Driven by an apparently idiosyncratic desire to shoehorn a "freshman quad" into the central core of the campus at virtually any cost, it lacks an articulated pedagogical rationale and is nearly silent concerning its collateral implications for the spatial character of the campus, the architectural history of the College and the critical specific relocation of upperclass dormitory rooms, classrooms, departmental offices, faculty offices and the valuable museum collections it dislocates.
It offers no clear estimation of its extended expenses and shows no practical awareness of the full extent of the interference to the daily life of the College its "five- to seven-year" period of construction will require. Since no stated educational vision informs this massively disruptive proposal, it promises little more than a shortsighted and tendentious solution to a residential problem that risks the slow transformation of a venerable college into an expensive camp. Surely our larger community of alumni, faculty and students has every reason to expect more from a true Master Plan that will preserve, prolong and enhance our "fairest college" for everyone.
An informed Master Plan might even avoid such insensitivities as the one which has resulted in the recent unhappy installation of Paul Manship's fine sculpture of a Native American at the College. Conceived, iconographically, as an indigenous embodiment of Herculean strength and nobility and cast in bronze to be seen in a private garden, this generous gift to Amherst College has been effectively isolated as a public emblem of our institutional art collection and displayed almost mascot-like at the entrance to the Mead Art Museum.
If this installation were only another instance of our habitual objectification of all art, it would be sad. But, given its unintended and yet inevitable association with the namesake of the College who infected uncounted "Indians" by distributing tubercular blankets to them, it is outrageous. It is wrong artistically. It is wrong educationally. The mercury vapor lights that illuminate this sculpture at night magnify the insult by adding a tone of endless surveillance. Future plans to "soften" the Mead courtyard with grass, trees and flowers will only intensify further the pain caused by this inadvertent installation.
A true Master Plan, informed by a reaffirmed idea of our shared purpose, is no less urgently needed than the important "detripling" of James and Stearns.
Joel M. Upton<br>Professor of Fine Arts
<b>Senior weighs email changes </b><br>At the beginning of last week, the senior class received an email telling us that our email accounts will be deactivated in August. It was sort of ironic that the College co-opted our own accounts into its cost-cutting scheme-forcing our defenseless email system to notify us of its own demise (like a sheep releasing one last plaintive bleat of anguish before being turned into a magna cum laude diploma.)
After August, our old Amherst accounts will be no more. From then on, we will be able to receive email only on a special alumni account. Anyone who may be trying to contact me will no longer be able to send messages to jablock@amherst.edu, but will now have to use jablock01@alumni.amherst.edu.
In the grand scheme of things, this is a relatively minor change, but I have a small suggestion, based on an extensive survey conducted at the last Amherst Community Tea. Five out of five seniors informed me that it is unclear whether people who continue to write to the old e-mail addresses after August will have their letters rejected or whether they will be forwarded to the new alumni account. If it is at all possible, I would like to ask the College to ensure that our emails are forwarded along to the new addresses.
It may not seem like a big deal, but students have already given out their old addresses to friends, family and potential employers. Many seniors-most of whom do not have anything resembling a job at this point-will still be waiting to be contacted by employers after the summer is over. At the very least, if the emails cannot be forwarded along to our new accounts, there should be a message sent back that notifies the writer of our new addresses.
I'm guessing that these changes would not be too difficult or expensive for the College to make, and I know that they would be very helpful to a lot of people who will be forced to leave this campus in an increasingly, frighteningly short period of time. When we leave Amherst, email and sheep carcasses are ultimately all that we have to take with us.
Joshua Block '01
<b>Time for a snow break</b><br>It's snowing! Time to make snowmen! Time to play in the snow and have snowball fights! Time for ... class?
Cancelled classes at Amherst? At Mount Holyoke and UMass maybe, but Amherst? Not unless there's a terrorist attack or something equally extreme.
I really wouldn't mind having classes cancelled once in a while, unless of course there's something extremely imperative to discuss that can't wait another day.
It's true that it snows often here, but how often are there official blizzards? I mean, a real blizzard. I used to read about those in "Little House on the Prairie." Blizzards are actually fun!
I think we should enjoy the snow, just for a day, before it gets shoveled away into huge ugly-shaped mounds and gets replaced by lovely-smelling brown sauce. Those hard-working folks doing all the shoveling throughout the day and night make me feel pretty bad, since we are the cause of them having to perform all this labor. I think they should be allowed to take a day off.
Amherst is one of the only schools that hardly ever cancels classes, even though many students, faculty and staff deserve a brief break.
It's such a good way to relax a little bit and breathe. Instead of seeing the snow as an impediment, we should see it as chance to improve our well-being! Playing in the snow is always a lot of fun, regardless of your age.
Cathy Cheung '03