The College is launching a community-wide, year-long initiative, dubbed On the Log, for the 2025–26 academic year, President Maud S. Mandel announced in a Feb. 5 email to the College community.
Two warrant articles drafted by the Planning Board will be voted on at Town Meeting on May 22, after the Williamstown Select Board voted to add them to the Town Meeting warrant on Monday. One measure aims to regulate short-term rentals in the Town, while the other would regulate the installation of geothermal heating wells.
Elizabeth Rogers has begun serving as director of the Prevention, Education, and Advocacy in Community Office, according to a Daily Message published last Friday.
Over 50 students at Bowdoin face disciplinary action for their involvement in an encampment that lasted from Feb. 6 to Feb. 10, according to the Bowdoin Orient. Eight of those students were suspended — their suspensions were lifted on Monday and they were allowed to return to campus.
President Maud S. Mandel announced the establishment of a series of working groups led by senior administrators and discussed the College’s lobbying and advocacy efforts in her opening remarks at the Feb. 12 faculty meeting. Mandel announced the plans in response to what she described as the threats posed to higher education by President Donald Trump’s administration.
The College has begun a six-month transportation study to consider potential changes to campus parking facilities, roads, and infrastructure. The study will assess transportation practices and the College’s use of land, according to a notice released on Feb. 14 by the Office of Planning, Design, and Construction.
The College will establish the Climate and Community Leaders Initiative in collaboration with Williams-Mystic in fall 2025, Dean of the College Gretchen Long and Executive Director of Williams-Mystic Tom Van Winkle announced in a Feb. 13 email to the classes of 2027 and 2028. According to its website, the program will provide students with specialized climate-focused opportunities throughout their time at the College.
Robin Wall Kimmerer, a botanist, professor, and author of this year’s Williams Reads book Braiding Sweetgrass, delivered the evening keynote address at Claiming Williams Day on Feb. 6. The morning keynote featured Ben Spencer, who was wrongly convicted of murder and imprisoned for 34 years, and Barbara Bradley Hagerty ’81, a journalist whose reporting helped uncover evidence that exonerated Spencer.
Recent executive orders from President Donald Trump have called into question the security of federal funding for research, including grants from the National Science Foundation. Members of the administration told the Record that they are uncertain how the College would respond to future funding freezes, but remain committed to supporting faculty research.
