Dear Students, Faculty, Staff, Alumni, and Families,
You may have noticed that I’ve fallen off the weekly schedule with these messages, now that much of the country is beginning to open up. I will continue to stay in touch, on a looser schedule, and will provide updates as we reach decisions about how the fall semester will look. I thank all of you who have replied to these messages over the weeks, sharing your stories, reflections, criticism, news, and words of support. Although I have not been able to reply to each of you individually, I have appreciated your messages and been moved by what you have shared. It says a lot about our community that you have been so forthcoming and have stayed in touch yourselves.
Two weekends ago, we gathered virtually from around the world to celebrate the class of 2020, who showed exceptional resilience and a strong sense of purpose in completing their degrees despite the interruption of their on-campus studies by the global pandemic. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a visitor to campus last fall, shared her good wishes with our graduates. Senior class speaker Stanley Oscar Dunwell III spoke with warmth and wisdom about how he and his classmates had learned to lean on one another and also to find strength within themselves. Choral Society members from the classes of 1957 through 2023 joined their voices from their separate locations to sing “Three Gifts,” the beautiful song traditionally performed at Convocation and Commencement. The lyrics speak of the deep sense of wonder that Amherst’s mountains, woods, and sky inspire and of the broader lessons of an Amherst education: connectedness and service to the larger world, a reverence for the development of minds and souls, and a commitment to continuing to grow. (A video of the webcast Celebration is available here.)
The class of 2020 not only persisted; they excelled. During a challenging and unusual year, an amazing 43% of them completed a thesis, up from 37% last year. Seven students completed not one, but two theses, many receiving high honors for both. To complete two theses in any year is an impressive accomplishment, but for seven students to do so under these circumstances (and at such high honors) strikes me as especially impressive. Eleven members of the graduating class have been awarded Fulbright grants, two for advanced research and study, and nine to teach English abroad. These are just small glimpses into this outstanding group. I look forward to congratulating them in person and celebrating them more fully at their Commencement ceremony on campus next spring.
Our graduates enter a world of public health, economic, leadership, and moral crisis. They bring to these interrelated challenges their intellectual curiosity, problem-solving abilities, compassion, and determination to help create a better world. Over the past few weeks, we have seen younger generations of Americans and many of their elders take to the streets to protest the devastation of anti-Black racism—manifest in police brutality, economic inequality, inequities in educational opportunity, health disparities, and many other forms. For the good of everyone in our community, especially all our students, present, past, and future, I hope each one of us, and all of us together, will use this opportunity to help change what must be changed.
The evening before our celebration of the class of 2020, I was honored to attend the virtual 50th reunion gathering of the class of 1970. I was moved by the openness with which class members spoke about personal challenges and the transformations that they can bring, when losses are acknowledged and grieved. The class of 1970’s amazing sense of community and their willingness to show vulnerability were reminders of the exceptional bonds that link our graduates across time and space and help make transformation possible. I hope that our newest alumni will preserve friendships, build new ones, and cultivate a sense of community with one another that will be a source of sustenance, meaning, and change for them up to, including, and beyond their own 50th reunion.
This is the time of year when we invite you to make a gift to the Amherst Fund before we close the books on fiscal year 2020. This year, your giving will support our continued responsiveness to current and incoming students’ greater financial needs during the COVID-19 pandemic—for instance, our decision to give additional grants to financial aid students in place of their summer earnings contributions. At a time when our students’ financial needs are perhaps greater than ever before—this spring, requests for financial aid appeals were up 22%—our commitment to recruiting, admitting, and educating the most talented students, regardless of background or how limited a family’s financial resources may be depends, as always, on your generosity
Thank you for doing your part to make an Amherst education affordable for every admitted student.
Stay well,
Biddy