About the Record

The Williams Record is the independent student newspaper of record at Williams College. The paper was founded in 1887 as The Williams Weekly and changed its name in 1904. The Record editorial board is responsible for making all decisions about coverage and content.

The weekly paper publishes in broadsheet form on Wednesdays from September through May, except during school breaks and exam periods. The Record covers news and events relevant to campus. Space is also provided for letters to the editor and op-eds written by members of the Williams community.

Though the Record is listed alongside other student organizations, the paper is unique in that the only funding it receives through the College is a student-subscription fee built into the Student Activities Tax. Publication is funded through advertising, subscriptions and online contributions. If you read the Record regularly but do not hold a subscription, please consider making a contribution to support our continued publication.

Editorships at the Record turn over in January. The incoming editor-in-chief selects all executive board members, including managing editor(s) and executive editors. Applications for section editor positions (News, Opinions, Features, Arts, Sports, Photo, Online) are due toward the end of the fall semester. Prior experience writing or shooting for the Record is strongly encouraged, but not required.

If you are a Williams College student you are eligible to join the Record as a member of our editorial or business staff. Prospective reporters and photographers are always welcome at our weekly staff meetings, held on Wednesdays at our office in Paresky 209. Staff members begin gathering at 8 p.m. to critique the latest issue of the Record and then break into sections to take assignments. Whether your interest lies in news, opinions, features, arts, sports or photography, there are always opportunities for students looking to get involved. No prior experience with newspapers is expected or required.

Students begin as contributing writers and photographers, and are promoted to staff after completing three assignments.

Writers and photographers who contribute outstanding work to the paper may be asked to become senior writers and photographers. Students in this position are expected to write or shoot for the Record on a regular basis and take on challenging assignments.

The business staff hires students to work with the Record’s finances and other business-side matters. When positions are vacated, often at the end of semesters, the business manager advertises the openings and collects applications. If you would like to be made aware when openings arise, please e-mail williamsrecordEIC@gmail.com and ask to be placed on our list.

Editorial Policy

The Record welcomes all interested students and readers to attend the staff meetings at 8 p.m. on Wednesdays in our office, Paresky 209. At this meeting, please feel free to approach editors with questions about the last week’s issue or ideas for the next week’s issue. Article assignments will be given at this time. If you are unable to make this meeting, story suggestions and scoops can also be sent to williamsrecordEIC@gmail.com.

Due to the relatively small size of our staff, we are unable to cover all events happening on campus in a given week and are often faced with difficult decisions about coverage and content. When deciding how to prioritize stories, we tend to follow a well-known journalistic rule of thumb: A story is newsworthy if it is so important that it does not matter whether it is interesting, or so interesting that it does not matter whether it is important.

As soon as a Record reporter identifies himself or herself, the conversation that follows is considered on the record. Statements on the record cannot be retracted. Open meetings, including student group meetings and public fora, are considered on the record. The Record considers e-mails sent to an open listserv or forwarded from a source part of the public domain. We will make every effort to get in touch with the author of the e-mail before publication but reserve the right to print such messages.

Sources are not able to see an article in which they are quoted before its publication. You may ask to review quotes for accuracy, but the article itself remains private until the Record hits the presses. The Record holds its writers responsible for the truth and balance of their reporting, and allowing sources to directly shape stories would undermine that responsibility.

The editorial is the only article in the newspaper that reflects the opinion of the editorial board. After reviewing all of the articles, we choose one or more issue on which to write. We discuss the issue and come to a conclusion about what the editorial should say, then assign the first draft to a board member. It is then edited and reviewed by the rest of the board.

The Record welcomes op-eds and letters from all members of the community. Editors may also solicit submissions. If your submission is selected for publication, an editor will notify you before it appears in print. No substantive changes are made to submissions without the approval of the contributor. The Record reserves the right to edit submissions for grammar and style. If interested in submitting either an op-ed or a letter, please e-mail the Opinions Editor.

The Record strives for the highest level of accuracy in its reporting, an objective that includes correcting errors when they occur. Please e-mail williamsrecordEIC@gmail.com to report an error or a mistake.