WILLIAMS: Abolition
34
In 1962, the trustees of Williams College voted that the school assume "complete responsibility for providing housing, eating and social accommodations for the entire student body in units owned and operated by the College." Since these functions had traditionally been provided for many students by fifteen , privatelyowned fraternities, the decision marked "the beginning of the end" of the fraternity system at Williams. The trustees' decision followed a six-month study by a committee composed of trustees, faculty, alutnni and students which had unanimously concluded that the fraternity system exercised a disproportionate role in campus life and militated against the educational purposes of the institution. Shortly after the vote, a College committee began work on establishing a new residential h ousing system which was inaugurated in 1963 and which persists, with some modifications, today. Between 1962 and 1968, nine of the fraternities discontinued operations while six chose to carry on as "purely fraternal groups," with their activities limited to chapter meetings. In 1968, the trustees requested that these six groups cease operations upon the graduation of current members. All but one of the fraternity houses were made available to the College; the other became Williamstown Town Hall. Some of the buildings were converted into student housing while others became academic centers or offices. In 1976, the Williams trustees reaffirmed their stand against fraternities in response to intervention by one national fraternity which had re-established ties on campus, and rumors that other secret groups were forming. The fraternity immediately disbanded and, according to Raym-o nd Boyer, director of public information at Williams, "There are no secret fr aternities at Williams and, if one were to surface, it would be dissolved by the College." The fraternities were replaced by a residential housing system for upperclass students. (Freshmen are
Campus Notes
housed together as they were before fraternities left the campus.) In mid-year, freshmen enter a housing lottery and by a "combination of choice and chance" are assigned to a house where they will reside for the next three years. The houses, which vary in architecture and ambience, accommodate forty to fifty students and are coeducational. The house system is the crux of social life at Williams, with houses spo~soring activities solo or in tandem. Students have their meals at one of three central dining rooms. Most of Williams 1950 undergraduates live on campus. Boyer says that the College has indications that "a significant number of students choose to come to Williams because it is known as a place that does not have a fraternity system." He points out that this fact is included in promotional material used by the Admissions Office. He describes the results of the decision to ban fraternities, in terms of alumni support, as "incredibly encouraging," noting that the Alumni Fund increased from $730,000 in 1970 to $1.74 million in 1980, with 62.5 percent participation, at the same time the College was raising $51 million in a capital campaign. •
(continued from page 18)
the editorial board of The Comparatist, the official journal of the Southern Comparative Literature Association. ~
CLYDE D. MCKEE, associate professor of political science, participated in a discussion workshop on "Performance Budgeting in State Government" sponsored by the Connecticut Chapter of the American Society for Public Administration. ~
Williamstown Town Hall was a former Williams College fraternity house before abolition of Greek-letter societies in 1968.
Associate Professor of Chemistry RALPH 0. MOYER has been elected chairman of the Connecticut Valley Section of the American Chemical Society.
11o.. JAMES L. POTTER, associate pro,.- fessor of English, organized and chaired a special session on "Film Criticism and Literary Criticism" at the annual meeting of the Modern Language Association (MLA). ~ Associate Professor of Physics MARK P. SILVERMAN presented "Light Amplification by Reflection from an Inverted Medium," at the American Physical Society and the American Association of Physics Teachers' annual meeting. His article, "The Vortex Tube: A Violation of the Second Law?," appeared in European Journal of Physics 3 (1982) Vol. 8. 11o.. JOHN SMITH, visiting artist-in,.- residence, has a sculpture exhi-
bition at the Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art in Ridgefield. ~
Artist-in-Residence ELIZABETH L. TRACY has exhibited her work this year at the Munson Gallery in New Haven, at the National Print Invitational at San Bernadino State College, and at the San Jose Museum of Art. One of her works was recently purchased for the permanent collection at the San Jose Museum. DIANA E. YIANNAKIS, assistant
~ professor of political science, had an article appear in the Journal of Politics entitled "House Members' Communication Styles: Newsletters and Press Releases."