Letter to the Editor: Reframing the Campus Safety Conversation

As tempers flare on campus and the rhetoric heats up, it’s easy to forget how far our community already has come in the debate about campus policing and the many constructive ideas that students and staff have floated. Faculty members have a responsibility now to help these deliberations move forward in a thoughtful, inclusive manner, and I hope we will rise to that challenge. We are indebted to the Black Student Union and their allies within the Association of Amherst Students for demanding th

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