The Amherst College Police Department (ACPD) released the annual Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistic Act Report in an email sent to the college community on Monday, Sept. 12, divulging information about campus security and crime statistics from 2013 through 2015.
Since its launch last Monday, Sept. 12., nearly forty students have checked out bicycles through the Amherst College Bike Share program, a largely student-run organization that allows Amherst College students to use bicycles for transportation at no cost. The bicycles can be used roughly within the same boundaries as those of the Pioneer Valley Transit Authority.
Members of the college community had the opportunity to see six new exhibits at the Mead Art Museum during a reception on Thursday, Sept. 8 celebrating the museum’s renovation. This is the first major renovation to the Mead under director David Little, who arrived at the museum in summer 2015. The last renovation of this scale took place six years ago.
After the state of Massachusetts issued a regional drought watch in early July, President Biddy Martin notified students, faculty and staff of the drought’s effects on the college in an email on Aug. 18, calling on the community to aid in the college’s water conservation efforts.
Acclaimed writer and journalist Ta-Nehisi Coates gave a talk titled “Race in America” in LeFrak Gymnasium on Tuesday, Sept. 13. For an hour, Coates spoke on the history and his own experiences of being black in America, then spent another half hour answering questions from the audience.
The talk was open to the public, with seating preference given to members of the Amherst community, and the gymnasium was filled to capacity with nearby overflow locations streaming the talk.
Students will begin moving into the new Greenway dorms, the newest addition to housing on campus, on Sept. 3. The dorms, which were largely built through last year, were officially completed this summer.
Planning for the dorms, which replace the student housing provided by the social dorms, took place through the summer and fall of 2013. The social dorms were torn down this summer to make way for a new science center.
President Biddy Martin announced the selection of Dr. Norm Jones as the College’s chief diversity officer to the Amherst community in an email on June 16. Jones officially joined the college staff on July 15.
Jones was selected after a nearly year-long search following the resignation of the former interim chief diversity officer and director of the Multicultural Resource Center, Mariana Cruz, last October. The search was led by a committee comprised of students, faculty and staff that held open campus-wide discussions and meetings with candidates throughout the year.
