"In the past, applications were either accepted or rejected without further thought," said Armour, "but we have made an effort this year to give natal publications at least one opportunity to go to print even if their proposals for recognition are rejected by the [Review and Recognition] Board."
"I think that the number of similar literary magazines is overkill for how small we are as a college community," said Eva Dankanics '03. "I don't know if there are enough readers to justify having that many publications."
Armour, however, said that he does not believe the increase in publications has been that high. "Many publications are only as good as their editors and founders," he said. "The total increase of publications on campus is actually not very high. Although so far this year we have gained Frames and The Offensive Line, with Majority and Circus coming soon, we have lost Sports-Amherst and the Journal of Biomedical Ethics."
Frames is an academic film review magazine, first published last semester, that has articles written by students and professors.
Sasha Statman-Weil '02, editor-in-chief of Frames, said that his interest in film encouraged him to start the publication.
"I wanted to establish a magazine in which movies could be analyzed seriously and in both an artistic and historical context," said Statman-Weil. "Our topics range from analysis of the French and German New Wave to the American independent film movement to a review of 'Chucky IV.'"
Statman-Weil said that he wants students to look beyond popular-culture movies. "I hope that students will begin to explore cinema beyond the latest Julia Roberts vehicle," said Statman-Weil. "I'm disappointed that many of the American and foreign films of the golden years of cinema, the 1960s and 1970s, have been overlooked by our generation despite the fact that films from that era were made by youth and for youth."
The Offensive Line, which also appeared for the first time last fall, was started by Adam Vine '01 and Bobby Lutzker '01 because "we thought Amherst could use a different kind of literary magazine," according to Vine.
The magazine publishes poetry, stories, essays and art and is expected to come out monthly, according to Vine.
"The reaction has been enthusiastically silent," said Vine.
Circus, dedicated to establishing a wider discussion of issues at the College, will come out at the end of this semester. Founder Marcella Frydman '03 said that she hopes the magazine will provide students with a venue for greater expression about college life. "The primary purpose of Circus is to provide an inclusive arena for the expression of a wide variety of individual voices at Amherst," said Frydman.
"I found that existing campus publications focus on one particular area of interest-[for example] political, literary, etc.-and there seemed to be a need for a magazine that somehow combined every aspect of the hugely diverse and imaginative Amherst intellectual community," she added.
Circus will include satire and humor pieces, short fiction, poetry, cartoons and photos. It will also have in-depth features about particular issues, controversies or people. Issues such as theme housing or the career center are possibile future focuses, according to Frydman.
Frydman said that Circus stresses "sharp writing" and "will attempt to reflect on Amherst and on our Amherst experiences in a way that is unique to this time and place." If the first issue is received well, Frydman said that she anticipates a shorter version of the magazine will come out at least once a month. Thus far Frydman said, "People have responded to Circus with almost astonishing enthusiasm, given the number of existing publications out there."
Majority, which will focus on identity issues, will publish its first issue at the end of the semester. Its mission statement indicated that the magazine wants to provide students with an appropriate forum for discussing these issues in a healthy and educated manner. "We want to raise identity consciousness within our Amherst community and promote introspective thinking, in order to challenge students to question their perceptions and behaviors towards their 'Other' (i.e. different racial, gender, cultural, social and economic groups)," the statement reads.
The inspiration for Majority, according to Mari Crabtree '03 and Hwa Cho '03, came from Professor of Black Studies and American Studies Jeffrey Ferguson's course Black Studies 11: "Introduction to Black Studies." Crabtree and Cho, along with Han Chen '03 and Sidne Koenigsberg '03, will be staffing the editorial board.
"The content of that course inspired us to further study and pursue issues of identity," said Crabtree. "At first we were going to start a club that sponsored teach-ins on various books, issues, movements, people, etc. dealing with identity, but we thought a more effective way of getting that sort of dialogue started would be to present it in the form of a publication."
Among other things, the publication will include opinion pieces, political cartoons, original fiction pieces, surveys, resources for further research, and a profile of a professor or important leader.
"We wanted to change the direction of discourse on our campus from 'safe,' status-quo, prepared dialogue on racial, gender, class [and] sexuality issues to a more intellectual, informed, coherent dialogue," said Crabtree.