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<p>I agree, 100%.</p>
<p>Here’s an article about Martin:
[Amherst</a> President Tackles Sexual Assault Crisis - NYTimes.com](<a href=“Amherst President Tackles Sexual Assault Crisis - The New York Times”>Amherst President Tackles Sexual Assault Crisis - The New York Times)</p>
<p>Circuitrider: My point was not that posters are being unfair to Amherst (although some may be), but that there may not be a safer college than Amherst, given the attention being paid to the problem. If you doubt me, I suggest you check out the college website, which demonstrates what’s being done.</p>
<p>Before a student eliminates Amherst from their college list, I suggest reading the following link:
[Hiding</a> in Plain Sight: Alcohol and the Suicide of Trey Malone Call Me “Miss”!](<a href=“Private Site”>Private Site)
Sometimes there is more to a story than meets the eye.</p>
<p>Thank you for your post leonello…I have a S at Amherst and he could not be happier. He is in a substance free dorm (guaranteed if requested) and is surrounded by many like minded students.
Are there issues at Amherst?, surely so…but do you really beleive that these issues are unique to Amherst?
I also have never met President Martin but she has had many open discussions with alumni, parents, and students, and her take on all is that she is hopeful that Amherst will become a model as to the best way to handle these issues going forward.
I agree with Gratefuldad, that given all of what has happened, Amherst may indeed be the best college to attend…the issues are oout in the open and are being addressed by a vey proactive President</p>
<p>As I’ve said, a women’s college is a really good place if parents are deeply worried about sexual assault.</p>
<p>I don’t mean this because their schools don’t have males students. There are always males on campus.</p>
<p>But Barnard, for example, where my daughter attended, is centered on empowering women. The administration is overwhelmingly female and the feminism inherent in the school keeps issues like this at the forefront.</p>
<p>But as I have also said, my S attended Williams, Amherst’s twin. I would have no reservations about sending my daughter to either of those schools.</p>
<p>I trust the current administration at each school.</p>
<p>Being “far to Amherst” grew out of my post I think. I didn’t mean fair at the expense of the victims; I meant fair when comparing Amherst to other schools.</p>
<p>The scrutiny Amherst has undergone brings things to light that are just hidden at other schools.</p>
<p>Read Naomi Wolf if you want a description of how sexism at Yale hindered her academic career. This is another very interesting topic.</p>
<p>^^As I’ve mentioned in other posts, I think Amherst is very similar to all the other NESCAC schools, particularly the ones with a history of being single-sex and male when founded. I don’t mean to belabor the point. If you think President Martin can solve all of this in time for next year’s entering Fall class, that’s your privilege.</p>
<p>These schools have been co-ed for forty or so years. I’m not sure we need to saddle them with an all-male character.</p>
<p>I can tell you that one night a drunken girl got into my S’s bed without invitation. She pee’ed on his Latin books, and he walked her back to her room and sat with her the next Saturday night so she didn’t drink to access again. Apparently she blacked out.</p>
<p>I’m sure Amherst is filled with young men like this with this kind of sensitivity to women and doing the right thing.</p>
<p>I am also sure the young women’s accounts of their ordeals are accurate and these women have all my sympathy. Kudos for Amherst’s new prez for taking this seriously.</p>
<p>So, circuitrider, you don’t approve of NESCAC colleges in general, and Amherst in particular. That’s fine, you are entitled to your opinion, and there are many fine colleges to choose from where athletics play a lesser role. But my point is that Amherst is taking the lead with respect to the issues of sexual assualt, etc. on campus, not that Biddy Martin will solve the problem in nine months. And it is specious to say that being all-male once upon a time is a root cause of the problem.</p>
<p>^^I think that when the book is closed on the NESCAC colleges in general they will be known primarily for their <em>amicus</em> briefs filed in virtually every major affirmative action case of the early 21st century. Known by its shorthand as the “Amherst brief” (largely because Amherst appears first in the alphabetic listing of its petitioners) they are almost always cited as models of the “holistic” approach to admissions policies in general and to affirmative action in particular. If you couple that with the participation of at least four of their number (Amherst, Trinity, Wesleyan and Williams) in the COFHE organization, they have collectively ridden the crest of virtually every major reform pertaining to access and diversity in higher education over the last forty years. COFHE (which stands for the Consortium for the Financing of Higher Education) and its members are responsible for what is probably the greatest yearly transfer of private wealth from one generation to the next anywhere in the world.</p>
<p>On the other side of the ledger, with assets well in excess of $10 billion and a collecive intercollegiate athletic budget of some $50 million, they have between them only three or four academic departments that might be deemed to have national reputations.</p>
<p>^People don’t go to NESCAC schools for nationally ranked departments. They’re liberal arts colleges, they don’t really have any pre-professional majors. One goes for a great all-around education, and most don’t even declare a major until they’re already sophomores. </p>
<p>I don’t understand what your issue is with these schools. Too athletic? That makes no sense.</p>
<p>Anchser - I don’t have an issue with them. They are what they are, and, I’ve tried to point out some good things about them. Right now, one of them has a major problem on its hands which, in “fairness” to it, I agree it shares with other colleges just like it. However, to take it to the extreme and argue that NESCAC is “just like any other group of colleges” strikes me as a little hypocritical since until about two weeks ago they were not at all shy about touting their vintage and their traditions which included about a hundred and fifty years of being single sex colleges.</p>
<p>Sorry for sounding confrontational. I was misinterpreting your previous post and now see the point you were trying to make. And I completely agree with you, there is no point of trying to hide the cultures of the schools (for now). It is nice to see the colleges moving in a different direction, however.</p>
<p>I posted this a month or so ago on the previous Amherst rape story, but it bears repeating. For those who say they have reconsidered Amherst because of these incidents, I would say it’s really important to evaluate the campus culture at every school on a student’s list according to certain known factors:</p>
<p>Binge drinking on campuses is highly correlated with higher sexual assault rates.</p>
<p>Greek culture is highly correlated with binge drinking. From the Harvard College Alcohol Study:</p>
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<p><a href=“http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/cas/What-We-Learned-08.pdf[/url]”>http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/cas/What-We-Learned-08.pdf</a></p>
<p>Here is some research on the “rape-supportive” moral disengagement among fraternity members.</p>
<p><a href=“CONTENTdm”>CONTENTdm;
<p>I am a big fan of Biddy Martin from her UW-Madison days, but as others have said it will take more than her leadership to effect major change in the social arena and make the college safer for everyone.</p>
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<p>Can someone speak to the Amherst “culture.” Amherst was not on my daughter’s (a junior) radar until she recently met with a visiting college rep. </p>
<p>She is now excited about the school, and particularly the theater and dance dept and access to the arts within the five school consortium. We’re contemplating a visit, but we live in Atlanta - it’s a costly trip for us.</p>
<p>I’ll admit, as a father, these recent stories are disconcerting.</p>
<p>Arwarw, it’s really all starts with binge drinking. This is a reality at virtually every college in the country (maybe some strictly religious school are exceptions), so wherever your child ends up going to school, make sure she understands the a big part of avoiding these horrible situations is to not put yourself at risk. This is true for boys too, and not just the risk of sexual assault, but car accidents, alcohol poisoning, and countless other dangers that come with the kind of drinking that is common on college campuses.</p>
<p>The women’s colleges have very impressive dance departments, particularly Smith and Barnard. Barnard also has a very impressive theater department sending some young women to Broadway while attending, notably Cynthia Nixon.</p>
<p>I think Amherst is a wonderful school, and I would not have hesitated sending my daughter there, but I don’t think those departments are particularly strong at Amherst.</p>
<p>The consortium is a wonderful resource, but statistics show that few Amherst students use it very much.</p>
<p>^^mythmom, I don’t think you mean to give the impression that Barnard is part of the Five-College Consortium…do you? Barnard is in NYC. Smith and Mt. Holyoke are in western Mass. and in the consortium.</p>
<p>FWIW, my daughter is a dancer so I am somewhat familiar with the offerings within the consortium. I would say Mt. Holyoke has the strongest individual reputation, particularly for ballet. But the consortium as a whole offers a wealth of opportunities for dancers.</p>
<p>Oh no. My D attended Barnard. I know where it is. I was just speaking of women’s colleges in general that have great dance programs.</p>
<p>But thanks for making that clear.</p>
<p>I’m surprised that you think that Mt. Holyoke has a better department. One of the Smith dads whose daughter graduated from Smith was quite impressed with their program, but maybe it isn’t ballet oriented. I know the most about Barnard.</p>
<p>I am glad to know about Mt. Holyoke’s program.</p>
<p>Just wanted not to stray too far off the subject of Amherst (and its sister/brother schools in the consortium).</p>