Inside the Red Room: Betty’s Kitchen and Spring Concert

Hello everyone, it’s AAS President Charles Tufenkji ’28 and Vice President Joey Supik ’27! It’s been a few weeks since our last update, and we wanted to inform you all on two recent developments: dining and the Spring Concert.

Dining Services implemented a few new changes the past week that will be in place through the rest of the semester: The Sushi Station is now open for lunch on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and on the weekdays without sushi, the Daily Bowl will be open. Dining also reorganized the Wok Station and Sushi Station lines to help with traffic flow and decrease crowding at the salad bar. Further, the seltzer taps are up and running again, and Dining is continuing to advertise that they can press sandwiches for students at the Deli Bar. 

In this upcoming week, from Oct. 18 and on, you can also expect nightly special meals at Late Night (similar to former late nights at Valentine Dining Hall), as well as more pasta varieties including meatballs, chicken broccoli alfredo and lasagna, ravioli, and more. Dining will also begin to install space for its waffle and cold brew machines. And due to popular demand, the Wok Station will continue to expand its offerings and bring back some Val favorites like miso salmon.

We greatly appreciate the Food Systems Committee’s work and advocacy these past few weeks, as well as the entire dining team for their receptiveness and care. We encourage all students to reach out to our Food Systems members: Committee Chair Austin Brown ’28, Tony Wang ’29, Elizabeth Aniello ’29, and Ben Kasen ’28. They have done excellent work so far this year and are more than happy to receive feedback on the dining experience.

Besides Dining, AAS’s other big concern is the Spring Concert. For years, past AAS bodies have contemplated the idea of doing away with the Spring Concert carried out by the Campus Activities Board (CAB). Over the past summer and this semester, in collaboration with CAB, several senators have proposed alternatives to the usual Spring Concert format. We wanted to briefly introduce these alternatives.

The first alternative, proposed by senators Elizabeth Aniello ’29 and Rizwan Ayub ’27, is to purchase somewhere between 900 and 1,000 tickets to the University of Massachusetts Amherst Spring Concert. These tickets would be free for Amherst students and available on a first-come-first-serve basis. Any remaining funds would be allocated to transportation to their Spring Concert.

The second alternative is a Five College Music Festival, which would take place in the spring of 2028. Organizing senator Lucy Li ’28 says the music festival would be hosted by us in an outside venue, and students from all of the five colleges would have the opportunity to register; however, Amherst students would be prioritized. The event would include one rising artist as the headliner, with the artist selection as a joint effort. The rest of the lineup would include any student artists or groups who wish to participate. The music festival could also provide opportunities for food vendors, merchandise, and more.

The third alternative, pursued by senator Nate Kolker ’28, is to have WAMH (our college radio station) collaborate with CAB in the artist and venue selection process for the Spring Concert. WAMH has already begun searching for artists whom it believes would be of interest to the student body. WAMH would also push for earlier finalized artist contracts and marketing for the event so that more students attend.

The fourth alternative, pushed forward by Tufenkji, is to bring back WinterFest, an event similar to Fall Festival and City Streets that was canceled last year. The Spring Concert’s funding would go toward this event, along with any offices that wish to co-fund the event. While the event could come back in mostly the same shape, it would not include many of its decorative elements like some of the inflatable items nor the paid live band (although AAS could try to convince other Amherst groups to perform) due to budget constraints. 

The fifth and final alternative is to have a carnival take the Spring Concert’s place, which was a joint effort between senators Tony Wang ’29, Ben Kasen ’28, and Dania Younies ’28. With the Spring Concert’s funding, the carnival would be serviceable enough to the Amherst community, similar to the Amherst Rotary Town Fair annually thrown by the town of Amherst during the last full weekend of August. 

Today, Oct. 14, at 8 p.m. in Pruyne Lecture Hall inside Fayerweather Hall, the senate will hear these proposals, discuss their benefits and drawbacks, and choose two options that will be sent out in a survey to the student body by the end of October, if not sooner. We encourage all students to attend and listen in on the conversations. The two alternatives, along with the option to keep the Spring Concert as it is, will be voted on by students in a ranked-choice voting system. More information on the voting process will be available in the email we send out.

We sincerely hope that students will attend this meeting and reach out to senators, E-Board members, and us through email (ctufenkji28@amherst.edu or jsupik27@amherst.edu) or in person for more information on dining, the Spring Concert, and any concerns they may have.