The college’s mascot debate entered a new phase last month when Adrian Chan ’17 brought a petition to change the mascot to President Biddy Martin and senior administrators. The petition included signatures of 480 students, faculty and staff. In an email to the signatories, Chan announced that “a website onto which students can upload alternative mascot designs will be set up by the end of the semester,” and suggested creating a schedule that would designate an official mascot by the end of the 2015-2016 academic year.
Incumbent president Tomi Williams has been re-elected, the Elections Committee announced April 11. Online voting was open for 24 hours on Thursday, April 9. Five AAS executive board positions — president, vice president, treasurer, secretary and judiciary council chair — were on the ballot.
Williams won the presidency by a margin of 311 votes against his opponent Taylor Wilson ’16, garnering 83.11 percent of all votes cast.
Katharine Rudzitis ‘15 is writing an original novella for her honors thesis in the English department. Her adviser is Writer-In-Residence and chair of the Creative Writing Center Daniel Hall. Rudzitis is graduating with a triple major in English, math and classics.
Stephanie Turnullo ’15 is writing an interdisciplinary senior thesis that compares attitudes towards the welfare state in Spain, Sweden and the United States. Her advisers are Professor of Sociology Ronald Lembo, Assistant Professor of Sociology Hannah Holleman and Associate Professor of Economics Jessica Reyes. The disciplines included in the thesis are sociology, Spanish and economics.
Q: What is your thesis about?
A: It is a comparative analysis of attitudes towards the welfare state in Spain, Sweden and the U.S.
Peter Crane ’15, a history and economics double major, is writing his senior thesis on debates over secularism in Pakistan immediately following its partition from India. His thesis advisor is Assistant Professor of Asian Languages and Civilizations and History Dwaipayan Sen.
The college announced on Oct. 21 that the new Amherst Campus app is available for download from the Apple Store and Google Play. Since the announcement, the app has been downloaded more than 700 times.
The Amherst Campus app is available for free and features a home page through which students can quickly check up on their AC dollars balance, campus events, Moodle, latest campus news, PVTA bus schedule, and the Valentine dining menu for the day.
The Association of Amherst Students debated van use policy last week, as the senate discussed whether students should be allowed to use AAS vans for profit.
The subject arose because some senators originally believed that a student had used the college’s pool vehicles to run a private shuttle service over interterm. The student, Alex Southmayd ’15, had advertised on Facebook that he would provide rides to campus from Bradley Airport in Hartford at a competitive price of $40.
