Amherst College Reunion 2024: Fifty Years Later: A Campus Tragedy and Its Legacy

Gerald Penny ’77, a young Black man from New Orleans, newly arrived at Amherst, drowned in Pratt Pool in September 1973 during the course of a swimming test. The Black Cultural Center, in the Octagon, is named for him. Penny’s death was a profound shock to his classmates and to the entire community—a searing moment for people as individuals and also an event of institutional importance. It led to changes in specific policies, and it held longstanding assumptions and realities up to light. Panelists include Penny’s classmate Robert Bellinger ’77; Allen Hart ’82, the Manwell Family Professor of Life Sciences (Psychology) and Special Assistant to the President; and Mark London ’74, P’10, former Amherst Student reporter. Moderated by Richard Ammons ’74, dorm advisor to the Class of 1977. Footage from oral-history reminiscences may be shown. Presented by the Class of 1974.