in the semifinals.

Meanwhile Amherst’s dynamic doubles duo of Vickie Ip ’18 and Kelsey Chen ’19 made a run to finals, finishing as runners-up.

Initially, the pair defeated Wesleyan’s Alvarez/ Kim, 8-4, in the first and MIT’s Tzeng/ Guenther, 9-7, in the second.

Seeded as the No. 3 team overall, Ip and Chen continued their winning streak by beating the second seeded team from Tufts, Louks and Popa, 8-4. The Amherst duo then fell in a hard-fought match to No. 1 seed Chong and Yu (Wesleyan).

The Mammoths look to continue their strong play on Saturday when they face longtime rival Williams in the two teams’ traditional fall matchup. The tilt will follow the NCAA Division III team format, with six singles matches and three doubles matches.

email pgarciaprieto18@amherst.edu

10

Sports

The Amherst Student • September 20, 2017

Women’s Soccer Suffer Pair of Home Losses to Springfield and Middlebury

ATHLETE SPOTLIGHT

Ollie Eberth ’20

Photo courtesy of Amherst Athletics

Rubii Tamen ‘19 led Amherst in both total shots (7) and shots on goal (5).

Katie Bergamesca ’18 Staff Writer The Amherst women’s soccer team had an action-packed week with three matches in a seven-day span. The Mammoths went 1-2 on the week, dropping their record to 3-2 for the season (1-1 NESCAC).

Amherst hosted Springfield College in a midweek contest on Wednesday, Sept. 13.

After falling to the Pride last year, the Amherst women enjoyed the better play for most of this year’s contest, holding a 21-11 advantage in shots and a 6-2 advantage in corner kicks.

The Mammoths, however, fell to the visitors in a 2-0 loss. Striker Hannah Guzzi ’18 led the Mammoths in shots with five but was unable to put the ball past Springfield goalie Ciara Boucher.

Amherst headed to Hitchcock Field again on Saturday, Sept. 16 to take on conference foe Middlebury College. Once again, despite maintaining an edge in shots (13-8) and corner kicks (4-1), the Mammoths were unable to claim victory.

Senior Delancey King found the nylon in the first half, giving Amherst an early 1-0 lead. However, King’s goal would be the only one for the Mammoths, while the Panthers evened the score five minutes before halftime and notched the game-winning tally with about 30 minutes remaining in the second half. Offensively, Rubii Tamen ’19 led the

purple and white with seven shots on goal, while junior goalkeeper Chelsea Cutler made two saves throughout the game.

The Amherst women had to regroup quickly after the loss to Middlebury, traveling to Boston less than 24 hours later to face Wentworth Institute of Technology. The Sunday match proved victorious for the Mammoths, who halted their two-game slide with a 3-1 win over the Leopards. Erin McClave ’20 opened up the scoring with an unassisted goal in the 30th minute. A minute later, first-year Cassie Chin notched the second goal of her collegiate career.

“I got a pass from Maeve [McNarama ’20] on the right side and there was just one player in front of me so I took a touch around her and then shot near post,” said Chin, who notched her first goal in Amherst’s 10-0 win over Mount Holyoke.

Guzzi buried the game-winner early in the second half to go ahead 3-0. Wentworth answered with ten minutes left in the game, but it proved only a consolation goal as Amherst claimed the victory.

The Amherst women get a break from midweek play this week but face a stiff pair of conference tests this weekend. On Saturday, Sept. 23, the Mammoths will travel to Williamstown, Mass., to take on NESCAC rival Williams College. On Sunday, Amherst faces another quick turnaround when they play Conn. College in a home match.

Field Hockey Sees Three-Game Win Streak Broken in 2-1 Loss to Middlebury Nate Quigley ’19 Managing Sports Editor Boasting a three-game winning streak and buoyed by an exhilarating upset of Bowdoin, the Amherst women’s field hockey team entered last weekend’s matchup with Middlebury on a high. However, the Panthers proved too much for the upstart Mammoths, as

Photo courtesy of Clarus Studios

Captain Elizabeth Turnbull ‘18 scored Amherst’s only goal of the game.

Amherst suffered its first setback of the season in a 2-1 loss.

The Mammoths started the game on the defensive as Middlebury demonstrated the accuracy of their No. 5 ranking, peppering Amherst’s goalie Emilie Flamme ’20 with shots.

This early pressure paid off for the visitors as a shot from Audrey Quirk found its way past Flamme to give the Panthers a deserved 1-0 lead. The remainder of the first half proved to be a defensive battle, with neither team able to find any offensive rhythm. Middlebury entered the half clinging to their one-goal lead.

However, Amherst came out flying to open the second half. Although Middlebury was able to weather some of the Mammoths’ offensive surge, Elizabeth Turnbull ’18 was not to be denied, notching Amherst’s sole goal of the game to knot the affair at one.

However, the Panthers quickly responded, scoring just 18 seconds after Turnbull’s goal.

This goal would be the last of the game, and though the Mammoths strove to find an equalizer, Middlebury’s defense and goalie proved up to the task.

Amherst will look to return to its winning ways when it faces Endicott College at home on Thursday, Sept. 21, at 7 p.m.

Favorite Team Memory: Team talent show Favorite Pro Athlete: Tom Brady Dream Job: Working on Wall Street Pet Peeve: When people slow down to turn while driving and fail to use their blinkers Favorite Vacation Spot: New Hampshire Lakes Something on Your Bucket List: Skydiving Guilty Pleasure: Binging on Netflix Favorite Food: Cheeseburger Favorite Thing About Amherst: The open curriculum How He Earned It: Eberth guided Amherst’s offensive to a comprehensive 41-17 rout of Bates in the football team’s season-opener.

Eberth, standing in for injured quarterback Reece Foy ‘18, dominated in his first start for the Mammoths, completing 9-of-16 passes for 210 yards with four touchdowns. He even managed to contribute to the rushing game, gaining a total of 25 yards on nine carries, which included a 13-yard scamper in the second quarter. Easily the most impressive aspect of his performance, though, was his big play ability, with Eberth throwing both 49and 75-yard touchdowns.

Camille Smukler ’20 Favorite Team Memory: Spring break trip to California Favorite Pro Athlete: Angelique Kerber or Rafael Nadal Dream Job: Working in the White House or being a food critic Pet Peeve: When people walk slowly in front of me Favorite Vacation Spot: Maine or Switzerland Something on Your Bucket List: Travel to Asia and Africa Guilty Pleasure: Singing in my room Favorite Food: Anything with chocolate Favorite Thing About Amherst: Scenic views and the people How She Earned It: Entering last weekend’s MIT Invitational seeded second in the singles bracket, an accomplishment in its own right, Smukler mowed through the competition. She won each of her first four matches in straight sets, only dropping 13 games in the eight sets before falling in the final to a foe from MIT. In doubles play, Smukler further impressed, bouncing back to make the finals of the consolation bracket after being knocked out.

Men’s Golf Places 16th out of 22 Teams at Annual Duke Nelson Invitational Mary Grace Cronin ’18 Staff Writer This weekend, the Amherst men’s golf team capitalized on a successful day two of competition to clinch 16th place at the 34th annual Duke Nelson Tournament in Middlebury, Vermont.

Amherst faced a strong pool of both in- and out-of-conference opponents. Babson College and Western New England University claimed first and second, respectively, while Trinity led the NESCAC with their third-place finish.

The Mammoths, for their part, shot a twoday team total of 616 (313-303).

“We took advantage of the perfect weather at a course that suits our team’s strengths,” sophomore Nicholas Kumamoto said. “I’m glad that everyone was able to do well the second day, but there’s been a pattern and we need to be able to put a strong two days together.”

Kumamoto was the leader among the purple and white with scores of 75 and 77 for a total of 152, which was enough to earn him a tie for 46th overall.

Jack Burlison ’19 and Nicholas Sullivan ’20 tied with combined scores of 154. While Sullivan shot identical scores of 77 both days, Burlison drastically improved his performance from 82 to 72 on day two.

Senior captain Dan Langa shaved 11 strokes in his second day of competition to shoot 88 and 77.

“I think we’re now defining our strengths and weaknesses as a team,” Langa said. “And understanding that we need to work on our composure on the first day is a super important takeaway from this.”

Mateo Weisner ’18 finished just behind Langa with a score of 162 and identical scores of 81 and 81 to round out the team’s scoring, although his tally didn’t count to the overall score.

Although his score did not count toward his team, senior Justin Henricksen also had a successful weekend, carding rounds of 82 and 75 for a total of 157.

The Mammoths will be back on the course Saturday, Sept. 23 for the Williams Fall Invitational.

Photo courtesy of Amherst Athletics

Jack Burlison ‘19 suffered through a poor round on Saturday but rebounded with an excellent Sunday, shooting 82-72-154 to tie for 55th overall.

The Amherst Student • September 20, 2017

Sports

11

Men’s Soccer Falls to Middlebury in First Volleyball Goes 3-2 in Busy Five-Game Regular Season Home Loss in Six Years Stretch, Record Moves to 6-3 Overall Nate Quigley ’19 Managing Sports Editor

Photo courtesy of Clarus Studios, Inc.

Senior captain Aziz Khan started both of Amherst’s two games this season, providing a steadying presence in the heart of the midfield.

Delancey King ’18 Staff Writer It was a tough weekend for the Amherst men’s soccer team as they suffered their first regular season home loss in six years on Saturday.

After falling to Middlebury, the Mammoths are now 1-1 on the season and have dropped to sixth in the NESCAC standings.

Amherst controlled the run of play, outshooting the Panthers 15-8 and earning eight corner kicks to Middlebury’s three. However, the Mammoths were unable to capitalize on their many quality chances. Representative of Amherst’s unlucky performance was sophomore striker Dane Lind’s chance in the 45th minute of play.

Stepping up to take a free kick at the top of the box, Lind fired off a quick shot that caught the outside of the right post and ended up out of bounds.

In the opening minutes of the second half, Middlebury’s Jed Sass tallied the game’s only goal. The Panthers were awarded a free kick just outside the Mammoths’ 18-yard box, and Sass managed to sneak a ball just inside Amherst senior goalkeeper Lee Owen’s right post to give Middlebury the lead.

With only 1:06 remaining in the match, it

appeared as though Amherst might tie things up. Earning a throw-in in Middlebury’s defensive third, the Mammoths looked to first-year Bryce Johnson to create a scoring opportunity with one of his renowned flip throws. Johnson delivered, with his throw sailing past the Middlebury keeper and into the back of the net. However, since no other player touched the ball before it crossed the goal line, the goal was disallowed.

However, even in defeat, there were positives for the Mammoths. Late in the second half, coach Justin Serpone saw fit to give first-year Michael Stone his first collegiate minutes in goal, valuable experience given that Owen, like Thomas Bull before him, will leave enormous shoes to fill.

While Saturday was undoubtedly a disappointing loss for the Mammoths, the squad is eager to redeem themselves this coming weekend against Williams.

“Amherst vs. Williams is always a big game,” senior captain Sam Malnik said. “It’s a historic rivalry, and everyone is looking forward to the game on Saturday.”

The Ephs are currently 2-1 in the NESCAC, and they will thus provide a great opportunity for Amherst to reestablish themselves as one of the best teams in the league.

The match will take place in Williamstown at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 23.

After suffering a pair of hard-fought 3-2 losses early last week to Endicott and Middlebury, the Amherst volleyball team managed to string together three consecutive wins against out-of-conference foes, gathering momentum for the weeks ahead.

The Mammoths entered last Wednesday’s contest against Endicott winners of three straight matches, but the host Gulls proved to be more than Amherst could handle. Endicott opened the match by winning the tightlycontested opening set, 25-23. However, the Mammoths bounced back to take the second set in commanding fashion, keyed largely by an 11-point run with sophomore Charlotte Duran serving.

The two teams split the next two sets, each winning by a matching scoreline of 25-22, to leave the match knotted at two sets apiece heading into the all-important fifth set. Nor did the fifth-set disappoint, as Endicott just barely managed to eke out a 20-18 win.

Similar heartbreak was waiting for Amherst in their next match-up at home against Middlebury, the team that had ended their season last year in the NESCAC tournament. With that defeat fresh in their minds, the Mammoths took a two-sets-to-one lead thanks in large part to the stellar play of Marialexis Natsis ’18 and Cameron Hendricks ’20, who combined for 39 kills. However, the Panthers managed to claw their way to a 2522 win in the fourth set and, riding their newfound momentum, emerged victorious, 16-14, from the fifth set.

Still stinging from the pair of defeats, Amherst had little time to wallow in selfpity as the team traveled to Weston, Mass., the next day for a double-header against St. Joseph’s (Me.) and Regis (Mass.). These opponents proved to be the perfect tonic for the Mammoths recent ailments, as Amherst returned home with a pair of comfortable wins.

St. Joseph’s proved to be the more difficult of the two opponents, as the Monks were able to steal a set from the Mammoths but still fell 3-1. Statistically, the Amherst effort was much more balanced then in the prior game against Middlebury, with five players totaling five or more kills and Hendricks leading both

teams with 15. Duran continued her dominant sophomore campaign by serving 29 assists in the victory, while Hayes Honea ’19 provided her usual defensive solidity with 13 digs.

The match against Regis was a similar story, as Amherst used a balanced team effort to easily brush aside the host Pride.

Although Regis did manage to keep the first few sets close, losing only 25-20 and 25-22, the Mammoths were never in any real danger of defeat.

Closing out the week’s action, Amherst traveled to Westfield State University, where the team managed a third consecutive victory, 3-1. The Mammoths were never truly troubled by their hosts, as Amherst raced out to a quick lead of two-sets-to-none, before closing out the win.

After going 3-2 on the week, the Mammoths’ record now stands at 6-3 on the season. However, the team stands at 0-1 in the NESCAC due to the loss to Middlebury.

The Mammoths will look to notch their first conference win when they travel to Trinity on Friday, Sept. 22. The match starts at 7 p.m.

Photo courtesy of Clarus Studios

Marialexis Natsis ‘18 has been a steady force for Amherst, ranking third on the team with 76 kills.

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Sports

Photo courtesy of Mark Box Photo courtesy of Clarus Studios

Amherst’s victory over rival schools this weekend sets them up well for continued stellar play headed into the Mount Holyoke Invitational this weekend.

Women’s Golf Bests Williams by Two Strokes in First Victory of the Season Henry Newton ’21 Staff Editor One week after a strong opening to its season at the St. Lawrence Invitational, in which it finished third out of 12 teams, the Amherst women’s golf team played at the historic Nehoiden Golf Club to compete in the Ann S. Batchelder Invitational tournament at Wellesley College.

In a tournament dominated by Williams College for the past decade — the Ephs have won seven of the last ten tournaments — Amherst rose to the occasion, taking the top spot in a competitive and tight field.

Finishing with a two-day total of 619 strokes, the Mammoths bested the Ephs by a mere three strokes, marking the second time in a row that Amherst has captured the title at this tournament.

Amherst also finished ahead of NESCAC rival Middlebury, who had finished second to Amherst’s third in the previous weekend’s contest.

“Our main goal this season is to continue to have success on the golf course by putting ourselves in the best position to win tournaments,” head coach Elizabeth Davis said.

On the first day of play, the Mammoths wasted no time jumping out to an early lead.

The key to this was the consistency up and down the Amherst roster, with four out of the five scoring golfers on the team recording rounds at or below 78.

Morgan Yurosek ’20 had the best round of the day for Amherst and the second-best overall, shooting a 76 on the par-72 course.

Isabelle Ouyang ’21 built upon her impressive collegiate debut from the previous week,

Photo courtesy of Clarus Studios

GAME SCHE DULE

recording a score of 77.

Both Zoe Wong ’18 and Emily Young ’20 submitted scores of 78, and Lily Worden ’21 rounded out Amherst’s scorers, carding an 85 in her debut. At the end of the first day, Amherst held the lead by a mere two strokes over Williams, 309-311.

The second day saw much of the same for the Mammoth golfers, with consistency again the watchword of the day. Overall the team recorded a score of 310 strokes. This was enough to edge out Williams.

Again, the same quartet led the way for Amherst, with Yurosek’s second-round score of 75 tied for the third-lowest round of the day.

Meanwhile, Wong and Young both matched their Saturday score of 78, while Ouyangposted a 79 on the second day of action.

Individually, Amherst golfers achieved at a high level, with four of the five competitors

finishing within the top-five places at the tournament overall.

Yurosek finished in second place individually with a score of 151, good for just seven over par. Ouyang, Wong and Young all finished tied for fifth place with scores of 156, leaving the trio at 12 strokes over par for the weekend.

Even Worden, Amherst’s fifth golfer whose score wasn’t included in the team’s overall tally, showed her credentials, finishing tied for 22nd out of the 29 competing golfers. The strong showings of both Worden and Ouyang once again attest to Davis’s incredibly recruiting ability.

Looking to build on its strong run of play, the team will play in the Mount Holyoke Invitational this weekend, Sept. 23-24.

Amherst finished in second place at last year’s event.

Photo courtesy of Clarus Studios

THU

FRI

SAT

Field Hockey @ Endicott, 7 p.m.

Volleyball @ Trinity, 7 p.m.

Women’s Golf @ Mount Holyoke Invitational, TBD Men’s Cross Country @ Purple Valley Invitational, TBD

Photo courtesy of Amherst Athletics

Women’s Cross Country @ Purple Valley Invitational, TBD

Men’s Golf @ Williams Fall Invitational, 1 p.m.

Field Hockey @ Williams, 11 a.m.

Volleyball vs. Husson @ Colby-Sawyer, 1 p.m.

Women’s Soccer @ Williams, noon

Football @ Hamilton, 1 p.m.

Women’s Tennis @ Williams, 1 p.m.

Men’s Soccer @ Williams, 2 p.m.

Volleyball @ Colby-Sawyer, 3 p.m.