I first heard Irisdelia Garcia speak on the first floor of Frost Library, on Nov. 12, 2015 — the start of Amherst Uprising. Addressing the large crowd of students, faculty and staff that had poured into the library, she spoke passionately and forcefully about the experience of being a low-income woman of color on campus. Now, over 2 1/2 years later, Garcia no longer remembers exactly what she said — “it felt like a spirit took hold of me” — but continues to carry on the legacy of that experience in her work, community and understanding of her identity.
Hikaru “Karu” Kozuma will join the college as the new Chief Student Affairs Officer (CSAO) starting July 1, according to an email announcement sent out on Monday, April 9 by President Biddy Martin.
Kozuma, who previously worked at the University of Pennsylvania as associate vice provost, will replace current CSAO Suzanne Coffey, who announced her retirement on Oct. 17, 2017.
Andrew Dorogi ’18, an economics major and varsity football player from Cleveland, Ohio, died on Friday, March 16. President Biddy Martin announced his death in an email to the college community on Sunday, March 18.
“Andrew touched the lives of so many students, faculty, coaches and staff on our campus and his sudden death is a profound blow,” Martin wrote in a second email on Monday. She urged students to take care of themselves and provide comfort and support to others.
Many students will remember the stressful days spent looking at colleges during junior and senior year of high school — but not Bonnie Drake. For her, the process began much earlier.
“I was that weird kid in eighth grade who started looking at colleges,” Drake said. “[Attending Amherst] was my goal since eighth grade.”
Drake’s parents both attended Amherst. “They never pressured me into coming here or anything, but … since I knew that they went here, I included that in my search. And I just fell in love with Amherst all on my own,” Drake said.
Atlantic and Slavery Studies Professor Manuel Barcia gave a talk at the college titled “White Cannibalism in the Slave Trade” on Monday, April 17 in Pruyne Lecture Hall.
Barcia is a Latin American history professor at the University of Leeds in England and current visiting fellow at Yale University’s Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance and Abolition. Barcia has also written for publications such as Al Jazeera English, The Independent and The Huffington Post. His academic focus is on slave resistance and rebellion in Brazil and Cuba.
A committee of five Latin American studies professors submitted a proposal for a new major in Latinx and Latin American Studies (LLAS) to the Committee on Educational Policy on Saturday, March 25, and it is currently under review. If approved, the LLAS major, which has been advocated for by Latinx student movements for decades, will be offered in the spring of 2018.
The Office of Diversity and Inclusion and the Office of Student Affairs held a “Community Conversation” event in the Powerhouse to discuss transgender issues that have recently affected both the nation and the college community on Wednesday, March 1.
The event resulted in a college-wide email from Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer Norm Jones on Monday, March 6 to affirm the college’s renewed and urgent commitment to transgender and gender nonconforming students.
