Back from Thanksgiving break, seniors have returned to campus for the tail end of their fall semester. As a graduating class gets ready to approach the “real world,” it is typical for its members to put aside class work and extracurricular activities in favor of bar nights and finding a job. Unfortunately, it can be easy to forget about the community they’ve called home for their most formative years.
Dear students,
Dear Amherst students and the college community,
Since last Thursday we have listened to and have been deeply touched by your testimonies and calls for change. We shall continue to support and actively participate in discussion and actions that promote greater safety and social justice for all Amherst students. And we shall continue to integrate into our classes the multiple and diverse voices that together contribute to the richness of the Francophone world, while we strive to encourage an open, inclusive, and fruitful dialogue outside our classrooms.
After biology lab on Thursday, I walked into Frost not expecting much as the memory of Day of Dialogue was still fresh. Filled with people mostly dressed in black, Frost had been claimed as a political space: Amherst students had transformed the physical space of Frost into a home, a political arena and a model of a new Amherst, ushering in a new set of Amherst values and an unprecedented political awakening amongst many.
The sit-in at Frost Library last Thursday was supposed to last an hour. Most of us expected to leave the library at 2 p.m., believing we would make it to our afternoon classes and evening commitments. Instead, many people stayed in the library for nearly four days straight. Students, faculty, staff and administrators stayed for hours to listen to students speak about their experiences of racism and other forms of discrimination at the college. Students of color shared painful experiences of being marginalized and of feeling invisible yet hyper-exposed.
I was initially going to write about what being a trans ally has meant for me over my four years at Amherst. I intended on pushing readers to consider their place as we pass the halfway mark of Trans Awareness Month, especially those who do not identify with or fully understand the lived struggles of transgender or gender non-conforming individuals (that’s some cis-gender privilege). I wanted to encourage everyone to participate in the several available events that honor and celebrate trans lives in our world and on our campus.
