Dear President Martin and the Board of Trustees of Amherst College:
These past few days have been the moment of student journalism and expression at Amherst. Students published their accounts and expressed their points in various publications and columns. From The Student, The Indicator, AC Voice and student blogs of all kinds, the voice of students rang out for calls to action — and action came to campus in force. After Angie Epifano’s account (“An Account of Sexual Assault at Amherst College”) went viral, President Martin reached out to the Amherst community within less than 24 hours of our publication.
A group of faculty has written the following letter to the students of Amherst College. For the full list of the 14 authors and 128 signatories, see below.
We are deeply saddened and upset by the recent disclosures of sexual misconduct and violence at the College. It is not only that acts of sexual violence have occurred that troubles us. It is the further injuries that students have suffered after these acts that also concern us.
Dean of Students Charri Boykin-East and President “Biddy” Martin were very kind to come to one of our weekly AAS meetings a few weeks ago, making themselves available to the student body and answering any questions we might have. When it came my turn to ask, I chose a question that’s been on the minds of many Amherst students since the semester started: the salient changes to the College’s enforcement of its Alcohol Policy. Dean Boykin-East replied without hesitation: “There’s no change to the Alcohol Policy at all.”
Last week, an article on AC Voice exposed a shockingly misogynistic shirt printed by members of an off-campus fraternity, Theta Delta Chi (TD), that was greeted with minimal punitive action by the administration, much to the author and students’ chagrin. However, it was not greeted with surprise. In a public meeting organized in response by President Martin, several women spoke out about experiencing sexual disrespect or sexism at the College. Sexism, and the less-than-pleasant experiences of survivors or women in general at the College, is an acknowledged norm.
Matt Fernald ’13 discusses the priorities of the AAS.
Have you been agonizing over applications for jobs or internships? Trying to spice up that ol’ resume or cover letter? Or simply wondering what your niche is? Fret not: your friendly, neighborhood Peer Career Advisors (PCAs) are here to help. We will kick off this first article of our new, biweekly column by introducing the new job database Quest, the hiring cycle for jobs, and the do’s/do not’s of resume writing!
