Williams students marched on President Adam Falk's office to demand the college do more to reduce the institution's carbon footprint.
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — About three dozen Williams College students Wednesday took a break from final exams week to press the college president for action on climate change.
President Adam Falk told them that the college is working on the issue but that "patience" is required to make sure the job is done right.
"I want us to set goals we know how to meet," Falk told the students who climbed three flights of stairs to wait outside his office in Hopkins Hall.
"That means getting a process that involves the Zilkha Center [for Environmental Initiatives], students and faculty, that doesn't just have goals but has a path that we understand how to get down."
Wednesday's demonstration was organized by the student group Thursday Night Grassroots, an environmental action organization.
The group met on the steps of the Paresky Center and blew up black balloons symbolizing the carbon dioxide emitted by members of the college community. They then marched to the administration building while three members of the group presented Falk with a petition calling for stronger carbon reduction goals at the college.
The petition was signed by more than 1,000 people.
Wednesday's event had far fewer people, but the students were enthusiastic as they staked out a petition on the grass outside Falk's office in hopes he would acknowledge them at his window. When it became clear that would not happen, the group moved inside to wait near his office for the departure of juniors Alice Stears and Molly Pickel and sophomore Lucy Page.
After they emerged from their meeting, Falk stepped into the hall outside his office to share some thoughts with the larger gathering.
Pickel said the private meeting was encouraging.
"I think it was good," the Mount Kisco, N.Y., resident said. "He was receptive to the idea of reducing carbon emissions at Williams. But he is not ready to make any sort of commitment to that."
The trio said Falk told them what the told the bigger group: The college needs to have a more focused conversation bringing in different experts and interested parties.
"It's sort of slowly moving but in a fragmented way with different groups working independently but not cohesively," said Page of Winchester.
Billings, Mont.'s, Stears said TNG wants Falk to foster a more directed discussion.
"What we're hoping might come out of this is more of a push from, maybe the president's office ... more of an institutional focus on getting that work done at a faster pace," Stears said. "I guess that would be the hope going forward."
Stears, Pickel and Page said they all plan to carry the momentum of the anti-carbon movement through the summer and into next year, since all three will be back on campus.
One student who will not is Zoe Grueskin, one of TNG's leaders who led the march on Wednesday but who will graduate next month with plans to teach in Shanghai.
Grueskin said she plans to continue to stay involved with the college and is excited by the energy she saw from her fellow activists this year.
She provided one of the key elements of Wednesday's protest, a banner carrying a quote from Falk that he gave her and a now-graduated student in January 2013.
"There’s actually no more important issue that the world is facing. Nothing," Falk said then about climate change.
On Wednesday, Grueskin was happy to be able to use Falk's words to remind him of the issue facing Williams College.
"It makes sense that he would say that," she said. "He's a physicist. He gets it."
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Williamstown Select Board Inks MOU on Mountain Bike Trail
By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — A planned mountain bike trail cleared a hurdle last week when the Select Board OK'd a memorandum of understanding with the New England Mountain Bike Association.
NEMBA Purple Valley Chapter representative Bill MacEwen was back before the board on April 22 to ask for its signoff to allow the club to continue developing a planned 20- to 40-mile network on the west side of town and into New York State.
That ambitious plan is still years down the road, MacEwen told the board.
"The first step is what we call the proof of concept," he said. "That is a very small loop. It might technically be a two-loop trail. It's a proof of concept for a couple of reasons. One is so we can start very, very small and learn about everything from soil condition to what it's like to organize our group of volunteers. And, then, importantly, it allows the community to have a mountain bike trail in Williamstown very quickly.
"The design for this trail has been completed. We have already submitted this initial design to [Williams College] and the town as well, I believe. It's very, very small and very basic. That's what we consider Phase 0. From there, the grant we were awarded from the International Mountain Bike Association is really where we will develop our network plan."
MacEwen characterized the plan as incremental. According to a timeline NEMBA showed the board, it hopes to do the "proof of concept" trail in spring 2025 and hopes to open phase one of the network by the following fall.
Williams and the Town of Williamstown are two of the landowners that NEMBA plans to work with on building the trail. The list also includes Williamstown Rural Lands Foundation, the Berkshire Natural Resource Council and the State of New York.
The Charter Review Committee on Wednesday voted unanimously to endorse an amended version of the compliance provision it drafted to be added to the Town Charter. click for more
Developer David Traggorth asked the trustees to make the contribution from its coffers to help unlock an additional $5.4 million in state funds for the planned 54-unit apartment building at the south end of the Cable Mills site.
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The donors, who wish to remain anonymous, say the gift reflects their desire to not only support Williams but also President Maud S. Mandel's strategic vision and plan for the college.
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Neighbors of a proposed subdivision off Summer Street last week asked the Planning Board to take a critical look at the project, which the residents say is out of scale to the neighborhood. click for more