The Record sent its biannual approval ratings survey to 500 randomly selected students last week. The survey asked students to indicate their approval, disapproval, or neutrality toward various campus institutions.
Students and administrators at Mount Greylock Regional School District established a Black Student Union at the high school last month with support from students at the College.
Billick will serve as editor-in-chief in the spring, alongside managing editors Kane and Pallesen. In the fall, Zimmerman will follow Billick as editor-in-chief, with Garcia and Huprikar as managing editors.
CISA, as well as several other students, hosted an open mic event in Baxter Hall on Nov. 18. In addition to commenting on the election’s impact on marginalized communities — the original focus of the event — students also voiced opinions about a variety of other issues, including the ongoing war in Gaza, political apathy among students at the College, and the administration’s response to recent bias incidents on campus.
The Board of Trustees rejected the latest calls by Students for Justice in Palestine and Jews for Justice to divest from weapons manufacturing at a meeting on Oct. 30, according to a statement posted by the two groups on Instagram on Nov. 16.
The National Weather Service issued a red flag warning for Western Massachusetts on Nov. 6, signaling a high risk of brush fire amid unseasonably low humidity, warm temperatures, and strong winds. In response to these conditions — which have created the second driest season in Williamstown since 1982 — more than 200 municipalities across the state, including North Adams, have prohibited all outdoor fires.
The College plans to incur $106 million in debt over the next decade to finance its Energy and Carbon Master Plan, which seeks to reduce campus emissions by 80 percent by 2050.
Magnús Bernhardsson, professor of history and chair of global studies, presented the initial findings of his three-year research project at a presentation in Schapiro Hall on Nov. 14. The project — a study of refugee families from Syria and Iraq who resettled in Iceland between 2016 and 2021 — is a collaboration between Bernhardsson and Hanna Ragnarsdóttir, a professor of multicultural studies at the University of Iceland’s School of Education.
The College installed its first solar-powered electric vehicle charging station in the Hollander Hall parking lot earlier this month as part of its long-term efforts to decarbonize campus. The charger, which will become operational later this month, is reserved for faculty and staff use, though the College may install additional models for students.
The Honor and Discipline Committee passed several changes to its procedural bylaws and committee practices on Monday through a vote. The committee increased the necessary number of members present to hold a hearing from five to six, added a required statement of confidentiality for members to sign before hearings, and mandated that committee members consult the senior associate dean of students if they plan to study away.
Students will be required to pay tuition to the College for semesters spent studying away beginning in the 2027–28 academic year. Once the new policy is implemented, the College will pay a study away program’s tuition — which is often significantly less than the College’s comprehensive fee — and collect the rest as an effort to contend with recent financial pressures, Provost Eiko Siniawer and Vice President for Finance and Operations Mike Wagner said at the Nov. 6 faculty meeting.
