Keefe Campus Center
The Campus Center is one of the primary meeting places on campus. It houses several meeting lounges, student mailboxes, Schwemm’s Coffee House, the Multicultural Resource Center, the Women’s and Gender Center, the Center for Community Engagement, a multi-purpose space called the Friedmann Room, and even a movie theater!
Media Gallery
Resource Centers
Student Activities
⭐ Resource Centers
Amherst College has a number of Cultural and Identity Resource Centers that often become second homes on campus.
Center for International Student Engagement
Working in collaboration with other resource centers and campus partners, the Center for International Student Engagement aims to guide students as they learn about and question themselves, their environments, and how these interact in local and global contexts.
Multicultural Resource Center
Born out of student activism, the Multicultural Resource Center (MRC) works to support students of color at Amherst College by interrogating systems of racial inequity, promoting racially just communities, and honoring the historic and present-day resilience of people of color. The MRC is centrally located in Keefe Campus Center and exists as part of the Office of Diversity and Inclusion. Our resources include:
♦ A space for students to hang out, build community, study, eat, host meetings, and engage in dialogue
♦ Programs and workshops on race, racism, racial identity, and social justice
♦ Student staff to manage the space and facilitate conversation
♦ Opportunities for students to volunteer and learn about racial justice work
♦ Support for student affinity groups and student leaders
♦ Lending Library with hundreds of books on topics including Asian American Studies, Black Studies, Critical Race Studies, Indigenous Studies, Latinx Studies, Whiteness, and more
♦ Free printing, coffee, tea, and snacks
Women's and Gender Center
The Women's and Gender Center seeks to foster a critical awareness of gender and create an intentional space, accessible to students of all genders, that will serve as a resource and forum for topics and issues related specifically to women and, more broadly, to the experience of gender. The Center promotes learning about and exploring gender through personal experience, academic inquiry, community organizing, activism and discussion.
Queer Resource Center
The Queer Resource Center (QRC) furthers conversations around gender and sexuality across campus by providing opportunities for leadership development, intentional programming, and space for community building that centers the support and empowerment of Amherst’s LGBTQ+ community. The QRC celebrates the beauty of gender and sexuality diversity through utilizing an intersectional approach to all our work, uplifting the experiences of queer and trans people of color (QTPOC) communities, while countering systems of racism, heterosexism and cissexism.
Through dynamic programming and educational outreach, the QRC seeks to improve the campus climate for queer students and advocate for the respect and safety of all members of the campus community. In collaboration with other campus organizations and departments, the QRC works to meet the needs of students to promote personal and leadership development.
We sponsor educational, social and campus community-building programs. Our library has an extensive collection of books and DVDs concerning queer issues/topics. Space can be used for club meetings, studying, and hanging out. The QRC networks with campus, Five College and Amherst area organizations in order to build a stronger community and support system for the queer students of Amherst College.
Center for Diversity & Student Leadership
The Center for Diversity & Student Leadership (CDSL) supports first-generation, low-income, transfer, and military veteran, students, and cultivates leadership development opportunities for all students. The mission of the Center for Diversity & Student Leadership (CDSL) is two-fold:
♦ to provide education, support, and advocacy to and on behalf of first generation, low-income, transfer, and military veteran students. Through programmatic initiatives, resources, and services we foster personal, social, and academic success for the student populations we serve.
♦ to create and offer immersive opportunities for co-curricular learning and leadership development. We strive to educate and cultivate leaders who hold a commitment to lifelong learning, self-reflection, social justice, and social change.
⭐ Student Activities
The Office of Student Activities provides programs, facilities, and support for co-curricular and extracurricular activities, including weekly social activities through Amherst College After Dark and Interterm. Students are encouraged to explore their interests, take on leadership roles, and engage in whatever it is they are passionate about. We provide advisement, direction, and leadership training to a number of groups across campus.
Student Government
The Association of Amherst Students (AAS) represents the student body. It makes recommendations to the administration based on student input, supports student programming and puts on campus wide events. AAS members also act as a bridge between students and College administration.
Campus Activities Board (CAB)
The Campus Activities Board (CAB) is a student-run programming board hosts a variety of campus-wide events throughout the school year that promote a sense of community at Amherst while upholding many campus traditions. CAB offers trivia competitions, paint nights, dance parties and puts on our annual Spring Concert, among many other fun programs and events. CAB events are always free and open to the entire Amherst College student body.
Student Groups
Amherst students have many opportunities to enrich their educations through co-curricular and extracurricular activities. A student might go to hear a guest speaker in anthropology, take a karate class, sing in an a cappella concert, and help paint a house with Pioneer Valley Habitat for Humanity—all in a single week. Students lead more than 100 autonomous organizations, including groups for activism, religious cultural affinity groups, intramural sports, arts clubs, a debate team, a radio station, and more.
Campus Map
