If you were at the basketball games at Williams College over the weekend, you might have noticed many creative T-shirts that disparage Amherst. The existence of a college affiliated student store at Williams is largely responsible for this diversity in apparel, and this diversity is something that we would like to see more of at the College.

Some students have initiated discussions with the administration regarding the establishment of a school store at the College. This school store would tentatively be located in the basement of the campus center and would be a place for students to buy school supplies and Amherst apparel.

The store would fulfill a growing demand for school apparel, and provide a way to show school spirit with more than just the traditional hooded sweatshirt.

Although Hastings, Inc. currently supplies all of the Amherst apparel, it lacks a direct affiliation with the College and has no creative ideas for clothing styles. Without competition, Hastings has no incentive to provide a wider variety of apparel. In addition, the staff of a school store could sell apparel at athletic and other extracurricular events on campus, which Hastings has no desire to do.

The school store could be a central location for advertising musical, athletic and academic events on campus. A school store could also sell a capella, jazz and other musical CDs of student groups, providing free advertising for the groups and helping to organize their promotions.

The school store should be run by a College staff member, with student employees providing assistance and students providing creative ideas and suggestions for apparel. A business based on the Schwemms' model would cater perfectly to the school store and would create more student jobs on campus. The College should allow the store to operate free of charge in the campus center to keep costs low, which will hopefully be passed along to consumers in the form of lower prices.

Alumni would also benefit greatly from the school store especially if an online store were opened as well. Hastings provides limited and poorly advertised online resources, leaving alumni without access to Amherst paraphernalia, unless they specifically know to look for Hastings online.

Each year, there is high demand for Amherst gear at the homecoming football game. The store could take advantage of this demand year-round, providing the whole college community with a self-sustaining business, and giving everyone a little more pride in their school.