Feb. 7, 2018: Ramunto's Brick Oven Pizza to replace Hops and Vines as new Log vendor

ARTS P. 8

SPORTS P. 12

Cap and Bells gives performance of 'In The Blood'

The Independent Student Newspaper at Williams College Since 1887 VOL. CXXXII, NO. 13

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2018

Women's squash take second place at NESCACs

Ramunto’s Brick Oven Pizza to replace Hops and Vines as new Log vendor

By REED JENKINS MANAGING EDITOR On Tuesday, the College announced that food and drink service will return to The Log in a new partnership with Ramunto’s Brick Oven Pizza.

Work will continue in the next few weeks to return The Log to full operations, with the expected re-opening to occur soon after Spring Break.

The Log has been on hiatus since Dec. 29, after local vendor Hops and Vines decided to end its food and drink partnership with the College at the end of last year. In a school-wide announcement, Vice President for Campus Life Steve Klass thanked Hops and Vines for its service to the community over the past two years, citing the restaurant business as a “notoriously challenging one.”

Klass also commended “the hard work and support we received from the Hops and Vines team during The Log’s two years of existence.”

The decision by Hops and Vines to leave The Log was followed soon after by a decision to close its location on Water St. in January, ending all business operations in the area.

After the College was informed of the departure of Hops and Vines, immediate efforts were put forth to secure a new food and beverage vendor for the location. Ultimately, the College selected Ramunto’s Brick Oven Pizza. Ramunto’s boasts a dozen locations across New England and offers a diverse menu and a commit-

JUNE HAN/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

The Log is expected to reopen soon after Spring Break with a new vendor, Ramunto’s Brick Oven Pizza. The restaurant will have self-seating and will offer a more informal dining experience. ment to local products. The College will work with nearby partners behind the two closest locations of the restaurant in Bennington, V.T. and North Adams, Mass.

In addition to offering a new menu, the re-opened Log will offer a more conve-

nient and casual dining experience for patrons. The Log will now offer self-seating and counter service instead of a wait staff. Delivery service, coordinated through the Ramunto’s location in North Adams, will also be available. The new style of ser-

vice is partially in response to student feedback during the past two years that the waitstaff approach was too formal for the space. Some students remarked that they sometimes found it difficult to simply walk in and grab a table. “We think that [this

new] service style will generally feel much more organic and natural,” Klass said.

The re-opening of The Log will also feature new programming from the Office of Student Life. The announcement of the formal start date for the new partnership will

be accompanied by news of a grand opening event.

“We look forward to the arrival of a new and improved Log and are as delighted to be working in collaboration with Ramunto’s as they are to [be] becoming part of the College community,” Klass said.

Julissa Arce speaks College grants tenure to professors about her pathway Cohen, Ephraim, Knibbs, Mitchell to U.S. citizenship

By SAMUEL WOLF NEWS EDITOR On Thursday, immigrant rights advocate Julissa Arce delivered Claiming Williams Day’s morning keynote address on the plight of undocumented immigrants and her legal and spiritual journey toward becoming an American citizen. Born in Mexico, Arce was brought to the United States at age 11, where she settled in San Antonio. When she arrived in America in the mid-1990s, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) did not yet exist, and deportation was an everpresent threat throughout her life. Nevertheless, Arce rose in the world of banking and later became a successful immigration lawyer before ultimately gaining American citizenship in August of 2014.

Throughout her talk, the expiration of DACA loomed

large. For the past several years, DACA has provided shelter for undocumented people who originally entered the country as minors. President Obama created DACA through an executive order in 2014, but President Trump rescinded the policy in September of 2017. Approximately 800,000 individuals are enrolled in the program, but many have already lost their protections, and more will lose them in the coming weeks unless Congress intervenes.

Growing up in Mexico, Arce had little exposure to America other than through television shows like Beverly Hills, 90210. She initially perceived the country as cold and unwelcoming. “All the people I saw on those television shows looked the same: they were all beautiful, they were all rich and they were all white…

SEE IMMIGRATION, PAGE 5

PHOTO COURTESY OF ROMAN IWASIWKA

Julissa Arce spoke Thursday on the plight of undocumented immigrants.

By WILLIAM NEWTON EXECUTIVE EDITOR

Last month, the Board of Trustees Executive Committee approved the Committee on Appointment’s vote to grant tenure to four College professors: Phoebe Cohen, Laura Ephraim, Eric Knibbs and Gregory Mitchell.

Cohen, a professor of geosciences, researches the fossils of extinct organisms. Currently, she is investigating a mass extinction that took place at the end of the Devonian Period.

She is also researching the oldest fossilized evidence of organisms that made hard body parts using minerals, perhaps as a means of defense.

“I’m interested in how life and environments have coevolved throughout [earth’s] history, with a focus on life before the evolution of animals,” Cohen said.

Cohen enjoys both introducing students to earth sciences in lower-level courses and diving into more in-depth topics in upper-level seminars.

Working with research students, she said, has been one of her favorite parts of teaching at the College.

“I really enjoy getting to know my research students and then keeping in touch with them after they leave Williams,” Cohen said. “It’s such a privilege to be able to become a part of someone’s life and to help them grow as thinkers and as people.”

Now that she has tenure, Cohen is looking forward to having more freedom in her teaching and research.

“I really enjoy my job here at Williams, and it was gratifying to know that my colleagues value the effort that I put into my work both in teaching and research,” Cohen said. “I’m looking forward to experimenting more in my teaching and to digging into some more long-term research projects that might not work out

or might take a while to come to fruition. I’ve also always wanted to write a popular science book, so maybe that will happen at some point too.”

Ephraim, a professor of political science, researches the political theory of environmental studies, science and technology and democratic and feminist theory.

She wrote Who Speaks for Nature? On the Politics of Science and co-edited Second Nature: Rethinking the Natural Through Politics. Ephraim is also looking forward to the added freedom that tenure will give her in teaching and research. “My dominant feelings [upon receiving tenure] were relief, joy and gratitude,” she said. “I'm most looking forward to using the greater level of autonomy that comes with the security of tenure to discover new challenges in the work I have always loved.”

Knibbs is a legal historian and professor of history. He focuses his research on the early medieval forgeries associated with Pseudo-Isidore. As the medieval European historian in the history department, he teaches courses on the Middle Ages and European history immediately after the collapse of the western Roman Empire.

He particularly enjoys his seminar on witchcraft, which “covers the history of magic and sorcery from the ancient to the medieval worlds as a lead-up to the notorious witch persecutions of the 16th and 17th centuries,” he said.

Knibbs first heard he was granted tenure after a late dinner at a conference in Germany. “At that point, I was distracted enough and had drunk enough beer to basically forget that I was waiting on news of tenure in the first place,” he said. “But I was happy to hear of it.”

Knibbs values the history department community and is looking forward to the additional

freedom that he will gain in his teaching as a tenured professor.

“I've come to enjoy enormously the collegiality and the company of my colleagues in the history department,” he said. “As a tenured professor, I'm looking forward to thinking with a little more chronological breadth about my future at the College and the courses I'd like to teach. I am a little sad to have given up on my dreams of moving to Munich, finding work in a sport shop and becoming a running bum, but the grass is always greener.”

Mitchell, a professor of women’s, gender and sexuality studies, worked in Brazil for 12 years researching questions related to sex work and public policy. His book Tourist Attractions: Performing Race and Masculinity in Brazil’s Sexual Economy was published in 2015, and he has a new book in the works.

“My next book is tentatively titled ‘40,000 Missing Girls: Moral Panics, Sporting Events and the Spectacle of Sex Trafficking,’” Mitchell said. “It examines police violence against female sex workers during periods preceding mega-events like the World Cup and the Olympics and the ways in which well-meaning but misguided foreign groups such as evangelical missionaries, anti-prostitution feminist groups and business developers actually contribute to a lot of violence in the run-up to these events as they pressure authorities to ‘clean up’ red light areas.”

Mitchell teaches a seminar on sexual economies, which relates directly to his research, and also enjoys teaching the popular “Performing Masculinity in Global Popular Culture” course.

He is excited about the honor of receiving tenure and the flexibility it will give him to try a new, ambitious course idea.

“Receiving tenure is a major milestone in an academic's ca-

reer,” Mitchell said. “Now that I'm tenured, I'll be putting a lot of time into a new class for spring of next year called ‘Race, Gender and Sexuality in Brazil.’ It provides resources for all of the enrolled students to come Rio de Janeiro with me over Spring Break to do their own exploratory fieldwork projects related to social justice issues. It will be a lot of work, and it could be a spectacular failure, but it's the kind of ‘high risk, high reward’ thing I feel like tenure allows me to attempt.”

WHAT’S INSIDE 3 OPINIONS On the importance of campus parties 4 NEWS Administrators hold seminar on protesting College 7 FEATURES Alums publish children’s book 9 ARTS Dining Services brings art to its daily routine 11 SPORTS The fight for varsity ice hockey

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February 7, 2018

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Word on The Quad Who were you in a past life?

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CONVENTIONAL WISDOM NEW LOG

Can't wait to try Ramunto's Brick Oven Pizza!

FIRST WEEK OF CLASSES

When you're still in denial that Winter Study is over.

GABY MARTIN ’21

A pug.

DAVID GORESTKI ’20

An average, middle-aged man.

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Fly, Eagles fly! Also, R.I.P. Philadelphia...

KYLIE JENNER'S NEW BABY

Baby Stormi takes social media by storm!

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Six more weeks of winter...

KATELYN LONG ’19

An elephant.

ON THE RECORD

DAVID VASCONES ’18

Definitely a pizza man.

“I started to think that maybe someone who looked like me could be a part of the makeup of this country.”

Julissa Arce during her keynote speech on Claiming Williams Day, page 5.

“There’s no question that there’s some degree of risk you take on when you’re writing about human feces.”

Aroop Mukharji ’09 on his new children's book When the President Poops, page 7.

“I can’t create the objects I crave to look at, so I collect them.”

The late Eugene V. Thaw on his expansive and impressive collection of drawings, page 8. “ It didn't make sense to me that the ice hockey team wasn't supported in the same way others teams were supported at Williams.”

Gretchen Engster Howard ’95 on the push for a women's varsity ice hockey team, page 12.

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FROM THE ARCHIVES The opinions expressed in signed columns are not necessarily those of the Williams Record editorial board.

Op-Ed and Letter Submission The Record welcomes op-eds and letters from all members of the College community. The Opinions section is designed to reflect the varied views and ideas of the College community, and the publication of any letter or op-ed does not indicate an endorsement of the views contained therein.

Submissions should be sent to hy3@williams. edu and snc2@williams.edu by Sunday at 5 p.m. for inclusion in the next Wednesday issue. Opeds range in length from 650-800 words, and letters are 500 words or fewer. The Record will not publish pieces that have appeared in other publications. Pieces submitted to the Record are not guaranteed a spot in the upcoming issue.

For Record policy information, please see our website, williamsrecord.com.

STEVE SCOVILLE ’91

Against BDS

o sideri y

OPINIONS 3

The Williams Record

February 7, 2018 e a s o a oli ical mo eme

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Along with the writers of the op-ed “Standing with SJP: Opposing Kenneth Marcus ’88” (Jan. 24, 2018), I am troubled by the nomination of Kenneth Marcus to be assistant secretary for civil rights in the U.S. Department of Education. Like most of the Trump administration, Marcus is unsuited for a role in government. He lacks experience and judgment and has a horrid record of discrimination against people of color. However, I disagree with the op-ed’s statements on the Boycott, Divest and Sanctions (BDS) movement. Without appropriate context and historical background, the article’s inaccuracies are quite dangerous. The BDS movement is thoroughly flawed and utterly void of the impartiality and nuance that an issue like the IsraeliPalestinian conflict requires.

The BDS movement does more to impede the peace process than it does to help it. BDS provides little to no actual help to suffering Palestinians and instead stifles any productive debate and solution-based discussion. By advocating for a “global boycott” of Israel, BDS places the blame solely on one side without acknowledging the other side’s responsibility in what is an extremely complex conflict. The BDS movement ignores the continued corruption and terrorism propagated by the Palestinian leadership. Over the past several years, foreign countries have donated billions of dollars in aid to the Palestinians. Instead of providing schools, hospitals and health services for the Palestinian people, Hamas and the Palestinian Authority use this money to buy weapons, build terror tunnels and fund lavish lifestyles for Palestinian elites. In order to further the peace process and truly better the lives of suffering Palestinian people, the fraudulent Palestinian leadership must be held accountable for its actions. The BDS movement refuses to recognize the Palestinian leadership’s liability, and it instead demonizes Israel. Moreover, the “ordinary citizens” who founded BDS, including Omar Barghouti, call for the complete destruction of the state of Israel and the eradication of Jews from the land but refrain from any constructive Palestinian advocacy.

Despite the op-ed’s claims, the BDS movement is blatantly anti-Semitic. The movement aims to delegitimize Israel’s existence as a Jewish state and often results in harassment or intimidation of Jews and Israel supporters. This includes overtly anti-Semitic expression and acts. In June of last year, organizers kicked out three Jewish women from a lesbian pride march in Chicago, Ill. for

carrying rainbow flags with Jewish Stars of David. Similarly, feminist leaders like Linda Sarsour exclude Israel supporters from women’s marches. On college campuses, dining halls are petitioned to ban Israeli food, and pro-Israel speakers are prevented from sharing their views. The BDS movement singles out Israel from a bevy of nations with clear and unquestionable human rights violations, allowing countries like China, Saudi Arabia and Russia to go unscathed. The movement’s sole focus on Israel is an attempt to vilify the country and deny the Jewish people the right to self-determination.

Similarly, the op-ed’s comparison of the Israel-Palestine conflict to apartheid in South Africa is a factually inaccurate result of the continued demonization of Israel. In reality, Israel’s human rights record is far better than that of many countries the BDS movement ignores.

Israel’s Arab citizens are free to criticize the government, serve in any sector of the economy and join the parliament – the Joint List, a coalition of Arab political parties, is currently the third-largest faction in Israel’s government. Israel has admirable records of women’s rights, gay rights, environmental protections and many other democratic, progressive ideals that seldom exist in the rest of the Middle East and are even still challenged in the United States. The BDS movement holds Israel to a much higher standard than the rest of the world, attacking its right to exist as the world’s sole Jewish state.

There is a healthy way to criticize Israel, just as there is a healthy way to criticize any other country. The Israeli government wrongfully occupies land designated for a Palestinian national home, and millions of Palestinians live in fear, unable to move freely and succeed in life. But by suggesting a one-sided, antagonistic view of the conflict, the BDS movement fails to promote real dialogue or effectively advocate for Palestinian rights. Criticizing the BDS movement is not antifree speech, nor is it anti-Palestinian.

If one believes in a two-state solution, justice for Palestinians and Israel’s right to exist, it should be evident that the BDS movement must be reformed.

Concerned activists should spurn the anti-Semitism of BDS and its watereddown version of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. We must instead practice critical thinking and work to build bridges between one another. Only healthy, open-minded, historically-based discourse will help solve this seemingly perpetual conflict and better the lives of the Palestinian people.

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Making space for fun e olle e s ould reduce res ric io s o

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student groups can do so. It would be one thing if said groups provided I came to Williams with the impres- consistent social outlets to the entire sion that these four years were in- campus. However, that’s just not the tended as an opportunity to more fully case. There’s been a marked decline develop as a human being. However, in such events over the past few years.

I’ve become increasingly concerned I’ve reached out to most student that the College is not taking steps to groups responsible for hosting events aid us in that process. Yes, we are pro- in the hopes of rebooting them and vided an unparalleled education. The have received little response. administration, however, seems intent I’ve heard the justification that no on forming policies that make it diffi- one attends these events, and I see cult to access healthy social outlets. the validity there. I don’t expect to see When I arrived on campus, I was events overflowing with people. Anysurprised that it was not my classes body that has thrown an event, howevthat comprised the most significant er, knows that people leave when they part of my experience. In fact, the time walk into a room and see five security I spent with people brought me more guards and no students. We are monijoy and taught me more tored and policed in our than any class. I deciddaily lives. Many of us ed that I wanted people internalized this When throwing an have to be the central facet policing and exist in a of my life at the Colevent means poten- state of anxiety where lege. The opportunities any social action could tially paying $90, I value most provide have consequences and space to come together there becomes a seri- mistakes are not tolerwith no agenda but to ated. We desperately ous inequity of who need spaces where we enjoy each other.

My concern started can create a party. can be ourselves and when I learned of the appreciate the best registration system for thing this college has social events. I get it. The College, like provided us – each other – without so many institutions, is petrified by li- fearing the consequences. ability and wants to minimize responI acknowledge that I’m in a privisibility for incidents by expanding leged position. I’m lucky enough to its ability to monitor gatherings. But have parents who are willing and able this year, in addition to requiring reg- to help support me emotionally and istration, the College has expanded financially after college. I don’t feel its hosting policy. Social events over as burdened by years of educational 50 people require certified host(s) to costs as many other students on camcheck student IDs at the door. Spe- pus. Plus, I’m not applying for graducific campus spaces that have “prob- ate school and therefore don’t need lematic histories” also require hosts. to stress over my grades. I have more Hosts are paid $15 per hour. When freedom to choose my priorities. I also throwing an event means potentially need to clarify that this article is not paying $90, there becomes a serious a plea for more opportunities to get inequity in terms of who can create a drunk and try to hook up with people. party. Essentially, now only funded When only student groups can host

ar ies

all-campus events, and they are not providing said events, students are left with few options when they need an outlet. They can go to Hoxsey St., which seems to strictly provide opportunities to get drunk and hook up with people, or they can isolate themselves to find ways to escape.

We have some amazing chances to come together as a community. However, there is something special about an event like a dance party. So much of our time at the College is spent thinking. There are times when we need to give our brains a break and an opportunity to be goofy and not care so much.

I recognize that the administration creates policies with the aim to protect students and the College.

However, it also needs to recognize that we go to a small school in a small town in the middle of nowhere. We all gave up the idea of a city (or even just larger town) life with its many other opportunities to get out, have fun and explore. Most students don’t have cars and can’t access the surrounding area. There is something special about this.

While we are here, we have a concentrated experience of this place because we can’t escape it. However, having a concentrated experience can mean stress, anxiety and suffering if students don’t have access to healthy outlets. While we are here, we are working on being adults, and that means creating our own spaces to be free and express ourselves. I fully acknowledge that there are different ways of doing this. That being said, I really treasure the times we get to come together as a campus to dance, talk and be ridiculous, and the College is endangering that.

Justin Sardo ’18 is an anthropology major from Santa Monica, Calif.

Lev Gordon ’20 is from New York, N.Y.

Hamilton and college life arallel s ru les i y

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In 1784, the citizens of New York wanted to appropriate the property of those still loyal to the English Crown.

So far as the victorious patriots were concerned, loyalist sympathies posed an internal threat to the fledgling republic — grounds that justified the suspension of their property rights.

But a young Alexander Hamilton had a different idea.

He agreed that “cases indeed of extreme necessity are exceptions to all general rules,” but clarified that “[these exceptions] only exist when it is manifest the safety of the community is in imminent danger.” Certainly, one can imagine the kind of threat these Loyalists, many of whom armed, financed, housed and even fought with British regulars in the effort to quell the rebellion, posed to the Americans. These people had been complicit in acts of violence against the Patriot cause; one might easily speculate that they might commit similar acts of sabotage or resistance against both the American government and people.

By all means, these must have been the cases of extreme necessity that Hamilton mentioned. Hamilton, however, was less than convinced.

“Speculations of possible danger,” Hamilton argued, “never can be justifying causes of departures from principles ... which constitute the essential distinction between free and arbitrary governments.” According to Hamilton, the speculation of the possibility of violence could never justify the chilling of the rights free governments were obliged to uphold. Hamilton continued, “Those eternal principles of social justice forbid the inflicting [of] punishment upon citizens by an abridgement of rights, or in any other manner, without conviction ... by regular trial and condemnation.”

This tolerance helped establish a crucial security against oppression in the early days of the republic. Too often, Hamilton feared, we say our principles “do not apply to a situation like ours,” but when we say this, Hamilton believed, we “[open] a wilderness” wherein we do not respect our own principles. In this wilderness, we sub-

e olle e

ject ourselves to arbitrary government prone to violent changes in public sentiment. Under this system, we will all eventually find our throats positioned under the executioner’s blade.

I believe the College community currently stands at a Hamiltonian crossroads. All of us, whether in the ideological majority or minority, have something to learn from Hamilton’s words. He cautioned us against dismissing our principles too quickly in the face of a perceived threat. He called on us to ask the question: Which is more dangerous – giving the dissenting voice a platform, or denying the minority any tolerance for disagreement? The prevailing ideas and beliefs held at the College may well be morally righteous, but the social and academic suppression of thought diversity is not.

While the College’s official stance on thought diversity adheres to Hamilton’s principles of tolerance, I believe our culture diverges from them. People who hold dissenting views are reluctant, and most often silent, when it comes to offering a thought in class or casual discussion that might be construed as evidence of political allegiance. Again, while there may be no institutional repercussions for speaking one’s mind, the social consequences can be severe. This is intolerance, and if the majority wishes to preserve its freedom to speak and advocate without fear of retribution, it must show the same respect to those who dissent.

But Hamilton also called on those in the minority to be more courageous.

Instead of stewing in frustration and anger, Hamilton took pen to paper and defended his position. Though some students here may feel intimidated, they cannot allow this to censor them without forfeiting their integrity. There can be no excuse for silence, and it is important to recognize the minority voice’s responsibility for its own condition. If more would take the risk to question the mainstream ideas on campus, our intellectual climate would change for the better, and we could bring civil discourse back to our college.

Kenneth Marshall ’20 is from Ridgewood, N.J.

MATTHEW ROYCHOWDHURY ’21

Defending Kenneth Marcus ’88 ues io i

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Recently, The Williams Record published an op-ed about an esteemed alum that conveyed, almost in its entirety, factually inaccurate accusations (“Standing with SJP: Opposing Kenneth Marcus ’88,” Jan. 24, 2018). Hattie Schapiro ’18.5, Eliza Klein ’19 and Abel Romero ’19 urged the College community to stand with Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), an international student activism organization, and oppose Kenneth Marcus ’88, nominee for the position of assistant secretary of civil rights in the U.S. Department of Education. In doing so, the authors claimed that Marcus is the founder of a “right-wing, pro-Israel lobbying organization” and has engaged in “bullying and intimidating students.”

Marcus founded the Louis D. Brandeis Center, a non-partisan institution – a fact easily verified by its 501(c) (3) status. The Center engages in research, education and advocacy. Its mission is to “advance the civil and human rights of the Jewish people and promote justice for all.” The Center has partnered with academicians around the world to study rapidly rising anti-Semitism. Perhaps the most famous of its studies is the “Anti-Semitism Report,” a collaboration with Trinity College showing that already by 2014, 54 percent of Jewish students on U.S. college campuses had experienced or witnessed anti-Semitism during the previous semester. The report served as a watershed, raising awareness of this growing problem.

The Brandeis Center also engages in legal advocacy. In 2016, for example, SJP and anti-Israel groups at the University of California, Irvine (UCI) blockaded Jewish students in an auditorium and then chased one undergraduate who attempted to leave, forcing her to hide in a kitchen guarded by a UCI staff mem-

a d su or i

arcus a oi me

ber. The Brandeis Center represented the student. UCI found SJP culpable and instructed it to host an educational program reflecting its commitment to ending such types of harassment.

Marcus thus does not engage in, but rather opposes, the “bullying and harassment of students.” Throughout his career, Marcus has fought for the rights of women, the disabled and minority groups including African Americans, Hispanics and Asians. Marcus served as general deputy assistant secretary of housing and urban development for fair housing and equal opportunity and as staff director of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, during which he was delegated the authority of assistant secretary of education for the Office for Civil Rights (2003-2004).

In these positions, Marcus heightened the enforcement of regulations against lending discrimination and racially segregated school activities and bolstered Title IX grievance procedures. He developed programs to combat the misdiagnosis of racial and ethnic minorities in special education, and he issued a guidance that extended civil rights protections to Muslims, Sikhs and Jews.

As president and general counsel of the Brandeis Center, Marcus has continued to speak out against discrimination aimed at religious minorities, including Muslims and other groups.

Of these activities, the op-ed’s authors write that Marcus has an “extensive record” of “opposing civil rights.”

The Atlantic, however, reported that the George W. Bush “administration started taking a stronger approach to enforcing civil rights laws” under Marcus’ leadership (“The Office for Civil Rights’ Volatile Power, Mar. 13, 2017”). In addition, at Marcus’ nomination hearing, Senator Tim Kaine applauded Marcus’ advocacy on behalf of a Virginia Tech student threatened by a white supremacist.

The op-ed’s authors ask that the College community stand with SJP. But before doing so, consider what standing with SJP means. SJP-affiliated groups have disrupted at least 92 Jewish events on college campuses, incited violence against Israelis and Zionists and attacked Jewish students at UCI and other colleges.

Instead of advocating against all quasi-governmental, nongovernmental, governmental and international organizations that have a hand in extending the suffering of the Palestinian people, these groups target just one entity — the Jewish state. In doing so, they not only work against peace and the wellbeing of all peoples in the region, but they also fuel the fire of growing anti-Semitism in the United States.

The College is privileged to count Kenneth Marcus among its alumni. My friendship with Ken has enriched my life in many ways. During our college days, I discovered in him a tolerance of other viewpoints that I have always endeavored to emulate. I have watched closely as Ken has countered rising intolerance through the Brandeis Center, not by shutting down speech, but by providing factual information and promoting thoughtful dialogue. I have felt the pride of his accomplishments, such as when a former student of Ken’s approached us at a restaurant last summer and recounted how much he had inspired her.

Schapiro, Klein and Romero’s op-ed, with its gross factual inaccuracies, is a mark against the College. We should not view our association with the College as a free ticket to higher repute; rather, we should earn that esteem by being ever more diligent in our professional and social responsibilities so that we may become a model of integrity for others to follow.

Naomi Friedman ’87 was a chemistry major and is from Ashville, N.C.

February 7, 2018

NEWS 4

The Williams Record

Gage McWeeny named director of Oakley Center

By BROOKE HOROWITCH EXECUTIVE EDITOR On Jan. 28, the College announced that Professor of English Gage McWeeny has been named the new director of the Oakley Center for Humanities and Social Sciences.

McWeeny succeeds Morris Professor of Rhetoric Jana Sawicki and will begin his threeyear term in July.

The Oakley Center opened in 1985 with a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to foster interdisciplinary scholarship among faculty. It is named after former President of the College and current Senior Fellow Francis Oakley.

The center organizes conferences, manuscript reviews, lectures and colloquia and hosts around nine fellows in residence

each semester. These professors pursue research, compose manuscripts and attend weekly seminars with the two Ruchman Fellows from the senior class and the Clark-Oakley Fellow. Additionally, the Center sponsors all-campus events through the Lecture Committee and is involved in Claiming Williams Day and the Davis Lectures. Sawicki also created a faculty colloquia program in which

PHOTO COURTESY OF WILLIAMS COLLEGE

Gage McWeeny will succeed Jana Sawicki as director of the Oakley Center for Humanities and Social Sciences.

professors share and discuss recently-published work.

“We’re just doing a lot to support faculty scholarship, intellectual development and intellectual stimulation,” Sawicki said.

She described her daily routine as director. “It’s an exciting job. I’m communicating with faculty, hosting speakers, participating in the faculty fellows’ seminar, looking at applications, thinking about next year’s programming, contacting scholars, working with faculty to plan events and getting requests to have colloquia or support events on campus,” Sawicki said.

Previously, the president of the College and dean of faculty selected the director.

This year, however, they issued a call for applicants.

They then consulted Sawicki and former directors before choosing McWeeny from the pool of applicants.

Sawicki commended the decision. “[McWeeny] has been involved in several of the colloquia that I’ve organized,” she said. “He was very actively and intellectually engaged in those events. I think he has a broad set of interests that cross disciplines, and he’s a really congenial, energetic person who will be a great ambassador for the Oakley Center.”

McWeeny was thrilled by his appointment. “It has been my

secret dream ever since I had a fellowship [at the Center] because it is a place where we have to stretch ourselves,” he said, “Getting outside of our own disciplines is an incredibly powerful feeling. The chance to bring improbable and totally fascinating people to campus is a wonderful opportunity.”

McWeeny has incorporated many disciplines into his research and teaching since arriving at the College in 2005.

According to his appointment press release, his interests include “19th-century British literature, the history and theory of the novel, sociology and literature as well as contemporary experimental writing and conceptual art.”

He completed an Oakley fellowship during his assistant professor leave. He wrote the majority of his book The Comfort of Strangers: Social Life and Literary Form at the Center and appreciated the chance to discuss his work with scholars in other fields. “Academics are specialists,” he said. “We are trained not just in a discipline, but in a highly-specific field within that discipline.

The great, wonderful challenge of the Oakley Center is to figure out how to talk about your work as an English or philosophy professor to someone in economics or political science.

And really wonderful things happen out of those exchanges

because it’s pedagogical. It’s a classroom of your peers.”

McWeeny hopes that the Center can elevate the humanities and promote discussion about the role of art in higher education under his guidance.

“It is a great place to mark and represent the importance of the humanities in higher education and keep that mission at the forefront of life at Williams,” he said. “Nationally, the narrative of humanities is in decline, so places like the Oakley Center are really important for showing people all of the energy and the work.”

“One of the things I’ve really been interested in at Williams lately [is] the place of the arts on campus,” he added. “What are our ambitions with the arts? I’ve been thinking about multidisciplinary perspectives and ways in which the arts might inform work that’s being done in the humanities and social sciences. The Oakley [Center] feels like one of those places where you can do that kind of thinking about our long-term intellectual goals.”

Overall, McWeeny is grateful for the opportunity. “I’m very excited to be joining this long tradition of great leadership at the Oakley Center,” he said.

“I feel incredibly fortunate to [be named director] and hope to make good on the trust that has been placed in me.”

Administrators hold seminar on Africana studies professor Neil Roberts how to effectively protest College to assume Schumann Faculty FellowBy SAMUEL WOLF NEWS EDITOR Last Thursday, senior College administrators hosted a community forum on strategies for effectively protesting the actions of the College as a part of Claiming Williams Day. Chief Communications Officer Jim Reische led the meeting, assisted by Associate Provost Chris Winters ’95 and Zilkha Center Sustainability Coordinator Elayne Elliott. The meeting, which was attended by a small contingent of fewer than 10 students, was meant to discuss potential changes to the College, brainstorm strategies for implementation and discuss the feasibility of a future Winter Study course on enacting change at the College.

Reische in particular spearheaded the idea of a formal course. “I came up with the idea after years of participating in and then later observing student protests.

With some very notable exceptions, the majority didn't produce actual change. So, I thought, if we want people to become effective change-makers, we need to teach them how it's done,” he said. Throughout the meeting, however, some participants expressed skepticism as to whether the administration itself is a useful teacher in learning how to protest the administration.

The session focused on potential causes to hone in on.

Recurring themes included the entry system, the role of Junior Advisors, the College’s admission policies for athletes and legacy students and socioeconomic divides on campus.

Several participants contended that the College does not spend enough time advertising its resources to lower-income students, and some expressed that because of their socioeconomic statuses, they do not feel comfortable seeking help on campus. For those who come from low-resource schools, some argued, asking for help could be seen as equivalent to an admission of failure. Some administrators, too, shared difficulties in navigating that divide. Winters mentioned that he often

does not know how to provide assistance or advice to lowincome students without coming off as patronizing.

The meeting eventually shifted to discussing strategies that student groups could use to implement effective change. In particular, students brainstormed how to turn cathartic, ephemeral protests into enduring movements. For administrators like Reische, intimidation by and misunderstanding of the College’s complex bureaucracy is responsible for movements that quickly fizzle out.

He repeatedly contended that

Still, no one contested that significant barriers still exist between administrators and students. Communication between the two groups was described as anemic and unsatisfying. Differing time availabilities also presented a potential barrier. “A lot of students aren’t available until 10. I’m usually in bed by 10,” Reische said. Furthermore, the fact that students are generally on campus for only four years, and only for seven or eight months each year, gives some administrators the tendency to wait out the actions of advocates with the knowledge that those students' graduations are near.

Throughout the meeting, administrators in attendance worked hard to portray the administration as a potential partner.

Winters brought up a quip from Seinfeld: “Is there more there than meets the eye?

No. There’s less.”

He used that logic to defend the administration’s policies and actions. “If the administration can’t help you, it’s probably not because they don’t care; it’s probably something much more mundane than that,” he said. Reische was more blunt. “Hopkins isn’t the death star… You might be surprised to learn how many of [our goals] are the same things you want,” he said.

“Student voices, student perspectives and student energy are all necessary to help drive that work.”

Despite the administrators' optimism regarding the session, they acknowledged continuing hostility from the activist community at large. “Very few students showed up, which was too bad,” Reische said of the meeting. Attendance was not only small, but also nearly uniformly white and male.

Reische harbors no illusions as to what may have been the cause of that. “I'm told others didn't come because they heard the session was being led by ‘the Communications guy,’” he lamented. That fact has not led him to question his role in student protesting, though.

“My job isn't to mask Williams' flaws; there are plenty of things here that urgently need changing. So I don't want students to stop trying – I want to help you get better at it,” he said.

"My job isn't to mask Williams' flaws; there are plenty of things here that urgently need changing. So I don't want students to stop trying – I want to help you get better at it."

Jim Reische Chief Communications Officer a willingness to work with the administration and an understanding of effective points of contact are more useful than protest. “One of the hardest things is knowing when protest is the right way to go, and if so, what kind, versus when there are other avenues that would yield better or quicker results,” he said. “Who knows how to work the levers of change better than the people who hold them? And we're OK teaching other people where those levers are and how to help operate them.”

From there, discussion began regarding potential structures for a possible future Winter Study course. Students listed ideal focuses like building allies, learning where decisions are made, honing time-management skills and learning about research. In addition, there was interest in working on individual initiatives and bringing in guest speakers rather than having a typical lecture format. For those in the room, there was an overwhelming expectation that administrators, Reische in particular, could communicate effectively with students in a Winter Study course.

ship in Democratic Studies on July 1

By REBECCA TAUBER NEWS EDITOR

Last Wednesday, the College announced the appointment of Associate Professor of Africana Studies Neil Roberts as the next W. Ford Schumann Faculty Fellow in Democratic Studies.

Roberts will begin the threeyear fellowship on July 1, succeeding the current Schumann Faculty Fellow, Professor of Art Ondine Chavoya.

The fellowship, which was endowed in 2000 with a gift of $2.5 million by the Schumann Center for Media and Democracy, tasks the given faculty fellow with bringing speakers to campus and creating programming and conversation around the topics of democracy and civic responsibility.

The funding includes an additional $500,000 for the W. Ford Schumann visiting professorship, for which the fellow recruits candidates.

Roberts received his master's degree and doctorate in political science from the University of Chicago, where he specialized in political theory. He earned his undergraduate degree at Brown.

At the College, Roberts is a member of the Africana studies department, but he is also a faculty affiliate in the political science department and has taught classes in the religion department. Many of his courses are cross-listed in different departments with combinations of Africana studies, American studies, political science, leadership studies and religion. This year, his courses include “Contemporary Africana Social and Political Philosophy,” “Rastafari: Dread, Politics, Agency,” “The Black Radical Tradition” and “The Political Thought of Frantz Fanon.”

Roberts hopes to use the fellowship to spark conversation about democracy and civic responsibility outside the classroom and throughout the College. Despite his fields of expertise, however, he does not want his work to simply be a division I and division II discussion. “I want to create a campus-wide discussion across the fields and disciplines,” he said.

Roberts hopes to accomplish his goals through two main projects. The first is a conference in the spring with various speakers on the relationship between democracy and freedom. “The event is meant to involve the community,” he

said. The second is a more continuous endeavor; “I am creating a new year-long series on race and democracy,” Roberts explained. The potential series would consist of forums and talks throughout the year in order to keep the conversation going. “My hope is that this is not something that will be simply for faculty, but also for students,” he added.

Roberts is looking for speakers not only from the United States, but from abroad as well. Roberts himself has focused on Caribbean political theory, and he hopes to bring a global perspective to the topic of democracy. “I want to help build the Africana studies program but also make the case for how questions are pertinent not only to the traditions they belong to, but also to larger global thought,” he said. Roberts is particularly interested in the intersection between Africana studies and political science. “How do we actually think about concepts such as democracy and freedom? How can we look at Afro-modern thought? How can we talk about them together?” he asked.

In addition to bringing speakers for various programming, another one of Roberts’ responsibilities as the Schumann fellow will be to choose the Schumann visiting professor. In his vision for that position, Roberts is again focusing on the College as a whole. “I am looking for a scholar who can convey the ideas they have been working at to members of the community,” he said. In the spirit of the liberal arts, he also wants the chosen person to be an intellectual with the ability to spark powerful conversations.

When talking about civic responsibility, Roberts posed many thought-provoking questions. “How do we think about our existence in our world? To what extent [is] each of us involved in thinking about what is a democratic way of life? To what degree do we have a responsibility to engage?” he asked. Through the Schumann fellowship, Roberts hopes to generate a dialogue surrounding these questions and explore democracy and civic responsibility across campus and throughout the community.

PHOTO COURTESY OF WILLIAMS COLLEGE

Neil Roberts was recently appointed to the Schumann Faculty Fellowship.

February 7, 2018

NEWS 5

The Williams Record

Science Quad, Center for Learning in Action renamed in honor of President Emeritus Falk

By RB SMITH EXECUTIVE EDITOR On Dec. 31, Adam Falk stepped down from his presidency after serving an eightyear tenure at the helm of the College’s administration. The College will remember his contributions by naming two establishments in his honor: the Falk Science Quad and the Adam Falk Directorship of the Center for Learning in Action (CLiA).

The College has a longstanding policy of naming campus spaces and institutions after outgoing presidents as a gesture of gratitude for their contributions; Schapiro Hall, for example, was named to honor the departure of Morton Owen Schapiro from the presidency in 2008.

The Board of Trustees, which chooses these names, aims to bring attention to the specific initiatives and values that the outgoing president represented and vouched for during their tenure. This time, the Board chose the Science Quad and the directorship of CLiA to draw attention to Falk’s commitment to science education and community involvement.

“The naming of the new Falk Science Quad recognizes President Falk’s lifelong commitment to science, as well the very significant work he led to create new science facilities where our faculty and students will be able to do their best and most advanced work,” Chair of the Board of Trustees Michael Eisenson ’77 said. Before becoming Presi-

JUNE HAN/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

The Falk Science Quad was renamed in January to recognize President Emeritus Falk's strong commitment to science education over the course of his tenure. dent of the College, Falk was a physicist specializing in elementary particle physics and quantum field theory. During his tenure, he oversaw the planning and construction of the new Science Center, the first building of which is set to open this summer.

“When the new Science Center is finished, it will be a

home for one of the most remarkable science programs at any liberal arts college in the country, and President Falk was very much at the heart of this effort,” Eisenson said.

CLiA, which seeks to promote community engagement and experiential learning opportunities, is another institution that Falk lent particular

support to during his time as president. “The named directorship is a tribute to President Falk’s critical support for the founding of the Center as a way both to enable our students to contribute to the wellbeing of our local community and region and to provide significant educational opportunities,” Eisenson said.

Claiming Williams keynote speaker Julissa Arce speaks out against DACA rescindment CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 They didn’t give me the sense that I could ever be an American,” she said. Only when she was brought to the ethnically diverse city of San Antonio did her perceptions begin to change.

“I started to think that maybe someone who looked like me could be part of the makeup of this country,” she said. Still, adjusting to her new life in the United States was difficult. Arce only spoke five words of English when she arrived, and for many years she did not fully grasp the barriers imposed on her by her undocumented status.

A revelation came for Arce when she was told that she could not return to Mexico for her quinceañera, a cultural and familial celebration of a girl’s 15th birthday. According to U.S. law, if a person leaves America after having resided in the country illegally for more

than a year, that person faces a 10-year ban from reentering the United States. If Arce had gone to Mexico at age 15, she would not have been able to return. Furthermore, when Arce applied to colleges at the end of high school, she was rejected from all of them solely because she did not have a Social Security number. She was only able to attend college when Texas legislators decided to allow undocumented students into state colleges in 2001.

Upon entering college, Arce was determined to achieve success, drawing inspiration from her parents. “They were convinced that in this country, as long as you work hard and stay out of trouble, you can achieve the American Dream,” she said.

Arce saw financial success as a key component in achieving an American identity. After college, she immediately began working for Goldman Sachs,

forging a Green Card in order to work at the company. Throughout her time at Goldman Sachs, Arce's undocumented status filled her with fear. “Not a day went by that I didn’t think, ‘Today might be the day they find out,’” she said. When her father became ill, she agonized over whether or not to return to Mexico and face a 10-year reentry ban. “I packed my bag, I unpacked my bag. I went to JFK [John F. Kennedy Airport], I went back. And then my dad passed away,” Arce said. She never was able to see him before he died. It wasn’t until Arce got married that she was able to obtain a legitimate Green Card and, eventually, citizenship.

Throughout her talk, Arce emphasized the hurdles that exist for immigrants, both documented and undocumented.

“This is a question I encounter often as I travel across the country giving lectures at col-

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leges and universities: Why don’t ‘illegals’ get in the back of the line and do it the right way? The short answer is that ‘the line’ is a mythical place, a phrase used to deflect the need for immigration reform,” she said. She also emphasized the strict guidelines and long waiting times that exist during the family reunification process, sometimes referred to as “chain migration.”

Arce attributed much of the current vitriol that exists in the immigration debate to right-leaning news networks like Fox News. At one point in the presentation, she played a series of clips of news anchors making insensitive and hateful remarks, including two who claimed that immigrants were “raping our women” and “packing heroin.” “I sometimes laugh when I watch this, but the truth is that there are millions of people who only watch Fox News,” she said. “The truth is that immigrants are not all just packing heroin. When I came to the U.S., I was packing my dolls.”

Arce frequently appears on Fox News, particularly Tucker Carlson Tonight, because she wants to provide an alternative perspective on immigration for its viewers.

Throughout her life, Arce said, many have accused her of being “ungrateful” to the United States. “I am grateful to this country, but being grateful doesn’t mean never standing up and never speaking out,” she said. “Because I love America, I will reserve my right to forcefully criticize it.”

Despite her criticisms, Arce appeared optimistic for the future. “What I do know is that immigrants continue to keep this country great and keep the American dream alive,” she said. Arce ended her speech with a plea for others to engage in the same activism that she has pursued. “I encourage you to reclaim not just Williams and not just your classroom, but [to] reclaim this country,” she said.

Director of CLiA Paula Consolini also expressed her deep appreciation for Falk’s support of the Center. “I'm thrilled that the College has chosen the naming of the Center’s directorship as the way to commemorate Adam’s visionary advocacy of experiential learning and civic engagement,” she said. “The

naming signals widespread support for the Center’s work, which helps raise awareness and support.”

The two namings represent the College’s final farewell and thank you to Falk as it welcomes Interim President Tiku Majumder and continues the presidential search process.

Falk himself expressed his gratitude toward the Board and the College community, as well as his hopes that the initiatives he vouched for can continue to be supported in his absence.

“At their hearts, both the Science Quad and CLiA nurture and support community.

The Science Quad is a gathering space for students and faculty, while CLiA connects students to the local, national and global worlds outside of Williams,” he said. “For me, the most important and rewarding work I did as president was to build community, and I’ll be very happy if, as a consequence of these generous gestures, that’s how I’ll be remembered here.”

Falk became president of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation in New York this January but will remain, at least in spirit, a member of the College community. “I’ll always love Williams and feel a part of this place, and so it’s very special to me to be honored in this way,” he said. “Many spaces and institutions at the College carry the names of those who came before, and I think it’s a valuable thing to be reminded of our history as we go about our lives.”

SPRING STREET BLUES FROM THE FILES OF CAMPUS SAFETY AND SECURITY

Monday 1-29-18 6:25 p.m. Lasell Gym: The Gym Monitor reported the presence of unwanted guests.

8:10 p.m. Southworth School House Apartments: The fire alarm was set off by cooking.

11:28 p.m. Officers responded to an anonymous tipline.

Upon arrival, officers found approximately 10 male students watching a basketball game and a TV show on two separate televisions. The officers advised the group of students to keep the noise level down.

Tuesday 1-30-18 Friday 2-2-18 8:41 p.m. A student from West College reported that he believes that someone was in his room while he was away from Christmas break through Winter Study. Upon arriving, he entered his room and noticed that the door was unlocked and that things were out of place. He has no explanation for this and asked officers to check into it.

Wednesday 1-31-18 10:53 p.m. Tyler: An anonymous tipline submitted an urgent noise complaint for an extremely loud party going on in the Moose Room. As officers pulled in, they saw about 15-20 students walking down the driveway. Upon entering the Moose Room, there were no students there.

11:39 p.m. Garfield: There was a report of a broken window and an unregistered campus party.

Thursday 2-1-18 11:28 a.m. Faculty Club: Staff asked for an officer to check on an odor. While checking the main lounge, an officer smelled natural gas.

One of the pull stations was activated to clear the building, and 9-1-1 was activated for The Williamstown Fire Department. Checking the building with a gas meter, the Fire Chief did not detect any gas. The Chief asked that Berkshire Gas be notified so they could respond and do a check with their equipment.

At 12:36 p.m., Berkshire Gas reported that they did not detect any gas.

2:47 a.m. Jesup: A student called dispatch to report that a suspicious man who did not look like a student had entered Jesup. Officers responded to Jesup Hall, where they found the man standing inside the main entrance. They asked him if he was affiliated with the College. He replied that he was not and stated that he had come inside to get out of the snow while waiting for a taxi. Officers made sure he left campus.

9:46 p.m. Thompson: Officers received a report of someone smoking.

Saturday 2-3-18 3:15 p.m. Paresky: A smoke detector in the kitchen next to the elevator was activated. The hood fans had been turned off so people could hear the staff talking during the Served performance. Officers arrived in order to reset the system.

11:23 p.m. Dodd: Officers responded to a complaint of the smell of marijuana smoke.

11:23 p.m. Carter: Officers responded to a tipline submission of people acting “crazy.”

Upon arrival, officers discovered eight female students listening to loud music.

Sunday 2-4-18 4:40 p.m. North Adams Ambulance Service transported a student to Berkshire Medical Center North Campus in North Adams.

FEATURES 6

The Williams Record

February 7, 2018

One in Two Thousand

By NICHOLAS GOLDROSEN EXECUTIVE EDITOR I first met Jonah through Frosh Revue and soon learned of his ornithological proclivities when he would come into every class exclaiming how nice the birds at Cole Field were that day. We sat down to talk birds, his smooth jazzy jams and the future.

So many people on campus might know you for your ornithological interests – going birding, doing research on birds, a senior thesis on bird songs. How did you first get into birding?

I grew up in the woods – you couldn’t see any neighbors through the trees – so we were sort of isolated. Much of my process of growing up was outside, so I’ve always been really passionate about the natural world, and I was particularly interested in large mammals, the big cats of the world, when I was little – particularly cheetahs. Over time, I honed my focus into being keenly interested in all the species that make up the eastern forest, a really important biome for me growing up. Of the two bird-related experiences that really ignited this particular passion, [one was] my family’s encounter in 2013 or so with a snowy owl on our favorite mountain up in northern Maine. We were hiking over winter break, and we were up at the summit, which was this big, open, rocky outcrop. One piece of the snow lifted off out of the rest, and then this majestic, beautiful, big bird with intense eyes came cruising about 10 feet above us, looked straight down and then winged off elsewhere on the mountain.

That was a point when I realized there were many mysterious and wondrous creatures

that I hadn’t paid as much attention to, potentially right in my backyard, that only took a little bit of looking to find. The second thing that got me birding was when a friend of mine on Facebook posted a link to a video of the 30 most common birdsongs in the eastern forest in the summer. I was playing the video and realized that two or three of the songs I'd been hearing my entire life were these quintessential sounds of summer – the ovenbird, the black-throated green warbler and the red-eyed vireo – and I’d never bothered to take the time to figure out what they were. Forging that connection and realizing my greater place in the ecosystem around me was a really significant moment. From then on, I wanted to decode the sights and sounds of the eastern forest.

How is your thesis going?

I know you've been busy wrapping that up these past few weeks.

The gist of it is that it’s on cultural evolution and individual performance as expressed through birdsong. Usually, studies of birdsong will look at how birdsongs are used as signals to encode performance value, aggression or courtship — most birds will have different types of songs they sing in different behavioral situations. They might sing one song to attract a mate, another song to ward off other males within their territory and another song to establish themselves as members of a certain population. But our study species, the Savannah sparrow, typically only sings and learns one song type throughout its entire life, so it has to encode all that information into individual components of the song. My advisor had identified this one hard percussive

JONAH LEVY ’18

thrush came back in June, it meant the start of summer, the end of school, open promise and lots of time spent outside. My other favorite bird sound is the call of the loon.

I don't think you’d find anything more wild-sounding than that, up on the lake in the summer. The lake's about a mile wide and nine miles long, and there are pairs of them every half mile, so if you’re awake around 11 p.m. or midnight, they'll all start calling to each other, and the whole lake is just this reverberating chorus of sound.

Continuing on the song theme, you're a very musical man yourself – playing in the jazz ensemble, songwriting and whatnot.

What role has that played in your life?

SOPHIA SHIN/PHOTO EDITOR JONAH'S HOMETOWN HARPSWELL, MAINE

JONAH'S RESIDENCE EAST

note type that’s been strongly linked to performance and reproductive success, and she'd done some work on that.

What we've been looking at this year is if that particular note type — identified only in one population — is relevant as a performance indicator to members of other populations. So we played songs with those note types to birds in Williamstown and nearby islands, but to no avail, so it's apparently very culturally specific. The bulk of the work I was doing was compiling and analyzing cultural history of all use of these interstitial note types over the past fifteen years for Williamstown, Kent Island – the island where the note type originated – and all the islands nearby. The third component

MOST NOSTALGIC CHILDHOOD SONG "MR. BLUE SKY"

was looking at what sorts of structural constraints in the song limit how many of these high performance notes you can put in one place and how they interact with the notes around them.

What are some of your favorite birdsongs?

That’s a great question. I've got favorite sounds for different reasons; the ones most important to me are very strongly tied to nostalgia.

You’d be hard-pressed to find a song more quintessentially musically beautiful than the hermit thrush’s song. That’s something I always fell asleep to. It was one of the few birds my parents knew from their childhood and could identify, so as soon as the hermit

Music has always been something I've been very drawn to — it’s a source of security and habit. I had a set of songs I'd always sing with my dad before falling asleep, always in the same order. In middle school, we'd always listen to the same ELO [Electric Light Orchestra] album every single day, the same songs in the same exact places. I remember there was one traffic light we'd always stop at, and probably eight times out of 10, that was the point in the song "Mr. Blue Sky" when the lyric comes up, "Now his hand is on your shoulder.” My dad would always reach over and put his hand on my shoulder, which was just a very warm sense of security for an anxious, small boy. As time has gone on, music has remained a very important place of spiritual connection and selfunderstanding — a window to look outside myself and work outside the daily mechanics of grunt work, busy work and all the things that make

life more difficult. It’s been a source of solace and often helped me to get through a lot of stuff.

If I can ask this, what plans for next year do you have coming together?

The broad stroke plan right now is to spend a year and a half doing bird-related field research, to gain some skills and use my youthful freedom of movement, which I’m very fortunate to have, to explore new places in the world and to get to know birds, habitats and biomes of other places. I have a job offer in Thailand for four to five months, which would involve doing bird count surveys in forest land, agricultural land, a local village and a university campus, which kind of sounds like my personal dream, so hopefully the next year and a half brings more things like that to fruition. The plan after that is graduate school for ornithology, and then to spread my wings further.

Spread your wings, I see what you did there. So is there anything else you feel this interview would be incomplete without? Anything a profile of you simply couldn't omit?

I think my overall ethos is to be a person with a lot of love to share, and I think I try to make my time [at the College] centered around forging as many meaningful connections with people as possible and getting to know as many different people from as many different places in life as I can, because it’s been one of the most enriching portions of this experience – getting to know people with so many different forms of creativity and things that light their lives. So I hope to continue to find community like this the broader the places I go.

Elementary school students explore the outdoors with lessons focused on nature

By JAMES FITZGERALD CONTRIBUTING WRITER

JOSEPH OH/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

A new student committee organized a panel about the diverse experiences of Asian Americans on campus.

Asian American Ephs discuss activism

By LYDIA DUAN FEATURES EDITOR Seeking a space to share and explore the Asian American voice, approximately 20 Asianidentifying students have created a new committee called I Am Asian American (IAmAsAm.) Focused on engaging with the intersection of identity and activism, IAmAsAm operates on a project-by-project basis, including an anecdotal poster campaign and a panel this past Claiming Williams Day. The panel examined the complex nuances of the question: What does it mean to be politically active as an Asian American? The panelists’ approaches towards activism varied. For some, political activism meant being on the streets demonstrating visible and vocal resistance.

For others, activism was found in countering misconceptions and problematic beliefs in the home.

Some members discussed these issues on a personal level, focusing on human connection. “[Claiming Williams] is a space to have uncomfortable conversations about very real, very honest experiences that a lot of people face,” committee member Anna Kim ’19 said.

Committee member Amber Lee ’21 found the discussion empowering. “I realized… that [activism] can start with the very quotidian, small, dayto-day acts of participating in things that you are passionate about, that you care about, that you identify with,” Lee said.

The array of experiences of Asian American students on campus was shown in the poster campaign, the result of anecdotal submissions via Google Form. The submissions generated probing and passionate discussions about Asian American identity on campus.

Hopefully, such interactions will have positive ripple effects towards change beyond Claiming Williams Day. The importance of such dialogue was especially apparent when determining which stories should be made into posters. The committee, Kim said, did not want to cherry-pick the stories, but they also did not want to publish problematic content.

Questions surrounding the myth of the ‘model minority’ and how Asian-affiliated groups stand in alliance with other minority groups also surfaced during both the panel and committee meetings. Panelists addressed the myth in terms of how it hinders Asian Americans from being politically active. The committee hopes that the poster campaign will help dispel the myth by showing that there is no singular Asian American experience. Panelists and committee members alike acknowledged the complexities of such questions, where both oppression and privilege need to be unpacked.

“It acts as both a privilege for many and a barrier because it is a false stereotype,” Lee said.

“The assumption that all Asian Americans – or even most Asian

Americans – prosper in life, do great things and do all the same great things is just false.”

Phuong Vo '18 said that it is because of this myth that Asian Americans should advocate for political reform rather than using the myth “as something Asian Americans hide behind and benefit from,” she said.

“It’s always the underprivileged that risk the most in being politically active – even more of a reason why Asian Americans need to be out on the streets supporting other people: because we do have a privilege,” Vo said.

The fight for Asian American identities to be acknowledged by the College has been an ongoing process on a more administrative and formalized level as well.

There have been attempts to integrate an Asian American Studies department into the College curricula for years. That such a department has not been created speaks to the need for greater representation in academia.

The turnout for Thursday’s panel was overwhelming; students spilled out of the doorways.

Committee members felt encouraged by this, noting a demand and potential for real activism.

IAmAsAm is part of the ongoing fight to raise awareness for groups that do not fit with a dominant demographic and to create a space for such groups on campus. Ultimately, IAmAsAm aims to stand in solidarity with all groups that experience underrepresentation and marginalization.

In a few weeks, Hopkins Memorial Forest (HMF) will welcome students from elementary schools throughout Williamstown and North Adams. These visits, which occur every fall and spring, allow hundreds of students to interactively learn about the natural world from students at the College.

The main participating schools are Colegrove Park, Greylock and Brayton, but others can organize trips by contacting the program managers.

This initiative began in the fall of 2013, when Director of Elementary Outreach at the Center for Learning in Action (CLiA) Jennifer Swoap and Manager of Hopkins Forest Drew Jones started organizing regular student visits. Prior to the formalized program, schools and local teachers contacted Jones on an ad hoc basis to schedule visits.

From 2009 to 2010, there were also occasional middle school programs held over four-day time periods.

Organizing the elementary school visits is a joint effort by Jones and Education Outreach Consultant for Elementary Outreach at CLiA Lindley Wells.

First, CLiA coordinates with local schools, processes applications and administers student time reports. Jones then refines programs directly with teachers,

planning a series of visits over a seven- or eight-week period.

“This program provides a space for people to be outside and helps them gain confidence," Wells said. “Some are afraid of bugs or of mud, [and]others think they can’t hike. This creates a wonderful space for people to enjoy and connect with nature.

It’s also an opportunity for College students to hone their skills [and learn] how to appreciate nature and be teachers.”

Last spring, 236 elementary school students visited over the course of seven field trips: one kindergarten trip, three first grade trips, two third grade trips and one sixth grade trip.

Five student leaders from the College, selected from a pool of eight applicants, supervised the trips over the course of the season. These leaders, known as HMF Educators, teach visiting students about the history of New England ecosystems, tree identification, biology, orienteering and geology. Activities are often customized to the visitors’ interests and are typically divided into three sub-programs. This year’s HMF leaders have not yet been finalized, but Jones expects to select four to six students for this spring.

Once selected, they will begin a series of Friday morning planning and training sessions.

Activities also vary depending on the age of the children, with younger children focusing on

interactive activities such as harvesting maple syrup or searching vernal pools for newts, frogs and insect larvae. They also use the 24-seat classroom in the forest as a supplement to field work.

According to Jones, one of the primary challenges in developing the program has been finding activities that correspond with school curricula, which are under increasing pressure to adhere to preset standards. As a result, the program managers and student leaders have tailored lessons to fit the elementary schoolers’ science classes as closely as possible. Sixth graders study forest and landscape history, ranging from glaciation to human impacts on the land. Fifth graders cover ecosystem cycles and food webs, including the water cycle of the two watersheds in the forest. Fourth graders, meanwhile, focus on geoscience.

The program may expand somewhat in the coming years, but scheduling challenges and limited space mean that the staff cannot accommodate many more students than they currently accept.

“The current [program] is appropriate, but we would like to see it grow a little, perhaps expanding to include winter activities like animal tracking and visits to the sugar house,” Jones said. “At this point, we’re not calling for anything revolutionary, just for some changes around the margins.”

PHOTO COURTESY OF DREW JONES

Hopkins Memorial Forest teaches visiting elementary school students about nature and science each year.

February 7, 2018

7 FEATURES

The Williams Record

Aroop ’09 and Auyon ’07 Mukharji publish first children’s book

By JEONGYOON HAN FEATURES EDITOR What do two brothers, both alums of the College, do when they aren’t either touring the country as a member of the band Darlingside or studying public policy and international relations at Harvard? They write a children’s book that is subtly critical yet respectful of the current U.S. Presidency by reminding readers that the President poops.

On Jan. 20, brothers Auyon Mukharji ’07 and Aroop Mukharji ’09 published When the President Poops, a 36-page picture book featuring their own illustrations and writing.

The book humorously shows that despite the various responsibilities of a President – here depicted as President Donald J. Trump – they still need time to, yes, poop.

Aroop, a Ph.D. candidate studying public policy, international relations and political science, first suggested writing a children’s book to Auyon shortly after Trump’s inauguration last year.

Auyon discussed his practicality in contrast with Aroop’s spontaneity. “[His] role in our relationship is often just getting things started and moving things,” Auyon said. “He’s big on ideas and is a force of nature.”

Writing the book was what Aroop called a “mood of the moment decision,” arising from a desire to comment on a presidency that has tremendous implications for younger generations. “[We are] living in a moment of one of the most civically engaged public in decades,” Aroop said. “How do you simultaneously respect this institution [and], at the same time, disagree or criticize what is a fairly explosive, controversial, passionate moment in American politics – and especially one that you disagree with?”

PHOTO COURTESY OF AROOP AND AUYON MUKHARJI

In When the President Poops, the Mukharji brothers provide a lighthearted commentary regarding President Donald J. Trump.

Providing political commentary through a children’s book was the optimal “creative outlet,” Aroop said. He also wanted to add some excitement to the literature on politics that often takes place primarily within academic journals. Auyon, a member of the indie folk band Darlingside, was receptive to the idea, largely because of the varying reactions he had noticed from audiences at his concerts held after the election.

“A niche I thought would be cool to fill [was to ask], ‘How do you introduce a child into this world of politics without explicitly demonizing or exalting this man, which sometimes

seem like the only two perspectives on Trump?’” Auyon said.

He instead wanted to present a humanizing portrait of the current presidency that could extend to any prominent figure in society, a sentiment inspired by his father; “When you look up at your heroes, keep in mind that they put their pants on the same way as you do: one leg at a time,” Aroop and Auyon’s father used to tell them.

“Even though these people might seem so far away, they’re still people. So the hope is [to introduce] children to this president as a person,” Auyon said. It is a humorous yet humbling reminder for all readers,

Students explore foreign policy careers

By NATHANIEL MUNSON-PALOMBA STAFF WRITER From Jan. 23 to Jan. 26, a group of 20 politically-minded students left the Purple Bubble and embarked on the Stanley Kaplan Program in American Foreign Policy and The Williams Career Center’s Second Annual Foreign Affairs Career Trek to Washington, D.C. According to Manager of Alumni and Parent Engagement Programs at the Career Center Dawn Dellea, plans to form a trip for students interested in public policy began in May of 2016, when U.S. Senator Chris Murphy ’96 suggested “building a stronger connection between Williams students and D.C. alumni/ opportunities,” Dellea said.

Dellea, Murphy, Career Center Director Don Kjelleren, Director of Commencement and Academic Events Carrie Greene and Director of the Kaplan Program and Chair of the Political Science Department James McAllister all collaborated to initiate career event talks for College summer interns working in D.C. during the summer of 2017, while Greene continued to plan funding with Kjelleren for the future.

After months of planning, the first Career Trek occurred in January of 2017. The Trek aims to educate students on “the various pathways to careers in foreign policy,” Dellea said, through engagement between students and alumni about current global issues and academic opportuni-

ties offered through the College, such as the the Summer Institute in American Foreign Policy, the Kaplan Council and the Alumni Sponsored Internship Program.

Students on this year’s Trek worked through four jam-packed days of travel and meetings to complete an itinerary described by participant Bennett Kaplan ’19 as a “whirlwind of activity.”

Though sleep was in short supply, morale and engagement were never lacking as students took advantage of the amazing set of resources before them.

The group of alumni who met with the group in New York and Washington, D.C. allowed students to survey the varying professional paths that exist within the political realm. In each meeting, students learned alums’ stories of “how they got there” after graduating from the College, what work in offices such as the Justice Department and the National Security Council looks like on a day-to-day basis and what advice the alumni had for students aspiring to careers in the political world. Some alumni included Ned Carmody ’73, a retired CIA operations officer, and Laurel Jarombek ’15, a managing editor of World Policy Journal, a foreign affairs publication.

Students noted that in receiving accounts of political careers, they became more informed of the realities, good and bad, of working in politics. “[I] felt like I gained a much better understanding of what a path to a career in the civil service might look like,” Kaplan said.

The Trek gave students insight into something rarely visible at the College: life after graduation. Since all meetings were strictly off the record, the conversations between current and former College students were honest and candid. This departure from cookie-cutter accounts of jobs and career paths was both immediately noticeable and remarkably helpful for students thinking about their own professional futures.

Some students on the trip said they felt lucky to have access to the College alumni network.

Ben Hearon ’20, who interned for his Congressional representative last summer, called the Trek “an invaluable opportunity to gain access to people, ideas and career advice which would otherwise be inaccessible.”

These conversations not only gave students important information to take with them on their own professional journeys but also created networks within specific sectors of the political world for students to tap into for post-College opportunities. In fields like politics and civil service, where there is no obvious entry point or professional path, these contacts are invaluable.

The Career Center offers other trips with similar goals of introducing students to alumni working in their fields of interest. Previous and future trips include the Broad Institute Trek, the Boston Startup Career Trek, the Tech Trek to NYC, the Wall Street Career Trek and the Investment Management Career Trek.

PHOTO COURTESY OF DAWN DELLEA

A group of 20 students met with alums at various organizations in Washington, D.C. and New York.

adults included, that the President “takes dumps just like you do,” he said.

From playing with rubber band guns, paper airplanes and Legos during their childhoods to being involved in a cappella, squash and tennis at the College, the brothers have embarked on various endeavors together. Yet despite their natural partnership, both had to consider the risky factors involved in the project.

“There’s no question that there’s some degree of risk you take on when you’re writing about human feces,”Aroop said. Both brothers also had to consider how they would navigate their busy schedules

while working on the book. But after an hour or so of hashing out the general structure of the book at a Thai restaurant away from their shared Cambridge, Mass. apartment, both were sold on the project.

Drawing inspiration from classic comics like Calvin and Hobbes and The Adventures of Tintin, the duo formalized their idea from February to June of 2017. They refined their illustrations to depict scenarios of presidential responsibilities recognizable to children during which the President might need to poop, while also including “cheeky” references that adults could appreciate, like one illustration of Presi-

dent Trump meeting with German chancellor Angela Merkel, or another of Trump tweeting on the toilet.

Some of the illustrations incorporate greater political criticisms the brothers have. For example, an image of Trump leaving to go to the bathroom during a press conference speaks to political leaders’ tendencies to evade questions.

The duo did argue about small, nitty-gritty details regarding the illustrations, such as Trump’s skin tone and hair. The biggest point of contention, however, was Trump’s eyebrows: Should they be arched, angled downward or simply straight lines?

“I think eyebrows are the most underused gesture,” Aroop said.

Despite its lightheartedness, the brothers also wanted to use the book as a means to highlight the importance of treating all people with respect, a principle that was emphasized greatly within their family.

“The hope for our parents was to instill [in us] respect for [others] … and it wasn’t until much later, post-college, really, that I started putting treatment of people together with politics and government,” Auyon said. His parents did not make that connection as explicit, partly because they were immigrants from India.

“There wasn’t the same connection that one might have as a lifelong citizen of a country.

There wasn’t the same ownership over the culture,” he said.

Rather, their parents emphasized compassion and caring, lessons that the brothers hope are incorporated into When the President Poops.

With the book now available for purchase on Amazon, the Mukharji brothers are excited to get feedback from friends, family and members of the College community.

And who knows? Maybe even Trump himself.

This Week in Williams History, Articles from the Archives: 1999

8 ARTS

The Williams Record

February 7, 2018

Titus Kaphar challenges canonical artistic representations

By NINA MCGOWAN STAFF WRITER On Claiming Williams Day, students, faculty, staff and community members flocked to the Clark Art Institute for Titus Kaphar’s presentation “Making Space for Black History: Amending the Landscape of American Art.” Kaphar, a highly acclaimed mixed media artist, explores race, criminality and social justice by appropriating and reconstructing works by ancient master artists. Reflecting on the past and critiquing the present, his work illuminates narratives and individuals underrepresented in museums and art history more broadly.

Of his approach to reconstructive history, Kaphar writes on his site, “I cut, crumple, shroud, shred, stitch, tar, twist, bind, erase, break, tear and turn the paintings and sculptures I create, configuring them into works that nod to hidden narratives and begin to reveal unspoken truths about the nature of history.”

Ephs at the Clark Co-president Katie Priest ’18 learned about Kaphar through her father. After watching Kaphar’s TED Talk, she immediately proposed bringing him to the Clark. “I watched him paint over canonical works and talk about representation in high art, and I couldn’t help but think about how powerful it would be to see him at the Clark given the works on view in the galleries,” she said.

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE CLARK/TUCKER BLAIR

Kaphar’s lecture was organized by Katie Priest ’18 as well as her fellow members of WCMA Think Tank and Ephs at the Clark.

With the help of her Ephs at the Clark co-president and fellow Williams College Museum of Art (WCMA) Think Tank member Perry Weber ’19, Priest persuaded the Clark, WCMA and the Claiming Williams Steering Committee to support Kaphar’s Williamstown visit.

“When Katie brought this idea to the Clark, I said yes immediately,” Director of the Clark Olivier Meslay said.

“I had been teaching Titus Kaphar’s work in my graduate course ‘In Vinculus Invic-

tus: Portraits in Prison,’ and I think he is an incredibly powerful and important artist. The questions he poses about the role of prisons are crucial in understanding our society. His ability to create a strong visual image is amazing.”

Kaphar’s presentation did not disappoint. Graciously welcomed to the stage by Meslay, Kaphar immediately joked, “I hate these things.

That’s probably a really bad way to start a presentation, but it feels like a monologue.

I want this to be a dialogue.”

After breaking the barrier between artist and audience, Kaphar began his winding and dynamic story. He grew up in Kalamazoo, Mich., where he attended high school with neither great academic success nor support. When a girl questioned his vision for the future, Kaphar, eager to impress her, enrolled in junior college that same day. As he selected random courses, Kaphar unknowingly discovered what would become some of his greatest joys in life — art and his wife.

Kaphar recalled his introductory art history course, which spanned centuries of art, architecture, style and change.

Among the hundreds of topics and readings in the course, there was a single passage on the representation of black people in the history of art.

Kaphar pressed his professor to discuss the reading in class, but the professor responded, “We don’t have the time.”

Invigorated rather than discouraged, Kaphar dedicated himself to studying art history, narrowing his focus on

the depiction and narratives of black subjects in art. At the age of 27, Kaphar created his very first painting. After three rejections from Yale’s Master of Fine Arts program, he was finally accepted and moved to New Haven, Conn.

Kaphar’s ability to capture and evoke emotion has been recognized and harnessed across the country. In the wake of the Ferguson, Mo. protests in 2014, Time Magazine commissioned Kaphar to capture the national impact of individuals’ social and political activism. His portrait Yet Another Fight for Remembrance features protestors with hands stretched overhead, thick white paints obscuring their bodies and mouths.

This past fall, Kaphar was also called upon as Princeton confronted its historical ties to the institution of slavery through contemporary art.

Resting on the land where six African-American slaves were sold on Princeton’s campus in 1766, Kaphar’s contemporary sculpture Impressions of Liberty questions who and what is remembered in history. The current conversation on the role of historical monuments offers a binary choice: keep it or take it down. Kaphar, however, argues that it is not enough to tear down or deaccession works. Contemporary artists like Kaphar have the power to address today’s controversies while reminding viewers of the people and injustices that should not be forgotten.

New Clark exhibition sketches narrative of western drawing

By HANNAH TAGER STAFF WRITER

PHOTO COURTESY OF CAP AND BELLS

Laced in childish laughter and gripping despair, ‘In the Blood’ is a tragedy for our modern age.

‘In the Blood’ brings modern issues to bear on a classic text

By REBECCA TAUBER NEWS EDITOR Among the multitude of sessions and speakers last Thursday, Claiming Williams Day saw the opening of the Cap and Bells production In the Blood by Suzan Lori Parks. The sold-out show ran three times, once on Thursday and twice on Sunday.

The play was emotional, uncomfortable and impressive, and it succeeded in bringing to light a wide range of challenging topics.

Parks’ two shows In the Blood and Fucking A make up the “red letter plays,” a series of plays based on the 1850 novel The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Written in 1999, In the Blood offers a glimpse into the life of Hester, a homeless black woman living under a bridge with her five “bastard” children, all of whom have different fathers who are absent from their children’s, though not Hester’s, lives.

The production opens with the word “slut” written in chalk in the middle of Hester’s residence, which consists of a patch of concrete underneath two tarps and a drain pipe. After Hester’s oldest son erases the derogatory word, Hester scrawls the letter “A,” the only letter she knows how to write, in chalk.

The “A” remains written on stage throughout the entire show, alluding to the “A” the townspeople force Hester Prynne to wear as a mark of shame for adultery in The Scarlet Letter.

The play alternates between scenes of Hester interacting with her children and with the various adults in her life. Hester’s relationship with her children, archetypally named Jabber, Trouble, Bully, Beauty and Baby, simultaneously reveals her two sides: a mother who loves and sacrifices for her kids, and a homeless woman who struggles both mentally and physically to care for them. In one moment, Hester plays tag and skips meals to feed them.

In the next, she has a mental breakdown and hits them.

The actors who play Hester’s children double as two of Hester’s ex-boyfriends, her doctor, her welfare representative and her fellow homeless friend. After Hester’s interaction with each character, they deliver a confession regarding an exploitative sexual encounter with her.

Hester’s relationships with the various adult figures in her life paint her as a woman who has been wronged and abused time and time again.

Director Terah Ehigiator ’18 chose the play because of its tough subject matter. “It deals with so many large themes pertinent to Claiming Williams that are rarely seen or talked about at Williams,” he said. The play raises a variety of pressing topics, including consent, race, poverty, trauma, domestic violence and forced sterilization.

However, Ehigiator recognized the challenge of directing a play starring a mother. “There

were lots of experiences that I couldn’t speak to,” he said.

Mazie Alexander ’21, who starred as Hester, agreed. “I’d never thought about it from that person’s perspective,” she said.

Onyeka Obi ’21, who played both Hester’s daughter Bully and the welfare representative, described the production as “cathartic” and admired how the play avoided “fetishizing black women’s trauma.” It was both her and Alexander’s first scripted theater production at the College. “There are not a lot of black women involved in theater on this campus,” Obi said. She is excited and grateful for productions such as In the Blood, which are catalysts for that change.

Although it was multiple cast members’ first production and Ehigiator’s first time directing, and the cast and crew only began working on the show one month ago, the performances ran smoothly.

The show ends with a violent scene between Hester and her eldest son, in which the word “slut” resurfaces. Water flows through the pipe above onto the stage, and a fluorescent red cross flashes overhead after Hester delivers her final confessional monologue. The dramatic and tragic ending builds on the religious imagery present throughout the play and is reminiscent of The Scarlet Letter. In the Blood applies The Scarlet Letter’s theme of “slut-shaming” to a modern, urban setting, leveraging its themes for the issues of our day and age.

Drawn to Greatness: Master Drawings from the Thaw Collection opened this weekend at The Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. The massive exhibition houses 150 drawings from the Eugene V. Thaw collection, belonging to the late art dealer and collector Eugene V. Thaw and his wife, Clare Eddy Thaw.

Accompanying the exhibit is a catalogue raisonné with a dedication that states: “For Clare,” who died in June of last year. A month ago, in true Romeo and Juliet fashion, Eugene V. Thaw also passed away.

Indeed, the exhibition itself offers an air of romance as we near Valentine’s Day. Drawn to Greatness functions as a final valentine from Eugene to Clare, offering an intimate window into the collection the couple built together.

Drawn to Greatness displays Eugene V. Thaw’s passion for collecting. “I can’t create the objects I crave to look at,” he once said, “So I collect them.” Per the suggestion of Clare, Eugene began collecting art in conjunction with the Morgan Library and Museum, where the current exhibition was first on display this winter.

His collection began, properly, with a wedding gift – a Moustiers faience piece of pottery.

Drawn to Greatness covers the evolution of the Thaw collection as well as the evolution of drawing as a medium.

The works themselves offer an element of intimacy; the

drawings read as raw expressions of the artists’ hands.

Carl Philipp Fohr’s Studies of a Greyhound and a Mastiff includes a brief note from the artist, while HilaireGermain-Edgard Degas’ Two Studies of Dancers features both vertical and horizontal renderings of a dancer; one can imagine a struggling Degas flipping his sketchbook around to maximize drawing space. Another level of privacy is delightfully breached by the letters of Vincent Van Gogh in the collection.

His letters to his young colleague Émile Bernard and contemporary Paul Gauguin reveal his feelings of both angst and accomplishment.

In Letter to Émile Bernard, 19 June 1888, with sketches of a sower and a wheat field, Van Gogh’s love for the countryside is apparent through both his writing and sketch.

He wrote, “I don’t hide from you that I don’t detest the countryside—having been brought up there, snatches of memories from past times, yearnings for that infinite of which the sower, the sheaf, are the symbols, still enchant me as before.” Van Gogh accompanied these words with a study of what would become The Sower.

While many of the charcoal sketches in the collection would later become famous finished paintings, Thaw was adamant that the drawings stood on their own. “Most of my drawings turn out to be pictures in themselves, rather than sketches for something else,” he is quoted

saying in the catalogue raisonné. Indeed, pieces like Matisse’s Grand Visage I (Lydia) feel fully finished, and this abstract black-and-white sketch fills its custom frame. Throughout the exhibition, the pieces complement their intricate frames; each piece from the Thaw Collection was thoughtfully framed by the couple in a way that most museums cannot afford.

The exhibition is set up chronologically, spanning from the dawn of the Renaissance to contemporary times. Degas’ dancers are on display as well as a Picasso collage, but the crux of the exhibition lies in its intimate offering of artists’ earlier work created before they found their signature styles. Looking at a Jackson Pollack piece void of any splatter paint, one visitor whispered, “I can’t believe this is Pollack —it looks like Chagall.”

The work, Untitled [Drawing for P.G.], is full of Native American forms and fantastical creatures. More startling still is Piet Mondrian’s early piece Dunes near Domburg, a romantic landscape sketch from the famous minimalist artist. Georges Seurat’s The Black Horse is also worth lingering on, if only to understand that we all start somewhere. These pieces are just a few of the 150 on display in the lower lobby of the Clark and The Eugene V. Thaw Gallery for Works on Paper in the Manton Research Center. The exhibition runs until April 22, and students are encouraged to attend a private evening viewing at 5:30 p.m. on Feb. 16 with remarks from the exhibition’s curator, Jay A. Clarke.

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE CLARK

Drawn to Greatness tells the story of a visionary collector and examines five centuries of western drawing.

9 ARTS

The Williams Record

February 7, 2018

Served offers an array of immersive performances

By KAIRA MEDIRATTA ARTS EDITOR The clanking of dishes.

The sizzle of oil in a pan. The pfft of dough being kneaded by hand.

An exercise in making the complex seem effortless, Served was a symphony for the senses; the performance was elaborate yet organic.

Created over the span of two years by Allison Orr and Krissie Marty of the innovative Austin-based company Forklift Danceworks, Served involved more than 50 members of the College’s Dining Services staff. On the surface, the performance was a tour through the College’s kitchens and a chance to meet the teams behind them. Upon further inspection, however, “it is a dance about visibility, dignity and the choreography of community,” as critic Brian Schaefer observed in the ‘Scholar's Notes’ section of the program.

Upon arriving at Paresky, attendees were greeted with flashy wristbands and rapidly funneled off into one of three tour groups. From there, the production sped up. The tours varied for each group, meaning that each person only got a small glimpse at the totality of the performance. Although initially disappointed that I did not get to see the entirety of the show, I realized that this structure was very intentional; the scale of the

PHOTO COURTESY OF FARIS GULAMALI

Forklift Danceworks, in conjuction with participating staff and students, built connections through a community-based dance-making process.

Dining Services operation is too large for any one of us to grasp, at least in the span of an hour and a half. By dividing the audience into smaller groups, the directors cleverly provided us with an in-depth understanding of each environment that we visited rather than a superficial glimpse of the whole.

Although I cannot speak for all of the tour groups, mine was an expedition through parts of Paresky both familiar and unfamiliar. Each space extended beyond the mundane and

into the realm of theater. By stylizing the repetitive gestures of everyday life, these performances were able to exemplify the grace and art present in these functional daily movements.

Highlights of my tour included a rapid-paced production line in Whitmans’ Dining Hall with a jazzy musical number, a visit to the gelateria where we witnessed the creation of a treat we all know and love and an earnest and elegant mopping duet. The odyssey ended at Lee Snack Bar with a perfor-

mance that, amidst flashing lights and upbeat music, elevated flipping burgers and sizzling sandwiches to something quite enthralling.

The individual tours all convened in Baxter Hall for a finale which was a sight to behold. With a musical backdrop provided by a student band, the audience was led through a sequence of baking, chopping, cleaning and cooking, with all of these pieces leading up to an extravagant “Buffet En Masse” for the audience to enjoy at the end. One of the moments

that struck me the most was a solo performed by Jerry D’Achille, an 82-year-old baker who has been working at the College for 30 years.

He precisely and carefully frosted a cake, a testament to his love for his craft that was obvious in each and every rosette he piped. Playing in the background was a prerecorded tape of D’Achille describing his journey from Italy to the United States and ultimately to the College. It felt like a sacred moment in every way, and I was grateful to have wit-

nessed a creation of such care. This feeling was not reserved only for D’Achille’s piece; in fact, every moment of Served seemed to evoke a similar feeling.

Perhaps most importantly, Served created a fully immersive experience which allowed me to not merely observe from afar, but to understand and internalize the magnitude of this work. The job of the Dining Services staff is never wholly finished; many have to be in the kitchens at 4:30 a.m., and in dining halls like Whitmans’, there is the daunting task of feeding some 700 students per meal. What may be even more impressive to some students is the fact that many members of the Dining Services staff have worked at the College for decades.

We tend to be ignorant of these commitments as a community. Nor do we often stop and think about all of the planning that goes into preparing a meal: deciding what to cook, obtaining the ingredients, preparing the raw foods, assembling the courses, setting a table, cleaning dishes and storing food afterwards. This is a process that requires delicacy and precision. In a way, this never-ending cycle of providing nourishment is the utmost act of compassion and love. Served, thus, is a powerful reminder of the beauty present in the quotidian – a beauty that has always been there.

MASS MoCA's Archaeology excavates temporal questions

By ANGELA TANG STAFF WRITER In the increasingly virtual and dematerialized world, what happens to physical materials and debris? Liz Glynn explores the physical development from mechanical to technological in The Archaeology of Another Possible Future, a five-part installation spread across 30,000 square feet in MASS MoCA’s signature Building 5 gallery. Each of the five parts of the installation is characterized by a different sculpture, inviting viewers to move through the exhibition focusing on touch, sound and scent.

Glynn, a Los Angeles-based artist, studied environmental studies at Harvard before pursuing a master’s degree at the California Institute of the Arts. Her work is focused on multidisciplinary sculptures, installations and performances that illuminate a powerful aura of history. The objects present in her work are symbolic of archaeology and hidden stories.

The installation is a commentary on both time and space; Glynn weaves objects in and out of hiding throughout the exhibit. Each sculpture and structure has a corresponding description beside it, and the pieces draw influence from politics, technology, sciences and economics. Each object serves a special and particular

purpose as a marker of time and space.

“Histories only continue to circulate if they are relevant in the present moment," Glynn commented in an interview. "Historical narratives are constructed; they change shape over time, lose their edges and develop new curves. My underlying interest is not in the past, but in what form the future will take and how the past can serve as an object lesson to consider that question.” This idea that history is constantly writing and rewriting itself was manifested throughout my own experience walking through the installation.

When I first walked into the exhibition, I had the feeling that I was in a huge industrial factory. There were three large piles of forklift pallets that were shaped into “analog caves.” It felt like time and space were simultaneously shifting and caving in. this world of antique and hand-made products was further populated by pottery sculptures and an old vinyl album player.

The next section of the five-part installation, called “The Shape of Progress,” was more philosophical and conceptual. The abstract sculptural pieces were meant to embody models of human progress from the Enlightenment, Industrial Revolution and present day. As I wan-

dered around the sculptures, I could not find any direct or clear path. In the same light, the progression from the analog to the digital world is not easy to trace from beginning to end.

Glynn’s suggestion of a living history that constantly rewrites itself is reflected in her abstract sculptures as well. She claims to see her sculptures not as archival, but rather “as objects that will continue to circulate long after the details of the performance are forgotten… The sculptures will exist as bodies, bearing the marks of their own making, to be interpreted in future circumstances yet unanticipated.” Not only do the abstract sculptures gain meaning from their contexts, but they are also enlivened and immortalized through Glynn’s interpretation.

The installation was truly an experience to walk through, and talking about its different sections does not do it justice. The five stages of the installation do not simply progress from one to another; they challenge the viewer to search for their own unique journey and experience. As the exhibition’s description explains, the installation constructs “physical movement in time and space by creating a twotiered labyrinth.” It requires the viewer to be there in the present in order to question both the past and the future.

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Saturday, February 10, 8pm CLUB B10 | $10 STUDENTS | $14 ADVANCE | $20 DAY OF | $26 PREFERRED

TICKETS: massmoca.org or 413.MoCA.2111 | North Adams, Mass.

WRITE FOR THE RECORD! Come to weekly writers' meetings on Wednesdays at 8 p.m. in Paresky 209 OR Email ras3@williams.edu PHOTO COURTESY OF MASS MoCA/STEVEN PROBERT

L.A.-based artist Liz Glynn displays her most ambitious project to date in MASS MoCA’s Building 5 gallery.

10 SPORTS

The Williams Record

February 7, 2018

Beyond the mats, Honecker, wrestling team foster family spirit

By CASSIE DESHONG SPORTS EDITOR Wrestling is a unique team sport in that it also functions as an individual sport. It is a mano-a-mano contest of precision and strength. However, the skills that make wrestlers capable of defeating their opponents are in large part due to one’s coach and team dynamic.

“Wrestling by its nature is a pretty individual sport, where one guy competes at a time and either wins and loses on the mat, but our success on the mat is completely a function of all of my brothers sitting on the bench behind me,” co-captain Brendon Seyfried ’18 said. Furthermore, wrestling is unique because athletes focus not only on developing their skill and technique, but also on maintaing and even cutting their weight to achieve success in the sport.

One of the hardest things about the sport is pushing the limits of your body and strictly controlling your weight. “It isn’t enough to just walk into the room once or twice a day and practiceand then compete on the weekends,” Seyfried said.

“Once Nov. 1 hits, it becomes a lifestyle, where we are constantly monitoring our diets and making sure [that] we put ourselves in the best position to compete on the weekend. Smart weight management is the key to feeling strong when we compete on the weekends. As hard as the weight-cutting process is, it really teaches you a lot about yourself and what you are truly capable of.”

Chris Washington ’18 started wrestling as a first-year.

Like Seyfried, Washington believes that wrestling and weight-watching have taught him about himself and nutrition. “You realize how much weight is in your control.

Some might say it is empowering,” Washington said.

Athletes cutting weight to meet a specific weight class has been a controversial topic around wrestling.

Some critics say it promotes unhealthy eating habits. Joey Rossetti ’21, however, believes that maintaining or re-

PHOTO COURTESY OF SPORTS INFORMATION

Honecker (right) has been a source of stability and guidance for the wrestling team, leading the program to its most successful seasons. ducing weight is detrimental to your health only if you try to be undisciplined in a very disciplined sport. “You can be healthy, eat correctly and be in the weight class you want. It is based on your discipline,” he said. “If you are not disciplined it could be unhealthy, but if you are, and you know where you want to be, and you’re devoted [to] it, it’s fine.”

Washington feels that being a wrestler has made him more knowledgeable and aware of his nutrition and diet.

Furthermore, NCAA regulations prevent wrestlers from dangerously cutting. Athletes can only lose a maximum of 1.5 percent of their body weight per week.

The penalty for a first violation of weight management protocols is suspension for eight consecutive competitions on the team’s schedule and a private reprimanding by the head coach and director of athletics.

The combination of weight management and difficult workouts and competitions makes wrestling a grueling sport. “I learned quickly out of necessity and because there are really good people on the team who are willing to teach me. It takes time, but you fall in love with it.

Your body is so beat up, but putting in that grind and getting a reward makes it worth it,” Washington said.

Head coach Scott Honecker fell in love with wrestling in middle school. “I immediately recognized that, more so than any other sport that I participated in, you got [out]of wrestling what you put into it,” he said. “The harder you worked, the more you won, the better the experience was.”

The challenges of wrestling have only brought the team closer together. Both Washington and Rossetti described the team as a quirky, devoted, eclectic and fun group of guys.

“Everyone wants to get better,” Rossetti said. “Everyone has the same goals. Everyone wants the best for each other.

Everyone makes sacrifices for each other. Everyone wants to be there.”

The athletes treat each other like brothers and Coach Honecker like their father. “At the end of every practice, [Honecker] always says, ‘I am heading out, call me if you need anything.’ It is a small thing, but that really does make a difference. He will help you out with pretty much anything. He is raising two young kids, and you feel sometimes like you are part of that,” Washington said.

Honecker has supported his athletes and helped them strive for larger aspirations.

“I’ve been around wrestling for a long time, with a lot of great coaches along the way, and I can honestly say that Coach Honecker is the best coach I’ve ever had,” Seyfried said. “There’s no one I would rather have in my corner than him. As a coach, he has pushed me to be better than I could have ever imagined. I can talk to him about wrestling as well as all other aspects of my life with complete mutual respect.

It’s hard to not respect the dedication that he commits to each individual on our team, and we are all constantly reminded that we are his family.

Whether it’s simple comments such as ‘call me if you need anything’ [or] him driving me to doctors’ appointments, he is always there for us. Honestly, [Honecker] is one of the main reasons why I love being at [the College] and showing up to practice every day.”

Honecker is a huge part of what makes the Williams wrestling team so great. His first five seasons spent coaching at the College have been the most successful the team has ever seen in the 93 years of Eph wrestling. Honecker’s success has to do with his extensive experience and vast

knowledge of the sport, but also with his dedicated passion and care for his athletes.

Honecker possesses the ability to inspire all 21 of his athletes to continue working and to keep reaching for their goals.

However, Honecker never writes down his motivational speeches beforehand. He says his words of wisdom on the fly. “I’m not perfect in the things I say, and people tend to be motivated when I talk, but it is not because I said the right thing,” Honecker said. “It is not what I said. It is what I meant. My words written down on paper are probably not put together very eloquently, but still my athletes manage to get my point because I am being genuine and it is from the heart. I can’t make them feel a certain way, but I can show them how I feel, and hopefully they tag along.”

However, Honecker doesn’t take credit for all of his athletes’ motivation. The wrestlers already have the desire to be better; Honecker just reminds them of their goals and why they are there. Honecker believes that there are two characteristics found in every great wrestler: passion for the sport and passion for competing. “Wrestling is too hard to continue doing

through tough times if you don’t have a burning passion for it,” he said.

Honecker feels fortunate to be coaching at a place like the College where he can recruit athletes who share his passion for the sport. “Williams is a special place, and as a result we attract really special young men,” he said.

In addition, he believes that the wrestling program as a whole is a unique and impactful experience. “What makes Williams wrestling great is that wrestling enhances them as a member of the community, as a student.

They can apply wrestling lessons across all aspects of life; I do this as a father, husband, member of the community and coach. Wrestling enhances everything they do,” Honecker said.

Seyfried also believes that wrestling will continue to enhance his life even after graduation. “I know that in a little over a year it will all be over for me competitively, but the lessons I’ve learned from the sport and the Williams program in general are ones that I will take with me forever and [that will] push me toward success in every aspect of my future life,” Seyfried said.

The wrestling team truly is a family. Honecker’s favorite time of the year is watching the guys he has built relationships with take their next steps at graduation. “We are a big part of each other’s lives, and we will remain a big part of each other’s lives,” Honecker said. “Seeing them go off to whatever the next steps in their paths will be more prepared than they were when I got them, in part thanks to what we do and in part thanks to everything else that is going on here, is the best.”

In his career, Honecker has coached at the club and high school levels as well, but he thinks that coaching at the College is a great fit for him.

“This is an ideal community for me. I live on campus. The guys walk to my house. My kids walk to the wrestling room. I couldn’t do it any other way,” he said, “Wrestling enhances my family, and I like to think my family enhances Williams wrestling.”

CAPTAINS’ CORNER: NICOLE FRIEDMAN ’18 all teams. When I visited the school, I loved it and knew I wanted to come here. Then I met with [head coach] Zafi Levy, and it seemed like a perfect fit. I was also here over the summer for squash camp before my senior year of high school, and it’s so beautiful here in the summer, so it was definitely another appealing factor.

PHOTO COURTESY OF SPORTS INFORMATION

By CHARLES XU SPORTS EDITOR

Team: Squash Hometown: Great Neck, N.Y. Residence: Off-campus Major: Psychology Snack bar order: Nachos

Why did you decide to play squash at the College?

I knew I wanted to go to a small school with good academics and athletics. I always heard good things about Williams and their squash team, including the great team dynamic. I had heard that they were a really nice group of girls who got along well, which is not the case for

What’s your sports background? Why did you start playing squash at age 14?

I played sports growing up and tried many different ones. In middle school, I was a fencer. My friend’s sibling played squash and was talking to my mom and said, “Nicole, you should try squash!”

I did and loved it and haven’t stopped ever since.

You taught squash over the summer at the College.

Can you tell me what that experience was like?

I actually started the year before I was a freshman and enjoyed it so much I coached for the next three summers.

My first summer, I coached half younger kids and half high school kids, and I really enjoyed the experience.

It’s beautiful here in Williamstown, and Zafi brings in amazing professional squash players to teach at the camp.

When I coached the high school kids, a lot of them were seniors looking to come to Williams. They would always ask me questions, and it’s really nice to get to know a lot of future teammates before they come to Williams.

What is your relationship with Head coach Zafi like?

Every day with Zafi is different – he is definitely very entertaining, and he keeps us on our toes. He always wants us to have fun while working really hard. Overall, he’s a great coach. He’s very approachable and receptive.

I go to him to discuss our practice, or I even give him some of my own ideas. Over the years, he [got] to know us better, and by now, as a senior, I can tell him anything, and he’s open – he wants to be there for his players.

How do you think you have developed as a player over your four years at the College?

Prior to coming to Williams, I was only playing squash for a few years, and being part of the Williams squash team gave me the opportunity to practice, train and even have mentors who helped me to improve my game. I’ve been No. 1 on the team for four years; freshman year was a shock, playing girls who were a lot older than me with a lot more squash experience. My freshman year was a really big jump for me but very motivating. Whenever I lost a match, I thought to myself, “I’m going to beat these girls next year.”

I’ve been very motivated to train hard because I didn’t want to be the No. 1 who lost her matches. I want to be that No. 1 who is going to win every week. I’ve grown each year and developed so much as a player. I’m beating girls now that I lost to when I was in juniors, so I have definitely seen

my growth and improvement, and I am really happy to see how far I’ve come.

Being the No. 1, do you feel pressure to lead the team?

Yes. Especially as a senior, I’ve definitely put a lot of pressure on myself because it’s my last season, and I want to be as high up in the overall rankings as possible, and I’m really working hard toward that. I need to set an example as No. 1 in that [even] though I’m in the highest spot on our team ladder, I still work really hard to reach my personal potential. So I’m always motivated everyday to work really hard. I love it because I’m playing the best players in the country, so I know every match is going to be a good match.

What would you say are your most memorable moments in squash?

I have two. One was my sophomore year. We were playing Franklin & Marshall, and the match score was four all, and I was last to go on the court. I [had] lost to this girl the year before 3-0, so I was really nervous and felt a lot of pressure.

But I got on the court and won the match for us, and it was one of the greatest squash moments ever. And another one happened last year. We were playing Princeton. They were ranked two in the country, so I went into the match knowing that this was a very high level player, but I went out there and fought hard, and I won the match in five. The score was 18-16 in the fifth game.

It was a crazy match, and I proved to myself that I can

compete with the best girls in the country.

What were some of your toughest moments?

Last year at nationals was really tough. Our season is so long; it starts Nov. 1, and last year, the last week of February was nationals. Also, there were only 11 girls on the team, the smallest the team has been since I’ve been here.

We got to nationals, and we lost to a lower seeded team, Drexel. Basically, they just performed better than us that day. The next day, we also had a match we should have won because we beat them the last time, and we lost that one, too. That was one of the toughest moments because we worked so hard all season, and we beat these teams during the season, and in the end, it just didn’t work out. This year, nationals are a week earlier, so that will be advantageous for us because it’s one less week of hard practice, and we are ready to go. We are already ready for nationals and are motivated everyday to reach our goals.

What’s your relationship with the other two captains, Hayley Parsons ’18 and Ananya MahalingamDhingra ’18, like?

Over the past four years, besides playing together, we have also built our friendships, which has made it easy for us to make all of our decisions together. At times it can be hard with three people to pass along information between all three of us, but we always work things out. If one player

tells one captain something, we have to always remember to relay the information to the rest of the captains. We have a group chat, and we put everything in there. Most of all, we respect each other as friends and team leaders. The main goal is always what is best for the team, and being captains together has made our friendships stronger as well.

What are the goals for the rest of the season?

As a team goal, we always want to get to the finals [in the NESCAC Championship].

Also, every year I’ve been here we’ve lost to Brown in a really tough 5-4 match, so this year I really want us to win. For nationals, I would love for us to move up in the rankings through a strong performance.

We want a chance to play and beat a couple teams we lost to during the season. For me personally, I am playing in the individuals tournament two weeks after nationals, which is a great opportunity for me to demonstrate my growth over the past four years during the last tournament of my college squash career. It’s a lot of pressure because I have really high goals for myself for overall rankings in the country, and I am excited to see what I achieve there.

Any advice for younger players on the team?

Keep working hard and stay motivated. It’s a really long season, and our team has so much potential. Every practice is an opportunity to improve – show up each day ready to give it your all.

February 7, 2018

SPORTS 11

The Williams Record

Exploring how women’s ice hockey broke the ice to achieve varsity status

By CHARLES XU SPORTS EDITOR Women’s ice hockey has enjoyed more than two decades of success, with 11 Little Three titles and finally a NESCAC championship in 2014. Yet the team has not always been in a position to achieve such success. Until the 1992-1993 season, women’s ice hockey was a club sport, one of the few in the NESCAC. But with the combined efforts of decades of club players including Gretchen Engster Howard ’95 and Stacey Dufour ’93, women’s ice hockey came to enjoy all the resources and privileges that varsity status offers.

The fight for varsity status, which was situated within the national Title IX controversy of equal opportunity for females, especially in collegiate sports, was not an easy one. The journey started in Howard and Dufour’s Winter Study class “Inside College Athletics,” taught

by Sports Information Director Dick Quinn.

Quinn designed the class when he realized that most college students do not understand the inner workings of collegiate athletics. “They don’t know how the games [are] scheduled, what some of the conference rules [are] and what some of the NCAA regulations [are],” he said. In addition to covering collegiate athletic logistics, “Inside College Athletics” also served as the springboard for players like Howard and Dufour to finally succeed in bringing varsity status to the women’s ice hockey team.

Part of Quinn’s class involved studying the controversy of Title

IX and reading “Breaking Down Barriers: the Legal Guide to Title IX,” a piece written by Ellen Vargyas ’71, senior counsel for the National Women’s Law Center and the principal author of the Title IX regulations issued in 1974. Vargyas, one of the College’s first female graduates, had experienced the potential for change in Title IX cases when she represented the women’s club soccer team at the University of Texas at Austin.

Howard recalled that Vargyas’ coming to talk during Winter Study was a pivotal moment in their case. “There had recently been press about Title IXrelated lawsuits at Brown and Colgate, and I wanted to better understand how to approach the topic at Williams without entering into litigation,” Howard said. “Ellen told me she was happy to provide advice, and it felt amazing to have such a knowledgeable and powerful woman from which to learn.”

With a Title IX expert at her side, Howard began researching and writing an essay arguing for varsity status for the women’s ice hockey team. She recalled her background in ice hockey and tried to understand why varsity women’s ice hockey was still not feasible.

“I had this project in mind and Dick Quinn encouraged me to pursue it,” Howard said.

“In high school, I was lucky enough to have played on a very strong, supported team, so the contrast at Williams was stark. Even though women's ice hockey was a club sport at Williams when I arrived, I still wanted to play because I loved the sport.” While the team had

been founded in 1974, it did not receive the same support from the College as other teams due to its club status. Howard played varisty lacrosse for four years and noticed the disparity in treatment between the two programs. “To my knowledge, the women's ice hockey program [was] always a full team and played a full varsity schedule but had never made the leap to varsity status,” she said. “The reason why perplexed me.”

The club team's scarce resources not only hindered its performance, but also caused safety issues. “Some of the risks in running a club ice program included using old equipment and not having trainers on hand when we practiced late at night,” Howard said. “There were a few instances when players got hurt on the ice and we had to call an ambulance to get support, which raised safety concerns.”

Dufour, one of the senior captains on the club team from 1992-1993, noted the long delay in the push for varsity status.

For at least 12 years, a captain had gone to the athletic department each year asking for varsity status, Dufour said.

She also saw firsthand the imbalance in resources between sports. “My senior year, I wound up being the JV coach for field hockey, so I got to know some of the coaches,” Dufour said. “I realized that none of the coaches at Williams knew their budget…. The athletic director set it, and if you wanted something, you went to him and asked for it.

“I still had friends on field hockey and football, and I could tell that there was …

PHOTO COURTESY OF WILLIAMS COLLEGE ARCHIVES

Gretchen Howard ’95 (top row, second from the left), Stacey Dufour ’93 (bottom row, fourth from the right) and several former team captains helped women's ice hockey secure its varsity status in 1993. a fairly blatant inequity between men’s and women’s sports. It just seemed that it was time for it to be evened out, at least by number of varsity sports available.”

Dufour found out just how different the opinions were between the athletic department and the women’s ice hockey players when Athletic Director Bob Peck came to speak to their Winter Study class. When asked about women’s ice hockey’s desire to go varsity, Dufour recalled, Peck was not aware of the issue and believed the club team liked its independence.

“A bunch of people looked at me, and everybody knew we

had been asking for this for decades,” Dufour said. “In my head, something snapped. I [was] like, ‘That’s it. I’m done.’

And so I went into the office with Peck, Aleka [Alexandra] Novitski ’93 and Erin McGill ’93, and … [we said], ‘We think it’s the right thing to do and the fair thing to do.

“All we really wanted was a coach. We didn’t want fancy lockers or anything like that.

We did have pride in the fact that we had chicken wire for lockers and that [trainer] Dickie Cummings’ wife was the one that sewed our names on the back of our jerseys.

It was nice that we were a

ragtag team, but we kept on having different coaches every year – students or people who volunteered. And we just wanted some consistency in the program.”

Today, the women’s ice hockey team is thriving and attracting new recruits every year. However, none of its success would have been possible without the work of its former club players. Howard and Dufour, along with decades of club ice hockey players and other alums, sacrificed and contributed to making sure that women at the College can pursue ice hockey at the highest level.

Women’s ice hockey defeats, ties Trinity in conference matches

PHOTO COURTESY OF SPORTS INFORMATION

Forward Meghan Halloran ’21 scored the Ephs’ first goal in Friday’s 2-1 victory over the Bantams.

By CORDELIA CHAN and JEFF PULLANO STAFF WRITERS Women’s ice hockey (10– 6–6, 4–5–5 in the NESCAC) hosted two conference games versus Trinity last weekend, winning Friday and tying on Saturday.

The Ephs tied the Bantams 1-1 on Saturday in Lansing Chapman Rink. The two goals were scored in the second period by Bantam forward Abi-

gail Riskevich and Eph forward Gabbi Montembeault ’21.

The women outshot Trinity 15-3 in the first period, but neither team was able to score. In the second period, Trinity broke the deadlock.

At 11:28 of the frame, the Bantams scored a full– strength goal. A miscommunication in the neutral zone resulted in a two-on-one predicament in favor of Trinity.

Bantam Claire Foran was in possession of the puck down

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the left side of the Ephs’ zone. She faked a shot and centered a pass to Riskevich, who one-timed a shot over the shoulder of Marissa Anderson ’20 for the first goal of her college career.

Shortly after Riskevich scored her goal, she was called for a holding penalty at 13:27.

When Trinity’s Kayla Milofsky was called for tripping at 14:33, the women had a two-man advantage for one minute, a golden opportunity to equalize.

The Ephs set up some great chances in front of the Bantam net and tested goaltender Sydney Belsinkas. Just seconds after Riskevich’s penalty expired, the Ephs managed to score a secondperiod goal of their own.

Candy Lu ’18 received the puck and passed it to Eliza Quigley ’19. Quigley took the shot from the left point.

Belsinkas made the save, but Montembeault gathered the rebound on the right side of the net. Montembeault beautifully one-timed a shot into the top-left pocket to tie up the game at one.

The score was 1-1 at the start of the third period. A chance arose for the Ephs around five minutes into the period. Montembeault and Reisman set up a two-on-one opportunity, but when Montembeault centered the pass to Reisman, Reisman could not quite finish off the play.

Several penalties were given in the middle of the period, but no goals were scored.

At 16:55, it seemed that the Ephs had scored the game-winning goal when the puck found the back of the net after a flurry of frantic action in front of Belsinkas. The goal, however, was waived off, as Montembeualt was ruled to have caught the puck and thrown it in the goal.

The game ended with a 1-1 tie, which sent both teams to

a five-minute, sudden-death overtime. Unfortunately, no team could score, and the game ended in a tie.

“We played well, but we just need to put pucks into empty nets when we get those opportunities,” head coach Meghan Gillis said.

On Friday, the Ephs defeated the Bantams 2-1.

Brynn Puppe ’21 was called for hooking at 4:42. With Bantam Maggie Cusick already in the box for hooking from 3:16, the players skated four-on-four. No goals came from this pair of penalties early in the game.

The women outshot Trinity 12-3 in the first period and consistently broke through the Bantams’ defensive line. Belsinkas, however, made several key saves.

In the second period, the women skillfully set up scoring opportunities, but none of them could get past Belsinkas. The Ephs dominated the period, and it showed in their 18 shots to Trinity's five. With just 27 seconds left in the period, Bantam forward Taylor Peracchio was sent to the box. On the power play, Annie Rush ’19 had the opportunity the Ephs needed to get on the board. Rush’s slap shot from the point was headed for the net until Belinskas’ quick glove deflected the puck wide.

Halfway through the third, Rush centered a pass from behind the net to Abby Brustad ’19. Brustad quickly backhanded a shot, which Belinskas saved. The puck was not covered, and Meghan Halloran ’21 poked the loose puck into the net, giving the Ephs a 1-0 lead.

With the clock ticking down, Trinity called two back-to-back timeouts in the final minutes of the game. The Bantams pulled Belinskas to give themselves a one-man advantage. The Ephs gained possession of the puck, and Rush centered the puck from the corner where Brustad easily guided the puck into an empty net at 19:37.

Off the last face-off, Trinity had one last surge of energy.

The Bantams skated around the Ephs' defensemen, and Bantam forward Lauren Macmaster scored at 19:45. However, the Ephs closed out the game with a 2-1 victory.

“We established a better net-front presence than we have in the past, and we played smart defensively when we got the lead,” Gillis said of Friday’s game. “We have a week to prepare for Middlebury, and we'll be focusing on finishing the plays we set up.”

The women will host Middlebury on Feb. 16 at 7 p.m. in Lansing Chapman Rink.

ATHLETES OF THE WEEK “I did not expect Carl to reach such high level of play as a sophomore. Carl has been playing so well that it will be hard to keep him off the No. 1 spot in the ladder. Carl has matured this season and is in a better physical and mental condition than last season. I expect Carl to become one of the best players ever to play for Williams.”

“Ananya's been playing very well all season long.

She is a great leader on the team and performed well on and off the court throughout her time at Williams. at the No. 5 position, Ananya is one of the top players in the country, and we feel confident that she can win us a point almost every match.”

–Head coach Zafi Levy ’01

–Head coach Zafi Levy ’01

CARL SHUCK '20

ANANYA MAHALINGAM-DHINGRA ’18

MEN'S SQUASH RYE, N.Y.

WOMEN'S SQUASH BROOKLINE, MASS.

Shuck defeated all of his matchups in the NESCAC Championship against Colby, Bates and Middlebury.

Mahalingam-Dhingra defeated her Wesleyan opponent 11-2, 15-13, 11-5 in the quarterfinal of the NESCAC Championship.

12 SPORTS

The Williams Record

February 7, 2018

Women’s squash clinches second in NESCAC Championship

By ANNA NICHOLSON TEAM CORRESPONDENT Women's squash defeated Wesleyan and Middlebury to advance to the NESCAC Championship final last weekend before falling to Trinity.

The Ephs defeated the Cardinals 8-1 and the Panthers 6-3 on Saturday.

First on the docket was Wesleyan. Players in positions three through ten all won in three games, using short shots and aggressive serves to their advantage. No. 2 Tri-captain Hayley Parsons ’18 won in a gritty four-gamer. Tri-captain Ananya Mahalingam-Dhingra ’18 notched a close 1513 victory, and Esther Baek ’19 dominated her opponent 11-0 in the second game. Friedman fought gracefully against Cardinals No. 1 player Laila Samy but fell in three games.

Overall, the Ephs won 8-1.

After a lunch break, the women's team returned to the courts ready to play Middlebury.

Up first, Sarah Willwerth ’21 fought hard but lost in five.

Swann and Parsons both won, with Parsons winning in four and Swann in three.

Caroline Hogan ’18 won in four games, making excellent use of the boast and different serves in order to defeat her opponent. Baek won quickly in three. Julia Ward ’21 fought

through an intense five-game match and won decisively in the fifth. Tri-captain Nicole Friedman ’18 won in four games against an opponent who has historically proven quite difficult to beat. Abby Leblanc ’21 lost in five despite her hard work. MahalingamDhingra lost in four.

Overall, the Ephs defeated the Panthers 6-3.

Head coach Zafi Levy ’01 commented on the match. “I am really happy with the way we played on Saturday,” Levy said. “The team had to work hard twice in one day with a short break in between matches. Our seniors did a great job leading the way and [carrying] the team to the final.”

On Sunday, the women lost to Trinity 7-2 in the final round of the NESCAC Championship.

The Eph seniors were competing in their final NESCAC tournament in their collegiate careers. Friedman fought hard, impressively getting points off of her opponent and holding her own during long rallies, but was ultimately bested. Parsons also hung with her opponent in long rallies but lost in three games. Hogan played beautifully and beat her opponent in three. Mahalingam-Dhingra got a game off of her opponent and lost in four after solid playing. Oth-

PHOTO COURTESY OF SPORTS INFORMATION

Melissa Swann ’20 won all three of her matches at last weekend’s NESCAC Championship, where the Ephs earned second place. er highlights included Melissa Swann ’20’s well-deserved victory at the No. 8 position.

Regarding the tournament, Mahalingam-Dhingra said, “We

are pleased with everyone’s performance last weekend. We came into the weekend aiming to finish second, and we achieved that goal.”

Overall, it was a great end to the weekend for the Ephs as they capped off conference play.

Assistant coach Blair Dils commented, “Mission accom-

plished this weekend. We got to the finals, put up a good fight against one of the top teams in the country." The women visit Brown tomorrow at 5 p.m.

Men’s basketball continues five-game winning streak

By CAMERON BROWN STAFF WRITER Last week, men’s basketball (18-4, 6-2 in the NESCAC) defeated Bowdoin 72-55, Colby 77-49 and SUNY Oneonta 75-56, extending its winning streak to five games.

Saturday’s contest against Bowdoin was Senior Day, marking the last home game of the regular season for the men. The Ephs’ honored captains Adam Kroot ’18, Chris Galvin ’18, Cole Teal ’18 and Mike Greenman ’18.

Head coach Kevin App discussed the contributions of the senior class. “This class is a fun one for me," he said.

"They were the first guys I met when they were 17 and 18 years old, and I think I've grown as a coach and they have grown as young men over the four years… They are a great group that's fun to be around every day and make this program what it is."

The Ephs were fired up and got several early stops on the defensive end to keep the Polar Bears off the board in the first three and a half minutes.

They soon led 14-2.

Bowdoin began to cut into the lead, but James Heskett ’19 was quick to answer with

a 3-pointer. Soon after, however, the Polar Bears began to shoot the ball from deep and closed the gap to 20-19. The Ephs called a timeout with 6:41 left in the half.

The teams traded baskets toward the end of the half.

Notably, Matthew Karpowicz ’20 notched a 3-point play, a layup and a post. The Polar Bears were able to score a couple of buckets before the break, but the Ephs led 33-28 at halftime.

Coming out of the half, the Ephs made a couple of defensive stops and timely shots, including a circus layup by Bobby Casey ’19, to extend their lead to 47-36. The Polar Bears resorted to a full-court press, but the Ephs continued to put up point after point. Even a late offensive spurt by Bowdoin was not enough as the men cruised to a 72-55 victory.

After the game, App lauded the performances of the seniors on the squad. "I was super proud of the seniors,” he said. “Kroot…[played] a great game and hit a big shot. Galvin and Teal also had great games. It's awesome, and hopefully we can keep it going and these guys can make some great memories.”

The Ephs finished shooting 47.9 percent (23 of 48) from the field, and Heskett led the Ephs in scoring with 31 points.

On Friday, Williams faced Colby. From the opening tip, both teams played with intense defensive effort. The Ephs did not give the Mules any open looks and were able to hold the opposition to a mere two points after five minutes of play.

Karpowicz came out of a timeout and put the Ephs up 11-2 with a layup and then a block on the other end. The physical play by both teams led to the Mules finding themselves in foul trouble. Casey capitalized with a 3-pointer and a mid-range bucket en route to a 38-23 Eph advantage at the break.

In the second half, the Mules used a full-court press to force a couple of turnovers. Even so, the long-distance marksmanship of Marcos Soto ’19 and Casey brought the Ephs to a 5933 lead.

App gave credit to the defensive schemes of the Mules.

"They do a good job of mixing up their defenses to throw you off your rhythm,” App said.

"They sped us up in the first half and then got us a little stagnant by throwing some

PHOTO COURTESY OF SPORTS INFORMATION

James Heskett ’19 scored a game high of 31 points in the Ephs’ triumph against the Polar Bears.

zones and presses at us. It took our guys a little bit longer than I always like, but I think they did a good job of just getting back to playing basketball."

No matter what defense Colby played, Williams always had an answer. Karpowicz highlighted the scoring run with a put-back and a layup through contact. The Ephs held onto their lead for a 7749 win. Casey led the team with 22 points, and Michael Kempton ’19 snagged a teamhigh seven rebounds.

App praised the consistency that the team showed on Friday. "This is three straight games where we have come out and played really hard, especially on the defensive end,” App said. “When we do that, I think we are a really good basketball team. Colby is one of the better offensive teams we've played all year, and I thought our intensity and effort took them out of the stuff they have been able to do against other teams."

On their Jan. 30 road showdown against SUNY Oneonta, the men jumped out to an early 10-0 lead, courtesy of great defensive effort, including a steal by Henry Feinberg ’20.

The Red Dragons were able to battle back and bring the Ephs’ lead down to four with five minutes left in the half, but the Ephs turned up the defensive pressure and stopped the Red Dragons’ run. The Ephs earned themselves a 38-26 lead going into the half, with Casey scoring 14 points.

Oneonta chipped into the lead after the break, cutting the score to 48-42 with 12 minutes left in the game.

Feinberg stopped the run by knocking down a 3-pointer and drawing a foul, converting a four-point play. The men’s sharpshooting and solid free throw shooting down the stretch kept the Red Dragons at bay, and the Ephs won 75-56.

App shared his thoughts on the team’s performance during the final stretch of the season. “No matter what point in the season we are, we always want to find something to improve on, and the guys are doing that,” App said. “We are seeing guys step up into bigger roles. Tonight Kroot came in and gave us tremendous minutes on the defensive end, and Feinberg made some big plays to quarrel their run. That's kind of what you want to see, different guys stepping up to give us that depth and versatility that we will need down the stretch."

The men travel to play archrival Amherst on Friday at 7 p.m.

PHOTO COURTESY OF SPORTS INFORMATION

Will Means ’20 won his match in the quartefinal win over Colby.

Men’s squash places fourth at NESCAC Championship

By WYATT KHOSROWSHAHI TEAM CORRESPONDENT Men’s squash finished fourth in the NESCAC Championship last weekend. The men defeated Colby but lost to Bates in the semifinals before losing to Middlebury.

On Saturday, the Ephs beat Colby 5–4 in a tight encounter before bowing out to Bates 6–3 in the semifinals of the NESCAC championship at Hamilton.

In the morning match against Colby, Carl Shuck ’20, Claude Smith ’20, Wyatt Khosrowshahi ’21 and Will Ruggiero ’19 led off play for the Ephs. After losing the first game, Ruggiero waged a nice comeback to win 3-1.

Shuck battled his way to a hard-earned five game victory. Khosrowshahi played another five-gamer but lost 3-2. Smith struggled to get a hold in his match and was defeated in three games, leaving the day deadlocked at 2-2 after the first wave of play. Closing for the Ephs in the second wave of play were John Fitzgerald ’19, Anand Butler ’19, Will Means ’20 and tri-captains Andrew Litvin ’18 and Mason Elizondo ’18. Fitzgerald turned in a strong 3-0 win to add another point for the Ephs. Butler was defeated in a tight fourgame match. Litvin, Elizondo and Means all played fivegame battles that could have gone either way, and in the end Litvin lost, but Elizondo and Means were able to pull out a pair of wins to earn two crucial points for the Ephs.

Overall, the Ephs beat the Mules 5-4.

In the afternoon battle against Bates, Shuck, Smith, Khosrowshahi and Jamie Havran ’18 kicked the match off. It was a slow start for the Ephs, with Smith, Khosrowshahi and Havran all coming short in three, four and five games, respectively.

Shuck was able to earn the sole win from the opening wave of play with a solid 3-0 victory. Fitzgerald, Butler, Ben Eisenberg ’19, Ruggiero and Means followed, with the Ephs needing at least four wins from these five matches to win the overall match.

Things started looking up for the Ephs when Ruggiero won 3-0, but unfortunately the comeback was not meant to be. Eisenberg, Means and Butler all played thrilling five game matches, but only Eisenberg could earn another point for the Ephs.

Fitzgerald was also defeated in a tough 3-1 match to round out the overall match to a 6-3 win for the Bobcats.

Due to injuries, the Ephs fielded a lineup featuring only two of their regular top six players on Sunday's match against Middlebury.

Leading off for the Ephs against the Panthers were Khosrowshahi, Smith, Havran and Ruggiero. Khosrowshahi and Smith each had tough matches and were defeated 3-0. Havran and Ruggiero fared slightly better, both splitting the first two games of their matches, but both ultimately fell in four games to their opponents.

Following next were Shuck, Butler, Eisenberg, Litvin and Elizondo. Butler and Eisenberg were each beaten in three games. Litvin fought hard but was eventually defeated in four tight games.

Elizondo battled hard in another tight match that could have gone either way but was unlucky to fall 3-2 in the end.

Shuck played a brilliant marathon match with Middlebury’s strong No. 1 player that went to five games, and he pulled out 14-12 in the fifth, winning the match.

The men have their final regular season match at Brown on Thursday before competing at Nationals two weeks later on Feb. 23.