A small group of Amherst students gathered in the Women’s and Gender Center on Monday evening for an event titled “Election Ruined Plan A? We’ve Got Plan B.” The event, hosted by the Student Health Educators and health center staff, was an information session about intrauterine devices and emergency contraception, topics that some students have been inquiring about in the aftermath of President-elect Donald Trump’s victory.
When I first accepted this job, Amherst was reeling from a months-long election scandal and would soon erupt with controversy over a ban on fraternities. I was a soon-to-be sophomore with no idea what I was getting into. All I knew was that this newspaper was basically consuming my entire life already, so I might as well make it official.
The first poem in Kirun Kapur ’97’s recently published collection is called “Anthem,” and it’s a fitting beginning to a book that is often striking in its lyrical intensity.
“Love begins in a country / Where oranges weep sweetness / And men piss in the street.”
Midway through my interview with Melih Levi, he stopped the conversation to read me a quotation by Elizabeth Bruss. Levi recently received the English department’s prestigious Bruss Prize, an award established in memory of a beloved Amherst English professor. Since receiving the prize, Levi has delved hungrily into Bruss’ writings, and he can’t help but share.
“She’s endlessly fascinating,” Levi said of Bruss. “She wrote this book called ‘Beautiful Theories’ which I think you would really like.”
Amherst College resumed operations Wednesday after a winter storm prompted the college to cancel classes and shut down most buildings on Tuesday. Despite warnings from the National Weather Services of a “crippling and potentially historic” snowstorm, the storm proved to be milder than expected in the Pioneer Valley.
Lugging boxes, suitcases and the occasional piece of furniture across the first-year quad, the 470 members of the class of 2018 arrived on campus and settled into their new homes last Sunday. After moving in, members of the new class gathered in their residence halls and officially began the college’s nine-day orientation program.
Following the trustees’ decision to ban underground fraternities, a group of students and administrators has been exploring ways to create alternative social groups on campus.
Amherst’s ban on fraternities went into effect July 1, meaning that students are now prohibited from belonging to any fraternity, sorority or “fraternity-like or sorority-like organization,” in the words of the trustees’ decision. Prior to the ban, three off-campus fraternities had been active at Amherst: Chi Psi, Delta Kappa Epsilon and OT (formerly known as TD).
