Issue 9

THE AMHERST

THE INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER OF AMHERST COLLEGE SINCE 1868

STUDENT VOLUME CXLV, ISSUE 9 l WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2015

Women’s Volleyball Earns NCAA Tournament Bid See Sports, Page 10 AMHERSTSTUDENT.AMHERST.EDU

Students Organize New Survey on Loneliness Jingwen Zhang ’18 Managing News Editor

Students and their families attended a tailgate party for the college’s football game on Saturday, Nov. 7 as part of this year’s family weekend.

Photo courtesy of Kyra Gardner ’18

Faculty Approve Pre-Registration Plan Dan Ahn ’17 Managing News Editor The faculty voted on Nov. 3 to approve a pilot program that will extend the pre-registration process to four weeks. The motion to approve the program passed with a vote of 57 in favor, 46 against and eight abstaining.

The pilot program will be implemented by the registrar’s office and will be in place for pre-registration next spring semester.

Under the new system, the first two weeks of pre-registration will be the same, beginning with advising period in the first week.

The first round of pre-registration will take place the following week, during which students can register for classes and caps will not be enforced. The third week is reserved for “roster management,” in which class rosters

can be cut down to size by the registrar, and students will be informed if they are dropped.

The final week will be a second round of pre-registration, to give students another opportunity to select courses. Caps can be enforced in this second round. However, as long as students meet prerequisites and attend the first day of class, and unless unforeseen circumstances arise such as lack of classroom space, their enrollment in their courses is fully guaranteed.

The new plan is intended to reduce the stress of add/drop week for students.

“An involuntary removal from a course that you thought you were going to take — we’re going to try to make those fewer, because those are the ones that have ramifications,” said David Hall, professor of physics and chair of the faculty’s Committee on Edu-

cational Policy. “You’re all signed up for your courses, but then there’s one you thought you were getting into, that suddenly, you didn’t.

And that can have a cascade effect on all your other courses.”

The program also aims to fix problems that faculty face under the current system.

“You don’t know until two weeks in, who is in your course,” said Adam Honig, professor of economics and former chair of the Committee on Educational Policy. “You can have a problem set due the second week of class, and a lot of the students haven’t even attended class yet. It makes it harder to teach.”

Honig served as chair of the committee until the end of last year. He oversaw the committee’s revisions of the proposal and pushed

Continued on Page 3

The Association of Amherst Students and the Office of Institutional Research distributed an online survey on loneliness to the student body on Nov. 3.

In the 2014 National College Health Assessment survey, 76 percent of Amherst College respondents reported feeling “very lonely.” But because only 30 percent of students took the survey, the results were not statistically valid.

This year, AAS senator Evelyn Ting ’17 and Michael Bessey ’18E worked with the Office of Institutional Research to organize a more accurate survey.

The new survey had a 69 percent response rate, which can be considered statistically significant. Most students took two minutes or less to respond to the survey, which Ting said may explain the high response rate. The survey results will be released after the Office of Institutional Research has analyzed the data.

The survey was based on the UCLA Loneliness Scale. Instead of asking respondents one question, this method presented students with 20 statements about loneliness and asked them to rate the relevance of those statements to their personal experiences.

“The National College Health Assessment hadn’t really delved deeply into the question of loneliness,” Bessey said. “Before we can have as meaningful a discussion as possible about this subject, we really have to identify the problem better.”

Ting and Bessey said several other efforts had been made to ensure a higher student response rate. In addition to several reminder emails sent out by the AAS, resident counselors of several dorms on campus promoted the survey to their residents.

Hanna Song Spinosa, the head of institutional research, said her office will help the student

Continued on Page 3

College Begins Search for New Chief Diversity Officer Ryan Cenek ’18 Assistant News Editor Students and staff convened in the Multicultural Resource Center in Keefe Campus Center on Nov. 2 to discuss the ongoing search for a new chief diversity officer for the college. Bud Moseley, a search consultant with the firm Isaacson, Miller, facilitated the discussion. Moseley said the purpose of the meeting was to give him a better sense of the needs of the Amherst College community.

The search began when Mariana Cruz resigned as interim chief diversity officer in early October. Since then, Mosely has been working with the college to find someone to fill the position. In addition to the schoolwide meeting, he also met privately with staff members and representatives of several student groups.

The chief diversity officer oversees the Multicultural Resource Center, the Queer Resource Center and the Women’s and Gender Center. Dean of Students Alex Vasquez said the officer will also work on recruitment of faculty and staff, student support and diversi-

ty-related programming. Other responsibilities will be defined once a new chief diversity is hired.

At the meeting on Nov. 2, Mosely asked students about their expectations for a chief diversity officer. Students voiced concerns about a wide range of issues on campus relating to mental health, race, ethnicity, class and gender, among other topics.

Ruth Manazares ‘18 expressed concern with the place of first-generation students on campus.

“First-gen students are at a disadvantage in not only the fact that they are some of the first people in their family to go to college, but by the fact that they are the first to come to a school of the rigorous and stressful nature of Amherst College. Additionally, professors are not understanding of work-study and other class and economic issues,” Manazares said.

“How does the CDO plan to support them, especially as the first-generation population is growing?”

Rosie Rohling ’18 spoke about the need for better mental health services, particularly for students, staff and faculty of color. Rohling identified the small number of people of

color working in the counseling department and the high attrition rate of faculty of color as possible issues for the chief diversity oficer to address.

Iris Garcia ’18 said the officer should be willing to reach out to those who are not currently engaged in important conversations and have the ability to talk to a diverse range of people.

“I think it’s important to have a chief diversity officer who appreciates and values the immense intersectionality of our campus and knows how to communicate that intersectionality,” Garcia said.

Joe Prive ’16 said he hoped the concerns of veterans and transfer students would be considered in conversations about diversity.

He said Amherst should follow the efforts of peers like Wesleyan and Vassar in trying to admit more veteran students.

“I know admissions has taken steps, but clearly sufficient resources aren’t being allocated,” he said.

Also at the meeting were Vasquez, Angie Tissi and Adriana Turner ’14. Tissi currently leads the Queer Resource Center and Women’s and Gender Center, and Turner is the in-

terim director for the Multicultural Resource Center.

“A good CDO will need to be a great listener and someone who can very quickly and systematically get to know our community, our students, and our culture,” Vasquez said in an interview.

Tissi said she could not speak on behalf of the Queer Resource Center and Women’s and Gender Center, but she did discuss her own views about the new officer in an interview.

“I would like to see a new CDO that provides educational opportunities that increases awareness, understanding, and action around how different systems of oppression operate on campus,” Tissi wrote in an email. She said she hoped the diversity officer could bring awareness to microaggressions and to how privilege operates on campus.

Vasquez said students will continue to play an active role in the search process. Some students have been appointed to a search committee, and more students will participate in on-campus interviews with finalists in the spring.

Vasquez expects the position to be filled by early summer 2016.

News

Lilia Paz Nov. 2, 2015 - Nov. 8, 2015

>>Nov. 2, 2015 11:50 a.m., Coolidge Dormitory An employee reported he observed three lit candles and a covered smoke detector in an unattended third-floor room. The candles were extinguished and the smoke detector was uncovered. The resident was fined $200 for the safety violations. >>Nov. 4, 2015 2:05 p.m., Off-Campus Locations Upon request, an officer assisted the town police with a motor vehicle accident in the center of town.

4:13 p.m., Merrill Science Road An officer investigated a motor vehicle accident. >>Nov. 6, 2015 11:07 a.m., Boltwood Avenue Officers and the town police responded to a report of a man passed out on a bus at the bus stop. The man was evaluated and did not require medical care. He was removed from the bus and subsequently arrested on a warrant.

12:41 p.m., Taplin House An officer assisted a member of the Student Affairs with checking on a resident. No further assistance was needed.

8:14 p.m., Morrow Dormitory A student reported the possible misuse of funds on her Amherst ID card.

11:52 p.m., Crossett Dormitory Officers responded to a loud music complaint and issued warning at two third-floor suites. >>Nov. 7, 2015 12:08 a.m., Marsh House

Officers responded to a complaint of a registered party becoming overly disruptive. The event was shut down.

5:27 p.m., Seligman House A resident reported harassing text messages were being sent from her phone number to another student by an unknown third party. >>Nov. 8, 2015 12:40 a.m., Hitchcock Dormitory While checking the building, an officer discovered evidence that an excessive amount of alcohol had been available at a registered party in the common room. Eight empty 30-packs of beer and three empty cases of hard alcohol were found in violation of the option one party policy. The matter was referred to Student Affairs.

12:55 a.m., Lessey Street Officers responded to a report of a male pulling a female toward the hill in the direction of Tyler, Marsh and Plimpton. The area was checked but they could not be located.

1:27 a.m., Pond Dormitory An officer discovered a large cooler containing an alcohol mixture had been available at a registered party in violation of the option one party policy. The matter was referred to Student Affairs.

6:35 p.m., Mead Art Museum An officer disposed of a box of wine found unattended near the building.

10:20 p.m., Seligman House An officer investigated a smoke detector sounding on the first floor and discovered smoke from the fireplace activated it.

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

s w e n e h t n i Jo staff!

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

Thoughts on Theses Department of European Studies

Lilia Paz ’16 is writing a European Studies thesis on an order of Spanish nuns. She was inspired to choose this topic while studying abroad in Spain last year. Her thesis adviser is Smith College religion professor Carol Zaleski.

Q: What is your thesis about?

A: My thesis is about a certain monastery in Seville, Spain. The order belongs to the Sisters of Poor Clares. I am studying nuns. There are two types of nuns: cloistered and ones out in the world. I’m exploring the cloistered ones, whose goal is unceasing prayer. They take vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. Due to the decline of the Catholic church in Spain, they’ve also started a tourism industry. So they pose with people, make little souvenirs for tourism. I am exploring the tension between this and the closed nature of their community.

Q: How did you choose this topic?

A: I studied abroad in Spain last semester. I traveled a lot throughout Spain. We kept running into these huge palatial monasteries, and the weird thing is there are only six women living inside because in Spain, people are not joining religious orders any more. I thought it was so strange that these women had huge houses filled with art and a lot of the culture of Spain. They were mostly among these relics. It’s very interesting to watch the death of this lifestyle, and it’s a little sad.

Q: What other impressions do you have of your study abroad experience?

A: Studying abroad probably derailed the thesis project. It wasn’t simply being in Madrid; I was no longer in the studious insular climate of Amherst. Email was very easy to ignore. I wasn’t in a mindset where I was actively doing research and it was one of the few periods in my life when I didn’t feel the need to be constantly disciplined. I was lazy, to be completely honest, and very passive. But I was in an environment very different from New England and California.

Right now, I think I should have prepared more but it was a lot of fun to goof off and be alone in a foreign city. I explored, I got lost, I tried to be a real adult and failed. But it was in those random delays when I wandered into a convent and had a conversation with the cashier. That conversation, about the lives of the women in the castle above us and their scarcity and the fragility of their health is what started the thesis. I don’t know how meaningful my thesis will be to me or what I will keep finding. I’m not sure I picked the best subject but I found it and, I think it found me too.

Q: How far along are you are in to your thesis?

A: The more I read, the more I research, the less close to it I feel.

Q: What is your research process generally like?

A: There is a lot of categories I have to explore, like the order, the rules they have to live by (because they have rules they have to live by, because they were very old — they were founded in 1211) and also religious tourism and the nature of Catholicism in Spain. It’s very tense because Spaniards are not typically religious, even though we think of them. The regions have always had low church attendance, so it’s interesting that we consider Spain a very religious country when they do not.

Q: What’s the most interesting thing you’ve learned about this movement?

A: Most orders govern themselves by the rule of Saint Benedict. For example, the nuns have to open their doors to anyone who needs help. But they are also trying their best to keep themselves away from the world, so a lot of these places are

isolated. They are not supposed to be closed to the world. It’s interesting to see how they’ve started to commercialize that aspect of their faith. Nuns have changed radically since the 1960s, because the Vatican decided to open its halls. Something interesting I learned is that they started to change the way they dressed. Christian Dior is a very famous fashion designer. He actually designed a nun’s habit. That’s something I learned.

Q: What was the most surprising, unexpected or difficult thing you’ve encountered so far while writing your thesis?

A: The Catholic Church is hella old. There are a lot of different things I want to explore right now.

Like, just reading about nuns in World War II, reading about black nuns in the U.S., so it’s really frustrating because there is a lot more I want to read. It’s hard to know when to stop researching and when to start writing because you could research forever!

Q: What is the most valuable thing to you expect to take away from your thesis-writing experience?

A: I’m learning about this lifestyle that is radically different from anything I’ve known. I’m really glad I’m able to learn so much about them.

I am really astonished by the way they live their lives and how strongly they need to reconcile the death of their lifestyle with this new changing world that refuses to acknowledge them.

Q: Could you speak a little more about the juxtaposition of the old and the new?

A: Female monasticism was at an all-time high in the ‘60s and now it is at an all-time low; it’s decreasing every year. They are getting women who are pledging the rest of their lives, but they are older and there are less of them than others.

And it’s interesting because nuns are supposed to be uniformed, they’re supposed to wear the same clothes, they don’t make a reputation for themselves. In the centuries, it’s been mostly men who’ve looked at them through a salacious lens.

So often their narrative is written by someone who doesn’t know much about them.

Q: Are we moving away from this kind of outlook?

A: I’ve been reading a lot, and there are orders who dress up like nuns. There are other ones who still have a habit and long dresses. And the ones who look to the order and choose to separate themselves from the rest of the world — those are the ones getting more people than the ones who are part of the rest of the world. It’s interesting.

They say millennials are being injected into this new spiritual lifestyle. I guess because they are looking for something different.

Q: What role has your adviser played in your thesis?

A: I’m a European Studies major, so the thesis is required. The thesis came first and then the adviser came. She helped me refine it and she helps me deal with the theological side of it — not so much the Spanish side, because she doesn’t know a lot about Spain. She’s very supportive. Whenever I freak out, she tells me not to worry — “get it out and publish and you’ll be fine.” It’s a bit unorthodox. Normally you have an idea of which professor you’d write with. But I was abroad last semester and my idea came pretty late. I didn’t turn in my proposal until September.

— Phillip Yan ’18

The Amherst Student • November 11, 2015

News

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Human Genome Project Leader Addresses Students Jacob Pagano ’18 Staff Writer Eric Lander, who helped lead the Human Genome Project and author the earliest publication of the sequence of the human genome, spoke to students in Stirn Auditorium on Nov. 9. Lander is a biology professor at MIT and the founding director of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard.

Biology professor David Ratner organized and introduced the talk, which was titled “Secrets of the Human Genome.”

“I cannot imagine what biology would be like if not for the ocean of genomic information that has been obtained in the last 15 years,” Ratner said. “It has transformed biological research.”

Lander opened the talk with the history of scientific understanding of genomics, beginning with Gregor Mendel’s genetic experiments with peas and moving on to the development of DNA sequencing technologies in the 1970s.

“After recognition of DNA and learning how to sequence it, we were still lacking the ability to find a specific gene of interest,” Lander said.

“We wanted to be able to take any disease and find the genes that might lead to it. In the 1980s, people really began to wonder, could we map genes without knowing in advance what we were looking for?”

He and a team of researchers at the Broad Institute, in collaboration with labs around the world, began conducting research with the goal of mapping the human genome and creating a universally accessible library of genomic information.

“This project required a complete re-imagining of how the biology community could work together,” Lander said. “Sixteen labs in six different countries worked on this project, and every night we would share our findings.”

Throughout the project, which ran from 1990 to 2003, Lander and his team encountered

Photo courtesy of Matthew Chow ’18

Eric Lander, a leader of the Human Genome Project, spoke to students about the role of genomics in the 21st century and emerging issues in bioethics in Stirn Auditorium on Monday, Nov. 9. various legal issues that arose with the mapping of the genome, including corporate attempts to patent genes or to buy the rights to the information in the genome. Lander, a supporter of open access to scientific discoveries, advocated for the genome to remain in the public domain.

“Imagine if all of this information — on the genes that might cause breast cancer or lead to certain cancers — was behind the paywall,” Lander said. “There are reasons we build public goods, and the human genome is a public good.”

According to Lander, the genome project has allowed the scientific community to better

Faculty Approve Four-Week Pre-Registration Schedule Continued from Page 1 to present it to the whole faculty.

One provision of the system offers faculty the option of requiring instructor permission for their courses. If they choose this designation, students will not be fully guaranteed enrollment in the course in the second round of registration. According to Hall, pre-registration for a course that is designated for instructor permission will be essentially similar to the current system. The provision will essentially be an opt-out clause for the new program, and is primarily intended to give faculty more time to check the qualifications of registered students.

“The hope was to lose as little faculty autonomy as possible with the change of guaranteeing class spots,” said Sam Keaser ’17E, a student member of the committee. “And I think instructor permission will allow faculty who really value that type of autonomy to not

see any change whatsoever in how they do registration.”

Originally presented by registrar Kathleen Kilventon to the committee last fall, the proposal underwent revisions throughout last year and was presented to the faculty in May. The vote was postponed to this semester because discussions had pushed the May meeting over its time limit. This year, the committee worked the instructor permission provision into the proposal before it was presented to the faculty last week.

“I believe the changes from the original proposal make sense,” Kilventon said. “When you are putting together something like this, it is difficult to anticipate all of the possible scenarios.

The feedback received in May helped the Committee on Educational Policy work with those faculty that needed more flexibility than the original proposal offered.”

Students Administer New Loneliness Survey Continued from Page 1 organizers present it to the community. If the survey reveals high levels of loneliness among Amherst students, the office will directly inform the student body and the administration, and will consult the mental health and wellness committee to devise strategies to address the issue.

“The committee on mental health and wellness will conduct focus groups in the spring, so it’ll inform how they organize those focus groups,” Ting said. “Sometimes loneliness can

be a mental health thing. So if we find something that suggests that loneliness is due to a lot of students having mental health issues, there’d be an argument to bolster pouring more resources into the counseling center.”

According to Ting, the college administration can help with some issues of loneliness on campus, but further reforms would need to come from the student body.

“What we did in part was a milestone because it was a student-driven survey,” Ting said.

“In general, I think the students are capable of facilitating the reforms themselves.”

understand pervasive and common human illnesses. Three of his colleagues discovered that the expression of a certain gene which marks brain synapses for destruction, correlated with the emergence of schizophrenia.

“While we do not have anything now that can counteract this destruction, the genome gives us a vast amount of information that may let us discover something that can do just that,” Lander said. “This is the power of knowledge.”

Lander said he hopes that knowledge about the genome can be used to decrease the prevalence of cancer and to create more effective

2 2 3 3 100 100 0 0

treatments. “In the long run, we will win this game, because the probability that cancer will be able to mutate or make a pincer move will be greatly, greatly reduced if we have drugs that address the right genes,” he said.

At the end of his talk, Lander emphasized the role of the human genome project in shaping modern biology. “Those of you who will work in biology are coming into one of the most interesting time that there has ever been,” he said. “And those of you who don’t even touch biology will be impacted by the human genome in many different ways.”

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Opinion

THE AMHERST

Democracy at Amherst Editorial Democracy is alive at Amherst College, but barely.

Many students on campus have been following the presidential primary race religiously. But few students have any idea what is going on with Amherst’s own student government.

There is no point to having a democratic system if the people it aims to serve do not actively involve themselves in carrying out its functions. AAS meetings are open to the public — yet it’s rare to see non-senators at a meeting. Any student can run for senate — yet each year many senate races are uncontested.

It is popular on this campus to make fun of the AAS. People accuse the institution of being bloated and wasteful. We complain about the election scandals, the unnecessary emails and the complicated Budgetary Committee regulations. These may be valid concerns, but there’s no use in complaining about the AAS if you aren’t willing to get involved in the political process.

The AAS can’t function as a standalone entity independent of the voices and opinions of non-senators — that is to say, of the majority of the student population. That defeats the whole purpose of having a student government. In order to initiate any kind of change, and to really honor the democratic tradition, you have to make your voice heard. Being active doesn’t mean confronting the AAS with an issue you thought up just

for the sake of being active; being active can mean just remembering to vote for your class senator. The importance of being involved in our school community can’t be lost on us if we expect our student government to continue helping us and improving our experiences at this school.

Make no mistake: You have the potential to change our student government for the better. The AAS deals with issues ranging from renewing cable contracts to rethinking the open curriculum. The budgetary committee funds every single club on this campus while making sure the campus provides inclusive events for a range of interests. AAS members helped start and are now key members of the Title IX Review Committee to continually assess how this crucial law is implemented in our community. The vans that seem to operate on routine every winter and spring break allow lower-income students to get home for the holidays. Senators on the AAS create change.

That’s the whole point of the position. If you disagree with the AAS is doing or have issues you care about that affect your life on campus, the best solution is to engage with out student government rather than mock it. Talk to a senator. Show up to a meeting on Monday. Run during the next election. Just don’t pretend that an institution that affects campus so profoundly is a joke on par with Jamaican Jerk Chicken.

Dear Amherst: Who Are You?

Eddie Rego ’19 Staff Writer

Amherst, who are we? That’s the crucial question facing our school today. Let me explain.

I’m a first-year. I’m new to this school and new to this whole college thing. I’d like to think I came to Amherst with a fresh perspective, unbiased by the twists and turns of college life. So with that in mind, when my friends back in Florida call and ask, “So what is Amherst like?” I find it surprisingly difficult to answer that question. Normally, college students can easily point to a prevalent campus culture. But here at Amherst, that isn’t the case.

Like all seniors in high school, when I decided on Amherst, I developed expectations about what my future home would be like.

Let me guide you through what I thought Amherst was going to be. First, I thought we would be more political. Not political in terms of ideology; I was simply thinking we would be a more activist campus. Many similar institutions, like Columbia or Brown, maintain a strong political culture and often have school-wide demonstrations and protests on controversial issues on campus. Here at Amherst, however, even the most contentious issues seem to be avoided by the majority of the student population. Bummer.

Second, I expected more appreciation for the arts. Didn’t John F. Kennedy make a famous speech here on campus where he praised the dedication to the arts? Aren’t we, after all, known as the “singing college”? I expected music to play endlessly during dinner in Valentine, the quad to be filled with the sounds of trumpets and violins, angelic voices to fill the empty void in front of Johnson Chapel. Instead, the piano in Val slowly accumulates dust. Instead, I rarely hear our a cappella groups; the only singing I ever hear is my floor-mate Sam in the shower. Instead, the quad is lifeless and so unimaginably silent that if you concentrate, you can almost hear Robert Frost rolling over in his grave.

Well, at least I still have Spotify.

Third, I expected more athletic life. No, I wouldn’t dare bore you with another rant

about the athlete/non-athlete divide (though athletes and non-athletes tend to live as divided as Israel and Palestine). Rather, I simply expected more athletic clubs — the two most popular American sports, football and baseball, for example, lack intramurals here on campus. But more than that, I expected more athletic involvement: more students taking a morning jog, more people using the gym, more of us utilizing the quad and our campus more actively. Instead, the only time I see people running is to beat the lines at Val. Do our athletics only show at the fields?

Lastly, I was under the impression that a small school like ours would foster incredible school pride. Here was my rationale: A small school would help form strong relationships among students. Therefore, by virtue of those connections we would be entrenched in strong purple pride. On the contrary, quite the opposite seems to be happening: Lots of people here are lonely. And then I see disproportionate quantities of Harvard, Yale and Brown sweatshirts over Amherst gear. Is it that we’re not proud to go here or is it that we haven’t cemented a strong campus culture?

I’d like to think it’s the latter. I also expected to experience, as my friends at larger schools do, frequent school events and school get-togethers, and the only ones we’ve had, to my knowledge, have been Fall Festival and the homecoming bonfire night. As I arrived at the homecoming pep rally, I counted fewer than 40 of us there. Talk about school spirit!

Go Moose, anyone?

As a first-year senator, I’ve been bombarded with dozens of campus issues including (but not limited to): the mascot debate, the question over divestment, the concerns over modernizing our open curriculum through the Curriculum Committee and the question of social clubs. It’s my belief that these issues reflect our school-wide lack of identity. What should our new mascot be? To keep Lord Jeff or not keep a promoter of genocide/humanitarian crimes as our mascot? That is the question. As for divestment, Amherst says, “Here, freshman, read ‘This Changes Everything’ by Naomi Klein, a book about why colleges should divest” and then hypocritically

lacks the scruples to divest itself. Moreover, student applications for a Curriculum Committee were recently solicited in order to examine the merits of the open curriculum, a pillar of the Amherst educational experience.

Maybe we should adopt a closed curriculum instead?

Additionally, the student body recently expressed its support for social clubs. Proponents see it as a way to combat rampant loneliness and the athlete/non-athlete divide.

Opponents see it as a sneaky, roundabout way to bring back fraternities. I voted for them. But I can already smell the beer.

Amherst has traditionally been late to the game on several issues. We like to think about issues a lot longer than many other colleges. Maybe this is a weakness; maybe it’s a strength. What is clear, however, is that we have been late on allowing women to integrate into our campus, late on changing our mascot and late on plenty of other pertinent matters.

When Amherst springs into action, it spends more time passively reasoning than reacting. As we explore issues like our mascot, divestment, our open curriculum and social clubs, among others, we are essentially searching for a new Amherst. The issues at hand confirm this sense of campus soul-searching. Amherst is transitioning into a new identity, and the student body leads this transition.

Tradition and progress are ultimately in conflict here at Amherst. The move from a predominantly white, wealthy, male population to what is today a student population that’s diverse both in race and socioeconomic status is introducing new blood to the heart of our school and is fundamentally driving the search for our identity as a campus. The new Amherst will not be built in one day. Little by little and over time, our diverse student population should be answering the pressing issues here on campus, and depending on how we answer, we have the unique opportunity to determine the character and direction of our school. That’s what helps form a strong college and foster a strong community: a responsive student body that understands itself and its goals.

STUDENT

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

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The Amherst Student • November 11, 2015

Opinion

On the Ensemble: Rethinking Collaboration Samuel Rosenblum ’16 Columnist

We at Amherst speak of organizing social life on the model of the team. We have athletic, Title IX and case management teams. Deans throw around the phrase “teams of students.”

The 2015 strategic plan recommends “creating teams of firstyear students and staff ” to cure cultures of busyness and loneliness, cultures which preclude “social interaction and community.” Of course, never are we asked exactly how teams will resolve the lack of “social interaction and community.”

That we privilege a form of social life enacted through teams is tightly linked to the power and prestige (varsity) athletics holds on Amherst’s campus, and more generally in higher education. This leads me to an obvious point: The institution of athletics is constituted by competition, formed via a double unification. First, internal to the team, the minds and bodies of the players unify their actions for a common goal: victory. Second, in displaying the name “Amherst,” the team uniform aspires to unify the entire campus community under that goal of victory, or at least under the logic of competition.

Each of these unifications, of the team and the college, presuppose divisions. On one level, particular sports teams are divided from opponents: we play against Williams; we succeed, they lose. On a second level, each athletic team unites with other Amherst teams as an athletic community, perhaps at the exclusion of non-athletes. But that exclusion also is a doomed attempt at including everyone under the “Amherst” of the sports team, necessarily failing because there are students who do not want to or cannot compete on “Amherst’s” terms. (Or, written another way, how can we bring Native American students here while rallying around an advocate of their genocide?)

Furthermore, competition, when linked with the team, already names a kind of success: the condition that one be able — that is, competitive enough — to compete in the first place.

For those who can compete, competition poses problems as well. Ryan Arnold ’15 notes in the Amherst Disorientation Guide that scholastic competition fosters the “mechanical pursuit of academic recognition, one that disincentivizes creativity and critical self-reflection.” A tradition of victory, one which requires homogenization for success and devalues experimentation and vulnerability, perpetuates a join-us-or-fail model and quashes narratives of insecurity and loneliness.

But let us consider the ensemble as a form of social life.

What if we were to look to the experiences of rehearsing and performing in the string quartet, symphony orchestra, jazz combo or choral society as a way to (re)orient social life at the college? As a trumpeter in the Amherst Symphony Orchestra and formerly in Jazz@Amherst, I believe that performance ensembles, particularly musical ensembles, can provide us with a way of organizing social life not based on competition

or homogenizing unification, but on collaboration, focusing in on the labor and challenges of working through and coming together around dissonances, tensions and contrasts.

The word “ensemble” comes from French, literally meaning “in [and] at the same time.” From the “Musical Examiner” of 1844, we see written, “It was really possible for five principal vocalists to achieve a perfect ensemble.” A (dis)united set of performers, the ensemble constantly mediates and negotiates the different timbres, expressions and tones of the voices — instrumental or human — which create it. Ensemble comes about between and above individual voices, by the play of dissonances and contrasts between them, and in doing so orients itself to interpretive work. There are three points which will help illustrate this.

1. Competition is not in the repertoire of the ensemble.

Unlike teams, ensembles don’t play against each other. They do not dominate, win, triumph or prevail over or against each other. What they labor over is the production of their own singular and unrepeatable organization of noise that constitutes their performance. Their performance strictly works in the moment, less concerned about the success or victory afterwards than the actual music-making. That the ensemble cannot practice to win, but only rehearses to improve, opens it to members of variegated and contrasting talents as well as musical ideas which stretch and warp the very standards of its performance.

2. The ensemble has no totalized, singular unity, but rather is a disjoined conjunction of tensions and resolutions. In the orchestra, timbral contrasts, harmonic dissonances, contrapuntal melodies and cadential deceptions organize the sounds, rhythms and colors with which it produces music. In the jazz combo, perhaps the par excellence of the ensemble, each musician riffs on and reiterates phrases and melodies improvised by other members, mimicking and altering what she’s hearing. Improvisation is a form of competition — not one which can generate success, but one which generates more playfulness. Perhaps it is in this sense that the ensemble makes each member triangulate how she plays, literally playing around with her own performance and the relations between her, her section’s and the ensemble’s performances.

3. Ensembles function as complements to seminar rooms and books, providing us with an alternate interpretive space and form to make sense of our world. Jacques Attali writes in “Noise: The Political Economy of Music” that “Mozart and Bach reflect the bourgeoisie’s dream of harmony better than and prior to the whole of 19th-century political theory … Janis Joplin, Bob Dylan and Jimi Hendrix say more about the liberatory dream of the 1960s than any theory of crisis.”

Through performance, the ensemble draws a canvas onto which audience members sketch their own meaning. But interpretation is not merely individual, but collective as well: Spectators become active interpreters. After performances, they comment and review in dialogue, and occasionally pro-

test or riot.

I am not denying that elements of ensembles appear in teams and teams in ensembles. What I am arguing is that the institution of athletics as expressed through the logic of teams worrisomely divides campus on a model of competition, not cooperation; unification, not collective contrast; spectatorship, not experiential interpretation. In contrast, the ensemble celebrates and authorizes a disunity, requiring harmony and dissonance between performers and between audience members. In that sense, ensemble creates an unanswered question between meaning and experience for each performer and each audience member. Two audience members will likely not hold the same opinion of a performance; neither will two members of a single ensemble.

What makes the ensemble so worthy of our attention is that inside its reverence and formality for itself is its own irreverence and informality. Before singing the college songs at the conclusion of the homecoming concert, Choral Society director Mallorie Chernin invited, as usual, alumni and friends to join the singing of college songs. A display of impressive visual contrast and magnified musical power, we in the audience witnessed a sea of current Choral Society members wearing tuxedos and gowns populated by alumni dressed in street attire. Upon singing “Hand Me Down My Bonnet,” a carnivalesque tradition ensued: Choral Society members threw candy in the air at their conductor. Joy for the ensemble and the audience at the precise moment when the ensemble morphed beyond its own solemn formality. As a coda without a cadence, the Choral Society did not sing “Lord Jeffery Amherst” during the concert. Relegated to an unofficial performance afterwards, the Choral Society decided that, although the song is satirical, it was not appropriate to valorize Lord Jeff in Buckley. By playing around with, undermining and reconstituting their form — changing instrumentation, tempi, attire, size, arrangements, melodies — ensembles re-form creatively (throwing candy) and politically (removing Lord Jeff ).

An alternative to the team, the social club and the neighborhood is badly needed. So, consider the ensemble. Although I leave open if and how we (or I) might be able to prescribe or encourage the ensemble as a form of social life, I do hope we think about it: the singer and the chorus; the actor in the company; the dancer as the troupe; the musician of the orchestra; the member in the ensemble. I am not arguing that we should all learn musical instruments or become artsy, but rather that we should imagine how our social experience can be thought about, recreated or revolutionized on the terms of ensembles. I also invite you to hear the Amherst Symphony Orchestra, along with members of the Choral Society and guest soloists, perform “Les Misèrables” on Saturday, Dec. 12 at 8 p.m. Although this concluding gesture of invitation in part welcomes you to witness and listen to the musical arts at Amherst, at best it might serve as a way to begin enacting what the ensemble might or could be.

Letter to the Editor: A Lament for Lord Jeff George W. Carmany, III ’62

leader with a silly sword never could.

Jeff may be, however, history’s first example of what is meant by today’s maxim, “be It takes a sense of humor to reflect on the plight of poor Lord Jeff, especially for a careful what you put in an email.” It is probable that had he not written his notorious member of the college’s older generation who nonetheless has concluded, sadly, that letter, today’s controversy would not exist. But because of it, he is a divisive figure, and it is time for him to go. Even though as a child I stood on chairs to study maps of his that is not healthy. campaigns which adorned the walls of the Inn named for him. But first, we need some The college community’s sense of humor is tickled, or not, by the ascendancy of perspective. a moose who even got his picture in the Times. The moose has Lord Jeffery was a man of his time. So much of a hero was earned a place in the college’s recent history by drawing attention he that five towns in the United States were named in his honor. the controversy, but his probable future is more likely that of an But Jeff was never to When the Revolutionary War broke out, he declined command of artifact than a mascot. Perhaps there is room in the library to put really a mascot. the British army, which was widely known and increased Amerthe moose suit on permanent display. Sabrina is said to have had ican regard for him. The year I matriculated, the college awardCalling him one is a recent support, and at one time the college’s teams were referred to ed an honorary degree to the last of his line, Jeffery John Archer by the press as the Sabrinas as often as the Jeffs. But as a mascot a setup.

Amherst, who was notably un-not warlike. Notwithstanding asstatue of a nude woman would be almost as politically incorrect as sertions that the college is named for the town, which is true, Lord poor old Jeff himself, letter and all.

Jeff became woven into the fabric of the place.

It is time for the debate to find balance. Given history, Jeff, SaBut Jeff was never really a mascot. Calling him one is a setup. brina, no mascot anyway, whatever, advocates and opponents of Perceptions were too grand for that. He appeared on the college china. Silk ties were change who love the place but like or dislike Lord Jeff need to find common ground. sold with woven images of him on horseback. Occasionally over the years a cheerlead- The mind boggles at the thought of cheering on the Moose, the Wildcats, Leopards er would appear on the sidelines in a red coat, cocked hat and sword, but they were or whatever beast or tropical storm finds favor in student polls, cerebral trustee deuninspiring and never lasted. There was a figure in a grotesque mask for a while, who liberations or the New York Times. (One wonders who got to them.) Stanford and was upstaged by a guy in a gorilla suit wearing a purple hoops jersey, the only really Dartmouth did it right. They went with their color. Amherst could do worse. Come to exciting mascot the college has ever seen. He got the crowd going in a way that a cheer- think of it, a lot worse.

“

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5

Arts&Living

Thesis Spotlight: Khalil Flemming ’16 Presents “Equal Weight” live audience would appreciate — as an inexperienced director.

It has been quite the challenge, but I have learned a huge amount about good storytelling in the past couple of weeks and I hope people can leave the theater feeling good about the two hours they invested in the show.

Q: What did you look for when choosing actors to cast in the production?

A: As for choosing actors, it’s all about finding people who will best be able to tell that story. In the end, I’m not going to stand up in front of the crowd on opening night and say, “Hey folks! So here’s what you’re about to watch.” No. It’s up to the actors, with the help of the technical elements and each other, to give the audience a story that makes them feel something.

And I look for people who will do that — people who are physically and verbally expressive, who can interpret words and convey the ideas to others, people who are flexible enough to take direction and make those changes quickly and creatively.

As a playwright and director, I may not always get everything right, so it’s important to have a cast that is talented and daring enough to help me steer the show in the right direction.

Needless to say, that is what I’ve found in this group, as they have taken a piece of work that had potential to be a full-length show and provided the additional words and drama to bring it all home.

Q: Have you practiced any other arts? Do you think they influenced your playwriting?

A: I’ve acted on stage and on camera since I was about 9 or 10, and most recently it’s been primarily improv here at school. All that has definitely influenced both my writing and directing, since my perspective on theater/entertainment is largely from the perspective of an actor.

There’s a rhythm and a beautiful set of feelings you feel as an actor who is successfully entertaining people (and another bunch of feelings when you are struggling to do so), so I tried to channel some of that when creating a story for actors to tell.

Photos courtesy of Eugene Lee ’16

Alida Mitau ’18 Managing A&L Editor Khalil Flemming ’16 will be presenting his senior thesis, an original, multimedia comedy called “Equal Weight,” this weekend. Flemming, a theater and dance major, is also well known on campus for his memorable performances in Mr. Gad’s House of Improv. “Equal Weight” invites viewers into the mind of the protagonist, Zeke, as he navigates his relationships and listens to the voices in his head. The Amherst Student sat down with Flemming to learn more about the production.

Q: How would you best describe this project?

A: My project, titled “Equal Weight,” is a multimedia staged show. It’s basically a play that relies on film to tell some of the story.

It’s about a guy, a loosely satirized version of myself, who must learn to love himself, appre-

ciate those who love him and ultimately find his own voice. Also, it’s a comedy, though it has some moments that ask you to sit quietly and really feel what the characters are feeling.

Q: How did you originally come up with this project?

A: I wrote a very short version of this for my playwriting class last fall, and I developed it last semester in my directing studio class with Ron Bashford. It told a different story with different priorities, but those earlier pieces ultimately lead to this.

Q: Do you think you began your project with an intention? If so, what?

A: By the time I decided “Equal Weight” was something I wanted to put on for my thesis senior project, I had to decide what capacity I’d work in. Since I’ve acted all my life and spent a lot of time here at Amherst performing, I wanted to put that aside and focus on

directing and writing a show from beginning to end.

My two goals were first to effectively combine theater and film to work as simultaneous entertainment, and second to be a storyteller, really learning how to sit back and bring a text to life with actors, technical elements and the time to do it all well.

While the technical challenge of combining media was present throughout, I had to shift my focus to strong storytelling as we began creating a world with meaningful characters living out a story that people would want to watch.

Q: What was the most challenging part of producing this play?

A: The most challenging part was just that — telling a story. More specifically, adjusting the text to be more dramatic — as a novice playwright — and directing the performance to best capture all that drama in a way that a

Q: How do you think people will respond to the play?

A: I hope that people respond to the show with a smile, a few laughs, and a moment of reflection about how they relate to others and how they treat themselves. “What does that voice in my head say to me that I may be ignoring? Am I loving the right people?” I don’t want or need every person to get up and tell me what they thought of the show.

Feedback is great, and I will never turn it down, but it’s more important to me that people are feeling something and that they take the time to acknowledge it for themselves.

For now, it excites me that people are looking forward to it, reserving tickets, texting me at ungodly hours to find out what times the shows are.

It means a lot that people care about theater, about their friends who are performing or were involved in some way, and about me to make time to come see the show.

Q: Where do you hope to see this project go in the future?

A: It’s nice to think about where the show, or some show like it, could go one day, who it could touch, what other messages it can send — but for now I think it deserves to happen here at Amherst, in Studio 3, close to all the people who inspired it and worked hard to bring it to life.

This interview has been lightly edited and condensed.

Arts & Living 7

The Amherst Student • November 11, 2015

Netflix’s First Original Movie “Beasts of No Nation” Proves a Success Mark Simonitis ’19 Staff Writer It’s getting harder and harder to remember a time when Netflix wasn’t around. I can hardly believe there once was a time when binge watching old TV shows wasn’t possible. Recently, Netflix decided to build upon the success of its original TV shows, such as “House of Cards,” and expanded its content to include original movies, the first of which is “Beasts of No Nation.” The film is based on Uzodinma Iweala’s novel of the same title, and it debuted on Netflix on Oct. 16, the same day it was released in U.S. theaters.

“Beasts of No Nation” follows the life of a young boy named Agu, played by Abraham Attah, living in an unnamed West African country torn apart by civil war. After the murder of his father and brother by government soldiers, Agu flees into the jungle where he encounters a group of rebel forces led by a fearsome commandant.

The commandant, played by Idris Elba, takes Agu under his wing and welcomes the boy into his battalion. Under the watch of this new mentor, Agu transforms from an innocent child into a hardened killer.

Though the movie takes place during a grand clash between political forces, “Beasts of No Nation,” doesn’t pay attention to this broader narrative. Instead, the politics of the war fade into the background, and the film focuses on the commandant’s band of soldiers. The result is an uncompromising portrayal of brutal warfare. Civilians are massacred, women are raped and noncombatants are executed on the spot. To twist the knife even further, most of this violence is committed by children Needless to say, this movie is not meant for the sensitive. While Agu may be a fictitious character, his situation is a sad reality for many of today’s child soldiers. It’s incredibly difficult to stomach his transformation, knowing that children should never have to even think about killing someone.

Director Cary Joji Fukunaga provides viewers with a twisted coming of age story that examines the effects that war can have on a young mind.

Attah displays tremendous talent in his debut

Photo courtesy of experimento42.com

“Beasts of No Nation,” a revealing and emotional story about a West African child soldier, was released on Oct. 16. role. During the first half hour of the movie, he effectively conveys Agu’s innocence. When Agu joins the rebel army, Attah makes the character’s transformation horrifyingly believable. You can see the vivid anger in Agu’s eyes when he lashes out against the army that killed his parents, as well as his confusion when he attempts to adjust to the life of a child soldier. By the end of the film, Agu possesses an old man’s eyes that stare blankly into the camera, traumatized by what he has endured.

Elba’s performance as the commandment went above and beyond the high standard set by the rest of the film. The commandant is an odd mix of likeability and utter maliciousness.

He is chillingly charismatic, to the point where even the audience begins to sympathize with a character that places a rocket-propelled grenade launcher in the hands of a child. However, just as viewers start to side with him, he commits an unspeakable act, reminding the audience that he

is part of the vicious system ruining Agu’s life.

The juxtaposition of his charm to his ruthlessness leaves a severe emotional impact on the viewers.

“Beasts of No Nation” is also beautifully shot.

Fukunaga’s fantastic cinematography is familiar to those who have seen his work on HBO’s “True Detective.” Whenever the commandant is teaching Agu the ways of war, Elba is framed in low-angle shots, similar to a child looking up at his father. Agu’s drug-induced hallucinations are markedly portrayed with vibrant and unnatural colors, as foliage transforms into the crimson shade of human blood. The most striking scene in the film is Agu walking through a muddy trench, ignoring the dead and dying in his path. For such an inconsequential moment in the storyline of the film, it perfectly illustrates the fact that such occurrences pass for normal in the world of a child soldier.

Nonetheless, “Beasts of No Nation” isn’t a perfect movie. The film begins to lose focus about

halfway through, when the rebels pay a visit to their headquarters. At headquarters, time drags on as unimportant political elements come into play and an insignificant point is made about the commandant’s rank in the rebel hierarchy. While the idea of this leader being just as much of a pawn in the system as his soldiers are is certainly intriguing, the film disappoints in establishing this concept. As a result, the last thirty minutes of the movie are rushed, so much so that the ending doesn’t feel earned.

Regardless, “Beasts of No Nation” successfully achieves its main objectives. It reveals the devastating problem of child soldiers and asks the right questions surrounding the issue — are Agu’s actions justified by his trauma? Is there any hope for normalcy in his life? In the end, I would pay the full price of admission at a regular theater to watch this movie. The fact that it’s a free offering on Netflix makes “Beasts of No Nation” absolutely unmissable.

EL VY’s First Collaborative Album “Return to the Moon” Disappoints Evan Paul ’18 Staff Writer Matt Berninger and Brent Knopf are not strangers to the music industry. Berninger’s band, The National, has been around since the late nineties and has released six albums since they formed. The National’s sound has

hints of very dark, sometimes scary lyricism and half-spoken, half-sung delivery from Berninger. The National has risen to considerable fame following the release of their most recent album “Trouble Will Find Me” in 2013.

Knopf ’s musical career has also steadily climbed. Beginning in the 2000s with

Menomena before creating Ramona Falls, Knopf has received considerable acclaim for both bands. Each of Knopf ’s bands has a happier, less gritty sound compared to The National. While The National is no doubt a “grown man band”, Ramona Falls and Menomena are more akin to what you would consider your basic brand of indie rock.

With the rising popularity of the musical supergroup (take for example fun. or the more recent Jack U), there’s no wonder Matt Berninger and Brent Knopf decided to band together to have their own take on the common practice. Together, the duo make up the new band EL VY, which released its first fulllength album titled “Return to the Moon” in late October of this year.

Throughout the album’s 11 tracks, listeners are taken through an audio rollercoaster that never quite gets to the big drop that everyone loves. Instead, we only get to hear Berninger’s sad lyric delivery paired awkwardly with the sparkly, bright backing tracks. The end result is an album that sounds lazy. It almost sounds like Berninger is first learning the song as he sings it and is only going through the motions as a result.

That style worked with The National’s dark melodies and production, but it falls short on “Return to the Moon.”

Best Tracks:

Photo courtesy of territoriodamusica.com

Matt Berninger and Brent Knopf of EL VY fall short in “Return to the Moon.”

“I’m the Man to Be”: If the rest of the album had sounded like the second track, “I’m the Man to Be,” I would have loved it. Berninger grumbles, “I’m such a baby I could totally cry. My hands are so sticky, and the belt’s too tight,” amidst the sounds of heavy percussion and whiny guitars. The lyrics get even raunchier from there. The groovy, fun and risqué

song is without a doubt the best on the LP. “No Time to Crank the Sun”: Any song with backing vocals that only say “Mmhmm” is practically begging to be either totally wonderful or an absolute mess. Luckily, the band does a great job with this track. It has all the trappings of those nostalgic anthems everyone loves to sing around graduation time, but it does something completely different with the trope. Instead of wrapping arms around your classmates’ shoulders, the steady drum beat and background vocals give you the urge to slowly sway with your eyes closed and your hands in the air.

“Sleeping Light”: The transition from the ringing instrumentals at the opening of this track to the sound of Berninger’s vocals at the end is a bit awkward. But the song is saved by its lyrics, which are inventive (if a little weird). The song’s light and airy sound pairs well with Berninger’s detached-sounding vocals.

This album from EL VY is worth a listen — but don’t get your hopes up. If you’ve never heard of Berninger’s or Knopf ’s other work, I suggest you try those out first. Ramona Falls, The National and Menomena, have put out more cohesive, if not better albums than EL VY’s first effort. As for the future of EL VY, I’m sure they have a long way to go in the industry. However, like most side projects, EL VY has only two options: They can either fizzle out slowly or become the members’ main band. Unfortunately, with the release of “Return to the Moon,” EL VY is already showing signs of fizzling. We can only hope that the band will reverse course with its next effort.

Arts & Living 8

The Amherst Student • November 11, 2015

Artist Spotlight: Camila Dominguez Brings Sisterhood with #girlhood Julia Pretsfelder ’18 Managing A&L Editor Q: What arts are you involved in?

A: I do a little bit of everything, but I think my strengths are filmmaking and writing. I like conceptual art, so a lot of my process is researching and reading about topics that bother or interest me, as well as keeping a journal to document the process.

Q: Describe your current project.

A: My current project is called #girlhood, and it’s an attempt to understand and to map the experiences of young women growing up in the digital age. Basically, how has the Internet changed girlhood? What does girlhood even mean? Is there a universal experience of being a girl, or is girlhood too tied to class, race and place? I think that’s important.

I don’t want the project to be another representation of a privileged, limited perspective. I think there is a lot of art on the Internet that glorifies a particular way of being a girl, which is just thin and white and traditionally pretty, but it doesn’t necessarily capture the collective experience of oppression and alienation that I actually think is fundamental to being a girl. I’m paraphrasing the conceptual artist Audrey Wollen, but the fun and pretty things that we associate with girlhood a lot of the time are just strategies for survival, because being a girl is really hard. How do we survive?

I think one of the strategies for survival is building a sense of community, which is what this particular piece of the project is about. I’m looking at collective experiences that are fundamental to the experience of being a young woman, like transforming your appearance. It’s like when girls say “I don’t dress up for boys,” or “I don’t wear makeup for boys.” Changing how you look is, I think, equal parts a response to the pressure to be attractive — according a narrow, male-constructed definition of the word — and a desire to join the ranks of other women who are doing the same thing. I think it’s reductive to say girls change their appearance to fit society’s definition of attractiveness, but I don’t think the alternative — of transformation as a collective, gendered experience — has been shown a lot in art.

Q: How did you get the idea for this project?

A: I started thinking about #girlhood this summer, when I modeled for a friend who has an Instagram account, @the_boy_is_mine. I never really like to have pictures taken of me for Instagram, which is a big thing to do in Miami, but I love her page because I thought it had substance

a lot of similar accounts don’t. It’s this very sexedup American Apparel-style aesthetic, but it’s shot by a girl who likes girls and just wants to capture her friends having fun.

In a certain sense, the male gaze is absent in the production of these very mainstream sexy images of young girls. But the nature of the Internet is that an image doesn’t really belong to you once it’s posted. Does it really make a difference that it’s a girl who is taking these pictures once they’re out in the web, and the context is removed? I think it does. I think the Internet and sites like Tumbr have allowed girls to communicate directly with each other, and to document their lives without mediation.

In the media and culture at large, the idea of girlhood is either defined through the male gaze, and thus sexualized without regard to the desires and agency of the girls themselves, or defined against the attainment of womanhood, in which case girls are always lacking some essential quality or experience that would mark them as “woman.” So I think it’s really important that there are platforms that are set up so that users generate the content, and these platforms are practically accessible to anyone. This has allowed marginalized groups of all kinds to create their own media, and young girls are doubly marginalized because of gender and age. Triply if they are young girls of color. So really thinking deeply about the Internet in terms of cultural production and what it all means was the first step in developing this project.

Q: Do you think you entered your project with a specific intention? If so, what? Did this intention change?

A: I think the most clear-cut intention I had was to create a dialogue about the collective experience of being a girl and find ways to visually represent that. As I got further along in the project, it started to bother me how much of the iconography of girlhood showcases vulnerability. Vulnerability is definitely a big part of being a woman, but a lot of the images of girls, even those by young women artists, show a vulnerability that is safe and passive. I knew from the beginning I wanted to create images that felt more dangerous.

Q: How do you feel about people’s responses to your project?

A: I think there have been a lot of positive responses to this project. Particularly in the beginning, when my ideas were not as fully fleshed out, putting them out to a group of girls really sharpened my thinking and made me work harder to be inclusive. I originally had an idea that would

Image courtesy Camila of Dominguez ‘18 Photoofcourtesy blogspot.com

An image from Dominguez’s Facebook forum for discussing “#girlhood.” use long hair as a signifier of femininity, which is really problematic when you take into account the racial and gender implications of calling something “girl hair.” These problems were brought up by the group of women I’m working with.

Q: What do you think have been successful campaigns that have mobilized women on this campus in the past?

A: I really think there has to be an emphasis on community. I feel bad, because I haven’t been as big a part of any community events or campaigns on campus as I’d like to be. But there is a Women of Color Empowerment Action Group on campus doing great things that seems really promising.

Q: Where do you hope to see this project go?

A: I joke that this is my thesis, but I actually think I’ll be doing more and deeper research into the topic of girlhood. Right now I’m reading a book by the French collective Tiqqum called “Preliminary Materials For a Theory of the Young-Girl.”

So far I like it. It’s been great because the further I go with this project, the more I find artists and theorists who are doing the exact same thing. At first I felt like, oh great, I’m late to the party. But the more I follow older artists’ work, the better my own work gets! And it’s really encouraging to be working on something so many other people think is important.

Q: What do you think we can do about having more art on Amherst campus in general?

A: There has to be public art. Artists shouldn’t ask for permission. If you’re doing something meaningful that’s of interest to the community, you should be allowed to use public space. I’m not saying you should graffiti the dining hall, but if you have a thoughtful, well-executed project, no one is going to object to seeing it around campus.

Also, know the resources that are available to you. There’s the Dean’s Discretionary fund, reimbursement options, et cetera. Do a little research, because Amherst has a lot of money and resources that are underutilized.

Aziz Ansari Writes and Stars in the Netflix Original Show “Master of None”

Photo courtesy of blogspot.com

Aziz Ansari’s character, Dev, is an actor struggling to make it in New York City.

Shahruz Ghaemi ’19 Staff Writer We all dive into new TV shows with our own expectations based on other shows we’ve watched in the past, so when I first saw Aziz Ansari’s new show “Master of None” on Netflix, I immediately thought: Tom Haverford.

Ansari’s character from “Parks and Recreation” was so brilliant that I half expected Ansari to create another version of the same character.

But surprisingly, Ansari completely broke off from “Parks and Recreation” and created a show that is different and much better.

People have compared “Master of None” (created by Ansari and Alan Yang, a writer on “Parks and Recreation”) to other situation comedies about young people trying to find their way through life in New York City — “Girls,” “Broad City” and “Louie.” Perhaps comparing these shows about millennials struggling in the city is giving into “the beast” of expectation, but it still gives you some idea

of what Ansari’s show is like. Ansari’s character Dev is a variously employed actor drifting through life with his buddies. Sometimes seeking advice from their elders, but more often from the Internet, Dev and his friends meander through casting calls, “Sherlock” viewing parties, failed dates and successful ones with a self-aware cluelessness, all carrying the certain air that says “eh, we’re figuring it out as we go along.”

It is certainly an intriguing show. Some of the dialogue can be maddeningly wooden or overacted, but the overall character development slowly draws you in, not to mention the alluring aesthetics. You’ll notice right away how artsy it is with a wide aspect ratio, understated visual style and cinematic camera work; it sometimes feels like a production made for the film festival circuit. The honesty of its pretentious nature — title cards straight out of ‘60s French cinema — is laughable and ultimately slightly endearing.

Ansari is at his best when tackling racism in the film industry, though he doesn’t tackle the issue so much as he dances with it.

When Dev and a fellow Indian actor end up competing for the same spot, he accidentally obtains an executive’s racist email that reads “there can’t be two.” Dev’s strategy sessions with friends about sucking it up for the money or threatening to leak the emails — and ulti-

mately his meetings with the white executive who tries to apologize and to curry his favor — are all simultaneously hilarious and sadly on point. Moments like that are the show’s satirical high points. Ansari and Yang fail to hit the mark as well when it comes to women’s issues, but there is a good episode later on in which Dev’s female friends explain how they navigate a world that can be dangerous and degrading for them as women, and eventually Dev learns to embrace feminism.

The show meshes the personal as well as the political very well. Though Dev is still partially a man-child, eternally less-than-prepared for the full responsibilities of the real world, he is likeable because at the end of the day, he is real. He and his friends crack immature jokes, look out for each other and make plenty of mistakes. They deal with their parents, awkwardly fight with bartenders and get freaked out by the thought of having kids. They’re not whiny, boring cutouts of millennials saying lines for laughs, but wittier reflections of reality. That’s what makes them so charming.

Dev is not as silly as the materialist entrepreneur Tom Haverford from “Parks and Recreation” and “Master of None” is not as upbeat as his previous work. As much as I want to live in Leslie Knope and Tom Haverford’s sunny Pawnee, I may very well end up living in Dev’s New York City. And I wouldn’t mind that.

The Amherst Student • November 11, 2015

Sports 9

Volleyball Selected to Compete in NCAA Championship Tourney Julia Turner ’18 Staff Writer Amherst College’s volleyball team traveled to Bowdoin this weekend to make its 17th consecutive NESCAC tournament appearance. On Friday the third-seeded Firedogs faced sixth-seeded Connecticut College in a rematch of Amherst’s NESCAC season opener in September. Amherst entered the tournament boasting the highest hitting percentage in the league, while Conn. College came in on a hot streak, having won 13 of their last 15 matches.

The first set was tight, with the two teams battling back and forth through 10 tie scores and four lead changes. The Camels jumped out to an early lead but the purple and white stayed in the game after trailing through the first 15 points. Three kills apiece credited to Lizzie Ahern ’16, Nicole Gould ’17 and Maggie Danner ’17, however, helped to lift the Firedogs to a hard-fought 26-24 victory in the first set.

After a shaky first set, the nerves were out and Amherst went on to dominate Conn.

College in the next two sets, 25-12 and 25-15.

Ahern and Danner led the charge, finishing with 12 and 11 kills, respectively, while seniors Katie Warshaw and Nicole Carter helped out on the defensive side with 17 and 12 digs, respectively. Carter also led both teams with 31 assists, and Hayes Honea ‘19 chipped in eight digs, while Marialexa Natsis ‘18 and Carter contributed two assisted blocks each.

Friday’s win advanced Amherst into the NESCAC semifinal match where they faced league rival and second-seed Williams. Amherst suffered one of their only three season losses to a tough Williams squad earlier in the year.

The purple and white jumped out to an early 9-4 lead over the Ephs before allowing four unanswered points to bring Williams back into the game. From there, eight tie

scores and six lead changes ultimately came out in Williams’s favor, with the Ephs taking the set 25-21.

The Firedogs weren’t ready to roll over yet, however, and tey came back to fight through the longest set of the season. Williams held a six-point lead at 12-6 until the purple and white tied up the set and held the Ephs at bay, extending the set to 34-32 for an Amherst win thanks to late kills by Danner and Warshaw.

Using their momentum from a huge secondset victory, the Firedogs took the third set by the largest margin of the match 25-21 led by dominating offensive performances from Natsis and Danner who impressed with four kills each.

With Amherst now holding a 2-1 set advantage, the two teams entered the critical fourth set, where the score was tight until Williams pulled ahead 19-16.

Amherst responded with back-to-back kills from Danner and Honea to pull within one before Williams came right back with a 4-0 run to take a 23-18 advantage. A kill by Danner and an assisted block by Ahern and Newby helped Amherst score the next three points to pull the purple and white to within 23-21, but a kill and a service ace allowed the Ephs force a deciding fifth set, taking the fourth 25-21.

Amherst looked as though they were ready to run away with the fifth and final set after pulling out to a 6-3 lead. After playing through seven more tie scores, an Amherst handling error and a Williams kill secured the match for the Ephs, sending them to the title match to compete against Bowdoin on Sunday afternoon.

Amherst enjoyed a wildly successful season, finishing at 22-4 with their only losses coming at the hands of Williams, Middlebury and Springfield. The Firedogs’ 2015 campaign began with seven straight wins and finished with winning 10 of their last 12.

These impressive accomplishments in a

tough NESCAC league gave Amherst help to grant the firedogs an at-large birth, which sends them to their first NCAA tournament appearance since 2010.

“We’re all of course extremely excited to have another opportunity to play together and prove what we can do,” Asha Walker ’18 said.

“It’s nice to have our hard work recognized and be able to compete at a national level, especially for our senior class. They’ve had great careers and we’re all grateful to be able to have the chance to share the court with them at least one more time.”

The tournament is set to take place next week, with the first round of games being played on Nov. 13. The Firedogs will travel to Massachusetts Institute of Technology for

their first round of play in a first-round matchup against Johnson & Wales University.

The purple and white faced Johson & Wales in a regular season match up at the Wildcast Invitational. The firedogs took the game easily, 3-1. Danner and Natsis led Amherst offensively in that regular season contest while Warshaw, Kelci Keeno ’17 and Honea proved to be the difference makers on the defensive front.

Should Amherst defeat Johnson & Wales they’ll continue on to face the winner of MIT versus Regis. That second round game will be played on Saturday, Nov. 14 beginning at 5 p.m.

Tip-off for first-round action on Friday is set for 5:30 p.m.

Photo courtesy of Peter Connolly ’18

Asha Walker ’18 posted 10 digs in the Amherst victory over Connecticut College.

Field Hockey Season Comes to a Men’s Cross Country Finishes Close with Loss in NESCAC Semis First at ECAC Championships Kelly Karczewski ’18 Staff Writer The Amherst College field hockey team fell short to top-seeded Bowdoin this Saturday, in a difficult NESCAC semifinal matchup at the Polar Bears’ home turf in Brunswick, Maine.

After taking down Williams with an exciting 2-1 overtime win in the first round of the NESCAC tournament last Saturday, the Jeffs were excited and prepared to face the No.1 seed in the tournament.

When Amherst faced the Polar Bears in their NESCAC opener, Bowdoin secured a comfortable 4-1 win. Despite a 22-save effort from Amherst goalkeeper Emily Horwitz ’17, but the Polar Bears jumped out to a 3-0 lead.

Sara Culhane ’17 scored a goal for the Jeffs to make it 3-1, but it proved a consolation as Bowdoin claimed the win.

Bowdoin entered the game as the unanimous No. 1 ranked team in the country. Led by senior captain and NESCAC top scorer Rachel Kennedy, the Polar Bears charged to an undefeated regular season with the NESCAC’s best defending record.

However, the postseason brings a different level of competition, and Amherst would bring their best againt the top-ranked team in the conference.

In this semifinal matchup, Bowdoin showed their supremacy as Amherst fell 4-0 to the Polar Bears. Jeff goalkeeper Horwitz recorded 11 saves in a fine effort, but a Kennedy hat-trick helped the Polar Bears to comfortable victory.

Bowdoin opened the scoring within the first two minutes of the game, when Kennedy slipped one past goalie Horwitz off of a rebound.

Kennedy struck again just 10 minutes later,

after the Polar Bears had been pressuring the Jeffs’ defense for a significant chunk of time. A corner was granted to Bowdoin, and Kennedy found herself once again in the right place at the right time, tipping a rebound into the back of the goal.

The Jeffs hit their stride late in the first half with good offensive force. Culhane had a chance for a goal with nine minutes to play, but Polar Bear goalkeeper Clara Belitz deflected her shot.

Halftime cut the momentum short, and Bowdoin scored again around ten minutes into the second half, with yet another goal by Kennedy.

Just seven minutes later, the Polar Bears took advantage of their sixth corner opportunity of the game with a goal by Emily McColgan, making the score 4-0.

The score remained a four-goal differential until the final whistle. Bowdoin outshot Amherst 22-4, and ultimately showcased a higher level of play. They advanced to compete in the NESCAC finals next weekend.

With the NCAA tournament selections announced, Amherst saw their 2015 season come to a close. The committee selected two NESCAC squads for the tournament Bowdoin and No. 3 Middlebury. Amherst, despite being ranked No. 18 in the country, did not get an atlarge bid into the 24-team championship.

The Jeffs finished with a winning regular season record of 12-5 and made it to the semifinals of the NESCAC tournament.

Next season, the Jeffs lose Annika Nygren ’16, who finished second on the team in goals, as well as fellow seniors Annie Turnbull and Katie Paolano. However, with top scorer Culhane and a strong group of underclassmen returning, the Jeffs will reurn a strong squad next season.

Lauren Tuiskula ’17 Managing Sports Editor Steven Lucey ’17 helped lead the men’s cross country team to a first-place finish in the 40team field at the Eastern College Athletic Conference championship meet this past weekend.

The top five finishing teams at the race featured Amherst’s fellow NESCAC competition with Williams taking second place followed by Middlebury in third, Colby in fourth and Tufts rounding out the top five.

Lucey finished the race in 26:24, finishing just four tenths of a second behind the firstplace finisher but a full six seconds ahead of the third-place runner. He earned first place at the 2014 meet.

Sophomores Jack Wesley and Justin Barry turned in strong performances for the Jeffs, both finishing within the top 10. Wesley earned fifth place with a time of 26:55 while Barry followed closely behind in eighth place at a time of 27:01.

Scott Nelson ’18 and Cosmo Brossy ’19 also both factored into the scoring for Amherst.

Nelson posted a 16th-place finish amongst the 277 competing runners, crossing the finish line in 27:20.

Brossy finished nine seconds later good for 22nd overall.

Two first-years also impressed on the day for the purple and white. Kristian Sogaard raced to a time of 28:01, earning 52nd overall. Kevin Dooley notched a 75th-place finish by completing the race in 28:32.

Amherst returns to competition this Saturday, Nov. 14 when they’ll travel to Connecticut College to compete in the NCAA Div. III Northeast Regional meet. The race is slated to begin at 12:30 p.m.

Last year, Amherst took second place among the 54 teams competing at the meet. Mohamed Hussein ’18 will look to continue his stellar sophomore campaign by following up on an impressive showing at the meet last year. Hussein took fourth place out of 373 runners in 2014.

The NCAA regional meet is the Jeffs’ last regular season meet before they head to Winneconne, Wisconsin to compete at the NCAA Div. III Championships.

Photo courtesy of Clarus Studios, Inc.

Steven Lucey ’17 took second place at the ECAC meet this weekend.

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Sports

The Amherst Student • November 11, 2015

“Athletes and Allies” Organization Aims to Support LGBTQ Athletes Lauren Tuiskula ’17 Managing Sports Editor Founded last spring, Amherst Athletes and Allies looks to foster more community and acceptance within the athletic community for athletes who identify as LGBTQ. The group’s recent “A Safe Space Includes” campaign has spotlighted teams and called on them to commit to serving as a haven for these athletes.

Taylor Summers ’16 founded the program last year with Idalia Friedson ’15. “Ever since I was a freshman I have felt that our campus is so much more accepting of LGBTQ students than we are outwardly able to perceive,” Summers said. “I didn’t know how my teammates would react when I came out until I started to get to know them and once that happened it cleared up any doubts that I had previously had. After freshman year, though, I never wanted anyone to have the doubt that I had as a freshman. I wanted people to know before coming out that they were accepted.”

Friedson had similar intentions in founding the program.

“I felt compelled to start the program for a few reasons: One was recognizing that if an LGBT player comes onto a team without overtly knowing that their team will be accepting, it makes it way more difficult to come out, even if the team ultimately handles it well,” she said. “So we definitely started this program with freshman, pre-frosh and closeted athletes in mind to ease some of their fears and to teach allies that proactivity is important.

After the pair attended a talk given by Hudson Taylor, the founder of “Athlete Ally,” a nonprofit aimed at fostering unity and inclusive athletic spaces, they were both inspired and provided with a framework to complete their mission.

It quickly became clear that the ideal set-up for the club would provide a space for LGBTQ athletes and their allies as well as make concrete changes within the Amherst community.

Through partnerships with Angie Tissi and the Queer Resource Center as well as Emily Lombardo and Amherst Leads, many strategies have been implemented.

The most impactful campaign thus far has been the “A Safe Space Includes” campaign, a poster campaign that spotlights teams and individuals who have committed to make places important to them a “safe space” for all LGBTQ athletes. The poster campaign is a play on Duke’s “You Don’t Say” initiative that is aimed at showcasing certain words and which phrases that are often used in offensive ways. Club leaders Tess Frenzel ’17 and Itai-Brand Thomas ’15 were also

essential to the creation of the photo campaign.

“In starting the photo campaign, we definitely wanted to gain visibility on campus and do something that immediately made an impact,” Summers said. “These posters help to make it clear that these are safe spaces, so when recruits or prospective students visit they will know what kind of community we have.”

Participating members in the “safe space” poster campaign vary from varsity and clubs athletes as well coaches and administrators.

Thirty-seven total groups participated including representatives from 17 varsity sports, five clubs team and eight administrators or coaches.

Head softball coach Jessica Johnson is one of the eight who chose to participate. “I take hard line on this issue both professionally and personally because it shouldn’t be an ‘issue’,” she said. “In my mind, every nook and cranny on this campus should be a safe space, non-negotiable, but I realize we might not be there yet.

I think the best way to open minds is to start by opening your own door so I am hoping this campaign helps to foster the dialogue and works to tear down some stereotypes.”

In addition to the photo campaign, Summers and Friedson met with athletic administrators and coaches at the end of the last academic year in hopes of offering them strategies they can implement within their own teams. They also host monthly meetings geared toward offering a specific place for athletes to gather and to discuss issues. In terms of future plans, the main goal will be to continue to educate. This year’s group is headed by Summers, Frenzel, Lee Stevens ’16 and Kathryn McHenry ’17.

“The goal is to educate people the best we can about creating a visible culture of acceptance, whether that’s having speakers or hosting whole teams at our events and talking to them about what they can do,” Summers said. “We are going to get in front of as many coaches and players as we can because people are generally really accepting and supportive, but don’t always know how to actively demonstrate their support as allies.”

“My hope is that one day we won’t need a separate space for LGBT athletes, but for now we need to target the athletic sphere in order to get it to where it needs to be,” Friedson said.

“On the two teams I have been a part of here, I have personally tried to take on the role of being the supportive teammate who people feel like they can talk to, especially for the freshmen, while also advocating for the LGBTQ community, but that only impacts the team that I’m on,” Summers said. “This campaign allows me, as well as others, to serve that role in the greater community.”

Photo courtesy of Taylor Summers ‘16

The Amherst softball class of 2019 pose in support of the “Safe Space” campaign.

ATHLETE SPOTLIGHT

Steven Lucey ’17 Favorite Team Memory: Setting the school record in the 4x800-meters in 7:33 my first year Favorite Pro Athlete: Pavel Datsyuk Dream Job: Stay-at-home dad Pet Peeve: The sound of Velcro Favorite Vacation Spot: Turks and Caicos Something on Your Bucket List: Go paragliding Guilty Pleasure: Double Stuff Oreos Favorite Food: Steak and pasta Favorite Thing About Amherst: Val How He Earned It: Lucey’s performance at the ECAC championships this past weekend helped Amherst race to a first place finish at the meet. The junior crossed the finish line second overall in a time of 26:24 to help lead the Jeffs to the victory. He finished just four 10ths of a second behind the first-place finisher. This race supplemented Lucey’s impressive history at the ECAC championships, a race he took first place in last year. Amherst looks to ride this momentum into the NCAA Northeast Regional this weekend.

Maggie Danner ’17 Favorite Team Memory: Getting an NCAA bid Favorite Pro Athlete: Mike Trout Dream Job: Professional pizza critic Pet Peeve: Val’s long lunch lines Favorite Vacation Spot: Colorado Something on Your Bucket List: Road trip across the country Guilty Pleasure: Laughing when people trip Favorite Food: Schwemm’s fries with ranch Favorite Thing About Amherst: Snow days How She Earned It: In the volleyball team’s strong showing at the NESCAC tournament, Danner posted 11 kills in the team’s victory over Conn. College as well as leading the team with 20 kills in their loss to Williams on Saturday. Against Williams, she added two solo blocks and two assisted stuffs. Danner and the firedogs recently learned that they were granted and NCAA bid to compete in the postseason tournament and will take on Johnson & Wales in first round action this Friday, Nov. 13.

Women’s Cross Country Finishes Sixth Out of 43 at ECAC Championship Meet Jason Darell ’18 Managing Sports Editor Last weekend, women’s cross country traveled to Williamstown to compete in the 2015 ECAC Championship.

The Jeffs put in a strong performance, impressively finishing in sixth out of the field of 46 teams from the Eastern College Athletic Conference with a final point total of 157.

Finishing ahead of Amherst were Tufts, University of New England, Wiliams, Middlebury and NYU. Sophomore Nicky Roberts led Amherst with a time of 23:41, and earned 12th place overall out of the field of 311 runners. This result marks her best finish of her two years on the cross country team.

Finishing in second on the team was junior Tess Frenzel, who posted a time of 24:12, good for 27th place.

Senior captain Caroline Rose finished soon after with a time of 24:28. This performance earned her 36th place.

The last two runners who counted toward the Jeffs’ final score of 157 were first-year Lela Walter and junior Keelin Moehl, who finished with times of 24:36 and 24:37, respectively.

Walter placed in 40th, while Moehl earned 42nd.

The last runner for the Jeffs, sophomore Adele Loomis finished with a time of 25:42, placing 97th among the field.

The purple and white’s sixth-place finish mirrored their result from last year, when they also finished sixth in the ECAC Championships.

“It was really exciting to see everyone on our team give their all during the races at Williams,” Frenzel said. “Our seniors Caroline Rose and Keelin Moehl had fantastic last races and given what an amazing job they’ve done leading the team this year, they totally deserved it. I think the team is really fired up for heading into regionals this weekend and I

can’t wait to see what we can do.”

The Jeffs look to continue to build upon their consistency as they head into the last couple races of the season. The purple and white look forward to their second-to-last race of the season next weekend at the NCAA Northeast Regional. The race will be hosted by Connecticut College.

Last year, Amherst took fourth place at the regional meet, led by sophomore Savanna Gornisiewicz and her ninth-place individual finish among the 387 runners competing at the meet.

This year’s race will begin on Saturday at noon.

Photo courtesy of Bob Blanchard

Tess Frenzel ’17 finished second among Jeff runners this weekend.

The Amherst Student • November 11, 2015

Sports

NCAA Tournament Bid Roundup

11

Jeff Matthews Coach’s Corner

Women’s Soccer

Head Women’s Ice Hockey Coach

“We are so excited for an opportunity to play in the NCAA tournament. Not only did we get a bid but we are hosting. Having a week off gave people time to recover from injuries, catch up on schoolwork and be even more motivated to play this weekend.

We recognize that only 64 teams get the chance to compete for a national championship so we are excited and ready to play.”

— Jessy Hale ’16

Men’s Soccer “For us seniors, it means so much to get a bid to the NCAA tournament because it means we get another week to play with our best friends. Our goal has always been to win a national championship and we’ve completed the first step. Now it’s all about Sunday, and doing everything possible to try and get to the Sweet Sixteen.”

— Thomas Bull ’16

Women’s Volleyball “We’re so pumped up to receive a bid to the NCAA tournament and have the chance to show what we can do on a national stage. I’m mostly excited for our four seniors who have had such great careers and really deserve this. I’m grateful to have the chance to play with them again.”

— Asha Walker ’18

Chris Roll ’17 spoke with head women’s ice hockey coach Jeff Matthews to talk about hockey memories and goals for his team’s upcoming season which begins Saturday, Nov. 20.

Q: Tell us a little bit about how you got into hockey as a youth and its role in your early life.

A: I was on skates at a young age, four or five years old. I remember my mom used to dress me in hockey equipment all wrong, with my pads in all the wrong spots. I fell in love with the game from an early age and immensely enjoyed playing my entire life. There was nothing better than going to hockey tournaments as a kid and staying in hotels with your friends and family. Those memories are definitely part of the reason I do what I do today.

Q: When did you know coaching and working in an academic setting was something you wanted to pursue?

A: I was fortunate to study at Deerfield Academy for four years and move on right to R.P.I. as a student-athlete there for four more years.

After my senior year I ended up playing professional hockey in Sweden for a year to experience what that would be like. From there I actually went into sales but realized after three years of that, I wanted to do something with more purpose. I found coaching and teaching younger people to be extremely rewarding and choosing that path has been one of the best decisions I have ever made.

Q: What is your favorite athletic memory as a player? As a coach?

A: My most memorable moment as a player was winning the ECAC championship at R.P.I. my senior year. My sophomore year we made it to the semi-finals and lost and my junior year we lost in the championship final, so to win it my senior year was extremely rewarding. Personally, I played a bigger role on that championship team, and that is always gratifying when you feel like you played a large part in your team’s success. As for coaching, building those bonds with my players is the most memorable for me.

When I get an email from a past player and I feel like I have made an impact on their life in a positive way, that is far more memorable than any championship I have won as a coach.

Q: What is the most rewarding part of coach-

ing? The toughest?

A: One of the most rewarding parts of coaching for me is enjoying the process that comes with it. Pouring your heart into something and doing everything you can to grow as a group, both as a group of hockey players and as a group of individuals. Ultimately, the most rewarding part becomes seeing your athletes flourish after they leave your program. Whether it is as a parent or in their career, seeing your former players living a fulfilling life and knowing you may have had an influence on the person they have become is wonderful. The toughest part about coaching for me is the grind that comes with the job everyday. Even though you are doing something that you love, you still need to be consistent in your approach and in your demeanor. Even if you are having a bad day you are the leader of a team and are responsible for setting that example everyday. There is so much more that goes into coaching than those two hours on the ice or field everyday.

Q: What aspects of Amherst drew you here and are you most proud of?

A: Working and coaching here at Amherst is a very comfortable fit for me. I feel I share a similar philosophy to that of the school in terms of athletics. That philosophy being that we try to be the best team we can be but more importantly try to inspire each other to be the best people we can be and attempting to carry those traits with us the rest of our lives. I also get to work with some of the best student-athletes in the nation and knowing the potential they have to make a difference in the world beyond Amherst makes everything that much more exciting.

Q: What are the expectations for the Amherst Women’s hockey team leading into the year?

A: We had a good year last year but are always trying to get better collectively, year to year.

We are a young team this year with only three seniors but at the same time our overall numbers are up a bit and that should create more depth and competition. I know we will be an extremely hard-working team and that the girls are really looking forward to our first game on Nov. 20.

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Sports

Photo courtesy of Amherst Athletics

Thomas Kleyn ’16 was named NESCAC defensive player of the week back in week five when he recorded 18 tackles in the Jeffs’ win over Wesleyan.

Football Remains Perfect, Edges Formerly Undefeated Trinity in 16-7 Contest Devin O’Connor ’16 Staff Writer The Amherst College football team extended its season record to 7-0 and increased its consecutive win streak to 18 games, with a 16-7 win over Trinity on Saturday. Despite Trinity’s early lead, the Jeffs were able to clinch the win and continue on the journey of seizing the NESCAC title.

Saturday was also family weekend, and the team honored the 20-member graduating class in the senior day game. The senior class boasts an impressive 15-1 record at home and a four-year record of 28-3 to this point. If they defeat Williams this weekend, the class of 2016 will be tied with the class of 2015 as the class for the most number of wins in Amherst history.

Both teams entered Saturday’s contest with undefeated records. At the outset, it was unclear who would maintain that title. Trinity received the opening punt and used nine minutes on the first drive. The Bantams went 53 yards, but were

forced to punt. On the vistors’ next posession, they scored the first touchdown of the game.

Trinity rushed for a 1-yard touchdown to get the 7-0 lead before the end of the quarter.

After the first quarter, the Jeffs prevented the Bantams from scoring again for the rest of the game. On the next drive, Amherst put three points of its own on the board. Roughly four minutes and 12 plays after the Trinity touchdown, Charlie Wall ’18 completed a 24-yard field goal attempt.

Trinity received the ball at its own 23-yard line following the kickoff. Just two plays later, Jimmy Fairfield-Sonn ’16 picked off the Bantams quarterback. He returned the ball five yards to get the Jeffs to the Trinity-32.

The interception led to a touchdown score for the purple and white. On third-and-9, senior Jackson McGonagle evaded his defender in the end zone. Quarterback Reece Foy ’18 completed the pass to the wide receiver, and the Jeffs managed to claim the lead, 9-7.

The visitors chewed up the clock on the fol-

GAME SCHE DULE

lowing possession. More than eight minutes later, Trinity found itself on the Amherst 5-yard line.

On 4th-and-goal, the Bantams attempted a field goal to try and reclaim the lead before the close of the half. Fairfield-Sonn saved the day again by successfully blocking the attempt, and the purple and white had the lead at the half.

The second half opened with back-and-forth down-and-outs for the teams. With three minutes left in the third quarter, Amherst started its drive at the Trinity 46. On the first play, the Jeffs gained 19 yards when Devin Boehm ’17 made an incredible catch off a pass from Foy. Kenny Adinkra ’16 finished the drive with a 3-yard rushing touchdown score. The purple and white were up by nine.

While Trinity had a few opportunities in the fourth quarter to tighten the game and Amherst had the opportunity to stretch the lead, each offense was intercepted. With just under 11 minutes to play, Trinity faked a punt and Boehm intercepted a lob thrown into the midfield. With less than two minutes to play, Fairfield-Sonn

FRI

SAT

Volleyball @ NCAA Tournament (MIT) vs. Johnson & Wales, 5:30 p.m.

Women’s Soccer @ NCAA Tournament (Amherst) vs. Colby-Sawyer, 11 a.m.

Women’s Cross Country @ NCAA Northeast Regional, 11 a.m.

notched his second interception of the game and secured the win for the Jeffs. The purple and white won their final game of the season on Pratt Field, 16-7.

Fairfield-Sonn was named as the NESCAC defensive player of the week for his standout efforts against Trinity, making him the third Jeff to earn the honor this season. He boasts 45 tackles this season (24 solo) and leads the conference in blocked field goals.

“The win over Trinity was a special moment for legacy of the senior class,” Fairfield-Sonn said.

“We clinched our third consecutive NESCAC championship and put ourselves in a position to be the winningest class in Amherst football history with a win over Williams.”

The Jeffs will face longstanding rival Williams next weekend, Saturday, Nov. 14. The “Biggest Little Game in America” will take place at the recently renovated Weston Field in Williamstown.

The purple and white hope to continue their win streak and to finish with back to back undefeated seasons. Kickoff is scheduled for noon.

SUN Football @ Williams, noon Men’s Cross Country @ NCAA Northeast Regional, 12:30 p.m.

Men’s Soccer @ NCAA Tournament (Amherst) vs. TBA, 1:30 p.m.