David Wignall, Executive Editor for Investigations
David Wignall ’25 is an economics and history double major San Francisco, Calif. He is currently an executive editor for investigations. He previously served as an investigations editor, a social media editor, and a staff writer for news. Email: [email protected].
The College admitted 257 out of 964 early decision applicants to the Class of 2029 on Dec. 13, as well as 18 students through QuestBridge’s National College Match program on Dec. 2.
The College’s endowment delivered a return of 10.2 percent for the 2024 fiscal year, bringing its total value to $3.65 billion — the first time the endowment has increased in value since 2021.
The College admitted 23.3 percent of 1,068 early decision applicants to the Class of 2028 on Dec. 8, according to Dean of Admission and Student Financial Services Liz Creighton ’01.
The proportion of professors who teach Winter Study has been in decline for decades, a Record investigation found. Soon, depending on the results of a faculty meeting this evening, professors may no longer be required to teach Winter Study at all.
The College’s endowment delivered a return of 2.9 percent for the 2023 fiscal year.
The investment gain, valued at $102 million, was offset by a $150 million distribution to fund the College’s...
On May 9, faculty at Mount Holyoke College will vote on a motion to discontinue all programs of study in German and Russian, according to the Mount Holyoke News.
More students than ever are enrolling in STEM and economics courses. Though growing popularity in these departments has delighted professors, it has posed its own challenges. Now, departments must balance surging demand for their classes with limited resources and a desire to preserve the small, intimate atmosphere that defines a liberal arts education.
Across the country, institutions of higher education have struggled to adjust to sky-high demand for STEM courses and weakening interest in the humanities. Williams — with its $3.5 billion endowment and traditional focus on the liberal arts — has been relatively insulated. But the College is not immune, prompting academic departments on both sides of Route 2 to consider their circumstances and what the future might hold.
Students graduating magna cum laude or summa cum laude from Amherst must now satisfy a median grade threshold and a course breadth requirement, following a Feb. 7 faculty vote to amend Amherst’s Latin honors criteria. The decision has been met with both praise and controversy.
The College accepted 255 students — 27 percent of applicants — to the Class of 2027 through early decision today. In total, the College received 943 early applications this year, making it the largest early decision applicant pool in the College’s history. This year’s early acceptance rate, a six-percent decrease from last year’s, is also the lowest on record.
Professor of Astronomy Jay Pasachoff died of complications from lung cancer in his Williamstown home on Nov. 20. He was 79. At the time of his death, Pasachoff was the longest-serving faculty member at the College, the chair of the astronomy department, and the director of the Hopkins Observatory. He had also witnessed 74 solar eclipses — more than any human in history. He is fondly remembered by faculty and students alike.
On April 13, students awoke to a historic announcement — the College planned to eliminate all loans and work study contributions from financial aid packages. While the announcement may have come as a surprise to students, the program was the result of years of careful planning behind the scenes.
On Oct. 31, the Supreme Court’s conservative majority appeared critical of race-conscious admissions during oral arguments in a pair of lawsuits regarding affirmative action.
The Record spoke to three former Ephs who were comfortable discussing their decisions to transfer and life beyond the Purple Valley. While each had different reasons for transferring, Williams’s isolated location, restricted opportunities for socializing, and limited cultural events were common factors.
The College’s endowment fell by roughly $635 million as the fiscal year came to a close on June 30, according to Deputy Chief Investment Officer Abigail Wattley ’05. Now the College must contend with its lowest endowment return since 2009 — which, in conjunction with the more immediate challenge of inflation, may prompt budget cuts for the 2023-2024 fiscal year.
Middlebury College announced that it will raise compensation for resident assistants (RAs) to $9,600, which is equivalent to room cost for the 2024-25 academic year, according to The Middlebury Campus. The increase, which follows advocacy from student leaders of residential life, will happen incrementally over the next two years.
More than 700 community members across all 11 NESCAC schools have signed a petition that calls for the schools to ban crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs) from advertising — and otherwise operating — on their campuses. The NESCAC Coalition to Ban CPCs, an organization that Middlebury students started this past summer, wrote the petition and began distributing it on June 29.
Students at Yeshiva University (YU) and the University of Virginia (UVA) demand change after YU suspended club activity instead of approving an LGBTQ+ club and UVA reported a hate crime.
IOIT: Brown University has agreed to pay $1.5 million to students enrolled during spring 2020 to settle a class-action lawsuit regarding COVID-19 tuition reimbursements. The settlement, which a federal judge approved on Sept. 5, represents the end of a legal battle that has persisted for more than two years.
Harvard will commit $100 million to address its ties to slavery, University President Lawrence S. Bacow announced in an email to the Harvard community on April 26.
Throughout the fall, Caroline Douglas ’23 frequented the Green River in search of three things: water samples for her geoscience research, photos for her junior arts seminar, and videos for her video art class.
For her junior seminar, she created a four-part photo series of herself, her grandmother (whom she calls Nonna), and the River. And for her video class, she created a green screen video.
For the first time since 2019, students admitted to the College will be invited to campus for Williams Previews programming. The College will host in-person programming on April 11 and virtual programming on April 14 and 15 for admitted students who are not able to visit campus, Dean of Admission and Student Financial Services Liz Creighton ’01 wrote in an email to the Record.
There are many services that are hard to come by in Williamstown: from haircuts, to manicures, to eyebrow threading. Across campus, enterprising students have begun offering their services to fill in the gap.
Professors of History Gretchen Long and Eiko Maruko Siniawer ’97 will assume the roles of Dean and Provost of the College, respectively, President Maud S. Mandel announced in an all-campus email on Tuesday.
More than 300 students get customized bagels and drinks from Goodrich Coffee Bar every day. But behind the scenes, the student-run business is struggling to deal with rising overhead costs and an inability to raise College-determined swipe values. Following the pandemic, the business is barely breaking even.
![Excited moviegoers queue up for tickets and popcorn. (Photo courtesy of Juan Baena [Osito Mountain Photos]).](https://williamsrecord.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Screenshot-2025-02-18-at-10.34.24 PM-1200x733.png)
