ARTS P. 8 Sawyer becomes gallery for social change
SPORTS P. 12 The Independent Student Newspaper at Williams College Since 1887 VOL. CXXXII, NO. 9
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2017
Football beats Amherst in overtime thriller
Paradise Papers shed light on College, higher education insurance industry By NICHOLAS GOLDROSEN NEWS EDITOR The College is a shareholder in a reinsurance company based out of Bermuda, the recently-leaked Paradise Papers reveal. The documents leaked from the Bermudabased law firm Appleby show that the College owns a stake in School, College and University Underwriters, Ltd. (SCUUL), a reinsurance firm incorporated and registered in Bermuda. The College confirmed its holdings in SCUUL and noted it was a common and legitimate practice for colleges and universities, but did not comment further by press time. This disclosure sheds broader light on the insurance practices of institutions of higher education. SCUUL was founded in 1986 by a consortium of colleges and universities in the midst of a liability crisis which made obtaining insurance difficult. According to the Bermudan government’s Registrar of Companies, the company was first incorporated in 1986 and reincorporated in 2006. A 1986 article covering SCUUL’s founding referred to institutions of higher education founding “their own insurance company,” as it would be run by the schools that used it. As a reinsurance firm, SCUUL takes on parts of other insurers’ portfolios to cover some of their risks. Many of the schools that use SCUUL for reinsurance own shares of it
rather than simply being policyholders. As such, the College’s stake in SCUUL is not part of its investment portfolio. SCUUL is part of a Vermontbased education insurance company known as United Educators (UE), which also has headquarters in Bethesda, Md. According to its website, “United Educators (UE) provides liability insurance and risk management services to nearly 1,600 members representing schools, colleges, and universities throughout the United States. Founded in 1987 as a risk retention group, UE is owned and governed by the educational institutions it insures.” SCUUL was founded as a reinsurer in Bermuda and a holding company in the Cayman Islands. Initially, according to UE Chief Financial Officer Michael Horning, the company had trouble selling policies, as it was not an admitted insurer in the United States. Hence, in March 1987, the same group of 60 schools, including the College, founded UE as a mutual risk retention group in the United States – essentially a group of shareholders sharing each others' risks – which then in turn used SCUUL as its reinsurer. In 2001, the original sponsors decided to have SCUUL pay off the original investments to them as dividends and to use those to recapitalize UE – in essence, to give it a more stable pool of money in the U.S. with which to insure its sponsors. “In 2001, the company restructured,” Horning said.
PHOTO COURTESY OF GOOGLE MAPS
The College is a sponsor and shareholder of United Educators, which includes the Bermuda-based reinsurer School, College and University Underwriters, Ltd., in which the College also owns shares. The Bethesda, Md., headquarters are shown above. “The sponsors wanted an exit strategy, so they basically restructured the whole enterprise, and paid out dividends to the original sponsors – the schools that had put their money where their mouth was and started their own insurance company.” UE then paid off those investments over the next 12 to 14 years; the College’s investment in
the UE recapitalization was paid off in 2014. This move to the United States was abetted by a 1997 Vermont law that allowed mutual risk retention groups to transition to a reciprocal structure. This structure allows the insurer to pay its earnings to the sponsors – i.e., shareholders – as dividends and therefore have no tax liability itself.
The sponsors assumed the tax liability, but as institutions of higher education, they pay no corporate income tax. This practice is entirely in compliance with U.S. law and is common amongst colleges and universities. “Had UE been able to form as a reciprocal in Vermont, it probably would have been initially structured that way instead, and would
not have had to go offshore,” Horning said. The move onshore in 2001 also meant that the UE would no longer pay a federal excise tax for SCUUL’s reinsurance. Since SCUUL, the reinsurer, had purchased reinsurance for itself, UE chose to leave it separately as SCUUL, USA. SEE PARADISE PAPERS, PAGE 5
Faculty express concerns College adopts unified nonover new bookstore discrimination, harassment By WILLIAM NEWTON NEWS EDITOR Since the Williams Bookstore’s opening in August, many students and faculty have expressed concerns over the internal management and trade book section of the store. Currently, the College has a contract with Follett, the campus bookstore chain that previously operated Water Street Books, until 2025, but both parties have the option to exit early with sufficient notice. Though Follett operates the Bookstore, the College intends to play a significant role in overseeing the Bookstore, primarily through the Bookstore Committee, which, according to the College’s website,
“reviews and recommends operating policies and procedures, and provides guidance to both the bookstore and the College on bookstore matters.” In last week’s faculty meeting, the Bookstore Committee and other faculty members expressed concerns about the Bookstore’s reductions in books and Follett’s recent hiring decisions. In particular, the linear shelf space for trade books from the old store was cut in half and the children’s book section was cut by 80 percent. “I think it’s safe to say that all or nearly all of [the Bookstore Committee members] believe the trade books side of the store needs enormous improvement,” said Karen Shepard ’87, chair of
the Bookstore Committee and professor of English. “A great bookstore understands who its customers are and offers an exceptionally wellcurated assortment of books that encourages serendipitous discovery and browsing. Based on these standards, I think I would have to say that the trade section of the new Williams Bookstore, at least, is far from a success.” Follett also told the committee that it would be consulted regarding additional hiring decisions, repeatedly stating over several years that it would hire a full-time trade books manager. Now, Follett indicates that it will not be consulting the committee regarding the decision SEE BOOKSTORE, PAGE 5
PHOTO COURTESY OF WILLIAMS COLLEGE
Faculty discussed their hope to improve the trade book section of the Williams Bookstore last week.
and sexual misconduct policy By NICHOLAS GOLDROSEN NEWS EDITOR At the Nov. 8 faculty meeting, the faculty approved and adopted a new unified non-discrimination, harassment and sexual misconduct policy and unified grievance procedures, by a vote of 46 yes votes, four no votes and two abstentions. The new policy unifies the College’s previous policies against harassment, discrimination and sexual misconduct, and establishes new grievance procedures for grievances against faculty or staff who are alleged to have violated the policy. The revised policy stemmed from the Affirmative Action Advisory Committee’s (AAAC) review of the non-discrimination policy in the 2015-16 year. “In 2015-2016, the AAAC was charged with reviewing and revising the College’s nondiscrimination policies and procedures, something we had not done since the early 1990s outside of sexual misconduct policies and procedures which were revised and updated in 2014-2015,” said Ngonidzashe Munemo, associate dean for institutional diversity and equity and associate professor of political science. “Rather than drafting a second, parallel policy that covered other forms of discrimination, the AAAC decided instead to construct one unified policy that covered all different forms of discrimination, including sexual misconduct.” The decision to create a unified policy reflects current best practice amongst peer institutions, such as Wesleyan and the University of Georgia, the committee’s
motion stated. The unification also stemmed from the recognition that sexual misconduct receives specific attention under federal law as a form of discrimination itself. This policy aims to further the College’s existing effort in creating a work and learning environment free of discrimination, harassment and sexual misconduct. “The AAAC believes that in updating and unifying our existing sexual harassment policy, sexual misconduct investigation and adjudication process, non-discrimination policy and discrimination grievance procedures we have improved upon the policy and procedures that guide our pursuit of a learning and work environment free of discrimination, harassment and sexual misconduct,” the committee’s motion said. In addition to the unification of the policy, the AAAC expanded the revised policy to include harassment that is not necessarily sexual or discriminatory in nature. The motion also established new unified procedures for adjudicating and sanctioning grievances lodged against faculty or staff under the new policy. Critically, these new procedures assign important responsibilities to the assistant vice president for institutional diversity and equity/Title IX coordinator, ensuring that the grievance process is free of conflicts that might arise within offices more familiar with the involved parties, such as human resources or the dean of the faculty. The procedures also create a standing grievance panel of faculty to adjudicate complaints separate from the faculty review panel, which
would sanction faculty found responsible. Finally, they set the evidentiary standard used for all cases arising under the policy as “preponderance of the evidence,” the standard already used in adjudicating grievances involving student respondents and student disciplinary cases. The motion will not change the current procedures used SEE POLICY, PAGE 5
WHAT’S INSIDE 3 OPINIONS Secularism’s role at the College 4 NEWS Williams 101: Faculty Committees 7 FEATURES Mika Brzezinski talks to the ‘Record’ about career in journalism 9 ARTS ‘Jane’ plays at Images Cinema 12 SPORTS Women’s cross country qualifies for NCAAs
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Arts Editors Shaheen Currimjee and Li Yu
Editor-in-Chief Emmy Maluf Managing Editors Marit Björnlund and Jack Brent Greenberg Communications Director Francesca Paris Executive Editors Michael Green, Rachel Levin, Maddy McFarland, Neena Patel, Lucy Putnam, Skylar Smith and Tesnim Zekeria News Editors Nicholas Goldrosen and William Newton Opinions Editor Taran Dugal Features Editors Jane Petersen and R.B. Smith
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THE WILLIAMS RECORD BOARD While the Williams Bookstore has its upsides, including a friendly and helpful sales staff, we believe that the bookstore’s corporate management fails to cater to the needs of the community and students for whom it was intended. While the new bookstore is closer to the center of campus than Water Street Books and is therefore more convenient for purchasing or renting textbooks, it does not use its space efficiently. The space that the textbooks occupied at the beginning of the semester is currently empty. Instead, this space could be used to fill the lack of seating and working space throughout the rest of the bookstore. The bookstore was marketed as a place for students to work and collaborate, yet there is minimal space for such activities; the tables that are present are not conducive to group work. The bookstore also sells a large amount of College gear, which seems like an inefficient use of space, given the proximity of the better selection of gear at the Williams Shop up the street. Additionally, the design of the bookstore was altered from origi-
Alum on The Quad If you could teach a Winter Study, what would you teach? By ANASTASIA TISHENA and MICHAEL GREEN RECORD STAFF
OLIVIA LIMA ’17
Bread-making: The proof is in the proof.
ZOE HARVAN ’17
I guess, like, ice cream making or something.
November 15, 2017
Putting the books back in ‘bookstore’ Making the Williams Bookstore a community space nal expectations. The children’s section, which was meant to help integrate the community with the College, was cut by 80 percent from the original planning phase. The general books section, which many feel is also insufficient for a bookstore, was cut by 50 percent, and is noticeably smaller than what was previously at the Water Street location. Importantly, the position of trade books manager position, which would supervise these areas, was never filled, leaving no one in particular responsible for solving these problems. While the coffee shop at the bookstore is a Tunnel City offshoot, the original Tunnel location is directly across the street and has better facilities, in addition to a wider selection. The community expected the new coffee shop to have a different selection of lunch foods, like sandwiches, and beverages, yet instead got a watered-down version of the coffee shop across the street. Having additional food and beverage options would encourage people to spend more time at the bookstore, as they would not need to leave to eat a meal.
While the Tunnel City across from the bookstore closes at 6 p.m., its offshoot in the Williams Bookstore is open until 10 p.m. However, Tunnel City is not obligated to continue these extended hours after one year of operation. Therefore, the bookstore coffee shop could potentially close at an earlier hour in the future, as a result of decreased business during late night hours. The College should do everything within its power to ensure that the store and the coffee shop continue to remain open late. The College Bookstore committee had plans to further integrate the bookstore with the student body, yet these ideas were not implemented. The committee suggested that work study be available to students in the bookstore, a proposition which was denied by Follett, the contractor that runs the bookstore. The committee also suggested that an internship at the bookstore be incorporated into the SPEC 21 program offered during Winter Study, but Follett postponed consideration of this idea. For the bookstore to cater more towards the students and the Col-
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Nothing cooler than biochem research. Sign up this Winter Study! THOMAS E. SMITH ’88
The one I already teach – “Zymurgy: the Chemistry of Brewing” … and I’m not sure I can think of anything cooler.
lege community it was intended to serve, we suggest that it fill the position of trade books manager so that the general books section can be overseen and improved. The College gear section should be replaced with books, new study spaces or other merchandise, such as what one would find at a convenience store. We commend the bookstore for selling simple toiletries, but argue that it would be beneficial for the bookstore to have a larger variety of affordable goods, especially since there is no longer a store that sells an adequate selection of items like this within walking distance of the College. The space that is used for textbooks for a small fraction of the year could also be replaced in the rest of the year with more study spaces that are more suited for work. The bookstore could also support local businesses by replacing the Tunnel portion of the store with a different company that would increase the number of food and beverage options available on Spring Street for students and the community. There are many opportunities to improve the space, and the College and Follett must collaborate to make the most of them.
Have fun with your new, all 8:30 a.m. schedule.
ON THE RECORD “What do an annual prank holiday of ambiguous origins, the evolution of photojournalism and mass media in relation to conceptions of modernity and constructs of the ‘New Woman’ in interwar Weimar Germany have in common?” Cecelia Messbauer ’21 on lecture “The New Woman on April Fools: Photography, Photomontage, and the Rhetoric of Objectivity in the Weimar Republic,” page 8.
“This was a huge win for our team. I am so proud of the way the [players] competed today. Their character and toughness is special.” Head coach Mark Raymond, on football’s Homecoming victory over Amherst on Saturday, page 12. "We need measured, transparent journalism that isn’t ideologically motivated" Mika Brzezinski on the current state of journalistic integrity, page 7.
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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 Williams community. The Opinions section is designed to reflect the varied views and ideas of the Williams 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 tsd1@williams. edu by Sunday at 5 p.m. for inclusion in the next Wednesday issue. Op-eds 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.
SABRINA WIRTH ’05
On being thankful The im or a ce o cri ici i By ANDREA RODAS One of the things I miss most about home is the food. My family constantly jokes about my grandmother’s real home being the kitchen — the place you can always find her and where you would have to physically drag her out of if you actually wanted to have a conversation with her. In her mind, food has the same power as a hug, a kiss, the support of your family – no matter what you’re going through at the moment. Therefore, she loves being able to bestow this gift on her grandchildren, especially those grandkids she hasn’t seen in a while, i.e. me. If anyone asks for the recipe for any of my grandma’s famous dishes, she would respond very matter-of-factly that she had made it con mucho amor, with lots of love. I admit that, more often than not, I complain about the things I would love to have closer and more available to me on campus, like more ethnic food. But I know how hard the dining staff works to provide the student body with more than just our daily meals. The planning, decorations, kindness, time and labor they put in go largely unnoticed. I am perfectly aware of and grateful for the work they already do. I am sure they also work with mucho amor. “You should be more thankful.” I’ve gotten that comment more than once from fellow students. The biting comment that I should stop expressing my opinion because I should be thankful to be here; I should be grateful to be at an institution that can afford the many resources we do have; I should be content with what I have been given. I can take these comments at face value or I can look deeper and, as a proud Williams student, dig deeper. At the suggestion that I – or other “whiny” students like me – am not being thankful enough for the space I occupy here, I can interpret this in no other way than by realizing they would like me to appreciate my very admission into this institution. That, had I not been lucky enough to be accepted, I would not
OPINIONS 3
The Williams Record
November 15, 2017
The role of secularism at the College Why we need a non-religious chaplain
e i s e love
have been received so seamlessly elsewhere, that I would not be able to enjoy the benefits that only the College can offer. It is not far-fetched to see this as the typical response to immigrants and minorities who have been accepted into communities such as this one. Be thankful for your lot because it could have been worse. And if you don’t like it, leave. Being more thankful means that I have to constantly say out loud how much I appreciate the College. When I “whine” about food, what I am really saying is that this college – and even some of its very students – still have a long way to go in fostering an inclusive and conducive environment to the variety of minority groups on campus. That one themed dinner a semester does not do nearly enough to celebrate and respect the diverse backgrounds that many people in our community come from. When I “whine” it is to recognize that the administration of this school can do much more than just nod occasionally and include us on the front page of their website. But it is only out of the love and respect I have for this institution that I want to make sure it improves to reach the demands of the mission of this college. It is only because of the wonderful faculty and staff who work hard to make this place what it is. It is only because of the students I see here who have overcome more obstacles than I could ever imagine that I want them to feel as comfortable, safe and welcomed here as I did. I want them to be as enamored of the College as I was and am because I saw the potential of what an environment like this could and does offer. But I can be grateful to be at Williams and be critical of it at the same time. So the next time that you hear someone complaining about the food, dig deeper and understand where they are coming from. Trust me, they will be grateful, too.
By COLY ELHAI
holding a secular identity. Like humanism itself, a humanist chaplain As the Preach it Forward campaign would also affirm students without has made clear, people who enter faith’s ability and responsibility to, the chaplain’s office do not leave any as the American Humanist Society of their identities at the door. Faith puts it, “lead meaningful, ethical identity is no exception, which is why lives capable of adding to the greater the College intentionally hires chap- good of humanity.” They would have lains from different religious back- the skills and personal experience to grounds to better support students connect secular students to the refrom a range of traditions. However, sources and perspectives they need there is one spiritual identity glaring- to explore their beliefs. A secular chaplain would guide ly absent from the staff students without faith of the chaplain’s office: A secular chaplain as they seek meaning secularist. Atheists, answers to big agnostics, and “nones” would guide students and questions – what some make up a plurality of without faith as they would call a spiritual the student body, but journey and others unlike schools includseek meaning would call the quest to ing Harvard, Tufts and be a better person. Columbia, Williams and answers to The chaplain’s office has no secular humanbig questions is advertised as a genist chaplain to support eral wellness resource these students. for the entire student Though secularism is becoming more normalized in body, and it is true that some secuour society, rejecting religion can lar students, myself included, do still mean feeling adrift. There is no turn to the chaplain’s office for adguiding text or spiritual authorities vice. We are the exception, not the to turn to, and certain assumptions rule. I came to the College fully exremain about what lacking religious pecting to go through my four years faith means. According to a 2017 here without interacting with the Pew survey, 42% of Americans still chaplains. As interested as I was in think that believing in God is nec- questions of meaning and purpose, I essary to be moral and have good was (and am) an atheist. Before coming to the College, values. For many, especially those from deeply religious backgrounds, many of the conversations I’d had coming out as atheist to friends and with people of faith about these family members can result in one questions had left me not just dissatbeing cut out of communities and isfied but ashamed, feeling like my atheism was something that needed losing valuable relationships. A humanist chaplain could sup- to be hidden. I was convinced that port these students, helping them religious spaces could not accomnavigate the challenges particular to modate me and my beliefs, however
.
outwardly welcoming they appeared to be. It took a week of working and living alongside the four chaplains on a spring breakout trip in Alabama to change my feelings about my place in the chaplain’s office. Most secular students, though, don’t have the luxury of spending that much time one-on-one with the chaplains. They will not feel comfortable seeking advice from the chaplains, and they’ll be excluded from the spiritual and moral growth that the office encourages. Hiring a secular chaplain would do more than any publicity campaign to demonstrate that atheists, agnostics and nones are welcome in the chaplain’s office. It would illustrate the way that people with religious faith and those without can and should come together for dialogue and cooperation on the issues that matter to both groups. Whether to believe in God is not the only or the most important question to be answered in life. More important are questions of how we ought to treat each other, how we discover and create meaning for ourselves and what we value. As we work to make sure that the chaplain’s office provides support for students of faith with marginalized identities, we should also ensure that the office is equipped to support the many students at the College who lack religious faith but whose searches for answers are just as important. Coly Elhai ’19 is an economics and math double major from Henrico, Va. She lives in Wood.
FROM THE ARCHIVES
Andrea Rodas ’18 is a comparative literature and French double major from Jackson Heights, N.Y. She lives in Currier.
How we define Latinx Language as a part of la cultura By MICHAEL CRISCI
where the student body was 90 percent white. I was often told I was Three times a week, I walk into not Latino enough by white kids. my Intermediate Spanish class with Their idea of what it means to be the inability to roll my Rs and to a Latinx was so surface level that understand when it’s okay to use they defined Latinidad by a lanthe subjunctive. I always feel a bit guage. This led to years of insecuashamed, especially since I grew up rity with my identity even though with a mother who was born and I was and am so proud of my Doraised in the Dominican Republic, minican culture. Upon arriving here at the College and because I have always heard Spanish spoken around me – fam- and meeting people from Vista as ily members constantly flooded my well as other fellow Dominicans, I house with their rapid Dominican realized that the wall I put up beSpanish. However, they were not tween my Latino identity and myteaching me Spanish. Instead, I was self was largely self-imposed and teaching them English, which they imposed by others outside the culture. The Latinx community is so desperately wanted to learn. While I can understand Span- so incredibly diverse and to deish very well (specifically Domini- fine the community as people that are connected by a can Spanish, which single language is reI would argue is a ductive. Though the skill in itself), I canTo define the ability to meet others not speak it fluently. community as who speak the same I can write well and language as you in speak if I have to, but people that are the United States is I often end up feeling connected by a a beautiful thing, it insecure when I do. is not the defining Because of this, I ofsingle language aspect. Now that I’m ten don’t feel Latino surrounded by more enough. I love my Dois reductive. Latinx, and that I am minican culture – the a part of the Vista and people, music, food and dancing. However, I have al- Students of Caribbean Ancestry ways associated language as being communities here on campus, I feel integral to the definition of a Latinx, more certain of my identity than and since I don’t completely have ever before. I love my mangú, bachata and Afrothat, I feel a bit disconnected from Latino identity. Test me on any Romeo the identity. Oftentimes, older Latinx look Santos song and I got you! The Latinx down upon people who don’t know who don’t embrace their cultures like the language. I would be a liar if I I do are still Latinx. With shows like said I didn’t understand why be- Jane The Virgin and One Day at a cause, unknowingly, I perpetuate Time, which showcase Latinx who do the same tradition. When a Latinx not speak Spanish fluently, members celebrity confirms that they are flu- of the Latinx community are openent in Spanish, I instantly feel that ing up their arms and accepting nonthey are more authentic in some ri- Spanish speakers as their own. There is no clear definition of diculous, nonsensical way. I think this idea comes from there being what it means to be a Latinx, so an authenticity that is attached to we need to open our community to Latinx who can speak the language those who feel less connected and in the United States. People, like embrace them. Everyone has a difme, fail to take into account the rea- ferent connection to this culture sons why someone may not know and we should work to have our felthe language, such as their parents’ low Latinx discover and embrace fear of an accent for their child, or that connection, whether they speak the language or not. limited time around their family. Strangely enough, my inability Michael Crisci ’21 is from Bayto speak Spanish fluently was more pronounced at my high school ville, N.Y. He lives in Sage.
SABRINA WIRTH ’05
The importance of looking up Why we need to start stepping away from our cell phones By NEVIN BERNET The days are getting shorter, the weather is getting colder and yet every day we still must take strolls across campus on a regular basis. I have come to really appreciate these jaunts, as they give me the opportunity to say hello to those I know and become acquainted with those I do not. The intricacies of acknowledgement and greeting are at once subtle, fascinating and terrifying. I find myself, with great frequency, second guessing my interpretations of eye contact, head nods or a movement of the hand in address. Yet, these little social encounters are paramount to our humanity. Holding a stranger’s eye contact for a moment longer than you are comfortable with, smiling at someone you think is beautiful, saying hello to that person you met at a party last weekend – these are all challenges to be embraced, not experiences to shy away from. One can imagine my dismay, then – as I make my regular commutes between classes, friends’ dorms or dining halls – to see so many of my peers’ faces utterly entranced by the glow of their phones. We use our phones for everything. We use them to talk to each other, organize our schedules, play games, manage our finances and even to let the rest of the world
in on our every action. The world within our phones is vast and allconsuming, and it’s very easy to get lost within the glowing abyss of our screens. Therefore, it’s really no surprise that, when I walk from science quad to the Paresky Center, those who I pass move absently, undisturbed by the smiles and waves of those whose devices remain in their pockets. Now, I don’t think it’s right of me to argue that sending an email as you walk between classes is a bad decision, or that texting your friend about lunch is inconsiderate to those around you; however, I can say with some degree of confidence that many use their cell phones as an escape from the uncertainty of micro-interactions. In many cases I would also hold that we use our phones to avoid awkward silences, to end particularly difficult conversations or simply to circumvent the uncomfortableness of prolonged eye contact. Unfortunately, in many of these aforementioned circumstances, bringing out a cell phone to ease your uncomfortableness only accentuates the divide between you and your conversational counterpart. Furthermore, there are a number of studies (including one published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health) that document the
positive correlation between phone usage and lack of sleep and depression. That being said, in many cases, checking your phone is necessary for a variety of reasons. In our age of constant communication and endless information it would be nearly impossible, and doubtlessly inconvenient, to go without a phone. Moreover, being conscious and honest with yourself – not only about how much you are using your phone, but also why you are doing so – is integral to forming meaningful interpersonal connections, maintaining your good health and having substantive conversations. So next time you make the walk from Mission to Sawyer library or from Currier to Greylock or from wherever you are to wherever you need to be, try to engage with those who share your journey. Everyone around you has lived a truly unique and extraordinary life. They have all done things worthy of your admiration and of your shame. They are all deserving of your attention, as are you of theirs. So next time you put on your jacket and step into the brisk, early-winter air, try to leave your phone in your pocket. Look up, wave to your friends, smile at strangers and wink at your crush. They just might wink back. Nevin Bernet ’20 is from Topanga, Calif. He lives in Garfield.
4 NEWS
The Williams Record
November 15, 2017
WILLIAMS 101: Faculty Committees By NICHOLAS GOLDROSEN NEWS EDITOR This piece is the fifth installment in our “Williams 101” series, a set of articles on the basic structure and operations of the College. Our aim in this series is to help the entire College community, and students in particular, better understand and be able to engage with their institution. This fifth piece will focus on the College’s faculty governance and committees. The College Laws, the governing document of the College, dictates that the faculty of the College “shall have primary responsibility for the areas of curriculum, subject matters and methods of instruction, requirements for degrees in course, those aspects of student life which relate to the educational process and matters relating to faculty status.” The faculty of the College exercise this governance in two major ways: faculty meetings and committee service. Faculty meetings, which occur once a month, include motions for full faculty discussion and vote. For example, at the November 2017 faculty meeting, the faculty voted to approve the new anti-discrimination, harassment and sexual misconduct policy; at the October meeting, the faculty approved a motion to create a free-standing Arabic department. Faculty meetings have recurring yearly motions, such as the approval of the courses for the next year at the March meeting. The agendas for these meetings are set by the Faculty Steering Committee and the president of the College. Committee service is the second major way that faculty members exercise their gov-
ernance. Several committees have elected faculty members; these are the Faculty Steering Committee (FSC), Committee on Educational Affairs (CEA), Committee on Appointments and Promotions (CAP), Curricular Planning Committee (CPC), Faculty Review Panel and some members of the Faculty Compensation Committee. The FSC, composed of a tenured and untenured faculty member from each academic division, represents the concerns of the faculty. It also advises the dean of the faculty and president of the College in appointing faculty to other committees. Faculty members not elected to committees indicate preferences each year for their service and this information aids the FSC, dean of the faculty and president in making committee assignments. “In addition to expressed faculty preference, the Steering Committee takes into consideration the overall composition of the committee in terms of experience, divisional representation, gender and diversity, among other factors,” Safa Zaki, chair of the FSC and professor of psychology, said. The responsibilities of each committee can vary widely from purely advisory to those that have more direct power over certain areas of the College’s operations. “There are committees that are expressly advisory such as the Committee on Priorities and Resources, which advises the president on the allocation of the College’s resources,” Zaki said. “There are others that play a more direct role in the work of the College. For example, in addition to other tasks, the Committee on Educational Affairs oversees yearly changes to the curriculum of the College.”
Committees also run the gamut in terms of composition. Some, such as the FSC, are made up entirely of faculty. Others, such as the CPC, have both faculty and staff, and some, such as the CEA, have student, faculty and staff members. Within faculty, some committees have mixtures of tenured and untenured members, while others have only tenured members, such as the CAP, which has only full professors as members.
“If students have concerns or ideas about curriculum or instruction, the best action to take would be to contact the student members of the CEA.” Lara Shore-Sheppard Professor of Economics and Faculty Chair of the CEA This article will highlight the functions and work of several key committees; the intent is not to exclude any committee’s work as less important, but rather to focus on those committees to which students might be most interested in bringing ideas, questions or concerns. The first of these committees is the CEA. The CEA is responsible for the year-toyear curriculum and educational policy of the College. It reviews any alterations to courses, majors and concentrations, which would then
In Other Ivory Towers News around academia By FRANCESCA PARIS be asked to keep the inforCOMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR mation shared by some of our guest speakers confidenSmith announces tial. Anyone who is on the program for displaced staff of the Chronicle is not University of Puerto permitted to take this class. Rico students Please honor this in order that we can continue to get Smith announced on Mon- high quality visitors and inday that it would offer free tu- formation.” ition, room and board, as well The online syllabus for the as a stipend, to accepted Uni- class, taught by Linsey Leiversity of Puerto Rico (UPR) bowitz Hughes, a lecturing students for the spring 2018 fellow of economics at Duke, semester. The college will also has since been taken down. waive the application fee. Emma Rasiel, professor “Our goal is to allow these of the practice of economics students to continue their and associate chair in ecostudies at an outstanding nomics, wrote in an email to liberal arts college with a the Chronicle that the lanwelcoming, supportive com- guage was “a poorly worded munity,” Audrey Smith, the attempt to remind students college’s vice president for en- that the comments of guest rollment, said. “I know Smith speakers should be considstudents, faculty and staff will ered ‘off the record’ and not welcome them eagerly.” reported in the media or on UPR students have until social media.” Dec. 6 to apply. Scott McCartney, chair of the Duke Student Publishing Duke University stuCompany board, former edident journalists excluded tor-in-chief of the Chronicle from class and current writer for The Wall Street Journal, told the Earlier this month, The Herald-Sun that the issue is Duke Chronicle reported that serious. “They’re students. a professor had prohibited They’re paying tuition. They’re Chronicle reporters from tak- entitled to all the same rights ing her class via a line on the as any other student.” online syllabus. The online description Teen Vogue examines for the spring 2017 economtest-optional schools ics course, “Inside Hedge Funds,” stated: “Audio reLast Thursday, Teen Vogue cordings of this class are not published an examination permitted and students will of test-optional policies for
be presented to the full faculty for a vote. Importantly, the CEA, which has seven faculty, five staff and six student members, provides student representation on matters of curriculum. “If students have concerns or ideas about curriculum or instruction, the best action to take would be to contact the student members of the CEA,” Lara ShoreSheppard, faculty chair of the CEA and professor of economics, said. “They will
admission to institutions of higher education. Nearly 1000 colleges and universities in the United States are test-optional, the magazine reported. The policy allows students to choose whether or not to submit test scores for consideration. Test scores are a decent predictor of first-year GPA but not a good indicator of overall success in college, according to Angel B. Perez, vice president for enrollment and student success at Trinity, Teen Vogue reported. “Many schools are going testoptional because it provides students a more flexible way to demonstrate that they are prepared for a rigorous college level curriculum,” Perez said. In 1969, Bowdoin became the first test-optional school in the United States. Now 25-30 percent of the school’s applicants do not submit test scores. At Trinity, more than half of the current firstyears did not submit scores. According to E. Whitney Soule, dean of admissions and financial aid at Bowdoin, students who do not submit test scores perform at the same academic level as peers who do submit. “Now our applicant pool comes from all over the world,” Soule said in the Teen Vogue article. “We have more diversity of all kinds — geographic, socioeconomic, racial, ethnic.”
then bring the concerns or ideas to the whole committee, and if the issue is one that should be handled by another committee (such as the CPC) we will forward it on to them. I would say that the CEA is the best starting place for any curricular issue that is college-wide. Departmental/program curricular issues should go to the chair of the department/program in question, of course.” The CEA works closely with another key committee, the CPC, which consists of six faculty members, three staff
members and no students. The CPC focuses on longer-term curricular issues at the College, especially with regards to the College’s staffing and budget. For example, this year the CPC is convening working groups to assess the feasibility of two academic programs, science and technology studies and performance studies. The work of the CEA, which has more of a year-to-year focus, and that of the CPC often intersect. “The two committees work together in that the CPC (and the CAP) weigh in on any policy recommendations the CEA brings to the faculty as a whole for approval,” Shore-Sheppard said. “In addition, there are areas where the committees’ work overlaps, particularly in thinking about policy that has both curricular and staffing implications. As an example, suppose there was interest in considering the question of whether the College should adopt a minimum class size regulation: This would have both curricular and staffing implications, so both committees would discuss it and weigh in on it before any decision would be made.” Another key committee is the Committee on Priorities and Resources (CPR), a faculty, staff and student committee which advises the president and other senior staff on the allocation and use of the College’s resources. One particularly critical role that CPR has is in the budgetary process of the College. “Budgets are initially considered by Provost Dukes Love and Vice President for Finance and Administration Fred Puddester. The budgets are then reviewed by CPR – each senior staff member comes to a CPR meeting to discuss the budgets in their operating area of the College,” said Eiko Maruko Siniawer ’97, chair of CPR and
professor of history. “In recent years, CPR has become increasingly interested in the larger budget picture more than specific line items: What have been the longer-term trends, what is anticipated in the next three to five years, what are the pressure points on the budget, etc. For the upcoming budget cycle, we will be especially attuned to what the growth areas of the College have been, and we will be talking about different ways of thinking about categories of spending at the College. After CPR has weighed in, the budgets are discussed by the senior staff.” While CPR plays a crucial role, its task is to advise the president. “CPR’s role in the budget process is purely advisory; CPR is an advisory body and does not have the authority to make budgetary decisions,” Siniawer said. Other committees with which students may interact include the Committee on Undergraduate Life, which advises senior staff about undergraduate life at the College; the Committee on Academic Standing, which reviews student academic performance and determines exemptions to academic rules and standards; the Calendar and Schedule Committee, which approves the class hours, calendar and exceptions to division of the day and the Winter Study Committee, which oversees the Winter Study program. All student committee members are selected by the Appointments Committee of College Council, typically after applications are solicited in the spring of each year. The next piece in the series will focus on long-term planning and capital projects on campus.
Thief steals from Schapiro By MICHAEL GREEN EXECUTIVE EDITOR Yesterday, a faculty member found an individual taking her belongings in her unlocked office in Schapiro Hall, according to a campus-wide email from Dave Boyer, director of Campus Safety and Security (CSS). There was a foot chase in pursuit of the thief, though the thief escaped into a vehicle. During the chase, the individual released the prop-
erty, allowing the faculty member to recover the stolen items. Williamstown Police (WPD) is now investigating the theft. The faculty member is unharmed. CSS indicated that those on campus should watch for people who fit the description of the thief. “Please be on the lookout for a blue or black late model Acura hatchback, possibly a crossover vehicle, with yellow license plates possibly from NY or NJ,” the email
said. “The individual was estimated to be mid-twenties, about 5 feet 10 inches tall, wearing a grey hoodie with a number on it.” The email advised those on campus to avoid the individual if he is seen and to immediately contact CSS or WPD. It also advised to “keep doors locked and belongings secured.” The Record reported on a surge of thefts last January (“Campus sees surge in thefts this term”, Jan. 25, 2017).
Jonathan X. The Office of Communications recommends ... Meng ’18 wins prestigious GoldCES Celebrates water Scholarth Anniversary 5 0 ship for chemistry, math and Friday, Nov. 16 & 17, On Thursday the Center for Environmental Studies will celebrate its 50th anniversary focusing on the theme "Environmentalism in a Hostile Climate." For information about the public events, go to https://communications.williams.edu/news-‐ releases/11_16_2017_ces50th/ For full event schedule visit ces.williams.edu
November 15, 2017
NEWS 5
The Williams Record
Paradise Papers provide Faculty concerned over new insight into higher ed, not- bookstore’s trade book section for-profit insurance CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 This way, if there remained any claims regarding SCUUL, UE could still make use of the reinsurance for SCUUL's liabilities. In 2006, UE reincorporated SCUUL, which resulted in the 2006 reincorporation date in Bermuda’s Register of Companies. Bermuda is a common home for the reinsurance industry; the island nation has no corporate tax and no capital gains tax. Bermuda also has minimal capital and disclosure requirements for reinsurers. Since the College is a not-forprofit organization generally exempt from paying taxes, the College itself does not gain any direct benefit with regards
to taxation by locating the company in Bermuda, though SCUUL does. The Paradise Papers refer to over a terabyte of data leaked from the offshore law firm Appleby. These documents implicate over 100 U.S. institutions of higher education in overseas holdings, largely away from tax liability or capital or disclosure requirements, as reported in The New York Times and The Guardian. These disclosures come as the latest Republican tax bill proposes a tax on college and university endowments. The College appears in the Paradise Papers solely in the context of its interests in SCUUL. Reinsurance firms have recently made headlines for their
role in stabilizing the insurance market in light of the vast claims made after Hurricanes Harvey and Irma hit the southern United States earlier this fall. Reinsurance companies take on some of the risk from insurance companies and are able to absorb large shocks from natural disasters, hence stabilizing the market. However, the reinsurance economy more broadly has also been implicated in helping hedge funds to shelter offshore capital – up to $42 billion, as estimated by Senator Mark Warner when introducing a bill to curtail this practice – since they avoid the Internal Revenue Service’s passive foreign investment penalty, as outlined in recent reporting by Bloomberg News.
to the extent the committee had understood, and the position will be part-time. “The committee feels very strongly that [the trade books manager] is a key position, responsible for overseeing the area of the store that is most inadequate at the moment,” Shepard said. “The committee believes that the strongest candidates can only be attracted if the job description is revised to include the particulars of working in this community
and if the position is fulltime. We worry that Follett’s resistance to these things indicates a lack of interest on their part when it comes to doing what is necessary to create a vibrant, first-class bookstore, one that represents the College’s and the community’s values.” In a meeting on Monday, the committee discussed potential courses of action to address these issues with Follett. “There will be a meeting between College representatives and Follett
representatives this week to discuss several issues, including the issues that came up at the faculty meeting, as well as the trade position and the committee’s input for that hire,” Shepard said. Still, Shepard emphasized that the College’s collaboration with Follett is on-going and that this is still very early on in the Bookstore’s process. What is clear thus far, Shepard said, is the displeasure among faculty members with the trade book portion of the store.
College updates non-discrimination policy CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 for adjudicating cases in which the respondent is a student. “The unified Non-Discrimination, Harassment and Sexual Misconduct Policy and unified Grievance Procedures that the faculty voted in on Wednesday, Nov. 8 supports students, faculty and staff,” Munemo said. “The policy, in addition to setting forth procedures for investigating and adjudicating cases, includes definitions relevant to non-discrimination and harassment which are
important for all members of the community to learn. The policy does not replace policies and procedures that already exist relating to student misconduct.” The revision process for the policy has spanned several years. Additionally, the committee presented a draft at the October faculty meeting and made changes based on feedback received then, addressing concerns about transparency in the investigation process and the service burden on faculty involved in the adjudication
process. “Over two years, several drafts of the policy were shared with stakeholders on campus, including senior staff, and we presented it at the Oct. 18 faculty meeting,” Munemo said. “We took feedback and comments from these exchanges and revised the policy and grievance procedures, before submitting the version that faculty voted in [on Nov. 8]. We also received significant input from College Counsel, Jeff Jones [’66], in the process of drafting this policy and grievance procedures.”
SPRING STREET BLUES
From the files of Campus Safety and Security
INFOGRAPHIC BY NICHOLAS GOLDROSEN/NEWS EDITOR
The reciprocal insurance model allows the company and the sponsors to avoid tax liability; it is entirely legal.
Monday 11-6-17
Friday 11-10-17
4:32 p.m. Mills: Officers responded to a fourth floor common room for the report of a popping noise in the custodial closet. There was a slight metallic or plastic odor in the common room. There were no issues or odor from the closet. A student came into the common room and reported that the cause of the popping sound was the use of a can of spray paint for an art project. Officers ventilated the area and advised the student of the need to use spray paint outdoors or in a wellventilated area.
10:00 p.m. Weston Field: Officers reported that there were several students running up the bleachers. Officers spoke with four youths that were on their way home, taking a shortcut through Weston Field but decided to cut across the bleachers.
6:04 p.m. Weston Field: Campus Safety and Security (CSS) received a noise complaint from a town resident. They informed officers working the Mt. Greylock HS MIAA quarterfinal mens soccer game. There was music playing during warm-ups. The game was to start at 6:30 p.m. and the music would be turned off at the start of the game. 8:46 p.m. Ruland House: Officers responded to a fire alarm from Ruland House on Southworth Street. A smoke detector had gone off in an apartment hallway. In violation of state law, no one from the building exited during the alarm. Officers reset the alarm panel. 11:19 p.m. Prospect: Officers responded to a tipline submission that there was an odor of marijuana coming from a third floor room. Upon entering, officers could smell a strong odor of marijuana coming from a certain room. The windows were open and a sock was covering the smoke detector. Two candles were also burning. Tuesday 11-7-17 5:37 a.m Paresky Center: Officers responded to a report regarding graffiti on the back of a stall door. 7:51 a.m. Hopkins Hall: An officer met with a Williamstown Police Department (WPD) officer for a report of an abandoned bicycle with a Williamstown bicycle registration decal. The decal identified a College student as the owner. The CSS officer took possession of the bicycle and brought it to CSS storage. CSS contacted the student. The bicycle had been reported stolen a few weeks earlier. 1:01 p.m. Fitch: Officers responded to the second floor for a 911 medical emergency activation for a student experiencing severe abdominal pains. Village Ambulance responded and transported to the student to Berkshire Health North. 6:13 p.m. Sherman House: Officers responded to a fire alarm. There was no fire. Cooking had set off the alarm. The stove has no hood or fan, so officers opened the kitchen window, ventilated the area and reset the alarm system.
Saturday 11-11-17 8:15 a.m. Pratt: Officers responded to a fire alarm. A warm hair straightener on the desk in the indicated student room had set off the fire alarm. 10:33 a.m. Weston Athletic Complex: Officers responded to a motor vehicle accident at the Gargoyle Gate involving a dining services vehicle. The dining services van had hit the Gargoyle Gate House roof edge. WPD also responded. 11:20 a.m. Agard: Officers responded to a student with sudden sight issues. Dispatch notified the Non-Emergent Transport Services and the student was transported to Berkshire Health North. 12:04 p.m. Weston Team Support Building: An Amherst student stole a banner, and officers escorted the student from the building. They verbally issued him a no-trespass order. Approximately 20 minutes later, he returned to the Weston Complex wearing a different colored shirt. Officers placed him in the custody of the WPD who cited the Amherst student for criminal trespassing. 12:57 p.m. Lansing-Chapman Rink: Officers responded to an individual who fell and sustained lacerations to his face in the parking lot tailgate area. The individual was treated by an EMT that was on scene and transported to Berkshire Health North. 1:43 p.m. Hollander Hall: A professor came to the CSS office to report vandalism. 3:20 p.m. Fitch: Officer responded to a report that someone was smoking. 5:34 p.m. Sage: Officers responded to a report of someone urinating in a student’s room. 9:52 p.m. Mission Park: Officers responded to a fire alarm. The cause of the alarm was burnt popcorn. 11:29 p.m. Chapin: While patrolling campus, officers witnessed a student staggering back and forth. The student appeared to be intoxicated. Village Ambulance transported this student and another intoxicated student found on the ground near Lehman to Berkshire Health North. 11:55 p.m. Wood: Officers responded to a noise complaint.
Thursday 11-9-17 Sunday 11-12-17 8:01 a.m. The Log: Officers responded to a forced door alarm. A Sysco driver was making an unauthorized delivery and bringing products into the Log. Log staff members were not present but a contracted custodian working inside had let the driver in. Officers made several phone calls to get a Log staff member to respond and receive the delivery.
2:12 a.m. Lambert: Officers responded to a report of unwanted guests. 2:20 a.m. Currier: Officers responded to a tipline noise complaint and found four students eating pizza and talking quietly. The students were advised of the complaint.
FEATURES 6
The Williams Record
November 15, 2017
One in Two Thousand By NICHOLAS GOLDROSEN FEATURES EDITOR I first met Ben Kitchen ’21 when he auditioned for Frosh Revue in his signature ramen noodle jumpsuit. I sat down with him to talk about the jumpsuit, his radio show and the Williams Trivia Contest, of which he is the reigning champion. So what’s the story behind the ramen noode suit? I am a fan of ramen noodles, the instant packaged kind, to the point where one day my family went to Sam’s Club and saw a 20pack for $10, probably cheaper than that since ramen isn’t that expensive, and they thought, “We need to get that for Ben.” I’ve always been a ramen fan. There was a kid working in the back alley behind my house in Denver, and my mom saw he had ramen pants, and her immediate reaction was, “I need to buy these for Ben. Ben would love these.” And she went online and found that not only were there sweatpants, there was a sweatshirt as well, so she bought both. Upon determining what clothes I should bring to college, those two were immediate “yes pile” clothes. If I didn't bring them to college, I don't know what I would do. I’ve worn those to high school, I’ve worn those to superhero day at a summer camp, I’ve worn them on a ’70s day at summer camp – I came up with wild justifications for each of those. What’s the most ridiculous place you’ve worn them? Most out-of-place place I’ve worn my ramen noodle jumpsuit ... I feel like that’s most places. In most places, even if shorts and a t-shirt are acceptable, you’re not expecting someone to walk in with a ramen sweatshirt and sweatpants. Probably the one that was the biggest stretch was the 1970s day at the summer
camp. I said that it was ’70s attire since the first ramen factory in the United States opened in the 1970s, so therefore it was a representation of the culture of the 1970s. So yeah, there was a lot of polyester that day, and I was just wearing a ramen suit.
BEN KITCHEN ’21
How did you get started with the online Williams Trivia contest? There’s some backstory here. I went to bar trivia in Denver five nights a week. … One Thursday, this guy, his name was Steve, he said to me, “Hey Ben, there’s this trivia contest I’ve been doing for several years and given that you are a fan of trivia, I think you would enjoy it.” It was the Williams Trivia Contest. My first year I played, I played alone and got 23rd – this was a few years back. The next time I got a group of friends together and we got fifth, and then the same group of friends got together and got second last January. This past May, we got the same group together and got first. The stipulation is that, if you get first, the “prize” is that you have to write all of the questions for the next one. Since we won in May, I’ve been spending a good chunk of the last six months writing trivia questions in my free time, and even not in my free time. There’ve been times where I’ve said, “I have an essay to write – time to write trivia questions!” That's coming up the second Friday in January, 10 p.m., on WCFM Williamstown 91.9. Do you have a particular favorite subject area of trivia? My favorite subject area for most things will be math, but generally at trivia they don’t ask about math. I mean, this past week at the Purple Pub they asked, “How many equal sides are there in a scalene triangle?” and that is math, but ...
PHOTO COURTESY OF BEN KITCHEN BEN'S HOMETOWN DENVER, COLO.
BEN'S RESIDENCE SAGE
The answer is none, right? Yes, it’s none. It’s math, but you won’t see a math round frequently. There was one trivia in Denver where the round title was “Sexy Mathematics,” although the math was kind of shoehorned in there. They focused more on the sexy aspect. Generally, I’ll defer to what I know in a certain category – I have always been passionate about geography. I get a kick out of the fact that Uzbekistan and Liechtenstein are the only doubly landlocked countries, or that the capital of Croatia is the only one that starts with a “Z” in the entire world. Generally, if there’s a weird geography fact that I know, it’s always a good time. Geography is always the thing where you can look at a map and learn something new. Could you tell us a little bit about your radio show? The show is “The American Tour”; my DJ name is Ben. Not DJ Ben, because on the survey
FAVORITE HOBBY TRIVIA
at the beginning of the year I thought “DJ” was implied, so I just wrote “Ben.” It is not. I chose “The American Tour” because it needed a name. Basically, we’re going through the states in the order of admission to the Union – going from Delaware to Hawaii – and giving a little bit of trivia about each state and then playing an hour’s worth of music ... choosing music from musicians born in each state. Have there been any particularly tough states? The hardest state so far has been Delaware, because Delaware isn't the most populated state in the United States. I managed to find two rather notable musicians from Delaware: George Thorogood & The Destroyers, the guys that sang “Bad to the Bone,” and Cab Calloway who sang “Minnie the Moocher.” I ended up lumping Delaware in with Pennsylvania, because that’s the next state in order of admission. That’ll probably
happen as I move further along and find more states that have fewer known musicians from them. The most insanely insane state so far has been Connecticut. I am not that far along, so Connecticut has been the most recent one, and it’s only the fifth state. ... I dedicated myself – I spent two hours last Friday night on the couch in my common room looking up “List of Celebrities from Connecticut.” I went through and I found some notable musicians and bands from Connecticut like John Mayer, and Liz Phair – she sang “Why Can’t I,” which is on the 13 Going on 30 soundtrack. I ended up choosing a bunch of weird ones, like the Whiffenpoofs, the a cappella group from Yale, or Seth MacFarlane – he did a song on the soundtrack for the movie Sing – it was a cover of Frank Sinatra’s “My Way.” I think the season eight winner of The Voice was from Connecticut. There were three times when I had to cheat and I chose a band where the lead singer was born in Connecticut but the band was formed somewhere else, like The Carpenters, Surface and Sugar Ray. My personal favorite of all the Connecticut bands was The Zambonis, which is a “hockey rock” band who I believe listed themselves as the only band whose chief influences are The Beatles and Wayne Gretzsky. Connecticut used to have a hockey team, the Hartford Whalers – they moved to North Carolina. The Hartford Whalers have a song widely associated with them called “Brass Bonanza.” [Begins singing.] NA NA NAH NAH NAH NAH NAH. That was wildly off-key, but you can’t tell, because this is a newspaper. It just so happens that The Zambonis did a cover of “Brass Bonanza,” so I was able to play a song by a band from Connecticut for the Connecticut hockey team that no longer exists, and that is one of the greatest things I’ve ever done.
So, how did you end up at the College? That is a series of random almost unrelated events which all started when Steve told me about the Williams Trivia Contest. When I was doing the trivia contest, I didn’t know it was based out of a college. I thought Williams was the name of the guy who ran it. There’s famous Williamses out there, like Ephraim Williams, or Brian Williams. It could’ve been the news anchor running the trivia contest – I didn’t know! My school was obsessed with Naviance, and [finding out] how good a match a school was for you. I’m not really a picky person, so I just chose a small school – doesn’t necessarily have to be near civilization – and I wanted to do math. And Naviance spat out a bunch of schools. A bunch of schools were a 100 percent match ... and then I scrolled down, and Williams was a 99 percent match. At this point, I knew that the trivia contest was based out of here. With Williams a 99 percent match, I texted my mom and she looked them up and said, “They have a big trivia contest!” and I replied, “I know – I have a bunch of people coming over tonight to compete in it!” So that was the first time my mom knew the trivia contest was based out of Williams College. We toured Williams, and I loved it. I believe our tour guide was Jad [Hamdan ’19], who’s now the JA [Junior Advisor] for the entry next to ours. ... I knew I wanted to come here, I got in and now I’m here. Is there anything else you’d like to tell us about yourself, without which this interview would be incomplete? I guess I’ll take this time both to plug “The American Tour,” Saturdays at 6 p.m. on WCFM 91.9 Williamstown, and the Williams Trivia Contest, the second Friday in January at 10 p.m.
Tom Bernard ’92 wins election to become North Adams’ next mayor By SARA HETHERINGTON STAFF WRITER
LYDIA DUAN/STAFF WRITER
The residents of Poker B enjoy lounging in their living room, decorated with wacky paintings and photos.
Campus Cribs: Poker B’s wacky world By LYDIA DUAN STAFF WRITER If you’re looking for a group of humans that embody the word “zesty,” look no further than the seniors of Poker B. As one of the six apartments that comprise Poker Flats, a co-op housing complex, Poker B is a one of a kind “campus crib,” with residents for whom the phrase “eclectic bunch” would be an understatement. Let me set the scene: I was ushered into a quaint living room that, at first glance, looked cozy with colorful lampshades and rugs. I was immediately offered peach tea and cookies, wherein Nick Dehn ’18 deadpanned, “Domesticity is always the objective.” There was silence, followed by raucous laughter. By the second glance, I’d noticed a few things. There was a hospital bracelet taped to the wall. Photos showcased iconic Snapchat screenshots, glowing green-eyed tree filter included. A cat mask was relegated to wall status because, as I was told, it didn’t fit the pumpkin’s face. There were botanical prints mixed with goofy paintings, and there were several posters featuring quotes that were, let’s just say, linguistically creative. At this point, Marissa Shapiro ’18 was explaining how her broken wrist started the creative wall taping trend, all while Hannah Antonellis ’18 and Andrew Bloniarz ’18 were zipping through recounts of their days and Dehn was running between the kitchen and common room making lasagna. The razor-sharp wit and banter among the Poker B crew resulted in all of them talking a mile a minute and me trying not
to cry with laughter. There was a level of familiarity and sheer comfort among the group that made the atmosphere feel incredibly alive. They leapt over each other’s words and finished each other’s sentences with a fluidity that could have only come from years of shenanigans and bonding experiences. One minute they were explaining the red hand prints on the backyard door, and the next they were recalling some of the niche theme gatherings they’ve hosted. Examples of such gatherings include a “secular baptism” with a temporarily acquired (then immediately returned) pool, palindrome celebrations with a “racecar” and a “lonely Tylenol,” and my personal favorite, an Internet themed get-together that centered around privacy, webcam tape and Steve Jobs. The residents of Poker B – Antonellis, Bloniarz, Dehn, Shapiro, Cole Erickson ’18, Gillian Goodman ’18, Jensen Pak ’18 and Divya Sampath ’18 – are a motley crew of varied interests. Their majors span all three divisions, ranging from history to computer science, sociology to geoscience. Beyond the classroom, they are all involved in a myriad of activities with little overlap. Within that group of eight, there are cross country athletes and contemporary and hip-hop dancers, teachers and TAs, a cappella singers and DJs – the list goes on. Though most of them, through some combination or another, have lived with each other at some point, this is the first year that they are all sharing one space simultaneously. In fact, they informed me that all of them had not been in the same room together until this past
September. This inspired one of their many unique traditions, deemed “Convergence,” where all eight gather at once and “document it well on Snapchat.” “It’s honestly really wonderful coming home to a concrete group of people each day, people who know me so well,” Bloniarz said. The others nodded in agreement. “We think one of the best parts of this is that we have no cohesion in our activities – we operate very independently and it’s nice that our living situations bring us together when our activities wouldn’t really otherwise. Our friendships are getting richer," Bloniarz said. But of course, promptly after, they began squabbling about breakfast food. With sass meeting snark at every turn and dozens of inside jokes to spare, the Poker B residents took camaraderie to a new level. They took me on a tour of the house that, in true Poker B fashion, started with a demonstration of the “Goon Room,” a window overlooking the living room that could be used to watch and/or startle unsuspecting housemates. This was followed by a visit to the kitchen. They showed me the “Yeast Wing” (named after a particularly pungent time after move-in day), and ended the tour with a description of their very recent Halloween costumes – Goodrich products. At the end of the day, the Poker B residents showed me one of their mantras, displayed on a typographically and aesthetically pleasing poster in their kitchen. It read, “Bless this mess.” Nothing could be more fitting. Poker B, above all else, is chock-full of equal parts history and hilarity.
On Nov. 7, Tom Bernard ’92 was elected mayor of North Adams. He is the first non-incumbent to win in eight years. Previously, Mayor Richard Alcombright had served since 2010. This also marks the second time in the past 40 years that the mayor of North Adams has been an alum of the College, Bernard explained when I spoke to him over the phone. Bernard’s daughter Alexandra Bernard ’21 is also currently attending the College. In fact, Alex was the one to announce the results of the race to her father. “The results of the election were posted on the window and everyone’s campaign had someone there to see the results,” Bernard said. “My daughter was the conduit between the campaign team and our family.” When asked about how he felt upon hearing the news, Bernard said, “It was our first campaign, so there was nothing to compare it to, besides the preliminary in the fall.” He described the adrenaline rush after a day of nerves and ballot counting. “It was the culmination of months of work – that’s the first thing you think about.” The campaign was a long one, but Bernard spoke often about the support he received
from his colleagues, team and family. Bernard has worked at Smith in Northampton, Mass., as the director of special projects. He received support from Smith’s president, Kathleen McCartney, after it was clear that Alcombright would not pursue another term. Bernard had been eager to take hold of the opportunity to run and recalled McCartney’s enthusiasm. “The support [from colleagues] has been fantastic,” he said. Bernard’s campaign team provided another source of support. “I was glad we ran an issueoriented and positive campaign,” Bernard said. The team “did a lot with social media to get substantive releases on policy and platform.” One team member in particular provided valuable social media advice: his daughter Alex. “I would read his Facebook posts and every time I saw a typo I’d text him,” she said. Besides helping out with the social media side of her father’s campaign, Alex has been excited to participate in the election process in other ways. She recalled talking to her friends, all of whom had recently turned 18. “Someone realized, ‘Your dad is the first person I’m going to vote for,’” Alex said. That interest in civic engagement is just what Bernard aims to foster in his new role. He
considers civic engagement one of the pillars of “healthy community,” equal to his platform’s other issues such as healthcare access. With the closure of the North Adams Regional Hospital a few years ago, Bernard is eager to work with Berkshire Medical Center, which purchased the facility in 2014, to figure out “how to make use of the right mix of services to best serve the community.” He plans to tackle the area’s substance abuse issues as a public health emergency. “We want to treat it as addiction first, while working with local law enforcement,” Bernard said. Other parts of his platform include commitments to improving education and infrastructure. “Everything from roads to water systems to IT and facility investments help contribute to economic development,” Bernard said. For now, Bernard is working on transitioning to his new mayoral position. His upcoming plans include wrapping up his projects at Smith and “sitting down with the mayor [Alcombright] to have a deep, focused conversation” about the job. Meanwhile, with Alex attending her father’s alma mater, she’s eager for him to come to shows and school events to get to know the College again. “It’ll be really exciting that he’s nearby in Berkshire County again,” she said.
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE BERKSHIRE EAGLE
Tom Bernard ’92 celebrates his victory after being elected North Adams’ next mayor on Nov. 7.
November 15, 2017
The Williams Record
FEATURES 7
Mika Brzezinski ’89 discusses journalistic career, tour series By JANE PETERSEN FEATURES EDITOR In the three decades since Mika Brzezinski ’89 first applied to the College, her career has been characterized by a series of setbacks and triumphs which eventually led her to dominate her field as the co-anchor of cable’s longest-running morning show: Morning Joe. “I wanted to be in [broadcast journalism] ever since I was watching my dad [Zbigniew Brzezinski] get interviewed by broadcast journalists when he was the National Security Advisor for President Carter in the ’70s. I would watch him on Meet the Press; I would watch him on Nightline; I would watch NBC Nightly News reporters come to the house and set up cameras and lights for an interview where they would cut a sound bite,” Brzezinski said. “I was fascinated by the process.” Getting to the top of her industry was, however, another story. After not getting into the College as a first-year, Brzezinski attended Georgetown, and applied again to transfer in for her sophomore year, but was rejected again. Before her junior year began, she decided to give it one more shot. “I tried to transfer as a junior, and I was so focused on trying to make it happen that when I got waitlisted I went and participated as an apprentice at the Williamstown Theatre Festival that summer,” Brzezinski said. “I went to the president’s house. … I literally went and knocked on the door, and was like ‘I’m Mika Brzezinski, I’m trying to transfer into Williams and I’m on the waitlist, I’d like to meet with the president!’ I never got to, but … I think I wore them down.” Later that summer, though she was anticipating a return to Georgetown, Brzezinski was accepted by the College for her junior year and moved into Bryant. “I got in days before school started. I was already back home ready to be a junior. I had to throw everything into a
PHOTO COURTESY OF MSNBC
Mika Brzezinski’s tenacity, discussed in her new book Knowing Your Value. ultimately landed her a spot on the morning news program Morning Joe. Nissan Stanza and drive to Williamstown,” Brzezinski said. “I loved every minute of it; I was challenged by everybody. … I’m telling you, enjoy every moment while you’re in it. I did, and I don’t regret it.” Brzezinski graduated two years later with her degree in English. She began her career as a broadcast journalist in Hartford, Conn., in her early 20s, working for a local FOX affiliate before joining CBS, where she quickly rose through the ranks, eventually becoming a contributor for 60 Minutes and the Sunday night anchor of the CBS Evening News. Then “Memogate” broke: Two months before the 2004 presidential election, 60
Minutes II presented unauthenticated documents criticizing former President George W. Bush’s service in the National Guard. This led to the firing of multiple CBS executives, whose replacements abruptly fired Brzezinski. “I spent a year in the wilderness looking for a job and not being able to find one even close to what I’d had, and in a moment of desperation, I took a job that was probably something I would have laughed at 15 years earlier,” Brzezinski said. She began working as a “part-time, night-time newsreader for 30 second cut-ins on MSNBC. I did it because I needed a job, and I did it because I wasn’t going to give up.”
Brzezinski said she felt the odds had been stacked against her, especially as a woman in a historically male-dominated field. Then, an opportunity came her way in 2007 when MSNBC found itself with a vacant threehour slot after the cancellation of Don Imus’ Imus in the Morning. “Long story short, they recruited Joe Scarborough, he recruited me, we put together the best political show on television and 10 years later Joe, Willie [Geist] and I are the longestrunning anchor team on television,” Brzezinski said. In addition to her work on Morning Joe, Brzezinski recently embarked on a multi-city tour based on her book, Know-
ing Your Value: Women, Money, and Getting What You’re Worth. The Know Your Value tour concluded with a conference in New York City at the end of October and included speakers such as Martha Stewart and Sarah Jessica Parker. Brzezinski’s inspiration for the book came from her own experiences at Morning Joe. “When the show became an immediate hit and we got all this buzz, and [MSNBC] wanted to sign contracts with us, I was just so happy to be working again that I took the first offer, and it was very low, while Joe and Willie held out and didn’t even show up for work until they got what they wanted,” Brzezinski said. “I ended up with
the lowest salary on the set by far, and in the process of trying to fix it I disgraced myself many times just using the wrong strategies and tactics to negotiate a pay raise. So, I wrote a book about it.” After the book’s success, Brzezinski decided to expand on her message and turn it into an experience by doing an event that included a competition where women pitch themselves onstage. After a successful event in Hartford, she pitched the idea to NBC. “We went into partnership and we did a five-city tour of Know Your Value, and brought the competition nationwide. We just did our latest big event in New York City,” Brzezinski said. “People were laughing and crying and walking away with a list of things they are doing tomorrow to change their future.” Since the beginning of Brzezinski’s tenure at Morning Joe, the media landscape has changed drastically, with the 24hour news cycle and social media covering world news minute by minute. It would be an understatement to say that the media’s relationship with the public, not to mention the President, has become fraught in recent years. Brzezinski shared her advice for any young people who are still interested in pursuing journalism. “In the old days we had writers, editors, producers and it was a long process before something got on the air. And now everything is on the air all the time, in real time, live, just vomited-out information without … a lot of preparation. Look, in some ways, that’s levelling the playing field, and about anybody who wants to be a journalist can become a journalist right now,” Brzezinski said. “But the press is being so challenged by this White House and this President in a way that is so dangerous that I’m just warning anyone who wants to be in the industry, we’re under fire. We don’t need sloppy journalism. … We need measured, transparent journalism that isn’t ideologically motivated.”
This week in Williams History: Comics from the archives 1980: “Tangents” by Grodzins
PHOTO COURTESY OF ANNE PEALE
Anne Peale returned from Scotland with a doctorate, a passion for rock climbing and some Scottish slang.
Anne Peale ascends library stacks and intimidating heights By LYDIA DUAN STAFF WRITER
1990: “Sea Minös” by Steve Scoville ’91
2001: “Cartoons” by Catherine Kiwala ’04
Intersted in exercising your own comedic wit with a comic in the Record? Email tsd1@williams.edu with your submissions!
Some people judge a book by its cover; others judge by its contents. Special Collections Librarian Anne Peale judges it by uncovering the story behind it. Of course, she also acknowledges the covers of books, like the one she showed me on my visit. When she presented an archaic book about the size of a small jewelry box, I commented on its cuteness. “Exactly!” she exclaimed, as she unclasped its metal locks. She opened the leather-bound treasure, revealing hundreds of passages neatly handwritten in Latin, alongside elaborate and colorful illustrations. Peale revealed that this was a prayer book, most likely written for a rich woman, which is why it was so ‘cute’ – and beautiful! Peale wanted to be a special collections librarian before she even went to college. In high school, she visited Dartmouth and sat in on a class that was studying historic atlases. Peale was immediately charmed by the animated professor and enthusiastic students. At Dartmouth, she enrolled in a class about the history of books in the fall of her first year, which further kindled her captivation with historic books. After getting her bachelor’s degree, Peale worked in Special Collections at Dartmouth. After a year, Peale sought more opportunities
for discovery, and looked to the United Kingdom for its renowned book history programs. She studied at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, where she earned a Master of Science in Material Cultures and History of the Book, and eventually a Ph.D. in the Institute of Geography and Human Geography. Peale loved Scotland, and even picked up some phrases that she still loves to use, such as to “faff,” which means to waste time before even starting an activity. She explained that, for instance, one who spends a lot of time getting ready to go out for a dinner is “faffing.” While in Scotland, Peale also joined the mountaineering club to meet new friends and see more of the country. The club travelled to exotic locations around Scotland to rock climb – including a deserted island! Peale still loves outdoor rock climbing, and even occasionally participates in rock climbing competitions. She is just as passionate about rock climbing as she is about her job as a special collections librarian, if not more so. Peale loves her job as a special collections librarian for its variety, and enjoys deciding which historic books to buy, cataloging and being surrounded by ancient books in what seems like an enchanted library that can magically suck you into the past. But most of all, Peale loves supporting Williams students and faculty. Her absolute fa-
vorite part about being a special collections librarian is when she brings someone a book and it makes their day. Whether it was because the discovery of a treasure excited them, or simply because they could finally get that essay done, Peale is warmed by the knowledge that “what we do pays off for the student and faculty community.” She encourages all students to stop by special collections, conveniently located on the fourth floor of Sawyer Library, to ask about the books or simply look around. When I visited last Friday, the day before Homecoming, there was a table displaying posters, flyers and documents from past Homecomings at the College. As many may know, each librarian at the College has their own trading card, complete with a superpower, source of power, sidekick and vulnerability. Peale’s super-librarian vulnerability is “wool socks.” When I asked her to elaborate, she explained that, as she is from California, her friends on the East Coast always gave her lots of wool socks as gifts because they assumed she didn’t have any. Peale’s mantra is “don’t panic.” It is also her favorite quote, taken from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. When I asked her if there was any message she would like to relay to the students at the College, she said, “Don’t panic; ask a librarian.”
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November 15, 2017
Sawyer becomes gallery space for social change By ANGELA TANG STAFF WRITER On Nov. 8, parts of Sawyer Library were transformed into exhibition spaces. Students from a studio arts class offered this fall, “Social Commentary and Experimental Printmaking,” displayed seven art projects throughout the library. Although Sawyer is normally filled with busy students working and cramming in their assignments, these projects have offered a time to pause and reflect on topics that are socially and politically charged. Nicole Maloof, visiting assistant professor of art and instructor of the class, talked and worked directly with the Sawyer Library staff, who were open and welcome to the idea of displaying opinionated and socially charged work. When deciding on a place to exhibit their projects, her students were excited to display their works in such a public setting, hoping to create an open dialogue with students and faculty members. In the exhibition text description, the class wrote, “The purpose of these projects is to raise questions about issues in our present-day society, issues that affect some, many, or all the students, faculty, and staff here at Williams College. The range of topics investigated includes climate change, birth control, dating, sex and even certain aspects of culture perpetuated here on campus. The artists are not looking for consensus in response, but rather
ANGELA TANG/CONTRIBUTING PHOTGRAPHER
One piece by Dawn Wu ’18, sitting in the center of Sawyer Library’s third floor, tackles issues surrounding birth control. hoping to inspire a conversation around such concerns.” While the response has certainly been mixed so far, the exciting fact is that the work has caused some stir in the public spaces, which is part of the goal of the project. One of the most powerful factors is that some of the pieces are not immediately recognizable as art. Take, for example, the work of Justin Sardo ’18 in
the 24-hour room. His piece, titled Your Terms, is a linocut and monotype print that falls onto the colored books in the room. Jessica Chen’s ’18.5 piece, Dealing with Straight Boys, is displayed facetiously in every single female bathroom stall in Sawyer, and allows the viewer to reflect on the linoleum print with digital manipulation while relieving themselves. Kayley McG-
onagle’s ’18 piece, Please Take One, is more confrontational, and her linoleum prints with hand drawings are digitally printed out on copy paper and free for any passerby to take. One aspect of her piece that cannot be missed is that each print is a representation of a sexual organ — penises and vaginas galore. Some of the other students in the class decided to
go about displaying their pieces in a more traditional way, hanging their artwork on walls. However, even in a conventional space, the social commentary is just as explicit and deliberate. Natasha Baranow’s ’18 piece, Of the New World, brings into discussion earth, nature and topics of global warming that cannot continue to go unnoticed and be
unaccounted for. Other pieces, such as Jacqueline Simeone’s ’18, A Functional Relationship, hangs like a monumental banner on the main hallway entrance to Sawyer. Each side of the vinyl print displays and challenges ideas of happiness and work as a function. Each piece has a personal element tied to it as well as a broader social or political call to action. Dawn Wu’s ’18 piece, Bleeding out/ bleeding despite darkness/ seeds of change, is displayed on a huge digital monitor as a woodblock print manipulated into a GIF. Her piece encounters issues surrounding birth control, which she brings forth unapologetically and beautifully, carving and including images of pills and flowers wilting, growing and spreading their seeds. One cannot miss these pieces of art in Sawyer. These pieces are not only meant to be observed at a distance, but are also there to broaden the questions the artworks raise and to encourage conversations. Art is art in a gallery space, but art in a non-traditional space like Sawyer library becomes charged with energy and voice. The students in “Social Commentary and Experimental Printmaking” are interested in viewers’ thoughts, and with the advice and help of Maloof, they have set up an email, experimental.printmaking@gmail. com, for anyone to contribute and add on to these new visual voices in the library.
April Fool’s photojournalism proves no joke in Weimar Germany By CECELIA MESSBAUER STAFF WRITER
PHOTO COURTESY OF NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC
‘Jane’ follows the life of primatologist Jane Goodall, whose work with chimps catapulted her into fame.
Film explores the wild with Jane Goodall By WENDY HERNANDEZ STAFF WRITER Jane Goodall captivates in Brett Morgen’s newest film, Jane. Morgen resurrects over 100 hours of footage from the National Geographic archives, seamlessly stitching together documentary footage and present-day interviews with a reticent Goodall who reflects on the fieldwork that would catapult her into fame. At the age of 26, Goodall, a U.K. native, was working in Kenya as a secretary under Louis Leakey. Leakey was searching for evidence to bolster the theory of evolution, but feared that sending someone with formal training out to do fieldwork would bias any of the data collected. Sending out someone who believed in a common ancestry with primates, for example, would have come off as self-serving, while backing the opposite view would have proved defeating – thereby biasing the results in either direction. Armed with little more than a fascination for animals, notepad, rain gear and her mother in tow, Goodall found herself studying chimpanzees in a coastal region near Gombe in Tanzania. Goodall’s scientific primer extends little beyond a crashcourse in primate behavior and anatomy. In spite of this, she navigates the terrain well – maneuvering past poisonous snakes and adapting to the challenges being allowed inside the chimp community poses. As we fast forward to one of the interview segments, Goodall admits to bouts of frustration. The chimps, sensing an interloper, restricted her early observations to what could be seen through a pair of binoculars. “In the back of my mind,” Goodall said, “I
knew I had to find something interesting before the funding ran out.” Her patience was soon rewarded as members of the Gombe chimp community gradually warmed up to her. To distinguish between the chimps and accurately log them in her notes, she gave them names based off of salient features. For example, Flo, whom she readily recognized by her “bulbous nose and ragged ears,” and David Greybeard, with his trademark “single, rather distinctive grey hair on his chin.” Greybeard seemed the least wary of Goodall and led her to many of their sanctuaries. Around the same time, National Geographic, one of the sponsors of Leakey’s research, sent wildlife photographer Hugo van Lawick out to document Goodall’s findings. Shortly after being granted insider status, Goodall could more closely observe feeding behaviors. Repeatedly, the chimpanzees would uproot leafy twigs and strip them off the vegetation before plunging them into a nearby termite mound. Prevailing scientific theories at the time asserted that humans were the only primates capable of rational thought and what resembled object modification. In fact, strict definitions at the time singled out man as “the toolmaker.” Goodall’s discovery was captured on film by van Lawick. Upon seeing the photographs of these termiteextraction tools, an awestruck Leakey said, “We must now redefine man, redefine tool or accept chimpanzees as human!” Although this finding secures them more funding and allows them to extend the study indefinitely, it appears to stir only backlash in the male-dominated scientific community. Many
voices attempted publicly to discredit Goodall, arguing that her research could not be taken seriously since she had no formal training, or dismissing her as the “National Geographic cover girl.” Goodall, however, mainly took the slights in stride; she recounted that any publicity was good for drawing in more sources of money. During this time, Goodall and van Lawick married, and their son Grub spent the first six years of his life in Africa. Both had demanding jobs, and van Lawick’s reassignment to the Serengeti put a strain on their marriage. In the wake of an amicable split, Goodall continued treading new ethological ground. Flo, one of the more readily recognizable female chimps, had a son named Flint and the mother-son dynamic provided Goodall with further insight into the familial relationships of chimpanzees. From this, and the rest of her studies, Goodall was able to glean that “it isn’t only human beings who have personality, who are capable of rational thought ... emotions like joy and sorrow.” Goodall also bore witness to a polio outbreak amongst the chimps, and the administration of vaccines in hopes of mitigating the strain for subsequent generations. Jane readily offers glimpses into the life of one of biology’s most prominent figures. Goodall currently has postdoctoral and research students alike completing field work at Gombe, making it one of the longest continual observational studies. Give a person a notepad, rain poncho and field guide to poisonous snakes and she might just unearth an ethological goldmine.
What do an annual prank holiday of ambiguous origins, the evolution of photojournalism and mass media in relation to conceptions of modernity and constructs of the ‘New Woman’ in interwar Weimar Germany have in common? Quite a bit, according to University of Tennessee-Knoxville Professor Daniel Magilow’s lecture. The talk, titled “The New Woman on April Fools: Photography, Photomontage, and the Rhetoric of Objectivity in the Weimar Republic,” was every bit as specific and thickly conceived as its premise would suggest, but ultimately delivered a big picture synthesis that made perfect sense, even if it was an unconventional angle. Magilow’s slideshow opened with an American newspaper amusingly commenting on a German newspaper’s use of manipulated photographs as April Fool’s Day pranks, specifically an image of a quadruple-decker bus that apparently inspired letters to the paper from those concerned about how it would fit under bridges. Members of the German press routinely implemented such a technique, with clarifications not issued until the next month. The same tricks found a perch in German Illustrierten, publications Magilow compared loosely to LIFE magazine, where illusions crafted by photographic technology were juxtaposed against unironically laudatory articles praising the field of photojournalism and its emergent professionals.
For Magilow, these contradictions embodied a larger tension between the trust inherent in the technology and methodology of photojournalism and the ability of those same tools to erode the borders between what is true and what is false. Each prank photograph inspires a portion of its audience to fall for it, while making others skeptical of photos that are, in fact, genuine. A 1928 April Fool’s Day issue of the Illustrierten Uhu advertises a machine developed by an American-German scientist to induce overnight weight loss, playing off of anxieties over body image and an association between the United States and fantastic innovation. Another suggests that famous 18th century Thomas Gainsborough painting The Blue Boy is actually a portrait of a girl by superimposing a nude model beneath the figure’s clothes as if it were an x-ray. This manipulation plays on two dynamics, according to Magilow: the highly publicized debates in the art world over the use of technology to authenticate paintings rather than relying on the judgment of traditional elites, and the shifting gender roles embodied by the German Neue Frau (New Woman). Because audiences are primed to trust technology that claims to reveal the hidden truth of paintings, and are familiar with a fluid construct of masculinized femininity, the illusion is able to work in the context of a flipthrough magazine even though the premise would fall apart under any scrutiny. Yet another image plays on mixing the athleticism associ-
ated with modern dance (Magilow drew an analogy to the Rockettes) and classical ballet, by depicting an impressive but impossible formation of three dancers stacked upon each other, with each balancing on only the outstretched hand of the another. Still another portrays an absurd vehicle that is a hybrid of a boat and a train – except that the image is entirely real. The inability of readers to distinguish which marvels are fake and which are not in a medium that simultaneously celebrated itself for its journalistic achievements creates a self-referentiality, Magilow argued, that does not necessarily need to resolve itself; the tensions it illuminates are grounded in the lived experiences of Germans in an age of Weimar mass media. The German Illustrierten were regarded as disposable in their time, and Magilow’s lecture deliberately set out to rehabilitate their value in the context of the society in which they were produced. Although the magazines would be Nazified after the fall of the Weimar Republic, the conventions they used were enduring enough that the Nazis (badly) used the techniques of the Weimar period to spread their propaganda. These conventions were emblematic of an era’s struggle with modernity, technology and the blurring lines between what could and couldn’t be true. April Fool’s Day pranks are certainly humorous above anything else, but their implications for a larger cultural context make for a fascinating academic study of Weimar Germany.
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE SANDSPUR
Professor Daniel Magilow discussed the photograph’s pretension towards truth during the Weimar period.
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The Williams Record
November 15, 2017
Energy, speed, intimacy score win for ‘The Wolves’ By CARLOS CABRERA-LOMELI STAFF WRITER Not for a single scene does The Wolves lessen its speed and lucidity. The second you enter CenterStage at the ’62 Center for Theatre and Dance, the tempo is high. The stage has been restructured to be in the middle of the space covered with AstroTurf, with bleachers on both sides. You are no longer in Williamstown in its last autumn days, but in the indoor soccer field of a Middle America high school girls’ soccer club. The team counts on nine players that are constantly kicking, passing and dribbling a soccer ball. Just like the ball is tossed around with an extreme sense of fluidity and precision, so is the dialogue. The opening scene is a series of warm-up drills anyone that had to get up early on Saturday morning for club practices knows well. But every pass is accompanied by dialogue between the players. The writer of this 2017 Pulitzer Prize finalist play, Sarah DeLappe, successfully introduces each character by casual reactions, ticks, humor and degree of sportsmanship. The usual routine of morning soccer practice has been magnified and presented to us. The conversations between players, always so distant and seemingly quiet from the bleachers, are now a couple of yards away from us.
PHOTO COURTESY OF KEITH FOREMAN
‘The Wolves’ is a poignant look into the lives of nine female soccer players as they navigate their way through adolescence. Through this lens is where the degree of humanity and sensibility, usually blind to the fans as a result of the AstroTurf, comes through. The play is split into several of these exchanges, all right before a game. The team reflects about last week’s victories and losses, with each of these periods culminating in a crescendo of suspense and emotion as the referee’s whistle rings off stage, the players freeze and the scene ends. The audience follows the team through the victories and losses of the season,
and the dramas in the lives of each player. Player #46 (we are never told the names of the players), performed by Maia Czaikowski ’20, is the new kid in town, humorously struggling to understand the simplicities of suburban life after traveling the world with a very eccentric mother. Player #7, played by Isabel Ouweleen ’21, is adjusting to a long-distance relationship with her boyfriend who has moved to college. And the goalie, #00, performed by Valeria Baltodano ’20, copes with a great deal of anxiety
off and on the field that takes a significant toll on her. All nine carry their own issues and traumas onto the field that sometimes spark tensions right before games. There are countless movies and performances focusing on the story of a team of misfits coming together to excel in a sport to the highest level. Then there are works that focus mostly on the drama off the field and use the sport as one of many plot mechanisms. Many teenage soap operas follow said recipe, one example being One Tree Hill. However,
The Wolves is no soap opera. This is not a story about finding love, or what it takes to be the best in soccer. Rather, this is a depiction of nine young women enjoying playing together, growing up together and supporting each other, through the little everyday battles of being in high school. Regardless of how comical or rude it may seem, each note of dialogue is intimate. When the team takes selfies with oranges in their mouths, one cannot help but feel like an intruder because of the harsh intimacy between the audience and the
players, specially created by the wonderful scenic design of John Rodriguez ’18. That every single character on stage is also a woman further breaks from the mold of the clichéd sports genre. Very rarely do we get a play, or film, of all female athletes, and it is even rarer where the issues of being a female athlete are presented without euphemism or allegory. Both the directing and the performance illustrate a great care to this. The player acted by Caroline Fairweather ’20 is adept in displaying the successes, reluctances and shortcomings of wanting to be a respected captain and a wellliked friend and not ever wanting to seem overly-aggressive or bossy when her leadership is tested. Her leadership is severely tried, and so is the commitment to the team by all of the other players, when the play delivers a great incident. Through raw depictions of pain and coping, The Wolves makes it clear that, although there are thousands of teams like this one, there is still something quite powerful and unique about the path to healing and coming together beyond a soccer game. Unlike sports soap operas, there is no knight in shining armor who will take the girls far away from their problems. The team must stay and finish high school, their post-graduation life still unclear. But they do not face their own tiny daily battles alone. The teammates keep each other strong and sane.
‘No Agenda’ exhibition interrogates history of Town Hall building By HANNAH TAGER STAFF WRITER The art exhibition in the Williamstown Town Hall is titled No Agenda; however, the pieces exhibited and their presence in the historic building exude some political charge, if not an agenda. A site-specific exhibition, No Agenda features the works of the College’s visiting studio art faculty in an exhibition curated by Alex Jen ’19. An exhibit scattered among office equipment, the seats of politicians and – if visiting during working-hours – often real politicians, No Agenda interacts with and critiques the space it is in. On the first floor of Town Hall is Ilana HarrisBabou’s video piece Reparation Hardware. Installed in a meeting room behind the seats and plaques of elected Williamstown representatives, Reparation Hardware is a piece of dark comedy. Harris-Babou parodies a self-help DIY video for her new line of reparation homes to be granted to the descendants of slaves. Seated in a bucolic setting similar to Williamstown, Harris-Babou, as the designer of the line, presents her prompt: “When designing the new line, I asked myself, ‘How could these newly freed individuals make a space for themselves that was both free of discrimination, tasteful and refined?’” In her saccharine and almost sarcastic dialogue, Harris-Babou pokes fun at the idea that we live in a post-racial society. She also touches on the futility of reparation efforts, past and present, such as the “40 acres and a mule” falsely promised to former slaves following the Civil War. Additionally, much of the footage of Reparation Hardware shows Harris-Babou attempting to
construct the houses to no avail; her sketches of potential homes are mere scribbles, and when building she uses clay hammers that quickly fall apart or she hammers at bent and crooked nails. With its legislative setting, Reparation Hardware presents a comical critique of the bureaucratic approach to reparations. Harris-Babou’s other pieces are scattered throughout the building’s various rooms in the form of clay sculptures of deformed office supplies. On the floor below Reparation Hardware are the works of Zak Arctander. His video piece Jump is situated in the basement of Town Hall, a room that reveals the building’s former identity as the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity house. Displayed on a monitor above the house’s former bar, the piece takes on a dark undertone. The video begins with a pack of boys at a quarry yelling at their friend to “jump!” The boy responds, “It’s just that I don’t know if I want to do it – I mean, it’s not that I’m afraid ...” The piece continues to cuts of the boys and college-aged girls, carrying various contraband items, socializing in the woods. In the basement of the former fraternity, the screen of Jump just barely illuminates the décor of the room, revealing “Milk sucks! Got beer?” and “I fear no beer” stickers plastered on the cabinets. In this environment the story of the boy becomes a contemporary commentary on hazing and peer pressure. Situated in the dingy basement of the old fraternity, Arctander’s piece evokes the sometimes fatal consequences of peer-induced binge drinking at colleges and universities, and “jump!” turns into “drink!” The Town Hall basement also features Arctander’s photographic works, comprising
of absurdist text superimposed on indecipherable images. Another artist on display is Allana Clarke, whose vinyl word art Untitled is plastered throughout the stairwells of Town Hall. The off-white text is often hidden behind doors or indecipherably juxtaposed against the white-washed stairwells, making the words seems like a quiet inner thought to their viewer. “Untied,” reads one piece at the top of the third floor, while “United” appears at the entrance of the basement. The most thought-provoking of her pieces was Who would you be if Others didn’t hurt? The phrase carries an overt ambiguity in the omission of an object in its conditional clause. I interpreted the conditional as reflexive, meaning, “What would you do if others wouldn’t hurt themselves from what you did,” while my friend also viewing the piece replaced my “themselves” with “you.” The vague phrasing proved contentious, prompting discussion about the piece’s meaning and our answers to its hypothetical question. No Agenda also features a disturbing video piece by Kim Faler, who documents bloodred nails grazing porous skin. In the third floor meeting room there is Nicole Maloof’s written piece For the Office of the Town Clerk of Williamstown in marker on the whiteboard that catalogues the historical past of the town – a story brought into the present and enhanced by the six Town Hall employees who were actively going over tax allowances and revenue expenses. No Agenda’s setting in Town Hall enhances the significance of its pieces with a bureaucratic background, while the site-specific works illustrate the dark political underbelly of the Town Hall and former fraternity house.
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Williams Theatre Department The Wolves Written by Sarah DeLappe Directed by, Artist-in-Residence Shayok Misha Chowdhury NOV 16-18 7:30 PM CENTERSTAGE $3 Williams Dance Department
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Art + Ecological Ethics
Fri Nov 17 8 PM
Thursday, Nov 16, 6:30 pm
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Investigate works about climate change with first year Joseph Messer.
Free music of Walter Piston
Reads & Records
Arthur Honegger
Thursday, Nov 16, 7-8 pm
George Gershwin Samuel Barber featuring Yevgeny Kutik, violin
Pachedu All Ensembles Performance
Professor Nicolas Howe and students from his Environmental Humanities course discuss how culture shapes the representation and experience of landscape.
CoDa, Kusika, Sankofa, The Zambezi Marimba Band MAINSTAGE $3
‘No Agenda’ features works by visiting faculty that integrate the historic Town Hall space they occupy.
413.597.2425 62center.williams.edu
Close Look: Object Lab Tuesday, Nov 28, 4 pm
NOV 17, 18 - 8 PM
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Coffee, tea, and vinyl recordings set the mood for socializing and study.
413.597.3146 music.williams.edu
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10 SPORTS
The Williams Record
November 15, 2017
Student-athletes thrive academically, athletically in post-graduate years
PHOTO COURTESY OF SPORTS INFORMATION
Isabel Perry ’20 took a PG year before arriving at the College to play field hockey and women’s lacrosse. By BROOKE HOROWITCH SPORTS EDITOR Many students are eager to leave high school after receiving their diplomas, but some decide to spend an additional post-graduate (PG) year at an independent boarding school before transitioning to col-
lege. These “PGs” are often student-athletes who hope to continue learning, growing and training prior to competing at the collegiate level. Men’s lacrosse head coach Greg McCormack described the benefits of taking a PG year. “Physically, you can develop your strength and speed,” he
said. “Playing-wise, you can compete at a higher level and develop your game. Academically, you can show progress both in the classroom and on your ACTs or SATs. Maturity-wise, you can take another step forward towards being self-reliant.” Several student-athletes at the College are former PGs. Marcos
Soto ’19, a member of the men’s basketball team, explained why he opted to do a post-graduate year at the Lawrenceville School in Lawrenceville, N.J. “During my senior spring of high school, I wasn’t quite sure or quite ready to make the jump to college,” he said. “I figured that doing a PG year on the East Coast, especially since I am from Los Angeles but was getting a lot of attention from schools on the East Coast, would let me try it out with a one-year commitment and not feel pressured if I didn’t like it.” Isabel Perry ’20, a field hockey and women’s lacrosse player, did a PG year at Deerfield Academy in Deerfield, Mass., so that she could have more time to choose a college. “I wanted to go [to] West Point or the Naval Academy, and I didn’t get in,” she said. “Deerfield seemed like the best option before I figured out where else I really wanted to go.” Perry and Soto agreed that their PG experiences helped them prepare for academics at the College. “I got an opportunity to take classes that I didn’t in public school, like astrophysics research,” Perry said. “It was a unique experience, going to a pretty elite prep
school, especially coming from a public school,” Soto said. “In public school, there were 40 kids in an English class, so the teacher can only give you so much attention, but when I went to boarding school, we had the Harkness method and smaller class sizes. The teachers paid more attention to you, so it definitely helped me with my writing and participating in class discussion.” While Perry played varsity field hockey, ice hockey and lacrosse at Deerfield, Soto took advantage of the athletic resources at Lawrenceville to incorporate weight-lifting into his training regimen and continue improving his game. “It was the first time I had a real weight room, an official strength and conditioning coach and a routine to follow, because when I was in high school, I just kind of did my own thing,” he said. Charles Davis, dean of admission and financial aid and head coach of boy’s varsity lacrosse at Deerfield, mentioned that PG years can simulate Div. III athletic experiences, but acknowledged that there is no secondary school equivalent for Div. I sports. “I can’t claim that a postgraduate year prepares stu-
dent-athletes for Div. I athletics, but in the case of Div. III, there are a lot of parallels,” he said. “Div. III student-athletes have pretty good breadth in their college experiences. “There’s some balance in their lives, whereas I know that Div. I asks a lot of time from people in season and out of season, and that’s hard to duplicate. Nothing that you do in a PG year would be totally specialized.” Despite the academic and athletic value of taking a PG year before becoming Div. III student-athletes, Soto and Perry revealed that the rigid schedules and lack of freedom at boarding schools made their transitions challenging. “At a boarding school, you have more rules that you have to follow,” Soto said. “If you want to leave campus, you have to tell somebody.” “Having the same rules as 14-year-olds was weird,” Perry acknowledged. “There is just so much more freedom at home versus at boarding school.” Nonetheless, doing PG years allowed Soto and Perry to take demanding but exciting courses and train for their respective sports in preparation for life at the College.
CAPTAINS’ CORNER: AMANNI FERNANDEZ ’18 understand how small the basketball world is. It’s not as big as people might think. For example, you might feel like you’ll never see LeBron [James], but if you go to Christ the King, Christ the King is sponsored by LeBron, so he’s come and visited the school. We always had everything LeBron on, from the games to practice to travel suits.
PHOTO COURTESY OF SPORTS INFORMATION
By DANNY JIN SPORTS EDITOR
Team: Women’s basketball Hometown: Queens, N.Y. Residence: Hubbell Majors: Political science, music Snack bar order: Chicken tenders and fries How long have you been playing basketball? I’ve been playing basketball since I was about 10 years old, so it’s been 12 years now. How did your passion for basketball develop? For me, it was the easiest outlet. I felt like there was so much going on in my life when I was young; my mom is a single parent, and I’m an only child. For me, I needed an escape. The only escape that was really around was the park, and every single park has a basketball hoop. So I thought, “I guess this is an opportunity for me to build on that skill.” That was where my love started, and it gradually developed over time. Once I was in middle school and high school, college basketball became really popular on television. March Madness was heavily followed, and over the course of my childhood, it became bigger on TV, so I think that was also a part of my love for the game. I know you grew up in Queens, where there is a huge basketball community. What was it like to be involved on the New York City basketball scene? I think being from New York is one of the most valuable pieces of my story. I played at Christ the King Regional High School, which was and still is the basketball high school in New York City. I was a three-year starting point guard there, so a big portion of my life was spent around New York City basketball. Being in that environment, you really
You ended up attending the Lawrenceville School as well before coming to the College. Is there a story behind that? So I went to Christ the King for three years. Basketball became a really big piece of my life that made me feel as though I was simply a basketball player and not really a student in high school. I wanted an adjustment, and I wanted to focus on academics. For me, the big decision that landed me at Lawrenceville was about academics. But I think the basketball piece was also very special because, for the first time in over 50 years, the team got to the state championship when I was there. Although we didn’t win, just getting there was a really big accomplishment, and it felt really good to do that for the school. Having been at Lawrenceville and graduating from there, I feel like a lifetime Lawrentian. In your second game at the College, you scored 27 points, and you’ve been a starter ever since. How did your high school experience prepared you for college? Mentally, I had been in environments that were tough and where there was pressure. As a point guard – that’s the role I play – you have to make very quick decisions. I understood that the number of points you put up doesn’t really matter, especially in environments like Christ the King and at Lawrenceville, where winning was important. At Williams, we have a big emphasis on winning, and I think that’s the one key piece that translated to college. The most important piece was understanding that you can have an awesome game, but winning is what really matters. You can have an awesome game and score 27 points, but if we hadn’t won that game, I wouldn’t have been happy with 27 points and being the tournament MVP. It just wouldn’t have sufficed for me. Now, my goal is to win a NESCAC championship before I leave Williams. You’re not going to win a NESCAC championship by scoring 30 points – you need to win games. As the point guard and the player running the offense, do you feel responsible for the team’s performance? Definitely – even more so now as a senior and a four-year starting point guard. My coaches have told me, “This is your responsibility.” The coaches instruct us, but in the 40 minutes that we play in the game, I have to make deci-
sions on the court to run the team. The other piece of being a point guard is understanding that not everyone is going to be receptive to your style of leadership or your style of play. I need to think, “Who am I playing with? What are their styles of play?” I need to know when to be a vocal leader and when to lead more by example. So understanding your personnel and your teammates is key. At the College, you have gotten a chance to observe head coach Pat Manning’s coaching philosophy. What is her biggest strength as a coach? I think the first part of being a coach – regardless of the sport – is understanding people, and a lot of people take that for granted when they think about sports. Your coach is the one person who really knows you the best because they see you on your good days, and they see you on your bad days. Coach Manning, specifically, understands every single player on our team as a person and respects members of the team as people. Another thing about her is her tenure. She’s been here for 27 years and has been on endless committees for women’s basketball. She’s a true pioneer in that regard. She’s been here for so long that people respect that legacy that she has upheld. The last piece is that no matter what position we’re in – whether we’re having a terrible season or we’re having an awesome season – she’s always going to be the same coach. She’s always going to take us to go get Stewart’s. [Laughs.] No matter what occurs throughout the season, Coach will always be Coach. Last year, she may have had the worst season of her entire career. You might never have known because Coach isn’t going to sit on the sidelines and pout. She’s going to say, “Hey, let’s move on and get better tomorrow.” That’s important because if you get soaked in your losses, your team will never bounce back no matter how many people you recruit. You mentioned that last season might have been Manning’s worst in the past 27 years. The team finished 15–10, which would be considered a success for many programs. How did the team take last season’s struggles, and how does it seek to improve this year? The one thing that went wrong – and it might be tough to say this – is trust. As simple as that might sound, there were times when we didn’t all trust each other. We knew we had more wins than losses but didn’t accomplish the things we set out to do. Understanding what happened last year and being honest with each other from the moment the season ended is definitely going to help us. That level of honesty has been there this year, and our team definitely trusts. People are super excited just to be around each other this year, which is really refreshing.
Why did you choose to come to the College? When I transferred to Lawrenceville, I was being recruited mostly by major Div. I schools. As I mentioned, my mom is a single parent, so our financial situation was tight. She told me that if I didn’t play Div. I, I would have to take out student loans. When I got to Lawrenceville, I was very cognizant of that. Then, I was being recruited by Ivy League schools. Once I visited these schools, I started to think, “Do I really want to play Div. I?” The Ivy League is Div. I and still has the academic rigor I was looking for, but Williams came really late in my senior year. I visited and met with [Director of Admissions] Dick Nesbitt [’74]. We had a conversation, and he was completely honest with me about what Williams had to offer. I was honest about what I wanted out of an institution; obviously I wanted to be a basketball player, but that wasn’t the only thing I wanted to do. I wanted to give back to the community, and I also wanted to be a full-time student. He understood that, and he really showed me he knew the institution. One, he graduated from here. Two, he was really knowledgeable about what the school had to offer. Three, he understood my position and what I wanted to get out of college. That conversation alone solidified it, and the other aspect was Coach Manning. I wanted the opportunity to win a championship in my four years in college, and I didn’t think that would’ve been as likely with any other coach. Did your mother eventually come around to the idea of your attending the College? She has. It was a tough conversation, but she said, “I understand that Williams is the top liberal arts college in the world, and you’re making a big decision for the next four years of your life.” Today I can say that she’s super happy I made this decision. Has she seen you play here? My mom is, I’d say, my biggest fan. [Laughs.] She’s come to over 60 percent of my games in college. It’s about a 3.5 hour-drive, and we play about 25 games a season. It’s a lot of traveling, but she does come a lot. The funny thing about my mom is that she will never cheer for me. [Laughs.] She’ll cheer for everyone else on the team. Most parents will clap for their kids and acknowledge they’ve done something well. My mom’s acknowledging the other 15 members of the team and ignoring what I’m doing. That’s just the relationship we have; she’s my biggest advocate, but at the same time, she’s my biggest critic. I know that’s a mother’s love. How has your experience as a first-generation studentathlete been? I’m the only one in my family who has gone on to play sports,
graduate from high school and go to college. The first difficulty was understanding the college process and what it meant to be applying to college. That’s a difficult process, and if you don’t have parents that have gone through that process, it’s a big hurdle. The second is that you might not be as well connected as other people at the College. As a result, it was important for me to understand what I wanted to do and how I was going to accomplish that. There’s a piece in me that said, “Hey, I want to learn. I want to work and know what the workplace feels like.” There were hurdles, but along the way, I toughened up, and that’s made me a better person. I’m kind of happy that I’m a first-gen student. Coach Manning has called you “a student of the game” when it comes to basketball. What are some ways you prepare for games? Once November comes, I spend endless hours shooting before or after practice. The more reps you can get in before a game, the better. The second piece is watching film. I love scouting my competition. That makes the game more fun because they know that you know them and try to do things to catch you off guard. The last is that I listen to a lot of new music and just try to have fun before a game. You can always catch me probably laughing with my teammates or dancing. I just want to get loose and have fun. What part of your game do you take the most pride in? I pride myself in knowing my teammates, where they like the ball and what makes basketball fun for them. It can be boring if you have someone you don’t like to play with, and it feels more like a job than a hobby. What makes basketball fun for you? Being someone who always feels they need somewhere to escape to, basketball has always been that for me. It’s going to be tough to hang up my jersey after playing for 12 years, but it’s been a great run. I will always love basketball, and it’s the one thing that saved my life, being a kid from inner-city New York. It’s been a great journey, and it’ll always be somewhere I can go and flesh my thoughts out about whatever it is I want to think about. I’ve never seen it as just a game – it was my life. As crazy as that may sound, that’s the best answer I can give you. [Laughs.] You’ve consistently been near the top of the NESCAC in steals. What is your approach to defense? I just want to be as annoying as people are when they guard me. [Laughs.] I know how hard it is to have someone in your face, but – this is a really cliché quote – they say, “Offense sells tickets, but defense wins
games.” I want to win games, so for me, I know that if I set the tone on the defensive end, we can be closer to a win. I want to get as many steals, deflections or stops as I can, and making sure the other team doesn’t get the best shot that it can is always my No. 1 objective. You’ve touched on this a little, but what role does music play in your life? Music, very much like basketball, has been an outlet for me. I started playing the viola and the keyboard when I was 10, and I’ve been playing ever since. Music allows me to express things I’ve never really wanted to express in public. In the future, I think music is going to play a big piece in what I want to do in terms of tying entrepreneurship with music and entertainment. In my time at Williams, I’ve studied music history, music theory, ethnomusicology and music and politics. I’ve gotten to understand music in its entire scope. It’s been a significant piece of my life, and I’ll probably never stop playing music. I’m always blasting music, and I love all kinds of music. After your sophomore season, in which you led the conference in assists per game and were named First Team All-NESCAC, you were injured for part of last year. What have you been doing to get healthy again in preparation for this year? Last year was tough. I didn’t know my injury was as severe as it was – I’m still playing with a partially torn ACL. After coming off arguably the best season of my life, I went into my junior year excited to get going. When I got my MRI result, I knew I’d be out, so when I did get back, I thought I was okay, but I definitely wasn’t 100 percent. That reality is what hit me the hardest. I just wasn’t myself. This summer, I knew I’d have the opportunity to focus on my body again. At Nike, I had access to state-ofthe-art facilities, and I focused on building a body that would last for this season. I feel healthy, and I feel 110 percent now. I’m just happy to be in this position now where I can say I feel this good and actually mean it. You are currently eighth in assists on the program’s alltime list. What else are you looking to accomplish before you graduate? The first piece is to win a NESCAC championship – that’s something the team has never done. I’d love to be able to give that to Coach Manning for what she’s been able to give me for four years, and this would be the year we have a chance at doing it. The second is to join the awesome players and awesome women on the list of 1000-point scorers. I know all those women have contributed great amounts to the program, and being on that list would be an honor.
November 15, 2017
SPORTS 11
The Williams Record
Women’s baseball pioneer Laura Brenneman looks back on career By SKYLAR SMITH EXECUTIVE EDITOR For Laura Brenneman ’99, playing varsity soccer, basketball and softball during her time at the College was only the start of her athletic career. Upon graduation, she took up a new sport, baseball. In 2004, she was selected to be a member of Team USA in the International Baseball Association Federation’s (IBAF) first Women’s World Cup, and she won the Most Valuable Player (MVP) and Woman Player of the Year awards that year. She played on Team USA again in 2006, the next year that IBAF hosted a Women’s World Cup, and Team USA again won gold. At the College, Brenneman earned All-NESCAC honors in softball all four years, in soccer for three years and in basketball once. She also was an All-American goalkeeper in her senior soccer season. “The things you learn from playing any sport often translate to playing other sports,” Brenneman said. “There were so many things I got out of Williams athletics, such as learning how to work on different teams, how to be disciplined and what commitment looks like, especially when you are pushing yourself to the highest level.” After she graduated from the College, Brenneman served as a teaching assistant at National
Cathedral High School in Washington, D.C., and a visiting fellow at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Prince George’s County, Md., before pursuing her doctorate in astrophysics from 2002 to 2007 at the University of Maryland. However, she sought to fill the void in her life left by athletics. “When I graduated, I missed that part of my life, especially playing softball,” Brenneman said. “It was easy to find soccer and basketball leagues that I could play in, but I did not have an easy time finding a softball league.” When Brenneman was introduced to a women’s baseball league through a soccer league teammate, she had some adjusting to do. “For my first season [of baseball], I played shortstop, which was the same position I play in softball, and I threw out my shoulder, so I definitely had to train for the longer distances in baseball,” she said. “Many skills, of course, did translate though.” Brenneman started to gain momentum in baseball when she was put on an all-star team from her local women’s baseball league in Washington, D.C., and competed in the Women’s National Championships in Fort Myers, Fla., in 2002. There, she won a skills competition and was scouted by some coaches looking for individuals to try out for the national team.
The 2004 team that Brenneman played with on the international stage was, according to her, a special group of individuals. “Playing on [Team USA] was honestly a pretty life-changing experience for me,” Brenneman said. “We had Marty Scott as our coach, who was just fantastic, one of the best coaches I have ever had, and we also just had the good fortune of really gelling as a team and getting in the mindset of really playing for each other. We also had a whole month together that summer to train and compete, which was really important.” The group of people who decided to fund the women’s national baseball team in 2004 decided again that it was something they would do every other year, rather than every year. “This was definitely something we found frustrating since the men’s teams had many different age groups who were funded every year, whereas ours was just one team of all ages,” Brenneman said. “The executives at USA baseball just wouldn’t budge, though.” In 2006, the team again held tryouts for the second Women’s World Cup. “As soon as you have success as a team, things get more competitive,” Brenneman said. “This, of course, is great for a program and you also want growth for the sport, especially since many
PHOTO COURTESY OF LAURA BRENNEMAN
Laura Brenneman ’99 (right) was named the Most Valuable Player of the 2006 Women’s World Cup. people don’t even know that we have a national women’s baseball league, but it’s just a fact to be reckoned with.” Brenneman also noted that, while softball has in large part been a beneficiary of Title IX, women’s baseball has, if anything, suffered. “[The executives at USA baseball] consider softball to be the female equivalent of baseball, which, of course, to anyone who has played both sports, is inaccurate,” she said. Brenneman’s time on Team USA ended up being bracketed
by the time she spent completing her dissertation at the University of Maryland. “Overall, I am just very grateful for the fact that I didn’t have to stop competing when I turned 22 and graduated from Williams,” she said. “At the time, and still to this day, there really aren’t a lot of avenues for women to continue in sports. I felt pretty unique because most of my teammates from Williams didn’t have the opportunities that I had to continue after college.” Brenneman also noted that social expectations for women and
men regarding their free time as it relates to pursuing sports have, in her experience, differed. “Especially with the people that I play baseball with now, I notice that most of the women, especially mothers, seem to have more constraints on their time than the men, even fathers, especially as everyone get older,” she said. “It’s still more acceptable for the men to go out and play baseball late at night than for the women to do so. “It’s not always true, but I do hope that things are changing in this regard.”
No. 6 women’s soccer reaches NCAA Sweet 16 No. 29 men’s XC earns NCAA at-large bid By DANNY JIN SPORTS EDITOR
No. 6 women’s soccer (18–1–1, 8–1–1 in the NESCAC) defeated Lesley and Brandeis last weekend on Cole Field to reach the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament. In the first round, the women beat Lesley 2-0 on Saturday. The women enjoyed long spells of possession in the first half on Saturday, but Lesley kept the home side off the scoreboard. Eph attackers found space with crisp one-two passing and deft dribbling, but Lynx defenders blocked several Eph crosses to prevent scoring opportunities. Forward Sydney Jones ’21 had a chance for Williams near the end of the half. Jones beat her marker on a run into the box from the left wing, but her shot went wide of the far post. The game was scoreless at halftime, though the Ephs recorded nine shots in the period. Donovan had three saves, while Eph goalkeeper Olivia Barnhill ’19 did not face a shot.
Williams forward Alison Lu ’20 started the scoring shortly after halftime. In the 47th minute, Lu won the ball deep in the Lesley penalty area. From the left side of the box, she dribbled in toward the goal and powered a shot inside the near post to put the Ephs up 1-0. Natasha Albaneze ’18 scored the Ephs’ second goal in the 53rd minute. Tri-captain Evan Gancedo ’18 played the ball into the box for Lu, who found Natalie Turner-Wyatt ’19 in space on the left wing. Turner-Wyatt sent a low cross through the box, and Albaneze tapped it in at the back post. Lesley had a chance in the 67th minute, when midfielder Karlie Rubin made a long run into Williams territory and won a corner kick. Following Rubin's delivery from the set piece, McKenna Straube sent a shot wide. The score remained 2-0 in the Ephs’ favor at the final whistle. Williams finished with a 15-2 edge in shots. Donovan totaled five saves in the contest.
PHOTO COURTESY OF SPORTS INFORMATION
Sydney Jones ’21 (left) scored twice on Sunday versus Brandeis.
SPECTATORS AT HOMECOMING We asked spectators, “Why did you attend Homecoming?” These were their responses.
ing is always a special event, and it’s great to see friends that I went to school with. It’s awesome.”
Dennis O’Shea ’77 Baltimore, Md.
Pat Murphy Cambridge, Mass.
“A lot of reasons. It’s living my life through [current students] a little bit. It’s seeing old friends and meeting new ones. It’s serving the College in the chili tent, where the Society of Alumni gives chili to all of our alumni and friends. And it’s just being in Williamstown, which was a wonderful part of my life and still is a wonderful part of my life.”
“I had been friends with Meg [Bossong ’05] since high school, but we went different ways for college. I went to Penn State, so I had the big football experience, but I’ve always heard about this game, and seeing it on ESPN a couple of years ago really got me jazzed about it. I happened to be passing through town, and the opportunity presented itself. It’s amazing, and I am loving the people and the atmosphere.”
Meg Bossong ’05 Williamstown, Mass. “My first Homecoming was 2001, when Williams beat Amherst for an undefeated season, so I have this very clear memory of rushing the field. Homecom-
John Sullivan ’76 New York, N.Y. “To help my daughter [Elizabeth Sullivan ’18] cheer on the Ephs!”
Going forward, head coach Michelyne Pinard emphasized the team’s need to improve its pace of play. “We just need to play more quickly,” she said. “The faster we play, the better we are. We need to play at that pace we played at in the second half for 90 minutes.” On Sunday, the women topped Brandeis 3-0. The visitors began the second-round match with a prolonged spell of possession. In the ninth minute, the Judges saw the first scoring chance of the day. Forward Julia Matson rose to head a corner kick, but her shot went over the crossbar. The Ephs got on the board in the 11th minute. On the right wing, Albaneze turned past her defender. Running toward the end line, she sent a soaring ball into the box. The ball sailed over the outstretched arm of goalkeeper Frankie Pinto and into the top-left corner of the net. With the one-goal lead, the Ephs continued to attack. In the 19th minute, a long shot by Victoria Laino ’21 drew a save from Pinto. However, the ball bounced out to Georgia Lord ’21, who nearly put the rebound in. The score remained 1-0 until halftime. The women had a 14-3 shot advantage in the period. Pinto made three saves for the Judges while Barnhill had one for the Ephs. The home side doubled its lead in the 64th minute. Midfielder Aspen Pierson ’21 feinted a defender and took a shot from distance. Pinto made the save, but the rebound bounced loose inside the box. Jones raced in and knocked the ball into the net to make it 2-0 Ephs. Brandeis began to get forward late in the second half. In the 79th minute, the Judges played a
through ball for Willa Molho, but Eph tri-captain defender Danielle Sim ’18 intercepted the pass. The visitors had their best chance of the game in the 88th minute. Forward Samantha Schwartz ran onto a ball past Williams’ back line and broke free into the box. She sent a shot toward the far post, but Barnhill got a hand on the ball. The Ephs added a third goal in the final minute. From the edge of the box, Lord ripped a shot toward goal. Pinto reached the ball but could only tip it off the bar. The rebound caromed straight to Jones, who tapped it in for her second goal of the day. After 90 minutes, the final score stood at 3-0 in Williams’ favor. The Ephs finished with a 29-5 edge in shots. Pinto totaled seven saves, and Barnhill made three stops. After three straight games in which they were held scoreless in the first half, the Ephs scored just 10:58 into Sunday’s game. “Any time we can start at a higher pace, we’re doing ourselves a favor,” Pinard said. “We want to get behind sooner. “I was pleased with how we were moving off the ball and creating separation,” she said. “That allowed us to have a lot of opportunities through the middle third and to get in behind. I couldn’t be more pleased with our effort all around … against a good team.” “I’m always so amazed to watch our team,” Sim said. “[The attackers] are all so creative. They have great touches and great vision – they find passes that I didn’t even know were available.” The women host Cal-Lutheran on Saturday at 11 a.m. in the Round of 16.
By ZEKE COHEN and LIAM ALBRITTAIN TEAM CORRESPONDENTS No. 29 men’s cross country placed fourth at the Div. III New England Regional on Saturday. The NCAA announced on Sunday that the Ephs would receive an at-large bid to the NCAA Championships. Coming into the meet, the Ephs were ranked fifth in the region, and had placed fifth at the NESCAC Championship. Although only the top two teams in the region receive an automatic berth to the NCAA meet, the New England region has received at least two additional atlarge bids since 2010. Therefore, the Ephs had their sights on fourth place or higher, and they needed a strong performance to reach that goal. On the tough, hilly course, the Ephs put themselves in position to score highly, getting out hard and continually moving up through the pack. Co-captains Liam Simpson ’18 and Ben Decker ’18, along with Aidan Ryan ’21, led the way for the men in the early stages of the race. As positions shifted in the pack, each Eph worked with one another to pass other competitors and finish strong. Plymouth State’s Sam Brunette won the individual title in 25:22, and MIT took the team crown. Ryan Cox ’20 was the top Eph for the first time in his career, finishing in a con-
vincing 25:52 for 19th overall. He was followed by a resurgent Decker, who, although dropping back a few places in the latter portion of the race due to lingering illness, held it together to finish in 26:00 for 23rd. Next for the Ephs was Williams’ usual top runner, Simpson, who ran 26:02 for 26th, despite stopping to put his spikes back on in the middle of the race. Ryan and Mitchell Morris ’19 rounded out the top five for the men, each finishing with strong kicks for 33rd and 36th place, in times of 26:11 and 26:14, respectively. Peter Kirgis ’20 also had a strong race, finishing in 26:19 for 44th. Co-captain Griffin Colaizzi ’18 competed hard in just his second race since returning from injury to finish in 27:20 for 111th. Head coach Pete Farwell ’73 was excited by his team’s performance and the meet as a whole. “This was a real barnburner of a meet, very competitive with a lot of non-NESCAC individuals,” he said. “Everyone really gutted it out and put a lot into it, fighting for every place they could get. “It was so nice to see all the Ephs working together. I think with one more week of training, our runners who were coming back from injury or illness will be much stronger; we have a lot of upside.” This weekend, the men will travel to Elijah, Ill., for NCAAs. The meet begins at 11 a.m. on Saturday.
ATHLETES OF THE WEEK “Bobby has a natural ability to lead. He has an awesome personality and unwavering courage, and he is the smartest player I have ever coached. His ability to remember fine details is unbelievable and a reflection to how much he cares about Williams football. He’s a fun kid to coach, his teammates love being around him, he loves football and he plays with tremendous passion.”
“Anna is a consummate race competitor, always out in good position, working strongly through the middle of the course and no matter what finding a great kick in the final minute or two when her superior miler’s speed catches many a rival. Moreover, she is a great leader who guides the team on race focus, course strategies and in multiple ways beyond.”
–Offensive coordinator Alex Smith
–Head coach Pete Farwell ’73
BOBBY MAIMARON ’21
ANNA HARLEEN ’18
FOOTBALL DUXBURY, MASS.
WOMEN’S CROSS COUNTRY ROSS, CALIF.
Maimaron scored all four Williams touchdowns in Saturday’s 31-24 win over Amherst, tying the school record for rushing touchdowns. He totaled 133 yards on 33 carries, and his score in overtime secured football’s first Homecoming win since 2012.
Harleen, a tri-captain, ran a 21:36 in the 6k on Saturday at the Div. III New England Regional, finishing 13th. Her kick in the final mile took her past several competitors as the Ephs cruised to a fourth-place team finish.
12 SPORTS
The Williams Record
November 15, 2017
PHOTO COURTESY OF SPORTS INFORMATION
On Saturday, Homecoming, football marched triumphantly down Spring Street after defeating Amherst for the first time since 2010. In the series’ first overtime since 2001, the Ephs prevailed 31-24.
Football earns 31-24 OT win over Amherst in historic Homecoming bout By KEVIN COAKLEY STAFF WRITER They don’t call it “The Biggest Little Game in America” for nothing. At Homecoming on Saturday, a chilly Veteran’s Day with thousands in attendance at Farley-Lamb Field, football (6– 3) notched a 31-24 overtime victory over Amherst. Quarterback Bobby Maimaron ’21 scored his fourth rushing touchdown of the game in overtime, and the Eph defense stopped the Mammoths on the game’s final possession. Coming into the game, Amherst stood at the top of the NESCAC standings, needing a win in the final regular season game to clinch the league title. Williams, meanwhile, was coming off a 35-0 loss to Wesleyan in the midst of a resurgent season. Amherst had won the previous six meetings between the rivals. The Mammoths controlled the pace at the beginning of the game. After forcing a threeand-out on the first series, the Amherst offense proceeded to keep the ball for nine minutes before settling for a field goal. The windy conditions made kicking difficult, but Amherst kicker John Rak hit a field goal from 29 yards out to give his team a threepoint lead. On their second drive, the Ephs kept their opponents off balance with a no-huddle offense. In only three minutes, Maimaron led the men 63 yards up the field for a score. The drive was kept alive by a few highlight plays, including a first-down catch by Adam Regensburg ’18 that likely prevented an interception and a third-and-7 rush by Maimaron that moved the chains. A 2-yard touchdown run by Maimaron finished the drive, and after a successful extra point from kicker Min Kyu Park ’21, the score was 7-3. Feeding off of the momentum built by the offense, the Eph defense stepped up and forced a three-and-out. When the offense got back on the field, it used its quick-fire pace to move into Mammoth territory. Completing passes for big gains to
Frank Stola ’21 and Regensburg, Maimaron brought the Ephs into the red zone. However, on thirdand-1 on the Amherst 7, Maimaron’s intended pass to Stola fell incomplete. Park’s kick from 24 yards out went straight through the uprights, giving the Ephs a one touchdown advantage. The men kept rolling in the first half. The defense forced another three-and-out, allowing the offense to take over at the Williams 25. Maimaron racked up 30 yards rushing on the ensuing drive. Aided by Stola in the air, the offense cruised up the field. The Ephs pulled off a flea flicker on second-and-10 from the Mammoths’ 24. Maimaron handed the ball off to Rashad Morrison ’21, who handed off to another receiver. The ball was tossed back to Maimaron, though, and he hit a wide-open Morrison, who was taken down at the Amherst 1. The perfectlyexecuted trick play set up Maimaron for a 1-yard touchdown run to bring the score to 17-3. Neither team was able to score for the remainder of the first half, and the Ephs went into halftime with a two-touchdown lead. The men got the ball to start the second half and did not let up the pressure. The Mammoths forced a fourth-and-9, seemingly ending the drive, but the Ephs completed another trick play for a first down. In punt formation, Regensburg faked the kick and ran 20 yards up the field. Having extended the drive, the Eph offense continued to move up the field and into the red zone. On second-and-goal from the Mammoths’ 8, Maimaron threw an incomplete pass, but a roughing-the-passer penalty gave the Ephs first-and-goal at the 4. The offensive line created a hole, allowing Maimaron to rush for his third touchdown of the game, extending Williams’ lead to 24-3. Amherst responded on its next drive. Gradually working their way upfield, the Mammoths faced third-and-7 at the Ephs’ 33. Wide receiver Craig Carmilani streaked down the left side. Quarterback Reece Foy, who replaced starter Ollie
Eberth in the second quarter, threw a jump ball to Carmilani in the end zone. With two defenders covering him, Carmilani adjusted to secure the catch and the touchdown. With six minutes left in the third quarter, the score was 24-10. The game then saw nine straight possessions without a score. Eph defensive back Desmond Butler ’19 intercepted a pass to give Williams good field position, but Amherst forced a punt. Going into the fourth quarter, the Ephs maintained their 14-point lead. With 9:20 left in the game, the Mammoths mounted a 61yard touchdown drive to end the scoring drought. Foy completed four straight passes, including a 30-yard jump ball to Carmilani. His final throw of the series was a well-placed toss to Bo Berluti at the back of the end zone. However, the extra point was wide left, making the score 2416 in Williams’ favor. A few plays later, the Mammoths erased the Eph lead, which stood at 21 points in the third quarter. On second-and-20 at the Williams 15, Maimaron threw a pass that was intercepted by Amherst safety John Ballard. Ballard caught the ball with momentum and took it all the way to the end zone for a touchdown. Needing a two-point conversion to tie, the Mammoths opted for a passing play. Foy completed a throw to Berluti, who crossed the goal line to knot the contest at 24. The Ephs nearly regained the lead on the next possession. Starting at the Williams 25 with 7:17 left on the clock, rushes by Maimaron, Morrison and Ryan Pruss ’20 brought the ball across midfield. After five minutes in possession, the men faced fourth-and-11 from the Amherst 20. Head coach Mark Raymond called on Park for a 37-yard field goal attempt. Although the kick had enough distance, it fell just outside the left goal post, keeping the score tied at 24. Neither team could score in the final two minutes, bringing
the game to overtime. It was the first time the rivals played past regulation since 2001. The Ephs received possession first in overtime, starting at the 25. The men seemed to be in trouble, needing nine yards on third down, but Maimaron found Morrison for a 12-yard completion. After a 1-yard rush, Maimaron broke through the line for an 11-yard score, his fourth rushing touchdown of the game. Park’s extra point brought the score to 31-24, and Amherst needed a touchdown to extend the game. On the Mammoths’ possession, the Eph defense did not get off to a good start, allowing running back Hasani Figueroa to gain 12 yards on the first play. After the initial slip-up, though, the men rebounded to force thirdand-6 from the 9. Foy completed a pass to James O’Regan, but he was stopped a yard short of the first-down marker. Amherst then faced fourthand-1, needing to convert to extended the drive. Foy dropped back and threw over the middle to wide receiver Beau Santaro in the end zone. Two Eph defenders, however, covered Santaro tightly, and the pass fell incomplete to end the game. Williams secured its first win over Amherst since 2010 and its
first Homecoming victory since 2012, when the men topped Wesleyan 19-7. Nobody was prouder of the team than Raymond. “This was a huge win for our team,” he said. “I am so proud of the way the [players] competed today. Their character and toughness is special.” Maimaron finished 23-of-41 with 183 yards and an interception, but he did his real damage on the ground and in decisionmaking. He consistently found pockets in the defense where he could run, garnering 133 yards on 33 carries. His four rushing touchdowns tied the school’s single-game record. The Eph offense totaled 385 yards from scrimmage. Regensburg had nine catches for 78 yards in his final game at the College. Defensively, Jarrett Wesner ’21 led the way with seven tackles. For Amherst, Foy was 13-of-26 with 148 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. Carmilani caught six passes for 101 yards and a touchdown, making some truly spectacular catches down the stretch. John Callahan had 14 tackles for the Mammoths, and Andrew Yamin had his team’s only sack. During the game, the number 573 was stitched on the pant leg
of each Eph player. The number 573 represents the number of steps from the main gate of the Weston Field Athletic Complex to the barbershop on Spring Street, where the Williams team gathers after each Homecoming victory in a tradition known as “The Walk.” Raymond had the number put on each pair of game pants to remind the Ephs to battle to earn the opportunity to walk. In 1992, Sports Illustrated called The Walk “the best postgame tradition in America.” The win gave the Ephs a share of the Little Three title, as each team went 1-1 against Little Three opponents. Trinity defeated Wesleyan 28-3 to secure the NESCAC championship and move to 8–1 on the season. Amherst finished tied for second at 7–2, and Williams was tied for fourth at 6–3. The men will look to build from this successful season, as many of its impact players, especially on the offense, were first-years. The Ephs graduate Regensburg, Lloyd Campbell ’18, Sam Gowen ’18, Connor Harris ’18, Jackson Johns ’18, Justin Sim ’18 and co-captains Michael Berry ’18, Ellis Eaton ’18, John Gannon ’18 and Chris Hattar ’18.
PHOTO COURTESY OF SPORTS INFORMATION
Quarterback Bobby Maimaron ’21 tied a school record with four rushing touchdowns on Saturday.
No. 4 women’s cross country places third, qualifies for NCAA Championships By JULIA GUNTHER and ELIZA MATT TEAM CORRESPONDENTS
PHOTO COURTESY OF SPORTS INFORMATION
Tri-captain Victoria Kingham ’18 finished sixth in the 6k at Regionals on Saturday with a time of 20:59.
No. 4 women’s cross country placed third at the NCAA Div. III New England Regional on Saturday in Gorham, Maine. The women did not receive one of the two automatic qualifications for Nationals but were given an at-large bid on Sunday. Hosted by the University of Southern Maine, Saturday’s race was held on the Gorham Country Club golf course. On a blustery day, the wind calmed and the sun came out as the start of the race approached. In a field of 393 finishers representing 63 different teams, the Ephs were led by tri-captain Victoria Kingham ’18. She ran a tactical, smart race in the top pack, finishing in 20:59 for sixth place. Following Kingham was tricaptain Anna Harleen ’18. Harleen made a huge push in the last mile of the race to
pass many competitors and finished in 13th place in 21:36. Crossing the line third for the team was Audrey Rustad ’20 in 21st overall. She put in a hard effort that was rewarded with a time of 21:46. Next in was Erica Barrett ’21, whose conservative start had major payoffs late in the race. Barrett flew to the finish in 22:06, a personal record, which was good for 25th place. All four women earned AllNew England Regional honors, which go to the top 35 finishers. The Ephs’ fifth runner and final scorer was Emily Harris ’19, who worked the slight rolling hills to pass competitors. She crossed the line in a stellar time of 22:25, a personal record, for 44th place. The Ephs’ sixth and seventh runners also had strong races. Stella Worters ’18 and Emily Sundquist ’18, who worked together throughout the race, crossed the finish line just two places apart, both running 22:30. Worters and Sundquist placed 50th
and 52nd, respectively. Their efforts displaced many runners on other teams. Sundquist was the fastest No. 7 runner in the entire race, and both women beat the No. 5 runners on 51 of the 63 teams represented. The top two teams, MIT and Tufts, received automatic bids to Nationals. The consistent and strong racing by Williams throughout the season put them in a good position to receive an at-large bid to the championship race, and the Ephs were one of the 16 teams awarded a spot by the NCAA on Sunday. Assistant coach Sami Jorgensen praised the team’s performance on Sunday. “The team has overcome setbacks and illnesses and pulled together in a focused and upbeat way,” she said. She said she was also excited to see the “forward-looking attitudes of the team” as it gears up for NCAAs on Saturday in Elsah, Ill. The women’s race starts at noon.