Issue 3

THE AMHERST

THE INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER OF AMHERST COLLEGE SINCE 1868

STUDENT VOLUME CXLV, ISSUE 3 l WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2015

Women’s Soccer Extends Win Streak to Five See Sports, Page 9 AMHERSTSTUDENT.AMHERST.EDU

Task Force Discusses Changes to Club Sports Jingwen Zhang ’18 Managing News Editor

Campus Activities Board held its annual Beach Bash on Saturday, Sept. 19, celebrating one of the last warm days of the year with smoothies, hula hoops, music and dancing.

Photo courtesy of Sophia Salazar ‘18

College Forms Curriculum Committee Shah Habibur Rahman ’19 Staff Writer This year a new faculty committee has been formed to review the current Amherst curriculum. The Curriculum Committee, formed as a result of the college’s recently completed stragetic plan, will provide recommendations for action to the Committee on Educational Policy, a permanent faculty committee, at the end of the academic year.

“The major focus of the [curriculum] committee is to figure out what is the right education for Amherst College students right now in this decade and entering the next,” said Dean of the Faculty Catherine Epstein.

The committee, which had its second meeting last Wednesday, will meet on a regular ba-

sis in Porter Lounge throughout the academic year.

One of the items on the committee’s agenda is to examine the college’s open curriculum.

The open curriculum has not been modified since the 1980s, when Introduction to Liberal Studies, a required year-long program for firstyear students, was scaled back to the semesterlong first-year seminar.

“Twenty or 30 years ago, the open curriculum was an absolute good,” Epstein said.

“There was no sense it should be questioned at all. We suspect some faculty sentiments may have changed over this. Some faculty are wondering or at least want to consider the question.”

In June 2015, the Committe of Six charged the Curriculum Committee with exploring

three main questions. One of these questions is, “What are the advantages and drawbacks of the open curriculum in creating the Amherst education we seek to impart?”

“We’re doing it because we think it is the right thing to do,” Epstein said. “If we have any pressure at all, it’s coming from alumni. Those who went to school in the 50’s and 60’s had what was then known as the ‘New Curriculum.’ It was a very structured curriculum and many alumni swear by it, so what we’re having now is quite a few alumni interested, writing in, saying you really have to look at the open curriculum.”

But the open curriculum is just one of many issues the comomittee will discuss. The committee plans to examine study abroad, faculty-

Continued on Page 3

A task force will begin meeting this semester to discuss changes to club sports and club sports’ relationship with the Athletic Department. Representatives from the Association of Amherst Students, Athletic Department and various club sports will begin meeting as early as the beginning of October.

The group plans to discuss the increasing demand for field space, facilities, funding, medical resources and transportation for Amherst’s growing club sports program.

“Club sports have sort of been functioning outside of the Athletic Department, or at least on the periphery of the Athletic Department at this point,” said AAS Vice President Will Jackson ’18. “But the hope is to have the Athletic Department a little bit more involved.”

According to Don Faulstick, director of athletics, the department is working on offering more Athletic Department resources, such as specialized medical care, to the growing number of non-varsity athletes.

“I’ve seen the change and the growth in what club sports actually are, and the value they create on campus,” said Faulstick, who served as the director of club sports for 12 years prior to taking on his current role as director of athletics. “The AAS is doing a lot of stuff, so I said, ‘Is there any way athletics can help?’”

One of Faulstick’s concerns is the creation of field space and facilities specifically for club sports, since current facilities have to be shared between varsity and club sports.

“I know the college has other priorities, but I think one of the issues is that we’re running out of space,” Faulstick said. “Our recreational space isn’t great, and it would be great to look into that.”

Club sports are currently under the purview of both the AAS and the Athletic Department in what Faulstick calls a “hybrid model.” Because club sports are official stu-

Continued on Page 3

Ilan Stavans Pilots Program with Regional Radio Station Dan Ahn ’17 Managing News Editor

Spanish professor Ilan Stavans premiered the pilot episodes of his new radio program, “In Contrast with Ilan Stavans,” on New England Public Radio this past July and August.

The show mainly discusses cultural life in New England, but also explores themes such as the art of translation and the politics of using one’s personal voice on public radio. It is structured as a series of interviews, and interviewees in the pilot episodes included a translator and author, a professor of cultural studies, undocumented students from the Five Colleges and members of a local theatre troupe.

In the first episode, aired on July 25, Stavans conducted several consecutive interviews reaching across a variety of topics. The second episode, aired Aug. 1, was a continuation of the Words in Transit project from last year’s Copeland Colloquium and focused on the experiences of immigrants in New Eng-

land. Both episodes concluded with segments from essays written by Stavans. Stavans said that the final format of the program will resemble the first episode more closely than the second.

Stavans said he chose the program’s title because he hopes to highlight intellectual contrasts during the show.

“I think that journalism works when it allows for a balanced, harmonious way of listening to different, sometimes disparate viewpoints,” Stavans said. “And what the show wants to do is to allow for a multiplicity of viewpoints … for political, ideological, cultural, social opinions to be aired so that they enlighten each other, and not destroy each other.”

The basic concept for the show was created during conversations between Stavans, CEO and general manager of NEPR Martin Miller and executive producer for programming and content John Voci.

“My goal was to make the programs lively while providing an in-depth discussion on

topics,” Voci said. “Another goal was to have it be multicultural in terms of topics and guests.

I think that we were successful in accomplishing both objectives.”

Voci worked on planning, interview preparation and final editing for the show.

“In Contrast” follows a new collaboration between NEPR and Amherst College in which NEPR can broadcast through the college’s radio frequencies. The station, which was originally housed by the University of Massachusetts and has often invited academics and activists from the area, has a historic connection with the Five College Consortium.

Stavans has been featured as a guest on NEPR programs in the past, and previously collaborated with the station.

“In working with Ilan Stavans on the Words in Transit project, it became apparent that he had previous experience as a host and interviewer and that he would be a good candidate to pilot a local program with,” Voci said. “My goal was to create something that was broad-

ly focused on culture and, given Professor Stavans’ experience as an author and teacher, he was ideal for the role.”

Stavans said one goal of the program is to connect local and global issues by capitalizing upon the intellectual atmosphere of the Pioneer Valley.

“We really never feel parochial in this neck of the woods,” Stavans said. “So the program wants to navigate two spheres. How the local behaves — the extent to which we are a community, how that community is changing, its identity, its culture and challenges — and how the rest of the world affects us. I would say that Amherst is a very cosmopolitan place, or at least it feels that way to me.”

NEPR is currently gathering feedback for “In Contrast,” and plans to turn it into a weekly program that will air for one year beginning next April.

“I want this show to be known for its honesty, for its openness, and for its engagement with the difficult,” Stavans said.

News

Adi Gordon Sept. 14, 2015 - Sept. 20, 2015

>>Sept. 14 2015 11:13 p.m., Moore Dormitory Officers and the fire department responded to an alarm and found it was activated by the sprinkler flow monitor for no apparent reason. >>Sept. 16 2015 12:26 a.m., Quadrangle Road An officer checked on a man found asleep in a parked car.

The man, who has no association with the college, was found to have a suspended license. A friend came and picked up the car.

3:22 a.m., Charles Drew House Officers and the fire department responded to an alarm and found it was activated by a hair dryer.

8:47 p.m., Frost Library An officer responded to a complaint of someone smoking too close to the building entrance.

No one was found upon the officer’s arrival. >>Sept. 17, 2015 10:21 p.m., Plimpton House An officer discovered unattended alcohol in the basement. It was disposed of. >>Sept. 18, 2015 9:33 p.m., Lipton House Officers investigated a smoke detector sounding in the first floor room and determined it was activated by marijuana smoke. No one was found in the room upon arrival. The matter was referred to Student Affairs.

9:48 p.m., Crossett Dormitory While in the basement, an officer discovered an unattended case of beer. It was disposed of.

10:02 p.m., Pond Dormitory While in the social dorm area, an officer encountered a woman with a bottle of alcohol. It was confiscated because she was not of legal age. The matter was referred to Student Affairs.

10:06 p.m., Social Quad While in the social dorm area, an officer encountered a woman with a box of wine. It was confiscated because she was not of legal age. The matter was referred to Student Affairs.

10:18 p.m., Coolidge Dormitory While in the basement, an officer discovered an unattended case of beer. It was disposed of. >>Sept. 19, 2015 12:23 a.m. Mayo Smith House An officer discovered a man asleep on a couch in the common room. He was identified as a visitor and was directed back to his host’s room.

2:08 a.m., Humphries House Officers responded to a report of an intoxicated male out of control and vandalizing the house. A student was placed in protective

custody and taken to the town detention facility. The matter was also referred to Student Affairs.

3:08 a.m., Off Campus Location A student reported she was harassed while on a PVTA bus. The incident is under investigation.

8:18 p.m., Stone Loading Dock An officer encountered a student with an unlicensed keg. The room group was fined $100.

9:09 p.m., Marsh House Officers and the fire department responded to an alarm and found it was activated by a basement detector for an unidentified reason.

11:52 p.m., Morrow Dormitory An officer responded to a complaint of loud music and spoke to a third-floor resident. >>Sept. 20, 2015 12:10 a.m., East Drive An officer investigated the odor of marijuana smoke and found two males smoking behind the Powerhouse. The men, who are Five College students, were issued written no-trespass orders and directed off campus.

12:24 a.m., Powerhouse While at a Powerhouse event, an officer encountered a visitor with a grinder used to grind marijuana.

It was confiscated.

12:25 a.m., Pond Dormitory An officer discovered unattended alcohol outside of the building. It was disposed of.

1:38 a.m., Crossett Dormitory An officer encountered a student smoking marijuana from a bong outside the building. The bong and a small about of marijuana, were confiscated. The matter was referred to Student Affairs.

2:04 a.m., Pond Dormitory An officer was stopped by several students who reported a group from off campus were involved in an aggressive altercation while in the building. The people were identified and issued written no-trespass orders. They were directed off campus.

7:38 a.m., Pond Dormitory Five people were issued written no-trespassing orders after having been involved in an incident.

11:20 p.m., Crossett Dormitory Officers on patrol observed a male climb through the window of a first-floor suite where a party was taking place. Officers spoke to the residents and had the music shut off. The non-residents left the suite.

11:52 p.m., Coolidge Dormitory Officers responded to a noise complaint and found loud music and yelling coming from a firstfloor suite. The residents were issued a warning.

Fresh Faculty Department of History

Five College Assistant Professor of History Adi Gordon has previously taught at Hebrew University, Tulane University and the University of Cincinnati. He is currently working on a biography of Hans Kohn, a JewishAmerican philosopher and historian.

Q: Your teaching interests include modern intellectual history and modern Jewish history. Could you talk a little bit more about these topics?

A: Absolutely. So I guess I’ll start by taking one step back, and say I am a new faculty, but I have been teaching at Amherst as a visiting professor in the last two years, and I’ve taught courses in both those fields. You know both my fields of research and interests are in a way split up — put in another way, they merge both Jewish history and old age on the one hand, and intellectual history, primarily European intellectual history. As far as courses are concerned: I taught a course called European Intellectual History [in the] 20th Century that dealt primarily with the role of public intellectuals — so this is something we explored last spring. And this coming spring I’ll be teaching a research seminar on nationalism, and much of it is going to be dealing with nationalism.

As far as Jewish history is concerned, I am teaching now a survey of more than Jewish history actually, beginning really really early. We begin in the late 15th century, which is quite a bit of a stretch, but we do bring it all the way to the 21st century. And last year, I also taught a course on Israel, which attracted quite a few students. I had almost 70 students in that class.

Q: So you mentioned a lot about the merging of the different horizons, the merging of Jewish history with the context of history.

How did you get interested in this kind of phenomenon? How did you get interested in combination of ideas?

A: Good question. You know, if I’m looking, if I’m going to the very beginning to my years in undergrad. I actually was not focused at all on Jewish history. I was, in American terms, a double major of German studies and history.

And when I say history, at least in that setting, it did not mean Jewish history. It was European history. It could have been also American history. But in my case it was European history, German studies. And gradually, the Jewish protagonist within this European context, sort of came to the fore, and so, I respond by example.

You asked how I got to the field. My first book dealt with Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany who came to Palestine, which was a state in the making, to a society in which Zionists wanted to create future Jewish state, but those refugees actually thought of themselves as Germans, who happened to be Jewish, and definitely not as Jewish nationalists. And here this merger of the horizons forced itself upon me. The long version says, if you look at this as part of the pre-history of the state of Israel, then those people do not fit in. If you see Jews in Palestine before the establishment of the Jewish state, so I’m talking about the 30s and 40s, then you think of them as people who are ideologically motivated and are committed to the idea that Jews should have their own state and should establish it in Palestine. This is not the case for the German refugees. They are culturally, emotionally, intellectually, bound to Germany, though Germany does not want them. Germany kicks them out. Going back to the point, so they do not fit the paradigm of Jewish historiography, or the way Jewish history is written. But they also do not fit the story of German history, because of the Jew-

ish state in rest — they are not just refugees who left Germany and came to any other place.

They are Jewish refugees who came to a place where other Jews are trying to come up with some other alternative to the course of Jewish history.

I’m still very much interested in central European, German-speaking Jewish intellectuals, and see the various roles they play, beyond central Europe, and beyond even the Jewish horizon. So, the one person whose biography I write now, a founding father of nationalism by the name of Hans Kohn, comes from this setting and begins by asking very “Jewish questions.” But the last chapter of his life, he is a Cold War intellectual, very much interested in the role of America, the U.S., during the Cold War, in the wake of World War II — and he brings many ideas from the central European setting. He never acknowledges that he brings it from there, but he tries to apply them to the American setting — and the role that is played in Cold War America by people from very different background with originally very different questions. That stuff interests me to no end.

Q: Why did you choose to teach at Amherst?

A: This is an interesting story. Well, first of all, I am part of an academic couple. My wife is Professor Walker. But I had a position in Cincinnati before that. I had taught in New Orleans at Tulane. And when Vanessa got the offer, I thought that it was a wonderful place to be teaching. I can tell you why I love teaching here. I mean the answer is very simple, it’s the students. You guys redefine the position of the professor, and I know I’m not the first one to tell you this, but it is true. You know, it’s true, there’s a difference between teaching Amherst College students and teaching students anywhere else. I have always had very bright students, always enjoyed this. But there is certain focus and commitment that allows us, professors and students alike to dig deeper. I always appreciated, and still very much appreciate, the fact that I have students that are obviously not going to grad school as historians. They do not have a plan of becoming historians. But, they want to take and make the most out of the courses in history they take. They’re not trying to make their lives easier. I do not know if I had that chance when I was their age, to learn history proper, and to understand this before moving on and doing something else. Some of them may become grad students and historians, but at this point in time, most of them know or assume that they are not going to be, and I admire that.

Q: Finally, are there any advice or any words last words you’d like to leave behind to students or potential students considering taking a class in history, or one of your classes?

A: I guess a good history class, a good history lesson, is one that on the one hand takes you not only to a different time but also to a different place and allows you to come back with some fresh and relevant insights. So, I hope it doesn’t sound like a platitude. I believe it.

This interview has been edited and condensed.

— Phillip Yan ’18

The Amherst Student • September 23, 2015

News

3

Task Force Considers Changes to Club Sports Continued from Page 1

dent-run clubs, they are funded by and organized through the AAS. Due to the clubs’ athletic nature, the Athletic Department is responsible for the allocation of field space, equipment, medical care and insurance.

“While I think it’s traditional that either student affairs or athletics is involved, I’m still not quite sure what the best is for Amherst,” Faulstick said. “Just because other schools have a way to do it doesn’t mean it’s best for us. If what we’re doing works best for our students, then there’s really no need to switch.”

Faulstick said that the burden of club sports on the AAS has grown, and that the Athletic Department is trying to help more with the management of club sports.

“If there are ways that athletics can take some of the burden off of AAS, with hiring coaches, helping them with the budget, or allocating funds, I’m up to partnering with them in any way that either AAS or the clubs think that we should,” Faulstick said.

The AAS and the Athletic Department are currently addressing immediate issues such as resource allocation.

However, in the long term, the AAS is considering more significant changes in the management of club sports.

“An eventual goal is to have all the club sports under the Athletic Department, so that the AAS doesn’t have to pay for the club sports anymore,” Jackson said. “But before we do that, we want to make sure that the club sports are getting the resources that they

need, and that they’re not taken over by the Athletic Department in a way that they don’t want to be.”

Currently, funding for club sports comprises a significant percentage of the AAS budget. Jackson said that if club sports were shifted to the Athletic Department, then money for other student-run clubs could be more readily available.

The task force will also use meetings to directly establish communication and cooperation between club sports and the Athletic Department.

Over the past year, Faulstick and AAS President Tomi Williams ’16 have also met to talk about club sports teams and their relationship with the AAS and the Athletic Department.

Both Jackson and Faulstick cited increased communication and better handling of club sports as a potential benefit of the creation of this task force, but described mistrust between the two groups as a potential difficulty.

“The athletic program has tremendous resources, and they seem like they’re going to try to be helpful in incorporating club sports,” said Jackson, who is also involved in men’s club soccer. “But people are still a little skeptical because relationships of some teams haven’t been great with the athletic department in the past.”

“I can see them being apprehensive of why athletics wants to be in this role,” Faulstick said. “Getting their trust … will open a lot of communications. We’re just trying to be helpful.”

Photo courtesy of Sophia Salazar ‘18

The men’s ultimate Frisbee team practice at Hills Field on Friday, Sept. 18. The college is considering changes to the management of club sports like Frisbee.

Office of Student Affairs Forms Task Force on Accessibility Katherine Stanton ’18 Staff Writer This semester Amherst administrators plan to examine problems with student access to campus resources by forming a new task force on accessibility. Led by Chief Student Affairs Officer Suzanne Coffey, the committee will finalize its membership within the next few weeks with the assistance of President Biddy Martin, and it will begin work in midOctober.

Coffey said the task force plans to examine all aspects of accessibility.

“Having an Amherst education be completely accessible to all students can mean a range of things depending on the student, where he or she is in terms of anything from learning style to mobility to access to classroom material,” Coffey said. “What we’re really talking about is, at every level, is everything at Amherst, especially education, accessible?”

The task force will be comprised of approximately 15 students, faculty and staff. Coffey

plans to use feedback from the Amherst community to guide the committee’s work.

“We want to really gather input from the experience of students, faculty, and staff, particularly students, and be in a place where it’s a community conversation,” Coffey said. “It’s often too easy to sit in a small group and write policy without doing all the groundwork that needs to be done. So we’re going to do this in a very transparent way.”

Coffey said that the impetus for creating the task force came from a variety of sources, including student interest. Last spring, senior Nora Gayer published an opinion piece in The Student criticizing, among other things, the college’s policy of prohibiting students from withdrawing late in the semester or taking less than three courses per semester.

She also claimed that low-income students faced greater difficulty in receiving academic accommodations.

Yeva Berkovich ’18, senior chair of the First Generation Association, said she would like to see greater accessibility for first-generation college students at Amherst.

Interested in getting the scoop on the latest developments on campus?

s w e n e h t n i o J staff!

If you want to write for us, email dahn17@amherst.edu

“We recognize that Amherst has succeeded in recruiting students like us, but hasn’t necessarily given us the resources and support that we need to succeed at this school,” Berkovich said.

She also said that many students have trouble interpreting their financial aid packages.

“There are mandatory meetings that you have to have with financial aid, but people often leave those meetings more confused than when it started,” Berkovich said.

Additionally, Berkovich said she would like to see increased communication between the First Generation Association and the college administration.

“I am happy that they are trying to address the issue, but I am going to stay, for lack of a better word, vigilant,” Berkovich said.

Flora Chan, associate director of student life for diversity and community and adviser to the Transfer Student Association and First Generation Association, said she tries to develop inclusive residential life and student activity programming. Chan said that while there has historically been a divide in commu-

nication between administration and students, she hopes this is changing.

“I think this new student life team and the way it functions can be in some ways a bridge to having additional student voice,” Chan said. “ I feel like Corry [Colonna], who is the associate director for residential life, Paul [Gallegos], who is the interim associate director of student life for Student Activities, and myself, we see a lot of students and we talk to a lot of students. I think we’re shifting toward increased communication and transparency and accessibility.”

Coffey said the committee will select students for the task force, and hopes that its work will be influenced by not only the members of the task force but also the entire Amherst community.

“This really impacts everyone, no matter how you think of your role or realm at this college, and so we’re very hopeful that people will feel as though they’ve seen, touched, felt and been involved with every piece of this at the level that is appropriate for them,” she said.

Amherst Forms Curriculum Committee Continued from Page 1 student research, integration of the Center for Community Engagement and more opportunities for project-based learning.

Several students are participating in discussions as at-large members of the committee.

“A recommendation to change nothing is just as important as a recommendation to change something,” said Tasha Kim ’18, an AAS senator on the committee.

Another topic of discussion for the curriculum committee is whether the curriculum in its current form meets the needs of an increasingly diverse student body.

“We bring a lot of students from different backgrounds at Amherst, but sometimes people have expressed a concern that we bring these people here and leave them high and dry,” Kim said. “We don’t necessarily provide students the tools to talk about diversity. The committee’s thinking that students should graduate with more knowledge of race, racism

and history.”

Kim said other ideas that the committee plans to brainstorm strategies for meeting those needs. “Is the way we teach students now effective?” she said. “Should we modify the way our classes are structured? Do we need to do a better job of advising our students?”

The committee is also discussing the relationship between major requirements and the open curriculum. Committee members said that while the open curriculum guarantees the opportunity to take diverse courses, students majoring in two or more subjects generally tend not to take courses outside of those subjects.

“Whether or not this is a problem is a question,” said Sam Keaser ’17E, a member of the college’s Committee on Educational Policy.

“One of the benefits of the open curriculum is that you don’t have required courses, unlike in a core curriculum. But better advising is always a plus, with faculty members encouraging students to branch out of their comfort zone.”

Opinion

THE AMHERST

STUDENT

Rethinking the Double Major Editorial

“What do you want to major in?” is a ubiquitous question among first-years during their first few months at Amherst. It’s one of those classic orientation conversation starters, like “Where are you from?” and “What dorm are you in?” The responses to the major question are always varied, but it’s striking how often they come in twos — whether it’s history and economics, Spanish and math or LJST and religion.

There’s undoubtedly something appealing about the double major. After all, about 40 percent of Amherst students take on more than one major, sacrificing the freedom of the open curriculum in order to fulfill more requirements. And there are great reasons for doubling up. Maybe the two disciplines overlap nicely with your academic passions. Maybe you’ve already fulfilled the requirements for a language major and all you need to do to complete the major is fill out a form. Maybe you just love two disparate subjects, like music and math, and can’t bear to give either of them up.

But while there are plenty of good reasons to double major, there are also plenty of bad reasons. When everyone else is double majoring, it’s easy to get caught up in the fray. Amherst is full of overachievers. Surrounded by goal-driven people, we strive to stand out and always do more. Especially given the anxiety-riddled job search that awaits us as we prepare to receive our degrees, we feel the need to distinguish ourselves above others with honors, credentials and lines on our resume.

Sometimes Amherst students feel pressure to pair a passion with a major that feels more “practical” — whether to impress potential employers, appease anxious parents or just boost our own self-esteem. And while planning for the future is certainly not a

bad thing, it’s tempting to get swept up in the double majoring frenzy without really thinking long and hard about whether that double major is worth it.

Double majoring can be difficult. It means taking around 20 required classes and often taking two sets of comps. For some, double majoring means sacrificing other valuable Amherst experiences, like studying abroad. At its best, a double major is a way to explore two equally strong interests. But at its worst, a double major can pigeonhole students by inundating them with requirements that stifle intellectual curiosity and prevent them from discovering new passions. The experience of exploring new subjects and taking new classes that make you uncomfortable is vital to the liberal arts education — but too often double majors don’t get to have this experience.

If Amherst students decide to double major because we feel obligated to do so or because we think a second major will help us secure a safe career path, we are restricting ourselves from the true pursuit of the liberal arts. Investment bankers can be biology majors, and doctors can be music majors. Your major or majors here do not determine the entirety of your future career or life path. Instead, your major should allow you to study your passion, while the rest of your classes should allow you to explore and to be made uncomfortable by new challenges to your way of thinking.

Amherst has an open curriculum for a reason. We students are entrusted with the ability to guide our own education, to expand our own minds and abilities and to reach beyond the boundaries of preconceived notions that we hold about ourselves and the world. We all are required to make good and responsible use of this privilege.

Letter to the Editor: Title IX Enforcement Kristin Bumiller George Daniel Olds Professor of Economics and Social Insitutions

Angie Epifano’s brave letter of Oct. 17, 2012 has stimulated much discussion about sexual violence on college campuses. While I feel progress has been made, we have much further to go in promoting the true spirit of Title IX — the promotion of gender equality and the creation of campus environments where all members of the community enjoy equal opportunities.

Last Thursday, Professor Janet Halley, in a public lecture, offered her expertise on how to improve campus sexual misconduct policies based upon her efforts at Harvard Law School. Criticism of current Title IX policies might be understandably unwelcome; some may genuinely believe we are moving in the right direction and others could reasonably worry about backtracking from the hard fought gains paved by activists. Those who are most committed to addressing the issues may well be so overwhelmed with the enormous effort, time and resources devoted to legal compliance that a reassessment of the current system seems impractical. But here and now, at Amherst College, we have an opportunity to evaluate openly where we have come from, what we have done, and most importantly, how we should move forward to more expansively promote equality and respect on campus.

Many valuable questions have been raised in debates at the national level about the current mechanisms of Title IX enforcement. Are there incompatibilities between promoting the wants and needs of complainants and college and university administrations’ efforts to demonstrate compliance? Are the rights of the accused ad-

equately protected? Does Title IX enforcement have a discriminatory impact based on race, ethnicity, immigrant status, sexual identity or any other group or category of persons on campuses?

It is also important to ask — is it working? We should evaluate whether the new procedures put in place are effective and fair, and if they produce undesirable consequences. The most vital criterion for that evaluation should be — is Title IX enforcement promoting the growth of a safer and more respectful community?

My own scholarship raises many of these questions in the context of efforts to introduce procedural reforms in the criminal justice system since the 1970s. My research draws attention to the problems that “mandatory” reporting and prosecution policies impose on persons who experience violence. The most significant is the failure of such policies to respect a person’s decision not to seek legal redress; this threat to autonomy is especially harmful when imposed by policies purportedly designed to “protect” them. (See K. Bumiller “In an Abusive State,” Duke University Press, 2008; K. Bumiller “Explaining the Volte-Face: Turning Away from Criminal Law and Returning to the Quest for Gender Equality,” The Oxford Handbook on Gender, Sex, and Crime, Rosemary Gartner and Bill McCarthy, editors, Oxford University Press, 2014 and K. Bumiller “The Nexus of Domestic Violence Reform and Social Science: From Instrument of Social Change to Institutionalized Surveillance,” Annual Review of Law and Social Science, Volume 6, December 2010.)

In light of this research, one aspect of Amherst College’s Title IX implementation strategy that needs reconsideration is the designation of ALL faculty members as mandatory reporters, regardless of their authority to “take action or redress

sexual violence.” This college policy, as I understand it, is not the only, or necessarily the best, interpretation of federal law. While recognizing that campuses are put in a very difficult position because of the threat of sanctions, this does not mean that we cannot be both compliant and design our policies to take into account competing concerns.

What do the mandatory provisions require faculty to do? According to our Title IX statements, “ALL Amherst College Staff and Faculty Members are Mandatory Reporters of Information Related to Sexual Misconduct. When Mandatory Reporters become aware of information regarding sexual misconduct, they are required to share what they know with the Title IX Coordinator or any member of the Title IX Team.” Please consider two hypothetical scenarios: A. Professor Conscientious is sitting in the Frost Cafe and overhears four students at the next table exclaim, “everyone knows that all male students on ‘X’ athletic team of an ‘X’ [racial/ethnic groups] are X [engaging in some forms of sexual misconduct] and the college doesn’t do anything about it.” The students make additional comments that demonstrate discriminatory bias toward [racial/ethnic] groups of students, which cause him to believe that the hearsay reports of sexual misconduct are malicious and unreliable. Professor Conscientious finds the comments deeply disturbing and decides to contact, not the Title IX Team, but the Student Affairs office because he believes the conversation is possibly a violation of our “respect of persons” statement. He considers the Student Affairs responsible for assuring the broad mandate of respect for persons (as part of, but also broader than, the assurance of sexual re-

Continued on next page

E X E C U T I V E B OA R D Editor-in-Chief Sophie Murguia Assistant Editor-in-Chief Elaine Jeon Managing News Dan Ahn, Jingwen Zhang Managing Opinion Johnathan Appel, Sunna Juhn Managing Arts and Living Liz Mardeusz, Paola Garcia-Prieto Alida Mitau, Julia Pretsfelder Managing Sports Lauren Tuiskula, Jason Darell, Drew Kiley Managing Design Gabby Bishop

S TA F F Publishers Emily Ratte, Tia Robinson Design Editors Katherine Chen, Megan Do, Adle Loomis, Zavi Sheldon, Yrenly Yuan Assistant News Editors Ryan Cenek, Carlos Rivero Assistant Sports Editors Jeremy Kesselhaut, Jason Stein Photography Editor Kyra Gardner

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The Amherst Student • September 23, 2015

Letter to the Editor: Title IX Continued from previous page

spect). He is honorably worried about transmitting unreliable hearsay evidence and according to his own professional ethics is concerned that such a report would be irresponsible.

He has told the dean of students everything he knows, and he is confident that if reliable information arises about sexual misconduct, the Student Affairs office will fulfill their Title IX reporting responsibilities.

B. A student visits Professor Conscientious during office hours to explain that his class has been a transformative experience, so much so, that after she reads her assignments she now sees oppression and discrimination everywhere. In fact, she explains that after she read the assignment about stalking, it made her feel like her very frequent and mildly unpleasant encounters with her ex (consensual sexual partner) could be defined as stalking. Within hours of reading the article she called her ex a “stalker” and since then she has noticed he tries very hard to avoid her. Professor Conscientious tells the student she has made him “aware of ” “information regarding sexual misconduct” that he is required to report to the Title IX Team. The student informs Professor Conscientious that she is not, and never intended to, make a claim of sexual misconduct. She tells him that the prospect of being “reported” makes her feel angry and powerless and her current distress is far more significant than the harmless behavior of her ex. She expresses fears that the required investigation will further damage her already strained relationships with her ex and their mutual friends. As she leaves his office, she tells Professor Conscientious that this conversation has undermined her desire to speak candidly to a professor about the connections between her personal and intellectual life. Professor Conscientious now feels like he has utterly violated the trust of his student and is concerned about how this violation will affect her learning experience and their relationship throughout the semester.

Does Amherst College policy require Professor Conscientious in both scenarios A and B to report directly to the Title IX Team? From my own reading of the policy and information from my training by the Title IX Team, I believe the answer is yes.

Unfortunately, a potentially problematic policy of mandatory reporting and its strict enforcement distracts us from what these policies have been designed to do: provide a clear channel for redress for those who have experienced harm and have chosen to make a complaint. Ultimately, the faculty’s most important role in promoting the goals of Title IX is not to act as “reporters,” but to expand our efforts to prevent sexual violence. My hope is that we can move away from over reliance upon “enforcement” and toward building a collective consciousness that fosters greater understanding about the harms of discrimination and how it interferes with students’ opportunities to benefit from and enjoy their education. As faculty we should assume responsibilities, above and beyond the Department of Education’s guidelines, to explore how we could be doing more to empower students, to fight all forms of discriminatory treatment in the classroom and to counter violence on campus and in our larger communities.

This proactive approach is more in line with the spirit of Title IX and with the “ethic of care” the faculty offers our students in this small and intimate college environment. Hopefully, we can all work together in these efforts.

Opinion

5

A Student’s Minor Major Inferiority Complex Jenna Peng ’18 Contributing Writer A physicist and a writer walk into a bar. The writer sits and reads a flimsy paperback novel while the physicist pores over several large volumes of physics textbooks. The physics enthusiast then says to the novelist, “I knew a physicist who became a writer because of his lack of imagination.”

Despite being set up as a (not very good) joke, this was, more or less, an actual interaction that occurred between a stranger and me. If you substitute “prospective English major” in for “writer” and “coffee shop” in for “bar” and add a lengthier dialogue that humanizes the physicist, but ruins the timing of the story, you have a completely accurate account of that conversation.

Comments like that may seem overly blunt and rather disrespectful, but to a student pursuing a humanities major, they are commonplace. As a prospective English major, I have had to strike a compromise of defending my academic interest to my parents and consoling them with an additional, more practical degree.

In telling people about my prospective major, I have experienced surprised expressions and “good for you”s at best, and patronizing expressions and “knowing” grins at worst. Even when speaking with fellow liberal arts students, I have a tendency to talk my serious literary interests down: I’m an English major; I hate tests. I’m an English

major; I’m just not a science person. I’m an English major; I’m afraid of right or wrong answers.

For some reason, I feel the need to qualify a decision to pursue a major in the arts and humanities, and the easiest way to defend that choice is to chalk it up to not a choice at all, but a fate determined by one’s inabilities. Why do I feel the need to justify my field of study in this way?

As usual, I choose to blame society. Seniors take certain lower-level English courses for an easy A. The stereotype of the starving artist who, if lucky, becomes famous posthumously remains a cultural paradigm. As fields like economics, psychology and political science move more in the direction of mathematical models, biology and randomized control trials, the social sciences, which are supposed to fall equidistant between the humanities and the hard sciences, demonstrate a strong bias towards the latter.

Even the name “social sciences” suggests a desperate attempt to distinguish itself, as much as possible, from its artsy neighbor and sidle up, as close as possible, to the hard sciences.

Sure, elements of the hard sciences have much merit and should be integrated into more fields.

However, why does this relationship have to be so one-sided? And why are the arts and humanities and the hard sciences so polarized? Why are literature and history viewed as being easily accessible, but subjects like chemistry

and math seem to possess certain barriers to entry? Why do I feel the need to say apologetic phrases like “I’m not a science person” when defending an English major, but when an engineering student discloses her major, no explanation is necessary? Is this perceived divide between the hard sciences and other fields of study simply that — a perception? Is it an effect of our overly scientific society that is obsessed with practical application and results-based evaluation?

Or does this division derive from something far more fundamental, perhaps the intrinsic qualities of the fields themselves?

Origin, ultimately, is unimportant. What is important is our failure in reimagining a different kind of education. What is important are the continued remarks, behaviors and perceptions that perpetuate this divisive hierarchy and discourage innovation and reformation in the subjects we learn about and the way we look at the world. In the context of Amherst’s open curriculum, humanities students will take a few quantitative classes and science students will take some arts courses, but for the most part, these classes will never be viewed as more than isolated incidents or short, leisurely strays from a person’s structured academic path. But we should not view our brief forays into different majors’ territories as hobbies or mere badges of our liberal arts education. Instead, we should use them to enhance our learning and make it truly interdisciplinary.

Letter to the Editor: Voting Yes on Social Clubs Abe Kanter ’15 Contributing Writer Over the next few months, the class of 2019 will be busy making some big decisions — which classes to take, which clubs to join and which Val meals to vow never to eat again. But they will also help make another big decision, which may have more lasting consequences for Amherst: whether the school can have social clubs.

I was one of the original members of the group that formally proposed social clubs — clubs which exist for the purpose of providing a social outlet for its members and throwing social events open to the entire school — to the student body almost a year ago. To address some rumors off the bat: Yes, many of the men in the group had been in fraternities. Yes, we miss fraternities, as do many male and female students who weren’t part of Greek organizations. No, social clubs are not a top-level conspiracy by which we plan to kick all of the girls off campus and return Amherst to the frat-centered 1950s.

Social clubs, by my estimation, take profound steps to fix the things that made fraternities an exclusionary force for some. The proposed clubs must be co-ed, can’t reject anyone who has shown interest, are funded by the school rather than by dues and have administrative oversight which can dispel a club for lack of diversity (of any type).

They give students funding and space to form close, meaningful friendships outside of sports teams, freshman dorms or theme houses. And

they ensure that every weekend, students will have more options than drinking in a dark corner of Stone or making arts and crafts in Keefe.

Yet, there exists at Amherst a small but vocal contingent that sees social clubs as college life going to hell in a hand basket.

At first, I didn’t understand why this contingent was so against social clubs. It seemed like whatever we did to address its concerns, it remained unsatisfied. But towards the end of the year, it hit me — these students weren’t against any individual aspect of fraternities or social clubs themselves, but against the whole idea of organized social groups. They were against any students coming together with any other students, calling themselves any name or pooling any of their resources to throw an event.

Take, for example, Sam Rosenblum’s polemic against social clubs last semester in this same publication: “We should desire,” he writes, “a campus where every student, because of and not in spite of social differences, would be able to befriend any other student.” His argument seems to start on the right track, though we might be immediately wary of a framework that defines social life in opposition to friendship. But in Rosenblum’s next sentence, we see just how misguided his position is. Rosenblum wrote: “A variety of factors — athletic team membership, first-year dorm placement, (lack of) attendance at the socials, religion, political stances — limit our ability to befriend others on this campus.”

In other words, Rosenblum and others who

oppose social clubs in any form believe that social life and friendships are hampered by organized groups like sports teams and first-year dorms (a category to which we could add first-year seminars, a cappella groups, the AAS, theme houses, the Multicultural Resource Center and the Women’s and Gender Center). But this view is the opposite of the truth. Activities like playing on the same team, living in the same dorm or going to the same parties and events are exactly what make meaningful social relations possible. They are the very foundations that allow us to meet and bond with those who become our close friends.

It is even more astounding that Rosenblum lists religion and political views as detriments to social life. These aspects of identity (to which we could add race, class and gender) not only create commonalities which are the seeds of meaningful relationships, but make us who we are. “Students at Amherst have a variety of interests, desires and talents that attract them to form different social groups,” Rosenblum writes. “That is a problem that fuels loneliness on our campus.” It is a shocking position, with scary implications, that a diversity of student interests and talents is a problem that must be fixed. Now, it may be true that loneliness at Amherst is fueled by our inability to engage with those whose identities seem wholly different from our own. Giving Rosenblum the benefit of the doubt, this is how I take his remark.

But the ironic thing is that social clubs would help solve that very problem by channeling the universal interest of companionship, rather than inter-

ests that only appeal to those of certain identities.

I do not know how Sam’s contingent came to believe that groups and identities hurt, rather than enable, social relations. But I speculate that it has to do with their stated desire for relationships to develop “naturally” or “organically.” This is not an absurd craving. In fact, it is a very human one. We all want to believe that we are capable of entering into meaningful relationships wholly on our own, without the help of any institution or group.

We imagine a utopian landscape in which we are guided, as if by magic forces, to those deep connections that will sustain us and make our lives worth living. For the anti-social club contingent, existing groups and identities are the only things stopping us from realizing this idyllic state of affairs.

But the truth is that there is no magic. Institutions and commonalities are precisely the things that make organic social relations possible, not the other way around. Groups make meaningful relationships, and social clubs would do so better than most.

So some closing advice to the class of 2019 (and anyone else willing to listen): Do not be fooled into thinking that the contingent against social clubs has any viable alternative in mind.

They don’t. If you truly believe that institutionalized groups are bad for college life, then vote against social clubs. But if you don’t — if you agree that common activities and identities make meaningful relationships possible — then I implore you to vote “yes” on the proposal.

Arts&Living

Photo courtesy of Helen Montie ’18

Coffee Haus is a beloved Friday night tradition at Amherst. The biweekly open mic event occupies an important role in the college’s social and artistic scene.

Coffee Haus Returns With “Illen and Bryan Miss Bryan’s Mommy” Sophia Salazar ’18

Contributing Writer A beloved Friday night tradition returned to campus last weekend, drawing in a large audience of curious first-years and regular fans. Coffee Haus, a biweekly open mic event hosted by the Marsh arts theme house, kicked off the school year with hot coffee and an eclectic set of student performances. The night’s talents included original music, stand-up comedy routines, narrative storytelling, spoken word poetry and live jam sessions.

In tribute to the night’s theme, “Illen and Bryan Miss Bryan’s Mommy,” emcees Illen Asmerom ’18 and Bryan Doniger ’18 read aloud postcards from Doniger’s loving mother, reminding him to wear sunscreen and to attend services for Yom Kippur, among other important things. During one interlude, Asmerom and Doniger invited spectators to the mic to talk about their mothers, bringing forward a parade of awkward anecdotes, gratitude and adoration directed toward their moms.

The night’s 24 performers showcased

talent in a variety of formats. The night began with a jazzy saxophone and drum duet by co-emcee Bryan Doniger and Emmanuel Osunlana ’18, followed by firsttime performer Douglass Jamison ’16’s thought-provoking spoken word poem.

A set of beautiful acoustic performances followed, which included many original songs written by Amherst students. In one of the four comedic acts of the evening, storyteller Gina Faldetta ’16 shared a hilarious anecdote with the audience that was met with copious amounts of laughter.

And covers of songs by the likes of Amy Winehouse, Katy Perry and The Jackson Five contributed to the eclectic variety of sounds present at the Coffee Haus.

Spectators joined the stage as the event ended, singing along to Darius Rucker’s “Wagon Wheel” while linking arms in a giant circle — a Coffee Haus tradition — then subsequently twisting and dancing erratically to the live band.

Friday’s Coffee Haus provided an atmosphere for students to display their artistic talents and for audience members to support their peers. Lauren Weiss ’18, another

performer of the night’s comedic acts, said, “I performed my first-ever standup routine in Coffee Haus on Friday. It was so satisfying to perform for my friends in such a great, welcoming space. Jokes are fun.”

New spectator Ruth Manzanares ’18 was one of the many crowd members supporting friends and peers on Friday.

“I always found myself too busy to attend in the past,” Manzanares said. “This time around, I not only had the time, but also the incentive [because] my friends were participating. If I were to return again, it would most likely be to support my friends, as well as the other [performers who] are brave enough to go on that stage and perform.”

Irisdelia Garcia ’18 recited an original spoken word poem, as well as a monologue from Ntozake Shange’s “for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf.”

“Marsh Coffee Haus has always been a space where I can revel in the part of my self that I don’t often explore,” Garcia said.

“It has always been a welcoming space for all sorts of acts, and I believe Illen and

Bryan did an amazing job at cultivating that inclusivity.”

Asmerom and Doniger, who are also the organizers of Marsh Coffee Haus this academic year, aim to foster an inclusive performance space for the college’s arts community.

“I want performers to know that we value the fact that going up and singing or telling a story isn’t easy,” Doniger said.

“When I performed for the first time, I felt like I was somehow being a nuisance or making life hard for the hosts. This year, I want performers to know right off the bat that their work is important to us, and that our job as hosts is to do our best to make their performance fun and memorable.”

A longstanding component of the college’s social and artistic scene, Marsh Coffee Haus is a welcome distraction from the week’s challenging academic coursework, and exposes Amherst students to their classmates’ talents.

“A bunch of folks sit around and treat each other’s art like it’s a crucial and important part of life for a few hours,” Doniger said. “That’s pretty sick!”

North Carolina Troupe Brings Experimental Shakespeare to Amherst DivineAsia Miller ’19

Contributing Writer

The North Carolina Stage Company, culminated two years of work on Sept. 12, when they performed their rendition of Shakespeare’s “Pericles, Prince of Tyre” for the very last time at Amherst College.

The first performances of “Pericles” took place at the North Carolina Stage Company’s home theater in Asheville, North Carolina during the fall of 2014.

After that, the play’s team dispersed and focused on other projects before reconvening in 2015 for a final production run from Sept. 9 to Sept. 11 at Amherst’s Holden Theater.

“Pericles” was a highly experimental, cutting-edge performance, both in terms of process and product. Only five actors, all in plain clothes, appeared on stage, and they used strategic prop and costume changes to alternate between characters.

The aesthetic of the show was minimalistic and playful. Actors donned leather jackets as heirloom armor and pool noodles as jousting equipment, and often times invited the audience to put their imagination to work, using billowing blue cloths as water or a knotted cloth as a baby. If the props were sparse, the stage design was even sparser. Besides the gradient purpleto-sienna backdrop adorned with primitive drawings and a partition separating this from the actors and a small platform, the set was never comprised of more than two stools. Technical effects included strategic, colored lighting and a sprinkle of sound effects. The actors opted to fill the empty space with a story, emphasizing stage action and the characters of “Pericles” over inanimate visuals.

Behind the peculiarity of the objects on the stage lies an even less conventional procedure for developing the show.

“The vision for the show was the pro-

cess,” Director Ron Bashford said, an assistant professor of theater and dance at the college. “Me and the actors got together two years ago with no vision for the play, but our intent was to discover the play together and figure out what we thought of it as a group.” Many of the production decisions were decided in a series of workshops in which the five actors and Bashford brainstormed possibilities for scenes. They improvised during run-throughs, practicing over and over with new changes until the scenes felt right. “It wasn’t mine, it was ours,” Bashford said.

The main developmental hurdle to the show was the self-imposed restriction to only five actors. This led the actors to seek logistic solutions to render the plot in a clear and compelling way without confusing the audience. A gradual approach with no clear goal worked well for the team, according to Bashford, who said that “ha[ving] that overall vision ahead of

time … may have conflicted with the pragmatic and creative solutions [they] found together.” Because of this, many transitions within the play reflected not only concerns with the story, but also concerns with the cast. Three actors played Pericles, one in the beginning who played him in his youth, another who straddled intermission and potrayed him as a middle-aged man and a third who played him as an old man. Many watching the show may have assumed that this was to facilitate the audience’s understanding of the passage of time in the play. However, it was mainly because it would have been impossible to do the play with only one person playing Pericles.

“Pericles” is a child of pragmatic improvisation and the collaboration of five longtime friends who sought not to create but to experience creation.

Bashford’s next production to hit Kirby Theater will be “The Cherry Orchard,” which goes up Oct. 29.

Arts & Living 7

The Amherst Student • September 23, 2015

Years & Years’ “Communion” a Collection of Powerful Pop Tracks Katyana Dandridge ’18 Contributing Writer After garnering a considerable amount of buzz in late 2013 and early 2014 with the singles “Traps” and “Real,” which culminated in their January win of the prestigious BBC Sound of 2015 award, British electro-pop outfit Years & Years finally released their debut album “Communion” on July 10.

Formed when two of the group’s members met online in 2010, Years & Years started out as an indie-leaning five-piece band, but they have since found their groove making soulfully distilled house music with just three members.

The trio consists of Olly Alexander as vocalist, Mikey Goldsworthy on bass and keyboards, and Emre Türkmen on synthesizers and keyboard.

This change in lineup birthed a robust, brand-new sound. Influenced by the threesome’s uniting affinity for ’90s R&B and house music from the same decade, Years & Years has been consistent in combining Alexander’s highpitched crooning with dreamy pulsating beats in their pre-“Communion” work.

By that, I’m referencing their solid May 2015 EP “Y & Y” that functioned as a small taste of what was to come with their debut full-length album. Album standouts “Desire,” “Take Shelter,” “King” and “Memo” were the four tracks featured on the EP. “Communion” opens with the ambient and solemn “Foundation.” With vocals reminiscent of a track by The Weeknd, Alexander ruminates about a devastatingly one-sided relationship. He even becomes self-pitying as he sings the song’s only verse: “All the things I want / I really shouldn’t get / If I triumph / Are you watching? / Can you separate everything for me? / You used to work me out / But you never worked it out for me.” The chill, sparse synths and confessional lyricism really set the tone for the rest of the album. It’s hard to imagine a better first track for a work overflowing in sensuality and abandon.

The first act of the lengthy 17-song deluxe version is very tight in its production quality, as good pop should be.

This is where most of Years’ best songs

reside.

After “Foundation” comes “Real,” the song that first introduced me to the band. A clapping instrumental, with the band’s signature polished combination of electronic beats and traditional instrumentation, makes for a cut with universal appeal.

Even as the lead singer exposes secure feelings in pursuit of a distant lover — such as “Oh, I think that if I had been enough for you / Would I be better / Would I be good?” — sex becomes a mere bargaining tool. Alexander sings “And I’ll do what you like if you’ll stay the night / You tell me don’t think you should / You do it boy.” The vocalist is an openly gay man and has noted the erotic aspect of this identity as a part of his writing influence.

“Worship” has Alexander invoking his feather-light vocals on Goldsworthy and Türkmen’s trance-like beat. He sings about the sticky sweetness of a love so devotional it must be kept a secret. The chorus has a chanting quality that makes it irresistible, even if it doesn’t quite fit the common belief that a catchy pop hook must sacrifice any and all semblance of poetic nuance.

He sings, “I worship high praises / My longing drives me crazy for you / My kingdom for your graces / I’m not gonna tell nobody / I’m gonna tell nobody ’bout you.” The accompanying music seems to be competing with his voice, but just like a girl searching for her intoxicated friend at a crowded Miami nightclub where this song belongs, Alexander’s voice eventually separates from the madness and is reunited with our ears.

“King” is a frothy single that sounds like a carefree summer anthem. Over an ’80s dance beat, complete with luxurious reverberating synths, Alexander declares, “Don’t wanna wait for you / Don’t wanna have to lose.” The most memorable line of the song, “I was a king under your control” is where his vocal range truly excels.

The ninth song on the album, “Desire,” provides a perfect example of the sensuality and calculated abandon that characterize the musical style of “Communion.” The line “I want desire / Cause your love only gets me abused”

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia

Years & Years’ debut album integrates powerful synthesizers and smart lyrics. feels like the most honest and emotionally raw moment on the album.

The vocalist even goes further with his attempt to reel his partner back into a lust-filled relationship: “Give me that rush / I wanna show you what you’ve been missing / Am I enough / To keep your other lovers hidden?”

Unfortunately, Alexander, Goldsworthy and Türkmen struggle to hold our listeners’ attention on tracks 10 through 17. They become slower, keeping Alexander’s vocal ability as a focal point, but they lack the duality of heart and body that make the beginning tracks so enjoyable.

Perhaps as a stand-alone album, these songs could be successful if they shared the same shelf space as a Sam

Smith album, but the transition to these songs is rather weak. There is no lack of quality here, but these tracks start to feel like background noise quickly.

A cohesive sound is crucial to creating a strong debut, and songs 10 through 17 on “Communion” are forgettable because they don’t resonate with the rest of the album.

Although the album isn’t quite perfect, Years & Years showcase their impressive skill set and are poised to become underground pop mavens, à la Disclosure, with “Communion.”

With a Sound of 2015 award and a couple chart positions under their belt, you can look forward to hearing more from Olly, Mikey and Emre for years to come.

Not Just For Kids: Cartoons With Decidedly Adult Perspective Darya Bor ’18 Staff Writer Yes, adult TV shows and thought-provoking movies are absolutely fantastic, but occasionally it’s good to kick back with some good, nostalgiainducing children’s television. Over the summer, I began watching two TV shows that have achieved significant popularity not only among their targeted demographic (actual children), but also among many cartoon-loving adults — and for completely legitimate reasons. Cartoon Network’s “Steven Universe” and Disney Channel’s “Gravity Falls” are some of the best shows out there right now, whether adults or children watch them. Both programs emphasize positive relationships, engaging plotlines and quality art direction.

Let’s begin with a brief overview of both series. “Steven Universe” focuses on the eponymous character — an excitable and energetic boy — and his adventures with his three alien caretakermothers known as the “Crystal Gems.” Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl watch over Steven after the loss of his biological mother and protect Earth from extraterrestrial invaders. “Gravity Falls” follows twins Dipper and Mabel Pines after they get sent off to live with their eccentric granduncle Stan. They live in a sleepy, small town in the Oregon woods called “Gravity Falls.”

“Steven Universe” boasts more than 100

10-minute episodes that include both cheerful subject matter and dramatic, tragic moments. The main conflict arises among the Earth-dwelling Crystal Gems, Steven and the gems from the Homeworld — the alien planet where the Crystal Gems came from. The plot develops slowly and calmly, just like the show’s events. The 10-minute episodes do not give much room for prolonged development and give a more episodic look at to the characters’ squabbles. While the visuals are absolutely beautiful (I could spend hours looking at the backgrounds alone), the characters’ lack of motion leaves them hanging on the page like sock puppets without a hand to provide the movement.

The dialogue, though clever, does not require consistent attention. I find that simply watching “Steven Universe” while doing other things, like cleaning the house, provides pleasant background noise. When I try to focus on it, my attention begins to wane.

The series is notable in a several ways: It is Cartoon Network’s first series created by a woman, Rebecca Sugar, an “Adventure Time” veteran.

The show’s protagonist, Steven, is based off her own brother — Steven Sugar. Secondly, part of the show’s charm stems from the series’ production.

The show is created by “storyboarders” rather than writers, leading to incredibly innovative art direction and visually arresting animation, laced with soft round shapes, pinks and purples and an-

ime-esque action sequences. However, the lack of a writer’s supervision leads to occasionally weak and off-beat dialogue, especially in the early episodes of the show. “Steven Universe” is incredibly progressive. The show’s main cast is completely female, save for Steven and his doting father, Greg.

The show positively portrays gay relationships between female-identifying characters, specifically Ruby and Sapphire. Their glowing love for each other is a definite highlight of the show. A couple of non-binary characters appear and are treated with absolute respect; male characters with stereotypically female interests are accepted, not ridiculed as they are in most shows. It’s a breath of fresh air and a relief to know that kids are watching and learning from shows like this.

And then there’s “Gravity Falls.” The show feels like a cross between “Phineas and Ferb,” “Twin Peaks” and “X-Files,” but none of that is as important as the central relationship between the show’s main characters, the Pines twins. Dipper and Mabel are incredibly supportive of one another, playfully bickering and moving together as one unit until splitting apart into two remarkably different individuals. Any other Disney show would have siblings constantly sabotaging each other, but the healthy dynamic established by the Pines twins lends the show a completely different feel than the network’s other shows. The series, according to creator Alex Hirsch, was based upon the tiring

and boring summers he and his twin sister, Ariel, had in their relatives’ small towns. The first season tries to correct those boring summers with a mysterious journal that Dipper finds in the woods.

All of a sudden, the twins’ lives are filled with supernatural enemies, an interesting assortment of ignorant townsfolk and a strange great uncle.

The Pines twins are afforded the fun and exciting summer that the Hirsch twins never enjoyed. The show is a suspenseful ride, and it’s worth watching the 20-some episodes of the two seasons.

What makes these creepy, supernatural elements work is the lack of complete mature-level horror. A children’s show cannot adopt the cheap scare tactics that are so effective in adult horror movies, so the creative team compensates with actual quality: beautiful art direction, clever dialogue, nightmarish creatures rather than gory scenes and plotlines with enough clues to keep fans eagerly awaiting the next episode.

Out of the two, “Gravity Falls” is definitely the stronger and more engaging show, simply because of its higher-quality production and suspenseful tone. That does not leave “Steven Universe” without its merits, especially because of its progressive characters and stylized visuals. Both shows are great reminders of what it’s like to run home after school and watch cartoons before doing homework. It’s a return to the simplicity of childhood, and boy, sometimes we need that.

Arts & Living 8

The Amherst Student • September 23, 2015

Amherst Cinema Screens Acclaimed German Film Through Sept. 25 Sarah Wishloff ’19 Contributing Writer In the critically acclaimed German film “Phoenix,” Nina Hoss shines as Nelly, a Jewish Holocaust survivor and a former nightclub singer. Following the liberation of Nazi concentration camps at the end of World War II, Nelly returns to Berlin under the care of her loyal friend and fellow survivor Lene Winter, played

by Nina Kunzendorf.

Brutally scarred by a facial gunshot wound, Nelly is given the freedom to choose a completely new appearance through the reconstructive surgery. However, she asks to be made to look exactly like her former self and is appalled by the imprecise results — her former self no longer exists.

As she struggles to re-adjust to civilian life, Nelly begins to frequent local clubs in search of her husband Johnny, played by Ronald Zehrfeld, as she believes that reuniting with Johnny will allow her to return to her life before the tragedy.

Lene suggests in the film’s earliest moments that Johnny is responsible for Nelly’s arrest and imprisonment, but Nelly refuses to accept this possibility and pursues her husband with fervent determination.

However, Johnny does not recognize her and believes her to be a woman that merely looks like his deceased wife. He instead takes advantage of Nelly by hiring her to pretend to be his wife, so that he could collect her sizeable inheritance.

The plot of “Phoenix” is not exactly realistic.

It seems unlikely that even the most oblivious husband would not be able to recognize his wife. Yet Nina Hoss’s sophisticated and flawless performance compensates for the implausibility of the plot. Hoss portrays Nelly as a woman detached from reality. Thrown into the unfamiliarity of a civilized society, Nelly becomes overwhelmed and confused in the strangeness of the postwar life.

In one particularly powerful scene, she holds a pair of expensive Parisian shoes with disbelief

and awe. The possession of material luxuries seems outlandish and wrong in comparison to the desolation of the camps, something that Hoss effectively reveals in her expressions and movements.

Hoss excels in her role as a powerless and afraid character who is somehow still full of life.

The brilliance of the performance is perhaps most evident in Hoss’s eyes, which manage to convey a genuine vulnerability, weariness and desperation.

Nelly’s eyes plead to be seen and understood, and they clearly demonstrate her desperate desire for her husband to recognize her.

Written and directed by Christian Petzold, “Phoenix” is an ode to a particular period, a ballad to the lost civilization of pre-World War II Germany.

The film is like a love song to the past, and the film’s soundtrack aptly enhances the narrative. Composed by Stefan Will, the film’s score underlines Nelly’s desire to return to her former life. The score is sentimental and reminiscent, dark and sweet. It elegantly illustrates the cherished memories, of an era that is impossible to return to.

Derived from the name of the Berlin nightclub where Nelly first re-encounters her husband, the film’s title itself is a metaphor for death and re-birth. “Phoenix” is about the revival and recovery of Nelly’s life, reflected through Berlin’s own revival in the aftermath of the war.

Nelly’s story is a representation of the betrayal, confusion and guilt that defined the postwar German society. Her story encourages us to examine what it means to endure atrocity and still carry on.

Petzold masterfully combines the film’s narrative with stunning colors and visual elements, solidifying “Phoenix” as a must-see motion picture. His tremendous attention to detail draws us entirely into the world inside the film, one that seems both realistic and dreamlike.

“Phoenix” questions how we heal after experiencing tremendous pain, how we continue when our reality is shattered and how our expe-

Image courtesy of Chris Tamasi ‘15

Photo courtesy of farefilm.it

Nina Hoss stars as Nelly, a Holocaust survivor, in the German film “Phoenix.” riences change the core of our being. As viewers, we begin to feel Nelly’s emotions as though they were our own. We feel broken and set free throughout the course of the film.

If we allow ourselves to be touched by the

narrative, we will continue to feel Nelly’s emotions when the film ends and we return to our own lives.

“Phoenix” is playing at Amherst Cinema through Thursday, Sept. 25.

A Summer Well Spent: Lerato Teffo ’18 Shares Her Experience

Photo courtesy of wikipedia.org

Lerato Teffo ’18 spent her summer as an intern at Grace Smith House in Poughkeepsie, New York, a city located approximately 70 miles from New York City.

Alida Mitau ’18 Managing Arts & Living Editor When students return to Amherst in the fall, the default conversation starter is always “Hey! How was your summer?” Usually these conversations are short: “It was good, how was yours?” we’ll respond. Rarely do we get to have in-depth conversations with our peers about what they actually did during their time away from campus.

This is a shame, because many students, like Lerato Teffo ’18, spend their summers doing important and interesting work. To find out more about one student’s transformative summer, I sat down with Teffo to talk about her internship experience.

Teffo is from South Africa and is a sexuality, women’s and gender studies and economics double major. She interned in Poughkeepsie, New York, at an organization called Grace Smith House, which provides shelter and assistance to victims of domestic violence.

Teffo began working in the shelter after a

daylong training, during which she learned about domestic violence, why victims often stay with their abusers and how to speak to survivors of domestic violence.

After the training, she began working in the shelter, where she helped with day-to-day tasks, spent time with the survivors and their children and answered the shelter’s hotline phone number.

When asked her about answering the hotline, Teffo said, “I’m honestly still not comfortable answering it. I mean, you’re sitting in an office with so many people around, and the first time I answered a call, it was just a woman screaming on the other end.”

Teffo had to fill out risk assessment forms for each call so that the shelter could decide how to proceed with a caller, and she answered about 15 calls per day. Often, the shelter receives calls from homeless people or others that the staff members cannot help.

Additionally, many survivors are unable to leave their abusers because financial difficulties prevent them from relocating.

Teffo described how talking to a recently rescued victim of extreme abuse made domestic violence distressingly real for her.

“I felt disheartened, angry, scared. I mean, to see the physical marks on her body and know that the abuser is out there. What can you do?” she said. Being in the hospital, and even working in the shelter, was very risky for Teffo.

She said she was often scared while walking to and from work, knowing that the abusers of the women she worked with could be anywhere.

When asked what she took away from this internship, Teffo said, “I’m so glad I did this, because it made me realize that I can’t go into social work. It’s very difficult because you never see any immediate results, but then again, when do you ever see immediate results in life?”

However, it’s not that she doesn’t want to work on solving these critical issues; rather, she has been inspired to resolve them in other ways. “We need more representation in the media of what a healthy relationship looks like, because a lot of social media contributes

to domestic violence and the oppression of women,” she said.

“My work made me realize how important the media is. It’s important to have a lot of exposure to healthy, progressive concepts in order to normalize them against the more prejudiced norms. I would love to create a TV show or something that represents a healthy family or relationship with people of color, that isn’t necessarily hetero-normative and with very empowered women.”

Teffo said she has changed as a person after working at the Grace Smith House. “I think I know how important it is to communicate with your partner from the very beginning and to know yourself,” Teffo said.

“This summer, I just tried to figure out what I want in life, and I feel pretty confident in myself. I never want to put myself in any situation where I can become a victim. I maintain pride in myself.

I finally accepted my blackness and myself, and I’m not ever trying to be anything else.

Now I’m ready to tackle the world.”

The Amherst Student • September 23, 2015

Sports 9

Women’s Soccer Defeats Middlebury, Extends Undefeated Streak Virginia Hassell ’16 Staff Writer

With 17 seconds remaining in Saturday’s contest, Amherst College forward Emily Hester ’17 notched the game-winning goal to lift the Jeffs (4-0-0) to a 2-1 victory over conference rival Middlebury (1-1-1). With the win, the undefeated Jeffs captured their third conference win of the year.

The first half resulted in a stalemate, in which both teams were unable to find the back of the net. Amherst had a strong opportunity early in the first half, when Megan Kim ’16 found first-year Rubii Tamen at the top of the box. Tamen fired a shot on net, but the Panthers’ goalie was able to make a diving stop to her left.

Amherst slightly edged Middlebury with a 5-4 shot advantage while Middlebury held a 3-1 advantage on corner kicks. Just like last year, the game was decided in a second half nail-biter that left Amherst on top.

“When we do the little things right we start to click with each other, and that builds up our collective confidences,” Hester said. “We came out a little nervous in the first half, but by the second half we flipped a switch and were really ready to battle for our win together.”

In the 58th minute, the purple and white capitalized on a corner kick when Hester, who leads the team in assists, connected with Amherst’s top goal scorer, Hannah Guzzi ’18.

Guzzi drilled a shot past Middlebury’s goalie to put Amherst ahead 1-0.

“As a team, we started to communicate more and have an attacking mentality in the second half,” captain Jessy Hale ’16 said. “We got more shots on goal and attacks in the final third.”

The Middlebury squad wouldn’t fall easily. Twenty minutes later, Middlebury tied the game 1-1 when Emma Shumway collected a ricocheted shot and nailed one into the back

Photo by Rob Mattson

Emily Hester ’17 scored the game-winner, her first goal of the season, in the Jeffs’ victory over Middlebury. of the net.

Propelled by senior leadership, the Amherst team responded just in the knick of time.

Senior forward Rachael Abernethy left the crowd in awe as she raced down the field and placed the ball directly at Hester’s feet. Hester gave the ball one touch and then fired a shot to the right side to clench a thrilling 2-1 victory as time expired.

Amherst’s unyielding back line was able to hold the Panthers off for the remaining 15 minutes of action. Senior net minder Holly Burwick posted five saves en route to the victory.

The last time the purple and white de-

Men’s Golf Competes at MiddleburyHosted Duke Nelson Invitational Jason Darell ’18 Managing Sports Editor This past weekend at the Duke Nelson Invitational, the Amherst men’s golf team posted a 36-hole score of 650, good for share of 16th place, along with UMass Dartmouth, in the field of 25 teams.

At the Middlebury-hosted tournament, sophomore Danny Langa impressed with his two-day total of 156. This excellent performance earned him 17th overall among the field. He improved upon his 81 on Saturday with a 75 the next day, which was the best 18hole score on the team.

“Coming off of a pretty good performance at Williams, we were just looking to improve and get ready for NESCAC qualifiers, which has been our goal since the end of last season,” Danny Langa said. “As a team, we didn’t really perform as we wanted to; the weather on the first day played a big factor in the whole field’s

scores. But Liam and I both found a groove on the second day that we hope we can carry through to the NESCACs in a couple weeks.”

Finishing two strokes behind him on the weekend was co-captain Liam Fine ’17. His final tally of 158 gave him 33rd place in the tournament.

Finishing behind him was senior cocaptain James Line, who scored a 165 for the weekend.

Rounding out the top five for the purple and white were sophomores Mateo Wiesner and Justin Henriksen, who finished with scores of 173 and 175, respectively.

The Jeffs’ next tournament is the NESCAC Qualifier, which will take place on Oct. 3. Last year, the team finished at the NESCAC Championship qualifier with a team score of 302, which was good for third place and qualification at the NESCAC championship. The team hopes to build on its underclassmen talent as the season goes on.

feated Middlebury was in regular season action in 2011, the same year Amherst won the NESCAC championship and advanced to the NCAA quarterfinals.

The 17th-ranked Jeffs are set to return to action in an away contest against their conference archrival, second-ranked Williams (5-00) on Saturday, Sept. 26 at 11 a.m. Within the past three seasons, Amherst has posted a 1-11 record in regular season games against the Ephs. In last year’s matchup, Guzzi and Hester chipped in a goal apiece to lead Amherst to a 2-0 victory. Hester and Guzzi will be on the attack again this year as the Jeffs look to replicate

2 3 100

James Line ’16 finished third amongst Jeff golfers this weekend.

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similar success and extend their win streak to five games.

They’ll finish up the weekend by hosting Wheaton College for a 2 p.m. start on Sunday.

“Moving forward it will be important to put a full 90 minutes of Amherst women’s soccer on the field,” Abernethy said. “We have a very specific process and way of play that serves us well. We work hard to practice different elements of our style everyday. The more we learn to trust that process, put it into use for the entire game and hold ourselves to the expectations we set for the season, the more successful we will be.”

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10

Sports

The Amherst Student • September 23, 2015

Men’s Soccer Sweeps on the Weekend, Remains Undefeated on the Season Jason Stein ’16 Assistant Sports Editor Five games into the 2015 season, the men’s soccer team has impressed both offensively and defensively. After three victories this past week, the Jeffs are riding a five-game winning streak to open the season, standing at 5-0-0 overall and 2-0-0 in the NESCAC. While Amherst needed a dramatic, comefrom-behind victory to beat the Western New England Golden Bears in 2014, this time the Jeffs were in control the whole way in a road game last Wednesday.

With a little less than 20 minutes remaining in the first half, senior striker Greg Singer headed a ball into the box that forward Chris Martin ’17 volleyed into the net to put the Jeffs ahead 1-0.

Shortly thereafter, Amherst doubled its lead, when a powerful free kick from goalie Thomas Bull ’16 put senior forward Nico Pascual-Leone in position to score his first goal of the 2015 campaign, with Bull receiving credit for the assist on the goal.

At the halftime break, the Jeffs held a 2-0 lead, as well a 10-1 shot advantage over the Golden Bears.

Trailing in the second half, the Golden Bears stepped up their offensive efforts, ultimately outshooting the Jeffs 5-3 after halftime.

Early into the second half, Martin narrowly missed a shot attempt that would have been his second score of the day.

About 10 minutes into the second period of play, Bull saved sophomore forward Troy Remillard’s shot attempt, which was the Golden Bears’ first shot on goal.

Midway through the second half, Troy Remillard was just wide on an attempt to put the Golden Bears on the board. A few minutes later, a Western New England free kick went off the crossbar, but the Golden Bears were unable to convert on the scoring opportunity.

Ultimately, the Jeffs were able to hold the Golden Bears scoreless and preserved their 2-0 lead until the final whistle.

This past Saturday, the Jeffs welcomed the Middlebury Panthers to Hitchcock Field for a highly anticipated regular season matchup that could serve as a preview of a 2015 postseason meeting in the NESCAC tournament or in the NCAA tournament.

While the Panthers entered play with a 3-0 record, including a whopping 10-0 victory in their last game, the Jeffs managed to contain the Panthers throughout the entirety of the game.

Extremely early into the match, less than a minute in, Martin found the back of the net again for Amherst, this time scoring his fifth goal of the year off assists from junior midfielder Andrew Orozco and junior forward Jackson Lehnhart.

A one-goal cushion over the Panthers did not deter the purple and white from continuing to attack. The Jeffs had mustered six shots over the first 10 minutes and seven shots by the 16:09 mark in the first half. It was not until the 25-minute mark before the Panthers attempted their first shot, but Bull was there to make the save on an attempt by Panthers junior forward Greg Conrad, the reigning NESCAC Player of the Year.

Over the final stretch of the first period, the Jeffs had three more shots and Conrad had another scoring opportunity, but neither side was able to convert on these chances towards the end of the first half.

In the second period of play, the offensive attacks of the two sides were more balanced, as each team attempted eight shots.

While the Panthers increased their offensive pressure in the second half, the Jeffs managed to keep their opponent off the board, just as they had done in the previous three contests of the season.

Although they allowed a goal within the

first minute, the Panthers’ defense was strong, as Amherst was unable to add to its lead over the remainder of the game and ended up winning 1-0 on Hitchcock Field.

The following day, the Jeffs cruised to a fairly easy victory on the road against Elms. In the first half, two players scored for the Jeffs: Pascual-Leone (his second goal of the season) and sophomore forward Aziz Khan (scoring his first goal of the season off junior defenseman Cameron Bean’s first assist of 2015).

Additionally, between these scores in the first half, Amherst benefited from an own goal as well, giving the Jeffs a 3-0 lead heading into halftime.

Less than 10 minutes into the second, Martin put one into the back of the net on a chipped shot over Elms goalkeeper for his team-leading sixth goal of the season, with Singer assisting Martin on the play for his second assist of 2015.

Martin’s goal would be the final score of the day, as the Jeffs held on for a 4-0 lead against Elms, while managing to outshoot them 19-10.

Already, the Jeffs are outscoring their opponents 12-0 through 2015’s first five games, and are showing signs of being capable of (once again) making a deep postseason run.

Thus far, Martin leads the NESCAC with six goals on the season. With an assist to go along with his six scores, Martin is also second in the conference in points (at 13), only trailing Bates’ senior midfielder Luis Pereira, who has five goals and four assists (good for 14 points) in 2015.

The 2015 season has not, however, been a one-man effort for Amherst in 2015 — a number of players have made significant contributions thus far into the season.

Perhaps more impressively, the Jeffs have attained this considerable success without an entirely healthy roster: Some of the team’s key players have been unable to play due to various injuries.

These setbacks have not stopped Amherst, which has a particularly deep roster, and many players have helped fill the voids left by injured players.

“The most encouraging thing so far [this season] is how many guys have contributed,” said coach Justin Serpone. “Almost everyone on the team has played significant minutes.

Injuries are part of competitive sports, unfortunately, so it’s important to build a roster that can withstand players missing games. I have so much confidence in every player that wears an Amherst uniform, and they are all here for a reason and fill a specific role.”

Up next, the Jeffs head to Williamstown on Saturday for a must-see match at 1 p.m. against the rival Ephs, who enter play against the Jeffs with a 3-2-0 record and a 2-1-0 record in the NESCAC. While the Jeffs topped the Ephs 4-1 in the team’s home opener in 2014 (when PascualLeone scored twice and both Martin and Orozco added goals), the pair of NESCAC rivals have played some extremely competitive and historic matches in recent years.

These matchups include the 2012 NESCAC championship (a 2-0 win for the Jeffs), the 2013 NESCAC championship (a 1-0 victory for the purple and white), the 2012 NCAA quarterfinals (in which Williams advanced to the national semifinals on penalty kicks over the Jeffs), the 2013 NCAA quarterfinals (a 1-0 victory for Williams), as well as a 2012 regular season matchup that ended in a draw and a 1-0 double-overtime victory for Amherst in the 2013 regular season.

“Everything goes out the window when we are talking about Amherst-Williams,” Serpone said. “If both programs were 0-5, it would still be the most anticipated game on the Division III calendar this weekend. Luckily, both teams are very good and both coming into the game with a lot of momentum. I’d expect a classic, as always.”

ATHLETE SPOTLIGHT

Chris Martin ’17 Favorite Team Memory: Winning the NESCAC title in 2013 Favorite Pro Athlete: Jordan Spieth Dream Job: Successful bed and breakfast owner Pet Peeve: People waking me up from naps Favorite Vacation Spot: Southern Florida Something on Your Bucket List: Skydiving Guilty Pleasure: Romantic comedies Favorite Food: All kinds of sushi Favorite Thing About Amherst: The view from the top of Memorial Hill How He Earned It: Martin helped the men’s soccer team maintain its undefeated season with his efforts this past week.

The junior forward netted an early goal against NESCAC foe Middlebury to lift the Jeffs to a 1-0 win. The goal came just 27 seconds into play. Martin followed up his standout performance on Saturday with another impressive showing on Sunday. He netted his sixth goal of the season during Amherst’s 4-0 victory over non-conference opponent Elms.

Emily Hester ’17 Favorite Team Memory: Beating Williams last year Favorite Pro Athlete: Bryce Harper Dream Job: National Geographic photographer Pet Peeve: Don’t have one Favorite Vacation Spot: Barbados Something on Your Bucket List: Cage diving with great whites Guilty Pleasure: Country music Favorite Food: Ice cream Favorite Thing About Amherst: The amazing people How She Earned It: Hester scored the game winning goal in Amherst’s narrow 2-1 victory over a talented Middlebury team. Amherst secured a 1-0 lead early in the second half of the game and maintained it for much of the remainder of the half. However, a late goal by the Panthers tied the score and it appeared the game would have to enter extra play. Hester prevented the extra time as she found the back of the net with just 15 seconds remaining in regulation play tallying her first goal of the season.

Women’s Golf Opens Season With Strong Showing At NYU Fall Invitational

Tess Frenzel ’17 finished in fifth place among the competing Jeffs.

Photo courtesy of Rob Mattson

Women’s golf began the season at the NYU Invitational last weekend.

Drew Kiley ’18 Managing Sports Editor The Amherst College women’s golf team kicked off its season with a fourth-placed finish in a field of 12 teams at the two-day NYU Fall Invitational last weekend. Led by an impressive debut from first-year Kate Weiss, Amherst posted a team score of 642 at the par-72 Spook Rock Golf Course.

Weiss paced the squad, finishing tied for eighth, with a 36-hole score of 156. The first-year started with a one-over 73 in the first round on Saturday, good for the second-best individual score of the day. Weiss then posted an 83 on Sunday to cap her weekend.

“I think this weekend was a great first showing for our team,” co-captain Devyn Gardner ’16 said. “We all feel really positive about Saturday and while Sunday didn’t go quite as well there were a lot of good takeaways.”

Zoe Wong ’18 finished second amongst Jeff golfers. She carded a two-day score of 159 (80-

79), good for 13th overall. Katie Rosenberg ’19 came next, finishing tied for 19th in the field with a 162 (82-20).

Gardner tied for 21st overall with a score of 165 (80-85) for the purple and white. First-year Maggie Schoeller ’19 posted a 2-day score of 180, and co-captain Sarah Ressler ’16 carded a 189.

“It was fantastic to see the first-years step up, and we are so excited that they are already making a big contribution to the team,” Gardner said.

“I think this was a great preview of what we are capable of this season.”

The Jeffs return to the course next weekend for the two-day Mount Holyoke College Invitational on Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 26 and 27.

At the tournament last year, Jamie Gracie ’17 posted a two-day total of 148 (76-72), claiming first-place and pacing Amherst to a sixth place team finish.

With Gracie abroad for the semester, Wong, who tied for eighth overall last year, hopes to lead Amherst as they look to improve on last year’s finish.

The Amherst Student • September 23, 2015

Sports

Field Hockey Hopes to Earn First NESCAC Victory Over Williams

11

MLB: How can we fix the playoff system?

Chris’ Corner Chris Rigas ’16 Columnist

Photo courtesy of Mark Box

Caroline Fiore ’18 opened the scoring for Amherst against Keene State.

Lauren Tuiskula ’17 Managing Sports Editor The Amherst College field hockey team is still hoping to find its momentum after picking up a midweek victory over Keene State before falling to NESCAC foe Middlebury over the weekend. The Jeffs did rebound again, with a 6-1 rout of Springfield College on Tuesday night.

The team bounced back well in its Wednesday contest against Keene after suffering a tough loss to Bowdoin last Saturday.

They secured an early lead over the Owls, as Caroline Fiore ’18 netted her first goal of the season just 11 minutes into play. The goal came thanks to an Amherst corner opportunity. Annika Nygren ’16 made the inlet pass, finding Fiore who blasted a hard shot to the right of the Owls’ keeper.

Amherst would extend its lead before the half was out, again courtesy of a corner chance. Annie Turnbull ’16 executed the corner pass this time, connecting with sophomore Mary Grace Cronin, who capitalized to tally her first goal of the season.

Goalkeeper Emily Horwitz ’17 made six saves en route to her second shutout of the year.

Despite the strong showing against Keene, the Jeffs again failed to string together consecutive wins, suffering a setback against Middlebury on Saturday, Sept. 19. Nygren tallied the Jeffs’ two lone goals in the 4-2 loss.

Middlebury was first to strike, getting on the board just over three minutes into play.

Pam Schulman, the Panthers’ leading goal scorer, tacked on her fourth of the season.

Nygren answered just 28 seconds later when she one-timed a pass from Cronin past the Panthers’ keeper.

After the offensive flurry that started the half, both teams tightened up on the defensive end, resulting in 31 minutes of scoreless play to conclude the first half.

The opening start to the second half proved to be similar to the first, as Amherst quickly broke the tie. Nygren needed just 35 seconds to tally her second goal of the game.

The assist came from Cronin, who had intercepted a Panthers’ pass down field.

Despite Nygren’s impressive day, Middlebury went on to score three unanswered goals. Grace Jennings evened the score in the 41st minute and Caroline Knapp put the Owls

ahead just three minutes later.

Amherst did have opportunities to respond, as they outshot the Panthers 16-14, but could not convert on any of their opportunities.

Middlebury tacked on an insurance goal in the 66th minute, Knapp’s second of the day.

The loss set Amherst back to 0-2 in conference play.

After the difficult loss on Saturday, the Jeffs used their non-conference midweek contest to again try to sway momentum in their favor. They defeated Springfield College with ease, as four different Jeffs contributed goals.

Springfield College got on the board first, as Maggie Kennedy scored just under eight minutes into play. That would be the Spirits’ lone goal in the game.

The Jeffs then quickly evened the score again, before tallying five additional unanswered goals. Nygren scored, unassisted in the ninth minute of play, following up her impressive offensive performance from Saturday.

Fiore and Cronin also again contributed to the scoring, both adding unassisted goals in the 21st minutes and 22nd minutes respectively, bringing the score to 3-1.

After dominating first half play, Amherst carried the comfortable 3-1 lead into the break.

The Jeffs continued to control the game heading into the second half, matching their scoring totals from the first half.

Sara Cuhlane ’17 scored in the 39th minute, gathering the assist from Kendall Codey ‘19.

Cronin and Nygren later scored their second goals of the game, with Cronin’s coming in the 53rd minute and Nygren’s in 57th.

Nygren supplied the assist on Cronin’s goal while Fiore contributed to the scoring play on Nygren’s tally.

Horwitz made nine saves to help the Jeffs secure the victory.

The team’s true test will come this Saturday, Sept. 26. The Jeffs will take on Williams and try to earn their first conference victory.

“Our team has been working hard to be a threat offensively and tonight we made that goal a reality against Springfield,” Nygren said. “We’re looking forward to riding on this wave of momentum into the weekend for our first Little Three match up against Williams.”

Saturday’s game will be played at Williams, starting at 11 a.m.

Major League Baseball’s one-game, wildcard playoff — an arbitrary gimmick devised in 2012 — is coming under increased scrutiny this year. The format pits the top two non-division winners in each league against each other in a one-game playoff, the winner of which advances to the real playoffs.

This season will likely mark the third straight year that the Pirates host the wildcard game. Under the old format, Pittsburgh would have gone directly to the real playoffs each year. (The Pirates won the wild-card game in 2013 and lost in 2014.) As of today, Pittsburgh is the second-best team in the National League. In two weeks, it is entirely possible that the Pirates will be sitting at home, leapfrogged for playoff berths by three teams with worse records, just because they lost a single game to one of those three teams.

Major League Baseball pushed several justifications for the playoff. One of these was the “problem” that winning a wildcard was as good as winning a division, which meant that, in certain situations, teams were not incentivized to try very hard in September. Yankees general manager Brian Cashman emphasized this when the format was announced in 2012.

Cashman argued from personal experience: In late September 2010, the Yankees had clinched a playoff berth and were tied with Tampa Bay for the division title. Instead of trying to win the division, the Yankees rested their starters.

This argument makes sense on its face: Baseball should certainly do its best to make sure that all regular season games are meaningful.

However, there is literally no conceivable playoff format that could guarantee that every late season game is meaningful, even for prospective playoff teams. For every possible format, it will always be possible to construct scenarios in which certain teams have little incentive to try in late September. The current format only pushes the problem one step down: In the past, there was no good reason to prefer the division to the wild card. Now there is no good reason to prefer the first wild card to the second wild card.

This season is an excellent example of a case in which the new format discourages effort from teams. The Pirates and the Cubs will almost certainly be the two wild cards in the National League: They are both several games behind the NL Central-leading Cardinals, and several games clear of everyone else in the wild card race. When St. Louis clinches the division, and Pittsburgh and Chicago secure wildcard spots, the Pirates and Cubs will have little incentive to compete with each other.

So far, there have been six wild-card games.

The home teams are 2-4. Of course, six games is a ridiculously small sample size — maybe it doesn’t make sense to generalize from the home teams’ wild card struggles in the last three years to a statement that home field advantage doesn’t matter in the wildcard game. But, if you can’t generalize about home field advantage based on one game, how can you argue that a single game is a good way to decide which team gets to go forward in the playoffs?

Maybe the competitiveness of late season games is not the best justification for the new format. Never fear, Manfred can produce a different one!

“Then you get to the question of, what do you do with those two wild cards? That’s the next sequential question,” the commissioner said in an interview with FOX Sports. “The balance we struck there was that we were trying to disadvantage the wild cards. We wanted the division titles to be more meaningful.”

I don’t really have a good answer for this one, if only because it makes so little sense to begin with: Manfred thinks that there is some sort of intrinsic value to winning a division, that the

Mets, who are currently 4.5 games worse than the Pirates, are somehow more deserving of a playoff bid because the rest of the NL East is worse than the rest of the NL Central.

Others say they like the new format because the wildcard games create drama. Jayson Stark made this argument on ESPN in 2012.

“You can’t beat the drama of a win-or-gohome game — in any sport,” Stark said. “So try to envision how riveting it would be to begin the postseason with a game of that magnitude. One game — with the entire season riding on it. It’s March Madness with bats and balls.”

This is true to a certain extent, but the drama of the event is less exciting when you realize how arbitrary the whole thing is. There’s a famous moment in “Moneyball” when Michael Lewis points out that it would be very hard to tell the difference between a .300 hitter and a .275 hitter simply by watching them, because the .300 hitter would only, on average, get one more hit than the .275 hitter every two weeks, or every 40 at-bats. That is, the question of whether one baseball player is better than another cannot be determined by comparing their performances in one game; it has to be done by observing the patterns that develop over a lot of games.

Similarly, the only way to get a realistic idea of whether one baseball team is better than another is to observe their results over a series of games. To adapt Lewis’ example, imagine a team of .300 hitters playing a team of .275 hitters in the wildcard game. Also, suppose that the teams are equal in every other way. Teams usually get about 40 at-bats in a game, so you would expect the team of .300 hitters to get one more hit than the team of .275 hitters. That extra expected hit would be nothing more than a small advantage, and the .300 hitters — a better team — would have a significant chance of going home.

Therefore, the only way to determine with any certainty which team is better is to play a series of games; deciding the result of a team’s season based on one game is little better than deciding it with a coin flip. Fortunately, baseball teams spend the entire summer playing 162 games for that very purpose. Why not use those games to decide which teams get to go to the playoffs, instead of the relative crapshoot of a single game?

So, if the current system is so bad, what system should baseball adopt? One option is the old format, with only one wildcard. Another is the really old format: Until 1969, the only playoff series was the World Series, which simply pitted the best regular season NL team against the best regular season AL team. I’m partial to the really old format; a five-game series is less random than a one-game series, but not by that much. Of course, this would leave the Pirates out in the cold even more than the new format, because the Cardinals would just go straight to the World Series.

Grant Bisbee makes this point in an SB Nation post.

“You think screwed means that a team could lose a one-game playoff for a potential postseason berth?” he writes. “Teams throughout the long, harsh history of baseball laugh at you. The 1960s Giants averaged 91 wins for an entire decade, with rosters saturated with future Hall of Famers, and made the postseason once.”

His definition of “screwed” is completely wrong. The 1960s Giants missed the playoffs because other teams deserved the single available playoff spot more than they did. The 2015 Pirates will miss the playoffs because baseball’s convoluted system will award their spot to three teams with worse records, on the strength of a single game. If the Cardinals were the only team going to the playoffs from the NL, the Pirates could have no complaints, but as it is, they are getting screwed.

Sports

Photo courtesy of Amherst Athletics

Marialexa Natsis ’18 contribued 10 kills in the Jeffs’ win over Tufts while Lizzie Ahern ’16 added 12 kills in the same come-from-behind match.

Volleyball Picks Up Two Conference Wins, Now 7-0 On The Season Julia Turner ’19 Staff Writer Amherst women’s volleyball built on its impressive, undefeated record this week: The team earned its first two wins in NESCAC competition, boosting the Jeffs to 7-0 overall and 2-0 in conference play. The team, a balanced combination of strong veteran players and promising young talent, dominated in its three games this week, posting a 3-1 victory over Western New England on Wednesday, an easy 3-0 sweep of Connecticut College on Friday, followed with a thrilling, come-frombehind victory over Tufts in five sets on Saturday afternoon in what senior captain Samantha Newby called the team’s “hardest physical match” of the season.

Wednesday’s non-conference match against Western New England set the tone for the rest of the week, with the Jeffs making a strong showing right off the bat. Amherst won the first set decidedly by a score of 25-7. Senior players and captains led the team in the first

set, with a strong showing by Nicole Carter ’16, who had six assists, Katie Warshaw ’16 with five digs and Samantha Newby ’16 and Lizzie Ahern ’16 each contributing two blocks.

Western New England took the second set narrowly before Amherst overwhelmed them 25-13 and 25-15 in the next two sets.

On Friday, the Jeffs made a statement with their home opener, taking their first conference game with ease in their rout of Conn.

College. The veteran squad continued to impress, with seniors coming up big once again with Ahern posting 10 kills, Warshaw with 29 digs, Carter with 33 assists and 13 digs and Newby contributing four kills. Along with the impressive performance by the seniors, firstyear Hayes Honea had a notable LeFrak debut with six digs and four assists on the day.

“The enthusiasm from the crowd pushed us forward,” Honea said. The first-year capped her performance with an ace on her final service to seal the sweep for the Jeffs.

The true gem this week was Amherst’s 3-2 comeback victory over Tufts on Saturday af-

Photo courtesy of Amherst Athletics

WED FRI GAME SCHE DULE

Volleyball @ Williams, 7 p.m.

Women’s Tennis @ ITA Regional Championships, TBD Men’s Tennis @ ITA Regional Championships, TBD

ternoon. Coming off a 0-3 loss to Tufts in the 2014 season, the team was looking to come out strong and keep up the impressive level of play they have displayed thus far this season. Two hard-fought sets resulted in two initial closely contested 23-25 losses, but Amherst bounced back in the third set to secure an early 14-10 lead. The Jeffs then rallied for a subsequent, uncontested six-point run led with a kill from junior outside-hitter Nicole Gould — who led the team in kills in the match with an outstanding 13 — and an assisted block from Marialexa Natsis ’18 and Carter. With one set win over the Jumbos under their belt and the team still fighting to force a fifth set, the most exciting set of the match commenced. Ten tie scores and seven lead changes later, two attacking errors by Tufts gave Amherst just the breathing room they needed to pull ahead and take the fourth set 25-23. The Jeffs jumped out to an early lead in the fifth and final set and managed to, although at times narrowly, hold their advantage throughout to allow Newby and Maggie Danner ’17 to put the exclama-

tion point on a stunning performance with the 12th block of the match. Senior captains Carter, Ahern, Newby and Warshaw led the Jeffs’ absolutely electrifying performance, which was truly a team effort, resulting in impressive stats across the board. Warshaw led the team in digs with 29, followed by junior Kelci Keeno’s 14 and 10 apiece from Newby, Asha Walker ’18 and Honea.

The Jeffs are looking to keep up the intensity from this week when they travel to Williams on Wednesday, Sept. 23, before heading to Babson University on Saturday, Sept. 26, where they’ll face Clark University and Babson in a double-header match. Newby anticipates Wednesday’s match to be the team’s “hardest match mentally” as Williams has historically been Amherst’s toughest competition in the NESCAC, with the Jeffs facing narrow losses in the past several seasons. The upcoming week should be “a true test of mental toughness,” according to Newby, as the Jeffs look to continue their impressive performance in and out of conference play thus far.

Photo courtesy of Amherst Athletics

Photo courtesy of Amherst Athletics

SAT Women’s Soccer @ Williams, 11 a.m.

Field Hockey @ Williams, 11 a.m.

Football @ Bates, 1 p.m.

SUN Men’s Cross Country @ Purple Valley Invitational, 12:30 p.m.

Women’s Cross Country @ Purple Valley Invitational, 1 p.m.

Women’s Golf @ Mount Holyoke College Invitational, TBD Men’s Soccer @ Williams, 1 p.m.

Volleyball vs. Clark University (@ Babson), 2 p.m.

Women’s Golf @ Mount Holyoke College Invitational, TBD Women’s Soccer vs. Wheaton, 2 p.m.