Alumni Letter to the President and Board of Trustees

Alumni of Amherst College -

President Michael Elliott and Members of the Amherst College Board of Trustees,

We write to you as Amherst College alumni deeply disappointed by your failure to divest Amherst College’s endowment from companies perpetrating and enabling Israel’s ongoing genocide against the Palestinian people and occupation of Palestinian lands.

We will not attempt to convince you of the facts of this genocide and occupation or the moral imperative that Amherst College cut ties with the companies perpetrating and enabling it. Your students, staff, and faculty have presented these facts and made these appeals already. Nor will we attempt to convince you that divestment is possible and practical. As highlighted by students, Amherst College already divested from companies supporting the government of Sudan in 2006, and a college less than 10 minutes drive from your campus has already divested from Israel.

In recent months, you have responded to calls for divestment with stonewalling and censorship. You forced one student to leave campus under the pretense that his advocacy for divestment was indicative of a mental health issue—a tactic chillingly familiar to those of us on campus in 2011-12.

President Elliott and Trustees, in recent months you have demonstrated what many of us as alumni already understood from our time on campus: Amherst College’s leadership cannot be swayed by cogent arguments and heartfelt moral appeals. Amherst College’s leadership can be swayed only by threats to your institution’s image and bottom line.

Accordingly, we as alumni commit to the following actions aimed at threatening Amherst College’s image and bottom line, until you have fully divested from Israel’s genocide against the Palestinian people and occupation of Palestinian lands:

  • We commit to withholding all payments and donations to Amherst College, including payments to attend 2024 Reunion Weekend
  • We commit to disrupting (in-person and virtually) Amherst College alumni engagement efforts
  • We commit to coordinating phone and email blasts to clog the phone lines and email inboxes of Amherst College administrators and trustees
  • We commit to clogging Amherst social media accounts with comments decrying the college’s support for genocide
  • We commit to protecting and defending Amherst College students who face repression in response to their advocacy for Palestine, including by supporting student-led campaigns calling out Amherst admin responsible for repression
  • We commit to publicizing and pursuing the severance of support for the state of Israel, Zionist organizations, and the war industry in the Amherst community beyond the endowment—for example, personal investments of Amherst trustees or administrators or the presence of Zionist propaganda in curricula

Unlike students who you can threaten with suspension or expulsion and unlike faculty who depend upon your institution for their livelihoods, you do not have leverage over us as alumni. On the contrary, Amherst College depends upon financial support from and professional networking with alumni to sustain its operations. We intend to leverage this position we occupy as alumni to compel Amherst College to divest from Israel’s ongoing genocide against the people of Palestine and occupation of Palestinian lands.

Signatories:
Ingrid Wefing ’21
Colin Weinstein ’23E
Paulo Peña ’19
Juco Centeno ’23
Virginia Ryan ’22
Helen Harrington ’22
Sedalia Gomez ’22
William Ruhm ’14
Tejia Pavao ’21
Sylvia Lanni ’22
Nyla Guadalupe ’23
Noah Solomon ’22
Caelen McQuilkin ’23
Jeanyna Garcia ’23
Patrick Spoor ’23
Will Christians ’22
Daksha Pathak ’23
Talia Bode Ward ’19
Parker Richardson ’22
Claire Taylor ’23
Caroline Useda ’23
Josie Underwood ’22
Samantha Rothberg ’21
Annie Louise Martin ’22E
Nii-Ayi Aryeetey ’23
Sofía Guerra ’22
William Amend ’19
Caitlin Wizda ’22
Francisco Chong ’23
Maja Johnson ’22
Sage Innerarity ’22
Kim Zhou ’22
Sabrina Lin ’21
Emma Rial ’22
Jade DuVal ’22
Paty Cardenas ’14
Joy Hui Lin ’00
Malcolm Scannell ’22
Cristina Rey ’19E
Andrés Peña Tauber ’23
James Logan ’21
Beebee yusrah Kaudeer ’21
Andrea Muñoz Ledo Farré ’22
Naya Burshan ’22
Kyabeth Rincon ’22
Ilyssa Forman ’22
Majd Rouhana ’22
Andres Nino ’22
Nicole Vandal ’21
Maggie Wu ’22
Nathaniel Ashley ’22
Maeve Brammer ’22
Malyaka Imran ’22
Lesley Martinez Garcia ’21
Camila Villagra-Riquelme ’21
Ronin Rodkey ’22
Petra Zuñiga ’22
Stephanie Masotti ’22
Ali Farinas ’23E
Rafael Vanin Munoz ’22
Eli Maierson ’23
Audrey Rosevear ’22
Lee Folpe ’23
Alice Burg ’23
Emi Eliason ’23
Mase Peterson ’23E
Talia Bloxham ’22
Alana Bailey ’23
Andres Segura ’23
Luis Feliz Leon ’13E
Amal Ahmad ’12
Samara Beach ’22
Elizabeth Tran ’23
Feriel Ouerghi ’20
Madeline B. Hahm ’24E
Jackson S. Lee ’21
Maya Hossain ’21
Zan Rozen ’21
Amy Nguyen ’22
Rakin Muhtadi ’17
Ella Peterson ’22
Ray Corcoran ’23
Diana Tiburcio ’22
Mariel Montero ’21
Asher Freund ’23
Kathleen Harris ’24E
Max Kurke ’23E
Jett Knight ’23E
Hamza Masaeed ’21
Camilo Toruño ’21
Phebe Palmer ’21
Emma Ratshin ’22E
Amritha Anup ’22
Ella Rose ’23
August Bates ’23
Crysta Song ’14
Luis de Pablo ’23E
Aqiil Gopee ’20
Robin Kong ’22E
William Jang ’20
Youssef Boucetta ’22E
Emily Kiernan ’21
Teresa Haberstroh ’21
Xinyu Ni ’23
Kate Hur ’22
Cece Hong ’22
Gabriela Bucio ’21
Danielle Zimber ’21
Jacqueline Kim ’23
Felipe Gómez ’21
Grace Cho ’21
Theo Hamilton ’23
Samantha Rydzewski ’21
Sika Essegbey ’23
Jacob Gendelman ’20
Kate Bancroft ’23
Jack Kiryk ’21
Benjamin Aliaga ’21
Adam Gibbs ’22
Rilla McKeegan ’21
Daria Kim-Percy ’22E
Jénine Shepherd ’22
Amna Pathan ’20
Tom Amsbry ’22
Amaya Smole ’22
Dominique Iaccarino ’19
Beyonce Haseley-Ayende ’20
Sophie Sweeney ’23
Ayodele Lewis ’21
Fadi Hamati ’14
Asia Smith ’19
Cynthia Henry ’22
Maggie Drew ’22
Isabela Torres ’19
Noah John ’21
Witter Swanson ’21
Jimmy McMillian ’20
Olivia Gieger ’21
Arman Azad ’21
Olive Amdur ’23
Basma Azzamok ’22
Trenton Thornburg ’23
Maria Gramotina ’22
Genesis Pena ’20
Rebecca Correa ’19
Lanelle Nwogalanya ’20
Etta Gold ’24E
Karina Thanawala ’21
Kaitlyn Tsuyuki ’18
Sarah Montoya ’21
Natacha Fernandez ’22
Estevan Velez ’20
Nicole Chung  ’22
Campbell Hannan ’21
Jake Montes-Adams ’21
Kathleen Isenegger  ’20
Ingrid Shu ’20
Amila Semic ’20
Areej Hasan ’18
Justin Joo ’22
Bailey Plaman ’18
Agnes Han ’22
Jon Vale ’22
Sara Bradley ’21
Ajay Sarathy ’22
Allyah Pimentel Landestoy ’21
Hannah Goldberg ’22
Katianna Nardone ’19
Alyson Plaman ’21
Armando Brito ’21
Devyn Prieto ’21
Sophia Heisman-Gibbons ’21
Alexis (Scalese) Lucero ’22
Paige Reddington ’21
Shivani Patel ’22
Lesley Zheng ’21
Siobhan Marks ’20
Eva Nelson ’22
Sonja Lazovic ’22
Rafaela Demerath ’21
Alexander Deatrick ’22
Sophie Kubik ’23
Brian Zayatz ’19E
Maria Mejia ’20
Luna Ock ’19
Joshua Choi ’22
Mason Quintero ’23
Gabby Ro ’19
Katharine Weisbrodt ’21
Lisa Cenek ’22E
Allison Lee ’19
Adele Teo ’23
Alyssa Snyder ’19
Alice Shen ’14
Bobby Kanter ’22
Ryder Coates ’23
Zora Duncan ’23
Marielle Raiford  ’19
Jordan Perry-Greene ’24E
Morgan McGann ’23
Analis Marrero ’20
Charlotte Blackman ’20
Mei Zhou ’18
Hildi Gabel ’21
DeLyna Hadgu ’21
Bridget Stauss ’21
Oliver Baldwin Edwards ’21
Sahara Ndiaye ’20
Bryan Miller ’19
Noah Salmon ’22
Diana Daniels ’22
Hunter Lampson ’21
Nathaniel De Jonge ’21
Janelle Benjamin ’20
Sikkiim Hamilton ’24E
Angelika Sullivan ’19
Allison Tennant ’19
Lee Jiaen ’22
Fawzi Itani ’18
Isabelle Caban ’23
William Denzel Wood ’18
Helen Montie ’18
Madeline Bustos ’19
Julie Xia ’17
Owen Marschall ’15
Ana Gabriela Ascencio ’18
Maria Pelayo  ’23
Anton Vicente Kliot ’18
Isabelle Kim ’23
Camilo Ortiz ’20
Lucheyla Celestino ’23
Ashley Bohan ’16
Karlea Peterson ’18
George Ward ’17
Genie Raven ’19
Julissa Fernandez ’22
Nate Sacks ’18
Rob Kwark ’17
Elaine Jeon ’17
Ashley Coyne ’20
Ross Hirzel ’20
Lilia Kilburn ’12
Jehoiada Calvin ’20
Sam Schulz ’22
Lorelle Sang ’21
Yvette Kiptoo ’23
Logan Deming ’20
Emma Griese ’18
Maira Owais  ’23
Vivid “Viv” Young ’19
Katie Pedersen ’19
Lakeisha Arias De los Santos ’19
Isabel Paine ’21
Eva Nelson ’22
Hannah Goodwillie ’16
Emma Eddy ’22
Ivieosa Aimufua ’21
Patrick Williams ’18
Libertad Aguilar ’22
Trisha Iyengar ’18
Siraj Sindhu ’17
Ali Hassan ’05
Jacob Thomas ’07
Fouzia Khan ’04
Dario Didi ’20
Margaret (Cahoon) Linkous ’05
Elizabeth Chiang ’05
William Balmer ’21
Avery Farmer ’20
Laboni Hoque ’19
Erik Zhang ’19
Arzoo Rajpar ’22
Seisha Centeno ’20
Kelley Baumann ’19
Marina Weiss ’08
Noor Qasim ’18
Nayah Mullings ’17
Zeina Nasr ’06
Samuel Rosenblum ’16
Illen Asmerom ’18
Julia Vrtilek ’15
Angel Musyimi ’23
Kyle Nguyen ’21
Dorothy Lee ’06
Lucas Merchant ’15
Farah Haidari ’16
Katherine Stanton ’18
Samantha Schriger  ’20
Catherine Lindsay ’19
Makaela Weeda ’22
Kaya Arro ’17E
Marie Lambert ’15
Harry McNeil ’20
Oliver Goldberg-Lewis ’20
Del Wright ’05
Rachel Edelman ’09
Megan McDonald-Walsh ’05
David Schreiner ’06
Adrian Rojas ’22
Byron Boneparth ’06
Lola Milholland ’07
Cami Dominguez ’18
Frank Tavares ’19E
Gudrun Juffer ’08
Thais Correia ’16
Charissa Doerr ’20
Blaine Patrick Werner, Jr. ’15
Julia Powers ’06
Dr. Alexandra Juhasz ’86
Zachary Sachs ’06
Joshua Cavé Doi ’18
Lisa Zheutlin ’22
Dakota Meredith ’17
Kalidas Shanti ’22
Esther Isaac ’19
Vidya Raghavan ’04
Matthew Holliday ’19
Marcia P Rankine ’06E
Cherry Kim ’14
MacKenzie Kugel ’20E
Ashley Payne ’07
Michael Chiang ’05
Huey Hewitt ’19
Davi Lakind ’06
Marvin Bell ’19E
Andrew Edelman ’15
Serena Lee ’21
Julia Doubson ’22
Jenna Wyman ’22
Chloe Moore ’19
Ian Petty ’19
Gabrielle Ferrer ’05
Meg Foye ’21
Alaina Daniels ’09
Annette James ’05
Sophina Flores ’20
Irisdelia Garcia ’18
Yasmina Martin ’14
Benjamin Newman ’22
Margaret Cody  ’17
Marco Treviño ’20
Zach Weston ’21
Danica Peterson ’22
Annie Turnbull ’16
Kalley Wasson ’21
Emera De Los Santos ’17
Sophia Doerr ’19
Allison (Rung) Foster ’05
Jenn Salcido ’05
Sirig Gurung ’21
Gabriela Kida (Aronow) ’04
Monica Westin  ’05
Getrude Ndungu ’19
Annabelle Gary ’20
Alina Burke ’17
Helena Ravix ’22
Laura Greer ’20
Alejandra Castro ’20
Halley Riley ’08
Ryan Arnold ’15
Xiaoduo Chen ’23
Soledad Slowing-Romero ’20
Alexandra Foster ’17
Chloe Wohlgemuth ’22
Nolani Kennedy White ’23
Jeremy Paula ’17
Jennifer Mackinnon Krems ’18
The Reverend Canon Marie A. Tatro, J.D. ’84
Andrea Quiles-Sanchez  ’18
Phil Maciak ’05
Silvia Sotolongo ’19
Jake May ’19
Fernando Liu Lopez ’18
Hantong Wu ’23
Paola Garcia-Prieto ’18
Adriel Roncal ’21
Lena Lamer ’22
Trenati Baker ’20
Alexandra Williams (Sasha) ’22
Lauren Simpson ’21
Shazi Lyle ’15
Julian Brubaker ’20
Sophia Lesperance ’18
David Miguel Molina ’05
Quinn Phillips ’18
Lorraine Evo ’15
Aparna Nancherla ’05E
Nadim El Kak ’19
Rogelio Oliva ’19
Liya Rechtman ’14
Anna Antoniak ’05
Jess Feldman ’15
Helena Burgueño ’19
Tamara Stewart ’04
Tristan Jeffers ’03
Natalia Dyer ’18
Grace Kim ’18
Karina Rodriguez ’18
Meghan McCullough ’15
Matthew Corcoran  ’84
Annika Lunstad ’21
Nisan Sele ’21
Jean René Santiago Cruz ’13
Crys Ganatra ’19
Bryan Doniger ’18
Ernest Collins ’23
Parker Cho ’18
Abdoulaye Sanogo ’18
Greyson Deardorff ’17
Lauren Abrams ’86
Diane Exavier ’09
David Rosa  ’21
Jasia Kaulbach ’14
Ajanta Patel ’05
Jade McKnight ’13
Alice (Jiaman) Wang ’13
Ben Spier ’84
Polly Hall ’04
Pete Okie Weiss ’05
Amani Ahmed ’15
SabriAnan Micha ’19
Yenifer Mezquita ’16E
Theo Peierls ’19
James Colwell ’20
Malinda Labriola ’17
Brenna Macaray ’21
Zack Gerdes ’14
Rishi Kowalski ’16
Amalia González ’13
Lucia Minah Yang ’15
Syeda Malliha ’17
Doug Schrashun ’06
Emma Cape ’22
Walter Johnson ’88
Parker Cho ’18
Kayla Roberts  ’05
Sydney Nelson ’20

Editor’s Note: The above signatories do not necessarily represent every alum who supports this statement. A list of signatures that will be updated regularly can be found here.