Racial Epithet Discovered in Valentine Hall

On May 13, Dean of Students Liz Agosto sent an email announcing the discovery of the n-word scratched into a chalkboard in Valentine Hall. An individual found the racial epithet on the second floor near the balcony door and reported it to the Amherst College Police Department. The circumstances regarding its appearance are unknown at this time. In her message, Agosto asked students for assistance in gathering more information about the vandalism. She encouraged students to come forward with any

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

“Disarm ACPD”: The Association of Amherst Students’ Position on Campus Public Safety

On Monday, March 29, Chief of Police and Director of Public Safety John Carter attended the public safety town hall [https://www.amherst.edu/campuslife/aas/senate/aasminutes/spring-2021] hosted by the Association of Amherst Students (AAS). This meeting occurred on the first day of Derek Chauvin’s trial for the killing of George Floyd. It has been nearly a year since last summer’s uprisings and nearly as long since the college verbally committed to anti-racism. The goal of anti-racist work and a

It's Time to Lead, Not Follow

On March 31, Board of Trustees Chair Andrew J. Nussbaum ’85 sent a statement [https://www.amherst.edu/amherst-story/facts/trustees/statements/node/797137] to the college community announcing a new policy to refrain from investment in the fossil fuel industry and, ultimately, phase out all existing fossil fuel investments by 2030. The announcement largely seems to be a response to an open letter [https://amherststudent.com/article/a-letter-to-the-administration-when-will-we-divest] from the Amhe

We Need to Help Hampden County Inmates

Content Warning: Violence, Racial Violence Right now, the people held at the Hampden County Jail (HCJ), a correctional center located 16 miles from campus, are facing constant abuse. In letters to a local abolitionist group named Decarcerate Western Mass [https://linktr.ee/decarwmass], incarcerated people have detailed the regular violations and threats they face inside the jail. One person was held on the ground and beaten while crying and screaming. Another person had a special ops team calle

Black Perspective: American Normalcy

Welcome to the inaugural article of our new column, Black Perspective. We, the columnists, lament the fact that we must begin our writing careers with the circumstances of the past week looming large. On that topic, we would like to begin by recognizing and denouncing the abhorrent acts of racial violence committed this past week [https://www.npr.org/2021/03/17/978055571/anti-asian-attacks-rise-during-pandemic-read-nprs-stories-on-the-surge-in-violen] and historically, towards Asian Americans

We Need More Than Just Diversity Training

Several weeks ago, I wrote an article [https://www.amherststudent.com/article/smith-college-free-speech-and-the-modern-left] in response to New York Times coverage [https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/24/us/smith-college-race.html] of race relations at Smith College, which argued for a more methodical and nuanced approach to accountability and investigation of identity-based prejudice and harm. While researching the article, I came across a surprising scholarly consensus — apparently, anti-bias tra

Defying the Invisibility and Misrepresentation of the Asian American Experience

It has been an extremely hard week for people of Asian descent living in the United States after eight people, including six Asian women, were murdered in the March 16 Atlanta spa shootings [https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/03/7-dead-after-shootings-at-multiple-spas-in-atlanta-updates.html] . We all know that the story of anti-Asian racism didn’t start on that day, though it seemed broader coverage was just beginning. Nearly 3,800 instances [https://www.npr.org/2021/03/17/978055571/anti-asia

How Can We Right Past Wrongs?

Last Wednesday, March 10, the Associated Press (AP) published an article [https://apnews.com/article/race-and-ethnicity-massachusetts-c54f6419bf59017ab28956d35981a55e] following the recent push for reparations in the town of Amherst. The article draws heavily on a recent interview with former Sociology Professor at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst (UMass) Edwin Driver, the first professor of color [http://scua.library.umass.edu/youmass/doku.php?id=d:driver-edwin-d] hired by the univers