The week before the Super Bowl is rarely a time when sportswriters have trouble finding a story, but this year’s controversies were particularly juicy.
Amherst’s community has a certain uniqueness: Though diverse, it acts as a unit. I never thought that such a community could exist because I have seen that differences usually breed conflicts. I did not write this article to praise the Admissions Office on their selections, although they are indeed worthy of it. Instead, this article is about the loneliness experienced by some international students on this campus in spite of everything, and about the unbearable pain of internal conflicts — it is about the process of adopting Amherst as a second home.
At this point, it’s hard to defend keeping the Lord Jeff as our mascot. Lord Jeffery Amherst advocated genocide against Native Americans. By celebrating him as our mascot, we tacitly condone both the man and his actions. Not only does this conflict with the values of any modern-day liberal arts institution, our designation as the Jeffs is a cruel irony in the face of increasing pushes for more diversity and representation from Native American students.
In the first of two dual meets of the weekend, Amherst swim and dive could not hold on against a strong MIT team. The men’s side moved to 4-2 on Saturday, falling to the Engineers, who improved to 6-1 with the win. Sophomore Connor Haley touched the wall first in the 1,000 freestyle to give the Jeffs their first win of the day. Senior Ben Grimes placed second in the 1,000 free with a time of 9:55:50. Haley followed up his first win with a tie for first in the 500 free, while teammates Grimes and John Janezich ’18 placed third and fourth respectively.
In good movies, all details are worth pondering. During my second viewing of “Her”, Spike Jonze’s latest tale of love and technology, I caught myself wondering what Alan Watts was doing in it. As in “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” Jonze tells a story about technology that challenges the entrenched beliefs underlying love stories.
Marisa Dolmatch ’15, a European studies major, is writing her senior thesis on current anti-Semitic sentiments in France. She is studying whether reactions and responses to today’s anti-Semitism are influenced by the memory of the Nazi occupation of France in World War II. Her adviser is Professor of French and European Studies, Ronald C. Rosbottom.
The Office of Student Affairs plans to initiate discussions with the college community this semester about the possibility of creating residential “neighborhoods” among campus dormitories.
The neighborhood plan was first proposed during the strategic planning process last spring. Vasquez cited the success of similar programs at other institutions, including the University of Notre Dame, as inspirations for proposed changes.
