Grade Inflation/Deflation at Williams
I was bored and browsing the ephblogs archives when I came across a thread discussing tips at Williams. In this thread, someone mentioned the average gpa, claiming that it was 3.1. This got me to thinking; just what exactly is the average GPA and GPA distribution at Williams?
So far, the only hard numbers I have been able to find have been pre-1999 GPAs. From 1960-1999, the average GPA at Williams increased from a 2.67 to a 3.34. This is a staggering increase until you start considering how much more selective Williams is now than it was in 1960. Probably that doesn’t account for all of the change, but surely it accounts for much. Regardless of this increase, what I am interested in is the current average GPA at Williams; after all, 1999-2007 is a pretty significant period of time.
In the end, “Lifetime Sports”
RE: “Faculty diversity” and “the real world”, two recent blog posts.
In a ‘comment’ to ‘faculty diversity’, Henry Bass ‘57 cited members of the Economics department in the 50’s including Emile DuPres and his connection to Roy Neuberger as a board member of Neuberger-Berman. I’d like to add another member of that department to the list of ‘diverse’ and ‘real world’,
I had Econ 1-2 in ‘53-’54 with the late Kermit Gordon, another economics faculty member in the 50’s and later a member of the Council of Economic Advisers (1961-1962), Director of the Bureau of the Budget (1962-1965), chairman of the Health Insurance Benefits Advisory Committee (1965-1967), and member of the Advisory Council on Social Security (1968-1971).
He may be noted as having roots in diverse political realities and the “real world”, at least as real as the Kennedy-Johnson era, although as I was fighting my way through micro and macro in the ‘dismal science’, I was too confused to hear any cant. And later, I baby-sat for him.
On the plus-side of economics and the ‘real world’, according to Bill Potter ‘56, his uncle Roy Neuberger is alive and well at 104.
While Mr Neuberger was astute enough to have good board members and later invented the no-load mutual fund, he is, to me, better known as a leading collector of modern art and his firm Neuberger-Berman is the major sponsor for the traveling Chuck Close graphics exhibit which is stunning. Any readers in the Portland OR vicinity should drop by PAM for an afternoon on the need for collaboration in the creation of work for lithography, etching and other graphic arts media as well as very up-close (pardon me) looks at the detail of the images themselves.
As long as I’m running on, I must comment that the ‘real world’ discussion seems to me to be tangental to what a liberal arts education prepares one for in the ‘real world’. Clay Hunt and George Steiner gave me the methods and insights to understand and interpret literature and poetry. Stoddard-Faison-Pierson (and Frank Trapp) presented art and architecture as analyzable subjects. These tools are the basis for ‘lifetime’ sports’. They serve me well every day. How ‘real world’ can you get?
Well, such is the view from Hood River, where everyone is named ‘Dude’.
Dick Swart ‘56
Lockdown 2007 Vote Follow-Up
We never did cover what happened with that ill-timed, ill-considered vote about locking down the campus that so bothered me to see reconsidered. Andrew’s blog for College Council has got it covered: Students voted NO to letting houses restrict access by a margin of 1,349 to 204. That’s about as clear a response as you get. I hope the College gives up trying to solve the problem this way.
Andrew’s post excerpts some good free-response quotes appended to people’s votes and posts the whole collection of free responses. Way to go, Andrew, that’s fine work. If all surveys of students were so transparent, they couldn’t be used to justify actions that were against the respondents’ wills.
A comment to Andrew’s entry alleges
Sure, restricted card access is probably unnecessary. But there are so many problems with that survey that the whole thing just became a joke.
I wonder what made it a joke? Were there other bad questions? Was it poorly advertised or something? Details, especially a post of the original survey would be great if it was anything beyond yes/no and the comment box.
I Bought This
Ethan Zuckerman ‘93 writes “Pardon me while I switch all my embarrassing purchasing behavior over to another browser that doesn’t know anything about my social networking sites.” Read the whole thing to see where the web is heading and ponder, with Ethan, whether or not we like it.
Faculty Diversity
Am I making up these quotes?
[F]or all the hoopla given to diversity at this school, there is relatively little diversity of thought.
Although I don’t know the views of all the faculty members, I think you’re right. Not just on the issue of Jena 6, but in general. I would like to see an openly socialist professor passionately debating an openly libertarian professor. How come I don’t see that? Everyone would benefit from that. I just don’t see much disagreement at Williams. The more disagreements, the more heated debates, the better.
Seriously, though, it is a shame that there isn’t more diversity of thought amongst Williams faculty. It’s safe to say that their political leanings are predominantly to the left, though viewpoints on discrete issues are obviously much more complex. I would note, though, that there have been debates between professors of different ideological backgrounds. I wasn’t here for it, but one of the more contentious ones occurred between faculty regarding the invasion of Iraq…
So, the last time that a Williams professor publicly professed an idea that might be considered conservative/Republican was, what, 5 years ago? Good to know! Comments:
1) Williams has a problem with the lack of ideological diversity on the faculty. The first step in dealing with any problem is admitting that you have one. When I have brought up this topic in the past, many/most readers have claimed that the lack of professors willing to publicly defend their actual conservative/Republican/libertarian beliefs is a non-issue. Yeah? Tell it to students like Gary Jin, Achbold Battogtokh and Andrew Wang.
2) Previous discussion and related links here, here and here. One reason that no faculty member who is suspicious of the Jena Six will come take the other side at a teach-in is fear of retribution from his liberal colleagues. Or do you think that Professor Kirby was lying when he explained why he kept his (libertarian) politics to himself.
I did keep my views entirely to myself, but not because I was advised to do so. I had seen (on separate occasions) a senior faculty member make positive comments about a leftist job candidate and disparaging comments about a Republican student in department meetings, and these comments yielded assent from other faculty members. As a non-tenured libertarian these and other subtle signals scared me. I thought it prudent to keep quiet.
Indeed. What is the upside for a faculty member going to a Jena Six teach-in and arguing with the usual progressives? Not much, other than their undying enmity. Have fun with that! Even a tenured faculty member is stuck with these folks for decades to come. Who needs the hassle?
3) This has little to do with what goes on inside a Williams classroom and everything to do with political dialog in the Williams community. 98% of classroom teaching is not affected by ideology. (And it sure is fun to mock the remaining 2%!) The key issue is the campus conversation, events outside of class. Why was no conservative faculty member present at the Jena Six teach in? (My personal opinion is that, more or less, the Jena Six have been treated fairly by the justice system.) Was no conservative faculty member invited? If so, shame on the organizers! That’s not a teach-in; it’s an indoctrinate-in. Or was no conservative faculty member willing to speak out, or even available? If so, shame on Williams.
4) My opponents on this will point out that, as with finding more African American faculty, there is a problem with the small size of the pool. If all the political science Ph.D.’s are liberal, there is no way that Williams can expand the ideological diversity of its faculty. There is some truth to that. But the people who run Williams have no interest in ideological diversity even when they have a chance for it. Evidence?
First, we have the Iraq War teach-in from last year. I e-mailed Professor Singham to see if either a) pro-war speakers were invited and/or b) if she needed such speakers, I might attend. She was not polite enough to reply. Now, it’s a free country and Professor Singham does not need to reply to my e-mails if she does not want to. But if Gary Jin, Achbold Battogtokh and Andrew Wang are wondering why there are no non-students, much less faculty members, at these sorts of events at Williams, it is because of faculty like Singham. She has no interest in ideological diversity.
Second, I have applied to teach at Williams, on several occasions and in multiple departments. Nothing but rejection so far (although something might work out for Winter Study 2009). But this topic provides another opportunity, so I just sent Morty an e-mail (and cc’d those three students). See below for a copy.
Now, these rejections are almost certainly not driven by my politics. The MATH/STAT department wouldn’t care if I were a Marxist. But, at the same time, the fact that my politics don’t count in my favor is evidence that no one in power cares about ideological diversity. Being a member of the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy, Eph Division may not count against me but it certainly doesn’t count for me.
Consider a hypothetical: What if I were African-American? Would Williams let me teach a one semester class? I am pretty sure (contrary opinions welcome) that Williams would, that it values racial diversity enough to make that happen. Ideological diversity? Not so much.
Real World
Another interesting meeting.
Meeting (and free food) tonight at the Log about whether Williams needs a REAL WORLD REQUIREMENT. We’ll be discussing the current state of our educations and the ways that we can improve them through things like community service and engagement. Please come to offer some input and eat free pizza! Have you ever found yourself sitting in a classroom, wondering how your course is relevant to the world beyond those classroom walls? Does Williams do enough to encourage active citizenship on the local, national, and global levels or does it help perpetuate that mythic “purple bubble?” Should we have ANOTHER requirement?
1) Another requirement would be stupid. The requirements that Williams already has (writing intensive, Peoples and Cultures, divisional) are useless and/or counterproductive. If anything, requirements (except for taking 32 courses and majoring in something) should be eliminated.
2) How many people at this meeting will have much of a clue about the “real world” in the first place? For example, how many have started a business or even worked outside the non-profit sector?
3) There is an easy solution to connect Williams academics more directly to the real world: Make academic work public! Put all the papers for a class on the web. Let outsiders read them. Put lectures on-line. Let outsiders watch them. Connect with the outside world by being transparent about what goes on inside the Purple Bubble. Anything less than that is a waste of time. (Related discussions here and here.)
4) We had a big debate on this proposal a few years ago, but I can’t find the link. So, let’s have it again! Independent of getting a better connection to the real world, making student work (and professor comments on that work) public would significantly increase the quality of both. Another item on EphBlog’s to-do list.
Work For Me Again
Know an Eph geek with an interest in finance? Let her know about this internship opportunity. Previous related discussions here and here. Other readers offering cool internships for Williams students are free to post links in the comments.
Simple Plan for Legalizing Drugs
Interesting talk last night.
Peter Christ, former police captain and member of LEAP (Law Enforcement Against Prohibition) will be speaking Tuesday November 13th at 7:30 in Paresky Theater. Using his personal background in fighting the Drug War, Mr. Christ will be talking about the failures of our drug policy and discussing the issue with professors James Mahon (Political Science) and Betty Zimmerberg (Neuroscience).
Good stuff. Did anyone attend? By the way, here’s my foolproof plan to legalize drugs: Let the Native Americans do it! Given the bureaucracy and politics involved, it seems hard to know how any state might legalize drugs on its own, just as it was hard to see 25 years ago how any state (leaving aside Nevada and Atlantic City) would legalize gambling. But then Native American tribes saw the money making potential for gambling and used their tribal sovereignty to good effect. Now even Puritan Massachusetts is setting up casinos.
Why wouldn’t the same process work for drugs? Let’s say that an ambitious tribe decides to legalize medical marijuana. Could the Federal government prevent that? I don’t think so. (Eph legal opinion welcome.) Would anything prevent such a tribe from allowing visitors to smoke marijuana, assuming it was under a doctor’s supervision? Once that was established, why not harder drugs? Why not drop the doctor? I bet that such a tribe could grow very rich offering this sort of legal entertainment.
And once that happened, other tribes would follow. State governments, envious of the revenue stream and eager for an escape from the war on drugs, would have political cover to do the same. Problem solved!
EphBlog: Your favorite source for crackpot ideas!
Indulgences?
Some call it “The Big Razor,” a play on its corporate namesake. To others, it’s simply “Foxborough,” as in the Massachusetts town home to it and its dumpy predecessor. A few unbalanced types think of Gillette Stadium, the dwelling of the National Football League’s New England Patriots, as an oppressive Albert Speer knockoff housing the cheatingest gridiron squad on dry land. Most of us are bitter Bills fans.
But more to the point, did you know the stadium was built with an on-site wastewater treatment facility? And even more to the point, were you aware that the Patriots recently agreed to purchase 2,400 megawatt hours of offsets to match their gameday electricity consumption? Well, that’s kind of the point. And, obviously, there are Eph footprints all over this bad boy, starting with Jonathan Kraft ‘86.
But today, the Kraft Group will announce that Midwestern wind will fuel the Gillette Stadium lighthouse, the 612 blazing light bulbs shining down on the field, the scoreboards, and more than 40 concession stands that are juiced with enough power during each game to run 2,269 households for a day. …
“Obviously, energy is vital to our game-day operations and we have made substantial efforts to enhance our energy efficiency,” the Patriots’ president, Jonathan Kraft, said in a statement.
“This not only reduces our carbon footprint, but could help build awareness that other organizations have an opportunity to make a similar choice for the environment.”
The renewable energy credits will be purchased from Constellation NewEnergy, a subsidiary of the Mayo Shattuck ‘76-helmed Constellation Energy, as part of an extant power agreement between the Pats and their energy supplier.
There are, naturally, a few doubters.
The idea of buying certificates to offset pollution has its critics, who say some companies may “greenwash” without making substantive changes.
“People have made the comparison to Catholic indulgences - we’ll continue to sin, but look, we’ll send this to the Church,” said David Chernushenko, author of the book “Greening our Games.”
Previous EphBlog discussion on this topic here.
The Krafts have obviously been into the green-conscious thing for a while, so as much as I’d like to claim they’re simply looking for a much-needed PR boost here, that doesn’t really hold water. But the good press doesn’t hurt, huh? And, indeed, it’s part of the stated rationale for the transaction.
“We have been incredibly proud to serve the New England Patriots since 2003, and now we are pleased to support their sustainable environmental practices by securing clean, renewable energy sources to match the electricity usage for home games throughout the season,” said Michael Kagan, president, Constellation NewEnergy. “Given the national prominence of the Patriots, this significant action sets a terrific example for other companies and businesses preparing to introduce renewable energy into their portfolio as part of an overall strategy to address climate change.”
Now, I tend to think Kagan has a point here. The Pats’ appeal (and, perhaps, their influence) cuts across all sorts of social and economic lines, and as a a result, their green example might just carry more weight with the average consumer than would such a move from the average business. Depending on how much overlap one believes there is between the pro-wind power crowd and the pro-Randy Moss contingent, the Krafts are quite possibly helping to expand the roster of environmentally conscious citizens.
Nose Counting
Interesting Record article entitled “Faculty diversity increases, remains College priority.”
While the student body becomes more diverse with each year, increasing faculty diversity remains a priority and a challenge for the College as it struggles to find and attract eligible candidates.
Is “eligible” the adjective to use in this case? Also, it sure would be nice if writer Sasha Zheng made it clear that the Asian American portion of diversity is not really an issue. We continue to seek details on how the College classifies students by race. The article continues:
In 2007, persons of color made up 18 percent of the faculty. This number included 24 professors of Asian heritage, 10 black professors and 16 Latino/a professors. Statistics from 2006 showed that 97 out of 252 faculty members were female, a total of 38 percent. There were no faculty members identified of American Indian heritage.
We love nose counting at EphBlog! Comments:
1) 16 Hispanics? When last we considered this topic, the College claimed 14 Hispanics. Who are the new Hispanic faculty? With help from our readers, we (tried to) identify those 14 faculty members two years ago.
Gene Bell-Villada (Romance Languages)
Maria Elena Cepeda (Latino Studies)
Ondine Chavoya (Studio Art)
Joe Cruz (Philosophy and Cognitive Science)
Antonia Foias (Anthropology)
Soledad Fox (Romance Languages)
Berta Jottar (Theater)
Manuel Morales (Biology)
Enrique Peacocke-Lopez (Chemistry)
Ileana Perez Vasquez (Music)
Merida Rua (American Studies and Latino Studies)
Cesar Silva (Math)
Armando Vargas (Comparative Literature)
Carmen Whalen (Latino Studies)
I think that all these faculty members are still at Williams.
2) Asian (Americans?) make up about 10% of the Williams faculty. Asian-Americans make up 10% of the student body. Both percentages are about twice that of the American population at large. So what is the problem? Does Williams need more Asian faculty? Should the office of the Vice President for Strategic Planning and Institutional Diversity be devoting time and energy to bringing more Asian faculty to Williams? Why? Worrying about the number of Asian faculty is like worrying about the number of Jewish faculty. There is no problem.
3) There are 10 black professors at Williams. Hmmm. Who? I come up with:
Layla Ali ‘91 (Studio Art)
Ernest Brown (Music)
Gretchen Long (History)
David Smith (English)
Joy James (Political Science)
Kenda Mutongi (History)
Kaye Husbands Fealing (Economics)
Alex Willingham (Political Science)
Ngonidzashe Munemo (Political Science)
But nine is not ten. (And I am not even sure that all these faculty are African American.) Who are we missing? (Does the College count athletic faculty in this number? It had better not!) Please help us readers. The great fun in the College’s constant search for diversity is always in the details of how the process works, or fails to.
More on this interesting article later.
And, just for fun, here is a trivia question to try out with Professor Wendy Raymond who is now spending less time teaching and more time quota enforcing. When was the last time that a African-American professor was tenured/tenure-track in a Division III department at Williams?
Great background reading on faculty diversity at Williams from KC Johnson here.
From Brooks to Bozeman
David H.T. Kane ‘58 writes:
Stew Menking ‘79 does a great job helping us all to remember the Ephs serving our country in the Middle East. The monthly luncheon of the Naples (FL) Williams Club was inspired to send a card (pdf) to the current
Birthday Eph, Sgt John Bozeman ‘98.
The card tells how the Deke House burned down and was replaced with Brooks House, named after Belvedere Brooks ‘10. There is an oil painting of Brooks at the Williams Club in New York City.
George William Gage, Portrait of Belvedere Brooks
Oil on canvas, no date.
(1888-1918)Class of 1910
After graduating from Williams in the class of 1910, Belvedere Brooks, a member of the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity, was killed while on duty during World War I in Villesavoye, France. At the time of his death he was the Commanding Officer of the 308th Infantry, 77th Division. While observing the effects of enemy artillery fire, a German shell burst at the mouth of a cave where he and others were seeking shelter.Colonel Charles W. Whittlesey, whom this room was named after wrote, “He [Brooks] is buried very near where he was killed, because it was too dangerous to send an ambulance up to the spot to carry his body away. But his grave is marked.” Captain Brooks was well loved by his men. A member of the 308th Infantry said in tribute about his former commander, “I feel Captain Brooks’ presence in the battalion still. He seems to smile at me sometimes when the road seems impassable and difficulties multiply.”
After his death, the house of his old fraternity at Williams was renamed Brooks House. While at Williams he was the Captain of the football team his senior year, Class Treasurer, and also a member of the Gargoyle Society.
From Brooks ‘10 to Bozeman, the list of Eph veterans is long and illustrious, stretching back to Ephraim Williams himself. I just added Bozeman to the listing of Eph veterans of the Long War. Who else are we missing?
Have you sent a birthday card to John Bozeman? If not, why not?
Gameday Thoughts
Over at dcat a Williams alum and friend asked why I had not written something on Gamday’s sojourn to Williams. Here is a copy-edited and augmented version of what I wrote in the comments of another post:
I intended to, but time got away and I found that I wasn’t sure what I had to say. My first impression was that I really regretted not going up to Williamstown, which until just a few weeks ago was a very real possibility. Let’s face it — Williams gets a lot of attention for a school of its size, but Gameday ain’t coming by again any time soon. Just for that it would have been worth it, but more significantly, the footage from Williamstown really made me misty for the alma mater.
My second impression was how little the Gameday guys get DIII, whatever peaens they gave to its purity. For example, they depicted Williams and Amherst as schools for rich kids, apparently unaware of the vast resources that also allow them to provide financial aid for anyone they admit. They got a lot of mileage out of the cost of the two schools without providing any larger context, and in this case, context really is everything.
Third, there was a somewhat patronizing element to their presentation. I thought that they were really proud of themselves for giving the cute little DIII schools some attention. I realize DIII isn’t LSU, but DIII is lots of great things, and in fact the level of competition is pretty damned good — these guys are elite athletes compared to the average person, even to the average athlete. And as much as they talked about academics, they probably should have emphasized that angle even more. We can talk ad nauseum at the flaws of ranking systems, and we have here at Ephblog, but I believe the only mention of the US News rankings, which is certainly something the average Gameday viewer would grasp, came in barely readable agate type in one of the graphics.
In keeping with that, they kept emphasizing how “none of these guys are going to the NFL,” which in the most literal sense is true, but it might have been worth pointing out that periodically DIII guys do defy the odds and make the NFL (including several currently), and that Williams alone has sent four guys to the NFL just since I got there in 1989, including two who made practice squads (Sean Keenan and Ted Rogers) and two who made actual rosters — my friend Ethan Brooks and Scott Farley. Ethan even started a number of games in the NFL, and spent a season as a starting tackle for the Ravens. That might have made for a decent story, rather than the narrative they preferred to emphasize, which seemed awfully “aren’t they cute” for my admittedly somewhat defensive tastes.
All that said, it was a wonderful thing for this old alum to see. It made me miss Williams. It provided a nice break from the constant BCS palaver. And in the end, I thought they did a decent job of representing DIII, even if, as my arguments above indicate, they could ahve done better. Plus, Corso tossing the Lord Jeff head and putting on the Williams Cow head was one of my favorite television moments in a long, long time. I do hope someone was able to convert that to YouTube and is willing to to place it on Ephblog or send it to someone who can.
Oh, and Williams 20 Amherst 0 is pretty cool too.
The Technological Future of EphBlog
The purpose of this post is to elicit community feedback on the technological future of EphBlog. I have strong opinions about our future content, but limited experience for judging good technology, beyond a bias for open source solutions. Our current plan is to abandon Movable Type (our current blogging platform) and move to Wordpress (the leading open source blogging tool). In fact, genius EphBlog technologist Eric Smith ‘99 and I had breakfast last week and discussed these and other issues. Eric, because he takes the running of his business seriously, does not have endless time to spend on EphBlog. So, we had tentatively decided to give me (and my interns) admin authority over the new site. This allows me and my posse to do stuff for ourselves. The problem is that we may not have the skills required.
Ken Thomas ‘93 comments:
I may be a little bit late in the game here, but I’d strongly recommend Drupal over WordPress as it *can* do the former and so much more– before user-custom views, I’d suggest simply having different sections such as Tech and Sports and Politics, surrounding a main page with more general “front page” content. In fact I might even *volunteer* to do it, or…
If nominated, I would volunteer to create and host ‘88 and ‘93 websites prior to reunion, based on Drupal, on the presumption that it would work toward an alumni-driven, online alumni COI purpose.
Be careful what you volunteer for, Ken! Is Drupal the correct solution? Comments are welcome.
In terms of requirements, the key issues are:
1) We need to have a notion of “views”. A member of the class of 1988 needs to be able to bookmark a page that provides updates on just 1988 related posts and content. That page should have the standard EphBlog templates. Similarly, someone interested in just EphCOI:Finance related posts should be able to bookmark a page just for that. And the same for other views. There also needs to be one main view which aggregates everything.
2) We need the administrative hassle of adding new bloggers (or whate is the term for people who use Drupal? Drupalers?) to be simple. It sure would be nice to have other delivery methods like daily e-mails. How about a better comment system? I am giving serious thought to using the code from Slashdot, but wouldn’t that be a bother? Does that or something like it integrate with Drupal? Are there working examples we can check out?
3) Integration with other tools. It is just about time to move Willipedia over to alumni control. Current students are barely using it. I could imagine reunion alumni having a lot of fun with a well-run Wiki. Imagine one with a page for memories from each entry. How well do Drupal and Wiki software play with each other. 2008 may also be the year that I cajole some students into draining the Williams advising swamp once and for all.
4) We need a better, more automatic way of managing our Eph Blogroll, as well better integration with the Planet software we use for Eph Planet. Or does Drupal do all of that?
5) Our Eph News service is beyond pathetic. Here are my previous thoughts on the topic. Will Drupal make this easier to manage?
And so on. Two questions: First, what should our main platform be, given these goals? Second, is anyone willing to volunteer to be our technological lead, the person behind the scenes who makes EphBlog function? (I want Ken to have a chance to reflect a bit before he volunteers for this.) I will provide the content (mainly by recruiting the contributors) if you maintain the platform.
EphBlog turns 5 in January. Who wants to help take us to the next level?
Veterans Day
For all those around the globe currently serving in our armed forces, and for our allies, the Brits, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand who are observing Remembrance Sunday (Day), thanks for serving.
For those who have gone before, may we continue to be worthy of your outstanding tradition of excellence and bravery.
God speed and fair winds and following seas.
Life Skills
This WSO thread between fans and critics of College GameDay participation got a little too heated for my tastes. Profanity is rarely persuasive. Read the whole thing if you have a lot of time on your hands.
There are so many important ideas and life skills to be gained from playing sports. Athletics can bring about just as much passion within a person as any piece of art. You gain a sense of competitiveness that is extremely necessary in many careers you might pursue later in life, and people who have never played sports just don’t have that drive to win or succeed. Also, people that are strong in athletics AND academics (most athletes at Williams) are the ones who go on to become CEO’s or political leaders, not the math genius who has never stepped on a playing field.
Great topic for a senior thesis! Is there are correlation, among Ephs, between athletic participation/success and further accomplishments in life. (I think that most of the below is true, but corrections are always welcome.)
1) The two Ephs who have probably made the most money in the last 20 years are both athletes: Bo Peabody ‘94 (skiing) and Chase Coleman ‘97 (lacrosse). Chase has probably made more money just this year then all the other graduates of Williams put together. Chase was captain of the lacrosse team.
2) In the last few years, three Ephs have been S&P 500 CEOs: Clarence Otis ‘77, Mayo Shattuck ‘76 (squash, captain of the tennis team) and Henry Silverman ‘61. The alumni directory does not list any sports for Otis and Silverman, which probably means that they did not play. Can any readers confirm?
3) The most successful female Eph in business is trustee Laurie Thomsen ‘79 (tennis and soccer).
4) Among political leaders, we have former Congressman Ed Case ‘75 (rugby), Congressman and Senate-candidate Mark Udall ‘72 (golf), former Governor Arne Carlson ‘57 (football and wrestling).
Clearly, this is not enough data to draw firm conclusions. My sense is that, among male Ephs who are very successful in business and politics, athletes are more common than they are in the Williams population. But I think that the reason for this has nothing to do with athletics per se. Both success in business/politics and success in athletics are helped by common factors: competitiveness, ambition, work-ethic and so on. These factors explain the correlation, not anything that athletic participation itself produces.
GameDay on YouTube
The key GameDay clip is already up on YouTube. Pat Lucey as the Pontiac Game Changer, Corso in the purple cow head, it just doesn’t get any better than that.
Semper Fidelis
Happy Birthday to Eph Marines far and wide! For those who don’t know, November 10th is the birthday of the United States Marine Corps. Michelle Malkin provides a non-partisan collection of links. Strangely enough, none of my favorite lefty blogs mark the occasion in a similar fashion. (Counter examples welcome!) Eph Marines on active duty now include 2nd Lt Brad Shirley ‘07, 2nd Lt Jeff Castiglione ‘07, 1st Lt Joel Iams ‘01 (perhaps now a Captain), Capt Bungee Cooke ‘98, Capt Lee Kindlon ‘98 and Major Jerry Rizzo ‘87 (perhaps now a Lt Col). Is Zach Pace ‘98 still in? Are there any others?
Eph Marines no longer with us include 1st Lt Nate Krissoff ‘03 and 1st Lt Myles Crosby Fox ‘40. May they rest in piece among the honored dead.
Dark hills at evening in the West
Where sunset hovers like the sound
Of golden horns that sang to rest
Old bones of warriors under ground.Far now from all the bannered ways
Where flash the legions of the sun
You fade — as if the last of days
Were fading, and all wars were done.
To Those Who Have Gone Before . . .
Snack Bar Rap
Via this WSO thread, a fun rap on the Mission incarnation of the snack bar.
A little too much profanity for my sensitive ears but some very clever (original?) lyrics. How can you not like a rap which mentions Dave Boyer?
GameDay Preview
Thanks to a reader for a link to the GameDay preview.
Ephs need only watch the first 30 seconds or so. Was that a couple of women soccer players with a cute sign about their game? Good stuff! Women’s soccer won 1-0 while football handled Amherst easily, winning 20-0. I missed both games so perhaps a reader could provide details.
GameDay Live Blog
I may give up on this after a little bit, but below is my attempt to live-blog the ESPN College GameDay show from Williams.
And that’s it. Corso put on the Purple Cow at the end, so all should be well. Live-blogging is way harder then it looks. Thanks for all the comments below. Game is on NESN (New England Sports Network), but my lovely wife needs me to take her shopping so someone else will need to do the live-blogging for that.
By the way, does Sports Information Director Dick Quinn deserve credit for coining the phrase “The Biggest Little Game in America”? If so, well done! if not, where does it come from?
Paying Off Loans?
Does Williams pay off student loans for some students but not others? A reader reports in this thread that
Williams is also extremely generous to alumni who choose to work in service-oriented jobs. They are paying off my Perkins loans, 25% a year, while I work as a teacher in a low income area. By the end of 5 years, my entire debt to Williams (about 10,000 dollars) will be paid off. My Stafford loans (which are paid directly to the federal government) are a slightly different story, but the government also helps pay down those loans for people in public service jobs.
Really? I have never heard of this program. Is it described anywhere on the web? Do many Ephs take advantage of it? What is the definition of “public service” used? Details, please.
GameDay Preview
I am having trouble seeing this on a Mac, but this link provides a preview of College GameDay, including an appearence by Erin Burnett ‘98. (Thanks to an anonymous comment. All GameDay related posts are here.) Is there any way to display this video nicely on the blog? Perhaps some could place it on YouTube?
By the way, I was thinking of live-blogging this event, if only to avoid doing actual work . . .
Impossible to Pick
We are getting many hits relating to some combination of “Erin Burnett” and “field hockey” and “Williams College”. Anyone know why? I am guessing that Burnett might have mentioned something on CNBC today, but the only relevant Google link that I see is from this old article.
Q: My favorite memory from Williams College:
Burnett: It is impossible to pick one! But many were sports-related, as one of the things I miss most is field hockey. I remember walking up to the field house from practice with two of my former teammates, roommates and still closest friends Sarah and Melissa. Those walks involved a lot of our best conversations about topics inappropriate for TVNewser.
And there was one game in particular against my hometown college where Sarah and I each scored a goal. We were the underdogs and won 2-1. It was a moment of great pride for me!
Good stuff. I have vague plans of doing some podcasting (contain your excitement) in conjunction with the class of 1988’s 20th reunion. Basic plan is to interview a classmate each week and ask similar questions, one of which was precisely this one: What is your fondest memory of Williams? Another: What was the biggest mistake you made at Williams? I would appreciate other suggestions.
Shhhh
There continues to be no mention on the Williams homepage of the forthcoming ESPN College GameDay festivities. The fancy new athletics page does mention the story and provide a link to the full description. Why no link on the main page? Perhaps Director of Public Affairs Jim Kolesar is waiting for permission from Professor Cheryl “Nike Camp with enrichment classes” Shanks. Just wondering! It is almost as if the College administration is embarrassed by the event . . .
Speaking of relevant quotes from our Quote Wall, I always like:
If you wish to be happy for an hour, get intoxicated. If you wish to be happy for three days, get married. If you wish to be happy for eight days, kill a pig and eat it. If you wish to be happy forever, beat Amherst. — Mens Lacrosse Coach Renzi Lamb
It is the object of the College to make men. — President Mark Hopkins ‘24
L.L. Bean yelling at J. Crew — Williams official [describing the razzing between Williams and Amherst basketball fans]
Any of these would have made for a better Homecoming t-shirt than simple-minded double entendres on “endowment.”
Photo ID, #100
This is my last Photo ID. I graduated five months ago, and now I am graduating from this weekly series. I think this is an appropriate picture for this occasion.
I now pass over the reins to a member of the Class of 2011. I hope that over the course of the first few months of her time at Williams, while I have been posting the last pictures I have, she has been able to take many pictures that she can post here. I look forward to seeing them.
Quirky
One of Jordan Tacher’s friends should tell him to delete this WSO thread in which he asks the Moocow Band to “Please don’t embarrass us.” Wrong answer! The dialog continues:
Kim Dacres: Dude…unnecessary. Don’t embarrass yourself any further.Tacher: Even though I won’t be able to go to the tailgating/game, if other people can remark about not embarrassing ourselves with drunken escapades, then I feel it is necessary to remark about other things that could be embarrassing.
James Matthews: Yeah. Organizations that are completely devoted to school spirit and supporting student-athletes are awfully embarrassing. I hate that.
…
Tacher: While I am sure they are quite genuine in their school spirit, the record, surprisingly enough, is pretty accurate about the “cacophonous melodies.”
Andrew Goldston: You might want to put down that shovel, Jordan.
Sound advice! It warms my heart to see so many Ephs jump to the defense of the band, without a doubt one of the Ephiest of undergraduate groups. Jeffrey Kaplan writes:
I think that there is a deeper issue here that has not been bought up. What does it say about us if we are embarrassed by Mucho Macho Moo Cow Marching Band? What is it that one values if this marching band is something that one do not want associated with oneself?
You imply that the reason that they embarrass you is that there music is “cacophonous”–you think it is bad. But I don’t think that can really be the case. Are you honestly saying that the reason that they embarrass you is because they do not make pleasant music? that there are not talented or well rehearsed? No, that is certainly not the case. I suspect that really what might be embarrassing is that they are, as trite as this sounds, quirky…different.
If this is the case, then I think that is a fairly accurate definition of intolerance–malice towards that which is different.
Never mind that, what is there to be embarrassed about? They are good, fun, funny, well-meaning, entertaining, and all-around Eph-like. The kind of thing we ought to want as a reputation of our entire school.
Exactly correct. Comments:
1) Tacher does have a point about the double standard with regard to mocking on WSO. You can make fun of drunken antics but not of the band. The differences, of course, are: a) The band hurts no one while drunken antics often negatively impact the quality of life for other Ephs and b) The band is a well-defined group of individuals whereas most/all drunken-mocking does specify who the guilty party is. Now, if he could cite a WSO post in which someone mocked a specific group of drunk Ephs (football players?) who weren’t bothering anyone, he might have an argument.
2) Kaplan’s point about intolerance highlights for me another of the bad effects of the College’s endless prattle about diversity. The College acts as if the big problem among students relates to racial differences and the like, as if lots of, say, white students make fun of Asian students for being Asian. That barely happened 20 years ago! Now, such mocking has almost vanished, just as anti-Catholic sentiment had disappeared from Williams 50 years ago.
But lots of (mean) mocking still goes on. You can be certain that Tacher and his ilk mock the band, just as others make fun of athletes or (harmless) drunkards or, hard as it is to believe, bloggers. Why the hate?
Well, “hate” is probably the wrong word and a little bit of mocking never hurt anyone. But the problem with the College’s obsession with race is that it takes away from a more appropriate obsession with manners. (And, yes, I need to work on my manners as well.) The College has a limited ability to, in former Dean Peter Murphy’s phrase, shape the “hearts and minds” of her students. Instead of wasting that capital on another effort of stamp out racial crimethink, Williams ought to focus on better manners. If the College had done so, then Tacher would understand why his post was a mistake.
GameDay Prep
For Ephs who are a little rusty on Williams-Amherst lore, skeptical Division I fans, or ESPN producers looking for storylines, I’ve tried to assemble here the most interesting resources discussing the Eph-Jeff rivalry, and about Williams football, generally.
First, espn.com posted stories on the rivalry in 2000 as well as this past July. Chris Fowler today added a great story in anticipation of the GameDay event.
In October, 2006, the Boston Globe featured a fantastic slide show titled “one fall day” which featured photos of the Ephs’ thrashing of the Middlebury Panthers. Also in 2006 (which must have been an especially beautiful football autumn), cnnsi.com featured Williams in a fantastic series of “tailgate nation” photos.
Last fall, the New York Times published a nice story on Williams’ preparation for the Amherst showdown. In 2002, the Times published a more controversial story on the backlash against Williams’ football (and general athletic) success.
Back in 1995, leading up to the infamous 0-0 tie suffered on an essentially unplayable field, the New York Times published a series of articles on the lead-up to the Williams-Amherst game: see part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4.
Here is another NYTimes article, this one from 2001, discussing the tradition of joint Amherst-Williams telecasts at sports bars around the country.
If you are really bored, browse some of the NYTimes’ pre-1900 game recaps, many of which are immensely entertaining. My personal favorite: “with the flying wedge.”
Williams sports information maintains a page of “Eph legends,” featuring interesting stories of individual participants in the rivalry.
Finally, returning to the present day, be sure to watch the Ephs’ football preview show for a detailed look at Saturday’s matchup. The North Adams Transcript has a feature on the excitement surrounding gameday, and will have a game preview tomorrow. Williams alum Peter McEntegart has already posted about the game on his Ten Spot blog on cnnsi.com, and he promises more tomorrow.
To make a long story short, go Ephs!
Fire Mack
Writedowns at Morgan Stanley.
The second-biggest U.S. securities firm by market value after Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said it lost $3.7 billion in the two months through Oct. 31. Prices for securities linked with home loans to risky borrowers sank further than traders expected, cutting fourth-quarter earnings by $2.5 billion, the New York- based bank said. The figure may change by the end of the month.
…
Chief Executive Officer John Mack oversaw the expansion of the firm’s mortgage business last year with the acquisition of Saxon Capital Inc. for $705 million in December. In addition to being a mortgage provider, Saxon services home loans to people with poor credit histories by collecting payments, maintaining records and foreclosing on delinquent borrowers.
Mack, 62, hasn’t faced the kind of investor criticism that preceded the Nov. 4 resignation of Citigroup CEO Charles O. “Chuck” Prince III and the ouster of his counterpart at Merrill Lynch, Stan O’Neal, on Oct. 30. Zurich-based UBS AG, the largest Swiss bank, fired CEO Peter Wuffli in July.
Why not fire Mack? Trustee Robert Scott ‘68 would fill the job nicely. And given that Mack was responsible for the disastrous Dean Witter merger in the first place, his departure would close the circle on that misadventure.
UPDATE: Further thoughts here. Paying Mack $40 million in 2006 for stupidity like buying Saxon is a scandal. He should be fired for his bad decisions. See also my summary from last year. There is a great senior thesis in history or economics to be written about Bob Scott’s time at Morgan Stanley. Who will write it?
Crank Dat
This t-shirt seems to be popular with the kids today.
No idea what Crank Dat refers to? YouTube may be of help.
Credit for the idea goes, I think, to the Griffins. Kudos to all concerned.
Second Annual offer of a Ride to Homecoming, and a Williams Car Story
A year ago I made my first Ephblog post offering a ride from Pennsylvania to Williamstown. This year, I repeat the offer, though with less advance notice (sorry) and a different point of origin: Ithaca, NY, leaving Thursday and returning Sunday.
When I bought my car junior year, I vowed to “pay forward” all the times I had depended on friends with cars in my previous years in college. Since then I have given many rides to Williams students and alums, many to people I had never met or spent real time with before. I regret only one; every other has led to a good experience, and sometimes a friendship.
Those seeking rides from these points or in between are welcome to email me. One Albany pickup and dropoff should be easy, if your timing is right.
That’s all you need to know if your sole purpose is a ride. But I figured as long as I’m posting, I’d tell a little Williams story associated with the acquisition of a car that is exactly my make and model, but which was acquired by a close friend. His story has been a favorite in our circle for years. The police are involved.