Issue 1

THE AMHERST

THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF AMHERST COLLEGE SINCE 1868

STUDENT VOLUME CXLVIII, ISSUE 1 l FRIDAY, AUGUST 31, 2018

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Counseling Center to Add Counselor After Increase in Student Demand Shawna Chen ’20 Managing News Editor Editor’s Note: This article is the first in a two-part series on the the Counseling Center’s challenges balancing student need and financial resources. Resources for any person who is feeling depressed, troubled or suicidal are listed at the end of this article.

Photo courtesy of Emma Swislow ’20

The new Science Center, a project that began in the summer of 2016, will open on Sept. 4 when students begin fall classes. It has new offices, classrooms and labs for seven STEM departments on campus.

$240 Million Science Center Opens Sept. 4 Emma Swislow ’20 Managing News Editor After years of planning, construction and moving, the new Science Center will open on Sept. 4 as students begin their fall classes, with an opening celebration on Sept. 7.

Plans for constructing a new science center came after the facilities department and science faculty evaluated Merrill and McGuire in the mid2000s and “determined that the facilities had deficits in terms of an obsolete utility infrastructure and inefficient physical layouts that posed challenges to conducting advanced science teaching and research,” Chief of Campus Operations Jim Brassord said in an email interview.

The new Science Center, which cost $240 million, will be home to the biology, biochemistry and biophysics, chemistry, computer science, physics and astronomy, neuroscience and psychology departments, all of which were previously based in either Merrill, McGuire or Seeley Mudd.

In addition to the 68 new teaching and research labs, there will also be a new science library, a cafe and a variety of study spaces for science and nonscience students, among other features.

Administrative Director of the Science Center Jess Martin highlighted the openness of the new space compared to, as she described it, the “labyrinth” quality of Merrill.

“The new Science Center is very open,” Martin said. “You can see from north to south, top to bottom, from so many points in the building that navigating is actually right there in front of you.”

The Science Center was designed by Payette, the

same architecture firm that designed the Beneski Earth Sciences building. The new building is meant to be a flexible space that can support the science departments in the long term, while also providing spaces for non-science students, according to Brassord.

“While the building was designed with buffer space to accommodate an evolving science program, it also allows for long-term expansion should the program exceed the Science Center’s capacity,” he said. “Our plan as we open the facility is to have it become a hub not only of scientific learning and research, but also for social activity and intellectual engagement for all students — science and nonscience alike.”

Both student and faculty feedback was gathered throughout the planning and construction process.

Starting over the 2018 interterm, students who were part of a design thinking challenge began meeting with Martin and Science Librarian Kristen Greenland to figure out ways for the Science Center to be accessible and useful to all Amherst students. Faculty members were given the chance to help design the laboratories so that they fit their needs, Brassord said.

Kevin Zhangxu ’20 was one of the students who participated in the Design Thinking Challenge, which helped shape the appearance of the informal study areas of the building in an effort to make the Science Center accessible to all students, no matter their disciplines.

“Hopefully, the new Science Center becomes a hub for students to both study intensively as well as to relax with their friends,” Zhangxu said.

“For example, many of the study spaces scat-

tered throughout the new Science Center are collaborative learning spaces, while the cafe on the first floor, which may or may not serve sushi, is a great place to catch up with friends, staff and faculty,” Zhangxu added.

One of the main goals of the Science Center is to provide a space where collaboration, both in and out of the classroom, can happen more naturally than in Merrill.

“The design of Merrill and McGuire doesn’t actually create intersections where you’re able to meet, whereas this new building does,” Martin said. “Just having been in there the last couple of weeks, it’s very hard to get out of the building without someone noticing you. I think it creates more community.”

The new Science Center will also be more sustainable and environmentally friendly than Merrill and McGuire. The building already has a rainwater reclamation system and an energy-efficient heating and cooling system, and Martin is working to implement other eco-friendly projects in the future.

Martin worked with Director of Sustainability Laura Draucker to replace old fridges and freezers used in the biology department with new, more energy-efficient devices that will use less electricity per year.

As for Merrill and McGuire, for now they will be shut down and remained unused until the college decides to move forward with a project.

“We know that any future use of the existing buildings will require transformative and expensive renovations,” Brassord said. “Of course, moving forward with the design and construction of any project will be dependent upon securing the necessary

The Counseling Center will hire a new counselor this fall amid increasing student need for counseling services.

The college will prioritize counselors who are able to work with a “diverse student community with diverse student needs” as well as provide specific areas of expertise, said Chief Student Affairs Officer Hikaru Kozuma. The search will launch after Labor Day and take place over the fall semester. Ideally, Counseling Center Director Jacqueline Alvarez said, the new hire will join the counseling staff in January 2019 for training and be ready to work with students in the spring semester.

Limited Resources Over the years, the Counseling Center has seen continuous growth in the number of students it sees. In the 2012-2013 academic year, the center saw 15.3 percent of the student body. By this past academic year, that number had jumped to nearly 36 percent of the student body. Within five years, the center’s clientele has grown by 130 percent.

According to psychology professor Catherine Sanderson, colleges nationwide are seeing an increase of students with mental health issues, but there is not one clear explanation for the trend.

The increase, however, has overburdened the Counseling Center and resulted in decreases in session frequency and length. In the last year, the length of sessions was shortened from 50 to 45 minutes to accommodate more sessions. After the college lost three members of the community in March, it was clear the center would not be able to manage the caseload on its own. The college contacted McLean Hospital, an organization in the Boston area with a young adult mental health program, and the hospital sent as many as five people a day to work with students at Amherst.

Amherst has one of the lowest student-tocounselor ratios among similarly-sized colleges — the college has approximately 154 students per counselor compared to the mean ratio of 705 students per counselor at comparably-sized schools

Continued on Page 3

Three New Administrators Aim to Leave Their Impact on Amherst Audrey Cheng ’20 and Natalie De Rosa ’21 Staff Writer and Assistant News Editor Three new college administrators, Chair of the Board of Trustees Andrew Nussbaum ’85, Chief Student Affairs Officer Hikaru Kozuma and Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid Matthew McGann, will begin work in the 2018-2019 academic year. The President’s Office announced their appointments at various points over the past year.

Nussbaum, a partner at New York law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, was elected chair by the Board of Trustees in late May. After serving as a trustee for eight years, Nussbaum succeeds

former chair Cullen Murphy ’84. As chair of the Board of Trustees, Nussbaum will lead the board in ensuring that Amherst’s mission and values are preserved, overseeing board meetings and determining meeting agendas.

Kozuma comes to Amherst from the University of Pennsylvania, where he served as associate vice provost for the Office of Student Affairs since 2012.

His appointment to the position of chief student affairs officer was announced in April. As Suzanne Coffey’s successor, Kozuma will be responsible for addressing matters related to student life and campus culture, and overseeing departments including Residential Life, Student Activities and Keefe

Health Center.

McGann’s appointment as dean of admissions and financial aid follows his tenure at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he served as director of admissions for six years. He succeeds Katie Fretwell ’81, who retired this past June, and will work closely with Dean of Admission Catharine Zolkos and Dean of Financial Aid Gail Holt.

“I am confident that [they] will have a significant positive impact on the areas they lead and on the leadership of the college as a whole. It is a pleasure to get to know them and to have them at Amherst,” President Biddy Martin said about the new hires in a statement to The Student.

Chair of the Board of Trustees Since graduating from Amherst in 1985, Nussbaum has remained involved in the college’s affairs, assuming several fundraising roles for his class prior to his involvement with the Board of Trustees.

“Amherst has always been the same missiondriven institution,” he said. “What’s changed is its determination to focus on equity in education.”

For Nussbaum, his role as chair of the board will be to serve as a driving force in fortifying the college’s values.

Continued on Page 3

News Katharine Correia Fresh Faculty

June 1, 2018 - August 24, 2018

>>June 1, 2018 3:50 p.m., Moore Dormitory Based upon information received from Student Affairs, an officer confiscated marijuana and materials related to marijuana use from a first-floor room.

cer was able to establish his identity.

>>June 9, 2018 6:14 a.m., South College Hall Officers and the Fire Department investigated an alarm and found it was activated by someone who was unsure what the device was.

>>July 9, 2018 2:02 p.m., Cooper House An officer investigated a fire alarm and found it activated when toast was burned.

>>June 13, 2018 11:31 a.m., Morris Pratt Dormitory An employee reported the theft of a television. It was later located in another part of the building. >>June 15, 2018 4:13 p.m., Amherst College Police Several people reported receiving scam phone calls where attempts were make to obtain money.

6:18 p.m., Off Campus Locations A caller reported she was scammed out of $800 as a result of a phone call she received. >>June 17, 2018 2:13 p.m., Fayerweather Lot Road A caller reported she was unable to locate her vehicle.

It was eventually found on campus.

2:46 p.m., Alumni Gym A summer program participant reported the theft of a watch from the men’s room at the squash courts. >>June 25, 2018 6:04 p.m., Plimpton House An officer investigated suspicious activity involving an individual removing a bicycle and placing it in a van.

It was determined that the person owned the bicycle. >>July 2, 2018 7:50 p.m., Campus Grounds Officers assisted a parent in searching for a child. The child was located. >>July 6, 2018 7:48 p.m., Greenway Building D A caller reported the theft of hockey equipment from Greenway Building D. >>July 7, 2018 8:13 p.m., Holden Experimental Theater An officer responded to a report of a male acting in an unusual manner. The man had left the area but the offi-

>>July 8, 2018 8:06 p.m., James Dormitory An officer assisted a person making a delivery who was shorted payment.

>>July 14, 2018 2:53 p.m., Plimpton House An officer checked on two men removing property from the building. It was discovered that they had permission. >>July 29, 2018 8:17 p.m., Tyler House An officer checked on two men acting in an unusual manner behind the building.

The men had no association with the college and were issued a written no trespass order. >>July 30, 2018 10:14 p.m., Lipton House Officers and the Amherst Fire Department responded to a report of a fire in the basement generator room. >>August 7, 2018 2:34 p.m., Scott House An officer responded to a panic alarm and found it was accidentally set off by a child. >>August 10, 2018 8:20 p.m., The Octagon An individual was seen on the roof, but was gone when the officer arrived. >>August 11, 2018 4:30 p.m., Williston Hall An officer aided a parent in reuniting with their child. >>.August 13, 2018 2:05 a.m., Emily Dickinson House Officers responded to an intrusion alarm that was set off by a bat. >>August 15, 2018 10:34 a.m., New Science Center A window broke for an unknown reason. >>August 17, 2018 2:55 a.m., Tyler House Officers and the Amherst Fire Department responded to a fire alarm caused by insects in a smoke detector. >>August 24, 2018 3:28 p.m., 271 S. Pleasant Street An officer located a number of fans obstructing an area that required access.

Department of Statistics

Katharine Correia is an assistant professors of statistics.

She holds a bachelor’s degree in statistics from Mount Holyoke, a master’s degree in biostatistics from Boston University and a doctorate in biostatistics from Harvard.

Q: How did you become interested in your area of study?

A: I took an introduction to statistics course in college just to fulfill my math requirement and I ended up loving it. One particular example that was presented in class that really caught my attention was the application of statistics in the courtroom for a murder trial of a nurse who was accused of killing her patients at the Northampton hospital.

At the time, I loved watching “Law and Order” and I was fascinated with the FBI, but I am also a big scaredy-cat. So this angle of investigation where I could investigate from behind my desk really drew me in.

Q: Like statistics and law, biostatistics is an interesting combination of disciplines — can you describe what that entails?

A: Clearly I did not stick with the statistics and law trajectory, but the summer between my junior and senior years of college, I ended up doing a program called Summer Institute for Biostatistics at Boston University. That introduced me to the application of statistics to the medical field and I found that fascinating. I ended up getting a master’s degree in biostatistics, and I worked at a fertility clinic at Brigham and Women’s Hospital after my degree, and that’s what solidified my passion for statistics in the medical field. We did a lot of interesting studies — they were also interwoven with these ethical and moral considerations.

Q: What brought you to Amherst?

A: When I was getting my Ph.D, I was open to all types of possibilities. My former professor at Mount Holyoke emailed me when I was in my third or fourth year asking if I’d be interested in coming back to teach there. That possibility was kind of like, “Oh, I hadn’t thought about that before.” I loved it there before, I thought I would love it again, but the timing didn’t work out since I was still in school. When I was finishing up, I saw a position open at Amherst and thought it would be perfect. When I visited last winter, every faculty member that I spoke with talked about feeling so supported by the college in both their teaching and their research endeavors. I saw it as a great fit, and so far, I can say I’m ecstatic with my choice.

Q: You’ve worked in a variety of settings ranging from hospitals to research universities. How do you think Amherst will compare to your previous experiences?

A: I couldn’t see myself returning to the hospitaltype setting and being happy there. It would have been the more familiar choice and within my

comfort zone. I knew I always enjoyed teaching, whether it was teaching water sports as a teenager or tutoring during college or TA-ing during grad school. I also went to Mount Holyoke College for my undergraduate degree and I knew I loved that experience at a small liberal arts school in the Pioneer Valley. I was excited about the possibility of being in that type of environment.

Q: What do you hope for during your time at Amherst?

A: I had such a wonderful experience as an undergraduate at a small liberal arts college, so I placed high expectations on myself to return the favor that my undergraduate professors had afforded me. So [that means] engaging excitement in the field of statistics, cross-disciplinary intellectual stimulation, thoughtful mentorship. I don’t think it’s as hard as it used to be to convince students that a statistics course will be useful to them. The department here is growing rapidly, and I hope to accommodate that growth and continue to fuel that growth. For the larger Amherst community, I have this idea in my head — it’s not totally fleshed out — to start up a “data for good” group or club where we could help local nonprofit organizations make use of the vast amounts of data they collect but are under-resourced. I feel like this wouldn’t just be a group for statistics majors but could involved students from across many disciplines.

Q: What classes are you teaching this semester?

A: This semester I am teaching Introduction to Statistics, and what I hope that students take away from it is that statistics is less about scary math formulas these days and more about investigating the world using data. Pretty much any topic a student may be interested in, we can find an example where statistics can be helpful in understanding that topic. I hope I’m able to motivate students to learn statistics using what other topics they might be concerned about. We’re so bombarded in the news and media these days with statistically-based results that I think whether or not you go on to use statistics yourself later in life, it’s important to critically evaluate what we’re reading and hearing.

Q: What do you do in your spare time?

A: I have two children, and I love to spend time with my kids and my husband. My son is five years old and my daughter is two and a half years old.

They’re really into biking these days — you might see us on the rail trail. We love swimming, soccer and baking.

— Natalie De Rosa ’21

Interested in having your voice heard on campus?

J o i n th e ! n o i t c e news s If you want to write for us, email eswislow20@amherst.edu.

The Amherst Student • August 31, 2018

News

3

New Admininstrators Hope to Listen to Students and Expand Access to Amherst Continued from Page 1 “The role of the chairman is to make sure that the resources of the board are being put to appropriate use in support of the mission of the college,” Nussbaum said.

Nussbaum also conveyed an excitement for more opportunities to interact with the college community. “Being chairman will give me more opportunities, frankly, to be on campus, to spend time with faculty, students and staff,” he said. “I find it an absolute joy. It’s really that simple.”

This enthusiasm is an extension of his time as chairman of the board’s committee on student life, which gave him the opportunity “to see students from time to time and learn about what’s going on on campus.”

Nonetheless, the role poses great responsibility, though Nussbaum reaffirmed that these challenges are familiar.

“The challenges that Amherst faces are probably not so different from the challenges that other higher education institutions face or in many cases society at large,” he said. “We look to build a strong community, a financially-responsible institution and yet one that is always looking to be innovative in the most thoughtful ways. Those processes and questions sometimes may conflict with each other.”

He added that he remains assured in his “firm belief that Amherst is a strong institution.”

Chief Student Affairs Officer In the two months since his arrival at Amherst on July 2, Kozuma has immersed himself in the Amherst culture, getting to know faculty, staff and students who were on campus over the summer and gaining a clearer picture of what life at Amherst looks like and what aspects can be improved.

“It’s been a giant listening tour right now,” Kozuma said. “But at the same time as I’m listening, if there’s an opportunity to be able to address something or to help a student or a staff or faculty member, I pounce on that.”

Kozuma plans to begin the school year by taking a proactive approach in meeting students by

Photos courtesy of Andrew Nussbaum, Matthew McGann and Hikaru Kozuma

Chair of the Board of Trustees Andrew Nussbaum ’85, Dean of Admission and Financial Aid Matthew McGann and Chief Student Affairs Officer Hikaru Kozuma (from left to right), intend to strengthen the community in their new positions. attending student programs and meetings held by student organizations.

“Instead of students coming to me, I want to go to them,” he said. “This first year is going to be a lot of that. I’m going to try to connect with them in their spaces during their times. It’s going to take me some time to get to meet everyone, but that’s one o f the goals that I have.”

To Kozuma, listening is extremely important.

Being at a small school, he relishes the potential for stronger community connections and greater incorporation of student voice.

“That’s my foundation for how I view my work in higher education: trying to make sure that people connect with different people and that they have engaging experiences; making sure that students have a voice at the table, literally and figuratively,” he said.

“Every day presents a different challenge,” he added. “Every day a different student has a need.

So what I’d like to see is, if we institute something, how well is it going? And, have that opportunity to debrief and reflect on how to make improvements.

We need to get out of the cycle of reacting and responding, as opposed to thinking about things proactively.”

Another improvement Kozuma hopes to implement is better coordination between the administrative divisions in order to more effectively utilize resources and ease any confusion for students —

when a student issue is not managed by one clear office, for example, which often results in students being referred from office to office.

He recognizes Amherst students’ wide-ranging concerns, Kozuma said, and he welcomes students to voice their opinions and hopes to give them more access to the decision-making process. “I’m still figuring out what a lot of this means. But, we’ll do that together,” he says. “We’ll go on this journey together.”

therapy model — we’re not receiving requests to be seen off campus for individual weekly long-term therapy very often,” she said. “The types of concerns that people are presenting to us are things which in the general community are served in a brief therapy model. In their client satisfaction surveys, the center sees “very high satisfaction rates” among students, Alvarez added.

A student using the Counseling Center typically sees a counselor every other week. The center does not usually see a student weekly unless the student is in crisis — acutely suicidal, recently hospitalized or experiencing a psychotic episode. In that case, the student will be seen three to four times a week until reaching stabilization, after which the frequency of sessions tapers.

If a student disagrees with a counselor about the extent of their counseling needs and requests more frequent appointments, the center typically provides a referral for off-campus therapy.

“We’re an educational institution, and we have health services and counseling services in part because we know that that supports learning, and we know that it supports students’ capacity to engage in the work that they’re doing,” Alvarez said. “We were never intended to replace a healthcare system as a whole.”

Sanderson echoed the point, noting that it’s always a balance in terms of seeing as many people as possible and seeing those who need it the most.

“The Counseling Center has a certain number of people — a certain number of therapists that work

Dean of Admission and Financial Aid As a first-generation college graduate, McGann has devoted his career to college admissions in financial aid. He is excited to work in a college that represents the “best of the country and the world,” while using its resources to admit students who are a good fit and ensure that every admitted student can afford to be here.

The college’s historic role in achieving milestones for financial aid and accessibility has been a great inspiration for McGann, and it sets a tone for what he hopes to achieve in his new position.

He cited the college’s leadership in partnering with and adopting the College Scholarship Service profile, the Common Application and the Questbridge program as examples of increasing accessibility in higher education.

“All along the way, for all the important things

that happened in the field of admissions and financial aid, Amherst has been there since day one,” he said. “That’s something I’m excited about — thinking about what the next leadership opportunities for Amherst are, and how Amherst can continue to be the leader in all this.”

One of McGann’s main goals for the college is to increase outreach to more potential students.

“There’s tens and thousands of secondary schools in the United States, and if you think about our global mission, there’s even more for the rest of the world,” he said. “That’s something I’m really interested in — how do we reach them? That’s what I’m thinking about — making sure the message goes out not only to the usual students but to all the students that need to hear about all the things we offer here.”

The goal, McGann said, is to continue “all the good work that’s been done” in a “sustainable way that will allow the college to continue [to have], by far, the most diverse student body among the highly selective colleges.”

Leading the admissions and financial aid offices, McGann hopes to set Amherst’s values of diversity, community and access as a model for other institutions of higher education.

“It won’t just influence the 472 students coming in every year,” he said. “There are so many other colleges and we also need to think about our effect on them, as well.”

New Hire for the Counseling Center Aims to Meet Increased Demand Continued from Page 1 according to the 2016 Association for University and College Counseling Center Directors Annual Survey.

But some students see a need for more funding and staffing to improve on what the center is already doing well. These implications and student criticisms will be explored in next week’s issue of The Student.

Amherst’s Counseling Model At Amherst, the Counseling Center works as a brief therapy model with students using services in “intermittent ways,” Alvarez said.

“Most students are served very well by a brief

a certain number of hours,” Sanderson said. “Would you rather say some students get seen exactly as frequently as they need and some students are not seen entirely? Or would you rather everybody gets seen less frequently? … If I’m an individual student, I’d love to be seen more frequently. But it’s not for the good of the college if some students aren’t being seen at all because there are no longer appointment times for them.”

Any person who is feeling depressed, troubled or suicidal can access an Amherst College counselor by calling 413-542-2354 at any time. People can also reach trained counselors by calling the National Suicide Prevention Hotline at 1-800-784-2433 or texting the Crisis Text Line at 741741.

Pub to Provide Students with Social Space and Alcoholic Beverages Emma Swislow’ 20 Managing News Editor Following discussions last semester surrounding ways to create more social spaces on campus, a currently-unnamed pub will open on Sept. 13 in the Schwemm’s and Grab-N-Go space.

On weekday nights, it will continue to serve latenight food, but on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, the space will be converted into a pub that will serve food, alcohol and non-alcoholic beverages. Although students who are under 21 will be allowed in to the pub, only students who are of legal drinking age will be able to purchase alcohol from a bar run by TIPS-certified bartenders, according to Director of Dining Services Joe Flueckiger.

This summer, Flueckiger revamped the current Schwemm’s menu to include more pub-style food.

“We’ve come up with a new menu that really is just pub food,” he said. “We’ll still have fries and chicken tenders and stuff like that, but we’ll also probably have pulled pork sandwiches, tacos and more pub food.”

The pub will also serve a variety of locallybrewed beers and a selection of wines. “We’ll have a couple of beers on tap that will be from local microbreweries, and we’ll have bottled beverages from a variety of different brewhouses,” Flueckiger said.

“Wine will probably be your standard merlot, shiraz, cabernet, chardonnay, that kind of thing.”

Non-alcoholic drinks like kombucha, coffee, tea, soda and non-alcoholic beer will also be available for purchase by students.

Although the pub will still occupy a space that many students are familiar with, a new floor has been added throughout the space and new furniture will decorate the area.

“It’s a relaxed, slightly rustic look” Flueckiger said. “I think people are going to like it. It’s got a hip look to it.”

The creation of the pub follows conversations during the 2018 spring semester around party policy and social life on campus.

Director of Student Activities Paul Gallegos, who worked with Flueckiger to design the pub, hopes that it will provide another choice for stu-

dents on weekend nights.

“In no way is it a panacea for the discussions and issues that were brought up last year, but I think these are efforts towards more opportunities for students to feel like they have social options on campus,” Gallegos said.

On-campus pubs are not unusual at liberal arts colleges. Hamilton, Bowdoin and Dartmouth, among others, all have spaces on campus that serve alcoholic beverages, according to Flueckiger and Gallegos.

“A lot of schools pulled away from having alcohol on campus, and then they have gone back to it because they see the value in keeping students on campus and providing a space where, hopefully, people can drink responsibly,” Flueckiger said.

Last semester, students were asked for feedback on the appearance of the space and were encouraged to submit ideas. Gallegos and Flueckiger hope that student involvement will continue in opportunities for name suggestions and wall art.

“I’m really excited for the opportunity to solicit more student artists submissions, so we have anoth-

er space on campus to showcase all the great artists we have at Amherst,” Gallegos said.

Later this semester, they will ask students for suggestions on the name of the new space.

“It will have to incorporate ‘Schwemm’s,’” Gallegos said, “but if we can put a spin on it that feels like the student’s own creation, that’s kind of what we’re hoping for over the course of the next semester.”

During the day, the space will still serve GrabN-Go, but on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights it will transition into the pub space with a counter and stools that fit into the Grab-N-Go alcove.

Flueckiger and Gallegos hope that in the future the pub will become a place where students can host events and steward the direction of the space.

“We would love to see it become a place where people get excited about Thursday nights or Friday nights and where they’re looking forward to events and they’re making suggestions about things that we can do there,” Flueckiger said. “We would love students to be a really critical part in creating a fun atmosphere and have a sense of ownership.”

Opinion

THE AMHERST

Advice for Class of 2022

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

Welcome, Class of 2022! As the school year begins, the Editorial Board would like to extend some advice to all new students.

Cultivate mentors and seek out advice. Amherst is unique in how easy it is to build relationships with professors, through the small class sizes and open office hours. Take advantage of the opportunity to connect with experts in the field. Professors are invaluable resources for recommendations, research opportunities and personal guidance, so don’t put off meeting and getting to know your professors. Build these connections early so they can grow over the next four years. This isn’t limited to your teachers —make connections with everyone, from the custodians who make your dorms habitable to the Val workers who’ll give you an of Egg McCharlie. Rarely will you have the opportunity to have such a large community invested in your personal and intellectual growth.

Try to let go of some of the initial insecurities you have about the social or academic life here. Classes are meant to be hard but not impossible. Utilize resources for help if you’re struggling and know that many others are too. You, like every incoming class before you, are a group of overachievers — most of you were probably at the top of your class in high school.

But the fact is, not everyone can be at the top here.

Don’t let that scare you — embrace the freedom you now have, maybe for the first time in years, to let the stress and competitiveness of always “being the best” slip away. Find your interests, and pursue them with passion; success will emerge naturally out of that.

Allow yourself to feel lonely and sad. The start of college is a huge transition, and the dust never fully settles in your first year. Your friend dynamics,

academic interests and extracurricular choices will change. Embrace the instability of this time and use it as an opportunity to try as many things as possible.

Show up. So many good things come from just being present — so go to classes, college events and friend hangouts. This place is for you to participate and hopefully change for the better. Learn the unwritten rules of Amherst and which ones you can break — just don’t eat chips in Frost A level. You can’t fake this college experience, so try to be active within the community.

Be excited about learning here. With the open curriculum, your classes should reflect your interests.

Find ways to connect with the material because what you learn is worth learning, even if what you learn is you should never take a class with that professor again.

Don’t neglect your well-being. Sleep should be a priority. All-nighters are neither sexy nor impressive; they are the result of poor time management and unfortunate timing. Eat healthy and drink water. Make your dorm room a clean space you feel happy coming home to each night. Try to customize your experience so that Amherst meets your needs. Once you’ve cycled through the three-week rotation of meals at Val, try out the stir fry section. Go to a Zumba class at the gym. Go on a hiking trail one weekend with friends.

This campus may be small, but you can find ways to make it your own.

Finally, enjoy your first year of college. All the hard work done in the past has paid off and will continue to pay off. As first years, you are the golden children of this large institution. You have fresh eyes to analyze and observe. Embrace everything.

If I May: Grappling with Senior Year Jake May ’19 Columnist As of writing this article, I have not yet arrived to campus. In fact, I haven’t even made concrete plans to head up to Amherst. At first, I assumed this lack of planning was due to my chronic procrastination, but upon reflection I realized that it is likely due to some increased anticipation about this year of college. I will be a senior, along with the rest of the Class of 2019. To write those words — “I will be a senior” — and to think about how this is my last year of college is truly astounding.

The cliché tells us to cherish our years in college as they’ll be gone before we know it, and now, right before my final year, I feel the truth of that. I felt the same as I watched some of my closest friends walk across the stage during Commencement this past May.

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In many ways, my time at Amherst has flown by. My sister is about to leave for her first year in college; I remember arriving to Stearns Hall for my first-year move-in like it was yesterday. Since then, I’ve met close friends and met people just once, joined and quit club sports, taken classes I’ve loved and classes I’ve hated. I’ve attempted to go out on a Saturday night, only to end up in Schwemm’s at 10:30 p.m., sharing an order of mozzarella sticks.

I’ve walked from a closed Frost to Merrill at 1 a.m. to finish a paper I saved for the last minute. I’ve rejoiced over both the elimination of Noodle Bar and the addition of Mac ‘N’ Cheese Madness. I’ve performed improv comedy, jazz and Bruno Mars covers. Another cliché says time flies when you’re having fun, and while I wouldn’t classify all of the above as fun, I would say I’ve experienced a positive connection to Amherst — or at least its people

e Join th aff! t s n o i n Opi

— while I’ve been here.

Yet, three years is a long time. While it feels like my first day on campus was yesterday, I certainly don’t feel like I did then. These past three years have been perhaps the most important of my life in terms of personal growth, and I can’t imagine I’m unique in that way.

College is certainly its own enigmatic bubble — what I described above certainly reveals that. However, college is also where one needs to become more independent than they ever have been before. We have to grapple with our future, and we often have to do it alone.

So, as I rapidly approach senior year, I have a curious mix of anxiety and excitement. This year will hopefully be a joyous cap on a good run at Amherst. However, it will also be a new beginning of sorts, as my priorities will shift from my collegiate present to my “real world” future.

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

Editors-in-Chief Nate Quigley Isabel Tessier Managing News Emma Swislow Shawna Chen Assistant News Natalie De Rosa Managing Opinion Kelly Chian Diane Lee Managing Arts and Living Olivia Gieger Seoyeon Kim Managing Sports Connor Haugh Henry Newton Julia Turner Managing Design Zehra Madhavan S TA F F Head Publishers Nico Langlois, Mark Nathin Design Editors Katie Boback, Maria Mejia, Julia Shea

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The Amherst Student • August 31, 2018

Opinion

5

The Importance of Seeking Out Joy Brandt Dudziak ’20 Contributing Writer With two years down at Amherst and two to go, I have both a lot of time left and also not really enough. No matter how arduous the spring semester ends up being, after a restful summer I always find myself anticipating coming back to Amherst.

I’m eager start fresh, trying to apply the lessons I learned over the course of the past year. I look forward to coming back and hope that this eagerness to thrive in the coming semester is something that I can sustain. But then the days get shorter and colder, the unexpected arises and threatens — or succeeds — to pull the semester away, and, inevitably, stress settles in and makes itself comfortable.

At some point I lose that enthusiasm I brought with me back to school, and instead begin to see the remaining weeks or months as a test of en-

durance. The moments when the pressures of the school year become overwhelming are the same moments when I struggle to find joy.

The lesson that I’m bringing with me into my junior year is to pursue what brings me joy. This advice can seem pretty intuitive, but is really quite hard to follow through with in practice. Therefore, it is worthwhile to set an explicit goal: take the time to do what makes you happy. Feeling joy deeply is a choice — a choice we cannot always make, but certainly one we have to make for ourselves.

One vital component of living a full life is understanding the value of the time you spend letting yourself feel good, and one important piece of finding that joy is honesty. It can be difficult to admit to yourself if something doesn’t make you happy if you feel that it’s supposed to. Over the course of my first two years at Amherst, I’ve been figuring out what makes me happy while at

school. Now, I’m still learning about what brings me joy, what helps me through difficult times and what helps me grow. It takes time and patience to find these things, as well as honesty and an understanding that it is worth it to spend time being happy.

Certainly, everyone finds joy in different things: I personally feel good when learning an instrument, skiing with my dad, sharing music with others, and playing board games or video games with my friends. Some may find joy in mastering — or simply dabbling in — a new art form or sport, or perhaps through reading or taking time to learn about things that interest them. Joy can be found in a myriad of emotional experiences.

Others may find joy in the connections they make with other people or in receiving friendly reassurances when they are feeling low.

Too often, we neglect to consciously choose to

find joy. Sadness, disappointment, anger, fear, and anxiousness are each necessary — and painful — parts of living, but they have the adverse ability to overcome other emotions, whether due to mental illness, difficult circumstances or overwhelming challenges. Therefore, joy must be sought out with intention.

Pursue the things that make you happy and they can become essential counterpoints to adversity, creating a balance that helps sustain you through tough times. To quote “The Adventure Zone,” a podcast that has brought me a lot of joy, to live life to its fullest is to both rise to face the challenges that get thrown our way and also to chase after what brings us joy, “Because, at the end of the day, that’s all you got: looking back at the joy you had, and the joy you found and the joy you gave other people.” You deserve joy, and you deserve to value your happiness. Don’t overlook that.

Why Healthcare Must Be an Exception to the Capitalist System Eric Kim ’19 Contributing Writer Since my first year of college, I have never questioned my commitment to becoming a doctor. I want to make the most of my privilege to give back to those most in need. As social inequity and health disparity form a vicious cycle, medicine can be a powerful tool for social justice. However, I recently went through a bit of a crisis as I began confronting just how impractically expensive our healthcare system is.

How much am I really serving others if they cannot afford my treatments — if they must choose between relinquishing care or going bankrupt? American healthcare is costly, and I had to consider the implications of working within the entrenched, complex system. I wondered whether I would truly be fulfilled professionally if I kept my focus solely on individual patient interactions. As much as I treasure such personal service, I wanted to explore how I could make a broader impact on society.

As I began familiarizing myself with our healthcare system, I quickly realized how deeply it rests upon a single, powerful assumption: that our health is a commodity. We treat it as though it were any other good we can buy, such as a phone or a car. This means that it is subject to our capitalist economic framework, ultimately in ways that undermine both the purpose of our healthcare system and America’s very identity as a meritocracy through the ethos of the American Dream. As healthcare becomes an increasingly prominent political issue, one that will eventually affect each and every one of us, it is worth all of our time to examine the current healthcare system became

commoditized.

One of capitalism’s foundational ideals is that people should be able to utilize their wealth freely, according to their desires and values. For example, I ought to have the freedom to spend all my money on gadgets while eating instant ramen every night. However, the fact that this is true of healthcare means that those with more wealth can afford better facilities and more expensive services, leaving the poor with underpaid caregivers and underfinanced hospitals. Moreover, while many people buy health insurance so that they can pay for future services now through monthly premiums, they can also choose not to.

This latter point is particularly significant because of the importance of “risk pools.”

When an insurance company enrolls members in its plans, it sets premium rates based on how many services it expects its members, who altogether compose a “risk pool,” to use that year.

If all of its members are healthy, the insurer has a “balanced” risk pool and can set low premiums while still making profit. The problem is that young and healthy individuals won’t bother buying good health insurance. So long as healthcare is a commodity, they are free to not prioritize their health insurance. However, insurers must raise premiums to compensate for unbalanced risk pools with disproportionately more sick members who need robust benefits.

Thus, those who are sick and remain covered to receive health services are left to foot the growing bill.

More fundamentally, health is often paramount in our lives. It can be thought of as an “inelastic” good: demand for it is largely unaffected by price. The price tag means little for

life-saving treatments, as we will find some way to empty our pockets and pay for it. We must; otherwise, we will die, and our money will mean little to us afterward. Hospitals can thus raise prices for such treatments and know that patients will continue seeking their services.

As they do so, insurers must raise premiums accordingly, often to levels that the poor can hardly afford.

Here is the deadly irony. How can we believe in the American Dream, that those who work hard will reap the benefits of their efforts?

Those who are poor and sick cannot access the care they need, nor can they “work hard” to “reap their benefits,” whether it be due to physical limitations or social stigmatization of illness. The reality is that if we view our health as something to be bought, our healthcare system will not be able to treat those most in need, nor will meritocracy be anything more than an illusion. Because of its centrality to our lives, our health and the care we receive must be the exception from the rest of our capitalistic goods.

I have been encouraged by the attempts over the years to treat our health as a right, to be protected by and for everyone. Medicare for the elderlyand Medicaid for the poor are perhaps the most notable, which operate through government subsidies funded by taxes. The Affordable Care Act (ACA, or Obamacare) has also made significant, though imperfect, progress toward this goal of making health a right.

One major change is the individual mandate: a tax penalty is inflicted on anyone who opts out of health insurance. Most recently, Senator Bernie Sanders proposed the Medicare for All bill (already dubbed Berniecare), a single-payer model in which the government is the sole

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provider of health insurance. One of the biggest sinks of healthcare costs is administrative services. There exist countless insurance companies, each with their own policies and required paperwork. By creating a national, uniform system with a single-payer model, we can greatly improve efficiency and reduce costs.

Each of these steps has done some good for healthcare, but I agree that each has its own problems. People hate paying taxes, even for Medicare or Medicaid. Obamacare has not only violated our freedom to choose how we spend our wealth, but also forced people to purchase something they may not be able to afford. Now, Berniecare wants to put a lot of power and authority into the hands of the government, which has historically led to corruption and a whole host of other problems.

Though imperfect, I believe these proposed solutions are steps in the right direction. We must view our health as a right and not a commodity, especially if we want the American Dream to actually thrive. Unfortunately, the American healthcare system cannot be suddenly and radically transformed; rather, it is a mountain that must be moved a pebble at a time. Furthermore, it is an incredibly complex problem, of which I have only begun to scratch the surface. There is still far, far more that I do not know, but I am eager to learn. My hope for now is to start the more foundational conversation of what our philosophical view of healthcare should be. I have countless questions and hardly any answers — how do we make high quality healthcare affordable for everyone?

How do we balance corporate and government control? Is cost-sharing beneficial? — but I invite you to search with me.

Arts&Living Asian Representation on Big and Small Screens Familiar Story, Unfamiliar Faces: “Crazy Rich Asians” Triumphs

Photo courtesy of onyxtruth.com

Henry Golding and Constance Wu bring life to Kevin Kwan’s characters.

Seoyeon Kim ’21 Managing Arts and Living Editor Based on Kevin Kwan’s 2013 bestseller of the same name, “Crazy Rich Asians” tells the story of Rachel Chu (Constance Wu), an economics professor at New York University who was born and raised in Queens, and her boyfriend Nick Young (Henry Golding). When Nick asks Rachel to accompany him to Nick’s best friend’s wedding in his home country of Singapore, she accepts, excited to visit Asia for the first time and meet Nick’s family — not knowing what’s in store for her.

Once they arrive, Rachel soon discovers

(somewhat naively) that Nick is actually the heir to the fortune of one of wealthiest families in Singapore — the favorite son in a family of real estate moguls who are described as “richer than God.” Suddenly thrust into the spotlight, Rachel must prove herself able to contend with jealous socialites and Nick’s disapproving mother Eleanor (the incredibly charismatic Michelle Yeoh).

“Crazy Rich Asians” is a feel-good film with no shortage of strong performances by its allAsian cast. Yeoh, the martial arts legend previously known for her roles in “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” and “Memoirs of a Geisha,” is a standout as the cold and critical Eleanor

Young, and the dashing Golding portrays the “Asian Bachelor” Nick Young with effortless charm. “Ocean’s 8” breakout star Awkwafina steals the show every time she comes onscreen as Rachel’s old college roommate Goh Peik Lin (my favorite line is “she just thinks you’re like some unrefined banana. Yellow on the outside, and white on the inside”), while Ken Jeong is hilarious as usual as Goh Peik Lin’s outrageously inappropriate father, Goh Wye Mun. The financial success of “Crazy Rich Asians” has been thoroughly remarkable, taking in $25.2 million during just its opening weekend — the best opening for a PG-13 romantic comedy in six years. Moreover, the film boasts a 93 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes, drawing praise from critics and audiences alike.

However, the film’s production was not all smooth-sailing; the studio initially drew criticism for its casting of British-Malaysian actor Golding (his character in the book, Nick, is Chinese-Singaporean), leading some detractors to claim the producers had a preference for biracial actors. And after the film’s release in Singapore, where most of the movie was filmed, many complained about its exclusion of Southeast Asians.

There have also been concerns over how “Crazy Rich Asians” portrays a one-dimensional, picture-perfect Asian American experience with its immigrant success stories.

Wu, addressed the comments on Twitter by acknowledging that the movie “won’t represent every Asian-American.” These criticisms further emphasize the need for more depiction of Asian Americans in the entertainment industry, as one movie cannot be a fix-all for underrepresentation.

It’s hard not to have fun when you’re watching “Crazy Rich Asians.” But while the sto-

ryline might be considered light, filled to the brim with displays of unimaginable wealth, underneath the razzle-dazzle is a discussion on the complexity of being Asian American: the disconnect you feel when you travel back to your “home” country and the constant struggle between your Asian face and American mind. Although “Crazy Rich Asians” doesn’t explore these complexities in much depth, it has at least started the conversation.

A “Meet the Parents” plot complete with fairytale-esque makeovers and “Pride and Prejudice”-like upper-class wealth, “Crazy Rich Asians” may feel familiar, but it’s the first modern American film with an all-Asian cast in 25 years — the last being “The Joy Luck Club” in 1993 — making it anything but typical. Seeing Asian-American characters onscreen in refreshingly-normal roles has sparked an enormous response, with many people sharing (online) their personal stories of being Asian American and the hashtag #representationmatters reaching a trending status on Twitter.

As Asian Americans, we are often the invisible minority, either exotified or forgotten— a racial wedge frequently used to deepen the divide between whites and other people of color.

That is why seeing characters that look like us on the big screen means so much. That is why #representationmatters.

The sequel to “Crazy Rich Asians,” “China Rich Girlfriend,” is already in the works. And with several new releases that star AsianAmerican leads including “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before” and “Searching” (both movies in which race is not central to the storyline, but Asian Americanness is normalized), it is easy to be optimistic about the future. Hopefully, this is just the beginning.

“To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before”: Minorities Out of the Margin Diane Lee ’19 Managing Opinions Editor “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before” is a teenage romantic comedy that Netflix released on its streaming service in August 2018. The plot of the movie doesn’t stray too far from its romcom predecessors — think “10 Things I Hate About You,” “A Cinderella Story” or “13 Going on 30.” It follows your average high school girl, Lara Jean Covey (Lana Condor), who writes secret love letters to the five boys she’s ever loved.

Without her knowledge, her letters are mailed out, and Lara Jean must deal with their effects on her romantic, social and family life. It’s the classic girl-doesn’t-expect-to-fall-in-love-withasshole-popular-boy-but-does-anyway movie.

Despite (or maybe because of) the warm and fuzzy clichés, this movie is worth seeing and one that I wish had come out during my childhood. The film balances the romantic tropes that we all know and love with the diversity that reflects American teenage life today. Lara Jean comes from a biracial family — her mother, who passed away, was Korean, and her father is white. The cast reflects this background. Condor was born in Vietnam and adopted by white American parents, while Janel Parrish, who plays her older sister, is also an Asian American of half-Chinese and half-white descent.

The character of Lara Jean is revolutionary for Asian-American women and hopefully other women of color for a few reasons. The first is that she is the protagonist. In my childhood, every protagonist in a romantic comedy — or

in any genre, really— has been white, skinny and, 80 percent of the time, blonde. We think racial bias is a thing of the past, but Jenny Han, the author of the novel which the film is based off of, had to fight claims that an Asian-American lead would not sell. It is so refreshing to see someone who looks like me finally get a love story of her own. The second is that Lara Jean is average. In media, the Asian woman is either a cartoon, the token Asian friend or extraordinary abnormal. She’s hyper-sexual and bitchy (Ling Woo in “Ally McBeal”), an airhead (London in “Suite Life of Zack and Cody”) or asexual (Lane Kim and Mrs. Kim in “Gilmore Girls”). These characters made me physically cringe and shut off the TV in frustration.

Lara Jean is the first character that we can relate to — she shows us that you can be Asian and American at the same time. She has crushes on boys, makes cookies for her school’s bake sale and goes to parties thrown by the lacrosse team. Her life is one of teenage confusion, which most American girls can relate to.

Simultaneously, the film makes nods to AsianAmerican life. For example, Lara Jean’s younger sister Kitty (Anna Cathcart) complains about how she misses their mother’s Korean food. The sisters’ mourning for their mother also leads to a scramble to figure out how they can preserve their identity in the face of tragedy. The sisters pursue “normal” American lives, but also deal with the identity politics that exist for most American teens today. In fact, it tells us that thinking about your identity is the new normal.

Another example where this film references Asian-American identity is when the

school’s popular lacrosse player, Peter Kavinsky (Noah Centineo), picks up Lara Jean and Kitty for school. Taking a sip of Kitty’s Yakult, he is pleasantly surprised. For reference, Yakult is a Japanese yogurt drink that comes packaged in small plastic cartons with a red seal at the top.

It’s oddly watery and sugary, and you can’t get enough of it — there is no American equivalent that I’ve come across. I found myself smiling when, at the end of the movie, Peter confesses driving across town to an Asian supermarket to buy Yakult for Lara Jean. Partly because it was romantic, but more importantly, because it was relatable. The scene made me start reminiscing on the hot summers when I would squeeze those tiny plastic bottles for the last drop of Yakult. The magic is in the details, and the movie’s reference to my and many other Asian Americans’ favorite childhood drink touched me in a way few movies ever did.

Peter and Lara Jean’s relationship is also groundbreaking. He gives Lara Jean the love that she, and so many other women of color, deserve but seldom receive in popular media.

The movie normalizes the idea that women of color are not inferior or to be fetishized. Peter treats Lara Jean with respect for who she is as a person — and that includes her identity. The movie also dispels the notion that women of color have some sort of obligation to end up with men of the same racial background.

One of the most glaring examples of this idea is Dionne from “Clueless.” Despite having an amazing sense of style and being stunningly beautiful, Dionne is subject to being Cher’s crony. It is assumed that she will end up with

a black man, namely her boyfriend Murray, while Cher and Tai are assumed to end up with white boys. Dionne’s the token black friend, so of course she will end up with the one black boy in the movie.

“To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before” breaks this “stay in your lane” mentality that is infused with subtle racism and xenophobia. Watching Peter and Lara Jean validated my own experiences of crushing on all kinds of boys: Asian, white, biracial, black, Latino, the list goes on and on. At the same time, it’s important to note that women of color have no obligation to be with white men, either. The racial politics of picking a partner are complex, often oppressive and depend on each person’s experiences.

“To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before” gracefully teases some of this complexity out. It is not the perfect movie (in my book, the dad would also be Asian, but I was #TeamAidan from “Sex and the City” so I’ll let it slide), but it would be absurdly unfair to expect one movie to address all of my childhood qualms.

And ironically, the most radical thing about the movie is that it doesn’t claim to be “the AsianAmerican coming-of-age story.” Of course, we need films like those, and “Crazy Rich Asians” does a fantastic job of making the statement.

But we also need movies that tell us that we’re just like anybody else, deserving of love and recognition for who we are. In the world of the movie, it is matter of fact that an Asian teenage girl experiences the same heart-throbbing love that a white girl would — that she is equally deserving and equally multi-dimensional in her teenhood, if not more so.

The Amherst Student • August 31, 2018

Arts & Living 7

A Look at Upcoming Fall Concerts in the Massachusetts Area Hildi Gabel ’21 Staff Writer A veritable cornucopia of music is coming to the Massachusetts area this fall, with everyone from popstars to established rock artists to up-and-coming musicians on display. Learning to navigate the local music scene is not high on anyone’s orientation priority list, so we’ve decided to do the work for you. Here are some fall music events that are accessible from Amherst and should not be missed.

Big Names in Boston

Though Boston can sometimes feel far away from the Amherst bubble, it’s a very manageable journey lasting just under two hours. With some advance planning, students can borrow a car from the Amherst Association of Students. Boston is always an excellent place to catch a concert, and there

are many major artists coming through Beantown this fall. Some of the best shows to catch this fall include Childish Gambino (Sept. 12, tickets starting at $45), Drake (Sept. 7-9, tickets starting at $55), J. Cole (Oct. 10, tickets starting at $45), and Bruno Mars (Sept. 27-28, tickets starting at $113).

Photos courtesy of flickr.com, pxhere.com, Pixabay

Boston will play host to a wide range of big names this fall, with Drake (left), J. Cole (center) and Bruno Mars (right) as some of the top performers.

Must-See Shows

Cat Power is back, and she’ll be in Boston on Friday, Oct. 5. The established singer-songwriter has been making music since the ’90s and always accentuates the breeziness of her blues-rock sound with ardent and sincere execution. She has become known for her distinctive voice, jangling guitars and notes that seem to blend together on their own accord.

Big Thief, Mitski and Courtney Barnett will all be playing in Boston in late October and catching any of these shows will make for a fantastic experience.

Big Thief, the Brooklyn-based band helmed by vocalist Adrianne Lenker, will take the stage on Thursday, Oct. 18. The group’s work combines Lenker’s poetic genius with emotive melodies and riffs that draw from the best parts of 1990s alternative- and folk-rock.

Mitski’s career has exploded this past year. She will perform in Boston on Saturday, Oct. 20

as part of the tour for her newly released album “Be The Cowboy,” which delves into themes of loneliness and luckless love and further establishes her as the frontrunner in expressing a mature angst. Low-fi electric guitars, heavy drumbeats, well-placed synthesizers and yearning vocals combine to create introspective and vulnerable music.

Melbourne-based living legend Courtney Barnett will make a stop in Boston while on tour for her third solo album “Tell Me How You Really Feel” on Sunday, Oct. 21, and it would be a near-crime to miss it. Barnett has recently been weaving more grunge influences into her folkinfluenced indie work, and this new album touches on her experience with growing fame and frustrations with misogyny. One of the greatest lyricists of our generation, there’s a humorous and blunt honesty at the core of all her work, and her musings on the mundane feel universally sincere.

Photos courtesy of flickr, Wikimedia Commons

Mitski (left), Big Thief (middle), and Cat Power (right) all will make stops in Boston this fall, creating concert experiences that are a bit off the beaten path.

Odds and Ends

Two great Boston shows will fall on Wednesdays, making them somewhat inconvenient but still potentially worthwhile. Alvvays will perform with Hatchie and Snail Mail, who released an exceptional debut album earlier this year while Mac Miller will show with the esteemed Thundercat. Tune-Yards and Angel Olsen will both be playing in North Adams, Massachusetts at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (Mass MoCA), just an hour’s drive from Amherst.

Girlpool and Porches will play in Greenfield, Massachusetts, with tickets selling at the reasonable price of $30. Bob Dylan will be at Springfield for a Nov. 18 concert in Springfield

Symphony Hall, with tickets starting at $55. Tallest Man On Earth will also be showing in Northampton at the Academy of Music Theatre on Nov. 12.

Last but certainly not least, the Internet will stop in Boston on Wednesday, Dec. 5, and though that date may seem far away, it’s a smart idea to buy the fast-selling tickets now. The R&B group has been steadily garnering acclaim with its music that pulls together a blend of genres, including soul, funk, alternative and hip hop. The group’s tracks pulse with a slow burn and groove under the mellow voice of lead vocalist Syd, Sydney Bennett, who has recently started to become an individual sensation. The show will feature “Hive Mind,” the group’s newest album released this past July.

Photos courtesy of Wikimedia Commons, Wikipedia, flickr

For concerts a bit closer to campus, many undiscovered gems and celebrated favorites will make their way to North Adams and Northampton this fall.

The Amherst Student • August 31, 2018

Arts & Living 8

“McQueen” Documentary Depicts The Man Behind the Handbags Julian Raiford ’21 Contributing Writer Haute couture is offered to global fashion consumers as a delicacy — a rarity few can afford and even fewer deserve. The message is incredibly clear: high fashion is not only an art but a privilege to engage with. The veil of this exclusive industry is broken only through powerful faces who become cultural icons, such as Hubert de Givenchy, Tom Ford, Karl Lagerfield and Jean Paul Gaultier.

However, the line between exclusive crweator and famed icon has become increasingly more difficult to cross in recent decades. A rare and largely unexpected breach to this barrier is the “bad boy” of fashion, Lee Alexander McQueen. Despite the designer’s early infamy and expansive body of work, he died of suicide at an early age, thereby memorializing his status as a tortured artist.

Eight years after the passing of McQueen, directors Ian Bonhôte and Peter Ettedgui partnered to honor the memory and works of the late creator through the documentary “McQueen.” Bonhôte’s commercial expertise and Ettedgui’s documentarian background uniquely fuse together to create a seamlessly united voice, which approaches McQueen’s works in both a humanistic and coolly materialistic manner. The result of the partnership is a narrative that is one part triumphant, one part grim and completely haunting.

Before going into the designer’s artistic inclinations, the film opens on an intimate scene of a young McQueen working in a dingy, poorly lit space. Immediately, the red tape blocking the viewer from McQueen’s alleged untouchability is cut.

The designer is not introduced as McQueen but instead as Lee, a poor and uncertain young man from Stratford, England. Within seconds of the film beginning to roll, the mythology surrounding McQueen starts dissolving until the narrative is something far more relat-

able for the audience. The choice of this construction instantly creates a sympathetic bond between the viewer and the designer, a bond which the film maintains as it follows McQueen along his path towards self-discovery and ultimate fame.

The lens quickly shifts away from McQueen, a the self-made hometown hero, towards the dark spiral his work went into during the years after launching his eponymous brand.

Focusing on obscenity as the designer’s defining core, the directors carefully paint McQueen’s work as something transcendent and grotesquely touching. Through deft and strategic editing, it becomes apparent that his personal traumas are inseparable from the nauseating postures of his work. Any piece that McQueen produced is not only a work of art but also a manifestation of his dark history. Impressively, the film avoids romanticizing the tale of the stereotypical tortured artist and instead takes a neutral and analytical approach to many of McQueen’s highly controversial lines. Leaving the dialogue ambiguous, the directors provide the viewer with all the necessary tools to form their own opinions on McQueen’s moral and artistic standards.

Particularly on McQueen’s 1995 Highland Rape line, Bonhôte and Ettedgui highlight the distressing controversy between whether the work empowers victims or perpetuates misogynistic exploitation. The line featured women with torn dresses, exposed breasts and disheveled hair and makeup stumbling onto the runway. The works were ripped apart by many popular media outlets and considered a cheap cry for attention on the designer’s part.

However, the viewer feels almost as if McQueen embodies both the views of the victim and the perpetrator. He is both innocent and entirely guilty within his own narrative — a victim of abuse and a contentious creator, creating a complex milieu of feelings for the consumer.

Photos courtesy of Flickr and Wikimedia Commons

As author Julian Raiford ‘21 writes, “The film’s directors carefully paint McQueen’s work as something dually transcendent and grotesquely touching.”

The lack of McQueen’s own opinions on his work is one of the few downsides of the film.

The viewer desires the ability to draw lines from McQueen’s traumas to their manifestations in his work, yet this call remains unanswered throughout the film.

While Bonhôte and Ettedgui allow little room for thinking there is no relation, they do little more to connect the dots for their audience. While this can be excused on the grounds of not knowing McQueen’s own internal reflections, there were other factors that the directors could have more easily remedied or addressed.

While the work is undeniably captivating, many of the early tapes diminish the prowess of the physical works they depict. There is something missing from McQueen’s work that the viewers are not fully able to see for themselves.

To insinuate that the screen can contain the experience of sharing the physical presence of his art is a betrayal to his creations.

However, this can hardly be attributed to any fault of the filmmakers but is instead a recommendation that the viewers complement

their viewing of the film with a visit to an exhibit featuring McQueen’s work.

Despite “McQueen” facing several challenges, the film is an immersive and intelligent work that breaks beyond a trend of overly scripted and stiff fashion documentaries.

Due to the copious amounts of attention given to the most minute details of McQueen’s work, the film creates a beautiful mess of a story.

The narrative’s careful following of the designer’s past proves essential in dissecting his influences and the perfect storm that led to McQueen’s ultimate demise. “McQueen” is both inspiring and gaunt — truly achieving the designer’s vision of having a body of work that doesn’t “feel like you just had Sunday lunch,” but instead leaves you “repulsed and exhilarated.”

The film ultimately shows that McQueen’s life and work are complex and indistinguishable from one another. He is both a saint and a deviant within the world of fashion — rarely palatable, but always delicious.

Photo courtesy of coutequecoute.blogspot.com

Despite the impressive effort by the documentary’s directors, the medium of film ultimately fails to capture the physical prowess of McQueen’s art.

The Amherst Student • August 31, 2018

Sports

9

Women’s Golf Expects to Build Football Returns, Aims for on Ninth Place Finish at NCAA’s NESCAC Title After Near Miss Henry Newton ’21 Managing Sports Editor The Amherst women’s golf team finished the 2017-18 season with an impressive run to the NCAA Division III National Championships, claiming ninth place out of the top 22 Division III women’s golf teams in the nation. The Mammoths did so despite the relative youth and inexperience of much of the roster, which leaves the team well poised to improve upon its already impressive results.

At the championship meet, the Mammoths finished well behind the ClaremontMudd-Scripps Athenas, who won their first national championship in program history at the tournament held in Orlando, Florida.

Archrival Williams finished second, with the Athenas needing a three-hole playoff at the end of the match to top the Ephs. Amherst was the only other team from the NESCAC to compete at the competition.

The team returns all but one member of last year’s roster, with the only departure being from graduating senior Zoe Wong ’18.

Thus, many of the team’s top performers return to the squad, including Morgan Yurosek ’20 and Kate Weiss ’19, both of whom put forth strong performances at nationals.

Sophomores Isabelle Ouyang and Lily Worden also return to the team, both of whom participated in the season-ending tournament last year. Given this wealth of experience on such a young squad, the Mammoths appear poised to improve upon last year’s results and challenge for tournament championships in the coming year.

The team’s national ranking reflects this potential, as the team starts the year ranked sixth in the nation amongst its Division III peers.

Joining the already young roster are two new golfers who will look to step into the lineup from the season’s start in India Guame ’22 and Mina Lee ’22.

The team will open the year at the Ann S. Batchelder Invitational Tournament hosted by Wellesley College on Saturday, Sept.

15. The Mammoths won the 2017 edition of this tournament and will look to repeat as champions.

Depth and Senior Leadership Key to Women’s Cross Country Jamie Mazzola ’21 Staff Writer After a solid finish to the 2017 season that saw the Mammoths place fifth at the NESCAC Championships and sixth at the NCAA Division III New England regional meet, the Amherst women’s cross country team looks poised for improvement and another strong campaign.

Having graduated last year’s top runner, NESCAC champion and All-American Nicky Roberts, the Mammoths have a big hole at the front of the pack. Fortunately, Amherst will return a remarkable six of last year’s top seven harriers, so there are several candidate’s to fill Roberts’ massive shoes.

Top returner Kristin Ratliff ’20 had an excellent spring track season, highlighted by a team-best 3,000-meter steeplechase time of 11:08 and a second-place finish in the steeplechase at the NESCAC Championships.

A trio of rising sophomores from last year’s top seven paced the Mammoths last spring in their respective track events, including Sarah Gayer in the 1,500 meters (4:32), Haley Greene in the 5,000-meter run (18:14) and Olivia Polischeck in the 10,000 (38:22).

Apart from the impressive Class of 2021, senior captain Lela Walter set a personal best in the 1,500-meter run (4:52).

Finally, Walter’s fellow captain Veronica Rocco ’19 looks to bounce back from an injury-plagued track season and continue her strong showing on the trails.

Losing a few runners to study-abroad programs, the Mammoths will be short on numbers, but the addition of first years Julia Doubson, F.M. Gehrke, and Eline Laurent will bolster their depth.

Head coach Cassie Funke-Harris will be joined by assistant coaches Daniel Feldman and Christopher Plankey, both of whom will be first-time women’s cross country coaches after coaching Amherst track and field last year. Feldman also served as assistant men’s cross country coach last fall. All three coaches will be working with both the men’s and women’s teams.

“We have really amazing senior leadership from Gaby Doran and our captains Lela Walter and Veronica Rocco,” said head coach Cassie Funke-Harris. “They’ve all been pivotal in creating our team culture.”

Amherst competes in the strongest regional division in the nation, so automatic

qualifiers out of the region for national tournaments and meets are more difficult to obtain.

After a couple seasons of narrowly missing out on an at-large bid for the NCAA finals, this season the Mammoths will have an additional opportunity to compete against national rivals at the Conn. College Invitational and bolster their resume in hopes of a spot at nationals.

Traditionally two weekends before the NESCAC championship meet, the annual Little III Championships have been moved to the first meet of the season, replacing the local Smith Invitational. This classic meet between the Mammoths and rivals Wesleyan and Williams will take place in Amherst on Saturday, Sept. 8.

Matthew Sparrow ’21 Staff Writer After a heartbreaking loss to Williams in the final game of the 2017 season resulted in Amherst finishing one game back of Trinity for the NESCAC crown, the Mammoths will look to bounce back and add another conference championship to the mantle.

Last season started out well for Amherst, as the team erased any memories of its disastrous 2016 campaign, during which the team went 4-4 and saw its streak of three straight NESCAC titles come crashing to a halt. In 2017, Mammoths won seven of their first eight games, including a massive victory over 2016 champion Trinity, which had won 16 games in a row entering the contest. The win over the Bantams gave even more importance to “The Biggest Little Game in America,” the season-closing matchup against archrival Williams that Amherst had recently dominated.

In front of a raucous crowd in Williamstown, Massachusetts, the Ephs jumped out to a 24-3 lead halfway through the third quarter.

The Mammoths weren’t done, however, as former Second-Team All-NESCAC quarterback Reece Foy ’18 led a furious rally capped off by a pick-six by John Ballard ’20 to send the game to overtime. The Amherst magic ran out in the extra period, though, as NESCAC Rookie of the Year Bobby Maimaron of Williams threw for a touchdown and Foy’s fourth-down pass fell incomplete, sealing the 31-24 victory for the Ephs and clinching Trinity’s second-straight NESCAC title in the process.

While the Mammoths lost several important players to graduation, including Foy, AllNESCAC running back Hasani Figueroa and All-NESCAC offensive linemen Kevin Sheehan and Mitch Arthur, Amherst arguably boasts the most returning talent in the conference. On the offensive side of the ball, the development of quarterback Ollie Eberth ’20 will be critical to the success of the team. Eberth started all nine games as a sophomore last season, completing 58.7% of his passes for 1,382 yards and eight touchdowns, while throwing only three interceptions and adding another five touchdowns on the ground. He’ll be asked to do even more in his second year running the offense as Foy saw plenty of playing time last season, often serving as a change of pace.

The good news for Eberth is that he will have plenty of help on offense with multiple weapons at his disposal. First Team All-NESCAC running back Jack Hickey ’19 finished

2017 with 6.0 yards per carry and nine rushing touchdowns, both numbers good for second in the entire conference, and his role will likely increase with Figueroa having graduated.

Second Team All-NESCAC wide receiver James O’Regan ’20 ranked in the top five in yards, yards per catch and touchdowns in the NESCAC. Additionally, Bo Berluti ’19 and O’Regan combined to form one of just two pairs of teammates in the NESCAC to each record at least 500 receiving yards.

For opposing teams, though, the most terrifying part of this year’s Amherst squad is the enormous potential on the defensive side of the ball. After finishing fourth in the conference in points allowed, the Mammoths will return almost every starter on defense, including star linebacker Andrew Yamin ’19. Yamin racked up the hardware last season, earning NESCAC Defensive Player of the Year, a spot on D3football.com’s All-East Region Second Team Defense and, most impressively, the Joseph P. Zabilski Award for the best Division II/ III defensive player in New England. His stats backed up the accolades as Yamin led the NESCAC in both sacks and tackles for loss with 13.5 and 21.5, respectively. The hype around Yamin’s final campaign in the purple and white has already started, as he garnered a place in the Preseason Starting Lineup by College Football America. In addition to Yamin, the Mammoths also boast First Team All-NESCAC honorees in defensive backs Avery Saffold ’20 and Nate Tyrell ’19, as well as a fearsome front seven led

by Greg Franklin ’20 and Andrew Sommer ’19, who both earned second team plaudits.

Amherst is confident going into the season, thanks to this wealth of talent, but the team is well aware of the challenges ahead.

“I’m really excited about this upcoming season,” cornerback Ricky Goodson ’21 said.

“I’m looking forward to growing close with this team over the next few weeks as well as meeting the first-years and showing them the ropes here on campus. We have a lot of talent this year, but we will have to work hard to get us where we want to be and that starts with day one.”

Senior captain and safety Zach Allen echoed the same sentiment. “We have a great group of guys who have persevered through a lot this year,” Allen said. “All of us are hungry for a championship and recognize that it’s going to come from hard work and competing as a team every day this fall.”

Led by head coach E.J. Mills, the Mammoths kick off their season on Saturday, Sept.

15 at Bates.

Women’s Tennis Returns Proven Upperclassmen Core Connor Haugh ’21 Managing Sports Editor

Photo courtesy of Clarus Studios

Olivia Polischek ’21 will look to build on an impressive outdoor track season.

The Amherst women’s tennis squad hopes to improve upon last season’s showing despite the departure of a pair of celebrated seniors. The Mammoths had an exceptionally strong spring season, finishing with an overall record of 12-10 and securing an NCAA Division III tournament quarterfinal appearance. Notable victories during the spring season included wins over the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, North Carolina Wesleyan College and the University of Mary Washington, but Amherst fell to arch rivals Williams at the NCAA Division III Championships in a hard-fought 5-1 loss.

The Mammoths will certainly miss Vickie Ip ’18 and Avery Wagman ’18, whose contributions to the team in both singles and doubles over their four years in the Pioneer Valley were crucial.

Ip played regularly on the second doubles court alongside Kelsey Chen ’19 and was impressive in the second spot on the Mammoths’ singles ladder.

Wagman, although often playing fifth on the singles ladder, dominated in doubles alongside partner Anya Ivenitsky ’20. The pair reached the

semifinals of the NCAA Division III Doubles Tournament, a result that earned the duo AllAmerican plaudits.

Though the losses of Wagman and Ip will hurt, if any coach has the experience to be able to emerge stronger and make up for these departures, it would be Amherst head coach Jackie Bagwell, who will embark upon her 28th season in charge of the Mammoths. Bagwell’s 1999 squad won the first national championship in any sport for Amherst. For her remarkable coaching career, Bagwell will be inducted into the Howard County Sports Hall of Fame in her childhood home of Indiana after the short season ends this fall.

A key part of Bagwell’s ability to improve upon last season is the fact that Amherst will retain an excellent squad. The Mammoths’ top singles player, Camille Smuckler ’20, will look to build upon an exciting season last spring, which saw her earn All-American honors after a fifth-place finish in the NCAA singles tournament. Maddie Dewire ’20, Ivenitsky and Chen will likely all rise up the Amherst ladder this fall, and each of the three has shown the talent to do so. The Mammoths will finally return to action on Friday, Sept. 15 at the MIT Invitational in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

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Sports

The Amherst Student • August 31, 2018

Field Hockey To Restructure after Women’s Soccer Hopes to ImproveFortunes After Disappointing Season Graduation of Attacking Trio Connor Haugh ’21 Managing Sports Editor

Photo courtesy of Clarus Studios

Natalie Landau ’21 ended her first season with the Mammoths with six goals and three assists, a tally she hopes to build on in the coming campaign Talia Land ’20 Staff Writer Amherst women’s soccer will return to Hitchcock Field this fall in the hopes of rebounding from last year’s disappointing season and returning to the highs of 2016, when the team won the NESCAC title and made a run in the NCAA tournament.

In 2017, the Mammoths finished with an overall record of 9-7-1 and a conference record of 4-5-1, closing the season with a heart-breaking 4-2 loss to Williams in the NESCAC tournament semifinals.

The Mammoths lost four seniors to graduation in 2018: Hannah Guzzi, Delancey King, Alison Neveu and Meredith Manley.

Although the loss of four veterans, three of whom were key starters, will be an obstacle, the Mammoths will welcome six new first years, as well as a sophomore transfer from St. John’s University.

In addition to the newcomers, junior forward Bella Palma will also be returning to play after missing the 2017 season due to a torn ACL. The 2018 team boasts six seniors and is led by its three senior captains, Maeve McNamara, Megan Root and Rubii Tamen. Tamen was named to the All-NESCAC First Team last year in her first season playing exclusively as a forward.

Besides this trio, the Mammoths’ senior class includes Caleigh Plaut, Morgan Machiele and Eden Charles.

As Amherst’s 2017 starting keeper Chelsea Cutler ’19 will not be returning to Amherst this fall, junior Erica Sanders, sophomore Antonia Tammarro and first-year Brooke Harrington will compete to lay claim to the starting spot.

Amherst will also experience a change in its coaching staff this year, as former assistant coach Jeannette Boudway is now the head coach at Smith College.

In her stead, Su DelGuercio will join head coach Jen Hughes on the sideline.

DelGuercio formerly played for Colby from 2007-2010 and has spent the last two years as a faculty member and coach at the Berkshire School in Sheffield, Massachuestts.

Sophomore Natalie Landau, who became a 2017 NESCAC player of the week after scoring a hat trick in just over four minutes, declared that the team is ready and excited for a competitive season.

“I know I speak for all of us when we say that we absolutely cannot wait for our season to start,” Landau said. “There’s nothing better than playing soccer with your best friends at home on Hitchcock.

Our team has been working incredibly hard all summer, and we are more than ready to compete for a NESCAC championship this fall,” she added.

Amherst kicks off its season with a home game against Mount Holyoke on Thursday, Sept. 6 at 5 p.m. on Hitchcock Field before opening conference play at Bowdoin on Saturday, Sept. 8 at noon.

Amherst field hockey head coach Carol Knerr, now in her 18th season at the helm, enters the 2018 campaign looking to build on a strong core of returning talent.

Last season saw notable wins over archrival Williams, Conn. College and Wesleyan, which propelled the team to a 5-5 NESCAC record, just barely missing out on postseason qualification in a wide-open field.

The team looks to build on last year’s 10-6 season record, despite losing a trio of offensive studs to graduation in Elizabeth Turnbull, Mary Grace Cronin and Katie Bergamesca, who combined to score over half of the team’s 33 goals last season.

In the midfield, the loss of Caroline Feeley ’18 will hurt the Mammoths, as she served as the team’s assist leader last season. Hopefully, though, Shannon Tierney ’19 will be able to step into Feeley’s shoes, both anchoring the midfield defensively and providing a playmaking spark.

Megan Shea ’19 will also hope to claim a starting role in midfield, as she played the role of super-sub last season, only starting

one game but playing in every contest. Her energy off the bench resulted in an impressive stat line, with two goals and three assists over the course of the season.

Defensively, the Mammoths return a solid core, despite the graduation of star defender Caroline Fiore ’18. Grace Johnson ’21, who impressed in her first collegiate campaign, will partner with Kendall Codey ’19 to anchor the defensive line.

In net, senior Katie Savage will compete for the starting spot with junior Emilie Flamme, with each goalkeeper exceling last season.

Both posted save percentages over 80 percent in 2017, and although Flamme had solidified her grasp on the starting spot by the end of the last campaign, Savage excelled in her few starts, posting a stingy 0.27 goals against average.

In order to reach the NESCAC playoffs, the Mammoths will need to shake off the disappointment of the end of last season, which saw the team lose the last three games of the season.

Amherst will hope to cast off these ghosts in the season-opener next Thursday, Sept. 6 at home against Mount Holyoke.

Junior Core of Men’s Tennis Grows Into Senior Leadership Roles Connor Haugh ’21 Managing Sports Editor Building upon last season’s success and a strong core of returning players, the Amherst men’s tennis team certainly has high expectations for the fall season.

The team only plays through the month of October, but the Mammoths will look to springboard off their spring campaign, during which the team boasted a record of 12-7 and reached the round of 16 in the NCAA Division III Tournament.

This year, the Mammoths can lay claim to a reserve of senior leadership, a stark difference from last year when the team lacked a single senior.

Zach Bessette, Jon Heidenberg, Oliver Kendall, Jesse Levitin and Cameron Raglin enter their final fall season for the Mammoths after all being named co-captains in the spring, demonstrating the unity of the class.

Head coach Todd Doebler, now entering his fifth season at Amherst’s helm, will utilize this wealth of experience to nurture the incoming class of first years, as there are only three other returners from last year’s team.

However, this trio of sophomores and juniors will play a key role in determining the

Mammoths’ success. Sean Wei ’21 will look to build on his dominant first collegiate season, in which he reached the semifinals of the NCAA DIII Individual Tournament in the singles bracket and earned All-American honors.

He also earned NESCAC Rookie of the Year plaudits, as well as an All-NESCAC nod alongside fellow sophomore Kevin Ma and Jason Fung ’20.

Wei seized the number one spot on the Amherst ladder last fall and showed why throughout the spring season, going 17-7 overall with several impressive wins.

Though the final arrangement is still up in the air, Amherst’s singles ladder will likely begin with Wei, then Ma, followed by Bessette, Fung, Kendall and finally, Heidelberg rounding out Amherst’s six.

Hopefully, this combination of experience and young talent in Wei, Fung and Ma, will catapult the Mammoths toward a strong fall season, which begins with the ITA Regional Championships the weekend of September 22.

Middlebury will host the tournament, which features the best players from all over New England and includes both singles and doubles brackets.

Photo courtesy of Clarus Studios

Oliver Kendall ’19 played a key role alongside Jesse Levitin ’19 (not pictured) in the Mammoths’ third doubles pairing last season.

The Amherst Student • August 31, 2018

Sports

Men’s Cross Country Springboards off NESCAC Championship Season

Men’s Golf Returns to Action after Little Three Win with High Hopes Henry Newton ’21 Managing Sports Editor

Photo courtesy of Clarus Studios

The Amherst cross country team will rely on captain Tucker Meijer ’19 (far right), who is coming of an excellent track season last spring.

Veronica Rocco ’19 Staff Writer Coming off a fourth-place finish at last year’s Division III Cross Country National Championships, the Amherst men’s cross country team looks to improve upon its impressive 2017 campaign.

Prior to their podium finish at Nationals, the Mammoths won the NESCAC Championships for the first time in program history and placed all five scoring runners on All-NESCAC teams, a feat achieved by finishing 14th or better. Amherst also made history by defeating Williams at the Little Three Championships, ending the Ephs 29-year winning streak at the meet.

This year, head coach Cassie Funke-Harris and assistant coaches Danny Feldman and Chris Plankey coach the men’s and women’s teams.

This will be Plankey’s first year coaching cross country at Amherst, as he led the short sprinters during the indoor and outdoor track seasons last year.

The Mammoths return five of their top seven runners from 2017, losing only top runner Mohamed Hussein ’18, Jack Wesley ’18, the team’s seventh runner, and Justin Barry ’18, the team’s alternate, to graduation.

Senior captains Cosmo Brossy, Tucker Meijer and Kristian Sogaard, all of whom competed at nationals last year, will lead the Mammoths this fall.

Brossy was Amherst’s third runner at nationals, placing 82nd overall, and will hope to have a strong fall on the grass after qualifying for nationals in both the indoor and outdoor seasons last year. Indoors, Brossy ran the 1,600-meter anchor leg of the nationals-qualifying distance medley relay team and qualified in the 3,000 meters as well. Outdoors, he finished second at the NESCAC championship meet in the 5k and placed 10th in the same event at nationals.

Meijer’s improvement during the 2017 fall was critical for the team’s success, as he consistently was Amherst’s fourth runner. He will enter into the season with momentum after setting a new personal best in the 10,000 meters at the outdoor NESCAC Track & Field Championship, running a time of 31:52.

Sogaard specializes in the 800 meters during the track seasons, earning All-American honors in the event indoors and helping the Mammoths qualify for the 4x400-meter relay during the spring season. He successfully defended his NESCAC title in the 800 meters and anchored the 4x800-meter relay to victory at the conferance meet.

Clark Ricciardelli ‘20E returns to campus with a season of cross country experience under his belt, as the junior ran his first-ever season of collegiate cross country last fall, closing his debut season by earning All-American honors with a 33rd place finish at nationals. After taking time off during the indoor season due to

injuries, Ricciardelli returned to the track for the outdoor season and once again earned AllAmerican honors with an eighth place finish in the 10,000-meter race at outdoor nationals.

A critical piece to the Mammoths’ season in 2018 will be Spencer Ferguson-Dryden ’20, who had an incredible race at cross country nationals in 2017, placing 111th overall to finish as the team’s fourth runner. The junior also ran the 1,200-meter leg for the distance medley relay team that qualified for nationals and set a personal best in the 5,000 meters during the outdoor season.

Upperclassmen Ermias Kebede ’19, Jacob Silverman ’19, Ralph Skinner ’20, Chris Stone ’20 and Estevan Velez ’20 will all look to have successful seasons on the trails and provide veteran leadership for the rest of the team.

The Mammoths also boast a strong core of underclassmen runners. A sophmore class of Jamie Mazzola, Braxton Schuldt and Billy Massey return to the grass after strong track seasons.

Meanwhile, transfer student Ajay Sarathy ’21 will come to the Pioneer Valley after spending his first year of college at the University of Pennsylvania, adding to Amherst’s strength.

A strong group of incoming first years will join the Mammoths, as Lev Robertson, Matthew Bradley, Owen Daily, Will Merhige and Majd Rouhana will hope to replace last year’s talented senior class.

“We’re really excited to get the season started and establish ourselves as a program after all of last year’s success,” said Brossy. “Our expectations for ourselves are definitely higher than ever despite graduating a few key members of the team. I’m most excited to watch who steps up and fills those gaps in the coming weeks.”

The Mammoths kick off their 2018 campaign with what they hope will be a successful defense of the Little Three Championships, which Amherst will host on Saturday, Sept. 8.

Photo courtesy of Amherst Athletics

Billy Massey ’21 placed sixth at the James Earley Invite last season.

11

The conclusion of last year’s spring season saw the Amherst men’s golf squad finish a relatively successful campaign with a secondplace finish at the NESCAC Championships, hosted by Trinity.

Despite this impressive result, the Mammoths walked away from the tournament feeling as if they let an opportunity for a first NESCAC title since 1997 slip through their fingers.

The Mammoths entered the tournament with a great deal of momentum after the Little Three Championships, battling back from a deficit on the final day of competition to take the team’s first Little Three crown since 2013.

With this at the forefront of each team member’s mind, the NESCAC Championships began auspiciously.

Exiting the first day, Amherst sat atop the NESCAC leaderboard, leading hosts Trinity by two strokes, poised to capture the championship and a potential NCAA tournament berth.

However, the second day saw Amherst fall behind Trinity due to improved play from the Bantams.

The Mammoths eventually finished the day and the overall tournament in second place, with the Bantams finishing with a score of 594 to Amherst’s’ 608.

Williams finished one stroke behind the Mammoths with 609 strokes, with Tufts in a distant fourth place with a score of 638.

The Mammoths are well primed in the coming season to again challenge for the NESCAC title, returning 13 members from last year’s team.

Standouts Cameron Clark ’20 and Jack Burlison ’19, both of whom were named to All-NESCAC teams, will lead the team this year.

Clark finished his sophmore year at Amherst with a second consecutive first-team nomination, while Burlison earned secondteam honors for a third year running.

The team only welcomed one new golfer to the roster this year, Brian Aslanian ’22, and the rest of the roster is made up of six seniors and seven juniors.

The team will open the fall season with the Trinity Invitational on the weekend of Saturday, Sept 8. The main focus of the fall season, however, will be preparing for the NESCAC Qualifing Tournament on September 31nd, which is the hurdle the team must jump to compete in the spring tournament.

Volleyball Prepared to Mount Serious Challenge for Postseason Glory

Photo courtesy of Clarus Studios

Daria Kim-Pearcy ’21 recorded 182 kills over the course of last season at outside hitter.

Dan Papa ’20 Staff Writer The Amherst women’s volleyball team returns to campus this fall hoping that a strong core of returning starters will be able to build on last year’s solid season.

Captains Hayes Honea ’19 and Lauren Reppert ’19 both believe that it will take a renewed sense of team focus to achieve the tall task of improvement.

Last year’s seniors, middle blockers Marialexa Natsis and Annika Reczek, along with defensive specialists Asha Walker and Kate Antion captained the squad to strong September start last fall, winning 11 of their first 15 games, but the Firedogs cooled off in the back half of the season, finishing with a total record of 17-10.

The team met stiff competition in the NESCAC tournament, needing four sets to defeat Hamilton in the first round before ultimately falling to Tufts in straight sets in the semifinals.

Overall, Amherst finished 5-5 in NESCAC play.

The biggest issue for the team last season was closing out games. Amherst dropped all six matches that went to a fifth set and gave away a 2-1 set advantage in three of them.

Reppert believes that this will be a point of emphasis for the team during preseason camp.

“Having the mental perseverance to push through those last few points will definitely be important for our tougher matches, especially against other NESCAC teams,” she said.

The Firedogs hope that this mental toughness will translate into on-the-court success, whether it be in the race to win the Little Three crown, a rigourus conference schedule or the effort to return to the NCAA tournament.

However, Amherst’s ultimate goal for this sea-

son is to not just make the NESCAC tournament, but to win the title for the first time since 2006.

As the only two seniors on the roster, Honea and Reppert will rely on sophmores and juniors to echo their sentiment from the very first practice.

These include opposite hitter Charlotte Duran ’20, middle blocker Claire Dennis ’20 and a trio of outside hitters in Emily Kolsky ’20, Cam Hendricks ’20 and Daria Kim-Percy ’21.

All five played an important role last year, with Duran leading the team in assists (890) and Kolsky leading the team in kills (304). The Firedogs will also add five incoming first years as well as a sophomore transfer student to their roster this fall.

Alex Rone ’22 and Sophie Launsbach ’22 join as middle blockers, Sierra Cox ’22 will be a setter, Jamie Dailey ’21 an outside hitter and Skyleur Savage ’22 and Makaela Weeda ’22 are slated to play as defensive specialists.

The captains noted that the incoming class is strong, filling the gaps left by the departing seniors.

Hopefully these first years will be able to make an immediate impact, especially under the expert stewardship of coach Sue Everden, who is entering her 33rd season at the program’s helm.

This infusion of talented youth will be needed as Amherst will face a challenging schedule.

The biggest match for the Firedogs will undoubtedly be against Little Three rival and reigning NESCAC champion, Wesleyan. The match will take place at LeFrak Gymnasium on Saturday, Sept. 29 at 11 a.m.

The 2018 campaign kicks off at Smith on Friday, Sept. 7 at 7 p.m. The first home volleyball match will be against Newbury College on Saturday, Sept. 15 at 11 a.m. in LeFrak Gymnasium.

Sports

Photos courtesy of Clarus Studios

The men’s soccer team boasts a talented group of attacking options, with three of last season’s top four scorers returning to the program this fall.

Men’s Soccer Returns Key Pieces on Defense and Attack Connor Haugh ’21 Managing Sports Editor

The Amherst men’s soccer team finished last season with a 12-4-3 record, going 6-2-2 in conference play. Amherst reached the third round of the NCAA Division III tournament, before falling to the University of Rochester 2-1 just weeks after suffering a shocking defeat to Hamilton in the NESCAC quarterfinals.

Amherst, however, put together several impressive wins during the regular season, including several thrilling overtime victories and a 4-1 domination of Little III Wesleyan. The Mammoths, led by a core of young returning talent, will look to build on their impressive 2017 regular season and brush off the postseason disappointment.

Head coach Justin Serpone will helm Amherst’s squad this season and undoubtedly work

to produce an organized, athletic and focused squad comfortable both in possession and without the ball. This hallmark style of play, pragmatic in approach, has worked wonders for Amherst, which won the NCAA tournament in 2015 under Serpone’s leadership for the first time in program history. Perhaps more impressive is the fact that in the NESCAC, one of the nation’s premier soccer conferences, the Mammoths have emerged wearing the NESCAC crown five times in Serpone’s 12 years with Amherst.

However, Amherst will have its hands full this season, having lost Kieran Bellew, Weller Hlinomaz, Aziz Khan, Sam Malnik, Aidan Murray, Cameron Hardington, Alden Von Ziegesar and Lee Owen to graduation. To offset these losses, Serpone has recruited a new batch of seven first years, who will hope to filter into the squad over the coming weeks.

Despite this high degree of turnover, the team

WED GAME SCHE DULE

Men’s Soccer @ Wentworth, 7 p.m.

THU

Women’s Socccer vs. Mount Holyoke, 5 p.m.

Field Hockey vs. Mount Holyoke, 7 p.m.

returns several consistent starters, including three of the top four scorers from last year’s squad.

Leading scorers Sebastian Derby ’21 and Fikayo Ajayi ’19, who both netted five goals in 2017, will be back to spearhead the Amherst attack.

In the midfield, Jimmy McMillian ’20, the team’s third-leading scorer last campaign, will look to step into a larger role with the graduation of Khan.

Defenders Cutler Coleman ’20, Kyle Kelly ’21, Felix Wu ’21 and Bryce Johnson ’21, who were all regular starters on last year’s team, will look to further strengthen a back line that held opponents to less than one goal per game last season.

However, perhaps the most interesting and competitive position to watch in the coming year for Amherst will be in net, as the team returns two sophomore goalkeepers, Michael Stone and Kofi Hope-Gund, who split time in net last season.

Each performed admirably, and the two appear

FRI

Volleyball @ Smith, 7 p.m.

set to continue to split time between the pipes for the Mammoths.

On the touchline, Serpone has added to his staff, bringing on Bill Schmid who briefly served as interim head coach at Springfield College.

Schmid comes after the departure of assistant coach Matt Travis, who left to become the head coach of the Coe College men’s soccer program after serving under Serpone for two years.

Quick integration and appreciation of this system will be necessary given the Mammoths’ opponents and expectations for the coming season. Though the Mammoths were ranked 10th in the nation in the most recent polls, Amherst may find it difficult to move through its season unscathed, as it will have to face fifth-ranked NESCAC foe Tufts early in the campaign.

The Mammoths begin their season with a clash against Wentworth College next Wednesday, in Boston, Massachusetts at 7 p.m.

SAT

Field Hockey @ Bowdoin, 11 a.m.

Women’s Soccer @ Bowdoin, noon

Volleyball @ Western New England University, 11 a.m.

Men’s Cross Country Little III Championships, 12:15 p.m.

Women’s Cross Country Little III Championships, 11:30 a.m.

Volleyball vs. Emerson @ Western New England University, 1 p.m.

Men’s Soccer @ Bowdoin, noon