Plans to repurpose the Merrill Science Center, following the completion of the new science center, are currently being discussed. Chief of Campus Operations Jim Brassord said that the development of the new science center will allow the college to use Merrill to accommodate other functions.
“While [Merrill] has extended beyond its design life and no longer adequately serves the programs that it houses, it is a building that represents a great opportunity for adaptive reuse for other pressing needs for the college,” Brassord said.
John M. Deutch ’60, former director of the CIA, spoke to a packed audience in Pruyne Lecture Hall on Saturday, Oct. 29. The event, which was part of Family Weekend, was open to students and their families and sponsored by the Amherst Political Union and the Office of Alumni and Parent Programs.
Professor Paul Schroeder Rodriguez received his B.S. in psychology from Georgetown University, M.A. in Spanish from Arizona State University and PhD in Spanish at Stanford University. His academic and research interests are in Latin American cinema and Hispanic literature.
The Women’s and Gender Center is holding “Reproductive Justice Week,” a series of events aimed toward raising awareness on campus about women’s reproductive health issues, from Thursday, Oct. 20 to Wednesday, Oct. 26.
Samantha O’Brien ’18, a student staff member at the WGC and one of the event series’ coordinators, said that the week’s focus was on educating students about subjects such as abortion and exploring the intersectionality of women’s rights with other forms of social justice.
The Amherst Association of Students partnered with TurboVote this year to help students register to vote in the general election, holding a “Get Out the Vote” drive spanning from the last two weeks of September to the third week of October.
Award-winning Indian journalist Palagummi Sainath gave a talk titled “Inequality and the Rise of Rural Distress” on Oct. 19. The event, held in Fayerweather Hall, focused on the growth of economic inequality in rural areas of India, as well as the social implications of these trends. The talk was free and open to the public.
Sainath was introduced by Professor of Political Science Amrita Basu, who mentioned Sainath’s 40 national and international awards and his professorship at the Asian College of Journalism in Chennai, India.
Amherst’s Women’s Group staged a “Val Sit” on Thursday, Oct. 20, in which women students occupied part of the back room of Valentine Hall to spread awareness and start discussion about male-dominated spaces on campus.
Along with sitting at tables in Val’s back room, which are typically used by sports teams, the group displayed posters with questions prompting students to respond.
