April 19, 2017: CC passes free speech resolution 16-3-1

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ARTS P. 10

SPORTS P. 12

Mokgosi Exhibition review

Softball extends winning streak to 15 games

VOL. CXXXI, NO. 19

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 19, 2017

CC passes free speech resolution 16-3-1

Students receive fellowships By RYAN KELLEY EXECUTIVE EDITOR

NICHOLAS GOLDROSEN / NEWS EDITOR

Kevin Mercadante '17 introduces a resolution intended to enshrine speech and protect individual rights to disagree and protest.

Ephs promote wind farm's promise By SOPHIA SCHMIDT STAFF WRITER The following is the second part of a three-part series on the plan for the College to build a wind farm in Berlin, N.Y. Before Reed Zars ’77 left, he handed the project to Thomas Black ’81, a physics and philosophy double major with a concentration in environmental studies. Black, who co-founded the Williams Outdoor Orientation for Living as First-Years (WOOLF) program for freshmen, wrote a physics thesis on the “Technical and Economic Feasibility” of a wind farm at Berlin Pass. Black produced “wind measurements at the Pass that ... served ... as the basis of [later] estimates of how much electricity the site might produce,” said a student who later took up the charge. Black’s thesis found that the site was “a good candidate for wind energy” and estimated a twenty-year payback on the project. Black went on to earn a masters degree in environmental systems analysis from Harvard and a doctorate in groundwater hydrology from Stanford, but passed away in 1990 from AIDS-related complications. After Black graduated, the Berlin Pass wind idea entered what Zars called a “period of quiescence.” Nationwide, interest in renewable energy dropped alongside electricity prices during the late '80s and '90s. Without the financial incentive to conserve, Americans quickly increased their use of non-renewable energy after its dip in the early 1980s. Nonetheless, development of wind energy continued in California and Europe. With the introduction of a production tax credit through the Energy Policy Act in 1992 and the establishment of the National Wind Technology Center in 1993, renewable energy in America began to transform into the regulated, subsidized, multi-billion dollar industry that it is today.

Two decades after Black’s report, the Berlin Pass wind idea resurfaced. Though the student body had turned over five times since Black’s thesis, faculty proponents of the proposal remained. One of these advocates was David Dethier, professor of geoscience, who taught a class in the early 2000s called Renewable Energy and the Sustainable Campus. It was through this class that Nick Hiza ’02 learned of the Berlin wind proposal. “Hiza was one of these guys who appeared in class as an auditor, and I could see the clear light of insanity[in him],” Dethier said. Also present, he admitted, was “focus, intensity and brilliance.” And so, in the spring of 2003, Hiza, along with Chris Warshaw ’02 and Fred Hines ’02, completed the third report on the feasibility of the Berlin Wind farm. Thanks to significant improvements in wind energy technology, Hiza et al. envisioned seven 1.5 MW turbines which would produce “140% of the College’s annual electrical power requirements,” to the tune of $10.3 million dollars and a payback period of six to eight years. “More importantly,” Hiza noted, “power from the facility would displace electricity from fossil fuel burning plants, preventing the emission of hundreds of tons of sulfur and nitrous oxides, as well as tens of thousands of tons of carbon dioxide emissions, each year.” By the end of Hiza’s time at Williams, student interest in the Berlin Pass wind idea caused the College to recognize it as a more formal project. Dethier became the principal investigator, and Hiza, who had just graduated, was paid to work for the project as a part-time research assis-

On April 10, the College announced that 15 students and four alumnae have been offered Fulbright grants for 2017-2018. This sets a new record for the College for the number of Fulbright recipients in one year. In addition, on Thursday, the College announced that Anna DeLoi ’18 will be awarded the Harry S. Truman scholarship for graduate study in public policy. The student recipients of Fulbright grants are Hannah Benson, Elizabeth Curtis ’17, Mary Elizabeth Dato ’17, Lane Davis ’17, Peter Hale ’17, Gemma Holt ’17, Olivier Joseph ’17, Chinmayi Manjunath ’17, Juliette NorrménSmith ’17, Reidar Riveland ’17, Deanna Segall ’17, Samuel Steakley ’17, Vidya Venkatesh ’17 and Caroline White-Nockleby ’17. The four alumnae recipients are Aseel Abulhab ’15, Samantha Avila ’16, Haley Stewart ’15 and Libby Dvir ’16. These students and alumnae will participate in the Fulbright U.S. Student Program, the largest U.S. exchange program that provides students and young professionals the opportunity to study, teach and conduct research abroad for one academic year. Nine of the honorees will receive one-year grants to study or conduct research

in their academic fields, and eight will receive English teaching assistantships for teaching abroad. Three applicants from the College have been designated as alternates, who will receive final decisions later this spring. Fellowships Coordinator Lynn Chick said that the College put forward 48 candidates for the Fulbright grant this year. Of those. 31 were “recommended” to advance to the country selection stage. “The number of awards to students and alumni of the College continues to increase because they are well-prepared applicants,” Chick said. “Their experiences in the classroom, studying abroad for credit or on a summer fellowship, and language study all contribute to a strong Fulbright application. Their professors are generous with advice and support while they are preparing their application which is incredibly helpful.” The Fulbright recipients plan to spend their year abroad in various ways. White-Nockleby will research geography in Chile. “I’ll be working with a Geography professor on a project that examines the ecological and political history of water tensions in the region between the copper mining industry and indigenous

SEE FELLOWSHIPS, p. 4

Lickety Split to relocate but remain open By WILLIAM NEWTON NEWS EDITOR Though the new Williams Inn will be built where Lickety Split is currently located, the College plans to make special accommodations to ensure that the local ice cream business stays open both during and after the construction project is complete. As construction begins for the new Williams Inn in the summer of 2018, the College will help to facillitate the move of Lickety Split to a temporary location somewhere at the end of Spring Street, keeping the ice cream shop close to its original location. Though the College has yet to determine the specifics of this temporary location, Fred Puddester, vice president for finance and administration and treasurer, is confident that Lickety Split will successfully find a new home. “Given the popularity of Lickety we have no doubt it will be successful in a temporary location,” Puddester said. After the new Williams Inn opens during the summer of 2019, Lickety Split will move

WHAT’S INSIDE

JUNE HAN/PHOTO EDITOR.

The College plans to facilitate relocation of Lickety Split to the lawn of the new Williams Inn in 2019. to a new location near the front lawn of the Inn, giving the ice cream business a new and easily-accesible permanent home. “In the plans for the Inn we have dedicated a permanent

place for Lickety across from Tunnel City close to what will be large green space,” Puddester said. While the location of the business will move around throughout the course of

the next several years, students and community members can rest assured that the popular ice cream business will always be open and available throughout the upcoming summers.

SPRING WEATHER BECOMES THE NORM ON CAMPUS; SHORTS AND SANDALS SPROUT IN THE PURPLE VALLEY

3 OPINIONS

Dialogue on improving the JA system

9 FEATURES

Students help refugees study for the SAT

10 ARTS

"Collisions" film addresses moments of confrontation

SEE WIND FARM, p. 4 12 SPORTS USPS 684-6801 | 1ST CLASS MAIL U.S. POSTAGE PAID WILLIAMSTOWN, MA PERMIT NO. 25

Women's crew wins Donahue cup JANETH RODRIGUEZ / PHOTO EDITOR


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