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Power House Construction Begins Former College Steam Plant to Become a Social Space
Faculty Discuss Strategic Planning Committees Alissa Rothman ’15 Editor-in-Chief
Olivia Tarantino ’15 Photography Editor
Construction of a new social space in the College’s old Power House building began in November. The space is expected to open in the spring. Jessie Kaliski ’15 Staff Writer In the fall of 2012, President Biddy Martin wanted to make the construction of social spaces for student activities an institutional priority. The Facilities Department, taking her announcement to heart, began a feasibility study on what had been used as a Power House up until the 1960s (Amherst College’s first centralized steam plant, equipped with a coal-fired boiler) and, more recently, a garage for the ground department. Just a few months later in April, architectural and engineering design work began. Located on the east campus, the new gath-
ering area will be set back, making the Power House’s events less disruptive to the core campus and surrounding neighborhood. Rather than constructing a new building, the college is renovating the existing structure. “The space is really magnificent and it’s just not realistic to think that such a soaring space would be built new today for this purpose,� said Director of Design and Construction Tom Davies. In fact, the renovation is less greenhouse gas intensive than the construction. McKim, Mead and White were the original designers of the Power House building. The renovator firm hired by Amherst is Brunner/ Cott, known for their work at Mass MoCA. “Their work at Mass MoCA even includes a
project that turned an old boiler plant into part of the museum exhibits,â€? Davies said. Brunner/Cott also has experience working with old industrial buildings as well as with student life buildings. Much of the design incorporates the original exterior of the powerhouse. According to Davies, the structures maintained for the new project include “the soaring arched windows on the south façade.â€? In terms of the interior, there is not too much that can be restored. Yet, despite the difficulties, the architects are trying to leave some of the industrial character of the interior intact, as Continued on Page 3
After some slight technical difficulties, the faculty meeting of Dec. 3, 2013 began. The bulk of the meeting was made up of short reports from the chairs of the strategic planning committees concerning the work that they had begun undertaking and a short discussion about the strategic planning process going forward. The first to present was Professor Anthony Bishop, chair of the Committee on the Integration of Research, Teaching and Learning. Bishop explained that the committee has started off by attempting to define what it means to be a research college and whether or not the College should still want to embrace and use that title as an identity. Bishop also explained that they have been discussing the content of undergraduate research and how to measure that to include projects besides senior theses. Furthermore, Bishop explained that, in the future, the committee will be discussing whether there is a desire among students or faculty for more research to occur on campus, and if so what the barriers currently are to that. They will look for input from different departments and disciplines about how research is currently done in those departments and how they want research to be integrated at the College in the future, as well as other topics dealing with research, teaching and learning. Second was Professor Judith Frank, chair of the Committee on the Integration of Curricular and Co-Curricular Learning. Frank explained that her committee has focused on making the case for the four-year residential college. They will focus on intellectual foundations, personal abilities and life skills they want students to have when graduate. This will include assessing the relationship between classroom, extra-curricular and co-curricular spaces, which includes questions such as how to make residential life richer and what designs the new dorms should have. The committee will also discuss how get faculty and students to do more on campus, what or if there should be options for slow learners, Continued on Page 2
College Accused of Mishandling Sexual Assault Sophie Murguia ’17 Managing News Editor On Thursday, Nov. 14, two former students filed a federal complaint against Amherst College, alleging that the College violated Title IX and the Clery Act by mishandling reports of sexual assault. The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights is currently reviewing the complaint. The complaint is the latest development in a movement that began last October, when Epifano published an account of her sexual assault in The Amherst Student. Since then, Epifano and many others have accused the College of mistreating sexual assault survivors and of creating a culture of sexual disrespect. Since the publication of Epifano’s article, colleges across the nation have faced similar complaints, including Yale, which was recently fined $165,000 for Clery Act violations. Current and former Vandebilt students filed a complaint against their school on the same day that the Amherst complaint was filed. Title IX aims to prevent educational institutions from dis-
criminating on the basis of sex. The Department of Education considers sexual violence to be a form of sexual harassment, and thus it falls under the category of sex discrimination. The Clery Act requires federally funded educational institutions to disclose information about campus crimes. According to Epifano, she and an unnamed Amherst alumna decided to file the complaint after they decided that the College had not adequately responded to the reports of mishandled sexual assaults that began to surface last fall. “I really thought that the administration and the school itself was going to change without the need for a federal complaint,� Epifano said. “But in the case of Amherst, I have heard so many stories from students who are still being mistreated in almost exactly the same ways that I was mistreated, and I noticed during my visit there and from talking to people that things haven’t progressed the way that they should be and especially not at the rate that they should be.� After visiting campus during Orientation week, Epifano described her alarm at the difference she perceived between how
Amherst had responded to the problem of sexual assault and how other schools had responded. “I’ve gone to schools where 800 people will show up to hear me talk and people will just be moved in ways that I couldn’t even imagine people at Amherst being moved,� Epifano said. Since the school year began, she has been engaged in a public speaking tour of schools across the country. Epifano commented that other schools she visited seemed to have more active groups devoted to helping victims of discrimination and often had an abundance of signs posted around campus that provided a list of resources for survivors of sexual assault. She said that during her visit she did not perceive the same amount of support for survivors at Amherst. Epifano added that hearing the story of her anonymous cocomplainant also strengthened her resolve to file the complaint, since the co-complainant reported being mistreated after Epifano’s article was published. (The co-complainant’s story can be Continued on Page 3
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