Image
a reunion tent on the quad

The excitement over Commencement 2017 has barely died down, and now the approach of Memorial Day weekend signals Amherst’s annual reunion.

An expected 2,300 people—alumni from the classes of 1947 to 2012 and their families and guests—will converge on campus from Wednesday, May 24, through Sunday, May 28. About 1,400 guests will stay overnight in dorms.

Events kick off Wednesday with a tour of the Emily Dickinson Museum, as well as a reception at the Beneski Museum of Natural History featuring an a cappella performance by The Bluestockings. The Beneski will be open throughout the week, offering the opportunity for visitors to take selfies with the museum’s mammoth skeleton, the inspiration for the College’s new mascot.

New to reunion this year, there will be an opening lecture Wednesday night: “Trump and Putin in Historical Perspective: How We Got into the New Cold War,” presented by William Taubman, the Bertrand Snell Professor of Political Science, Emeritus. Taubman’s talk will be live-streamed for those who can’t make it to campus, as will a panel on resistance and opposition during World War II, featuring Dean of the Faculty and Winkley Professor of History Catherine Epstein; Ronald Rosbottom, the Winifred L. Arms Professor in the Arts and Humanities and professor of French and European studies; and David Roll ’62, author of The Hopkins Touch.  

The reunion schedule is packed with more than 130 College- and class-sponsored activities, lectures, concerts, tours and receptions, featuring more than 200 presenters.

Returning for his 30th reunion, actor/producer Jeffrey Wright '87 will present a Saturday preview of two new film projects. O.G. is a drama shot entirely in Indiana’s Pendleton Maximum-Security Correctional Facility with a cast largely made up of incarcerated men. We’re Not Done Yet is a documentary about U.S. service members and veterans working to address PTSD and heal through poetry. There will be a post-screening discussion/Q&A with Wright.

Like the Taubman talk, a number of lectures and panels are devoted to the 2016 election and its lingering implications.

On Friday, Matthew MacWilliams will discuss his new book, The Rise of Trump: America's Authoritarian Spring, published by the Amherst College Press and available for free download. On Saturday, Stephen Cohen ’67 and Michael Kramer ’67 will lead a two-session panel discussion about the first 100 days of the Trump administration,  and the Class of 1977 will talk about “What Just Happened? Making Sense of Election 2016.”

Image
alumni in johnson chapel

The programs aren’t limited to politics— they include talks on science and technology, diversity and education, to name just a few topics. Highlights include:

“She's In, You're Out: Children's Use of Relational Aggression” — “Relational aggression” can involve such behaviors as excluding a peer from a group or spreading malicious rumors. Assistant Professor of Psychology Julia McQuade will present research from her Amherst lab that examines what makes certain children more prone to use relational aggression and how social factors can encourage it. Michael Horne ’02, superintendent of KIPP Dallas-Forth Worth Public Schools, will moderate and share his perspective as an educator.

“Diversity, Inclusiveness and the Amherst Experience: Where It Was, Is and Will (Should) Be” — It is a particularly appropriate time to discuss what diversity has meant for America and for Amherst. What has been its impact on the students who have become its alumni? What should diversity and inclusiveness mean now and in the future? Are the critical issues of diversity still racial, or are they now more about socioeconomic status?

“Opioid Addiction: Medical, Legal and Personal Perspectives on a Use Disorder” — When and how did the current “epidemic” begin? What factors have affected its evolution? A multidisciplinary and multi-class panel tackles these questions and more.

A concert by the Omer Quartet, featuring music by Ludwig van Beethoven and the world premiere of Quartet No. 4 by contemporary Dutch composer Rocco Havelaar, commissioned by Dr. William Weary ’64.

Reunion will also include an alumni baseball game, a conversation with President Biddy Martin, a Saturday luncheon and a Zumbyes concert.

View the full schedule of events. Can’t make it back to campus? We will post recordings and photos next week at amherst.edu/alumni/events/reunion/media

Image
reunion party at the Powerhouse