Volume 152, Issue 21

President Michael Elliott was joined by AAS President Sirus Wheaton ’23, who also delivered an address.

Elliott Outlines Priorities at State of College

Leo Kamin ’25 Managing News Editor

College President Michael Elliott and the Association of Amherst Students (AAS) President Sirus Wheaton ’23 delivered “State of the College” addresses on Sunday, April 2.

Though both began their roles in the fall of 2022, Wheaton, who is reaching the end of his one-year term, reflected on the past, while Elliott, who has only just begun his tenure, looked toward the future. Wheaton reflected on his impeachment last semester and his takeaways from his time as president more generally. Elliott gave his assessment of the biggest issues facing the college, and outlined,

FEATURES 6

Speaker Traces Difficulties of Defining Antisemitism

Julia Gentin ’26 Senior Staff Writer

Kenneth S. Stern, a lawyer and expert on hatred and antisemitism, gave a talk titled “Antisemitism and Binary Thinking: Campus Culture and the Future of Democracy,” at the college on Wednesday, March 29.

in broad strokes, his priorities going forward.

Wheaton structured his speech around a claim that last semester's impeachment trial — in which AAS Vice President Ankit Sayed ’24 unsuccessfully tried to remove Wheaton — “saved senate” by energizing senators and shining light on the AAS’ issues.

Elliott built his address around the “three umbrellas” of issues that he would focus on across the next few years: making Amherst a better place to work, fostering a greater sense of belonging among the student body, and ensuring that the college “owns its civic responsibility.”

The event, which was held in Johnson Chapel for the first time

Old News: Managing Features Editor Sonia Chajet Wides ’25 examines the college’s reaction to the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968.

in a number of years, was not widely promoted, so the two presidents spoke to a sparse crowd that included just a handful of non-senators. Elliott said that he hoped that the State of College would see greater turnout in the future.

Wheaton, who rose first, conceded that his claim that his impeachment had been good for the AAS was “the hot take,” but he nevertheless argued that the impeachment improved the AAS in four ways: by focusing the student body’s attention on the senate and therefore increasing transparency; by highlighting the problem of “senator complacency”; by forcing senators to affirmatively “stand up for what they believed”; and by ensuring

OPINION 10

that the senate “learned way more than any other senate ever has,” in the process of consulting the AAS bylaws to determine out how to conduct an impeachment trial.

Wheaton then went on to detail a number of projects that he and various senators have engaged in across the past year. He pointed to his work connecting the college community to town of Amherst’s reparations efforts, to the creation of a newsletter and Instagram page to keep students informed about the AAS’ proceedings, to the establishment of a new committee bringing together affinity group leaders to improve inter-group

Continued on page 3

Tapti Talks: Managing Opinion Editor Tapti Sen ’25 reflects on the experience of living with a chronic illness at Amherst.

Stern, director of Bard College’s Center for the Study of Hate, and author of “The Conflict over the Conflict: The Israel/Palestine Campus Debate,” has argued before the Supreme Court and acted as lead director of what is now the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) International Working Definition of Antisemitism. During the talk, Stern argued that the definition has been used, counter to his intention, to unfairly suppress anti-Israel political speech.

Stern also discussed the relationship between antisemitism and hate in general, the danger of using a single definition for antisemitism, and the conspiratorial thinking that is present in manifestations of antisemitism.

Ahead of the talk, President Michael Elliott sent out an email to all students, faculty, and staff encouraging attendance.

“We must not underestimate the persistent problem of antisemitism and its profound impacts on our world,” Elliott wrote.

At the talk, Stern said antisemi-

Continued on page 2

ARTS&LIVING 15

Ghostlight Double Feature: Managing Arts & Living Editor Madeline Lawson ’25 reviews student plays "Meteoric" and "BY You."

Photo courtesy of Claire Beougher '26

News POLICE LOG

>>March 29, 2023

5:13 p.m. Lyceum ACPD and AFD responded to a fire alarm. The cause of activation was from contractors accidentally cutting a wire. No smoke or fire.

>>March 29, 2023

9:02 p.m. Science Center ACPD responded to check on an unattended vehicle with its doors open. No evidence of forced entry. The door was then secured.

>>March 31, 2023

3:26 p.m. Fayerweather

Lot Rd ACPD stopped a motor vehicle displaying an expired registration.

>>April 1, 2023

1:07 a.m. Lee Hall ACPD responded to a report of someone screaming "help." A search of the area did not locate anyone in need of assistance.

>>April 2, 2023

1:52 a.m. Eighmy Powerhouse ACPD and AFD responded to a fire alarm. The cause was not found.

>>April 2, 2023

5:56 a.m. Valentine Res Hall ACPD responded to a prefire alarm. Cause of the false activation was from a blow dryer.

>>April 2, 2023

10:02 p.m. Converse Lot ACPD conducted a motor vehicle stop. Operator was given a verbal warning.

>>April 3, 2023

8:28 a.m. Charles Drew House ACPD responded to a prefire alarm. The cause of the alarm was marijuana smoke.

Speaker Discusses Antisemitic Speech on Campuses

Continued from page 1

tism was best understood as two things at its core.

“[The first component is that] it’s a conspiracy theory, saying that Jews conspire to harm non-Jews,” Stern said. “The second component is that the harm the Jews do explains what goes wrong in the world.”

Stern noted that conspiratorial thinking has been present for a long time and manifests in the present day as hate crimes, both against Jews and against other groups.

“I’m a firm believer that to think about antisemitism, we have to have a wide lens about what’s driving things like that as opposed to thinking only about what happens to Jews,” Stern said. “What’s the relationship between antisemitism and hate more broadly?”

Conspiratorial thinking has also recently become more prevalent in mainstream American politics, Stern added. As this thinking becomes mainstream, more individuals are drawn into what Stern described as a “funnel” into extreme antisemitic beliefs and actions.

“When we buy into a system of thought that makes us feel good because we’re fighting for our clearly correct and virtuous in-group against an external threat, our thinking becomes increasingly binary, frequently passionate,” Stern said.

As the lead drafter of the IHRA definition of antisemitism, Stern said he intended the definition to be used to categorize which crimes against

Jews are antisemitic in nature, but he argued that it has come to be weaponized by pro-Israel advocates.

The definition has been used by some to cast any anti-Israeli occupation speech as antisemitic and, as a result, suppress that speech.

“I’m concerned about the threats to our democracy,” Stern said. “If you demand free speech for yourself, as the people on the pro-Israel side do, you have to speak up for those whose ideas you find deplorable.”

Threats to free expression come not only from the pro-Israel right, but also from the left, Stern added. He referred to incidents at the University of Vermont and SUNY New Paltz where sexual survivors’ groups barred participation from Zionists. He added that Students for Justice in Palestine at Berkeley, along with nine other student groups at the college, agreed to prevent Zionist speakers from being hosted on campus.

“To me, it reflected something very similar to McCarthyism, that people felt so certain in their binaries,” Stern said. “I find that deeply troubling.”

Despite reports of recent increase in antisemitic behavior, Stern added that attitudes are generally much better now regarding antisemitism than in past generations.

Stern said in an interview that the talk was a good way to get the college to wrestle with potential issues.

“When senior staff at a college are dealing with a crisis in real time … it’s not as good a response as if they have thought about these things be-

fore,” Stern said.

In addition to his lecture, in his time on campus, Stern dined with Jewish students, had a two-hour workshop with senior staff about issues of academic freedom when talking about Israel and Palestine, and met more faculty over dinner at the president’s house before giving the campus-wide talk.

Students' reactions to the lecture emphasized its connections to campus-wide incidents, but added that antisemitism is a complex issue without concrete solutions.

Griffin Postley ’26 said it was “compelling that [Stern] had no answers” when it came to specific policies the school should adopt.

“There’s antisemitism occurring … but it is ambiguous what institutions should do,” Postley said. “The idea that people should adopt this universal definition is a bad idea … but it is unclear whether any definition would be good.”

Sandor Weiss ’25, who is active in the Amherst Jewish community as a treasurer for Hillel, said he attended the talk because of his commitment to fighting antisemitism.

“I care deeply about the idea of antisemitism and combating it as one of the ‘isms’ in the world,” Weiss said. “There has been a lack of attention in recent years to antisemitism when it comes to [diversity, equity, and inclusion training].”

Weiss added that he still resonated with Stern’s assessment of antisemitism, as a whole, on the decrease.

“I go to Amherst College and I’m

a proud and open Jew,” Weiss said, indicating the progress that Jews have made. “But some people forgot the lessons of the 20th century … We are not in the clear.”

Weiss said that Stern could’ve talked more about Israel during the lecture.

“I wish he focused more about when anti-Israel speech becomes antisemitic.”

Weiss added that the discussion about defining antisemitism resonated with him.

“We talked about it in [Jewish history] class and Stern talked about it: does a definition do more harm than good?” Weiss said. “One definition of antisemitism, especially if the definition allows for the curtailing of speech, is harmful. It’s a very complicated issue.”

Weiss said that the publication last semester of the article “In Defense of Hamas,” in The Contra, an anonymous student publication, was a “wake-up call to everyone that there was a lot of ignorance surrounding Jewish issues and Israel.”

“Anonymity is allowing people to publish stuff under bad faith. Fizz, [the college-specific social media platform that allows users to post anonymously,] escalated that. There is a potential for antisemitism to brew,” Weiss said.

As a result, the administration spoke with Jewish students to address antisemitism and bolster the Jewish community in general, including the creation of a Jewish space on campus, Weiss added.

“Ignorance, not necessarily hatred, manifests in antisemitic tropes,” Weiss said. “The word to highlight is ignorance, which is why the speaker came.”

Stern said in an interview that he was impressed by how the group of students defaulted to education as a means to address antisemitism.

“At some campuses, the desire is to just stop a political opponent from speaking,” Stern said. “Here, the idea was using the great resources of Amherst College and expanding that to wrestle with some of these issues.”

Weiss said he appreciated Elliott’s leadership in sending out a campus-wide email about the talk, which helped with the turnout.

He added that the event, which unlike many others, was sponsored by the school administration, and this also encouraged more people to attend.

Stern said he knew that the administration was concerned about how Jewish students felt.

“The invitation to me was in some ways influenced by the fact that some Jewish students felt like [the administration] could have done better [last semester,]” Stern said. “I’m very pleased with the idea that because they recognized that there was some angst here and concern that rather [than] just say[ing], ‘Okay, this happened last semester, forget about it,’ they decided to have a type of fluid discussion about … how we can build a better campus culture. That’s where the leadership went to, and I applaud them for it.”

Wheaton Reflects On Impeachment Trial in Speech

Continued from page 1

communication and cooperation, and to the reestablishment of the student-town advisory board.

He additionally referenced a forthcoming statement from the AAS to the campus community “describing how Amherst has fallen short on its anti-racism plan and has commercialized the Amherst Uprising.”

Following Wheaton’s 10-minute address, Elliott commended him as a “trusted counselor and somebody that I’ve learned a lot from over the course of the year.”

Elliott went on to reference the impeachment and declare that “Sirus handled that better than some other figures on the national stage.”

Elliott structured his address around his “year of learning” since he became president in August of last year.

Elliott rejected the blind optimism that most American Presidents bring to their State of the Union addresses. “If we were in Washington, I would say that the college is strong and half of you would get up and cheer and the other half would boo.”

“I’m going to say something a little more subtle,” he said. “If I had to summarize the state of the college in one word, I would use the word ‘recovering.’”

He said that, as a small residential college, Amherst was hit especially hard by the pandemic. Institutions, traditions, and institutional knowledge had been weakened by the pandemic, he said, while the college continues to suffer from its economic fallout. While the pandemic had a clear, obvious beginning, he added, the transition into the college’s phase of post-pandemic normality would be much more gradual.

The heart of Elliott’s address detailed the three general areas that he would devote outsized attention to across the next few years. Along the way, he argued that a college president cannot solve every problem alone, and he continually emphasized that “students collectively, especially on a campus of this size, often have more power than they realize.”

Elliott’s first area of focus would be labor issues, he said. “We need to make Amherst a better place to work for everybody who works here — the staff, the employees, the students who work here as well.”

He credited the Amherst Labor Alliance and reporting in The Student on the aftermath of dorm damage for bringing attention to the issue. “We have real work to do in terms of management, in terms of pay equity, in terms of effective and trans -

parent process,” he said.

Pointing to incidents of dorm damage, Elliott additionally argued that more respectful behavior on the part of students could also play a role in making Amherst a better place to work.

Elliott said that his second goal was to increase student belonging. “We need to foster a student culture in which every student experiences themselves as belonging to a college-like community,” he said.

Elliott went on to say that he had “heard frustration about the way that the social life of this campus is organized,” and that the administration could do more to “supply scaffolding and support” for student life.

But Elliott also argued that there was only so much the administration could do.“This question of how to build a community-wide student culture is one where student vision and

imagination will have a greater impact than the actions of the administration,” he said.

Elliott’s final area of focus will be ensuring that “Amherst owns its civic responsibility.” Echoing his convocation address in September, Elliott said that the college needed to do more to fulfill its commitment to the public good.

He said that this would include promoting more engagement on the local level and providing more resources for social impact careers, but also ensuring that Amherst students are able to “engage with one another in civic, civil, and principled argument on issues that you all care about.”

Following his speech, Elliott answered a few questions from senators, promised to look into reinstating the room draw lip sync contest, then stepped down from the Johnson Chapel stage.

In his address, Wheaton offered four reasons why his impeachment trial last term strengthened the AAS.

Photo courtesy of Claire Beougher '26

CS Majors Express Uncertainty Following Tech Layoffs

Dylan Vrins ’26 Senior Staff Writer

Computer science (CS) majors at Amherst are facing a new sense of job insecurity amid waves of layoffs across major tech companies, leading some to redirect their career-exploration efforts to tech roles in government, medicine, and other nontraditional sectors.

Companies such as Amazon, Twitter, and Microsoft — popular targets for students interested in a programming career — have heavily downsized their workforces this year. In recent months, Facebook has laid off roughly 21,000 employees, Amazon reportedly cut 10,000 workers, and Twitter cut 3,750 positions.

Carolyn Margolin, the program director of careers in science and technology at the Loeb Center for Career Exploration and Planning, outlined the cause of these layoffs. “As public needs shifted after the height of the pandemic and consumer spending changed with rising inflation, the needs of these companies changed as well,” she said. “[This led] to their decision to downsize in some areas.”

Daniel Flores Garcia ’24, a CS

major, said that many fellow majors were affected by the cuts, with some even losing standing internship offers.

“Some companies did not give return offers for their interns,” he wrote in a message to The Student. “As such, CS majors in Amherst who were relying upon their return offers for another internship the following summer or even a job after college had to go back into recruiting during Fall 2022-Spring 2023.”

“But many (probably most) companies were hiring fewer people in general during this recruiting season, which added to the agitation and uncertainty,” he said.

Adam Rogers ’24 has already experienced difficulties finding an internship as a CS major. “[The layoffs] make me nervous about finding jobs upon graduation, and also internships now,” he said. “I think companies are hiring fewer interns just because they’re shortening down their infrastructure.”

This year will be a particularly difficult year to find jobs in big tech, and it could take a few years before the demand rises again, according to Margolin. “This current issue will impact this year’s graduates — and

potentially have continuing effects for one or two years after that,” she said.

Although big tech companies are hiring significantly less, Rogers noted that this doesn’t mean that students pursuing tech are entirely out of options. “I think computer science majors are needed in other industries, other than tech,” he explained. “Every company, whether it's retail or consulting, needs someone who can code, someone who knows software.” Rogers also referenced the fact that almost every company has a website, and individuals in tech can always fill positions involving website development and layout.

Margolin shared a similar view, adding that “there are still going to be many jobs for CS majors. It will mean expanding their view of what a career in technology can mean.”

She assured that there are many roles which involve tech in almost every other field — ranging from medicine to government. Climate and green energy technology is another great option, since jobs in this industry are on the rise as climate change becomes an increasingly alarming issue. “Consider what types of questions and issues you are inter-

ested in and then find the roles that allow you to approach them through the lens of technology,” she said.

Garcia, for his part, said that many CS majors were looking for and had found opportunities in the form of research experiences for undergraduates at different universities.

Margolin encourages CS students searching for jobs this year to also consider “small tech” roles at technology companies that aren’t massively well known like Google or Amazon. Finally, she mentioned that job seekers should look towards emerging technologies — artificial intelligence, and machine learning in particular — as demand for these is currently increasing and will continue to increase over the coming years.

Despite existing difficulties, Rogers maintained that these layoffs shouldn’t discourage Amherst students from pursuing CS and technology. “Study what you're interested in and what makes you happy,” he said. “You will be able to fill a gap that’s necessary in the job market no matter what industry.”

The sense of uncertainty is not ubiquitous. At least one upperclassmen CS major, Matthew

Chun ’24, wrote in a message to The Student that he already had secured an internship at a big tech firm and was not concerned about the layoffs.

Additionally, the future is much brighter for underclassmen who may be thinking about pursuing a career in tech, Margolin said. She predicted that in the future, especially as AI and other emerging technologies continue to grow, CS majors and jobs in tech will likely be on the rise again and return to their previous high demand.

Kevin Dai ’25, another CS major, echoed Margolin. He said that as a sophomore, he was not too concerned about his job prospects.

“It seems that because the tech industry is pretty cyclical, by the time that younger students graduate, the job market likely will have improved substantially from where it’s at right now,” he said.

As for graduates this year and next year, positions in other nontech industries will likely be the goto solution to the decline in the big tech workforce. Margolin encourages students to utilize the resources found at the Loeb center and reach out to her and her colleagues with any concerns.

Mammoth Moments in Miniature: March 30 to April 4

The Editorial Board

Housing Selection To Open Next Week

Housing selection for the upcoming academic year will begin on Tuesday, April 11 — when seniors’ selection windows open — followed by rising juniors on Wednesday, and rising sophomores on Thursday. The housing portal, however, is already open for students to explore potential options, choose a proxy selector, and begin roommate matching.

AAS Solicits Nominations for AAS Distinguished Teaching Award

The AAS announced the opening of the nomination process for the AAS Distinguished Teaching Award in an email to the student body on March 30. The award, established in 2000, is designed to

celebrate teaching excellence at the college and “recognize the profound importance that involved, engaging and dedicated professors have upon our college experience.”

Students interested in nominating a professor for the award can access the nomination form through the aforementioned email.

Prize for Testing New Library Tool

Frost Library is testing a new search platform for potential implementation in its library resources, and looking for students to participate in a usability test. Students who volunteer for the test, which will last approximately 45 to 60 minutes, will receive a $25 gift card to Amazon or a local business. The form to participate in the usability test can be accessed in the Daily Mammoth.

The award is displayed on the second floor of Keefe Campus Center.

Photo courtesy of Leo Kamin '25

Features Jason Williams Staff Spotlight

of a chemical that goes beyond its use in the experiment.

Caelen McQuilkin: The first question I wanted to ask you is about your email signature. It says, “What you put down the drain might cause you a lot of pain.” I was curious about this phrase and what it means to you.

Jason Williams: So, I change them every now and then. I’ve had that one for the longest … people don’t know that much about hazardous waste, and I’ve been doing this job almost all my life, including when I was in college, so I know a lot about hazardous waste. And a lot of what I realized about students is that … Well, first of all, we have a policy here that we don’t pour anything down our [lab] drains, other than soap and water. That’s an Amherst College policy. And so I always tell people, don’t pour anything down the drain, because you never know what could happen. And also, people don’t know what they’re working with a lot of the time, how dangerous it might be. And even sometimes, there are things that are not hazardous per regulations, but they’re still quite harmful, that you shouldn’t pour down your drain. There can be consequences down the line. So really that’s what it is. I like to make it funny, but also related to my work.

CM: How did you first become interested in chemical safety?

JW: When I was in college, I had just come to the U.S. I think I came a few days later than most people, because of some visa is-

sues. And I remember trying to find a job, and all the jobs were taken. [Well,] most of the jobs were taken, I guess. I was walking around and I was like hey, ‘the science person has a job.’ And most people don’t want to try to get those jobs, because they think they aren’t smart enough, or they think they’re not going to know. I was like, ‘hey, this is the only job that’s left.’ So I went to go talk to the lab manager, ‘do you want somebody?’ She was like ‘yeah.’ And then eventually, it just clicked. I really liked it. And she took over more of the campus safety stuff, like what EHS [Environment, Health & Safety] does, and she left all the lab stuff to me, and all the waste stuff to me. And it clicked. I loved it. And then I got recruited by a hazardous waste company. And from there on … [working for the hazardous waste company] I used to go to tons of schools in the Midwest — all of the schools in the Midwest — to do what’s called lab packing, which is the way you segregate and pack waste per the government regulations, and bring it to the plant to get disposed of.

CM: What do you think made the job ‘click’ for you?

JW: You know, I’m a person that … I don’t mind having a lot of things going on, and I can do 14 things at the same time. And I think the thing with chemicals, when it comes to this job, is that it’s never just one thing that you need to think about. You need to think about interactions be-

tween chemicals. You need to think about the chemical itself, you need to think about, ‘Why is it blue, it’s normally white.’ You need to know the physical characteristics, you need to know chemical characteristics, you need to know chemical reactions. But you also need to know the regulations regarding it. Like I said earlier, you need to know hazardous thresholds, actual percentages and what that means. There are tons of regulations for chemicals, there are tons and tons and tons and tons of regulations. We just saw what happened in Ohio with the train derailing, and that caused lots of problems because there are lots of regulations for how you can treat that stuff, and how you do all of the assessments and stuff like that. With hazardous waste, and with chemicals in general in my field … chemists mostly care about the chemical reaction, and how they get from Point A to Point B. I care about all of that, and more. How do you dispose of it? What if it hurts you? How much of it can you inhale? What do you need to wear to make sure you don’t inhale it? What do you need to wear to make sure it doesn’t get in your skin? So it’s literally all the different parts going on at the same time. That’s what I like about it, it’s just a lot going on at the same time, and you can put different things together. It’s kind of like being an investigator. I’m a chemical detective.

CM: It’s interesting to think that there’s this whole longer journey

JW: There’s a term called ‘Cradle to Grave’ in this field. And it basically means that you are in charge of this chemical from the day it was born until it dies. In other words, you’re in charge of a chemical’s entire lifespan. And so where you get the chemical from matters. How it gets to campus matters. How much of it you get matters. Do you have everything in place to make sure that you can use a chemical? Do you have PPE? Do you have engineering controls? Did you tell everyone in your lab using this chemical [that it can] cause a reaction? How do you dispose of it? Which company do you use to dispose of it? What does it happen once you dispose of it? Does it get put into the environment? Does it go into the atmosphere? How does it get treated? All of the stuff. Does it go into a landfill? How do you do the documentation to make sure … it’s all of this stuff at once.

CM: Do you work with students in any components of your job?

JW: I work with students in several different ways. I work with both teaching labs and research labs. And so teaching labs wise, a lot of times I go in and give safety talks at the beginning of the semester. We have a video that they could show, but I think that a lot of professors like to have me in there because it’s kind of like if you watch the video on the airplane before it took off versus if somebody actually shows you where the exit is, it’s a little bit more practical. So I do that. And what I’m really getting at there, is several things. First of all, I realize I’m in a niche field of science. And I’m a Black person in a very niche field of science, and there are very few Black people in this field. And so for one, I really like students to be able to see and be like “huh, I guess you could do something other than being a doctor or a professor.” I think it’s nice to see a person who doesn’t

look like the average person in the lab. I take that very seriously, so that’s another reason why I like to do it. But also because I can tell stories, I can give stories of different things that have happened … and why we shouldn’t do those things, so it becomes real. And I can also point to things, I can point to the waste container, and be like, ‘This is the container we pour stuff into,’ ‘These are the goggles we use’ … Lab coats don’t have buttons, they have snaps so they can rip off really easily. And I can show it. Stuff like that.

CM: As someone who’s not in STEM, it’s cool learning more about all the paths that STEM can take you down.

JW: Yeah, most people don't realize that. I mean, that’s how Stephanie [Capsuto, science research librarian at the college] and I get along quite a bit, because we’re both in science and alternative fields. We did this panel … we were just trying to show all the different people that are in STEM, all the different angles you can take, and all different types of people as well. It was cool to talk about how, I’m Black, I’m from a different background, I’m from a poor background. But you can still be a scientist. And not only a scientist, but … I know for sure that a lot of poor people, let’s say, like me, who grew up and made it, we are socialized to become doctors and professors, right? Because we don’t know that many people in all the other fields. Most people go to a doctor, most people have gone to school and seen teachers, and that’s what you want to do. But you don’t see safety people, you don’t see the chemical specialist person. And so you don’t realize that could be a cool branch of chemistry, or environmental science that you could do. I take that very seriously.

Read the full interview online at www.amherststudent.com

—Caelen McQuilkin ’24E

Photo courtesy of Claire Beougher ’26

Jason Williams is the Director of Chemical and Laboratory Safety. He has a Bachelor’s Degree in Environmental Science and Spanish from Westminster College in Missouri, and a Master’s Degree in Environmental Science from Lincoln University.

Old News: Reaction to MLK Assassination at Amherst

Sonia Chajet Wides ’25 Managing Features Editor

“The murder of Martin Luther King has eliminated room for doubt, fluctuation and moderation. Action and result are all that is left.” — Tuffy Simpkins

’69

For this week’s edition of Old News, instead of letting a random number generator decide upon a year in the college’s history to look back on, I intentionally chose 1968.

This week in 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee. I wanted to commemorate the 55th anniversary of his murder and take a look at how Amherst College responded at the time. Because of his leadership, Dr. King’s assassination was a deeply important moment in American history and across movements for racial justice. It also came in the middle of an enormously eventful year, in which the Vietnam War raged on, Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated and Richard Nixon won the presidency, catapulting the nation into conservative backlash to the previous decade’s social upheaval.

At Amherst, these events were experienced by a campus community that was still all-male, with a graduating class that was just 2 percent Black. Like many schools around this time, the campus was ripe with student activism and political discussion. In the weeks surrounding Dr. King’s murder, The Student documented impromptu gatherings and speeches on the quad, community organizing meetings, protests, and fasts.

I knew from research for an article about diversity in admissions last year that many students at Amherst felt that Dr. King’s assassination further motivated the college community to make more strident demands about racial justice at Amherst.

In these papers, I saw on display the radicalization and galvanization that Dr. King’s assassination provided for so many students and faculty, and the beginnings of the major changes it would contribute to at the College and off campus.

Amherst in April 1968

I began with the April 4, 1968, edition of The Student, which was published in the morning, before Dr. King was shot and killed that evening. So the issue did not include the assassination in its news, but it gave me some context as to what the political environment was like at Amherst at the time.

One story reported on a student rent strike in the town of Amherst.

Another discussed the several proposals of Student Council member Jon Tobis ’69 to “publicize the repressiveness and brutality” of Massachusetts abortion laws, including the establishment “of an illegal Abortion Loan Fund … through which students could borrow up to $300 interest free for a year.”

Unsurprisingly, many stories related to the Vietnam War, the draft, and deferring it. Faculty had just voted to cancel classes on May 4 for a Day of Inquiry on American Involvement in Vietnam.

Discussions of racial justice also abounded: a member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), John Wilson, “a leader in the Black Power and peace movements,” was to speak in Converse Hall.

One opinion piece on prejudice at Amherst read: “Prejudice is out of fashion at Amherst. And repressed or rechanneled with extreme sophistication. Oh, occasionally there will be a joke at the expense of one minority group or another, but they are never meant seriously, of course … But you let it pass by. Because it isn’t that important, somehow. Amherst is different. The National Commission on Civil Disorders may say that there is white racism in the United States. But not at Amherst.”

The biggest discussion was about then-President Lyndon B. Johnson’s announcement that he would not run again in the 1968 election. A news article reported that students were widely celebratory in response to the announcement: “Firecrackers exploded well into the night, the Hallelujah Chorus blared from several dorms.” Students were generally unfavorable towards Johnson’s Vietnam War policy, and hoped that

other Democratic candidates would be more staunchly anti-war.

But an editorial cautioned students not to celebrate too much: “We would do well to forget our cries of jubilation and our outpourings of praise … before we choke on them … The war goes on … We have to support a very new and radical system of values or there will be more fighting and dying in Vietnam and there will be more Vietnams. There will be more riots and more poverty.” Later that day, the murder of Dr. King would remind campus of this violent reality.

After the Assassination

The April 8 edition of The Student’s front page read, “Death of Martin Luther King Leaves Campus Sad and Angry.” The article’s author, Tim Hardy ’69, wrote, “A feeling of great loss and deep sorrow was inseparable from an equally strong feeling of anger towards American racism as Amherst mourned the death last Thursday of the assassinated Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King.”

Dr. King was fatally shot at a motel in Memphis, where he had traveled to support striking Black sanitation workers. The night before, Dr. King had delivered his famously prophetic speech, “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop,” in which he said, “I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land!”

Just after Dr. King’s death was reported on the evening of the 4th, a spontaneous demonstration commenced on the town common, where, according to Hardy, “the anger at American society overshadowed the feeling of grief and sorrow over King’s death.” The demonstration that evening began with 600 students from UMass Amherst marching down Pleasant Street, where they convened with Amherst College students to form a crowd of 1,000 people, who sang songs such as “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?” and “We Shall Overcome.”

Two Amherst students spoke at the demonstration, Tom Sellers ’71, and Eric Bohman ’70, who was president of Amherst’s chapter of

the national Students for a Democratic Society (SDS). “Bohman told the marchers not to forget that a racist society, and not a single insane man, was responsible for King’s death,” Hardy wrote.

An informal panel the next morning in Johnson Chapel featured Bohman, Sellers, and other students and faculty, drawing a crowd of over 150 students. At the panel, Sellers was quoted as saying, “I see racism as the most pervasive, basic part of our society … King was the best friend the white man ever had. His goal is alive, but his tactic (non-violence) is dead.”

I talked to Sellers this week, and 55 years later, he recalled that King’s assassination dealt a blow to people’s faith in non-violence: “There was a feeling, like it was not just the death of Dr. King, but it was like the death of non-violence as a strategy and as a tactic for the civil rights movement.”

Upon reflection, the older Sellers no longer agrees with that assessment. “Being a lot more mature, and having watched the success of folks like John Lewis, obviously, the tactic wasn’t dead,” he said. It continued to be a useful tactic for a lot of folks in the movement,” he said.

However, Sellers noted the urgency of the environment at Amherst and around the country. “It felt like we were on the brink of revolution, 1968 being a pretty crazy year,” he said. “At the moment, it felt like it was all over and done with.”

According to the April 8 edition of The Student, these first demonstrations were only the beginning. In the following days, 600 people attended a college memorial service conducted by college chaplain Lewis Mudge, and Cuthbert “Tuffy” Simpkins ’69, who was the president of the newly formed Afro-American Society.

Mudge, for his own part, had worked with Dr. King in the past and attended his funeral in Atlanta. He wrote about his experiences and the strangeness of re-entering Amherst afterwards in the April 15 issue of The Student. “There, up ahead, the … cart bearing the … coffin of the man you once sat beside in a car in St. Augustine,” he wrote.

“The man who knew that sooner or later this moment would come … Re-entry problems. Recompression. The faculty at coffee talking of their gardens. Signs of incomprehension, even bitterness.”

Mudge had no illusions about the significance of the murder. “To think now of going back to the spirit of 1963-65 is no doubt sheer nostalgia,” he wrote. “How to join enthusiasm and determination with the hard thinking and patient effort that any real changes in our life will require?”

At Amherst, political organizing continued. A large group of students and faculty planned to fast from the following Tuesday to Thursday, “‘for peace in Vietnam, for freedom and justice in the United States, for an end to violence,’ and in memory of Martin Luther King, who had issued the call for the fast before his assassination last Thursday.” The fast included 30 students, and faculty such as Professor of History and American Studies, and Emeritus N. Gordon Levin, who still teaches at Amherst.

Alongside chapters at Smith and Mount Holyoke, SDS also commenced planning for a “Ten Days” of protest with speakers, teach-ins, workshops, and films. “The focus of the activities during this organized period will be an educational confrontation with the imperialist policy in foreign affairs of the United States,” said Bohman. The group also organized symposiums on race and racism and the draft. One event, a Rally for Peace and Justice, featured Reverend James Bevel, a close collaborator of Dr. King’s, speaking on the Town Common.

“The stress of the activities reflects the SDS movement’s belief that any real political change in the United States, in Bohman’s terms, ‘must come from the bottom up,’” reported The Student, “‘lack of local political participation creates local impotence in American political structure.’”

The April 11 issue of The Student reported that there was a community organizing meeting that same week, attended by 220 people, that

Continued on page 7

In 1968, the College Responded to the Murder of Dr. King

Continued from page 6 lasted two hours and “wandered from topic to topic,” but resulted in multiple action plans, including a money drive for the striking garbage workers whom Dr. King had gone to Memphis to support a voter registration drive, and a boycott of Amherst businesses that would not hire Black students.

People also turned inward to look at how the college should respond. The fasting group worked with SDS convened to discuss a six-point, racial justice action plan to propose to the college: Increase the number of Black students on campus, abolish rushing and fraternities, establish a committee “to re-examine priorities in the College budget,” create a Martin Luther King Memorial Fund to aid the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), curtail commencement funds to use for civil rights programs, re-examine college investments in “corporations that practice or perpetuate racial equality.” SDS also devised a plan to conduct weekly seminars “instructing students in organizing anti-discrimination projects in white communities.”

In speaking about the response at Amherst, Sellers emphasized the smallness of the Black community — “ten of us in the entire class.” He believes that the intense mobilization in 1968 “led to a more vibrant and vital … group of African American students who ended up graduating from Amherst and have gone on to do some really incredible things.”

He also expressed that the events of 1968 galvanized many students, including himself, to look beyond Amherst to take action. “You felt like you had to do something,” he said. “And just hanging around Amherst and writing papers and debating nice intellectual things was not really doing something, you had to get out and do something.”

In his case, that meant participating in a summer program alongside Smith and Mt. Holyoke students, teaching Black students in Mississippi who would soon integrate all-white schools. “The loss of Dr. King and the emotion that night

was the impetus, ultimately, for me, leaving Amherst and going to work in that program in the summer, and not coming back for a couple of years,” he said. “Amherst at that point didn’t seem like the real world, especially after Dr. King was killed … It was filled with a whole lot of smart people doing smart things. But it didn’t feel like it was the real world.”

Jesse Warr ’69, who wrote an opinion piece for the April 8 edition of The Student, shared similar thoughts with me this week. Going to Amherst, he said, “felt like interplanetary travel … you went into this sort of idyllic academic environment … our engagement with the … community around us was minimal.”

Some students who had done the Mississippi program during the previous summer wrote a piece in the April 8 edition where they connected their observations over the summer to the new reality that Dr. King’s assassination left in its wake, similarly describing it as a turning point. “There will be riots in Mississippi this summer,” they predicted. “The brink between hope and a repress[ed] but deep-seated hatred will be crossed; white America has shown … [our students] that there is no cause for hope … Most of our students this summer clung to a strand of hope in the white man, but when violence engulfs their last hopes there is only one way they can, as human beings, respond.”

Richard Aronson ’69, program director for careers in health professions at Amherst, wrote to me in an email that he felt that King’s death “served as a significant catalyst and driving force for the following changes that were on the horizon and that happened at Amherst over the next few years.”

Among these were the growth of the Black Student Union (then called the Afro-American Society), the establishment of the Black studies major, and the creation of a space for Black students in the Octagon later that year. Additionally, the college convened many efforts to continue diversifying its student body and invest in educational equity, including the Black and White Action

Committee (BWAC), a group of faculty, students, and alumni dedicated to addressing racial diversity at Amherst. In their report, BWAC referred to Dr. King’s assassination as a major wake-up call and a motivator of their work.

The April 15 issue of The Student announced that the college’s incoming class of 1972 was likely to have as many Black students as the three upper classes combined — this number was still a very low 27. The issue from April 18 reported that “a proposal calling for Amherst College to adopt broad new programs designed to respond to the current racial crisis in the United States will be presented to the Board of Trustees tomorrow night.” These programs included the previous sixpoint plan as well as the hiring of a Black dean.

In the same issue, an editorial titled “Revolutionizing” read, “The meetings and the proposals came one week after white America had buried its last Negro leader. We hope that the changes are not too late … Already the shock created by the slaying of Martin Luther King has begun to subside.” The Student’s Editorial Board noted that the “pitiful smallness” of the Black community of Amherst made “racism and apathy too easy.”

For many students, King’s death simply reinforced beliefs they already held about the necessity of a more radical view of racial politics and the U.S.’ role in Vietnam, a topic King had been discussing extensively immediately prior to his death.

“If anything, I thought I was with that … SNCC cohort, that King could have been even more radical,” Warr told me in an interview this week. In reflecting and rereading Dr. King’s later speeches, though, Warr said, “I realized he was standing up … against [his] government, one of the biggest moves the government was making in the international arena.”

He is pleased to see current discussion surrounding the fact that “we may have missed the core radicalism of King … that the sting of what he said has been taken out. He's become, sort of, the Santa Claus of the civil rights movement,

jovial and optimistic … He was more than that. I'm in support of whatever people are trying to re-energize his message.”

Warr’s views on Vietnam and racial politics “didn't change with the assassination. I was already there. And the assassination just made me really sad. And it also made me somewhat frightened. What's going to come next?”

A number of other reactions were published in The Student, some of which you will find reprinted on the opposite page. They include the eulogy given by Simpkins at the memorial service, titled “You Killed Our Only Prince of Peace,” as well as other perspectives from some of the Black and white students, and articles from faculty members. Many people expressed their belief that Dr. King’s death would prompt a loss of faith in the efficacy of nonviolence.

For example, one anonymous white student reflected on how his mind had changed on the topic of violence. “I say ‘don’t be so goddamn militant.’ Well I just can’t say it anymore,” he wrote. “It isn’t right and it never was … You can’t say ‘don’t be violent,’ when you can’t possibly know the seething … embitterment that every black man must feel … You know after all that non-violence is not going to solve a thing … So if it takes a riot, and my house must go, then that’s how it’s going to be.”

In response, another student, Bob Ihne ’69, urged his peers against

violence in a letter to the “self-styled white revolutionaries and black militants” who announced the end of nonviolence in The Student’s pages. Violence, he wrote, “is so efficient and so sick.” “Don’t riot in memory of Martin Luther King,” he proclaimed, “because you’re turning his dream into a nightmare … [With a violent movement] all America will get what it deserves — perpetuation of our sick way of life, a deeper imprinting of violence as a means of getting what we want.”

The articles and quotations opposite show in real time the varied responses to Dr. King’s assassination.

Now, 55 years later, Warr told me, “I'm mourning King again, in a way that I haven't in a while. He's become so much a part of … street signs … And then [re-listening to] the speech made it real … this is a man trying to move our country forward. And one bullet silenced him.”

Reprints from The Student:

“You Killed Our Only Prince of Peace,” Tuffy Simpkins ’69, April 8, 1968

This speech was given by Simpkins, who was the president of the newly formed Afro-American student society (now the Black Student Union), at the Amherst College memorial for Dr. King.

I have no eulogies today. Eulo-

Continued on page 8

Students march following the announcement.

Photo courtesy of Amherst College Archives

Excerpts from The Student, Published in April 1968

Continued from page 7

gies have been manufactured before on similar occasions. People have sat on church pews and mourned before. Try saying to yourself or to others that Martin Luther King was a good man, a sincere man, a crusader for justice; and your heart tells your mouth to shut up, be quiet, stop all the needless profusion of words that serves as nothing more than a veneer to cover up the real question, the real problem: what’s wrong with you, and you, and you? What kind of nation is this to kill a man of peace? There is nothing left to do but to withdraw and face inward, and realize that this nation and its people, yes, its white people, have lived a most filthy lie.

Martin Luther King opposed the lie. He embodied all that this nation could be. The man who murdered him represented the barbarism and vile hatred of America. Two forces bigger than either man were at play Thursday night. The terrible drama began with America’s birth and came to an end on April 4 with the impact of a cold steel bullet upon the body of a most dear and beloved man.

The ambiguity of violence, non-violence, moderation, and radicalism has been stripped away. There is no in-between, no indecision. Are you for the seemingly simple and straight-forward ideas of freedom, justice, and equality? Or are you against it and favor apartheid which makes no pretentions? There is no middle road, no wavering … Action and result are all that is left. Black People have always taken action. We gave our lives for a free America in the wars, and America with its vast resources of steel bullets took many of us away. The mass of whites has been either indifferent or opposed to the idea that all men are equal … Only action and immediate results are what the Afro-American will listen to, and you too, if you really believed Martin Luther King; if you really look within.

Let us support his March of Poor People. Let us make the necessary sacrifice, and be willing to change our values. There is no place to turn but within. Take a good look and

see that you killed our only prince of peace.

Jesse Warr ’69, April 8, 1968 Warr, who described himself to me this week as “not the most militant student on campus, but … active,” and one of the founders of the Black Student Union. He recalled that some of his classmates were surprised at the urgent tone of his piece in The Student. He also mentioned to me that his experience with the assassination was shaped by the fact that he had seen Dr. King speak in Washington, D.C. the previous week.

Someone murdered a ‘Negro leader’ in Memphis last Thursday evening. I think I know who did it: He’s the guy who glanced at the Black Power Seminar poster last week and passed on, or heard the announcement over the P.A. system in Valentine, and took his plate back for seconds. When asked about buying a ticket to the Black Arts Festival, he replied ‘I’d go, but … I already have … an hour exam on Tuesday … a lab due.’ He’s the tall science major who was up half of Thursday night, trying to decide if ‘the Negroes’ would riot, and if they did, would they be right, and then paced off, confused, to bed.

… The man who snuffed out the life of the Nobel Peace Prize winner, Time magazine ‘Man of the Year,’ husband, citizen, father, ‘rabblerouser,’ attended the memorial service in Johnson Chapel Friday afternoon, thinking in that way to atone for the silence when the rifle sounded.

You may recall that the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was the man with the Dream back in ’63. We stood there around the Reflecting Pool and listened, while he told of a day when the sons of slaves and the sons of slave-holders would stand together as brothers and sing God’s praises … And Mahalia sang about how we’d been buked, how we’d been scorned. And we all went back home.

… Up from that same Memphis came Dr. King to our National Cathedral in Washington last Sunday. Referring to history and ethics, as he was always prone to do, Dr. King spoke about America’s obligation to feed the hungry of India,

to stop the ‘unjust war’ in Vietnam, to make technology our means, not our end. If the ‘inexpressible cruelty’ of slavery couldn’t stop us, nothing was going to turn us round now, he promised. That this country might be civilized — he called that our ‘destiny’ — the People’s Army would march, come hell or high water.

Martin Luther King died, caught up in a garbage collector’s strike — a garbage strike! Langston Hughes, Medgar Evers, W.E.B. Dubois, and the prince, Malcolm X — so many have died in the past three or four years, still carrying the standard of Human Freedom.

So the great Dreamers are dead. And the dream? …

“From a Diary: We Cannot Know … And We can Say Nothing,” Anonymous, April 8, 1968 This diary is anonymous, but appears to be written by a white student pondering what to say to his Black roommate after the killing.

A strange time to be writing in a diary; it’s two a.m. and Martin Luther King was shot tonight and killed. And C.P. said to me in the snack bar tonight, ‘The summer is gone, man, the summer is gone.’ The cities are going to burn. They’ve started already. And I sit here with my roommate, and what do I say? Black man in the white world, and yet he knows that a little of him died tonight with King. And what do I say to this man?

... Do I say, ‘no, you must not hate’? Well hell no. I just can’t say it … Can I know what black skin means? … I can’t know that. And it’s too bad that I can’t, because I would know what it feels like to want to burn … but I’m white and I just can’t know.

And I say ‘don’t be so goddamn militant.’ Well I just can’t say it anymore. And I used to say it with conviction; it was the correct white middle-classism. But it isn’t right and it never was, because none of us can say it and mean it. You can’t say ‘don’t be violent,’ when you can’t possibly know the seething, fiery, angry, embitterment that every black man must feel. You vaguely sense those feelings now. You know after all that non-violence is not going to solve a thing …

So if it takes a riot, and my house must go, then that’s how it’s going to be. I’ll be angry, but my anger will be tempered …

… We sit here at our own private little wake, very speechless, very tired, very frustrated. And the students marching around singing ‘We Shall Overcome’ will solve nothing; they will not be able to solve their own consciences, if that is what they are trying to do. Because the guilt will come back, and it will haunt … We are all guilty in the greatest crime against man which is written in recent history. And what can any of us say? Nothing … simply nothing.”

“New Commitment,” Editorial Board, April 11, 1968

… Our only fear must be that the emotions not subside into complacency, and turn instead into commitment and action. Commitments not to help Black America, but to cure White America.

The question of what we can do is not easy to answer. We can demand that more Negroes be admitted to Amherst and that we institute a five year A.B. We can demand that Louis’ Foods and D. O’Connell’s Sons hire Negroes. We can go back into our white suburbs to protest against realtors who discriminate on the basis of color. We can organize the poor whites of our hometowns into seeing that the same forces which keep Negroes down — poor education, and horrendous working and living conditions, keep them down as well.

But we must be prepared to be frustrated, to fail, for the sickness of racism runs too deeply in America to be cured at once, or to be cured by small, “token” gains … Only from the failures can we, the newly committed, realize the depth to which change must go. Only by realizing, through the experience of pain, the pain of sacrificing our friends, our suburban community’s approval, our jobs, our money, and our liberal self-righteousness, can we see how necessary a vast revolution of social consciousness is. A year and a half ago Stokely Carmichael told us that we must go into the white communities if we wanted to be a part of the Movement. We did not go, and only

now, in a time of horror and disgust, do we recognize that that is all that we cando, and that we must do it now before it is too late.

“Amherst and Black America,” Professor Leo Marx, April 18, 1968

Transcript of a talk given in Johnson Chapel by English professor Leo Marx.

A week ago last night, in the aftermath of the murder of Martin Luther King, some three hundred members of the Amherst community gathered in Mead Auditorium. We came together because we had been shocked, because we felt a need to do something specific … A few days later, one felt the mood of urgency quietly ebb from the community. The sun came out, and with it the Bermuda shorts, the sports cars — life was back to normal.

What happened in Amherst was only a local version of a national experience. Think of the grief, the resolves to act, the mood of now or never! … No action was taken, but meanwhile the new rhetoric of national melodrama lingers in our minds: ‘sick society,” ‘racist America,’ phrases that unaccompanied by action invite despair and inaction

There it is — the rhythm of our lives. First, the jarring event, quickly followed by an interval of lucidity and determination and then … and then? And then — what?

… Our fundamental point of agreement, then, is simply this: if we are to make a significant contribution in this national crisis, the place to do it is right here in Amherst College. …

… But in saying all this, I hear a troubled voice asking, ‘Are you proposing to change the character of Amherst College? Won’t it be a different place?’ And our answer, of course, is yes! We are proposing that Amherst become a somewhat different place … We feel that our admissions policy must change, but so must the character of the curriculum, and of student life, and of the faculty — in some degree all of these must change if we are to create a hospitable and meaningful environment for currently excluded students.

Spanish Department Engages With Local Community

Zane Khiry ’25 Staff Writer

Reading Spanish-language stories to local children, translating resource documents for homeless people, and tutoring local dual-language immersion elementary school students: These are all examples of the work students in the Spanish Department has been doing to center community engagement in its curriculum.

The department’s work began in 2017 with a grant from the Mellon Foundation titled “Redesigning the Curriculum.” Using this grant, the department began to reconsider the comprehensive exam in place for senior majors at the time, which had grown to be unpopular among students and faculty alike, department faculty told The Student. The faculty landed on the capstone project as a replacement, and specified that students’ projects could either be creative, research-based, or community-centered.

The department’s first capstone course took place in the Fall 2018 under the supervision of Professor of Spanish Paul A. Schroeder-Rodriguez. To his delight, the majority of students enrolled opted for projects that served the community. In Fall 2020, for example, at the beginning of the pandemic, Spanish major Dana Kulma ’21 partnered with the Amherst Survival Center — a nonprofit focused on serving local homeless and impoverished people — to translate various important policy and inventory documents from English into Spanish, so that Spanish speakers in need could better understand the resources available to them.

The department went about organizing this partnership, and various others, by connecting with the college’s Center for Community Engagement (CCE). When majors want to do a community service project, the CCE reaches out to various local organizations to find out what their needs are, and coordinates with the Spanish Department to match interested students with the organizations where they could help the most.

Spanish Lecturer Sarah Piazza

has also been instrumental in organizing community-centered projects that allow students in her classes to engage with the town. “One of my goals was to help show students in the language classes different community partners they could work with,” she told The Student. She wanted students to experience “how they could use their Spanish education in the community and not just in the classroom.” In the 2022-23 academic year, Piazza organized a partnership with Jones Library that gave students the opportunity to read stories to local children in Spanish. Additionally, with help from the CCE, Piazza invited bilingual teachers to Spanish 101 from Caminantes, a local dual-language immersion program at nearby Fort River Elementary school.

The Spanish faculty emphasized the importance of their connection with the CCE, and their gratitude for the center’s work. “Sometimes it can be hard to get in touch with third party organizations as a professor or lecturer,” Piazza said. “[The CCE’s] support has been invaluable in terms of reaching out to community partners, sharing other partners I didn’t know about, and reflecting on what we could do differently in the future

for community engagement.”

Student reception to the work has also been positive, even in spite of the inherent difficulties of community-based work. “For the students, it has its ups and downs,” Chair of the Spanish Department Sarah J. Brenneis said.

“Because you’re working with a community organization, it’s very different from doing a research project in a class or writing an essay,” she said. “You have to work on a community timeline, which is not the same as a semester timeline, and you

have to be flexible.” But in the end, she said, students come away with the ability to “understand how the Spanish skills they’ve been working so hard on over the last four years translate into real world applications.”

The work of the Spanish Department in centering community engagement calls into question the very notion of what a liberal arts education should be. “I’d just push back against the idea that the college experience is isolated from the world,” Brenneis said. “We’re here to think about how we make an impact in the communities around us.”

Piazza, a beneficiary of a liberal arts education herself, echoed Brenneis, explaining that during her undergraduate experience, “some of the most powerful assignments that [she] did had a connection to the larger community.” An English and French major in college, she recalled a project in which she translated a traditional Algerian story into French, and taught it to young students at a local French immersion school. “That was really, really valuable for me,” she added.

In giving advice to faculty from other departments who are hoping to take on this work, Brenneis em-

phasized the importance of creating a shared sense of purpose, and listening to those around you. “You have to start with the groundwork of being able to share experiences and listen to one another,” she said. “To make big changes, especially around a curriculum, people need to feel like they understand why they’re doing it, and who they’re doing it for.”

“You can do a restorative justice circle,” she continued, “you could have a retreat, you could have just a more informal meeting, but that process of sharing and listening is actually really important to having a shared purpose in the department. I think that’s where we started, and that’s given us a good tailwind to be able to make some of these changes.”

In the end, Brenneis wanted to emphasize that this work, albeit lengthy and difficult, is possible for every department. “I think it’s possible,” she said. “But I also recognize that making big changes is really hard. It takes a lot of work and open-mindedness.” The work, in the end, paid off, as faculty were able to better connect their work to organizations outside of the Amherst bubble, and students were able to — as Piazza put it — “experience the community as a classroom.”

I'd just push back against the idea that the college experience is isolated from the world. We're here to think about how we make an impact in the communities around us.

“

Students and faculty in the college’s Spanish Department engage with the town of Amherst at a variety of locations, including the Amherst Survival Center, Jones Library, and Fort River Elementary school.

Photo courtesy of Amherst Town Court

Opinion

Tapti Talks: Chronic Illness

Tapti Sen ’25 Managing Opinion Editor

I started Tapti Talks as a way to discuss some of the less romantic realities of student life — and today I’d like to shed some light on my experience as a chronically ill student at Amherst.

I’m technically writing this article with a concussion, which I received last Tuesday when I passed out in my room and hit my head on the floor, after an hour of seeing black spots in my vision. For a lot of people, this would be a freak occurrence, an unfortunate incident that stemmed from an unhealthy habit or a sudden illness. For me, though, this is all-too-common.

I was 14 when I was diagnosed with Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome, or POTS. The diagnosis came as a relief after a childhood of being considered a sickly child in Bangladesh. My parents have always joked that if someone coughs within 100 meters of me, I will get sick; I am so susceptible to the fevers and illnesses that somehow manage to escape most of my peers. When I started passing out or complaining of constant lightheadedness, it was just attributed to my frailty — “some children are just born weaker than others,” the doctors would tell my mom.

With the diagnosis came a myriad of changes: higher salt and water intake, new meds with the incredibly fun side effect of a compromised immune system, and the knowledge that fainting was now a semi-regular part of my life. Even with my POTS, however, I tried to live as normally as possible.

POTS only became as big a part of my life as it is now after I got Covid-19. At Amherst, we’ve had a lot of controversy surrounding masking debates and reasons to or not to mask, often

talking about immunocompromised and chronically ill people in the abstract. Well, my experience with Covid-19 a showcase of its detrimental effects. In the immediate aftermath of having Covid-19, my POTS worsened drastically, to the point where I was going to my classes lightheaded and fatigued out of my mind. There were multiple instances where I would quite literally be unable to walk, feeling pain course through my body and having to ask my friends for help getting to Val or Frost so I could get even a little bit of work done. While I have steadily improved again since then, my condition still hasn’t returned to its pre-Covid-19 level.

Every cardiologist I’ve seen, both here and back home, said there was nothing they could do for me, citing statistics of poor prospects for POTS patients post-Covid-19. “How can I prevent my blood pressure from suddenly dropping below 80/60?” I would ask. “Eat salt and lie down so you don’t hit your head when you faint,” they would tell me.

This past year, I’ve really had a reckoning with what it means to be “disabled.” Walking up hills to my classes, I am forced to stop as I feel my heart twinge painfully, and I inevitably arrive late (there’s a conversation to be had about how inaccessible Amherst’s campus topography is). I am unable to leave bed sometimes, feeling too weak to even lift my limbs to email my professors. I find my hands freezing up and turning numb and blue in the middle of typing an essay, and I am forced to run them under hot water until I can use them again. My email’s “sent” folder is a litany of “I’m sorrys.”

Living with chronic illnesses is a constant set of compromises with yourself. I try to do work in advance, because I know I will

inevitably fall behind when my flare ups take place. If I go to the gym, I cannot do anything strenuous for the rest of the day or else I will feel ill afterwards. Anything involving heavy activity — hiking, rafting, climbing — is either near impossible or extremely difficult for me to do. I have an internal debate about whether to go to every social gathering I’m invited to, knowing there’s a chance I’ll be infected — if not with Covid-19, then the common cold which for some reason gives me a 102-degree fever.

I’m still learning how to take care of myself and be mindful of my illness, and I’m sure many of my peers who are chronically ill can relate. If there’s any piece of advice I would give to my pastself though, it would be to give myself grace for the times I’m not feeling so great; and on the other side of things, to take advantage of the good days, whether it means catching up on work, hanging out with friends, or doing something outdoors. I find that I’m happiest when I feel like I’m able to do all the things everyone else does.

My POTS isn’t going away any time soon, and there’s not much to do about it but make the most of each day as best I can. I’m hopeful, and I have so much to be thankful for. My positivity isn’t false at all because I know my illness doesn’t define my identity. I have been so lucky to have professors that are incredibly understanding and supportive when I’m not at my best self. To my professors, if you’re reading this, thank you so much. And to my lovely, lovely friends and family, who have called and texted and walked me back from class and fed me salt packets and knitted me fingerless gloves to keep my hands warm, there’s nothing I could really say to encapsulate my gratitude more than: <3

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Turtles, Eggs, and Rocks: Vietnamese Superstitions

Pho Vu ’23 Staff Writer

If you are burdened with seemingly unsolvable problems, talk it out with your Vietnamese friend. One thing that is characteristic of Vietnamese culture is how persevering people are in looking for solutions, even if that means trying out obscure methods. The saying “You miss a hundred percent of the shots you don’t take” rings true when describing the people’s meticulous search for solutions.

These resolutions are driven by folktales and traditional practices. As a child of Vietnam, I am compiling 10 superstitions — including folk remedies and taboos — that are most often used by my family and friends. They might just help you out.

Take a Rain Check During the Ghost Month

While Vietnamese people do business using a solar calendar, they make sure to double-check with the lunar calendar. In this calendar preserved for the Underworld, July is named a Ghost Month, which is the time Hell’s Gate opens and releases damned souls into the living world. With devilish powers meddling with people’s affairs, important events like moving houses, buying cars, and going on business trips must wait. If you insist on proceeding with your plan, chances are you’ll experience a real-life League of Legends Player Kill match with an opponent that you can’t see with naked eyes.

Heal Hiccups with Hydration

To stop hiccups, people suggest violent methods like scaring the crap out of hiccup-ers, or having them stop breathing for a short period. But a proposition from Vietnamese predecessors is to solve it one sip at a time — take seven sips of water if you are a male, and nine sips if you are a female. This stems from a Daoist mythological belief about the duality of souls that deems that, apart from having the same three cloud-souls (hún 魂 in Chinese that represents the personality and consciousness), men each have seven white-souls, and women have nine. A white-soul — in Chinese,

pò 魄 — refers to the subconscious side of the being, which dictates the thought-free process, such as the growth and healing of the body.

Despite being known as a folk remedy for hiccups, this one is well substantiated with actual scientific evidence. When drinking water continuously with many distinct small sips, the diaphragm will no longer spasm. In addition, if you drink water continuously while holding your breath, the concentration of blood’s carbon dioxide increases. As a result, hiccups are repelled faster.

In my experience, if you do it right, it is a foolproof formula when hiccups make a random visit.

Let Go of Broken Mirrors

For “Constantine” die-hards, mirrors are easily recognized as being among the special gateways that connect two words.

When demons look into the mirror, they see their fierce form in the mirror and run away in fear. When the mirror is broken, it is a sign that the devil has been set free from the exorcism, thereby being empowered to spread negative energies.

Drive Away Ghosts with the “Om Mani Padme Hum” Chant

To Buddhist practitioners, this “spell” is beyond a cultural superstition and contains the charisma to drive away the evil forces and fill life with delight. Originated in Sanskrit, Om Mani Padme Hum, translated to “Praise to the Jewel in the Lotus,” is crowned the longest mantra in existence. There’s not one but numerous variations surrounding the explanation of this chant whose meaning cost Buddha 1000 lives to find. No matter how different these interpretations are, they all point to the omnipresence of Avalokiteshvara, the most important deity in Buddhism. So, in reciting the chant with sincere devotion, one is calling the compassionate heart of the deity into their life.

The chant is well-received in many countries where Buddhism is prevalent. In an exclusive interview with the New York Times in 2022, Everything Everywhere All At Once superstar Michelle Yeoh shared her habit of reciting the chant as a cru-

cial step of her daily fitness routine.

During last summer’s dorm transition period, I was making long walks from Val Quad to the Zu almost every night. Under the moon, citing the chant verbatim gave me full-fledged courage to make it home.

Cutting Hair on Certain Days

When they face difficulties in life or are experiencing a depressed mood, Vietnamese people often cut their hair. The haircut is considered a lucky charm, helping to expel bad luck, change appearance, and bring good luck to one’s life. But if all is well, a haircut will reverse that. At the same time, many believe that hair is like the antenna of the brain. Cutting hair before an exam will force the learned knowledge to fall out of one’s brain, causing you to fail the exam, perhaps, or incur bad luck.

Eating Before Exams

Regarding what to eat (and not to eat) on testing day, Vietnamese students have quite a list. Stay away from all types of eggs. Possessing a round shape, eggs look like a zero, which is not something one hopes to receive as a grade. No bananas should be consumed either, for their slippery nature can cause facts to slip your mind and lead you to flop an exam. Instead, try to eat more red beans. In Vietnamese, “beans” is a homonym with the word “passing,” which is highly anticipated good news for exam takers. Like many already know, red is a lucky color, so in combination, red beans are an ideal consumption choice for earning flying colors. On the other hand, black beans are out of people’s favor. Black represents bad luck, so black beans can indicate a bad omen for your next exam.

Don’t Gift Your Lover(s) Shoes or Handkerchiefs

Couples, take note. While giving shoes as a gift can be seen as an affectionate act, it is also believed that new shoes bring the recipients to new land, thus signifying an eventual end to the relationship. Similarly, according to feng shui, handkerchiefs as gifts can also be a bad choice for relationships, be-

cause they are used to wipe tears and sweat, thus symbolizing sadness and misery. Giving handkerchiefs to each other predicts separation.

No Pet Turtles

Turtles have always played an important role in beliefs and feng shui. Along with dragons, unicorns, and phoenixes, turtles are one of the four spirits that guard the four corners of the Earth. Yet, they are the only one existent while the three others are only seen in illustrated works. Then, how come raising them is a bad idea? The Five Phases theory establishes that turtles are associated with the fire element. Also in this theory, relationships among five elements are explained with multiple cycles. As fire produces earth in the inter-promoting cycle, people identified with the earth element are said to be suited for raising turtles. However, fire melts metal in the inter-regulating cycle, so people with metal as their element are advised to not keep turtles because it can adversely affect the fortune of the owner.

In reality, though, no matter what element they are, if one of my friends brings home a turtle, they will be scolded so badly for potentially slowing the family’s progress. Turtles are mostly seen in public places, namely temples and lakes. Vietnamese people believe that turtles being outside, unleashed, activates their strongest power, thereby benefiting the entire community. Hanoi’s Hoan Kiem Lake is a historical site that bears proof to Vietnamese favor of turtles.

Skip Rocks on the Way Home

In the past, unidentified dead bodies, or those without relatives, were often buried on the roadside or along the river. People used rocks as blessings when burying the dead. Therefore, the ordinary-looking stone you see on the roadside may be the same stone that was used for such a purpose, and it can carry the soul of the dead person back home with whoever is picking it up. At many rock-filled Vietnamese tourist sites, visitors are told real stories of people encountering strange phenomena

after bringing home some colorful rocks. This actually helps people leave things where they belong.

Involve Little Ones in Your House-Hunting Journey

Our grandparents always note that, when moving to a new house, especially an old house bought from someone else, you should bring a dog or baby under three years old. When you go to a house and the dog walks around the house wagging its tail or the baby crawls and plays by himself, this shows that it is a good place. Conversely, when the dog doesn’t want to come in and barks constantly, or the baby cries, this place has negative energy. Naturally, babies and dogs are thought to be able to recognize an invisible force existing in the house.

Avoid Jingling Your Keys After Dark

After 10 p.m., it is absolutely advised that you do not shake your house keys. Ghosts are sensitive to sounds, and shaking keys can be a surefire way to invite the wandering spirits into your home. At night, it’s best to leave your keys somewhere they won’t make any sound. Similarly, refrain from doing the dishes at this hour as the clashing sounds from this activity are inviting as well.

Following these superstitious beliefs is not purely a ritual in Vietnamese culture. It is a means of honoring our cultural legacy — the beliefs our ancestors relied on to benefit future generations — in our daily routines. While having so many options can be overwhelming, these little things are a helpful guide to our daily actions.

Accompanying them is a popular Vietnamese saying that translates to “With prayer, there is holiness; with forbearance, there is good.”

It can be hard to relate to these quirky beliefs, especially when you didn’t grow up in that culture. However, when unexpected life scenarios happen to drive you to insanity, remember, you are provided with a rare opportunity to put these Vietnamese-style hacks into testing. Who knows, maybe you’ll stave off some bad luck!

American Punch Bowl

by Alice Burg ’23

Litterbug

by Quinn Nelson ’25

Big Stick Energy: American Schedule

by Miles Garcia ’25

Presidential Scholars

PRESIDENT’S COLLOQUIUM ON RACE AND RACISM:

Saidiya Hartman

SCHOLAR OF AFRICAN AMERICAN LITERATURE AND CULTURAL HISTORY

Thursday, April 6, 2023

JOHNSON CHAPEL • 5:00 PM

Presented as part of the Black: Here and Now! Symposium

Saidiya Hartman is a professor at Columbia University whose work explores the afterlife of slavery in modern American society. Through her meticulous research and narratives, she bears witness to lives, traumas, and fleeting moments of beauty that historical archives have omitted or obscured.

Amusements

Time To Retake Math |

1 "Everybody Hurts" band

Wednesday, April 5, 2023

1 Canned tomato

2 "The Mahabharata" or "The Divine Comedy," e.g.

3 Shooting star

4 Sliding maneuvers?, for short

5 Stadium cheer

6 Nimble

7 Like a rat, perhaps

8 Leftover

9 Recede

10 NBA Rookie of the Year in 2008

11 Princess of "Swan Lake"

12 Whistle blower?

15 Apparel

20 Bone site

22 Something open to discussion?

25 Part of TNT 26 Winnings, perhaps 27 Syllabic unit of measurement

28 Liquor made from juniper berries

Solutions: March 29

John Joire ’26 Managing Puzzles Editor

Arts&Living Ghostlight Feature “Meteoric” Lights Up the Stage

Madeline Lawson ’25 Managing Arts & Living Editor

The student theater organization Ghostlight showcased a double feature on March 31 and April 2: “Meteoric,” written and directed by Luke Herzog ’24, and “BY You,” written by Shay Hernandez ’23. Ghostlight began last September to showcase aspects of student theater beyond acting, such as long-form plays written by students. This weekend’s double feature is the group’s first production of the semester.

“Meteoric”

“Meteoric” begins with Will (Slate Taylor ’25) fidgeting on a couch at the backstage of a comedy club. Silhouetted on the white curtain behind him is Ankor (Matt Vitelli ’24), a comedian performing a set about the biblical plagues of Egypt with self-satisfied smirks seeping through each punchline. After his set, he goes backstage and complains to Will about the audience, but Will doesn’t indulge him. He keeps quiet while Ankor goads him into going out to celebrate by yelling, inexplicably, into a rubber chicken. This is the first glimpse of the play’s real genius:

the earnest conversations mixed with complete absurdities that somehow make sense for the situation.

They begin to argue, with Will claiming that Ankor stole his joke and Ankor saying that Will is just jealous. Their shared agent, Shannon, played by Eleanor Walsh ’25, enters talking on her phone. She pays them no mind: She is clearly used to this. Their argument grows in fervor, and Ankor pauses for a moment to storm off stage in search of a bathroom.

Will joins Shannon on the couch and they commiserate about Ankor’s cocky attitude. Will tries to comfort her and explains a type of philosophy to her through Skittles. He has her guess the weight of individual Skittles, and when he drops the full bag on her palm, she laughs: The natural conclusion, he says, of a large rock dropping after so many small ones. They gaze into each other’s eyes and smile.

Ankor bursts in and tries out a joke about urinal cakes. Neither Will nor Shannon laugh, and Ankor again begins to insult Will. While Will is certainly upset with him, Ankor is almost crazed. Taylor and Vitelli balanced out each

other’s performances by leaving room for both to turn vicious in their own way.

Shannon interrupts them and shows them her phone: There is a meteor headed to Earth, and it will kill all humans in 10 minutes. The absurdity of this situation made the audience start laughing, just like Will, who breaks down in a hysterical fit of laughter. He says that the philosophical treatise has been proven: A big rock is coming, and he is indeed laughing.

The three are overwhelmed by the audience’s ignorance of the situation — they do not have their phones and are sitting contentedly for an encore. The three of them debate whether to tell the audience, but they wonder whether the audience would even want to know. Isn’t the point of comedy to forget? Ankor, with a raspy voice, refuses to go onstage and admits that Will is funnier than him. He insults Will one last time, and

Shannon slaps him before giving Will a kiss. He goes to perform Ankor’s encore and asks if, hypothetically, the audience would want to know if a meteor was headed to Earth. The audience laughs, and the show ends with Will saying, “Why do they call them urinal cakes, anyway?” and finally stealing a joke from Ankor.

The play worked particularly well in its use of tension. It seems ambling until it doesn’t, and every step the characters take suddenly has much more meaning than it did a second before. The chemistry between the three characters was notable, and the quick relationship between Will and Shannon didn’t seem random, nor did the erupting screaming match between Will and Ankor.

Herzog wrote “Meteoric” during his gap year between his freshman and sophomore years, he told The Student. He noted that “it’s entirely possible that the

play’s apocalyptic twist was inspired by that particularly dire period,” referencing the beginning of the Covid lockdowns. He was also inspired by learning that some comedy clubs confiscate phones during performances. This was not “Meteoric’s” first performance — the play was selected for a reading at Newburyport’s New Works Festival in January, and it won the Honnegger Prize for Best One-Act Play.

Vitelli, who is president of Ghostlight as well as an actor in the play, emphasized the involvement of Herzog in its staging. “Luke would always start off any rehearsal with a stand up bit, which we would watch to get into the mood for the show.” He said that the cast had a ton of fun during rehearsals and that working with Walsh and Taylor, as well as the stage crew, was a great experience.

Continued on page 16

Ankor (Matt Vitelli ’24) brags about his fame to his friend Will (Slate Taylor ’25) while their agent Shannon (Eleanor Walsh ’25) looks on in “Meteoric.”

Photo courtesy of Madeline Lawson ’25

“Meteoric” was written by Luke Herzog ’24 (far right) and stars Ghostlight President Matt Vitelli ’24 (center front), Slate Taylor ’25 (center back), and Eleanor Walsh ’25 (far left).

Photo courtesy of Luke Herzog ’24

Student Production “BY You” Won’t Slip By You

Continued from page 15

“BY You”

After an intermission, “BY You” began. It was significantly longer, with multiple set changes and a larger cast. Playwright Shay Hernandez ’23 came onstage to introduce the play and noted that he submitted it for his playwriting class last semester which, he said, was “insane.” As the play began, it was obvious why: This was a script filled with sexual references and criticism of Mormonism.

The play starred Patrick Spoor ’23 as Spencer, a naïve student at Brigham Young University who is shocked when his friend Eli (Dylan Schor ’25) describes the sexual antics of their friends Cameron and Eliza (Sarah Boyle ’26 and Cailin Plunkett ’23, respectively). Eli explains in vivid detail what they did, justifying it as “not real sex” before jumping into his seat as their professor, Dr. Monomon (Hernandez), interrupts to begin their theology lesson.

The scene changed quite abruptly to Spencer ordering a dirty chai in a Starbucks, whispering to the barista in shame, since Mormons are not allowed to drink caffeinated beverages. Unfortunately for him, Alma from his theology class (Ella Rose ’23) catches him and whispers, “I know what you are.” She is a rebel, dressed in leather pants to contrast Spencer’s conservative outfit, and tempts him to drink the dirty chai after he lies about ordering it. Spencer enjoys the drink and Alma leaves, dropping a note telling him to meet her after class the next day.

Later that day, Spencer and Eli play golf with Eliza and Cameron, they affectionately touch each other and pretend to make out. Eli makes many sexual innuendos about them, all of which Spencer is vehemently uncomfortable with.

Eli also hints that he is gay, indirectly asking whether Spencer is as well. Spencer doesn’t understand but gushes that he likes an

unnamed person, who the audience knows to be Alma. Eli exclaims, “The human equivalent of an unsalted saltine cracker met a girl!” Unfortunately, Spencer says they can’t be together because their mission is coming up, but Eli says it is just an excuse and encourages Spencer to pursue her.

In class, Dr. Monomon teaches about the dangers of lust, causing both himself and Spencer to cry. He holds Spencer back after class, warning him about being with his daughter, Alma.

Spencer was as shocked as the gasping audience. Alma admits that her father is their theology professor and invites him to her home, where it is revealed that Dr. Monomon has three wives, although polygamy was outlawed in the Church of Latter-Day Saints in 1890. Everyone’s imperfect, although they might try to act differently — that’s why, Alma says, she is resentful of his holier-than-thou attitude. She wants to teach him a lesson, and she needs Spencer’s help sabotaging him.

On the day of their theology test, Spencer distracts Dr. Monomon by showing him lewd drawings that he’s found, while Alma switches his bottle of unsweetened lemonade for a cappuccino. Though the professor runs out of the room in caffeine-fueled horror, Spencer, ever the star student, continues taking the exam.

“BY You” ends with Alma and Spencer going on a date at Starbucks. Alma hypes him up, screaming that he can order a pistachio latte, and they enjoy their time together with their caffeinated beverages.

They then see Eli walking with Cameron, the guy he had spread rumors about in the first scene. The sexual details Eli gave Spencer at the beginning of the play were just a cover story, and Eli admits, after having to explain homosexuality to Spencer, that he’s gay. Spencer says that he will try to unlearn his biases, and the play ends with a kiss between Spencer and Alma.

This production was certainly enjoyable to watch, but I do feel that it may have relied a bit too heavily on its criticism of Mormonism. At times, the jokes felt like they were making fun of Mormonism as a religion, rather than critiquing the system it upholds, and some of them fell flat for me, although the script’s wit made it an enjoyable production. The acting, as in “Meteoric,” was natural, and the actors all had great comedic timing. Spoor portrayed

their character with overarching innocence, but they retained some depth to his emotions and desires, and the other actors gave personality in each line.

Hernandez said that his playwriting class discussed the concept of a “meet-cute,” which sparked the idea for the play. “I was thinking, ‘What is the worst possible meet-cute that I could make? How can I ruin this?’ And then I had this idea of this coffee shop, and this public embarrass-

ment scene,” he explained. The play evolved past that, and he said that the play wasn’t specifically about Mormonism — Mormonism is a stand-in for any repressive organization. “It could be applied to a politician, if [someone] just blindly believed in [them].” He noted that Ghostlight was a fantastic organization to work with, especially as a writer or director: “If any student wants to put on theater that they wrote, that's the best place to do it.”

“BY You” puts a twist on the classic coffee shop meet-cute with a naïve protagonist and a rebellious love interest.

Photo courtesy of Ghostlight

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

Vaughn Armour ’25 Columnist

On March 29, “Survivor” released episode five of season 44. It was dramatic, largely because of Tika. It’s a tribe full of future reality TV stars, and they kept me thoroughly entertained on Wednesday night.

It began with the last vote’s aftermath. Yam Yam was mad at Carolyn for flipping on him, while Carolyn wasn’t over the way Yam Yam belittled her. They had a heated argument, ending in mutual annoyance. Of course, when those two argue, the winner is the audience: it was hilarious. Carolyn made her usual unintelligible yelps, and Yam Yam pouted like a sad puppy. This feud left Josh in the middle — and with significant power. Yam Yam regained some favor with Josh later, though. In a sweet scene, they bonded over their coming-out stories.

At Ratu, Matthew’s shoulder pain became unbearable. He has worn a sling since injuring it climbing rocks in the premier,

but the 400-calorie-a-day “Survivor” diet is awful for recovery.

Kane and Carson bonded at Ratu over their shared love of “Star Wars,” “Pokemon,” and “Lord of the Rings.” Young, smart players tend to target each other, leading to many of them being eliminated earlier than expected. Because of this, it’s a great move for these two to join forces. Carson has made significant inroads in his new tribe — he could be a power player moving forward.

At Soka, we learned more about Danny. In a heartwarming scene, he talked about his love for his wife and four-month-old daughter. He misses them both desperately and is playing for them. I’m on Team Danny going forward.

That tribe loves each other in general. Since being swapped onto Soka last episode, Jamie has grown closer and closer to her new tribe members. Look for her to stick with them at the merge. Matt and Frannie continued their flirting, with Frannie admitting to the camera

VALHACKS

that she had a crush on him. I’m impressed with how far they’ve made it while being an obvious duo, and I hope they keep going. It’s adorable to watch this relationship develop week by week.

Like in the last episode, the winner of this immunity challenge could choose a player from each tribe to go on a journey. Ratu won, with Soka coming in a close second. Ratu chose Brandon from their own tribe, Danny from Soka, and Carolyn from Tika. The journey was exactly what they craved: a feast. After starving for eleven days, a large spread of wraps and fruit is basically a pile of cookies at Late Night. But the real power of the feast was the opportunity to meet other players.

Danny and Brandon took full advantage of this, talking the entire time and committing to work together at the merge. They’re the two most athletic guys in the game, so it makes a lot of sense for them to stick together and minimize the size of the target on each other. In doing this, though, they ignored

Carolyn. They pretty much acted like she wasn’t there, which is shocking to me. They had someone sitting right to them, waiting to be pulled into an alliance. They either assumed she was going home or didn’t know she wasn’t loyal to her tribe. Either way, they compared tattoo stories instead of asking her to join them. I was very disappointed in both of them; it was bad gameplay that could come back to bite them.

Since Tika lost (another) immunity, they were sent back to camp to prepare for Tribal. Josh overplayed. He showed the other two a fake idol, claiming it was real. The issue was that this monstrosity of beads was one of the worst fake idols I’d seen — Yam Yam and Carolyn saw right through it. This lost him trust, and it could have cost him. Luckily for Josh, Jeff Probst arrived

minutes later on a speedboat with news. The shoulder pain was too much for Matthew, so he exited the game. This meant that no one from Tika would be eliminated that night.

While the injury was solely due to his reckless and unnecessary climbing, it was tough to see Matthew go. Like many others, Matthew had spent years auditioning, and then training for “Survivor.” This was his shot — losing it from injury is heartbreaking.

The next episode will be the merge. Tika is the most fractured original tribe (Carson, Carolyn, Yam Yam), and I suspect most of them will jump ship at the first opportunity. I think the other tribes will attempt to sway that trio, and whoever gets more of them will control the next vote. Tune in next week to see if I’m right!

Bored of plain ol’ soft serve? Mix up your dessert with an ice cream party! This week, Ivy Haight ’25 provides her tricks for the perfect ice cream treats.

My family used to watch a sweet yellow labrador named Sundae. She belonged to a family friend, and their youngest daughter chose her name. This perfectly highlights that from a young age, we associate sundaes with the best things in life, like newborn puppies. So as an ode to a precious dog, I introduce the Chocolate Craze Sundae and my own Val-friendly twist on the ice cream sandwich.

Chocolate Craze Sundae

Directions

• Fill a bowl with soft serve ice cream of your choice. My favorite is the Oatly

chocolate soft serve.

• Add your favorite cereal. I think Cocoa Puffs go great with chocolate soft serve, but the possibilities are endless.

• Top with whipped cream and drizzle of chocolate syrup from the waffle bar.

• Add your favorite sprinkles from the soft serve station and enjoy!

Ice Cream Sandwich Directions

• Place two cookies of your choice face-down on a plate

• Add a layer of soft serve to the bottom of one cookie

• Add toppings on top of the soft serve — like whipped cream or chocolate sauce

• Place the other cookie on top

• Sprinkle the sides of the soft serve with sprinkles or M&Ms for some extra pizazz!

Ivy Haight ’25 presents a delicious chocolate sundae recipe, topped with her favorite cereal.

Photo courtesy of Ivy Haight ’25

Ivy Haight ’25 cooks up an innovative way to up your cookie game!

Photo courtesy of Ivy Haight ’25

Around the Herd: March 28 to April 4 in Athletics

Hena Ershadi ’26 Staff Writer

Track and Field

The men’s and women’s track and field teams took part in the Black & Gold Invitational at Bryant University. Kicking things off, Jack Renda ’23 competed in the hammer throw, placing 26th with a score of 33.40m in a field composed of mainly Division I athletes. On the women’s team, Bethany Martin ’24 and Deb Thayer ’25 competed in the throws with Martin posting a mark of 38.47 and Thayer with 37.18, placing 27th and 28th, respectively.

The competition took to the outdoors on Sunday, April 2nd. The women’s team had an impressive showing with a winning performance by senior Mary Kate McGranahan ’26 in the steeplechase with a mark of 3000m, as well as a record-tying pole vault mark of 3.40m by Mia Bawendi ’24. Overall the Mammoths scored 41 points and finished 7th out of 18 teams, most of which were Division I.

The men’s team also had an excellent outdoor season opening: First-year Jordan Harrison ’26, running the 100m dash for the first time in his collegiate career, had a record-tying performance of 10.79 seconds, followed by Adrian Fried-

man ’24 who won the long jump with a mark of 6.39m. Collectively, the Mammoths placed 6th out of 18 teams in the meet with a score of 65.5.

Tennis

The Amherst women’s tennis team improved their overall record to 6-1 with the performance of No. 7, Calista Sha ’23, who won a hardfought match against No. 8 Tufts on Saturday, April 1.

The Amherst men’s tennis team fell to the undefeated Tufts University Jumbos on Saturday, April 1, falling to an overall record of 5-4 and 1-3 in the NESCAC.

Baseball

The baseball team managed to sweep Clark University with a score of 17-3 on March 29 before falling two notches to Hamilton College in a doubleheader game on April 2. The Mammoths had a phenomenal start to their game against the Clark Cougars: a home run by Ryan McIntyre that resulted in three runs, followed by another deep blast to center field by Luke Padian established the Mammoth’s unrelenting lead for the rest of the game. Though Clark managed to score three runs over three innings, they were unable to bridge the gap

in the score and the game in favor of the Mammoths, improving their record to 7-3-1. Unfortunately, the baseball team’s winning streak did not hold against Hamilton as they lost 2-1 in the first game and 10-20 in the second. In the first game, the Mammoths’ potential early lead was spoiled due to a double play by Hamilton’s left fielder. At the top of the 7th inning, the Mammoths were down 2-0 as a single-run home run by Padian brought the score to a

2-1. Still, the Mammoths struggled to tie the game which ended in favor of Hamilton. The second game ended in a similar manner with Hamilton clutching the lead with 10 runs at the bottom of the second inning and holding off the Mammoths en route to a 10-20 game.

Women’s Lacrosse

Outstanding performances from Emily Petersen ’26 and Bridget Finley ’26 led the team to earn their fourth consecutive win this

season. The Mammoths hoped to lengthen this streak as they commenced their game against Bowdoin on Saturday, securing an early 4-2 lead in the first half of the game. Then, what seemed at first to be an evenly-matched third quarter, ended with Amherst scoring five unanswered goals. Though Bowdoin managed to earn some points back during the final period of the game, they were unable to close the gap and the Mammoths won the game with a final score of 11-8.

Men’s Lacrosse Defeats Bowdoin With Late Surge

Mike Schretter ’23

Staff Writer

Bowdoin came out of the gates strong on Saturday, building a 4-1 lead right off the bat, but the Mammoths responded and tied the game at 6-6 through clutch goals from Tanyr Krummenacher ’23, Matt Adams ’26, Jake Bennett ’24 and Nicholas Kopp ’25. The Mammoths came out of halftime on an offensive tear as Adams scored an unassisted goal to give the Mammoths a 7-6 lead, their first lead of the contest. Bowdoin

responded with two goals of their own to give them an 8-7 edge before Bayard DeMallie ’23 scored a goal to even the score at 8. It was a battle. The Mammoths would get two more goals from Bob Gross ’26 and a goal from Krummenacher to give them a 11-8 edge over the Polar Bears. Still, the Polar Bears kept making their way back into the game, making the score 11-9. However, Amherst responded right back with a big goal off the face-off by Kopp to give the Mammoths a 12-9 edge over the Polar Bears. Never-

theless, the Polar Bears responded and scored three big goals to even the score at 12 with 3:26 left in the game. After a few stops from both sides, the Mammoths got the ball late and Adams slithered his way by a whole host of defenders to score the go-ahead goal with 9 seconds left. When asked about his game winning goal, Adams emphasized it was “a team effort” to make this special moment happen. Bowdoin took one final shot, but Mitch Likins ’25 stifled their attempt and the Mammoths came away with the

victory. Adams and Krummenacher ended with three goals while DeMallie, Kopp and Gross all pitched in 2 goals of their own.

When asked about the result, Ryan Rahbany ’24 said that, “It was awesome to beat them [Bowdoin] especially after they knocked us out of the NESCAC tournament last year … [it] definitely … feels great to win. Brodie Rayment ’23 and Jack McHugh ’23 emphasized the play of Kopp at face-off as a “key component in their win,” as Kopp went 19/29 for the Mammoths. They

also harped on “the brilliance of Mitch (Likins)” behind the net as he had 18 saves to help the Mammoths defense.

Coach Sean Woods echoed the same sentiment: “We showed our resilience and ability to finish the game against Bowdoin. Our players have great belief in each other and the team right now. We are having a lot of fun.” Keeping up that passion and fun will be key for the rest of the season.

Men’s lacrosse will be back at Amherst on April 5 against Wesleyan at 6 p.m.

Photo courtesy of Clarus Studios

Baseball suffered two loses in a double header vs Hamilton this Sunday

Women’s Lacrosse Has Big Day, Defeats Bowdoin

Mike Schretter ’23 Contributing Writer

After a dominant 16-2 performance over Keene State, women’s lacrosse had an important NESCAC matchup against Bowdoin on Saturday. After a devastating loss to the Polar Bears only a year ago, the Mammoths sought revenge while trying to continue their winning streak. Amherst was easily favored with a record of 6-1 compared to Bowdoin’s 3-5. The Mammoths got off to a

quick start with a goal from Clara Sosa ’26 to give them a 1-0 lead. Bowdoin evened the score before Bridget Finley ’26 scored a goal of her own to give the team a 2-1 edge over Bowdoin. Again, Bowdoin evened the score but Finley refused to let up the lead, scoring another goal to give Amherst a 3-2 edge by the end of the first quarter.

During the second and third quarters, however, Sosa absolutely took over as she scored four goals in quick succession.

Bowdoin responded and Finley traded the point. Emily Petersen ’26 added two goals to bring Amherst to a 10-4 lead by the beginning of the fourth.

Suddenly, their lead was sliced to two goals as Bowdoin scored four goals in the fourth, making it a 10-8 contest. However, Amherst’s discipline came through with a beautiful goal from Morgan Lebek ’26 and some clutch defensive stops. Amherst won 118. In addition to the Mammoths offensive prowess, Rachel Rodg-

ers ’25 had four ground balls, Fiona Jones ’23 had one caused turnover, and Caroline Stole ’24 had 8 saves to help lead the Amherst defense. Peterson and Colleen Mooney ’23 had 5 and 4 defensive clears, respectively, as well.

When asked about their performance against Bowdoin, Stole highlighted that the Mammoths had a “strong defense effort, and [their] ability to win 50/50 balls in the eight meter” helped secure the win. Caitlin Hoffman ’24 said “it was an important NESCAC

win, and we are looking forward to the rest of the NESCAC Gauntlet.” Mooney and Sydney Larsen ’23 emphasized that “This was a highly anticipated NESCAC game” and “was an awesome team win.” They also explained that the victory “was a great way to jumpstart the second half of our season.”

The women’s team will be traveling to Middletown, Connecticut for a matchup with the Wesleyan Cardinals on April 5 at 6 p.m.

Melbourne GP: Finally, a Mercedes Podium

James Minor

Staff Writer

The third round of the 2023 Formula 1 Championship took place in Melbourne, Australia, culminating in a second win of the year for Max Verstappen after a wild 58 laps. Following closely behind were Sir Lewis Hamilton (+0.179) and Fernando Alonso (+0.769). Lance Stroll (+3.082) added a fourth place finish to Aston Martin’s strong performance with Sergio Perez

(+3.320). Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc (P20, DNF) and Mercedes Geroge Russell (P18, DNF) did not finish the race after getting stuck in a gravel trap and suffering an engine failure, respectively. Carlos Sainz (P12, +6.594) also finished outside of the points, capping off a miserable day for the Italian manufacturer.

Qualifying came with quite a few surprises. Hamilton held provisional pole after the first run and finished just +0.372 seconds behind Verstappen in third. Russell made

the front row as well, finishing just +0.236 behind the Dutchman. Both Mercedes outqualified their strongest customer team (Aston Martin) for the first time this year. This could mean that the circuit played more to the strengths of Mercedes’ car or that the team has a better understanding of their current package. Either way, being ahead of the Astons and that close to Red Bull indicates substantial progress for the team. Sergio Perez was not in the mix because he beached his car

in a gravel trap before his first run, meaning he qualified last. He then decided to start from the pitlane to avoid any potential first lap chaos.

And first lap chaos there was. George Russell got the jump on Max Verstappen into turn 1 and Hamilton relegated the defending champion to third a couple of corners later. While this position swapping was going on at the front, Lance Stroll made contact with Charles Leclerc. The Monegasque driver spun

his race ended after three corners. On lap 7, Alex Albon lost control of his car. He spun into a wall, suffering terminal damage to his car, and displaced some gravel onto the track, which caused a Safety Car. At that point in time, it seemed like a good idea to take a cheap pit stop and lose less time — like Hamilton did last race. This strategy seemed like an especially good idea because the hard tires for that weekend were

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into a gravel trap and

Photo courtesy of Clarus Studios

Red Bull soared ahead of the field yet again this week in the Melbourne GP despite several red flags flown throughout the race.

Photo courtesy of Public Domain Pictures

Sainz Drops 8 Places After 5-Second Penalty

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believed to be durable enough to last a whole race, meaning whoever pit would not need to pit again.

Russell and Sainz opted to go for this advantage. However, shortly after the two came out of the pits, a red flag came out. A red flag freezes the field, but also brings all drivers in the pit lane and allows them to change tires for free. As a result, the advantage Russell and Sainz went for was entirely neutralized and in fact became a disadvantage.

After the red flag restart, the race moved along smoothly, aside from Russell’s engine failure. Max Verstappen drove off into the sunset, showing off the strength of the Red Bull car. The race was interesting behind the leader, though. Hamilton and Alonso spent much of the race in close proximity to each other, with just over a one second gap

between the two. This is important because of a mechanism called the Drag Reduction System (DRS). At every F1 circuit, there are straights that are designated DRS zones, with DRS detection points just before the straights. In practice and qualifying, DRS can be activated within these zones — opening up a gap in the rear wing to decrease air resistance and speed up the car. In the race, you must be within one second of the car ahead at the detection point to be granted DRS. As a result, Alonso would push to get within that 1 second range, and Hamilton would push to keep him far behind. This tactical battle went on the entire race up to the second red flag.

Kevin Magnussen (P17, DNF) caused that second red flag when he lost his right rear wheel after contact with the barrier coming off of turn two. Again, teams took

the free pit stop to put on soft tires, as there were only going to be two laps left after the restart. The restart brought chaos. At turns one and two, Sainz ran into Alonso, Logan Sargent (P16, DNF) rear-ended Nyck De Vries (P15, DNF), Sergio Perez ran through the gravel, and the two Alpines of Pierre Gasly (P13, DNF) and Esteban Ocon P14, DNF). And then at turn three, Stroll also ran wide. This series of crashes produced another red flag. After a lengthy decision process of whether or not to finish the race under the pre-restart or post-restart order, the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA, the governing body of F1) determined to use the former and paraded the cars around to effectively end the race under safety car (which is why the gaps are so close). However, Carlos Sainz received a 5-second penalty for his contact with Alonso.

Because the cars were so close at the finish, this meant he finished as the last of the cars still running. Consequently a P4 finish with 12 turned into a P12 with no points — as only the top 10 get points.

The takeaways from the race are continued Red Bull dominance, progress for Mercedes, and more misery for Ferrari. The next race is not until the end of the month, though, so there is plenty of time for teams to update their cars — in fact, rumors are already flying around about who is upgrading what. After round three, here is what the standings look like:

Drivers Championship Standings

1. Max Verstappen (Red Bull) - 69

2. Sergio Perez (Red Bull) - 54

3. Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) - 45

4. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) - 38

5. Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) - 20

GAME SCHEDULE

MEN'S TENNIS

April 8: @ Hamilton College 2 p.m.

April 11: @ Trinity College 4 p.m.

WOMEN'S TENNIS

April 8: @ Hamilton College 10 a.m.

April 11: @ Trinity College 4 p.m.

BASEBALL

April 7: vs. Tufts University 3:30 p.m.

April 8: vs. Tufts University 12 p.m.

April 8: vs. Tufts University 3 p.m.

April 11: vs. Brandeis University 3:30 p.m.

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

6. Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) - 20

7. George Russell (Mercedes) - 18

8. Lando Norris (McLaren) - 8

9. Nico Hulkenburg (Haas) - 6

10. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) - 6

Constructors Championship Standings

1. Red Bull - 123

2. Aston Martin - 65

3. Mercedes - 56

4. Ferrari - 26

5. McLaren - 12

6. Alpine - 8

7. Haas - 7

8. Alfa Romeo - 6

9. Alpha Tauri - 1

10. Williams - 1

The next race will be April 28-30 in Baku, Azerbaijan and, notably, will use a special Sprint Weekend format. Stay tuned for a debrief on this twist as this season’s drama continues to unfold.

MEN'S LACROSSE

April 5t vs. Wesleyan University 6 p.m.

April 8: @ Colby College 1 p.m.

April 12: vs. Conneticut College 6 p.m.

WOMEN'S LACROSSE

April 5: @ Wesleyan University 6 p.m.

April 8: vs. Colby College 12 p.m.

April 12: @ Conneticut College 6 p.m.

SOFTBALL

April 7: @ Tufts University 2:30 p.m.

April 7: @ Tufts University 5 p.m.

April 8: @ Middlebury College 2 p.m.

April 8: @ Middlebury College 4 p.m.

April 12: vs. Springfield College 3 p.m.

April 12: vs. Springfield College 5 p.m.