Issue 25

THE AMHERST

THE INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER OF AMHERST COLLEGE SINCE 1868

STUDENT VOLUME CXLIV, ISSUE 25l WEDNESDAY, APRIL 29, 2015

Men’s Tennis Extends Winning Streak See Sports Page 9

AMHERSTSTUDENT.AMHERST.EDU

College Starts Bike Share Program Jingwen Zhang ’18 Staff Writer

Photo courtesy of Kiana Herold ‘17

Former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates held a discussion with Professor of History and American Studies Frank Couvares and answered questions from the audience in Johnson Chapel on Tuesday, April 28.

Robert Gates Speaks on Defense Policy

Elaine Jeon ’17 Managing News Editor

Former U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates participated in a discussion with Professor of History and American Studies Frank Couvares at Johnson Chapel on Tuesday, April 28. The discussion centered on the United States’ role in foreign affairs, especially in the Middle East, and Gates’ experience working as secretary of defense under the Bush and Obama administrations.

Prior to serving as the 22nd secretary of defense from 2006 to 2011, Gates worked for the Central Intelligence Agency beginning in 1966 and remained in the organization for 27 years. During his career at the CIA, where

he eventually became director, he was also a member of the National Security Council and worked in the White House. Gates has received numerous awards of honor, including the National Security Medal, the National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal and most recently the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011.

The event was divided into two parts: a conversation between Gates and Couvares and a question and answer session with the audience members.

Couvares’ series of questions were based on Gates’ most recent book, “Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War,” which was published in January 2014. The book is Gates’ personal account of his time working for Presidents

George W. Bush and Barack Obama during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Couvares’ first question targeted U.S. military strategies on counter-insurgency in different regions. Gates drew parallels between American military action in Vietnam and recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and said the U.S. military has forgotten how to carry out effective counter-insurgency after Vietnam.

When Couvares commented that counter-insurgency did not work in Vietnam, Gates responded, “Actions in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan … came late. I think it was in the last few years in Vietnam that we pro-

Continued on Page 3

Students in the Green Amherst Project have designed an Amherst College bike share program and are in the process of executing the program on campus. The bike share program, which is to be implemented by spring 2016, will be open to all Amherst students and available across the campus.

Green Amherst Project members Alisa Bajramovic ‘18 and Becky Danning ‘16 are the current organizers of the program.

The idea was first conceived by Green Amherst Project members Ben Walker ’16 and Bob Neel ’16.

“The idea came about when … we were waiting for a session of FOOT leader training to begin in August of 2013,” Neel said. “At the time, the Green Amherst Project … [had] little success advancing the divestment campaign. They wanted to start incorporating other ‘green projects’ into their image. Ben and I took it upon ourselves to create a list of sustainability initiatives to pursue at Amherst, and at the top of our list was the bike share.”

In the initial proposal for the bike share program, Neel and Walker included a survey that collected students’ responses on how they would use bikes on campus. “This survey has helped us decide which kind of bikes to purchase that would fit students’ needs, and it also reaffirmed our idea that bike share would be a necessary service on campus,” Bajramovic said.

“At the time, it seemed like a particularly helpful initiative,” Neel said. “We both lived in Marsh, and were quickly growing tired of the walk.”

Student organizers initially had difficulty implementing the program due to the liability issues involved in bringing a new mode of transportation to campus, according to several Green Amherst Project members.

“The prohibitive roadblock was the evaluation of bike share liability according to Five College Risk Management, and they

Continued on Page 3

Office of Institutional Research Releases Survey Results Jake Pagano ’18 Staff Writer The Amherst College Office of Institutional Research conducted an enrolled student survey this year which asked students about their academic and social experiences at the college.

Along with Amherst College, 30 peer institutions, which are all members of the Consortium on Financing Higher Education, conducted similar surveys. The survey was accessible to students from mid-February to mid-March.

The survey asked its participants questions about student activities, interactions with faculty members, student health and daily experiences and overall satisfaction at the college. The findings will be shared with campus administration and the broader campus community in an effort to improve the experience of Amherst students.

Amherst participated in the survey in 2011, 2013 and 2015. This year, the college had a student response rate of 39 percent, and respondents were well distributed by class year, race and gender.

Administrators at peer institutions will also share and compare data in order to contextualize Amherst students’ experiences with those of students at peer institutions. Additionally, a research brief for the survey says the results will be used to study “environmental factors that relate to engagement,” which will help the college understand how to create better opportunities for students.

Newly appointed Director of Institutional Research Hanna Spinosa hopes that the data will allow the college to target its efforts to improve campus life.

“We use these surveys to inform programming and to know what areas of weakness we should address,” Spinosa said.

The survey specifically asked students about academic pursuits both inside and outside the classroom. One focus was student participation in what is called “high impact educational practices,” which include writing-intensive courses, internships, undergraduate research, global learning and capstone courses and projects.

These practices, with the exception of the mandatory first-year seminar and capstone projects, are not constructed into the curriculum.

The results suggested that participation in internships increased as students grew older, with 86 percent of seniors having participated in an internship during their time at Amherst.

By senior year, nearly half of the student body has engaged in research with a professor. About the same number of students has participated in some sort of community-based learning course.

Participation in high-impact practices has also increased over the years. The survey results showed that students who are more engaged in high-impact practices are generally more satisfied with their college experience.

Under questions relevant to academic engagement, nearly all students reported that they have intellectual discussions outside of the classroom with each other, while three in four students reported that they have intellectual discussions with faculty outside of class. The research brief asserted the importance of student-faculty

relationships: “As a purposefully small institution, it is essential that students at Amherst have the opportunity to develop connections with faculty.”

Survey responses confirm some success on this front. By their second semester, 8 in 10 firstyear students report knowing a faculty member well enough to ask for a letter of recommendation. That number is 98 percent for surveyed seniors. Results showed that 40 percent of students were undecided on their majors when they entered college and that 28 percent reported changing their major at some point.

As for student satisfaction, survey results show that 49 percent of surveyed students are dissatisfied with the “sense of community on campus,” while 43 percent report that they are dissatisfied with “social life on campus.”

These statistics are likely not unique to the college, according to Spinosa. Rather, they are consistent with increasing trends of dissatisfac-

Continued on Page 3

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News

Molly Levy Apr. 15, 2015 - Apr. 20, 2015

>>April 20, 2015 3:09 p.m., Frost Library An officer investigated a fire alarm and found it was accidentally set off by construction work.

popcorn.

9:57 p.m., Stone Dormitory Officers and the Fire Department responded to an alarm and found a second-floor smoke detector was set off by cigarette smoke and use of a candle. One resident was fined $100 for the fire safety violation.

4:36 p.m., Seelye House An officer investigated a fire alarm and found it was activated by construction work.

>>April 21, 2015 2:05 p.m., Quadrangle Rd. An officer investigated a motor vehicle accident.

7:29 p.m., James Dormitory A court summons was served to a student.

3:08 p.m., Quadrangle Rd. An officer responded to a parking complaint. Assistance was provided.

10:38 p.m., Mayo-Smith House An officer investigated a report of a smoke detector sounding on the third floor and found it activated when a hair dryer was used too close to it.

11:54 p.m., Valentine Quad Several complaints of loud music, including complaints from town residents, were received. Officers directed the DJ at the Spring Formal in the Valentine Quad to lower the volume.

>>April 22, 2015 9:48 p.m., Moore Dormitory Officers investigated a smoke detector sounding on the third floor and found it activated when a hair dryer was used too close to it.

>>April 25, 2015 9:33 a.m., Pontypool An officer investigated an intrusion alarm and found it was set off by a worker.

>>April 23, 2015 1:27 a.m., Hitchcock House Officers investigated a smoke detector sounding and found it activated when popcorn was burned in a microwave oven.

6:18 p.m., College St. An officer intervened after witnessing an altercation between a pedestrian and a driver of a van at the intersection of College Street and Boltwood Avenue.

11:29 a.m., Life Sciences Building Officers and the fire department responded to an alarm which was activated by a second-floor smoke detector. No reason for the alarm could be found.

7:07 p.m., Alumni Gym While working at the concert, an officer observed a woman smoking marijuana. She was ejected from the event.

12:53 p.m., Frost Library A student reported the theft of a laptop computer from Frost Library level A in the evening.

11:10 p.m., Cadigan Center A caller reported hearing someone screaming in the area of the Cadigan Center. The area was checked, but nothing unusual was found. >>April 24, 2015 1:12 a.m., The Quadrangle Officers on patrol encountered a group of seven students on the main quad being loud. Upon investigation, the officers found them in possession of two pipes used for smoking. The pipes had marijuana residue in them.

The pipes were confiscated, and the matter was referred to Student Affairs.

1:36 a.m., Tyler House While checking the building after a registered party, an officer discovered evidence that hard alcohol had been available in violation of the party policy. The matter was referred to Student Affairs.

2:04 p.m., Taplin House An officer checked on a resident’s well being at the request of a concerned caller. The student was fine.

2:47 p.m., Keefe Campus Center Officers and the fire department responded to an alarm and found it was activated by smoke from burned

8:14 p.m., Campus Grounds An officer encountered two people having an argument. After speaking with them, no further action was needed.

9:41 p.m., LeFrak Gym A fire alarm was activated at the end of the concert due to fog from a fog machine.

10:12 p.m., Mead Drive An officer encountered an underage student with a bottle of hard alcohol.

11:47 p.m., Newport House An officer discovered an unauthorized party with alcohol. The gathering was shut down. >>April 26, 2015 12:07 a.m., Pond Dormitory Officers discovered overcrowded conditions in a stairway at Pond with people lined out the doors. As officers were clearing out the building, an officer was struck in the shoulder when a bottle was thrown.

1:27 a.m., Charles Pratt Dormitory A complaint was received that someone ripped down all the posters from a bulletin board in the main foyer.

11:54 p.m., Amherst College Police A bag turned into lost and found was inventoried, and a device used to grind marijuana was discovered. Because the bag is owned by a student, the matter was referred to Student Affairs.

Thoughts on Theses Department of Biology

Molly Levy ’15 is a biology major. Her thesis, which focused on the mechanisms of natural selection in two species of hummingbird-pollinated plants, was completed and submitted on Friday, April 17. Her adviser is Professor of Biology and chair of Environmental Studies Ethan Temeles.

Q: What is your thesis about?

A: Broadly, my thesis is looking at mechanisms of natural selection in this system of hummingbird-pollinated plants. Basically, in this island archipelago in the lesser Antilles, past island surveys have shown that when you have these two species of flowers, Heliconia caribaea and Heliconia bihai, we see that when they occur in separate populations on different islands— which is called allopatry—they’re a lot more similar to one another than when they occur in populations on the same island, which is called sympatry. This is a phenomenon called character displacement, which means that differences in similar species are amplified when they occur together as opposed to when they’re apart.

My thesis was looking at these two plants on the island Dominica, which is in the Caribbean.

I’m looking at whether or not this was something that was occurring when they were occurring in sympatry, because in Dominica, they occur in allopatry and they occur in sympatry. So I’m looking to see if character displacement is occurring, and then more specifically, if it was occurring, what mechanisms of natural selection were driving this divergence in floral traits.

In particular, I was looking at three different hypotheses. The first was that when you see character displacement occurring, it often suggests that some form of competition is taking place, so I thought that it might be possible that the two plants were competing with each other for pollinators [as] they were evolving different traits as a way to attract pollinators away from the other species. And then these two plants also share a single pollinator ... which is the hummingbird … [so] they might be evolving different traits that pertain to the placement of pollen on the pollinator’s body, to try and avoid getting hybrids or unviable offspring based on the crossing of the pollen. [The next hypothesis] was that heterospecific pollen transfer is occurring.

The third hypothesis was that the pollinators themselves were competing because within this hummingbird [species], it exhibits a pretty extreme sexual dimorphism, in which the male is a lot bigger than the female, they have pretty drastic differences in beak shape, where the male has a very short, straight bill, and the female has a long, curved bill. And the males are also aggressive and super territorial, and will defend patches of the more productive Heliconia, Heliconia caribaea, so we thought it might be possible that because they’re defending this one species, that they might be forcing the female onto the other species, and that resource partitioning was occurring, which is what might be causing the diversification of floral traits.

Q: Did you actually go to the island to collect data?

A: Yeah. I spent five weeks in Dominica over the summer, which was pretty cool. It’s kind of hard to get to, so ... I probably don’t know if I’ll ever have the chance to go back in my lifetime, so it was nice to have that experience as an undergraduate. And the college pays for almost everything, so that’s really nice.

Q: How did you choose this topic?

A: The idea really came from my adviser. The idea kind of evolved over time because originally, with his students last year, he had been working on this idea of pollinator competition and

he really wanted to continue that on the island this year, so we thought I could be working on a project with that. It would have required using this enclosed garden on the island that he’s been using for the past many years ... [but] Dominica had been going through a pretty intense drought, so everything was dead, and there were nematodes and parasites everywhere. So he was like, ‘new plan, we’re not using the garden. We’re going to have to do something more field-based in a more natural setting.

Q: What were the best and worst parts of the process, including doing the research and writing the thesis?

A: The best part was probably getting to go to Dominica and just being immersed in this field biology because that’s something I’ve been interested in for a while, but there are not a whole lot of opportunities to do that at Amherst, [since] most of our science courses are pretty centered in the lab. Being actually able to go out in the field was pretty amazing, so that was really rewarding. Up to that point I’d been pretty sure that I would want to go to grad school after graduation, so I was really looking for an independent undergraduate experience to confirm that, OK, research is something I’m actually interested in, and would be willing to commit the next two to six years of my life doing. It was nice being able to have that chance to confirm that.

[The] worst part is just that it’s a lot of work.

You lose a lot of sleep. I turned mine in last Friday, and it was definitely a long week. It’s definitely worth it in the end, but it’s a big undertaking.

Q: Was there anything that really posed a big problem or stumbling block, other than the garden drying up?

A: The garden was probably the biggest thing.

Also, just the nature of some of the field work can be pretty brutal. Because Dominica is a volcanic island, a lot of our study sites were just on these very eroded hillsides — you take a step and the ground just kind of moves under you. Just the nature of the fieldwork was challenging.

Q: When did you begin working on your thesis?

A: I found out that I was accepted to work with Temeles the week after spring break [last year] and he was on sabbatical, so he left for Dominica and we were in communication over email. I left late May for Dominica, so I started early summer, shortly after commencement, had my five weeks of fieldwork and took the rest of summer off. I did a little bit of reading [during the summer] and then really started doing more of the literature review once the academic year started in the fall.

Q: What is the most important piece of advice you would give a student who wants to do a biology thesis?

A: Start early. And if you can, do the research over the summer because that really opens up the rest of the year for reading and writing. It’s probably not possible for theses on more molecular topics, but it was just really nice not having to be in a lab all year. [It was helpful] taking advantage of the summer and first semester and not leaving this massive workload for the spring.

— Jingwen Zhang ’18

The Amherst Student • April 29, 2015

News

Robert Gates Criticizes U.S. Defense Policy Continued from Page 1 vided service for people and worked with local officials. The same thing happened in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. There seemed to me after Vietnam that first, we need to get away from counter-insurgency as fast as possible.”

Gates also said that when he first started working closely with U.S. government officials, military leaders were only focused on the next war. “I asked, ‘What are we going to do to help the troops fighting today?’ And I got no answer,” Gates said.

He added that the U.S. government was ready to plan wars, but not necessarily wage them.

Couvares then spoke about U.S. involvement in Afghanistan, specifically Gates’ approach of minimal presence and impact.

Gates responded that he was most concerned about the limited timeframe given to the White House to create a sustainable government in Afghanistan during the war.

“I believed that we vastly overestimated our ability to shape outcomes in countries with very different cultures and histories,” Gates said. “My objective [then became] how do we narrow the goals to the point where they are actually achievable within two, three or four years before the patience of the American people and the Congress runs out.”

Gates said that his specific objectives in Afghanistan were to degrade the Taliban as much as possible, build up Afghanistan’s forces, focus on three to four Afghan ministries that actually mattered to the conflict and pay more attention to provincial and state governments rather than the national government.

The discussion then moved to the U.S. relationship with Iran, which is referred to only briefly in Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War. When asked about his thoughts on the U.S. and Iranian nuclear agreement, Gates first acknowledged Hillary Clinton’s achievements as secretary of state in imposing tougher sanctions on Iran than the government ever had before. “I think it is those economic sanctions that brought Iran to the bargaining table — it was not out of goodwill,” Gates said.

Gates said that now that Iran has agreed to a deal on nuclear control, he has several concerns. Gates pointed out that the Iranian government claims that all foreign sanctions will be terminated following the deal, while the American government has yet to clarify whether it would gradually lift sanctions based on Iranian compliance with the terms of the deal.

Gates then asked how much of the nuclear material would be moved out of the country and questioned the extent to which the U.S. can verify nuclear control. “Are all facilities in Iran, including military facilities, going to be available for inspection? Would we be able to carry out no-notice inspections?” Gates asked.

After the discussion on the U.S. and Iran relationship, the event transitioned to a question and answer session.

One student asked, “What is an effective strategy [for the U.S.] going forward with terrorism and insurgency in the Middle East?”

Gates said that he believes the U.S. is in for a “generational conflict” in the Middle East, and one of the concerns is the future of artificially created countries, such as Libya,

Syria and Iraq, and whether they would withstand government repression.

“At this point, I think that they are all headed in the way of Yugoslavia,” Gates said.

“I think these conflicts will continue and my concern is that no one in Washington is stepping back and saying, ‘What is our long-term strategy? What is our equivalent of the containment strategy?’”

“In my view, we need to decide on what we want to support,” Gates added. He said, however, that the White House is shortsighted and is very focused on dealing with problems on a daily basis.

Another audience member asked, “Given the counter-insurgency nature of our military involvement in the past 30 years, do you think the military will or should move towards special operations?”

“I think our military needs to learn to walk and chew gum at the same time,” Gates said. “We need the versatility to deal with big nation-state conventional forces, but also to deal with smaller scale conflicts which we’ve been predominantly in for the past 40 years.”

Gates ended the event by claiming that the United States government must be more selective about when to deploy American soldiers.

“The use of the military has become too easy for the presidents,” Gates said. “My view is that we engage in our military operations when our vital interests are affected. We must not become the world policemen. The American people’s toleration is very limited, and if you send them into every conflict that happens in the world, we will become isolationist because the American people will rebel against this kind of philosophy.”

College Kicks Off Bike Share Program Continued from Page 1 didn’t really have the resources to solve that issue,” Danning said.

Last fall, the college opened the Office of Environmental Sustainability with Laura Draucker as director. Green Amherst Project members have reported that working with the new Office of Environmental Sustainability has substantially helped advance the realization of the bike share program.

Draucker “has become the primary point person on staff for the bike share, and she’s been a huge help at navigating the more technical aspects of the program,” Danning said. Bajramovic also described Draucker as “a tremendous resource for the college overall, and for [the] bike share in particular.”

The program organizers have not obtained funding for the bike share program yet, but the Green Amherst Project and the leaders of the bike share initiative plan to apply for funding soon. “This is something we are still working on. We will need some capital funding to buy the bikes, as well as the infrastructure to fix and maintain them,” Draucker said. “Some other schools have bike shares funded by senior gifts and/or alumni donations together with the student government, so we are

exploring these options.”

The main avenue of funding would be from the Association of Amherst Students.

“The AAS has so far been very supportive of the bike share, and we will be applying for funding from them once we have a solidified business plan,” Danning said.

Additionally, the program organizers and Draucker said that the bike share program would engage the campus beyond solely using bikes by opening up a variety of student job opportunities.

“Because this program would be free for students to use, we’re aware that it will have to be as cost-efficient as possible,” Bajramovic said. “In order to decrease fixed costs of this program, increase student interest and make bike share a more sustainable and continuous system, we’re also hoping to create an auxiliary bike repair shop that would be run by students. A bike repair shop would mean we would not have to take the bikes to a local shop every time something was wrong, and it would be a great job experience for any student interested in bikes and mechanics.”

According to Draucker, the plan to have a student-run repair shop means that the Green Amherst Project must obtain capital

funding to buy the bikes themselves, as well as to build the infrastructure necessary to keep the bikes and to fund the shop and job positions.

Aside from Mount Holyoke, Amherst is the last of the schools in the Five College consortium to have a campus bike share program enter the implementation stage. “We have been in contact with students [at other colleges] for insights and advice for setting up our program,” Draucker said.

Many of the smaller bike share programs in the Pioneer Valley are considering joining together to create a larger bike share program to serve the region at large.

The “Pioneer Valley Planning Commission is in the second phase of a regional bike share feasibility study and the Town of Amherst, Northampton, Holyoke and Springfield as well as many of the local colleges have been involved in this process,” Draucker said. “If successful, this will be a regional bike share connecting all of these communities and colleges. It would be unlikely that this bike share would come to fruition before 2019, so we see our Amherst College bike share as being a great way to test a bike share on campus in the meantime.”

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Picture this:

YOU

As The Amherst Student’s photographer!

Contact Dan Ahn at dahn17@ amherst.edu for more information

Survey Results Continued from Page 1 tion among students at liberal arts schools. “This generation of students is definitely more critical,” Spinosa said. “The trend overall, especially among liberal arts schools, is that we are critical.”

Spinosa said she looks forward to helping the college and the student body more effectively use the data collected by the Office of Institutional Research. “We often ask the students to take these surveys seriously, but you rarely have the opportunity to interact with the data and make changes based on the data,” Spinosa said. “I want to partner with our students and be as transparent as possible.”

One way Spinosa wants to facilitate this student participation is by holding a full presentation of the data next fall, during which she will present survey results to the student body and compare the college’s narrative with those from other schools. Spinosa said that she did something similar while working at Occidental College as assistant dean for academic affairs.

“We allowed students to use existing data to engage with their school communities, ask relevant research questions and ultimately move forward effectively,” she said. “With student participation, I definitely think we can do that here at Amherst.”

College Council Approves Gender-Inclusive Bathrooms Dan Ahn ’17 Managing News Editor Amherst will install gender-inclusive signs for single-occupancy bathrooms across campus, College Council and Facilities reported last week. The council, chaired by Professor of Religion Maria Heim, voted unanimously to approve new signs proposed by students.

The student initiative for new signage began at a Queer Resource Center meeting in January. Queer Resource Center director Angie Tissi, Saren Deardorff ’17 and Johnathan Appel ’16 introduced the idea to the meeting, where people were discussing gender inclusivity at the college.

“If you look at peer institutions, you see that they’re leagues ahead of us in terms of gender and trans-inclusivity and intentionality in creating those resources,” Appel said. “I didn’t really know what [a gender-inclusive bathroom] was, or what form that would take, because our building codes are really hard to get around, but I knew that that was something in which we wanted to make progress toward an eventual goal.”

Since Appel sits on College Council, those involved in the initiative agreed to propose the idea there. According to Heim, the council vote, which concluded unanimously, was brief.

“We hope that gender-inclusive signage will make Amherst buildings more accessible and

welcoming for all members of our community,” Heim said, speaking for College Council.

She said that vocal support for the initiative also came from the Office of the Provost.

Following the approval of the council, Heim, Tissi, Appel and Deardorff met with Peter Root, director of facilities, to work out the details of the initiative.

“At that time the five of us agreed that restrooms across campus that are single-occupancy and/or currently used as gender-neutral restrooms anyway would get the explicit gender-inclusive signage,” Heim said.

Some restrooms in residential buildings have already been designated as gender-neutral or gender-inclusive by residential coun-

selors. The upcoming change in signage is specific to single-occupancy bathrooms across campus. Current college policy already states that these bathrooms are gender-inclusive, so the role of the new signs is to make this clearer to members of the community. Accordingly, there will be no structural changes to the bathrooms, and those involved in the change have said that initiative’s main purpose is to further gender-inclusivity at Amherst through signage.

Implementation will begin in the fall and continue through the school year. Designs have been chosen, and College Council has put the project in the hands of Facilities going forward.

Opinion

THE AMHERST

STUDENT

Social Clubs or Eating Clubs?

Editorial

In a recently released video by the Social Project Work Group, “Jess,” a fictional first-year student having trouble finding her place at Amherst, finds a diverse group of friends in the “Coolidge Club.”

Social clubs have generally been presented as a panacea for students facing the challenge of finding themselves and their place at college.

The promise of instantaneous friends and an inclusive environment without the classic “fraternity problems” seems too good to be true.

That’s because it is. In fact, social clubs have the potential to further divide an already fractured community.

Many students are worried that social clubs will devolve into something resembling a highly regulated fraternity system, but this concern was not addressed explicitly in the proposal. The main point emphasized in the new proposal was that social clubs wouldn’t revolve around a specific skill or interest. Instead, they would provide a purely social outlet to students. This is the purpose of Greek life on college campuses nationwide. In fact, the idea of exclusive “social clubs” was specifically banned in the board of trustees’ decision last year — an incongruity that has been brushed aside with assurances of a supposedly inclusive selection process that immediately calls to mind rushing at any state school.

The new regulations that supposedly differentiate social clubs from frats are a joke, plain and simple. No single class year can comprise over 50 percent of a social club’s membership, but DKE, Chi Psi and TD also had specific numbers of members from each grade, otherwise known as “pledge classes.” Though initially the proposal was for clubs to be single sex, they now must have the same 60:40 gender ratio required of Amherst dorms. The gender ratio is a step in the right direction, but it’s not nearly enough to disguise the fact that social clubs still look suspiciously like coed fraternities.

Especially in the wake of the demolition of the actual social dorms, social clubs hold the potential to reproduce the central role

the dilapidated buildings played in our drunken Saturday nights.

Once again, the very name “social club” reveals the hope that these groups and their events will dominate campus social life. Yet, by virtue of the clubs’ opt-in exclusive nature, someone who chooses not to opt-in their first year risks removing themselves from the cemented social circles at the heart of campus culture. Much like the eating clubs at Princeton, one must join a social club to have a social life or be on the fringe of Amherst culture. Furthermore, in assigning so much power and importance to social clubs’ events, the Social Project Work Group ensures that the nature and quality of campus traditions will be determined by a select few, instead of arising organically from Amherst culture. As the creators and arbiters of “tradition,” social clubs would remove the possibility that such a concept as campus unity could truly exist in reality.

Finally, social clubs are redundant in light of neighborhoods.

The essential goal of social clubs is pretty unobjectionable: Put more diverse students in contact with each other and to allow first years and sophomores to have access to upperclassmen mentorship.

While far from perfect, the neighborhood concept fills in a lot of the gaps social clubs leave. All students would be part of a neighborhood, creating communities based on inclusivity rather than exclusivity. The opt-out nature makes neighborhoods a benefit for all of campus rather than a boon for a minority as frats have been in the past.

Since both seek to function as an Amherst student’s central community, social clubs and neighborhoods are mutually exclusive. Most importantly, neighborhoods are backed by the administration. Social clubs have the dangerous potential to entrench and institutionalize the already existing divisions on campus. When the student vote comes around in early May, The Amherst Student editorial board urges you to vote no on social clubs.

Let Them Give Light to the World Elson Browne-Low ’15 Contributing Writer Do you remember how the campus felt during the first few weeks of last year? In the aftermath of the trustees’ decision on fraternities, the contentious presidential elections and in the midst of all that tension with Amherst’s administrators? It made me think senior year was going to be an absolute crawl, through two semesters of perpetual angst with a collapse — no, an escape — at graduation. I was wrong. I was wrong not because of some sudden turnaround of the decision on fraternities, a somehow remodeled senate or a radical new administrative attitude. I was wrong because we, the students of Amherst, refused to ignore what was going on. We took responsibility for our college and tried to make it better, from proposing social clubs to making improvements to senate.

Today I want to sell you on an idea, to change your mind, shake you off the fence or even reinvigorate your belief in what we’re doing. Today I want you to support the push for recently graduated

alumni on the board of trustees.

Amherst, with all its financial resources and prestige, has produced an experience that could be among the very best in the world.

But I can’t believe it’s fulfilling its potential, because we’ve bought ourselves a Porsche but insist on riding the brakes all the way down the highway.

When we talk about diversity, financial aid or first-class athletics (the list goes on and on), it’s clear that our student body packs a punch few schools can match.

When we talk about small class sizes, attentive professors, and an emphasis on teaching, we say that these amazing students receive an education as phenomenal as any in the world. Amherst’s students are one of its biggest resources, and right now we confine them because we haven’t given them the institutional backing to do the best that we can for the college.

Putting recent graduate alumni on the board of trustees is about taking a new approach.. It’s about saying you don’t have to be “successful” to be a part of the central decisions that affect the college.

An Amherst education is enough to make your input valuable.

It’s not because students want recent graduates to “represent” them in decisions, but rather because we want those decisions to be better and involve more perspectives.

It’s about recognizing that having lived at Amherst in the recent past helps you understand the undercurrents driving campus conflict, culture and celebration. This is just one arm of a broader student struggle to make this college, our college, better — and this struggle will continue because we are taking responsibility for Amherst.

This place means something to us, and we will not ignore that.

Amherst’s most recent alumni trustee graduated 19 years ago.

Alumni trustees that have graduated only a few years before serving their term exist at multiple schools, from Princeton and Brown to Wellesley and Skidmore.

Research has been overwhelmingly in support of this move as virtually every school contacted said they find their recent graduate alumni trustees invaluable.

We can do this, Amherst. We just need to decide to take our collective foot off that brake and trust that we can work together to drive on home.

What I’m asking you to do right now is simple: Get excited about this. Let that excitement stir your curiosity so that you ask how this proposal might actually work.

The leaders of this initiative have prepared a detailed document for anyone interested. Let that excitement make you think, “Yes, I’ll sign the petition for this.” A petition will be made public within the next few days. Let that excitement inspire you to write to the trustees in support of this. They’re planning to discuss this idea soon, at their commencement meeting.

On campus, the AAS senate even passed a resolution in support of this just two days ago.

I believe we can and will do this, Amherst. Why? Because Amherst students are taking responsibility for the future of their college. For us, responsibility means not just acting out of frustration, but a serious determination to make the institution better. As a senior, all I can say is that I wish I were here to live the experience of the better Amherst we’re building.

It’s a little dramatic, but Amherst’s motto perhaps never been more appropriate: Let Them Give Light to The World.

E X E C U T I V E B OA R D Editor-in-Chief Sophie Murguia Executive Adviser Brendan Hsu Managing News Dan Ahn, Sophie Chung, Elaine Jeon Managing Opinion Johnathan Appel, Marie Lambert Managing Arts and Living Marquez Cummings, Gabby Edzie, Evan Paul Managing Sports Kiana Herold, Lauren Tuiskula S TA F F Design Editors Gabby Bishop, Megan Do, William Harvey, Sunna Juhn, Chloe Tausk Assistant News Editor Ryan Cenek Assistant Sports Editors Jeremy Kesselhaut, Jason Darell, Jason Stein Publishers Emily Ratte, Tia Robinson Photography Editor Olivia Tarantino

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The Amherst Student • April 29, 2015

Opinion

Finding One’s Voice Mohamed Ramy ’18 Staff Writer David Brooks recently wrote an article for the New York Times called “The Moral Bucket List.”

In it, he describes coming across people who “see life as a moral drama and feel fulfilled only when they are enmeshed in a struggle on behalf of some ideal.” He concludes, “those are the people we want to be.”

But how do we do this?

As Amherst students, we are always trying to push the envelope of experience, but we often forget to make time to find our passions and our voice.

With many possible extracurricular activities and a regularly scheduled day, it is often difficult to read for leisure or find time to reflect appropriately on one’s thoughts and daily events. Nevertheless, Amherst is one of the better places to find oneself, simply because of the sheer diversity of culture here. In fact, the open curriculum is one

of the best ways to delve into unknown realms — or ones one is intrigued to explore. This semester, I took a course called History of the Modern Middle East, and it has significantly brought me closer to my Arab culture, particularly after I had to write a paper about Gamal Abdel Nasser, the second president of Egypt; I came to ponder what it means to be an Arab. So far, the course has helped me formulate a voice about Arab concerns and made me feel more rooted than ever. Despite having a heavy course load, we sometimes end up choosing one particular course that we unequivocally learn from and enjoy. In a campus with a constant influx of worthy ideas, some ideas and readings captivate us more than others, and it’s worth paying attention to what catches your interest amidst all the noise.

On another note, on Saturday I went to TEDxAmherst, a rather

stimulating conference.

Russell D. Weatherspoon’s talk captured me: He talked about unselfish love. As this year passes, I find myself thinking about romantic love differently. I had always thought that an emotional connection between two people was enough to sustain a flame, a notion I attained as an Egyptian. In Egypt, physicality does not have such an important role in determining relationships, for one must be able to connect on a mental level before anything else. Whenever I think of romantic love in the United States, I recall movies like “Sleepless in Seattle,” “Pretty Woman” or “Stuck in Love.” I thought that love nearly instantaneously happens — but now, after interactions with many others, I know that I was wrong, as physicality transmits certain ineffable emotions and falling in love takes time. Amherst challenges our preconceived notions about all kinds of things, either

by changing them or confirming them. These kind of experiences are also essential to becoming what Brooks describes as “an incandescent soul.”

Needless to say, not everyone has discovered a passion or a voice — some are still seeking the truth, and the key to doing so is to ask better questions. To begin with, instead of comparing ourselves to others, we should seek to be better than who we used to be.

After acknowledging our weaknesses, we may embark on the mission of self-defeat — defeating our weaknesses, that is.

“C ommencement speakers are always telling young people to follow their passions,” Brooks says. “They ask, what is life asking of me?” But even now, as Amherst students, we can already begin answering this question In the process of looking for your voice, you will finally be able to conceptualize what life is asking of you.

5

A Clarification on Hillel’s Letter We want to clarify a misconception that some readers may have had after reading the letter by Amherst Hillel’s Executive Board in last week’s edition of The Student. That letter did not distinguish between the students who staged the die-in at the Israeli Independence Day Party and those who tore down Hillel’s posters. On that Saturday night, after many of us staged the die-in, we made posters condemning the actions of the Israeli state in the Keefe Campus Center. Four students hung the posters in Valentine between 1 a.m. and 1:30 a.m., surrounding the posters advertising the party. We neither covered nor vandalized their posters. As a matter of fact, we sought to create a learning space: The stark contrast between the pro-Israel posters advertising the party against the signs critical of Israel’s actions. Without Amherst Hillel’s posters present, our posters would not have been educative.

We hope that this note clarifies any hints that any of us vandalized the posters advertising the party. Although we would have hoped that either Amherst Hillel or The Student would have made the correction themselves, we want to end any mistaken beliefs that distract us from the original reason we protested, which was the Israeli occupation. A focus on that matter will ensure that we at Amherst can fulfill a promise of equality and respect both here and abroad.

Marc Daalder ’18 Kyle Ferendo ’17E Alexander Jiron ’15 Caroline Katba ’15

Andrew Lindsay ’16 Laura Merchant ’15 Samuel Rosenblum ’16 Frank Tavares ’18

What Neighborhoods Mean For Us Obinna Ukogu ’18 Staff Writer It is common knowledge that Amherst College is plagued by a plethora of social issues. From loneliness to an acute lack of a sense of community, the problems that affect our campus may be small or great depending on who you ask. In the past year many a dining table conversation has been dedicated to the dreaded topics of loneliness and inclusiveness. Ideas like reviving fraternities or creating social clubs have even been brought up, but all to no avail, it seems. So here we are, lonely.

Or are we? If you have had the chance to read the college’s recent strategic planning report that was made available in an email to the entire student body, then you probably know better. You probably know about what the college is calling residential clusters or “neighborhoods.” The neighborhood plan proposes a system in which groups of nearby dorms and theme houses will be merged into clusters to form six neighborhoods. These clusters will be composed of what looks to be first-years, sophomores and juniors, while seniors will be given preferential housing outside of the system. According to the same document, each neighborhood will have its own culture and character and “will help students build a stronger sense of community and belonging.”

There you have it: Problem solved.

Bye-bye, loneliness!

Well, not so fast. Permit me to draw a parallel between neighborhoods and residential colleges at

other campuses. If anything, the intent behind the two concepts seems to be the same — to create a sense of community. So, if you are familiar with the residential college system at Yale or Rice, then you probably already have a pretty good idea of what neighborhoods will be like.

Neighborhoods sound like a really good idea. And if the success of residential colleges at Amherst’s peer institutions is anything to go by, they would provide a venue forming inter-class relationships and would give first-year students a ready support group. They could also create a close community similar to the community that a fraternity or sorority could provide and that social clubs hope to provide, but would be stringently regulated to make sure that they stick to their mandates.

Heck, they might even provide a more secure way for underaged students to access alcohol through upperclassmen. I have to say, they’re a winner.

So why do I sound so sarcastic?

Because I don’t buy into the idea.

According to Yale’s office of residential life, residential colleges and their variants were instituted on large college campuses to “allow students to experience the cohesiveness and intimacy of a small school while still enjoying the cultural and scholarly resources of a large university.” Now, let’s not let Yale tell us what to do, but it seems to me that a campus with 1,785 students isn’t quite as big as one with 5,430. Even without talking about numbers, Amherst touts itself as a college community that seeks to create a cohesive unit of students, faculty and staff. Are we quitting by

looking to neighborhoods to solve our problems? I can’t say.

However, one of the major characteristics of residential colleges — and I would imagine, neighborhoods — is that they act as self-sustaining units. They usually have dining halls, libraries, movie theaters, kitchens, etc. They thrive because most students can and do spend much of their time in them, with no real need to leave their neighborhoods besides very specific needs.

Obviously, our campus isn’t like that. Late nights at Frost and Merrill and meals at Valentine would make it difficult for people to actually spend a significant amount of time in their neighborhoods, even if they wanted to.

Another problem would be that all neighborhoods wouldn’t be equal. The plan indicates that some will have significantly larger numbers than others and others will simply consist of nicer and closer dorms. These obvious discrepancies would make it very difficult for people from different neighborhoods to have comparable experiences. According to the tentative campus map of the neighborhoods, one neighborhood (what is now the first-year quad) will have as many as 500 students while another (the Hill) will have 86. To balance this gross inequality, the administration proposes to give disadvantaged neighborhoods benefits that are intended to be able to replace people.

Talking about people, what if you don’t get along with the people in your neighborhood? Neighborhoods would significantly reduce your relationship mobility. In a re-

cent article, Yelim Youm ’18 wonderfully describes the nature of many of our initial college friendships here at Amherst. She describes them as friendships formed out of necessity and proximity. Neighborhoods will make you friends because almost everyone else will be in the same boat, but the answer to whether or not they will make you true friends is still up in the air. How many of us have had the experience of jumping into friendships with people who we later come to dislike? I have, haven’t you? Well, when we have neighborhoods, chances are you will get to live with those people for three years. Yay! But you know what really gets me? It’s the fact that neighborhoods will rob me of the ability to decide where I live. Sure, they would give better housing options to sophomores, but only those who actually end up living in neighborhoods with desirable dorms will benefit from this. As a soon-to-be sophomore rising from the ashes of room draw, I hold close to my heart my dream of living in Mayo-Smith in my junior year. Neighborhoods will take that away from me. In fact, they will make it impossible for anyone to really choose where they want to live on campus.

What’s worse? They would do all these undesirable things without actually solving the problems of loneliness. They would further fracture an already broken campus social scene and in return give us only a feeling of pseudo-belonging for all our troubles. We will jump and cheer behind our neighborhood banners and pride ourselves in our nice

neighborhood sweatshirts, while the same problems will still abound on our campus. Barring any real effort, in a neighborhood setting, we would likely still only be friends with people on our floors. To add to this, we would be robbed of the opportunity to actually make organic friendships. And even if you did make friends outside your neighborhood, you would never be able to live with them.

So what should we do? I will propose no grand schema, no plan to end all plans. All I will say is “carpe diem.” Seize the day! The only friends we make are those we make for ourselves. External factors may help and certain social structures may oppose us, but in the end it will always come back to us. We have such a nice and vibrant community where everyone so talented and invested in their activities.

Structures for building community are in place; We need to seize them. I recently attended both the Amherst Explorations exhibition and the Iron Chef competition, and was amazed by what great potential these events have as opportunities for community building. Yet they were both very poorly attended. The only way for us to be part of this community is to actively involve ourselves with it. Busy schedules abound and excuses are plenty, but if there were ever something worth investing in, it would probably be our peers. My people have a saying that goes “Ewu nwuru n’oba ji abughi agu gburu ya”. (Don’t try to pronounce it.) It means, “A goat that dies in a barn was never killed by hunger.” Amherst: Wake up!

Arts&Living

Photo courtesy of Emma Rothkopf ’15

The senior honors theses of seniors Natasha Blackmore, Shannon Brathwaite, Maria Darrow and Emma Rothkopf are currently on display in the Eli Marsh Gallery.

Four Senior Artists Debut Work in Studio Honors Thesis Show Daniella Colombo ’17

Staff Writer

The studio art honors theses of seniors Natasha Blackmore, Shannon Brathwaite, Maria Darrow and Emma Rothkopf are currently on display in Fayerweather’s Eli Marsh Gallery.

Blackmore’s “Circle of Thoughts” succeeds at symbolically reflecting the relationship between liberating and burdening forces through a series of drawings and collage pieces. The relationship between various dualities such as what Blackmore refers to in her exhibit description as “the disparity of things that seem so far apart, and yet depend on each other in surprising ways.” Blackmore encourages visitors to contribute their own physical marks to the exhibit in the same way she has by creating each piece. Visitors are permitted to write notes, finally placing them amidst the already established work of art.

Darrow’s focus on public art lent itself to the culmination of two projects that live beyond the walls of the exhibition. “The Woman in the Stairwell” is a collaborative mural series located in the stairwells of the social dorms, featuring portraits of five Amherst College women and represents their stories and experiences of alienation in these respective living spaces. The second body of work, “Winds of Change,” is a sculptural installation in the Powerhouse that represents a collaboration between college staff, administrators and faculty.

Rothkopf ’s photography exhibition “Bathrooms & Bedrooms” hones in on the complexities associated with a woman’s transition from adolescene to adulthood. Primarily taken in bathrooms and bedrooms, the pictures are intimate and personal. The photographs work to tell of the multi-dimensional female experience, neglecting the often-used oversimplified view of

women in art. The exhibit “attempts to depict the woman as the subject rather than the object,” Rothkopf states in her exhibit description.

Brathwaite’s “Records of Entropy” explores the state of disorder the world naturally heads towards. The paintings reflect the inevitable decay of things, working to convey the “heaviness and weight associated with decomposition, with rust, with corrosion,” the work’s description reads. The paintings also reflect the “unavoidable pull of gravity” — downward movement masters each piece. The intricate exhibit also includes a progression from one painting to the next, each “toward a looser, less regular composition.”

I was able to sit down with two of the thesis artsists, Brathwaite and Rothkopf, for an extended look into the studio honors theses process and their own projects on display in the Eli Marsh Gallery.

The seniors shared similar experiences about the beginning stages of the process, looking back on initial ideas that barely resemble their final bodies of work. While Brathwaite originally aimed her thesis to reflect the theme of the natural versus the manmade through transitional drawings and paintings, her final work turned out to be a series of abstract paintings exploring feelings of rust, decay and corrosion.

“I was looking at my source photos from New York city and realized I took over 100 photos at this Kara Walker’s exhibition, ‘A Subtlety,’” she recalled. “It was in an abandoned Domino’s Sugar refinery that hadn’t been used in 60 years. The building was being held up just enough so that it wouldn’t collapse on the people coming to see the artwork. I thought to myself, ‘It’s decaying and still looks beautiful.’ I wanted to create something that reflected the concept. I ran with the idea and ended up

exploring the theme of entropy.”

Braithwaite aimed not only to encompass the theme of her project in the actual art itself, but also through the way she produced the art.

“I wanted to combine the idea of involuntary decay with involuntary painting,” she said.

She employed the technique of splatter paint and haphazard motion, occasionally supplementing the results of these techniques with a particular movement — such as painting a purposeful vertical line — to strengthen the idea of falling in gravity.

“The series of paintings deal a lot with gravity and things falling, like the natural order of things,” she said. “I tried to mimic the concept in the makings of my work.”

Similar to Brathwaite’s process, Rothkopf ’s experience at a photography workshop in Colorado over the summer shed light on the project she had envisioned in the preliminary stages of her thesis, which would culminate in a series of multimedia installations.

Her final product showcased in the gallery is a series of photographs titled “Bathrooms and Bedrooms.” The collection depicts young women in personal moments during the transitional stage between adolescence and adulthood.

“It just so happened that these two settings were where all the photos took place. One day someone jokingly suggested I call the body of work ‘Bathrooms and Bedrooms,’ which was awesome and totally worked,” Rothkopf told me. “The thesis is all about small intimate moments, and you’re usually alone or with just a few people in the bathroom and bedroom.”

Rothkopf described the transformative experience of studying art at Amherst, attributing much of the joy she has found in the artistic experience to the role that Amherst professors

have played all along the way — from her first-year photography professor to her three thesis advisers.

“If I ever want to do something slightly different than the assignment, my professors are generally totally supportive and just happy that I was so passionate about doing it,” she said.

She described the significance of the shift she made from focusing on technique to focusing on capturing meaning and intention, and what this meant for her interest in the art of photography.

“When I took photo the basic skills I needed to learn were quicker — how to use a camera, develop film, and print,” she said. “In my experience with photo, the emphasis has been placed on what you’re making your art about and why you are making it. That changed everything for me. I was thinking more about what I was making rather than how I was making it, and that made me obsessed with photography.”

Elements of the photography she had been doing since her first year at Amherst persisted in Rothkopf ’s thesis work.

“I had been photographing a lot of self portraits and pictures of my friends about a lot of the similar themes in the thesis,” she said. “About growing up and transitioning from living at home to living away from home, with friends versus with family, and where to find that same level of comfort I had at home.”

With the help of insights from professors and classmates, Rothkopf began to come up with a theme.

“I would take bits and pieces of what my professors and classmates would see, and make it my own by pushing the ideas further to convey the true meaning behind the photographs,” she said.

The four thesis projects will be displayed in Eli Marsh Gallery in Fayerweather Hall through May 24.

Spring Concert Organizer Declares This Year’s Concert a Success Alexandra James ’16 Staff Writer As a primary organizer for Amherst’s Spring Concert, I believe that this year’s event was an overall sucess. This year’s Spring Concert had a different setup from years past: two headliners, T-Pain and The Chainsmokers along with

an opener, KYLE. The concert sold out, allowing 2,100 Amherst and Five College students to listen to the three performers. The concert began at 6 p.m. on April 25 in LeFrak Gymnasium.

While some people were displeased by the early start time, many walked in to watch KYLE perform, with the rest coming in as the concert began.

KYLE, in one word, was enthusiastic.

The rapper did not seem dismayed by the low turnout and performed with energy fit for a crowded stadium. From his beach-themed stage setup to his sailor hat, KYLE kept his music whimsical and fun. He managed to enthrall the students at this part of the night through various wild tricks, including

crowd surfing with an actual surfboard.

While I suspect most of the audience did not know who KYLE was or even the type of music he played, students seemed to be entertained with his antics and high level of energy.

The next act was T-Pain. By this

Continued on next page

Arts & Living 7

The Amherst Student • April 29, 2015

Spring Concert Deemed Success Despite Logistical Drawbacks Continued from previous page time, LeFrak seemed to be filling up a substantial amount. The line had grown to the point that waiting felt like an arduous task. Once T-Pain appeared, opening with “Booty Wurk,” the audience went crazy. T-Pain’s set seemed to be a mish mash of songs on which he has collaborated with other performers, from “Low” to “All I Do is Win.” While these throwback songs got students excited, T-Pain did not stay with any song for longer than a minute.

Of course, the exceptions to this rule were the songs that he sang fully himself, including “Buy U A Drank,” “I’m Sprung” and “Kiss Kiss.” A downside to his set was that it only lasted an hour.

The short set paired with a growing line to enter the concert left many students unable to see T-Pain.

The Chainsmokers were the last act of the night. Like KYLE, The Chainsmokers relied on energy and theatrics to pump up the crowd. At this point of the night, most concert attendees had arrived. The Chainsmokers set began with people dressed in black throwing glow sticks into the crowd. Since The Chainsmokers is an electronic music duo, they did not have songs to perform for the crowd in the same way T-Pain did. Instead, they made live remixes of songs such as Smallpool’s “Dreaming” and Walk the

Moon’s “Shut Up and Dance.” Included in these remixes were their own songs “#SELFIE,” “Kanye” and “Let You Go.” The duo maintained the energy of the crowd throughout — they spoke to the crowd and one of them even took a selfie while crowd surfing. I heard some students mention that even if they never had listened to The Chainsmokers before, the music and performance aspects of the show were very accessible and enjoyable. The Chainsmokers’ set lasted the longest, at one hour and 45 minutes, which allowed those stuck in line to arrive and enjoy this section of the concert.

All three artists were animated and entertaining. The downsides to this concert seemed to be rooted in logistics rather than the performers themselves. As I mentioned earlier, the line grew out of control, and student security seemed to have trouble efficiently and quickly patting down those who attended. Another downside was the belligerent behavior of some members of the crowd. LeFrak’s floor was littered with travel-sized alcohol bottles and at times being in the crowd involved being stepped on or shoved. While this did not seem to stop students from enjoying the concert in front of them, it did prevent some from truly relishing in the music.

However, the diverse blend of genres

Photo courtesy of NPR

This year’s Spring Concert featured KYLE, T-Pain and The Chainsmokers. did seem to succeed in appealing to a wide audience. Even The Chainsmokers varied the genre of music they played, from hip-hop to indie rock.

This concert was a significant shift from last year’s Icona Pop and Star Slinger show. In addition to having one more act than last year, this concert covered more than one genre. Everyone

seemed to have an act or song to be excited about. Even though the concert didn’t have one big name artist, it was a huge success in terms of both performance and overall audience approval.

Perhaps next year the logistical issues can be worked out to make sure everyone can enjoy the concert without standing in line for an hour.

“Woman in Gold” Depicts Harrowing History of Stolen Art Sophie Currin ’17 Staff Writer A highly affecting film, “Woman in Gold” reveals both the pain and joy inherent in reclaiming family heirlooms stolen during World War II. It’s a film that explores the inner battle of remembering a repressed past.

And it’s one of those films that leaves you feeling sad, with its plot hinging on the tension created through the main character’s emotional flashbacks to the beginning of the Nazi occupation of Vienna. But the film ends (perhaps somewhat predictably) on a triumphant note.

The film depicts the legal battle over a Klimt portrait that that was stolen from the main character’s family in the midst of Nazi raids and eventually displayed in Vienna at the Belvedere Palace. In the forefront of the battle stand two Austrian Americans living in Los Angeles, an elderly Maria Altmann (played by Helen Mirren) paired with the generation-younger lawyer Randol Shoenberg (played by Ryan Reynolds). “Woman in Gold” is based on the true story of an actual battle between Altmann and the Austrian government, which took six years. The film itself is a brisk 109 minutes.

Image courtesy of Telegraph

Helen Mirren and Ryan Reynolds (above) depict real life figures Maria Altmann and Randal Shoenberg in Simon Curtis’ film “Woman in Gold.”

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Following the death of her sister, Maria discovers decades-old letters that provide a basis to reclaim the famous Klimt portrait of her aunt. As she reads, she is flooded with memories of her childhood life and home in Vienna, all destroyed by Nazis. She asks a family friend and lawyer, Shoenberg, to explore the case, and the two find themselves struggling with difficult memories when they make a trip to Vienna. As if that weren’t enough, the two find themselves faced with a grueling legal battle as they fight for the precious portrait.

Reynolds’ character is in it for the money at first, but he eventually quits his newly acquired position at a law firm, throwing himself into the case. Although at first the pair leave Vienna empty-handed, Shoenberg finds a loophole in American law after many sleepless nights and an overwhelmingly large amount of photocopying. His pregnant wife, at first upset at their financial instability, eventually becomes supportive, and Shoenberg pursues suing the Austrian government through the Supreme Court. Through the process, he gains a greater sense of connection to his family’s history, learning more about his grandfather, who was a famous composer.

For Mirren’s character, the at-first unwanted return to Vienna is a difficult one, sparking flashbacks interspersed throughout the film — at first of happy memories with her family, but then of dark memories of the Nazi occupation. Her idyllic memories of childhood, then those of her festive marriage, quickly are replaced with scenes of the Viennese people welcoming the Nazis as she and her family run through the streets, frightened. Eventually, we see Maria barely evading police to flee the country, leaving her mother and dying father behind. These flashbacks give the film a

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gripping edge and pack an emotional punch that the film otherwise lacks. We learn that Maria is so scared of being overwhelmed by her own memories that she is reluctant to seek justice in the present. Helen Mirren plays this complicated character well.

Through the film, we see the different ways in which two generations remember the past. While Shoenberg’s generation has no immediate memory of these horrible events, for Maria they seem almost as real as if they were happening in the present.

In an especially thought-provoking scene, Maria’s reaction to finally viewing the painting in its new home at the museum is juxtaposed with the reaction of a tour group viewing the painting. This is the first time Maria has seen the painting since her childhood, when she saw it in her home every day. For the tourists, though, it’s just another painting in a museum.

The film’s title, “Woman in Gold,” alludes to the name the Klimt portrait was given in recognition of the years it lived through the war, enduring namelessness and erasure, representing a Jewish generation forever stripped of their Austrian identity.

Though the film is undoubtedly intended as a mainstream form of entertainment, it also has a deeper significance. We are approaching a world in which fewer and fewer people remember the Holocaust, and artistic representation, though deeply troubling and difficult to watch, are more necessary than ever.

In the end, the film becomes a tribute to the thousands of pieces of art stolen during this time period that have not yet been returned. It’s a film that reminds us why remembering is so essential. “Woman in Gold” keeps this important part of history alive, for now.

Arts & Living 8

The Amherst Student • April 29, 2015

Getting Creative in Val: Recipes from Iron Chef Competition Olivia Tarantino ’15 Staff Writer Last week, Amherst hosted the annual Iron Chef competition in Valentine. I, along with three of my amazingly talented track teammates, had the chance to compete. The competition consisted of six teams of four who had been chosen at random from the many who entered. The competition grants each team one hour to prepare three courses to present to the panel of judges, who then sample and rate each dish. The team with the greatest overall score determines which team wins the grand prize. The secret basket of ingredients this year (each marked by an asterisk below in the recipes) consisted of spring onions, black sea bass, a blood orange, fiddlehead ferns and gooseberries. The competitors are required to use at least one of these ingredients in each dish, and beyond that, they also have their choice of any ingredients in the Valentine servery. Because not all of the following dishes are entirely possible to make in Val due to the secret ingredients, below are recipes that can still be whipped up using what is readily available in the dining hall. However, with summer break rapidly approaching, each course would also be a great meal to try at home!

Appetizer Round: Pad Thai Inspired Lettuce Wraps with *Spring Onion 2 lemon slices (we used blood orange) 1 piece of chicken 4 slices of cucumbers 6 baby carrots 1 spring onion 4 leaves of basil 2 eggs 1 tbsp butter ¼ cup of milk Salt and pepper

“Spicy Sriracha Peanut Sauce” (see recipe from the last article!)

Instructions: Follow previous article’s ingredients to make the spicy Sriracha peanut sauce. Mix milk, eggs, salt and pepper in a bowl and whisk until fluffy.

Melt the tablespoon of butter in a medium heated saute pan, then pour in the egg mixture and cook until no liquid egg remains. Set aside. Julienne the cucumbers, carrots, spring onion and basil. Slice chicken lengthwise and lightly drizzle with lemon juice. Layer the vegetables, eggs and chicken in the middle of a piece of lettuce and spoon on the spicy peanut sauce. Roll up and enjoy!

Main Course: *Blood Orange Glazed *Black Sea Bass with a *Fiddlehead Fern, Spinach & Mushroom Risotto For the Risotto 3 cups chicken broth from Val’s chick en noodle soup ½ cup white wine (don’t bring this

into Val ... but use it when you’re home!) ½ cup mushrooms 1 small bowl spinach 1 cup fiddlehead ferns 2 cups brown rice ½ cup parmesan 2 tbsp butter 3 tbsp olive oil Salt and pepper Instructions: Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a saute pan over medium heat. Add mushrooms, fiddlehead ferns, spinach and butter. Saute for three to five minutes until lightly browned, then season with salt, pepper and garlic powder. Remove from heat and set aside. Add the rice, then stir in wine and cook until it is

Image courtesy of Olivia Tarantino ‘15

Six teams of four competed in the Iron Chef Competition, in which students used special ingredients in addition to those available in Valentine. nearly all evaporated. Now, add one cup of the chicken broth and cook, stirring, until the rice has absorbed the liquid.

Add the remaining broth, one cup at a time. Continue to cook and stir, allowing the rice to absorb each addition of broth before adding more. Transfer the ferns, mushrooms and spinach to the rice mixture. Stir in Parmesan cheese, then cook briefly until melted.

Dessert Round: Homemade Crepes with a Tangy *Gooseberry, *Blood Orange Compote, Topped with a Butterscotch Sauce For the Butterscotch Sauce 4 tablespoons unsalted butter 1 cup of tightly packed dark brown

sugar ¾ cup half-and-half (by the coffee station) 1 tablespoon vanilla flavoring (also by the coffee station) 1 teaspoon salt

Instructions: In a saucepan, melt butter over low to medium heat. Just before butter is melted, add all dark brown sugar at once and stir until sugar is uniformly wet.

Stir infrequently until mixture goes from looking grainy to molten lava for about three to five minutes. Lower the heat, add the half-and-half and vanilla flavoring, and whisk with a fork. When the sugar and half-and-half is uniform, turn heat back to medium and whisk for another five minutes. Add salt to taste.

Senior Chris Tamasi Creates Inventive Children’s Book “Offline” Gabby Edzie ’17 Managing Arts & Living Editor Senior English major Chris Tamasi recently finished his inventive senior project — a manuscript for a children’s book that touches on the impact of modern technology on childhood imagination. I had the chance to sit down with Tamasi to speak about the notable accomplishment, the process that preceded it and his plans for the future of “Offline.”

“Offline” is a story about a young boy, Kyle, growing up in the 21st century — highlighting his struggle, but really a societal struggle, to find balance between imaginative and technological forms of entertainment.

Kyle grows up with his mother in an apartment complex that is not conducive to outdoor play or meeting new friends, so he relies heavily on gaming devices as a means of passing the time. Once Kyle moves to a more residential area, he meets an outdoorsy and adventurous next-door neighbor named Brendan. Brendan poses the simple question to Kyle: “Do you want to come outside and play?” But Kyle is reluctant to step outside his comfort zone and try something new.

Eventually, Kyle is persuaded to come outside. The boys overcome adversity through a series of backyard adventures guided by a map and compass, while Kyle learns to unlock his imagination as a means of entertainment and ultimately restore balance in his lifestyle between these two forms of play.

Q:What was your inspiration for the book?

A: My sophomore summer, I spent a significant amount of time studying gamification techniques used within the video game industry as a means of capturing the attention of their players. I was interested in how to extract that same successful model and apply it to reality by using

our imaginations. I had a special afternoon with my little brother Kyle through BBBS where we created our own combat game and used our imaginations as a form of play. I realized that within a technologically driven society, our innate abilities as humans to use our minds as a means of entertainment was still possible.

I then worked last summer with the Nelson Brothers juvenilia collection and studied the boys’ methods of play during the 19th century in the backwoods of rural New Hampshire. All of these experiences inspired me to write the story — I felt in the bottom of my heart that this story was prevalent and worth sharing.

Q: What the writing process was like?

A: I began formulating ideas for the story this past summer while working as a Mellon Student Research Fellow on campus. I developed a storyline and characters and began writing the story this fall in my notebook. My process is pretty standard — I write lines of poetry and actively edit each line until the quatrain is metrically sound with strong end rhymes.

I met with my adviser weekly to edit what I had written. I would then edit previously written work before continuing to write new material.

Daniel and I are both very meticulous, so the editing process was not completed until we felt each word and quatrain served a purpose.

Q: Any future plans for “Offline” ?

A: My dream is to have this story published and brought to life through the work of an illustrator. I have begun researching the children’s literature market and hope to reach out to various publishers and editors to see if my story is worth a damn. I would love for this book to someday end up on the shelves in bookstores and in the hands of children everywhere!

Q: In terms of your work with fiction, would

Image courtesy of Chris Tamasi ‘15

“Offline” explores the interaction between technology and a child’s imagination. you like to write another children’s book, or experiment with another genre?

A: As an English major, I focused primarily on poetry and children’s literature. This project blended both my passions and it is certainly something I would like to pursue further. I have a couple more ideas for children’s books — so we’ll see. I also write personal poetry, but that is the extent of my creative fictional writing.

Creative writing is always something I will carry with me.

Q: Did you go through the thesis process for the book?

A: My project began as a thesis, but was later pursued as a senior project within a special topics course which worked out perfectly in regards to the pace of the project and what my

overall goals were for the piece. I only wanted to finish this story for me. I am just happy to have it in manuscript form to share with friends and family and hope that someday the story’s message will impact young lives, as well as parents.

Q: What are your plans for formatting it in the case of publication — particular illustrations?

A: I plan on submitting the manuscript to publishers and hope they will match my story with an illustrator if it were to ever get to that point.

The illustrations would help bring the imaginative aspects of this story to life and really drive the message home. Illustrations are a major aspect of any children’s book, so I would love to discuss my own ideas with an illustrator and work with them to create something special.

The Amherst Student • April 29, 2015

Sports 9

Softball Takes Wesleyan Series, Named Little Three Champions

Photo by Megan Robertson ‘15

Captain Kelsey Ayers ’15 finished with a team best .398 batting average.

Raymond Meijer ’17 Staff Writer From a grand slam spark by a first-year to consistently strong output from their captains and seniors, the Amherst women’s softball team bounced back from a tough series last weekend. Amherst won their Wednesday game against Elms College and their weekend series against Wesleyan to close out their 2015 regular season campaign.

After losing some very close games over the previous week and coming in on a threegame skid, the team faced Elms College looking to get back on track and regain some winning momentum at home. Though the game was scoreless through the first inning and the top of the second, the Jeffs didn’t waste much time in making a big statement with their offense and showing they intended to put away any doubts from previous games. The team notched eight runs in the bottom of the

frame, creating a gap that Elms would never be able to close. The scoring barrage began with only one out and the bases loaded, with Idalia Friedson ’15 reaching first on an error to score Ally Kido ’18, whose impact in the inning wouldn’t end with just that run. After Ashleigh Rutherford ’16 walked with the bases loaded two batters later to score Alyssa Sherwill ’15, Brianna Cook ’16 capitalized on another Blazerss error to bring in Friedson and Annie Apffel ’17.

The 4-0 lead at this point wouldn’t be the end of the scoring for the Jeffs, however.

After Caroline Sealander ’15 walked to load the bases again, Kido found herself at the plate for the second time in the inning and delivered a huge hit, belting a grand slam over the center field fence to clear the bases and push the Amherst lead to 8-0. Though the Jeffs would conclude the inning without any more runs, they started the bottom of the third right where they left off. With two outs,

Rutherford doubled to score Kelsey Ayers ’15 and Apffel and move the gap to 10-0. On the very next at-bat, Cook singled to score her classmate before scoring herself on a double from Kido that would also bring in Sealander.

Though Elms would manage to put up one run in the top of the fourth off of an Amherst miscue, the Jeffs would score yet again in the bottom of the inning thanks to another RBI hit from Rutherford that would drive in Sherwill. Lauren Tuiskula ’17 would retire the first three batters she faced to close out the game in five innings. Her pitching punctuated a strong pitching effort from the Jeffs, with Jackie Buechler ’17 pitching two innings of one-hit ball and Nicolette Miranda ’16 grabbing the win with two innings in which she only allowed the Blazers’ single unearned run.

The team rode the momentum of their 14-1 win into their weekend series against Wesleyan. Unlike Wednesday, when offensive production won the day, this weekend pitching would prove to be the dominant force. Buechler pitched her second complete game shutout of the season, scattering four hits across the seven innings while striking out three. She didn’t lack offensive support, however, with co-captains Ayers and Cook each contributing 2 for 4 efforts. The Jeffs opened the scoring in the top of the fourth, with Sealander and Alena Marovitz ’17 crossing the plate after a single and walk, respectively. The team closed out the effort in the top of the seventh, with Cook cracking a tworun triple to right field to drive in Kido and Ayers.

Amherst continued the series with a doubleheader on Saturday for their senior day.

They ended up losing the first leg but winning the second to win the series and end the regular season on a positive note. In the first game, Wesleyan jumped to an early lead thanks to a Jill Gately two-run homer in the

top of the first and a run from Isabel Linzer in the top of the third. They added their fourth run in the top of the fifth to take a 4-0 lead, but the Jeffs would stop them there and mount a comeback. In the bottom of the sixth, Kido, coming off her six RBI effort against Elms, added her third homer of the season to also drive in Sealander. However, the team couldn’t knock away any more at the Cardinals, and they headed into the third game of the series off of a 4-2 loss.

In the second game on senior day, the seniors were appropriately be the ones to lead the team to a win in their final game of the year. The Jeffs took an early lead this time, grabbing a 4-0 lead after two innings. Ayers jump-started the team in the bottom of the first, hitting a double before scoring off an RBI bunt single from Cook. Fellow senior Sealander then doubled to score two more runs to build up a 3-0 lead. Friedson continued the seniors’ contributions, scoring in the bottom of the second off a Sealander sacrifice fly. Wesleyan put up a scare in the next two innings, scoring two runs to cut the deficit in half, but the Jeffs’ seniors were too much this game, with Donna Leet ’15 knocking a two-run single and Friedson hitting a sacrifice fly to score Sherwill. Buechler pitched the final three innings to close out the game for the Jeffs, allowing two runs but still escaping with the save. Tuiskula grabbed the win, pitching four innings and allowing only two runs (one earned) to bump up her season record to 4-0.

“After having a tough weekend, I think it was important that we won our Elms game on Wednesday,” Kido said. “Our seniors are awesome, and I’m happy we left them with W’s on their final games. I’m excited to build on this experience for next year.”

With these games, the team has reached the end of its season, finishing 16-12 overall and 5-7 in NESCAC competition.

Men’s Track Races to Top Individiual Women’s Golf Places Fourth Finishes at NESCAC Championships at Williams Invitational Kiana Herold ’17 Managing Sports Editor The Amherst men’s track and field team traveled northwest to Williamstown to face off against stiff competition for the NESCAC championships. The day opened with a brisk wind and party sunny and cloudy conditions that kept up for the remainder of the day. The Jeffs book-ended the day with two particularly stellar performances, opening and closing the day with two secondplace finishes in the 10K and 4x800 meters.

“The team did a great job as a whole, besting our performance last year by 16 points,” Romey Sklar ’15 said. “We started off the day strong with some great 10K performances — two personal bests and were able to keep that momentum going throughout the meet and ultimately finish off strong with a 2nd place 4x800 meter performance.”

To kick the day off, Mohamed Hussein ’18 earned the top individual finish for the purple and white, coming in second place in the 10K with a time of 31:13.52 despite the initially chilly conditions.

“I had to spend sometime in the sidelines and nurse a lingering injury and I couldn’t have asked for a more competitive meet than the NESCAC championship meet,” Hussein said. “The outcome of my race was very reassuring and it boosted my confidence going into the championship portion of the season.”

This finish by the first-year standout earned him a 31st ranking nationally in Division III. The other top finish of the day went to the men’s 4x800-meter relay team, which boasted a time of 7:51.75. Kevin Connors ’17 led off strong, while Nick Codola ’15 matched pace, losing ground to some strong second-leg runners putting Amherst in second-to-last position. Sklar would have none of it, digging deep to pass mul-

tiple runners, moving Amherst into second position. The clutch anchor Brent Harrison ’16 held on to allow the team to finish second overall in a very competitive field.

Dan Crowley ’16 ran his way to a third-place finish in the 5K, snatching a 14:57.43 time, shattering his old personal best.

On the jumps side, senior Mark Cort placed fourth with a leap of 21’ 9.5”. Khalil Fleming ’16 jumped 21’ 2.5” to take seventh. Stephen Hetterich ’15 followed up with a 17th-place showing in the event, with a jump of 18’ 10.5”. After tweaking his hamstring, Fleming would place 14th in triple jump, while Hetterich took 16th.

Sklar earned a fifth-place finish in the 1,500 meters, clocking in 3:55.52 and setting a new personal best. “I was happy with my 1,500, as it was a personal best, but wish I had been more aggressive in the later stages of the race,” Sklar said.

Sklar bested Kevin Connors ’17 by mere hundredths of seconds, as Connors came in at 3:55.79 to take sixth. Sklar’s time ranks 41st in the nation, while Connors has the 46th-fastest time so far.

Jamie Sandel ’17 ran a gutsy 400-meter hurdle race to come in 9th with a time of 56.11.

The men’s 4x400-meter relay team placed sixth with a 3:27.50 time. The team was composed of David Ingraham ’18, Sandel, Harrison Haigood ’18 and Lucey.

The men’s 4x100-meter team, consisting of Nathan Showalter ’17, Nick Codola ’15, David Ingraham ’18 and Thomas Matthew ’16, snagged a seventh-place finish with a time of 44.10.

“Coach Ned always stresses the importance of ‘getting out there and competing’ and the team did an awesome job of that this weekend,” Seelaus said. “There were many great performances that will give us momentum heading into the last few meets of the season.

The men’s team will compete next weekend in the Division III New England championships.

Photo courtesy of Amherst Athletics

Senior captain Katherine Britt wrapped up her final season on Sunday.

Lauren Tuiskula ’17 Managing Sports Editor In their final meet of the regular season the Amherst College women’s golf team combined for a score of 654 to earn fourth place at the Williams College Spring Invitational.

Host Williams took the top two spots as their “A” squad earned a two-day score of 618 and their “B” squad took the runners-up spot with a 640 two day total. Fellow NESCAC competitor Middlebury took third place, finishing 11 strokes ahead of Amherst. Rounding out the field were Holy Cross, coming in fifth with a score of 746 and Westfield State, posting a team mark of 781.

“I think we had one of our best showings of the season this weekend,” Sarah Ressler ’16 said. “While there is still a lot of room to improve, we showed what we are capable of doing.”

Jamie Gracie ’17 again continued her dominance for the Jeffs. She tied for fifth overall with a combined score of 156, consisting of a round of 77 on day one and a 79 round on day two.

Gracie now waits to hear whether she will be chosen to compete at the women’s golf nationals. Decisions will be announced on Monday, May 4.

Junior Devyn Gardner came in second for Amherst, posting an 82 on Saturday and following it up with an 83 on Sunday.

First-year Zoe Wong finished a mere three stokes behind Gardner, earning a two day total of 168 consisting of an 80 on the first day of play and 88 on the second.

Senior CJ Bernstein placed fourth for the Jeffs, tying for 18th in the field. The captain finished at 172 on the meet, shooting a 87 on day one and improving to 85 on the second day.

Finally, Ressler rounded out the scoring, placing 21st overall with a combined score of 174. She posted a round of 93 on the first day and improved to 81 on day two.

“Overall it was a really nice way to end our season,” Ressler said. “Our captain CJ finished with a 38 on the back after a rough front, so it was a really inspiring performance and seeing her really was a great note to end on. I am extremely proud of my team.”

10

Sports

The Amherst Student • April 29, 2015

Men’s Lax Downs Colby, Will Host NESCAC Championships Devin O’Connor ’17 Staff Writer The top-seeded men’s lacrosse team will be hosting the NESCAC championship this weekend, following a stellar effort led by Chris Albanese ’17 and Quinn Moroney ’16 last Saturday. Albanese contributed six goals while Moroney tallied six assists in the 12-9 victory over Colby on April 25.

Moroney got things started early for the Jeffs with a goal just under two minutes into the first quarter. The Mules responded a minute later with a goal of their own to tie the score at 1-1. Moroney and Albanese found fire shortly after, as Moroney fed Albanese for three goals in a row to bring the purple and white lead to 4-1. Moroney dished another to Mike Litner ’16 with just eight seconds left to play in the first quarter, giving the Jeffs a 4-point advantage.

Colby came out hard in the second quarter, putting a second goal on the board a minute into play. Amherst responded just 15 seconds later when Moroney fed Albanese who found the back of the net, followed by a goal from Matt Killian ’17 at the 11 minute mark. The Mules and Jeffs traded goals, as Colby put their third away before Charlie Gill ’16 found the back of the net, followed by another from Colby and a fifth Albanese goal. The Mules tal-

lied the final goal of the quarter, bringing the score to 9-5 at the close of the first 30 minutes.

Connor Sheehan ’18 notched the 10th Amherst goal just a minute and a half into the third quarter. At the 8:12 mark, Albanese found Litner, who sent one into the net to bring the score to 11-5. With just under five to play in the third stanza, Colby managed to put a sixth goal on the board.

The start to the fourth quarter was back and forth, but Albanese broke the silence off of a feed from Moroney after seven minutes into play. It looked as if the Mules were going to make a comeback in the last six minutes, scoring three unanswered goals before time ran out. It wasn’t enough, however, and the Colby season came to an end when the Jeffs advanced to the semifinals.

A strong defensive effort by the purple and white kept the Colby offense at bay. Cody Tranbarger ’17, the NESCAC save percentage leader, made 26 saves and collected four groundballs in the win. Ryan Cassidy ’16 led the team with eight groundballs, while senior midfielder Pat Routh collected five for the Jeffs.

Rob Butko ’16 led the defense with four caused turnovers, while Killian added three more for the purple and white.

The Jeffs will face Bates on Saturday, May 2.

No. 2 Tufts will play No. 3 Middlebury in the other semifinal contest.

Men’s Baseball Swept by Wesleyan, Falls to 9-3 in NESCAC Competition Drew Kiley ’18 Staff Writer The Amherst College baseball team endured a rough weekend against NESCAC rival Wesleyan. Entering the series undefeated in NESCAC play, the Jeffs dropped all three games of their series at Wesleyan on Friday and Saturday. With the sweep, Amherst falls to 18-10 overall (9-3 NESCAC), sliding to second place in the NESCAC West standings, while Wesleyan improves to 21-7 (9-0 NESCAC).

Amherst’s pitching started poorly, giving up 10 runs in Friday night’s game, but then rebounded with two brilliant performances from John Cook ’15 and Keenan Szulik ’16 on Saturday. The Jeffs’ previously explosive hitting struggled throughout the series, scoring only five runs on the weekend, with all five coming at the end of Friday night’s game.

On Friday, Wesleyan won the first game of the series in commanding fashion, securing a double-digit lead behind a gem from starter Nick Cooney. The Jeffs charged back with an offensive outburst in the eighth and ninth innings, but it was not enough, as Amherst lost 10-5.

Cooney kept the Jeff hitters on their heels all night, allowing no runs and surrendering only two hits through seven innings with eight strikeouts.

Mike Odenwaelder ’16 led Amherst with a 2 for 3 effort and a run, while Joe Feldman ’18, Travis Strickler ’16, Sam Ellinwood ’18 and Sergio Rodriguez ’17 recorded an RBI each.

The top of the lineup struggled, however, and Harry Roberson ’18, Andrew Vandini ’16 and Yanni Thanopoulos ’17 struck out a combined three times and failed to get on base.

Starter Jackson Volle ’17 endured a rough outing for the Jeffs, taking the loss as he allowed seven runs (five earned) on five hits through five innings pitched.

Wesleyan took the lead with a solo home run from Sam Goodwin-Boyd in the second.

The Cardinals added runs in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings to take a commanding 10-0 lead by the eighth.

The Jeffs’ hitting finally enjoyed some success in the eighth and ninth, teeing off to the

tune of five runs, but Amherst’s comeback attempt ultimately fell short, and the Cardinals eventually claimed a comfortable victory.

In the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader, Wesleyan emerged victorious in a pitchers’ battle when a suicide squeeze by Ben Hoynes in the fourth inning allowed the Cardinals to pull out a 1-0 victory.

For Amherst, John Cook started the game and tossed a gem, pitching the complete seven-inning game and allowing just one run on five hits with four strikeouts.

However, Cook was the tough luck loser as Wesleyan’s Gavin Pittore tossed a complete game shutout.

Roberson, Odenwaelder and Ariel Kenney ’18 recorded the hits for the Jeffs as the offense struggled for the second straight game.

Amherst missed opportunities early when Jeff hitters stranded runners in scoring position in the first three innings.

Déjà vu characterized the second game, when a brilliant performance from Jeff starter Keenan Szulik went to waste, and a first inning rally featuring Davidson and Hoynes sunk Amherst.

Szulik tossed the Jeffs’ second straight complete game, lasting nine innings and allowing just two runs on seven hits with four strikeouts. However, he endured the loss as Wesleyan’s Sam Elias trumped the Amherst righty with a complete game shutout.

Brendon Hardin ’15 led Amherst with a 2 for 3 effort from the plate. Tyler Jacobs ’15 added a hit, and Odenwaelder was the only other Jeff to reach base on a hit by pitch.

Amherst responded by getting Jacobs to third in the third inning, but a critical double play that saw Jacobs tagged out at home plate ended the threat. The Jeffs, however, could never consistently hit the ball hard against Elias, and he controlled the game thereafter.

The team returns to action with a slate of non-conference games this week. First, Amherst travels to Wheaton (Mass.) on Thursday, April 30, for a game that starts at 4 p.m. They then travel to Springfield College on Saturday for a doubleheader that starts at noon. The Jeffs finish their regular season on Sunday with another doubleheader away at Colby at noon before entering playoffs.

ATHLETE SPOTLIGHT

Aaron AaronRevzin Revzin’16 ’15

Allyson Kido ’18

Favorite Team Memory: Winning the national championship last year Favorite Pro Athlete: Larry Bird Dream Job: Bruin’s right wing Pet Peeve: Lax players cutting in line Favorite Vacation Spot: Fenway Park Guilty Pleasure: Madden 10 Favorite Food: Anything my mom cooks Favorite Thing About Amherst: The rigorous academic environment and quest for social justice How He Earned It: Senior captain Aaron Revzin continues to lead the No. 4-ranked men’s tennis team, and they now boast a team 10 match winning streak. He earned a win in the doubles spot with his partner Michael Solimano ’16 in the Jeffs’ recent sweep of Middlebury. He then went on to secure a decisive win in singles play, beating his Middlebury counterpart in straight sets. Revzin and the team now ride their winning streak as they head into the upcoming NESCAC championships.

Favorite Team Memory: Do I have to choose a favorite? Every moment with my team is the best.

Favorite Pro Athlete: Ichiro Suzuki Dream Job: Underwater Photography Pet Peeve: When my sock falls halfway down my foot in my boots Favorite Vacation Spot: Maui Something on Your Bucket List: Win the series against Williams ... oh wait, we already did that Guilty Pleasure: ”Gossip Girl” Favorite Food: Orange Sauce from la Victoria in San Jose, California Favorite Thing About Amherst: The never-ending winter How She Earned It: Just a first-year, Kido helped lift the softball team to the Little Three championship title this past weekend. She started the week with a grand slam in the team’s 14-1 victory over Elms. Kido also knocked a solo shot in Amherst’s loss to Wesleyan on Saturday, her second blast of the week.

Men’s Tennis Extends Winning Streak to 10 Straight Matches Jeremy Kesselhaut ’16 Assistant Sports Editor The No. 4 Amherst men’s tennis team has now won 10 straight matches, all by a score of at least 7-2 following impressive victories over No. 20 Bates (8-1) and No. 6 Middlebury (9-0) at home this weekend.

The Jeffs (19-4) completed a perfect month of April in which they won all nine matches, which included seven victories in the competitive NESCAC conference to secure the regular season title. The Jeffs seem to be getting stronger as they approach the NESCAC tournament, having won the last five matches by at least an 8-1 score.

On Friday, April 24, Amherst hosted No. 20 Bates, who entered the match 9-6 (4-2 NESCAC). As had been the case in the previous four matches, Amherst swept doubles play to get off to an early 3-0 lead. The dynamic duo of juniors Aaron Revzin and Michael Solimano earned an 8-3 win at No. 1, which would end up being the closest of all the doubles matches.

Andrew Yaraghi ’16 and sophomore Anton Zykov won 8-0 at No. 2, and senior co-captain Andrew Scheiner and Russell Einbinder ’16 posted an 8-1 victory at No. 3.

In singles play, Yaraghi dropped the first set by a score of 5-7, but then battled back to win the second and third sets by scores of 6-2, 10-6 respectively. Solimano (at No. 2), Revzin (at No. 3), senior co-captain Sean Rodriguez (at No. 4) and Andrew Arnaboldi ‘17 (at No. 6) won in straight sets. Scheiner lost a close one at No. 5 by a score of 4-6, 6-4, 9-11, which gave Bates their only point on the afternoon.

“Our doubles really made the difference this weekend,” Yaraghi said. “On Friday, against Bates, we came out ready to battle in some tough conditions. Getting the doubles sweep gave us a nice cushion going into singles and we were able to win five out of the six singles points against a dangerous Bates team.”

The next day, the Jeffs swept No. 6 Middlebury, who came into the match tied with Amherst for first place in the NESCAC with a 6-0 conference record and a very respectable 16-2 overall record. Amherst was relentless, stepping up when the points mattered most.

Once again, Amherst got off to an early lead behind three triumphs from the same three doubles teams that played against Bates.

Revzin and Solimano were in a close contest, trailing 5-6 but on serve. After tying the match, the pair got a break before serving to win the match by a score of 8-6. Yaraghi and Zykov won easily at No. 2 by a 8-3 mark, while Scheiner and Einbinder outlasted Middlebury at No. 3.

Einbinder made several highlight-worthy plays, including chasing down a drop shot before fully extending his body to hit a winner at a sharp angle over the net late in the match.

The two would also trail in a tiebreaker before ultimately prevailing 9-8.

In singles play, the Jeffs were equally dominant. Zykov on court 3, Revzin on court 4 and Rodriguez on court 5 each won in straight sets.

At No. 1, Yaraghi dropped the first set before ultimately winning the second two sets by a score of 2-6, 6-4, 11-9. Solimano at No. 2 (6-1, 4-6, 10-7) and Arnaboldi at No. 6 (6-7, 7-6, 102) won in three sets to complete the sweep for Amherst over Middlebury.

“We were well aware of Middlebury’s strength in singles, so we were sure to work on every court,” Yaraghi said. “We were able to notch 3 points in straight sets and 3 more in third set victories. We’ll take these dual match victories with us into NESCACs this weekend.”

The Jeffs look to build on their NESCAC regular season title by shifting their focus to winning the conference postseason tournament. Amherst will be the No. 1 seed with a first round bye in the six-team NESCAC championship draw. The three-day tournament will be hosted by Middlebury and starts Friday, May 1.

The Amherst Student • April 29, 2015

Sports

Why Can’t Jon Lester and DeAndre Jordan Do Their Jobs?

Chris’ Corner Chris Rigas ’16 Columnis On April 13, Chicago Cubs pitcher Jon Lester tried unsuccessfully to pick a Cincinnati runner off first base. Normally, this wouldn’t be a big deal. But Lester had not attempted a pickoff in almost two years, a span that included 66 starts for the lefty. His last pickoff attempt, on April 30, 2013, came directly before he gave up a home run.

The home run, maybe caused by a loss of focus due to the pickoff attempt, was apparently the last straw for Lester, whose pickoff attempts had been getting more and more feeble for a while. When Lester’s opponents became aware of his aversion to throwing over, they took advantage. Kansas City stole three bases on him in their victory over Lester and Oakland in last year’s American League wild card game.

Later in the Cincinnati game, Lester tried again, this time sailing his throw over first baseman Anthony Rizzo’s head. Fortunately for him, the runner, Zach Cozart, was thrown out at third. Still, the knowledge of Lester’s pickoff struggles adds a bit of suspense to the game every time a runner reaches first against him. How big a lead will the runner take? At what point does a lead become so ridiculously large that Lester has no choice to throw over? And, if he does, will the ball go flying over the first baseman’s head? Are all of these thoughts going through Lester’s head as well?

Meanwhile, in the NBA, the hack-a-Shaq strategy is making headlines. In the first round of the playoffs, several big men, including DeAndre Jordan of the Clippers and Dwight Howard of the Rockets, have been repeatedly fouled intentionally by their opponents in an attempt to take advantage of their poor foul shooting.

On paper, the strategy makes sense: Jordan is about a 40 percent foul shooter, and Howard hovers around 50 percent.This means that Jordan scores about .8 points every time he goes to the line, and Howard about 1 point. NBA offenses score about 1 point per possession, and good offensive teams, like the Clippers and Rockets, do a little better than that. This makes fouling Jordan and Howard a good move, at least in theory.

In reality, however, there are other factors to consider. First of all, teams have a chance to rebound the misses of their poor foul shooters. Also, defensive rebounds from foul shots rarely produce good transition opportunities, which are the easiest way for a team to score points. One more strategic consideration: Hack-a-Shaq stops the clock and extends the game, so it is almost always a good strategy to employ when you are losing to a team with a bad foul shooter on the floor. In the Clippers’ Game 4 victory, Los Angeles had a lead in the fourth quarter, and coach Doc Rivers took Jordan out in the to prevent the Spurs from sending him to the line.

The last two effects are hard to quantify, but we can take a stab at answering how offensive rebounds change the question of when it is a good idea to foul.

According to 82games.com, missed free throws result in an offensive rebound about 14 percent of the time. If we assume a 50 percent foul shooter, on a team that scores about 1 point per possession, then the team gets an extra possession 7 percent of the time the other team uses the hack-a-Shaq strategy. Adding the points they score on those possessions to the average of 1 point per two free throws, the team scores 1.07 points per hack-a-Shaq possession.

So fouling a 50 percent foul shooter on an average team might not technically be a good strategy. However, just like Lester’s pickoff yips, hack-a-Shaq is about more than the ability of a player to make a certain play. It’s about a team pushing the limits of the game to exploit one of their opponents’ weaknesses. A fourth-quarter victim of hack-a-Shaq knows that his free throws are deciding the game, and he also knows that he is remarkably bad at free throw shooting.

The combination of those two facts has to take a psychological toll.

NBA commissioner Adam Silver says that he is “on the fence” about changing NBA rules so that the hack-a-Shaq strategy is not possible. Currently, the rule is that if you foul a player who doesn’t have the ball in the last two minutes, the fouled player shoots two free throws and his team gets the ball.

In theory, this rule could be extended to the entire game, although this would assess unnecessarily harsh penalties to unintentional fouls away from the ball. Another possible solution, suggested by Rob Mahoney and Lee Jenkins of Sports Illustrated, would be to allow the team whose player was fouled off the ball to decline the free throws.

Personally, I hope they don’t change the rule. There is something fascinating about watching a professional athlete struggle to make a play that high school kids can make without trouble.

Jon Lester literally throws a baseball for a living and DeAndre Jordan literally puts a basketball in a hoop for a living, but in certain contexts they seem to completely lose the ability to do those things. Also, whatever strategies opponents develop to take advantage of these deficiencies make the game more interesting.

Baseball is probably the sport with the greatest number of little strategic quirks like this. Beyond Lester’s problem, National League managers have a lot more to do than American League managers, because the National League doesn’t have a designated hitter. National League managers have to consider how to best take advantage of the fact that one of their opponents’ nine batters is mostly incompetent and how to minimize the impact of the same problem on their own offenses.

Then there is the reverse case: A batter forced to pitch. This only happens in excessively long extra-inning games, in which all the available pitchers for one team have been used, but it is unfailingly entertaining.

Of course, sometimes the manipulation of the rules to take advantage of a player’s weakness makes the game boring or the outcome feel silly.

In a recent interview with ESPN.com, commissioner Silver said he worries that “when I watch some of these games on television, frankly, it’s not great entertainment for our fans.”

And what does it really say about the actual ability of baseball teams if a certain team wins a 19-inning game because it has an outfielder who happens to be a better pitcher than the best-pitching outfielder on the other team?

Still, I always enjoy the quirks of the rules and the minor mental breakdowns that combine to create these slightly absurd situations, both because it’s fun to see professional athletes outside of their comfort zones, and because they add a bit of strategy to these games.

11

Women’s Tennis Falls to Middlebury, Record Moves to 11-3 Overall Ashlyn Heller ’17 Staff Writer The Amherst women’s tennis team took on Middlebury last Saturday. Going into the weekend, the Jeffs stood at second in the NESCAC, with the Panthers closely behind in third.

Nationally, Amherst held the No. 3 rank with Middlebury at No. 8. Amherst traveled up to Middlebury’s Proctor Tennis Courts for this NESCAC showdown and after a nailbiter of a match, came home with a loss.

The teams split wins in singles action as Middlebury took courts No. 1, No. 3 and No. 4, while Amherst was victorious on courts No. 2, No. 5 and No. 6. Junior Sue Gosh trounced Alexandra Fields 6-4, 6-4 on court No. 2 and sophomore Megan Adamo defeated Margot Marchese 6-4, 7-6 on court No. 5.

However, court No. 6 was where the real battle took place, and Claire Carpenter ’17 went in to a thrilling three sets against Middlebury’s Katie Paradeis, eventually coming up with the win. In doubles action, Jackie Calla ’17 and Maddy Sung ’16 were victorious on court two to earn Amherst its only doubles win of the match.

The loss marks Amherst’s second NE-

Photo courtesy of Megan Robertson ‘15

Women’s tennis looks to rally as they head into NESCACs. SCAC loss and third on the season overall, moving their record to 11-3.

The team heads back up to Middlebury this weekend to seek vengeance in the 2015 NESCAC tournament.

Women’s Lax Edged by Middlebury in NESCAC Quarterfinal Action

Photo courtesy of Megan Robertson ‘15

Rachel Passarelli ’16 contributed a team leading 55 points this season.

Sarah Zuckerman ’17 Staff Writer In the first round of NESCAC playoffs seventh-seeded Amherst lost to second-seeded Middlebury 9-8 in Vermont on Saturday. The winning goal for the Panthers came at the end of a four-goal streak that culminated in an unassisted finish 22 minutes into the second half.

“Despite the loss, our game on Saturday was one of our best performances of the season,” coach Christine Paradis said.

The Jeffs started the game strong. Just under five minutes into the game Middlebury started the scoring. Their 1-0 lead, however, was shortlived, as Amherst proceeded to charge ahead, scoring four of the next five goals. Rachel Passarelli ’16 started the scoring with an unassisted goal less than two minutes later. Sarah Spector ’15 scored off a pass from Mia Haughton ’16 at 20:12 to give Amherst the 2-1 lead. The Panthers responded with a goal of their own to tie it up, but Amherst struck back with back-to-back goals from Haughton, who was unassisted, and Claire Cagnassola ’17, whose goal came off a Passarelli pass.

With just over five minutes remaining in the first half, the Panthers answered back with three goals of their own to end the half. Three different Middlebury players found the back of the net to welcome halftime leading the Jeffs 5-4.

Halftime gave the Jeffs a chance to regroup,

and they came out of the locker room firing.

Three minutes into the half Spector put away her second goal of the game before senior tricaptain Priscilla Tyler gave Amherst a 6-5 lead off a pass from Haughton. With 22 minutes remaining, Cagnassola found her second goal of the day off a feed from Passarelli. The junior followed up her assist with a second goal of her own to give Amherst an 8-5 lead with just over 19 to go.

Passarelli’s goal marked the last of the day for the Jeffs, and the Panthers would then proceed on a four-goal streak over 12 minutes that would end in their 9-8 victory. In the last minutes of the game, Julia Crerend ’18 and Spector each had an effort blocked by the Panther’s defense while Passarelli had two shots fly just wide of goal. Haughton gave the Jeffs their last chance of the day but, with just six seconds on the clock, her shot barely missed target. “It is tough to win at Middlebury, and we put ourselves in the best possible position to do this and fell short as they took charge of the draw and possession in the last 10 minutes,” Paradis said. “We had many curve balls thrown at us this season with injuries, but as a result many players gained valuable game experience and this bodes well for the future.”

Cagassola had three draw controls while senior tri-captain had two. Passarelli had two goals and two assists to her name, while Christy Forrest ’16 posted seven saves.

Sports

Photo courtesy of Megan Robertson ‘15

The purple and white were led by first place crowns in the 200 meters by Karen Blake ’17 and in the 10,000 meters by Lexi Sinclair ’16.

Women’s Track Races to Fifth Place at NESCACs, Best Showing Since 2008 Raymond Meijer ’17 Staff Writer Though the weather was volatile at the NESCAC track and field championships, going from cold and windy to warm and still, the Amherst women’s track team had a definitively sunny meet with many great performances across the board.

The Jeffs grabbed a fifth-place finish as a team, their highest finish since the 2008 team finished fourth. The meet was the first championship meet of the season, starting a five-week stretch during which various championship meets take place each weekend.

The sprint crew was paced as they have been all season by their sophomores and juniors. Karen Blake ’17 continued her immensely successful collegiate career with her efforts in the 100, 200 and as anchor of the 4x100 relay team. Her runner-up finish in the 100 in 12.07 became the 10th-fastest time in the country at the distance.

She would later follow that result with a victory in the 200 in 24.61 — not only a PR, but also a clocking that sets the meet record and makes

her the sixth-fastest woman in the country at the event.

She was joined in the 100-meter scoring group by Taylor Summers ’16, who ran a 12.61 to place fifth. Though she narrowly missed a PR in the distance, Summers holds the fourth-fastest 100-meter time in Amherst history. In the 200, Sarah Whelan joined her classmate Blake with a PR of her own, registering a 27.52 for a big career best.

The success in the sprints carried over to the 4x100 relay and 400-meter dash as well, with the relay team bolting to a third-place finish (and third all-time in the Amherst record books) and Victoria Hensley ’16 grabbing a point with her eighth-place finish in the 400 in 60.77. She was followed by Itai Brand-Thomas ’15, who sprinted to a huge PR in 63.45 in the last NESCAC championship meet of her career.

“The team really came out to compete,” Blake said. “We had a lot of PRs and general support all around. I was happy to finally be able to PR in the 200.”

The Jeffs were well represented in the field

Photo courtesy of Raymond Meijer ‘17

events, and they picked up points across the various jumping disciplines. In the high jump, Kiana Herold ’17 and Becki Golia ’18 placed second and third to grab 14 points for the team, continuing to be an incredibly reliable two-person scoring punch in the event. Golia would also move into a tie for the third-highest jump in school history.

Herold currently holds the school record.

Summers would just barely miss picking up points in the long jump as she leaped to a ninthplace finish with a 4.90-meter (16 feet, 1 inch) jump. Amherst got some solid points from two extremely promising first-years in the triple jump, with Abbey Asare-Bediako and Danielle Griffin getting seventh and eighth with jumps of 10.73 meters (35 feet, 2.5 inches) and 10.44 meters (34 feet, 3 inches), respectively. Griffin would also race to a PR in the second 400-meter hurdle race of her career, running a 71.85 in the event.

The mid-distance and distance squad was led by some nationally competitive efforts from their 10K runners and some solid results in the shorter races. With the sun beginning to warm up the day but conditions remaining in the mid

Photo courtesy of Megan Robertson ‘15

WEDS THURS FRI GAME SCHE DULE

Men’s Golf @ Little Three Championships, TBD

Baseball @ Wheaton, 4 p.m

Women’s Track and Field @ Division III New Englands, TBD Women’s Tennis vs. Trinity, 1 p.m.

Men’s Track and Field @ NCAA Division III Northeast, TBD

30s, Lexi Sinclair ’16 bided her time in the 10K after a Middlebury runner opened up an early gap. She took the lead around four miles and pushed on her own the rest of the way to get a PR of 36:18.87, a time that currently places her 13th in the country. Her teammate Lizzy Briskin ’15 also raced to a big PR, running a 36:40.43, the 17th-fastest time in the nation this season.

The Jeffs picked up points in the 1,500 meters as well thanks to a season-best time of 4:52.99 from Hannah Herrera ’17, an effort that helped her grab a second-place finish in her heat and an eighth-place finish overall. In other middle distance action, first-year Leonie Rauls led the team with her 2:21.51 clocking, followed by Kelli Ellingson ’15 (2:21.77) and Keelin Moehl ’16 (2:23.28).

Finally, Cat Lowdon ’17, racing her first complete 3K steeplechase of her career, clocked a 12:23.83 to qualify her for the Division III New England championship.

The team continues the postseason part of their season this coming Saturday at MIT at the Division III New England championships.

Photo courtesy of Megan Robertson ‘15

SAT

Women’s Track and Field Women’s Tennis @ Division III New @ NESCAC ChampionEnglands, TBD ship, TBD Men’s Track and Field @ NCAA Division III Northeast, TBD

Men’s Tennis @ NESCAC Championship, TBD

Baseball @ Springfield, noon Men’s Lacrosse vs. Bates, noon