Issue 11

THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF AMHERST COLLEGE SINCE 1868

THE AMHERST

STUDENT

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VOLUME CXLIX, ISSUE 11 l WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2019

AMHERSTSTUDENT.COM

Possible Racist Incident in Cohan Under Investigation Shawna Chen ’20 Editor-in-Chief

Photo courtesy of Sarah Wishloff ‘19

Photo courtesy of Google Maps

The 132 Northhampton Rd. site for the proposed affordable housing unit (shown above) borders Pratt and Gooding Fields.

Letters by some Amherst College professors who opposed the housing proposal have since led to student backlash.

Affordable Housing Dispute Prompts Student Outcry Natalie De Rosa ’21 Managing News Editor Last week, The Student published an article on the new affordable housing project near Pratt Field — and its opposition from some Amherst College professors — consequently prompting a wide range of reactions.

The article spurred open letters to the community and a public hearing by the Association of Amherst Students (AAS) on the issue.

In July, Amherst Town Council approved $500,000 of funding for a new affordable housing project at 132 Northampton Rd. Valley Community Development Corporation (Valley CDC), the developer of the unit, is a Northampton-based nonprofit that has erected similar projects across the Pioneer Valley. The site at 132 Northampton Rd. will house 28 “ex-

tremely low-income and near-homeless individuals” in single-room occupancy (SRO) residencies after construction begins in 2021, according to the Valley CDC. In May, prior to the Town Council’s decision, multiple professors and staff members signed on to a joint letter written by neighborhood residents that articulated concerns about a lack of support structures for the site’s tenants as well as potential drug use. Though a few professors wrote letters to the council in support of the proposed project, faculty members also submitted their own letters expressing reservations about the proposed project.

After The Student reported on the letters on Nov. 13, the AAS sent an email to students on Nov. 17, noting that “in their actions as private citizens, professors do not speak

on behalf of the student body.” The email invited students to attend AAS’s weekly meeting to share their thoughts during public comment.

Students could also submit comments via an anonymous form or email the AAS. AAS President Avery Farmer ’20 said that AAS members agreed to discuss the issue to gauge campus climate. “AAS can’t take a stand on the substance of what was said [in the letters]. We can’t argue for or against affordable housing on behalf of the whole student body without doing some kind of outreach in seeing what the student body thinks first,” Farmer said. “But what we can say is there was an implicit assumption in the way that the professors signed on to those letters … that somehow Amherst students were part of the weight that was making up their arguments.

If you’re acting as a private citizen in a town matter, you can’t really cite Amherst students as one of the reasons for your concern if the students themselves have not expressed some kind of concern about that.”

Eliza Brewer ’22, president of Questbridge, an organization for low-income students, opened public comment by drawing attention to low-income students’ distrust after seeing the professors’ stances on affordable housing.

“I do think that there are important conversations to be had about first-generation, low-income students here and how they’re being advocated for,” Brewer said. “Personally, as a president of a student organization and a resident counselor, I’m very nauseated by the fact that if a

Continued on page 4

The college is investigating a report of a group of individuals who used racist language while tearing down posters that highlighted people of color. The incident, which reportedly took place on the second floor of Cohan Residence Hall on Sunday, Nov. 17, was disclosed to students in an email from Dean of Students Liz Agosto on Tuesday, Nov. 19.

Upon receiving the report, the college launched an investigation according to Agosto. The Amherst College Police Department (ACPD) spoke to the reporting students and now seeks information from the larger community.

“At this point we do not have enough information to move forward,” Agosto said. “As our community is one in which students can come and go from our residence halls without barriers, we are reaching out to the full student body with the hope that someone might have information about this incident.”

“Any action that targets individuals or groups because of their identity violates our expectations for and policy of respect for persons, weakens our community and is intolerable,” Agosto added. “We appreciate the students who shared what they observed and we are taking this seriously.”

Agosto and Chief Student Affairs Officer Karu Kozuma declined

Continued on page 3

News Nov. 11, 2019 – Nov. 17, 2019

>>Nov. 11, 2019 10:44 a.m., Cohan Dormitory A student reported two watches stolen from their unlocked residence hall room.

12:32 p.m., Moore Dormitory An residence counselor reported past vandalism to a bathroom. >>Nov. 12, 2019 8:26 a.m., Mayo Smith Dormitory An officer responded to a report of loud music. >>Nov. 13, 2019 9:19 a.m., Seeley Mudd Building An individual reported finding a door propped open several times. >>Nov. 14, 2019 1:36 p.m., East Drive A car illegally parked on East Drive was investigated. The operator who was not affiliated with the college was removed from campus.

2:13 p.m., East Drive An officer took a report of a parking sign stolen from the psychology department. >>Nov. 15, 2019 9:19 p.m., Moore Dormitory Staff observed a party policy violation: the party host was not present at the party. >>Nov. 16, 2019 12:16 a.m., Hitchcock Dormitory A party policy violation

Joshua Hyman

— drinking games and hard alcohol — was observed.

1:24 a.m., Moore Dormitory Officers responded to a report of a loud party.

The registered party was clearing the area upon the officers’ arrival.

2:20 p.m., Jenkins Dormitory Amherst Fire Department and officers responded to an alarm and found it was caused by items in a trash can that caught on fire.

2:58 p.m., Jenkins Dormitory An officer confiscated items used for drug use.

3:34 p.m., Valentine Dormitory An individual walked into an unlocked residence hall room and stole food while the residents were still in the room. >>Nov. 17, 2019 9:42 a.m., Cohan Dormitory A poster was ripped in a vestibule area.

4:58 p.m., North College Officers responded to an alarm and found it was set off by aerosol spray.

6:58 p.m., North College An officer confiscated a candle.

Fresh Faculty Department of Economics

Joshua Hyman is an assistant professor of economics. He received his bachelor’s degree in economics from Tufts University and earned his doctorate in economics and public policy from the University of Michigan. He previously taught in the Department of Public Policy at the University of Connecticut.

Q: What was your first encounter with economics and what drew you to the subject?

A: I first encountered economics as an undergraduate student at Tufts. I was interested in quantitative fields and so when I saw some available econ courses, I decided to give it a go. In the various economics classes at Tufts I found that I enjoyed the subject! I appreciated the rigorous quantitative methods used in the discipline and its ability to harness statistics and data. Everything was real world and relevant. Also, through interactions with my professors, I learned about possible careers in economics. They showed me that economics has the potential to help the less fortunate and reduce inequality. This kind of sold me on econ because I had known throughout my life that I wanted to help people; really, economics seemed like a great way to accomplish this.

Q: What led you to your current position as an economics professor at Amherst?

A: At Tufts — where there are a lot more students than at Amherst — I had a senior thesis. For this thesis, I worked largely with one advisor. My senior thesis advisor played a large role in shaping my perception of what it means to work as an economics professor.

He always seemed happy! He had a great job, did cool research with interesting data. His enthusiasm with the examination of education policy and the impacts of educational reforms resonated with me. When I worked with him, I

explored the material that I study now in depth and saw the satisfaction that my advisor got from his job. Being a professor seemed like the perfect balance of teaching students and pursuing higher-level research. I knew that if I wanted to simultaneously train the next generation and challenge myself every day — this career path was the one to take.

Q: What is your current research?

A: My research focuses on education policy. I use economics as a lens to examine the impacts of different education policies and education reform. Specifically, I do this with the goal of trying to reduce inequality in educational achievement and attainment. In particular, I’ve done some work looking at school finance and whether giving more money to disadvantaged schools is helpful for student achievement. We have already seen that helping underfunded schools and poor communities improves student outcomes.

Q: Can you tell me a bit about the classes you’re teaching?

A: I’m teaching two courses. The first is a core econ theory class that all the majors have to take. It is called Intermediate Microeconomics. That is a very important course, but not always the most exciting to some students. I have seen more passion in a lower-level elective that I am teaching about inequality in the U.S. This content matter is much more related to my research. We explore many economic commentators and ex-

plore inequality through the eyes of various perspectives. It has been super fun to teach!

Q: What field do you think you would you be working in if it wasn’t economics?

A: Maybe something related to music. I really enjoyed teaching piano lessons and had at least a dozen students at one point, right after college. It was a fun gig, so I guess I may have continued doing that for a while. But it’s a hard question to answer, sort of like looking at your life through a different lens, I guess.

Q: When you’re not teaching at Amherst, what do you do in your free time?

A: Mostly at this point, I care for my two young children. It’s a joy but there hasn’t been a lot of room for other stuff besides work and my 3 year old and 8 month old at the present.

Q: If you travel anywhere in the world, where would it be?

A: I’ll say South Africa because the first time that I went there was so incredible. The first time that I went was on my honeymoon with my wife several years ago. It was awesome because you could go on a safari and see lions and other amazing animals, and then later you could also go to some beautiful cities. For example, on the coast there’s Cape Town. There are really a lot of fun and interesting things to do and see in South Africa.

— Sophie Wolmer ’23

News 3

The Amherst Student • November 20, 2019

Rabbi Bridges Judaism and Environmentalism in Talk Olivia Gieger ’21 Editor-in-Chief Environmental Rabbi Ellen Bernstein sat down with students to discuss the connection between faith and environmentalism on Nov. 15. The gathering was an addition to Amherst Hillel’s weekly shabbat dinner in collaboration with the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life.

With a background in ecology, Bernstein’s work as a rabbi centers on knitting together environmental issues and Judaism. She founded Keepers of the Earth, one of the first Jewish environmental organizations and recently finished writing an environmentally-focused haggadah — a Jewish text read at Passover — called “Promise of the Land.” She has previously given talks on other campuses including Brown University, Emory University and Smith College.

Students of all religious backgrounds were welcome to, and did, attend the event.

“Connecting about the climate crisis across faith traditions is among our most important work,” said Harrison Blum, the Director of Religious and Spiritual Life. “I felt like [the event] was successful in terms of drawing students out

to share their ideas. I think a connection was made between the text and ideas of sustainability and environmentalism.”

Bernstein ran her hour-long lesson by drawing attention to specific passages of the Torah and asking students what they noticed. She asked students to focus on the language of the Torah to see for themselves how often ecological themes arise. Passing out stapled packets of the text, Bernstein encouraged the group of about 20 students in attendance to first listen to the words with closed eyes and then to discuss key portions of the writing.

While at first reticent, students opened up to point out ecological connections and messages they observed in the text.

“I liked that,” said Talia Land ’20, Hillel president, after the event. “I felt like I was back in Hebrew school.”

Out of the verses she read, Bernstein circled around a few central themes that appeared over and over again. The first was a biblical charge against altering nature, something that in the modern world of Monsanto and modified seeds, was clearly understood by the crowd as a message against GMOs. Regarding Genesis 1:11, which is about the creation of

seeds, Bernstein said she read the message as: “everything that exists is perfect as it is; creation will continue in perpetuity without modification.”

Students also picked up on the value the words place on nature independent of humans, who, in Genesis, do not arrive on earth until the sixth day. It is a point, however, that has sprung contention among biblical scholars and environmentalist, Bernstein said. In her English translation, the verse reads, “Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the winged-creatures of the heavens, and over the cattle and the whole earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

While some interpret the line to mean that humans should dominate the earth, Bernstein doesn’t see it that way.

Rather, she perceives the message as one of life begetting more life. “As far as I’m concerned, that’s the primary theme of Genesis 1,” she said when a student pointed out that the text suggests life exists to create more life.

For many, the evening offered an opportunity to explore an otherwise unfamiliar topic. “I’ve thought about nature in faith, but never did I put together sustain-

ability with it,” said Julianne Ross ’23, who attended the event. “[The talk] definitely opened my mind to the idea that the relationship between humans and the environment is older than any of us can imagine,” said Land. “It importantly set the stage for how these two entities have interacted and intertwined since the beginning of time.”

“Judaism does have a lot of holy days revolving around the environment and nature in some ways. It was a newer thought of religion and environmentalism being wholly integrated,” said Rebecca Novick ’21, a member of Hillel’s executive board and an intern in the college’s Office of Environmental Sustainability. Her interest in the two topics made her eager to bring Bernstein to campus.

And, for Novick, Bernstein offered an introduction not only to the central themes but also to the methods she used to explore them.

“I’d never really done a close reading of a story of the Bible or Torah in any way like that, so that was one thing I found interesting, was how you can use a close reading like that to apply to different issues.

With Genesis, it’s interesting to think about the actual translation of the words, instead of what is

taught; the interpretation is what’s taught rather than the actual language.”

For Blum, this type of bridging connections is essential for establishing deeper understandings that inspire action. “I see this as a first step of starting to bring climate consciousness into a Jewish lens or into a Judeo-Christian lens, and that’s not insignificant,” he said. “I think that it was, appropriately so, a beginning of connecting a religious and climate consciousness that leaves more room to find ways of acting on it.”

“I get excited about the ways that being faithful can point a person toward caring for the climate and also the ways that caring about the climate crisis can bring a person to at least questions of faith, if not beliefs and practices of faith,” Blum added. “So whether you’re approaching it from an environmentalist or a religious framework.

I think we’re at a time where they really indicate each other.”

And those inquiries remain intentionally open; Bernstein closed the evening without giving concrete closure on the questions that came out of the discussion. “The Bible is full of contradicting, different points of view,” she said. “That’s what’s really great about it.”

Alleged Racist Incident Evokes Frustration, Safety Concerns Continued from page 1 to comment, citing the ongoing investigation.

Cohan residents received an email about the incident on Sunday, which was “basically the exact same email that they sent out to the whole student body,” said resident Petra Zuñiga ’22. According to Zuñiga, a resident took a screenshot of the email and sent it to the dorm-wide group chat, asking what was going on.

In the email, residents were told to reach out to Student Affairs if they needed support. “[It] was a really nice sentiment, but I definitely feel like there’s been very little actual information about what happened,” Zuñiga said. “I don’t know what ex-

actly happened but I would like to know whether or not it’s people in our building.”

Cohan resident Andrea Mirow ’22 said she is “pleased” that the Office of Student Affairs is following up and “taking this matter seriously.”

“From what I hear, these are serious allegations and very concerning,” she wrote in a comment to The Student.

Zuñiga, like others interviewed

by The Student, said she hopes to have more of a conversation about what exactly happened.

“As a person of color and also living with mostly people of color and just like knowing the population of the dorm itself, I think there’s a bunch of people that are directly impacted by that, and it’s not okay

for it to just be swept under the rug,” she said.

Alex Lee ’22, a Cohan resident, said he was confused when he first heard about the incident. As a self-identified person of color, he also said he was uncomfortable to hear about the report of racist language in his dorm.

“It’s pretty standard to know not to say those kind of things,” he said. “I think it’s pretty disrespectful in general … especially in a dorm that I’m living in. I guess I’m curious to know who were the people involved.”

Not knowing who were involved, what happened or how the investigation is going adds to the distress, Zuñiga said. “It just feels like a slightly unsafe environment,”

she said. “This is racially charged discourse, right? I don’t know what it looks like but … I would want it to be clear that there is a very specific conversation and some form of repercussions for [the perpetrators].”

Association of Amherst Students (AAS) President Avery Farmer ’20 said he is “frustrated that this kind of event continues to happen on campus.” Though Student Affairs notified Farmer of the incident prior to the all-student email on Tuesday, the AAS has not yet had a chance to meet to formulate its response.

“Whoever it is, it is scary that people in our community are engaging in behavior that seems targeted to marginalized people and … in this incident specifically people of color,” Farmer added. “I think any

event is too much, and we’ve definitely had too much of that since we’ve been here. I really hope they find who’s responsible and hold them accountable in a way that makes it so that those people never do that kind of thing again and hopefully it doesn’t happen anymore on campus.”

According to Zuñiga, Student Affairs has not followed up with additional emails to Cohan residents or extended support specific to people of color since Sunday.

Agosto has urged the culpable individuals to come forward and encouraged anyone with information to contact ACPD by calling 413-542-2291 or submit a Community Standards Report, the latter of which allows for anonymity.

The Amherst Student • November 20, 2019

News 4

AAS Holds Open Forum Addressing Valley CDC Project Continued from page 1 student comes to me and says, ‘I’m having this problem and I need an advocate to help me,’ I have to think twice before I refer them to their dean or refer them to their professor.”

Senator Ilyssa Forman ’22 added that AAS’s role in representing students — including low-income students — should encourage senators to act. “I want to echo that we are a representing body and that it is our job to act on behalf of what the students feel and think, and this is definitely within our jurisdiction,” she said in the senate forum on Monday.

“I just want to emphasize that on senate there are low-income people who hear you and feel you and who are on your side.”

Ben Gilsdorf ’21, another senator, encouraged the AAS to consider ways in which the organization could take action in response to the comments received. “One thing that I think that is really good is that they lost, that the people who were against this lost,” Gilsdorf said, underscoring the fact that the Town Council still voted in favor of the development.

“I think the best way to respond is to throw our whole support behind it.”

Gilsdorf also suggested writing letters to Valley CDC or hosting a public forum for members of the town and college community to continue dialogue on the issue.

After collecting students’ comments, the AAS will determine the best method to address concerns.

Possible actions include reaching out to involved professors, sending a letter to Valley CDC reflective of the student body’s opinions or increasing funding for programs tailored to first-generation and low-income students. But exact next steps currently remain unclear. “We have to find a way to [take action] so it reflects our values and students’ but also stays within the boundaries of what AAS purview is,” Farmer said.

First-generation and low-income (FLI) student groups have also organized to write letters and opinion pieces in response to the professors’ letters to town council. One group of about 30 students, led by Isiaha Price ’21, met in Frost Cafe on Nov. 14 to brainstorm ways to demonstrate their

dissatisfaction with the professors’ opposition to the housing project.

The group drafted a cover letter, set to publish on a to-be-decided date, so that students can submit personal stories relating to affordable housing.

In a draft of the cover letter, the group pushed back against the joint letter’s correlation between drug use and poverty and noted the disparity between the college’s promotion of its socioeconomic diversity and professors’ impressions of the project’s potential low-income tenants.

“We need look no further than the boundaries of Jenkins or the Triangle and the fact that 20 percent of Amherst College’s student population is from the richest echelons of society to see that drugs have always been on this campus and it never had anything to do with poverty,” the cover letter states. Jenkins Dormitory and the Triangle — a set of dorms comprised of Mayo-Smith Dormitory, Hitchcock Dormitory and Seelye Dormitory — are popular party locations at the college. The group plans to submit the compilation of stories to the professors listed in the joint letter so that they “can realize that sure, they have a legal right to petition … but also understand that you’re not voting against these nebulous abstract poor people. This could easily be any number of students and their families who may have been homeless themselves,” Price said.

Another group of FLI students, led by Brewer, submitted an op-ed to The Student outlining similar concerns. The group’s opinion piece criticizes the residents’ letter for promoting the profiling of tenants and leveraging their occupations — ranging from professors to medical doctors to psychologists — to decide the fate of the tenants.

“I think that in terms of the professors who say that they stand with the school’s mission, which part of that mission is … upward mobility and helping students from first-generation, low-income backgrounds to excel and to be able to support themselves in the future … I just think it’s hypocritical for them to say they align with the school’s mission,” Brewer said. She added that the group hopes the professors who signed and wrote letters to Town Council will reconsid-

er and reflect on their position. “We [evoke] a call to action to the professors and say, ‘Look, we hope you sit with these words. We hope you educate yourselves,’” Brewer said. “We hope that you ask for grace because I think that will be given if you do.

We’re not meaning to attack anyone, but we are wanting to take a critical look at the roles that we play as people who are in positions of power.”

Low-income students particularly expressed disappointment in Dean of New Students Rick Lopez — who has organized programming for FLI students, including summer bridge, a three-week pre-college program for incoming first years — in his decision to sign the joint letter from the residents.

“It’s appalling to me that in public and in his role as a dean, he comes in and tells students every summer that they belong here, and then as a private citizen endorses something that pretty clearly says that they don’t,” Brewer said. Price added that he was upset “the dean that talked to me at [the summer science bridge program] and welcomed me to this school and gave me a speech about how being first-generation and low-income added to the experience of Amherst … would then go sign that petition.”

In emails obtained by The Student, Lopez said in an exchange with Brewer that the initial dissent against Valley CDC’s project did not oppose affordable housing as a whole, but the use of SROs rather than family units.

He stressed that the residents had hoped for increased on-site support for tenants with drug addictions.

According to Laura Baker, real estate project manager at Valley CDC, these concerns often contradict each other.

“Oftentimes people are asking us for competing things,” she said. “It’s impossible to do that because they conflict with each other. For example, folks who live nearby wanted to have more on-site support and more supervision of the property. So that drives increased operating costs.

At the same time, they wanted less housing units there, which lowers the economic ability of the project to pay for staff.”

In the email exchange with Brewer, Lopez wrote that “it is unfortunate

Photo courtesy of Google Maps

The 132 Northampton Rd. property (shown above) will accomodate 28 low-income and homeless individuals. that you might feel that you no longer can turn to me for support, because in this debate about the unit development my goal was to advocate for housing for homeless families and to create structures of support for them.”

Outstanding concerns from FLI students in part instigated conversations about affordable housing in the AAS, according to Farmer. “I’ve been hearing a lot of reports of low-income and first-gen students … feeling like the professors who signed on to the letter were effectively making some kind of statement of hostility towards that kind of housing. Their families might have lived in them at one point or people they know may have taken advantage of [affordable housing],” Farmer said.

Residents of Humphries House — a dorm informally known as the Zu that sits across the street from Pratt Field — also pushed back at professors’ opposition to the housing project.

“We do not condone the classism implied in the concern over affordable housing in Amherst. We here at Zu live very close to the planned building and welcome new neighbors regardless of their incomes,” the Zu residents wrote in a statement to The Student. “It’s disturbing how quickly the conversation veered toward needles and halfway houses when there has been no mention of a drug rehabilitation center in the local coverage of the planned project. We ask those involved to remember that

many Amherst students come from low-income households … In an expensive area like Amherst where many people have to commute to work, access to affordable housing is long overdue.”

Some students noted there is more nuance to the situation than what is seen at face value. While Michael Du ’20 disagrees with the sentiments expressed in the professors’ letters, he says he understands that the professors on the list signed on because “they want to preserve, for a lack of better words, the integrity of their community.”

Samuel Melcher ’22 said that the campus’ reaction was harsher than needed to be. “I think the reaction of Amherst students has generally been unfair to the residents and professors.

I’ve seen personal attacks against them online, especially against Professor Sinos. As people who live in the area, their concerns are both understandable and legitimate. And as students who do not live here, it is not our place to belittle their concerns,” he said.

Several comments discussed at the AAS public hearing said that students’ outrage is unprecedented.

Comments presented in front of the AAS addressed concerns including students’ approaches to criticizing professors who signed and submitted letters in opposition, potential drug abuse at the site and students’ lack of recognition of their privilege when speaking on the issue.

Opinion

w

Ideals Beyond the Brochure Last Wednesday, on Nov. 13, The Student published a story about the Valley Community Development Corporation’s plan to build 28 affordable housing units at 132 Northampton Rd. The Town of Amherst has identified the project as long overdue, investing $500,000 into the complex in July. Despite the necessity of affordable housing, the venture received resistance from town residents. A letter endorsed by 56 Amherst residents, 15 of whom work at Amherst College, called for a delay of the proposed affordable units.

The opposition by faculty and other community members prompted responses from the student body, especially considering the relatively significant population of low-income students here at the college. A 2017 study from The New York Times estimated that about 4.7 percent of Amherst students come from the bottom 20 percent of income brackets, one of the highest percentages in the NESCAC. Moreover, according to the college’s website, Amherst offered over $56 million in financial aid to about 57 percent of the student body last year.

Thus over the past week, the campus community has engaged in a dialogue about college affiliates’ obligation to represent the values typically attached to the college.

A follow-up letter from the Chair of Classics Rebecca Sinos provided a concrete dispute. She wrote, “The optimism that holds that no residents of the CDC residence would resort to substance abuse seems to me illconsidered and all-together unpersuasive.” She argued that the presence of needles from drug use near/on Amherst’s Pratt Field would pose a threat to the safety of residents.

The Amherst Muckrake, a publication dedicated to collegespecific satire, offered one interpretation of Sinos’ dissent in a post: “‘Anyone Who Needs Low-Income Housing is a Heroin Addict” Claims Classics Professor at College With Radically Progressive Financial Aid Program.” The post spurred conversations about the hypocrisy of the situation but also about the issue with denouncing someone who shared her opinion as a private citizen.

Just six days before The Student’s article was released, The New York Times wrote a feature on Amherst’s efforts to diversify its athletics program. The piece detailed the college’s efforts to attract underrepresented groups, including the Diversity Open House weekend during which the school provides an all-expenses-paid trip to over 100 prospective underrepresented minority students so they can experience Amherst firsthand. The article quotes President Biddy Martin saying, “What matters more than money to travel is the effort, the awareness and the commitment to diversity.” Coming from the president, this sentiment reflects a general ideal of the college, one sold to prospective families on the college’s website and other admissions materials.

The college’s outward commitment to diversity is thus no secret. However, what is the duty of its employees in upholding these values in their own lives? Contractually and

legally, there is none. But morally, there is some. The faculty of the college makes implicit contributions to the culture of the school — which decides whether or not our values become actualized. If professors show up to work expected to make decisions with inclusion in mind but go home and advocate to keep their neighborhood homogenous, then an undeniable tension arises.

This does not mean that the faculty who signed this letter deserve to be demonized for their views. Human beings are inherently prone to contradiction. It is unrealistic to assume that people will practice what they preach 100 percent of the time. However, this human tendency simply explains; it does not excuse. When we find ourselves in an instance of hypocrisy, which is inevitable for anyone, it is necessary to face it.

This Editorial Board understands that the actions of Amherst College affiliates as private citizens should not be under relentless scrutiny — they deserve a work-home divide. But it is necessary to acknowledge that their actions at home do have an impact on the culture of the school. For students from low-income backgrounds, being taught by professors whom they now know might not want them as their neighbor creates a rift that ultimately impacts students’ relationships with their professors. It is only one of many consequences.

So what are the next steps? First, the college faculty who opposed the Valley CDC project engage in the current dialogue with the student body. As much as Amherst College advocates for socioeconomic diversity, it also champions diversity of opinion. No perspective should be demonized without the opportunity for explanation. Thus, these faculty members should explain their positions more openly and work to reconcile them with the values they are expected to subscribe to in their workplace. Secondly, they should try to make amends with students who have been hurt by their actions. It is critical that these professors do not let socioeconomic disparities on campus turn into harmful social divides.

Finally, the Editorial Board recommends that the relevant faculty consider changing their minds. Even though the town’s funding proposal ultimately passed, the pushback makes it harder for Valley CDC to diversify the socioeconomic landscape of Amherst. We can talk about the contradiction of these faculty members’ stance with the Amherst College admissions brochure, but at the end of the day, these 15 votes of resistance pose real obstacles to getting people off the streets and helping them exit the vicious cycle of systemic poverty. Conversation is a good first step, but it doesn’t tangibly do much for people who are not sure where they are going to sleep or eat for dinner. It’s cold enough outside — let’s not give homeless and low-income people the cold shoulder, too.

Unsigned editorials represent the Editorial Board (assenting: 12; dissenting: 0; abstaining: 1)

THE AMHERST

STUDENT E X E C U T I V E B OA R D Editors-in-Chief Shawna Chen Olivia Gieger Managing News Natalie De Rosa Zach Jonas Ryan Yu Managing Opinion Jae Yun Ham Rebecca Picciotto Managing Arts and Living Seoyeon Kim Managing Sports Connor Haugh Henry Newton Assistant Sports Jack Dove Managing Design Zehra Madhavan Julia Shea S TA F F Publishers Emmy Sohn Mark Nathin Digital Director Dylan Momplaisir

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The Amherst Student • November 20, 2019

Opinion 6

A Response to Opposition on Affordable Housing Colin Weinstein ’22 Staff Writer As letters flowed in opposing a town proposal to allocate $500,000 toward the development of a single-room occupancy (SRO) affordable housing development at 132 Northampton Rd., Amherst finally got its chance to take part in a time-honored national tradition: good ol’ American NIMBY-ism (which stands for “Not In My Backyard” for those unacquainted with the acronym).

Luckily, Amherst is really making up for lost time, as the breadth of complaints so well demonstrates.

In a few, we’ve seen the classic “Poor people are dangerous!” and “Think of the children!” arguments — insinuating that drug addiction and alcoholism would be rampant among future tenants. Some residents frame their NIMBY-ism not as personal concern, but rather as a selfless interest in “the good of the public,” citing fears of lost access to Pratt Field due to improper (implied drug) use by the new residents.

To be fair, not all the complaints are so black or white. There are plenty of arguments which actually seem to posit useful critiques — for example, Professor of Economics and Environmental Studies Katherine Sims proposes using town funds more efficiently to maximize support for the project’s beneficiaries. Still, even these critiques usually conclude that the project shouldn’t continue at its current site or with its current intended occupancy. Thus it’s hard to determine whether these residents are genuinely seeking better housing options for vulnerable Amherst residents or are simply looking for justifications to move the development away from their own backyards.

However, whether these arguments amount to sincere critique or disguised aporophobia isn’t my main concern. After all, who am I to assign intention to residents’ words? Rather, I want to discuss some problems with one of the more salient complaints put forth: the letter sent to the Town Council by 56 residents from Amherst’s Districts 3 and 4.

If you haven’t read the letter, I’ll provide a brief summary. Over-

all the residents take a defensive stance, emphasizing that they “are not saying ‘not it our backyard,’” but rather ‘please get this right, because it’s our backyard.’ Thus they land on the conclusion that the development doesn’t necessarily need to be moved, but rather that Valley Community Development Corporation (Valley CDC), the developer and manager of the property, should pledge more professional support for residents — for their own benefit and the neighborhood’s. They add briefly at the end of their letter that the development should also be reduced in size (perhaps a NIMBY concession?).

Fair enough. I’m all for allocating more resources to empower the homeless and treat addiction and mental illness. But who’s to say this development won’t already provide enough resources — especially when Valley CDC has a proven track record of managing similar SRO developments (e.g. 82 Bridge St., Northampton)?

It’s on this point that the letter takes a turn. Though the authors aren’t literally saying “not in my backyard,” they do justify their conclusions using some NIMBY arguments: worries about drug use and concern for “the public.”

“Hmmm… That smells like profiling!,” you might think. Well fear not, because according to the authors, “this is a wholly inaccurate description of the situation.” They go on to tout their academic credentials and “rigorous use of data” as unassailable proof of their lack of bias.

Moreover, they argue that their data prove the shortcomings of Valley CDC’s management strategies.

Yes, I’d agree that arguments based on presentation of evidence generally don’t count as profiling.

I’d also say that the letter’s argument lacks the “rigorous use of data” which the authors claim. This comes down to two examples, the first of which is worth a mention, and the second of which merits a full discussion.

In the first case, while the authors don’t explicitly reference numbers, they do mention reading “surveys and scientific research detailing the expected rates of history of substance use disorders, the rates of

Photo courtesy of Valley CDC

The proposed project by the Valley Community Development Corporation would create 28 new affordable housing units on 132 Northampton Rd., located near Pratt Field. relapse, and the statistics regarding social/behavioral outcomes given substance abuse.” The implication is that these data (though not provided) support the authors’ proposal and provides the reader with a baseline of knowledge on the effects of the proposed development. But considering the authors’ argument, these data seem wholly irrelevant.

They wouldn’t actually make any claims about the sufficiency of Valley CDC’s tenant services — just about the general population of people suffering from addiction. If the letter’s argument is that Valley CDC’s tenant services aren’t sufficient, how would these data support that point?

Right off the bat, the evidence seems a bit dubious, but then we get to the authors’ real data. Analyzing police calls made from other Valley CDC residences (four of which use the SRO model and one of which doesn’t), the authors found that 2,669 calls were placed “over a period of several years.” They placed these calls into five complaint categories of which “criminal” was the largest (22 percent of calls).

I’ll discuss a number of issues with these data and their presentation, but there’s one important point to make off the bat: calls to the police don’t constitute crime.

It’s pretty simple: police calls are complaints until the case is proven criminal. For example, I could call the police on any of the letter’s signatories to complain about its contents; does that mean they committed a

crime? No. If anything, these data simply show that people like to call the cops on the poor and the mentally ill. The authors, trying to reject accusations of profiling, define it using a classic example: “a law enforcement officer pulling over a vehicle simply because the driver is of a certain race.” Ironically, they don’t seem to realize that calling the cops on someone because you believe they committed a crime counts too.

Despite the authors’ claims of objectivity, their data might actually be the result of rampant profiling.

In all fairness to the authors, they do mention that John Hornik, chair of the Amherst Municipal Affordable Housing Trust Fund, had suggested they investigate call data. But that still doesn’t justify basing their argument in unsupported data.

Let’s say for a moment, however, that every call made to the police in these data reported a crime (or other emergencies/disturbances) that actually occurred. These data are still irrelevant to the case of 132 Northampton Rd. for a number of reasons. For one, the authors include non-SRO housing (specifically three-bedroom units) in the dataset, while the proposed development is exclusively SRO units. These two occupancy layouts are certainly not interchangeable, given the fundamental differences in social relations among tenants. Similarly, the developments in the dataset don’t provide the same tenant services as the proposed one — most notably,

a 20-hour per week on-site social worker. Generally, the data cited don’t include cases comparable to the proposed development.

Let’s give the letter another concession and say that the data do use comparable cases. Even then, the letter still presents the data in a misleading way. For example, the authors might throw out ostensibly high numbers of calls — such as 2,669 “over several years” and 2.07 to 3.06 “per resident per year” — but they don’t provide a control for comparison. What’s the average number of calls per resident per year throughout that neighborhood? In neighborhoods with similar demographics? For market-rate studio apartments, etc.? No comparison is given, and without comparison, these data don’t actually lend to an argument about Valley CDC’s management capability. For all we know, when put in context, that’s a reasonable number of calls for those scenarios.

Still, let’s be even more generous and give the letter that last concession, too. In total, we’re assuming that calls to the police constitute actual incidents, that the data are comprised of developments comparable to the proposed CDC development and that the number of calls connected to these residences is inordinately high. Given all of these, the authors’ presentation of the data still doesn’t support their argument,

Continued on page 7

The Amherst Student • November 20, 2019

Opinion 7

Dear Amherst Faculty: An Open Letter about the Letter Eliza Brewer ’22, Yosef Ibrahim ’23, Helen Knott ’23 and Alexis Scalese ’22 Contributing Writers As students of Amherst College and members of the Amherst town community, we do not exist in a vacuum. Our actions have an effect on the greater community within the Town of Amherst. We, as a group of low-income student advocates, are of the opinion that our student body owes it to the non-student community to think about how we affect the lives of people outside of

the college.

As an institution that benefits from high property taxes, the college and its community need to think critically about the people who have been physically and systematically displaced. In our opinion, the letter endorsed by neighbors and professors in the Amherst area is fraught with thinly veiled classism and an abuse of privilege. A number of places in the letter where we find a lack of self-education and an abundance of fear-mongering include: 1. “Moreover, the Pratt Field complex

is currently open to the public … and our research has indicated that the project will most likely result in the closing of this recreational area to public access.”

This blatantly classist response to the situation, endorsed by some college faculty, is appalling and the fact that it is met with frightening submission instead of critical questioning on the part of the signees is doubly so.

The assumptive power that has been asserted by certain members of Amherst College over this public facility is unjust and requires more

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Fifty-six residents of the Town of Amherst recently signed a joint letter in opposition to the development of a new affordable housing complex on 132 Northampton Rd.

examination on the part of the letter’s signees.

2. “Our group includes individuals with a diverse set of expertise relevant for the assessment of this proposal.”

The list of “diverse” individuals who were consulted include only people who were afforded the privileges of making lofty judgements about people in immediate distress.

If people who represent the experience of someone in crisis were consulted, it was not mentioned in the letter.

3. “No neighbor used these statistics to form and promulgate negative opinions of specific individuals, nor ever would we. Instead we use this valuable data … to reach the conclusion that the Valley CDC’s [Valley Community Development Corporation] plan is inadequate, failing to provide around-the-clock support for this vulnerable population.”

This passage ignores the privilege held by many of the people on that list, claiming that because this project is in their backyard, they deserve special concessions, including an overnight supervisor for the complex.

This kind of watch might be necessary for individuals living in a prison or a halfway house, not people with agency who are paying their rent and living independent lives.

These residents also don’t consider the limited resources from which

nearly all public housing nonprofits suffer. We are upset at the immediate impulse of college affiliates to reject rather than welcome. In the future, we hope these residents recognize that they have agency in the proper development of these initiatives through donations to Valley CDC and similar nonprofits.

4. “This record of police activity at Valley CDC properties indicates that despite the screening processes by Valley CDC, many problems remain.”

We are shocked at the lack of consideration given to the role of profiling, which causes increased calling and policing around areas of low-income housing. We are saddened to believe that this is exactly what will happen when these new residents move in.

In conclusion, our goal as a group is not to reject or attack those who endorsed this letter. Instead, it is to invite the larger Amherst community to take a critical look at the roles we all play as people occupying positions of privilege in meeting needs and encouraging empathy across all types of barriers.

According to the joint letter, it took 21 hours for the individuals who signed the petition to decide that 28 people in immediate need should not receive housing. We hope they will take longer than 21 hours to consider our concerns and carefully examine their actions.

On 132 Northampton Road Continued from page 6 because they don’t indicate who is placing the calls. Why is this important? If neighbors were calling to complain about Valley CDC’s tenants, that would support the letter’s argument, because it shows how the tenants’ actions might affect the neighborhood. On the other hand, if the calls originated from within the development, that doesn’t do much for the argument that the tenants will have an adverse effect on the neighborhood; rather it exemplifies the need for services for tenants’ sakes, not neighbor-

hood residents.

My final concern with the residents’ letter doesn’t have to do with their data analysis; rather it concerns their lack of understanding of the project. While SRO housing often implies temporary housing for the homeless, 132 Northampton Rd. seeks to provide permanent housing to 10 formerly homeless tenants using project-based Section 8 vouchers (federally subsidized rent). These tenants won’t be strangers in the neighborhood; they’ll be neighbors. They, just as much as the writers of the letter, will have a stake in the community.

Moreover, for all the authors’ concerns about mentally ill tenants, only two units are allocated for residents with mental illness. And what about the 16 remaining units?

They’re reserved for tenants earning 50 percent and 80 percent of area median income who are not using rental vouchers. Thus the majority of units are allocated to tenants who aren’t homeless and don’t have severe mental illness; they simply don’t make as much money as professors. Given this tenant makeup, some of the fears expressed in the letter seem a bit unfounded.

All of this isn’t to say that Val-

ley CDC’s plan is perfect; there are useful critiques made, and for all I know, insufficient tenant services could end up being one of them.

What frustrates me is the way the authors of this letter tout their academic credentials and “scientific analyses” as absolution from bias while providing a botched analysis of data. In the end, while the use of these data to advocate for more tenant services isn’t inherently problematic, it still obstructs funding for the project without proving any issues with it as is. If this isn’t the quintessence of the bubble of academia, I don’t know what is.

My goal here isn’t just to lambast some academics for what looks like NIMBY-ism. I’d much rather assume that they really do care about the success of this development and its tenants. If they really care about success, the residents’ goal shouldn’t be to defund the project before it even starts. Rather, they should actively contribute to the success of the project. Get to know the new tenants! If they’re having issues, help them out instead of calling the cops! Volunteer your time and money! Be a neighbor to your neighbors. After all, this is their backyard, too.

The Amherst Student • November 20, 2019

Opinion 8

Seeing Double: How History Can Make You Better Thomas Brodey ’22 Columnist Out of Amherst College’s 40 majors, a major in history can sometimes seem an old-fashioned, somewhat out-of-touch field. Between 2008 and 2017, the number of history degrees given to graduates in the United States dropped 30 percent, the most of any significant field, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. As a history major, I’m concerned by these trends, but in some ways I understand them. The writers of history have always held frustrating biases, and in today’s fast-moving world, the lessons of history often seem obsolete. Yet, studying history offers many benefits beyond what one might expect at first glance.

By definition, history can give students a better understanding of the past. Defenders of the field also contend that history helps students understand the present.

But few have argued that history can help students understand their personal lives.

Imagine this: Your friend Maria

texts you in the middle of the night asking for advice. Her boyfriend, Carl, has been acting strange lately, canceling appointments at the last minute, not responding to messages and traveling out of town.

Naturally, you might be concerned and want to get to the bottom of the issue. You would think back to your past experiences with Carl to get a better sense of his motives. You would ask Maria about her relationship to find out what may have caused his change in behavior. You might even go back through Carl’s social media to pick up any clues on the recent events in his life. Once you have an idea of what might be going on, you’d be able to help.

A concerned friend or family member might take some or all of the above steps. But those steps are analogous to the methods of thought that go into the study of history. Historians examine past events to draw a better understanding of the present. Why is the Middle East so unstable today?

Historians look at documents, journals and other evidence to determine that the answer lies in eco-

nomic trends, the region’s distant past and the decisions made in the great second-grade schoolyard that is world politics.

Fields like anthropology and psychology use similar methods of deduction, but history utilizes one tool better than any other field: concrete examples. History often involves discussion of abstract ideas, but these ideas are always firmly-grounded in real events involving real people. In that way, it mirrors real life, where the decisions we make are based to a large degree on one’s tangible surroundings.

Students of history have to extract meaning from these real-life stories, just as everyone attempts to do in their own lives. Extracting such meaning is not always easy.

When dealing with matters as personal and potentially controversial as real events, historians constantly have to be on guard against their own biases or preconceptions. Yet far from diminishing the value of the field, the potential pitfalls train us to face the similar struggles we undergo in real life.

History also provides an acute

understanding of how time works.

As people go through their lives, they tend to struggle to keep up with old friends and are often challenged to accept changing times.

History can make that transition easier. Just like ourselves and our friends, history is always growing and shifting with each passing year — studying it forces students to get comfortable with the idea of change.

History also helps you understand yourself. Think of your own past. Your experiences define you as a person and continue to forge your strengths and your weaknesses. Looking back on your own memories with a critical eye can reveal the kind of person you are.

Just as historians look back on the Ottoman Empire to understand how it rose and fell — and therefore secure a better grasp of the implications for the future of the Middle East — you can reflect on your history and learn how to approach your future.

One reason history has so many applications in our personal lives is because it taps into one of the most basic forms of communi-

cation: storytelling. Neuroeconomist Paul Zak has determined that children who are exposed to more stories develop a greater capacity for imagination, are more empathetic and have better social skills.

The trend continues into adulthood. Studying history activates the very same parts of our brains.

Good historians must be empathetic and imaginative in order to gain insight into the people and events of the past and apply it to their analyses.

History is not just about solving the puzzle of humanity but also appreciating it. Other fields can help you understand why people do the things they do, but history is focused on placing the historian among their subjects as a peer. That’s why the lessons we learn from history are so easily transferred to our everyday lives.

History gives us the ability to make rational deductions based on concrete examples, but it also demands a sense of empathy, morality and humanity. When combined, these skills make us more discerning, more understanding and all-around better people.

Risk and Reward in Housing Development Holden Lee ’22 Staff Writer Everything comes with a price. Most of us have learned this lesson in one way or another. To gain one thing is to sacrifice another. In the case of Valley Community Development Corporation’s (Valley CDC) affordable housing project, the price of building such a complex takes a certain amount of risk.

As Chair of Classics Rebecca Sinos’ letter to the Town Council argues, establishing this housing unit has the real possibility of harm — in the form of used hypodermic needles in the Amherst College fields — which can pose a very real threat to anyone who stumbles upon them, especially children.

Let’s not mince words over whether Professor Sinos says all

low-income or homeless people are drug addicts. That’s not what she writes in her letter. Her point is that an opioid-using population exists and that a housing unit near the fields means it is possible a part of that population will occupy a part of the unit and bring needles with them. Sinos deals in possibilities, not absolutes, nor does she make any sweeping generalizations.

At the same time, Professor Sinos’ argument is not the most compelling. Her letter is largely rooted in her own experiences and anecdotal argument, with little hard evidence to back up her claims. However, the fact that her case is certainly lacking is itself a separate issue. More important is her perception of the possibility of danger.

This is what defines risk.

After all, “taking a risk” doesn’t

mean you are guaranteed any kind of harm; it only means that harm appears possible or likely.

A certain degree of risk comes with investing in and building such a housing project.

Sinos has determined that there exists a risk associated with the housing project, and that this risk is not worthwhile.

While her stance is unfortunate, looking for the potential drawbacks of the Valley CDC project is wise. However, the brief analysis in her letter to the Amherst Town Council is woefully incomplete: Sinos speaks only to the potential for harm and fails to acknowledge the equally real potential for good.

Within our communities, the value of actions should be measured based on the good they can achieve for society — especially for those in need.

We should seek to take action because it may do good, rather than refraining from taking action simply because it may bring harm. We should be willing and prepared to accept risks for the sake of more vulnerable populations in our communities.

If we are unwilling to invest in providing such support, then the only remaining option is to stop pretending as though we actually care about our community. And, naturally, if any among us don’t care about the community, then those individuals have no business involving themselves in community affairs.

At the same time, there is a limit to how much risk is acceptable. How much is too much?

What price is reasonable? Recklessly ignoring or denying the potential risks of a new endeavor is just as shortsighted as refusing

to take action solely because of risk. An assessment of the consequences of action demands a discussion of whether the good consequences outweigh the bad, or vice versa.

While it is somewhat regrettable that Sinos has chosen such a narrow position on this issue, her opinion absolutely has value — she was bold enough to acknowledge a point that many would be unwilling to address.

We should all be careful to avoid crass ad hominem attacks on Professor Sinos, regardless of whether her concerns are substantiated or not. To deride her character as a poor-hating monster is unnecessary and unproductive. Instead, her letter should be taken as a starting point for a greater conversation about the merits and repercussions of Valley CDC’s plan.

Arts&Living

Life(-giving) Sentences: Movement Through Intimacy

Photo courtesy of Tom Hines

In his debut novel, poet and scholar Ocean Vuong speaks through intimacy rather than conflict — asking “now what?” as he explained in a talk at UMass last week.

Seoyeon Kim ’21 Managing Ats & Living Editor As part of the Visiting Writers Series at UMass Amherst, poet and writer Ocean Vuong came to the university’s Fine Arts Center on Thursday night to read from his debut novel “On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous.” As the audience streamed into the massive hall, the air fluttered with excitement. But as Vuong came to the podium and prepared to speak, his small frame jutting out against the expansive stage, everything grew stilled. His voice was smooth as stone — its sound touched me before his words did.

He began by thanking us for the warm welcome — “I’ve always called New England home,” he said.

Vuong grew up in Hartford, Connecticut. after moving from Ho Chi Minh City at age two. Although Vuong’s novel is a work of fiction, the story is told from the perspective of Little Dog, who, like Vuong, is raised by his mother and grand-

mother in a beautiful and broken Hartford. “On Earth” is a letter from a son to his mother, a letter which will never be read because of her illliteracy: “...the very impossibility of your reading this is all that makes my telling possible,” Little Dog muses.

Vuong’s smooth voice broke as he talked about losing his mother to cancer just a couple of weeks prior. He described feeling immense grief, sadness and anger after her death. But he went on to emphasize: “When I’m most useful to myself is when I ask myself what I can do after these great epicenters, these great big rifts in our lives.”

The aftermath of anger is care, he noted, asking, what happens when we have to “get up off the floor?

How do we write using care?”

He shared the precious gift of three new poems with the audience, slowly releasing each word into the air with his melodic breaths. The third poem, “American Legend,” was about a boy and his father in their car, driving somewhere to put

their dog down. The boy swerves and as the car twists in an act of destruction, their bodies fly into contact — and it is the first time the pair experience being intertwined in an embrace.

Moving onto reading two excerpts from his novel, Vuong noted that the great opportunity of framing a book in the first person is the ability to use “I” as a searchlight.

The “I” becomes a way to focus inward on Little Dog while also burrowing into the gorgeous and wartorn lives of his mother, Rose and his grandmother Lan. Throughout “On Earth” the three figures bloom into one another in their shared traumas.

Vuong first read from the scene in which Little Dog’s mother and grandmother take him on a car ride, Rose frantic at the prospect that Mai, her sister, will be beaten to death by her husband and Lan rocking side to side in a dreamy haze. Rose storms her sister’s house, only to be confronted by a stranger with a gun. “But Mai has not lived here for five years,” Lan gently says to her daughter, pulled out of her trance.

In addition to being an immigrant story about love and relationships, “On Earth” is also an ode to drug-addled, survival-breeding Hartford — Vuong allowed us a glimpse of its beauty, grime and depth as he described Little Dog and his first love, Trevor, riding their bikes along the Connecticut River as night breaks into itself and the city starts to light up. The softness of his voice permeated the hall.

In the Q&A portion Vuong allowed us more precious glimpses into his aspirations as a writer and scholar. When asked who he pictures as his ideal reader, Vuong responded that it would be “incredibly foolish” of him to “presume any kind of reader.” For him, the urgent question is: am I satisfying my curiosity as a person? “I have this perhaps naïve faith that if we enter a writing project privileging the great mystery of being alive —

to ask ‘now what?’ — the great hope is that anyone who touches this will recognize their own impending desire to know what this is all about,” he explained.

I once had an English professor whose favorite phrase to read was “and yet…” Vuong’s “Now what?” feels similar to me. They are both continuations, prolonging a moment into another moment. “As long as we are alive, there is no true last word,” Vuong emphasized.

There is always another “and yet…,” always another “now what?” He noted that the majority of his writing consists of reading and interrogating tradition; the opportunity of being alive in the first place, for Vuong, is that we get to say, “How do I innovate from that foundation?”

How do we interrogate what is here but also what is gone in order to prolong and continue into what can and will be? The answer seems to be closeness. In an interview with The New York Times, Vuong talked about how his novel uses a narrative structure called kishōtenketsu, “a form that refuses to deploy conflict as a means of progressing the story.”

“Proximity builds tension,” according to Vuong. Tension builds in other ways too: “On Earth” centers a queer love story. The passage that continued to stay with me days after consuming this novel is one where Little Dog describes to his mother the wholeness he feels when he is with Trevor.

“Did you ever feel colored-in when a body found you with his mouth?” he asks her. “What if the body, at its best, is only a longing for body? The blood racing to the heart only to be sent back out, filling the routes, the once empty channels, the miles it takes to take us toward each other. Why did I feel more myself while reaching for him, my hand midair, than I did having touched him?”

The possibility that Little Dog holds here reminds me of Vuong’s “now what?” This energized move-

ment that holds us together while extending ourselves outward. Like an ink droplet that bursts onto a page and spreads, staining the paper with its jagged paths. The possibility of expanding yourself, chest taut with air. The simple potential of touching someone else. It is not the literal act of touching which allows us to fully occupy our bodies but rather the act of reaching out, our hands extended and our blood flowing.

Perhaps we may never even touch what we are reaching for.

But there is something beautiful in the movement — it allows us to be more ourselves, reminds us of the body’s capability to long, fills untouched spaces in ourselves with vibrating color.

This act seems to allow us to fully be our bodies and also to spill out of our cold, stifling frames. It prolongs us. It is an assertion — a statement by the body that it still exists, and it will continue to exist. So we extend out ward, gratified by our longing for touch and surprised by our longing for tomorrow, feeling less lost inside ourselves, this act of charged movement that holds all the possibilities in the world.

The intimate act of reaching drives “On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous.” A boy reaches for his lover.

A grandson reaches for his history.

A son reaches for understanding.

Vuong writes sentences which both give life and take it away, crafting a world where pain is consumed and blossomed around.

In an Instagram tribute to his late mother, Vuong wrote this: “what can a son say to the great loss from which he owes his own life? only that my world has changed forever. it can never be what is was. it is absolutely less — and yet perennially more because of what you have given me, Ma. you taught me that our pain is not our destiny‚ but our reason. you gave me all the reasons. thank you. i bow to you. i will see you again. every word was always for you. every sentence a life (-giving) sentence.”

Arts & Living 10

The Amherst Student • November 20, 2019

Netflix’s “Unbelievable” Portrays Effects of Rape in New Way Olivia Luntz ’21 and Paige Reddington ’21 Staff Writers One night this past September, co-creator, executive producer, director and writer of the miniseries “Unbelievable” Susannah Grant ’84 realized that the show had achieved more success than she ever imagined possible.

“The series had been out not even a week at this point. Everyone else in my house was asleep, and I thought, I’m just going to check Twitter,” she said in a phone interview. “I don’t even have a Twitter … and the number of languages that were represented in the Twitter discussion about [the show] was staggering.

There was Cyrillic and Thai and Farsi and English and German, and I got weepy at the thought of all these people all around the world leaning into this challenging show.”

“Unbelievable,” which was released on Netflix on Sept. 13, was viewed by 32 million different accounts during its first 28 days on the platform, making it one of the most watched Netflix originals.

Grant, who graduated from Amherst with a bachelors in English, has since been nominated for both an Academy Award and an Emmy for her writing in television and film. Her previous work includes the screenplay for “Erin Brockov-

ich” and writing credit on Disney’s “Pocahontas.” Although she did not always envision herself as a screenwriter, she has loved movies from a young age.

“Movies were always a big part of my life,” she said. “I loved the collective storytelling experience. The theatrical experience of sitting in the dark with a bunch of strangers ... I thought for a while that my way of participating in it would be as an actor, but that didn’t agree with me.

It took me a while to realize that the way I wanted to be a part of it was actually to be a storyteller. And I really privilege being a part of [the storytelling] tradition. I really think of it as an American storytelling family.

I really still feel so privileged that I am allowed to be a part of that extended family; it’s a source of great joy for me.”

“Unbelievable” is an adaption of the Pulitzer Prize-winning 2015 article “An Unbelievable Story of Rape” by T. Christian Miller and Ken Armstrong, published by ProPublica and The Marshall Project.

The article follows the chase for a serial rapist in Washington and Colorado between 2008 and 2011, centering on the characters of Marie (Kaitlyn Dever) — a pseudonym given to the first rape victim who, after intense and repeated interrogations from the police, recants her statement and then is later charged

with false reporting — and two female detectives in Colorado who, after tracking down a rapist who had been evading police in Colorado for months, realize that Marie had been his first victim over three years prior.

A story of female power and an exposé of how rape victims are treated and heard within a ruthless, male-dominated criminal justice system — “Unbelievable” raises awareness of the actual effects of rape cases on victims in both the immediate aftermath and long term process of investigations. In our interview, Grant spoke of attempting to capture the special and complex “texture” of the relationships between professional female colleagues throughout the show.

The phrase “texture” precisely sums up what is captured throughout the entire mini-series (something most crime shows are unable to do). “Unbelievable” shows us the various layers within the process of dealing with rape cases — the various, complex and invisible ways victims cope (or fail to cope) with trauma, the detectives who neglect to believe, the detectives who insist on solving the crime and the various relationships tangled in these spheres.

It is clear throughout the show that the focus is on the psyches of the victims involved. In the first episode, Marie is immediately questioned by a male detective, Detective

Photo courtesy of Susannah Grant ’84

Susannah Grant’s ’84 Netflix show “Unbelievable” sheds much-needed light on rape victims’ untranslatable trauma and the violence of the criminal justice system.

Parker (Eric Lange), who seems to interrogate her. One of her foster parents hints that because of Marie’s difficult past, she has developed attention-seeking tendencies and may be faking the rape. Another one of her foster parents agrees that she is not reacting as someone who was raped — instead acting as if nothing has happened.

As we witness Marie’s internal tension, we see her inability to take the questioning anymore, leading her to take back her story. When writing the script for the show, Grant and the other writers did a lot of research on the effect of trauma on the brain. “The truth is that it can have a very scrambling effect on somebody’s ability to remember. That was important for Marie’s story because her credibility is questioned as her memory is shaky,” she said. We just hoped that that would show that there is no one right way to respond to a truama like that, which I’ve heard is a big challenge for prosecutors with juries because they have expectations of what a victim of rape should look like. And there’s no such thing as a typical victim of rape.”

Meanwhile, Detective Duvall (Merritt Wever) responds to the rape case of Amber Stevenson, another rape victim, in an entirely different way. She takes a gentler approach to Amber, assuring her that her various ways of coping are completely normal and valid. We also see this in Detective Rasmussen (Toni Collette)’s interactions with her victim.

When Rasmussen brings Duvall to her victim’s house in order to understand more about the case, it is clear that Rasmussen knows her victim well. This scene occurs in the beginning of Duvall and Rasmussen’s relationship, after they are vaguely able to connect the patterns of both of their cases; we see this relationship develop strongly throughout the course of them solving the crime.

Grant was captivated by the idea that there are different strategies a woman can adopt in a male-dominated, and generally ruthless and unpredictable, workplace, developing the two characters based off of this. As the two detectives are drawn closer together, we are able to see the “texture” of female professional colleague friendships. Grant told us

that she just doesn’t just write strong women; she writes real women. This is what draws an audience in to these inspiring and dynamic, yet deeply complex characters — she is able to capture something refreshingly real.

Grant was originally drawn to adapting the story because of how deeply affected she was by all the people involved in it. Upon reading the original article, Grant recalls immediately reaching out to Sarah Timberman, another one of the show’s executive producers, telling her, “we’ve got to do this.”

“I was just so moved by … the person of Marie,” said Grant. “She says, ‘I just want to be as happy as I can be.’ I read that in the transcript of her police report, and I was so moved by that. She just absolutely refuses to be broken by life, and I thought that fight was so heroic. And then those two detectives in Colorado, I found them deeply moving in their own way as well.”

However, translating these real people into television characters came with challenges. While Grant stated that those involved in the show were “really fateful to the events of the stories” and “the facts of the case,” when creating and casting the characters “[the producers] did take a lot of creative license” in order to protect both the anonymity of the survivors and the privacy of others involved in the case. For the two detectives, who became Duvall and Rasmussen, Grant picked certain details from the actual women’s lives to integrate into the characters, such as Duvall’s faith and Rasmussen’s love of muscle cars. The rest she invented. When asked if Rasmussen’s iconic gold El Camino was something borrowed from her real-life counterpart, Grant laughed and admitted that actually, “after the show came out she [the detective who inspired Rasmussen’s character] wrote me and said, an El Camino is not a muscle car.”

“If that’s her biggest complaint with the show. I can live with that,” she added. Speaking further about Duvall and Rasmussen’s characters and the adoration they have received from viewers, she said, “I miss them!

And I know how made up they are!”

Continued on page 11

Arts & Living 11

The Amherst Student • November 20, 2019

A Playlist to Accompany Your Thanksgiving Festivities Jack Klein ’20 Staff Writer Picture this: It’s a beautiful fall morning. You’re back at home for Thanksgiving, momentarily avoiding the stresses of college in December by spending time with your family and friends. You’re asleep in bed, cozy under the covers, when your mom walks in and says you have to help cook the Thanksgiving dinner today.

You know the rest of the morning and afternoon will be filled with hard work, but with the reward of a fantastic feast on the horizon, you acquiesce. To get you through the day, you decide to play some music; the task calls for a mix of cozy, soothing tunes for the cooking demands of the day, as well as some lyrically thematic songs, fitting for the holidays on the horizon — cue The Student’s Thanksgiving playlist.

“Gravity” by John Mayer “Gravity” is one of the most timeless leisure songs. Mayer talked about the song in a concert in 2005: “This is the most important song I’ve ever written; it’s a time capsule song

… [It’s] a song about … making sure you still love yourself … making sure you still have your head on, making sure you still say no the way your mom would say no.” The iconic chorus will stay in your head for the rest of the day. Just don’t be surprised if you find your parents slow dancing to this song while you try to whip up those mashed potatoes.

“It Might Be Time” by Tame Impala After “Gravity,” it’s time for some more energy. Kevin Parker, who records as the one-man studio band Tame Impala, continues his recent run of successful singles with “It Might Be Time,” which is slated to feature on his upcoming album “The Slow Rush.” In the song, he wonders whether he’s washed up as both an individual and artist: “It might be time to face it … you ain’t as young as you used to be.” Luckily, you can save this existential crisis for graduation.

“Lost” by Frank Ocean Ocean’s vocals are almost unparalleled, and they keep his fans coming back despite long periods without releasing music. Even with a

recent November song release from Ocean, his 2012 album “Orange” is worth revisiting over and over again.

When he croons the chorus “Lost, lost in the heat of it all / Girl you know you’re lost” over a whimsical synth, it’s difficult not to sing along.

“What a Wonderful World” by Louis Armstrong “I see skies of blue and clouds of white,” croaks Armstrong over a classic ensemble of violins, flutes and guitars. He radiates the positivity and joy of the holiday season, a necessary pick-me-up for when you’re three hours into cooking or an hour into a conversation with that step-uncle who can’t stop talking about his new house.

“Beast of Burden” by The Rolling Stones One of the classic rock behemoth’s most iconic songs, “Beast of Burden” is not too intense for dinner, and some of your relatives might even sing along. The best compliment your cool aunt can give you at this dinner isn’t “Wow, you look great,” but “Is this your music?” “Beast of Burden” will give you a good shot

at DJ recognition with the adults in your life.

“Thanksgiving” by YBN Cordae YBN Cordae talks about one of the most important Thanksgiving rituals: bringing home a significant other home to meet one’s family.

He sets the ideal tone in the chorus: “Thanksgiving ’round the corner, need banana puddin’ / Brought you home to mama even though you said I shouldn’t.” The soulful beat completes the homey mood.

“Chicken Fried” by Zac Brown Band While certainly an appropriate song year-round, Zac Brown sings quite a bit about what he’s thankful for and gives us one of the most important reminders of the season: “It’s funny how it’s the little things in life that mean the most / Not where you live, what you drive or the price tag on your clothes.” It turns out that country music might have a place at your Thanksgiving, after all.

“Beautiful Escape” and “Wake Up This Day” by Tom Misch

Misch’s rise to the mainstream music industry has been well documented, but his earlier works, like these two tracks from “Beat Tape 2,” just as enjoyable, if not more so, as his most recent album “Geography.”

Misch’s vocals and deft guitar work shine in both songs, which establish a relaxed and comforting ambience for dinner or unwinding after a warm, heavy feast.

“Mistletoe” by Justin Bieber Is there a more iconic Bieber song than his middle-school ode to romance? Even the staunchest Bieber haters can’t help enjoying the holiday spirit of “Mistletoe,” and so will you and your family. One of the songs that shot him into the stratosphere of stardom, “Mistletoe” features holiday bells and Bieber’s signature prepubescent warbling. “Mistletoe” is the perfect transition from Thanksgiving into the holiday season.

Hopefully by the time you finish this playlist, you’ll have spent a meaningful evening with friends and family, giving thanks not just for the people in your life but for good music as well.

“Unbelievable” Recognizes Our Culpability in Rape Culture Continued from page 10 No one was more shocked or humbled by the show’s breakout success than Grant, who shared that when the show finished its run, “I knew that we had made a show that I felt was good … but I really didn’t know if there would be an appetite for it, because sexual assault is something that we as a culture spend a lot of energy not talking about.”

Despite the show’s impact, Grant said she tries “very hard not to impose an expectation on what the audience will experience … especially with film or television that feels like they could have an advocacy angle or a teaching angle … What I try to do is just tell the story with as much authenticity, empathy and integrity as possible.”

However, she chose to work on “Unbelievable” because of its potential to breach the gap. “I knew there was a world, there was a gulf of un-

derstanding between people who had experienced sexual assault and people who had not,” she said. “I thought if we could take some of those people who don’t pay attention to [sexual assault] and give them a reason to pay attention, to have them sort of hold the hand of someone who’s going through it and walk through it in their shoes, it might change people and the amount of attention they bring [to the issue]. I just want to make people care,” she added. “That was the intention: trying not to lean too hard on and just tell the story, but if I could make a few more people care, that was something worth getting up for in the morning.”

Grant believes in the power of television and film beyond the ability to simply entertain. “Like any kind of art, [television and film] reflect back human experience to the viewers and give you a way to process what you might be experiencing and ultimately feel a little less alone,” she said.

“There’s a commonality you can experience in the storytelling medium … I think when I was growing up and completely affected by and semi-addicted to movies, it was because they would both show me a world beyond what I was able to see and at the same time validate my own experience …

The movies that rocked me when I was a kid, I felt seen by them and I felt like I was seeing more than I saw in my day-to-day life.”

A major aspect of “Unbelievable” that separates it from a typical crime show is the lack of information about the perpetrator. We witness the various clues and pieces of evidence that lead Duvall and Rasmussen, but we never learn his backstory or much about his personal information, unlike in the original news story.

Despite this absence of information, the show does not feel lacking in any way. We each felt incredibly close to the characters throughout the show, because we only ever know

as much as they do.

Detective Parker is no quintessential villain either. Grant emphasized the importance of capturing particular nuances of his character: “He told Ken Armstrong [the ProPublica reporter] that the day you found out he was wrong was the worst day of his life. I thought, ‘okay, I understand this person.’ He’s a person who did a very bad thing because of both his combination of personal training and the cultural information we have about this issue, or misinformation I should say, that led him to this place that it leads a lot of people to. A simple villain who just doesn’t give a shit about women is boring to me.”

“I thought if I could build character and have the audience say, wow … I can see myself making all those choices and assumptions, that might get us closer to looking at the actual problem of how we perceive sexual assault and huge mistakes we make as a culture,” she added.

“Unbelievable” captures these nuances with tremendous success, and we are reminded of our own vulnerability to being wrong. Through making these characters more real and relatable to us, we are able to care more and as a result, correct our own attitudes toward rape culture.

Because “Unbelievable” is not just another typical crime show, it sheds light on the stories that most need to be heard, the ones that go unseen and the ones that today’s criminal justice system does not make space for.

Through creating these complex and dynamic “textures” with the show’s various characters and relationships, Grant’s “Unbelievable” enables us to recognize our own culpability in rape culture and feel the traumatic, disorienting and untranslatable effects of rape — pushing us to refuse the traditional surface-level portrayals of “the typical victim” in sexual assault cases.

Arts & Living 12

The Amherst Student • November 20, 2019

MAGDALENE Explores Misery and the Divine Feminine Julian Raiford ’21 Staff Writer After spending three years removed from both the music scene and public sphere, U.K.-based singer FKA twigs has returned with her second LP, “MAGDALENE,” which was released on Nov. 8. On its surface, “MAGDALENE” may seem like a break-up album following the singer’s highly publicized split from former fiancé Robert Pattinson. While this is in part true, the heart of the album reveals itself to be a deeper exploration of the divine feminine, spiritual and physical recovery and the disparate character behind the album’s muse, Mary Magdalene.

On its face, “MAGDALENE” fits neatly into a syncopated ideal of what FKA twigs’ experimental R&B career has looked like. However, the album pushes against this label and attempts to settle into a genreless space that is drowning in romanticism and self-reflection. The singer-producer thrashes against industry expectations in refusing to reduce herself to any one sound, moving between waves of echoes, gravelly threats and swelling balladic confessions.

FKA twigs opens the album with “thousand eyes,” which introduces her solemn state of mind to the audience through a meditation on the closing chapter of a relationship. The wreckage of this romantic split becomes the bleak framework through which FKA twigs explores her fears of being a public spectacle who is known only for her shortcomings. The singer painfully ushers in this shift of self-identity by rippling digital distortions against a piano melody, which in turn creates a sense of sinking acceptance of frigidity. FKA twigs’ lacerated vocalizations bleed across her lyrics as she calls out, “If you don’t pull me back, it wakes a thousand eyes … It’s gonna be cold with all those eyes.”

The song creates a sense of internal dissonance as FKA twigs surrenders to her solitude and the public thrusting itself voyeuristically into her life. However, it is important to note that this repulsion by her viewership comes in the form of a direct confession to her audience, signaling a reluctant slipping into martyrdom of her own pain.

From “thousand eyes,” FKA twigs

transitions to “home with you,” an emotional and swelling memory about discovering that the hidden loneliness of her partner reflects her own feelings of emotional separation.

She also uses the track to unveil a complicated medical history that she publicly revealed for the first time on Instagram in May 2018.

The singer took to the platform to write, “I am a very private person as u all know and I have gone back and forth in my mind whether to share that this year I have been recovering from laparoscopic surgery to remove 6 fibroid tumours from my uterus. the tumours were pretty huge, the size of 2 cooking apples, 3 kiwis and a couple of [strawberries]. a fruit bowl of pain everyday.” On the track, FKA twigs reveals that she feels betrayed by her own body and that she longs to return to her home, the place where she knows she should have been all along.

The melancholy of this homeward-facing revelation is followed by “sad day,” which wisely names itself the saddest song of the album as it drags out the lulling pendulum of passion between two lovers who are resigned to the monotony of their daily lives. The track is deftly co-produced by FKA twigs alongside an all-star team including Nicolas Jaar, Benny Blanco and Skrillex.

Interestingly, the melody of the song reifies the sound of the romance’s slow death by returning to the same numbing note again and again in a way that FKA twigs described to i-D — a British magazine dedicated to fashion, art and youth culture — as “neurotic.” She elaborated on this depressing uniformity by clarifying that “It’s asking, in the monotony of your life, would you take a chance on someone for something bigger? Would you take a risk on love and possibly being hurt again?”

FKA twigs furthers the possibility of taking this risk on her track “holy terrain,” which Skrillex and Jack Antonoff produced and rapper Future features on. All-encompassing childish choral chanting echoes and Future’s seductive rap flow pull the listener into “holy terrain,” making it the most party-friendly track of the album. Future’s intro beautifully primes the track for FKA twigs to explore her longing for a man “who can follow his heart and stand up in [her] holy ter-

Photo courtesy of Allure

FKA twigs’ latest album “MAGDALENE” wrestles with her insecurities about being in the public eye and the crippling emotions after a painful break-up. rain.” The song navigates in between FKA twigs’ romantic wish list and religious symbolism, exemplified by Future asking FKA twigs to tithe for him and declaring that he knows that “if you pray for me, I know you play for keeps.” This allows for a warm and alluring introduction to the religious symbolism that accentuates the remainder of the album.

After “holy terrain,” the religious tones become heavier in “mary magdalene,” which is the first revelation of hope in the album. The track finds FKA twigs emerging from a mélange of sadness to discuss a “sacred geometry” that becomes the tools with which FKA twigs dissects her divine feminine knowledge. She likens herself to the muse of the album, Mary Magdalene, while also introducing a more empowering, percussion-heavy sound that flirts with trap elements.

While building the album, FKA twigs was handling several taxing emotional and physical issues and found solace in the image of Mary Magdalene. Within the Bible, Mary Magdalene is a semi-estranged figure at the fringe of the Christian canon as she was both a prostitute and one of the closest friends of Jesus Christ.

She was one of the earliest individuals to take to Jesus’ doctrine and shift

her life away from sinful doings according to his teachings. FKA twigs remarked to i-D on how Mary Magdalene became an unlikely hero for her: “I used to laugh to myself about how, as a woman, your story is often attached to the narrative of a man. No matter what you’re doing or how great your work is, sometimes it’s as though you have to be attached to a man to be validated. And then I started to read about Mary Magdalene and how amazing she was; how she was likely to have been Jesus’s best friend, his confidante. I found a lot of power in the story of Mary Magdalene, a lot of dignity, a lot of grace, a lot of inspiration.”

Despite this revival of inspiration and joy, the energy dissipates in the track “fallen alien” before FKA twigs turns to “mirrored heart,” a familiar-pop ballad reflection on heartache. The track is quite sparse, as a pulse of electronic energy is built up to carry her to the moving confession of the song. She recalls how her partner wasn’t an appropriate match for her, yet it won’t stop her from missing him. The song is evocative of all those who were also once under the illusion of possessing the romantic ideal of mirrored hearts. This nostalgic lamentation drifts into the soft,

dispiriting lullaby of “daybed” which sets the scene for the most stunning and vulnerable track of the album, “cellophane.”

A bruised, haunting piano-ballad that is backed by dispersed beatboxing, “cellophane” rests heavily on FKA twigs’ unbelievable vocal talent.

The song flits between being confessional and divine in wrestling with her insecurities about both the public and her romantic relationship, truly summing up the heart of the album.

Her striking vocals become pining, causing the listener to ache as FKA twigs is undoubtedly about to reach the point of fracturing. She closes the album on the line “They’re waiting and watching and hoping that I’m not enough…” and returns to the emotional landscape that she opened the album with, on “thousand eyes.”

FKA twigs stands alone, cornered by the inescapable scrutiny of her audience. While there is pain in the posture of both “cellophane” and the broader body of work, the listener can sense that there is also the guidance of something divine, not so far away.

FKA twigs delivers the promise of shelter to both herself and the listener in showing that she will never be as alone or as far away from home as she may feel.

Sports Women’s XC Takes 8th, Men’s XC Qualifies for Nationals Kasia Krosniak ’21 Copy Editor The Amherst men and women’s cross country teams went to the New England Championships hosted by Bowdoin College at Pickard Fields this past Saturday on Nov. 16. The men came out in a fourth place finish and the women with an eighth-place finish, both out of 54 teams, allowing the women to improve on their 13th place finish from 2018.

On the women’s side, Sophia Wolmer ’23 crossed the finish line in 22:09.9 for the 6k, breaking her previous personal record by 18 seconds to get 23rd overall, earning All-Region honors. Sarah Gayer ’21 also earned All-Region with a finish of 22:16.7 to place 26th. Her previous

best at Regionals was in 2017 when she came in 97th.

Other notable finishes include Olivia Polishcheck ’21 who placed 42nd with a time of 22:38.5, Jenny Mazzella ’20 who finished with a 6-second personal best of 23:13.2 to come in 89th and Isabella Landry ’23 who ran her best race of the season with a time of 23.15.2, coming in 91st. Rounding out the Amherst harriers, Kristen Ratliff ’20 finished in 96th with a time of 23:22.2 and Mary Kate McGranahan ’23 came in 107th with a time of 23:39.1.

On the men’s side, there were a total of 384 runners in the 8k race, and seven of the Mammoths placed in the top 50.

Three were also in the top 35 and as a result, earned All-Region honors. This included Spencer Fer-

guson-Dryden ’20 who placed 11th with a time of 25:10.6, Billy Massey ’21 in 21st with a time of 25:30.6 and Braxton Schult ’21 in 24th with a time of 25:33.7. This was the first Regionals appearance for both Massey and Schult and both ran strong races.

To round out the rest of the Mammoths, Keon Mazdisnian ’23 crossed the finish line in 25:55.3 to place 39th, Jamie Mazzola ’21 finished in 42nd with a time of 25:58.8, Ajay Sarathy ’21 placed 45th with a time of 26:01.5, and Owen Daily ’22 rounded out the Amherst runners in 46th with a time of 26:03.4.

With a fourth-place finish, the men’s team was able to qualify for NCAA DIII Nationals., The team will travel down to Tom Sawyer State Park in Louisville, Kentucky to

Photo courtesy of Clarus Studios

First year Sophia Wolmer ’23 paced the Amherst women at the Regionals championships this weekend, posting a 23rd-place finish overall and setting a personal record.

Women’s Soccer Ends Season After Defeat to Dickinson Connor Haugh ’21 Managing Sports Editor The women’s soccer team finished the season with a NESCAC Championship but the bitter feeling of an early exit from the NCAA DIII Tournament after the team lost to

Dickinson College, the second-place finishers in the Centennial Conference on Sunday, Nov. 17 The second-round loss follows a dominant 5-0 victory over Maine Maritime Academy in the first round.

The contest opened with the

characteristic tension of a playoff game. Dickinson’s women, to their credit, played to their strengths from the opening whistle. Amherst is a strong team in possession, while the Red Devils were content to sit back and keep ten players in front of the ball.

Photo courtesy of Clarus Studios

Goalkeeper Erica Sanders ’20 made two exemplary saves in the match — including this goal-line grab — against Dickinson, keeping the Mammoths in the game.

Amherst looked to break down this tactic by feeding the ball out wide and using the wide midfielders who play much like wingbacks to cause overlaps. Rubie Hastie ’22 was particularly adept at causing chaos in the left half-space with her partner in crime Sascha Savitsky ’20.

Amherst had seven shots on target in the first thirty minutes, and Dickinson barely had the ball in the Amherst half of the field.

But as the Mammoths realized they needed to be bolder in their attacks, Dickinson had more chances to attack on the counter after an errant Mammoth pass. Back three and defensive midfielder Jordan Bailey ’20 did enough to snuff out these counterattacks.

Then, on one of these counters, Dickinson earned a corner kick, and then a free kick outside the Amherst box. Amherst could manage to get a good clearance on the ensuing cross, and a Red Devil eked the ball across the goal line just as the halftime horn sounded.

Deflated, but not beaten, Amherst continued with the original game plan, which for all intents and

purposes, except the scoreboard, was working effectively.

Dickinson was even more conservative, barely even sending bodies forward and content hoofing the ball to half-field and reorganizing for an Amherst attack.

Amherst continued to pour on the pressure, tallying 17 shots in the second half.

Amherst, it seemed, could not find the smidgen of space necessary to get a shot away. Seven of those 17 second half shots were blocked by Dickinson defenders.

As the clock ticked down, Amherst had several key opportunities, including two excellent chances from set pieces. Natalie Landau ’21 curled a shot above the top right corner of the net, just out of the reach of the goalkeeper. Alexa Juarez ’22 had an excellent, driven chance on a free kick just outside the box, but the Dickinson goalie made a gravity-defying save to keep the Red Devils in the lead.

Unfortunately, Amherst was unable to crack the Dickinson defense, and as the clock expired, so did the Mammoths’ championship hopes.

The Amherst Student • November 20, 2019

Sports 14

Opinion: Elite CDMs Win Premier League Titles

Ben Gilsdorf ’21 Staff Writer

With the 2019-2020 Premier League season almost a third of the way over, enough time has passed to start analyzing some of the key trends in English football. While much attention has already been paid to the role of the fullback, this mostly comes from the meteoric rise of Liverpool’s duo Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson, who have been heralded as the reason for Liverpool’s recent dominance in Europe and England. Instead, I believe the position that is defining this and recent seasons in the Premier League is the central defensive midfielder (CDM).

The CDM role is a challenging one; the player must act as a shield for the defense, closing down opposition attacking players before they reach the final third of a game and dispossessing them of the ball before launching counter-attacks. A good CDM can simultaneously take the load off a team’s defense while helping to generate offensive momentum.

For the past few seasons, the best CDM in the Premier League has un-

doubtedly been French star N’Golo Kanté. After signing with Leicester City for £5.6 million in 2015, Kanté became the lynchpin for the Leicester midfield en route to an improbable Premier League title. After his selection as the Player of the Year for Leicester, Premier League giant Chelsea snapped up Kanté for just over £30 million.

To me, this deal will go down as one of the bargains of the century. In Kanté’s three seasons so far at Chelsea, he has won the Premier League title, the FA Cup and the Europa League; he was chosen as the Premier League Player of the Year in 2017 and played an integral role in the French national team that won the World Cup in 2018. In an era where a decent striker costs over £60 million, to get the best CDM in the world for £30 million is a coup.

Kanté’s work rate, vision with the ball and tackling ability have been so key for Chelsea’s midfield over the past few seasons that teams across the Premier League have been looking for their own Kanté, seeking to emulate that midfield success. Almost all other top clubs in England are playing CDMs that they have

signed within the past two years, a sign that they are looking to replicate Chelsea’s success with Kanté.

Current league leaders Liverpool signed Brazilian CDM Fábio Henrique Tavares, known on the field as Fabinho, in May 2018, only days after losing the UEFA Champions League final to Spanish giant Real Madrid.

Fabinho became a regular starter in Liverpool’s midfield three, and the team finished its next season with the third-highest point total in Premier League history – all by exorcising its 2018 demons to win the 2019 Champions League title. While Liverpool already had an excellent squad, Fabinho was the decisive midfield player it needed to put it over the edge.

Manchester City is another one of the few teams that has also consistently used a CDM effectively, with Brazilian player Fernando Luiz Roza, aka Fernandinho, acting as a defensive stalwart anchoring Manchester City’s midfield over the team’s past few title-winning campaigns.

Leicester City understandably struggled to repeat its excellent form the year after it won the title, but it has since resurged and sits at second place in the Premier League. The

loss of Kanté weakened Leicester’s midfield in 2016 and left its backline beleaguered and exposed. To remedy this, the club signed Nigerian CDM Wilfred Ndidi in 2017, and the midfielder has been instrumental in the club’s rebuild. Ndidi’s league-leading 58 tackles this season is a more impressive feat. Dovetailing with Belgian midfielder Youri Tielemans, Ndidi has helped Leicester hold five clean sheets this season, tied for best in the league.

Other big clubs have also splashed the cash recently on CDMs, notably Tottenham Hotspur with its signing of French CDM Tanguy Ndombele for £55 million in 2019 and Arsenal with its £25 million purchase of Uruguayan midfielder Lucas Torreira after the 2018 World Cup. Manchester United, on the other hand, has struggled, as Serbian CDM Nemanja Matic ages and loses a step, and the club is discovering just how pricey the market for CDM talent has become. The best CDM available over the summer, Spanish midfielder Rodrigo Hernández Cascante signed not with United but with United’s crosstown rivals Manchester City for a club-record £62 million fee. For

Manchester United, its failure to fill the gap at CDM this summer may prove costly for years to come.

Of course, the popularity of the CDM in the Premier League is not without precedent. French CDM Patrick Vieira anchored the midfield of the infamous “Invincibles” Arsenal side that won the 2003–2004 Premier League undefeated.

The idea that the CDM is the most important position in the Premier League might seem counterintuitive in an era with more scoring than ever: three of the league’s top five highest-scoring teams have all played in the last five years. A look at the top four teams, however, shows that each club has invested heavily in a top quality CDM in recent years.

Meanwhile, the typical big clubs that are struggling — Arsenal, Tottenham and Manchester United — are all either lacking a quality CDM or have one they won’t regularly start.

Overall, the versatility and twoway abilities of the dynamic CDM mean that it has become the sine qua non for good teams. I can promise that whoever wins the Premier League this season will have done so behind excellent CDM play.

The Roundup: All The Stuff You Missed This Week Women’s Hockey: The Mammoths kicked off the season with back-to-back duels against Hamilton on Friday and Saturday. Kate Pohl ’23 scored her first goal in purple and white in the first period to open the scoring, and Jillian Mazzocca ’23 put one past the goalie a minute into the second period. Despite the success of these first years, who played in the first and second lines in their inaugural games, Hamilton battled back to win 3-2 in the final 20 minutes of play. On Saturday, Amherst and Hamilton traded goals all afternoon, but a game winner from Mazzocca sent Hamilton packing and the team picked up its first win. The Mammoths will travel to face Middlebury on Friday, Nov. 22 and Saturday, Nov. 23.

Men’s Hockey: To start the season, Amherst squared off against Hamilton on Saturday afternoon. Amherst got off to a flying start, knocking in four goals in the first period and put the game to bed before it even began. Pieter von Steinbergs ’21 had two points, including an impressive short-handed goal late in the first period. Although Hamilton ended up putting two past Giancarlo Ventre ’20, the goaltender made 16 excellent saves in his first start of the season. When the dust settled, the Mammoths emerged victorious, 5-2. Amherst returns to action on Friday when they host the Trinity Bantams at home.

Men’s Squash: The men’s squash team swept Connecticut College in Saturday’s season opener. Amherst lost only two of 29 sets in the 9-0 win. Adam Lichtmacher ’23 dealt with his opponent in straight sets, an impressive performance for the first year on court one, the matchup of each team’s best player. Reggie Brewster ’21 had an impressive 3-0 sweep as well on court six in his season debut. From here, the team will go into a period of intense training before winter break and resume match play during Interterm, in an action-packed January of 12 matches, the first of which is against Yale on Jan. 7 in New Haven.

Women’s Squash: The women’s team performed to expectations in Saturday’s match, giving the Conn College Camels a solid hiding in a season-opening matchup. Amherst allowed just one Camel to score over five points in a set in the entire match, and no Camel claimed a set of her own. Jenna Finkelstein ’20 held her opponent to a single point in two out of three games on court six, an impressive feat in 15-point games. Amherst has one match just before Thanksgiving break on Friday, Nov. 22 against Saint Lawrence University, and then the team will train until the new year, when the majority of their season takes place.

Men’s Basketball: The men’s basketball team opened the season with a dominant victory over the Lasell University Lasers, winning 86-48 behind Eric Sellew’s ’20 game-high 17 points. Amherst led from the opening tip-off and never looked back. The team next plays Elmira College on Friday, Nov. 22.

Women’s Swim & Dive: The Mammoths rolled through their tune-up match against Union College on Sunday Nov. 16 and won every gold medal available in the 15 events of the day. Julia Ruggiero ’21 kicked of the meet by winning the 1000-yard freestyle race, clocking 10 laps all just over a minute in duration. Amherst looks ahead to their next matchup when they face Colby on Saturday, Nov. 23.

Men’s Swim & Dive: The men’s team took home a massive victory over Union College in a warm-up meet to get the season off on the right foot. In diving portions of the meet, Amherst faced no competition from Union, but scored nonetheless. In fact, Amherst swept every podium in the 16-event meet except one. Amherst returns to dual meet action, competing in both swimming and diving, on Saturday when they take on the Colby Mules at home.

The Amherst Student • November 20, 2019

Women’s Basketball Prepares for Title Challenge

Sports 15

Views from Sparrow’s Nest Matt Sparrow ’21 Columnist Matt Sparrow highlights the recent public workout of former NFL quarterback and actvisist Colin Kaepernick as testimony to how the NFL fears Kaepernick and how his attempts to control his own story matter.

Photo courtesy of Clarus Studios

This winter, head coach G.P. Gromacki (shown above) leads another Mammoth squad known for its stifling team defense.

Connor Haugh ’21 Managing Sports Editor Unlike the men’s program, where much is still to be proven, there is a lot of familiarity with the faces leading the women’s basketball team this year. Head coach G.P Gromacki will lead the Mammoths for the 13th year and will look to keep his streak of consecutive NCAA appearances alive. Amherst has made the NCAA tournament in all 12 of Gromacki’s seasons as head coach and won three national championships along the way. After being knocked out in the NCAA Sweet Sixteen a year ago, Gromacki will look to lead his team back to Columbus, Ohio in the quest of winning a third national title in four years.

Amherst returns a pair of NESCAC All-Conference players from a year ago in Maddy Eck ’20 and Hannah Fox ’20. Eck and Fox are both All-American candidates again this year as they head into their senior year season. Fox, a point guard and floor general, has the ability to knock down shots while facilitating the entire offense. Eck is a pure scorer with the ability to finish with both hands and is known for her ability to drive to the basket. Last year, Eck crossed the 1000-point milestone, and Fox begins the year just 34 points away from reaching 1000. It is incredibly rare to have a 1000-point scorer on the team, and this year’s Mammoths squad will likely have two of them.

Cam Hendricks ’20 is the only other senior year on this year’s team.

She has been a two-year starter for the Mammoths and gives the team

versatility on both ends of the floor.

On offense, she is able to shoot from the outside and play in the post. On defense, she is one of the best rebounders and shot blockers on the team. The only other upperclassman on the team is Kate Sullivan ’21. Sullivan will look to provide a spark off the bench for the Mammoths at the guard position.

The sophomore class will likely be key for this year’s team as Jade DuVal ’22, Gabrielle Zaffiro ’22, Courtney Resch ’22, Dani Valdez ’22 and Lauren Pelosi ’22 look to play bigger roles. Resch gives the Mammoths another three-point shooter while DuVal and Valdez provide depth in the front court. Zaffiro and Pelosi will look to provide solid minutes at the guard position. Finally, Amherst will have four first years on the roster in Maggie Shipley ’23, Kailyn Shepherd ’23, Olivia Pachla ’23 and Jada Jones ’23, all of whom will look to make an immediate impact.

The Mammoths kicked off their season on Sunday, Nov. 17 when they hosted New Jersey City University in a non-conference matchup.

Amherst dominated both ends of the floor, and it was not much of a contest with a final score of 80-24. Four Mammoths ended in double figures, with Fox leading the way and scoring 16 points. Zaffiro had 12 points while Shipley and Pachla each chipped in 10.

Amherst is currently the No. 1 ranked team in the country according to D3hoops.com and will be in action again when they host Ithaca College on Saturday, Nov. 23 at 6 p.m. in Lefrak Gymnasium.

The latest twist of the never-ending saga between the NFL and former San Francisco 49ers starting quarterback Colin Kaepernick occurred this past Saturday as Kaepernick worked out — a skills audition that falls short of a formal tryout — at a local Atlanta high school in front of scouts from eight NFL teams.

While 25 teams originally planned to send personnel to watch Kaepernick perform at the Atlanta Falcons’ practice facility, Kaepernick switched the location at the last minute because of a disagreement about the waiver he had to sign. With all of the publicity that surrounded the workout, Kaepernick showed both why he likely won’t ever play a down in the NFL again and why he absolutely deserves to.

Kaepernick’s fight for social justice by kneeling during the national anthem and his subsequent blackballing from the league has been highly publicized, even spilling over into the political scene; President Donald Trump has tweeted multiple times about Kaepernick’s perceived disrespect for the American flag. Despite having led the 49ers to a Super Bowl appearance and putting up numbers that ranked amongst the top half of quarterbacks, Kaepernick hasn’t signed with another team since his release at the end of the 2016 season.

Many players, including Kaepernick’s former teammate and current Carolina Panthers safety Eric Reid, have been outspoken about their support for the disgruntled quarterback and insisted that the only reason he doesn’t have a job in the NFL is due to his protests. Some people around the league felt differently, however, stating that Kaepernick hasn’t found a new home because he isn’t good enough anymore, evidenced by the fact that it had been three years since he had thrown a professional pass. To put the whispers to rest, Kaepernick and his representatives worked with the NFL to

arrange for the workout and set the date for last Saturday.

If everything seemed to be going along a little too smoothly, the events that followed probably didn’t come as too much of a surprise. Just hours before the workout was supposed to begin, word came out that Kaepernick had changed its location and pushed the time back. A statement from Kaepernick’s attorney and agent asserted that the NFL wanted the free agent to sign an unconventional waiver, rejected the injury waiver proposed by Kaepernick’s camp and also wouldn’t allow media into the workout. “From the outset, Mr. Kaepernick requested a legitimate process and from the outset the NFL league office has not provided one … Mr. Kaepernick simply asks for a transparent and open process,” said the statement.

The NFL responded promptly, defending its side of the drama.

“On Wednesday, we sent Colin’s representatives a standard liability waiver based on the waiver used by National Invitational Camp at all NFL Combines and by NFL clubs when trying out free agent players.

At noon today, Colin’s representatives sent a completely rewritten and insufficient waiver.” The organization also expressed disappointment in Kaepernick for not showing up to the workout since a video of the session was planned to be sent to all 32 teams. Although the majority of the scouts couldn’t attend the revised workout because they had to prepare for games the next day, the eight that did make their way to Charles Drew High School were treated to quite the performance.

With about 250 fans in attendance, Kaepernick had a terrific workout throwing to a group of former NFL receivers. The practice was very well- received, with the media members and scouts commenting that he still possesses the deep ball ability that made him one of the

most dangerous quarterbacks in the league, not to mention the great physical shape he has maintained.

The reason for moving the event became apparent: Kaepernick didn’t want the NFL to control the narrative of his workout.

The league could have easily spread rumors about Kaepernick’s lack of preparedness to justify why he isn’t currently signed. By opening it up to the public, Kaepernick left no questions about whether he could still play in the NFL. “I’ve been ready for three years. I’ve been denied for three years. We all know why,” he said to the media after the workout wrapped up. “Y’all been attacked for the last three years. Y’all continued to be attacked. We appreciate what y’all do. We appreciate you being here today. We appreciate the work you do for the people in telling the truth.”

He even addressed representatives from the Chiefs, Eagles and Jets, saying, “When you go back, tell your owners to stop being scared.”

It’s time that a team finally heeds Kaep’s advice. As a Jets fan myself, I can personally attest that Kaepernick is better than at least two quarterbacks that have started a game for the team this season (in regards to the third, Sam Darnold, I’m cautiously optimistic). Kaepernick is undoubtedly better than most backup quarterbacks in the NFL, if not some starters — he proved as much on Saturday. However, the reason he won’t get signed was just as apparent. No team wants to deal with the baggage that Kaepernick carries with him. The amount of press that would follow him signing on to be a backup would be unprecedented. It would be even more so for a starting job. It’s likely that what transpired Saturday made front offices warier of signing him given the craziness surrounding the entire day. Despite his best intentions, Kaepernick’s workout hurt his chances of making an NFL roster more than it helped.

The Amherst Student • November 20, 2019

Sports 16

Men’s Soccer Dominates First Two NCAA Games Jack Dove ’23 Staff Writer

After suffering a loss in the NESCAC semifinals to Middlebury, men’s soccer has rebounded in style to start the NCAA Tournament. After a 6-1 trounce of Thomas College this past Saturday and a 2-0 shutout of No. 25 Ithaca College the next day, the Mammoths are thundering into the NCAA DIII tournament Sweet 16.

Amherst received an at-large bid to the tournament and played its first- and second-round games at Keene State in freezing New Hampshire on Nov. 16 and 17.

In its first match on Saturday, Amherst took on Thomas College, a team that received an automatic bid after its North Atlantic Conference Championship victory over Maine Maritime Academy. Once again, the Mammoths’ offense made a statement and dominated the game, scoring six goals on 28 shots.

After a heavily-contested first 15 minutes, forward Dane Lind ’20 put Amherst on the scoreboard. Outside back Jack O’Brien ’21 played an incisive ball to Lind, who juked one defender and smashed home a goal to make the score 1-0. Soon after, NESCAC player of the year German Giammattei ’22 received an Ada Okorogheye ’23 through ball and poked it in the bottom

GAME SCHE DULE

FRI

right corner to add an insurance tally. Sebastian Derby ’21 made a strong impact on the match, scoring two goals to seal the deal for Amherst. Other notable moments include Declan Sung ’23 and third-string goalkeeper Will Dunne ’20 scoring their first collegiate goals.

Amherst walked off of a chilly Keene State field with a merciless 6-1 victory and a date with the 25th-ranked Ithaca College Bombers the next day. Ithaca, with an undefeated record against ranked opponents and a win over host Keene State, posed a larger threat to the Mammoths team.

Led by goals from Giammattei and Lind, as well as another stellar defensive performance, Amherst defeated the Bombers 2-0. Giammattei scored off of a penalty kick in the 18th minute, and Lind bombed home his goal off of a Derby pass to conclude the scoring in the 35th minute.

The scores upped the attacking duo’s season goal totals to 21 and nine, respectively.

The defense kept the Bombers at bay, anchored by Bernie White ’22, who posted yet another shutout and made four saves. The 2-0 win ended Ithaca’s season and sent the Mammoths home happy and ready for a battle in the Sweet 16.

Men’s soccer takes on Rowan University on Saturday, Nov. 23 at 11 a.m. on Hitchcock Field.

Men’s Basketball vs. Elmira, 6 p.m.

Women’s Squash vs. St. Lawrence, 7 p.m.

SAT

Women’s Hockey @ Middlebury, 7 p.m.

Men’s Cross Country NCAA Championships Louisville, Kentucky, 11 a.m.

Men’s Hockey vs. Trinity, 7 p.m.

Swimming and Diving @ Colby, TBA

Rowan, who beat Salve Regina College and No. 15 Mary Washington College to advance, is 3-0-1 versus ranked teams and received an at-large bid into the tournament.

To preview the rest of the bracket, the winner of Saturday’s contest takes on either Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) or perennial powerhouse Messiah College. RPI eliminated Middlebury in the second round. The other two NESCAC teams survived the first weekend as well. Tufts and Connecticut College both advanced. With wins, the rivals could meet in the quarterfinal round on their side of the bracket on Sunday.

Amherst is chasing history once again; in 2015, the men’s soccer team marched all the way to a National Championship trophy. Similar to this year’s team, the 2015 squad suffered an upset in the NESCAC playoff before rattling off five tournament wins. They vanquished SUNY Morrisville, Lycoming, Trinity, SUNY Oneonta and Loras in the championship.

The 2019 Mammoths must win three games to finish the job and guarantee their spot in the record books. With a potential DIII player of the year in Giammattei, coach of the year in Justin Serpone and the rest of the Mammoths ready to seal the deal, Amherst seems poised to win yet another title.

Photo courtesy of Clarus Studios

Striker German Giammattei ’21 recently earned NESCAC Player of the Year honors with 14 conference goals.

Men’s Soccer NCAA Tournament Rd. 3 vs. Rowan, 11 a.m.

Men’s Basketball Ken Wright Invitational, TBA Women’s Hockey @ Middlebury, 3 p.m.

Men’s Hockey vs. Wesleyan, 3 p.m.

Photo courtesy of Clarus Studios

Women’s Basketball vs. Ithaca, 6 p.m.

Forward Ada Okorogheye ’23 provided an assist in the win over Thomas College in the first round of the NCAA tournament; the London native has provided valuable pace and creativity on the wing for the Mammoths.