Issue 18

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VOLUME CLI, ISSUE 18

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 2, 2022

amherststudent.com

THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF AMHERST COLLEGE SINCE 1868

College Tightens, Loosens Protocols as Campus Covid Cases Surge Liam Archaki ’24, Tana Delalio ’24, and Ethan Samuels ’23 Managing Editor, Managing News Editor, and Editor-in-Chief

Photo courtesy of Chris Tun ’25

The Ukrainian flag hangs proudly in the dorm room of Ernest Protas '24, an international student from Ukraine. The flag represents an identity that Protas feels has been trampled on by Putin's rhetoric and aggression.

Students Speak on Russian Invasion of Ukraine Yee-Lynn Lee ’23 Editor-in-Chief On Feb. 23, Russian President Vladimir V. Putin shocked the world by launching a large-scale military invasion into Ukraine, the culmination of years of tensions between the two nations. The attacks, which have continued over the past week, have reverberated across the world to Amherst College, rocking the lives of those students who hold ties to the region. Ernest Protas ’24, an international student from Ukraine, said he realized that an attack was imminent on Monday night, when Putin gave a speech denying the legitimacy of Ukraine as a country. “Basically what he said sounded like a declaration of war,” he said, noting

OPINION

the hundreds of thousands of Russian troops that had been amassing at the borders since last year. When the attack came, however, no one was prepared. Ira Sobchyshyna ’24, an international student from Ukraine, was in bed when the first air strikes were launched at around 11:30 p.m. EST. “I was literally sleeping. That’s what I was doing,” she said. “I heard about [the attack] from my partner,” who had decided to wake her up upon learning of the news. Across students, shock and disbelief dominated initial reactions to the invasion. A slew of emotions followed, once the attack had registered as reality. “When I actually heard his announcement of the war, I was paralyzed,” said Protas. “I couldn’t be-

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A Better Amherst: A 'New Curriculum': Tessa Levenstein '23 and Mason Quintero '23 advocate for more service-oriented learning at the college.

lieve what I saw, I couldn’t believe my eyes. It was actually happening — it was actually happening to all of Ukraine.” “It felt devastating,” he continued. “I felt a lot of anger for the fact that somebody was coming in and threatening the existence of my country. And I was angry that people were going to die.” Anya Zak ’25, an international student from Russia, was up late finishing an assignment when a social media break revealed posts plastered across Instagram about the news. “I couldn’t believe it,” she said, recalling that the question of whether an invasion would occur had come up in conversation with friends and family when she was home in January. “We [had] thought that, no, the

ARTS & LIVING

invasion will not happen.” “I was sad and frustrated by the fact that this [was] happening,” Zak reflected. “And I was worried.” For Zhasmin Ospanova ’23, an international student from Russia and Kazakhstan, it was a call from her mom that broke the news. “I was just so shocked and astonished,” she said. “I was kind of expecting some sort of conflict to arise, but I couldn’t believe it because the way they attacked Ukraine was so similar to the way Germany attacked the USSR during the Second World War, … such a dangerous and inhumane way.” “It was 4 or 5 a.m. in Ukraine, and they attacked the capital, they attacked the major cities,” she elab-

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Film Society x The Student: Aidan Orr '24 and Diego Duckenfield-Lopez '24 explore Studio Ghibli's animated masterpiece "Whisper of the Heart."

SPORTS

The college had 153 active Covid-19 cases at the beginning of the day on March 1, over 53 percent of the 284 total positive cases since Jan. 30. A hundred and fifty of these cases were students, comprising about eight percent of the student body. In response to the large number of cases, the college has announced changes to its Covid safety protocols multiple times over the past week. Students expressed concern about the rising number of cases, as well as confusion over the shifting protocols. On Feb. 25, Dean of Students Liz Agosto announced a series of tightened protocols aimed at mitigating spread, after 40 new positive cases on Feb. 24 — the single greatest number of cases on one day since the pandemic began — had brought the total number of active cases to 103. On March 1, however, Agosto acknowledged that cases remained high, but announced that all increased protocols from her previous email had been lifted, citing the fact that testing days since Thursday have not brought the same spike of 40 to 50 cases per cycle. The protocol changes announced in Agosto’s Feb. 25 email

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Women's Basketball Falls Short in Final: Leo Kamin '25 recaps women's basketball's loss to Bates in the NESCAC final, the end of their streak.


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