Students, faculty and staff gathered for a meeting on Monday, Feb. 13, to discuss the recent upsurge in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids, which have arrested nearly 700 undocumented people in the last week. Held in the Powerhouse and open to members of the college community, the meeting provided information about the ICE raids and facilitated conversation about how to mobilize in response.

On Friday, Feb. 17, the AAS will hold elections for four senators from the Class of 2017, two senators from the class of 2018, one senator from the class of 2020 and a Judiciary Council Chair from any class. The students below have announced their candidacies for these elections. Students who are interested in hearing from these candidates, or interested in running but were unable to submit a candidate statement, should attend Speech Night on Thursday, Feb. 16 at 6:30 p.m. in Merrill 1.

Cole Vissicchio — 2020 Senator

Carl Bogus, a research professor at the Roger Williams University School of Law, addressed a group of students, fellows and faculty on the topic of gun control on Monday, Feb. 13. The talk was the fourth part in a speaker series hosted by the Law, Jurisprudence and Social Thought department titled “Guns in Law.”

Bogus’ lecture centered around his recently published essay, “The Simple Truth about Gun Control.” In his paper and subsequent talk, Bogus provided a straightforward answer to the question of gun control.

Dr. Dorceta Taylor gave a talk at Amherst on Feb. 9 titled “Race, Space and Social Justice.” The talk, which was over an hour long and held in the Greenway A Event Space, was followed by half an hour of questions at the end.

The talk was part of Taylor’s two-day event, “Race, Space and Environmental Inequalities,” which also included a student workshop on campus social justice on Feb. 9, a breakfast Q&A session on careers in activism on Feb. 10 and a lunch Q&A session for students of color on Feb. 10. The two Q&A events were available with advance sign-up only.

Katherine Follette is an assistant professor of astronomy. She earned a B.A. in physics and Japanese at Middlebury College, and an M.S. and Ph.D., both in astronomy, at the University of Arizona.

Phish, a four-piece improvisational rock band hailing from Vermont, is my favorite band of all time. In my dorm room right now, there are no fewer than four Phish-related posters. I have nearly 5,000 Phish recordings in my iTunes library, and I’ve listened to nearly all of them. I’ve also seen the band in concert 37 times. One could say I am obsessed with the band. However, I am not alone in my obsession. Phish is one of the most popular touring acts in the United States. They routinely sell out Madison Square Garden every winter for their New Year’s Eve shows.

Valentine’s Day has come and gone, and however you feel about the holiday, it’s hard not to have an opinion about it. Tackling conversations about love can be difficult. They run the risk of falling into sentimentality; we might worry about annoying others or drawing ourselves into pits of rumination. Especially on Valentine’s, it can feel as if there is a concrete hierarchy of love, with romantic love reigning supreme.

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