What's going on in Amherst?

The State and Federal Organizing Committee is the Official UMASS liason to Amherst and is responsible for all advocacy to Amherst. Amherst Town Council has zero members who are currently UMASS students. One member, Dan Melick, used to be a UMASS student and has been an indispensible asset advocating for students rights.

There are three major proposals of which Amherst is considering in relevance to UMASS students:

1. 4 person living By-Law

There is a By-Law in Amherst that makes it illegal to live with more than 4 unrelated persons. This town By-Law has resulted in various UMASS students being kicked out of their housing during the middle of the year. On Wednesday, March 2nd 2010, the Zoning Sub-Committee will be discussing changing this By-law.

2. Smoking Ban

Amherst has been considering banning smoking in pubically registered events and also outside of bars, restaurants and nightclubs. This is currently being heard by the Board of Health.

3. Increasing fines for alchohol related offenses

There has been a proposal to increase fines for open container violations, keg violations, noise violations and other town alchohol related violations to the state maximum of $300.