Issue 10

THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF AMHERST COLLEGE SINCE 1868

THE AMHERST

STUDENT

Men’s Basketball Starts Season 3-0 See Sports, Page 9

VOLUME CXLVIII, ISSUE 10 WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 2018

AMHERSTSTUDENT.COM

Student Focus Groups Aim to Improve Course Evaluation Feedback Lauren Pelosi ’22 Staff Writer

Photo courtesy of Matai Curzon ’22

Accessibility experts Jeanne Kincaid and Bill Welsh began holding open forums at the college this week to garner feedback from students, faculty and staff on accessibility at Amherst.

College Conducts External Review of Accessibility Shawna Chen ’20 Managing News Editor Two nationally-recognized experts arrived at the college this week to begin a series of assessments on accessibility services and support. The two consultants, Jeanne Kincaid and Bill Welsh, will look broadly at accessibility before another set of consultants arrive next week to examine accessibility of the physical campus.

The assessments, announced by President Biddy Martin in a community-wide email on Nov. 15, come after the college adopted four accessibility principles this past year, which were based on recommendations from a task force on accessibility and inclusion comprised of students, faculty and staff. The principles are written as statements on the college website: “It’s Intentional,” “It’s a Diversity Goal,” “It’s a Knowledge-Based Practice” and “It Benefits the Entire Community.”

“As those principles indicate, one important step toward enhancing accessibility is to learn more about the barriers to access that currently exist at the college,” Martin wrote in her email.

This week, Kincaid and Welsh will hold two open forums for students and two open forums for faculty and staff. Kincaid is an at-

torney at Drummond Woodson who works primarily with students with disabilities in private institutions of higher education.

Welsh is the associate vice president for access and disability resources at Rutgers University.

The Facilities Department will bring construction and architectural experts in December to study accessibility of the physical campus.

“After the assessments are completed, we will report back to the community about how we will prioritize our work to enhance accessibility and inclusion,” Martin wrote.

This past spring, after the Presidential Task Force on Accessibility and Inclusion was dissolved, Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer Norm Jones and Chief of Campus Operations Jim Brassord, among others, presented to senior staff members a proposal to bring consultants to the college. There was a shared consensus on the need for outside help, Martin said.

“I’m sure [the consultants’] recommendations will be contingent on what’s possible when, but I would hope that in their discussions with so many different people and groups, they would come away combining all that they hear with their expertise with a set of priorities that are solid,” she said.

“Ensuring that students have equal access

to educational programs, to support that they need, to gain that access, they probably will be looking at a whole range of obstacles that students face to getting their work done and those would include, I would hope, everything from physical obstacles to mental health issues,” Martin added.

Welsh and Kincaid said their main priority is to solicit input and make recommendations to increase the efficiency of resources and make accessibility more proactive on campus.

“A lot of what you design may have ADA [American Disabilities Act] implications,” Kincaid said. “We’re trying to help campuses put it in the bloodstream.”

The purview of their assessments will cover everything from classrooms, laboratories and housing to student employment, meals and technology services. Other avenues of access, such as event spaces open to the public, will also be examined.

Anyone can become non-able-bodied, Kincaid noted — it is critical to ensure equal opportunity. “It’s as simple as putting a notice on a website of who to contact if you encounter issues or concerns,” Welsh added.

The college is not mandated to make every building fully accessible, according to Kin-

Continued on Page 3

The Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) hired five students in early October to facilitate student focus groups to study teaching and learning environments at the college.

The research is focused in two areas: student voice in course feedback and inclusive pedagogies in STEM. Having worked directly with faculty to design and proctor course evaluations for the past two years, Riley Caldwell-O’Keefe, director of the CTL, began to gather different data about the college’s learning environment this fall.

“I can analyze that data [I already have],” she said, “but I can’t say what that experience was like for students unless we actually talk to them and ask them.” The CTL chose to hire students to conduct the focus groups because “it’s more productive for students to talk to students than it is for me to talk to them,” Caldwell-O’Keefe said.

The research assistants were trained in leading focus groups by the Wabash Center of Inquiry in New Hampshire over fall break.

Marco Trevino ’20, one of the CTL research assistants, said that in conducting these focus groups, the CTL is seeking information on students’ past experiences providing course feedback. The research assistants are asking questions like “Do you think professors understand the challenges that you have in your classes? What gives you that impression?”, “Do you feel like you have any influence in the ways that your courses are taught?” and “What ways of engaging with feedback feel most inviting?”

Associate Director of the CTL Sarah Bunnell and Biology Professor Thea Kristensen are also leading a student focus group team on inclusive pedagogies in STEM. They are building upon the work of others like Professor of Chemistry Sheila Jaswal, who started the the Being Human in STEM (HSTEM) movement with several students, a course in which students produce projects designed to help Am-

Continued on Page 3

College History Discussed in Facebook Livestream Khalid Mohamed ’22 Staff Writer In a Facebook livestream titled “Amherst History Live,” Senior Writer for the Office of Communications Katharine Whittemore hosted President Biddy Martin, Dean of the Faculty Catherine Epstein and Head of Archives and Special Collections Michael Kelly for a discussion on the history of Amherst College.

The discussion, which took place on Nov. 13, covered the institution’s origins, notable figures, athletics and fun facts.

Whittemore started off by asking Martin what resonated with her the most about the college’s origin story and why she discussed

the history of the college at Convocation this year. Martin said she was inspired by Epstein’s address at last year’s Senior Assembly, where Epstein discussed a book by the college’s 11th president, Stanley King, who served from 1932 to 1946.

“I’ve been thinking for a while that our students don’t get enough information from us about the history of the college and their place in it. So I decided to talk about the college and its early days and the portraits in [Johnson] Chapel,” Martin said. “It occured to me that [ first years] will already have been in the chapel for several events, but no one had probably said anything to them about who these people are in the portraits in the chapel.”

She added that what intrigued and inspired her the most about the college’s origins was its founders’ passion for education, specifically in their efforts of fundraising to send young men to college — what Martin referenced as the beginnings of financial aid at Amherst.

The discussion then moved to previous college presidents. Epstein said that she admired Alexander Meiklejohn, the college’s eighth president.

“He really put Amherst on the intellectual map. He put a lot of effort into getting top-rate professors who were stellar teachers,” Epstein said. “Meiklejohn helped Amherst make the transition from a kind of … not exactly mediocre institution, [but one] that didn’t really

focus on intellectual rigor and intellectual excellence. He really made that the center of Amherst. I think we owe a lot to Meiklejohn along those lines.” Kelly also noted that Meiklejohn was responsible for bringing acclaimed poet Robert Frost to teach at Amherst.

Epstein and Kelly credited the college’s third president, Edward Hitchcock, for bringing the natural sciences to Amherst. Kelly described how the Octagon, the school’s first natural history museum and observatory, was commissioned by Hitchcock.

Kelly said that he was personally intrigued

by William Stearns, the college’s fourth presi-

Continued on Page 3

News Jake Blackwood Fresh Faculty

Nov. 12, 2018 - Nov 25, 2018

>>Nov. 12, 2018 9:48 a.m., Hitchcock Hall Locked custodial closets were entered and items from them were used without permission from the custodian.

3:58 p.m., Frost Library A group of individuals were riding their bikes up and down the outside south stairs of the library.

7:37 p.m., Frost Library An individual unaffiliated with the college was caught trespassing after a verbal altercation on campus. >>Nov. 13, 2018 7:18 a.m., King Dormitory An individual carved a word into an elevator panel.

4:35 p.m., Wieland Dormitory A light was intentionally broken.

5:28 p.m., Science Center A fire started due to vegetation being burned in an oven. >>Nov. 14, 2018 9:27 p.m., Merrill Parking Lots An individual dumped items in a dumpster with approval from the college. >>Nov. 15, 2018 2:18 p.m., Beneski Earth Sciences & Natural History Museum An individual accidentally dialed 911. >>Nov. 16, 2018 11:48 a.m., Hitchcock Hall A student covered their smoke detector, preventing it from working properly and smoked marijuana in the room. >>Nov. 17, 2018 9:49 a.m., Hills Lot A parked vehicle was accidentally struck and the operator of the other vehicle did not report it.

9:28 p.m., Greenway Building B

An officer discovered a broken exit sign. >>Nov. 18, 2018 1:28 a.m., Merrill Science Drive An officer addressed an individual parked in the middle of the road. >>Nov. 19, 2018 7:06 p.m., Frost Library Officers responded to an alarm and found no cause. >>Nov. 20, 2018 7:54 a.m., Keefe Campus Center A leaking pipe caused a fire alarm. The issue was addressed.

9:09 a.m., Morris Pratt Dormitory A small electrical fire was accidentally started by a charging device.

10:13 a.m., Moore Dormitory Contractors were stuck in an elevator. >>Nov. 22, 2018 2:33 p.m., Coolidge Cage An officer responded to a report of a children playing in the closed gym without adult supervision. >>Nov. 23, 2018 4:57 a.m., Arms Music Center Officers checked a building after hours because blinds were closed when they were previously open after hours.

9:06 a.m., Arms Music Center Officers responded to a wellbeing check on an individual sleeping in a closed building off hours. >>Nov. 24, 2018 11:45 p.m., Greenway Building C A student’s clothing was taken from a dryer. >>Nov. 25, 2018 7:01 p.m., Cohan Dormitory An officer provided a message to a student from a parent.

Got a tip?

Email schen20@amherst.edu or nderosa21@amherst.edu

to pitch story ideas or submit a tip.

Department of Economics

Jake Blackwood is an assistant professor of economics.

He received his B.S. in economics and international affairs from the Georgia Institute of Technology, and his M.A. and Ph.D. in economics from the University of Maryland.

Q: What do you most enjoy about teaching at Amherst so far?

A: I think that there is, at least in my previous experience... a sense of which, there are personal interactions that you get with the students. There is an expectation that the professors are slightly more available than at larger universities. I get more contact with my students on a regular basis, which is a nice thing in a lot of ways. In particular, it feels like a community that I am becoming a part of. The small class sizes and regular contact with students gives me a sense of a community feel. That’s what I like about teaching. I’m teaching both an introductory course, with first-year students and people who are getting into economics, and I am also taking a 400-[level] course, with upper level students. Those are two very different experiences. There are some commonalities; in the discussion sections there is a lot of engagement relative to what I have experienced before.

Q: Where did you grow up?

A: I grew up in south Florida, in Palm Beach County. The weather here is a shock. I went to school in Georgia, worked for a couple of years in Virginia and then went to school in Maryland for my doctorate. I have slowly worked my way north, and I have slowly acclimated myself to the weather. But, I’m expecting this winter to be intense.

Q: What sparked your interest in economics?

A: I remember taking the very same level of courses which I am teaching now, and being interested in the notion of making claims about economic outcomes and showing, albeit in very simple frameworks, quantitative relationships that are founded in something tangible like mathematics. That appealed to me, being able to do some curve shifting and say ‘oh, under the assumptions of the model, we predict this sort of thing would happen.’

It has a real rigor to it that I think is different from other fields. There’s a [John Maynard] Keynes quote, and I am going to butcher it, but it is something like, “An economist needs to be a jack of all trades: a mathematician, a historian, a philosopher.” There is some philosophy to what we do, though I don’t think we fully recognize it. An economist takes knowledge from a broad variety of fields.

It blends a couple different fields, and it is an interesting way of viewing social science problems. It puts some more or less rigorous context into it, which I think is a good thing, but not always: there are a lot of benefits in other fields at looking at the problems in different ways. That sort of thing interested me: writing and describing the economy with an equation.

Q: What made you want to become a professor?

A: There is a sense in which getting my Ph.D. was about continuing my knowledge in that field. I felt like I just wanted to know more than I did, which is why I pursued my Ph.D. I wanted to truly dive into something and gain experience in it. Eventually, the idea of getting a Ph.D. is producing your own research

in that field. Having gone through those steps, I felt like I would enjoy continuing to pursue the idea of pushing research further in the field, and continuing to conduct my own research, but also going back to the beginning, and introducing people into why I am so interested in researching this topic.

Q: What classes are you teaching?

A: My 400-level course is on entrepreneurship. We talk a lot in that course about the relative importance of young firms in the economy. It’s the entrepreneur who goes out and starts their own business, which is a fundamental part of our economy, and builds the folklore of our economy, and also in reality. We see that young business are really important to our economy in things like job creation. There’s an often cited statistic that small businesses create the most jobs, when in reality it is young businesses, who just so happen to be small. And they’re really the ones who are driving that statistic. Entrepreneurs are really important in some sense for both that, and also innovation and productivity growth, [to which] they contribute disproportionately to those things. Understanding why that is is what the 400 [level] course is about.

Q: What do you enjoy doing in your free time?

A: I have two kids, so that takes up a lot of my free time. We are just now getting to a point with both of them where it’s their first winter. My youngest is 9 months, so they haven’t dealt with snow that much. We actually had a lot of fun this morning, going out in the snow with my oldest, who will be three in January. So that takes up a lot of my time, but my wife and I managed to go hiking last weekend, and I hope that’s something I’ll be able to take advantage of more while at Amherst— the outdoors stuff.

Q: What brought you specifically to Amherst?

A: Well, this is a really great opportunity, as someone who is interested in continuing doing research in economics, but also interested in sharing with bright students what my passion is for that subject, more broadly and then more narrowly depending on the course. It’s a relatively unique place, where I am held at a high standard in terms of research and that’s something I want to have the opportunity to pursue, but also, there is a lot of emphasis on teaching and teaching well, which is something I want to do. I will become a much better teacher here than I would anyplace else. I am really happy about being in this location, with having a family and everything. It’s a fantastic institution and it’s great to be a part of it.

—Zach Jonas ’22

5IF "NIFSTU 4UVEFOU t /PWFNCFS

News

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CTL to Conduct Research on Learning Environments Continued from Page 1 herst’s STEM fields become more inclusive.

Findings from the focus groups will be shared with the college. So far, research assistants have facilitated five focus groups, and may schedule more this winter if deemed necessary, of which the CTL would notify the student body through the Daily Mail.

In 2016, Hari Kumar, director of instructional and curricular design services at the time, began a pilot project to determine a course evaluation question set that would decrease implicit bias, or unconscious attitudes about people based on their identities, in student feedback and provide faculty with more informative, actionable information. CaldwellO’Keefe partnered with Kumar on the project in the summer of 2016 and continued the work when she stepped into the role of CTL director in June 2017.

Over the past two years, Kumar and Caldwell-O’Keefe have entered classes to talk with students about what productive feedback looks like.

Caldwell-O’Keefe said that they “encouraged students to reflect [when giving feedback]: ‘Is this a reaction to an identity that doesn’t matter for my learning?’” She described how, for example, a student perceiving an instructor as “confident” or “flustered” is often based on gender stereotypes. Identity and mannerisms, however, are largely irrelevant to a teacher’s ability to further a student’s learning, she said.

Throughout the pilot program, the CTL worked with 30 faculty members in 90 different courses and gathered 1,300 student evaluations. Caldwell-O’Keefe is currently sorting through that data.

Caldwell-O’Keefe connects the root of this

Photo courtesy of Matai Curzon’22

The Center for Teaching and Learning recently began assessing inclusive pedagogies and improvements for course evaluations. The initiative was in part spearheaded by Amherst Uprising, a student movement in 2015. “students-as-partners” work to the 2015 Amherst Uprising.

The Uprising was a weekend-long sit-in in Frost Library during which students gathered in solidarity with black students protesting at the University of Missouri and Yale, offering a space where traditionally underrepresented in academia could give testimony of their experi-

ences of struggle at Amherst.

Following the Uprising, both faculty members and students called for research into course feedback, according to CaldwellO’Keefe.

“Many faculty on campus were interested in a different course evaluation question set and students weren’t quite feeling heard,” Caldwell-

O’Keefe said. “We did a needs assessment last year to better understand what is important to faculty. They said what gave them a sense of accomplishment was their relationships with their students. This tells me that faculty care what students think and where they feel heard, or not heard. They want them to be part of the process.”

Professor Gives Talk on Colombian Politics and Peace

Ronin Rodkey ’22 Staff Writer

Monica Pachon, dean of political science and international relations at Del Rosario University in Colombia, visited Amherst to give a talk about peace agreements and the future of democracy in Colombia on Nov. 14 in Paino Lecture Hall.

The event opened with a lecture by Pachon and concluded with a panel. Joining Pachon on the panel were Sebastian Bitar, Loewenstein Fellow and visiting associate professor of political science, and Javier Corrales, professor of po-

litical science. Both professors currently teach courses related to policy in Colombia.

Corrales introduced Pachon, describing her as “an incredibly prolific political scientist [and] a specialist on issues such as democracy, decentralization, electoral systems and political reforms.”

Pachon began her lecture with an in-depth analysis of the current turmoil in modern Colombian politics. She discussed the peacemaking process with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerilla movement, drug trafficking and drug policy and recent elections in

the country.

The lecture also touched on current Colombian policies as well as the hurdles politicians faced while implementing them. Throughout, Pachon depicted current Colombian politics as tumultuous and concluded by saying she was worried about the current Colombian president’s capacity to lead.

After the lecture, Corrales and Bitar asked Pachon for her opinions on a wide range of topics. Audience members also participated in a Q&A session with Pachon.

Memo Rodriguez ’22, who attended the

event, said he liked how Pachon “recognized the role of the Venezuelan government in the issue of drug trafficking and security in Colombia as one of the main problems to face in the current years, while also noting that the government can’t take any rushed measures.”

For Jacob Brown ’19, the talk interested him in broader terms. “I appreciated learning about the current situation that’s going on in Columbia. It provides a great deal of insight about other related issues in the region, all of which are central to our understanding to how the narcotics trade works on a global scale,” he said.

Experts to Assess State of Accessibility at College Continued from Page 1 caid. Any facility built in the future should be fully accessible, but any building built prior to June 1977 does not have to be made accessible unless it is the only building in which students can gain access to a specific educational program.

“I would love it if we could get to the point — and we will eventually, but of course it will take time — where every building on campus is

accessible,” Martin said.

The college “hopes to continue learn[ing] ... how to support our community, and this review is another way of doing so,” said Jodi Foley, director of Accessibility Services, in a statement to The Student.

Annika Ariel ’19 was a member of the accessibility and inclusion task force and has conducted extensive research on accessibility.

Though she referred to the assessments as a “good step forward,” she emphasized that acces-

sibility work at the college needs more transparency. The selection process for the consultants in particular felt very obscured, she said. “It felt very much out of the blue, and it would’ve been nice to know more about the process,” she added.

Ariel attended the open forum for students on Tuesday. She noted, however, that the times of the sessions tended to overlap with class schedules and said she wished the assessments had been organized over a longer period of

time.

Her primary concern is with the Office of Accessibility Services — “it needs a ton of work,” she said. “I’ve talked with a lot of people about Accessibility Services … Only one person had a uniquely positive, no-holds-barred interaction with Accessibility Services.”

More details will follow once a report is compiled for the college. Community members can also send written feedback to JKincaid@ dwmlaw.com and billwelsh1234@gmail.com.

‘Amherst History Live’ Recounts Events from College’s Past Continued from Page 1 dent, and how he faced the difficult task of preventing students from participating in the Civil War. Kelly said that if Stearns had not actively tried to dissuade students and faculty from joining the war, the school may have collapsed due to a lack of tuition revenue.

During the livestream, a musket stamped with “Amherst College Gymnasium” was on display. This musket, which was recently purchased by Archives & Special Collections, was part of the program employed by Stearns to prevent students from joining the Civil War. In 1861, Stearns convinced the Board of Trustees to lift the college’s firearm ban and authorized musket drills as part of athletic activities.

The sounds of musket drills were part of the Amherst soundscape during the Civil War, said Martin and Kelly, and affected nearby poet Emily Dickinson. The sounds of musket drills and the death of Frasier Stearns — son of President Stearns and a friend of Dickinson — at the Battle of Newbern in 1862 were described in Dickinson’s poetry and letters, said Kelly.

The discussion then moved towards the ongoing development of the Amherst curriculum.

“Amherst tends to go to the extremes,” Epstein said about the history of the college’s academic curriculum. “I believe in 1828 a professor proposed a curriculum based on modern languages. It didn’t last very long, but it was very radical at the time.”

Amherst adopted an elective-based curriculum at the end of the 19th century, Epstein said, which was very unusual at the time, and implemented a core curriculum during the 1946-1947 academic year. Epstein said the core curriculum was popular among alumni, though Amherst switched to the open curriculum in the late 1960s. All of the college catalogs from 1821 up until 2013 are on the college’s digital collections website, Kelly added.

When the topic of Amherst athletics was raised, Kelly noted that Amherst held the first intercollegiate baseball game in 1859 against Williams. Kelly also mentioned former captain of the Amherst football team William Henry Lewis, who became captain of the team in 1892 and later went on to play football at Harvard

Law School. Appointed by President Howard Taft in 1910, he later became the first black assistant attorney general.

The livestream concluded with a discussion on the alleged portion of books taken from the Williams’ library by Amherst’s founder Zephaniah Swift Moore.

Kelly stated that at that time, books used in classes often belonged to the instructor, so the books brought by Moore were most likely his personal books. Martin added that Williams declared the account to be false in 2013.

The archives have recently mapped and organized the original books and archives brought to the college at its inception in 1821, which can be found on the digital collections website, Kelly said.

Opinion THE AMHERST

A Farewell From The Editor-in-Chief Before anything else, I should thank the people who’ve made these three years with The Student truly memorable.

First, I wouldn’t even be writing this letter were it not for Lauren Tuiskula ’17, who single-handedly managed to talk an apprehensive first year into writing for the sports section.

Likewise, I’m eternally grateful to Drew Kiley ’18 and Jingwen Zhang ’18, each of whom saw something in me — Lord knows what it was — and offered me the chance to assume the role of editor-in-chief. This past year has been the most rewarding during my time at Amherst, and it is no overstatement to say it could not have happened without them.

To my co-editor-in-chief Isabel Tessier ’19, I can only say sorry for my constant complaining and the countless tantrums I threw at midnight in the office. That she managed not to kill me is a testament to both her incredible patience and irreproachable editorial excellence, and there’s no one else I would rather have done all this with. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, none of what The Student does on a weekly basis could be done without the effort of our team of editors, writers, designers and everyone else involved. I’m not going to single anyone out because I’m sure I’d forget someone important and kick myself, but you all have turned what would seemingly be a terrible Tuesday night — spending eight hours in the basement of Morrow Dormitory — into a time I actually looked forward to each week. I’ll miss it.

Now, since I have the chance, I’m going to get up onto my soapbox for a few paragraphs and hopefully not come off as too sanctimonious — I’m truly sorry if I do. It’s no secret that journalism is under threat both around the world. but more concerningly at home too. When the brutal murder of a well-respected journalist by an American “ally” can go uncriticized by the supposed leader of the free world, it is clear that something is deeply broken in our society. When a phrase like “fake news” has become so deeply embedded in modern political discourse, the very nature of journalism is at stake.

Amherst students often like to compare our campus to a bubble, removed from the often-depressing reality of the

outside world. Though there’s some truth to this statement, it is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore the fact that many of the demons plaguing the outside world are finding their way into our community day-by-day. This is the case not only for matters of racism and bigotry, but for journalism as well.

When was the last time you picked up a copy of The Amherst Student and read it front to back? When was the last time you picked up a copy of The New York Times and did anything more than solve the crossword? I willingly admit that before I took this position, I was just as guilty of this as the vast majority of the student body. There is journalism all over campus, but it seems fewer and fewer people actually care.

I’m sure some readers took offense to the comparison above between the diminishing role of the press and the strains of hatred that run deep throughout this country, but I stand by it. Though it might be hard to read about the countless ways America is failing, to not read those stories is to further this crisis. An uncaring and apathetic population that disregards the reality on the ground is exactly what those who seek to make this country and the world worse are hoping for. Reading The Student or The Times is not going to fix all the problems in the world, and I’m not saying it will. Indeed, it will be hard and often painful work at times.

However, the reward for aiding in the survival of journalism will hopefully be a society that might, for the first time in years, take a meaningful step towards that elusive goal of a more perfect union.

If you made it through this entire article, I am genuinely thankful. Though there have been plenty of challenges, watching readers engage with our articles has been probably the most rewarding part of my experience at The Student.

So, with that said, the last thing I’d like to ask you to do is to continue to read and stay engaged. Whether The Student, your local paper or a national outlet, just read. You never know what you’ll find.

Nate Quigley ’19 Editor-in-Chief, The Amherst Student

Why Is It So Easy to Be Considered Artsy at Amherst?

Lisa Zheutlin ’21 Contributing Writer I am constantly confused that I am considered artsy at Amherst. Coming from the traditional suburb of Boca Raton, Florida, I never thought I would be perceived as artsy. I didn’t fulfill the classic high school theater kid trope, and I wasn’t aware of eclectic underground music and art scenes. But upon coming to Amherst, I somehow became artsy, and not from some newfound interest in alt-bands. So, why is it so easy to be considered artsy at Amherst?

This identity crisis arose because my internal conception of self did not align with how people perceived me. The only place I can really trace this misperception to is to clothing. What I choose to wear will influence what people think of me. We all, consciously or not, form opinions on people based of how they choose to present themselves.

As we are all complicit in forming these judgements, we are also all recipients of these judgements. But whether these snap judgements are superficial or not is unimportant, because ultimately these perceptions stick. It seems somewhat valid that we would base our opinions of people on how they choose to express themselves. But the problem arises because we are looking at people through our own lens, and our perceptions of those around us frequently do not align with what they feel inside or are even attempting to project.

At Amherst, it seems like this is amplified, and it feels just too easy to be considered artsy. You can show up to class in sweatpants and an Amherst LEADS sweatshirt and fly under the radar. But if you wear some sort of colorful, patterned clothing, sprinkle in some piercings or rings, you’re “artsy.” No doubt, since a large part of being artsy is outward expression, occasionally these judgements are accurate. But in the cases where some-

one is just slightly off the normal path, it seems unauthentic to deem them artsy and is essentially undermining the value of the artsy community. It shouldn’t be so easy to be artsy. Artsiness should imply a dedication to a certain artform, or a multidimensionality that in some way deviates from the norm — basing these judgments on clothing does not do this complexity justice.

This phenomenon is definitely not specific to Amherst, but it becomes amplified due to our small, sometimes insular community. While this size brings comfort, it also allows for those natural snap judgements we make about people to become solidified. It’s important to recognize how the size of Amherst creates an environment where our perceptions about people, sometimes based on something as simple as an outfit choice, easily pigeon-holes our peers into specific tropes. Athlete or the non-athlete, normie or artsy, it’s all the same: after the initial presentation, we become caricatures of ourselves, and these reputations stick, contributing to the infamous divide we all seem to encounter here.

All of this is not to say that I am unhappy with being labelled artsy here — I’ve pretty much leaned into it. This year, I am living in Marsh House, the arts theme house and artsy enclave at Amherst. To get in to Marsh, students have to apply and interview, showing some aspect of art that they have created. This sort of application process speaks to what artsiness should mean: dedication to an art form, rather than just a non-normie clothing style. Every semester, each member of the house is supposed to create a Marsh project, with the goal of either bringing the Marsh community into the rest of the college, or bringing the Amherst community into Marsh — in essence spreading or promoting some sort of artsiness.

It’s also important to note that there is only one theme house on campus dedicated to arts at

Amherst, which is indicative of the general sense of artsiness on campus. Are these 22 students, plus the upperclassmen who previously lived in Marsh, supposed to represent the entire artsy scene here? Wesleyan, for example, has separate program housing for art, dance, film and music, whereas Marsh seems to encompass all of these art forms into one. On the one hand, this is nice, because it appeals to the artsy person’s sense of individuality and uniqueness, but it can become problematic when that perceived artsiness on campus is superficial in nature.

When people tell me that I am artsy, I usually just laugh, because what does that even mean, and where is that assumption coming from? To be fair, I do really love studio art, but when people call me artsy, it is usually without even knowing that, which leads me to believe that they are basing their judgement off of my sometimes wacky outfit choices. There are probably people in those generic LEADS sweatshirts who are really artistically talented, and there might also be people who present as artsy and really have no commitment to art. We should base these judgements of artsiness on an actual commitment to an art form, gleaned from conversations with or observations of those around us.

It’s almost a paradox: though it’s so easy to be considered artsy at Amherst by just wearing slightly less normie clothing, the arts scene can pale in comparison to other schools. Though this superficial artsiness might get conflated with the disappointment in the arts scene at Amherst, I guess it’s up to us to change that. If we create an environment where artsiness is welcomed, transcending of various groupings on campus, and subject to change rather than solidifying upon first meeting someone, then maybe artsiness at Amherst would become more authentic in nature.

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

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Opinion

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Birthright Citizenship Is a Pillar of Democracy Hayley Fleming ’21 Contributing Writer The 14th Amendment states, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.” The idea presented here, that anyone born in the United States is a citizen, is known as birthright citizenship. Countless people have become American citizens thanks to the 14th Amendment, and this is what makes our country welcoming and and our culture vibrant.

In an Axios interview on Oct. 30, President Donald Trump revealed a plan to sign an executive order that would end birthright citizenship, meaning that the children of undocumented immigrants or of people with temporary visas would not automatically become citizens. The president and his supporters claim that the specific language of the 14th Amendment has never been ruled on by the Supreme Court, and

that the phrase “and subject to the jurisdiction thereof ” does not necessarily mean anyone on U.S. soil.

The last time the Supreme Court ruled on a similar matter was in 1898, in United States v. Wong Kim Ark. This case took place in the midst of the Chinese Exclusion Act, which prohibited almost all people of Chinese descent from immigrating to the United States. Ark was born in San Francisco to Chinese immigrants.

At age 22, he briefly left the country to go to China, but upon his return to California, he was denied entry and told that he was not a citizen. However, the court agreed with Wong on the basis of the 14th Amendment. This amendment, they argued, applied to every child born on U.S. soil, regardless of race or parentage.

Trump’s proposal is unconstitutional, and he cannot make a change to the Constitution through an executive order. But even if it were legal, it would still be a bad idea. Here’s why.

The president should not take away the citizenship of countless people through an ex-

ecutive order. A change of that magnitude, especially one regarding something as important as citizenship, should be decided by Congress, which is more representative of the American people. Congress is larger, more diverse and more closely connected to the American people, simply because each member of Congress represents fewer people than the president does. A president who lost the popular vote, should not make a decision this consequential without getting congressional approval.

More than 30 countries around the world offer birthright citizenship. The United States should set an example for human rights, acceptance and inclusion. If so many countries around the world offer citizenship to the children of immigrants, and it reverses this policy, the United States will be painted as a harsh, unwelcoming environment for immigrants. This will hurt our international standing and our ability to lead by example. The United States could never encourage other states to treat immigrants with kindness and acceptance if the

United States itself does not treat immigrants with respect. This inability to lead by example is even more impossible now that the migrants seeking asylum at the southern border were greeted with tear gas. If this pattern of disrespect and hatred continues, it will be on track to lose its status as a leader in freedom and acceptance.

Most importantly, this policy contradicts our most fundamental American values. The United States is a nation built by immigrants, and we should be a beacon of openness and inclusion for the rest of the world. Some of us here at Amherst are children of immigrants and may be American citizens thanks to birthright citizenship. The people who benefit from birthright citizenship are just as American as any other American citizen. They were born in the United States, they contribute to our rich and diverse culture and they deserve the full protection of our constitution. A United States without birthright citizenship is a United States without diversity.

What Is the Nature of Your Intelligence?

Harith Khawaja ’19 Contributing Writer Try teaching calculus to your pet goldfish, or explaining evolution by natural selection to the next squirrel you encounter. Or better yet, dedicate Thanksgiving break to teaching your family dog the basic rules of logic.

It’s a foregone conclusion that you will fail.

No matter how hard you try, animals just can’t understand calculus, natural selection, or logic.

It’s not that it is hard to effectively communicate with them. They are just not wired to grasp some forms of human intellectual activity, even under the tutelage of the smartest humans for many years. If Darwin knew dog-speak and taught his favorite pet Huxley natural selection, Huxley would be no more knowledgeable than he was before. He simply wouldn’t understand any of it.

Intuitively, humans are smarter than other animals in very many diverse intellectual domains. We can think in the counterfactual, reason deductively, create and process language, represent numbers abstractly, reflect on prior experience, play games like chess, raise critical questions, formulate hypothesis and test them, apply knowledge across different domains and create fiction — all abilities zebrafish, quokkas and so on don’t possess. That our intellect is capable of such problem-solving mental gymnastics is termed ‘intelligence,’ and for decades, thinkers have tried to define and quantify it. Charles Spearman, for example, described the g-factor in 1904, a single number that measured human intelligence. The g-factor theory was later revised and a version of it, the Cattell-Horn-Carroll (CHC), is used for Intelligent Quotient (IQ) testing across the world today. Yet, others argue that intelli-

gence is not so objective as to be measurable by a number. For example, researchers at the Machine Intelligence Research Institute (MIRI) report that “The term also comes loaded with connotations … Laypeople tend to see intelligence as correlated with being clever, creative, self-confident, socially competent, deliberate, analytically skilled, verbally skilled, efficient, energetic, correct, and careful, but as anticorrelated with being dishonest, apathetic and unreliable. Moreover, cultures vary with respect to the associations they make with intelligence.” Indeed, many definitions and theories of intelligence have been abused to justify social injustice; in the early 1900s, for example, psychologist Henry Goddard popularized the eugenics movement that later resulted in sterilization laws being passed against the poor in many states across the U.S. However, it’s important to note we shouldn’t confuse intra-species intelligence with inter-species intelligence. Even though we have historically failed to provide an uncontroversial account of intelligence that captures differences within humans, there is no denying humans are gifted with fundamental intellectual abilities our less privileged faunal peers lack. “We should not confuse Spearman’s g with human general intelligence, our capacity to handle a wide range of cognitive tasks incomprehensible to other species,” asserts Eliezer Yudkowsky of the MIRI. “General intelligence is a between-species difference, a complex adaptation, and a human universal found in all known cultures.” In other words, we are no longer talking about the difference between individual humans, but a difference in intelligence between entire species. The smartest frog can’t compete with an illiterate human when it comes to solving complex problems. “There is something

about humans that let us set our footprints on the Moon,” Yudkowsky concludes.

But what is this something? What neural facet do we point to and exclaim: “it is that property which enables humans to grasp calculus?!” One possible answer is the speed of neurons and the rate at which they fire. The idea is that the faster nerves in the brain communicate, the more the information processed and hence, the better the intellectual ability — humans, then, possess complex reasoning faculties because our nerves just fire more frequently and have greater throughput. But surely such a stipulation cannot be right! A frog thinking twice as fast is still just a frog: it might accomplish twice as much as any other frog in the same amount of time, but the nature of its thoughts themselves, the possible number of different things it can think about, are still constrained; they are limited by what a frog’s brain can conceive of. If we pump steroids into a frog’s brain, its thoughts might race, but that doesn’t mean they will be somehow better, or of higher quality.

Nor can a qualitative improvement be effected by increasing the mind’s memory capacities. If increasing the maximum amount of information something could hold made it smarter, computers with massive storage space would be the most intelligent species ever; and surely this is an unacceptable implication. Often, bigger brain size is suggested as another candidate property to explain the intellectual prowess enjoyed by human minds. But clearly, brain size is not all that counts: elephants have much bigger brains than us but are nonetheless incapable of grasping math. What explains our intellectual prowess, according to Yudkowsky, is that the human brain is “different in kind” compared to that of animals. There’s something

unique about our cognitive architecture, the way our brain is structured, that gives us to the ability to think abstractly and reason deductively, among others. Prominent philosopher Nick Bostrom calls this “difference in kind.”

The human intellect is then qualitatively superior to that of other animals.

While Bostrom does not delve into what gives rise to specific faculties like language, cognitive science fills that gap for us. In the 1980s, neuroscientists built on Noam Chomsky’s idea of language acquisition to propose a modular model of the mind. This view contends that each of our intellectual abilities, such as deductive reasoning or thinking in the counterfactual, has evolved by natural selection and exists encapsulated into a specific cognitive module of our mind. Our faculty of language, for example, is brought about by the presence of language module and mathematical reasoning by the presence of the mathematical module. So when we talk about a qualitatively superior intellect, we mean that humans possess a set of problem-solving faculties contained within and determined by modules that animals lack.

While defining intelligence by a marriage of philosophy and cognitive science may not be perfect either, our framework provides a sturdy enough base to inquire: can we possibly create intelligent beings? This question is the holy grail of Artificial Intelligence (AI) research today, as scientists attempt to mathematically model human intelligence. It is a dramatically different question to ask whether we can create something as smart as a goldfish than something as smart as a human. If the former is true, we might question the need for pets; but if the latter turns out to be true as well, then we will begin questioning the importance of human existence altogether.

If I May: The Case for Pass/Fail Jake May ’19 Columnist Throughout my academic career, I have always struggled with motivation. I often find that if I am not very interested in what I’m learning, I have a hard time becoming invested in the work..

This was especially tough in high school when I was not able to choose my classes and was stuck taking courses (such as any math class) in which I was not interested. I was hoping things would improve in college. I was enamored by the open curriculum, thinking that I would be taking unique, intellectually-stimulating classes, and that they would assure my interest and, subsequently, my motivation. Sure enough, nearly all of the my classes have been unique, intellectually-stimulating and taught by fantastic professors. And yet, I still found I had a great deal of trouble motivating myself to do work.

This is not an uncommon situation for a col-

lege student — you rarely hear someone express excitement at the fact that they have to write a paper or study for an exam. That being said, I was still curious as to why it was so difficult to motivate myself to work when I was interested in the material. In high school, I wondered why I dreaded doing my reading assignments for English class, even though I loved the books we were reading.

This semester, still eager to discover academic motivation (as a senior, I am a big proponent of the “better late than never” narrative), I decided to take a class pass/fail. For any who don’t know, taking a class pass/fail means that you can only pass or fail the class. You don’t receive a letter grade, and the class doesn’t factor into your GPA. Many seniors exercise this option when they want to take it easy while working on a thesis, or, in my case, when they are attempting to do as little work as possible during their final year in college.

However, to my surprise, I found myself working just as hard in this class as I have in any of my other classes at Amherst. In fact, at times I find myself even more engaged, especially during class meetings. This was shocking — during the majority of my time at Amherst, when I have had the opportunity to take it easy during a portion of a class, I have taken it. However, here is an entire class where I could take it easy, and I am more engaged than ever.

I have begun to suspect it is precisely because the class is not graded as intensely that I am more engaged. It seems that when work is strictly obligatory, I cannot find any true pleasure in it because the act of doing it is not a choice. Granted, when taking a class pass/fail, completing the work is certainly not optional. However, because of the more relaxed grading structure, becoming engaged in an assignment does feel like an active choice.

I think that it would be in the interest of

the college to expand the pass/fail program. Of course, there should still be a minimum amount of non-pass/fail credits students must earn.

However, increasing the opportunities for pass/ fail classes would allow even more opportunities for students to thrive. On the one hand, this would allow more students like me to discover what works for them in an academic setting. On the other hand, students would be better able to pursue what they are passionate about on campus. Perhaps this passion is academics, but it certainly shouldn’t have to be. Our campus is a place where students can participate in many non-academic activities that they will not have a chance to do elsewhere. Instead of stifling these varied interests by demanding that classes be of the utmost importance, it would be wonderful to see the college enhance its flexibility regarding academics to encourage students to pursue their interests both outside and inside the classroom.

Arts&Living

Shiru Café Calls Into Question the Cost of a Free Cup of Coffee

Olivia Luntz ’21 Staff Writer A new coffee shop, Shiru Café, has plans to open in Amherst’s already saturated coffee market. However, it has a unique draw: the coffee is free for students. Well, sort of … rather than paying with cash or card, students give Shiru personal information and with their new Shiru login, they can order their free drinks through the company’s website. Shiru, which is owned by the Japanese company Enrission Inc., first opened in Kyoto, Japan in 2013. The company now has over 20 locations at some of Japan and India’s most prestigious universities and came stateside in Feb. 2018 when the first U.S. location opened at Brown in Providence, Rhode Island.

Now, they are planning to open a location in Amherst where Share Coffee once was, at 17 Kellogg Avenue, in the “first week of December,” according to the Instagram profile Shiru created for the Amherst location. The website also indicated that locations at Harvard, Yale, and Princeton are “under construction.”

Reactions to Shiru’s business model have been mixed. Many people say the information that Shiru asks students for — their name, age, major(s), school ID number, email, phone number, along with career interests and “previous internships” — is innocuous and could be easily found on Facebook or another social network, without any coffee given in return. Shiru takes the student data it has collected to connect students to “corporate sponsors,” companies which have paid Shiru to have access to potential new employees.

A Boston Globe article on Shiru described it as “both a vendor of drinks and an intermediary connecting corporate recruiters to the youngest members of the American intelligentsia.”

Corporate sponsors with Shiru can reach students through three channels: advertisements in the store, site programming, which includes inviting recruiters to talk with students at Shiru, and direct emails, which Shiru sends students on behalf of the company. Shiru is quick to assert that it is not in the business of selling individual’s data. Alex Inoue, Shiru’s general manager, said to the Boston Globe, “We never, ever sell student data … All of the data is protected safely and only used internally to provide students with access to professional opportunities.” Inoue expanded on this point when speaking with NPR that Shiru does not provide companies with data on any specific student, but rather “aggregate data such as student majors and expected graduation years.”

Still, some students are attracted to Shiru for both the free drink available every two hours and the prospect of being connected to a job at one of the large companies Shiru has already partnered with in Asia, including Microsoft, Mitsubishi, Panasonic and Nissan. However, although the coffee is guaranteed, the prospect of landing a great job is not. An article from NPR noted that as of September 2018, the Providence location of Shiru has not had any corporate sponsors, even though it has been open since February.

Some students at Amherst are happily anticipating Shiru’s opening. Jake Montes-Adams ’21 said that they were comfortable with the amount of data Shiru was requesting, as most of it could be easily found on their Facebook, but they said they would not go as far as to disclose their GPA or transcript to Shiru. They also admitted that they doubt that Shiru would be able to connect them with a job as they plan to work for an NGO or nonprofit and did not believe “any place I want to work for would practice mass data purchasing.”

This point hits on one of the main controversies surrounding the Shiru Café at Brown. A letter to the editor published in The Brown Daily Herald, Brown’s student newspaper, urged students to “boycott Shiru Café” and expressed concern that “40 percent of J.P. Morgan Japan’s new hires were Shiru Café patrons” coupled with the fact that 42 percent of Brown graduates from 2016 worked in finance, consulting or technology. The authors of

Photo courtesy of pexels.com

An upcoming addition to Amherst’s coffee shop collection offers students free coffee, but at the price of personal information. the letter worried that Shiru would only serve to increase the number of Brown students who end up working for “large corporations, whose principles are frequently at odds with those of our community” and decrease the already small number of Brown graduates working in sustainability or community development. Large and affluent companies already have many advantages in connecting with talented and motivated students compared to non-profits or smaller businesses — and being able afford a Shiru Café sponsorship only serves to give them another one.

Along with possibly increasing the difficulty for small companies to hire elite university graduates, another, less frequently discussed, consequence of a Shiru Café could be an adverse effect on local business. Of all the U.S. locations where Shiru plans to open shops, the town of Amherst is by far the smallest and has a coffee shop culture that is, in my opinion, completely unique. The majority of coffee shops in Amherst are locallyowned chains, with locations only in Amherst and its neighboring towns. As all of the local coffee shops in my hometown fall victim to a wave of Starbucks, I appreciate that Amherst sustains a variety of local coffee shops, each with its own atmosphere, menu items and quirks. By only serving students and faculty and not Amherst residents, Shiru’s impact on other businesses may be limited, but not if it captures the majority of the student market.

Other than the negative effect Shiru’s business model may have on local businesses, Shiru poses a more intangible but no less pernicious threat to the unique environment of Amherst. The establishment of a corporate-backed coffee shop that bars non-students from patronage creates a space that can no longer be a “third place.” While the home is a person’s “first place” and work is the “second place,” a “third place” provides an important alternative social environment that sociologists have argued are essential to civil society, civic engagement and democracy as a whole.

Some common third places are churches, cafes, bars, public libraries, diners, malls and parks. In order to serve as a third place, the space must be a leveler, in which one’s status in society is not important and therefore cannot be any prerequisites to entry. A third place should be accessible to all.

Although the concept of a third place may seem alien at first, it has been extremely important in history. For example, Viennese coffee houses served a vital role in shaping the culture of turnof-the-century Vienna, when the major thinkers and artists of the era, such as Gustav Klimt and Sigmund Freud, read newspapers, wrote and shared ideas together for hours in their preferred “kaffeehaus”. Many even had their mail delivered there instead of to their homes. Additionally, third places are widespread in modern popular culture. Do your favorite TV show characters

have a bar or café that they frequent? That’s their third place. Currently, all of the coffee shops in Amherst can and could easily serve as someone’s third place. They are leveling, accessible and accepting, a space where you can feel at home.

Although Shiru Café may be beneficial to local students by providing free caffeine and even possibly a job opportunity, the business decision to only serve college students and staff presents a barrier to being fully able to integrate itself into the Amherst community. In a way, Shiru represents — and exploits — a divide between the highly educated elite and the rest of the population. By making a space that should be accessible to everyone only accessible to students of elite

colleges, and by taking personal data as a form of currency, Shiru Café may understand only too well where we are headed as a society.

Blake Doherty, the Research, Instruction, and Outreach Librarian at Frost Library, encouraged students to “be wary and think critically about the exchange they’re making in patronizing Shiru. The coffee isn’t free; you’re paying with your own data. What are they doing with the data?

How do you know? What does that mean for you, and for the community?”

However, if you are making an informed decision, there is no wrong choice. But, keep in mind that in the grand scheme of things there really is no such thing as a free cup of coffee.

The Amherst Student • November 28, 2018

Arts & Living 7

Capital One’s “The Match” Signals Shift in Sports Entertainment

Photo courtesy of wikipedia.com

Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson competed in a high-tech, pay-per-view match.

Jack Klein ’20 Staff Writer Two of the greatest golfers of all time teed it up against each other for a $9 million dollar winner-takes-all prize in “Capital One’s The Match: Tiger vs. Phil” last Friday afternoon. This match, fought between Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, and played at Shadow Creek Golf Course outside of Las Vegas, was unprecedented in both format and prestige.

While avid golf fans had their opinions about it, this match was geared not just towards golf fans, but directed at the general viewing public,

much like a boxing match between Floyd Mayweather and Conor McGregor. The prize money contributed to this appeal. Even for two über-rich men, $9 million is a significant sum and bound to cause some nerves coming down the final stretch of a match. Whether a viewer is a sports lover or not, they can relate to a person fighting for something meaningful, which humanizes the players and makes them more endearing. Tiger and Phil were also mic’d up for the match, so viewers could hear their conversations.

The point of The Match was to bring viewers closer to these two players who had before only been accessible through interviews and the

stories written about them. In theory, this idea should have appealed to many people. Almost everyone is interested in how masters of their craft work and how they perform under pressure, and this interest should have theoretically fueled demand for the match.

The actual product, however, was lackluster.

Despite talking a decent amount on the first hole, Tiger and Phil failed to deliver the trash talk that was promised. They also played poorly for most of the match, and even though the score was close, there was not much drama until the 17th hole, when Tiger chipped in, bringing back memories of his vintage performances. Tiger transcends the boundaries of sports, and his star power was supposed to draw non-sports fans to The Match. In this case, the play itself was unmemorable.

The broadcast itself also lacked intrigue, especially when broadcaster Charles Barkley claimed that he could play better than the two professional golfers on the course. There were few oncourse interviews and the new technology that was promised, like drone shots, was barely featured. The announcers also didn’t explain much about golf to casual fans.

Additionally, the side betting between Tiger and Phil, one of the most anticipated parts of the match, was limited, and reports recently leaked

by Golf.com and The Golf Channel stated that the PGA Tour actively limited side betting to protect the image of its sponsors. The involvement of the Tour in an event that had so much promise and entertainment potential stifled its fun.

The pay-per-view aspect of The Match also had its flaws. Before the broadcast began, customers were having difficulties purchasing the

event on Bleacher Report’s website where it was being streamed from Shadow Creek for $19.99.

Then, once it began, some of their streams cut out or experienced malfunctioning audio. Turner Sports issued a statement Saturday night acknowledging that it would be issuing refunds for those who paid to stream The Match on Bleacher Report Live.

Many of the other major providers, like Comcast, Dish, AT&T and more also announced that they would issue refunds. This is less of an indictment of the event itself and more about the technological failures of its streaming. Consumers take the success of entertainment viewing technology for granted. In practice, pushing out a live stream to millions of devices requires a significant amount of back-end work.

However, if someone pays for a stream, they expect the product to work flawlessly, and in this case, Turner and Bleacher Report failed to deliver. It’s unlikely that consumers’ trust in live streaming services has been irrevocably damaged, especially because refunds were issued for this event, but some may be warier of spending their hard-earned cash in the future on a payper-view special that might not even stream correctly.

So, for a non-golf or non-sports fan, was The Match worth the $19.99 fee? For this iteration, unfortunately not. The banter lacked bite, side bets were limited and commentary didn’t have much useful insight.

However, in the future, when technological issues will be ironed out and the format adjusted to make the event more compelling, viewers should consider buying the event.

“The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina” Reboots An Old Favorite

Photo courtesy of vimeo.com

“The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina,” a new series on Netflix, gives a refreshing and chilling take on the original TV show “Sabrina the Teenage Witch.”

Paige Reddington ’21 Staff Writer Netflix released its new series, “The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina,” offering an eerie twist on the original cult-favorite TV show, “Sabrina the Teenage Witch.” Although the characters and plot of the show are loosely based off of the original show, Netflix’s new series presents a very different perspective that is as chilling as the title indicates. Fans of the original show will find many differences and may be disappointed if they are looking for a “faithful” remake of the original.

But despite these differences, “The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina” has a refreshing relevance to its characters and storyline.

Sabrina Spellman (Kiernan Shipka) is debating whether to continue her life as a typical teenager living in Greendale or to commit to the “Church of Night” and continue her family legacy of witchcraft — a decision she will have to

make on her 16th birthday. Sabrina lives a seemingly normal life with her two aunts and is madly in love with her boyfriend, Harvey Kinkle (Ross Lynch). As a witch, Sabrina would have to give up this life and any human contact, stay celibate and leave her regular high school for the Academy of Unseen Arts. However, after her parents’ death in an accident years ago, Sabrina feels a strong urge to follow the same path as them, thinking that this will bring her closer to them.

Despite these differences between Sabrina and the typical teenager, the series still finds a way to make Sabrina’s issues relatable to the audience, impressively incorporating modern issues into fantasy. Although Sabrina wants to please her parents, she also makes it a point to stay informed about both of her paths — attempting to avoid any bias from her family — so that she can make her own decisions. She makes it clear she wants to understand what exactly the “Church of Night” consists of. Sabrina questions why the

Dark Lord should have the power to decide what choices she makes about her body.

At the same time, she does not want to prioritize her boyfriend over her future as a witch, and understands that her feelings for him are playing a role in her difficulty with determining her future path. Sabrina grapples with finding the balance between her family and their strong connection with witchcraft, with her relationships with non-witches.

Putting even more of a twist on the original, “The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina” offers a new politicized version of Sabrina. The show paints her as a strong woman who fights against injustices that she and her friends face. She refuses to be complacent and attempts to make a difference in her high school community, which is dominated by white male athletes. In one episode, Sabrina spots her friend, Susie (Lachlan Watson), crying in the locker room after four football players attempted to pull up her shirt against her will.

Sabrina immediately goes to the principal, who neglects to take any actions to protect students who feel their identities are unwelcome in their white male-dominated high school. Deciding to take action, Sabrina starts a club with her friends called the Women’s Intersectional Cultural and Creative Association (WICCA) to take a stand against this power dynamic.

To get the group approved, Sabrina curses the principal into taking a day off and gets his female substitute to approve the club. Sabrina challenges gender roles by not only refusing to conform to the patriarchy of her high school, but also exercising her power as a witch to do so.

A combination of politically-savvy and scary, “The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina” offers a refreshing and different perspective on “Sabrina the Teenage Witch.” Despite many differences, the show’s new take on a classic holds a sense of relatability and relevance that won’t disappoint, and will keep you on the edge of your seat.

The Amherst Student • November 28, 2018

Arts & Living 8

“Wings of Desire” Successfully Breaks Fantasy Genre Tropes Youngkwang Shin ’19 Staff Writer Amherst Cinema will screen “Wings of Desire” on Dec. 2 and 4, the 1987 classic film of German cinema and a quintessential artifact from the time of two Germanys. The movie’s straightforward humanism is textured with an enchanted, meditative style that has earned it an immense following over the decades, and which has repeatedly confirmed its status in the international arthouse scene.

Despite its age, “Wings of Desire,” a story about two angels roaming around Berlin, firmly plants itself in the more impoverished of cinema’s genres: fantasy. It is this curious and charming distinction that ought to put this old European film in the immediate attention of the general audience.

The list of fantasy films that have withstood the test of time is sparse. “Lord of the Rings” may be the immediate first, followed by the “Harry Potter” films, then lesser adaptations of lesser fads and finally a few niche curiosities from the 1980s that all strain credibility.

Unlike its cousin science fiction, fantasy never managed to achieve voguish irony or thematic capaciousness on the big screen.

Even the universally-acclaimed adventures of

hobbits and friends were too earnest and too simple to find fellowship with robots ruminating on what it meant to be human.

It is on these two fronts that “Wings of Desire” swoops in to surprise. Replace robots with angels and what remains is a perfect byline for the experience.

Two angels, Damiel (Bruno Ganz) and Cassiel (Otto Sander), wander around Berlin, observing people. Unlike many serious fantasy and sci-fi films, in this film it is the humans who mumble monologues about life and its meanings.

The angels are assigned spectators since time immemorial, observing the pace of our folly. It is a clever sleight of form that attracts our sympathy for these inhuman creatures.

They are not everymen amidst fantastical inventions; they are the inventions among everymen that occupy the same role as the audience watching the film.

What’s more, that identification runs both ways. “Wings of Desire” alerts us as the audience to the inhuman role of spectatorship: our fundamental disconnect from the world and characters of the film. That this refusal of fantasy actually coexists with fantasy is the ambitious edge of the film, the quality that holds our attention. Our interest in the film develops as the angels’ interests in the people they are observing.

As the film canvasses the psychological landscape of 20th century Berlin, one of the angels, Damiel, feels inexplicably invested in the puzzlement of the humans’ lives. The audience, too, is enraptured by the same world.

At times, the loaded whispers of people briefly separate from the usual confusion of their words with a certain existential clarity.

That clarity soon disappears into the massive, shifting crowd of extras in this film, but the audience learns to hope for the next microstory to present itself.

Damiel learns this lesson alongside us, and more and more, he becomes dissatisfied with the distance demanded of his fellow angels. Lesson is a useful word in “Wings of Desire.” The film is sincere and didactic in its celebration of the human spirit that humbles the cosmic forces — again, not unlike “Lord of the Rings.”

But this involvement of the audience as spectators of the spectator of the film endows “Wings of Desire” with a lasting complexity.

There are no dramatic twists in this film. It is a sober, contemplative film, and as the stereotype may suggest, the pace loiters in its thoughts from slow start to slow finish.

But there is a fittingly quiet, formal twist, particularly with the audience’s discussed identification with Damiel. Namely, if Damiel is moving away from the role of passive spec-

tatorship, what must our response be? In following his steps, the audience returns to society, perhaps as better, kinder people. But this return is also a departure from the film itself. Appropriately, the pedagogy of the film prepares the audience for graduation — to live out, rather than merely understand its message.

“Wings of Desire” decidedly rejects the escapist strains of fantasy storytelling, directing our flight to the wider firmament of reality. It critiques the incompleteness of self-referentiality and puritanical formalism, reminding us that the lights will come up, and we will have to leave the theater. And as it rejects the excesses of genre, it also rejects the excesses of arthouse.

A critic could maybe fault its teacherly inclinations as too overbearing or condescending. One could perhaps adopt the structure of the film’s critique of narcissist cinema and criticize the insufficiencies of its open-handed humanism in discussing the undeniably political specifics of Berlin in that era.

But to paint a story in broad strokes is at the very least a sign of overarching aspirations; as “Wings of Desire” contains lowbrow and highbrow art, simplicity and thoughtfulness, there is no doubt one will find a multitude of pleasures in this deservedly remembered film.

Unconventional Christmas Movies to Watch This Holiday Season

Photos courtesy of Olivia Gieger ‘21 Photo courtesy of roosterillusionreviews.com

Photo courtesy of algtbenidorm.blogspot.com

If you’re tired of the endless series of typical holiday movies this winter, opt instead for underrated films like “Carol” (left) and “Bridget Jones’s Diary” (right).

Hildi Gabel ’21 Staff Writer It’s almost December, which means it’s officially the perfect time to stream holiday movies. While there are so many heartwarming, self-proclaimed holiday movies to return to on winter nights, the movies in which the holiday itself fades into the background are often the ones that most invigorate us with a warmth and nostalgia for the season.

There’s no reason to stay boxed into the Hallmark genre when such great holiday moments can be found in Oscar-nominated dramas, cult classics and eccentric comedies.

Here are some of the best untraditional holiday movies to add to a post-finals watch list and to ring in this holiday season.

“Edward Scissorhands” Tim Burton’s 1990s cult classic tells the story of Edward Scissorhands (Johnny Depp), a young man built with scissors for hands. After being taken in by a family in a suburban town, he falls for his adopted sister, Kim (Winona Ryder). Much of the story is situated squarely in the holidays, yet it is a skewed, dark Christmastime.

This film takes place in a California suburb with eerily manicured lawns and pastel houses, and Christmas here is shown through the string lights on the roof and shiny tinsel trees propped up in living rooms. While the

film centers on dark themes of ostracization and communal fear, its humor remains odd enough to give the story levity.

There is a sense of bittersweet humanity in Kim and her family to add some hope to a holiday film. An ending shot of Kim twirling in the white flakes given off by Edward’s snow carvings uphill remains my favorite use of snow in film to date, rounding off the strange and endearing story with viscerally poignant holiday magic.

“Carol” Todd Haynes’ 2015 masterpiece, which moves between scenes of life in 1950s New York City and a road trip into middle America, screams Christmas in a classic sense. Carol (Cate Blanchett) is a married woman who begins an affair with a shop girl and aspiring photographer, Therese (Rooney Mara).

The relationship attracts increasing pressure from the outside world, but they nevertheless build a deep connection. Shot on 16mm film with a meticulous palette, the film gives the impression of stepping into a living photograph of a 1950s winter.

The soft melancholy of Christmas builds the atmosphere for this shrouded romance and countless scenes — Christmas tree sales in the snow, department store train displays and New Year’s Eve in a quiet motel — emulate the aesthetic that has been essential to depictions of the holidays since the 1950s.

“Christmas with the Kranks” This film, unlike others on this list, is a full-blown Christmas movie. It is also a critical disaster (5% on Rotten Tomatoes). The plot follows Luther and Nora Krank as they decide to skip all Christmas traditions and take a cruise instead, at the dismay of their aggressively holiday-focused neighbors.

Objectively, this movie is overblown, cliched and wacky, but at the same time, it has something to give. Of bad movies, this one deserves some merit for its badness. Melding jadedness with heartfelt sappiness, it holds no qualms about its anything-but-subtle comedic shots or absurd plot points, making for a considerably exciting experience.

If you’re going to put a conventional Christmas comedy on in the background this winter, you may as well choose one of the most entertaining movies in that category.

“Eyes Wide Shut” For those craving a foray into the disturbing, Stanley Kubrick’s psychological thriller explores the downright scary underbelly of Christmas for elite Manhattanites. Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise star as a married couple — Bill and Alice Harford — who become embroiled in a seedy secret society among high-ranking New Yorkers for one night.

The unsettling events are couched in New York City’s holiday season, with scenes taking place in exclusive soirees that are decked with glittering Christmas lights, and dark streets illuminated only by the subdued glow of holiday storefronts. It is not so much an act of juxtaposition, but a reminder that dark secrets float just below, as well as coexist with, the city’s seasonal rituals of the holidays.

“Bridget Jones’s Diary” This early 2000s film unequivocally beats out “Love, Actually” as the superior British holiday rom-com, even when not explicitly centered on the holiday season.

Two consecutive Christmases bookend the storyline, and the title star Bridget Jones (Renée Zellweger) fumbles her way through awkward encounters and a patchy romantic life in the year between them. What anchors this film to the real and substantive is Zellweger’s outstanding relatability portraying Bridget’s struggle to get through a normal week.

When winter rolls around, we’re presented with scenes we’ve all seen in our lives: a stodgy Christmas gathering filled with nowadult family friends, full dinner parties of only married couples and the late night glow of the television in a parent’s house. True to the rom-com genre, it delivers a sublime ending with lights, music and the snowy culmination of a winter romance.

Sports

The Amherst Student • November 28, 2018

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Men’s Basketball Starts Season With Three Dominant Home Wins Matthew Sparrow ’21 Staff Writer Following an up-and-down 2017-18 season that ended with the Mammoths falling to Wesleyan in the semifinals of the NESCAC tournament, the Amherst men’s basketball team was determined to come out of the gates quickly this campaign.

The Mammoths certainly met these expectations, winning their first three games of the year by an average of more than 44 points, while clinching an 18th-consecutive Ken Wright ’52 Invitational Championship.

The Mammoths kicked off the season against Framingham State University in the semifinals of the Ken Wright Invitational. The Amherst offense fired on all cylinders, shooting 58.1 percent from the field in the first half to take a 55-29 lead into the locker room.

Everyone on the Mammoths’ roster scored at least one point, as Amherst cruised to an easy 96-62 victory.

Grant Robinson ’21 led the way with 20 points while also chipping in four rebounds and three assists. Junior Josh Chery added 13 points and five boards in only 17 minutes of playing time.

The invitational’s championship game proved to be more of the same, as Amherst turned a 14-point halftime lead into a 101-52 victory against Kean University. After a relatively slow first half, the Mammoths caught fire in the second half, shooting 65.7 percent from the field, including 68.8 percent (11-16) from beyond the arc in the second half.

Dylan Groff ’19 tallied up a team-leading 12 points and contributed six rebounds. Jo-

seph Schneider ’19 made the most of his 14 minutes of action, going 5-6 from the field and 1-1 from the free throw line to record 11 points.

Robinson tallied a game-high six assists in addition to six points and three boards en route to winning tournament MVP honors.

In Amherst’s last game before Thanksgiving break, the Mammoths faced off against their toughest opponent so far, Westfield State University.

The Mammoths made twice as many three-pointers as the visitors — 10 to the Owls’ five — and their stout defense caused the Owls to shoot just 36.2 percent from the field. Robinson once again paced Amherst with 20 points while Schneider recorded a career-high seven blocks.

Junior Eric Sellew pitched in 10 points, nine rebounds, five assists and three steals and Fru Che ’21 registered 15 points.

Through three games, the Mammoths have been very impressive on offense, averaging 99.3 points per game while topping the century mark twice. Amherst has shown to be an excellent shooting team, with a 52.4 percent mark on field goals and 40 percent mark from three-point range.

Although the team lost its two leading scorers from last year’s campaign, Johnny McCarthy ’18 and Michael Riopel ’18, this season Amherst has shown impressive depth, with 10 players currently averaging at least five points per game.

The Mammoths’ next game will be Wednesday, Nov. 28 at 7 p.m. when they travel to Paxton, Massachusetts to play Anna Maria College.

Photo courtesy of Clarus Studios

Grant Robinson ’21 has averaged 15.3 points per game so far this season.

Men’s Hockey Starts Season With Two Losses and Two Out-of-Conference Wins

Women’s Swim & Dive Trounces Colby and Wesleyan to Open Season

Photo courtesy of Clarus Studios

Noah Gilreath ’20 has started every game in defense for the Mammoths.

Sarah Melanson ’20 Staff Writer

Photo courtesy of Clarus Studios

Heather Grotzinger ’20 was part of a trio of Mammoths who swept the 400-yard individual medley against Wesleyan. Grotzinger placed second in the event.

Connor Haugh ’21 Managing Sports Editor The women’s swim and dive team started its season off with two dual meet victories over Thanksgiving break. In the first matchup on Saturday, Nov. 17, the Mammoths hosted the Colby Mules at Pratt Pool.

The Mammoths picked right up where they left off after last season’s second-place finish at the NESCAC Championships, easily navigating past Colby, earning 168 points to the Mules’ 123.

Notably, junior Natalie Rumpelt picked up the win in the 200-yard backstroke for Amherst and was part of the winning 200-yard medley relay team alongside teammates Marie Fagan ’22, Molly Pines ’19 and Julia Merrill ’22 with a time of 1:50.8.

In the 100-yard breaststroke, Nina Fitzgerald ’21, Nawoo Kim ’22 and Meg Parker ’20 swept the podium, taking first, second and third, respectively.

Senior Livia Domenig won the 200-yard freestyle, Fagan placed first in the 200-yard butterfly and junior Ingrid Shu triumphed in the 100-yard freestyle.

In the one-meter diving event, the trio of Lindsey Ruderman ’21, Jackie Palermo ’19 and

Hannah Karlin ’22 triumphed over their Colby opposition, taking first, second and third in the event.

In the three-meter dive, however, all the Mammoths’ faulted on their dives, resulting in a victory for the Mules by default.

Following this dominant victory, Amherst then traveled to face the Wesleyan just two days later on Monday, Nov. 19.

Senior Bridgette Kwong earned first place in the 400-yard individual medley, while junior Heather Grotzinger finished just 10 seconds behind her in second.

Shu finished ahead of the rest of her opponents in the 50-yard backstroke, and Fitzgerald won the 50-yard breaststroke.

The divers repeated their exact results from the previous meet, sweeping the one-meter dive, and falling flat in the three-meter dive.

The team’s effort was enough to secure a win over the Cardinals by a similar margin to its previous meet, with the final score sitting at 165-120 in favor of Amherst.

The Mammoths will travel to Middlebury, Vermont, for their next contest to face off against Middlebury in another NESCAC dual meet, on Saturday, Dec. 1 at 1 p.m.

The men’s hockey team started the season tentatively, with two losses, and then grabbed wins over Babson College and St. Michael’s College.

The team opened its season on Nov. 16 with a tough loss against NESCAC rival Hamilton.

The Continentals had managed to build a 2-0 lead going into the third period, but the Mammoths found their stride in the final frame.

On a power play, senior captain Phil Johansson ’19 found the back of the net with just under 10 minutes remaining in the period, assisted by Nick Bondra ’21 and P.J. Conlon ’20.

Although Hamilton rebounded quickly to regain a two-goal advantage, Johansson refused to give in, collecting his second goal of the season off a beautiful pass from A.J. Klein ’20 late in the third period.

However, despite the the ferocious comeback and a heroic 19-save effort from goaltender Giancarlo Ventre ’20, the Mammoths were unable to find the elusive third goal, losing 3-2.

There was no time for Amherst to wallow in despair after the season-opening loss, however, as the team returned to the ice four days later for a Tuesday evening matchup against St. Michael’s College.

Looking for the Mammoths’ first win of the season, Joey Lupo ’20 opened the floodgates for Amherst just three minutes into the opening period off assists from Mark Esposito ’20 and Nick Bondra ’21.

In the second period, Conlon found Bondra who ripped a shot that was redirected by Patrick Daly ’20 through the goalie’s legs to increase the

lead to 2-0.

Less than 10 minutes later, Daly fired a rebound through the Purple Knights’ netminder’s legs to give the Mammoths a comfortable lead going into the third period of play.

Although St. Michael’s managed a consolation goal with three minutes left in regulation, Amherst walked off the ice with its first win of the season.

After the weekday win, the Mammoths returned to action for a pair of games this past weekend.

The Mammoths faced State University of New York Geneseo and Babson College. Against Geneseo on Saturday, Esposito’s first goal of the season was Amhert’s only tallied of the day in a tough 4-1 loss, in which Ventre made 32 saves.

Less than 24 hours later, the Mammoths hit the road for the short trip to Babson, where they hoped to return to their winning ways.

Although the team found themselves down 1-0 in the first period, Steven Mallory ’19 found the back of the net on a beautiful shot halfway through the second period.

With the score knotted at one goal apiece headed into the third period, Lupo rocketed a one-timer into the back of the net for the goahead goal off a pass from Bondra.

Jack Lloyd ’21 added to the Amherst lead with a well-placed shot off a faceoff that proved to be the winning goal for the Mammoths.

Although Amherst again conceded a late goal, the stellar play of Michael Cullen ’21, who had 31 saves in net, clinched the 3-2 win for the Mammoths.

Amherst will return to action this Friday, Nov. 30 for a home contest against Little Three rival Wesleyan.

10

Sports

The Amherst Student • November 28, 2018

Men’s Cross Country Finishes Sixth at National Championships

Photo courtesy of Clarus Studios

Cosmo Brossy ’19 finished 51st in a deep field to help bring his team to sixth place; he was in 150th place 2.3 kilometers into the eight kilometer race.

Veronica Rocco ’19 Staff Writer Entering the Division III Cross Country National Championships, the Mammoths were ranked eighth in the nation after their dominating victory at the New England regional meet. On Saturday, Nov. 17, Amherst outpaced its ranking to place sixth with 253 points in a deep field, defeating Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Calvin College and Carnegie Mellon University, each of which was ranked ahead of the Mammoths. The favorite, North Central College, enjoyed a dominating 67 point victory over Washington University in St. Louis for a third consecutive national title.

The University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh hosted the meet at the Lake Breeze Golf Club, which served as the site of the 2015 national championship meet. The course lent itself to fast times with no major hills and firm grass due to cold temperatures.

At this meet last year, the Mammoths placed fourth, finishing on the podium for the first time in program history. In the 2017 meet, Amherst accrued 251 points, just two points ahead of this year’s mark.

The Mammoths employed their usual tactic of working their way up throughout the race at the 2.3 kilometer mark, and as such they were in 29th place of 32 teams. By the five kilometer mark, though, they were 10th and held the position of sixth from 7.1 kilometers on, dropping an impressive 42 points in the final 900 meters of the eight kilometer race.

In the early stages of the race, Clark Ricciardelli ’20E, Cosmo Brossy ’19, Tucker Meijer ’19 and Ajay Sarathy ’21 worked together, coming across the three kilometer mark around 150th place. Fifth runner Estevan Velez ’20 was 10 seconds behind them in 221st, and Matthew Bradley ’22 and Kristian

Sogaard ’19 weren’t far behind him.

As the race progressed, the group of Ricciardelli, Brossy, Meijer and Sarathy worked their way through the 280-person field together, before dropping Sarathy and Meijer at the 5.6 kilometer point in the race. In the final 2.4 kilometers of the race, Ricciardelli had a fantastic finish, going from 60th place to 25th place to earn All-American honors for the third time in his career and the second time in cross country.

Brossy came across the finish line in 51st place, and Meijer and Sarathy were only two seconds apart in 71st and 74th place, respectively. Velez had a stellar last 900 meters of the race, passing 40 runners to place 130th and seal the team’s sixth place finish.

Bradley placed 225th, while Sogaard took 226th to round out his cross country career as a Mammoth.

“I think we’re all a little disappointed in being edged off the podium this year, but at the end of the day I think we still have a lot to be proud of,” Ricciardelli said. “Everyone moved up incredibly well over the course of the race, and we did the best with what we had that day.”

Teammates Braxton Schuldt ’21, Spencer Ferguson-Dryden ’20, who competed at regionals, and Billy Massey ’21, the team’s fifth runner at the NESCAC Championships, who was unable to compete due to injury, all travelled with the team to Wisconsin. The Mammoths were also cheered on by several other teammates and alumni who drove to Wisconsin to watch Amherst compete.

2018 marked the men’s cross country team’s fifth consecutive appearance at nationals, during which the Mammoths have placed in the top-11 each year. Next year, the Mammoths return Ricciardelli, Sarathy, Velez, Bradley, Schuldt, Ferguson-Dryden and Massey, along with a quickly developing strong core of underclassmen.

ATHLETE SPOTLIGHT

Natalie Rumpelt ’20

Grant Robinson ’21

Team: Women’s Swim & Dive Favorite Team Memory: Training trip to Puerto Rico Favorite Pro Athlete: Katie Ledecky Dream Job: Doing something I love to do Pet Peeve: People who don’t cover their mouth when they cough Favorite Vacation Spot: Vero Beach, Florida Something on Your Bucket List: Go to Australia Guilty Pleasure: Doritos Favorite Food: Doritos Favorite Thing About Amherst: The people I’ve met!

How She Earned It: During the Mammoths’ first two meets, Rumpelt has been a standout performer, logging numerous individual and relay victories. In the first meet against Colby, Rumpelt started her season with a victory as the 200-yard medley relay finished in first place in the season’s inaugural race. Against Wesleyan, Rumpelt showed no signs of slowing down, as she finished in first place in the 50-yard freestyle and the 500-yard freestyle.

Team: Men’s Basketball Favorite Team Memory: Winning the New Hampton Invitational Tournament in high school Favorite Pro Athlete: Odell Beckham Jr. Dream Job: Anything that combines leadership and sports Pet Peeve: Walking really slowly in front of me Favorite Vacation Spot: Barcelona Something on Your Bucket List: Living in another country at some point during my life Guilty Pleasure: Watching romantic comedies Favorite Food: My grandmother’s fried chicken, collard greens, sweet potatoes and mac and cheese Favorite Thing About Amherst: The quality of conversation that takes place here How He Earned It: Sophomore point guard Robinson has been a mainstay for the men’s basketball team through the first three games of the season. The durable guard leads the team in minutes per game, logging 23 minutes per game, leading the next-highest finisher by 3.7 minutes. During this time on the court, Robinson has been productive as well, leading the team in points per game with 15.3 and assists per game with 4.3.

Men’s Soccer Falls to Tufts in DIII Tournament’s Sweet Sixteen 3-0

Photo courtesy of Clarus Studios

Fikayo Ajayi ’19 scored five goals and tallied seven assists over the course of the season, including a critical goal during the team’s win over St. John’s.

Connor Haugh ’21 Managing Sports Editor

Photo courtesy of Clarus Studios

Ralph Skinner ’20 was part of the team effort in the race, helping launch the team to its success in the final half of the races.

On November 17, on a cold and windy Saturday, the men’s soccer team fell to NESCAC rival Tufts in the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA Division III National Tournament to end the Mammoths’ season.

The first half was a deadlocked affair, as each team lived up to its defensive and physical reputation. Tufts only took four shots in the first half, while Amherst managed just three, one of which forced a desperate save by the Tufts netminder.

The second half, however, proved to be far more action-packed. Amherst managed the first chance of the period, as midfielder Luke Nguyen ’19 had a chance at the top of the box to drive a shot after combining nicely with Fikayo Ajayi ’19, who had transitioned excellently from playing as a defensive midfielder to a striker over the course of the season.

Ajayi teed Nguyen up perfectly, but his shot was saved again by the Jumbos’ keeper.

Tufts responded by pushing harder to generate more chances. Just a few minutes later, the hosts broke the deadlock as Brett Rojas scored a screamer from the right corner of the box, which took a deflection off the near post and past the outstretched fingers of keeper Bernie White ’22.

Amherst, now in desperate need of a goal, redoubled its efforts, but it was the Jumbos who struck next to put the game out of reach.

White made a beautiful save on a Tufts shot, but the ball deflected right to the feet of Zachary Seigelstein who volleyed the ball home.

Down two goals now, the visitors sent more and more men forward in the hopes of finding some offensive spark, but this strategy ultimately brought about the third Jumbos’ goal, as Tufts capitalized on a break away to score the game’s final tally and bring the score to 3-0.

With the loss, Amherst ended the season with 14-5-1 overall record, which they will hope to build upon next season.

The Amherst Student • November 28, 2018

Sports

11

Women’s Soccer Stumbles in Sweet Women’s Basketball Ends Perfect Sixteen, Loses 2-1 to William Smith Record with Fourth-Quarter Loss

Photo courtesy of Clarus Studios

Jade DuVal ’22 has been an important addition to Amherst’s rotation this year, averaging seven points and four rebounds per game from the bench.

Photo courtesy of Clarus Studios

Maeve McNamara ’19 has been a menace on the right wing for Amherst, tallying two goals and two assists this season.

Nat De Jonge ’21 Staff Writer On Saturday, Nov. 17, the Amherst women’s soccer team concluded its 2018 campaign with a 2-1 loss to William Smith College in the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA Division III tournament. The early stages of the match were controlled by the Herons, who created three corner kicks and registered two shots on goal in the first seven minutes of the game.

This early offensive pressure paid off for William Smith in the 20th minute, when Megan Barwick, the Herons’ leading scorer and captain, slotted a shot into the side netting off of a precise cross by Julia Keogh.

The next 25 minutes featured back and forth action, with both teams generating several promising chances, but neither able to find the back of the net. As the whistle blew to end the half, the scoreline remained 1-0 in favor of the William Smith.

Following halftime, the Mammoths came out onto the pitch rejuvenated and determined.

It took only five minutes for Amherst to find the equalizer, when the Mammoths’ leading scorer, Rubii Tamen ’19, scored her 16th goal of the season and 10th in the last eight games.

Caleigh Plaut ’19, after dribbling the ball down the sideline, placed a through ball to Tamen, who was streaking down the center of the field.

Tamen took a touch and sent the ball underneath the Herons’ keeper to bring the score even with 40 minutes left in the match Amherst goalkeeper Antonia Tammaro ’21 kept the match knotted at one-goal apiece down the stretch with a few important saves. A William Smith free kick from outside the 18yard box looked like it would sneak into the top corner of the frame until a diving Tammaro pushed it just wide.

The game remained tied as the end approached, but Amherst seemed to be gaining some momentum, peppering the hosts’ net with several dangerous shots. As the final minutes of the match ticked away, the game looked like it would head to extra time until, in the 89th minute, Keogh broke through the Mammoths’ defense to score the heartbreaking game winning goal.

Both teams finished with 14 shots and both keepers ended the match with with seven saves each. Tammaro ended her sophomore season with a record of 11-2-2 with a 0.46 goals against average, and the Mammoths finished the season with an impressive 15-3-2 record.

Photo courtesy of Clarus Studios

Striker Alexa Juarez ’22 has assisted and scored seven goals this season.

Joe Palmo ’21 Staff Writer After one of the most dominant stretches in NCAA Division III women’s basketball history, the Amherst women’s basketball team’s 68-game winning streak finally came to an end in a thriller against Eastern Connecticut State University (ECSU) on Tuesday in Lefrak Gymnasium, to stun the top-ranked team in the nation.

The final quarter featured a 17-0 run for ECSU, during which the Mammoths were held scoreless for almost seven minutes.

Overall, ECSU outscored the Mammoths 26-8 in the fourth quarter. Mya Villard led the Warriors’ charge, scoring 23 points and making two key layups in the final minute of play. Hannah Fox ’20 and Madeline Eck ’20 were at the heart of the Amherst effort, logging 21 and 19 points, respectively. Jade DuVal ’22 also reached double-digit scoring with 13 points, while Dani Valdez ’22 finished just two points shy of a double-double, tallying eight points, 10 rebounds, three blocks and two steals.

Though the Mammoths ended up on the losing side, they finished on top in nearly every relevant statistical category, except shooting percentage, free throws and points.

ECSU was hot from the field, shooting nearly 50 percent, while Amherst only managed to shoot 38.7 percent. The Warriors got to the line almost three times as often as the Mammoths, scoring 21 points off of free throws to Amherst’s seven.

However, before the loss, there were flashes of brilliance last week as the Mammoths got off to a strong 2-0 start at the annual Amherst Tip-Off Tournament. On Saturday, Nov. 17, the Mammoths opened the season with a dominating 64-35 win over Farmingdale State College.

Amherst turned in an impressively balanced performance, with 10 players on the roster scoring, including 31 points from the

bench. Fox and Lauren Pelosi ’22 led the way with 11 points each, Eck added 10 and Valdez tallied seven. Meghan Sullivan ’19 had six points to go with five rebounds and three assists, and her younger sister Kate Sullivan ’21 had six points with two steals.

The first game of the year also saw three promising first years score their first points in an Amherst uniform: Gabrielle Zaffiro, DuVal and Courtney Resch. Cam Hendricks ’20, a two-sport athlete who had to make a quick adjustment from her season on the volleyball team, started the contest and added three points and seven rebounds.

The next day, the Mammoths clinched the tournament title in convincing fashion, beating Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute 7239. Fox was phenomenal with 23 points and garnered Most Valuable Player honors for the weekend.

Joining Fox on the all-tournament team were Eck and Valdez from Amherst. Valdez scored 10 points and had nine rebounds and has led the team in rebounding in all three of the Mammoths’ games thus far. Meanwhile, Eck dropped 14 points and grabbed eight boards in the championship game. Hendricks also added eight points with a pair of threes.

The first year trio of DuVal, Pelosi and Resch scored six, five and five points respectively.

On Tuesday, Nov. 27, the women’s basketball team faced off against Emmanuel College in an away contest that saw the Mammoths emerge victorious with a scoreline of 78-48. Fox dominated the game, scoring 33 points, dishing four assists, and grabbing four rebounds.Three other Mammoths, Eck, Hendricks and Valdez, also registered double digit points.

Amherst jumped out to an early lead after the first quarter, and at halftime the score was relatively tight, 33-26. However, the second half saw the Mammoths pull away, as they outscored the Saints 45-22.

Amherst will next face off against Brooklyn College on Dec. 1 in an away contest.

Women’s Hockey Gets a Win, Tie and Loss in Opening Week Cale Clinton ’19 Staff Writer The women’s hockey team emerged from their opening week with a 1-1-1 record (0-1-1 NESCAC) following action that took place over Thanksgiving break.

The team opened their season with three games in five days, consisting of a two game homestand against Connecticut College, followed by a trip to New England College. Amherst last faced Conn. College in the NESCAC Semifinals, where the Mammoths emerged with a 3-1 victory.

The season opener against Conn. College on Nov. 16 played out to a 2-2 draw.

Amherst jumped out to an early 1-0 lead thanks to an unassisted goal by Jocelyn Hunyadi ’19 just 1:46 into the contest.

That lead was lost in the second period after a goal by Conn. College’s Sammi Estes, and was finally recaptured in the third period following a goal by Jamie McNamara ’19.

Unfortunately, that 2-1 lead was spoiled with less than five minutes left in the game off of a goal by Conn. College’s Jordan Cross to force an overtime which yielded no victor.

Despite Amherst being outshot 35-18 over the course of the game, Caitlin Walker ’22 made an impressive debut, notching 33

saves.

The following night, the team wouldn’t fare quiate as well, when it fell to Conn.

College, 2-1. Amherst dug themselves into a hole early, following goals by Conn. College’s Jordan Cross and Erin Dillon in the first and second periods, respectively.

Kaitlin Hoang ’21 scored with 15:11 left in the third period on a power play opportunity, but the last surge wasn’t enough to overcome the deficit.

Amherst finally bounced back and notched their first victory of the season with a decisive 3-1 victory against out-ofconference opponent New England College. New England College’s Erica Lissner

gave the home team an early advantage with a goal 15 seconds into the game.

Amherst answered quickly following a goal by Katelyn Pantera ’19 just three minutes later.

After a 1-1 close to the first period, Amherst took a commanding 3-1 lead following a pair of goals by Hunyadi. McNamara, Stephanie Nomicos ’22 and Pantera all earned assists, while Caroline Booraem ’20 notched 10 saves in the victory.

The women’s hockey team hopes to keep riding the positive momentum from their win against New England College into this weekend, where they will host Trinity College (1-2-0, 0-2-0) for two games.

Sports

Photos courtesy of Clarus Studios

Jack Koravos ’20 and his 200-yard relay medley team took home first place in the opening event of the team’s dual-meet victory over Middlebury.

Individual Successes Lead to a Perfect Start for Men’s Swim & Dive Season Tyler Marshall ’21 Staff Writer The Amherst men’s swim and dive team began its season on a strong note this past week by winning its first two meets of the year. The Mammoths took on two different NESCAC foes in dual meets and won both contests by comfortable margins.

On Saturday, Nov. 17, Amherst hosted Colby in Pratt Pool and outscored the Mules 165123 to win the meet.

The Mammoths followed that up with another great performance, traveling to Wesleyan

GAME SCHE DULE

on Nov. 19 and defeating the Cardinals 174-102.

In the opening meet against Colby, Amherst captured 11 of 16 possible first-place finishes to help secure the 165-123 victory.

Of the victories, 10 were claimed by individuals and the other first-place finish was by the 200-yard medley relay team of Craig Smith ’20, Chris Quinones ’19, Tristan So ’21 and Scott Romeyn ’22.

Smith also won two individual races — the 100- and 200-yard backstroke events.

Meanwhile, Romeyn finished first in the 50yard freestyle. Joining Smith in winning two individual races was Eric Wong ’20, who won both

the 200- and 500-yard freestyle events.

Bennett Fagan ’20 took Amherst’ sole firstplace finish in diving, claiming the three-meter crown.

Just two days after taking down the Mules at home, the Mammoths traveled to Middletown, Connecticut to take on Wesleyan.

Amherst picked up where it left off on Saturday, and turned in another outstanding team performance to win the meet 174-102.

The Mammoths were able to claim 11 firstplace finishes, again winning 10 individual events and the 200-yard medley relay.

Two different individuals won multiple

races for the Mammoths, with Sean Mebust ’20 claiming first in the 50- and 100-yard breaststroke races and Ang Li ’21 winning the 50-yard backstroke and 100-yard freestyle.

Brandon Wang ’20 won the 400-yard individual medley, Smith won the 100-yard backstroke and Wong took home the 100-yard butterfly.

Again, Fagan took Amherst’s sole diving crown in the three-meter event.

The Mammoths will seek to extend their season-opening win streak to three in their last meet of 2018 this Saturday, Dec. 1, when they travel to Vermont to take on Middlebury.

WED

FRI

SAT

Men’s Basketball vs. Anna Maria College, 7 p.m.

Women’s Hockey vs. Trinity, 7 p.m.

Men’s Swim & Dive @ Middlebury, 1 p.m.

Women’s Hockey @ Trinity, 3 p.m.

Men’s Hockey @ Wesleyan, 7 p.m.

Women’s Swim & Dive @ Middlebury, 1 p.m.

Men’s Hockey v.s. Trinity, 4 p.m.

Men’s Basketball v.s. Emerson College, 2 p.m.

Women’s Basketball @ Brooklyn College, 7 p.m.

SUN Women’s Basketball @ New Jersey City College, 2 p.m.