The unexpectedly large turnout forced some to sit at the feet of panelists President Tony Marx, Professor of Sociology Ronald Lembo, Professor of English and Black Studies Rhonda Cobham-Sander, Assistant Professor of American Studies and Sociology Carleen Basler, Head Football Coach Edward Mills and Association of Amherst Students (AAS) President Ayyappan Venkatraman ’09. Director of the Center for Community Engagement Molly Mead and Nicholas Pastan ’09 moderated the discussion.
The meeting commenced with opening remarks from each of the six panelist, concerning their opinions on and experience with intolerance at the College, and how the school and community should address it.
“Clearly racism, sexism and homophobia are all alive and well in our country,” began Marx. He cited the events that had prompted Tuesday night’s discussion, including the discovery of a noose in Alumni Gymnasium last summer, the harassment of Hampshire College students who attended a Gay Amherst Party (GAP) last semester and anti-Semitic graffiti in the basement of the Cadigan Center for Religious Life.
Marx encouraged candid discussion in his opening remarks. “If you feel we are not the community we aspire to be then let’s talk about why that it is and what we can do about it,” he said. Marx also emphasized that his main objective in last night’s meeting was to listen to what students, faculty and staff members had to say.
Lembo discussed his experience with students who had felt a label of race placed on them by the rest of the Amherst College community. He recounted several experiences of the class of 2007 that they had shared with him last year when he was Chair of the Faculty Committee on Admissions and Financial Aid. In particular, one student said she felt Amherst placed the majority culture on a pedestal. In her experience, Lembo recalled, she felt that the whites she met had expected to have nothing in common with her, and that not only students, but faculty as well, had been culprits in perpetuating this sentiment.
Cobham-Sander listed three groups of individuals she has encountered in her time at the College that she classified as “token individuals,” “token minority representation,” and “significant minorities.” The first group, she said, are the individuals who are the sole representatives of the group that they embody. The second group that she called “token minority representation” illustrates a group of people who are clumped together instead of being accepted as individuals. The third group that she called “significant minorities” describes a group whose presence can no longer be marginalized. Cobham-Sander asked the audience, “How do we make of Amherst a learning community in which everyone who is part of this community is informed of and responsive to all effects of diversity?”
Basler stressed the importance of free and open discussion by saying, “There is no room for political correctness here. I feel like our society has become constipated by this.” Basler reminded the audience that as a professor of American studies and sociology, it is her job to teach these issues.
Mills described the Athletic Department’s experience with a two-day workshop on race that he called very successful. “We’re here for you as a faculty, as a staff for you,” he said. “We’re here to help you learn and to kind of set the stage for you to become leaders of the world.”
Following Mills’ statement, the moderators opened up to questions to initiate discussion.
Many students called attention to a lack of institutional, programmatic action to support students of both ethnically and socio-economically diverse backgrounds to adjust to life at and cope with issues that arise in their time at the college. “It’s a very positive thing to want a diverse community, but I don’t think the institutional action should stop there,” said Chelsea Amegatcher ’11.
“I do feel like there is a serious lack of resources for students who come from different backgrounds,” said M.J. Smith ’09. “Some students, when they get here, don’t see any avenues open to them.” However, it was difficult for audience members and panelists to articulate specific solutions to address these problems. Several students mentioned a multicultural center as a possible step towards alleviating this feeling of alienation. “I’m certainly interested in what you have to say about a multicultural center, but I don’t think we should isolate the responsibility to one dean or one office,” responded Marx.
Other students shared their personal experiences. One student said she hopes that no freshmen will ever feel as alienated as she has felt from the College. Some responded to Cobham-Sander’s discussion of being the token individual. “It is ridiculously hard to bear [that] burden,” said Anthony Jack ’07. “Speaking as an individual, from personal experience, you lose sleep at night from so many people coming to you, speaking with you because you are that individual. It is ridiculously hard.”
Kathleen Boucher ’08 reminded the audience of the importance of Amherst’s Five College image. She recalled experiences of taking classes at one of the other colleges where the professor approached her and warned her of his or her experience with previous Amherst students, saying they had done things such as cheat. “Other colleges aren’t believing us when we say we have all these great things. We need to work on our collective image and what we want Amherst to be.”
The panelists and moderators then shared their own closing remarks following Boucher’s statements. Each panelist’s remarks reminded the audience that the College’s work is not yet finished, and it is essential that members of the College community continue to talk about these important issues.
“You may believe you are here for a particular reason or role, to fill a box, but that is not the case. You are here to be you,” concluded Marx. “Amherst College has been, and maybe is today, a social experiment. This raises the burden for us to set the agenda. And I think higher education, and maybe the country, is watching this experiment.”