Dear readers,

Thank you so much for picking up this copy of The Williams Record! As we begin a new semester, I’m pleased to share a few updates with you about the Record’s coverage and practices.

First and foremost, I’m thrilled to announce the return of our podcast, Press Record. You can listen to our first episode, which celebrates the 25th anniversary of The Williams Chamber Players and delves into the career and research of Visiting Professor of Africana Studies Kristen Adele Calhoun, on Spotify today.

I’d also like to share a couple of changes to our editorial policy that we at the Record have recently adopted. Previously, our editorial policy allowed board members to remove their names from a given issue’s masthead if they disagreed with the content of an editorial published in that issue. Last semester, for the first time in recent memory, editors used this policy, prompting discussions among our board about how well it served us and our readership.

We formally considered the policy at the beginning of this semester and ultimately voted to eliminate it. Instead, every editorial will include a tally that states the number of Record board members who assented, dissented, and abstained during the editorial vote. We believe that this change will increase transparency, better demonstrating the range of our opinions to our readership, while keeping the beliefs of individual board members anonymous.

Our policy also previously stated that editorials reflected the majority of the board’s opinion. Historically, however, we have been inconsistent about how we define that majority — specifically, whether we factor votes of abstention into our calculation. In conversations this semester, we agreed that those who abstain often do so out of a lack of knowledge on a given topic, and we decided that, going forward, a majority of the board should feel sufficiently informed about a subject to craft a cogent and nuanced editorial. In order to ensure that all of our editorials meet this threshold, more than half of those present at meetings — counting those who abstain from voting — must now assent for an editorial to be published.

All of these revisions are reflected in our editorial policy, which you can read in its entirety on our website.

Beyond these changes, the Record will continue to strive toward the goals that have long guided our operations. We aim to produce diligent and incisive reporting on issues central to the College and Town, taking care to ensure that such coverage serves all members of our community — especially the marginalized groups it has historically let down.

If you have questions, comments, or concerns about our reporting at any point throughout the semester, please contact me through our anonymous tip line or directly at [email protected]. Our primary commitment is to our readership, and your feedback remains invaluable to us.

Sincerely,
Julia Goldberg ’25
Editor-in-Chief