We at the Record are thrilled to begin another semester in the Purple Valley, and I am personally grateful to have this opportunity to address our readership at the beginning of my time as editor-in-chief. My goal for this time is simple: to publish good, truthful and important stories. We owe these three duties to our readers — to write understandably, to portray only what is true and to give space to the issues that matter to this community and that we think deserve its attention.

We are also excited to push forward with several new projects this semester and year. We are convening an investigations group that will be pursuing longer-form pieces on issues such as accessibility at Williams, admission and financial aid and town-College relations, amongst others. We hope to continue our focus on issues that came to the fore last semester, including the role and place of support staff at the College, student activism and the retention and support of a diverse faculty and staff.

Developing our future editors and writers is also a crucial task. The Record will be operating a dedicated training program for writers over the course of the semester. Each Saturday at 4 p.m., we invite any interested students to come to our office (Paresky 209, right next to the chaplains’ office) to learn about campus journalism, share ideas for how it can be improved, meet our staff and sign up to write for us. We hope that these sessions will feature opportunities for professional development with those currently working in the journalism field as well. 

We also welcome those who are interested in working on our photography, podcast, social media channels or crossword, each of which we will continue to strengthen this semester. We hope that this effort, along with other recruitment efforts, will improve our ability to hire a diverse and well-trained editorial staff. 

The community journalism which the Record does thrives on the contributions and participation of its readers — as does the College community. We would love to receive op-eds and letters to the editor on the issues that matter to you. The contact form on our website is a great way to reach us; we cannot wait to hear from you. Let us know if there are issues we need to cover, stories we ought to tell or people we should meet. We are incredibly grateful for the role we get to play in informing and strengthening this community, and we strive to represent the voices of it as best we can.

What goes on at the College also impacts Williamstown and the greater Berkshire community. As such, we particularly welcome feedback, op-eds, and letters from those not necessarily affiliated with the College but for whom the College’s actions matter. 

As with any enterprise — no less with any one run by people who are also full-time students — we will make errors, slip-ups and foibles. I welcome and thank you in advance for your open and honest feedback. If you have qualms with our coverage, corrections to submit or suggestions for new ways to improve the paper, we are all ears. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to any member of the editorial board, contact me at [email protected] or submit a letter to the editor for publication. 

Student journalism plays a vital role in keeping our community informed, holding power to account and amplifying the voices that need to be heard. I am honored to continue that tradition and grateful for your feedback and input along the way. 

Sincerely yours, 

Nicholas Goldrosen

Editor-in-Chief