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

Phoebe Pallesen, Managing Editor

Phoebe Pallesen ’27 is an English and Chinese major from New York, N.Y. She is an executive editor for the news section. She has previously served as managing editor, section editor for the features section, and before that, as a staff writer for features.

Email: [email protected]

All content by Phoebe Pallesen

Record elects 2026 leadership

Davis, Zinkin-Meyers to serve as editors-in-chief; Carranza Rengifo, Niewoehner as managing editors
Phoebe Pallesen and Hugh Kane • December 3, 2025
The Record board has elected Ellie Davis ’26.5, Sonia Zinkin-Meyers ’27, Rosario Carranza Rengifo ’27, and Ben Niewoehner ’27 to lead the newspaper in 2026. Davis will serve as editor-in-chief in the spring, alongside managing editors Carranza Rengifo and Niewoehner. In the fall, Zinkin-Meyers will follow Davis as editor-in-chief. The incoming management will succeed editor-in-chief Haley Zimmerman ’26 and managing editors Inés Garcia ’26 and Aliya Huprikar ’26. 
Olivia Jo/The Williams Record

College reorganizes Chaplains’ Office

Phoebe Pallesen and Christopher Hughes • October 22, 2025
The College recently restructured the Chaplains’ Office this fall so that the chaplains no longer report directly to the Dean of the College Gretchen Long. For now, the chaplains will report to Senior Associate Dean of Academic Engagement Danielle Carr Ramdath, though this may change in the future.
Theo Duarte-Baird/The Williams Record

‘The Compact threatens to undermine academic independence’: Mandel responds to Trump administration

Phoebe Pallesen and Haley Zimmerman • October 8, 2025
President of the College Maud S. Mandel outlined a set of principles upon which she believes “any compact committed to excellence in higher education should be based” in an all-campus email on Oct. 6. The email follows a memo from the Trump administration to nine schools — not including Williams — which asks the institutions to commit to a set of wide-ranging terms in exchange for favorable access to federal funds.
Francis Huang/The Williams Record

Mandel signs statement opposing government interference in higher education

Phoebe Pallesen and Sonia Zinkin-Meyers • April 30, 2025
President Maud S. Mandel signed onto an open letter condemning “the unprecedented government overreach and political interference now endangering American higher education.” The letter was issued by the American Association of Colleges and Universities and had over 500 signatories as of publication, including the leaders of colleges, universities, and scholarly societies.
Iris Li/The Williams Record

College removes TAPSI website out of ‘abundance of caution’

Phoebe Pallesen and Sonia Zinkin-Meyers • March 12, 2025
A page on the College’s website that outlined the Theme/Affinity/Program/Special Interest (TAPSI) housing program was taken down during the week of Feb. 14. Dean of the College Gretchen Long said that the College is not planning any changes to the program, but that senior staff decided to take down the page following the Department of Education’s Feb. 14 Dear Colleague letter.
Photo courtesy of The Williams Record. A correction issued in the February 15th, 1977 issue of the Record.

This Week in Williams History: Cap and Bells gets musical, student petitions against restrictions on first-years, and panelists discuss queer life

Phoebe Pallesen and Hugh Kane • February 19, 2025
“This Week in Williams History” is a column that looks back at memorable moments in the College’s past through articles in the Record. This week in history, the Record covered Cap and Bells’ first musical, frustration with a restriction on women visiting dorms at night, an overstatement of the frequency of sex on campus, and a student panel discussion on queer life.
WOC led a trip to D.A.R. state park to experience the eclipse in the path of totality. (Photo courtesy of Caroline Nadalin ’27.)

Even classes eclipsed by astronomical spectacle

Phoebe Pallesen • April 10, 2024
If the tinted, paper glasses strewn across Lee Snack Bar tables, the recent buzz about “paths of totality,” and obscenely-early alarms didn’t alert you, on Monday, swaths of the United States experienced a total solar eclipse — an astronomical event in which the Moon passes between the Sun and Earth, momentarily shielding the Sun’s light. 
(Photo courtesy of Aarju Poudel.)

One in Two Thousand: Aarju Poudel ’27

Phoebe Pallesen • March 6, 2024
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, Aarju Poudel ’27 discussed her hometown, dyeing her hair red, and her love for untranslatable words.
‘I have the greatest conversations’: Local ride-share driver Beth Johnson shares anecdotes from her 16 years transporting College students

‘I have the greatest conversations’: Local ride-share driver Beth Johnson shares anecdotes from her 16 years transporting College students

Phoebe Pallesen • October 25, 2023
Many students book ride shares to and from their campuses for school breaks, but residents of the isolated Purple Valley are forced to rely on them more than most. Beth Johnson, a longtime ride-share driver in the Williamstown area, spoke with the Record about her years of experience driving College students to-and-fro.
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