Archives: Campus

August 01, 2009

Apologies and architecture

I’d like to apologize for the dormant state of the site over the last few months, as our hosting service embarked on a somewhat disastrous migration project that brought the site to its knees on the inside, while everything seemed fine on the outside.

We’ll get the ball rolling again with a nice piece on Amherst’s campus from Blair Kamin ‘79, a talk he delivered at his 30th reunion a few months ago: “A storybook New England campus: The essentials of its architecture.”

A video of the presentation is available on the College’s website, as well. Thanks to everyone for their patience, and here’s hoping we’re back on track.

Brian Meacham '97 at 01:19 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

March 15, 2009

Residential Master Plan: Sit tight

The Student is reporting that the inexorable renovation progress of the Residential Master Plan, which started earlier this decade with the construction of King and Wieland dorms, has been slowed. According to Torin Moore, Dean of Residential Life (I love writing that, because Torin was an Area Coordinator when I was an RC in South) the College will close three of the most-remote houses (Plimpton, Tyler, and Seligman, formerly known as DKE, Kappa Theta, and TD, respectively) for 2009-2010, as well as the infamous “mods” (Waldorf and Plaza dorms, temporary housing behind Seeley Mudd).

This plan will leave Marsh House as the only inhabited dorm on “the Hill” and doubtless please the Lincoln Avenue neighbors of Seligman. With Hitchcock and Seeleye Houses re-opening after this year’s renovation, the College will be able to house all the students displaced from the three houses and the Mods in newer, more energy-efficient housing.

According to the Student, the next priority on the RMP is “renovation” of the Social Dorms (Crossett, Davis, Pond, Coolidge and Stone) which, in our opinion, would be best approached by demolition and a fresh start as taken for James and Stearns.

Parker Morse '96 at 01:44 PM | Comments (3)

February 24, 2009

Mishandling difficult news

Those who read our post on the Crossett Hall stabbing will recall that the administration has made no official public statement regarding the incident. The Amherst College eNews bulletins sent to alumni are also silent. We learned that students received an e-mail within hours of the attack, but we cannot find another statement. The administration’s silence on the most serious on-campus assault in recent memory is inappropriate.

Dee Mandiyan ‘10 echoes this sentiment in a letter to the editor of the Amherst Student. She argues that the e-mail sent to students was so “exceptionally vague” that it fostered misinformation and gossip. This paragraph captures her central points:

It took four days for some semblance of fact to come out through the Student. Four days of gossip running rampant because “the victim” said this and the “assailant” did this and the knife was in his sleeve or maybe in his hat or, maybe even worse, complete silence on the subject, as if “the victim” wasn’t one of us or of any consequence. Maybe even worst of all, by the Monday after “the incident,” professors were already joking about it, grouping it with that Registrar security breach as an example of “Amherst Gone Wild.”

I cannot disagree with her; the victim has been marginalized. That one or more Amherst professors supposedly used the incident as fodder for classroom humor is an outrage and a disgrace. If these comments were made, President Marx should issue a swift public reprimand.

That aside, why the administration did not issue some basic statement, if only to allay concern and curtail counterproductive rumors, is mystifying. I anticipate that the response to that question would mirror Campus Police Chief John Carter’s comment to the Student “It would be inappropriate to comment on anything that might impact the investigation.”

That reasoning would be unpersuasive. The administration could have issued a statement by Sunday afternoon that said the following four things : 1) that a student had been injured in an apparent stabbing on campus; 2) that a suspect, who was not an Amherst student, was in custody; 3) that the student was in stable condition; and 4) the investigation was now in the hands of Massachusetts state authorities and further inquiries should be directed to those agencies. Also, that statement might have properly noted that the party was registered with Campus Police and that the prompt actions of on-duty student security officers likely prevented a far worse outcome. This simple, neutral statement, which contains undisputed facts, could have no adverse effect on an investigation, yet it properly informs the public.

Instead, the administration has chosen silence. This does a disservice to the College for it leaves the impression that the administration is ignoring a very serious matter to avoid bad press. I’ve had few criticisms of this administration, but it has mishandled this situation.

Everyone associated with Amherst is understandably dismayed by this attack. However, the administration must resist the natural inclination to ignore difficult news with the hope that it fades away unnoticed. The proper response is to be forthright and act in affirmatively so as to properly inform the public and to exert control over speculation that may, in the end, be even more damaging to public perception. The administration should issue an immediate statement to update the College community and the public.

As always, we welcome your comments below.

Dave Nardolillo '98 at 02:54 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

February 17, 2009

Student donation considered

Today’s Daily Hampshire Gazette reports that the Association of Amherst Students is considering a $100,000 donation to the College.

The donation would be divided between student financial aid support and the “supplemental student programming fund.” It is still being discussed, according to the Gazette, and would likely be put to a campus-wide vote later this semester. The Association is funded by a student activities fee, not directly from the College, and $100,000 would represent about 1/8 of its annual budget.

Association president Nicholas Pastan ‘09 was quoted saying, “We know it’s a small amount when you think of the budget, but we wanted to show our values.” We reported in November on the budget-cutting steps being undertaken by the College, which, as Pastan notes, significantly exceed $100,000: as summarized by the Gazette notes, a 10% cut in the College’s budget would represent about $15.5 million.

Update: The Student story, also broken here.

Parker Morse '96 at 08:56 AM | Comments (0)

February 15, 2009

Student Breaks Into Registrar's Office, Changes Grades

I’ve used the same headline as the Student for this bit of news, which was originally announced through a notice posted by the administration last Friday. An unidentified student was able to access email accounts of five “members of the College community”, change their grades in Blackboard, and “broke in to the Registrar’s office” to change grades.

The original notice was probably mandated by federal privacy laws, because of the presumed access to other student records, and consequently most of the information bears on the two computer-related incidents. (The IT context of the notice makes it unclear whether the student actually gained physical access to the Registrar’s office in Converse, or merely accessed computer records—in that context, “breaking in” has both meanings—but the former is most likely.)

Using Blackboard, or any other “off-the-shelf” courseware system, involves security trade-offs for the College; it’s impossible for IT to know and mitigate all the potential routes by which a user of the system might achieve “elevated privileges,” but that risk may have been outweighed by other advantages offered by a widely-used courseware system such as Blackboard. It’s also possible that the email account compromises led to the student achieving elevated privileges in Blackboard; the notice doesn’t explain whether the email accounts belonged to students, faculty, or administrators. Email account compromises, unfortunately for security administrators, are relatively easy and may not even require significant skill on the part of the attacker—passwords might be learned by simple snooping or from a sticky-note on someone’s monitor. (A story about a College email account compromise by a student appeared in Prism magazine when I was still a student.) IT underlined this by urging students to follow their posted security best practices.

The other reason we believe the “break in” at the Registrar’s office to have been a physical break-in is the bare paragraph in the notice which indicates the (appropriate, we think) actions being taken by the College:

The student is no longer at the College. The College will pursue criminal and disciplinary actions against the student.

Parker Morse '96 at 10:16 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

February 08, 2009

Student stabbed at Crossett

Details are very sketchy, but local news outlets are reporting that an unidentified Amherst student was stabbed multiple times early Sunday morning at Crossett Hall. The student was stabbed in the chest and the back.

The name of the injured male student has not been released, but the report notes that he was transported to Baystate Medical and being treated.

The alleged assailant, however, has been identified: Marcus Smith, 21, of Roxbury. Smith, who does not appear to be an Amherst student, is being held on $25,000 bail.

We have not seen a statement from the College on its website, and some of our normal outlets for campus information have not discussed the situation, but we would be surprised if some sort announcement has not been made to the on-campus community about the incident. We will share whatever information we get on this shocking situation.

UPDATE 2/9, 12:00AM. The link now contains an updated video report. According to that report (as well as correspondence we are receiving from readers), the student is listed in fair condition and, thankfully, his injuries are not believed to be life threatening.

UPDATE 2/9, 3:00PM. The Springfield Republican has posted a brief update, which notes that the alleged assailant, Marcus Smith, is a UMass student. The post also reports that Smith has entered a plea of not guilty, and is being held “without the right to bail.”

UPDATE 2/11: The Student filed its first report on the situation. The report gives us basic background on the party, sprinkled with some comments from student party monitors on duty at Crossett that night. The Student also interviewed Dean of Students Ben Lieber and College Police Chief John Carter, but apparently neither wished to provide any meaningful details on the event, including the name of the victim.

The Daily Collegian took a different reporting path and filled in some other details when it filed its own update. Relying on a probable cause statement filed by the police in the court action, that report identifies the victim as Isaac Cameron ‘11. It also cites detail from that report regarding the police’s view of what might have happened. The reporter for the Collegian story apparently did not approach anyone in the UMass or Amherst administrations for comment, nor follow up with any of the eyewitnesses identified in the report.

As of 9:00AM Central this morning, the College still does not have a statement regarding the incident up on its website, although, according to one commenter below, the on-campus community was apprised of the stabbing within a matter of hours. Could someone forward the details of that announcement to us?

Of course Brian, Parker and I would like to send our best wishes to Isaac and hopes for a full and speedy recovery.

Dave Nardolillo '98 at 09:08 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

January 17, 2009

Students and pageants: Liverzani '10 is Miss Bristol County

We thought it was interesting, in 2006, to read about the entry of Scout Durwood ‘06 in the Miss Massachusetts pageant as Miss Greater Holyoke. Durwood’s eligibility for the pageant was apparently based on her college address, as she came to Amherst from Kansas, but we’re not going to pretend to be authorities on qualification for scholarship pageants.

Today we read that Amanda Liverzani ‘10 is now Miss Bristol County 2009, even more of a geographic bender considering that Bristol County is on Massachusetts’ south coast, including Fall River; Liverzani is from Las Vegas. (Miss Fall River 2009 is from Braintree, which is somewhat closer to Fall River than Amherst.)

It comes as no surprise that Amherst women excel at anything they try their hand at, and we’re happy to see Durwood and Liverzani advancing their causes (in Durwood’s case, sexual assault prevention and awareness, and in Liverzani’s, addressing communication barriers). We must admit that pageant competition hadn’t been part of our previous image of Amherst students, so we’d also like to thank Durwood and Liverzani for broadening our horizons.

Parker Morse '96 at 11:57 AM | Comments (0)

December 09, 2008

The Veterans Scholarship Fund

Almost exactly one year ago today, after wrapping up the business end of business trip to NYC, I was sitting in a bar in Alphabet City chatting with Paul Rieckhoff ‘98. Paul mentioned that he had just started a conversation with the College’s development office about creating a scholarship for armed forces veterans to attend Amherst.

Today, the College announced the creation of The Veterans Scholarship Fund, which will provide enough financial aid to cover the full demonstrated need of qualified former American servicemen and servicewomen, starting in the fall of 2009.

Helping to make the fund a reality was College trustee Richard LeFrak ‘67 with a gift from from the Richard and Karen LeFrak Charitable Foundation. The College news release supplies some of the details.

Former members of the armed forces who apply to and are accepted at Amherst must still complete the college’s financial aid application process to determine their eligibility and need for federal, state and institutional funding. The hope is that those funds, combined with G.I. Bill benefits, will cover most—if not all—of the expenses for the veterans to attend the college, explained Dean of Admission Tom Parker. “We are fully committed to providing the best education possible to those who are so worthy of it,” he said.

To find the most promising applicants, Amherst will tap into its extensive recruiting networks and develop new avenues as needed. The college will extend its efforts into areas of the country with large concentrations of veterans, including California, Florida, Virginia and Washington, D.C. Well-qualified veterans who wish to transfer into Amherst from community colleges and other institutions also will receive strong consideration. And to welcome the veterans who ultimately enroll, Amherst will make an added variety of services and programs available to the students to assist them in their transition to life at college, Parker said.

Kudos to LeFrak, Rieckhoff and everyone else involved.

Dave Nardolillo '98 at 11:04 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

November 14, 2008

The College and the economy: the belt-tightening begins

President Marx sent another update on Amherst’s response to the current economic crisis to the campus today, in which he details some of the steps the College will take “so that the College can weather the economic downturn without compromising the quality of our student body and the education we provide.” Marx characterizes the College’s situation as “significantly less well off than we were just a few months ago.”

This latest email to the campus community isn’t yet available on the College website, but we expect it will be soon. Significant points include:

Non-academic departments (e.g. physical plant, alumni and parent programs, etc.) have been asked to prepare plans for the spring semester (and beyond) with options for both 5% and 10% reductions in total department budget.
“Academic departments, … will be asked to collaborate to find ways in which they may be able to reduce their collective budgets similarly.”

The most interesting point was on hiring. While reiterating that the College is “not planning layoffs, a hiring freeze for faculty or staff, or the reduction of financial aid,” Marx outlined a hiring policy which sounds remarkably like what some institutions would call a “hiring freeze.” Specifically, the College will not be filling ten of twelve new staff positions which had previously been approved; will be making “fewer offers” for visiting faculty; and is “consulting” about the “pace” of filling some tenure-track faculty positions. Marx mentions later,

“…when positions become open because of retirements or other departures from the College, we should think even more carefully before deciding whether or not they should be filled immediately, deferred, or perhaps reconfigured.”

“Hiring freeze” is a slippery phrase which can mean whatever managers want it to mean. This policy doesn’t subject the College to the across-the-board arbitrariness and strictness of a true hiring freeze, but it does walk like a duck and quack like a duck, so it’s hard not to call it a duck.

While these steps sound like tough medicine for a College which had previously had an endowment well over $1B, Marx reminds his readers that “Amherst is in a stronger financial position than most of our peers,” and the truth may be seen merely by looking across town, where UMass is bracing to absorb $11 million in budget cuts from the state—and may face more soon.

Parker Morse '96 at 01:20 PM | Comments (0)

November 03, 2008

Blair Kamin '79 on the Amherst campus

Normally we write more extensive posts here when we have something to say, and when we simply want to direct attention to news related to the College, we post it in the links to the right. (If you’re reading this site through a feed reader, you can subscribe to the links feed as well.)

Friday, however, Blair Kamin ‘79 posted his notes for a panel from the capital campaign kick-off on Family Weekend. Kamin, along with Cullen Murphy and Professor Nicola Courtright, spoke on “Amherst’s Campus Architecture: Past, Present and Future,” and what he shares about the growth of Amherst’s campus in the 19th and early 20th century is both thoughtful and fascinating. We have nothing more to add; go and read it.

When you’re done with Kamin’s piece, go to the College’s website where Sam Masinter ‘04 and Aaron Hayden take you on a rich visual tour of Stearns Steeple. I hadn’t seen the interior of the steeple since graduation and was thrilled to see how Hayden has improved the clavier of the tower’s carillion since then.

Parker Morse '96 at 12:00 PM | Comments (0)

October 31, 2008

College buys town building for office space

At least one College investment we were previously unaware of appears to have gone through before the belt-tightening we mentioned yesterday. Today’s Gazette reports that Amherst College has purchased the former church building on South Pleasant street next to Hitchcock House, facing the town Common. The building is currently home to professional offices, and formerly housed the Fiber Arts Center and the Peter Pan bus office. The reported purchase price was $2.3 million.

The Gazette article reports that after the current tenants depart in the summer of 2009, the building will be renovated as office space for the College. It’s not clear which offices will go there; Development staff currently working in the block at the corner of Main and North Pleasant are headed for two houses currently under renovation on South Pleasant Street at the corner of Hitchcock Street (next to the current Alumni office) and on Snell Street. College spokeswoman Caroline Hanna is quoted as saying “We have a space crunch on campus.”

While the building’s owners pay property tax to the town, once it is occupied by College offices it will be tax-exempt, representing a tax revenue hit for the town.

Parker Morse '96 at 10:06 AM | Comments (1)

October 30, 2008

College delaying capital projects

In a statement released Tuesday and e-mailed to members of the College community in the wake of last weekend’s Trustees meeting, President Marx addressed the College’s reaction to “the current economic downturn.” While Williams’ President Morton Schapiro’s letter didn’t mention specific damage to their endowment (only a 1% loss in the previous fiscal year), Marx explained that Amherst’s endowment had lost “roughly a quarter of its value” since June 30 of this year.

Unlike other colleges in New England, Amherst is “not considering a hiring freeze,” nor are currently in-progress projects (e.g. the renovation of Hitchcock House) being halted. Marx doesn’t mention specific projects, but it seems likely that the forecast demolition and replacement of the so-called “social dorms” (Crossett, Stone, Coolidge, Davis, and Pond: one faculty member refers to them as the “anti-social dorms”) will be postponed indefinitely.

The most notable casualty of the Trustees’ meeting was the planned renovation of the Lord Jeffery Inn, and it was that point which drew the most ink in the local press. Work had already begun on site preparation and drilling of geothermal wells intended to heat the Inn in the winter and cool it in the summer, and those wells will be completed, but the Inn’s expansion has been postponed at least until June 2009, if then.

However, the Inn will still close as previously planned in November. Having stopped taking reservations for the winter due to the expected renovation closure, keeping the Inn open “would result in a significant financial operating loss for the college,” according to College spokeswoman Caroline Hanna.

Because the Inn’s renovation (and continued operation) were expected to anchor an expansion of the town’s “general business zone” along Spring Street, the closure is likely to have an economic impact on the town as well. Town officials have not made any public comment on the College’s move.

Parker Morse '96 at 10:59 AM | Comments (0)

October 01, 2008

Lots of attention in tech blogs

After we posted last week about the IT Index, we took the liberty of also sending the link to one of our favorite non-Amherst blog writers, Clive Thompson. Clive’s post has had news outlets around the world writing about Amherst:

Of course, we originally found it in the Chronicle of Higher Education
C|Net says the data is good news for Apple
MacRumors agrees but thinks it’s because Apple is very competitive in laptops
Walletpop points out that Facebook is more effective than landline phones at reaching students (our favorite mis-quoted stat is that five incoming students have land-lines; actually, five students on campus have land-lines, for an average of 1.2 per class or a bit less than one for every 320 students.)
Salon’s Machinist blog loves the whole thing
The Australian just ran Thompson’s blog entry with no comment, but also,
Gizmodo Australia picked up the story (also with a strong Apple slant).

Parker Morse '96 at 10:10 PM | Comments (0)

September 24, 2008

If you're a freshman, you use a laptop

For years, Beloit College in Wisconsin has published a “Mindset List” designed to help acquaint faculty and staff with the concepts they take for granted which are foreign to incoming first-years. (Example from this year’s list: for these students, “Lenin’s name has never been on a major city in Russia.”)

This year, the College’s IT director, Peter Schilling, produced an “IT Index” for the incoming Amherst College class of 2012, and it highlights a much more rapid change in technology. “Systems and technology that is essential to the incoming students and the class of 2012 wasn’t even on the radar of our seniors,” Schilling told The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Two examples stick out: one, only 14 members of the class of 2012 brought desktop computers (as opposed to—or perhaps in addition to—laptops or hand-held devices) to campus. And two, the classes of 2011 and 2012 are more likely to own Macintosh computers than PC-compatible systems, but the classes of 2009 and 2010 are more likely to own PCs.

Also boding well for Apple stock, the class of 2012 apparently doubled the number of iPhones and iPod Touch handhelds on campus.

On a more depressing note, Schilling points out that 94% of email arriving on campus is spam, and that the storage space required for email in 2007 was equal to that of 2002-2006, inclusive.

Parker Morse '96 at 09:22 PM | Comments (4)

June 25, 2008

Nooks and Crannies

Sam Masinter ‘04 in the Public Affairs office tells us that his newest project is Nooks and Crannies, multimedia explorations of the parts of campus few people ever see. The first one, posted now, is a five-minute visual tour of Wilder Observatory. Wait, you say, the College has an observatory? Clearly this is a feature you need.

On Masinter’s to-do list: the College’s two steeples (Johnson Chapel and Stearns Steeple), the steam tunnels, and the (in)famous “Bunker.” We visited the steam tunnels two years ago with Physical Plant’s Aaron Hayden as our guide, but we have no doubt Masinter will produce prettier pictures than we were able to capture with our cell phone.

Parker Morse '96 at 02:09 PM

April 05, 2008

Tuttle Hill farmhouse will pass through campus

When we mentioned the removal of several College houses to new sites on Gray Street, we wondered to ourselves how the Tuttle Farm house would be removed. Since the house was built in the 1830s, it has been bracketed by two rail lines, so what should have been the obvious way to move it out, on South East Street, is blocked by low railroad bridges in both directions. (Two more contemporary houses on the east side of South East Street apparently encountered significant construction puzzles due to the low clearances on these bridges.)

The solution to the puzzle has been to move the house right through campus. The house has been separated into two sections, and as of Wednesday both sections had been removed from their foundations and were waiting in a field just north of their former home. Apparently the plan is to move them parallel to the tracks, through the “Bird Sanctuary” and along Dickinson Street at the eastern edge of campus. This also explains why all the streetlights along Dickinson Street have been removed from their concrete bases and laid on the ground.

By following Dickinson Street all the way to Main Street, the movers will avoid the need to cross the rail line at all.

The date of this move hasn’t been publicly mentioned, but it’s likely that the movers are waiting for firmer ground before trying to move the house sections over unpaved areas of the route.

Update, Sunday 6 April: We’re told that the house(s) behind the Lord Jeff will move on April 15th, a Tuesday, presumably in the early morning; the Tuttle Farm house will move on the 16th and 17th. As of this morning, the leading section of the Tuttle Farm house has advanced to the lot next to the tracks where Physical Plant keeps its heaps of sand and landscaping materials. The little-used road into the Bird Sanctuary from there has been slightly widened to accommodate the house sections, and trees along the road had limbs trimmed back. More of that sort of work undoubtedly remains along Dickinson Street.

Update, Friday 11 April: Here’s an article from the Amherst Bulletin about the house moves, confirming the 15th and 16th dates.

Parker Morse '96 at 11:19 PM

April 02, 2008

Amherst photos, March 2008

I visited campus for the first time in a year or so last week, and took some photos of that which had changed, as well as that which hadn’t, and some temporary additions to the look of the place. We noted the impending arrival of Zipcars to campus back in late 2006, but I don’t think I’d seen them before, and definitely not in their prominent spot in front of the Campus Center. I hadn’t seen the signs on all of the ‘streets’ around campus, either, and wondered how the names were determined where it wasn’t already clear what they should be. The portraits on and around various buildings, profiled in this month’s alumni magazine, were a nice addition, as well.

View more photos here.

Brian Meacham '97 at 02:19 AM | TrackBack

March 29, 2008

The First Televised Intercollegiate Quidditch Match

Well, if you can actually call it that, as actual play was halted frequently for television breaks. A fair-sized crowd including President Tony Marx and a number of children in costume turned up on the Freshman Quad this morning despite snow and chilly rain to watch Middlebury and Amherst play “muggle Quidditch.” Play heavily favored Middlebury, unsurprisingly, but from what we saw on television, the names of the town and the college were properly pronounced (that is, with the silent “h”.)

One detail which didn’t make television was the banner reading “Huck Fufflepuff”, a reference to T-shirts about Williams often seen during football season. Another sign re-defined “CBS” as “Chasers, Beaters and Seekers”.

A few more of my photos are online, but we did see Sam Masinter ‘04 from Public Affairs there, so better images are likely to be on the College website (and in the Alumni magazine).

Update: Thanks to RB, who dug up the video for us.

Parker Morse '96 at 09:14 AM | Comments (2)

March 27, 2008

"Muggle Quiddich" is coming

The College had the lead story in today’s Gazette, but the students in the photo were from Middlebury. The Vermont college has taken the lead in promoting “muggle Quiddich,” a version of the game described in the wildly popular “Harry Potter” books, and Middlebury’s experienced team is coming to Amherst on Friday to play the new “Amherst Acromantulas.” The game is being played at an odd hour—7 AM on Friday—because David Price, meteorologist for CBS’s “Early Show”, will be attending to cover the game.

“I thought it was going to be a nice, casual game,” said Amherst team captain Robyn Bahr. “This is pretty big for Amherst.”

According to Katherine Duke ‘05 of the Public Affairs office, the game is organized by the “Intercollegiate Quidditch Association” which was founded at Middlebury, and the match will be held on the freshman quad. There will be another “demonstration game” between 2 and 4 in the afternoon, an hour at which college students are significantly more likely to be awake. Middlebury is on spring break this week, and the Amherst stop is part of its “first-ever spring break Quidditch tour”. An MTV camera crew accompanied the Middlebury team for the early part of its tour.

According to the Gazette,

The fast-paced, multiple-ball game will be played between two teams of red- and purple-caped students running around with brooms between their legs. Bahr … describes Quiddich as a blend of dodge ball, tag and European hand ball.

Bahr described the game as it’s played by “muggles” in more detail in the Student earlier this year.

Middlebury hosted a “Quiddich World Cup Fall Festival” in 2006 and 2007. The University of Pennsylvania, Bard, Princeton, Columbia, Vassar, Wesleyan and Dartmouth all claim teams, but Friday’s game will be a first for Amherst.

Parker Morse '96 at 09:09 AM

March 22, 2008

Endowment spending and tuition

To tie together a few themes we’ve visited in the early part of this year, I want to call attention to a series of articles under the title, “The College Cost Dilemma” being run by Swarthmore’s Daily Gazette. Spurred, perhaps, by the questions being asked by the Senate Committee on Finance about rising tuition costs at well-endowed institutions like Swarthmore and Amherst, the two articles address, first, the causes behind rising college costs (and, consequently, rising tuition) and then the real purposes of the endowment and how colleges arrive at decisions for how much of their operating budget to fund through the endowment as opposed to tuition.

Few of the points raised are new—college tuition has increased at a higher rate than inflation, college endowments are immense, and if it wasn’t for endowment spending, tuition would be even higher—and the author does not take a position about how colleges “ought to be” addressing the tuition/endowment relationship. However, the articles are worth reading simply because they provide a solid and understandable background to the discussion. (It boils down to, “We would use more endowment spending to reduce tuition if we were confident in the endowment’s ability to maintain that level of spending for the College’s remaining lifetime.”)

Which brings me to the second interesting thing about the Gazette articles: they’re written by a Swarthmore first-year (Dougal Sutherland ‘11) who functions as the Gazette’s “Technology Director.” Not only does the Gazette have a sharp, easy-to-use website including useful features like by-line links which actually work and links to related articles on every page, but it’s being run by a first-year who’s willing to call not only Swarthmore’s treasurer, but Amherst’s, in the name of getting multiple sources for an article. Maybe they’re not making detailed proposals to reform the financing of higher education yet, but they’re doing better than the Student. Dougal, can you get Swarthmore in to the Twelve-College Exchange program in time for you to spend your junior year at Amherst?

Parker Morse '96 at 05:51 PM | Comments (1)

February 01, 2008

Habitat house occupied, second one on the way

It’s been over two years since we first mentioned the Habitat for Humanity houses being built on land donated by the college at the corner of Stanley Street and South East Street in Amherst. (That would be about here, for the curious.) This week’s Amherst Bulletin includes an article about the completion and move-in at the first of four houses planned for the lot; the second is already under construction.

Notably, the article discusses the origins of the College’s donation of land, which began under President Gerety.

In a turn of events that has been given an almost “mythical” slant, said local Habitat Director MJ Adams, [James] Patchett [‘02] impressed Gerety with his ideas, and the president asked the student to do some homework on which college plots would be suitable for houses. Patchett, who already had been researching the college’s holdings with Habitat officials for weeks, then slid a piece of paper containing a list of appealing college lots across the table to the president—and the rest is history.

While students at the College and other Five College Habitat for Humanity organizations are doing much of the work on the houses, the Pioneer Valley Habitat for Humanity organization is still welcoming volunteers from the community.

(In the extended entry, the map of the site.)

View Larger Map

Parker Morse '96 at 03:55 PM | Comments (1)

January 21, 2008

Jenny Kim '08, 1987-2008

It is with great regret that we pass along this horrible news. From the College’s website

The Amherst College community mourns the loss of Jenny Kim ‘08, who passed away earlier this week.

“I want to express our profound sorrow at the tragic loss of Jenny, a bright and accomplished young woman who had so much promise and potential,” said President Anthony W. Marx. “She was greatly liked and admired by her teachers, fellow students and many friends, and made an indelible mark on our learning community both through her contributions in the classroom and her enthusiastic participation in campus life. We feel her loss very keenly, and offer our heartfelt condolences to her family and friends.”

Students, faculty and staff remembered Kim at an informal gathering held in Johnson Chapel after the news of her death was shared with the community. A memorial service on campus will be planned in conjunction with her family later in the semester. College counselors (ext. 2354) and religious advisors (ext. 2181) are available to talk with students in dorm meetings and at extended drop-in hours in coming weeks.

Kim, a senior from Lake in the Hills, Ill., was majoring in political science and French, and was a member of the editorial staff of The Amherst Student newspaper.

President Marx announced this tragedy to the campus community via an e-mail message on Friday afternoon. We’ve placed a copy below the fold. The Daily Hampshire Gazette filed a brief report of its own (behind a paywall).

Brian, Parker and I join President Marx in offering our sincere condolences to Jenny’s family and friends.

UPDATE 2/3: The Amherst Student published a touching remembrance of Jenny Kim, written by Editor-in-Chief Amanda Hellerman, in its latest issue. You can find the piece here. The paper will also publish a special section in its next issue, comprised of remembrances from Kim’s friends and classmates.

From: Anthony Marx [e-mail redacted] Sent: Friday, January 18, 2008 12:48 PM To: all-users Subject: Tragic Death of Student on Campus

January 18, 2008

To The Amherst College Community:

I write with devastating news, perhaps the worst news a community such as ours can hear: an Amherst College student has died. Jenny Kim ‘08 was found in her room on campus early this morning, and it appears that she may have committed suicide. Staff members from the Dean’s Office and the Counseling Center have begun reaching out to her family and close friends, all of whom will need a great deal of support in the coming days. But all of us, even students, faculty and staff who knew Jenny only slightly, or not at all, will feel the effects of such a terrible event.

I invite those of you who are on campus to a brief gathering this afternoon at 4:00 pm in Johnson Chapel, so that we may begin the process of dealing collectively with the difficult emotions a student’s death will raise for all of us. The Dean of Students Office (105 Converse) and the Counseling Center (3rd floor, Johnson Chapel) are open today and will be open tomorrow from 11:00 am to 2:00 pm for anyone who would find conversation helpful in the near term. From 2:00 pm to 3:30 pm tomorrow, all members of the community are welcome to gather at my house, 175 South Pleasant Street, so that we can continue the process of mourning Jenny’s passing together. A memorial service on campus will be planned in conjunction with her family for later in the semester.

Once more students return to campus over the next week, we will hold meetings in all the dormitories with resident counselors and staff from the Dean’s Office and the Counseling Center. There will be a meeting for the students in her dorm tonight at 7:00 pm. In the meantime, and beyond, I urge all members of the community to support one another in these difficult times, and to make use of the many services – among them counselors, psychotherapists, medical practitioners and religious advisors – who can be helpful to us all in these terrible circumstances.

Dave Nardolillo '98 at 12:00 PM | TrackBack

January 19, 2008

New online look for the Amherst Student

After several volumes with a lifeless and poorly updated website, the current leadership of the Amherst Student has unveiled a fresh new website.

While it looks like there’s still a few kinks to be worked out (like dates on the articles, instead of issue numbers), I like the new layout.

Readers of this blog know that I like to complain about the Student on a regular basis. Hopefully, this new website is an indication of a higher level of care and attention that will be given to the paper by the executive board.

In the past few years, despite good work in places, the paper has been marred by a declining amount of effort from its editors. This has manifested itself in a number of ways, ranging from the relatively benign (failing to maintain the current editions or archives of the web editions) to the more serious (demonstrably inaccurate reporting and questionable editorial decisions on important and sensitive campus matters).

While mistakes are part of the territory when students put together a newspaper—certainly I made plenty of my own when I was on the staff—the talented Amherst students that comprise the current staff of the paper should reflect on the important role that the Student plays for the College.

The paper is really the only publication that serves as the historical record of the events on campus; alumni magazine articles and campus press releases have that inevitable touch of gloss that often obscures many significant angles to a story. The independence of the Student and its weekly format allows for an objective record and provides a space, unavailable via other campus publications, for contemporaneous and detailed reporting of campus events and issues. It’s a really valuable publication when you sit down and think about it.

Although new websites are often more about gloss than substance, I welcome the Student’s new online face with hopes that even better things are on the horizon

Dave Nardolillo '98 at 04:51 PM | TrackBack

January 17, 2008

What's the value of a good college town?

That’s the question the Amherst Bulletin asks this week, and it’s a pointed question for Amherst College, captured by the headline of one article: “Should Amherst College match Williams in town aid?”

The article cites massive commitments made by Williams College to the Williamstown school system and notes that Williams, in general, pays more to Williamstown than Amherst College does to Amherst.

However, they also note that Williams is a much bigger part of Williamstown than Amherst is of Amherst; Williams also does not share its town with a large state university, just to name two of the many reasons the comparison isn’t quite fair.

It’s a complicated question, tied up in history and falling housing prices, another story in this week’s Bulletin. It’s true that the Town has a significant budget shortfall, and has been cutting already for years; that the College has money, and plenty of it; that the College was, in fact, created of the town, and continues to benefit from its prosperity.

But it’s also true that the College cannot become a permanent lifeline for the town; a negotiated salvation now could easily become a financial “easy way out” for later town managers in less dire straits. It’s a tricky situation, and both the Town and the College (in the voice of President Marx) are treating it more carefully than a simple matter of intercollegiate rivalry.

“The rivalry is not relevant or constructive to town-gown cooperation, said Peter Fohlin, town manager in Williamstown. …

“Amherst needs to engage in a symbiotic relationship with Amherst College that benefits both, [Town Manager Larry] Shaffer said.”

Parker Morse '96 at 09:11 PM | Comments (4)

December 30, 2007

Huge endowments, and golden geese

On the shortest day of this year, Herb Allen (Williams ‘62) published an op-ed in the NY Times titled, Gold in the Ivory Tower, which proposed that the investment income of wealthy colleges (Amherst, Harvard, Princeton, Williams, and Yale are singled out) be taxed and redistributed as subsidies to less-well-endowed institutions.

Mr. Allen’s suggestion has been thumped by David Kane at EphBlog, who concedes (as do I) that Allen’s motives are good: more well-funded educational institutions means more well-educated citizens, which is better for everyone. But Kane disagrees with many of Allen’s premises and calls his tax-the-endowment proposal “such a stupid plan that it is hard to believe that someone as smart as Allen would propose it.” (Kane’s view is echoed by reader comments at the NYT, one of which calls Allen’s plan, “Killing the goose that lays golden eggs.”)

Five days later, the Times ran a piece in the Education section, “Weighing Expansion as More Top Students Clamor at Ivy Gates”. In it, the Times reports on the pressures facing admissions departments at top colleges these days: “…with ever more students pressing at their gates, admissions officers find themselves having to reject what Anthony W. Marx, Amherst’s president, calls ‘astonishing applicants.’”

It’s not hard to draw a line between these two pieces, and find on that line the motivations behind President Marx’s recent initiatives to expand the size of incoming classes at the College—and to target lower- and middle-income students, the most “expensive” for the College in terms of tuition return.

The goose, so to speak, is in the College’s portfolio. If we’re not to kill it, President Marx has asked, what should we do with the eggs?

(Updated, 1/1/08, to correct attribution for EphBlog post.)

(Update, 1/7/08: UMass professor Ralph Whitehead, Jr., has another proposal in a Boston *Globe Op-Ed.)

Parker Morse '96 at 09:24 PM

November 17, 2007

Students react to alleged harassment

Several media outlets are reporting on the College’s reaction to an alleged incident of harassment on campus last weekend.

From the UMass Daily Collegian:

On Saturday, Nov. 10, Hampshire students attending the GAP function, held in Crossett Hall on the Amherst College campus, were allegedly harassed by an unconfirmed number of Amherst students. The Amherst students reportedly threw water balloons, threatened the Hampshire students with homophobic slurs and poured beer on them as they attempted to exit the party.

“Over the course of a half an hour, I was witness to other people being verbally abused and I personally experienced physical violence on the part of some Amherst students,” said Lilly Walleck, one of the Hampshire students who was allegedly harassed.

On Tuesday, Amherst students rallied in front of Valentine. From the Springfield Republican:

Dozens of students gathered outside Valentine Dining Hall at the college yesterday carrying signs that said “We’re Sorry Hampshire” and “I don’t want to be ‘tolerated.’

They also asked passers-by to sign a banner that said “Please Come Back”

Dave Nardolillo '98 at 02:20 PM | TrackBack

November 02, 2007

...and Wesleyan

The Hartford Courant reports that Wesleyan has followed Davidson, Amherst, and Williams in replacing loans with grants in their financial aid packages for students.

Parker Morse '96 at 09:13 AM | Comments (1)

October 13, 2007

Arkes on Giuliani, part 2

In August, we highlighted some brief comments by Amherst professor Hadley Arkes regarding former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani’s presidential run and the implications of a Guiliani nomination for the Republican Party. In short, Arkes believed that a Giuliani nomination would mark the end of the Republican party as a “pro-life party.”

According to political observers, Giuliani’s recent performances in debates among other Republican candidates have more clearly defined him as a front runner in the race for that party’s presidential nomination. Scott W. Johnson, one of the authors of the conservative Power Line blog uses the opportunity to reflect on Giuliani’s chances in a post entitled The Giuliani Prospect.

In the course of his comments on Giuliani, Johnson shares his notes of remarks made by Professor Arkes at a Labor Day weekend panel sponsored by the conservative Claremont Institute (Arkes and Johnson are both fellows at the Institute). In the course of a general talk on social issues and the Republican party, Arkes again addressed Giuliani:

Now with Mr. Giuliani we would have the advent of a candidate whose ascension in the party would mark the end of the Republican party as the pro-life party in our politics. Over the last twenty years the pro-life movement has sought a series of measures quite modest, moving step by step, with the object of putting the right to abortion “in the course of ultimate extinction,” to borrow a phrase from Lincoln. But the object of that design, put in place by Giuliani, would be to put the pro-life movement itself in the course of ultimate extinction.

Johnson concludes his remarks by sharing an interesting reflection made by Arkes:

Professor Arkes wondered in the course of his remarks whether it would be better to lose with Romney than to win with Giuliani. Better for whom? My notes don’t reflect whether Professor Arkes specified, but it was there that he lost me. It seemed to me to be lacking in the prudence [Real Clear Politics author Tony] Blankley counsels in his thoughtful (if not entirely persuasive) columns.

Dave Nardolillo '98 at 01:31 PM | TrackBack

October 11, 2007

Remembering Henry Steele Commager

Professor Henry Steele Commager, a member of the Amherst faculty from 1956 to 1992, will be remembered in a day-long symposium titled “Henry Steele Commager: Celebrating One of Amherst’s Legends.”

The symposium will feature the following speakers:

William Alford ‘70, the Henry L. Stimson Professor of Law, vice dean for the graduate program and international legal studies, and director of East Asian legal studies at Harvard University. He will give an intellectual portrait of Commager.
Hugh Hawkins, the Anson D. Morse Professor of History and American Studies, Emeritus at Amherst College. He will discuss Commager as colleague.
Robert W. Hawkins ’71, a partner at the Washington, D.C. office of Hunton & Williams and a specialist in international commercial arbitration. He will reflect on Commager as mentor.
Milton Cantor, professor of history emeritus at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. He will discuss Commager and McCarthyism.
Mary Powlesland Commager, Latin American historian and Commager’s widow.

Members of the Amherst community can log in to Amherst.edu and share their recollections of Commager with other alumni.

Thanks to Anne for letting us know about this event.

Brian Meacham '97 at 11:42 AM | TrackBack

August 21, 2007

Best wishes to all incoming first-year students!

This evening, I attended the annual send-off party for first-year students matriculating from Minnesota. This great event was again graciously hosted by Dave ‘81 and Kathleen (Foye) ‘83 MacLennan. The alumni and current student/parent turnout was great as usual, despite less than ideal weather, and the new first-years are again a remarkable group of people.

These events, which occur around the country, are nice for the students—who get to meet some of their classmates before setting foot on campus, receive some useful advice from the current students and learn that the “H” in “Amherst” is silent!—but they are also important for the College as the presence of so many supportive alumni, students and parents convey an important and compelling message about the Amherst experience and the power of its alumni network.

All of us here at Am’erst want to welcome all the new first-years to the Amherst team as they head out to campus later in the week. Drop us a line from time to time to let us know what’s new in the Pioneer Valley or even consider posting for the site (our e-mail is amerst@gmail.com).

Best wishes for the next four years and beyond!

Dave Nardolillo '98 at 12:30 AM | TrackBack

July 29, 2007

Elimination of loans with some perspective

Ten days after the announcement of the College’s “no loans” policy, there’s been some discussion and some reservations expressed, but even those are largely phrased along the lines, “It seems like a good idea, but…”

A point which bears clarification is that the program does not promise that families won’t need to borrow to pay for Amherst; it promises that they won’t be required to borrow. For readers who have been so fortunate as to avoid contact with the Financial Aid process, the College uses disclosures submitted by students’ families to judge their “demonstrated need;” it is this number which the college has pledged to meet in grants. “Demonstrated need” may be calculated differently by different colleges (I’m not intimately familiar with how it’s been done in the last decade), and in many cases the number calculated still results in students and their families borrowing in order to close the gap between “demonstrated need” and their own cash on hand.

On one hand, this means that an Amherst education is still more easily affordable for the wealthy than it is for those who get some aid, but not a full scholarship. On the other hand, it also means that Amherst is not absolving its prospective students and their families of financial responsibility for their college education, which seems to be one of the concerns raised by the alumni discussions I’ve seen so far.

Another concern is that the recent strength of the endowment, which seems to have given the Trustees the confidence to endorse this move, may be more vulnerable to equity market moves than the spending policies allow. Naturally this is one of the Trustees’ primary concerns, and we expect it was duly considered in their discussions of the new policy.

Meanwhile, the benefits of the new policy are being well-stressed by President Marx and Dean Parker in the news, particularly the AP story which was widely run.

“Too often, students who graduate from college with debt feel compelled to make career choices based in part on their need to pay off their student loans,” said Tom Parker, dean of admission and financial aid.

Though the news articles don’t draw the connection explicitly, it’s easy to see this new policy as part of President Marx’s continuing efforts to involve the College and its students in public service. Students who might have otherwise ruled out careers in (for example) public-school teaching due to the pressures of student loans may be more likely to chose that route now, and that seems to be a good idea in general. It’s apparent from the sort of progress made in the past three years that President Marx, Trustees chair Jide Zeitlin ‘85, and Dean Parker share enough of a common vision for what the College might be that they are able to pull together on these projects.

An interesting sidelight on this announcement is provided by a comment on another weblog purporting to summarize a discussion with a Williams trustee after Princeton eliminated loans from their aid packages. One hopes Williams feels more comfortable about this issue now that they may safely claim to be following Amherst’s lead, rather than taking the initiative in making top-notch education affordable for everyone.

Parker Morse '96 at 08:59 PM

May 30, 2007

Commencement and Reunion

Plenty of commencement-related material can be found in the 186th Commencement section of the College website, including videos, photos, and audio files of speeches and conversations.

I’m heading out to Amherst tonight for my tenth reunion, and will bring news and photos on my return next week.

Photo courtesy Sam Masinter ‘04.

Brian Meacham '97 at 11:29 PM | TrackBack

April 04, 2007

Competitive admissions for '11

Today’s New York Times adds to a string of articles in recent years describing the current incredibly competitive environment surrounding college admissions. Of course, Amherst is cited:

The competition was ferocious not only at the top universities, but at selective small colleges, like Williams, Bowdoin and Amherst, all of which reported record numbers of applications.

Amherst received 6,668 applications and accepted 1,167 students for its class of 2011, compared with the 4,491 applications and 1,030 acceptance letters it sent for the class of 2002 nine years ago, said Paul Statt, an Amherst spokesman.

As we read “A Great Year for Ivy League Schools, but Not So Good for Applicants to Them” we found ourselves thinking how lucky we were to have attended the College when we did; admissions were tough in our day, but not this tough. And then we found that Statt was thinking the same thing:

“Many of us who went to Amherst three decades ago know we couldn’t get in now; I know I couldn’t,” said Mr. Statt, who graduated from Amherst in 1978.

That thought leaves us with some questions, though. Is the total pool of “qualified” applicants (as defined by the admissions office) really bigger? Is the College getting more unqualified applicants? Or has the pool of qualified applicants always been the same, but more of them are now applying to the College? A spokesman for the National Association of College Admission Counseling suggests a mix of the first and the third: demographics and more applications per student.

“Multiple applications per student,” Mr. Hawkins said, “is a factor that exponentially crowds the college admissions environment.”

Parker Morse '96 at 09:08 AM | TrackBack

February 07, 2007

NPR on Amherst and the "Class Divide"

As part of an ongoing series on “The Haves and Have-Nots,” NPR’s Jim Zarroli spoke with President Anthony Marx, Griffin Bidron ‘08, Keith Erzinger ‘08, Jake Maguire ‘07, and physics professor David Hall, as he investigated the way class differences affect students at Amherst. Marx notes that schools like Amherst, described as “the picture of WASPy privilege” in the opening of the story, “are among the few places where people of all income levels can interact” in an increasingly stratified society.

Thanks to my dad for the tip; read and listen to the story on NPR.org.

Brian Meacham '97 at 12:29 PM | TrackBack

September 13, 2006

Dean Parker on "The Harvard Effect"

Today’s Inside Higher Education surveys the possible consequences of Harvard’s announcement, yesterday, that it will abandon its early admission program. Harvard, arguing that early admissions favors wealthy applicants who don’t need to compare financial-aid packages, is not the first to drop early admissions, but it is “the big rock,” said one admissions dean.

The College’s dean of admissions and financial aid, Tom Parker, was characteristically frank:

[Parker] said his institution restricts early admissions to 30 percent. Parker said “far too many colleges are taking far too great a percentage of their class” that way. He said he expects a more robust discussion about the economics of early admission in the coming months.

“We’re happy with where we are,” Parker added. “If we were to venture out there on our own among small liberal arts colleges, there would be a considerable risk. If we would do it in company with Williams and other liberal arts colleges, there would be less risk.”

And, without additional comment, the corresponding opinion from Williams:

Richard Nesbitt, director of admissions at Williams College, said that the institution has had early admissions since the early 1960s and that he would be surprised if many colleges, including his, follow Harvard’s lead. He said athletics admissions also play a role—It behooves colleges to admit athletes early, particularly if the institutions are concerned about losing the student to another college, or if the athlete is a borderline admit.

Full disclosure: this author was an early decision admission. Clearly, however, the admissions game has changed in recent years.

Update, 9/19: Princeton has joined the movement. The NYT article cites President Marx, Reed president Colin Diver ‘65, and Parker extensively, and features a photo of a College tour.

Parker Morse '96 at 08:35 AM | Comments (0)

September 06, 2006

Zipcar comes to the College

More than two years after a campus controversy surrounding a proposed parking lot in the pines behind the tennis courts, one of the solutions offered has finally come to fruition: Zipcar is coming to Amherst College.

Zipcar is a “car-sharing” service which maintains a small pool of vehicles which are available to subscribers on a reservation basis. After two years of a pilot program at Wellesley College, Zipcar is now making the cars available to students over 18 years old at both the College and Smith College. Not only does Zipcar reduce the need for student-owned cars on campus—hopefully reducing pressure on the College’s existing parking lots—but it provides first-year students with an end-run around campus parking regulations, which currently require them to have special permission from the Dean of Students to have a car on campus.

Parker Morse '96 at 10:23 AM | Comments (0)

August 24, 2006

Multiple rankings

It’s that time of year when the college rankings are out, and once again the College is in the second row of U.S. News’s annual rankings, with some cow college in the Berkshires taking the lead spot. Congratulations to Williams for their title defense, particularly on the heels of last year’s “triple double” (for three consecutive years, Williams led both the U.S. News rankings and the Sears Director’s Cup standings.) The College did well in graduation numbers and the percentage of faculty who are full-time, but lagged behind Williams in class size, faculty resources, and financial resources. (We’re proud to point out that we had a higher alumni giving rate, but clearly the three areas where we’re lacking can be best addressed by, you guessed it, more money.)

Still, the U.S. News rankings are coming under attack from many directions, and it’s useful to note that they aren’t the only show in town. Once again, the Jeffs trounced Williams in the Washington Monthly college rankings, moving up to fifth while Williams was eighth. The Washington Monthly rankings are a deliberately contrarian set based on asking “not what colleges can do for you, but what colleges are doing for the country.”

And the sports information office tells us that both Amherst and Williams are in the top five of the 2006 NCSA Power Rankings:

The National Collegiate Scouting Association takes a comprehensive approach to determining which schools are tops in the country. Using an average of three different national rankings, including the U.S. News & World Reports rankings (academics), the U.S. Sports Academy Director’s Cup ranks (athletics), and the NCAA Student-Athlete graduation rates, NCSA is able to provide the public with a more broad view of which schools top the charts.

Amherst College placed second in the Division III rankings in addition to the overall rankings, with Duke University and Stanford University joining the trio of NESCAC powerhouses in the overall top five.

Amherst placing second in both the overall ranking and the Division III ranking allows those who took Logic to make some deductions about where in the top 5 Williams placed, particularly considering the triple double mentioned above, but the Athletics office delicately does not mention a number. Considering that graduation rates are considered in the U.S. News rankings, it would seem that those are double-counted in the NCSA report, but what do we know about college rankings? After all, we went to the #1 ranked college, which wasn’t Williams in those days, and yet we don’t think the two institutions have changed that much in the last ten years.

Parker Morse '96 at 09:52 AM | Comments (1)

July 19, 2006

College gets $13M Center for Community Engagement

The press releases are just a few hours old, but the news is already in the Boston Globe and other papers: the College will receive over $13 million over the next seven years from the Argosy Foundation, a private foundation created in 1997 by John Abele ‘59, the founding chairman of Boston Scientific Corporation.

The grant will “encourage the integration of ideals and action by drawing hundreds of Amherst students into community service through linked curricular and co-curricular programs,” said President Marx in the press releases.

“Amherst aims to graduate thoughtful and active citizens-men and women who not only care deeply about the pressing problems facing our society today, but also have the skills, experience and determination to create positive change in their communities. We will make substantive and attractive opportunities for service available to all students, including those who cannot volunteer without pay.”

Parker Morse '96 at 03:07 PM

July 15, 2006

Eyewitness accounts from a war zone

Levi Quaintance ‘08 wanted to study Arabic at the American University in Beirut for the spring ‘06 semester. But recent events have made his language study trip somewhat more of a history lesson.

“[The airport’s fuel depot is] still on fire,” Quaintance told the St. Petersburg Times by phone from his perch overlooking the city. “I can see the fire and smoke.”

Quaintance and his roommate left the city on Thursday when their apartment lost power; they moved into the hills south of Beirut rather than north, where most residents were fleeing, to avoid traffic and get out of the potential line of fire.

“Right now Israel seems to be very precise in its targeting,” Quaintance said.

But if the Israeli Defense Forces mount a full invasion, as they did in 1982, the students would be right in their path and might have to move quickly.

Parker Morse '96 at 01:02 PM | Comments (1)

June 05, 2006

Around the steam lines

I returned to Amherst this past weekend for my 10-year class reunion. One of the activities organized by my class was a “tour” of the campus steam tunnel network, led by Physical Plant engineer Aaron Hayden.

While various safety regulations prevented Hayden from actually taking us through the tunnels (several spaces we saw were prominently marked with forms titled “Confined Space Permit”,) we started at the steam plant on the east side of the rail line and walked to several access points in the tunnels’ route, including the pressure reduction machinery in the old steam plant (the barnlike structure next to the current physical plant building, “the only steam plant designed by McKim, Mead,” as Hayden jokes,) the branch under Coolidge Dorm where the pipes head over to King and Weiland dorms (which used to serve Milliken,) and one of Merrill Science Center’s two machine rooms, where steam distribution takes place to many sites in the building.

Hayden also showed us the new chillers in the plant, where air conditioning for the campus is centralized, and the preparations for the new cogeneration plant. Those who read Rob Weir’s “How Green Is Our Valley?” article in the Winter ‘06 Amherst would recognize several of Hayden’s themes, since he is one of those who have been working on reducing the College’s environmental footprint. A few points Hayden made which didn’t appear in print:

The chillers at the steam plant—which also run on steam—were installed because of their significant efficiency gains over even electrical window units. Since the price of natural gas dives every summer, air conditioning with gas reduces campus energy costs dramatically.
The steam plant was built in the late ’70s with two boilers, one of which was expected to be sufficient to meet campus heat needs through 2000, with a second as a “warm spare” in case of problems with the first. Room was left for a third boiler to meet projected additional demand in 2000. However, shortly after the plant was built, the College began using automatic controllers for heat distribution which allowed demand to remain essentially flat: the third boiler was never needed. Instead, the cogeneration turbine will be installed in that space.
The boilers from the old steam plant, which now serves as a general garage and warehouse but still holds the main trunk of the steam lines in its basement, remained in use until this year burning wood chips to heat the greenhouses at the Montgomery Rose company in Hadley. Those greenhouses were recently demolished; the site will become a Home Depot this summer.
Physical Plant employs in excess of 400 people, the equivalent of an entire extra class at the College. Most students will only encounter dorm janitors, though, and according to Hayden, that’s the way they prefer it. “We’re here to make it possible for you to do what you’re here for. We’re not what this institution is about.”

The photo above will take you to a collection of phone-camera photos I took of the tour, on Flickr.

Parker Morse '96 at 04:07 PM | Comments (2)

May 29, 2006

Commencement '06 photos

In addition to the official College photo galleries from Commencement 2006, there are many more photos available on the photographers’ own pages:

Now is also a good time to put in a plug for the Amherst College Flickr group; keeping an eye on photos tagged “Amherst” or “Amherst College” is also a good idea.

Parker Morse '96 at 07:10 PM

April 11, 2006

Bone reassembly

Via Sam Masinter ‘04, we learn that you can follow the reassembly of various fossils moved from the old Pratt Museum to the new Museum of Natural History via a webcam positioned in the new building. The bones have been in storage for the last sixteen months. Sessions are limited to five minutes to “allow more people to view the cam.”

Parker Morse '96 at 12:40 PM

April 03, 2006

Pratt addition razed

According to the College’s News and Events page, the 1912 addition to Pratt Gymnasium (1884) was razed this week as part of the plan to convert the former gymnasium, classroom building, and museum into a first-year dormitory by 2007. Be sure to check out the photos on the page, and if you’re on campus, let us know how the work is progressing. If any current students would like to be our eyes and ears on campus to keep us informed when things like this take place, please, drop us a line, we’d appreciate it.

More photos of the demolition from Sam Masinter ‘04 of the Office of Public Affairs.

Brian Meacham '97 at 08:12 AM | TrackBack

February 16, 2006

The president as radical

Alumni who haven’t been following the college closely over the past five years—or those put off by Amherst’s privileged atmosphere—shouldn’t miss the BusinessWeek article describing the ambitions president Tony Marx holds for the College.

Starting by describing Marx’s own “nothing to lose” pitch to the Board of Trustees—in which he remembers saying, “I’m not interested in being a custodian over a privileged place,”—the article describes Marx’s agenda as “a new affirmative action initiative, this time based on class rather than race.”

It also connects the dots with Dean of Admissions Tom Parker’s Christmas comments and the faculty report on admissions from a few years ago, and includes quotes from professors Barry O’Connell, Geoffrey Woglom, David A. Cox and Jan Dizard.

To Marx this isn’t a revolutionary goal; he sees it as a return to Amherst’s roots. The college, he notes, was founded in 1821 by Noah Webster, creator of the American Dictionary, whose portrait hangs in Marx’s office. “The object of this institution,” Webster wrote, is “educating young men in indigent circumstances, but of hopeful piety and promising talents.” The wording is antiquated, and women weren’t allowed back then. But there’s nothing dated about the sentiment.

Parker Morse '96 at 07:50 PM

January 24, 2006

A look around the new Geology building

Earth Sciences and Natural History Museum Building photos

Sam Masinter ‘04, the College’s new Assistant Director of Public Affairs, has put up a gallery of interior images of the new Earth Sciences and Natural History Museum Building, for those of us not close enough to Amherst to drop by and see what it’s like. Masinter also has a collection of exterior photos from November.

Parker Morse '96 at 04:44 PM

January 23, 2006

Photos of the College

Users of the Flickr photo-sharing service might be interested in knowing that there is now an Amherst College group for photos of the College. There are several dozen photos there which have previously appeared here, but there are also contributions from current students and other residents of the Amherst area.

Parker Morse '96 at 09:45 PM

December 24, 2005

Dean Parker on athletics, slots, and transparency

The Sports section of Sunday’s New York Times includes a lengthy story on athletic recruiting in Division III, extensively quoting Dean of Admissions Tom Parker. The article compares the practice of filling athletic “slots” (called “athletic factors,” in the NESCAC) and sticking to a limited number of such slots, with colleges which do not admit a fixed number of athletes. Parker points to both the NESCAC’s agreed-upon formula for a numbering slots as well as the lower limit observed by the Little Three, and notes,

“The real danger was in not acknowledging that we give preferential treatment to athletes,” Parker said. “It engendered a corrosive cynicism. When it was on the table exactly what we do, it wasn’t as bad as some faculty thought.”

Parker also describes how the slots are filled, and notes that before this system was in place, “as recently as the late 1990’s, Amherst was admitting 96 athletes.”

The article also notes that football presents the biggest problem to admissions at nearly every Division III program, though it doesn’t mention the drastic step taken by Swarthmore when they dropped football several years ago.

“You just need so many football players to have a competitive team,” said Les Poolman, athletic director at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pa., [which faces Swarthmore in the competitive Centennial Conference.] “And some of them you want to be 260 pounds with good grades and high test scores. It’s often a lot easier to get distance runners.”

Parker Morse '96 at 07:54 PM

November 13, 2005

Habitat for Humanity receives College land

The press release has been posted for over a month, so it’s about time the media (including us) got around to mentioning the College’s donation of land to Habitat for Humanity for the construction of four “affordable housing” units.

The donation is a double one, according to the Springfield Republican, which praised the move in a later editorial:

The college has also pledged volunteer labor. The first house is scheduled for construction in the fall of 2006. A new Habitat home will be started at the beginning of every academic year for the next four years using students, faculty, staff, alumni and community members.

According to director of media relations Paul Statt ‘77, who confirms that to his knowledge no other college has ever made a donation of land to Habitat for Humanity, “We’re trying to get the maximum number of students the maximum number of hours to work on houses.”

The Republican article describes the land as “near the corner of South East and Stanley Streets,” which would put it in the open fields between where the Norwottuck Rail Trail crosses South East Street, and where the “Bird Sanctuary” woods come down to South East Street—possibly close to where the active Amtrak rail line crosses South East Street.

Parker Morse '96 at 05:51 PM

October 27, 2005

Four colleges?

A column in today’s UMass Daily Collegian raises some interesting ideas.

What prompted me to write this column was a recent petition going around Amherst College, which calls for Amherst to withdraw from the five-college consortium because “students from academically less-prestigious schools are polluting the academic environment at Amherst College.” Now, it does not take a scientist to figure out which “less prestigious school” they are talking about. And why are we less prestigious? Because we have less money in our endowment? Or is it because of those frequent riots we all love to take part in?

I guess my first question would be, is there really such a petition?

As former non-student residents of the town of Amherst, it’s too easy for us to take pot shots at UMass students, so we won’t. We are, however, a bit disturbed by the idea of Amherst withdrawing from the Five Colleges consortium, and we wonder if the students circulating the petition have really looked at the issue from all sides?

For example, how many classes does the Five College Consortium make available to College students that the College would otherwise be too small to offer? We recall taking 19th Century Russian Poetry from a bona fide 20th Century Russian Poet (and Nobel Laureate to boot) at Mt. Holyoke, for example. How about library books? We’ve have to steal a lot of titles from Williamstown to make up for that balance.

But those are, really, minor issues. I’m sure someone with a good grasp of the College history could construct an argument around the idea that withdrawing from the Consortium would actually be a rejection of the College’s own mission.

And, last but not least, why can’t I find anything about this in the Student?

Update: Reports from campus suggest that the petition may be either a misunderstanding or a figment of the Collegian columnists imagination.

Parker Morse '96 at 09:20 PM

September 08, 2005

Amherst response

College campuses around the country are contributing to the relief effort following the Hurricane Katrina disaster on the Gulf Coast. Efforts from the College, as noted at the end of this television report, include the departure of lacrosse coach Tom Carmean for the area with a truckload (“care-avan”) of contributions.

Student athletes at the school are helping Carmean load a rental truck with canned goods, water, baby products and other items.

Sam Masinter ‘04 has posted two galleries (update: three) documenting the collection and loading of the truck.

Unrelated to Katrina, the Boulder Daily Camera recently ran an article about Educate!, the non-profit launched by neuroscience major Eric Glustrom (‘07?). From the organization’s website:

Started in 2004, the Amherst College club has really jumpstarted Educate! expansion. The club has raised over $4,000 through two benefit concerts, a dodgeball tournament, and letter writing. The dodgeball tournament turned out to be a tremendous success, with nearly 200 students participating and nearly as many buying t-shirts.

Parker Morse '96 at 10:14 AM

August 25, 2005

A look around James and Stearns

In preparation for the arrival of the Class of ‘09, the new James and Stearns dorms are getting the final finishing touches for their first year of occupancy. Sam Masinter ‘04 has created a pair of Quicktime VR movies which provide 360° views of the new dorms, first from the courtyard between the two and Mead Art Museum (compare with the shots we posted in February and April) and also showing the interior of a first-floor lounge.

(If you haven’t seen Quicktime VR before, note that once either of these files have loaded in your browser, you can click and drag within the window to pan around.)

Parker Morse '96 at 09:18 AM

August 02, 2005

Tuleja on Domestic exchange

Associate Dean of Students Frances Tuleja is quoted extensively in a recent NYT News Service article about domestic exchange programs. Amherst is a member of the 12 College Exchange, a network of Northeast liberal arts colleges which allow full-year or semester exchanges. Tuleja, however, was talking about the relative unpopularity of domestic exchange programs:

“The greater awareness of and emphasis on internationalism and globalization within higher education, coupled with the greater availability of study abroad programs, has made domestic exchange a relatively less appealing prospect.”

In my experience, Amherst was a net importer of 12 College exchange students, even including some from Smith looking for the kind of fresh surroundings sought by Vassar student Craig Libman, also quoted in the article:

“If you’re at a big school with 40,000 students and you need a change of pace, it’s pretty easy to find a new world there […] I love Vassar so much, but at a small school, after a while it can become too routine, and you need to shake it up a bit. Amherst is very different from Vassar,” he says. “It has a different social culture.”

Parker Morse '96 at 04:44 PM

July 28, 2005

"Traffic Calming" on 116 in progress

Following the success of the “traffic calming” raised sidewalks on Route 9, the College is paying for new work on Route 116 from the Route 9 intersection down to the Norwottuck Rail Trail. Due to concerns from the fire department, which is already considering a South Amherst station due to slow reaction times in the south end of town, raised sidewalks are not being used. Instead, the College is constructing islands using grey pavers and, in two places, granite curbs allowing for landscaping in the islands. The effect is to narrow 116 at three crosswalks: in front of Morgan Hall, and at either end of the loop driveway which serves the athletic complex, Admissions, and Kirby Theater. A system of flashing lights, similar to those embedded in the raised crosswalks on Route 9, is also being installed.

The hope is that the narrowed roadway and visual signals of the crosswalks will prompt drivers to slow down and watch more carefully for pedestrians in the roadway.

This shot shows one of the islands at the College entrance near the Octagon.

Unfortunately, while the plans call for a four-foot bicycle lane, drivers avoiding the construction currently leave no bicycle lane.

Parker Morse '96 at 08:17 PM

July 27, 2005

Students active in Haiti, Cuba

The Wichita Times Record (free registration required, or visit bugmenot.com) has been running a series of articles this week from “Amherst College Junior” (we think that means class of ‘07) Andrea Samuelson, who has travelled to Haiti as a volunteer aid worker in Haiti four times since she was 17.

On a trip in 2004, featured afterward on the Times Record News Religion page, Samuelson worked with The Missionaries of Charity, an order founded by Mother Teresa.

“You go there and you feel like you don’t have enough arm to hold them all,” she said Friday. “They’re all so sweet.”

The 20-year-old, a junior at Amherst College in Amherst, Mass., visited the paper early last week, asking if her written account could appear somewhere in the paper. So compelling was her narrative, the paper is publishing her story in its entirety, in a five-part series.

Samuelson’s articles have appeared on July 25, July 26, and July 27 so far.

Meanwhile, the Lone Star Iconoclast is one of several sources on the web reporting on the activities of the Pastors for Peace Friendshipment Caravan to Cuba, a group protesting the U.S. sanctions on Cuba through civil disobedience. Among those on the buses is Jennifer Shu, another College junior.

“My friends don’t realize that it’s against the law for U.S. citizens to cross into Cuba,” said Shu, at the Crawford Peace House. She learned about the Pastors for Peace caravan from a friend who participated in last year’s mission.

Parker Morse '96 at 08:24 AM

July 25, 2005

Monday roundup: Obituaries, newspapers, and post offices

The July 23rd New York Times carried an obituary for Rev. George E. Calvert ‘50. Calvert, a founder of Hope Community, Inc., is credited with helping to revitalize East Harlem as pastor of Church of the Living Hope on East 104th Street. “Hope Community relied on private contributions to buy buildings to turn into housing for low-income families.”

…[Calvert] saw that one of the biggest problems facing his parishioners was lack of adequate, safe housing. Motivated by the belief that solving this problem would help overcome the poverty, rampant crime and dilapidation that plagued the community at the time, he and other leaders founded Hope Community, a nonprofit community development organization, in 1968.

The Times announced last Friday that Jonathan Landman ‘74, currently an assistant managing editor, has been named deputy managing editor, responsible for digital journalism.

In making the announcement, [Executive Editor Bill] Keller said, “Jon is one of our most creative editors and a journalist of the utmost integrity. He will be open to the immense potential of the young digital medium, but he will be anchored in the values that give us our credibility and authority. He is, moreover, adept at assembling great talent and making ambitious things happen. There is nothing quite as infectious as Jon Landman when he’s excited about something—and about our ability to make waves on the Web, he is very excited indeed.”

In his new role, Mr. Landman will have oversight of the digital newsroom as well as newsroom responsibility for Times television journalism.

While we’re discussing newspapers, The Durham Herald Sun printed the following comment as part of Thursday’s “Peeling the Orange” column:

And now, for a change, a Peeling at our own expense.

We recently received the following e-mail message:

“Customer Services: Please be advised that [name] graduated from Amherst College in 2001. Weekly since then, copies of The Chapel Hill Herald/Herald-Sun have arrived at this Campus Post Office.

“As we do not forward newpapers to graduates, we have been recycling these papers ever since. Please stop the subscription … as soon as possible. Thank you for your cooperation.”

You mean the folks at the Amherst College post office don’t care to read about the Wal-Mart in Chatham County, who’s going to succeed Mike Nelson as Carrboro mayor or how many residential units Chapel Hill wants to build on parking lot 5?

We just feel bad for that newspaper carrier who had to drive to up Massachusetts every week at 5 a.m.

Parker Morse '96 at 08:28 AM

July 16, 2005

Endowment near milestone

The College’s financial affairs were in Friday’s Daily Hampshire Gazette. A positive story (paid registration required) highlighted Amherst and Smith Colleges as leading the Five Colleges in endowment size, with both nearing the $1 billion mark. Smith officials say their value actually topped the milestone earlier this year, but has since fallen back under.

Amherst College officials have traditionally been far quieter about such matters, releasing audited figures just once a year in August and steadfastly refusing to provide quarterly or unaudited figures. But with last year’s endowment at $993.4 million, even a modest 1 percent gain for the year would be enough to push the college over the mark.

“We report it once a year,” said spokeswoman Stacey Schmeidel. “For us, it just makes a lot more sense to say we’re going to take a snapshot once a year, not every time people ask.”

Parker Morse '96 at 11:06 AM

June 20, 2005

Morrow gutted

As promised, we toured the campus this afternoon to snap shots of the ongoing construction in the RMP. The bulk of the photos are, as usual, available on Flickr, but we’re including some highlights here.

Morrow Dorm, not the most visually attractive at the best of times, has had all the windows removed on the east side, and now resembles a gutted factory building.

Morris Pratt (aka “Pratt Dorm”) hasn’t changed notably from the outside, except for the removal of windows from the library (presumably for their protection.)

And the new Geology building is completely uncovered, though still unfinished.

Parker Morse '96 at 09:26 PM

June 14, 2005

A promise of new photos

Sometime this week I plan to take a walk around the campus with my camera and post photos of the new RMP developments. By way of a preview and outline, here are the recent changes on campus that I’ve noticed while running through:

The circle between (Morris) Pratt and Morrow is now completely closed to non-construction traffic. Noah Webster has been rendered inaccessible by chain-link fence meant to protect him.
Morrow is being gutted, and is mostly windowless on the Valentine Quad side. (Morris) Pratt is presumably also uninhabitable by now.
The new Geology building is unshrouded but still clearly in progress, like the new James and Stearns.

Meanwhile, if you’re looking for new photos of Amherst architecture, there are a few shots on Flickr if you peruse images tagged with “Amherst.” This photo of Fayerweather bears the caption:

Fayerweather is the best example of McKim, Mead & White architecture on the Amherst campus. It’s by far my favorite building. Ironically, it sits adjacent to to the hideously ugly Chapin hall, which the possibly the worst example of M, M & W architecture anywhere.

Nobody likes Chapin, do they?

Parker Morse '96 at 01:18 PM

June 03, 2005

Sabrina returns to Amherst

Sabrina, object of inter-class rivalry and the stuff of College legend, was wheeled out of her hiding place on the occasion of the class of 1980’s 25th Reunion. Sam Masinter ‘04 contributed the following update and photographs:

“The class of 1980, who sees themselves as a “Sabrina class,” donated a massive amount of money to the Annual Fund and had the Sabrina Green (and a lounge, I believe) named in their honor. To make it extra special, the college rolled Sabrina out of her hiding place. Here’s a bit more.”

Read more about the history of Sabrina in Sabrina, The Class Goddess of Amherst College by Max Shoop ‘10, transcribed by Rick Yanco ‘94.

Take a look at some Sabrina-related items on Amherstiana.org.

Brian Meacham '97 at 04:40 PM | Comments (3)

May 23, 2005

Commencement news and photos

Yesterday’s 184th Commencement was a wet and cold affair, according to news reports and photos. Anyone attend in person and care to give a first-hand account? Springfield Republicanreports on commencement speaker John Porciau ‘05 and President Anthony Marx’s addresses. The article describes Porciau as “taking a light approach with his classmates” while Marx discussed College founder Noah Webster.

Newsday erroneously reports that Amherst had “moved its commencement - and more than 400 graduates - here this year, so it could bestow honorary degrees on former South African President Nelson Mandela and his wife.”

Sam Masinter ‘04 has posted his photos of the event - it looks like graduates got some nice canes this year. Has that happened before? How did it come about? We’d be interested to know.

UPDATE: Thanks to the commenters and others who’ve informed us about the history of the Commencement canes, a revived tradition since 2003.

Photograph by Sam Masinter ‘04.

Brian Meacham '97 at 03:32 PM | Comments (3)

May 21, 2005

Commencement tomorrow, honorands announced

Amherst College will hold its 184th Commencement Exercises this weekend, with graduation and the conferring of honorary degrees to take place tomorrow on the freshman quad, weather permitting.

Honorary degree recipients this year include Kazuo Asakai ‘67, Japan’s ambassador to the European Union; architect Shigeru Ban; author and historian Natalie Zemon Davis (The Return of Martin Guerre; Paul E. Farmer, founder of Partners in Health; Senator John Glenn, biochemist and MacArthur ‘genius’ Amy Rosenzweig ‘88; novelist Robert Stone; and William Julius Wilson, sociologist of urban poverty. Each will be giving a talk or participating in a conversation after the ceremony, as tradition holds; for our money, it’s a toss-up between hearing John Glenn speak in Johnson Chapel and listening to Amy Rosenzweig ‘88 and her talk, “Here’s to You, Larry Summers” in Converse.

Anyone who attends is encouraged to send updates, accounts, and photos of the weekend’s events to us at amerst@gmail.com.

1839 Amherst Commencement program from Amherstiana.org.

Brian Meacham '97 at 09:55 AM

May 18, 2005

Next steps in the RMP

With the new James and Stearns looking ready for occupancy next fall, and the Geology building emerging from its wraps, the Residential Master Plan seems to be close to completion, at least as concerns new construction. There’s plenty of renovation left on campus, though; with Appleton, Williston, North and South having received the complete gut-and-renovate treatment in recent years, three more dorms are due for overhaul: Pratt, Morrow, and Valentine.

Sure enough, after photographing the new Geology building, we swung by to visit Noah Webster in Pratt Circle and saw that Pratt (which we remember as something of an ant-infested warren) was already fenced off and in the early stages of its renovation.

Of course, we should learn to use Pratt’s full name. With the Natural History Museum and geology department moving to their new digs, Charles Pratt will be enter its third phase of life, as a dorm; the existing “Pratt Dorm” is “Morris Pratt.”

With Charles Pratt’s progress from gymnasium to geology department to dormitory, one expects that its life-cycle is complete; like North and South, the College’s original buildings, it would appear that the ultimate fate of all College structures is to become a dormitory. (Other former classroom buildings which have become dorms include Appleton, Willison, and Moore.) Not unlike Zawinski’s Law (“Every program attempts to expand until it can read email,”) I propose Morse’s Law of Amherst Architecture: “Every building will attempt renovation until it becomes a dormitory.”

More seriously, after the completion of the RMP, all first-year students will be living in recently-renovated rooms on the Quad; what’s left for upperclassmen? The new construction is King, Weiland, and to a lesser extent Cohan, Jenkins and Taplin. The former fraternity houses might remain popular. But sophomores, who once dreaded being roomed with first-years in Pratt, Morrow, North and South, will probably be dreading suites in the “Social Dorms,” Crossett, Stone, Davis, Coolidge and Pond, which used to be considered prime housing but are likely now showing their age.

Parker Morse '96 at 10:07 AM

May 17, 2005

The new Geology building emerges

While the east and south faces of the new Geology building remain largely shrouded, the scaffolding has come off the north and west sides. Am’erst swung by this afternoon and took some pictures for the benefit of those who aren’t headed to Commencement or Alumni Weekend. See the whole set, including James and Stearns construction photos from the spring.

Parker Morse '96 at 10:13 PM

May 15, 2005

The best time of year

Finals were over on Friday, and tomorrow the B&G crews will begin clearing the dorms in preparation for next weekend’s Commencement and the following Alumni Weekend. I noted the full dumpsters in a post on flashesofpanic.com.

The town is otherwise dressed in new green leaves and an abundance of flowers. Spending at least one summer in Amherst is something I recommend to all students who can manage it, but the few weeks of New England spring can be pretty spectacular.

Meanwhile, with little news to post, I’ll share a photo of the campus taken last week from the overlook atop Mt. Orient, on the Robert Frost Trail in Pelham.

Parker Morse '96 at 12:29 PM

May 13, 2005

Mandela scholars coming to Amherst, unlike Mandela

News outlets today are buzzing with reports of Nelson Mandela’s “early Commencement” honorary degree from the College, awarded yesterday in New York City. Mandela became the first person to receive an honorary degree from Amherst anywhere but Amherst, but some 550 students, faculty and staff were bussed down from the Valley to be among the audience in St. Bartholomew Church in Manhattan.

Mandela “challenged selective colleges in the United States to open their doors to more students of modest means,” according to the Boston Globe report.

College officials announced yesterday that the school next year will be the first in the United States to receive Nelson Mandela scholars, which are selected by the former South African president’s foundation. The students, who will receive full scholarships, will be from either South Africa or Mozambique. Mandela’s wife, Graca Machel, is originally from Mozambique.

See also the College release; for photos, check the site of Sam Masinter ‘04.

Parker Morse '96 at 11:54 AM

April 13, 2005

Stearns Returns

The plastic shrouds which have hidden the new Stearns Dorm came down in the last few days, revealing the completed exterior of the dorm. The new building (Stearns Jr? Stearns II?) is extremely similar to its predecessor when viewed from the quad, with the exception of wider windows on the fourth floor. Apparently architect believes that undergraduates like sunlight. The new James Dorm remains cased in scaffolding, but the shroud is coming down there as well. The Geology building remains shrouded.

More photos will be available in my Flickr photostream, if they aren’t already.

Parker Morse '96 at 09:25 AM

April 12, 2005

Project Survival brings Rieckhoff '98 back to campus

Monday’s Daily Hampshire Gazette ran a story (paid subscription required) about a student group which has brought Paul Rieckhoff ‘98’s nonpartisan veterans group, Operation Truth, to campus. Rieckhoff and two other veterans will speak at a meeting tonight in Johnson Chapel, introduced by Belchertown resident Kevin Lucey. Lucey’s son Jeff committed suicide after returning from serving in Iraq.

The student group founded by Chris Hofmann ‘07 and Annalise Rodli ‘07 is called “Project Survival,” and is intended to raise awareness and aid for soldiers and civilians in Iraq.

“It’s definitely been a tough battle,” said Hofmann. “When you have the message ‘support the troops,’ it’s automatically labeled as a pro-war message, which is the last thing our group is trying to say.”

Many in the group were strongly opposed to the war, Hofmann said, while others were supportive of its aims. They have tried to move beyond those differences, collecting supplies for an Army unit in Mosul and raising funds to support Iraqi civilians and the reconstruction effort.

Update, 13 April: The Student article about this meeting.

Parker Morse '96 at 08:00 PM

April 07, 2005

Amherst 3, Museums10

Last week saw the official launch of Museums10, a new collaboration among Pioneer Valley-area museums, including Amherst’s own Mead Art Museum, the in-transition Pratt Museum of Natural History, and the Trustee-owned Emily Dickinson Museum. According to an article profiling the consortium, the group hopes to “raise awareness of their vast collections and promote the Pioneer Valley as a tourist destination.”

The ten museums that make up Museums10 represent each of the Five Colleges, as well as the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art and the National Yiddish Book Center in Amherst, and Historic Deerfield.

Read the official press release, or more of our previous discussion regarding the Mead Art Museum and the Geology Building, the once and future home of the Pratt Museum.

Brian Meacham '97 at 06:10 PM

March 24, 2005

New crosswalks, narrower 116

An article in today’s Daily Hampshire Gazette (paid subscription required, unfortunately) updates the college’s traffic safety plans:

A half-mile stretch of Route 116 through Amherst College and near the Route 9 intersection will be made narrower this summer to reduce speeds and protect pedestrians in four crosswalks. And the college is footing the bill.

For more details, read on:

The College is paying for the construction on the stretch of road running roughly from Morgan Hall, past the Octagon to the bike path and Snell Street. The changes will include “narrowing the pavement to 11-foot driving lanes with 4-foot bicycle lanes” and “creat[ing] islands in the road with plantings in them.” It does not appear that the three crosswalks (in front of Morgan, and at Walnut Street and Hitchcock Road) will be raised, as three crosswalks on Route 9 were last summer in college-funded construction there. Jim Brassord is quoted explaining that “the crosswalks and other traffic-calming measures [on Route 9] reduced speeds by about 12 mph.”

Parker Morse '96 at 11:15 PM

March 16, 2005

Amherst Recording Council

As of this winter, there is a relatively new campus organization centered around a relatively simple task: making audio recordings of as many campus events as possible. The Amherst Recording Council’s website explains:

Various academic departments, student organizations and College offices pay or otherwise convince a wide range of speakers to come to the campus and give lectures on their various specialties. But we don’t just record visiting lecturers, as you can see from a complete list of our recordings on this website. For example, we make a point of recording the fortnightly Coffeehouse hosted at Marsh House which showcases the wide range of talents, humour, music and poetry which characterizes our student body.

[…]

The ARC creates an online audio archive that makes the events you may have missed, or been too busy to attend, available to you at any time. It also gives prospective students and alumni a glimpse of the ongoing tradition and vitality of the liberal arts at Amherst College.

The promised Coffeehouse recordings are not evident as of yet, but many campus lectures are available in mp3 format for the listening pleasure of anyone who cares to drop by and download. It’s not quite a podcast, but it’s close.

Update: yes, I’m caught, I haven’t been doing my Amherst reading. There’s the ARC in “College Row,” and I thought they were news. How embarrassing.

Parker Morse '96 at 03:17 PM

McGuire Life Sciences Building

I took a quick loop around the quiet campus yesterday morning, wondering when the wraps would come off James, Stearns, and the new Geology building, and was surprised to discover that the Life Sciences building, nameless when it was completed in 1996, is now the McGuire Life Sciences Building, and has been since last spring.

This apparently follows a pattern of buildings acquiring names only after some relevant donor’s child has graduated, as benefactor William McGuire is the father of Marissa McGuire ‘04. Other buildings named several years after construction was completed include the Keefe Campus Center (which was just “the campus center” when I was a student,) Jenkins and Taplin dorms (“A Dorm” and “B Dorm” until about 1992) and Cohan Dorm (known as “New Dorm” for several years in the early ’90s.)

Parker Morse '96 at 01:52 PM

March 15, 2005

Spring?

The College is on spring break this week, but Amherst is still under a thick layer of snow. Barring a truly tropical weekend, it’s likely that the athletic fields will still be covered when spring teams return from break.

That may be why I saw the College’s sidewalk sweeper (a sort of macro-ATV with a big spinning broom on the front) on the softball field (just below Pratt Field and the track) attempting to reduce the eight-to-ten inches there to something more meltable, like one inch.

Parker Morse '96 at 03:36 PM

February 25, 2005

Platt '89 returns

The Russian Department is announcing a talk by Kevin M. F. Platt ‘89. Platt is associate professor and chair of Slavic languages and literatures at the University of Pennsylvania and acting chair of Penn’s program in comparative literature and literary theory.

Platt’s interdisciplinary talk promises to be lively and engaging; it is entitled “Russian National Identity and the Liminal Emperor: Peter I from Official Nationalism to Pushkin.” An informal reception will follow the talk and discussion.

The talk is scheduled for Tuesday, March 8 at 4:30 P.M. in the Webster Hall Center for Russian Culture.

Parker Morse '96 at 02:50 PM

February 10, 2005

Why Amherst?

I had an email a few weeks ago from a friend telling me that her daughter had been accepted, early decision, into the Class of ‘09. In the course of the discussion, it turned out that one of the factors inclining her to apply early to Amherst was the scenery.

Undoubtedly any graduate of the College on the Hill could explain ten or fifteen reasons why one would choose Amherst over our rivals to the west, but incoming students, particularly those as confused as I was, might have a harder time. The merits of the Five College Exchange, Antonio’s, and the open curriculum aren’t realities for high school students. Having alumni relatives or an interest in a particular department where Amherst is strong might sway a decision, and similar little things might mark down otherwise similar institutions.

But I can’t be the only one who took a tour and just knew, standing at the top of Memorial Hill, that this was a good place to be. I was an ED acceptance in a class that was heavily ED and wait-list. I could rationalize my application later, but it was inherently a gut decision that turned out to be correct.

Anyone else? What made you apply? Did you have good reasons, or did you just get a good feeling from the place? Were you right?

Parker Morse '96 at 12:12 PM | Comments (1)

February 03, 2005

Geo Building Progress II

Since I’ve been called out for updates on the campus construction binge, I took the long way around this morning and snapped a few shots.

One note about calling someone out, though; it helps to get your buildings right. This is the real Geology building, not quite the same structure as pictured by Brian yesterday.

The geology building, taken from the road between Keefe and Fayerweather.

More pictures in the extended entry.

First, this is the current view of Brian’s shot: the wrapped Stearns dorm, with James in the background.

Keefe Campus Center, with new geology building under construction

Walking around in front of Merrill, the new geology building is prominent behind the Keefe Campus Center.

Sign explaining the construction mock-up

This sign is the caption for the next photo.

I have a photo somewhere of a similar James Jr. and Stearns Jr. mock-up from early in the fall, but that one lacked a sign. Apparently the contractors felt better about explaining what they were doing in an actual academic building?

Parker Morse '96 at 08:50 PM

February 02, 2005

Geo Building Progress

The new Geology building as it looked October 3, 2004. Now it’s your turn, Parker: what’s it looking like these days, four months later?

Updated February 7, 2005: Thanks for the correction, Parker. I’ve now replaced the image of James and Stearns with the image I meant to submit, so now we’ve got a proper comparison.

Brian Meacham '97 at 07:52 PM | Comments (1)

February 01, 2005

Dorm construction

While the College is posting periodic updates about the progress of the Residential Master Plan, I sometimes wish they would post more photos, more often. (I remember Cathy Miller ‘94 starting a project to take a digital photo of the Biology building construction on a mostly-daily basis; I wonder where those photos are now?) This time of year, I am seldom on campus during daylight hours, so I can’t keep careful track of progress.

I posted some photos of the demolition of James and Stearns in June. Public Affairs posted some photos from the fall showing the frames of what I affectionately call “James Jr.” and “Stearns Jr.”

I passed through campus with my camera on the day before Christmas, but the frames of the new dorms are wrapped in plastic for the winter, so my photos are not terribly informative about the progress of construction. Still, they’re in the extended entry. Click through for more.

The new James dorm, taken from near the entry to Stirn Auditorium

This is the southeast face of James Jr., taken from outside Mead, near the entrance to Stirn Auditorium.

This is taken from the quad, standing roughly behind (to the east of) Johnson Chapel and looking east at the dorms. The dorms look like giant marshmallows, or styrofoam models of themselves. You can tell this photo isn’t current; there’s no snow on the quad. (There is plenty now.)

Even on the day before Christmas, there is work going on both here (on the roof of James) and at the new Geology building.

Parker Morse '96 at 07:14 PM

January 23, 2005

Why not duck sauce?

With a full-scale blizzard blanketing the town of Amherst this morning, it’s worth another slightly edited re-post from Flashes of Panic. This came up before a December snowstorm, but I noticed the same thing earlier this week.

There’s snow forecast for tonight, so the College has been out treating their walkways, and a few town sidewalks (such as the Route 9 sidewalks and those near the Triangle houses) as well. They spray some kind of liquid to prevent ice from accumulating on the walkways, and it has a familiar smell. A few winters ago, I saw where they had applied it where the snow was already down, and it turns out to have a brownish tinge. So far as I can tell, they’re applying soy sauce to the walkways.

That would explain why snow makes me hungry, anyway.

I was happy to see this attention to ice adhesion when I remembered the winter of ‘93-‘94, when a January storm featured about six inches of snow followed by soaking rain and an overnight freeze. The resulting two or three inches of white ice were a foundation for the campus for most of the next few months, despite B&G’s best efforts to clear it from walkways and roads. I was living in Porter that year, and remember only two places with reliably clear pavement: anywhere a walkway crossed over a steam line, and the front walk of Hamilton House, where the custodian made it a point of pride to remove any flake of frozen water.

Parker Morse '96 at 09:02 AM

January 21, 2005

The view from Memorial Hill

(While I will be writing original posts here as they come up, I’m settling in by re-posting some Amherst-centric posts from Flashes of Panic. I wrote this in October, but I had a similar experience just yesterday, which follows.)

They’ve been waxing the floors in the gymnasium at the College this week. While they dry, we’ve been entering and leaving through different doors. On the one hand, I don’t get to walk by the solemn, self-confident team photos from sports the College no longer contests, and wonder what happened to the players on the 1939 baseball team. (I’m in some of these pictures, but not in the part of the hall I pass going to the locker room or the weight room.)

On the other hand, yesterday I left by the back door and walked up the hill the way I used to after practice every day. The leaves are changing, and the view south from atop the hill was pretty spectacular. I’m told The College has maintained this view through some judicious land purchases and leases, essentially allowing the southern part of town to develop so long as it’s not visible from the campus. One of the results has been the preservation of a lot of very nice open space in South Amherst; another is this view, pretty much hills and trees straight back to the Holyoke range, where Bare Mountain and Rattlesnake Knob look back at the viewer. The hills in between, “Mounts” Castor and Pollux, were apparently named for twin maple trees on their crests when they were both cleared farmland. The northern twin is gone, or subsumed by other trees, but if you look carefully from Bay Road there is still a flaming red maple at the crest of the southern hill.

The hills look like a storm-tossed sea in a Japanese painting, or a seriously rucked-up rug. From here, there’s nothing placid about them, though you’d think there would be. I wonder how many students stop for a few seconds at the top of the hill when they pass by, and look out, and think about the world beyond the little microcosm they’re in. I know I used to look, but I can’t remember what I was thinking about.

Or do they at least look out and think, “Whoa.” Especially since they cut a row of tall pines on the first-base side of the baseball field, the view is pretty clear.

Jolted out of my routine, I managed to forget the half-full mug of tea I had left in my locker while I swam. I expect it will be iced tea when I go back tomorrow.

I thought about this post yesterday, when I once again walked up Memorial Hill from the gym, this time to drop something off in Webster rather than because of floor wax. It was about quarter past seven, and the sun was newly risen. Looking south towards the Holyoke Range, there was nothing but clouds, but to the east the ridge of the Pelham Hills was visible. Between the pines at the edge of the lower fields and the Pelham ridge, however, was nothing but fog, and the trees were frosted with new snow. After gaping for a minute or so, I hastily looked back at the path, because I expected to bump in to Frank Ward photographing it for an Admissions publication.

Parker Morse '96 at 02:53 PM

January 20, 2005

Route 9 safety under investigation

Town and College officials have decided that raised crosswalks on Route 9 have improved pedestrian safety on the street, a Springfield Republican report notes. The 2003 improvements, which include approach slopes and LED lights to help slow traffic, were made along College Street in order to help prevent accidents like those that have happened near the campuses of Smith College and UMass. Next up for the joint commission will be Route 116, where, the College reports, traffic-calming measures might involve “some combination of narrowing the roadway, installing traffic lights, [and] raised crosswalks.”