Starting this Interterm, Amherst College Emergency Medical Service (ACEMS) will begin giving up-front tuition assistance to students who cannot afford the costs of the Interterm EMT course. ACEMS is a student-staffed and student-administered organization that provides emergency medical response, at no cost, to any member of the campus community at any hour, any day.
Brigitte Libby is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Classics. She received a B.A. in Classics from Columbia College and a Ph.D. in Classical Philology and Literature from Princeton University. Her research focuses on Latin literature.
How did you begin studying Classics, and what made you decide to pursue it?
Posters, emails, postcards, Facebook event pages, statuses and videos bombarded the freshman class last week with one clear message: “Vote for me!”
After a rigorous advertising campaign by the Association of Amherst Students (AAS) Elections Committee, the Class of 2015 had a record number of candidates in the first-year Senate elections, with 18 students running on the ballot.
Professors and students have noticed a great amount of noise caused by lawnmowers, trucks or construction that has been interrupting classes. The noise drowns out voices in the classroom, forcing professors to have to keep their windows shut despite the uncomfortable humidity that stays trapped inside buildings.
According to several students, the work usually happens at times that are inconvenient for classes.
Last week, Danny Lee ’13 was working on an essay in his Valentine Hall dorm room when he heard a rustling noise. When he looked down, he saw a rodent, which he was unable to clearly identify as either a rat or a mouse (the administration says that there are no rats on campus), sitting on a piece of paper on the floor. Before he could grab the creature, it bolted out of his room. When Lee reported the incident to the custodian, he was handed a mousetrap and caught the rodent a few hours later. Lee remarked, “It seems like rats can’t resist peanut butter.”
Although work-study jobs may seem difficult to find for some, Valentine Dining Hall has many opportunities to earn money. Regardless, Val is still facing the issue of a lack of student workers.
“Students don’t have an interest in working in Val because they think it would be ‘gross’ or somehow uncool,” said Megan Duff ‘14, a student who’s worked in Val for over a year. “I also think it’s just a part of culture on campus that jobs during which you can do your homework are ideal. Honestly, I would just tell them it’s not that bad.”
For the third consecutive year, the Association of Amherst Students (AAS) has shored up budgets for programs that were previously stewarded by the administration. Following the 15 percent budget cuts imposed by the administration in the midst of the financial crisis in 2008, the AAS established a fund to help defray some departments’ budgetary shortfalls. The Take Your Professor Out (TYPO) and Faculty Tea programs were among a bevy of programs that requested AAS aid when the fund was established, in addition to the Health Education branch of the Health Services Center.
