Thu 28 Feb 2008
Some kooky alum has an op-ed in the Record on EphsChoose. Other discussion here. Even though I think that this is a great idea, my prediction is that nothing meaningful will come of it because Williams administrators will be able to cajole/trick the interested students into dropping the project. The College is happy to have students fund-raise for projects that the College already approves of. It will do everything it can to prevent students from contacting alumni about projects it would not otherwise fund.
With luck, students will prove me wrong.
February 28th, 2008 at 10:14 am
That alum is certainly kooky, but I might use another adjective or phrase to describe him.
February 28th, 2008 at 11:27 am
Frank:
Did you notice this part?
“Reach out to some of the prominent alumni who live in Williamstown.”
It came right after the suggestion that they start with 10K.
February 28th, 2008 at 12:15 pm
The only alums I remember being in touch with for anything while on campus were recent grads coming back for houseparty weekends (whiskey sours and milk punch and bird-dogged dates yet again, Frank!) or graduate treasurers there to discuss house finances (a new heating system?!?).
A reach to alums for pizza dough seems rather gilding the pepperoni, with or without college consent.
February 28th, 2008 at 1:10 pm
“A reach to alums for pizza dough”
He he.
February 28th, 2008 at 2:09 pm
(1) Frank, do tell …
(2) Looks like DK’s idea made the big time:
http://chronicle.com/blogs/facevalue/index.php?id=1764
So if this idea comes to fruition, where would folks allocate their donations? I am thinking (1) cooler swords for WARP, (2) better quality Tequila for WUFO, and (3) (more seriously) funds to bring Currier Club back to campus (does this still happen, if not it’s a crime?)
February 28th, 2008 at 3:19 pm
Jeff (or anyone else who knows): Whats the Currier Club?
February 28th, 2008 at 3:56 pm
This was very popular in the 1990’s. (I have mentioned it before on this blog as it was one of my favorite social events at Williams). Basically the basement of Currier ballroom would be turned into a jazz club. Tables brought in with black table cloths, risers set up, either an outside or student jazz trio or quarter would play, there would be cheese and fruit, and students would come either in groups or couples and bring their own wine, no more than one bottle per pair. Maybe liability isues make this problematic now but I hope not because it was (1) a great use of one of the more beautiful spaces on campus (2) a great change of pace from the typical row house party scene (3) one of the few chances to have an actual “date” at Williams and (4) an exercise in responsible drinking since you can’t get plastered off half a bottle of wine over a few hours. Oh, and a chance for some very talented jazz musicians to make some scratch (or a chance to bring some great outside folks to campus). Now, with HUnter Center at MassMoca, I bet it would be even easier to work in collaboration to bring some great jazz musicians for a weekend in North Adams / Williamstown. There would be a few seatings over the course of a weekend and they always sold out well in advance. Maybe two weekends per semester and once or twice over winter study. I highly recommend it. It would be best if anyone could attend and bring wine as it was when I was at Williams, but even if byob is limited to those over 21 it would still be a great event.
February 28th, 2008 at 4:04 pm
Speaking of great events that I fear alcohol restrictions may have also killed, is there still Musicfest at Williams? This was where folks would chill on the Berkshire Quad on a beautiful spring weekend with a few beers and listen to campus / local bands all afternoon. A good time was had by all …
February 28th, 2008 at 8:22 pm
Jeff,
Wine and jazz? That sounds so cool. Much better than funding Pizza.
Frank, your 10K could pull that off.
February 28th, 2008 at 8:47 pm
It’d b really sad if you couldn’t have a jazz club at Williams without alcohol. Sparkling cider, anyone? Enough students complain about classless guzzling at keg parties that I think you’d have a seed crowd for a lounge that would fast become popular. I know Ching Ho ‘03 managed to make a “Ruby Lounge” event work that was strikingly similar to what you describe. He plowed exorbitant funds into it, though, from what I understand, but it was popular indeed.
Jeff, you’re out of touch on one thing. WARP and its bop-swording have been defunct for years.
Anyway, there is no way Currier Club is lacking funds for revival. Money is not the obstacle to social planning at Williams.
February 28th, 2008 at 10:21 pm
They definitely used Goodrich a lot to do that sort of thing before it was shut down for repairs.
…and Jonathan is right–money isn’t really an obstacle to much at Williams. That’s one of the things that makes me nervous about David’s proposal. In a college where many organizations weren’t getting their funding needs met this would be a wonderful idea. However, this is not the case. While supplying WSO staffers with pizza (something that CC likely would likely ok funding for) is kind, any more substantial funding for that would most likely lead to irresponsible spending and would take much of CC’s power away.
February 28th, 2008 at 10:45 pm
@current eph: if you have time, Big Ideas at Berkeley — a project that exists, in part, due to a number of Eph’s frustrations.
If I may respond to your point: money _and_ perspective are a serious obstacle to doing anything outside the administration/faculty’s rather all-encompassing GroupThink problem. The core initiatives behind Sun Microsystems and SpaceX come from Berkeley, not Williams, and the reason is largely governance (something that, as usual, Williams both excels in and has serious problems with).
February 29th, 2008 at 10:02 am
Fair point, Jonathan. I think the wine adds a lot and, frankly, inspired more attendance but I think even a non-alcoholic jazz club could fill up a few times a year, it does come down to student initiative as it is not that expensive to run especially after ticket sales.
WARP is defunct? Say it ain’t so. That is criminal. At least they still do trivia each semester, if that ever goes by the wayside I’d be seriously depressed (by the way, how does trivia work now when the answer to almost anything can be found on he web? seems as if it would be very hard to divise difficult questions …).
February 29th, 2008 at 11:08 am
Ken,
Big Ideas at Berkeley is for seeding social action. That might be something that would interest Williams and its alumni. I could see a vibrant funding process, particularly if it were focussed on grants for recent graduates and the younger tier of alumni (and wouldn’t it be exciting if recent graduates could team up with just retiring alumni, first as a funding thing and then maybe moving on to having the older alumni involved in formal advisory and participatory roles?). If something like that could get going, it could then grow and reach back into the campus, offering Winter Studies, internships, and guest lectures and workshops, working perhaps with the Guadino Fund, the Lehman Council, courses (from economics to Williams in New York to environmental studies to the “hard” sciences), resources like the art museums, teams (think of the inner-city squash, rowing, and other similar programs), and other parts of the Williams experience including maybe even the Center for Developmental Economics.
EphsChoose, as I understand it, would not be limited to a service- or policy-oriented function. That’s where I start to have trouble with it. I don’t perceive that it is all that difficult to get funding for many types of social functions, which is the area people have largely been writing about. For example, I have noticed that there are quite a few Baxter Fellows, each being paid $750 a year, apparently to promote social activities within houses and neighborhoods. On top of that is a fairly large group of full-time campus life staff members (plus think of many others, such as some of the dining hall staff, as being involved in ancillary ways). In addition to their aggregate compensation, there must be a significant pool of money for these folks to be throwing at the activities that they are supposed to be so feverishly cooking up and promoting. That and myriad other signs lead me to suspect that, as others have said, money is not an obstacle to much at Williams, particularly in the social planning/execution area.
After Williams is another matter…, especially if we are talking about the funds to realize the astonishing energy that comes with youthful idealism and passion.