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AAS Mandates Use of Zaikah Event Calendar for All Clubs Rainer Lempert ’15 Staff Writer Last Monday the Association of Amherst Students (AAS) approved a motion that will hopefully result in increased attendance for campus events. Club leaders are now required to post their AAS–funded events on Zaikah, an event–calendar website created by Amar Mukunda ’15. “The whole idea is to improve the way that students get information out about their events,� AAS Vice President George Tepe ’14 said. The AAS will still provide $10 of funding for clubs to advertise their events through posters, fliers and table tents. “Zaikah is a new tool for campus use that will provide the first comprehensive listing of events,� Mukunda said. Mukunda started work on Zaikah about one year ago. “I started Zaikah because I think that our community — as well as most other college and university communities — has poor infrastructure for communication,� Mukunda said. “I am trying to create the best possible calendar and event system anyone could ever imagine.� Mukunda hopes that Zaikah will be an exportable model after success at Amherst. “It is a set of tools which will be useful for communities to communicate important things,� Mukunda said. “I hope it can help unite the Pioneer Valley, and if it has success here we can try to export it to other locations as well.� Mukunda also stressed that Zaikah is a work in progress, and that he wants “the community to be engaged into what sorts of tools go into the site.� Mukunda was approached by Senate member John Yarchoan ’13 about the idea of the College adopting his website. “I’ve known Amar since high school, and we periodically talked about his ideas for his website,� Yarchoan said. “I thought that it
solved a problem the Senate faces when we give money to clubs that don’t follow through with the rules of having their events be open and nondiscriminatory.� In the past, clubs have had the option of posting their events on the College event calendar, located on the Amherst website. However, this calendar has proved less than effective at informing students of upcoming events. “I don’t think that many students even know that the Amherst college campus calendar exists,� Yarchoan said. “It’s pretty is hard to navigate,� Tepe said. “Zaikah’s interface is much better and easier to use.� The vote for this ruling was not unanimous, passing 18-12 with 4 abstentions. “The pros were that we liked the interface, and we thought that it is sometimes difficult to pick out one event from all the posters and table tents,� Tepe said. “The major con was the idea of this requirement, seemingly forcing students to tell them how they need to publicize.� Due to this problem, the requirement is in a trial phase this semester. “There is a sunset clause that means that our ruling will end after this semester,� Tepe said. “Next year’s Senate will have to vote to reup Zaikah.� Some club leaders have expressed frustration at the Senate’s new implementation of Zaikah. “At the end of the day it doesn’t help the students – it’s redundant,� WAMH leader Tony Russo ’15 said. “We get e-digest emails every week listing events.� However, Yarchoan sees a need for Zaikah. “Zaikah can do things the College event calendar and e-digest emails will never be able to do,� Yarchoan said. “The calendar will support mainly academic things but Zaikah can have social functions, athletic events, even stand-up comedians. It is a far broader and better idea.� According to Mukunda, the faculty will consider adopting Zaikah at its next meeting.
Photo Courtesy of electricpandamusic.com
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Macklemore Set to Rock LeFrak Continued from Page 1
“In the survey we took, a lot of people wrote [Macklemore] in,� Richards said. “So we figured that he would be a good choice.� With a limited budget of $40,000, Program Board decided to act early in order to get their bid accepted. “We maxed out, because he was a rising artist,� Crane said. “We were on top of a lot of bids, obviously, because he is very competitive.� In order to push their bid over the edge and secure the initial step towards booking the concert, Dean Hannah Fatemi, Assistant Dean of Students and Director of the Campus Center, and the Student Activities Office gave the group an extra $5,000. After locking in the bid, Program Board entered the contract stage. “That’s been a lot longer process, because the contracts go back and forth dealing with riders, personal items, all these little things such as us insisting on a 60 day cancelation contract to make sure we didn’t get screwed over,� Crane said. “That finally got set in January or February.� Program Board then began looking into finding an opening act. After looking into DJ’s, they ended up looking into hip-hop artists at
Macklemore’s request. They choose Sol, who is a fellow Seattle artist who often collaborates with Macklemore. “Sol plays with a full band so his full band is going to be coming whereas for Macklemore it’s just going to be him, Ryan Lewis and a trumpeter that he works with,� Crane said. The opener was just settled this past week as the deadline for Macklemore to pull out of his contract also passed. “In some ways, we’ve known since November, and in some ways we haven’t definitely known until now,� Crane said. “Now we are able to say it with confidence.� Spring Concert will be held in LeFrak Gymnasium on April 27. Tickets will be given out in Valentine Dining Hall and by the Campus Center Manager. The tickets will be free for Amherst students for the first one or two weeks. Every student on campus can receive one free ticket during the early window period. After that period, tickets will be available for Five-College students and non-college members. “If the student body is happy, so am I. I hope they are excited,� Richards said. “We hope that in years following, the process will be just as smooth.�
Larimore Brings New Ideas to Dean’s Office Continued from Page 1 According to Professor Sarat, Larimore is a “wonderful combination of experience, insightfulness, sensitivity and concern, coupled with a vision for what student life can be,� further describing him as possessing a sort of “intelligent wisdom�. “He challenged himself and others to think of issues from a different perspective. From opinions on the alcohol policy to multicultural issues, he brings such an interesting, passionate and insightful vision to the table,� Dias said. “I am very confident that students will find it refreshing. “ On Feb. 19, the search committee met with President Martin to present Larimore as the selected finalist. President Martin remarked that it was “rare to find someone with experience in a similar liberal arts college setting.� “[Larimore] seemed to be one of the most thoughtful candidates, who gave multilayered responses to questions about Amherst College, able to look at Amherst College specifically while answering,� President Martin said. President Martin pointed specifically to the responses Larimore gave addressing the issue of alcohol policy on campus. She is confident that Larimore, rather than dictating changes, will help put in place infrastructure necessary for students to make the differences that define Amherst College. Larimore describes being a college dean as
“[his] idea of the best job in the world�. His enthusiasm for the “transformative power of a residential liberal arts experience� can be seen not only in his previous positions at Dartmouth College, Stanford Univ., NYU, and Swarthmore College, but also in the way he commits himself to learning about the College specifically. “My time at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has been intellectually stimulating, and it has been a privilege to work with an amazing set of grantees, partners and colleagues to ensure that students who have the will to go to college will have a way to get there, and the support that they need to succeed,� Larimore said. “But I am, at heart, a dean, and I have missed the rhythms of life on a campus, opportunities to meet and mentor students, and a chance to roll up my sleeves and do the work. Foundations can shape and influence and support the work, but others actually do it, and I have missed being on a campus and being more directly involved with students.� Larimore is currently in Seattle with his family, busy before the transition to becoming the new dean. While he waits for his sons, Anthony (fourth grade) and Joey (third grade) to complete the school year, he anticipates visiting the College several times between now and the end of May. Larimore keenly awaits joining the College community.
Photo courtesy of thedartmouth.com
Before coming to the College, Larimore worked for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Swarthmore College and Dartmouth College.