Sofie Jones

Candidates for Williamstown Select Board gather for on-campus debate ahead of May 10 election

Sofie Jones • May 4, 2022

When Williamstown voters head to the polls on May 10 for this year’s local elections, they will choose between three candidates to fill two seats on the Town’s five-member Select Board: Bilal Ansari, Randal Fippinger, and Jane Patton. On Friday afternoon, the candidates came together for a community forum on campus in Bronfman Auditorium, co-moderated by members of the Record and Ephvotes, the College’s civic engagement organization, to share their campaign platforms with voters.

Acclaimed FB coach Dick Farley pens memoir with Dick Quinn

Sofie Jones • December 8, 2021

Why I Never Left Williams College, a new memoir written by acclaimed football coach Dick Farley and Director of Sports Information Dick Quinn, recounts Farley’s decades-long career coaching at the College. The premise is simple: Farley moved out to Williamstown with plans to stay for a couple of years before moving on; instead, he never left.

BFFs stands for Best Faculty Friends: Professor pals bridge interdepartmental divides

Sofie Jones • October 27, 2021

For many faculty members at the College, friendships with coworkers arise naturally, in shared office hallways or weekly department meetings. There are other duos, however, whose connections overcome departmental divides. To get the real scoop on professorial pals, the Record sat down with three pairs.

CSS shutdowns of parties elicit student criticism

Sofie Jones • October 20, 2021

A perceived uptick of Campus Safety Services (CSS) interference in residential halls in recent weeks has left many students frustrated and concerned, according to several students who spoke to the Record. Students reported instances of CSS breaking up on-campus parties without adequate explanation, and stressed the negative impacts on mental health and well-being caused by the increased presence of CSS officers.

Faculty members with young children reckon with COVID risks

Sofie Jones • October 6, 2021

This fall’s return to pre-pandemic routines and an in-person teaching requirement has brought greater concerns of COVID risks for faculty, even with a campus-wide mask and vaccine mandate in place. Those with young children not yet eligible for vaccination or who live with others who are at risk of severe illness are carrying an especially heavy burden.

The Long Road chronicles Berkshire women who fought for gender equality

Sofie Jones • September 29, 2021

What started as a Williamstown resident’s suggestion that the Town community commemorate the centennial of the Nineteenth Amendment came to fruition over 18 months and a pandemic later, when The Long Road: Notable Women Remembered premiered at Images Cinema last Thursday.

College prepares for in-person semester amid Delta variant concerns

As students begin to return, College reintroduces weekly testing; four students test positive

Sofie Jones, Katie Jung, and Kiara Royer • September 3, 2021

Many students had hoped that this fall, with the campus largely vaccinated, would finally be free from COVID restrictions. But the prevalence of the Delta variant has led the College to reimplement an indoor mask mandate and a weekly testing requirement. And if the campus sees an outbreak, the College could implement more stringent restrictions, according to administrators.

College reinstates mask mandate in public indoor spaces

Sofie Jones and Irene Loewenson • August 10, 2021

Masks will be required in all academic and administrative buildings as of tomorrow, regardless of vaccination status, President Maud S. Mandel announced on Tuesday, Aug. 10. There is still no mask requirement outdoors, in private offices, or in residence halls.

Ephraim Williams was an enslaver. What will the College do about it?

Irene Loewenson and Sofie Jones • February 10, 2021

Ephraim Williams Jr., the original benefactor and namesake of the College, was an enslaver. This is a clear-cut matter of historical fact. Documents from his life demonstrate that he enslaved at least five Black people, named Prince, J. Romanoo, Moni, London, and Cloe. What is less clear-cut is what the College will do to address this fact.

Hiring search for second Asian American Studies position delayed until fall 2021

Sofie Jones • September 23, 2020

The Committee on Appointments and Promotions (CAP) has postponed its hiring search for the second of two previously approved tenure-line positions for faculty specializing in Asian American Studies (AAS) until next fall.The religion department was the only department that originally submitted a request for the position, but later rescinded its request due to staffing needs in other areas of the discipline.

Fall sports are cancelled: what that means for athletic staff

Sofie Jones • September 16, 2020

The College’s athletic department employs more than 80 faculty and staff members. What does the cancellation of fall sports mean for their jobs?

College outlines academic plans for an unusual fall semester

Sofie Jones and Jackson Hartigan • July 10, 2020

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.

Four takeaways from the College’s plan to mitigate the financial impact of COVID-19

Sofie Jones, Kitt Urdang, and Saud Afzal • June 23, 2020

In an email sent to the College community on June 8, Provost Dukes Love, chair of the Ad Hoc Committee on Financial Planning, outlined the steps the College will take to mitigate the financial impact...

College to distribute CARES Act funding to qualifying students

Sofie Jones • June 15, 2020

In mid-July, the College will disburse the first half of the $1.5 million in federal funds made available by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act to students receiving financial...

Seven students receive awards for Sports Information contributions

Sofie Jones • May 23, 2020

Each spring, the annual Frank Deford and Aaron Pinsky ’06 Awards honor students who exhibit excellence as Sports Information contributors. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, however, the recipients of the 31st Deford and 11th Pinsky Awards will receive their awards in the mail, rather than in a formal ceremony.

Eph athletes who missed out on their final season reflect on career highlights

Sofie Jones • May 23, 2020

When COVID-19 required the campus to close and classes were moved online in March, many senior student-athletes were just beginning to gear up for their final season in Eph uniform. For our senior issue,...

Eric Soskin ’99 nominated by Trump as Department of Transportation inspector general following president’s series of firings

Sofie Jones • May 20, 2020

In a press release issued by the Trump administration last Friday, President Donald J. Trump announced Eric Soskin ’99 as his nominee for inspector general of the United States Department of Transportation...

Spencer Art Show, online

Sofie Jones and Rebecca Tauber • May 13, 2020

The end of each semester typically brings members of the College community to Spencer Studio Art Building to see work produced by students in studio art classes. This semester’s move to remote learning due to the COVID-19 outbreak bars the art show from occurring as usual, but the pandemic has not stopped student-artists from producing a wealth of work and a desire to share it. We put out a call to studio art students asking them to submit some of their work, and received over 60 pieces from a variety of different courses.

Athletic Director Lisa Melendy discusses what athletics may look like post-COVID-19

Sofie Jones and Stephanie Teng • May 13, 2020

Last week, the NCAA released guidelines for the re-opening of collegiate athletic programs, following the cancellation of the spring 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As the College’s administration weighs potential on- and off-campus options for the coming fall semester, what Eph athletics could look like in a post-COVID-19 world remains unclear.

Christopher Clarey ’86 discusses COVID-19’s impact on the future of tennis

Sofie Jones • May 6, 2020

Only a few months ago, Christopher Clarey ’86 was gearing up for tennis’ busy season. Clarey, who covers tennis and global sports for The New York Times, typically spends the warmer months bouncing back and forth across hemispheres to cover some of tennis’ biggest matches.

The pandemic in the Berkshires in three charts

Sofie Jones, Jeongyoon Han, and Rebecca Tauber • May 6, 2020

In recent weeks, Berkshire County, like the rest of Massachusetts, has seen a continued increase in COVID-19 cases, according to the state’s Department of Public Health (DPH). The figures below show the current severity of the outbreak at the local and state levels. Map and bar graph data is courtesy of the Massachusetts DPH, and pie chart data is courtesy of Berkshire Health Systems. Both sites update their numbers daily; the figures for this article were most recently updated yesterday afternoon.

Record Recs: (Free) documentaries and political dramas

Sofie Jones and Stephanie Teng • May 6, 2020

It has been more than a month and a half since most students left campus and returned home to finish the semester remotely. If you are anything like us and have found yourself in a bit of an entertainment...

Books as Bridges: Students, faculty connect through reading

Sofie Jones • April 22, 2020

In a moment that offers the ultimate test to the written word’s ability to connect us, members of the College community have rallied to keep it afloat.

Williamstown Commons faces COVID-19 outbreak

Sofie Jones • April 22, 2020

Williamstown Commons, a nursing home and care facility on Adams Road off of Route 2, is in the midst of a COVID-19 outbreak that has reached more than half of its residents.

1 in 2k: Olive White ’22

Sofie Jones • April 22, 2020

We randomly select unixes from a list of all current students at the College for our weekly One in Two Thousand. So long as the owner of a selected unix is willing to be interviewed and not a member of the Record board, that person becomes the subject of our interview. For this week, the computer (using a script in R) chose Olive White ’22.

Admissions hosts Virtual Previews for the Class of 2024

Sofie Jones and Tali Natter • April 15, 2020

Students admitted to the Class of 2024 participated in Virtual Previews on Monday, following the cancellation of on-campus revisit programming due to COVID-19. The event, hosted by the Office of Admission, featured virtual versions of several sessions typically offered on-campus each spring.

Reading a pandemic: Professors discuss the literature of disease

Sofie Jones • April 15, 2020

Although often thought of as the purview of scientists exclusively, epidemics are central to the work of several professors of literature at the College, who study how widespread disease is written about and understood in popular culture.

College adopts test-optional admissions policy for 2020-2021 applicants

Sofie Jones • April 9, 2020

The Office of Admission and Financial Aid will implement a test-optional policy for students applying to the College as first-years and transfers during the 2020-2021 admission cycle. This move comes...

Tying the knot in the time of coronavirus

Sofie Jones and Jeongyoon Han • April 1, 2020

Mackenzie Hunter and Landon Marchant ’20 knew from the start that they did not want a “traditional wedding.” They originally envisioned getting married in New Zealand this June, during a honeymoon-slash-road trip across the country. When the COVID-19 pandemic brought international travel to a halt a few weeks ago, however, the duo came up with a backup plan much closer to home.

WCMA closes indefinitely in wake of pandemic, shifts efforts to online content

Sofie Jones • April 1, 2020

The Williams College Museum of Art (WCMA) closed its doors to visitors indefinitely on March 16, following concerns about the spread of COVID-19 and the College’s mid-semester switch to remote learning.

Fifty years ago, a very different mid-semester disruption

Sofie Jones and Irene Loewenson • March 25, 2020

In early May, students at Williams and other colleges across the country went on strike in protest of the U.S. invasion of Cambodia during the Vietnam War. Fifty years later, at a virtual faculty meeting on March 11 after in-person classes were canceled in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, President of the College Maud S. Mandel referred obliquely to the strike.

Student-athletes return home mid-competition following cancellation of NCAA Championships

Sofie Jones • March 25, 2020

Eph alpine skier Maddie Dekko ’21, ranked second in the Eastern Division this winter, returned after the NCAA Championships announced their cancellation. A day after the College announced its mid-semester...

Mandel mandates most students leave campus by Tuesday, announces transition to remote learning after spring break due to coronavirus pandemic

Sofie Jones, Kevin Yang, Rebecca Tauber, Joey Fox, and Samuel Wolf • March 11, 2020

For the first time in over 50 years, the College has decided to disrupt normal operations mid-semester in light of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. President of the College Maud S. Mandel announced in...

Beyond the Bubble: news across Berkshire County

Sofie Jones and Irene Loewenson • March 4, 2020

Mass. prohibits use of handheld devices for all drivers On Feb. 23, new “hands-free” driving legislation took effect in Massachusetts that prohibit all use of handheld devices behind the wheel....

Nikole Hannah-Jones speaks on the 1619 Project, legacy of slavery

Sofie Jones • March 4, 2020

Nikole Hannah-Jones, a staff writer at The New York Times Magazine and the curator of its 1619 Project, which puts slavery’s continuing legacy at the center of American history, began her talk to a sold-out audience at the ’62 Center for Theatre and Dance last Wednesday with a disclaimer.

Italy study abroad programs affected by spread of coronavirus

Sofie Jones and Kitt Urdang • March 4, 2020

Ten students enrolled in study abroad programs in Italy are facing uncertainty about the rest of their semester due to the country’s coronavirus outbreak and subsequent program cancellations.

This nonner is a goner: a day on the College’s wrestling team

Sofie Jones • February 26, 2020

In hopes of better understanding the one-third of student body who actually know what goes on at “lift,” I decided to see if I, an unathletically-inclined Record editor, could walk a day in an athlete’s sweat-soaked shoes. In the words of NARP hero Captain James T. Kirk of Star Trek, I was determined “to boldly go where no [nonner] has gone before.”

Task Force recommends scrapping CC, creating three new bodies

Sofie Jones and Irene Loewenson • February 12, 2020

In an email sent to students on Feb. 5, the Student Government Task Force, which was elected last December and was tasked with restructuring the College’s student government over Winter Study, recommended that College Council (CC) be abolished and replaced with three independent governing organizations.

College announces plans to take over Motorcoach, improve emergency response

Sofie Jones • January 29, 2020

During a public meeting last Wednesday, Vice President for Campus Life Steve Klass announced significant changes to the Williams Motorcoach system and to the College’s severe weather response protocol,...

“Box Office Hours”: Little Women with Kathryn Kent

Sofie Jones • January 29, 2020

Greta Gerwig’s adaptation of Little Women diverges from past versions in its split timeline and evocation of empathy for Amy March. Photo courtesy of IMDB. Greta Gerwig’s retelling of Louisa May...

Debate over Mount Greylock HS turf construction intensifies

Sofie Jones • December 6, 2019

Many community members support turf installation, citing concerns over natural grass maintenance. (Photo courtesy of Mount Greylock Regional High School Athletics.) In late September, the Mount Greylock...

Local seniors stay in motion: My experience attending four exercise classes for the elderly

Sofie Jones • December 6, 2019

The Council on Aging offers free fitness classes at the Harper Center for community members to stay active. (Sofie Jones/ The Williams Record.) We all know how students stay active on campus: working...

Coach’s Corner: Scott Honecker, wrestling

Sofie Jones • November 20, 2019

(Zoe Bank/The Williams Record.) The Record’s sports section has long published “Captain’s Corner” interviews, but this week, we are mixing it up with our inaugural “Coach’s Corner,” giving...

Athletics department, students reflect on term “student-athlete”

Sofie Jones • November 13, 2019

In the 1950s, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) coined the term “student-athlete” as part of a campaign to affirm that collegiate athletes were students first and foremost and, therefore,...

Bachelor in Paradise contestant and entrepreneur Dylan Barbour ’16 talks TV and tech

Sofie Jones • November 13, 2019

Dylan Barbour ’16, the co-founder and chief operating officer (COO) of the philanthropy-meets-fitness app Vizer, has built a fanbase on campus after appearing on the most recent seasons of ABC’s The Bachelorette and Bachelor in Paradise. Last weekend, Barbour returned to Williamstown, speaking on Friday afternoon at a ’68 Center for Career Exploration event in Paresky auditorium.

The Williams Record

The Williams Record

Sofie Jones, Senior Writer