Welcome to the new and improved CC website! College Council’s new online home is a one-stop clearinghouse for information and resources related to student government at Williams.
Use the tabs above for navigation, catch up on our latest news below, and please feel free to contact us with questions and concerns.
– Francesca Barrett ’12, Co-President
Nick Fogel ’12, Co-President
Fellow Ephs,
In our excitement about election season, we forgot a few more important updates with regards to changes in the elections.
Firstly, Campaigning can begin immediately after the nomination period, specifically on Saturday, February 4th.
Secondly, there is a new postering policy…
-Presidental tickets can spend no more than $50 on printing with a print card.
-Year Long Representatives can spend no more than $25 on printing with a print card
-Semester- Long Representatives can spend no more than $15 on printing with a print card.
ALL POSTERS MUST BE STAMPED BY ELECTIONS COMMITTEE FOR AUTHETICITY AND PRINT CARD LIMIT CHECK (Visit Schuyler Hall in Campus Life for this stamp of approval).
There can be 2 posters in Paresky and none in Goodrich this year, no including banners, but feel free to go WILD everywhere else and think creatively about how to get your message out to the student body.
Lastly…
Candidates are locked into these spending limits by the bylaws and must turn in all receipts in the Office of Student Life 2 days prior to the election (Sunday, February 12th)
Travel safely and have an amazing dead week,
Nick and Francesca
CC Presidents
Fellow Ephs,
Happy Dead Week! We hope that you all had a wonderful and restful January and are ready to begin the Spring Semester. With the new semester comes everyone’s favorite time of year… IT’S TIME FOR SPRING COLLEGE COUNCIL ELECTIONS!! (So many exclamation points! SO MUCH EXCITEMENT!)
College Council, the student government of Williams College, is charged with allocating the student activities tax, working with administrators to shape policy, launching campus improvement projects, discussing campus issues, and serving as the voice of the student body.
Elections will open at 8 pm on Tuesday February 14th and close at 8 pm on Thursday February 16th. Additionally, there will be TWO debates this year instead of one. The first College Council Debate will occur on Thursday February 9th and will include speeches from all candidates running for year-long positions as well as a Record-moderated Presidential Debate. THEN, we will have a second Question/Answer session on Sunday February 12 in which students will be able to ask candidates or positions specific questions. Look out for more information on these two sessions as we progress along election season!
All current students are eligible and encouraged to run for CC.
Each of the elected 18 positions on the council is open. They are as follows:
Read more…
Dear Fellow Ephs,
We hope you are all enjoying winter study and surviving the cold!
Entering the third week of winter study, the long days of TV watching, movie marathons, and sleeping until noon have lost some of their luster. As we prepare for our final ten days of January in Williamstown, College Council is offering a number of events to encourage you to brave the cold, maybe change out of sweat pants, and meet new people. Over the next week and a half we will be working with peer health, JAAB, Minco, and Storytime to put on events ranging from a forum on entry life to a movie screening of Good Will Hunting.
The Conversation Campaign, as we’re calling it, is designed to offer you a chance to engage in conversations and build connections with people you may not know or who you may wish to know more about. At Williams we see each other all the time whether in the classroom, the dining hall, or the library, but, despite this constant contact, it is hard to slow down and take the time to truly get to know each other.
We hope you can attend the various events of the Conversation Campaign, but whether you do or not, we hope you use the remainder of winter study and the rest of your precious time at Williams to meet new people, to talk to people completely different from yourself, to learn about your friends.
As Bobby Kennedy said, “that those who live with us are our brothers and our sisters, that they share with us the same short moment of life.” We are blessed to share four years of our lives together, just 2,000 passionate, thoughtful 18-22 year olds hanging out in the best town in the world. We are given the opportunity to get to know each other and learn from each other. Let’s take advantage of it.
All the best,
Nick and Francesca
CC Co-Presidents
Schedule of Events:
Read more…
Dear Fellow Ephs,
Happy New Year! We hope you’re all enjoying winter break and are taking this time off to relax and catch up with friends and family! Like many of you, we are counting down the days to the start of winter study! With the stress of finals behind us, we can look forward to broomball games, movie marathons, and lots of good times with friends.
It has been a busy semester for College Council. We began by organizing a number of events to support relief efforts at The Spruces. In October, we formed the mental health committee to raise awareness and support for those who struggle with mental health issues on campus. The culminating event, You Are Not Alone, gave students an opportunity to share their experiences and drew several hundred students. In November, CC supported efforts to address the culture of silence that surrounds issues of hatred and discrimination at Williams. In coordination with other student organizations, CC is working on launching a conversation campaign to provide opportunities for more meaningful dialogue on campus. Along the way, we have spent a great deal of time talking about alcohol, the entry system, and CC transparency. These discussions will continue into the New Year. We are planning two all-campus discussions on the role of JAs and the pressures surrounding the idea of “effortless perfection.”
The Great Ideas Campaign has officially ended, but if you have an idea for a project around campus please send in a proposal. We will be working on the various projects over winter study.
As always, we welcome any and all feedback. We would love to hear your thoughts and ideas for ways we can work together to improve Williams!
We wish you safe travels back to Williams and look forward to seeing you soon!
All the best,
Nick and Francesca
CC Co-Presidents
Read more…
Fellow Ephs,
There has been a lot of confusion surrounding funding on College Council and its transparency. Through this message and the following video, we would like to explain the history of College Council Funding through SAT tax funding and Rollover to clarify any misunderstandings regarding how CC has acted through funding. Read more…
In light of the widespread discussions that recent events have generated throughout the Williams community, I have tried to compile a central index of relevant resources:
Dear Fellow Ephs,
We apologize for the flood of emails we have been sending this week, but we feel that this message is important for everyone to hear. This week has been emotional for everyone. In this time of struggle we need work on uniting as a campus and helping each other.
We all have strong opinions about long-term policy changes that can help make Williams a better place. There will come a time for us to debate these changes in an open and well thought out manner, but that time is not now. Now is a time for healing. We urge you to be patient and understanding. The most important thing we can do right now is to talk to our classmates, reflect on what we heard on Monday, and be there to listen to those who are suffering as a friend and ally.
We cannot allow heated debate to drive us apart at this time when we need to come together.
Sincerely,
Nick and Francesca
CC Co-Presidents
Dear Fellow Ephs,
Yesterday was a truly momentous day for Williams College. As a student body, we had the chance to come together and mourn sufferings that have gone unnoticed for far too long. We should all be proud to go to Williams.
We need to take time to heal from the hurt we all experienced this week. As part of that we need to continue to talk and listen to each other. We need to be there for each other as friends and allies. We need to work together to overcome the explicit manifestations of prejudice and discrimination that were brought up by the courageous speakers over the past three days.
This is going to be an on going process. Change will not come overnight but with our collective efforts we can make a better Williams.
If you are feeling upset there are safe places to go to in Hardy House and Rice House, and we encourage you to reach out to PsychServices, the Chaplains, the Dean’s Office, Peer Health, RASAN, and friends on campus. These services are available regardless of whether you attended Monday’s events or not.
We will be meeting tomorrow in Greylock Dining Hall from 6:30-7:30 to plan ways to move forward after the trauma of the weekend. This meeting will be targeted in order to solidify goals and structure for moving forward.
Thank you. Take care of yourself and take care of each other.
Sincerely,
Nick and Francesca
CC Co-Presidents
Dear Fellow Ephs,
Please take the time to read this entire email. As we’re sure you have all heard, we will not be having classes tomorrow. Over the past 48 hours, hundreds of students have come together and rallied against the horrific, criminal words that were written Friday night. Many of you may be wondering why we are making such a big deal about this? Why are classes cancelled because of one criminal act? It is easy to brush this off as the actions of one ignorant person. It is easy to label this as an isolated incident. It is easy to say that Williams is not a campus filled with hate and overt acts of racism and move on.
We cannot do that. We cannot hide from the evils of these words and the acts of discrimination that take place on a daily basis at Williams. We cannot take this night as a night to party or take tomorrow as a day to catch up on work but rather must view this time as an opportunity to engage with our community. We must all take time away from our hectic schedules to listen to each other and engage in difficult conversations that happen far too rarely at Williams.
In standing up together as a community against discrimination, we ask that you wear purple and yellow tomorrow in a sign of solidarity and support for our community. Below is a schedule of events for the day. We want to stress the importance of both attending these events and taking this day seriously.
Timeline of the events
Tonight:
For those seeking safe spaces, please take note to the following: tonight, starting at 10:30 Rice House, Jenness, and Hardy, will be safe spaces with for students to come together and sit, talk, and process what has happened in the last 48 hours. Although staff from the MCC and Psychological Services will arrive on Monday morning for those seeking to talk, we encourage students who need a place tonight to feel part of a safe community to join with others seeking solace with others.
Tomorrow:
10 am in Currier Quad:
We Deserve to Live Rally Against Discrimination and Hate March.
11 am on Paresky Lawn:
President Falk’s Address to the Student Body, Faculty, Staff, and Administration.
Student’s Personal Stories about how racism, homophobia, sexism, classism, and other discrimination permeates our campus on a day-to-day basis.
12 pm in Dining Halls:
Lunch in which we encourage you all to reflect upon these earlier events and provide support for your peers who have been affected by discrimination and hate at Williams.
2 pm in Baxter Hall in Paresky:
An Open Mic Forum in which students will gather to share personal stories and reactions to this hate crime and other instances of discrimination on campus.
7 pm in Goodrich Hall:
A more practical discussion will be held with Lily Rodriguez about future demands on the administration and how to move forward about address discrimination on campus. There will also be a discussion about the specific series of events that culminated in today’s events.
There will be safe spaces designated throughout the day for students to discuss their anger, sadness, and disappointment with the college community and initial administrative reactions.
If you take out anything from this discussion, the 200 students that mobilized together against discrimination wanted to leave you with this note…
“A student wrote “All Niggers Must Die” on the 4.5 floor in prospect. Students, faculty, and staff are mobilizing for change. Join us in solidarity to denounce discrimination.”
Francesca Barrett and Nick Fogel
College Council Co-Presidents
Dear Fellow Ephs,
Happy Halloween! We hope you’ve had a great fall so far and got a chance to play in the snow over the weekend! With only six weeks left in the semester, we really want to encourage you to take some time to get outside and enjoy the rest of the fall and the beginning of the winter!
We are writing to update you on the projects that College Council has been working on this month. As always, we would love to hear from you about projects that you’d like to help with or suggestions for things you think we should be working on. Thanks a lot!
All the best,
Nick and Francesca
CC Co-Presidents