The Association of Amherst Students introduced the 2015 Amherst Spirit Scavenger Hunt this week, part of an effort to encourage community members to attend more events, performances and games on campus. The AAS announced this initiative in a campus-wide email Tuesday.
Two first-year students have set out to revitalize Native American Students Organization. Co-chairs Lehua Matsumoto ‘18 and William Harvey ‘18, are collaborating this semester to reach out to a wider audience on campus and establish a more active community for the club.
Founded in 2013, the Native American Students Organization is the first and the only club associated with Native American students on campus.
Elaine Scarry, a professor of English and American literature at Harvard, spoke in Beneski’s Paino Lecture Hall on March 5. The respected scholar attracted a crowd of Amherst College community members as well as local and national peace activists. Scarry’s lecture, entitled “The Abolition of Nuclear Weapons,” argued that that nuclear weapons may violate constitutional rights and undermine democracy.
Amherst College has been chosen to host an exhibition of Shakespeare’s First Folio in April 2016. The First Folio is a document that contains some of the earliest transcriptions of many of Shakespeare’s best known plays, including “Julius Caesar,” “Twelfth Night” and “Macbeth.” The original Folios were written down by actors who had worked alongside Shakespeare. The First Folio is still widely used today on stage, as many consider it to be the closest to Shakespeare’s original stage instructions.
Chief of Campus Operations Jim Brassord announced in a campus-wide email Feb. 19 that the college will be taking down the red pine stands located in the Amherst Sanctuary behind the tennis courts. The trees were planted as fast-growing replacements following a hurricane that devastated tree stands across campus in 1938. According to Brassord, the trees now face two problems.
The Mental Health and Wellness Committee recently released the results from the series of student life mental health focus groups from fall 2014. The results show that many students share similar experiences regarding issues of loneliness, belonging and social connection on campus.
Kirk Bloodsworth, the first American on death row to be exonerated by DNA evidence, spoke about his experience in the Red Room in Converse Hall on Wednesday, Feb. 25. The event was organized by the Amherst College Political Union.
