As I was watching the swimming Olympic Trials last night, who should appear on the screen but Lindsay Payne! Payne won the 100 breaststroke in the NCAA Division III nationals all four years, and racked up many wins. I know her from a winter study photography class; here are her photos.

In the 100 breaststroke semifinals at the Trials, she tied for 8th with another swimmer (Jessica Botzum), so to determine which of them would make the final, the two swimmers had a match race last night — just two swimmers in the pool, with 14,500 spectators. It was very exciting to watch! Payne started out with a small lead, then at the flip turn they were tied, then Botzum pulled ahead a bit, and in the last stroke it was so even that they touched at the same time. The touch showed that Payne beat Botzum by 0.02 seconds.

Payne will compete tonight in the final (start list - PDF). It will be televised tonight from 8 pm - 9 pm eastern time on channel USA. She will be in lane 8. Y’all come watch now!

In my regular truckload of political news yesterday and today, I noticed a little gem about Williams’ regular contributor and building namesake Edgar Bronfman, Sr. (of Seagram’s fame).  Well, technically I think the building is named after the whole Bronfman family, many of whom contributed to the building, but still…Edgar was the initial Williams connection so far as I know.

Former World Jewish Congress President Edgar Bronfman headlines a group of prominent Jewish leaders from New York who are signing on to support the Barack Obama campaign.

The Obama Jewish Leadership Council of Metro New York plans to meet next Tuesday. Other participants include Merryl Tisch, Howard Milstein, Penny Pritzker, Tom and Andi Bernstein and New York Reps. Jerrold Nadler and Steve Israel.

(Another piece from Politico on the same fundraiser)  There are some very interesting names on that list, but Bronfman obviously stood out.  I am still impressed that he and the family donated for a building - and later many other things - when he didn’t actually graduate from Williams (would have been class of ‘50, got his bachelor’s from McGill in ‘51).  We gave him an honorary degree in 1986 though, and a Bicentennial Medal in 2005.  Funny, the honorary degree isn’t indicated in his entry in the online Alumni Directory.  The announcement re: the Medal also is cagey about his graduating or not, saying only that he was “a member of the class of 1950″ but the other entries state “after graduation from Williams in 19XX.”  Subsequent to the family giving $1.25 million of the $3.9 million needed for the building (bit of history here with fabulous ’60s pictures), several other members of the Bronfman family also went to Williams (Samuel II ‘75 and Matthew ‘81 - sons of Edgar, and Stephen ‘86 - nephew of Edgar, son of Charles who actually spearheaded the family fundraising for the building).  There is also a Fiona Wood ’81 that comes up when you search the directory…hard to track all the family members so I assume she fits in there somehow.  Google can only give you so much info.  Bronfman also gave $5 million in 2003 for scholarships “to help extend need-blind admission to all international applicants” which should make David proud.  He also gave money toward the building of the Jewish Religious Center.

I wonder if this means that Obama will get an ugly, overly concrete building for his campaign HQ now?  I know there are those out there who sing the praise of strange ’60s and ’70s concrete & brick architecture like that of Bronfman (seen around campus in Greylock, Sawyer library, Prospect), but I have always found the interiors of such buildings cold, the sound quality terrible, and the weird odor from the concrete during warm humid days somewhat disconcerting. 

Let me be clear that I fully applaud the ideals of a unified science center, and I appreciate how much space it provides.  It allowed advances in science at Williams in a very real way (read the above link with the fun pictures).  But starting out as a math major and spending much of my first two years in there and also spending many long nights there in my later years as a tutor with the Math/Science Resource Center, I grew to detest its cramped classrooms, often dim interior, and weird echoes.  Perhaps I am alone in thinking this…and at least it doesn’t have the bizarre waffle ceilings like Greylock, but it’s not my favorite bit of Williams.  I personally think it’s one of the examples of technically “great architecture” without thinking about people enjoying of the use of the building.  I’m sure those who disagree with me will freely comment below.  My opinion may also be biased by spending much time of late in the large number of similarly styled government buildings in and around DC.  It just seems weird to me that if you accidently brush a wall on the INSIDE of a building, you could skin your knuckles.

I should point out that the Jewish Religious Center is a truly gorgeous building - inside and out - that is functional, filled with light, and beautiful.  So I guess Bronfman’s involvement doesn’t actually require an ugly building…this just gave me a fun hook to tie a few different comments about Williams together

Anyhow, viva la generous rich alums!  I’m sure this bit of fundraising will lead to all kinds of interesting commentary in the MSM, especially with some of these folks’ former support of Clinton and the fact that Bernstein is a former classmate and supporter of George W.  Too bad most bios of Bronfman don’t mention Williams at all…maybe some will now link to this little item?

Congratulations to Professor Lewis who has won a prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship!  They have been awarded since 1925 to those “who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts.”

From the College’s press release:

The Fellowship will allow Lewis to complete the research and writing of “The Pietist Tradition in Town Planning.” “Pietist tradition,” Lewis explains, “is expressed in a half century of Utopian town building by varied separatist sects as the 16th-century Anabaptists, 18th-century Moravians, and 19th-century Shakers.” It is a tradition that is in parallel and in opposition to the ideal cities of the Italian Renaissance.  

His project “is to do justice to this neglected chapter in the history of idea,” Lewis said.  “It will show that Pietist architecture … was rooted in the scholarly and courtly centers of Europe — and reflects the fertile interaction of the Renaissance and the Reformation.”

He will spend some of his year’s leave from Williams in Germany, primarily doing research at the Moravian archives in Herrnhut, Germany. In the U.S. he will focus this year on the Moravian archives in Bethlehem, Penn.  

Lewis said the book will sum up the meaning of “the other urban tradition, and seeks to take the measure of the Pietist contribution to urban thought, and its role as a laboratory for social experimentation.”

Thought it would be nice to throw a little positive reflection on Williams out there for the day.  While I never had the good fortune of taking his classes, several of my fellow Ephs have been motivated to pursue their passion for art and architecture by Professor Lewis and others in the outstanding Williams College arts community.  Yet again I am reminded of how lucky I was to spend four years at Williams surrounded by such dedicated, talented, and creative individuals.  Bravo!

Thought folks might be interested in another chapter in the Purple Pub story. Mary now thinks it will be open again for this fall!

This article from the April 9th Record provides some more details. I love how they highlight Mary’s connection with the students at the end. This is why the Pub has never been just another bar, but a part of the Williams community.

The Purple Pub will return to Spring Street at the end of the summer behind the George Hopkins building, according to the Pub’s owner, Mary Michel. While hoping to bring “a lot of the old pub into the new pub,” she is excited about the Pub’s new location, noting that it will “look out onto Spring Street for the first time.”
. . .
The new pub was originally going to have two floors but will now have only one, as the upper floor of the new building will house offices instead.
. . .
Michel has been working at a small home-based retail business, and also took on a job at Whitmans’ this February, where she hopes to continue working even after the Pub reopens. Out of all the difficulties due to the Pub’s closure, Michel said that the largest is “the time lost with the students,” which contributed to her motivation to work on campus.

Once the Pub reopens, Michel is hoping to regain support in the community. She has remained in touch with her staff, all of whom intend to resume working at the Pub. She also plans to serve dinner at the new Pub. Though the relocating and rebuilding may have taken longer than expected, Michel said she hopes the saying “when you build it, they will come” will hold true and that the Pub will once again become an important part of Spring Street.

Interesting interview with Major Bunge Cooke ‘98, USMC. (more…)

So exciting - my very first post, and it’s a scoop.

Williams announced its commencement speakers and honorary degree recipients today. You can check out the Press Release for the full details.

For those without the time to go read:

Acclaimed artist and sculptor Richard Serra will be the principal speaker at Williams College’s 219th Commencement on Sunday, June 1. Actor, director, and author LeVar Burton will be the baccalaureate speaker on Saturday afternoon, May 31. Former Secretary of State George Shultz will deliver an invited lecture on Saturday morning, May 31.

During the Commencement ceremonies on June 1, President of the College Morton Owen Schapiro will confer honorary degrees on Serra, Burton, Shultz, British economist Frances Cairncross, financial director and advisor Robert Lipp, and women’s health advocate Dr. Nawal Nour.

And now for the commentary aspect that will possibly make David regret letting me post: is it just me, or is Williams still following the not exclusive, but seemingly common, pattern of people of color speaking at baccalaureate and not graduation? I suppose I should preface this by commenting that I’m not in any way saying that the commencement speakers are not deserving….that is not what this is about. We have been lucky at Williams to have a distinguished group of speakers who admittedly have not all been white (and shockingly an entire 5 out of the last 35 have been women). It was, however, a running joke when I was at Williams that when we heard the list of the honorary degree recipients, we could guess who would be the baccalaureate speaker - or at least who wouldn’t speak on the big stage. True, it is a pretty great honor to be asked to speak at Williams at all, but all things being equal (accomplished, talented, powerful, inspiring people worthy of coming to Williams to speak) there was a perception by students that there was a tendency not to let some people speak at commencement.

The list of commencement speakers is on Wikipedia (although some of the links seem to be to other people with the same names, notably Chuck Davis). It is not exclusively white dudes, but it is overwhelmingly. And before the usual “but until 1970 Williams was mostly white guys” chorus starts - being an alum is not a prerequisite for speaking at graduation.

I don’t have time to run through every press release for the last however many years (and they are only archived to 2001 on the Williams website), but a quick look shows that we had a white grad speaker and person of color as baccalaureate speaker in 2007, 2005, 2004, 2003, 2002, and 2001 - and we will in 2008. So in 2006 they broke with tradition. This may just be me seeing things that aren’t really there, but, like the amazing lack of younger alums, women, and alums of color on the Board of Trustees, such oversights can cast a negative light on the Williams we all know and love. This struck me tonight given the flap about Geraldine Ferraro’s recent comments and her “don’t call me a racist, I’m oppressed, too” response. You don’t have to consciously be a racist to say things or do things that are taken to be totally insensitive. I just think it is worth pointing out that this tendency was noticeable enough that students at Williams joked about it.

And hello everyone! I promise to enjoy the arguments that are sure to ensue from any posts I make. I’ll try to get a real bio up at some point soon. Basics now: graduated in 2001 with Religion major and African-American Studies concentration. I was a nonprofit fundraiser and then an organizer for a few years before heading to law school. I graduated in May, and now I’m in DC as an honors attorney with one of the banking agencies (which means I can’t comment too closely on any issue relating to work).

The Gates Scholarships are basically the equivalent of a Marshall Scholarship or a Rhodes Scholarship — kind of a big deal. They are less well known, because they are newer, but they are funded by the Gates Foundation to send students to Cambridge. The purpose is to:

award scholarships on the basis of a person’s intellectual ability, leadership capacity and desire to use their knowledge to contribute to society throughout the world by providing service to their communities and applying their talents and knowledge to improve the lives of others.

This year, Williams has two Gates Scholars from the 2008 competition, who will be studying at Cambridge for 2008-2009: Shannon Chiu and Shawn Powers. Their profiles, with pictures and a paragraph in which they describe their background and goals, are linked from their names.

Close readers will also notice Michael Duyzend, brother of Williams valedictorian Marcus Duyzend ‘06. The full list, which includes one of my friends from high school (and maybe some of yours?), is here.

The new co-presidents are Jeremy Goldstein ‘09 and Peter Nurnberg ‘09, who received a majority on the first ballot against two other running pairs. Platform and self-nom in the rest of the post. (more…)

Microsoft is bidding to acquire Yahoo! at $31 per share. The letter sent to Yahoo!’s Board of Directors in interesting in several ways from a collaboration/communication/content strategies point-of-view.

First, the letter notes, "…the combination allows us to consolidate capital spending." While mentioned within the context of online advertising, the consolidation of Yahoo!’s and Microsoft’s datacenters would give Microsoft a huge backend for its ongoing push into software and services on the enterprise side.

Second, the letter says, "You should also be aware that we intend to offer significant retention
packages to your engineers, key leaders and employees across all
disciplines." One of the recent jewels that Yahoo! acquired is Zimbra, and if the Zimbra folks stayed around and allied with Microsoft’s research into useability, Microsoft would gain a very interesting asset. Of course, given the Java and open source parts of Zimbra, Microsoft could shoot it as well, so who knows.

On a business note, a pattern seems to be emerging here. In the case of FAST Search, Microsoft had its eye on the company for awhile, but waited until a FAST execution/strategy stumble depressed the stock before bidding. I would contend the same happened here. It’s classic Business 101, but it highlights the fact that timing is part of the equation.

Microsoft announced today that it was buying Fast Search & Transfer, the Norwegian enterprise search firm, for approximately $1.2 billion. It looks like pretty much a done deal, in that FAST’s Board of Directors is recommending the acquisition and the two largest shareholders are on board (per a ZDNet blog post).

FAST went into an operational meltdown last year (see Forbes article), with writedowns, layoffs, and the exiting of many longtime U.S.-based employees. This probably helped decrease the purchase price, and Microsoft seized the moment. While the operational wheels fell off, the FAST technology is strong at its core.

That FAST would be acquired is not surprising; Bjorn Olstad, the CTO, commented in a meeting I was at last year that the infrastructure players (IBM, Microsoft, Oracle) would increasingly encroach on FAST’s space. In short, FAST was well aware of the challenges ahead, and sounded like it was amenable to being acquired. What surprised me was that Microsoft bought FAST; I always thought it would be Oracle, for a variety of reasons.

Last year, we saw the infrastructure players absorb business intelligence (Oracle bought Hyperion, SAP bought Business Objects, IBM bought Cognos); this year it will be search. At this point, Autonomy is the only large best-of-breed player left standing, and it will have a hard time going it alone.

This is a huge coup for Microsoft in the enterprise search space. After futzing around for years, Microsoft finally started to get serious with search in SharePoint 2007. It’s not perfect–clients have started to tell me the boundary conditions they’re running into–but it’s a lot better than search was in SharePoint 2003. If you split the search market into three sectors: (1) cheap and OK, (2) relatively inexpensive and an 80% solution, and (3) expensive and sophisticated, Microsoft is targeting tier two with SharePoint Search. Microsoft Search Server 2008 Express is its answer to tier one (see my previous blog post here), and the FAST acquisition is its answer to tier three.

Strategically, Microsoft now has all the bases covered (and, as a nice side benefit, prevented IBM and Oracle from adding FAST to their arsenal). Now, of course, it has to execute, which is always easier said than done.

If you go down the list of competitors, they’re now coming up short:

• Autonomy: Starting to look a bit stranded as the remaining, large, best-of-breed vendor, and strong only in tier three. Great for publishers and specialized niche search, but too expensive for general deployment.
• Oracle: Has a solid tier two offering with Secure Enterprise Search, but nothing for tiers one and three.
• IBM: A lot of strong technology, but oriented more for integrators (think IBM Global Services) than for an off-the-shelf purchase. It doesn’t help that there are internal organizational walls to overcome. Search falls within the Information Management division at IBM, while collaboration is controlled by the IBM Lotus division.
• Google: A strong offering for tier one (Google Search Appliance), but nothing for tiers two and three.

To sum up, Microsoft just became a one-stop shop vendor for enterprise search.

David Halberstam, the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, author, and 2004 commencement keynote speaker, was killed in a car crash on Monday. Writing for the NYTimes in the 60’s, Halberstam reported on the Vietnam War, including the self-immolation of Thích Quảng Đức. Some of us ’04s may also somewhat bitterly remember that he delivered a nearly identical speech at Skidmore’s commencement the day before speaking at Williams.

The following e-mail was sent to williams-students and williams-personnel today.

To the Williams Community,

As members of a college campus our hearts ache even more fully for the victims at Virginia Tech, their families and friends, and for all in Blacksburg and elsewhere who have been touched by this tragedy.

While our thoughts remain focused on the situation there, some people on our own campus have asked about how prepared Williams is for such emergencies, so let me give you a brief sense of that.

I’d say that we’re rather well prepared, though professionals in this line of work say that every emergency brings it’s own wrinkles, not all of which can be anticipated.

For more than ten years, we’ve had a written Emergency Response Plan, which has been developed, refined, and tested under the supervision of Director of Campus Safety and Security Jean Thorndike. It addresses how College personnel would respond to various emergencies, how decisions would be made, and how College operations would be coordinated with outside agencies.

Simulation exercises have been held in conjunction with police, firefighters, ambulance, and hazardous material response teams. Several years ago College personnel participated in a drill that simulated a live shooting incident at Williamstown Elementary School.

In the case of a shooting on campus, police would immediately take control of the situation. A SWAT team is based in Pittsfield. College personnel would assist police in ways that could include the evacuation of a building or part of campus, establishing a perimeter, providing floor plans, and locking and unlocking doors, much of which can be done by computer from the Campus Safety Office.

Mike Wynn ‘93, head of the Pittsfield Police Department’s Special Response Team, has led incident command training for our safety personnel, which rehearses ways to identify resources appropriate to various levels of emergency. He knows our operations well, having worked in our Campus Safety Office as a student.

The college recently agreed to purchase the services of a company called Connect ED, which can send broadcast e-mails and/or phone calls to targeted groups. This includes calls to cell phones. We will have a number of target groups of various sizes from teams of emergency responders to all students, faculty, staff, parents, board members, and other alumni leaders.

We’ve established the principles of effective emergency response and continue to put in place appropriate resources and equipment. The key, however, is the creative adaptation of them in the face of a real emergency, with its individual challenges.

To bring our minds back to the present, however, we should continue to hold in our thoughts and prayers all those affected by yesterday’s tragedy. As Chaplain Rick Spalding pointed out in his message earlier today [see below], staff of the Dean’s Office, Chaplain’s Office, and Health Center are available for any students in need of someone with whom to talk.

Regards,
M. Schapiro

(more…)

At least, according to this Williams Record exclusive. Previous discussion in this thread.

The Eagle provides this update on the dire (?) financial situation facing Mount Greylock Regional High School.

A subcommittee studying the long-term financial outlook for Mount Greylock Regional High School says that the school has done the best job it could for next year’s budget in the face of higher costs and slumping revenue, but more work must be done.

“Despite the effective current effort, it is clear to the subcommittee that the school has not yet attained a financial model that is sustainable into the foreseeable future,” the report’s summary reads.

The interim report was presented to the School Committee last week, with more complete recommendations expected at the end of the school year. The group has nine members from Williamstown and Lanesborough and has met every other week since last July.

“I give the school credit for doing this,” said subcommittee Chairman James Kolesar, “because few districts are willing to focus so closely on the challenges ahead.”

The group includes Superintendent William Travis, School Committee member David Archibald and teacher Drew Gibson, but the remaining six members have never worked on the school budget process. Kolesar said that was by design to ensure they were approaching it from a fresh perspective.

Rest below. Comments:

1) Kolesar is a good guy and it is nice to see college faculty and administrators deeply involved in town issues. Previous commentary on MGRHS financing here.

2) The reporter, Chris Marcisz, ought to give me a call on this story. I give good quote. The central issue, discussed here, is that the teacher’s union at MGRHS is too powerful and is able to force excessively high salary and benefit levels on the school. The voters of Williamstown are sick of this and so try to limit things by keeping the budget low. The school board can’t/won’t make sensible adjustments (no health care once you retire from teaching) and so is left cutting language programs and sports funding.

3) Why isn’t a copy of the interim report available on-line? It ought to be.

4) “Fresh perspective” is sometimes code for “willing to take on the teacher’s union.” Time will tell.

(more…)

At 4:40 at the ending of the The OC finale, one of the characters seems to be in a math class with a bunch students wearing Williams clothes. Can someone please explain what is going on? We need to get these pop culture appearances correct. Kaitlin Cooper seems to be the character. Good person or bad person? Is it part of the plot that she was going to Williams? Details, please. (Previous discussion here.)

And perhaps a technologically skilled reader could do a screen grab for us?

Note that the last woman to fictionally look toward Williams was Lucy Montgomery from As The World Turns.

But only a few papers, nearly all in Connecticut, ran the story. The article begins:

WATERFORD, Conn. — The state is looking into why more than 230 New England college students developed a skin rash after an October cross country meet at Harkness Memorial State Park.

Officials have not completed their investigation, but coaches believe the culprit may have been about three feet of standing water left on part of the course by heavy rains and high tide.

You think?

Previous discussion here.

You saw David Kane’s application. Now, David is a very dedicated alum who is willing to devote many hours to writing things about Williams, but as you know, sometimes people disagree with him. Are you one of them? Then apply to be on the 2007 Willipedia board.

We want current students, and we want alums. We want a diversity of opinion, dedicated writers, and people who know things about Williams. The 2006 board has students from the classes of 2004 through 2007, and it’s been a great year, but there are some historical gaps that we just can’t fill in. For that, we need alums, from any period, really.

Guy Creese? HWC? Perhaps. One of the many people who read EphBlog and almost never, if ever, comment? Yes, probably one of you is just the person we’re looking for. So please, apply to be on the Willipedia board. You’ll be glad you did.

(And if you agree with David Kane, that’s okay, too.)

The full announcement, with all the details, is below (click the following link):

(more…)

The wedding of my friend and teammate Kenny Marines ‘01 to Jen Greene ‘02 was listed in the New York Times’ wedding announcements on Sunday. Congratulations to a long-standing and lovely couple, and best of luck to them as they begin the rest of their lives together.

David, I don’t know whether they met during Winter Study (and I doubt that they lived across the same quad, as they were a year apart), but they were definitely a Williams couple, so that’s one more for you.

Though I knew about the nuptuals since the summmer, the reason I found out about the announcement was because David Lat (formerly of Article III Groupie and then Wonkette, now running a legal tabloid called AboveTheLaw) listed Ken’n'Jen in his Legal Eagle Wedding Watch post today and in fact, named them this week’s winners. Lat’s commentary is highly complementary and quite amusing — one might even call it gushing. (emphasis below is mine):

Résumé score: 8.7. Both are Williams College grads. She went to Brooklyn Law (cum laude), clerked for a bankruptcy judge (in the S.D.N.Y.), and will be going into bankruptcy — the department, not the financial state — at Simpson Thacher (the other highlight of their credentials, besides Williams). He’s an associate at the Tishman Speyer real estate firm.
…
Balance score: 8.7. Hard to gauge the impressiveness (or profitability) of Kenny’s employment with Tishman Speyer; but it seems to us that Jennifer has the edge.
Beauty score: 9.4. Yes, this is one of the highest scores we’ve awarded in a long time — but check out that photo! They’re both gorgeous. If she’s 5′8″ or above, she belongs on a runway. And so does he. You know someone is truly beautiful when they look great even with a shaved head. It’s all about the features.
Overall score: 8.80.
Additional comments: Extra points if this is a multi-ethnic union. A rabbi officiated, so one or both of them is Jewish; but we’re guessing that Kenny is Latino, based on the names of his parents (Emelania Fernandez and Juan Marines).
…
THIS WEEK’S WINNING COUPLE: Jennifer Greene and Kenny Marines. Their exceedingly high beauty score gave them a lead over the two other couples that they never relinquished. Congratulations!

A few weeks ago David Kane announced that Robin Stewart ‘06 had a made a music video, but asked: “Where is the whole video? And does Morty really make an appearence?” Well, now the whole thing is online in two lengths, two formats, and two sizes, and yes, Morty makes a great appearance about three and a half minutes in. In addition to great choreography, the video incorporates many Williams locations, so you can even watch it just for that.

According to The Boston Globe, Jonathan Kraft ‘86 (and Williams Trustee) was instrumental in helping the NFL owners and players extend the NFL’s collective bargaining agreement for six more years. The agreement was a modification to a plan jointly proposed awhile back by the New York Jets and the New England Patriots.

Kraft had been working for the past six weeks on several scenarios for revenue sharing that he had worked up in his laptop computer, but in the end still had to make last-minute changes and adjustments to ensure the final proposal would be supported by the minimum 24 votes necessary.

The Globe notes,

After the long day was over a number of owners came up to Kraft, who was representing the Patriots in the absence of his father, who was on a mission in Israel, thanking him for his efforts. Johnson, for one, seemed to bury the ”border wars” hatchet that has so long hung over Patriot-Jets relations when he credited him with playing a key role in brokering the final deal.

”We’ll all share the pain, I guess,” said Johnson, who presently heads a low-revenue team but will very likely have a high revenue one within five years when his new stadium being built jointly with the Giants is completed in New Jersey. ”Jonathan was very good. I was skeptical yesterday [that an agreement could be reached].”

Whenever I read a news story like this, I always wonder how much of an impact Williams training had on this. Hopefully, looking at a problem from different angles was something Jonathan learned at Williams. Certainly cranking out different scenarios on a laptop wasn’t one of them — perhaps he picked that up when he got his MBA or during his stint at Bain. Still, no matter what the origins, in today’s crazy world, it’s nice to see that a cool head and analytical thinking can make a difference.

See here.

In other news, it’s Ephraim Williams’ 291st birthday.

During Winter Study, six Williams runners ran and biked the distance of the Anza Trail in the desert southwest. We last heard about them here about a month ago, when hwc doubted the intellectual seriousness of the adventure and frank uible suggested they should try to make it a “boondoggle.” Unfortunately for both of them and fortunately for the six men, both alums were wrong. It was a journey of intellectual seriousness and certain growth for each of them.

The “Anza Pioneers,” as they call themselves, have set up a wiki-formatted web site with pictures and information about their journey. There is a profile of each of them, and pictures and narrative from each of the 31 days of the trip. David Rogawski ‘08 wrote a thoughtful reflection on the trip here, which skeptics and anyone else who is interested should certainly read. Rogawski writes:

We started in the desolate Sonoran desert and traversed seemingly endless, pancake flat roads, some of them paralleling highways, others cutting through wide expanses of sand and cacti. Some of the roads were quite sandy, making biking very difficult, especially with the BOB [trailer]. What was really amazing was that the transition from hot, dusty desert to cool highlands was accomplished in one day. After our long hike through Coyote Canyon, we arrived in a totally different highland environment with grass, trees, and cooler temperatures. A few days later, we climbed over the mountains and decsended to the Pacific Ocean at Laguna Beach, where there were tons of people, stores, roads, and palm trees. … We traveled through some rural areas before we got to San Francisco around Paso Robles and Salinas, but nothing as extreme as the Arizona desert.

And for those who yearn for intellectual seriousness, you can read their final papers. In the order of the men in the picture below: Stephen Wills ‘07, Grant Burgess ‘08, Bill Ference ‘07 (pending), Colin Carroll ‘07, Corey Levin ‘08 (pending), and David Rogawski ‘08 (doc).

As an aside, EphBlog can never get enough of Professor Joe Cruz, so you will be happy to note that his bike also went along.

While college guides prattle on about Williams, its students, its ambience, etc., one way to get a bead on the place is to investigate what Amazon.com says “Williams College” is buying. It’s unclear how Amazon.com comes up with this bucket — for example, perhaps buyers use “williams.edu” as their e-mail address, or maybe Amazon tracks that Williams College is the mailing address. In any case, whether the methodology is loose or rigorous, now you can ponder the “findings.”

Others you may want to check out include:
Amherst College
Carleton College
Dartmouth College
Middlebury College
Wellesley College
Smith College

The college announced yesterday that the new student union would be named the Paresky Center, after David Paresky ‘60 and his wife Linda. According to iBerkshires.com, David attended Williams on full scholarship.

The Pareskys co-founded the Boston-based Crimson Travel Service in 1965, expanding nationwide as Thomas Cook. By the time American Express purchased the company in 1994, Crimson/Thomas Cook had become America’s third largest travel agency, with David serving as CEO and Linda as co-chair.

Check it out: No “ads,” and a lot of purple, white, and purplish-white. And those floating menu things! Gosh!

At 11:37, Doug Bazuin sent out the following to all of Williams:

At around 9:40 this evening, several students called the Safety and Security Office to report the smell of ammonia in the Berkshire Quad.

Officers located the source as the hockey rink, where ammonia is used in the refrigeration process.

The buildings in the Berkshire Quad were evacuated as a precaution.

At this point, technicians are trying to identify the exact location of the leak. If that can’t be done in a timely manner, the refrigeration system will be shut down.

When either of those happens, officers will then go through the dormitories to make sure the smell has dispersed. Where it has not, they’ll take steps to disperse it.

Some Berkshire Quad students are in the field house and Goodrich Hall. Others are with friends. Mission Park HC’s have volunteered the common rooms in the building for Berkshire Quad residents to crash as well.

We will let you know when there is further news and especially when the buildings are open. Thank you for your patience during this chilly [more like freezing cold!] night.

-Doug

Douglas J. Bazuin
Director of Campus Life

You see, thinking that the Williams House System was not coming soon enough. the college found a new way to exterminate the Odd Quad. Clever, no?

The George M. Hopkins Furniture Store at the bottom of Spring Street is going out of business, and will soon have a “Going Out of Business” liquidation sale.

Hart’s Pharmacy, Goff’s Sports, McClelland Stationers, and the U.S. Post Office are about the only things left on Spring Street from my era (30 years ago). The Williams Co-op burned down; Renzi Books and the Joseph Dewey Bookstore are gone (yes, there were two bookstores on Spring Street in my day); the House of Walsh went out of business; the Williamstown National Bank went through multiple takeovers; the Gulf gas station was razed and gentrified; and Spring Street became one way.

These changes have been going on for years; in the 1930s, Spring Street supported three or four top men’s clothing shops. By the jeans-clad 1970s, they’d all vanished except the House of Walsh. So current students, look around — Spring Street as you know it will be different when you come back for your 25th Reunion.

On Saturday, Williams will present Bicentennial
Medals to six alumni:

• Bernard Bailyn, Pulitzer Prize-winning
  historian
• Edgar M. Bronfman, president of the World
  Jewish Congress
• A. R. Gurney, Jr., playwright
• Glenn D. Lowry, director of New York’s
  Museum of Modern Art
• Inigo Manglano-Ovalle, artist
• Marisa E. Reddy Randazzo, threat assessment
  expert

This ceremony will be special for me, as one of the major reasons I attended Williams was because Bernard Bailyn had gone there.  I was quite a History aficionado in high school, and I figured if Williams could turn out great historians such as Bernard Bailyn and James MacGregor Burns, that was the place for me.

If you can make it, I would highly recommend
it.  I’ve attended around six presentations so far, and it’s always fascinating to see what tortuous and interesting paths Williams graduates travel.  Morty changed the venue last year — to Chapin during the day so students could attend, rather than at night in Lasell for alumni only — and the students seemed to take a lot of inspiration from what they heard and saw.

The college’s summary of the recipients’
accomplishments is
here;
following is further background on what they’ve done.

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While the media is leading with soundbites about the impact of Hurricane Katrina, here is some commentary that makes it clear that good old multi-disciplinary thinking — you know, the stuff we were taught to do at Williams — is required.

An Intelligence Assessment: New Orleans: A Geopolitical Prize

The college lists alumni events in date order here. While I suspect Williams has the events listed in an internal calendar, and so listing the events is date order is the easiest way for the college to put them up, it completely ignores how most alumni would look for events. While there are some well-heeled alumni with private jets who can zoom off to supporting a food bank in Tuscon or attend a book signing in Portland, OR, most of us attend events where we live. For example, since I live near Boston, the eight events within the next two months in New York might as well be on Mars.

So I took the three minutes necessary to alter the order and have pasted the results below. I hope you find this helpful.

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