It Happened in Amherst

Matt McCall’s tenure as the University of Massachusetts men’s basketball head coach ended in March 2022. And when McCall departed, UMass Athletic Director Ryan Bamford applied what he’d learned from past hires in hiring former South Carolina coach Frank Martin to lead the team. In this episode of It Happened in Amherst, Joey Aliberti revisits McCall’s five years at UMass to better understand the program’s future.

Welcome to the W.E.B Du Bois Library, the 26-floor tower in the center of the University of Massachusetts Amherst campus. Depictions of libraries usually include quiet reading and a shushing librarian, but UMass students ensure that the library is always loud. In this episode of It Happened in Amherst, Emilee Klein takes a ride down the elevator of the W.E.B Du Bois Library, traveling through time in the archives into the future of open access education. Throughout the tour, Klein finds that the symbol of UMass represents more than just the university.

Activism thrives at UMass Amherst. As the flagship campus of Massachusetts, UMass Amherst has branded itself “revolutionary,” and its students channel that spirit toward fighting for causes they care about. Student protests at UMass have shaped university policies from the 1960s, when female freshmen had an 8 p.m. curfew, all the way through December 2021, when the Survivor’s Bill of Rights was passed. In 1969, the U.S. government reinstated the compulsory draft, where young men between the ages of 18 and 26 could be compelled to serve overseas. Many UMass students rose up to fight against U.S. military involvement in Southeast Asia. Student efforts culminated in a nationwide strike of classes in May 1970, which provoked ripples that reached even the highest levels of the federal government. In this episode of It Happened in Amherst, Izzi D’Amico talks to UMass students past and present for a closer look at how the culture of protest at UMass has developed from 1968 to 2022.

The concept of reparative justice differs depending upon where you look and who you talk to. In Amherst, Massachusetts, reparations involve getting funding into the hands of Black community members to bring repair for slavery and post slavery, anti-Black racism stemming from the town. By 2023, the town plans to be one of the first places in the nation to officially have a system of repair in action. In this episode, Ella Adams talks to individuals central to the success of Amherst’s push for reparations about how this system will work and what it means for the town to finally be taking this step.