Izzy Polanco ’25 is a political science major and public health concentrator from Long Island, N.Y. She is a senior writer. Previously, she served as the editor-in-chief, the executive editor of sports, the staff director, a section editor for the sports section, and before that, as an arts staff writer. She can be reached via email at [email protected] and on Twitter at @izzypolanco.
The share of Black students increased from 6.8 percent to 7.3 percent, while that of Hispanic students rose from 14.8 percent to 15.5 percent. The proportion of white students decreased from 45.3 percent to 42.7 percent, and the proportion of Asian students fell from 12.6 percent to 11.5 percent.
Toby Woods ’27 died on Feb. 21 at the age of 18. He is remembered by those who knew him as a kind friend, a dedicated musician, and an impressive intellectual who cared deeply about his passions and relationships. Fourteen of his family members, friends, and instructors shared memories of Woods with the Record.
Students at the College began an encampment on Sawyer Quad at 4 a.m. on Wednesday and released a statement demanding that the College improve its fiscal transparency and divest from weapons manufacturers supplying Israel. This story is breaking and will be updated as additional information becomes available.
Decades of consistently low enrollment by students at the College in the Williams-Mystic study away program — the College’s coastal and ocean studies program in Mystic, Conn. — have prompted senior staff to consider not renewing its partnership agreement with the Mystic Seaport Museum. The decision, if implemented, would end the College’s financial support for the Williams-Mystic Program and effectively close it to future participants.
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, Shayna Julianne ’26 discussed her love for author Zadie Smith, her rotation of podcasts, and her love for comedy.
Applicants who accept their offers of admission will join the 249 students admitted to the Class of 2028 in December through the College’s early decision admissions process. In addition to the 899 students who were accepted last Friday, the College waitlisted 2,300 applicants and denied admission to 10,901 during its regular decision round.
Tonight, faculty will vote on a motion to revise the parts of the Course Catalog regarding Winter Study, including changes to language about the program and rules governing failure of Winter Study courses.
Toby Woods ’27 died on the evening of Feb. 21. He was 18 years old. President Maud S. Mandel announced his death in an all-campus email on Feb. 23. In interviews with the Record, friends remembered Woods for his dedication, his intelligence, and the deep enthusiasm he brought to his relationships and passions.
I write to you with a heavy heart as we mourn the loss of Toby Woods ’27. My thoughts are with Toby’s family, friends, and all who were part of his life.
The Town will permanently close and ban parking in the empty lot off Water Street, colloquially known as the “dirt lot,” on March 1, the Williamstown Police Department (WPD) announced in a Facebook post on Feb. 22.
The Davis Center is set to reopen next month, following nearly two years of expansion. The $27.5 million project included renovations to Jenness House and Rice House, as well as the construction of an additional, yet-to-be-named building to replace Hardy House and a bridge to connect the new building to Rice.
In a Letter from the Editor, Editor-in-Chief Izzy Polanco '25 discusses the Record's new approach to Race, Privilege, and Identity reporting, the role of student journalism, and changes to the editorial board.
Women’s ice hockey (3- 1-0, 3-1-0 NESCAC) swept last weekend’s doubleheader against the Connecticut College Camels (2-3-1, 1-3-0 NESCAC). With the victories, the Ephs stand at second in the NESCAC and No. 20 nationally among NCAA Div. III teams.
Men’s cross country places fourth at NCAA Championship, securing podium finish
On Nov. 18, men’s cross country earned a podium finish at the NCAA Div. III National Championship, scoring...
Cole Mason ’23.5 was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to pursue postgraduate studies at the University of Oxford next fall, joining the 31 other American Rhodes recipients announced by the Rhodes Trust in a Nov. 11 press release. Mason is the newest of the 40 Rhodes Scholars who have attended the College.
Cross country's sweep at Mideast Regionals builds momentum in a triumphant season thus far: At the NESCAC Championship meet on Oct. 28, the Ephs swept both team titles and individual finishes, the first time that feat has been achieved in program history.
To better understand the results of the all-grant financial aid program, the College’s Office of Admissions & Financial Aid — with support from the Institutional Research team and Human Resources — spent the summer analyzing data from its first year to determine the impact of the program.
The College has eliminated the supplemental essay from its application and formed the Working Group on Admissions Policies and Practices. These changes come in response to the Supreme Court’s decision...
For the first time since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the College will not require students, faculty, and staff to self-report positive cases. Free COVID tests will remain available for symptomatic...
The Supreme Court declared race-conscious admissions practices at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina unconstitutional last Thursday. The long-anticipated decision will significantly alter admissions processes at schools nationwide, including those at Williams.
The Haystack Monument, which commemorates five Williams students’ 1806 formation of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, was spray-painted with allusions to Christianity in red graffiti that resembled the May 13 defacement.
Campus Safety Services (CSS) officers responded to reports that unknown perpetrators defaced the Haystack Monument with spray-painted graffiti, President Maud S. Mandel wrote in a campus-wide email on Monday.
The Record sent its biannual approval rating survey to randomly selected unixes last week to gauge student approval of College institutions and policies. The survey found sustained high approval for the faculty and a drop in approval for the dean’s office.
Hundreds of students flocked to Science Quad this Saturday to enjoy the food trucks, festivities, and student performances brought to campus by All-Campus Entertainment (ACE) for this year’s Spring Fling last Saturday. Sammy Rae & The Friends headlined the concert, marking the return of a visiting artist at the College for the first time since rapper and songwriter Princess Nokia performed in Towne Field House in 2019.
The Board of Trustees approved the College’s budget for the 2024 fiscal year at its quarterly meeting last week, President Maud S. Mandel announced in an email to the College community on Thursday.
Sisterhood hosted its fifth annual Melanin Masquerade at Dodd House on Saturday. Educator, author, and original cast member of Dance Moms Holly Hatcher-Frazier ’92 delivered the keynote address. Melanin Masquerade has been held by Sisterhood every year since 2018, except for 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, this year’s event was the first time Sisterhood invited a keynote speaker.
Sports Information held its annual Frank Deford and Aaron Pinsky ’06 Awards Ceremony on Thursday, honoring 10 students — the most recognized in a single year in the ceremony’s 32-year history. Chris Clarey ’86, global tennis correspondent for The New York Times, delivered the ceremony’s featured speech.
The theatre department has suspended the Summer Intensive Training Program (SITP), a collaboration between the College and Williamstown Theatre Festival (WTF), for 2023, Chair of the Theatre Department Omar Sangare announced in an email to the theatre department on Feb. 27.
Stuart Weitzman visited the College on Feb. 28 to deliver a presentation titled “Stuart Weitzman: An Entrepreneur’s Journey On a Road Less Traveled,” which focused on his career spanning more than 50 years in the fashion industry, the internationally known luxury shoe brand that bears his name, and the importance of philanthropy.
For the first time since 2020, skiing hosted a home carnival during the formerly annual Winter Carnival weekend of festivities organized by the Williams Outing Club (WOC). The Ephs placed ninth overall in the carnival, with strong individual performances garnering anticipation toward potential NCAA qualifications.
Women's swim and dive and men's squash finished second in their respective NESCAC Tournaments, while women's squash placed third in their NESCAC Tournament. Players reflected on last weekend's and next week's playoff games.
At its winter meeting, the
Board of Trustees approved
the promotion of 11 assistant
professors to associate
professorships with tenure:
Alexander Bevilacqua, history;
Nicole Brown, classics; PeiWen Chen, biology; Brahim
El Guabli, Arabic studies;
Man He, Asian languages,
literatures, and cultures; Bill
Jannen ’09, computer science;
Laura Martin, environmental
studies; Sarah Olsen, classics;
Ben Snyder, sociology; Mason
Williams, leadership studies;
and Ricardo Wilson, English.
The promotions will go into
effect on July 1.
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, Eve Shulman ’26 discussed walking onto the women’s crew team, her first Winter Study experience, and the Williamstown Apothecary.
Family and friends of Matt Stauffer ’96 gather annually at the College in remembrance of the senior tri-captain of the men’s soccer team who passed away on Jan. 10, 1998 after a three-year battle with leukemia. On Jan. 10, 2023, the group gathered once again at the Rock to remember and honor Stauffer’s life, marking the 25th consecutive year that the group has reconnected.
The University of Chicago Maroons (22–0–1) defeated the Ephs (10–2–11, 4–1–5 NESCAC) 2-0 in the NCAA Div. III National Championship game on Saturday, putting an end to the Ephs’ Cinderella run. The Ephs earned an at-large berth in the tournament and, after winning a series of tightly contested matches, landed a spot in the championship game for the first time since taking home the national title in 1995.
The football team (3–6) finished their season on a high note with a homecoming win against Amherst. Both teams entered the matchup with 2–6 records, vying to bring home a win in the “The Biggest Little Game in America.”
NCAA and NESCAC policy that allowed teams to conduct practices with their coaches during the off-season in response to the COVID-19 pandemic has expired as of this fall, marking a return to traditional regulations on out-of-season play that require team trainings to be optional and practices to be scheduled and held with no coaches involved.
Today, the Clean Water Act is still the primary federal statute that governs water pollution in the United States, but some of its goals — like making every body of water in the nation “fishable and swimmable” — remain unfulfilled in Williamstown.
This week, the computer (using a script in R) chose Isabel Kuh ’23, who discussed her involvement with WCFM, creating spaces for collaborative art, and how — in her view — bibs are “in.” This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
This week, the computer (using a script in R) chose Zoe Hoffmann Kamrat ’25, who discussed her take on the pre-med track, The Catcher in the Rye, and Snar smoothie spills. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
On June 24, the Supreme Court overturned the precedent it set in Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, the 1973 and 1992 cases that guaranteed the constitutional right to abortion. Student and local organizers, alums who work in abortion access, and College administrators must now reckon with a new political reality.
How does President Mandel spend her time outside of executive decision-making? To investigate, we shadowed her for a day, joining her for a few of the events on her itinerary.
All-Campus Entertainment (ACE) held its first Spring Festival in collaboration with the Residential Life Team (RLT) and WCFM, the student-run radio station at the College, on Saturday.
Masking is once again required in classes, libraries, academic buildings, and indoor athletics facilities, Chief Communications Officer Jim Reische wrote in an all-campus email on Friday afternoon. However, community members can still unmask when eating in dining halls and while in residence halls.
Women’s athletic teams were established at the College in 1972, alongside the passage of Title IX and coeducation. Anne Forrestel ’72, the College’s first female varsity athlete, said that competing for the College “was exciting, and it was exhausting.”
A new craze has taken over the College and society at large — the new daily word game, Wordle. Students share their approaches to solving the puzzle and explain how the game creates community.
This week, the computer (using a script in R) chose Jack Murphy ’22.5, who discussed his love for Montana, the wrestling team, and his experience as a “super, super senior.”
The College’s non-male ultimate frisbee team removed gendered language from its name. Five nonbinary athletes spoke to the Record about cultural shifts and student-led initiatives toward gender-expansiveness in athletics.
This week, the computer (using a script in R) chose Sophie Bellwoar ’25, who discussed her love for running, her involvement with the comedy scene on campus, and her role on the WCFM board.
For the first time, WOC has requested FAST funding for financial aid in their winter programming — but this year, an increase in student demand caused complications, and aid allocations were jeopardized.
Tucked within the basement of Prospect House is the broadcasting studio for WCFM, the student-run radio station at the College. This semester, for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic, the studio is bustling with a new cadre of radio DJs.
![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)
