£70K-a-Year College Branded 'Disgusting' After Students Simulate Sex, Drug Use in Chapel Orientation Event

Picture this: you have just dropped your kid off at Amherst College in Massachusetts, one of those prestigious places costing £70,000 a year. You are probably thinking they will get a world-class education and make lifelong friends. What you're definitely not expecting is for them to watch older students simulate sex acts on stage whilst moaning loudly and pretending to get high. But that is exactly what happened at Amherst's annual orientation event, and students are furious.

The 'Voices of the Class' show is not some rogue student production. This is official college business. The school pays for it. Administrators encourage first-years to turn up. And it happens in the chapel, which feels like it should mean something.

Students Were Absolutely Horrified

Isabella Niemi, a junior at the college, described her discomfort with the performance. 'I thought about leaving 10 minutes in. I'm not someone who breaks rules or skips mandatory events, but it was disgusting enough it almost forced me to leave.'

She's the type of student who follows the rules, who shows up to things she's supposed to. And even she couldn't handle what was happening on that stage. Ten minutes was all it took before she started planning her escape.

John Collier, another junior, acknowledged the college's intent but criticised the execution. 'I understand that Amherst is trying to remove the taboo behind sex on campus, but this has gone way too far. The way it's forced in our faces does the exact opposite.'

Witnesses report that the skits included students moaning loudly, thrusting under blankets, and simulating the consumption of illicit drugs before sharing their 'high thoughts'.

The College's Defence

Amanda Vann, who runs health and wellbeing at Amherst, defended the show. 'The skits are part of our broader commitment to promoting wellbeing and sexual respect on campus. They encourage conversations about topics that can sometimes feel difficult to discuss, from sexual health and communication to harm reduction and self-care.'

The Office of Student Affairs also said the show was not graphic. Despite reviewing footage of students moaning, thrusting under blankets and simulating explicit acts, and their response was 'not graphic'.

Orientation Leaders Kept in the Dark

The orientation leaders—upperclass students meant to guide first-years—were not told what the event actually involved. One spoke anonymously: 'The administration instructed us to send the first-years to the event. Had I known what it was, I certainly wouldn't have.'

The college deliberately kept its own student leaders in the dark. Nearly 700 students—more than a third of everyone at the college—went onto the app Fizz to upvote critical comments. This is not a handful of complainers. It is a huge chunk of the campus saying that this crossed lines.

A Troubled History

Between 2009 and 2011, Amherst reported 35 cases of 'forcible sexual offences'. For a small liberal arts college, that is shocking. By 2022, students created their own Instagram account—@amherstshareyourstory—just to report sexual assaults anonymously because official systems were not working.

This is the institution that reckons graphic sex performances in chapels teach respect. An institution with a documented track record of failing students on this exact topic. The event's been running since 2007, branded as a 'lighthearted tradition' that uses bits from students' admission essays.

Why This Matters

Amherst is not some no-name institution. President Calvin Coolidge studied there. So did Emily Dickinson and Prince Albert II of Monaco. This is meant to be one of America's finest educational establishments.

But administrators have convinced themselves that being progressive means being provocative, regardless of whether students want it. They have mixed up education with shock value. Real respect means listening when people say they're uncomfortable. It means not trapping students in situations they cannot easily leave.

When a third of your campus is publicly saying you have got it wrong, when students who never break rules are planning their exits, when your own helpers feel betrayed—maybe stop defending your 'tradition' and ask whether it was ever a good idea.

The irony is thick. A college is trying to teach sexual respect through methods that show no respect for students watching. An institution with serious sexual misconduct problems is thinking the solution is more explicit content rather than addressing the underlying issues. Parents spending more than most people earn yearly deserve better. Students deserve better.