Issue 19

THE AMHERST

THE INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER OF AMHERST COLLEGE SINCE 1868

STUDENT VOLUME CXLV, ISSUE 19 l WEDNESDAY, MARCH 23, 2016

Baseball Dominates Competition in Florida, Finishes 8-1 See Sports, Page 10 AMHERSTSTUDENT.AM-

Communications Office Redesigns Amherst Website Jingwen Zhang ’18 Managing News Editor

Photo courtesy of Sydney Tate ‘18

Political commentator and author Charles Krauthammer spoke about the state of conservatism today and the impact of the Obama presidency in Buckley recital hall on March 9.

Krauthammer Speaks on Conservatism

Dan Ahn ’17 Managing News Editor

Members of the college and town community filled Buckley Recital Hall to attend a talk

by Charles Krauthammer, political commentator and Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist, on March 9.

Krauthammer is currently known as a nightly panelist on “Special Report with Bret Baier,” a political discussion show on Fox News, and also contributes weekly to the conservative opinion magazine The Weekly Standard. He worked in psychiatric research at Massachusetts General Hospital before re-orienting his career toward politics.

Krauthammer based his talk on his latest book “Things that Matter: Three Decades of Passions, Pastimes, and Politics,” a collection of essays on a variety of topics including American history, embryonic research and his personal experiences. The book was published in October 2013 and held a spot on the New York Times’ nonfiction bestseller list for 38 weeks.

This was Krauthammer’s second visit to the area in recent years. The University of Massachusetts Amherst GOP, a student-run organization, invited him to speak on his book last April.

Prior to the talk, Krauthammer spoke at an exclusive question-and-answer session with a group of students.

“We were there for about an hour and thirty minutes, and asked about four or five questions,” Emmanuel Osunlana ’18, who was present at the question-and-answer session, said. “With each, he spent about fifteen minutes fully answering the question. It wasn’t just rhetoric or buzzwords.

With each response, I felt that it was coming from a place where he had really thought about the issue for a long time.”

Professor of political science Javier Corrales introduced Krauthammer, who opened his talk with quips about the trajectory of his career and his experiences working with federal politics.

“I’m sometimes asked to compare what I do today as a political analyst in Washington with what I used to do as a psychiatrist in Boston, and

I tell them it really isn’t that different,” Krauthammer said. “In both lines of work, I deal everyday with people who suffer from paranoia and delusions of grandeur. The only difference is that in Washington, they have access to nuclear weapons.”

Krauthammer said that he was officially supposed to talk about the state of conservatism in America, but he spoke first about the impact of liberalism and the Obama presidency on contemporary political discussions.

“I would argue that over the last seven years, just about every major debate we have had as a country — from the stimulus, to Obamacare, to foreign policy, to the deficit and debt — have all been, and can all be, subsumed under one more general question,” he said. “And that is, what is the proper size and reach and scope of government?”

According to Krauthammer, the United States is in an era of particularly intense political debate,

Continued on Page 3

The Office of Communications launched a new version of the Amherst website on Wednesday, March 16. An email sent to members of the college community on March 9 announced the new website’s release.

The website has been extensively redesigned, featuring a simplified homepage structure intended for easier use on all devices, including mobile ones. The new format also uses photos and videos in order to be more visually appealing.

“Mobile devices, social media, the attention to visual media and the hyper-connected society have all affected the way users interact with websites,” chief communications officer Pete Mackey said in an email interview. “We felt it was past due to offer an Amherst College site that was responsive to today’s web users.” Mackey said that the last time the college’s website underwent an extensive renovation was nine years ago in 2007.

Originally slated for January, the launch was delayed until spring break to provide Communications and Information Technology more time to work on the structure and design of the website, as well as to assist academic departments and administrative offices in adapting their own web pages to the new format.

“Along the way, we also re-wrote huge amounts of content to present it with a writing style that is more personal and friendly for web readers,” Mackey said.

The Office of Communications created the new website in partnership with the Information Technology department, and integrated the new format with content from the previous version of the site. For the website’s new design, the college hired Fastspot, a website design and development firm that has worked with other schools and organizations such as Yale University and Kenyon College.

A major change to the user experience on the website is the organization of content into four major fixed tabs at the top of the page, labelled “The Amherst Story,” “The Academic Experience,” “Admission & Financial Aid” and “Life at Amherst.” Content within each tab is arranged vertically, which, according to Mackey, is an effort to make the site easy for users to scroll through.

“I like the look,” Thomas Lam ’18 said. “But I

Continued on Page 3

AAS Creates Task Force on Committee Membership Kiana Herold ’17 Managing News Editor

The Association of Amherst Students created a Task Force on Committee Membership to review student membership on faculty committees. The task force held its first meeting, which was open to all students, and plans to make a recommendation to the Senate by the end of this semester.

“The task force was created to explore how seats on committees can best be utilized,” AAS communication director Bonnie Drake ’17 said. “It will address questions such as the appropriate balance of senators and at-large members, the appointment process for students to be on committees and ways to increase the accountability of those on committees to

ensure that the general student body knows what’s happening in meetings and knows who is representing them.”

The idea to create a task force on Committee Membership arose last semester after the AAS sent a poll to the student body regarding the split between senator and at-large student membership on College Council. This poll was prompted by the Committee of Six, which had moved to increase the number of at-large student representatives on the College Council and wanted to solicit the opinion of the student body. The charge of each committee, as written in the faculty handbook, dictates among other things the composition and number of student membership on faculty committees. The Committee of Six has authority over the text of the handbook.

There are six faculty committees that have

student members, which have varying student representation in the number of seats available and the composition of those seats. These faculty committees consist of the College Council, the Committee on Priorities and Resources, the Committee on Education Policy, the Committee on Discipline, the Faculty Committee on Admission and Financial Aid, the Faculty Computing Committee and the Faculty Orientation Committee. Currently, the only committees with at-large-members of the student body are the Committee on Educational Policy, the Committee on Discipline and the Faculty Committee on Admission and Financial Aid. Heru Craig ’17E, who spearheaded the effort to bring attention to student membership on faculty committees, cited the power that

committees have and said that the student body’s general lack of knowledge about the committees is problematic. Craig promotes greater at-large student involvement.

“Everyone who is capable of being on a committee should know what they are,” Craig said.

AAS President Tomi Williams ’16, who was instrumental in creating the task force, said that he finds the current selection process for at-large members of faculty committees transparent and effective.

“I think that it is important that all students who are interested have a say and are able to craft a substantive recommendation,” Williams

Continued on Page 3

News

Crystal Valentine

Fresh Faculty Department of Computer Science

Crystal Valentine ’04 is an assistant professor of computer science. She graduated from Amherst College and received her M.A. and Ph.D. from Brown University in 2008 and 2011, respectively.

March 14, 2016 - March 20, 2016

>>March 14, 2016 7:35 p.m., Alumni Gym Officers and the Fire Department investigated an alarm but no cause could be found. >>March 15, 2016 2:36 a.m., Dakin House Officers investigated an intrusion alarm but no cause could be found.

1:05 p.m., Pratt Pool Officers investigated a fire alarm and found it was accidentally set off by maintenance work. >>March 16, 2016 5:57 a.m., Keefe Campus Center Officers and the Fire Department responded to an alarm but no cause could be identified.

7:16 a.m., Mead Drive An officer investigated a motor vehicle accident.

9:08 p.m., Leland House Officers and the Fire Department responded to an alarm that was activated by cooking smoke. >>March 17, 2016 1:35 p.m., Northampton Road Officers responded to a report to people entering a college-owned abandon house on Northampton Road. Officers located an open door but found no one inside. >>March 18, 2016 5:43 p.m., Smith House An officer investigated an intrusion alarm and found it was accidentally set off by an employee. >>March 20, 2016 12:54 a.m., Jenkins Dormitory Officers investigated a smoke detector sounding in a secondfloor suite but no cause could be located.

9:26 a.m., Alumni House An officer responded to a report of a stray dog. The owner was located.

9:16 p.m., Frost Library Officers responded to a report of a man on B level who had previously trespassed. The man could not be located.

Q: Can you tell us about your research interests in computation problems involving big data?

A: Big data is relatively new in the field of computer science, but it draws on the fundamental ideas of what we call the core of computer science, so it fills very fundamental problems in computer science. Big data is the study of problems that are characterized by the size of the input. In traditional computer science courses like algorithms, when we talk about algorithmic efficiency, we talk about how many instructions it takes to solve a problem. In big data, there are different criteria in how we measure efficiency.

It is no longer just the number of operations, but about how the data moves through the computer when you are working on a problem with big data. The processor in your computer is really fast, whereas the time it takes to move data around inside the computer — for example, between your hard disk and main memory, or moving data between two different servers on a network — is much slower in comparison.

For a problem that you are trying to solve on a large data set, most of the time it takes is due to moving data around. In a nutshell, big data is where we’re trying to minimize the number of data movements needed to solve a problem, as opposed to the number of instructions.

Q: How did you get interested in this field?

A: I didn’t know anything about programming or computers or algorithms before college. My first exposure to computer science was in CS 11, which is one of the classes I teach here. I took CS 11 during the fall of my first year. I had professor Scott Kaplan, who is my colleague now. I took it on a whim. I had a friend who suggested I might enjoy it, so I took it. It was a cool way of thinking about problems. It felt like solving puzzles to me. It was just a lot of fun and I fell in love really quickly. So in my spring semester of freshman year, I took the next three classes required in the major. By the end of my first year, I realized that I had taken half the classes required for the major, so I just went ahead and declared my major.

It was a very unexpected major for me. I came into Amherst thinking maybe I’d do political science — both my parents are political scientists. I thought about that, and I thought about chemistry. Computer science just hit so well, so it was a pretty easy decision.

Q: Could you tell me a little more about your academic background after Amherst?

A: While I was at Amherst, I spent one semester abroad in Italy on a liberal arts program through Boston University, and I studied everything except for computer science.

During that time, I met a professor at the

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University of Padua who was a computer scientist. During my senior year, I applied for a Fulbright scholarship to go back to Padua and study computer science with him at the university. I really wanted to go to Italy, and Fulbright was the only way to get there. I got the Fulbright, and I was also accepted into grad school. I decided to accept admission into Brown for graduate school but defer it for a year so that I could spend a year abroad on the Fulbright scholarship. After that year, I started my doctoral work at Brown in the computer science department. I was there for about five and half years and got my doctorate in computer science.

Q: After that, did you return to Amherst?

A: Not right after grad school. I went to work in industry for four years at a private company called Ab Initio. It’s a software company in Lexington. They do big data processing for enterprises. I was a consultant there for four years.

Q: Could you tell us a little bit about the classes you are teaching now or will be teaching next semester?

A: I teach the intro class, CS 111. Last year, I taught the upper-level course on computational biology and a 300-level class on big data. This year, I am teaching an elective called “Principles of Database Design.” All three of those classes — big data, computational biology, and databases — are brand new to Amherst. They’ve never been taught before. Next semester I’m actually taking a leave of absence, so I won’t be teaching here next year. I will be going to do some work with a company that makes big data software based on the Hadoop platform.

Q: What is your experience been like teaching at Amherst College?

A: Pretty amazing. Students here are great, and really fun to teach. You know they are motivated for all the right reasons. It seems like they really enjoy learning, and I enjoy teaching. It’s been a lot of fun. I also enjoy getting to know students that I’ve had in multiple classes. When I was a student, there were only four students in the CS department. I had each [professor] several times. By the time I graduated, I knew them every well, and [that] was by far the best part of Amherst for me. The fact that I’m back here is a testament to that.

During grad school, I was still in touch with all the professors here. They would invite me back to give talks to the students about my research while I was in grad school, and I actually became genuine friends with them. The transition to now becoming colleagues with them has been really natural for me. It’s been an incredibly and rewarding set of relationships that

Contact astudent@ amherst.edu for more info

I’ve had with them. I really enjoy seeing students who get that, too. They understand that’s why they’re here at Amherst, to get to know each other and also their professors. Students come and hang out at my office, or take me out for TYPO, or get to know me outside of the classroom.

I spend most of my time right here in my office. I spend a lot of time with students outside of class. There’s always work to be done. I was very lucky that my husband was willing to quit his job and move out here to Amherst. He’s been helping out as the head coach of the women’s golf team, so he spends a good amount of time with golf, and I spend a good amount of time with some of the same students in the classroom. But that’s our life, pretty much. We spend a lot of time working.

Q: What kind of legacy would you like to leave behind at Amherst?

A: I really care deeply about this place. I care about the students, I care about my colleagues and I care about the quality of this institution.

In my mind, Amherst is one of the elite institutions in the world. The students who are here are smart and serious, and want to get a lot out of being here. This experience is meant to be rigorous and rewarding, and I hope that I’m able to pass on that spirit to my students. I hope that I’m able to now energize my department — I’m the first new hire in the computer science department since 1999. All of the tenured faculty here have been here since I was a student.

In my mind, the computer science department doesn’t have the resources to be a really excellent department. There’s huge demand among the students for computer science classes. The students are incredibly energetic and they have great ideas about ways to enrich the computer science culture here. Student clubs such as the Computer Science Club and the Women in Computer Science Club are phenomenal.

I think that as a department, we need more faculty members to give them the energy they are craving. There are times when I’m asked to participate in or contribute to projects that the students are running, and I have to say no, but I wish it weren’t that way. I wish I had more energy and more time to spend on some very important projects that they are interested in working on. But I’m really hoping that part of my legacy would be infusing energy into the department, so that the students and the administration all recognize the excellent work that’s going on in this department, and that it can become one of the highlights of the college.

Send sample photos to astudent@ amherst.edu

— Phillip Yan ’18

The Amherst Student • March 23, 2016

News

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College Launches Revamped Website AAS Creates Task Force Continued from Page 1

can’t see my entire schedule without scrolling.”

The overall user interface has been simplified, which Mackey said provides a more flexible digital platform to present a variety of visual and text content formats. The new website also simplified navigational trees, making it easier for users to find specific information on the site without having to go through multiple levels of content.

“If you zoom out two or three times, it’s much easier to take in visually — everything seems really big,” Kenny Kim ’17 said.

Immediately upon opening the Amherst homepage, users are met with a panel called “Amherst Voices,” which presents a short quote from alumni, faculty or students with a link to share or repost it on a variety of social media platforms.

When users scroll down further, the website presents statistics about the college, multimedia content and a sample of currently offered courses. The

new website also features a digital map and virtual campus tour tool for visitors to learn more about the physical layout of the campus.

Mackey said that the conceptual work on the website’s redesign began in 2014, and the actual programming and building of the new site began in the fall of 2015. The Office of Communication and Information Technology tested the site and sought feedback through forums open to the campus and materials shared with faculty, parents and prospective students during the design process.

“The conceptual phase of a new website is always demanding because it entails trying to express the mission of the college in a rapidly changing digital medium,” Mackey said. “We also were moving from a site that was nearly nine years old to a completely new design, which made the programming phase especially complex and timeconsuming.”

“I like that they’re changing things up, but I

liked the old website, so I don’t understand why they had the need to create a new design,” Grace Karanja ’18 said. “But I don’t necessarily hate it.”

However, according to Mackey, the new website was easier to launch than the previous version from 2007.

“Those of us in IT and Communications who have been involved in web redesigns before, and some of us who have been involved in multiple such experiences over the last 15 years have all agreed that this redesign has resulted in less problems and complaints than any site we’ve ever been associated with, including the launch of the prior site,” Mackey said, adding that most of the problems so far have been minor issues such as broken links and typos.

“The best part was the day we actually launched the site,” Mackey said. “After so many months, and so many people devoting energy to this project, it’s always exciting to finally share the new site.”

said in an email interview. “It is one thing to share grievances, but this is an opportunity for these same students to work with senators and AAS members to help come up with actually policy that reflects their suggestions.”

The first task force meeting only had two students in attendance.

“Moving forward, I hope to work with more of the students who were most adamant about making broad changes to the makeup and selection process of student members,” Williams said.

More task force meetings will take place this semester before the recommendation will be presented to the senate at the end of the semester.

vative, that’s what I would say — aggressive social democratic agenda struck a chord and created an amazing, spontaneous, undirected, unorganized, disorganized resistance,” he said. “It went by the name of Tea Party, came out of nowhere, and was a direct result of this initial two years of the Obama administration.”

Krauthammer went on to say that although the Tea Party originally fought against higher taxes, it gathered a wider base of support against Obamacare, widened its focus beyond social and economic issues and kindled today’s “great debate” about the role of the American government.

He said that Obamacare’s mandates alienated a significant portion of the electorate, eventually helping to bring about the Democratic Party’s defeats in the 2010 and 2012 congressional elec-

tions.

Krauthammer said that he wrongly expected the Republican Party to win the presidency in 2012, criticizing the nomination of Mitt Romney, who had worked on a healthcare bill similar to Obamacare while serving as the governor of Massachusetts.

“The fatal mistake that I made was underestimating the uncanny ability of the GOP to lose un-loseable elections,” he said.

He denied the claim that the two parties have taken on different roles in electoral politics, with Democrats consistently winning the presidency, and Republicans only taking over Congress and state legislatures. He mentioned that Obama “did a good job of showing people that he cares,” and that “if you’re a Democrat and you think that

you’re going to glide into the future on a demographic wave, you have to assume that your future candidates are going to have the same charismatic effect in vastly increasing the turnout for the presidential election.”

He spoke on the growing importance of personality in presidential elections, and said that in the midterm elections, the focus is on issues and policies, but in presidential politics, personality is key.

“It’s become a personal battle,” he said. “It’s reached a point I don’t think has ever been reached — a low point in presidential candidates’ discourse. Donald Trump is a populist. He’s not a conservative. He might have a conservative idea here and there, but he also has all kinds of ideas here and there.”

Continued from Page 1

Krauthammer Examines Modern Conservatism Continued from Page 1

brought about partly by the ambitions and efforts of President Obama. He argued that Obama is “not your normal, mainstream, center-left liberal,” and is instead a “closet social democrat,” who kept his beliefs largely hidden during his first campaign for election. Krauthammer said that Obama’s ideal vision for the United States resembled the social democracies present in Europe today, and that for liberals such as Bernie Sanders and Obama, the highest ideal is equality, a focus that is out of step with American tradition.

Krauthammer spoke about the impact that these conflicting beliefs had on political conversations nationwide.

“This overeager, overreaching — as a conser-

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Opinion Spring Break Overload Editorial For many students, spring break supposedly promises trips to warmer climates, time spent at home with family or simply a chance to recharge from academic pressure. As the word “break” suggests, students look forward to enjoying a week off from the high intensity Amherst workload and lifestyle. However, most students found themselves swamped during what ended up being a week away from school with the same amount of work, and many students even opted to stay on campus to catch up on work. While we don’t mean to suggest that assigning work during break is entirely unacceptable, professors often use the week off to assign papers or unusually heavy reading loads. The amount of work that accumulates from the typical four-class schedule results in no time for the reflection or self-care that the college so actively encourages students to engage in.

Many classes had deadlines that fell during the spring break week. Papers due on the Monday or Tuesday of break ensured that the first few precious days of freedom were instead packed with reading and drafting.

And, the stress is not limited to humanities-based classes. Many students spent their breaks cramming for mid-terms scheduled for the week following their return to campus. Some students recognized this problem, and started an online survey that asked students who felt overwhelmed by their workload over break to anonymously list their majors and detail the various assignments they were expected to complete within the week.

This is all not to say that professors should not assign work over break.

Professors want us to learn, and we want to learn, too. However, there is a point at which assigning more work is counterproductive, because students are overwhelmed and ultimately burn out. Students often point

out this problem, and despite the recent forum on workload at which this issue was discussed, little progress has been made. While we acknowledge that coordination across departments is difficult, we can still push for realistic changes.

Professors could create a “buffer window,” in which there are no exams during the first three days following break. This would allow students to use the first few days back on campus after break to study, rather than cramming for exams during their time away from school. Another easy fix is to simply have no assignments due during break. Professors can realistically shuffle their syllabi around so that take-home exams and writing assignments are due before break. And, having reading assignments over break is of course fine, but it should be a realistic amount, something that can be completed between two class meetings. Professors may feel like the significance of their courses are being diminished by the lack of work, but in reality, a true break to reflect on classwork during break can improve students’ motivation and attention in their classes and prevent them from returning to Amherst feeling burnt out and lacking passion.

It’s troubling that the “break should really be a break” conversation seems to be one that’s lingered across campus. Professors have different philosophies regarding assigning work over break, and some have done an admirable job of being mindful of students workloads, but clearly change is necessary in many classes. It’s unrealistic to ask students to use their minimal allotted time to recharge as extra time to stress about assignments. The conversation has gone on far too long, and it’s time for concrete, productive steps to be taken.

SCOTUS: Get Money out of Politics!

Eddie Rego ’19 Contributing Writer

The advance of dark money in politics has severely hurt our democracy, and the possibility of a liberal appointee to the Supreme Court might change that. Here’s why that’s important: An American political campaign is excessively long and excessively expensive. Prior to the 1976 presidential election, most presidential candidates announced their candidacy the year of the election, sometimes less than 200 days before the election. Campaigns, however, have only been getting longer since then. Ted Cruz became the first presidential candidate to declare his candidacy in the 2016 race, approximately 600 days before election day.

Common sense dictates that longer campaigns require more money, and the increasingly longer campaigns have indeed cost more money. Adjusted for inflation, the 1976 election cost nearly 300 million dollars. The 2008 election, in contrast, cost about 1.2 billion dollars, according to the Federal Election Commission. And due to the controversial 5-4 “Citizens United” Supreme Court decision, corporations and unions can spend unlimited amounts of money on political issues. The rationale was that “corporations are people” and that money is a constitutionally protected form of free speech. The result was a 2012 election that cost over 2.5 billion dollars according to CNNPolitics.

The 2016 election is estimated to swell to 5 billion.

To this effect, America is largely alone on the world stage. Our Mexican neighbors, by law, cannot have elections lasting longer than 147 days.

The United Kingdom’s elections rarely exceed 42 days. Our Canadian neighbors have campaigns that regularly last 36 days. French elections last 14 days. Japanese elections last a mere 12 days.

The costs of elections in these countries are either capped or inherently lower by virtue of a shorter election cycle. The U.K., for instance, spent about 45 million dollars on its last election according to the BBC, less than two percent the cost of the 2012 U.S. presidential election.

According to the Center for Responsive Politics, in the 2010 congressional election, less than three-tenths of one percent of the American population contributed more than 200 dollars to candidates, but that minuscule portion provided twothirds of the campaign funds that year. Moreover, an astonishing New York Times article broke the news that a mere 158 families — out of more than 120,000,000 American families — had financed more than half of the early money for efforts to capture the White House.

In this way, today’s democracy is skewed. Those with more money naturally get more representation — particularly in a modern environment of disproportionate income inequality. The channels legalized by Citizens United and extensively long and expensive campaign races have forced our representatives into valuing the interests of the very rich and elite few, over the interests of the vast majority of Americans. And it makes sense why this is the case. According to the Brookings Institute, an average successful campaign to the House of Representatives costs in excess of a million dollars.

An average successful campaign to the Senate costs upwards of 10 million dollars.

And that’s a problem, because it restricts ordinary citizens from starting campaigns and getting elected — keeping Congress a millionaires-club detached from the hardships that inflict the average American. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, over half of Congressional representatives (271 of the 533 incumbent members) have over a million dollars net-worth. While less

than one percent of Americans are millionaires, two-thirds of Senate members are millionaires.

And having no campaign caps means that virtually anyone can funnel millions of their own fortune to campaigns, if they can afford to, and in principle buy a Congressional seat, or in theory, even a presidential election. Our democracy functions more like an oligarchy when a select few can secretly influence elections to suit their political interests.

Under such a system, the concept of one-manone-vote thus becomes irrelevant in a political landscape where one family or a single corporation can covertly influence hundreds or thousands of votes via unlimited funds. Under such a system, politicians are lobbied before they’re even elected.

Under such a system, representative government fails to represent the people, and instead represents a few people.

Clearly we’re not perfect. We’ve turned a blind eye to our democratic values on so many other fronts. The Electoral College is obsolete. Keeping it as mere tradition, we threaten democracy each and every election. Our voting machines are outdated.

Our Tuesday election day is antiquated. Election day isn’t a national holiday — helping the U.S. have one of the lowest voter turn-outs in the developed world. The practice of gerrymandering has undemocratically allowed politicians to choose their voters, rather than voters chose their politicians.

These are the very scenarios that must push us to question the ethics and integrity of our politics.

But the Court may have an opportunity to right one of its biggest wrongs. Should the Supreme Court shift leftward with the appointment of Merrick Garland, they could and should overturn Citizens United. And the timing couldn’t be better.

They could do so ahead of an upcoming election that could cost upwards of 5 billion.

ConsentFest is Not Sexy

Yeva Berkovich ’18 Contributing Writer

Trigger Warning: Rape Last year, a prospective student asked the professor of my women’s studies class if she could sit in and watch for the day. My professor said no due to the nature of the topic, saying “if it were another topic, I would let you sit in.” That day, we discussed

rape — rape as a manifestation of male domination over women and a result of the culture of objectification and commodification of female bodies. The critical analysis of rape within the complex power structures of racism, heterosexism and patriarchy was difficult yet brave.

The next day, Amherst sponsored a festival on the quad in front of Val. The event promised fun games and activities, free food and an opportuni-

ty to win a beach towel if one visited six or more booths. An onlooker from afar would never be able to guess what the festival was about until spotting the banner labeling the event, “ConsentFest.”

I actually received an email advertising a booth that would be “talking about how sexy consent can be!” as if consent is a recommendation and “some-

Continued on Page 5

THE AMHERST

STUDENT E X E C U T I V E B OA R D Editors-in-Chief Elaine Jeon, Lauren Tuiskula Executive Adviser Sophie Murguia Managing News Dan Ahn, Kiana Herold, Jingwen Zhang Managing Opinion Diane Lee, Julia Pretsfelder Managing Arts and Living Gabby Edzie, Paola Garcia-Prieto, Alida Mitau Managing Sports Jason Darell, Drew Kiley, Julia Turner Managing Design Gabby Bishop S TA F F Head Publisher Emily Ratte Design Editors Justin Barry, Megan Do, Sunna Juhn, Adele Loomis, Monica Nimmagadda, Zavi Sheldon, Chloe Tausk, Yrenly Yuan Assistant News Editors Ryan Cenek, Carlos Rivero Photography Editor Kyra Gardner

Letters Policy The opinion pages of The Amherst Student are intended as an open forum for the Amherst community.

The Student will print letters under 450 words in length if they are submitted to The Student offices in the Campus Center or to the paper’s email account (astudent@amherst.edu) by noon on Sunday, after which they will not be accepted.

The editors reserve the right to edit any letters exceeding the 450-word limit or to withhold any letter because of considerations of space or content.

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The Amherst Student • March 23, 2016

Opinion

5

ConsentFest is Not Sexy Continued from Page 4

thing everyone should try!” Throughout the festival, students were asked to hold signs on which they wrote what they consider consent to be: “Consent is sexy!”

“Consent is super awesome!”

“Everybody should get consent!”

This “consent is sexy” approach leaves consent as a goal to be reached rather than a question to be asked, to which the answer is to be respected.

When consent is sexy, the goal is not to ask a question and to respect the answer but instead to gain one answer: “yes.” Consent does not need to be anything other than what it is: mandatory in order to proceed to a sexual experience with someone.

Sex without consent isn’t “not sexy,” it’s rape.

The festival also featured descriptions of “what consent looks like” — an enthusiastic, clear and sober “Yes.” While this response is accurate, the focus on teaching people how to “recognize” con-

sent or the lack of consent reduces rape to an issue of miscommunication rather than an issue of power. It is also quite patronizing. The difficulty in distinguishing between “yes” and “no” or body language that implies either is minimal. The issue is not simply that perpetrators lack the ability to recognize “yes” and “no”; it is often that perpetrators do not even ask, ask too late or recognize “no” but continue anyway. Perpetrators will hold their partner down, twist their arm, choke them, cover their mouths and ignore their partner’s demands to stop because they know that this act is not consensual. They will coerce, and, if unsuccessful, they will force. Rape culture and porn culture teach them that women’s bodies are objects, and invading them is sexually desirable. Rape is not an accident, it is violence.

Throwing a festival with fun games and prizes is not the answer. While the Peer Advocates address the broad definition and gravity of rape on

Looking Back on Loneliness Evelyn Ting ’17 Contrributing Writer

I remember the heat of the hot asphalt on my feet as I circled on the edges of my elementary school’s blacktop. Watching the boys play soccer and the girls play “Snow White,” I wondered when I would stop being an outsider. It got better in middle school, and then worse again in high school. I didn’t seem to fit in any group I joined. While I experienced vocal rejection in my earlier years, I learned silent rejection as I grew older. First, they would stop inviting me. Then, they would stop recognizing me.

In my now three years at Amherst, several initiatives have sought to bolster community at Amherst and diminish loneliness. I have worked on the tech end for a few of these, and I greatly admire their work in addressing social life on campus. I also believe this work is not frivolous but rather the responsibility of a student body — to further disparate connections and create a community that embraces those who are alone. Chronic loneliness means more than lacking friends or the feeling of belonging. It impacts mental stability, eating habits and academic performance. In addition, making friends or addressing feelings of loneliness is not an easy process for everyone. Sometimes structured endeavors are the only means of facilitating this process.

However, it is always important to look crit-

ically at initiatives one supports, and I sought to better understand what “loneliness” meant at Amherst. I believe understanding causes of loneliness on campus is integral to creating better structures, and so I started by analyzing both the results of the “Loneliness Survey” (an accredited Loneliness Scale from UCLA which 69 percent of students on campus took this fall) and the reports of the Mental Health and Wellness Committee’s Focus Groups on Loneliness to see what patterns I could find. From reports of the discussions facilitated by the Mental Health and Wellness Committee, I gleaned that many lonely students, though in a group, were not in a group they considered a “good fit.” These sentiments supported the Loneliness Survey’s findings that 86.3 percent of students marked “sometimes” or “often” for “I feel part of a group of friends” yet 44.6 percent marked “sometimes” or “often” for “no one really knows me well.”

One reason why people may be stick with superficial friend groups is because it is difficult to change friends and, as the focus groups put it, “socialize across group lines.”

Endeavors at Amherst such as Branches or Meetum and even the new structure of Val seek to address this last point — that students form cliques and rarely socialize outside of them. Therefore, they aim to facilitate friendships between diverse groups at Amherst. I fully support these goals because, firstly, they build community at Amherst, and secondly, psychological studies have shown that becoming friends with someone outside of

campus in more comprehensive workshops like those during orientation, ConsentFest silences the ugliness of rape. All it does is show that this campus does not take rape seriously. As a survivor, that scares me. Am I not sexy because I did not give consent? Was what happened to me my fault because I was not clear enough when saying “no?”

The result of activism not taking the issue seriously is its audience not taking it seriously either.

These events were created because of Amherst’s reputation of mishandling rape cases. Yet, these events continue to mishandle one of the most violent issues that at least one in four women will experience during their time in college. They ignore the patriarchal root of rape and the seriousness of the issue in order to make their events fun, and this fun-faux-feminism makes it sound like not raping people is a recommendation and not a demand. Awareness is good, but we must raise awareness in a way that does not ignore pain. I

am tired of the discourse about rape that focuses on making the issue light and fun rather than the serious issue that is the reality. Let’s encourage a discourse similar to that of Amherst Uprising, one that does not even try to make the issue palatable.

The people who need the issue to be made palatable are the problem.

This year, ConsentFest returns, and I won’t be going. Even writing this article brings tears to my eyes and pain to my chest. The man who raped me drugged me, coerced me, stalked me and compromised my safety, and I am willing to bet that he does not even see himself as a rapist. What happened to me was a manifestation of our culture in which women’s bodies are objects to be taken rather than vessels that carry human life. I want people to recognize that consent is not sexy and fun but mandatory because I am willing to bet that if the man who raped me were to come to ConsentFest, he would win a free tank top.

your group decreases your stereotypes about their outgroup. However, we should also set goals to develop deeper, rather than superficial, relationships. As the Loneliness Survey has shown, nearly half the student body lacks companionship. As focus groups have elucidated, many suffer loneliness from this lack. I believe we can work on this problem with current structures. For example, I encourage students to use Meetum to not just post parties but also activities introverts would enjoy.

I agree with the argument that extracurricular clubs should also help to decrease loneliness.

For example, the Computer Science Club is re-attempting to add a community component by facilitating group collaboration on fun, side-projects.

Unfortunately, building community in clubs may have little impact on decreasing loneliness on campus. Many lonely people I knew at Amherst did not join clubs, either because they didn’t have time or no clubs interested them. Additionally, community events have been brought up as possible remedies for loneliness. Yet, these events, as mentioned by participants of the focus groups, do not break group barriers because people tend to stick around their friends.

While reading the focus group report, I also came across another cause of loneliness. Perhaps the reason that almost half of the student body claims that no one knows them is because they hide their insecurities from those around them.

The focus group report suggests that many students believe they are academically inferior but

wish to appear smart and successful on the outside. The report says that Amherst expects and validates intelligence and invulnerability from its students. Students reported feeling that they couldn’t share vulnerability with others, and therefore dealt with their problems alone.” As fellow students, we should be there for each other. We need to build a culture of trust so students can share vulnerabilities, and we need to focus on growth more than fixed intelligence. This correlates to admiring those students who work hard instead of simply those who have innate ability. Another tip I learned at an imposter syndrome workshop is to read the resume of a friend aloud to them. Then, encourage your friend to rephrase sentences in ways that better reflect the impressive actions they have taken.

For example, your insecure friend might start a sentence with, “I helped implement…” However, a stronger and more accurate statement might replace “I helped” with “I initiated” or “I implemented.” Additionally, mentoring programs, support groups, or simply sharing tips and tools can combat perceived academic vulnerability.

From both dealing with my own loneliness and researching the issue further, I hope I have contributed positive information to the cause. I am continually inspired by the work and creative drive of promoters, critics, and builders who seek to decrease loneliness on campus. As students of Amherst College, I believe we should continue their work and strive to form a community that embraces and nurtures all students.

Distinguishing Between Safe and Academic Spaces Emmanuel Osunlana ’18 Contributing Writer Amherst Uprising brought the school community to a tremendous cathartic release. Students called for accountability from their administration, support from their faculty and understanding from their peers. While the movement may not capture our attention now as intensely as it did in November, it still prompts us to revisit our notions of safe spaces. Some believe that safe spaces only serve as intellectual hiding holes devoid of critical engagement, while others see safe spaces as valuable and necessary additions to the Amherst College community. I reject the former notion and accept the latter. However, I am weary of calls in favor of a “zero-tolerance policy for hate speech,” which can be found under the Academic Policy portion of the Amherst Uprising goals. This request, and those similar, are rightfully made but lead to unintended consequences if not carefully implemented. Amherst Uprising tasked the school community with negotiating between safe and academic spaces. While Amherst College should establish and maintain safe spaces, it should never wholly become one.

My understanding of the interplay between safe and academic spaces is best illustrated by a boxing analogy. In the ring, fighters spend time in two spaces, their individual corners of the ring and the shared fighting space. I see the center of the ring as being analogous to the academic space.

While I am not suggesting that Amherst students leave academic spaces bloodied, the parallel only

serves to underscore the possibility of excruciating dissent in academic spaces. In practice, the academic space may be a class discussion on racism, sexism or any “ism” of your choosing, where one shares controversial and sometimes upsetting viewpoints. The academic space may even take the form of a polemic book attacking the merits of feminist or LGBTQ demands for equality. In any case, whatever form the academic space takes, it does not guarantee safety.

The corner of the ring, similar to safe spaces, ensures security. At the end of each round our hypothetical boxer goes to her corner, with her coach, for her wellbeing. Her coach may challenge her, her coach may even tell her she’s not thinking clearly, but her coach will never redress her with the intent to defeat her. The corner is a place of solace, free from the attacks of her foe. In the safe space, marginalized groups can engage in open discourse without the fear of mainstream marginalization. One of my residents put it best when she said that a safe space allows for emotional vulnerability. In a safe space, one does not have to fear judgment. One can reveal oneself in ways that one may have feared to do so in an academic space.

Subsequently, in order for any space to be considered “safe,” all participants in that space must universally concede certain propositions. In other words, initial consensus of one or more ideas creates a safe space. Before I continue, I must say that I do not believe that people in safe spaces hold uniform beliefs. Individuals frequently challenge each other within the space. However, they do all begin discourse from more or less the same place.

Imagine the absurdity of hearing homophobic rhetoric in a LGBTQ safe space. If this occurred, we would see it as an encroachment on the safe space and a betrayal of the space’s intended purpose. We may even conclude that the space is no longer safe.

The requirement of initial consensus dramatically differentiates a safe space from an academic space. Consensus of ideas may exist in academic spaces, but no one requires this consensus. For instance, academics typically reject racism and the bad it represents, but the academic space does not forbid vocal racism. In an academic space, one can make explicitly racist assertions, but their argument will likely fall on deaf ears. Unlike safe spaces, this rejection of racist claims results not from a requirement of rejection, but from evidence concluding otherwise. Consequently, people can air their prejudiced beliefs in academic spaces but not in safe spaces.

The possible existence of prejudiced beliefs on the Amherst College campus motivates students to take an absolute stance against hateful rhetoric. But one errs by conflating the action of restricting detestable ad hominem with that of creating a universal safe space. Amherst should never wholly become a safe space because it should never require initial consensus from its students. Any institution focused on providing the best education possible can never compel its students to accede to a universal starting place for

academic inquiry. Imagine an institution that obligates its students to start their engagement with the Palestine/Israel debate with the presupposition that one party acts correctly while the other does so wrongly. Alternatively, suppose that Amherst requires students to commit to conservative or liberal ideals to establish a safe space for either political doctrine. Both considerations displease and maybe even appall us.

Our school draws on many different kinds of diversity to enhance and add precious import to the Amherst experience. Aside from the skin deep diversity quickly seen, we find more subtle forms of diversity in lived experiences. Different viewpoints, opinions and beliefs result from this subtle diversity. Without the sometimes symphonious, and other times cacophonous fundamental differences in student views, Amherst would be insipid. If we push Amherst to become a universal safe space, we may rob ourselves of the nuanced diversity that makes our school beautiful.

Arts&Living

Photo courtesy of 2.bp.blogspot.com

The somewhat static plot, which consists of the actions of three people isolated in a small bunker was made dynamic by interesting cinematography.

“10 Cloverfield Lane” Captivates Audiences with Subdued Intensity Mark Simonitis ’19 Staff Writer There seems to be an unwritten rule when it comes to sequels. They almost always tend to be bigger, brasher and louder than their predecessors, which is why it’s so refreshing to see an example that defies the expectation. “10 Cloverfield Lane” is a smaller, yet scarier and more intense followup to the 2008 found-footage monster movie that is anchored by fascinating performances, clever cinematography, a tight script and story. Bigger doesn’t always mean better.

The movie begins with Michelle (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) packing up and abandoning her life before getting into a shockingly visceral car crash. She wakes up to find herself chained to a pipe in an underground doomsday shelter run by Howard (John Goodman), who tells her that there has been an attack and that almost everyone on the surface is dead. Along with fellow shelter resident Emmet (John Gallagher Jr.), Michelle is left with a dilemma: Is Howard telling the truth, or is he a delusional conspiracy theorist riding the edge of insanity? Are the two mutually exclusive?

The first thing anyone should know about “10 Cloverfield Lane” is that it is not a direct sequel to “Cloverfield” and does not share its found-footage monster movie style. Producer J.J. Abrams refers to it as a “blood relative” or a “spiritual successor.”

The story and universe of the movie don’t appear to be tied to the original except for one detail that may or may not be intentional. John Goodman’s character claims to have been informed of the incoming attack because he “worked with satellites” when (spoiler for the original “Cloverfield”) it was a satellite crashing into the ocean that woke up the Cloverfield monster. Knowing J.J. Abrams’ penchant for hiding similar Easter eggs in other films, it’s unlikely that this is a coincidence.

Goodman’s performance as Howard is the standout performance here, and Goodman plays him as an intriguing and disturbing villain. He bounces between tenderness and naked aggression at the drop of a hat, and he manages to seem both extremely competent while dropping small hints that not all is as it seems.

Goodman also brings a unique physicality to the film as uses his massive bulk to great effect by intimidating Michelle and Emmet, oftentimes filling up the shot. Conversely, he manages to get a

laugh out of us as he shakes his ample rear end to the beat of uplifting music. You can never be truly sure whether Howard will save the other characters or be their undoing. Howard’s relationship with Michelle is the most intriguing aspect of the movie because the two characters struggle to comprehend and outsmart one another. Goodman has excellent chemistry with Winstead, who is a solid lead and comes across as a real person as opposed to the caricatures that populated “Cloverfield.”

Perhaps the most surprising aspect of her character was that she came across as intelligent and rational while navigating the perils of the film, a trait not particularly common in these kinds of movies. Meanwhile, Gallagher’s disarming Southern mannerisms provide welcome moments of light in what is largely a somber movie, but his character is mostly left by the wayside as the focus remains on Howard and Michelle.

What makes “10 Cloverfield Lane” tick is the tension that comes from Michelle’s constantly shifting sense of safety. Director Dan Trachten-

berg makes an excellent debut as he constantly toys with her and her perception of the bunker.

On one hand, it is a place of tangible and definite safety as opposed to whatever may be lurking on the surface. On the other hand, it’s a prison run by a paranoid wreck with a gun. Even when it appears as though the threat outside is real, Michelle is presented with more evidence that life in the bunker may be even worse.

While three people isolated in a small bunker may sound like an intriguing dramatic premise, it doesn’t promise much in the way of visual drama.

However, “10 Cloverfield Lane” defied my expectations throughout. This was largely accomplished by excellent cinematography that consistently found new ways to present the characters in the four rooms that they are present in for 90 percent of the movie. The most recent example of something similar would be 2015’s “Room,” which was largely shot in the titular room. Also, the story ensured that the action of the movie didn’t just revolve around these characters having conversa-

tions. As the bunker experiences technical difficulties and Michelle considers escape, the film presents us with one interesting set piece after another.

As tensions mount, the film inevitably proceeds to a violent and explosive third act. However, it comes across as incredibly rushed, with most of the movie’s plot progression taking place in the last 20 minutes. As for the ending itself, the less said about it the better. Still, it’s worth noting that there are certain aspects of it that come out of nowhere and don’t exactly make a lot of sense. Considering the fact that this is a “Cloverfield” movie it is entirely possible that there were hints throughout the movie that I missed and would only catch on a rewatch. After all, I only caught the satellite in the original movie after someone told me it was there.

“10 Cloverfield Lane” is a excellent example of the fact that smaller films can still work in an age of blockbusters. While it may lack spectacle, it still manages to deliver an intense and frightening story and reminds us that humans can be far scarier than a rampaging kaiju.

Photo courtesy of asgeeks.es

“10 Cloverfield Lane,” starring John Goodman, Mary Elizabeth Winstead and John Gallagher Jr., captivates audiences with the tension that builds between characters Michelle and Howard.

Arts & Living 7

The Amherst Student • March 23, 2016

Amherst Cinema Holds Year-Long Celebratory 10th Anniversary Series Gabby Edzie ’17 Managing Arts & Living Editor Nov. 11, 2015 marked the launch of Amherst Cinema’s 10th anniversary year series, a year-long collection of screenings and accompanying events in celebration of the nonprofit cinema’s continued existence as Amherst’s film hub. Although the nonprofit entered the community in 2006, the creation is more accurately described as a rebirth. The cinema’s history began much earlier, possessing an array of identities before becoming the Amherst Cinema currently frequented

by Five College students and the greater Amherst community members. Before it welcomed independent film lovers and foreign film connoisseurs, the Amherst Cinema building housed horses. In 1879, the building was erected as a livery which was used to stable horses, and subsequently, to sell motorcars.

“After a major downtown fire [in 1926] the structure was sold, renovated and opened as a single-screen cinema,” Noelle Serafino, Amherst Cinema’s communications coordinator, said. In 1955, Samuel Goldstein purchased the cinema and gave it the name that remains today. After a period of significant deterioration and insufficient supervision, the privately-owned cinema was eventually forced to close in 1999, after screening its last film, “200 Cigarettes.” The roots of the cinema were preserved and in 2000, the nonprofit that continues to sustain the cinema today was formed.

“A group of local visionaries and arts lovers formed the nonprofit Amherst Cinema entity to save the historic structure from the auction block,” Serafino said. “With generous

help from hundreds of individuals, institutions and businesses, the group raised nearly 300 million dollars for a new nonprofit Amherst Cinema.”

The cinema, rejuvenated by widespread donations, became a community effort, sustained by the population it served. It opened on Nov. 22, 2006 as a state-of-the-art threescreen cinema. The revitalized organization “quickly built a loyal and dedicated audience and membership base,” Serafino said. The cinema relies on both daily audiences and Amherst Cinema members for revenue, cherishing both ticket sales and the membership fee paid in exchange for various moviegoer benefits, like discounted tickets and free popcorn.

Amherst Cinema has been successfully functioning as a nonprofit since, offering a rare venue for audiences to view the more than 240 films that are screened each year, including a diverse selection of documentaries, foreign films and classic masterpieces.

The cinema also hosts an array of film-related, educational events, including visits by notable filmmakers and student film festivals. In 2013, Amherst Cinema also opened the Studio Theater, a smaller theater located a few steps from the main cinema building.

The Studio Theater, containing a mere 25 seats, offers viewers a more intimate viewing experience.

The Studio Theater “provides a space for screening film jewels that would not otherwise be shown within 100 miles,” Serafino said. Indeed, the room seems to communicate the essence of Amherst Cinema, offering audiences a viewing experience that cannot be achieved at the larger, blockbuster-wielding cinemas in the area. As Serafino explained,

Photo courtesy of Amherst Cinema

Amherst Cinema launched the anniversary series with a screening of “The Queen,” the first film that the cinema screened back in 2006.

Amherst Cinema aims to nourish the sense of community in Amherst by fostering an appreciation for unique, culturally significant films.

In celebration of both the longevity and continued progress of Amherst Cinema, the organization kicked off the 10th anniversary year with a launch party and free screenings of “The Queen,” the first film that the cinema screened back in 2006. Following the launch party, Amherst Cinema has screened, and will continue to screen, film favorites from years past, as determined by an audience poll. There will be a celebration year film ev-

ery month.

The next anniversary event will be an April 12 screening of “Jules & Jim,” a film about a pre-World War I love triangle consisting of Austrian author Jules (Oskar Werner,) Frenchman Jim (Henri Serre) and the impulsive Catherine (Jeanne Moreau). The film was directed by Francois Truffaut in 1962. Other upcoming films in the anniversary series include “The Seventh Seal” in May, “Once” in June and “Searching for Sugar Man” in July. Serafino believes there will also be a final special event at the close of the 10th anniversary year.

The Broad: New Art Museum Opens in Downtown Los Angeles

Photo courtesy of Flickr.com

The Broad building (pictured above) was co-designed by Gensler, an innovative architecture firm in Los Angeles.

Sophie Currin ’17 Staff Writer Each senior at my high school was instructed to take the last three weeks before graduation to focus on a project, internship or idea. In May 2013, I chose to work with the design team at Gensler, an architecture firm. One of their then-current projects was to co-design a new art museum in downtown Los Angeles, named The Broad. I had the opportunity to do a site visit, which was just down the street from Gensler’s office, and I saw the beginnings of and plans for what was deemed the “veil and vault” — a three-story building with a white, porous honeycomb-like outer shell and a cave-like interior leading to the gallery spaces. The design for the building was expensive and ambitious: The honeycomb wrapper exists to filter in light during the day and glow on the outside at night, and

the interior seeks to propagate a sense of other-worldliness.

The Broad, which displays and stores a large portion of Eli Broad’s contemporary art collection, opened this past fall and sits on Grand Avenue across from Frank Gehry’s Walt Disney Concert Hall, contributing to the much needed revitalization of downtown Los Angeles. The Broad has already drawn large crowds from all over Los Angeles — admission is free, but to visit one must reserve tickets, which are currently all reserved through late May. The crowd at The Broad is young — the average age of a visitor is 32 — and 1 out of 4 visitors heard about it via friends’ social media posts.

Eli Broad is an entrepreneur and philanthropist who made his money by starting a real estate company, constructing and selling tract homes and later acquiring an insurance company. Eli Broad and his wife, Edith Broad,

created The Broad Foundation to support education, sciences and arts, and have committed to giving 75 percent of their wealth away within their lifetimes. Among many donations to better education systems around the U.S., the Broads have spent much of their time and money attempting to reinvigorate the cultural atmosphere in Los Angeles. Broad was the founding chairman of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles (the MOCA), donated generously to the Los Angeles Opera, built a new preforming arts center at the Santa Monica Community College and founded the Grand Avenue Committee, which seeks to revitalize the major street in downtown Los Angeles. The Broad is his newest addition to the Los Angeles arts community and to Grand Avenue. Food trucks frequently set up alongside it, and a beautiful new restaurant, Otium, was opened in tandem with the museum. The existence of The Broad itself has already had

a huge impact on the pull to visit downtown Los Angeles.

Over spring break, I revisited The Broad, this time in its completed form, and I was immediately fascinated by the accurate realization of the designs I had looked at three years before. The texture of the “veil” is intriguing, and the cave-like layer between the shell and the gallery space reminded me of what I would assume the moon is like. The first piece I viewed was Yayoi Kusama’s “Infinity Mirrored Room,” for which the wait to enter can be up to seven hours, and its social media presence has been the largest for the museum overall.

Alone or in pairs, the visitor steps into a small, closed room, and standing on a platform surrounded by mirrors and water, is bombarded by the optical illusion of being surrounded on all sides and depths by a starry light show.

The rest of the first-floor exhibits a multimedia, multi-frame music video performance, and then contemporary paintings in the normal exhibition space. Transportation upwards, usually straight to the third floor where the rest of the exhibition space exists is by stairs, or by elevator, one that reminds me of pneumatic tubes used to transport checks at the bank. The second floor includes office spaces, a presentation space and a transparent view into the storage space that houses the rest of The Broad’s collection. The clear-tube elevator opens directly onto the gallery space on the third floor, and the visitor immediately sees the oversized, colorful steel tulips by Koons. The third floor includes more famous and permanent pieces than the first floor, including multiple works by Koons, Ellsworth Kelly, Jasper Johns and Christopher Wool.

The Broad’s mission is to make its collection of contemporary art, compiled since the 1950s, accessible to the widest possible audience, by making it free, but also by creating a lending program to other art museums and galleries across the globe. Through diverse exhibits and education programs, the museum “enriches, provokes, inspires and fosters appreciation of art of our time,” as stated on the museum’s website.

Arts & Living 8

The Amherst Student • March 23, 2016

Lamar’s “untitled unmastered” Proves to be Impressively Imperfect Simon Stracher ’17 Staff Writer Even when he releases what seems like second-rate songs, Kendrick Lamar remains on the top of the rap game. His most recent album, “untitled unmastered.,” was released on March 4, and while imperfect and incomplete, it is still a characteristically strong effort. He advances the psychological and politically charged themes from his previous album, “To Pimp a Butterfly,” while also creating songs that could conceivably become radio hits (particularly tracks two, five and eight.)

The story behind “untitled unmastered.” is simple, just like the album’s release. While working on “To Pimp a Butterfly,” Lamar had some leftover demos. These were songs that didn’t make the cut for various reasons — from deadline to content or thematic issues.

On March 4, several months after the release of “To Pimp a Butterfly” and after the urging of NBA superstar LeBron James, Kendrick released these eight unfinished demos as “untitled unmastered”.

The central themes that Lamar explores in “To Pimp a Butterfly” are rehashed in this new album — racism, depression, materialism and his inner struggle with his role as a spokesman and representative for and of black culture and life.

In “untitled unmastered.” Lamar expresses self-doubt about his mission, while acknowledging the success of his previous album. On the first track, he raps, “I made To Pimp a Butterfly for you/Told me to use my vocals to save mankind for you/ Say I didn’t try for you, say I didn’t ride for you/I tithed for you, I pushed the club to the side for you/Who love you like I love you?” This introspection in the face of his outward achievements is impressive and expressive, but it carries over the themes from “To Pimp a Butterfly,” rather than offering

Photo courtesy of en.wikipedia.com

Lamar’s new release consists of unfinished tracks originally intended to be on his last album, “To Pimp a Butterfly.” something new.

However, “untitled unmastered.” is not meant to delve into new thematic content. Instead, it is a confident statement from an artist at the peak of his craft. Lamar is giving us a gift with the release of “untitled unmastered.,” allowing us to appreciate him even more as an artist and as a man. He is content to remain where he is in the game — even his second best work is still better and more self-aware than Kanye West’s “The Life of Pablo.” In fact, compared to the tumultuous and ever-changing rollout of “The Life of Pablo,” “untitled unmastered.” could be considered the complete and superior contrast. While both offer introspective looks into their psyches, Kend-

rick is much more concerned with the world, and how he can make it a better place. West, while occasionally admitting to troubles that plague him, is far too concerned with himself and how great he is — not to mention his continual and unnecessary crude and misogynistic lyrics. Lamar is more thoughtful, and, as a result, more effective.

Perhaps the most interesting part about this album is the access we get to Lamar’s creative process. On several tracks, Lamar has simply left unrelated snippets of songs, or unorthodox changes during songs, or even the occasional impromptu shout to various production members (like at the end of “untitled 02” when he asks who’s doing the drums). For

those interested in seeing a raw and genuine Kendrick Lamar, you will get everything you ever wanted on this album.

It is not often that artists will release unfinished material as an album. And when they do, often it is a feeble and unpersuasive effort, one that clearly demonstrates to us why that material remains unfinished. But it is different with Kendrick Lamar. During several songs, I found myself wondering how this song could possibly have been cut from “To Pimp a Butterfly.” It’s difficult to adequately describe just how good some of this newly released material is, and the fact that it is unfinished shows just how great Kendrick Lamar is right now.

Michael Moore’s “Where to Invade Next” Falls Short of Potential Youngkwang Shin ’18 Staff Writer A prolific documentarian, Michael Moore has become shorthand for the mildly snarky, moderately subversive and heavily engaged leftist documentaries that have come to define his niche in cinema. Moore, though reared in the waning days of the Cold War, typifies the spirit of millennial progressivism. His movies are deeply starched in contemporary cynical humor, critiquing the flaws of the U.S.’s domestic policies. However, typically at the end, when you’re convinced you must move out of this country, he gives you a sense of optimism towards the future. “Where to Invade Next” is the latest incarnation of this dynamic, similarly inspired and hampered.

The documentary tracks Moore’s farcical invasion of various European countries (and Tunisia) where he is determined to discover and extract resources for the betterment of the United States. The resources in question are progressive domestic policies, in areas including but not limited to: paid vacations, nutritious school lunches, women’s representation in government and their rights as workers, inexpensive and efficient education, rehabilitative incarceration and democratically accountable financial practices. After infiltrating the relevant institutions, observing the behavior of their constituents and interviewing their representatives, Moore playfully annexes the land and its lesson by planting the American flag, with their permission, in front of his grinning interviewees. Moore would warn each of his interviewees that he was going to steal this idea and take it to the U.S. and they simply smiled and said, “Please do!” All the while, Moore and the American moviegoer are shocked time and time again at how regressive the policies of the greatest superpower in world history are, and how the American Dream came to be so foreign to its weavers.

While Moore may colonize literally new

grounds, he treads the same ideological earth that today’s progressive media does every day, from Trevor Noah’s Daily Show to Senator Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign. Naturally, it was Moore’s artistic imperative to differentiate his work from those spawned by his fellows. Unfortunately, this is the front at which “Where to Invade Next” stumbles.

The purpose of the documentary is simple enough: criticize the American domestic policy by comparing its domestic policy to those of other first-world countries. What this accomplishes on paper are as follows: 1. Disquiet the audience by challenging the quietly but assuredly assumed preeminence of the United States in all things significant. 2. Highlight exactly how behind many the United States is in these particular areas. 3. Offer fascinating insight to different cultures, their politics, and their opinion of the United States. 4. Be uniquely hilarious.

The problem is that the movie does not unfold as it ought to in theory. Even during in depth and at times personal interviews, the focus is always on comparing the achievements of France, Germany and Finland to the relative failures of the United States. There is no time to study the political atmospheres of these nations, certainly interesting in their own right, because the documentary is choked with information as it is and cannot afford to lose direction. While that directorial decision lends to a well-paced, clearly presented and overall informative and enjoyable movie, it strips the final product of the advantages it could have flaunted over its myriad competitors.

The movie is genuinely funny from time to time, but it again relies on familiar stock. The bulk of the jokes rely on the “ignorant American on foreign soil armed only with flag and foreign policy seriously flagging behind the times” gimmick. But these types of gimmicks also give way to the words of the foreign interviewees, which ironically, feed back into the “focus on America” dynamic of the movie.

Many interviewees argued that the central idea behind their advanced domestic policy from the United States, who for various political reasons that were not talked about, had strayed away from the path these countries had followed. As they are, the gimmicks exist only to embellish the tail end of every segment of the film, providing decent relief from the procedural outpours of information.

The movie is not a complete disappointment, however. It showcases occasional inspiration in several scenes throughout, attesting to Moore’s experience and prowess as a longtime filmmaker. The film is also extremely well edited, not once interrupting the movements of body and mind that constitute it. But past all the post-production polish and the in-production intrigue, the scene that remained with me most was a single line spoken by an Italian: “It

is the dream of many Italians to live in America.” It is a brief view a world of nuance absent from the film, an uncalculated utterance that belies the truth that the United States remains idolized by many throughout the world who live in places with ironically superior welfare.

The film, among countless alternatives, could have charted this world, provoking questions regarding how exactly a country void of these progressive policies scaled the heights and became “great,” and whether it is a greatness worth our 21st century appreciation. It would have certainly made Moore’s latest film stand out of the burgeoning crowd. As it is, “Where to Invade Next” is a perfectly serviceable sermon to the choir, whose form confines its words to the place of their worship and probably offers little to the unbelievers ambling outside.

Photo courtesy of farefilm.it

The cynical, humorous documentary follows Moore as he travels in search of progressive policies and resources for the supposed betterment of the U.S.

The Amherst Student • March 23, 2016

Sports 9

Women’s Lacrosse Sweeps Two Games Over Spring Break Trip

Photo courtesy of Peter Connolly ‘18

Rachel Passarelli ‘16 has scored 10 goals and assisted on two through four games played. Her 12 total points are good for second-most on the team.

Meredith Manley ’18 Staff Writer The Amherst women’s lacrosse team went 2-1 over spring break, dropping a close game against NESCAC rival Bates before winning two games against McDaniel College and Dickinson in Clermont, Florida. With these results, Amherst’s record now stands at 3-1 (2-1 NESCAC).

The team endured a tough 8-7 loss to Bates in a close Saturday afternoon match on March 12.

This proved to be no easy feat for the Bobcats. Bates’ Kaileigh Maguire created some dangerous opportunities for her team in the first half. Maguire was able to capitalize, scoring two goals and assisting Emma Brinkman to put the Bobcats ahead by three goals with

25:30 still left on the clock.

Amherst fought back cutting the goal difference to two before the end of the half.

Claire Cagnassola ’17, Rachel Passarelli ’16 and Kate Wyeth ’17 each found the back of the net past Bates goalie, Hannah Jeffery, while the purple and white faced a 5-3 deficit going into the second half.

Behind an outstanding effort from Wyeth, the purple and white found themselves at a one goal differential late in the second half with 19:23 remaining. Senior Mia Haughton assisted Wyeth on both occasions and added to the building momentum as they approached the final whistle.

Defender Katie Paolano ’16 led her team in ground balls. Also back in Amherst’s defending third of the field, goalie Christy Forrest ’16 made two crucial saves, forcing the Bob-

cats work to keep their lead.

Despite a final back and forth between Bates’ Brinkman and Amherst’s Mary Grace Cronin ’18, scoring a goal a piece for their respective teams, the game ended in Bates’ favor.

Arriving in Clermont with the taste of defeat still in their mouths, the purple and white were game ready for McDaniel and Dickinson after a few practices under the Florida sunshine.

McDaniel was no easy opponent, and hung tough with the purple and white early on. The first half was a fairly even battle. Hannah Krueger ’17 gave Amherst the lead on a free position 58 seconds into the first half and held on to that lead for the remainder of the game. With contributions from Wyeth and Haughton the purple and white went ahead by three goals.

McDaniel responded and was able to close the gap making it a tie game thanks to an early goal from Samantha Barbeito and two consecutive goals by Maggie Quinn and Allison Farrell.

The Amherst attack turned on the fire and forced McDaniel to defend for the rest of the half. Cagnassola, Krueger, Haughton and Passarelli each scored while McDaniel’s Farrell put a second past Forrest and Amherst entered the break with a 7-4 lead.

Cronin, Coco Kusiak ’17, Dakota Foster ’18 and Krueger helped the purple and white pull away in the second half and claim a 14-4 lead. McDaniel produced two more goals to set the score at 14-6, but it was too late to salvage the win.

“We came out a little slow against McDaniel, but when we got some momentum, we really played selfless and out worked them,” Cronin said.

Once the purple and white were able to find their rhythm, they executed their game plan and were able to walk away with the win.

Regaining their confidence after handedly beating McDaniel, Amherst faced their next opponent, Dickinson, on March 17.

Starting the game strong, Cronin and Passarelli wreaked havoc within the Dickinson defense and racked up two goals each with apparent ease.

Following a slight lull, Dickinson’s Maddy Siebold was able to breath life back into the Red Devils late in the first half, but a Passarelli goal quickly restored the purple and white’s advantage.

Breaking for the half, Amherst had momentum and looked to maintain it for the remaining 30 minutes.

The second half was full of excitement as goals began to fly for both sides. Seibold broke down the Amherst defense once again to start the second half, but Kusiak and Passarelli answered, opening the floodgates for the purple and white.

Julia Crerend ’18, Haughton, Devin O’Connor ’16 and Passarelli all made the final contributions to the score, giving Amherst the 13-7 win.

The team’s showing against Dickinson highlighted both a strong team and individual performance. Passarelli produced four goals, with assists from Krueger and O’Connor.

First-year Lindsey Call displayed her willingness to compete, recovering four ball controls for the purple and white. Rowena Schenk ’18, Kusiak, Krueger and Forrest played major roles as well with three ground ball pick-ups each.

The team was able to board their plane proud of their play in the sunshine state, but with the knowledge that there is still work to be done with the rest of their season before them. The purple and white are back in action on Wednesday, March 23, for a 6:30 p.m. game at Springfield College. They then face conference opponent Hamilton on Saturday, March 26 at noon in Clinton, New York.

Men’s Lacrosse Continues to Build Men’s and Women’s Swim Teams on their Strong Start to the Season Compete in Championship Meet Mary Grace Cronin ’18 Staff Writer The Amherst men’s lacrosse team survived tough competition on their recent spring break trip to Florida. They played two gritty opponents during their week in sunny Orlando, seeing two nail biting matches against their toughest out of conference rivals.

The purple and white squared off first against Western New England. The first half was dry of any solid action, but Western New England’s Patrick Dillon ripped the only goal of the period to put the Golden Bears ahead. In the second period, goals by Dylan Park ’16 and Quinn Moroney ’16 lifted Amherst to trail by just one goal heading into the half.

Park again scored the equalizer from Kane Haffey ’16 to put the action at 3-3. A back and forth third period, which saw many unassisted efforts on both sides, would set up a crucial and exciting fourth quarter.

Amherst went up by two points several times in the last period of play, until the Golden Bears tied the game with only 4:15 left on the clock.

They then added two more goals in the final minutes to devastate the favored purple and white on their first matchup in Florida.

Amherst took this loss to gear up for No. 20 Cortland State. Chris Albanese ’17 opened up the scoring for Amherst, and the purple and white subsequently built a 3-0 lead on goals from Connor Crump ’16 and Evan Wolf ’19. After back and forth play, Amherst entered the half with an 8-4 advantage.

A relatively quiet third quarter favored Amherst heading into the final stanza, but the last 15 minutes of the game were jam-packed with action. Cortland lit up the scoreboard with a 6-0 run that gave them a 12-10 lead with 5:35 left. The purple and white stayed in the game, however, and clutch goals by Charlie Gill ’16 and Haffey

sent the two teams into overtime.

It was Albanese, the first goal scorer of the day, who closed out the action as well. With only 3:07 left in overtime, his unassisted goal lifted Amherst to a much-needed 13-12 victory.

The purple and white returned from Florida for a Tuesday night game on March 22 against Endicott College. By the end of a back-and-forth match, Amherst emerged victorious by a final score line of 15-14.

Although Endicott struck first, Amherst quickly fought back with three goals in as many minutes. Gill started off the scoring with an unassisted strike, which was followed by goals from Albanese and senior Rob Butko. Endicott then tied the score at 3-3 with less than five minutes left to play in the quarter, but Crump quickly gave the advantage right back to the purple and white with an unassisted strike.

This lead, however, would not last, as Endicott knotted the score at 4-4 going into the second period. In the beginning of the second quarter, Moroney scored a goal and then assisted another to put the purple and white up by two. A flurry of goals from both teams, including three in 45 seconds by the purple and white, resulted in Amherst holding a 12-8 lead at the end of the second stanza.

Endicott came out strong in the second half, and by the end of the third quarter had cut Amherst’s once significant lead to a mere 12-11 advantage.

In the fourth quarter, the purple and white extended their lead to 15-12, but this advantage quickly shrunk to 15-14 with five minutes left to play. Amherst was able to stave off Endicott’s furious offense in the final minutes of the fourth quarter in order to earn their fifth win this season.

Amherst returns to action on Saturday, March 26, when they host NESCAC foe Hamilton at 1 p.m. The team then takes on Springfield in an away game on Tuesday, March 29, at 7 p.m.

Hayes Honea ’19 Staff Writer Last week, nine women and two men traveled to Greensboro, North Carolina, for the NCAA swimming championships. On the men’s side, Amherst placed 28th overall in the 57-team field with a total of 31 points.

The women finished second among NESCAC teams and sixth overall with a final tally of 158 points.

Matt Heise ’16 placed 24th out of 40 in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 50.08. Jeff Anderson ’16 finished an impressive four-year career in the butterfly by finishing as a new school record holder and the national runnerup in the 200-yard butterfly with a mark of 1:47.60. Anderson earned All-American laurels for his efforts.

On the women’s side, the 200-yard medley relay squad of Stephanie Moriarty ’18, Emily

Hyde ’16, Sarah Conklin ’16 and Destin Groff ’17 earned a seventh-place finish (1:43.57).

Bridgette Kwong ’19 also earned seventh place in the 400-yard IM (4:27.00), and Conklin garnered fifth in the 100-yard butterfly (55.25).

The 400-yard medley team of Moriarty, Hyde, Conklin and Zoe Pappas ’19 finished sixth with a mark of 3:46.22. Each of these finishes earned All-American honors, as each team or individual finished among the top eight.

Though all the finishes were impressive, Hyde certainly dominated the pool this past week. With a national championship performance in the 200-yard IM (2:01.15), a national runner-up finish in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:01.64) and a NCAA meet record-breaking time in the 200-yard breaststroke of 2:12.30, Hyde was rightfully awarded her third AllAmerican honor over the course of four NCAA appearances.

Photo courtesy of Amherst Athletics

Senior Emily Hyde put in dominant performances in each of her three events, and earned her third recognition as an All-American in four years.

10

Sports

The Amherst Student • March 23, 2016

Men’s Basketball Makes Post-Season Run, Falls in Close Matchup with Benedictine Julia Turner ’19 Managing Sports Editor The men’s basketball team continued their impressive postseason run over the break, beating Tufts University for a second time this season to move on to the Final Four, where they lost a hard fought matchup to the top ranked team in the country, Benedictine University.

Senior Connor Green scored a game-high 25 points as the 15th-ranked purple and white posted an 86-73 victory over the Jumbos in the NCAA Division III Championship Sectional Final in Medford, Massachusetts on Saturday, March 12th.

Contributing to the win, Amherst shot 47 percent from the floor and 29.2 percent from three-point range, while connecting on 70.8 percent from the free throw line.

After a close start to the game, Jeff Racy ’17 put up a hard-fought layup that helped the purple and white grab the momentum to go on a 10-0 run, giving the squad a 24-12 advantage with just over six minutes remaining in the first half. The Jumbos continued to chip away at Amherst’s lead but a clutch three by junior Jacob Nabatoff coming off the bench put the purple and white up 40-35 at the half.

At the 13:49 mark of the second period, the Jumbos superior offensive rebounding worked in their favor to put them up 54-51. Tufts was able to run its lead to as many seven following a bucket underneath at the 11:15 mark, but sophomore Johnny McCarthy answered with a three-pointer to make it 62-58. The sides exchanged baskets and battled to two tie scores over the next seven-plus minutes before David George ’17 hit the front end of two free throws to break a 73-73 stalemate.

From there, the purple and white mounted an impressive 12-0 run over the final 3:32 as Green, Michael Riopel ’18 and Reid Berman ’17 each made a bucket, while McCarthy added a strike from beyond-the-arc an and a free throw to help seal the 86-73 win.

This impressive win over NESCAC rival Tufts sent the purple and white into an exciting Final Four matchup against one of the hottest teams in the country, an undefeated Benedictine University.

In a back and forth start to the contest, McCarthy, Racy, Green and George all tallied points for the purple and white, while Benedictine matched them step for step, taking a 16-14 lead with just

over nine minutes left to play in the half. Defense took over on both sides, however, when the teams battled through four minutes of scoreless play before Benedictine hit a pair of free throws to extend their lead to four. Led by a Green three and a subsequent baseline bucket, the purple and white led at halftime, holding a 27-23 advantage over the Eagles.

In the second half, Benedictine scored a quick pair of baskets to knot the score at 29, before Dawson knocked down a three to put Amherst up 3231. Amherst struggled to keep the momentum in the second half, allowing Benedictine to gain a 3932 lead before Eric Conklin ’17 helped out in the paint to pull the purple and white within four.

Amherst tried to hold on while the Eagles picked up speed. Trailing by eight, Green delivered a pair of three-pointers on back-to-back possessions to pull Amherst within four before a layup

by Dawson and a free throw a minute later set the score at 56-55 in favor of the Eagles. The purple and white kept it a one-possession game until the end, but Benedictine hit two free throws to put them up 63-60 with seconds remaining. Amherst had one final shot at tying the game, but Green’s three-point attempt hit the back iron as the Eagles held on for a hard-fought 63-60 victory.

With this impressive postseason run, Amherst men’s basketball improved their NCAA tournament record to 41-18. Connor Green finished his spectacular senior season with 1,757 points and will graduate as Amherst’s second all-time leading scorer.

After months of training in the cage, the Amherst baseball team kicked off its season by traveling down to Fort Myers, Florida, for the annual spring break trip. They came away from the trip with a solid record of 8-1, only suffering a close 8-7 loss to Johns Hopkins University.

The team started strong on day one. Led by Yanni Thanapolous ’17 at the plate and Jackson Volle ’17 on the hill, the purple and white secured a 13-4 victory over North Park. The next day, the team continued to thrive beating Plymouth State twice: 7-2 under the leadership of upperclassmen Anthony Spina ’17 and Keenan Szulik ’16, and 3-2 with crucial performances from the underclassmen Joe Feldman ’18 and Wilson Taylor ’19.

On the morning of the third day of competition, the men took down Mitchell College 12-8. They started down 5-3 entering the sixth inning, but Spina and Dave Cunningham ’16 stepped up to earn three hits each. Drew Fischer ’18 and Chris Baldi ’17 were able to effectively subdue the opposing offense with impressive pitching.

Later in the day, the purple and white came up short (8-7) in a tough, extra-inning battle against Johns Hopkins. Though Amherst held a three-point lead entering the ninth inning,

Jackson Volle ’17 Favorite Team Memory: Team trip to Japan Favorite Pro Athlete: Bartolo Colon Dream Job: Cowboy Pet Peeve: Yogurt chicken Favorite Vacation Spot: Cabo Something on Your Bucket List: Bowl a 300 Guilty Pleasure: Tres Leches Favorite Food: Tres Leches Favorite Thing About Amherst: Professor Medina-Elizalde How He Earned It: Right handed pitcher Volle led the purple and white to two big wins to help secure an 8-1 record for the team after their spring break trip to Florida. Getting the start in their season opener on March 12, Volle threw six innings, giving up only three hits and shutting out North Park with seven strikeouts.

The junior returned to the mound on March 17 against Salem State, giving up one run on three hits with five strikeouts in eight innings pitched. His 0.64 ERA currently leads the NESCAC, and his record stands at 2-0.

Kyra Naftel ’19 Favorite Team Memory: Our sunrise hike to Mount Sugerloaf a few weeks ago Favorite Pro Athlete: Bethany Hamilton Dream Job: If money wasn’t a problem, I’d be a professional photographer Pet Peeve: When people use “your” instead of “you’re” or “there” instead of “their” Favorite Vacation Spot: Kauai’i Something on Your Bucket List: I live near Los Angeles, so I’ve always wanted to go to the beach in the morning, then drive to the mountains and go snowboarding in the same day Guilty Pleasure: I don’t really have any I can think of...

Favorite Food: Pasta. Any kind of pasta Favorite Thing About Amherst: All the incredible people I’ve met, especially through softball and Amherst Christian Fellowship How She Earned It: Naftel came out with a bang in her first collegiate series, going 22-43 in the team’s trip to Florida, being the only player to record a hit in all 11 games. The first-year currently leads the purple and white in hits (22), runs (11), triples (3), batting average (.537) and slugging percentage (.756).

Men’s Tennis Dominates Tough Spring Break Competition in California Jason Darell ’18 Managing Sports Editor Photo courtesy of Mark Box

Connor Greene ’16 will graduate as the second all-time leading scorer.

Baseball Suffers Only One Loss in Fort Meyers, Nine Game Preseason Showcase Hayes Honea ’19 Staff Writer

ATHLETE SPOTLIGHT

Johns Hopkins leveled the score and sent the game into the 10th. The men were able to score an additional run in the top of the tenth while their opponents were able to outmatch them with two runs.

Despite the loss to Johns Hopkins, the team bounced back with a 3-1 victory over Salem State. Max Steinhorn ’18 played a huge role in the win, knocking in two runs during the top of the fifth. Amherst then entered yet another extra-inning tilt against Bethel College, but this time they came out on top with a score of 7-6. Among six pitchers used in this game, Zach Brown ’18 and closer Mike Castiglie ’17 led the defense. Defensively, Thanopolous and Conner Gunn ’16 made gamewinning plays.

In the next match-up of the tournament, the purple and white faced Edgewood Colege, easily defeating them 17-5. They grinded out an impressive 21 hits including three each from Steinhorn, Gunn, Cunningham, Harry Roberson ’18 and Jonathan Ramirez ’16. Firstyears Taylor and John Vasiliu each made influential pitching appearances as well. Finally, the men took on Augustana, and shut them out 4-0 with an impressive shutout pitching performance.

The men look to continue their winning streak as they take on Endicott College in a doubleheader this Saturday, March 26. The first game starts at 1 p.m.

The Amherst men’s tennis team got its season off to a great start this past week, going 8-2 over the course of their spring break trip to California. The team started off their week of matches on Sunday, March 13, when they faced off against both Vassar College and Washington College. Amherst set the tone for the week by managing to cleanly sweep both teams, each with a final score line of 9-0.

Against Washington, Anton Zykov ’17 notched an impressive 6-1, 6-0 victory on the first court. On the second court, senior Andrew Yaraghi posted a 6-2, 6-2 win, while on the third court, first-year Justin Sun dominated his opponent and achieved a final score line of 6-0, 6-0.

Fellow first-year Jesse Levitin won by a large 6-1, 6-1 margin on the fourth court, while sophomore Ben Birkenfeld earned a 6-2, 6-1 victory against his opponent.

In the final singles court, junior Sam Silver saw off his opponent in a comfortable 6-1, 6-0 win. In the doubles courts, Yaraghi and Zykov, Sun and Berkenfeld and first-year Jon Heidenberg and Silver won 8-2, 8-4 and 8-2, respectively.

The purple and white’s performance against Vassar was similar in that they swept each match, including both singles and doubles matches. In addition, Amherst won every singles match in straight sets, firmly establishing their dominance.

The next day, Amherst faced off against Hope International College and Chapman University, and swept their way to a 4-0 start to their season. In the match against Hope International, Sun shined once again in a 6-3, 6-1 victory on the first court.

On the second court, Levitin came back from a set down to win against his opponent with a final score line of 3-6, 6-4, 17-15.

Against Chapman, Zykov won on court one

6-0, 6-3, while Yaraghi posted a dominant 6-1, 6-3 win on the second court.

With these four wins under their belt, Amherst looked to carry their momentum into their next match against Pomona-Pitzer.

While this match did not come nearly as easily as the first four, the purple and white were up to the challenge and earned a tough 6-3 win.

Amherst’s victories came from the first, third, fourth and fifth singles courts, as well as from the first and third doubles courts.

On Thursday, March 17, Amherst had two more matches against Azusa Pacific and Cerritos College. Amherst eased to a 7-2 win over Cerritos, with their victories coming from five singles courts and two doubles courts. Amherst was not able to overcome a dominant Azusa Pacific team and fell by a score line of 8-1.

Fresh off their defeat to Azusa Pacific, the purple and white looked to bounce back the next day against Glendale Community College and Redlands University.

Fortunately, they were able to do just that, and posted 9-0 and 7-2 victories against Glendale and Redlands, respectively. Against Redlands, Amherst won five of six singles matches as well as two doubles matches in order to seal the win.

To round out their spring break trip, Amherst then faced off against a tough ClaremontMudd-Scripps College team. Despite winning on three singles courts in the matchup, Amherst unfortunately fell by a score line of 4-5.

On the first doubles court, Zykov and Yaraghi suffered a narrow defeat, with a final score line of 9-8 (7-5). This loss would prove to make the difference for the purple and white, who fell to 8-2 overall on the season.

Now back in Massachusetts, Amherst looks to start strong among NESCAC competition this Sunday, March 27 when they will face Colby at home (time TBD).

They will also play at Harvard the same day at 5 p.m.

The Amherst Student • March 23, 2016

Sports

11

Women’s Basketball Makes Final Four No. 4 Ranked Women’s Tennis Impresses Appearance, Falls to Thomas More Against Top Competition in California Nate Quigley ’19 Staff Writer

Photo courtesy of Amherst Athletics

Hannah Hackley ’18 was named to the NCAA Final Four All-Tournament team following her 19-point, ten rebound and two block performance on Saturday.

Kelly Karczewski ’18 Staff Writer The journey for a national championship ended for the No.4 Amherst College women’s basketball team, who fell short to the No.1 ranked Thomas More last Saturday in a heartbreaking battle at the Capital Center in Columbus, Ohio.

The first quarter of the game was fastpaced and evenly matched. After getting off to a 4-0 lead, the Saints began to let up and Jaimie Renner ’17 hit the first points for the purple and white with a crafty layup up the middle. Hannah Hackley ’18 then added two more baskets to put Amherst ahead by two.

After more back-and-forth play, the women were able to finish the first quarter with a two-point advantage as a result of a midrange basket by Ali Doswell ’17.

Amherst let up in the second quarter, allowing a 7-0 five-minute Saints run in the middle of the quarter. When the buzzer rang the score was 27-20 with a Thomas More advantage.

Amherst came into the third quarter firing, and after back-to-back baskets by Meredith and Ali Doswell. Both sides pressured on the offensive ends, and at the 4:45 mark in the third quarter Amherst gained a 34-32

edge after a Renner layup.

The last minutes of the third and fourth quarters were characterized by close play, but the Saints continued to maintain a slight lead for the rest of regulation play. The score finished at 74-65, advantage Thomas More, and it was the end of the road for the purple and white.

Four Amherst players went into double digit scoring. Hackley had a team-high 19 points and 10 rebounds, while Meredith Doswell came in a close second with 16 points.

Ali Doswell added 13 and Renner chipped in 10 in the close match.

Amherst led Thomas More in fast break points and assisted points, and was comparable in field goal percentage as well as turnovers, but the Saints capitalized on their offensive rebounding, putting back a staggering 25 second chance points, whereas Amherst only scored four. Hackley was named to the Final Four All-Tournament team as a result of her stellar performance in the game.

Although the season has now come to a close, the team looks with much confidence to next season. Sophomores such as Hackley and Jackie Nagle ’18 have been huge standouts this season, and juniors Ali and Meredith Doswell and Renner will serve as great leaders for the 2016-17 season.

Fresh off a successful 2014-15 season that saw the team reach the semifinals of the NCAA tournament, the Amherst women’s tennis team entered the spring portion of the season ranked fourth in the nation. The team went 3-3 record on a spring break trip to Southern California in which they faced five top Division III programs and one Division II school.

On Sunday, March 13 in the first match of the trip, the hype surrounding the team seemed well deserved after Amherst handily defeated Hardin-Simmons, 9-0. The purple and white cruised, claiming every singles match in straight sets while Hardin-Simmons only managed to win 11 total games in the six matches.

The dominance carried over to the doubles courts, which saw all three doubles pairs notch easy wins for Amherst. The play of Vickie Ip ’18 from the number two singles spot and the number three doubles pairing of Jackie Calla ’17 and Maddy Sung ’16 stood out in the lopsided affair, with Ip notching a 6-0, 6-0 victory and Calla and Sung posting an 8-0 win.

However, the following matches proved to be much tougher tests for the team. Amherst fell to West coast powerhouses Pomona-Pitzer and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, both of which rank in the top five in the nation, by matching final scores of 6-3 on Monday and then Wednesday. However, even in defeat Amherst mustered several victories, including impressive wins in both matches from the number two doubles pairing of Ip and Kelsey Chen ’19.

Amherst rebounded strongly from the back-to-back defeats, posting a dominant 9-0 victory against Vassar. Again, the purple and white controlled all aspects of the match, sweeping each singles match, with Megan Adamo ’17 managing a 6-0, 6-0 win from the number five singles spot.

The closest Vassar came to a win was on the third doubles court against the pairing of Rebecca Pol ’16 and Avery Wagman ’18, but Amherst came out ahead in a close 8-6 affair.

The impressive play continued on Thursday in a hard-fought 5-4 defeat against Division II opponent Azusa Pacific.

Captain Sarah Monteagudo ’16 singled out the Azusa Pacific matchup as the highlight of the trip. Amherst held its own against the higher-division team, delivering two victories

Photo courtesy of Eugene Lee ‘16

Women’s tennis helped head coach Jackie Bagwell earn her 400th career win this week against Redlands in both singles and doubles play.

The purple and white ended their time in California on a high note, delivering head coach Jackie Bagwell her 400th career victory at Amherst in a 6-3 win over University of the Redlands. With the win, Bagwell has amassed an amazing record of 400-85 over her 25 seasons at the helm of the program, highlighted by the 1999 National Championship and numerous singles and doubles champions whom she’s coached.

The victory over Redlands gave the purple and white an overall record of 3-4 on the season following a loss in the fall to archrival Williams.

“This wasn’t our best spring break results wise but after seeing the competition in California the team is really motivated to improve,” Monteagudo said.

However, even having experienced such a challenging week, the program still sits at No. 6 in the national rankings and have their sights set on national championship trophy that has eluded them since 1999. Amherst returns to the court on Sunday, March 27 in their first NESCAC match of the spring, a home matchup at 10:00 a.m. against Colby.

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Photo courtesy of Amherst Athletics

Gina Pagan ‘18 struck out 14 batters in the circle this past week in 14.3 innings pitched, helping the team to two of their eight wins in Winter Garden, Florida.

Softball Starts Season Strong with 8-3 Record During Florida Spring Break Trip Sarah Wagner ’19 Staff Writer The softball team returned from Florida touting a strong 8-3 record. The beginning of the season was a grind for the team, with five double-headers over the spring break week. The team scored 63 runs and amassed an on-base percentage of .389 in 11 games.

Leading the strong first-year class were Lorena Ukanwa, who led the team’s pitchers with 28 strikeouts, and Kyra Naftel, who sustained an eight-game multi-hit streak and ended the week as the only batter to manage at least one hit in each game.

The opening weekend set a positive tone for the rest of the trip. Amherst defeated Babson, 7-1, in seven innings on Saturday and New England College, 5-3, later that day. Ukanwa and Gina Pagan ’18 had strong outings for the purple and white, throwing four and five strikeouts, respectively. First-years Julia Turner and Naftel were not intimidated by their first college career start; both made an impact by going 2-for-4 at the plate against Babson. Both games began slowly until Amherst’s scoring explod-

ed late in the game. Against New England College, Naftel and Annie Murphy ’19 led this effort, each contributing a triple and a run.

On Sunday, March 13, Amherst faced Becker College. Brianna Cook ’16 played a large part in the team’s decisive 5-2 victory with two hits and an RBI. Later that day, Amherst’s offense dominated the University of New England in a 6-3 victory. Naftel went 4-for-4 and scored two runs, while Alena Marovitz ’17 hit a triple, two doubles and had two RBIs. Nicolette Miranda ’16 claimed the win in the circle for the purple and white.

On Tuesday, the successful Amherst team encountered their first adversity of the season. The team defeated Framingham State in the first game, but was shut out by SUNY Geneseo in a 4-0 battle.

Against Framingham, first-year Sara Buck led the team in RBIs, sending three teammates home.

This high scoring 15-3 victory also saw Marovitz and Lauren Tuiskula ’17 each notch two RBIs and three runs. Turner added a triple and two RBIs as well.

Pitcher Pagan held SUNY Geneseo to only four

Photo courtesy of Janna Joassainte’17

GAME SCHE DULE

runs later in the day, and although Amherst saw hits from Sammy Salustri ’19, Buck and Murphy, they were unable to score.

The purple and white got back to winning ways with two solid victories on Wednesday. The morning match against Agnes Scott was stuck scoreless until the bottom of the fifth inning, when the Scotties took the lead by two runs. The Amherst team managed to work its way back and knotted the score in the sixth inning. After adding three more runs in the next inning, due to Naftel’s triple, the purple and white held off Agnes Scott for the rest of the game.

Tuiskula’s ten strikeouts played an important role in this defense.

Amherst easily won the afternoon game against Fairleigh Dickinson. Pitching for the purple and white, Ukanwa struck out nine batters en route to the 5-1 victory.

Friday began poorly for the purple and white, who found themselves down by seven runs only two innings into their game against Endicott. Although Amherst, bolstered by two hits each from Marovitz, Salustri, Buck and Naftel, as well as junior Annie

Apffel’s two-run double, outhit Endicott 12-11, they fell 5-9.

The purple and white then faced the College of New Jersey, looking to change their momentum.

Amherst took advantage of Turner and Cook’s solid 2-for-4 batting and scored the bulk of their runs in the bottom of the third inning. TCNJ, however, did not give up, and tied the game in the seventh, sending the game to extra innings. The game ended with a 7-6 loss for Amherst, who scored only one run in the extra innings to TCNJ’s two.

The last day of the trip was intended to be yet another double-header, but only one of the two scheduled games was played due to bad weather.

The final victory of the week came against St. Scholastica. All of the game’s runs were scored in the sixth inning, leaving the score at 4-1. Again, Cook and Turner matched each other’s batting, each going 2-for-3. Ukanwa pitched, striking out six Scholastica batters.

The team is looking forward to their home opener on March 30 against Worcester Polytechnic Institute. The game will begin at 3:30 p.m.

Photo courtesy of Janna Joassainte’17

Photo courtesy of Amherst Athletics

WED

SAT

SUN

TUE

Women’s Lacrosse @ Springfield, 6:30 p.m.

Women’s Lacrosse @ Hamilton, noon

Men’s Tennis vs. Colby, TBA

Men’s Lacrosse @ Springfield, 7 p.m.

Men’s Lacrosse vs. Hamilton, 1 p.m.

Baseball vs. Endicott, 1 p.m.

Baseball vs. Endicott, 3:30 p.m.

Women’s Tennis vs. Colby, 10 a.m.

Men’s Tennis @ Harvard, 5 p.m.