Whose Disasters? An Overview

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How does the college community respond to disasters?

There are mainly two archetypes of how a college community responds to disasters: proactive, and reactive. The first requires close attention to the environment surrounding the community as well as comprehensive planning. As the response occurs before the event has happened, the college must be prepared for any possible scenario. This is not an easy task to complete.

More commonly, the college will respond reactively to disasters. The majority of the responses we studied we reactive, such as the letters from the war fronts written by students who had decided to join the war effort, or the relief projects that students took on in the aftermath of the hurricane of 1938. Most recently, we saw the College respond reactively to the COVID-19 pandemic by sending students home and conducting remote learning instead. However, this attempt to prevent the virus from reaching the small, close-knit campus was also a form of proactive planning as well. 

A college community could unite or disintegrate in the face of a disaster. As seen in the hurricane of 1938, the college community came together to provide relief for affected communities both on- and off-campus. The camaraderie that students formed during not only this disaster, but also in disasters across time and history, proved that the spirit of __ was well alive at Amherst. 

In other times, however, student dissent and dissatisfaction with administration can lead to further unrest and even protests. The most notable protest of such large size in recent years was the Amherst Uprising. At its worse, the college could become completely divided and lose its sense of community.

Because the hurricane is already well on its way toward that unique form of oblivion reserved for past catastrophes, it seems only fair to pause briefly and pay appropriate respect to the few good things it brought with it. There was, of course, the contagious. spirit of camaraderie: which, we understand, always accompanies great crises. 

The Amherst Student, 1938

Administrative decisions and student reactions don’t always align. This is something that can clearly be seen in the administration’s recent decision to switch to remote learning for the latter half of the spring 2019 semester, as well as the decision to prioritize first years and sophomores on campus for the fall 2020 semester. Student publications are a valuable resource to use if one wishes to dive into the opinions and responses of students. These records will become history that is passed on to the next generation. Looking back on responses from previous disasters can be a valuable way to learn from past mistakes. These responses become valuable insight and can help guide future decisions in the face of disaster. 

Voices

“Tomorrow we’ll Rebuild Amherst.”

Stanley King, Eleventh President of Amherst College, October 1938