Zach Jonas

On Oct. 9, Chief Financial and Administrative Officer Kevin Weinman announced that the college would move from to Covid-19 Level Two: “Heightened Awareness” on the Campus Operating Status scale. On Oct. 8, Massachusetts Department of Public Health (MDPH) designated the Town of Amherst as “higher risk” in its weekly Covid-19 Health Report. The college had been operating on Level One for the entirety of the semester until this moment.

Several small swastikas were found carved into a table at the Book and Plow Farm, Chief of Police John Carter announced in a community-wide email on Oct. 10. Since the discovery, the college has condemned the act and the Amherst College Police Department (ACPD) has moved the table to police storage. The college does not have information about who drew the swastikas.

Seven weeks into the fall semester and students have adjusted to life on campus, Covid-rules and all. Though the semester began with strict Covid-testing protocols, quarantine requirements and Covid-rules enforcement, on-campus students report that the latter has been relaxed as the semester has progressed. Nonetheless, students still worry about breaking the rules, but not for the obvious reason. As one student, who asked to remain anonymous due to having broken some Covid rules, said, “No one wears a mask on campus to protect themselves from Covid — they’re wearing it to not get reported.”

Sara Kathleen (Hoctor) Brunner Schmitter passed away on Saturday, Sept. 5, President Biddy Martin informed the community in a campus wide email.

Now a defeated challenger in the primary race for Massachusetts’ first Congressional district, Holyoke mayor Alex Morse saw a campaign that came under fire — then made a comeback — after the leadership of the College Democrats of Massachusetts (C.D.M.A.), the University of Massachusetts Amherst College Democrats (UMass Dems) and Amherst College Democrats (ACDems) alleged that Morse used his position as a politician and an adjunct professor at UMass to have sexual contact with students.

For the past three months, the college has set forth careful, calculated planning for the precarious experiment that began last week: bringing the 937 students from across the pandemic-stricken country to live and learn on campus.

On July 1, the college announced its plans to bring between 1,200 and 1,250 students — primarily first years and sophomores — to campus. Here is everything that return will entail, and everything students still want to know.

The college has been providing students, alumni and donors incremental information about what a return to campus in fall 2020 will look like. The Student has compiled all of the information we have here.

A leader, scholar and friend, Avery Farmer does it all. Though his senior year was cut short, Farmer continued to show commitment through his service as president of the AAS.

The college confirmed its first case of COVID-19 on campus, President Biddy Martin announced in an email to the college community on April 23.