The Student-Run Newspaper of Williams College Since 1887

The Williams Record
The Student-Run Newspaper of Williams College Since 1887

The Williams Record
The Student-Run Newspaper of Williams College Since 1887

The Williams Record

Luke Chinman, Managing Editor

Luke Chinman ’25 is an American studies major and an Africana studies concentrator from Pittsburgh, Pa. He is a senior writer. He previously served as a managing editor in spring 2024 and fall 2024, and before that, as an executive editor, section editor, and staff writer for features.

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @lukechinman

All content by Luke Chinman
Emily Zas/The Williams Record

A cult classic: Reading ‘The Secret History’ at Williams

Luke Chinman • October 23, 2024
Though there are certainly exaggerations — murderous Bacchanalia, for one — in a series of interviews with the Record, students and faculty said that Donna Tartt's novel captures an ounce of truth about the experience of attending a small liberal arts college in New England.
This histogram shows the distribution of responses for the percentage of the student body that they know. The median respondent knew about 22 percent of their peers. The chart has a right skew — some outlier respondents knew over 70 percent of students on their survey. (Haley Zimmerman/The Williams Record)

Phantom 500? More like Phantom 1,641.

Record survey sheds light on social connectedness across class year, major division, athletic status, semesters spent studying away
Luke Chinman, Emily Zas, and Haley Zimmerman • April 17, 2024
If you’re a student, it’s likely you heard about the Phantom 500 early in your time at the College. This week, the Record surveyed the entire student body to test the theory.
Francis Huang/The Williams Record.

Administration remains confident despite small incoming JA cohort

Luke Chinman and Safiyah Anwar-Chuku • April 10, 2024
The Junior Advisor (JA) cohort to the Class of 2028 will comprise 35 students — the smallest cohort of JAs in recent years. Despite the small cohort and uncertainty surrounding the program in recent weeks following mass resignations from the Junior Advisor Advisory Board (JAAB) — a group of former and current JAs elected to train and support JAs — College administrators said they remain confident that they will be able to provide a full experience for first-years and JAs next year. 
Photo courtesy of Bryan DiFebo-Byrne.

Small fire in Mission causes minimal damage; CSS, fire department respond

Luke Chinman • March 6, 2024
Campus Safety and Security (CSS) officers and the Williamstown Fire Department extinguished a small fire in a dorm room on the second floor of Armstrong in Mission Park on Thursday, Feb. 29. The fire, caused by a cord left under a pile of clothes, damaged only the carpet of the dorm room, which has since been replaced by Facilities, Director for Emergency Management Amalio Jusino wrote in an email to the Record.
The 29-foot shelves in the LSF hold items that are organized by size. (Safiyah Anwar-Chuku/The Williams Record)

Onsite at the College’s offsite facility for library storage

Luke Chinman and Safiyah Anwar-Chuku • November 29, 2023
Off of Route 7, tucked between the Williamstown Police Station and a field of solar panels, a boxy concrete building sits on an unassuming side road. The LSF looks like a warehouse, and, in many ways, it is. Inside, stuffed on shelves that measure nearly 40 feet high, the College stores everything from back runs of academic journals to archival letters — essentially, everything in the College’s multimedia archives that does not fit inside the limited library storage on the College’s campus.
Who uses the Writing Center?

Who uses the Writing Center?

Luke Chinman • October 18, 2023
The College’s Writing Center offers individual peer tutoring for writing across all academic disciplines. These data reflect how the service has been used this year.
The Honor and Discipline Committee is looking to formalize its internal norms to provide greater consistency. (Samuel Riley/The Williams Record)

Honor and Discipline Committee votes on bylaws to formalize procedures

Past and current members voice broader concerns about lack of sanction consistency
Luke Chinman • May 10, 2023
Voting is underway for members of the Honor and Discipline Committee to adopt a set of bylaws intended to formalize the committee’s internal processes. While the committee already follows a set of procedures to enforce the College’s Honor Code, the proposed bylaws will help ensure year-to-year consistency by putting the procedures in writing, said Simon Kent ’23, a member of the Honor and Discipline Committee who spearheaded a working group to write the document. 
College to use Dorm Room Movers, Connors Brothers services for summer storage

College to use Dorm Room Movers, Connors Brothers services for summer storage

Luke Chinman • May 10, 2023
The College will partner with Dorm Room Movers to provide storage services for students this summer. Dorm Room Movers — a national company that coordinates storage for students around the country — will contract with the College’s longtime storage partner Connors Brothers to manage moving and storing student possessions on site. Connors Brothers will manage moving and storing items, while Dorm Room Movers will manage customer service and billing, Assistant Director of Housing Operations Heather McCarthy told the Record.
Dean of the College Gretchen Long forms ad hoc committee to study academic integrity

Dean of the College Gretchen Long forms ad hoc committee to study academic integrity

Luke Chinman and Julia Goldberg • May 3, 2023
Dean of the College Gretchen Long has established a committee that will consider academic integrity at the College. The Ad Hoc Committee on Academic Integrity, which Long will chair, will comprise faculty members from every division. It will convene for the first time in the coming weeks and meet regularly for roughly a year, after which Long expects to share the committee’s findings with the community.
The chemistry curriculum at the College will change for the next academic year (Photo courtesy of Christopher Rodriguez)

Faculty approve changes to chemistry major intended to increase accessibility

Luke Chinman • April 19, 2023
Faculty approved changes to the chemistry major’s four-course introductory sequence — with 61 voting in favor, zero not in favor, and one abstaining — during the faculty meeting on April 12. The changes, which will be implemented for the 2023-2024 academic year, are designed to better accommodate incoming students with a minimal chemistry background.
The Price twins kept their college lists private, but both chose Williams. (Photo courtesy of Phoebe Price.)

Twins at the College discuss not-so-identical experiences

Luke Chinman • April 12, 2023
Identical twins Phoebe Price ’25 and Zoe Price ’25 did not tell each other where they were applying throughout the college application process — until admission decisions were announced and they realized that they shared a first choice school. The Price twins’ story is not unlike those of other twins at the College.
In Other Ivory Towers: Stanford newspaper alleges president committed scientific misconduct

In Other Ivory Towers: Stanford newspaper alleges president committed scientific misconduct

Luke Chinman • February 22, 2023
Marc Tessier-Lavigne, the president of Stanford University, is facing intense scrutiny following allegations of scientific misconduct. According to a series of reports by The Stanford Daily, the university’s student newspaper, multiple scientific journals are investigating Tessier-Lavigne for altering images in his research and members of a biotechnology company have accused him of covering up previous allegations of fraud.
Lines, vouchers, and textbooks: The history of the book grant

Lines, vouchers, and textbooks: The history of the book grant

Luke Chinman and Emily Zas • February 8, 2023
While some students today pay full price for their textbooks, many others receive a book grant from the College that covers the full cost of all necessary course materials. The Record reports on the history of the book grant — from the 1914 Memorial Library, to a book voucher system, and then a final shift to the grant system as it exists today.

Arshay Cooper gives morning Claiming Williams Keynote

Luke Chinman and Lena Kerest • February 8, 2023
Arshay Cooper, a rower, author, and motivational speaker, as well as the subject of the documentary A Most Beautiful Thing, presented the morning keynote for Claiming Williams on Feb. 3. This year, the event's theme was “Justice & Institutional Power,” and the morning keynote was co-sponsored by the College’s Athletic Department, Student Athlete Advisory Committee, and the Allyship in Athletics (AIA) committee.
Students reflect on a semester in new TAPSI housing communities

Students reflect on a semester in new TAPSI housing communities

Luke Chinman • January 25, 2023
For the 2022-2023 academic year, the College approved four Theme/Affinity/Program/Special Interest (TAPSI) housing proposals. After a semester, the Record spoke to students living in the Williams Interfaith Dialogue House, the International House, the Sustainable Living Community, the Eban House — which is for Black affinity housing — about their experiences.
The cast of Cap & Bells’ Next to Normal performed on the CenterStage. (Photo courtesy of Sari Klainberg.)

Cap & Bells presents Next to Normal

Luke Chinman • December 7, 2022
Last weekend Cap & Bells presented Next to Normal. The rock-musical follows a mother with a worsening case of bipolar disorder and details the effects of her mental illness on her immediate family.
One in Two Thousand: Grace Reynolds ’22.5

One in Two Thousand: Grace Reynolds ’22.5

Luke Chinman • October 19, 2022
Each week, the Record (using a script in R) randomly selects a student at the College for our One in Two Thousand feature, excluding current Record board members. This week, Grace Reynolds ’22.5 discussed her neuroscience thesis, her plans after graduation, and how she likes to spend her time outside in Williamstown. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
The College hopes the new program will reduce its carbon footprint. (Luke Chinman/The Williams Record)

College launches carbon emissions information program for air travel

Luke Chinman • October 5, 2022
The College implemented the Air Travel Greenhouse Gas Emissions Information & Reduction Program, an initiative directed at reducing carbon emissions from College-related air travel, on Oct. 1. Travelers who have booked air travel using College funds will now receive monthly emails from the Zilkha Center for Environmental Initiatives with information about the greenhouse gas emissions from their flights, estimated climate damages as a result of the emissions, and strategies to reduce future emissions due to air travel.
Olivia Wilde’s Don’t Worry Darling opened at Images Cinema on Friday. (Luke Chinman/The Williams Record)

We’re laughing too hard to worry, darling: Drama drives Images crowd

Luke Chinman • September 28, 2022
Campus was already abuzz with discussion and anticipation before the lights dimmed for the 7:30 p.m. showing of Don’t Worry Darling at Images Cinema on Friday night. Plagued by controversy ahead of its release, Olivia Wilde’s latest psychological thriller starring Florence Pugh and Harry Styles drew more laughs than gasps from an audience of College students entrenched in the film’s pre-release drama.
Michael Ma ’26 (center back) poses with his BASE CAMPus group while canoeing on Grafton Lake. (Amina Naidjate/ The Williams Record).

‘Best of both worlds’: BASE CAMPus gives WOOLFies an alternate orientation experience to overnight camping

Luke Chinman • September 28, 2022
Williams Outdoor Orientation for Living as First-Years, known more commonly as WOOLF, is the College’s oldest and most popular EphVenture program, typically a backpacking and overnight camping trip through the Berkshires wilderness. Last year, however, the Williams Outing Club (WOC) added a new option to the EphVenture: BASE CAMPus, where students sleep in their dorms and hike with their fellow first-years over four days.
Students and faculty discussed future sustainability goals for the College. (Luke Chinman/The Williams Record)

Students create environmental time capsule, host discussion about future of climate change

Luke Chinman • May 4, 2022
On Thursday, students and professors gathered on the steps of the Class of ’66 Environmental Center to discuss the future of climate change and fill a time capsule with students’ personal statements, quotations from the event, and other climate-related materials. Organized by Sabrine Brismeur ’22.5 and Isabel Kelly ’23 for their environmental studies course, “Communicating Climate Change,” the event brought together faculty from the environmental studies, theatre, and classics departments for an interdisciplinary conversation.
Astronomy professor, students view eclipse over Antarctica

Astronomy professor, students view eclipse over Antarctica

Luke Chinman • January 26, 2022
In the early morning of Dec. 4, 2021, Chair and Professor of Astronomy Jay Pasachoff, along with students Peter Knowlton ’21.5 and Anna Tosolini ’23, flew over Antarctica in a chartered Boeing 787. For just under two tense minutes, they took photos out of the plane windows with borrowed Nikon cameras from the College library, capturing a total solar eclipse.
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