Faculty and staff filled the Cole Assembly Room in Converse for the second faculty meeting of the year. President Martin opened with her remarks to the faculty, describing her recent trip to East Asia. She mentioned reaching out to an extensive community of alumni in China, her visit being the first time that a president of Amherst has visited Korea, and talks of cooperation with Zhejiang University, in Hangzhou, China, to work on programs to advance the liberal arts in China.

President Martin also addressed the Diver Report, a report scheduled to occur every five years and update the faculty on the overall status of athletics at the college. The report has been on hold since 2002, and Martin proposed that a committee resume regular updates.

Dean Epstein introduced a new initiative to expand the TYPO program by facilitating professors inviting students to their own homes. The annual faculty entertainment allowance has been increased from $200 to $300.

Provost Uvin then began his remarks to the faculty. He discussed diversity in the faculty and staff hiring process, and introduced a new program to encourage retention – a committee of fourteen faculty and six staff as a resource for new hires to ask questions and gather information about the college.

On the subject of diversity, Professor Ron Lembo brought up the recent student controversy over the “All Lives Matter” posters, which appear to be part of a pro-life campaign in response to this week’s “Black Lives Matter” campaign. Professor Lembo mentioned that many students were outraged that posters for the police brutality awareness campaign were juxtaposed with other posters of a different agenda. Dean Vasquez and Provost Uvin said that they had held an open meeting with students that day, and were working on encouraging communication, both among students and between students and the administration.

President Martin closed by stressing that the safety of students is the chief priority of the administration, and that continued conversations would help to build a stronger relationship with the student body.