Difference between putting yourself around people that have differing opinion and putting yourself into a climate where your opinion simply isn’t tolerated. I think it goes both ways but I think when it gets to a certain percentage of students - liberal or conservative - many don’t feel like they need to respect other students views. I think it has probably gotten much worse with how liberals have vilified (somewhat justly, he’s a pretty shitty person) Donald Trump.
“May I add, @doschicos comment seems oddly representative of the students here at Amherst – if you’re anything but a (likely radical) liberal, you might as well leave. A naive viewpoint that has resulted in Amherst being a liberal bubble: where anything not liberal is either racist, xenophobic, sexist, or, simply, stupid.”
How nice of you to join us as a new poster just for this discussion, @Economathematics! 
For the record, I’m not a radical, just pragmatic and practical. If you are spending as much as $70K per year on an education only to be unhappy, why do that to yourself? Find some place that is a better fit by either kicking the tires and looking under the hood BEFORE enrolling or transferring when you find a school not to your liking. Life is too short to be unhappy and to expect major changes to ANY institution over the course of a student’s 4 year academic career is unlikely to happen, at least at the pace that would make said person change their tune. I made my career and $$ in the financial world and I believe in voting with your feet and your $$. Not a radical or liberal perspective, just common sense, realistic advice.
Hey, I went to Amherst College. I was in the French House - a lot of the language houses offer an active social life. Also, I was on the debate team - we traveled a lot and met students from other schools, went to their parties. I would encourage your child to consider these options. I even met & debated Ted Cruz and Austan Goolsbee when I was on debate. Lots of future prominent politicians are on the debate circuit. Yes, it’s nerdy but it is fun. Hope that helps.
And, by the way, does this mean that Tap no longer happens? I recall we had Tap Thursday - Saturday and it was quite busy?!?
I was wondering about TAP parties as well. Can any students or parents confirm if they are still going on? If so, I remember they were monthly, big parties.
It’s been quite a while since I looked at CC, but I thought that the report on Athletics might stir the pot. To that in a moment, but first I’ll address the OP. I was there in the ancient days, when it was all male, while my son recently graduated. Although the two Amherst Colleges that we attended were significantly different, we both had defining and very positive experiences. One constant, however, was that we both went to a predominately liberal college. One of my proudest moments, ever, was getting arrested for protesting the bombing of Cambodia, along with the President of the College! While just last year, everything shut down to consider how Black Lives Matter, But Professor Arkes has ably presented the conservative argument the whole time, and Biddy has his back. So, if I have a point here, it is that I believe Amherst does a good job of promoting intellectual freedom, without regard to whether someone is “liberal” or “conservative,” even though the College as a whole would be fairly categorized as “liberal.” If your son or daughter wanted a conservative college, OP, Amherst may not have been a good choice. In terms of academics, however, how can you ask for more? At the undergraduate level, Amherst (and its peers) is far superior to the Ivy League; that’s where you go to grad school/law school/med school, after Amherst.
Athletics are a sticky situation, on the other hand. Neither my son nor I were recruited athletes, although a club sport were very important for him. I was surprised to learn from the recent report that: 1. almost every varsity athlete is recruited, depending on how you define that term, and 2. varsity athletes make up about a third of the College. Now that is a significant change from my day (perhaps not so much in the number of varsity athletes, but certainly in the number of recruited athletes) and, arguably, this means that there is an over-emphasis on the jock culture at Amherst (recognizing that we’re talking about both women and men here). Thus, it makes total sense that a main concern about current life at Amherst is the divide between athletes and non-athletes. I hope the new living houses will help in this regard, although the Socials were great, IMO.
Bottom line: Yes, if you are a current HS student, you should visit all the colleges you are considering and talk to as many people as possible. Fit is really important. Just because I think that Amherst is the best college, or that US News ranks it highly, does not mean it is best for everyone,
Is it a big drinking school?
no. That’s what the OP was complaining about…but there are parties and drinking every weekend if one wants to do so…
Other theme houses too, and those are open to, and attended by, many who don’t live there.
I don’t think TAPs are called that anymore.
Last year Crossett Christmas became Jenkins Jingle. Didn’t read about police being called this time though that might mean word about the change in venue didn’t reach the other colleges…
No, I’m not complaining that it’s not a big drinking school. I never said that. What I’m saying is that there are not many large, informal gatherings. One poster referenced TAPS. When I attended there was a TAP almost every night of the week. Most took place in fraternity basements. Live bands were also hired for special occasions and hundreds of students would flail around dancing. TAPS were an opportunity to socialize with each other in a low key way without getting dressed up. If you had a test on a Wednesday and wanted to decompress that night, you could go to Chi Phi, hang out, make some friends, have a beer if you wanted – or not. There were plenty of people that attended large social gatherings that weren’t big drinkers, or didn’t drink at all, but enjoyed socializing. The large spaces which we enjoyed socializing in are gone and/or not available to the students anymore.
I asked my Sophomore daughter and she has never heard of TAP(s).
@SoapyMango - they don’t call them TAPs anymore but there are still large parties. They’re put on my the CAB. The acronyms change, but there are still big parties. The big parties are, I think, still held outside on the quads, in the Powerhouse, and the theme houses (which are, of course, mostly the old fraternity houses!).
The absence of fraternities (and Greek life in general) is a key reason Amherst made my D’s app list. Other kids may feel differently about that and want that to be part of their college experience.
My understanding is that Hadley Arkes taught his final class first semester 2016. One of my great regrets was that i never took an Arkes class while I attended Amherst College. I did take a few Austin Sarat courses and he is still teaching at Amherst, which is great. I’ve been told that Sarat and Arkes have a great deal of respect for each other despite their disparate views. Like to believe that is true.
Re TAP(s), I believe the phrase came from the question “who is on TAP tonight?” meaning which (co-ed) fraternity was tapping kegs to serve beer on a given night of the week. The frats rotated so that one frat was responsible for being on TAP a certain night of the week. Once co-ed frats were disbanded, my senior year, my understanding is that certain residential houses adopted the responsibility.
Arkes taught his final class last semester, which ended Dec 22nd.
I thought TAP stood for “The Amherst Party.”
Thank you, Purple&Black. Your assessment seems pretty straightforward and is interesting to me because I have a different response to the same information. My daughter will attend Amherst next year, and I went to a different liberal arts college. You mentioned some Amherst alumni feel their children won’t share their experiences in ways they’d like. In my case, I think the personality shift in the college is what makes it appealing to my daughter and, though it matters less, to me. The party/Greek scene in my college days to me we wasn’t appealing and was a bit restrictive – which I’m sure those who were in that scene at the time would be schocked to hear. Frankly, college in the 80s was for me a sort of split scene, with the jock/frat/party people kind of like a high school “in-crowd,” with few minority students partaking. While Amherst doesn’t feel like it does in the 80s, to me it seems pretty balanced. It’s not as socially unconventional as, say, Swarthmore, as it still has football and other traditional trappings. The move away from the frat/party social scene to me makes it more appealing, and yes, as you note, those who want that may want to look elsewhere (Dartmouth, Penn ?). Again, while I reach a different conclusion I do appreciate your analytical approach.
I would guess that a move away from a party culture is driven not only by community concerns but partially by litigation concerns as well. I think it mirrors what has been seen on many college campuses.
I think it’s interesting to note that we have arrived at the situation facing the OP’s daughter, in part because of the historic fact that at one time NESCAC was dominated by a small number of single-sex, all-male colleges, including, Williams, Wesleyan, Amherst, Bowdoin, Hamilton and Trinity. A much more pre-professional approach to athletic recruiting was the Faustian bargain some of them felt it necessary to make in the aftermath of co-education when faced with a landscape where suddenly the only difference between themselves and formerly all-female Vassar was the fact that Vassar could enroll more men than they could.
It’s a difficult policy to climb down from. There are obvious advantages to having a large corps of students who are always going to be highly desirable as recruits by certain kinds of businesses. In fact, there is a program run out of the Wesleyan athletic department that grooms athletes for just such opportunities:
http://athletics.wesleyan.edu/information/athletics_advantage_program/index
OP, I appreciate you sharing your daughter’s experience, and I’m also very glad to hear the perspective of others who have kids at Amherst. Thanks, OHMomof2. I graduated in the 90’s, played a varsity sport there, and my daughter was accepted ED for the Class of 2021. She will play a varsity sport. I attended after fraternities were banned, but while the old fraternity houses hosted the TAP parties Wednesday through Saturday nights. I actually joined an off-campus fraternity my sophomore year, along with my entire room group, and we basically had national fraternity funding for some raucous parties. The fraternity accepted women and minorities. It was a very diverse chapter and we had a great time, but it got too big by my senior year, and when the initiation rites began to involve stupid things (nothing terrible or criminal, just dumb), a bunch of us withdrew. We still had a very active social life. But I digress. I loved the large, campus-wide TAP parties but frankly, I am not overly upset that my D will not be navigating masses of drunk people in the basement of an old fraternity house. She is coming from a relatively small public high school, approx 1,300 students, and their parties are largely smaller gatherings with the occasional bigger parties thrown in. She is very comfortable in that environment and it sounds like that describes the current Amherst social life. She is not looking for huge parties at a state school, and that’s not to criticize that choice, it’s just not the social environment she wants. As for the conservative hostility, these are politically polarizing times. I lean more left but I took courses from Sarat and Arkes and loved them both. Brilliant professors. Sarat is largely responsible for my career choice. Sad to hear that Arkes has retired, but I’m sure the college will hire a leading conservative scholar to fill his shoes, if that’s possible. In the meantime, you can still buy Arkes’ First Things book on-line, which we used as our class textbook. Buy a copy for your daughter, OP. I realize that’s not the point of your post, but I am convinced the college will remain committed to teaching both ends of the spectrum, and everything in between. I hope your daughter finds a school that better suits her. I am still excited for my daughter to matriculate. Thanks to all who have shared their perspectives.
Per the post I just added, there are plenty of Amherst alums (even ex-jocks) who share your perspective. Hopefully our daughters meet each other at one of the smaller gatherings. 