Jack McGovern

Baseball sweeps Hamilton, opens spring season with 3 wins

Jack McGovern, Sports Information • April 7, 2021

In its first competition since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, baseball emerged victorious in a set of three games against Hamilton last weekend.

Ephs share stories from staffing campaigns in battleground states

Jack McGovern • December 9, 2020

In the middle of their careers at the College, in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of students made a choice this fall to drastically uproot their lives in order to work as campaign staffers for the 2020 general election.

WPD dispatcher who shared anti-Black racist Facebook posts resigns

Jack McGovern and Kevin Yang • November 13, 2020

Editor’s note: This article contains images and descriptions of anti-Black racist and violent language and imagery. A dispatcher with the Williamstown Police Department (WPD) resigned on Thursday...

Amid dissent, Town Manager Hoch retains WPD Chief Johnson

Johnson apologizes, announces investigation into new report that WPD officer shared racist Facebook posts

Jack McGovern, Jeongyoon Han, Kevin Yang, and Ella Marx • November 11, 2020

At a Williamstown Select Board meeting on Oct. 26, Town Manager Jason Hoch ’95 announced his decision to retain Kyle Johnson as the chief of the Williamstown Police Department (WPD). The announcement comes as Johnson faces allegations of sexual assault and racial harassment in a federal lawsuit filed in August, and as local police accountability organizers have called for his removal. Following this announcement, in a Monday Select Board meeting, Johnson apologized for “some poor judgement” early in his tenure, and “tolerating and participating in behaviors that should never have occurred in the workplace.” He also said that an investigation had been initiated into new reports that a WPD officer shared racist posts on Facebook.

‘The ball’s not bouncing but the game’s on’: Professor Rowan Ricardo Phillips on sports, politics and writing

Jack McGovern and Stephanie Teng • November 4, 2020

Phillips (top center) attends a basketball game between the New York Knicks and the Indianapolis Pacers along with author John Green (top right), a long-time friend of Phillips who shares his love for...

Staff member receives violent and threatening hate letter at their home

Jack McGovern and Samuel Wolf • October 29, 2020

On Thursday afternoon, a staff member of the College received a hate letter at their home. The letter communicated an explicit threat of violence, as well as racist and anti-LGBTQIA language, and targeted the racial identity, gender identity and sexual orientation of the staff member in graphic terms.

Competing together: Ephs respond to NESCAC 100 percent voting challenge

Jack McGovern and Stephanie Teng • October 21, 2020

The Student-Athlete Advisory Committee is promoting voter registration among student-athletes through digital campaigns as part of a NESCAC challenge. The image above was designed by programming committee...

Mike Greenman ’18 reflects on working inside NBA bubble

Jack McGovern • October 7, 2020

“They were looking for a couple extra people to fill in the last five or six slots, because they didn’t have enough people, and they asked me if I would be interested, and I didn’t really think twice about it,” Greenman said. “I was like, ‘Yeah absolutely!’”

For fall athletes, the decision to reopen campus brought another choice: Whether to take time off

Jack McGovern • September 30, 2020

“For me, I never really processed the idea of not having a fall season until Maud’s email, so that was kind of the point where I was like ‘Crap this is actually happening,’” said Jake Saudek ’22.5, a rising junior on men’s soccer who ultimately decided not to enroll.

Williamstown without students: Small businesses cautiously reopen, students return

Jack McGovern, Stephanie Teng, and Ben Platt • September 13, 2020

When retailers, restaurants and hotels could begin to offer some in-person services again under phase two of the Massachusetts reopening plan in early June, most small business owners were not expecting much from the summer, which is usually their busiest time of the year.

Williamstown without students: Town government weathers budget crisis

Jack McGovern, Stephanie Teng, and Ben Platt • September 12, 2020

Having completed the budget for fiscal year 2021 in February, town manager Jason Hoch ’95 had to go back to the drawing board once the effects of the pandemic became clear.

Williamstown without students: Cultural institutions emerge from closure

Jack McGovern, Stephanie Teng, and Ben Platt • September 11, 2020

The Clark and Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (Mass MOCA) both closed on March 14 and remained shuttered through the spring. The long months without visitors took a heavy toll on both museums.

College towns have struggled. Here’s what Williamstown was like without students.

Jack McGovern, Stephanie Teng, and Ben Platt • September 10, 2020

As college towns across the country have reeled from the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, small businesses, cultural institutions and local government in Williamstown have weathered heavy losses while managing to avoid the absolute worst of the crisis. Still, lasting pain from the spring and deep uncertainty about the future remain.

CDE defers admission to incoming class, Grad Art Program plans for hybrid fall

Jack McGovern • July 28, 2020

The Center for Development Economics (CDE) will defer admissions for its incoming class of students to the 2021-22 academic year, while the Graduate Program in the History of Art will proceed with a combination of remote and hybrid courses in line with the College’s plan to convene an in-person semester for fall 2020.

Record survey suggests most students plan to return to campus

Jack McGovern, Haeon Yoon, and Samuel Wolf • July 9, 2020

In response to an anonymous Record survey sent to the entire student body following President Maud S. Mandel’s email last week about reopening campus in the fall, 66 percent of the 685 students who completed the poll said that they would likely return to campus and live in on-campus housing.

Seniors who are awarded fellowships look to the future

Jack McGovern • May 23, 2020

Summiya Najam ’20 will study at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar for Pakistan. She attended the Williams-Exeter Programme at Oxford during the 2018-19 academic year. (Photo courtesy of Summiya...

Brendan Hoffman ’20, Rock Stewart ’20 drafted to play Major League Lacrosse

Jack McGovern • May 23, 2020

Rock Stewart ’20, surrounded by his teammates and friends, signed with the New York Lizards in a rooftop ceremony. (Photo courtesy of @LizardsLacrosse.) On May 4, senior men’s lacrosse captains...

Gail Ouellette, beloved breakfast and lunch cook at Whitman’s, dies at 68

Jack McGovern • May 22, 2020

Gail Ouellette, a breakfast and lunch cook in Dining Services who worked at the College for 35 years, died on April 17 at Southwestern Vermont Medical Center in Bennington, Vt. She was 68. Ouellette...

Director of ESPN’s The Last Dance Jason Hehir ’98 reflects on time at College, filmmaking career

Jack McGovern • May 13, 2020

What if I told you that an alum of the College, remembered by his professors as the quintessential liberal arts student and now as a critically-acclaimed documentary filmmaker, is the biggest name in sports right now?

Ephs in Congress provide window into national leadership during pandemic

Jack McGovern and Tali Natter • May 6, 2020

Rep. Ed Case (D-HI) returned to Washington on a red-eye flight in the middle of the congressional recess to vote for a $484 billion coronavirus relief package. Photo courtesy of @RepEdCase. Congress...

Kirstin Mapes ’21 withdraws from spring classes, eyeing final softball season

Jack McGovern and Irene Loewenson • April 29, 2020

Mapes has decided to withdraw from the remainder of her classes and re-enroll next spring, allowing her to play a full senior season in the Purple Valley.

Column: What fans do when there are no sports to watch

Jack McGovern • April 22, 2020

The Last Dance, ESPN's 10-part documentary on Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls, premiered on Sunday night. The series is directed by Jason Hehir ’98. Photo courtesy of ESPN. Every year, the College...

Spring Street businesses close, adapt services in light of Mass. stay-at-home advisory

Jack McGovern • April 11, 2020

Pappa Charlie's is one of several Spring Street businesses that have stayed open. The sandwich spot recently added a curbside pickup option. (Kevin Yang/The Williams Record) On a week when many students...

John M. Gibson ’42, central Pa. civic leader and nonprofit board member, dies at 99

Jack McGovern • April 3, 2020

John M. Gibson ’42, a retired central Pennsylvania farmer who served as a national board member for the American Heart Association and the Boy Scouts of America and led numerous civic and nonprofit organizations in his longtime home of Lancaster County, died on Saturday in Greenwich, Connecticut. He was 99.