March 05, 2010

Ted Cross '46, activist, publisher, birder

Theodore Cross ‘46, a civil rights activist and bird enthusiast who was also a successful businessman and publisher, died this past weekend at the age of 86. The New York Times published a detailed obituary in its March 3 edition.

After serving as a naval officer in the Pacific in World War II, he received a bachelor’s degree in English from Amherst College in 1946. In 1950, he earned a law degree from Harvard, where he was an editor of The Harvard Law Review.

As a young lawyer, Mr. Cross became general counsel for the Sheraton Corporation of America, the hotel chain. In the early 1960s, Sheraton sent him to San Francisco to put an end to a sit-in over racially discriminatory hiring practices at one of its hotels. The task made him uneasy.

“It seemed to me that I was working on the wrong side for the wrong people,” Mr. Cross told Fortune magazine in 1987.

He took a leave of absence and became involved in civil rights work, participating in the second of the three historic voting rights marches that began in Selma, Ala., in 1965. A lifelong Democrat, Mr. Cross later advised the Johnson and Nixon administrations on economic development opportunities for black Americans.

Brian Meacham '97 | 11:17 AM | Alumni | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

February 18, 2010

Amherst bans student membership in Psi Upsilon

Yesterday, the Amherst administration took action against one of the off-campus fraternities that count Amherst students among its members. Amherst students are now forbidden from joining Psi Upsilon, effective immediately.

Amherst had already kicked its fraternities off-campus in the mid 1980s and converted the houses into upperclassman residences. Fraternities were not abolished, however: A handful of fraternities have survived and continued from that point up the present day, with the understanding that their activities must not occur on the Amherst campus. Now, the administration has taken a further step against Psi Upsilon, which we believe is an unprecedented action, at least since the early 1990s when we began arriving on campus.

We’ve received a copy of an e-mail to the Amherst student body from Tony Marx, which we’ve reproduced below. We don’t have any other information and have not heard if the national office of Psi Upsilon has issued a reaction (assuming that Amherst’s Gamma chapter was currently affiliated with the national organization at the time of Marx’s announcement). We’ll keep you posted as we get more information. You can also contact us at amerst@gmail.com

——Original Message——
From: President’s Office [mailto:president@amherst.edu]
Sent: Wed 2/17/2010 8:22 AM
To: all-students
Cc: Allen Hart
Subject: Ban on Membership in Psi Upsilon

To the Amherst College Student Body:

The Trustees’ Resolution on Fraternities mandates that no College facilities shall be used by fraternities or sororities; there can be no such activities on campus. The Board established this rule to help ensure that our community lives up to its ideals of inclusivity and equality of opportunity. The Student Handbook clearly states that fraternities and sororities that conduct activities on campus, as well as students who participate in these activities, will be judged in violation of this resolution.

As a result of a serious violation involving the leadership and members of the off-campus fraternity Psi Upsilon, and on the advice of the College Council, the College now prohibits all students from joining this organization. This ban is effective immediately. The College will take disciplinary action against any student who is found to be a member of or participating in any activities sponsored by Psi Upsilon, whether those activities are held on or off campus. Disciplinary sanctions in such cases may include suspension or expulsion from the College.

The College may review this decision after a period of at least four years. In light of recent events, members of other off-campus fraternities and sororities should be aware that the College will be monitoring their compliance with the Trustees’ resolution, and that any violations may result in the prohibition on membership being extended to all off-campus fraternities and sororities.

Yours,

Tony Marx

Dave Nardolillo '98 | 12:54 PM | Student Life | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

December 13, 2009

Professor Pritchard on Teachout's Armstrong bio

William H. Pritchard ‘53, Henry Clay Folger Professor of English at the College, reviews Terry Teachout’s new biography of Louis Armstrong, Pops: A Life of Louis Armstrong, in The Boston Globe today.

In his commentary on some of these sides…Teachout shows himself to be gifted with not only a trained ear but prose adequate to expressing what he hears… The master at this sort of on-the-spot jazz description was the New Yorker’s Whitney Balliett; Teachout is equally good at it, and this reader could only wish there were time for similar accounts of all the great Armstrong solos.

Brian Meacham '97 | 06:42 PM | Faculty | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

November 15, 2009

Amherst wins "The Biggest Little Game in America"

Congratulations to the Amherst College Lord Jeffs football team for their 26-21 victory over Williams at the Ephs’ Weston Field yesterday, capping off an undefeated 8-0 season with a Little Three Championship, a NESCAC championship, and their first victory over Williams since 2004.

Read coverage from the College website, from The Boston Globe, and the Albany Times Union.

Also, check out photos from the game.

Brian Meacham '97 | 01:35 PM | Athletics | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

November 10, 2009

$125 million in anonymous gifts announced

Two anonymous gifts, one of $100 million and the other of $25 million, were announced by President Marx last week. A Boston Globe piece reports:

“In a difficult economic moment, when institutions and individuals have fewer resources, these unrestricted gifts to the endowment represent extraordinary votes of support for Amherst College, and the mission of educational quality and access at liberal arts colleges in general,” said Anthony W. Marx, the college’s president.

The money will be allocated as needed, Marx said, including enhanced financial aid, hiring more faculty and building new facilities or renovating existing ones.

The college launched a $425 million fundraising campaign in October 2008.

The school’s statement included comments attributed to both anonymous donors, including one from the $100 million donor who called Amherst, “a jewel of enlightenment, social mobility based on talent and preparation for leadership that we must all maintain.”

Peter Rooney, a spokesman for Amherst, said the school is confident based on research it did that the $100 million gift was the largest ever given for unrestricted purposes to a liberal arts college.

Brian Meacham '97 | 10:56 AM | Administration | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

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