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Opinion

The Color-Blind Constitution: A Point-Counterpoint on Affirmative Action

On Saturday, the normally empty Johnson Chapel was abuzz. Older generations of alumni enthusiastically mingled about in the main congregation area of the building, while current students mixed with the alumni or kept to themselves. While younger students comfortably dressed in jeans or shorts with short-sleeved tee shirts, the

Blurred Values

Last weekend, we celebrated the success of the Lives of Consequence campaign, a campaign driven by this mission statement: Amherst College educates men and women of exceptional potential from all backgrounds so that they may seek, value and advance knowledge, engage the world around them and lead principled lives of

Lauding IT Improvements

Despite all the recent buzz over Twitter’s IPO, the College’s own quiet technological revolution has gone largely unnoticed. After years of pink slips and green sheets, it seems that the College has finally begun to embrace the 21st century. In the past months, the information technology department has

On Nazis, Redemption and Racial Justice

It is a remarkable thing, that should I have the means and desire to do so, I could comfortably vacation in Germany. I could spend an afternoon in Berlin, walking along a path that once split the city for a generation. I could hike the Black Forest, see the castles

A Day of Remembrance, Did You Forget?

Last Thursday began like any other day for yours truly — find a quiet spot at Val to eat breakfast, look over the previous night’s psychology reading, and peruse the day’s issue of The New York Times. I was surprised to find the front cover of a gray-haired

College Politics and the English Language

On Saturday evening someone drew a swastika and wrote a racial slur near the entrance of Chapman Dorm. Dean of Students Jim Larimore took 465 words to communicate that information in a campus-wide email. He added, using perhaps the maximum number of words possible: “That this incident should occur

What Nobody Wants to Talk About

Perhaps many of you don’t realize this, but a social stigma of mental illness exists, and it is a very bad thing. This stigma is perpetuated by Hollywood’s alarmingly inaccurate conceptions of the mentally ill. They are portrayed in films and television as violent lunatics who are dangerous