Following the illicit gathering of an estimated 80 to 100 students at Wood House on Friday, Campus Safety and Security has begun to identify students who were involved. A number of students have come forward to the administration to admit that they attended the party, according to Dean of the College Marlene Sandstrom. Some Wood residents said that Friday’s party was one instance in an ongoing pattern of illicit gatherings at Wood House, to which they believed the College’s response has been inadequate.

The College will put in place two major initiatives for residential life starting fall 2021: hiring live-in residential staff and providing affinity and special-interest housing.

Director of Campus Safety & Security (CSS) Dave Boyer will retire this August after 32 years at the College.

North Adams Mayor Tom Bernard ’92 announced Feb. 23 that he would not seek reelection this year to a third term in office. Bernard, who grew up in North Adams before attending the College, was elected in 2017 and reelected in 2019, both times with commanding majorities.

Monday 2-22-21 10:39 a.m. Hopkins Hall: An officer picked up a medical supplies package for a student in quarantine at Dodd House, who would be moving to isolation at the Center for Development Economics...

At the meeting on Feb. 22, the Williamstown Select Board planned for the hiring of an interim town manager and an interim chief of the Williamstown Police Department.

An indoor party was held on Friday night at Wood House with between 80 and 100 attendees, President Mandel announced in an email on Saturday. As a result, students will not be allowed to socialize indoors with non-podmates until March 15 at the earliest, two weeks later than planned.

Eleven on-campus students have tested positive for COVID-19 since arriving for the spring semester, a significant increase relative to the number of COVID cases reported at a comparable time in the fall.  Seven of this semester’s cases were reported upon arrival, with the remaining four positives occurring after the student had initially tested negative. Three of those students, who at first moved to quarantine in Dodd House after coming into close contact with COVID-positive students, have since tested positive themselves and moved to isolation. One staff or faculty member tested positive on Feb. 15.

The Williams Student Union (WSU) is holding a referendum on its continued existence concurrently with once-per-semester elections. Voting will be open from March 3 to March 13, with results scheduled for release on March 15. The WSU elections will occur simultaneously with elections for Facilitators for Allocating Student Taxes (FAST), the funding body of the Three Pillars student government.

Activist Ericka Hart delivered the morning keynote on Claiming Williams Day on Thursday in a Zoom webinar titled “(Calling Out) Williams Day!” Hart called on the College to address past and present institutional racism against Black and Indigenous people.

Michelle Alexander, civil rights lawyer and author of the New York Times bestseller The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, presented the evening keynote address for Claiming Williams Day on Thursday to an audience of 605 viewers.

After a decade of community organizing, Williamstown may soon be getting new street lights. On Feb. 8, the Williamstown Select Board unanimously approved an intra-municipal agreement to transfer jurisdiction of Williamstown’s street lights from the fire department to the Town Hall, making the Town fiscally responsible for the lights. The decision is the first step in the Town making the switch from high-pressure sodium (HPS) streetlights to more environmentally friendly LED ones.