Wed 2 Apr 2008
College Council notes from the wonderful Emily Deans ‘09. Full notes below, but note this item.
The CDC [Committee on Diversity and Community] is also analyzing the homogeneity of the JA selection committee and the JA structure. In particular, the CDC is focusing on what JAs can do to ensure that minority students can feel a part of the entry. The implications of this would primarily be resolved in more in-depth and issue-specific training addressing issues that often affect minority students.
Come on! Is any reasonable person actually concerned that the JA selection committee is too homogeneous? The JASC is one of the great student institutions at Williams. It is probably biased in favor of people who are rah-rah Williams, but mainly because you have to be fairly rah-rah to care about who gets to be a JA. I would bet big money that, relative to its applicant pool, the JASC is as diverse as diverse can be. The problem with an organization like CDC is that, left unchecked, there is always the chance that it could do real damage, like insist on involving non-students from the Office of Campus Life in its deliberations.
Any JA readers can comment on whether or not they feel that the JAs need more “in-depth and issue-specific training” on these topics. I bet they get enough.
Full notes below. (Apologies for the formatting. My fault not Emily’s.)
UPDATE: Early posting was not the final version of the notes. Fixed now.
College Council
Meeting: Proposing a Committee
Wednesday, March
11, 2008, 7:30-9:00
Meeting in Hopkins
Hall Basement, B03 Classroom
All College
Council Meetings are open to the Williams Community. Anyone who wishes
to speak before Council should contact Peter and Jeremy (09psn and 09jmg_2).
Budgets
This
week there were three budgets on the slate. College Bowl requested $1,888.00
for nationals and pay for tournament registration and hotel room and
half for plane tickets amount recommended was $1,000.00. Octet requested
$675.00 and amount recommended was $620.00 because they had overestimated
room costs. Nothing But Cuties (NBC) requested $1,721.25 and the recommended
amount was $1,325.25 after factoring in what the group already had in
its account.
Thomas
Rubinsky (Class of 2010 Rep) motioned to vote on the slate and Narae
Park (Dodd Board Rep) seconded the motion.
The
motion to pass the budgets passed.
Massachusetts Power Shift
Melina
Davis ’11 and Rachel Savain ’10 came to speak to CC about MAPS (Massachusetts
Power Shift), which is holding a rally in Boston from April 11-14 focused
on climate change and action against climate change. The main goal of
conference is to take an interdisciplinary approach to climate change
(industry, health, etc). The weekend will have events focused on green
jobs, entertainment, and will have skill oriented workshops to prepare
people for lobby day to get the Global Warming Solutions Act passed
in Massachusetts. The bill calls for 80% reduction in greenhouse gas
emissions by 2050.
Williams
is paying for transportation and housing for students who want to attend
the rally and it costs $10 to register. The girls hoped that the rally
would make individuals excited about empowerment, activism, and what
we can do through the democratic process and encouraged Council to spread
the word.
Committee on Diversity and
Community (CDC)
Tony
Coleman ’10 represented the CDC at the CC meeting to report
on what the CDC has been doing recently. The CDC organizes Williams
Reads during Winter Study and is currently working on organizing a town
hall meeting to broaden dialogue that started with Stand With Us. The
CDC hopes that the result of the meeting will be more of an initiative
from the community to prevent incidents on campus. The meeting will
discuss “–isms” at Williams and what steps the community can take
to ensure that similar incidents do not happen in the future. The CDC
also sponsors the Bolin Fellowship, which is a fellowship for post-doctoral
minority academics to come to Williams for a year or two and teach one
class. The college pays them to teach and continue their thesis work.
The main focus of the CDC this year has been on faulty retention.
The
CDC is also working with faculty mentoring and advising and is working
to make advising more of a mainstay at Williams and in students’ careers.
Especially for students who are pre-med, pre-law, or intend to go on
to another form of graduate education.
The
CDC is also analyzing the homogeneity of the JA selection committee
and the JA structure. In particular, the CDC is focusing on what JAs
can do to ensure that minority students can feel a part of the entry.
The implications of this would primarily be resolved in more in-depth
and issue-specific training addressing issues that often affect minority
students.
Finally,
the CDC is also looking into the issue of gaps in services for international
and minority students.
Committee on Undergraduate
Life (CUL)
Allison
Gardner ’10 reported to CC about the work that the CUL has
been doing this year. The objective of the CUL is to improve student-faculty
involvement and create programs to create awareness about issues on
campus. The CUL is currently working on Mental Health Awareness Week
because this campus has seen tragedy regarding mental health issues
over the past year. The goal of the week is not specifically promoting
health services but is more about being mentally healthy. The week is
centered on the book, The Unquiet Mind, which was made available
to students before Spring Break through the Williams Reads program.
From April 7-9 there will be programming around the book and Dr. Jamison
is coming to speak about the book, which is geared towards college students
and college students responses to mental illness.
Mental
Health Matters: Reducing Stress, Distress, and Stigma at Williams
On
March 13th we distributed copies of Dr. Kay Jamison’s “An Unquiet
Mind: Memoirs of Moods and Madness” in Paresky, Sawyer, and Schow
Atrium in affiliation with the Williams Reads program.
On
April 7th, Psych Services and the Berkshire chapter of the National
Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) will table at Paresky and the Women’s
Center will lead a discussion of “An Unquiet Mind.”
On
April 8th, Psych Services, Health Education, and Active Minds will table
at Paresky throughout the day. In the evening, we will screen
the short film “The Truth About Suicide” and discussion with
Chaplain Rick Spalding and Dr. John Miner of Psych Services will follow.
Afterwards we will show the feature film “Ordinary People.”
On
April 9th, Psych Services, the CUL, and Active Minds will table at Paresky
again. In the early afternoon Dr. Jamison and Active Minds will
hold a student reception in Paresky. Dr. Jamison will give a public
lecture titled “Personal and Professional Perspectives on Mental
Illness” at Chapin at 7:30, and afterwards ACE, Dining Services,
and the CUL will hold a “Super Stressbusters” event where
students will be able to meet Dr. Jamison and Psych Services (and, of
course, get free food!).
Another
objective for the CUL this year were to address the system of the 1914
library, which is perceived as a source of embarrassment for financial
aid students. The original idea was to have a lottery system for people
to pick up their books but that idea was essentially rejected because
the general feeling was that students who had more desire to wait and
get the books should have priority because of their willingness. Faculty
have not been that responsive to students about this issue. A committee
is being created to address this issue and to oversee the creation of
a new system. One student made a suggestion that it would be wise to
at least invest in tents for cold weather and water for warm weather
that students have to wait in to get their books.
The
Office of Financial Aid has not been taking initiative and has seemed
to be resistant to make changes. Athletes have problems getting their
books. The CUL has recommended that the 1914 Library be expanded and
potentially relocated to an area that would not have students waiting
outside to get their books.
Jon
Prigoff (Wood Board Rep) suggested that buying books cheaply online
might help alleviate some of the pressure on the 1914 library. Several
members of CC raised the issue that it is not easy for students not
on financial aid to buy their books, either. Water St. Books is the
Williams College bookstore. The College has outsourced the operation
of that store to Follett Higher Education Group. There was a general
sentiment that it is pretty ridiculous that the only bookstore on campus
charges such high prices. Not all classes have the course books needed
listed online so it is not always possible to order books online, forcing
students to use Water St. Books.
The
CUL is also analyzing the role of neighborhood faculty associates, which
is not really working because the role of faculty associate to a neighborhood
has not been clearly defined. The theory is to have one faculty associate
per neighborhood governance board with delineated responsibilities delineated
counting as a committee credit for faculty. Also, the CUL is trying
to get professors to participate more in neighborhood events and trying
to combine meals for faculty and faculty families into one single budget
with the points that they already have to take people to snack bar,
etc. instead of having the neighborhood governance boards paying for
their meals. Hopefully this will create a lot less tension overall.
Discussion of Cluster Transfers
In the current
neighborhood system, students are placed in a cluster and as freshmen.
As a freshman, an individual can leave his or her cluster or pull people
into a cluster, but upperclassmen do not have the same options for changing
clusters that freshmen have. For upperclassmen the only option to switch
clusters is to form a group of up to three people and that group is
randomly assigned. College Council wants to make a proposal for revising
the system.
- Sophomores, juniors,
and seniors can pull people in the same way freshmen can. - If, as a pick group,
you want to leave your cluster you and your pick group can leave your
cluster and you go into a lottery (random neighborhood draw) that is
subject to class and gender caps on the neighborhoods. Theoretically,
one group per class could potentially be split up. Each student would
get one free switch and then there would be a penalty for switching
a second time (for instance: you would get knocked to the bottom of
your class automatically).
Jon Prigoff
(Wood Board Rep) thought that any opportunity that gave people more
of a chance of living together would be an improvement. He thought that
the system should not be designed around what neighborhood you want
to live in, but was adamant about the fact that students should be able
to live with their closest group of friends.
Emanuel Yekutiel
(Class of 2011 Rep) brought up the potential for confusion about the
system for freshmen to CC. CC thought it made sense to have a consistent
policy for all classes (especially for Joe Freshman who might not be
able to figure it out).
Rachel Levy
(Treasurer) brought up the issue of different neighborhoods having desirable
housing for each different class. For example, sophomore and junior
housing in Wood and Spencer is great because of Greylock, but is lacking
in terms of senior housing (in which case Dodd is the most desirable
neighborhood in the opinion of many).
Emily Deans
(Secretary) commented that not everyone gets along with their entry
and wants to live with their entry-mates, and that students should not
be penalized for making their best friends later in their Williams career
by not having options to change clusters to be with friends.
CC then discussed
having a pull-in option for upperclassmen. Caroline Henry (Currier Board
Rep) thought it was good for people, but thought that there needs to
be the ability for the number to be larger. Thomas Rubinsky (Class of
2010 Rep) thought that it was an important option that everyone should
have.
Another issue
with pull-in that was raised was that currently freshmen need four or
five people to pull one person in. People randomly sign sheets and there
was a suggestion that if you use the pull in option you should be bound
to live with the people who sign your sheet (or at least two of them).
Straw polls:
- If there is a pull
in option you should have to pick in with the group that pulls you in
(11 in favor, 6 opposed, one abstaining) - In favor of pull-in
as the only option other than random assignment (16 opposed, 2 abstaining) - In favor of having
pull in option in addition to other changes (18 in favor) - In favor of system
with picking subject to availability (18 in favor) - In favor of changing
number of people to change neighborhoods from 3 to 6 (10 in favor, 1
opposed, 5 abstaining) - In favor of extending
all policies for upperclassmen to freshmen (16 in favor, 2 abstained).
Absentees:
Two absences in a row or three in a term result in a member’s expulsion,
unless overridden by the secretary’s discretion or petition to the
Council.
Not
in Attendance: Toni Kraeva (Spencer Board Rep), Keith Butts (Spencer
At-Large), Sarah Moore (Class of 2009 Rep)
Respectfully
Submitted,
Emily C. Deans
Secretary, College
Council
April 2nd, 2008 at 10:54 pm
Williams College’ student body is currently 36% non-white and/or international.
Exploring whether there is a legitimate concern would require knowing the makeup of the JA cohort and/or selection committee.
April 3rd, 2008 at 6:51 am
David Kane is opposed to something that promotes diversity? Wow, I never thought I’d see the day.
April 3rd, 2008 at 11:12 am
David (and Larry in the other thread),
First, Larry, who is “those guys”? The CDC is made up primarily of faculty and students. So I’m unclear who is “them” and “us” in your terminology.
Second, David, so it’s ok that only those people who are really happy with williams make decisions about important aspects of williams’ future? Am I the only one who thinks that is patently absurd and almost a 100% promise of the continuation of the status quo? Why not look into the process? Maybe they can make it a faster and more inclusive process?
Relative to their applicant pool, David, the KKK is diverse. That was a terrible argument, one of your worst in a while.
April 3rd, 2008 at 11:42 am
Let’s hope no one lets the campus life “professionals” touch the JA selection process. They seem to ruin everything they touch.
Every institution can (and should aim to) improve. Nothing wrong with looking at the process. The JA system works very well for many students (and is, for them and consequently for Williams, a treasure). Would that it could work as well for everyone. I guess that’s not likely, but I do believe there’s always room for improvement.
That said, these 19-21 year old volunteers generally do an extraordinary job. I don’t think they are thanked or celebrated as much as they should be.
April 3rd, 2008 at 8:44 pm
The JASC tries to be as diverse as possible, and I believe generally does a good job, though you can only be as diverse as your applicant pool. There are 25 people on the committee; if only 30 - 35 apply then you do not have much room to worry about diversity once you eliminate the people who would not be able to make the commitment (10pm - 2am 5 days a week is a tough schedule to keep for a couple months.)
Is the JA system perfect? No. But I believe it is better than most systems at other colleges. Many people readily criticize the JA system, but I have not heard them suggest a plausible, better alternative.
April 4th, 2008 at 5:43 am
1) Jeff, that’s right! Anytime anyone criticizes any aspect of “diversity” at Williams, they are nothing more than a racist. No one could possibly object, in good faith, to anything which “promotes diversity.”
And, good news! The College has decided to institute mandatory sensitivity training, every morning from 8:00 to 9:00. Isn’t that a great idea? Lots of workshops. Lots of exercises. This will definitely make Williams a better, more inclusive place.
What’s that? You are against this? You think that the trade-offs make this a bad idea? You think that, instead of “promoting divserity” this might have the opposite effect? Wow, I never thought that I would see the day.
2) Rory, “them” is those people who place “diversity” as the be-all-end-all of College activity, who care more about the racial composition of the JASC then they do about the actual success of the JASC, who would rather have a JASC that “looked like Williams” even if it led to a worse outcome in terms of the quality of the JAs selected. They are “them.”
Uh, no. And that’s not what I wrote. The issue is that the JASC already accepts and encourages applications from the entire Williams community. The JASC already is as “diverse” as its applicant pool allows it to be. The JASC already ensures that the JAs selected are as diverse (and, I have heard, even more diverse — sure would be fun to compare the make-up of the applicant pool and the selected JAs) as possible. Do you have any complaints about the diversity of the JAs? If so, make them. If not, then tell the CDC to spend time on something else.
No, admittedly, I am jumping the gun a bit, both with you and the CDC. But the JA/JASC system is one of the great successes at Williams and I want to fight for its independence at the first whiff of encroachment.
But, as always, concrete suggestions are welcome, form CDC, you and everyone else. I, for example, have argued in the past that the JASC should expand by 10 members so that it was (and appeared to be) even more inclusive. Others have argued, persuasively, that the JASC is already as big as it can be, given how it functions. But a phrase like “homogeneity of the JA selection committee” gets my back up, perhaps unreasonably. If you have concrete suggestions about how/why we need to have more applicants to JASC, then make them. I, almost every year, encourage people to apply.
But, unless and until, there is any evidence that the JASC is functioning poorly in its primary mission, I think that CDC ought to spend its time elsewhere.
April 4th, 2008 at 5:59 am
David, I never said I agree with ALL of the diversity efforts that happen at a place like Williams (I was, after all, on the CDC, so I saw both good and bad from that committee), but I just feel your opposition to anything under a diversity rubric is as reflexive and automatic as anything the diversity police or whatever you want to call them might be guilty of. E.g., your determination to criticize a vague and hardly objectionable one line goal to improve JA training. I also think in light of recent campus events, Williams has to do SOMETHING. It will alienate a lot of students if the college is seen as just sitting on the sidelines and taking no action whatsoever. You can debate what that action should consist of, but you seem to be of the mindset (as reflected in this post) that anything done in the name of sensitizing students to diversity issues is automatically a bad thing …
April 4th, 2008 at 6:18 am
1) “your opposition to anything under a diversity rubric” is an unfair characterization. Who has done more than me to champion the increase international students at Williams? Letting in another student from Nepal does much more to increase diversity at Williams than much of the affirmative action directed toward “Hispanics” — i.e., folks who check that box on the Common Ap. I am in favor of real diversity, given an appropriate balancing of cost and benefits, and against the PC preening that is implicit in a phrase like “homogeneity of the JA selection committee.”
2) I thought that the CDC was a new committee, formed in conjunction with the Diversity Initiatives. What sort of stuff was it working on 10 years ago? Tell us some stories! You know we love our Williams history here . . .
3) Doing something just to do “SOMETHING” is dumb. If a change in policy X improves Williams, then do it. If not, don’t. Just because there was trouble in Willy E is no reason to change the JASC unless you think that that change would be for the better.
4) You write:
Says who? Can’t you already hear the air escaping from the Stand With Us balloon? Pssssssffft. This too shall pass. When bad things happen, not doing anything is often the best choice.
Well, if it is true that the students want some specific action, then, by all means, let’s see some proposals and consider the options. You can certainly see that folks like Will Slack ‘11 and others at Stand With Us are working on all sorts of interesting ideas. If a proposal to change the JASC came from folks like that, I would be eager to consider their reasons.
But I don’t trust the CDC! Why? Consider what they did last year. What? You don’t know what they did last year? No worries! I have a copy of the letter that they distributed to the faculty on their activities. Want to read it? Tough! Professor Wendy Raymond refuses to give me permission to post it. Be wary of committees that are not transparent in their activities.
And, even the above is unfair to me. How many times do I need to recommend my Eph Style Guide? This is explicitly designed “in the name of sensitizing students to diversity issues.” Just because I don’t think that some/much of what the CDC does is bad does not mean that I fail to recognize the need for ways of making the Williams community a better place.
April 4th, 2008 at 9:10 am
Well, David, you’ve showed such unbelievable ignorance here, it’s amazing. Not surprising you’d still make bold claims about what should be done, but perhaps you should only criticize committees you know even a little bit about:
The CDC has been a LONG standing committee, once (when I was on it) headed by one of your favorite professors (Dudley).
Restricting the level of “diversity” to “does it match the applicant pool” is PICKING ON THE DEPENDENT VARIABLE. I thought you did statistics–in short, if the JASC only gets 30 applicants and they’re 90% white, there’s the distinct possibility that there is something wrong with the set-up of the committee (time issues, etc.). Maybe outside eyes who know and respect the system (like, say, the CDC) could make some suggestions.
But no…you’re against it before they even study the situation. and furthermore, you introduce the word “racist” when it had appeared nowhere else in the thread (straw man much?). Pathetic display of making your mind up before knowing even an iota about what’s actually going on.
April 4th, 2008 at 9:15 am
oh, and another thing: you have a letter that was distributed privately and aren’t allowed to post it publicly and use that to condemn the committee? LMAO. Insinuation at its worst.
April 4th, 2008 at 11:51 am
I have a request.
I don’t like to argue, but I concede it has its place. I come from a quietist sect but even we debate while seeking discernment on our way to consensus. I’d like to know more about rhetoric. It’s a major gap in my education and I believe it would be quite useful in evaluating arguments.
Could other readers suggest a good primer on rhetoric? Nothing too complicated or detailed as I have to sandwich it in on the train. An “Idiot’s Guide” sort of thing. If the two “sides” who often line up against each other on this blog agreed on a single recommended text, I’d even rush right out to buy it and then stay up late to read it.
Thanks.
April 4th, 2008 at 12:38 pm
Larry:
Great request.
While I don’t shy away from…ahem…arguing, [:-!],
I could certainly benefit from some guidance on structure and presentation.
April 4th, 2008 at 12:43 pm
Larry,
I would recommend four books to look at:
“The Trivium” by Sister Miriam Joseph is an excellent introduction into a classical curriculum. She gets into syllogism in the second half of the book and the difference between material and formal fallacies.
“Rhetoric: The Wit of Persausion” by Walter Nash is a fun book that looks at the history of Rhetoric, and also looks at some of the tools.
“A Handlist of Rhetorical Terms” by Richard Lanham is the best overall guide to rhetorical terms and his definitions are great. He only goes into rhetoric as a skill at the end of the book
“How to Lie with Statistics” Not for Ephblog authors, obviously, but a fun primer on how numbers are misused. The best current work on this is the awesome BBC Radio 4 show, “More or Less”, hosted by Tim Hanford.
Hope this helps!
April 4th, 2008 at 2:49 pm
EVERYONE:
Let’s put some real facts on the table for once.
JA’s and JASC have historically been one of the LEAST diverse student groups.
This year, JASC has only one student of color.
2 years ago, only 2 JA’s were students of color.
While i don’t have the statistics on economic backgrounds, I do know that more often than not, students that want to be JA’s (approx. 65%) are legacies.
David is only right about one thing so far on this topic. That is that JA’s and JASC members tend to be primarily die-hard Williams fans…(and I would add, legacies). The question becomes, why are low-income students AND students of color not die-hard Williams fans? Why don’t they want to be a part of the JA system?
This is exactly what CDC wants to investigate…and we should all applaud them for the effort.
April 4th, 2008 at 3:21 pm
I appreciate Eph ’01’s comments and I would love to get some “facts on the table.”
1) You really think that JAs have been “one of the LEAST diverse student groups.” I will take the other side of that bet. Take a look at this year’s JAs. Pretty diverse! From what I recall in looking at these pictures in the last few years, the JAs have always been a diverse group. You claim that, in 2005-2006, there were only “2 JA’s were students of color.” True? Surely someone can provide further testimony on this claim. (I am doubtful but ready to be convinced.)
2) I have no knowledge about the racial composition of the JASC this year, but I have a great deal of respect for the sort of folks who have headed the JASC in the past. I find it almost impossible to believe that they would not be very sensitive to this point. Do you know of students of color who applied to the JASC this year but were turned down?
3) 65% of the JA applicants are legacies? Again, more data please! But, just back of the envelope, that seems too large. I understand that there are around 125 applicants for JA. (True? How about this year?) 65% of 125 would be 81. But there are not even 81 legacies in the class of 2006! (About 65 students in each class are legacies.) Am I wrong about the number of JA applicants or is Eph ‘01 misinformed. More facts on the table, please!
4) I would have a lot more faith in the CDC if they were more transparent. This sort of data (number of applicants, breakdown by race/income/legacy, number of accepted) for both the JASC and JAs relative to the school as a whole should be made public if we are going to have this conversation.
Again, more prediction is that there is no there there. But if smart Ephs like Rory and Eph ‘01 want to have this conversation, I am (now) in favor, as long as the CDC does so in a transparent fashion.
April 4th, 2008 at 4:03 pm
It was, when I was at Williams and shortly after (and I have little reason to think it has changed), an open secret that during the exit interviews, students of color and low income students were less satisfied with their williams students than wealthier, white students.
April 4th, 2008 at 4:06 pm
Eph ‘01
Exactly how were you able to come to the conclusion that low-income students and students of color are not die-hard Williams fans? Being a die hard Williams fan may be a necessary condition of being a JA or on the JASC, but not being a JA or on the JASC does not mean a person is not a die hard Williams fan. I’d like to think that the universe of die hard Williams fans is larger than the universe of JA’s or JASC members. Also, how do die-hards differ from loyal alums? With die-hards, is it that Williams can do no wrong? Generally, that is way die-hards are defined in sports and politics. If that is what you mean, I can say that none of the JA’s I knew of while at Williams counts as a “die-hard”.
Also, I am a little lost on how low income students got added into a discussion of making minority students feel more at ease in entries. Again, they are not equal terms. I think you were trying to link the statistic that, out of every 100 students that want to be JA’s, 65 are legacies, with low income students, but I kind of lost you. Could you clear this up?
April 4th, 2008 at 4:18 pm
I think I remember hearing somewhere that this year’s number was closer to 200, although I don’t have any official sources for that.
April 4th, 2008 at 4:23 pm
Exit interviews?
April 4th, 2008 at 4:42 pm
Yup, you have to fill out an exit interview at the end of senior year or, I think, they won’t give you your cap and gown. Or is that paying your bill at the Bursar’s? My memory of those last few days is rather hazy.
April 4th, 2008 at 6:01 pm
i don’t think they do the exit interview/survey of everyone (because I don’t remember it) but a sample of the senior class. And the discrepancy between students of color and white students (and the similar economic difference) was part of the administration’s effort at the time to beef up support services for such students.
April 4th, 2008 at 6:42 pm
David’s link to “this year’s JAs” isn’t working for me.
So if that is the case for any other reader, I will add here that the 2011 Williams facebook, with photos of almost all the JAs (two are missing), shows a much more diverse group than Eph ‘01 experienced. Out of 50 JAs, I count approximately 16 that don’t ‘appear’ to be caucasian.
Remember, these are 1″x 1″ snapshot photos. Given the missing photos, and the difficulty of judging race from physical appearance, that number could be slightly different.
And, after comparing the experience of my frosh with other freshmen (placed in schools across the country), I am convinced that the Williams JA system is not only unique, but really instrumental in creating a positive, successful transition into college life.
April 4th, 2008 at 6:43 pm
There are two different issues here: the relative diversity of the JASC and the relative diversity of the JA classes themselves, and these seem to be getting conflated.
Despite DK’s repeated exhortations, my own experience on the JASC was that there were not huge numbers of students beating down the doors of Hopkins Hall to be on it. It’s a big time commitment (preferably requiring all but the sophomores to be around for Winter Study to conduct interviews, and eliminating the participation of anyone going abroad for spring semester), not as fun as you might imagine, and quite stressful, given the task.
As Morty is fond of saying, the plural of anecdote is not evidence. From my own experience, we tried to have a very diverse JASC, not just racially and ethnically, but a diversity of classes, a diversity of experiences with the JA system (former JAs, rejected JA applicants, those who didn’t care to apply but were interested in the system, folks who loved their entry, folks who hated it), folks who bleed purple and gold, and those who couldn’t wait to see the back of the Welcome to Williamstown sign. There was also an attempt to get people who would know the applicant pool from a variety of perspectives: as their former JAs, in some cases, but also as teammates, classmates, through clubs and organizations, or just from knowing people around campus.
From the discussion here, amongst the CDC, and in choosing the JASC, it seems that we all at least agree that the makeup of the JASC is important in getting a good makeup for the JA class itself. I don’t disagree with that, but I also think it’s a less scientific process than we’re giving it credit for. At the end of the day, all 50 JAs are a bit of a gamble; you never know what’s going to come down the pike in an entry, and some folks who were on the bubble really rise to it while others who were expected to be standouts shrink from those challenges.
I also have an entirely personal theory that for a huge number of reasons, there are “strong” and “weak” JAs and JA classes, and the experiences of the frosh in those entries yields results in the JASC and JA applicant pool: those who were dissatisfied with their entry experience and hope to correct the process and those who loved it and want to emulate it.
Without becoming embroiled in a DK/Rory debate, I would throw out the possibility that the trade-off between being a JA and going abroad is HUGE and pulls away a lot of people who would otherwise make amazing JAs (or JASC members) if they weren’t going abroad. Where income fits into that discussion is that, because you don’t have to pay Williams tuition while you’re abroad, in some cases it’s less expensive and equally educationally valuable to spend a semester or year abroad. I was ready to go abroad if I didn’t get to be a JA, but when I was accepted, decided that I had already had many opportunities in my life to travel and would in the future, so my place was at Williams for that year. I wonder if the opposite is true for others’ calculus? I’m not suggesting any radical overhauls here, like making sophomores or seniors JAs or letting them go abroad, but just suggesting other variables that may affect the diveristy pool in both cases.
April 4th, 2008 at 7:23 pm
I believe the link Dave meant to link to was here, but, alas, the internet here is constantly down and remarkably unreliable, the site is loading painfully slow, so I can’t be 100% sure…
April 4th, 2008 at 8:18 pm
Well, at this point the williams.edu server only seems to give partial/incomplete responses to HTTP requests, so… anyone wanna take a gander and see if there’s a group of unhappy, stressed-looking people in the server rooms at Jesup?
April 5th, 2008 at 1:26 pm
Mark Berman had a good idea last year, to run a blog that would document system problems and explain things to students. Seems like it has been taken offline though.
April 6th, 2008 at 1:54 pm
in my time, the JAs and JASC were a pathetically homogenous population. now that i’m at a very diverse grad school, i know what it truly means to have an open, welcoming and progressive campus. williams failed in all respects. don’t get me wrong, i loved williams - just not for the diversity.
as a former minority JASC prez who made it my mission to make JASC and JAs more diverse, i found all my efforts rebuffed without any suggestions from student leaders about how to diversify the group. my co-prez and i met with all the diversity-related groups, had ongoing dialogue with the JASC and spoke with select deans. in retrospect, i am not surprised because the battle was so uphill and so enormous, it would have been too time consuming and too complex to understand all the different factors impacting JA selection and the applicant pool. i think the JA system is a smaller microcosm of the larger problem at williams: it’s simply not a school that actually supports its lofty diversity goals.
finally, the commitment was absolutely brutal (as a JASC member and JA), so perhaps my experience confirms what i have suspected all along: low-income and minority students are way smarter than the rest of the student body and keep far away for good reason…
April 6th, 2008 at 2:26 pm
“low-income and minority students are way smarter than the rest of the student body”
Talk about “lofty” opinions …
April 6th, 2008 at 4:21 pm
[aparent] Seems obvious to me that Eph Alum was being ironic.
[Eph Alum] Interesting stuff! But, please, we need more details.
1) Feel free to retain your anonymity, but can you at least tell us what era you were at Williams?
2) You say that during your time the “JAs and JASC were a pathetically homogenous population.” Can you give us more details? The JASC had 25 (?) members. How many were minorities? (Or, if that is not the measure of homogeneity that you are using, give us the details on that? Also, you have good data on at least 100 JAs (your year and the year you picked). By what metrics were they homogeneous? For decade, JAs have been out-going, friendly and involved students. They have certainly never been representative of the larger population on those dimensions. But I have yet to read any precise descriptions of how they are not representative along other dimensions, like race. And complains that I have seen, like Eph ‘01 above, seem highly misinformed. Enlighten us!
3) I am certainly welcome to arguments that the JAs are not as “open, welcoming and progressive” as some might like. But, before we get into those issues, we need to nail down things like race and legacy over/under representation. Also, I assume that you did not really mean to insist that the campus/JAs should be “progressive.” Are Republicans/conservatives bad JAs by definition?
April 6th, 2008 at 4:39 pm
David,
Actually, one could argue that JA’s do need to be progressive at least in their views of how accepting one should be of other students’ lifestyles. For example, an extremely conservative JA who believes that homosexuality is a sin would not be a good selection for JA considering the high likelihood that s/he would have a gay first-year in his/her entry. Progressiveness, to a limited extent, might actually be a JA requirement! LOL.
April 6th, 2008 at 4:57 pm
Would you, by the same logic, rule out JAs who were pacifist, who believe that the military action is immoral? After all, there will be a few miliary Ephs among the first years (I personally know two veterans in this year’s class).
How about a JA who disagrees with affirmative action? After all, there will be students in their entry who got admitted to Wiliams via AA.
How about a JA who is Catholic and believes that sinners go to Hell? How about a JA who is Orthodox Jewish and thinks that Jews should only marry other Jews?
Of course, the only reasonable answer (unless you want to re-enforce all my stereotypes of PCness at Williams) is that JAs can have whatever beliefs they like — about politics, religion, sex and everything else under our Purple Mountains — as long as they are open and welcoming of all their JAs. I think that the JASC does a fine job of ensuring that.
But, if “progressiveness” is your litmus test, then there is a real problem. A smart, sensitive JA will realize that, at least for a first few months (and maybe all year) there is no reason for her to be forcing discussion of difficult topics, much less lecturing her first years.
April 6th, 2008 at 5:23 pm
you didn’t read the “LOL” at the end, did you david? *smh*
April 6th, 2008 at 5:29 pm
Sorry! This is the great difficulty of the interweb . . . I am sure that I would have picked up on the humor had we been discussing this over a Greylock dinner.
April 6th, 2008 at 5:42 pm
David: What about canibalism?
April 6th, 2008 at 5:54 pm
Cannibalism.