Jackson Hartigan, Executive Editor for Investigations
Jackson Hartigan ’23 is a history major from Portland, Ore. He is executive editor for investigations. He previously served as executive editor for archives, and before that, as a section editor for news. Email: [email protected].
On Nov. 9, the State University of New York at Albany (UAlbany) announced that all academic classes would change to a remote format, cutting the in-person fall semester short by two weeks. This action follows a COVID-19 outbreak within the student body and rising case numbers in the surrounding area.
In 2015, the President and Board of Trustees determined the following five goals to reduce the College’s impact on climate change by 2020: Significantly reducing the net greenhouse gas emissions, achieving carbon neutrality, reducing consumption of fossil fuels, investing in projects to benefit the environment and making investments in the College’s educational mission.
The Log murals, controversial for their stereotypical and ahistorical representation of Indigenous people, will be removed from the Log beginning tonight. The decision, which President Maud S. Mandel first announced on Sept. 17 in an all-campus email, follows years of discussion surrounding the murals and various attempts to address and reckon with their presence.
“It is deliberate, it is purposeful, and it is targeted,” Professor of African American Studies at Emory University Carol Anderson said of voter suppression, one of the largest issues facing American democracy.
“I remember a white student complaining to me about how me and my black friends participated too much/too well to the point that we ‘dominated’ the class, and informed me how other non-white classmates felt the same way,” reads a June 30 post from the Instagram page @blackatwilliams. “It was as if he was asking me to give him a chance. And to top it off, it was an Africana course. His entitlement infuriated me.’”
In the weeks preceding the College’s June 29 announcement of its plans to convene in person this fall, working groups and faculty worked to modify the College’s academic structure to best navigate a semester that presents unprecedented challenges for students and faculty alike. Still, as September grows closer, there are many unknowns about exactly what classes will look like.
Campus in the fall will no doubt be a dramatically different place for those who return, with social distancing restrictions, hybrid or all-remote classes and countless other changes. But despite the unusual circumstances, the College’s libraries are approaching the upcoming semester with relatively few major alterations to their pre-COVID-19 operations.
At an extraordinary faculty meeting Wednesday, faculty overwhelmingly approved a motion put forward by the Committee on Educational Affairs (CEA) to temporarily adjust graduation requirements, allowing students who are enrolled next year to graduate with a minimum of 30 courses and three Winter Study credits.
In an all-community email sent yesterday, President Maud S. Mandel announced that the College would maintain a two-semester model for the upcoming academic year while lowering the minimum required number of courses per semester from four to three and eliminating Winter Study. These changes will take effect whether or not the College resumes in-person classes in the fall; Mandel has set a deadline of July 1 to determine whether or not classes will be held on campus.
In an all-campus email sent today, President Maud S. Mandel announced plans to adopt a revised version of the regular two-semester academic calendar for the 2020-21 academic year. Regardless of whether classes are in-person or remote, students will be required to take a minimum of three courses each semester rather than four. Winter Study will not take place in January 2021.
While faculty and staff deliberate on various contingency plans for the upcoming semester, many students are also waiting on word from their study abroad programs. Rising juniors who planned to study away are uncertain whether fall semester and year-long programs will commence in person, proceed with an alternative learning environment or be cancelled outright.
Last week, the Record sent its biannual approval ratings survey to 1000 randomly selected students, in which students were able to select “approve,” “disapprove” or “neutral” in response to a number of campus institutions and policies.
Amidst the economic complications faced by the College as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Office of Financial Aid will continue to provide financial support at the same level as before the outbreak.
A series of emails sent out by the College over the past week has detailed further plans for how the College will adjust to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
The first email, sent on April 9 by Provost...
Hospitals across the United States, overwhelmed by COVID-19, are facing critical shortages of personal protective equipment. After hearing about this shortage, Associate Professor of Geosciences Phoebe Cohen contacted staff at Southern Vermont Medical Center (SVMC) and Berkshire Medical Center (BMC), two of the closest hospitals to the College, to ask if they were in need of supplies.
A blaring voice closes the library at 2:30 a.m. every weeknight and at 10 p.m. every Friday and Saturday. The ‘nerd bell’ first says, “The library closes in 30 minutes.” Then, it rings out, “The library closes in 15 minutes.” Finally, the nerd bell proclaims, “The library is now closed.”
Professor of Leadership Studies Chris Gibson will become the 12th president of Siena College in Loudonville, N.Y., beginning his five-year term on July 1, 2020. Gibson, a veteran and former congressman, was appointed unanimously by the Siena board of trustees, Siena College announced on Feb. 14.
Hoda Katebi delivered the second of two keynote talks for Claiming Williams Day on Thursday evening in the ’62 Center for Theatre and Dance, finishing off a day of events focusing around this year’s...
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