Following the exposé last month by Amherst College student Jeb Allen regarding the school’s sexually explicit freshman orientation programming, it now appears the parties responsible have been let go.
According to a Friday report by The Washington Free Beacon, those removed include the director of the Queer Resource Center and Women’s and Gender Center, the head of the Multicultural Resource Center, and the assistant director for Religious and Spiritual Life.
Activities from the “Voices of the Class” orientation had included students being “encouraged to speak with licensed therapists who ‘specialize in polyamory and ethical non-monogamy,’” discussing “sexual orientation, habits, kinks, and fantasies,” and “roleplaying various casual and drunken sexual scenarios, including sex with strangers.”
Student and administration backlash to Allen’s report was immediate; Amherst officials sent out communiques regarding mental health and other resources, along with notices they were “seeking the removal of the photos, videos, and alarming posts where possible.”
The student government all but demanded disciplinary action against Allen for his “potentially malicious intent to cast [Amherst] traditions in a false light in order to instigate public vitriol.”
It claimed his article violated the Amherst Code of Conduct via its “Harm to Persons” section.
Regarding news of the various officials’ dismissals, Amherst spokesperson Caroline Hanna told the Free Beacon no one was terminated — the college’s moves merely were part of a “long-planned divisional restructuring.”
She did not elaborate, however, on which positions were being “restructured,” nor why no announcement was made about them.
Hellbound and Down 