The Record sent a survey to every staff member at the College, and spoke with seven of them about their experiences since the pandemic began. The stories they told speak to the challenges staff have confronted in the past year, the ways staff feel they do and don’t fit in at Williams, and the hopes many staff have for a post-COVID future.
Beginning April 19, the College will provide transportation to COVID-19 vaccination sites at St. Elizabeth of Hungary Parish Center in North Adams and Berkshire Community College in Pittsfield for students, faculty, and staff without personal transportation. In the meantime, some students who are already eligible have been able to get vaccines.
The Williamstown CO2 Lowering (COOL) Committee is pushing the Town to adopt its Net Zero Resolution, which calls for action to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions and begin implementing a comprehensive climate action plan by 2023.
In recent months, several colleges and universities — including Bates, Dartmouth, and Duke — have been placed on lockdown in response to rising cases on campus. In all three of these cases, administrators cited illicit gatherings as a main source of infections.
All classes at the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA) have transitioned to remote format as of April 5 and residence halls closed on April 11. President James Birge announced the move to remote learning in an email to the MCLA community on April 1, after 28 on-campus students at MCLA tested positive for COVID-19.
7:34 a.m. Faculty Club: Officers responded to an intrusion alarm caused by a contractor who did not know the system was armed. The Dining staff arrived and would remain on site while the contractor was in the building.
During spring 2020, despite widespread calls for support from term-limited faculty members, the College declined to offer a blanket extension of all term-limited faculty members’ contracts, citing financial uncertainty. Instead, it provided term-limited faculty members the option to take an unpaid research associate position to aid in the job search. While some term-limited professors were ultimately offered extensions on a case-by-case basis, others were left to face a beleaguered job market.
The College used WiFi data as part of its investigation of the Feb. 26 Wood House party, Dean Sandstrom and Director of CSS Dave Boyer told the Record. Boyer also said that the College has increased CSS patrols in students’ residential spaces following the party.
At a special meeting on Monday, the Select Board unanimously chose Charles T. Blanchard, the retired town manager of Palmer, Mass., to serve as the interim town manager of Williamstown.
The Berkshire Eagle recently obtained a copy of the employee complaint against Williamstown Police Department (WPD) Sergeant Scott McGowan alleging that McGowan, who filed a lawsuit against the Town and WPD in August alleging misconduct, had himself perpetrated sexual and racial harassment. The complaint led the department to place McGowan on paid administrative leave last month.
Associate Vice President for Finance and Administration Matt Sheehy will leave the College to take the position of Chief Financial Officer at Deerfield Academy, a boarding school in Massachusetts, beginning Aug. 1, Vice President for Finance and Administration Fred Puddester announced in the March 31 Daily Messages.
On March 31, Amherst College formalized its commitment to divest its endowment from fossil fuels, joining several other NESCAC institutions, including Middlebury and Wesleyan, in plans to divest.
