The Williams Record

Board of Trustees decides against divestment, blanket ESG standards; plans to increase endowment transparency

Board of Trustees decides against divestment, blanket ESG standards; plans to increase endowment transparency

Aliya Huprikar and Haley Zimmerman June 16, 2024
The Board of Trustees followed the ACSR’s recommendations against divesting from weapons manufacturers and adopting exclusionary environmental, social, and governance standards for investments.
(Francis Huang/The Williams Record)

ACSR recommends against divestment from weapons manufacturing, IDF suppliers in report

Haley Zimmerman May 26, 2024
The ACSR offered responses to requests by J4J and Professor of Philosophy Steven Gerrard and issued a final recommendation to the Investment Committee of the Board of Trustees. 
The annual Town meeting will be held tonight at 7:00 p.m. at Mount Greylock Regional School. (Photo courtesy of Niku Darafshi)

Voters to decide on taxes, cottage courts, charter amendments at Town Meeting

Max Billick and Sonia Zinkin-Meyers May 23, 2024
At tonight’s Town Meeting, to be held at Mount Greylock Regional School at 7 p.m., Williamstown voters will decide on 42 warrant articles, including a provision to allow the construction of cottage court developments that could densify the Town’s housing stock, changes to tax law aimed at lowering the tax burden for low-income residents and seniors, and the first major proposed amendments to the Town Charter since its adoption in 1956. 
Haley Zimmerman/The Williams Record

Encampment ends, Board of Trustees commits to two meetings with SJP, J4J

Ellie Davis and Haley Zimmerman May 18, 2024
On Monday afternoon, Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and Jews for Justice (J4J) closed their encampment on Sawyer Quad after President of the College Maud S. Mandel and leaders of the Board of Trustees agreed to a meeting between members of SJP and J4J and at least 19 members of the Board of Trustees.
Aliya Huprikar/The Williams Record

Encampment enters week two

SJP, J4J hold rallies, teach-ins, meet with senior staff; posters of Israeli hostages removed, defaced
Aliya Huprikar and Maya Prakash May 8, 2024
Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and Jews for Justice (J4J) have continued their encampment on Sawyer Quad into its second week. The encampment, which began at 4 a.m. last Wednesday, joined a wave of campus protests across the nation in which students have set up encampments.
Remembering Toby Woods ’27

Remembering Toby Woods ’27

Izzy Polanco May 8, 2024
Toby Woods ’27 died on Feb. 21 at the age of 18. He is remembered by those who knew him as a kind friend, a dedicated musician, and an impressive intellectual who cared deeply about his passions and relationships. Fourteen of his family members, friends, and instructors shared memories of Woods with the Record.
College community remembers Tonio Palmer

College community remembers Tonio Palmer

Hugh Kane May 8, 2024
Tonio Palmer, former director of entrepreneurship at the ’68 Center for Career Exploration, died on April 28, President of the College Maud S. Mandel announced in a statement. He was 65 years old and battled with a rare cancer, ocular melanoma. Palmer worked at the College from 2017 until his retirement earlier this year.
10 faculty members awarded tenure this January. 
Noor Naseer/The Williams Record

Ad hoc Anti-Racism Campus Task Force shares updates from past three semesters

Safiyah Anwar-Chuku May 8, 2024
Members of the College’s Ad Hoc Anti-Racist Campus Task Force, established last November, shared updates on its progress since its creation in interviews with the Record.
The encampment, termed the “Popular University for Gaza,” entered its second day on Thursday. (Quinn Casey/The Williams Record)

SJP, J4J enter day two of encampment, hold rally; posters of Israeli hostages taken down by unknown student, replaced

Lena Kerest and Haley Zimmerman May 3, 2024
Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and Jews for Justice (J4J) continued their encampment on Sawyer Quad, termed the “Popular University for Gaza,” for a second day. About 100 people were at the encampment at its peak attendance in the afternoon and 39 tents were present at the encampment at 7:19 p.m. on Thursday, according to an SJP spokesperson. On Thursday morning, an unknown student removed posters of Israelis held hostage by Hamas that had been hung up by students the previous evening. The same group of students rehung the posters on Thursday afternoon.
Students began their encampment on Sawyer Quad at 4 a.m. (Photo courtesy of Students for Justice in Palestine.)

Encampment by SJP, J4J joins nationwide student protests for institutional divestment

Izzy Polanco May 1, 2024
Students at the College began an encampment on Sawyer Quad at 4 a.m. on Wednesday and released a statement demanding that the College improve its fiscal transparency and divest from weapons manufacturers supplying Israel. This story is breaking and will be updated as additional information becomes available.
Francis Huang/The Williams Record

Student protestors interrupt panel on war in Gaza, may face disciplinary action

Maya Prakash and Hugh Kane May 1, 2024
Last Thursday, the third and final installment of the on-campus speaker roundtable “The War in Gaza and the International Context” was interrupted by student protestors affiliated with Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), some of whom may face disciplinary action from the College.
(Photo courtesy of Sam Sidders.)

College to reevaluate financial support of Williams-Mystic program

Izzy Polanco May 1, 2024
Decades of consistently low enrollment by students at the College in the Williams-Mystic study away program — the College’s coastal and ocean studies program in Mystic, Conn. — have prompted senior staff to consider not renewing its partnership agreement with the Mystic Seaport Museum. The decision, if implemented, would end the College’s financial support for the Williams-Mystic Program and effectively close it to future participants.
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