Lucy Walker ’23 is an English and history major from Washington, DC. She is the current executive editor for archival research and previously served as the section editor for news, as well as the executive editor for investigative reporting.
Beginning in 1991, Asian American Students in Action (AASiA) coordinated Asian American Awareness Month programming, which featured various speakers and cultural events. The Record spoke to Bowen Chung ’93 and Harry Yoon ’93, two of the main organizers for the event’s inaugural year.
From Sept. 27 until Nov. 7, students entering and exiting Sawyer library could look at Anamnesis, an archival project created by Nasir Grissom ’23 that featured archived photos of Black student life at the College.
Members of the Black Student Union (BSU); Vista, the College’s Latinx and Allies Student Organization; and Asian American Students in Action (AASiA) hosted an annual teach-in at Goodrich Hall on the history and future of ethnic studies at the College.
Instructor Melissa Kate Adams-Silva, who is Deaf, is teaching the College's first introductory ASL course this fall. Her course seeks to not only teach students ASL, but also to raise awareness about Deaf experiences and societal contributions from the Deaf community.
The College didn’t fully welcome women until 1971, when the institution officially became coed. Yet there’s a lesser-known history of women learning at the College long before co-education was ever on the horizon — women who studied alongside male students but did not receive degrees until years or decades later, if they received a degree at all
While campus movements in recent years, both at the College and nationally, have focused on divestment from fossil fuels, a very different movement took place about 40 years ago, when students on campus were campaigning for divestment from the South African apartheid state, a movement which lasted nearly 10 years.
This week in history, the College appointed its first female dean, removed the infamous Rock Fan from in front of Chapin Hall, and debuted the Paresky Center.
The first Winter Study, which took place in 1968, brought a new type of learning to many students and coincided with increased social awareness of political issues including racial equality and the Vietnam War.
In a campus-wide email sent on Wednesday, Jan. 12, Dean of the College Marlene Sandstrom announced a “recover-in-place” strategy for students who test positive for COVID-19. The College will permit students who test positive to isolate in their rooms, as long as they live in a single dorm.
The College used WiFi data as part of its investigation of the Feb. 26 Wood House party, Dean Sandstrom and Director of CSS Dave Boyer told the Record. Boyer also said that the College has increased CSS patrols in students’ residential spaces following the party.
Due to a recent loss of housing units at Cable Mills, the College has continued to pursue other options for new faculty housing. In a faculty meeting earlier this year, members of the administration mentioned potential changes to the faculty housing lottery, among other suggestions.
The spring semester will start as previously scheduled, with students returning to campus beginning Feb. 10, President of the College Maud S. Mandel and Dean of the College Marlene Sandstrom announced today in an email to students, staff, and faculty. Additionally, the College plans to hold an in-person commencement for seniors, albeit with no off-campus guests.
COVID-19 testing is now a part of daily life for on-campus students, faculty and staff at the College. Yet there’s so much more operating beneath the surface, from staff coordination to transportation to the testing process itself. The process that takes students under five minutes to complete has been in development since July.
Life across campus has shifted radically in order to implement safety measures and ensure socially distanced learning and residential life. These changes have had financial implications for the College,...
While the Town acknowledged that McGowan’s lawsuit “raises genuine questions or doubts about the Town’s commitment to diversity, inclusion, and racial equity,” their response –– the second public statement made by the five-person board on the lawsuit –– disputes several of McGowan’s characterizations of incidents. Additionally, it denies allegations that Johnson committed sexual assault or racial harassment, and claims that McGowan did not experience retaliation for reporting and opposing alleged incidents of sexual assault and racial harassment.
According to enrollment plans that 2,254 students submitted by a July 10 deadline, approximately 73 percent of the respondents, or approximately 1645 students, indicated that they would be returning to campus during the 2020-21 academic year–– a figure which Dean of the College Marlene Sandstrom in an email to the Record said will be “a noticeable difference for all of us.”
Faculty members have been asked to inform the College by yesterday, June 20, whether they would teach in person or remotely if the campus were to reopen in the fall. The academic subcommittee of the working group tasked with determining what an on-campus fall would look like sent an all-faculty email on June 10 to address curricular planning in the case that campus reopens in the fall. The College has not yet decided whether or not to open campus in the fall, with the decision deadline still set for July 1.
In an all-faculty meeting on Wednesday, President Maud S. Mandel announced that she is strongly considering adopting either a trimester or a three-semester model for the 2020-2021 academic calendar....
As the spring semester nears its end, the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on the coming academic year remains unclear, making plans for first-year orientation programs uncertain. Ephventures organizers...
As institutions of higher education across the world are grappling with the question of reopening in the fall, the College has developed a plan to work toward a decision.
In a faculty meeting conducted over Zoom last Wednesday, President of the College Maud S. Mandel announced the creation of an ad hoc committee tasked with planning alternative options if in-person classes...
Soraya Membreno ’12 gave a talk last Thursday on her experience as a first-generation immigrant of color at the College titled “These are the things that no one tells you: On navigating primarily...
On Sunday, March 1, the Three Pillars Task Force released the results of its most recent election, which determined the members of the Williams Student Union and the Facilitators for Allocating Student Taxes (FAST).
On Monday, Feb. 24, self-nominations for positions within the Facilitators for Allocating Student Taxes (FAST) and the Williams Student Union, two bodies of the newly structured student government, were released.
The faculty voted last Wednesday to change the weighting of an A+ grade from 4.33 to 4.00. The motion, led by the Committee on Educational Affairs (CEA), was presented at the Feb. 12 faculty meeting by Professor of Philosophy and committee chair Bojana Mladenovic.
Last Thursday, several transfer students organized a Claiming Williams event entitled “New Ephs on the Block: Transfer Students at Williams.” The event centered on the experience of transfers at the College and featured several panel speakers who had varying experiences with the college transfer process.
Williamstown Apothecary
On Jan. 17, the College announced the development of the Williamstown Apothecary, a new pharmacy opening at 72 Spring Street in partnership with Berkshire Health Systems (BHS)....
Last week, Williamstown installed several new pedestrian crossing signs along Main Street in an attempt to address longtime concerns over pedestrian safety.
From Oct. 22 to Oct. 24, Margolis Healy, a campus security consulting firm, conducted an external review process of the College’s campus safety and security (CSS). Steven Healy, CEO of Margolis Healy,...
High school students Elizabeth Westerdahl, Eliza Goldsteen, Ruby Lerman, Carly Anselmo and Devin Khoury (from left to right) strike in front of the First Congregational Church. (Lucy Walker/The Williams...
In Other Ivory Towers is the Record’s look at colleges and universities outside the Purple Bubble.
A month after a female student of color reported being attacked on the campus of Bard College at...
A proposal to turn a storefront at 742 North Hoosac Road into a sporting goods store has sparked controversy. (Nicholas Goldrosen/The Williams Record)
Following a contentious hearing, the Williamstown...
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