In last Wednesday’s meeting, College Council (CC) commendably addressed proposals to restructure student government at the College. As the proposals on the table are both varied and complex, we urge CC to carefully consider what overall structure best serves the needs of the student body going forward without overly complicating an already-complex system. CC’s decisionRead the Rest…

College Council’s (CC) decision last Wednesday to censure women’s rugby following its second consecutive budget deficit, while unfortunate, is a justifiable repercussion.

The administration took a positive step toward addressing the unique needs of student-athletes with the recent hiring of Carolyn Miles as coordinator of student-athlete well-being and physical education.

On Sunday, President Falk sent an e-mail notifying the College community that a homophobic slur had been found inscribed in a student’s door. We at the Record appreciate the thought behind the administration’s e-mail and commend the Bias Incident Reporting Task Force for its careful revision of the College’s response policy following the November hateRead the Rest…

Following negotiations among a number of offices on campus, the voices of the College’s various a cappella groups will resound once again within the walls of Chapin and Brooks-Rogers following the reinstatement of the singing groups’ privileges to these spaces for concerts. As a cappella is a source of popular entertainment with a loyal followingRead the Rest…

College Council’s (CC) recent bylaw change allowing Council to appoint an assistant to the treasurer is a much-needed addition of manpower where CC’s finances are concerned. Each year, the CC treasurer handles hundreds of thousands of dollars in College funds in a complex and critical process of voucher forms, purchasing cards and account transfers. WhileRead the Rest…

After years of consideration, the decision of the Committee on Educational Policy (CEP) to discontinue the First-Year Residential Seminar (FRS) is a welcome one. Though FRS presented a noble goal – to integrate academics into the entry – and provided a positive experience for many participants, student and faculty enthusiasm for and participation in FRSRead the Rest…

The strong relationship between professors and students is one of the most distinctive aspects of the College and the liberal arts philosophy in general. Accordingly, the first-year academic advising system should reflect the College’s commitment to cultivating student-faculty relationships.

On Friday night, residents of Dodd House received an e-mail from their Baxter Fellows explaining that a thief had broken into several dorm rooms in the building and attempted to abscond with three laptops and an iPhone. Campus Safety and Security apprehended the suspect quickly, and the e-mail closed with a reminder to students toRead the Rest…

Last week, the College participated in National Eating Disorder Awareness (NEDA) week. Student groups and the administration reminded the College that we, like every community, are imperfect. NEDA week is not the only time in which we should recognize this reality, but nonetheless it is a critical opportunity for the College to reflect on theRead the Rest…

A student initiative to introduce an Asian American studies concentration to the College’s curriculum has recently gained momentum following a series of informational events, the passage of a resolution of support by College Council (CC) and the circulation of a campus-wide petition.

The recent publication of statistics regarding the incidence of rape and sexual assault on campus in President Falk’s all-campus e-mail on Feb. 9 has driven the issue of rape and sexual assault to the forefront of the community’s consciousness.

On Friday, students received an ambiguous and alarming e-mail from Campus Safety and Security that provided information about an individual, William Burke, who had been posted from campus. Absent from that e-mail was information about how or why Burke was dangerous and how concerned students should be about the incident. While Security’s efforts to informRead the Rest…

With College Council (CC) elections in full swing, the lack of student participation in the election process and in student government in general is concerning. Only seven of the 17 races to be decided this week are contested, attendance at both debates was shockingly poor and students have not taken advantage of the opportunity toRead the Rest…

As the College community looks for ways to integrate intellectual conversations into discussion outside the confines of the classroom, the proposed expansion of the Williams Reads program may provide the common thread needed to spark academic dialogue on campus. By adding an academic component to first-year orientation, the College is moving to open minds fromRead the Rest…

Discussions about the role and presence of activism at the College have found a new focus following the “mic check” attempted by a handful of audience members at Larry Summers’ lecture on Thursday. This action was not only disruptive but also disrespectful, and it diminished the opportunity for meaningful discourse at the College. Moreover, theRead the Rest…

As the College community continues to grapple with how we can better address is- sues of hate and discrimination, it is clear that true passion lies behind the discussion of how to improve the College’s culture. After pushing the administration to cancel classes on Nov. 14, the student movement has coalesced as Students Against SilenceRead the Rest…

In the earliest hour of Saturday morning, a hate crime was perpetrated and later discovered on a bathroom wall in Prospect House. The community has since united in a manner unseen in over 30 years. What became clear, though, was that the hateful words scrawled on that wall were not the root of the studentRead the Rest…

Last Sunday, approximately 100 students traveled to Washington, D.C., to urge President Obama to reject plans for the creation of the Keystone XL tar sands oil pipeline. We unequivocally applaud the initiative that students showed in executing the event – and the resurgence of social and political activism at the College that it represents. Yet,Read the Rest…

On Thursday night, the College community came together for You Are Not Alone, an unprecedented and much-needed recognition of the mental health issues that pervade our campus. In the period following the midterm cycle, Break the Silence Week and You Are Not Alone were impeccably timed within the context of the National Depression Awareness Month;Read the Rest…

Last Friday and Saturday’s Frosh Lead- ership Weekend (FLW) was the first lead- ership event hosted by the newly consti- tuted Office of Student Life. The event was implemented with new vigor, as dem- onstrated by a substantial increase in stu- dent attendance. Moreover, the weekend seems to have revitalized the Frosh Coun- cil, aRead the Rest…

  Online and offline discussion of the College Council (CC) Finance Committee (FinCom) budget allocation process has left a conspicuous wave of student confusion in its wake. Further discussions with CC have revealed that FinCom’s budget allocation is indeed transparent; an overview of budget allocations is available online, and students have always had the optionRead the Rest…

  We at the Record were pleased to see that much progress has been made regarding the tenure appeals process at the College following the October faculty meeting. Tenure is unquestionably a critical component of the College’s academic vitality, and as students, we expect that these decisions are made with the utmost thought and forRead the Rest…

The members of the Office of Career Counseling (OCC) work incredibly hard. As it currently stands, the OCC has only four career counselors for over 2000 students; it is surprising that they can even come close to handling their workload. As the OCC begins to integrate with Alumni Relations, searches for a fifth counselor and continuesRead the Rest…

Over the past year, students have witnessed an impressive response to the closing of Dodd and Greylock dining halls from Dining Services, visible in the extended hours for all meal times, the addition of a new Grab ’n Go station at the Eco Café and improved menu options at the ’82 Grill. These changes haveRead the Rest…

Last Thursday, 550 members of the College community took advantage of the unique opportunity to hear renowned intellectual Noam Chomsky lecture on modern humanitarian intervention. While the lecture itself demonstrated the self-interested way that nations conduct these interventions, considering the lecture as an event highlights some of the strengths and weaknesses of the campus’s intellectualRead the Rest…

The glass walls at the top of the Paresky stairs, formerly emblazoned with the words “Campus Life,” now proudly bear a new title: “Student Life.” The office has been reorganized, and new faces now call the space home. These changes underscore the office’s new mission statement; more than just organizing housing, Student Life’s main roleRead the Rest…

Late Sunday night, the College, the country and the international community received news after nearly a decade of anticipation: Osama bin Laden had finally been killed by American forces in Pakistan. At the Record, we rarely report or comment on events outside the College’s traditional scope; students may access information about foreign and domestic affairsRead the Rest…

Students are constantly asked to engage in discussions about activism – or the lack thereof – on our campus. Part of the College’s mission is to enhance the civic responsibility of its students: Beyond the Purple Valley, we are told, a malleable world exists and we should be the ones to change it. While thisRead the Rest…

During a time of budget cuts and continued calls for efficient spending on the part of the College, losing thousands of dollars in missing plates scattered around campus seems wasteful and unnecessary. The e-mail sent out by College Council (CC) on Sunday brought to the forefront a commonly glossed-over aspect of campus culture: students’ tendencyRead the Rest…

As the Minority Coalition (MinCo) establishes new protocols for its meetings and membership, it is promising to see that the organization is working to open its operations to the campus at large. Under the MinCo umbrella, many groups discuss important issues faced by College community members. When these forces – from the Jewish Religious CenterRead the Rest…

The recently renewed faculty discussion about the tenure appeals process has shed light on the benefits and flaws of the system and has led to several proposed changes. However, what was not proposed but has been heavily discussed among faculty is the lack of relevant information available to appellants during the appeals process, including lettersRead the Rest…

Williams sells itself on the unique nature of the student-faculty relationships it fosters. Thanks to small class sizes, a tight-knit community and faculty and students who value these relationships, close friendships between these two groups are common and celebrated at the College. In light of how much we value these friendships, it is surprising toRead the Rest…

As students search for summer opportunities, it is encouraging that the College is focusing its efforts on helping students determine their summer plans. The announcement of the newly-instituted Robert G. Wilmers Jr. 1990 Memorial Summer Language Study Fellowship marks an exciting addition to the College’s already robust collection of fellowships. However, despite our excitement regardingRead the Rest…

The recent College Council (CC) initiative regarding updates to Paresky Auditorium’s lighting system deserves praise. Scheduled to go into effect in just a few weeks, the new lights will allow an under-used space in the center of campus to be better utilized by College music, dance and theater groups that often lack vital space toRead the Rest…

As the Committee on Undergraduate Life (CUL) compiles the results of its recent student survey on the entry system, the committee’s work to understand the first-year residential experience at the College should be commended. Entries and JAs are significant and distinctive characteristics of the College – few other academic institutions offer such a supportive frameworkRead the Rest…

More than a year after the homophobic event that prompted a sit-in at Hardy House and the consequent formation of the Gender and Sexuality Resource Center (GSRC), intolerance unfortunately still exists on campus. As evidenced by last Thursday’s all-campus e-mail from the outgoing College Council (CC) stressing the unacceptability of homophobia and homophobic language atRead the Rest…

Throughout the year, All Campus Entertainment (ACE) has faced a number of challenges in adapting to its new organizational system. ACE is integral to planning the College’s social life, and it is disheartening to see that it has been hampered by a lack of manpower and recent modifications to its structure. It is remarkable thatRead the Rest…

As students frequent the Office of Career Counseling (OCC) this time of year in search of summer jobs and internships, we are looking forward to increased cooperation between career counseling and Alumni Relations. The integration of the OCC and Alumni Relations in Mears House seems fundamentally logical: The OCC will benefit from increased access toRead the Rest…

Thursday’s Claiming Williams Day, themed “Our Stories, Our Responsibilities, Our Community,” has left us moved, even a week later, by the often difficult life narratives our fellow community members shared. The day’s third iteration saw a new focus on dialogue-driven events, bringing to light topics ranging from the experience of first-generation and non-traditional students toRead the Rest…

President Falk’s Jan. 14 e-mail ushered in 2011 with two crucial appointments. Effective July 1, professor of philosophy Will Dudley ’89 will take over as provost, while Peter Murphy, currently professor and chair of the English department, will begin work as dean of faculty. These appointments represent an important step in Falk’s tenure at theRead the Rest…

It’s hardly a new phenomenon that students are dropped from classes that they preregister for, but this semester, student discontent with over-enrollment appears to have reached a new peak.

For the past few weeks, we’ve seen College Council (CC) set aside portions of its meetings to discuss the perceived divide between athletes and non-athletes at the College

Now that the alumni have departed and the tailgaters have moved their vehicles from Weston Field, the campus can reflect happily on another exciting Homecoming weekend.

The art community in the wider world may be feeling the strain of a stagnant economy, but here in the Purple Valley – much to the benefit of the College and community – we are pleased to see that the arts are alive and well.

Coming down from the excitement surrounding the midterm elections, it is heartening to see that many students on campus embraced political activism during this important time.

After years of debate about the viability of the Williams in New York (WNY) program, the committee charged with reimagining WNY appears to have halted its discussion, choosing instead to offer city-hungry students of the College a study-away program at NYU.

Now almost a week into October, the campus population has spent more than a month experiencing the reorganized dining options. Compared to last year, we have two fewer dining halls but one additional Grab ’n Go station and a host of other changes.

With the shift of this year’s principal concert from Spring Fling to Homecoming and the recent announcement of Kid Cudi as the headline act, we commend All Campus Entertainment (ACE) for implementing changes beneficial to both the student body and to ACE itself.

At first glance, President Falk’s Sept. 15 e-mail may have seemed irrelevant to students, but the changes it suggests are substantial.

This past summer offered no vacation for the College as the campus saw a vigorous implementation of various changes initiated last spring.

Tonight, at CC’s final meeting of the semester, CC representatives will vote on whether or not to supplement the Record’s weekly income next semester. CC will first decide whether or not it wants to channel Student Activities Tax money to the Record at all.

The faculty will vote today on two proposals that could alter the winter months at Williams in two different ways. We urge the faculty to approve both motions – to vote “yes” to the implementation of a regularly graded Winter Study course and also to the institutionalization of Claiming Williams.

Last Wednesday’s e-mail announcing the closure of Greylock and Dodd dining halls sparked little less than outrage among students across campus. Certainly, there were some who offered pragmatic words, but most initial reactions ranged from the sting of betrayal to suspicion about conspiracy theories.

Dear President Falk, We at the Record editorial board would like to formally welcome you to Williams College.

As Professor of Mathematics Ed Burger prepares to end his tenure as Gaudino Scholar at the close of the semester, he will do so having recently passed his most large-scale initiative, as the faculty voted last week to institute the Gaudino grading option.

As the College draws closer to the new presidency under Adam Falk’s leadership, it does so in an era that continues to be plagued by the economic downturn that began nearly a year and a half ago.

The report released yesterday by the Neighborhood Review Committee (NRC) has advanced a number of long-awaited, concrete proposals after months of fact-finding and discussion. Some of these recommendations are laudable, while others are dubious. The committee’s explicit acknowledgment of widely supported issues like gender-neutral housing and greater freedom in residential selection deserve applause, but otherRead the Rest…

As students, administrators and CC members try to determine whether Williams Christian Fellowship (WCF) violated the College’s non-discrimination policy, and as WCF considers its actions going forward, the group specifically and the campus as a whole must take into consideration what a constitution can and cannot accomplish.

It is once again the time for College Council (CC) elections – typically a time for the campus to reflect on the role of CC, consider the pros and cons of multiple tickets and urge voter participation in the spirit of deciding student leadership.

For the first time since 1920, the 1914 Library did not open its doors at the beginning of the semester to the traditional line of financial aid students waiting to borrow textbooks.

From the campus discussion following the second annual Claiming Williams Day, two patterns have emerged.

Since the financial crisis began nearly a year and a half ago, the College has been trimming its budget with a multitude of cost-cutting strategies, many of which have directly affected every student on campus.

After two interim reports and three open forums, students and Neighborhood Review Committee (NRC) members are still at odds over what campus housing should look like

The student sit-in at Hardy House, along with the list of demands to end institutional biases against and increase formal support for queer students, has been a remarkable example of activism over the past week. Welcoming critique and maintaining an attitude of openness, the Queer Student Union (QSU), Women’s Center and those additionally involved haveRead the Rest…

In his Monday all-campus e-mail update on the case of Ernest B. Moore, a.k.a. Bernard Moore, now former W. Ford Schumann ’50 Visiting Assistant Professor in Democratic Studies, Interim President Wagner said that the College has “found no evidence of serious misuse on his part of College resources.” The statement offers the implicit hope thatRead the Rest…

For all that we know, swine flu has hit campus hard. However, because news of students, faculty and staff experiencing H1N1 symptoms has not been corroborated or clarified by any official message from administrators regarding their decisions and policies for dealing with the virus, any information that students and staff who are not directly inRead the Rest…

The College has approved a new policy for students who host large numbers of visitors on campus, partially in response to the damage done to dorms by a number of visitors during the WUFO Purple Valley tournament a few weeks ago. Although the new rules won’t have any bearing on the kinds of visitors mostRead the Rest…

In step with the action taken last fall after College Council (CC) discovered money left by the closing of defunct clubs’ accounts, CC has once again turned to the student body for “Great Ideas” for using the undisclosed amount uncovered this year. Although Monday’s all-campus e-mail announcing the campaign did not say so, students asRead the Rest…

As we have seen time and time again, the measure of our school’s success at diversity is not how many different kinds of people comprise it, but how suitable it is for a diverse population. Administrators have demonstrated inadequate concern with regards to the fact that the current winter break dorm-closing policy and the inconsistentRead the Rest…

The College’s decision to award grants to financial aid students for all of their course book purchases places it in a league of its own, but it is possible that the policy change may lead to the loss of the communal ideals of the 1914 Library: sharing and reusing books. In the midst of budgetRead the Rest…

The Neighborhood Review Committee has spent the past six months examining the neighborhood system in its first three years, and with the release of their findings today, students must take the baton that is being passed to them and join in on the criticism of this young, flawed pilot system so that changes to theRead the Rest…

Frustrations surrounding last weekend’s First Chance dance, an annual senior class tradition, have been thoroughly fleshed out in annoyed discussions across campus and online. A slow system of ticket-taking and ID-checking and the arrival of the Williamstown Police Department (WPD) at 11:20 p.m. to turn off the music combined to secure the event a notchRead the Rest…

As the 17th president of the College, a few things will already be familiar to Adam F. Falk from his helm in Hopkins Hall, and not just the building’s name. As dean of the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences at Johns Hopkins, Falk oversaw the school’s academically liberal arts values within the context ofRead the Rest…

The Record rarely publishes articles concerning its own operations, but this week we chose to report on our own financial difficulties. A $12,000 budget deficit, accrued recently in the trend of the national newspaper crisis, has put the paper in debt to the College, and not mentioning this fact would be a violation of theRead the Rest…

Welcome back, Factrak. It may be the fate of every clever new Web site meant to improve student life on this campus to flash across the sky in one brief moment of glory and then lapse into permanent obsolescence (see Ephmatch, n.). But it’s nice to know that there are second chances.

In the fall of 2000, now nearly five semesters ago, President Schapiro charged into Williamstown with a vision for change.

It’s a common complaint that Williams students are apathetic. Whether this is actually the case has been the subject of past, and in all likelihood, future editorials.

Last week, the Record printed an advertisement for a publication by David Horowitz that argued the root cause of the Middle East conflict is “Arab and Islamic Jew-hatred [which] is the Nazi virus revived.”

The mission of the Office of Career Counseling (OCC) is to help students explore career options and assess their skills and interests. Though student perception may claim otherwise, the OCC is not and should not be a job placement agency.

Since the inception of the NESCAC in 1971, the 11 member schools of the athletic conference have challenged themselves to make their athletic programs conform to the aspirations of the conference founders.

Have you ever taken an 8 a.m. class? Probably not. In fact, if you’re like 99 percent of Williams students, you would balk at the idea of sitting through astrophysics at eight on a Friday morning.

We, as students, are incredibly lucky to attend a school such as Williams, especially at a turning point in the College’s history.

This week, the College took a major step towards improving the quality of social life on our campus. In a highly anticipated move, the administration decided to no longer charge students for security officers at parties and other events.

Two weeks ago, the College welcomed the Class of 2006 with a radically restructured First Days program. Previously the arrival of first-years on campus has been staggered, in accordance with the starting dates of the various WOOLF and preseason athletic programs in which they were taking part.

The Ad Hoc Faculty Committee on Athletics has just released a detailed, thoughtfully considered analysis of the status of athletics at the College. Although it is open to interpretation, it appears that the report finds, in general, that there is not a major problem with the athletic program at Williams, but rather with a smallRead the Rest…

The creation of factrak (factrak.williams.edu), a website which allows students to anonymously comment and evaluate their teachers, has brought two diametrically opposed views to light.

Last Tuesday, as part of the celebration of Queer Pride Week, the Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian, Transgender Union (BGLTU) organized one of its semi-annual chalking campaigns.

As the situation in the Middle East worsens with each passing day, students on many campuses across America have become enmeshed in discussions on the hostilities.

The students and administrators whose work has culminated in the creation of All Campus Entertainment (ACE) have done an excellent job and produced an exciting organization that we are confident will vastly improve social planning at Williams.

We are fortunate to be on a campus where the student body actively discusses issues of student diversity. But with the ongoing expansion of the College’s faculty, it is time for faculty diversity to take a more prominent place on the list of student concerns.

Anyone who attended the College Council (CC) presidential candidates debate on Sunday night must have been disappointed by how few students were in attendance; for an event as important as CC elections, it was unfortunate to see such a paltry student turnout.

In recent weeks, a large portion of the campus has become concerned that its voice was not heard by the Committee on Undergraduate Life (CUL) before it released its comprehensive campus plan.

Last spring, the faculty passed several reforms devised by the Committee on Educational Policy (CEP) that sought to revolutionize the College curriculum and create a simpler and more logical curricular structure.

The Committee on Undergraduate Life (CUL) has produced a provisional proposal (fully reproduced on page 10) for overhauling student life at Williams – a proposal that we are confident places the College on a springboard towards building a vibrant community.

In one of the year’s more exciting developments, it appears that College Council (CC) will vote in the coming weeks to present the recommendations of the Amendment Supervisory Committee (ASC) to the student body.

Assault, gun possession and brawling are not words that normally spring to mind when one thinks of our idyllic New England town. Yet, over the past few months there has been an apparent rise in violent incidents on Spring St., and there is little doubt who is to blame.

To both aid and fuel our collective discussion about housing and community, which has been marked by the typical mix of thoughtful and less-than-thoughtful analysis, the Record spent two weeks studying residential life hoping to help everyone contemplate these issues about which we should all be well positioned to discuss.

Last fall President Schapiro hit the ground running – sprinting ahead, jumping over the fence around the track, and taking the rest of us with him.

As we at the Record researched our two-week series on housing, we studied, presented, and hopefully illuminated some of the options presented by the College’s current discussion of residential life.

Any reader of the Record over the last year would know that the two of us rarely see eye-to-eye on issues ranging from the Arab-Israeli conflict to the legitimacy of our current president.

At Williams, we pride ourselves in being a community of compassionate individuals committed to the needs of our fellow community members.

Last fall, the administration initiated a College-wide strategic planning process consisting of a comprehensive review and a mandate for bold innovation.

We at the Record have always defended Williams College’s admirable history of student autonomy and self-governance in personal and residential life. However, we endorse the actions taken by college security last Friday night.

With this special election 2000 issue of the Record Opinions section, as an editorial board we decided not to state our preference for Al Gore or George Bush. Instead we decided to examine how much of a leader either man would likely be in the Oval Office.

As both our front page and our interview with President Schapiro make clear, cooler heads have prevailed concerning the issue of the theater and dance complex. President Schapiro has focused his energy on getting “the whole community involved in moving forward together.”

As the Committee for Educational Policy (CEP) presides over the ongoing discussion of curricular reform, we at the Record would like to offer our thoughts on the issue.

College Council (CC) provides a substantial portion of the funding for most student-run organizations, which is reasonable because CC is charged with the responsibility of distributing the Student Activities Tax. But what happens when, because of past mistakes, it can no longer fulfill its role?

There has been a trend in academe in recent years for professors to spend fewer and fewer hours in the classroom teaching. President Schapiro’s comments at Wednesday’s faculty meeting on considering a teaching load reduction show that in all likelihood Williams will continue to follow this movement.

This past weekend, FinCom, the sub-committee of College Council that allocates funds to student organizations, was forced to drastically lower the budgets of nearly all of the groups on campus from the levels of spending it authorized last year and in years past.

Last week, Williams students signed the Honor Code under the threat of being locked out of the course registration process.

In this, our final issue of the year, we wanted to use this space to say thank you to someone whose service to Williams went well beyond the call of duty: Carl Vogt ’58.

When Security first acknowledged that it would conduct walkthroughs of Williams dorms this fall, it was argued that this was just one facet of “community policing,” a term that has become a buzzword in law enforcement.

On Sunday night, Chris Koegel ’01 wrote a widely distributed email notifying students that the Log was being closed because of a decision made by the administration.

With the recent hospitalization of a prospective student due to alcohol poisoning, the College’s treatment of underage drinking has once again come under scrutiny. While this unfortunate event will likely prompt further attempts to restrict underage students from drinking, we feel that a different response is in order.

This year’s College Council presidential elections are marked by the welcome return of a concept that has been missing from the Williams political forum for far too long: actual competition.

At last night’s Housing Committee meeting, the Record was struck by the undeniable logic presented during a discussion concerning the Residential Improvement Committee (RIC) by Tyler Annex president Chris Ripley ’01.

The continued rise in the college-wide average GPA, officially recognized at Wednesday’s faculty meeting, is cause for informed concern. The fact that the average grade given out is just over a B+ begs evaluation because, as was expressed at the meeting, it suggests that the latitude professors have in assigning meaningful grades has become increasinglyRead the Rest…

Although we applaud the effort to increase political awareness on campus through the placement of The New York Times in campus common rooms, we doubt that this action will have a significant impact on a problem that finds its roots in student apathy.

Although the College’s presidential selection process was rather detached from the student body, and at times was downright secretive, the end result of the process must be applauded.

We at the Record would like to take this opportunity to applaud the College for its decision to hire a coordinator of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered (LGBT) issues.

With Williams President Carl Vogt’s announcement that the College will freeze its comprehensive fee – tuition, room and board – for the 2000 academic year comes a considerable amount of speculation from analysts and critics.

As the end of the semester, the end of the nineties, and, it’s true, the end of this Record Editorial Board all draw to a close, we at the Record, or at least some of us, feel the need to take stock, to reflect on the past year, and to say something about it.

In a unanimous vote last Wednesday, the faculty approved a CEP proposal to allow half-credit graded courses in instrumental and vocal instruction in the music department.

The new Schow Science Library is a beautiful space, with comfortable and expensive chairs. It represents William College’s commitment to the sciences as we approach the 21st Century.

The Williams administration prides itself on the amount of discretionary power it grants the student body. From a theoretical standpoint, it is easy to applaud the College’s efforts to place a significant amount of power in the hands of its students.

Williams College is currently seeking to fill 19 tenure track positions for the coming academic year.

The College Council seeks, by its allocation process to encourage the active expression and exchange of the widest range of ideas, beliefs, and perspectives.

In what has become all too familiar a spectacle, College Council once again found itself embroiled in controversy this week.

Not every Record editorial board gets the chance to welcome a new president to Williams College, so we feel we would be remiss if we were to squander the opportunity.

As President of the College Harry C. Payne moves on, newly appointed Interim President Carl Vogt ’58 moves in, at least for the time being.

September in Williamstown is always a time of beginnings. A newer, ever better first-year class arrives, fresh and exciting, and both revitalizes and frightens the rest of us who recall years past.

In the September 29, 1998 issue of the Record, our second of the academic year, we ran an editorial urging the College to be more forthcoming with information about the planning of the new theatre and dance facility, to be sensitive to the concerns of the Williamstown community, to be a better neighbor.

Perhaps it is all just a coincidence, but it is nonetheless troubling that nine faculty members, four of whom are tenured, are voluntarily leaving the Williams College faculty after this semester.

At the April 14th faculty meeting, the faculty approved a CEP proposal to label courses “writing-intensive” if they meet certain requirements.

When it came to our attention that certain students may have influenced their pick in the housing draw based on their ability to pay a little extra, the thought was pretty disturbing.

We’re tired of saying this, believe us. We really thought that we had said all that needed to be said about College Council elections last week.

The faculty voted unanimously last Wednesday to approve the proposed course package. This new course package includes substantial changes in both the art department and the English department.

Although candidates and organizers paid considerable lip service to the allegedly impressive turnout at Sunday evening’s presidential debate, the unfortunate fact of the matter is that the event did precious little to improve campus discourse in any tangible manner.

This weekend was a weekend filled with opportunities for students to get involved. On Friday, we received the announcement of the upcoming College Council elections, and later that afternoon, we were invited to nominate ourselves for the presidential search committee.

We recently reviewed a proposal by the CUL to establish an option for Substance Free Housing.

Over the past week, most students have spent a fair amount of time flipping furiously through the course catalog.

The issue of substance free housing has again come to the fore. Since the Record editorial has been mentioned (and misunderstood) in the CUL’s proposal, we at the Record feel the need to restate our objection to substance free housing and to respond to some of the points raised by the CUL.

Tonight, the Williams College Debate Union will host its fourth debate, the issue this time being free speech on the Internet.

As editors and writers at the Record, we have become used to contacting members of the administration on a weekly basis.

No drinking, no smoking and no out-of-control partying – could this possibly be college housing? It could, but only if the college heeds the advice of the Committee on Undergraduate Life (CUL) and implements their proposal for substance-free housing.

Last September, the Record ran an editorial entitled “Too Many Students on the Log.” The editorial spoke to the fact that class size ought to be reduced.

As plans progress for the proposed performing arts facility, we urge the College to be more forthcoming with information.

For as long as any current students have been at Williams, the college has experienced a “housing crunch.” Increased class sizes and renovations in residences have contributed to the pressures on the College’s dorms.

Certainly, a $20 million donation presents numerous options to the College. We are extremely grateful to Mr. Allen for his generosity.

Last fall, we wrote an opinion piece when the future of NCAA eligibility for NESCAC teams was first debated.

This weekend, Williams students gathered around toothpicks, bottles of glue and small trees building model trains for the North Adam’s Community youth service.

Most of the schools in the New England Small College Athletic Conference are recognized as being among the finest in the nation.

As Williams students begin to choose classes this weekend they will notice a giant void in the Political Science department.

With the arrival of hordes of high school seniors who are now considering Williams as a place to spend their next four years, we at the Record had the opportunity to experience first hand how exactly Williams lives up to its reputation.

As MassPIRG’s reaffirmation vote takes place today and tomorrow, we at the Record would like to offer reasons as to why the Williams student body should vote against MassPIRG.

As the College Council prepares to pass the torch to a new group of leaders, we at the Record are left wondering why such an important process failed to achieve the goals of a simple democracy: rule by the people, for the people.

Winter Carnival festivities are almost upon us and to add to the festivities SAC is paying $12,000 to bring live entertainment to campus.

The front page of The Record boldly announces that the Health Center scare is just a rumor. Should this put all of our fears to rest regarding the future of our little refuge?