Last Thursday evening, a group of approximately 10 College community members held a vigil outside Paresky, shielding candles from frigid gusts of wind. The event commemorated the victims of an apartment fire in Ürümqi, a city of 4 million in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China.

During its two-week tenure, the Sawyer Library pod was hard to miss.

It’s a lovely fall Sunday on campus. The occasional breeze rustles leaves across the pavement, intermittent clouds dapple the afternoon light, and behind the glass of a fourth-floor conference room in Sawyer library, Nachman Kaul-Seidman ’25 is talking about nuclear war.

As the Nov. 8 elections approach, a Record survey indicates that the Democratic Party and its candidates enjoy strong support at the College, with climate, health care, abortion, and the economy among the most important issues to students.

Each year, the Appalachian Long Distance Hikers Association hosts a convention where thru-hikers — those who undertake long-distance hikes like the Appalachian Trail — can socialize, swap stories, and provide each other with tips and resources. This October, celebrating its 40th anniversary, the Gathering returned to Williamstown.

Though the fact that Massachusetts Route 2 bisects the College is likely one of the first things someone new in town would notice about the built environment, it quickly recedes into the background of daily life. “Stop, look, and wave” becomes reflexive; the miniature traffic jams that occur between classes start to feel mundane. It would take a lot for the road to feel unfamiliar — but quite a lot took place in the fall of 1993.

Student opinions of the College’s COVID-19 policies are divided, a Record survey found. Almost a third of students expressed neutrality about the College’s protocols, while the remainder were almost evenly split between approval and disapproval, slightly weighted towards the former. Survey responses were also divided on whether the College should escalate its COVID protocols to include mandatory weekly testing and an additional booster shot that would protect against Omicron variants. As of Sept. 17, 12.2 percent of respondents reported having contracted COVID while on campus this semester.

This week in Williams history: The Trustees of the College decided to make daily chapel services voluntary rather than mandatory. Male students reacted to the onset of coeducation. And the newly arrived Class of 1981 returned from trips in the Berkshire, Taconic, and Green Mountains on the first-ever WOOLF trips.

Bears have popped up across campus and in Williamstown over the last several months, causing quite the stir among students.

Students are not shy about sharing their experiences with certain courses; they post reviews on Factrak, spill the tea to their underclass acquaintances, and gossip about professors and assignments. The Record set out to determine the hardest course at the College through a survey, Factrak data — and a lot of other things.

Ninety-six percent of students living on campus have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, a Record survey sent to the entire student body on Saturday estimates. Only 9.6 percent of the 751 on-campus students who responded, however, are fully vaccinated, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) defines as occurring two weeks after the final required dose.

This week, the computer (using a script in R) chose Carson Stephenson ’23, who talked about the value of bilingualism in the medical field, the name “Carson,” and giving Lexapro to fish.

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.

As the dust settled and the congressional hearings continued, the Record spoke with students about their involvement in the GameStop short squeeze and views on what its long-term impacts, if any, will be.

Student moderators of social media groups at the College take on a leadership role among peers that is simultaneously powerful and understated.

Every December, the Williamstown Holiday Walk ushers in the holiday season with a wide variety of events, which last year ranged from a tag sale to a screening of Elf. The centerpiece of it all, and my...

Antony Chen ’24, who has millions of TikTok followers, makes videos in his Mission single. (Taryn McLaughlin/The Williams Record.) Millions of people around the world have seen TikTok content creator...

On Monday, Oct. 26, the Record sent out an anonymous survey to the entire student body asking questions about the U.S. presidential election. The results indicate overwhelming disapproval of President...

As the fall semester approached, Nathan Thimothe ’22 and Gavin Li ’22 saw an inefficiency in the College’s “COVID-19 dashboard”  — and with it, an opportunity.  The statistics on...

During the lockdowns and stay-at-home orders of COVID-19’s first wave in the spring of 2020, a distinct trend spread among college students quarantined at home: building virtual campuses on Minecraft...

Brian Hirshman ’06 revealed the true story behind the 'B+' on Amherst College's football field. (Photo courtesy of Brian Hirshman.) In the digital nooks and crannies of Willipedia, one name keeps...

Savannah Coelho of Turning Point USA, a nationwide conservative group, visited campus last week in violation of College restrictions. (Jeongyoon Han/The Williams Record.) Last Thursday, in an apparent...

Upon arriving on campus this fall, most students were greeted with sparsely furnished dorms. A few College-supplied towels, minimal bedding and information on quarantine procedures awaited, as did a...