The first fall breeze brings with it the fresh and confused faces of first-year students who still don’t know the way to Val and the inevitable “new school year” resolutions which upperclassmen come up with: “this year, I won’t pull any all-nighters” or “this year, I’m actually going to find out what the inside of the Alumni Gym looks like.”
This week saw a lot of tension on campus on the subject of mass emails, sparked by a student voicing a grievance that many shared on campus: that the annoying nature of mass mailings requires students to avoid the temptation to an end to the unofficial use of the campus email addresses. Students responded in various ways to this complaint — some of them reactionary and unpleasant in nature. We would like to explain why we see the event as a clash of student interests, while offering visions for the future of peer outreach at the College.
It’s hard not to feel empowered and inspired by Amherst students lately. Last Monday, somewhere between 250 and 500 students met on the steps of Frost to remember Michael Brown’s death with a moment of silence and a walk around the quad chanting “hands up, don’t shoot.” On Sunday, anyone on or around the first-year quad could see the group of UMass and Amherst protesters who walked through the town to raise awareness about the injustice of the non-indictment in the Eric Garner case.
