It is common knowledge that Amherst College is plagued by a plethora of social issues. From loneliness to an acute lack of a sense of community, the problems that affect our campus may be small or great depending on who you ask. In the past year many a dining table conversation has been dedicated to the dreaded topics of loneliness and inclusiveness. Ideas like reviving fraternities or creating social clubs have even been brought up, but all to no avail, it seems. So here we are, lonely.

Do you remember how the campus felt during the first few weeks of last year? In the aftermath of the trustees’ decision on fraternities, the contentious presidential elections and in the midst of all that tension with Amherst’s administrators? It made me think senior year was going to be an absolute crawl, through two semesters of perpetual angst with a collapse — no, an escape — at graduation. I was wrong. I was wrong not because of some sudden turnaround of the decision on fraternities, a somehow remodeled senate or a radical new administrative attitude.

In a recently released video by the Social Project Work Group, “Jess,” a fictional first-year student having trouble finding her place at Amherst, finds a diverse group of friends in the “Coolidge Club.” Social clubs have generally been presented as a panacea for students facing the challenge of finding themselves and their place at college. The promise of instantaneous friends and an inclusive environment without the classic “fraternity problems” seems too good to be true. That’s because it is. In fact, social clubs have the potential to further divide an already fractured community.