Cappy Hill ‘76 is expected to be named the next president of the college within the next two months, definitely before the end of the academic year, according to a person familiar with the matter, who refused to be identified because the hope is to keep the appointment under wraps for the time being. We, of course, predicted this three weeks ago.

What is the real purpose of Winter Study, especially for male undergraduates?

The real purpose of Winter Study is to fall in love.

You will never, ever be surrounded by as many smart, pretty, eligible women as you are right now. Life after college is, comparatively, a wasteland. Of course, as you pass into the great beyond, you will meet other women, but they are unlikely to be as wonderful, physically and mentally, as the Eph women you are now blessed to know. More importantly, the best of them will choose mates sooner rather than latter. Exiting Williams without a serious girlfriend is not necessarily a one-way ticket to permanent bachelorhood (as several of my co-bloggers can attest), but it is not the smart way to play the odds. The odds favor love now.

It isn’t that your classes and papers, your theses and sports teams, are unimportant. But finding a soulmate to grow old with, someone to bear your children and ease your suffering, someone to give your life meaning and your work purpose — this is a much more important task than raising that GPA enough to make cum laude.

So, stop reading this blog and ask out that cute girl from across the quad. I did the same 21 years ago and have counted my blessings ever since.

Special thanks to “anon ‘70″ for this update on Stone Hill Center, the new addition to the Clark Art Institute. The article is a good read, and piqued my interest in the architect, Tadao Ando. Oodles of Google revealed a very interesting guy. Wikipedia says:

Ando has led a storied life, working as a truck driver and boxer prior to settling on the profession of architecture, despite never having taken formal training in the field.

Wow, a self-taught architect? Pretty unusual. Here’s Wikipedia, …as well as a more personal bio of him here…

…and yet another site with lots of visuals of his work.

I try to visit the Clark every time I’m in Williamstown, and look forward to seeing Stone Hill Center.

Norah Vincent ‘90 has been in the news quite a bit lately thanks to her new book, Voluntary Madness.  I somehow missed this 2006 appearance on Colbert (”how big?” — awesome).  Have any other Ephs appeared on Colbert?

(By the way, is it me, or was her first book, Self-Made Man, inspired by Eddie Murphy’s classic White Like Me?)

Williams Reads 2009 will use The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian, a winner of the National Book Award. I am open-minded on the Williams Reads idea. Yet I can’t help noting that Amazon classifies this book as being for either children or teens. Not that there is anything wrong with that!

I have bought my copy. Conventiently enough, I think that this book will be assigned in my daughter’s English class next year. She’ll be in the 8th grade.

Do we want a lot of facial hair dragging through the food at Paretsky?
And what happens at St. Pierre’s?
I, for one. am proud to support my local barber and the USA!

Latest Eph to join the blogosphere? Williams Bennett ‘65 at the amusingly named Nota Bennet.

First, on the international front: War has broken out in the Gaza Strip and Israel. Let me refine that: Israel has joined the war that has been launched against them by Hamas launching missiles into Israel proper and is responding by firing back. On Wednesday and Thursday of last week, Hamas fired some 100 missiles into Israel and on Saturday, Israel responded with bombing raids in a campaign that will try to eliminate the Hamas threat on Israel and Egypt’s border. This is the Gaza strip, recall, that Israel withdrew from in toto in 2005 because international promises were made that it would be one giant step for peace for Israel.

Perhaps Ronit could add the feed to his uber-cool Updates from Other Eph Bloggers.

What do Tyng Administrators do? The College notes:

The Stephen H. Tyng Scholarships were established in 1940 through the bequest of Mrs. Juliet Tyng in memory of her husband and son. The most distinctive financial aid awards the College offers, Tyng Scholarships are granted to a small number of especially talented and deserving candidates chosen from the incoming class by the College’s Admission Committee. Like all Williams aid, Tyng awards are need-based but they include a lower loan expectation; support for one summer of study, research, or internship; and assistance for up to three years of graduate or professional study.

The awards for graduate and professional study are administered by a committee of trustees, alumni, and students. The term for Tyng Administrator is three years. All alumni are eligible to vote each year for one of three alumni nominees. Voting begins online early each year, with a follow up paper ballot sent to those who have not voted electronically. The results of voting are announced at the Society’s Annual Meeting held during Reunion Weekend.

Comments:

1) Since Williams no longer requires loans for any student, we could probably lose the “lower loan expectation” part of this explanation.

2) The College makes it very hard to find out anything about the Tyng, even for alumni that it has nominated for Tyng Administrator! So, I have gathered all out Tyng-related posts in one handy category.

3) I quizzed a current Tyng Administrator last year. Tyng Scholars are picked by the Admissions Office. It is unclear what criteria they use. If it were me, I would give almost all the awards to highly qualified African-American candidates who the College would otherwise lose to Harvard/Yale/Princeton/Stanford. The only role for the Administrators is to serve on a board that approves funding requests for graduate study (and undergraduate summer study, I think). For the most part, almost all requests are approved.

Was this the start of camo and facial hair?  The Fifties Live!

to restrict and scrutinize the education of foreigners at elite American academic institutions? Do places like Williams belong to the United States in any way, shape or form?

  During our previous discussion on Nationalism and American Colleges responsibilities to/for the American Republic, Frank noted: “The first duty of an institution such as Williams is to assure its own survival and prosperity, not the benefit of the world or any nation, group or individual. Neither the policies of the U.S. relative to immigration or international affairs in general nor any attempt to influence the outcome of those policies should be confused with the objectives of the Williams Admission office.”

  Is that true? What about Williams’ history?  Williams was born with a physical and ideological attachment to the coming American Revolutionary War. Is that past now a meaningless history that holds no weight in current American wars and conflicts? If so, what has changed?

   Should Williams admit students like this? Allow students like MJH to matriculate? As the most elite small liberal arts college in our nation, does Williams as an institution have any responsibility for an admissions and ethics policy that is partial to the security of the United States and the principles of the American Constitution? Do American principles dictate that we show no deference towards nationalism, as was suggested?

• Marc Lynch has a series of insightful posts on the geopolitics of Gaza. Go to his blog and start reading.
• Sam Crane points out the vagueness of Samuel Huntington’s delimitation of “civilizations”.
• The Mass MoCA blog has some pictures from what looks like a fascinating exhibit entitled Being Here is Better Than Wishing We’d Stayed, and also informs us that Philip Glass will be in North Adams Jan. 16 to talk about his work on film.



• More impossibly cute babies.



• Jennifer Mattern writes a heartbreaking post about spending the first Christmas after a split.
• Juliana Stone finally feels at home at college.
• Ariel Ramchandani interviews the head curator of the Museum of Arts and Design in New York, which looks simply stunning.
• Chad Orzel starts a helpful discussion on what makes a dissertation.
• Hockey at Wrigley? I’m not sure how that works, but Sam Flood will be producing the broadcast, New Year’s Day on NBC Sports.
• Congratulations to John Szawlowski, First Team All American
• Liv Osthus gives great quote in an article about the portrayal of sex workers on reality TV:
  

  “It’s gross. It’s retarded,” is how Portland’s Liv Osthus, whose strip club persona is Viva Las Vegas, dismisses such fare. “I don’t like to see women brought down to the harpy level. We are not these Howard Stern, hypersexual, punch line characters,” she says. “We are really entrepreneurial, healthy, and intelligent, and do this by choice.”

  I’m most surprised by the fact that there’s at least one type of job interview where saying you went to Williams College doesn’t result in blank stares and crickets chirping:

  When Osthus got the casting people on the phone, told them she was a Williams College grad, in a rock and roll band, and — oh, yeah, a headlining stripper, the producers immediately put the couple on a plane.

• Daniel Drezner points to this absolutely awesome smackdown laid down by Mika Brzezinski’s dad:
  

Happy new year, everyone.

This fun WSO thread on heating included comments from Christophe Dorsey-Guillaumin and Sydney Pitts-Adeyinka. What happens if Christophe marries Sydney? Can we expect to see an Emily Pitts-Adeyinka-Dorsey-Guillaumin in the class of 2041? Or would that be Emily Dorsey-Guillaumin-Pitts-Adeyinka?

Now, obviously, Christophe and Sydney are no more responsible for their names than I am for mine. My point here is not to mock them, or even to mock their parents. I am really curious about the sociology behind hyphenated last names (surely this would make a great entry for Stuff Williams People Like) and the likely future evolution of the trend. What happens when such Ephs get married? I am honestly curious. And, yes, this is Stuff Williams People Like.

And, just to burnish my own progressive credentials, I can honestly claim to be one of the first male Ephs to seriously propose taking his bride’s maiden name in marriage. Captain Fang would have been a kick-ass title in the Marine Corps . . .

Here is the rough draft of the syllabus for this year’s CGCL Winter Study seminar. I am still arranging the material, but the draft is stable enough to seek discussants. If interested, please either contact me (dave at kanecap . com) or leave a note in the comments to this post.

Inside High Ed reports:

Moody’s Investors Service warned Monday that colleges with variable interest rates on their debt may face additional risks in light of problems with credit markets and the economy. The report, “Risks of Variable Rate Debt No Longer Hidden,” notes that 73 percent of private colleges and universities rated by Moody’s issued at least some variable rate debt, and 29 percent of those institutions issued at least 50 percent of their bonds with variable debts.

Williams has variable rate debt. Should we be concerned?

This post is a summary of a discussion on “Speak Up” . It was inspired by LG’s first comment in the thread and contains some wonderful anecdotes about the takeover of Hopkins Hall, the first female Ephs, and a bit of history on early Catholicism at Williams.

Feel free to add to the discussion if inspired. (more…)

as we are in the DC post below. 

http://www.ephblog.com/2008/12/27/march-dc-condo-prices-by-neighborhood/

Well, first in line is the 1943 hit ‘Pistol Packin’ Momma’ introduced by Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisiters (later covered by everybody and his brother including Ol’ Blue Eyes).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMDsV_lurd8

And ‘Pistol Packin’ Momma’ became the name of choice for WWII aircraft, including this B-17 ferried to Europe from Columbus, Ohio by the WASP (Women Airforce Service Pilots), the first women to fly combat aircraft.

‘Patty’s Got a Gun’ moves right along to Patty Hearst and the 70’s in this new book by William Graebner.

http://www.press.uchicago.edu/presssite/metadata.epl?mode=synopsis&bookkey=314743

Sidebars are the affliction of the attention-span challenged.

A nice story from Andrew Wang ‘08.

I just thought I’d clue you in on a random alumni encounter I had about a month ago. I’ve been studying Chinese in Taiwan for the past three months, and as anybody who’s been to Taipei can tell you, convenience stores are ubiquitous. One night, I was sitting down in a 7-11 scarfing down a quick dinner before I was to meet up with friends, and a thirty-something Asian man tapped me on the shoulder and asked in perfect English, “Excuse me, but did you go to Williams?” (I just so happened to be wearing my Williams sweatshirt that day). It turns out he was a Williams alum, class of 1998, and he was vacationing in Taiwan. If I recall correctly, he was working in Shanghai, and his name was Ken. Unfortunately, aside from telling him my name and the fact that I’d just recently graduated, I couldn’t really have a conversation with him, as I was already running late.

What’s the most unusual place that Williams has come up for you? My story involves Marine Corps Office Candidate School in Quantico, Virginia . . .

Think that Morty is working too hard, worrying about the future of Williams during the worst financial crisis in a generation, not even considering his future at Northwestern? Think again.

A former foe will accelerate his assimilation as a newfound friend of Northwestern football and other athletics when NU’s incoming president-designate arrives in San Antonio this weekend for the Alamo Bowl.

Morton Schapiro, the president of keenly progressive Williams College in northwestern Massachusetts, confirmed Tuesday he’ll be the guest of retiring NU president Henry Bienen when the No. 22 Wildcats (9-3) face No. 25 Missouri (9-4) on Monday night at the Alamodome (ESPN, 7 p.m.).

Late last month, the NU board of trustees announced that Schapiro, 55, will succeed Bienen in September. Ironically, when the Cats lost the 1996 Rose Bowl 42-31 to USC, Schapiro was a vice president and dean of USC’s College of Letters, Arts and Sciences.

”I was actually in the locker room and on the sideline for part of that game,” said Schapiro, a noted economist and administrator who left USC to be president at Williams in 2000. ”I remember coming out of the tunnel with the (USC) team and seeing all the purple and thinking, ‘Oh, my God, this is like an away game.’ We were 10 miles from the USC campus and 60,000 in the Rose Bowl were Northwestern fans.”

During Schapiro’s time in Williamstown, the Division III ”Ephs” - pronounced with a long ”e” in honor of college patriarch Ephraim Williams - won 13 NCAA titles in six sports, and three students were named Rhodes Scholars.

Said Dick Quinn, the school’s director of sports information: ”Morty is a great sports fan. I doubt there is another Big Ten president who has caught a field goal at a game. Get ready for him because he walks the sidelines at all home football games. The man is a great sports fan and his ability to remember students and athletes is amazing.”

While Schapiro has yet to formally meet Wildcats coach Pat Fitzgerald, they’ve exchanged e-mails and he expects to be introduced to Fitzgerald this weekend in San Antonio. He also has begun to study other Northwestern teams.

”I was very frustrated the other night because I had to follow the Northwestern-Stanford (men’s basketball) game on the Internet,” the Hofstra alumnus (Class of ‘75) said. ”Despite having a (satellite) dish, I couldn’t find it anywhere. Nonetheless, I look forward to watching many, many games and many other student activities in the years ahead.”

Although we all wish Morty nothing but the best at Northwestern, I can’t help but worry that, during the inter-presidentum, no one is cutting the costs that need to be cut.

The New York Times reports:

A FEW weeks ago, the youngest of the 20,953 students at the Storrs campus of the University of Connecticut went shopping for a calculator. Colin Carlson, who lives in nearby Coventry, took his mother along, as she had the driver’s license and the money. He also took a reputation well beyond his 12 years.

Another male student spotted him and said, “Hey, Colin, I hear you’re a babe magnet.” The boy smiled. But with a full course load and the usual schedule of public appearances ahead of him, he had yet to make finding a girlfriend a priority.

…

All of this convinced Colin that he was ready for college. In his application letter, he wrote: “My ‘issue’ is this. I am currently 11 and will be 12 by the time I matriculate. Please don’t be alarmed by this — I am actually a very mature person.”

Most deans of admissions, however, seemed wary of taking on the legal responsibility for an under-age student. Williams College wrote back: “What’s the rush?”

Well played, Dick Nesbitt. Well played.

Good luck to all our readers working on their own Williams applications.

Any relation to the discussions of ‘good’ neighborhood/’bad’ neighborhood occurring below in ‘Mugged’?

http://www.dchousingprices.com/2008/07/dc-sales-march-2008-sales-by.html

And, please read Hayakawa (introduced in Sociology 1-2 with Fred Schuman in 1953) on “loaded words”:

http://books.google.com/books?id=0H1p2sMdyXEC&pg=PA48&lpg=PA48&dq=hayakawa+on+loaded+words&source=web&ots=e_AaQby4fs&sig=upUkGlZ21jTyGrQxnhYQ5-oB5VA&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result#PPA48,M1

From Will Slack ‘11 on WSO.

* Catch the book nearest to you. Right now.
* Go to page 56.
* Find the 5th sentence.
* Write this sentence here
* Don’t look for your favorite book or your coolest but really the nearest.

“After deducting non-interest expense, provisioning, and extraordinary items from operating income, what is left is income (earnings) before taxes.”

That’s from The Bank Credit Analyst Handbook by Jonathan Golin. And people wonder why I blog so much . . .

What’s on your page 56?

Bill Couch ‘79 has been re-deployed to Iraq.  We now have 6 Ephs who are deployed in harms way.

Bill’s deployed address is:

CAPT W S Couch

MNSTC-I / JHQ AT

APO AE  09348

Thank you for your support of my classmate, Bill Couch, and all of the Ephs who are deployed.

Stewart Menking ‘79

StewMenking@yahoo.com

Williams College Adopt An Eph Program

More applications.

Students are applying to the state’s public colleges and universities in record numbers, as the nation’s financial crisis forces more families to consider less expensive schools. …

Framingham State and Westfield State colleges have seen more than 40 percent increases in applicants from this time a year ago, while the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts in North Adams has seen a 60 percent jump. Early-action applications at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design in Boston have risen 75 percent.

Good news for Williams’ neighbors.  The article mentions, quite sensibly, that most of these colleges don’t have much of an ability to increase enrollment, so the effect will likely be a somewhat more select incoming class at MCLA.

Also, interesting data coming in on recession effects.

At Framingham State College, where applications for the fall and spring have risen to an unprecedented extent, more than one-third came from families making more than $100,000 annually.

“For a public college, that’s very surprising,” said Nick Figueroa, dean of undergraduate admissions at the college, where annual tuition and fees this year total $6,141. “You tend to see more middle-income families.”

Laura Huang writes at WSO:

I had my first local *alumni run-in* yesterday morning after an ‘86 alum saw my sweatshirt and accosted me (in that eager-alum way). I’d find this remarkable even under normal circumstances just because I live in a very “Oh, you mean William & Mary?” area… but this particular exchange took place along a really random walking trail that my family was checking out on a whim, on a day when all places are closed and everyone’s at home. I can’t wait to spring up unexpectedly on young people wearing Williams gear once I become an old alum.

Indeed. It is every bit as fun as Laura imagines it will be. Try it yourself over the holidays!

The old man was in his usual place at the dark wood bar at la Floridita.

In front of him, a stemmed frosted glass, the product of local limes, orange liquor, and white anjejo rum.

He took the glass in his weathered hand, He looked at the sea in the mural of the city behind the bar. He said “Salud”.

The icy liquid slid down easily. It was his first of the day. And it was good. It would not be his last.

Christmas wishes from a very special Eph.

Advocate: Santa, we hear that your planning to return to
Williamstown again for the town 2008 Holiday Walk.

Santa: Yes, Williamstown is one of the most special places on
earth. I’ve been visiting different places for over 200 years and
I’d have to say that your town is one of my favorites.

Advocate: Santa, how long does it take to get here?

Santa: Well, technically my workshop is based in the North Pole but
it’s safe to say that I come from everywhere, given the many, many
places I need to visit to celebrate the Holiday traditions
throughout the world. In fact depending on where I am, I’m
recognized by many different names. A few that come to mind are:
St. Nickolas, Father Christmas, Pere Noel, Pelznickel, Ru-Klaus,
Sante Klaas, Sinter Claes, Grandfather Frost and a few more- that
Ahem.. let’s say the less spirited (or perhaps the too spirited)
have dubbed me. I dare not repeat them for the sake of the children.

Advocate: Santa, is it safe to say that you have a lock on being
the sole commercial icon of the Christmas season?

Santa: There are other players out there - but c’mon … and no
offense intended here but…Befana- an Italian witch on a broom?
Julnissen- the grey-clad giftgiving elf of Denmark? The Russian
Grandfather Frost? I’ll let you decide! Plus, good Christian
children know that the true meaning of Christmas is to celebrate the
birth of the Christ child. As you know, we all answer to a higher
power, and even Santa has a boss, if you get my snowdrift.

Rest of the interview below. Also, read this heart-warming story.

Merry Christmas to Ephs far and wide.
(more…)

From Swimming World magazine, here’s a Christmas performance recorded by the Williams College swim team in the middle of a winter training session somewhere warm and sunny:

Congratulations to these Ephs from the class of 2013, admitted early decision via the Questbridge program.

Claudia Corona Los Angeles, CA
Kelsey Gaetjens Lihue, HI
Maria Galvez Chicago, IL
Ivory Goudy Decatur, GA
Christopher Hikel Fryeburg, ME
Sarai Infante Bronx, NY
Christopher Simmons Los Angeles, CA
Ginette Sims Westminster, CA
Kwan Tang Brooklyn, NY
Carly Valenzuela Bermuda Dunes, CA
Laura Villafranco Jarrell, TX
Jonathan Wosen San Diego, CA

Gaetjens, Galvez and Wosen were awarded Tyngs.

Congratulations to all!

Questbridge provides background on some of the winners, but I couldn’t figure out how to link directly. So, below, are those descriptions. They seem to be written by the students themselves.
(more…)

Check out this nice Boston Globe travel feature on Williamstown in the winter.  I note that the Downtown Williamstown website has been nicely fleshed-out.  Anyone hear any scoop on the anticipated start date for the Subway / Purple Pub project?  Students have gone without cheap late night eats and the best off-campus bar for far too long.  I’m also curious to hear whether Paresky has annouced any plans for the former Subway building, which will be demolished at some point (hopefully sooner rather than later as it is quite an eyesore in the middle of downtown).  Considering that this was a hideous building and a waste of valuable Spring Street frontage as a single level-structure, anything that replaces it should be an upgrade.  Although I hope the architects follow the Tunnel City building model, rather than create another hideous suburban strip-mall wannabe like the Spice Root / Sushi Thai Garden building erected after the last major Spring Street fire.