The Residential Life Team (RLT) temporarily removed Agard House from the College’s room scheduling system on Sept. 9 following issues raised by custodial staff, Campus Safety Services (CSS), and community members, barring student groups from reserving it for events and parties.
According to Assistant Director for Residential Education Zach Cramer, Agard’s popularity for events and parties “has presented problems in years past,” but this semester saw an unprecedented rise in both the frequency and severity of issues in the building.
RLT, Cramer said, has been primarily concerned about the mess left after parties at Agard. “Custodial staff communicated that they were concerned about the cleanliness of the space,” he said.
According to Cramer, issues at parties also prompted increased calls to CSS. “The number of times CSS had to come to Agard to address situations exceeded what was normal in past years,” he said, though he did not provide more specifics.
CSS could not provide comment in time for publication.
Cramer added that CSS had received complaints about damage to a community member’s property near Agard, which prompted the involvement of the Williamstown Police Department.
Following these incidents, the house coordinator (HC) of Agard stepped down from their position in early September. “We’ve never had a housing coordinator leave before in the three years I’ve worked here,” Cramer said. “To have somebody leave that quickly … it had to do with how they were being treated.”
The former HC of Agard did not respond to requests for comment.
Without an HC, there was no designated point person to communicate with CSS or custodial staff, handle noise violations, or oversee damage reports. Agard will remain unavailable until a new HC is hired, Cramer said.
Cramer emphasized that the goal is to make Agard available for student groups to reserve for social gatherings as soon as possible. “We’re aiming to resolve this change within weeks, if not days,” he said. “But we have to get everything that’s supposed to be back in place into place before then.”
According to Cramer, RLT is recruiting a new HC from a pool of students who previously held the position — and ideally in a dorm like Agard that frequently hosts parties. The recruitment, he said, is intended to expedite the hiring process, which typically involves a written application and an interview.
“Once we fill the position, the new HC and I would meet to talk about this semester’s situation and why the position was vacant,” Cramer said. “I would work with that person to make sure expectation setting is fair and reasonable, that communication is consistent, and that they feel respected as a residential leader.”
Cramer also said he recently met the residents of Agard residents to discuss proper conduct toward custodial staff, CSS, and residential leaders. “Since then, I have seen a change in the behavior of the [Agard] community,” he said. “Several members of the community have also stepped up to try and make things better.”
This meeting, he added, was a first step in mitigating these problems, as Agard residents are not directly responsible for the actions of other students attending parties in the dorm. “It stems from a larger problem about keeping parties in compliance and making sure that the aftermath of those parties [is] fair and respectful for people who aren’t responsible for its outcomes,” he said.
Agard’s closure has impacted several student groups, including WCFM, which has regularly hosted events in the dorm in recent years.
“Agard was our go-to for throwing parties — successful ones, too,” WCFM General Manager Giulianna Bruce ’25 wrote in an email to the Record.
“I feel like Agard maybe became a bit synonymous with WCFM parties, at least among the DJ community on campus,” she added. “It is totally unfortunate, and selfishly we are worried about how this will affect our reputation.”
Since Agard became unavailable, WCFM has looked for new spaces to host its events, including the library of Perry House and an off-campus house on Hoxsey Street. According to Bruce, the situation has frustrated members of WCFM and other student groups that frequently hosted events in Agard, as they’ve had to scramble to reorganize events planned in the space.
