In Students We Trust

The Editorial Board questions the Board of Trustees’ authority in the recent campus safety decision, calling for the prioritization of student experience and a more collaborative process for making decisions regarding campus life.

Missing the Mark

The Editorial Board calls for ACPD to not only re-mark their police vehicles, but also initiate greater communication and transparency toward the student body and larger community.

Abolish ACPD: It’s Time to Try Something New

This week, the Town of Amherst’s Community Safety Working Group has revealed some of the items requested in its proposal for the future of policing in the town, to be decided on in an upcoming May 3 Town Council budget meeting. It proposes [https://www.gazettenet.com/Community-responders-team-sought-in-Amherst-budget-40131259] slashing the $5.15 million Amherst Police Department (APD) budget in order to fund a separate $2.2 million Community Response for Equity, Safety and Service (CRESS) prog

BSU Members Say College’s Response to #BlackMindsMatter Protest is “Reactionary and Performative”

On Saturday, April 17, the President’s Office released a statement in response to the #BlackMindsMatter protest [https://www.amherststudent.com/article/students-walk-out-in-protest-after-police-killing-of-daunte-wright-aas-and-bsu-demand-abolition-of-acpd] organized by the Black Student Union (BSU). In an email to all students, President Biddy Martin responded to the BSU demands by urging professors to be lenient with extensions and absences, announcing the hiring of an additional counselor (wh

Let's Start With Disarmament

Yesterday, April 13, the Black Student Union (BSU) called for a college-wide walkout via a message [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1zRYhv1evj0Qz5v1ZXG6VeRofkXMtjRETh3qFTCWhsEA/edit?usp=sharing] circulated by the Association of Amherst Students (AAS) and on the BSU’s Instagram page [https://www.instagram.com/p/CNlyuqIBaLz/]. The walkout was planned following the Amherst College Police Department’s (ACPD) refusal to disarm [https://www.amherststudent.com/article/acpd-reduces-reliance-on-arme

Students Walk Out in Protest After Police Killing of Daunte Wright; AAS and BSU Demand Abolition of ACPD

At 10 a.m. on Tuesday, April 13, hundreds of students, dressed in black, left their classes to gather on the First-Year Quad and participate in a #BlackMindsMatter walkout coordinated by the Black Students Union (BSU). They were spurred by the recent killing of Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old Black man who was shot by a Minnesota police officer on Sunday, April 11 — the latest of a series of national incidents highlighting the often fatal consequences of police brutality and anti-Black racism. Rem

Letter to the Editor: Divest & Disarm

Students have led the campaign for a more inclusive, safe and integrated campus community — one that by definition can no longer include the presence of police with guns. At the faculty meeting on Tuesday, April 6, Chief of Police and Director of Public Safety John Carter presented proposed changes that were concerning to many. The changes seemed to expand the resources spent on policing through retraining, consultants, body cameras, dogs and new uniforms — clearly an attempt at rebranding to di

Black Perspective: Protect and Serve — The “Us” in Justice

As Derek Chauvin’s trial [https://www.startribune.com/minneapolis-police-chief-derek-chauvin-in-no-way-should-ve-kept-george-floyd-pinned-by-the-neck/600042338/] regarding the death of George Floyd continues into its second week, Black people nationwide are again painfully forced to watch a process that seems rigged against them. We watched Trayvon Martin’s murderer, George Zimmerman, get acquitted in 2013 [https://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/14/us/george-zimmerman-verdict-trayvon-martin.html] . We

ACPD Reduces Reliance on Armed Officers, but Refuses Demands to Disarm

As part of its commitment to the Reclaim Amherst Campaign, the Association of Amherst Students (AAS) held a town hall [https://www.amherst.edu/system/files/AAS%2520Senate%2520Notes%2520March%252029%252C%25202021.pdf] with Chief of Police and Director of Public Safety John Carter regarding the state of the Amherst College Police Department (ACPD) and campus operations. During the virtual meeting on March 29, Carter announced the creation of a new campus operations position called Community Servi

Notes From Frost: Amherst Uprising, Five Years On

This past November marked the fifth anniversary of Amherst Uprising, a multi-day sit-in of Frost Library led by students who demanded attention and change surrounding racism on campus. Yet, for many, the Uprising didn’t begin — or end — in the confines of the library foyer five years ago. Rather, it marked just a moment in a centuries-long struggle for racial justice and Black equality within the institution. The activism bred by Amherst Uprising was not new or unprecedented but embodied tradit