Issue 18

THE AMHERST

THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF AMHERST COLLEGE SINCE 1868

STUDENT VOLUME CXLVII, ISSUE 18 l WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2018

Women’s Basketball Wins NESCAC Championship See Sports, Page 9 AMHERSTSTUDENT.AMHERST.EDU

College Releases Strategic Plan to Improve Belonging Emily Young ’20 Staff Writer

Photo courtesy of Alura Chung-Mehdi ’19

In light of another school shooting in Florida on Feb. 14, the Amherst College Police Department distributed handbooks on emergency response and emphasized the importance of preparedness in interviews with The Student.

ACPD Reaffirms Commitment to Safety After Parkland Natalie De Rosa ’21 and Sehee Park ’20 Staff Writers After a gunman opened fire on Feb. 14 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, leaving 17 people dead and several others injured, the massacre in one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history has sparked conversation about ensuring safety at educational institutions.

In an email interview, President Biddy Martin highlighted the importance of safety on campus.

“There is nothing more important to us than the health and safety of students,” she said. “It is very important that our community members take time now, before an emergency happens, to find out about the resources we have available, and how the experts recommend responding to different types of emergencies.”

Following the shooting in Parkland, the Amherst College Police Department (ACPD) sent an email to students regarding campus-wide emergency preparedness. The email also included in-

formation about individual preparedness in the case of active-shooter scenarios, medical emergencies and other urgent situations.

ACPD Chief of Public Safety John Carter encouraged community members to sign up for AC Alert. Through AC Alert, the college can send notifications to personal communication devices and broadcast a banner on all college computers notifying the community if there is an ongoing emergency. “The best way you can protect yourself is to know that something’s going on, so that you even know to take shelter somewhere, or to avoid a certain area,” he said.

He also stressed the “Run, Hide and Fight” method. “If you’re in the area where there’s an active shooter and you can run away, that is absolutely the first thing that you want to do, is to get yourself out of danger,” Carter said. “If you’re in a position where you can’t run away, or running away would put you in more danger, then we want you to hide, and we want to hide behind closed, locked doors.”

“If you can’t run or you can’t hide, you might

have to fight for your safety,” he added. “And that’s something you should consider, it’s something that should be in your mindset.”

The college is prepared for an active-shooter scenario according to Carter. The residence halls have always been locked 24 hours a day, but in the last year, the college has taken steps to place electronic access control on every administrative building on campus as well.

With so many residence halls, administrative buildings and academic buildings on campus, Carter said that expecting people to lock all the doors during an active shooter scenario is “unreasonable.”

Instead, a “police officer with special permissions” would be able to “lock all the exterior doors at once” from any point on campus via a program called Dashboard. It is on the dispatch’s computer so that they “can send out an alert in under a minute” so that students are informed about any emergency situation.

Continued on Page 3

The Amherst College Belonging Committee released the Strategic Plan to Increase Belonging that will be shared with the Amherst community on Wednesday, Feb. 28. The plan was shared with Student Affairs, the Senior Leadership team, the Office of Diversity and Inclusion and the Presidential Task Force on Diversity and Inclusion earlier this month to obtain feedback.

The committee, comprised of Associate Director of Health Education/Mental Health Promotion Jessica Gifford, directors of the Multicultural Resource Center and the Center for Community Engagement, representatives from the Office of Diversity and Inclusion and Student Affairs and students, met over the last year and a half to gather information and create a plan that defines what it means to belong and details its objective to make the campus more inclusive of all identities. Although the plan is now published, the committee still considers it a work in progress.

According to Gifford, the chair of the Belonging Committee, “[i]n the fall of 2016 the Mental Health and Wellness Committee was forming a group to look at ways to increase belonging and community on campus.”

“This effort arose out of concern about student rates of loneliness, and was a follow-up to a series of focus groups we had held to gain a better understanding of issues of belonging, social connection and community at Amherst,” Gifford wrote in an email interview. “At the same time, Student Affairs was in the process of forming several committees to take up the goals outlined in the earlier campuswide strategic plan, and one of these committees was to address belonging. We merged these two groups and have been working on developing this plan since then.”

The plan states that its vision for Amherst is one “where community members are valued and respected for who they are, and that celebrates the unique culture, history and experiences that shape each of us.” Its vision is more than just promoting

Continued on Page 3

Professor Speaks on History of Black Education in Mississippi Emma Swislow ’20 Managing News Editor Crystal Sanders, an associate professor of African-American studies and history at Penn State University, spoke in Paino Lecture Hall on Feb. 21 about the Mississippi Head Start program in 1965 and its effects on the black community. The lecture was the fourth in the Amherst College Education Studies Initiative’s interdisciplinary series.

Sanders studies African-American history, the history of black education and the history of the South. Her research looks at the ways AfricanAmericans fought against oppression in small and everyday ways during the Jim Crow era. Her first book, “A Chance for Change: Head Start and Mississippi’s Black Freedom Struggle,” was published in 2016.

Head Start originated in President Lyndon B. Johnson’s War on Poverty program, which began in 1964, shortly after Johnson took office. The goal of Head Start was to provide low income children with a preschool education so that they were bet-

ter prepared when they entered first grade.

“In 1965, most states don’t have kindergartens,” Sanders said. “Kindergarten is pretty unheard of, so if your parents didn’t have money to pay for kindergarten, you don’t start school until the first grade. Imagine you come from a home where your parents didn’t have any education themselves or didn’t have the time to work with you before the first grade, so you start school behind.”

The program began as an eight-week summer program, but was eventually turned into a yearround program due to its popularity. The Child Development Group of Mississippi (CDGM), founded by a group of black parents, applied for a grant the summer that Head Start began so that it could launch a variety of programs around the state. The group was awarded $1.5 million from the Office of Economic Opportunity and launched 84 centers around the state to run during the summer of 1965.

While the program did teach students basic skills, like how to count and their ABCs, it also

focused on teaching students from a young age how to be active citizens. Much of this came from the fact that black parents were able to create the curriculum that was being taught.

“Perhaps in teaching young people at a young age to get comfortable with being assertive, of being comfortable with speaking up, that will cause them to speak up later in life,” Sanders said. “It will cause them to question ideas and policies and laws that are unjust.”

One unique aspect of CDGM classrooms was that students voted on everything, even down to the color chalk the teacher used that day, according to Sanders.

“This might seem very elementary and superficial, but you’re trying to instill in people from a very young age that you have a right to vote, you have a right to express your opinion,” she said.

CDGM did benefit the students enrolled in the program, but it also helped members of the community who were employed in these programs. Not only were these wages much higher than those of many other jobs in the area, but

CDGM employment also meant freedom from economic intimidation.

Sanders spoke about one employee named Hattie B. Saffold, who had an eighth-grade education, the requirement for CDGM, and worked as a teacher for the program. In September 1965, she decided to send her daughter to the white public school in the area, Durant Elementary School.

Other parents followed suit and filed a petition for their children to go to Durant.

The names of all the parents were printed in the newspaper by white supremacists in an effort to intimidate them. All of the parents took their names off the petition after facing economic intimidation by landlords, bosses and more. Saffold, however, kept her name on the list.

“She says, ‘I’m a Head Start teacher, I don’t work for local white people,’” Sanders said. “Technically I work for the federal government, so what are they going to do to me? My check isn’t coming from down the street, my check is coming

Continued on Page 3

News

Sydney Tate Thoughts on Theses

Feb. 19, 2018 - Feb. 25, 2018

>>Feb. 19, 2018 12:59 p.m., Orchard Street A caller reported a man walking along Orchard Street acting in an unusual manner. The man was not located when police arrived. >>Feb. 20, 2018 4:06 p.m., Greenway Building C An officer and the Fire Department responded to an alarm and found it activated when food burned in a microwave oven. >>Feb. 21, 2018 2:27 p.m., Campus Grounds An officer encountered an underage student drinking an alcoholic beverage outside of Taplin Dorm.

The matter was referred to Student Affairs.

3:33 p.m., Campus Grounds A caller reported three people climbing high up a tree near the Octagon. An officer advised them to stop the activity, which they did.

10:15 p.m., Garman House An officer responded to a complaint of loud music on the third floor and had the volume lowered. >>Feb. 22, 2018 2:35 a.m., Hitchcock Hall While in the building, an officer discovered unattended hard alcohol in a common room. It was disposed of.

4:37 p.m., Garman House Officers investigated a smoke detector sounding on the first floor and discovered it was activated by cooking smoke.

7:59 p.m., Marsh House Officers and the Fire Department responded to an alarm and found it activated when water entered a smoke detector due to a maintenance matter. Facilities was notified. >>Feb. 23, 2018 1:13 a.m., Hitchcock Hall While in the building, an officer discovered unattended alcohol in a common room. It was disposed of.

6:14 p.m., Keefe Campus Center Officers and the Fire Department

responded to an alarm and found it activated when a popcorn machine was used too close to a detector. >>Feb. 24, 2018 1:08 a.m., Seligman House Officers responded to a report that a male exposed himself near Seligman House. Officers checked the area but the man was not located. The Amherst Police Department was also notified.

1:26 a.m., Stearns Dormitory Officers investigated a smoke detector sounding in a third-floor room and discovered it activated when the resident smoked marijuana. The matter was referred to Student Affairs.

1:40 a.m., Stearns Dormitory While investigating a smoke detector sounding in a third-floor room, officers discovered materials used to process and consume marijuana. The items were confiscated, and the matter was referred to Student Affairs.

1:40 a.m., Stearns Dormitory While investigating a smoke detector sounding in a third-floor room, officers discovered alcohol. It was confiscated as the residents were underage. The matter was referred to Student Affairs.

2:29 a.m., Cohan Dormitory A resident reported an unknown male asleep in a first-floor common room. No one was found when an officer investigated.

8:31 a.m., Emily Dickinson House Officers investigated an intrusion alarm and found it was accidentally set off by an employee. >>Feb. 25, 2018 12:13 a.m., Railroad Right of Way A caller reported several people walking along the railroad tracks near the new Science Center. No one was found when an officer investigated.

6:19 a.m., Mayo-Smith House ACPD received information from Student Affairs that a door was found vandalized on the first floor.

Interested in having your voice heard on this campus?

e h t n i Jo ! n o i t c e news s If you want to write for us, email schen20@amherst.edu or eswislow20@amherst.edu.

Department of English

Sydney Tate is an English major. Her creative writing thesis combines poetry and prose to explore the development of her identity. Her thesis advisor is Writer-in-Residence Daniel J. Hall.

Q: What is your thesis about?

A: I am writing a creative writing thesis in English, mostly poetry with a little bit of prose. I am basically writing about my life and how I’ve come into my identity and writing about the different nuances between family dynamics and coming into what it means to be a black woman in America.

Q: When did you start thinking about this?

What inspired you?

A: I started thinking about it in my sophomore class, in a class called Long Poems with Daniel Hall, who is actually my thesis advisor. We were reading a collection of poetry in a book called “Citizen” by Claudia Rankine. She just took a collection of a bunch of microaggressions that were said to her and other people and collected them all into one book about her experience with them, and I kind of got the first, initial idea there, thinking, “Oh, this would be cool to do something like this.” And then I read things like Jamaica Kinkade and just other books also. They all just really inspired me. I think I came [up] with the concrete idea when I was in my Writing Poetry I class, which was also with Daniel during my junior year.

“

Over the weekend, I spend a lot of time writing.

On Saturday, I’ll spend almost all day working on my thesis.

Q: What has been the toughest part of writing a thesis?

A: I think just staying on top of doing my work.

Daniel is very much a “You tell me when you want to turn something in [type of person].” He doesn’t push me as much, so that’s been really hard, to push myself to do the work. But also, just in writing, I’m writing about a lot of tough experiences that I had in the past that I haven’t necessarily dealt with. Just getting that on paper is tough and reading it out loud is even tougher.

Q: Have you shared your thesis with people so far? What has the response been?

A: For our English symposium this year, we had to do a capstone [project] where we had to present for 10 to 15 minutes and I read part of my thesis. Next week, the MRC [Multicultural Resource Center] is doing a series called “The More You Know,” which is about senior projects and capstones, and I’m presenting my thesis there as well. At the capstone, it got very good — I don’t want to say reviews — but people really seemed to like my work and what I was doing. It was really hard to read it to them but I think it paid off in the end.

I am splitting them [my poems] up into four different sections, each section named after a season. It’s basically representing a different time in my life, so the first season is going to be my childhood and so on and so forth.

Q: How has your relationship been with your advisor?

A: It’s really good … I’ve taken a lot of classes with him. We click really well so I am really happy he was able to work with me. He is a writer-in-residence, and this is actually his last year here so I’m really happy that I got him for his last year. We work really, really well together.

Q: What was the timeline for writing your thesis?

A: I started preliminarily over the summer with mostly reading and trying to imitate [the poems], just writing a few ideas down. My thesis is due on the 30th of March so I only have about a month left. Right now, I’m still writing all my poems and then once I get done, which should be probably by the first or second week of March, I am going to edit them. I am splitting them up into four different sections, each section named after a season. It’s basically representing a different time in my life, so the first season is going to be my childhood and so on and so forth. That’s going to be most of what I’m doing during March — organizing and editing.

Q: How have you managed your time?

A: It’s been hard. I’ve taken on a lot my senior year so I’ve dedicated a lot of time to this but I also have classes, I’m in two seminars this semester, and I’m also directing a show and also just job searching in general. It’s been a lot of time management but I figured it out at some point.

I don’t know really how I figured it out. Mostly I work on my thesis in the morning; I’ll get up and write whatever is on my mind, poem-wise.

”

Q: What advice would you give to future thesis writers?

A: Do more work over the summer, for sure, because I slacked off a lot. I think also don’t stress yourself out too much about it because, honestly, that prevented me from doing work because I was so stressed about it. Find some fun in it because you are doing the project because you want to …

It should be something that you are enjoying and having fun in. Don’t be afraid to work with other people. I’m more motivated when I’m with somebody else who is also doing their theses because then we’re like, “Oh, we got to stay focused, we got to keep doing this.”

Q: Have you found a lot of support from other thesis writers?

A: Yeah, for sure, even thesis writers who are not in English. My friend, Bailey, is doing a thesis in chemistry, and I have literally gone to her lab with her and worked while she is working. Even if we’re not doing the same thing, we are both very focused. I’ve also exchanged work with other English writers and we read each other’s stuff and edited. That has been really helpful, for me at least.

—Claire Dennis ’20

The Amherst Student • February 28, 2018

News

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College Distributes Emergency Response Handbooks Following Parkland Continued from Page 1 According to Carter, all the police officers at Amherst College are sworn in by the state and carry appointments as deputy sheriffs. They are armed and carry equipment in police cruisers that can assist in responses to an active shooter.

While ACPD officers are “just a couple of minutes away from anywhere on campus” and will be the first ones to arrive on the scene, local authorities also provide support, Carter said.

The ACPD trains with both the Amherst Police Department and Massachusetts State Police in responding to active shooters. Officers also train with the Town of Amherst Fire Department on how to respond to “mass casualty incidents.”

“We’ve worked together, we’ve planned, we’ve trained together, so we’re well positioned,” Carter said. “It won’t be the first time we’re working together or thinking through one of these scenarios.”

ACPD also worked in coordination with the Office of Communications, the Office of Environmental Health and Safety and the Office of Student Affairs to distribute an Emergency Response Handbook throughout campus residence halls on Feb. 15.

Carter said that the handbooks, which include detailed information on preparedness such as the “Run, Hide and Fight” method, serve as a mode of education and awareness accessible to the student population.

“We wanted to make sure that everybody had something in their hands that was quick and easy to read and that gave just really great concise advice about what to do to keep yourself safe in an emergency,” he said.

While the handbooks were distributed the day

following the shooting in Parkland, Carter notes that developing an emergency preparedness guide has been in the works for some time.

“We had a version of the pamphlet we gave out, but it was not substantial,” he said. “It was just a tri-fold paper, and we didn’t feel that people really held on to it. So we’ve been working on this for a while — we felt that it was substantial and people would hold on to it.”

Alongside the emergency preparedness handbooks, ACPD worked on producing a video detailing what procedures students should follow in an active-shooter scenario. The video, which was first released in 2015, was re-distributed in the wake of the Parkland massacre.

“One thing that we learned was that not everyone in the community knew what they should do in [the case of] an active shooter,” Carter said.

Around the time ACPD began thinking about creating a video about active-shooter scenarios, the FBI released a video titled “The Coming Storm,” meant to teach first responders and law enforcement officials about how to deal with an active shooter situation. ACPD found the video unsuitable for the Amherst community, and decided to work with other campus partners to create its own active shooter preparedness video, which is now available on the ACPD website.

“It’s a little more Amherst-appropriate, it has some very specific information about Amherst College in it,” Carter said. “Again, it’s short, it’s concise and we hope that people would watch it.”

It is imperative, Carter added, for people to report relevant information about possible shooters.

“One of the things that I strongly believe is that when these situations develop, that somebody knows about it, other than the person who’s thinking of coming on campus and shooting,” he said.

Photo courtesy of Alura Chung-Mehdi ’19

According to ACPD Chief John Carter, the college has been working on increasing awareness of emergency preparedness in recent years.

“Someone always seems to know, or there was always a social media posting that someone saw,” he said. “When people see this, we just don’t want them to ignore it.”

Students have the option of providing an anonymous tip to the police department or to the Office of Student Affairs through reporting portals. Students can also speak with a counselor at the Counseling Center.

Once students provide a tip, a threat assessment team comprised of staff members from different offices will determine the severity of the situation and respond accordingly. “If people bring things to us, we can … get ahead of this and prevent something,” Carter stated.

The college is continuing to work on providing measures to ensure campus safety. Recent improvements to emergency preparedness include a campus-wide loudspeaker system and plans to

implement safety training courses during firstyear orientation, Martin said.

Martin emphasized the importance of community action on emergency preparedness.

“Students, staff and faculty can help by reviewing materials about how best to respond in emergencies, taking part in trainings when they are offered, communicating openly with one another and with relevant staff and administrators, promoting a greater sense of community and watching out for one another,” she wrote.

According to Director of Residential Life Andrea Cadyma, Residential Life partners with college subject matter experts “regarding what life safety, health, or physical plant challenges might emerge. As our senior leadership, Chief Carter and his colleagues assemble this expertise and develop the College’s capacity in these areas,” she said.

Crystal Sanders Highlights Effects of Head Start Program in Talk Continued from Page 1 from Washington. This story shows us just how important Head Start is: of having an employer outside of the local white power structure, of no longer being able to control one’s political activity or one’s educational destiny of their kids through employment or any type of economic reprisal.”

Sloan Askins ’20, who attended the talk, found stories like this to be especially impactful.

“I was particularly struck by the overall courage of the CDGM women,” Askins said. “As someone that is interested in education reform and policy, I found it very inspiring to hear about women

who were not particularly educated or knowledgeable about the American education system to be able to make such a tremendous impact on the student’s and the community’s lives.”

News of the program’s success eventually made its way up to Washington. Senator John Stennis, a Democrat from Mississippi, began to voice concern with the state of black education in Mississippi and said that CDGM needed more credentialed educators to manage it properly. Much of this was coded racism, according to Sanders.

Sanders spoke about Stennis’s “fascination” with CDGM and his determination to shut it down. “Stennis begins to call all these committee

hearings,” she said. “There was an appropriations hearing for the entire War on Poverty. It was a seven hour hearing and of that seven hour hearing, four hours are spent on CDGM. Four hours are spent on one Head Start program out of the entire War on Poverty initiative.”

Victoria Zhang ’18, who attended the lecture after hearing about it in her Inequality: Law, Economics, and Social Policy class, felt that Sanders gave concrete examples of what racism looks like within the law.

“The entire talk showed how law’s endogeneity, it’s interpretation through institutions, reconstituted racist policies and practices of the past,”

Zhang said. “It was a clear look at structural racism through specific examples and oral histories.”

CDGM was eventually shut down in 1968, three years after it began. Shriver created a new Head Start program in Mississippi called Mississippi Action for Progress (MAP), which had more stringent requirements for teachers and had a set curriculum that focused on very basic skills.

Sanders, however, does not consider the story of CDGM a sad one. “CDGM ends because it was too successful at doing what it was supposed to do because it upsets the power structure,” Sanders said. “This program worked so well that it had to be killed.”

College Committee Reveals Plans to Address Belonging at Amherst Continued from Page 1 diversity and inclusion as values, but also putting into effect methods that enforce the value of inclusion, the plan said.

The committee defines belonging as “the experience of feeling supported, connected, accepted, respected, valued by and important to, Amherst College, and to individual members of the Amherst community (students, staff and faculty).” It explains that people are more likely to feel as though they belong when they “are valued for who we are as a whole” and that their sense of belonging can be negatively impacted when specific aspects of their identity are attacked. The plan outlines that belonging happens in “four distinct, but overlapping spheres: intellectual/academic, emotion, social and identity.” People may feel as though they belong within a certain sphere of their identity, but at the same time feel like they don’t belong in other spheres.

Although the plan explains what it means to belong, the committee acknowledged that it can be difficult to pinpoint an exact definition because “our understanding is that sense of belonging is fluid, and may change in different contexts and at different times. It is influenced by external circumstances and events as well as internal beliefs.”

According to the plan, promoting a culture of belonging would positively influence students’ academic success as well as student satisfaction

and alumni giving. The plan states that by creating a student body with a strong sense of belonging, alumni will be more likely to donate to the college.

Belonging is especially important in today’s world and at an institution like Amherst, the plan stated, because “students who attend elite institutions may have more difficulty achieving a sense of belonging, as intense academic pressure may contribute to fears that they are not smart or accomplished enough to be ‘worthy’ of their place.”

This “achievement culture” makes students especially conscious of the way they present themselves and makes it harder to feel as though they belong.

The 2016 American Health Association National College Health Assessment found that “30 percent of Amherst students report feeling ‘very lonely’ within the last two weeks, compared to 27 percent of national college reference group.”

Breaking down students into demographic groups, the study found that “43 percent of firstgeneration students felt lonely in the past two weeks compared to 27 percent of non-first generation students.”

The plan put forth by the Belonging Committee comments that while the college is working towards increasing students’ sense of belonging, there are currently resources and initiatives already working towards this goal of inclusion.

According to the plan, students benefit from participating in clubs and sports teams that increase their sense of belonging. The plan also credits the

college’s current resource centers — the Multicultural Resource Center, Queer Resource Center and Women’s and Gender Center — common spaces like Valentine Dining Hall and campuswide activities like the Wellness Fair with promoting a sense of community.

The strategic plan includes a proposal to form a Values Clarification Committee to help oversee the process of identifying three to six “inspiration and aspirational values” that clarify what it means to be a member of the Amherst community and what is expected.

According to the plan, the identification of these three to six values would help “engage community members in conversation about what is most important to them about Amherst.” This process would also “improve mental health and social connectedness” and the plan states that research proves that engaging in conversations about shared values have positive effects for social and emotional health.

The committee also urged the college to create more shared experiences such as “campus traditions, rituals or rites of passage.” Currently, the Mascot Committee is looking into how to develop such experiences.

The plan aims to “increase students’ belonging, engagement and emotional investment in Amherst” by turning students into “co-creators of the Amherst experience”. The committee suggested that students work with community members to

voice their opinions on particular issues or campus concern. It also suggested the implementation of a first-year civic engagement project that would work to remedy a campus-wide problem such as how the college can be more eco-friendly.

Members of the Belonging Committee outlined ways to make the “physical spaces on campus more safe, comfortable and welcoming to improve belonging.” Their suggestions include creating inviting student hang-out spaces, helping orient students, staff and visitors, creating more opportunities for community in the residences such as additional theme houses, making all building accessible within the next 10 years and allowing for “student and professional input” on new buildings and remodeling projects.

The committee noted that in order to build a strong sense of belonging on campus, resources need to be distributed and accessible to all people on an equal basis. They recommended developing a “consistent process for determining space and budget allocations, and be transparent about what this process is.” They also proposed a campus-wide student employment policy and process in order to promote equal opportunity and access.

“I am excited about the plan and about how positively it has been received so far,” Gifford said.

“I firmly believe that if we undertake the work to achieve the goals outlined in the plan, it will have a big impact on student belonging and the strength of our community.”

Opinion Student Activism on Gun Control

THE AMHERST

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

Last week, high schoolers across the country took the issue of gun control into their own hands. They held protests and school walkouts, pressured CNN to hold a town hall with Florida Senator Marco Rubio and compelled several sponsors to drop their ties with the National Rifle Association (NRA). The support the students have received is heartening to see and a welcome change to the general apathy characteristic of gun violence tragedies. Of course, the support is not unanimous, and many high school officials threatened to discipline students if they held protests during school.

Several prestigious colleges and universities responded to this with statements saying they would not consider any disciplinary actions that came from peaceful protests in their admissions process.

University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Boston University are only a few of the schools that released statements. Amherst joined its peer institutions this past Sunday, releasing a statement on its Twitter account. The statement claims that “the Office of Admission, will, as always consider the unique circumstances of any reported disciplinary action related to civic engagement” and further noted that peaceful demonstrations have “never been a reason for a student to be denied admission or to have an offer be rescinded.”

These student protests are crucial to making gun reform a possibility. Student activism has historically been at the forefront of social movements, and not for random reasons, as students hold a unique position in society. For one, high school students are mostly unable to vote, so direct action is the best way for their concerns to be heard. Also, students are significantly less vulnerable to economic threats. If a student’s parent wants to participate in a protest, direct threats (like an employer threatening to fire them) or implicit ones (like missing days from work) could deter them from participating. Students, largely insulated from these types of repercussions, are more capable of protesting

and bringing about change through direct, participatory action. Most important, however, school shootings put student lives in danger, and it is important for them to express their desires for change and their visions of the future.

Another reason student activism is important, especially in regards to the issue of gun violence, is that teachers are legally not allowed to go on strike in most states. Striking is perhaps the most powerful bargaining tool that workers have to ensure that their demands are heard. With suggestions to arm teachers coming from several politicians, including the man serving in the nation’s highest office, student activism is a necessary replacement to voice the concerns of people who cannot go out and picket themselves. In issues where students and teachers stand mostly united, student protest can represent the interests of the educators who have been effectively silenced by law.

Now, why is it important for students that college’s release statements quelling concerns over college admission considerations regarding school discipline?

Well, considering the overwhelming amount of data that shows how earning a degree significantly improves people’s potential income, it is clear that students would be risking a lot if a peaceful protest gets them suspended and either results in a revoked admission or flat-out denial. In short: students also have economic incentives that are being threatened and deterring their activism.

The college’s statement has reaffirmed its commitment to social change, freedom of expression and community impact through students. While the statement came fashionably late to the party, it certainly goes a long way. The statement can be read as tacit approval of gun reform, but if Amherst were to speak out directly on the issue it would show that the college is truly dedicated to its purported goals. Amherst College can and should do more by leading its peer institutions in taking a position on gun reform. Nothing but the “h” is silent, as the saying goes. It is time to live up to this refrain.

On Valentine’s Day, a day that should be filled with love, 17 beautiful children and staff members lost their lives at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida, my home state. When the news notification popped up on my screen, a sense of dread washed over me. To me, Florida is a place of happiness, laughter and sunshine. It’s a place to go and enjoy life. It is not a place where people should be collectively heartbroken on Valentine’s Day. Every time a school shooting happens, we tell ourselves that it will be the last time. When will this country finally learn that nothing will change until we take action? When will our politicians open their eyes and find solutions to this problem? When will enough be enough?

President Trump’s response to the shooting focused on mental health issues rather than confronting the problem head on. In today’s political climate, it is difficult for Republicans to seriously suggest tightening gun control laws, especially when they have received millions of dollars in funding from the National Rifle Association (NRA), like Trump has. Now Trump is tweeting statements like, “So many signs that the Florida shooter was disturbed.” Trump is the one who actually repealed Obama-era regulations that aimed to prevent people with mental health issues from purchasing guns, and now he is claiming that mental health is the root of the problem. In-

stead of blaming mental health problems, let’s look at the legislation in Florida. Why is it that you have to be 21 years old to buy a handgun from a licensed dealer, but you only have to be 18 to buy a semiautomatic rifle? Why can you legally buy an AR-15 before you can legally buy a beer? Why do some private sellers not require a thorough background check?

The FBI had received a tip about the shooter’s suspicious and potentially violent behavior, including his interest attacking the school, but never completed a proper investigation.

The FBI’s inaction shows the United States’ apathy towards gun violence. As a country, we have embraced guns as a part of our culture.

Nearly half of the civilian guns worldwide are owned by Americans. Our constitution protects our right to own guns, and this is an important freedom, but we must not forget how dangerous guns can be in the wrong hands. Gun threats need to be taken seriously by both civilians and our government, and we must act to instate tougher restrictions. We must enforce a mandatory background check.

We must ban bump stocks. We must raise the minimum age required to purchase an AR-15 and other similar weapons.

The students from Stoneman Douglas High School are taking action. They are speaking out and standing up against our country’s apathy towards gun violence. The students travelled to Tallahassee, Florida’s capital, and met with about 70 elected officials, urging these politicians to take action before the legislative session ends in about two weeks. One day, our

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The Future of Gun Violence Hayley Fleming ’21 Staff Writer

Editors-in-Chief Nate Quigley Isabel Tessier Executive Adviser Jingwen Zhang Managing News Shawna Chen Emma Swislow Managing Opinion Kelly Chian Daniel Delgado Managing Arts and Living Olivia Gieger Seoyeon Kim Managing Sports Connor Haugh Henry Newton Julia Turner Managing Design Justin Barry

generation will become members of Congress, but I hope it won’t take that long for these students’ ideas to be heard and realized.

Florida Senator Marco Rubio claims that imposing harsher restrictions on guns will not prevent people who want guns from purchasing them. These people, he claims, will find other ways to get their hands on guns. By this logic, there is no point in having any laws at all. While people may break laws, it is still important for us to have laws so that we can regulate and punish actions as much as possible. To his credit, Senator Rubio did recently come out in support of raising the age to buy rifles, reconsidering the legal size of gun magazines and implementing a new gun violence restraining order system. These are certainly steps in the right direction, but more significant progress still needs to be made.

One morning when I was a senior in high school, my school went on lockdown. I realized it wasn’t a drill when we had to turn off all the lights and hide in the corners of the room for an hour. No one had any idea what was going on, but we were instructed not to speak or move. It was not until later that day that we found out there was an active shooter situation nearby, and authorities had thought the man might be coming near the school. While I wasn’t in any immediate danger, I caught a glimpse of what it’s like to feel unsafe in your own school. No child should ever have to experience that. We must change our ways before more innocent lives are lost as a result of our inaction.

The Amherst Student is published weekly except during college vacations. The subscription rate is $75 per year or $40 per semester. Subscription requests and address changes should be sent to: Subscriptions, The Amherst Student Box 2291, Amherst College Amherst, MA 01002-5000 The offices of The Amherst Student are located in the basement of Morrow Dormitory, Amherst College. All contents copyright © 2017 by The Amherst Student, Inc. All rights reserved. The Amherst Student logo is a trademark of The Amherst Student, Inc. Additionally, The Amherst Student does not discriminate on the basis of gender, race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation or age. The views expressed in this publication do not reflect the views of The Amherst Student.

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The Amherst Student • February 28, 2018

Opinion

5

The Difficulty of Productivity and The Virtue of Laziness John Kim ’20 Staff Writer Sometimes, the thing that gets you out of bed isn’t the hearty aroma of coffee and breakfast food or the refreshing splash of sunlight in your face, but the dreadful realization of how much work you have. Our self-imposed pressure to stay productive keeps life moving at a bustling pace that’s well-suited to the mammoth expectations of an elite institution like Amherst.

A tacitly endorsed virtue at Amherst, and our society at large, is that doing more is always a good thing. Life is short, they say, and our time at Amherst, even shorter. Completing assignments and maintaining grades

are obvious must, but the extent to which extracurricular activities and non-academic interests are emphasized in resumes and job applications suggests that this generation is expected to be more efficient than ever.

Seriously, when did hobbies become so centered on self-improvement? Reading, jogging, painting — the spectrum of “valuable” and “time-well-spent” hobbies is mind-bogglingly large. In the meantime, purportedly “brain-dead” hobbies such as video games and Youtube marathons are seen as distractions. With the pressure to always maximize the time we spend, we’ve developed a habit of scrutinizing those very things that help us forget the arduous hours we spend toiling away. A hobby is no longer something we can

just do without considering what we’ll get out of it. Society demands to know exactly how our time spent doing “nothing” can still somehow contribute to learning a skill or improving our lives.

I’m no psychologist, but I can personally attest to how feeling pressured to make the most out of your time can sometimes devolve into a toxic sense of inadequacy. You inevitably begin to form unhealthy notions of who you are, or at least on your worldview of life, if you always think the hours you spend not working are “unproductive.” I love those unrecorded and unmarketable hours where I chat away with friends about politics, race, education and a host of other personal matters. At no point in the conversation am I

caught up in how productive our talk is, because thinking about it in such terms really misses the point. It doesn’t matter what I’m getting out of the conversation. The true gem of it all is that I get to spend my time according to what my heart tells me and not feel bad about it.

Even as I’m writing this, I can see how someone can chalk this up as the disaffected ramblings of an overworked college student.

And such a description isn’t far from the truth either. All I’d like you, as my precious reader, to understand is that it’s a myth to believe that there’s a strong correlation between happiness and how much time you spend being productive. Nevertheless, cheers to a fruitful week.

If I May: Going To Concerts Alone Jake May ’19 Columnist In general, my music taste does not align well with that of my peers. Primarily, I enjoy a category of music known to many as “jamrock,” wherein bands improvise long passages of music. These jams can be wandering, dissonant and altogether weird; it is no surprise that they are not everyone’s cup of tea. This is to say that often, when I am in a position to see one of my favorite bands live in concert, I don’t believe that any of my friends will enjoy the show enough to warrant attending with me. However, due to my deep love of (and probable obsession over) many of these jambands, I have insisted on attending the shows anyway, without a companion. At first, I was apprehensive about going to a show alone; I thought I’d have no one with whom I could share the surprises, joys and excitements of

a live concert. It is true that going to a show with someone is a wonderful experience; I’d always prefer to attend with a friend if I can.

However, sometimes going to a concert (or any sort of entertainment) alone makes for a calming experience.

This past week has been a stressful one for me. In addition to my normal course load, I’ve also been dealing with my summer plans and participating in the layout of a campus publication. So, in other words, I had a normal week for an Amherst student. Normally, like many students here, my stress relief on the weekend might be a night out with friends.

This past Saturday, however, I instead drove an hour and a half to West Dover, Vermont to see a band — called “The Breakfast” — alone.

As I drove away from my friends in Amherst and toward a sea of people I knew I wouldn’t recognize in Vermont, I’ll admit I felt some regret. “What if tonight is, like, the only good

night at Amherst this whole semester, and I miss it?” I thought (foolishly, as obviously no weekend night at Amherst is ever “good”).

I was already halfway there at that point, so there was no turning back.

Once I arrived in West Dover, any doubt in my decision had vanished. The venue was an old bar at the base of Mount Snow with large, cabin-esque wood framing, which gave the whole experience a rugged, outdoorsy vibe. As I was waiting in line to get inside, a man exited carrying a pizza box. He stopped at me and opened the box, revealing a full pepperoni pizza. “I was just given this pizza for free,” he told me. “Do you want a slice?”

Wow. What a good omen. I gladly took a slice and wolfed it down before going in. (You might say it is irresponsible to accept food from a stranger, and I might say that you’re right. But I also might say that I will never turn down free pizza.)

I got inside just minutes before the band took the stage, which, when you’re alone with no one to talk to and can’t drink because you have to drive an hour and half back to Amherst, is ideal timing. Once the band began to play, I remembered why I loved attending concerts alone so much. While it is certainly nice to share a concert experience with a friend, there is something about being alone, silently enjoying and absorbing the music that makes me feel calm, at peace. About halfway through the concert, I realized I had barely spoken a word since being inside the venue (and if you know me, you’d understand the significance of me not talking for so long). It is liberating to not have any obligations while at a show; for me, it felt like a form of meditation. So, if there is a concert that you’d like to attend but can’t find a friend to go along with you, consider attending alone.

Princess Shuri: The Hero We Needed Campbell Hannan ’21 Staff Writer When I was growing up, my hero was Hermione Granger. She was a young woman notable not for her head-turning looks, but for her outstanding mind. Intelligence and bravery were her defining characteristics. She was the brightest in the class and relentlessly teased for her eagerness, but she was proud of her brain. Reading about Hermione’s comingof-age in terms of intellectual and emotional instead of physical maturation gave me a hero to look up to who cared about the same things I did. I desired to be intelligent first, beautiful second because of Hermione. She shared my values, she shared my motivations, and therefore she inspired me.

This month, we got a new, brilliantly brave on-screen woman to look up to: Princess Shuri of Wakanda. Shuri is the Black Panther’s 16-year-old sister and the mastermind behind all of the extremely advanced, vibranium-based Wakanda tech that is miles ahead

of anything the other Marvel geniuses could have ever even imagined. The energy-absorbent suits, remotely-piloted cars and 3-D holograph communicators are all her design.

But beyond her intelligence, Shuri is courageous. Instead of hiding away in her lab, she plays a vital role in the actual execution of the missions she supplies. Whether it be driving the getaway car, healing the “broken white boy” or fighting fully-grown rebels hand-tohand, she breaks every mold of what a hero’s younger sister has always been. She’s a young, intelligent, strong-willed, brave and heroic character all by herself.

While the millions of young fans that will inevitably see this movie will hopefully appreciate Shuri’s genius and relevance, it is the young black girls who have never had a comparable role model to whom she really matters. They’ll see that though Shuri is a beautiful girl, it is not her looks that make her special; it is her uniquely brilliant mind.

They’ll see her appreciated for that mind and for her courage to use it for good. They’ll

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see her unapologetic and proud, but not ostentatious about her intellectual superiority. Any addition we can make to the lineup of on-screen female role models, especially those representing minorities so infrequently shown in such uniquely powerful roles, can help reinforce the notion that girls are powerful, intelligent and fearless.

As someone who has always loved books and movies, it was not terribly hard for me to find an epically inspiring female role model growing up, simply because of the sheer amount of media that I devoured. But what elevating a Shuri-type character to the largescale role she plays will do is similarly elevate the people she represents, instead of burying them deep into peripheral characters. Shuri isn’t just a sidekick, a best friend or comic relief (though her one-liners are definitely a highlight of her character) — she’s her own, individually important character.

The importance of representation in media cannot be understated. For too long the heroes children had to look up to were the

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James Bonds and the Indiana Joneses of the cinematic universe. Recently, female heroes have been creeping on to screen (i.e. Wonder Woman, Rey, the female Ghostbusters), but “Black Panther” brought new representation to people of color. In her article for Vanity Fair, Johanna Robinson wrote, “After a packed advance screening of Black Panther in Los Angeles last week, two young boys went bounding ahead of the crowd leaping for joy and punching the warm night air. They weren’t pretending to be Black Panther, or even another Wakandan warrior. They were pretending to be Shuri.” Shuri is exactly the hero we need, and she’s exactly the hero that everyone wants. What these boys recognize is the enviable power of a young, female hero.

And though it is the young women who may be able to more intimately see themselves reflected in Shuri, she provides an example for all young people for just what power they possess. The realm of representation on screen is only expanding and thus is bringing new meaning to what it means to be a hero.

If you want to write for us, email kchian20@amherst.edu

Arts&Living

Looking Towards LitFest: Peter Kimani on Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o

Hildi Gabel ’21 Contributing Writer Amherst’s literary festival is upon us once again. From March 1-3, literary figures — including winners of and finalists for the National Book Award — will convene on campus to hold discussions and readings. This year’s program will be capped by the event “Ngũgĩ@80: This Time Tomorrow,” which will feature a reading from renowned writer Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, followed by a Q&A led by Amherst’s Peter Kimani, a visiting writer and professor at the college.

Thiong’o, a native of Kenya, has been at the forefront of exploring Kenyan postcolonial society and identity throughout his monumental career. Some of his most prominent works include the novels “Weep Not, Child” and “Petals of Blood,” while his various different styles of writing — fiction, essay and play — have made him a Nobel favorite for a decade. This visit is a return for Thiong’o, who worked as the visiting distinguished professor of English and African literature for the Five Colleges in 1991. Kimani, a Kenyan writer himself, who has earned acclaim as a novelist, poet and journalist, has been inspired by Thiong’o both as a friend and a writer.

LitFest, in Kimani’s words, is “a celebration of the full-fledged potential of writing and a reflection of diversity in experience and thought.” The presenters at LitFest represent a broad range of genres and backgrounds, and include noted figures such as Thiong’o, Amherst professor and National Book Award winner Masha Gessen, who has written extensively about Russian politics, and acclaimed writer Junot Díaz, who has roots in both the United States and the Dominican Republic.

As Kimani states, “All these writers coming together forms a compelling voice that we hope people will remember and carry on in those conversations beyond the festival.” For his Q&A session with Thiong’o, Kimani plans to both paint a retrospective for Thiong’o’s career and look forward to what is next.

Thiong’o’s life is ripe for reflection; at age 80, he has much to talk about from his prolific and incredibly influential career, and for the past few years, he has also been followed for the making of an upcoming documentary featuring his work and conversations.

Having been exiled from Kenya for two decades and lived outside the country for

nearly the past three, a prominent theme during this pivotal time in Thiong’o’s life was the concept of home. In a 1970 play by Thiong’o, “This Time Tomorrow,” a woman who has just lost her home due to gentrification in Nairobi ponders, “Where shall I be at this time tomorrow?” To Kimani, this play seems to parallel Thiong’o’s current situation, as he looks ahead to envision the future life of his works. Where is home to Thiong’o, and how can he define it? What are his plans moving forward? What does he think following generations will take from his legacy, and how may they build upon it?

Kimani first met Thiong’o when he sat on Kimani’s doctoral thesis committee, and Thiong’o has since become a “professional mentor” and friend. However, Thiong’o’s influence on Kimani stems back to his adolescence, when Kimani first read Thiong’o’s novel “Weep Not, Child.” Having primarily read books by Western authors, Thiong’o’s work was liberating in its reflection of Kimani’s own experience and surroundings onto the page. Such an experience represents the power of fiction to synthesize the political with the personal into an inseparable, communicable entity.

Kimani cites Thiong’o as one of the reasons he eventually became a writer. “It was thanks to him, and to Chinua Achebe afterwards, that I became convinced that I too could tell a story; because they did,” he said.

Kimani is one of the many LitFest participants who has written directly about politics in both fiction and nonfiction works. His latest novel, “Dance of the Jakaranda,” confronts Kenyan history under the British occupation by focusing on a young Kenyan of Indian descent. In the text, Kimani delves into themes of racial and ethnic ambiguities that still exist in current society. He ultimately uses “aspects of human love to tell this story that is very political.”

However, for Kimani, “every piece of writing is an act of politics.” The act of writing —putting consciousness into a permanent and communicable form — always has political implications, even when they are not fully realized.

Kimani sees choice of language as one of the most pertinent political aspects of writing; in fact, Thiong’o made the decision in 1977 to write fiction works in his native Gikuyu instead of English. Summarizing the

argument of Thiong’o’s essay collection “Decolonizing the Mind,” Kimani said that “language conveys culture, and this culture is negotiated by the language of the oppressor, because English, in part of the world, is not a natural phenomenon, it was implanted within those countries by force.”

Kimani described that Thiong’o’s choice to write in Gikuyu “was a political decision to renounce a language that he saw as a per-

petuation of the history that he was resisting.”

This act encompasses Thiong’o’s legacy: the manifestation of the written word into life itself. It is a legacy present in his work today, one that has inspired in countless others and one which LitFest will seek to nurture and expand this coming weekend.

The event featuring Thiong’o and Kimani will be held on March 3 from 3:30-5 p.m. in Johnson Chapel.

Photo courtesy of Julia Shea ‘21

Peter Kimani will interview author Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o at LitFest this weekend.

The Amherst Student • February 28, 2018

Arts & Living 7

Arts @ Amherst Generates Student Interest in Campus Creativity Seoyeon Kim ’21 Managing Arts and Living Editor Arts @ Amherst Advocates is a student group that gathers student artists together to network and collaborate, while also spreading awareness about arts events happening on our campus. The club meets Wednesdays at 8 p.m. in Webster 2.

Arts Coordinator for the Arts at Amherst Initiative Lauren Horn ’17 is the head of the club. When we met, she had just come from settling two guest artists in at Marsh House.

The arts have always been a part of Horn’s life “in some way or another,” whether it be dancing, which she’s done since she was three years old, attending jazz concerts or just “lov[ing] making things.”

She described art as an outlet for both her own and others’ emotions. For Horn, the cyclical nature of art — the morphing of it from the viewpoint of a consumer to a producer to an advocate — is what makes art special.

It was not Horn, but a previous student, Ian Stahl ’14, who created the club back in 2013. His goal was to help strengthen the arts community and foster collaboration between different departments of art. When Horn was approached by Stahl to join the club, she thought of it as “a really good way to get people together and to rouse enthusiasm for the arts.” She was immediately in, joining the club as the dance liaison.

When pressed further about what she feels is lacking in the arts scene at Amherst, Horn spoke strongly about how it’s all about just

“trying to get people to care more.” club was not to “spearhead” or take total conHer biggest focus in addressing this is- trol, but to be there to support Amherst’s artsue is “figuring out what students are inter- ists. ested in.” She feels that garnering public inShe said, “I want students to get to know terest is key when planning and scheduling and feel out what they want, to find out what events. This is where Arts @ Amherst Advo- it is that students are actually complaining cates comes in. Horn describes her process about on campus, because I feel like everyone as “bounc[ing] ideas” off of a small group of complains about something. And well, if you people, discussing potential events and gaug- complain to me, maybe I can do something ing public reaction. about it, you know?”

The main goal Although Arts for the club is @ Amherst Advoto boost student cates is just returninterest in art ing from a two-year Arts @ Amherst Advocates events. For the hiatus and is now allows student artists on future, its goals more in the proare to make arts cess of rebuilding the campus to have a ‘safe events sound and getting people space … and form those just as interestinterested in its ing as, for examconnections and collaborate mission, Horn had ple, an AC Afclear with people …who you never extremely ter Dark event. goals about what knew were making art on Horn expressed the ideal arts scene that there really at Amherst would campus.’ is “event comlook like from her petition” on the perspective.

Amherst campus, “I think what I where there are over 100 student organiza- really want is for people not to be afraid to go tions and not enough students that want to to arts events by themselves because I think attend a variety of events. … we get into this pack mentality. People will Moreover, Arts @ Amherst Advocates al- only go to events if their friends are going, or lows student artists on the campus to have a if there’s a lot of people going, or if it’s known “safe space … and form those connections as ‘cool’ and they can gain some sort of social and collaborate with people … who you never capital from going to it,” she said. knew were making art on campus,” said Horn.

Horn expressed discontent over how She stressed the point that her role in the “people tend to dismiss events that don’t fit

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into this packaged idea of what they think art should be” and will choose to go to events which fit their already-established “aesthetic,” refusing to venture out of their comfort zones.

She spoke of the importance of trying new things, how “sometimes it helps to see things you don’t like, and it helps you to find choices in your making and consuming of art too … ideally everyone … just go[es] for it. And they make new connections, meet new people, and just come out of their rooms!”

Lauren hopes that students, especially the recluse artists on campus who are reluctant to show their art or talk about it, know that they could come to Arts @ Amherst to find an accepting community of fellow artists and be proud of their work.

Perhaps in order for individuals to be more adventurous as artists, there needs to be a more general change in our attitude as students, in our willingness to learn from the unknown.

“A lot of students on campus have a clear directive mentality,” Lauren described, when they go to events thinking “I’m here for this exactly, this specifically … I’ll get that and then I’ll leave.” Because students often can’t figure out what exactly they hope to get from the more out-of-the-ordinary arts events, they’ll choose not to go instead.

“Even with homework, we know what we’re going to get out of it,” Lauren went on “And I think, trying to get out of that mentality would be helpful. But that’s a larger change.”

Bluestockings To Host Single Group A Capella Concert This Friday Olivia Gieger ’21 Managing Arts and Living Editor After a semester of joint concerts and openers, Amherst’s a capella group, The Bluestockings, will take the stage in its own show on Friday, March 2 at 6 p.m. in the Morris Pratt Ballroom.

Having their own show means group members will have the time to perform more songs and debut new arrangements. New songs The Bluestockings will sing include “Heaven” by John Legend, “Rich Girl” by Hall & Oates and “Yesterday” by the Beatles.

For Bluestockings bass singer Devyn Prieto ’21, “Yesterday” is one of the parts of the upcoming performance that she is most looking forward to. “The arrangement is really, really beautiful,” she said. “The Bluestockings have never done it before. It’s a completely new arrangement to us. It’s all in unison. It’s a very cool interpretation of the song.”

She explained that often singers will reuse arrangements the group had done in the past but are still new to the particular collections of students in the group at a given time. That is not the case with “Yesterday,” though, as a current member, Mia Nicholson ’20, brought the arrangement to the group from her past a capella experiences.

In addition to the new songs, The Bluestockings will bring back old favorites, including TLC’s “Waterfalls” and their signature “Blue.”

“I’m excited to sing [‘Blue’], just because it’s one of my favorite songs to sing, and we haven’t had the chance to do that in a while. It’s so much fun to sing,” Prieto added, showing an ability to celebrate the old just as much as the new.

Coming together on stage gives The Bluestockings the opportunity to deepen their already deep bonds. “I love The Bluestockings.

They’re very welcoming, everyone is fun and kind. The second I joined, it was like I was already like a part of the family. We are very close in general,” Prieto said, explaining how the group spends time together beyond rehearsal, hanging out and sharing meals.

Prieto added that this closeness also helps the quality of the group’s music and performance.

“Because we are all so close and we all enjoy each other’s company a lot, rehearsal is fun; we like to go to rehearsal,” she said.

Regarding the group’s bond, Prieto added, “We all really like to sing, and we all enjoy each other’s company, so we really have fun when we actually practice the music, so it’s not like a chore for us. I think that definitely makes it better. It makes you want to practice it and to work on it.”

CORNELL BROOKS

The Hermenia T. Gardner

Photo courtesy of Audrey Cheng ‘20

Anna Van der Linden ‘20 and The Bluestockings perform at their holiday concert.

Bi-Semester Worship Series Sunday, Mar. 4, 1 p.m.

Johnson Chapel Amherst College

The Amherst Student • February 28, 2018

Arts & Living 8

Green Room Seniors Self-Script Musical Performance in 12 Hours

Photo courtesy of Paola Garcia-Prieto ‘18

The cast of six seniors, all affiliated with The Green Room theater group, spent Saturday crafting a musical featuring improv and favorite musical theater songs.

Paola Garcia-Prieto ’18 Arts and Living Adviser At 7 a.m. on Saturday morning, six sleepy seniors, myself included, met in the Friedman Room where we would spend the next 12 hours creating an original show from nothing. We were all seniors and members of the student theater club The Green Room, who had wanted to commemorate our time in the club the way a capella groups or sports teams do through senior shows and senior games; we decided to have a “Senior Show” of our own.

Instead of doing a scripted play, as the club usually does, we decided to develop our own play in 12 hours, a variation of the “24hour play” done by other college and professional theater groups. In these plays, the actors come together and work for 24 — or, as in this case, 12 — hours to create a completely original show.

To add an extra challenge, we decided to make the play a musical, in commemoration of the theater club, Rhythm and Shoes (R&S), which many of us had been members of before the club dissolved last year.

To create this musical, we adopted the R&S format, in which members present songs from musical theater and popular culture they would like to perform. The leaders then choose which songs will be in the show and begin to write a script that fits around those songs. This type of musical theater is referred to as a “jukebox musical,” which is a

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show or movie that uses previously released songs as its score (“Mamma Mia” is a jukebox musical).

While Rhythm and Shoes usually spent a whole semester writing, casting and rehearsing its mostly original musical, we challenged ourselves to condense the process, leaving only one to two hours for each part.

We decided that the songs would be lipsynced rather than actually sung, and the scenes would be mostly improvised instead of scripted, given the short time frame we had to work with. Writing team leader Frank Tavares ’19E said, “This was a really silly and fun way to celebrate Green Room, and all of the work we’ve put into it over the last few years. I hope it’s a tradition that future seniors in the group decide to keep alive, whether they do a musical or something else.”

What ensued was a whirlwind day, during which our team created a murder mystery plot that fit around the songs chosen, which included musical theater songs such as “Cabin in the Woods” from “Evil Dead: The Musical” and “Why are all the D’ysquiths Dying” from “A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder,” as well as less traditional musical songs, such as “Work it Out” from “High School Musical 2” and “Friendtopia” from the musical TV series “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.” The plot centered around an a capella retreat in a cabin in the woods where the newly formed Five College a capella group (Fcags for short) met their rival group, the D’ysquiths. When the D’ysquiths mysteriously begin to die, the

Fcags try to work out the mystery only to discover the female members of their group were the ones guilty of plotting these murders all along. The 30-minute musical ended with the three women singing about their plan to take over the world (“Friendtopia”).

We had our plot figured out by 10:30 a.m. and immediately began to work on blocking and choreography. We actually learned the movie choreography from “High School Musical 2” for “Work it Out,” and then created original moves for the rest of the songs.

While the process was challenging, the tight time limit eliminated the pressure to make things perfect.

As David Green ’19E noted, “In an environment like Amherst, where we are constantly focused on the professionalism of the final product, it was an absolute delight to reserve a full day for lighthearted hard work amongst friends, with little pressure to produce a polished product. The show ended up immensely fun to both perform in and watch — apparent from the raucous audience laughter — and looking back, it warmed my heart to know that in such a pressure-cooker of a school, we had accomplished the rare feat of mixing a stress-free process with an enjoyable performance.”

Technical director Sophina Flores ’20 and producer Michelle Han ’20 worked on the technical aspects of the show and brought lunch for the seniors so that we could rehearse nonstop.

Our group rehearsed the complete show a

total of three times before the house opened at 7 p.m.

The performance was attended by a total of 10 people who laughed as we struggled to remember plot points and choreography. By the end of the show, we were flushed with adrenaline and bowed to the amused yet confused audience.

Audience member Stuart Robbins ’20 said, “Seeing all my senior Green Room friends put together a show within 12 hours was the highlight of my weekend. I’m so glad they have this fun tradition to finish out their musical theater experience on campus with a bang.”

Afterwards, we celebrated our accomplishment and friendship by ordering a pizza and falling asleep by midnight. Founder of the Green Room and director of the show Michael Barnett ’18 said, “it was a very fun show that brought my experiences in student-run theater at Amherst full-circle. But I am still sore today!”

The following morning at breakfast we complained about our sore muscles, but agreed that this untitled show was one of the best experiences we’d had at Amherst.

Even first-time actress Andrea Sanchez ’18 enjoyed the process. “While I’ve done little things for the Green Room, like designing posters and taking pictures, I never took on an acting role. This actually was my very first time acting at all. It was a great debut, and I definitely had fun with all of my friends, but I’m ready to retire.”

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

National Book Awards on Campus: A Conversation with 2017 Finalists Carmen Maria Machado and Min Jin Lee @ Johnson Chapel, 7:30-9 p.m.

An Evening with Junot Diaz @ Johnson Chapel, 7:30-9 p.m.

Writing in America: Masha Gessen and Keith Gessen @ Johnson Chapel, 1-2:30 p.m.

Ngugi@80: This Time Tomorrow, with Ngugi wa Thiong’o @ Johnson Chapel, 3:30-5 p.m.

The Amherst Student • February 28, 2018

Sports 9

Women’s Basketball Wins Third Consecutive NESCAC Tournament

Photo courtesy of Clarus Studios

The women’s basketball team poses after securing its third consecutive NESCAC championship, marking Amherst’s 60th win in a row.

Kelly Karczwesci ’18 Staff Writer The Amherst women’s basketball team clinched its third consecutive NESCAC tournament championship this weekend, after crushing Wesleyan on Saturday and ekeing out a title game victory over Tufts the following afternoon.

The win over Tufts doubled as Amherst’s 60th consecutive win over the past two seasons, while senior Hannah Hackley tallied her 1000th career point in an 11-point effort against the Cardinals.

In the semifinal matchup at LeFrak Gymnasium, the Mammoths had no trouble with the Wesleyan offense, holding the underdogs to a 17 percent shooting mark from the field and overpowering the boards.

Senior Jackie Nagle was dominant down low, tallying seven blocks and snatching seven rebounds.

She and Madeline Eck ’20 also had the shooter’s touch — both put up a team-high 12 points in the win.

Hackley found the 1,000-point mark in the second quarter, giving Amherst a mental push for the next 10 minutes.

The Mammoths were able to burst out the gates after halftime and start the third quarter with a 12-3 run to extend the lead over the visitors.

The game remained a rout for the remainder of the contest, and the 58-31 score at the final buzzer sent Amherst running out onto the court to celebrate yet another spot into the NESCAC championship game.

On Sunday, during the matchup against

the Jumbos, the Amherst student section in LeFrak was at its all-time rowdiest, as the highly-favored Mammoths stepped out onto the court to battle rival Tufts for the conference title. Despite Amherst’s conference dominance the past few seasons, Tufts only fell by seven points in the two teams’ regular season matchup.

The Jumbos got off to a strong start, leading 14-11 after the first quarter and 23-21 at halftime, but Amherst was able to regain composure in the second half and take the lead off a three-point play from Hackley, still hot the day after her 1,000-point milestone.

Amherst continued to attack after it got the lead, widening the margin to six thanks to free throws from sophomore Hannah Fox and Eck. Amherst maintained a 35-32 lead going into the final quarter.

With 10 seconds left in the final frame, the Jumbos were trailing by four and threw up a desperate three-point shot, which fell harmlessly off the backboard and into the hands of the Mammoths, who proceeded to dribble out the clock.

The final score was 44-40, in favor of Amherst.

Eck led the Mammoths in scoring with 17 points, tallying two three-pointers and hitting jumpers from all over the court.

The win not only marks Amherst’s third consecutive NESCAC championship, but is the third consecutive year Amherst topped Tufts in the conference title game.

Tufts, who was seeded third in the tournament, still earned a bid into the NCAA tournament despite the loss and will be out for Mammoth blood should they meet later on in the postseason.

However, before any potential rematch Amherst will open NCAA tournament play this weekend, when it will host Becker College on Friday, March 2 at 7 p.m. in LeFrak.

The team is currently ranked first in the nation and has won 60 straight games, dating back to the 2015/2016 NCAA Final Four.

Photo courtesy of Clarus Studios

Hannah Hackley ’18 snagged four rebounds, had two assists and two steals in the Mammoths’ win.

Men’s Hockey Falls to Colby in NESCAC Men’s Squash Goes Winless at Tournament Despite Late Offensive Effort CSA Team Championships Delancey King ’18 Staff Writer The Amherst men’s hockey team concluded its 2017-2018 season this weekend with a disappointing 5-1 loss to Colby in the NESCAC quarterfinals. As the No. 3 seed in the tournament, the Mammoths were favored to overcome the sixth-seeded Mules.

However, Colby came out firing and avenged the 5-1 loss they suffered at Amherst’s hands earlier in the month. With the win, the Mules advanced to a semifinal matchup next weekend against Wesleyan.

Max Roche ’19 tallied what ended up being Amherst’s only goal of the game in the final few minutes of the first period.

Receiving a pass from Phil Johnasson ’19, Roche deked his defender and ripped a shot past Colby’s Sean Lawrence.

Unfortunately, the Mammoths were unable to carry this initial lead beyond the first intermission.

Just two minutes into the second period, the Mules managed to tie the game on a goal from Mario Benicky.

Photo courtesy of Clarus Studios

Phil Johansson ‘19 had the Mammoths’ only assist against Colby.

Colby continued to create quality chances throughout the period, and the Mules were rewarded with two more goals before the second intermission.

With 6:18 remaining, Michael Rudolf went five-hole after winning a faceoff in Amherst’s defensive end, and only 24 seconds later, Benicky found himself on a breakaway and notched his second goal of the game.

Down by two with one period left to play, the Mammoths needed to shift the momentum of the game completely.

In the end, though, this proved to be too great a task.

Despite owning a 19-6 advantage in shots in the final period, Amherst struggled to capitalize and let up another goal as a result of a defensive blunder.

Colby’s Phil Klitirinos intercepted the puck and found himself one-on-one with the Mammoths’ goaltender.

He ripped a shot that snuck through the net minder’s legs to increase the visitors’ lead to three.

With two minutes remaining in regulation, Amherst pulled its goalie in order to go a man up for the final offensive push.

However, the Mammoths did not have a chance to create much, as Justin Grillo took advantage of the empty net and secured the 5-1 victory for the Mules.

The Mammoths concluded the season with a conference record of 8-5-6 and an overall record of 11-9-5.

“I don’t think our record reflects the talent that this team has,” junior forward Jack Fitzgerald said. “It’s undoubtedly disappointing to end the season this way, but I’m really proud of our guys and the effort we put forth. We will miss our seniors a lot next year, but we wish them the best and hope we can make them proud come next winter.”

Zoe Atoko ’21 Staff Writer This weekend the Amherst men’s squash team competed in the College Squash Association (CSA) Team Championships.

The Mammoths headed to Trinity to compete for the Summers Cup, the third division crown.

The tournament began for the Mammoths on Friday, Feb. 23, when No. 24 Amherst went up against No.17 Dickinson College in the opening match. Dickinson dominated the first and second positions, posting three-game victories against Terrence Wang ’21 and Robert Parker ’21, respectively.

However, Harith Khawaja ’19 posed an obstacle for the Devils at the third position. Facing Dickinson’s Hal Holappa, Khawaja started strong and routed his foe, sweeping his opponent (11-5, 11-3, 11-8) to give the Mammoths what proved to be one of only two wins that day.

Khawaja was the lone bright spot on the top courts, as the Devils notched wins in the next five positions, albeit not without a fight by the Mammoths. Most notably, Chris Zimmerman ’20, on the seventh court, forced a five-game standoff that he ultimately lost.

Other highlights included the play of David Merkel ’19 and Reginald Brewster ’21, who both pushed their opponents to a fourth game at the fourth and sixth positions, respectively.

Arnav Parikh ’21 made the last stand at the ninth position against the Devils’ Zachary Hollander. Hollander hit the ground running, taking the first game 11-7. Parikh remained undeterred, though, flipping the score in his favor to win the second game, 11-7.

The third game proved to be a tight battle, ultimately ending with Parikh on top, 14-12. Hollander refused to go quietly though, taking the fourth game 11-6 to force a deciding fifth game in which Parikh rallied to take the game 11-8 and clinch the point for the Mammoths. However, despite Khawaja and

Parikh’s best efforts, Dickinson prevailed, 7-2.

After falling to Dickinson, Amherst relocated to the Loomis Chafee School in Windsor, Connecticut for the remainder of the weekend, where they found themselves facing two NESCAC rivals, Williams and Colby, in the consolation bracket. Coming off of his narrow defeat in the match against Dickinson, Merkel enjoyed a successful rest of the weekend, securing Amherst’s sole win against the Ephs amidst the Mammoths’ 1-8 defeat Saturday afternoon in a tight, five-game triumph (11-9, 1113, 14-12, 12-14, 11-6).

He also claimed a win in the Sunday match against Colby, who claimed the overall win, 6-3.

Other successes in the Sunday match came from Wang on court one and Khawaja on court three, the latter of whom swept his opponent in three games (11-8, 11-6, 11-3).

With that, Amherst’s concluded the team portion of its season, but Wang and Parker qualified to compete for individual accolades in the CSA Individual Championships at George Washington University next weekend, beginning on Friday, March 2.

Photo courtesy of Clarus Studios

David Merkel ’20 won two matches this weekend at CSA nationals.

10

Sports

The Amherst Student • February 28, 2018

Men’s Swim and Dive Claims Four Top Finishes at NESCAC Championships

Photo courtesy of Clarus Studios

Elijah Spiro ’18 defended his 50-yard breaststroke title this weekend, setting a pool record in both the 50- and 100-yard breaststroke events.

Henry Newton ’21 Managing Sports Editor Last weekend, the Amherst men’s swimming and diving team finished a long three days of competition at the NESCAC Championships, hosted by Bowdoin.

Individually and collectively, the Mammoths had an impressive weekend, with 11 members of the team garnering all-NESCAC honors and the team finishing third overall.

The first day of the meet saw Elijah Spiro ’18 successfully defend his title in the 50yard breaststroke. Spiro set a pool record in the process, finishing with a time of 25.07.

Amherst dominated the event overall, placing four swimmers in the top six of the event.

Sophomore Craig Smith also turned in a standout performance, finishing fourth overall with a time of 23.26, while Sam Spurrel ’18 and Jack Fergus ’20 placed fifth and sixth respectively.

In diving, Bennett Fagan ’20 finished third overall in the one-meter board event.

The next day saw the Mammoths again turn in impressive results, with the day’s competition beginning with a victory in the 200-yard medley relay. The quartet of Smith, Spiro, Spurrell, and Jack Koravos ’20 set a pool record time of 1:29.84 to clinch first overall in the event.

Koravos and Spurrell swam again in the 100-yard butterfly, while Koravos claimed

second and Spurrell finished fourth.

Smith returned to the pool in the 100yard backstroke, taking fourth place with a time of 49.99, with Ang Li ’21 finishing not far behind in fifth place.

However, the most impressive performance of the day came in the 100-yard breaststroke, an event that Amherst dominated from start to finish, clinching the top four spots in the event.

Spiro logged his second event win and second individual pool record of the tournament, finishing in 55.38 seconds. Josh Chen ’19, Chris Quinones ’19 and Sean Mebust ’20 rounded out the top four.

The final day of competition saw the Mammoths continue to post strong times.

Smith again turned in an impressive performance, finishing in second place in the 200-yard backstroke with a time of 1:48.34.

Mebust lodged Amherst’s lone event win of the day, successfully defending his NESCAC Championships crown in the 200-yard breaststroke, touching the wall in a time of 2:00.6. Chen finished third in the event with a time of 2:03.73.

Fagan impressed again in the diving portion of the competition, scoring another second-place finish, this time in the threemeter event.

Overall, the Mammoths finished in third place with 1,467.5 points at the event behind Tufts and Williams, who scored 1,671 and 1,590 points respectively.

Women’s Track and Field Qualifies Two Runners for Nationals in 800 Meters

Photo courtesy of Clarus Studios

Senior Leonie Rauls qualified for indoor nationals in the 800 meters.

Connor Haugh ’21 Managing Sports Editor This weekend, the three members of the women’s track team traveled to Portland Maine, to compete in the Maine State Open at The University of Southern Maine.

The event pitted a combination of NESCAC schools, public universities in Maine, and several other northeastern schools.

Amherst’s runners traveled in an attempt to qualify for Indoor Nationals later in the season, as they felt, given another opportunity, they could qualify.

Two Mammoths competed in the 800-meter run. Seniors Danielle Griffin and Leonie Rauls finished half a second apart, mimicking the rapport the two mid-distance runners

had developed over the course of their time running together.

Griffin finished with time of 2:15:40, while Rauls finished a hair later with a time of 2:15:91.

The two runners took first and second place respectively. Their closest competition crossed the finish line more than six seconds later. The two runners qualified for Indoor Nationals with their excellent times.

Rauls will be seeded sixteenth, while Griffin will enter competition seeded twelfth.

Rauls’ performance was just fast enough -she qualified by only a single tenth of a second.

Also competing for the Mammoths, firstyear Samantha Gayer placed in the one-mile run.

Gayer finished first in the race of six runners, beating out opponents from Bates and the University of Maine.

Despite finishing first, Gayer was unable to qualify for Indoor Nationals, her time of 5:20 several seconds off a qualifying spot.

The Mammoths look forward to their next completion, the Last Chance Qualifier, at Tufts University on March 2nd.

The event, as the name suggests, will be the final opportunity for Amherst to qualify runners for Indoor Nationals later that month.

ATHLETE SPOTLIGHT

David Merkel Terrence Wang’19 ‘21

Geralyn Lam ’18 ‘19 Jocelyn Hunyadi

Favorite Team Memory: Spending time together over interterm Favorite Pro Athlete: Andre Agassi Dream Job: Food critic Pet Peeve: Flaking Favorite Vacation Spot: Rome, Italy Something on Your Bucket List: Go cliff diving Guilty Pleasure: League of Legends Favorite Food: Popcorn chicken Favorite Thing About Amherst: Val-sitting How He Earned It: Wang has been a steady performer at the top of the Amherst men’s squash team’s ladder in his first year of collegiate competition, playing in the first spot since his first collegiate match at the beginning of the year. At the end of the year, Wang was named to the all-NESCAC second team. In post-season play, Wang has continued his good form, winning each of his matches at the NESCAC Championships, only dropping one game throughout the entire tournament. Wang also managed to notch a victory last weekend at the CSA National Championships, beating his opponent from Colby in four sets.

Favorite Team Memory: Playing “anything goes” volleyball before every home game Favorite Pro Athlete: Chris Kreider Dream Job: Marine biologist and professor working with sharks Pet Peeve: Wasting time Favorite Vacation Spot: Anywhere near the ocean Something on Your Bucket List: Cage diving with great white sharks Guilty Pleasure: Cake batter ice cream with cinnamon and yellow cake chunks from Cold Stone Creamery Favorite Food: A good burger Favorite Thing About Amherst: The view from Memorial Hill How She Earned It: Hunyadi saved arguably her best performance of the year for the postseason, earning NESCAC player of the week honors for outstanding play during the Amherst’s women’s hockey team’s victory over Williams in the NESCAC quarterfinals. Hunyadi tallied three points on the day, scoring a power play goal and grabbing two assists in the 5-2 victory. She has scored an average of 0.96 points per game, tied for fifth in the conference.

Men’s Basketball Falls to Wesleyan on Last-Second Shot in Semifinals Katie Bergamesca ’18 Staff Writer This past Saturday, Feb. 24, a three-pointer in the final seconds of the game by Wesleyan’s Nathan Krill crushed the Mammoths’ hopes of advancing to the NESCAC championships and ended Amherst’s season.

After losing to Wesleyan twice in the regular season,, the Mammoths finally appeared like they had the No. 14 Cardinals figured out at the start of the game.

In the first half, Amherst jumped out ahead of the visiting team. The hosts maintained a lead as large as 16 points until the midway point of the first half.

Despite the Mammoths’ impressive start, the Cardinals were not so quick to accept defeat. Wesleyan went on a 16-0 run to erase the deficit and tie the game, 24-24, with about seven minutes left in the half. The game remained even after the Cardinals’ comeback as the visitors held a six-point lead going into the halftime break.

The second half resembled the last few minutes of the first half, as neither team was able to establish dominance on the court.

As soon as it seemed like either Amherst or Wesleyan might be able to pull away, their run was cut short by a crucial layup or threepointer.

With less than one minute left, Amherst held a one-point lead over the pesky Cardinals and made a critical defensive stop with 37 seconds left that gave the Mammoths one last offensive opportunity to widen their lead further.

Unfortunately, Amherst was unable to convert. The fans and the bench were furious, as it appeared that there had been an egregious no-call on a foul against Wesleyan.

However, the Cardinals got the ball back with 16 seconds remaining and a chance to win the game. Wesleyan’s Krill, who had a teamhigh 29 points and shot 7-11 from the threepoint line, sunk the dagger that left Amherst

players and fans stunned.

The loss was truly heartbreaking, particularly for seniors Michael Riopel and Johnny McCarthy, for whom the game doubled as the final contest of their collegiate basketball careers.

Always strong on offense, Riopel led the Mammoths with 18 points and five assists. McCarthy followed closely behind with 14 points.

Joe Schneider ’19 paced the team on the glass, collecting 10 boards in the losing effort.

In the championship game on Feb. 25, Wesleyan took on and lost to Williams, 70-58. With the conference title secured, the Ephs automatically qualified for the NCAA tournament, as did Wesleyan, even with the loss. However, the Mammoths season ended on Monday as the team failed to garner an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament.

Photo courtesy of Clarus Studios

Senior Johnny McCarthy posted 14 points in his last collegiate game.

The Amherst Student • February 28, 2018

Sports

11

The Mazzola Minute Jamie Mazzola ’21 Columnist Jamie Mazzola talks about some of the recent changes that the NBA has put forth and discusses the future of the league, specifically with regard to the East vs. West talent imbalance and proposed changes to the playoff structure.

Photo courtesy of Clarus Studios

Spencer Ferguson-Dryden ’20 won the 3,000-meter race with a time of 8:35, topping his previous personal best by upwards of five seconds.

Men’s Track & Field’s Kristian Sogaard Qualifies for D3 Indoor Nationals Veronica Rocco ’19 Staff Writer All season, the Mammoths had been scheduled to compete at the Middlebury Winterfell Meet, a competitive last chance meet. However, earlier last week the Winterfell was cancelled due to a lack of athletes entered to compete in it.

Rather than give up on the weekend though, the Mammoths decided to travel to Maine and compete at the University of Southern Maine in the Maine State Open, another last chance meet.

The Huskies have a flat track, giving the Mammoths another opportunity to qualify for the Division III Indoor Track and Field Nationals, qualification for which is achieved by a top-15 time in individual events and a top-12 time in relays.

In search of a qualifying time in his specialty event, junior Kristian Sogaard made the trip north and emerged victorious, winning the four-lap event in a time of 1:52.2. The All-American was paced through the opening 600 meters by teammate Ralph Skinner ’20, who helped Sogaard by making sure the race was fast enough to ensure a nationals qualifying time.

With this year’s indoor nationals being held on a banked track, all races over 200 meters run on flat tracks are converted as if they were run on a banked track. With the conversion from flat to banked, Sogaard’s time is 1:50.6, which puts him second in Division III, only a half second behind Matt Molinaro of Ohio Northern.

“I am relieved to have finally qualified, since I was right on the cusp of qualifying before with my time earlier this season,” Sogaard said. “Having [Skinner] pace me all the way through 600 meters was also crucial. I’m not sure if I could have done it without him.”

Spencer Ferguson-Dryden ’20 also travelled to Maine, winning the 3,000 meters in a time of 8:35, a new personal best by five seconds. The sophomore standout improved upon the personal best he had run at the Tufts Cupid Challenge in early February, setting him up well for a promising outdoor track season after a breakout cross country campaign that helped the Mammoths place fourth overall at cross country nationals.

Next weekend, the 4x400-meter relay will compete at the Tufts Last Chance meet in search of a qualifying time for nationals. Currently, the Mammoth’s relay from the Boston University Valentine Invitational, comprised of Ryan Prenosil ’21, Vernon Espinoza ’19, David Ingraham ’18 and Sogaard, is ranked 28th in Division III, but with less than a second separating the 12thfastest time and the Mammoths’ current seed, anything is possible.

“I’m looking forward to training the next two weeks, hopefully qualifying for nationals in the 4x400 relay next week [and[ then racing well at nationals,” Sogaard said.

The Tufts Last Chance meet is scheduled for Saturday, March 3, with the start time yet to be determined.

Women’s Swim Competes at Bowdoin to Qualify for NCAA Championships

Zoe Atoko ’21 Staff Writer In preparation for next month’s DIII National Championships in Indianapolis, the women’s swimming and diving team traveled to Brunswick, Maine, where Bowdoin hosted the February Invitational at LeRoy Greason Pool.

This meet, for some Amherst athletes, represented the final chance to qualify for the national championships.

Although only three Amherst swimmers competed, two posted NCAA B-cut marks to qualify for nationals.

Heather Grotzinger ’20 started off the day for Amherst in the 400-yard individual medley. With her time of 4:26.67, she cleared the NCAA B-cut by nearly five seconds in order to qualify.

Geralyn Lam ’18 followed Grotzinger by qualifying in her own specialty.

Lam finished the 200-yard butterfly in 2:05.46, just barely faster than the B-cut time of 2:05.86 to book her spot in Indiana.

While Stephanie Moriarty ’18 couldn’t quite make the cut with her time of 1:59.56 in the 200 yard freestyle, all-in-all, it was a very successful weekend for the Mammoths.

The only remaining meet on the team’s

schedule is nationals, which is scheduled to begin on Wednesday, March 21 and continue through Saturday, March 24. It will be hosted in Indianapolis, Indiana, returning to the city for the first time since 2014.

Photo courtesy of Clarus Studios

Heather Grotzinger ’20 swam the 400-yard individual medley in 4:26.67.

Maybe Steph still hasn’t gotten the memo, as he was spotted during the game munching popcorn on the bench, but the NBA All-Star Game is serious now.

What was formerly the N.B.A.’s highscoring, no defense, comedy-fest has became a competitive basketball game contested by the best players in the world. Okay, maybe I’m exaggerating a little. For fans interested in flashy plays and comically stupid turnovers, the first quarter provided all the usual antics of the All-Star Game, but as time wore on and the score tightened, players started attempting previously unheard of actions like basic layups and perimeter defense.

With his go-ahead layup late in the fourth quarter and near triple-double stat line, LeBron James earned the All-Star Game MVP trophy. I found his lockdown defense (with the help of Kevin Durant) on Steph Curry to be the most significant play of the game. It saw the two captains squaring off with the game on the line, and the defensive intensity really captured how significant the difference in energy level was in this All-Star Game compared to in previous years.

“ What basketball lacked was a competitve game between the best players in the world.

” The NBA made a bold decision this year to abandon the traditional East-West format of the All-Star Game in favor of a captains (chosen by fans through voting) pick playground-type format. Prior to this year, there seemed to be an unwritten agreement between the chosen players that defense was lame, alley-oops were cool and stupidly-long three-point attempts were fun. The ultimate goal of the All-Star Game appeared to be making the highlight reel, not winning.

Sure, this kind of spectacle is enjoyable on some level, but All-Star weekend already has the skills challenge, three-point contest and dunk contest for basketball for fans who apperciate tomfoolery.

What basketball lacked was a competitive game between the best players in the world. Sure, the NBA Finals supposedly pits the two best teams against each other in a seven-game winner-take-all series, but even the Golden State Warriors can’t claim to have a lineup of only the best players in the world (although their four All-Stars may beg to differ).

Additional changes, like televising the draft of players by captains, are in the works for future years, but it’s safe to say that the new format is a commercial and competitive success. The changes to the All-Star Game may also usher in a wave of changes across the NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, alluding to the imbalance between Eastern and Western Conference teams, acknowledged that the league may be better served not to pit the Eastern and Western Conference champions against each other in the finals.

Rather, the sixteen best overall teams would be reseeded regardless of conerance at the start of the playoffs based on record, making it possible for the two best teams, even if they’re both in the Western Conference, to contest the NBA Finals (let’s be real here, it’s not going to be two Eastern Conference

teams given the present landscape).

The new playoff structure is intriguing, but it does beg the question: why now?

While the Western Conference has been inarguably stronger this past two decades, that hasn’t always been the case. Immediately following the NBA-ABA merger and through most of the 1980s, the Eastern Conference had a disproportionate share of talent. Then, in the 1990s and early 2000s, the balance of talent was roughly even between the two conferences.

Some cite LeBron James’ supremacy in the Eastern Conference as the main reason many star players have been leaving the East.

This off-season alone, Paul George and Carmelo Anthony headed west together to join Oklahoma City. While LeBron’s seven consecutive trips to the NBA Finals is a terrifying statistic, it’s not the only NBA dynasty. In fact, the Warriors have been building an arguably stronger dynasty, notching two championships, the NBA all-time regular season wins record and three finals appearances in the past three seasons. Also, the San Antonio Spurs are on-pace for their fourteenth consecutive 50-win regular season, while the Thunder and Rockets have both consistently challenged the Warriors’ dominance.

The third change in discussion is perhaps the most drastic, shortening the regular season. The current 82-game season is exhausting. Injury rates, particularly among star players, are at an all-time high. Coaches routinely rest top players to avoid burnout.

Top teams can afford not to take every game seriously — I’m looking at you, Golden State — in order to preserve their legs for the playoffs. The second game in a back-to-back is nearly unwinnable, no matter the opponent. With fewer games, the intensity of play would increase. There would be more of the spectacular performances that fans expect of star players.

“

The new playoff strucutre is intriguing, but it does beg the question: why now? While the Western Conference has been inarguably stronger this past decade, that hasn’t always been the case.

”

I can’t offer much of a defense of the current 82-game schedule. I do appreciate that stamina and intelligent coaching decisions are rewarded, but these can also be accomplished with a significantly shorter season.

The best defense of the 82-game schedule is the difficulty of change in general. Historical comparisons would become next-to-impossible, and any accurate comparison would necessitate the creation of an algorithm to account for fatigue, a near-impossible objective. Basketball statistics are a prominent part of the game, and the change in how statistics must be interpreted would make creating all-time rankings of players and teams much more difficult. While these lists have no actual meaning, fans enjoy reading them and that counts for something.

With so many evolutions in the style of play over the years in the NBA, it’s nice to see the league finally considering some major logistical changes to match.

Sports

Photos courtesy of Clarus Studios

Jocelyn Hunyadi ’19 led the team with one goal and two assists in the team’s 5-2 win over Williams, earning her NESCAC player of the week honors.

Women’s Hockey Downs Rival Williams in NESCAC Tournament Quarterfinal Mary Grace Cronin ’18 Staff Writer The Amherst women’s ice hockey team opened post-season action with a dominant win over rival Williams.

This past Saturday, the puck dropped at Orr Rink, and with emotions running high, the Mammoths skated out to a commanding start.

After the Ephs were called for a penalty with two minutes left in the first period, junior Jocelyn Hunyadi opened the scoring with a power play goal to grab the 1-0 lead.

Hunyadi managed to redirect a rip from the point by first-year Mia Del Rosso.

Amherst converted again on a man-up situa-

GAME SCHE DULE

tion five minutes into the second period.

Forward Emma Griese ’18 managed to corral a rebound from a Hunyadi shot and fire it past both the scrum of players in front of the net and the Williams goalie to put the Mammoths up 2-0.

Less than 10 minutes later, Hunyadi was credited with another assist, this time for firstyear Rose Mroczka who reacted to Hunyadi’s rebound and sailed the puck into the back of the net.

Hunyadi’s stellar performance throughout the game earned her NESCAC player of the week accolades from the conference officials on Monday, Feb. 26.

Although the Mammoths got out to a 3-0 start, the Ephs did not relent. Williams managed

CSA Individual Championships @ George Washington University Women’s Squash CSA Individual Championships @ George Washington University

and kept the potent Ephs’ offense at bay.

Amherst was outshot 41-19, but capitalized on their power play opportunities, finishing 2-for-3 while the Ephs went 0-for-2.

With the win, Amherst improves to a record of 15-6-4 overall and 9-4-3 in NESCAC action.

Next Saturday, March 3, the team will travel to Middlebury, Vermont to play Conn. College, who had bested the Mammoths in two close matches earlier this season, in the tournament semifinals.

If Amherst emerges victorious, the team will play the winner of the other semifinal, contested

by Middlebury and Bowdoin, for the right to the conference’s automatic qualifying bid to the NCAA tournament.

SAT

FRI Men’s Squash

to answer with a goal of its own less than a minute after Mroczka’s tally, and the teams entered the dressing rooms with Amherst leading, 3-1.

The Ephs cut the deficit to one early in the third with an impressive backhander, but Amherst managed to stave off the pressure and netted a crucial empty net goal with just over 40 seconds remaining to all but clinch the win, thanks to star forward Alex Toupal ’18, who scored the hosts’ fourth goal off an assist by junior Katie Savage.

Katelyn Pantera ’19 put the finishing touches on the Amherst win with an unassisted emptynet tally of her own to make it 5-2.

Bailey Plaman ’18 had an outstanding game in net, as she posted 39 saves for the home team

Women’s Basketball vs. Becker College, 7 p.m.

Men’s Squash CSA Individual Championships @ George Washington University Women’s Squash CSA Individual Championships @ George Washington University

Men’s Track & Field Last Chance Qualifier @ Tufts University, 10 a.m.

Women’s Track & Field Last Chance Qualifier @ Tufts University, 10 a.m.

Men’s Lacrosse vs. Colby, 1 p.m.

Women’s Lacrosse vs. Colby, 1 p.m.

Women’s Ice Hockey vs. Conn. College, 4 p.m.