Campus Affairs

Interesting article in today’s Times, describing how a newer breed of more politically moderate professors are replacing more liberal professors hired in the ’60’s.

Baby boomers, hired in large numbers during a huge expansion in higher education that continued into the ’70s, are being replaced by younger professors who many of the nearly 50 academics interviewed by The New York Times believe are different from their predecessors — less ideologically polarized and more politically moderate.

The authors are careful to note, however, that:

The authors are not talking about a political realignment. Democrats continue to overwhelmingly outnumber Republicans among faculty, young and old.

The article mentions Amherst:

Yet already there are signs that the intense passions and polemics that roiled campuses during the past couple of decades have begun to fade. At Stanford a divided anthropology department reunited last year after a bitter split in 1998 broke it into two entities, one focusing on culture, the other on biology. At Amherst, where military recruiters were kicked out in 1987, students crammed into a lecture hall this year to listen as alumni who served in Iraq urged them to join the military.

I don’t like this statement at all.

First, it links a political compass with support for alumni who have served in the military - as if students had to be politically conservative moderate to support the service of these men and women!  Like most liberals on campus, I wholly support and honor the troops but firmly oppose the War in Iraq.  But this statement fails to make that distinction.  Supporting our men and women in combat has absolutely nothing to do with my ideology on foreign policy.

Second, there is of course no mention of the heavy debate we had this year about Amherst’s relationship with the military.  No mention that the decision to allow recruiters on campus was at least in part a response to a Supreme Court decision that would allow withholding of up to $6 million in federal funding.  No mention of Pride Alliance demonstrations for discrimination under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”  No mention of the Student’s reversal of advertisement policy giving the staff the ability to reject ads from the military.  No mention that we brought two high-level officers to campus this Spring - General Wesley Clark and Colonel Andrew Bacevich - who were both opposed to the War in Iraq from the beginning and have endorsed Senator Barack Obama.

So this statement is both offensive (only conservatives can support the troops) and inaccurate (the position of Amherst students regarding the military has changed of late).

Poor journalism, I say.

The Joy of Graduating.

Attention Goes a Long Way at a School, Small by Design.

Deep Down, We Can’t Fool Even Ourselves.

Check out this article in yesterday’s New York Times.

 A prominent education professor at Harvard has begun leading “reflection” seminars at three highly selective colleges, which he hopes will push undergraduates to think more deeply about the connection between their educations and aspirations.

The article goes on to say:

“Is this what a Harvard education is for?” asked Professor Gardner, who is teaching the seminars at Harvard, Amherst and Colby with colleagues. “Are Ivy League schools simply becoming selecting mechanisms for Wall Street?”

President Marx gets a nice quote:

Universities are so concerned about this issue that some — Amherst, Tufts, the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard, for example — have expanded public service fellowships and internships. “We’re in the business of graduating people who will make the world better in some way,” said Anthony Marx, Amherst’s president. “That’s what justifies the expense of the education.”

It also mentions the steps Amherst and other schools are taking to replace all loans with grants:

This year, Tufts announced that it would pay off college loans for graduates who chose public service jobs. And officials at Harvard, Penn, Amherst and a number of other colleges say one reason they have begun emphasizing grants instead of loans in financial aid is so students do not feel pressured by their debts to pursue lucrative careers.

In all, definitely a nice article showcasing the progress we’ve made in this area.  However, as Ben Goldfarb ‘09 wrote a few weeks back, it’s still a struggle.  Should we turn down careers in finance?  Is public service all it’s built up to be?  Who says that Wall Street is a bad place?  Does morality really dictate a job in the non-profit sector?

Like a bunch of you out there, I struggle with some of these questions all the time.  So I’m interested to see what this “reflection seminar” is all about.  Anyone know when or where it will be held?  Any info in the comments section would be appreciated.

Cool.

Of course, Williams is already a member. Figures.

They’re no longer mandatory.

Is Amherst next?  Should we be?

Check out the interesting Op-Ed in today’s Times. Carroll Bogert, associate director of Human Rights Watch and Harvard ‘83, brings up a number of questions about the nature of endowments and how they should be structured. I think that there is a growing awareness of the power of endowments, and whether their tax-free and publicly unaccountable nature is unfair. Sure enough, the Feds decided they should step in, and we sent Congress a bunch of data in February.

Agree or disagree with Bogert, it’s clear that this issue is not going away anytime soon. Actually, I’d bet that our endowment growth this year has been less than spectacular - of course, I have no way of verifying that guess. In any case though, I look forward to talking about this stuff in the coming few years. If anyone sees more opinion or news on these issues, make sure to post it!

Barack Obama will be speaking there.

Chicago, IL – On Sunday, May 25, 2008, United States Senator Barack Obama will deliver the Commencement Address at the 176th Commencement Ceremony at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut.

Senator Obama is honored to speak on behalf of United States Senator Edward M. Kennedy, who was previously scheduled to deliver the address.

“Ted and I talked about me filling in for him at Wesleyan University earlier this week.  Considering what he’s done for me and for our country, there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for him. So I’m looking forward to standing in his place on Sunday even though I know I won’t be able to fill his shoes,” Senator Obama said.

Well, at least he’s not going to Williams.

Information? Anybody catch a glimpse? Thoughts?

From the Jolt:

As many of you may know, Amherst was blessed long ago with the protection and guidance of the river goddess Sabrina. In 1857 the governor of Massachusetts bestowed a bronze statue of the water nymph upon the College on the Hill, and since that time she has excited generations of Amherst students, inspiring legendary battles between odd year classes and even year classes over her custody. During one year, she was dangled over the campus in a plane; another year, she was held out of a passing train, causing athletes to drop their equipment in the middle of a baseball game and charge after the elusive statue.

Sabrina’s ventures, however, were recently halted. Several years ago, she was returned to the College administration, who hid her away in dark and secret location, bringing her into daylight for only the occasional class reunion. This neglect has no doubt saddened our fair protectress, and even worse, we fear she has begun to slip from the collective memory of Amherst undergraduates. You will surely agree that she hardly deserves such a fate, and so we are certain that you will be excited by the news we bring today:

SABRINA HAS BEEN LIBERATED!

Some time ago, a few of your fellow classmates crept into a bunker, hidden in the mountains around our valley, and absconded the beautiful goddess. We cannot, of course, disclose our identities just yet, nor can we display Sabrina publicly, for fear that the administrative forces of the College will work fervently to repossess her. (Although, really, it wouldn’t disappoint us if they recognize the fun of this tradition and let us off the hook…) We can, however, tell you that we are members of the class of an even year class, and that Sabrina is currently in our safekeeping.

Sabrina has matured with the times, and she now has her own Facebook account and blog! Please friend her on Facebook (though she is currently held by the even year classes–or ‘Es–she is happy to be friends with ‘Os as well).

Finally, as some of you may know, many years ago Sabrina was cruelly decapitated at the hands of pranksters among the Williams Ephs. Although her head was reattached by a subsequent Amherst class, the scars are still apparent, and her head is loosening once more. Therefore Sabrina will be traveling throughout the Northeast during senior week, visiting alums from ‘E classes, and posing with them in photos in exchange for a small donation toward the Sabrina Recapitation Fund. This summer we will use those funds to give Sabrina the healing treatment she deserves at the hands of a professional bronze craftsman. Stay tuned for updates!

Posted on behalf of Sabrina, Goddess of Amherst, class of ‘E.

In 1979, Hampshire College became the first college in the United States to divest from South Africa as a protest against its brutal apartheid regime. The University of Massachusetts followed suit closely thereafter. It took Amherst College a little longer, but we too exercised our power to enact change in South Africa by divestment. Our own President, Tony Marx, is well known for his divestment activism as an undergrad at Wesleyan and Yale.

Three years ago, students at Amherst once again went on a divestment campaign – this time for Sudan over the genocide in Darfur. Students successfully petitioned President Marx and the Board of Trustees to free our endowment from Darfur blood.

This year, we’ve seen the introduction of a new campus campaign, coordinated by a group called the Amherst College Responsible Endowment Coalition (ACREC), which may or may not be the same thing as the Amherst College Endowment Transparency Coalition. The campaign, backed by at least 15 student groups on campus, has formed at least in part as a response to our dismal grade of “D” for endowment transparency from the Sustainable Endowment Institute’s 2008 Report Card. ACREC’s aim is, I think, firstly to enact greater endowment transparency. Ultimately, it would like to see the creation of a student/faculty/staff/administration committee to oversee the endowment.

I see the new campaign as a step in the natural progression of socially responsible investing at Amherst. And it is absolutely the correct step in the progression. I could write an essay on why it is crucial that we improve in this area, but Channing Jones ’09 has already written it and made the case perfectly. The Student editorial board is right on as well.

I’m going to add one note to both of these pieces. Rather than hurting our endowment, socially responsible investing could actually be positive for growth. I’m no expert, but it seems reasonable to believe that businesses with questionable human rights or environmental practices are likely to see selling pressure in the future, causing prices to drop. Thus, a failure to invest responsibly could prove detrimental not only to the College’s ethical standards but to its endowment growth as well.

There are really no serious arguments as to why our endowment should not have more transparency or shareholder engagement. I’d like to see our endowment information readily (and electronically) accessible to the College community by the end of next semester. By this time next year, I want to see the formation of a committee dedicated to endowment management.

President Marx – it is up to you to move the process along. The students are committed and united. With your support, we will be able to get approval from the Board of Trustees. I guarantee it.

Back in the late 1970’s, students campaigning for the divestment from South Africa made a promise. They declared that they would not give a cent to Amherst until it divested, at which point they would give freely [personal conversation, Ms. Sharon Miller ‘80].

This year, we’ve seen a record-setting 81% participation rate to the Senior Class Gift to the Annual Fund. This is a good thing – maybe we’ll have a shot in overtaking Williams for the top spot in the USNews rankings (their algorithm includes an alumni giving component), even if our socially responsible investing policies are worse.

I’d like to pose a challenge to the Class of 2009. If all of the student activism – responsible, respectful, and mature activism – goes nowhere, and there has been no progress by this time next year, take a page out of apartheid activists’ book. Don’t give a cent to the Annual Fund unless there are tangible improvements in endowment transparency by Spring Break.

I understand that the Annual Fund goes to campus needs and not to the general endowment. That’s fine. But we have a right to know how our College is invested. And withholding your donation will put serious pressure on the administration and Board of Trustees to make the progress happen.

Students, faculty, administration, staff, and the Board – let’s make a difference. We did it in South Africa. We are doing it in Sudan. It’s time for shareholder responsibility to become a permanent fixture at Amherst. Make it happen.