THE AMHERST
THE INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER OF AMHERST COLLEGE SINCE 1868
STUDENT VOLUME CXLVI, ISSUE 19 l WEDNESDAY, MARCH 1, 2017
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Advocates Speak on AfroColombian Rights Jacob Gendelman ’20 Staff Writer
Photo courtesy of Faith Wen ’20
Advocates Marino Cordoba and Gimena Sánchez-Garzoli presented on Friday, Feb. 24 about the current state and history of Afro-Colombian persecution by the Colombian government.
Examining Economic Diversity at Amherst Shawna Chen ’20 Managing News Editor A New York Times report published on Jan. 18, which found that the median family income of an Amherst College student is $158,200, sparked conversation on campus about the place of socioeconomic diversity in the Amherst community and culture. The piece examined data from anonymous tax records and tuition records to compare economic diversity across national universities and colleges. The report compared the financial background of students attending the college, their income mobility and their economic conditions later in life compared to students from the college’s peer institutions. At Amherst, 60 percent of the student body come from families in the country’s top 20 per-
cent for income. 21 percent of the student body are from the top 1 percent — from families who made about $630,000 or more per year. The median individual income at age 34 for students at Amherst is $69,300, and 59 percent of the student body end up in the top 20 percent, which is among the highest of the NESCAC schools. 13 percent of students moved up two or more income quintiles, and of all students, 2 percent moved from the bottom to top income quintile. Measures of access and economic status were based on students in the class of 2013 born in 1991, while measures of outcomes and mobility were based on students born between 1980 and 1982 who are now around age 35, according to the Times, when “relative income ranks stabilize.” President Biddy Martin said in an email interview that the report was “a very interesting
and important story that shows how far we have to go to address the issue of economic inequality in this country and around the world.” Higher education, she said, is key for social mobility. Though “we are proud to have made huge progress” in providing access and opportunity for students from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds, she said “we all have much more to do when it comes to providing access for middle class and working class families.” Martin noted that of Amherst students in the lowest three income quintiles, two-thirds moved up two or more income quintiles as adults. “Among colleges and universities as a whole, that is a very strong record,” she said. The report, she added, was based on historical data and “limited information that do not
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Marino Cordoba and Gimena Sánchez-Garzoli gave a presentation called “Peace and Human Rights for Afro-Colombian and Indigenous Peoples in Colombia” on Friday, Feb. 24 in Fayerweather Hall. Cordoba is an Afro-Colombian advocate for the Association for Internally Displaced Afro-Colombians (AFRODES), and Sánchez works for the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), which researches and advocates for human rights in the Americas. The Political Science department sponsored the lecture. The lecture began with a short documentary called “The Silent Scream,” which showed the persecution of Afro-Colombians from 1996 to the present by the Colombian government. Attacks on Afro-Colombians began in 1996, three years after Law 70 was passed, which recognized Afro-Colombians’ right to occupy and own their “ancestral land” by rivers in the Pacific Basin. Paramilitary and Colombian Army soldiers entered Cordoba’s town when people were sleeping and murdered those who had been involved in passing the law, according to the documentary. They first attacked the town in 1996, and Cordoba has not been able to return home since, instead leading a speaking tour in the U.S. to draw public attention to the attacks. Congressman Jim McGovern from Massachusetts’ second district, who had previously traveled to Colombia with Sánchez, introduced the two speakers. He condemned the United States’ past policies in Colombia and warned that the current Congress might cause more violence by refusing to support the peace accords between Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the Colombian government that were signed last November. McGovern encouraged the audience to ask representatives to support the peace accords. Cordoba then described his campaign to
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Dean of Students to Leave Position Vandalism Against Transgender Isabel Tessier ’19 Managing News Editor President Biddy Martin sent out a community-wide email on Monday, Feb. 27 announcing that Dean of Students Alex Vasquez will leave his position at the college after the spring semester. Vasquez, who has been at the college since 2014, helped restructure the Offices of Student Affairs and Student Life, developed updated residential and community standards and participated in planning the Greenway dorms’ interior design, according to Martin’s email. “His support of countless numbers of students and student organizations has made our community stronger,” Martin added. The college has hired search firm Storbeck/ Pimentel & Associates to help with the search for a new dean of students. Chief Student Affairs Officer Suzanne Coffey will chair the search, along with Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer Norm Jones. In an email interview, Coffey said that she and Jones hope to bring search candidates to campus before final exams begin on May 8. Mar-
tin noted in her email that students and other community members will be “well represented” on the search committee and asked to provide input. In an email interview, Vasquez said the moment he was proudest of the college community was at Amherst Uprising — “the students who shared and organized so thoughtfully and courageously [and] the staff and faculty who spent so many hours with them listening, learning, supporting, teaching and prioritizing our students.” Vasquez also said that his most meaningful work at the college “has centered on building trusting relationships with students, finding ways to be on the same side of the table with them, listening to them and helping to ensure that we continue to be a community that puts students first.” In his remaining time as the dean of students, Vasquez plans to “continue to be engaged in” conversations about the college’s changing social life, issues of sexual respect in residence halls and collaborating with community members “to support and engage our community in the face of a changing political climate.”
People Found in Frost Bathroom Shawna Chen ’20 Managing News Editor A student reported finding a hateful message against transgender people in Frost Library’s gender inclusive bathroom, said Chief of Amherst College Police John Carter and Chief Student Affairs Officer Suzanne Coffey in a communitywide email on Tuesday morning, Feb. 28. The message, found on the previous night, was written in black marker on the mirror, said Carter and Coffey, and the police has initiated an incident report and investigation. “Discrimination and bias on the basis of gender expression and identity will not be tolerated at Amherst College,” they wrote. Carter and Coffey emphasized the necessity of community assistance and directed anyone with information to contact the Office of Student Affairs or the Amherst College Police Department. Information can be provided confidentially through the online Office of Student Affairs community standards portal.
“Vandalism is a crime and vandalism with a component of bias may be considered a ‘hate crime,’” which will be assessed by the police department and District Attorney’s Office once the party responsible is identified, Carter and Coffey said. The party responsible will also face review by the Office of Student Affairs under the college’s code of conduct. “We condemn expressions of hate toward any members of our community,” they wrote. “Hate affects the entire community directly and indirectly and everyone has a role in combating it.” This is not the first bias incident in the school year reported by the ACPD. A racist slur was found on the third floor of Greenway Building A in early February. Martin emailed the community in November about posters in McGuire Life Sciences Building that linked skulls of different sizes to differences in intelligence by race. Resources for those affected will be available through the Queer Resource Center, Women’s & Gender Center, Counseling Center and Office of Student Affairs.