In our issue before break, we published an article entitled “Missing AAS Budgets Raise Questions.” We’d originally planned for an article that took a closer look at the changes in AAS finances, in order to examine if and how spending changed from year to year. That article, however, proved difficult to write, as much of the data we needed was not available online, nor was it readily available offline, despite the AAS’ efforts to make them available on relatively short notice.
For many students, Thanksgiving break is a time to return to home and family, to reunite with friends and relatives and stuff themselves with great home-cooked food. Cherishing loved ones forms the traditional meaning of the holiday. At this time of the year, many families humbly welcome friends and acquaintances into their home to share in the intimate celebrations. While enjoying the warmth and sense of community that the break provides, we need to remember that a lot of students don’t, or can’t, go home during this time of the year for reasons ranging from work to finance.
Josef Trapani grew up in Connecticut. He went to the Univ. of Connecticut for his undergraduate degree, his master’s degree and his Ph.D., completing his postdoctoral research in Portland, Ore. He has published in The Journal of Neuroscience, Methods in Cell Biology, PLoS Genetics and Development. He is currently studying sensory neurobiology and zebrafish physiology.
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The swimming and diving teams kicked off their season with dominant wins over Colby and Wesleyan. The first-year class had a spectacular debut, winning a number of events.
The men’s team earned a 179-94 victory over the Mules on the Nov. 19. The combination of Conor Deveney ’15, Ben McBratney ’12, Tyler Bulakul ’14 and Tim White ’12 won the 200-yard medley relay by over four seconds. The Jeffs took first and second place in the 200 free relay to close out the meet.
Baghdadi Ali Mahmudi of Libya
Serving five years as the Prime Minister of Libya, Mahmudi officially resigned in August as a result of the newly-formed National Transitional Council. Regardless of his 2006 election, many countries — including the United States — recognized Muammar Gaddafi as the official ruler of Libya. Mahmudi unsuccessfully attempted to seek refuge in Tanzania during the high broadcast Libyan civil war, only to be extradited to Libya on Nov. 8.
The top-ranked women’s basketball team is off to a fast start with four decisive wins in their opening games, asserting themselves as the team to beat coming off their first-ever NCAA national championship last season.
Ever since I was a freshman at Amherst, I have gotten a sense that the AAS is not particularly popular. There has been a perception that we do little more than fund clubs, that we argue too much, that we are a waste of what could be a very valuable resource. I have served on the AAS now for four years, and I can tell you that many of these criticisms have been merited.
