Administration Responds to Rave’s Shutdown

On Monday, the Association of Amherst Students (AAS) invited administrators to clarify what caused the fall 2026 Rave’s early shutdown, amid student uncertainty. While initially scheduled to run from 10:30 p.m. to 1:30 a.m., Saturday’s rave was shut down by administrators before 11:30 p.m.

According to Associate Vice President for Student Affairs and Senior Associate Dean of Students Megan Lennon, around 10 p.m. she noticed a group of individuals on the sidewalk outside of the rave and overheard the words “Photoshop” and “ID.” She decided to begin checking students’ IDs as they entered the tent, and noticed that some of them were visibly photoshopped.

“There were like 50, 60 people there, [and] I said, ‘if you don’t go to Amherst College, we will not accept a screenshot of an ID. You must have mobile credentialing or a physical Amherst ID’ … and they quickly turned around,” Lennon said at the AAS meeting on Monday. “So it’s now about 10:30 [p.m.] or so, and that crowd is dispersed, there are no other Amherst college students there.”

After this incident, according to Lennon, administrators instructed security to check students’ IDs more carefully and ensure that only Amherst students could enter the rave, causing a slowdown of traffic into the tent.

“There’s 350 people outside. There are walls of people to get through. Everyone’s pushing,” Lennon explained. “No one wants to listen because no one wants to miss a chance to get in.”

Associate Dean of Students Crystal Norwood noted that while administrators and security staff tried to communicate with students about the delays, it was difficult to hear over the music and large crowds.

“We made a decision to pause to quickly assess [the situation],” Norwood said at Monday’s AAS meeting, meaning the tent doors were shut to prevent anyone new from coming into the tent.

However, this pause did not improve conditions: Amherst Police Department officers got stuck in the crowd outside and were unable to respond to medical incidents, some individuals attempted to enter the tent through unofficial entrances, and security officers struggled to manage the growing crowds.

“I can see on my staff’s faces, they’re uncomfortable,” Lennon said. “The barricades are all unlocked [and] they’re not weighted down, so we are literally using our weight to keep them [up]. People keep pushing and pushing, and people are starting to get trampled or hurt.”

In response to these circumstances, administrators decided to shut down the rave. Lennon also noted that there were 12 alcohol-related incidents on the night of the rave, with six ending in medical transports and 10 incidents not being Amherst College students.

“The student body just has to help us in those moments,” Lennon noted. “Everyone is just so [angsty] to get in … they just don’t listen to us. They just don’t care who we are, and they just don’t want to move.”

Lennon confirmed that there will be another rave in spring 2027, but that Student Affairs and The Office of Student Engagement & Leadership (SEL) will be working with AAS to consider operational changes that will ensure student safety.

“[The rave] is a great tradition,” Lennon said. “We care about true community coming together and having one night where you are all under the same roof, whatever that roof may be.”

In light of this information, AAS published a resolution on Monday summarizing what happened on Saturday and offering ideas for changes to the rave. Its main recommendation was having an advance registration system for Amherst students, where attendance is capped based on tent capacity. “If we know how many Amherst students are coming beforehand and have a reliable way of verifying who is actually an Amherst student, we can hopefully avoid much of what caused the crowd outside to grow in the first place,” AAS wrote.

AAS also mentioned that it will be considering improvements to ID checkpoints, security and staff communication methods, and emergency vehicle access in their communications with Student Affairs and SEL.

“We do not think the lesson from October 31 is that Amherst cannot hold large student events or that the Rave is no longer possible. The lesson is that an event this large requires better preparation for the number of people who may show up, and an improved plan for responding when problems arise,” AAS wrote. “We will ensure that the Rave remains an Amherst tradition, and our focus now is making sure we can do it better next time.”