WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Williams College on Monday reported that the school's Soldier's Monument on Main Street was defaced with apparent white supremacist graffiti.
President Maud Mandel sent an email to the college community reporting that a local resident reported to the school the presence of a Confederate flag and the painted word "Rebel" on the base of the Civil War statue, located outside the school's Griffin Hall.
"The Confederate flag and the word 'Rebel' are commonly used as symbols by white supremacists and other extremist factions," Mandel wrote. "The appearance of those marks is more evidence that we live in a world where people hold racist and otherwise hateful ideas."
Mandel reported that a Williams staff person removed as much of the graffiti as possible and covered the "remaining traces" until the stone could be more thoroughly scrubbed.
The college's Campus Safety Services department is investigating the incident and has referred it to the Williamstown Police Department, Mandel wrote.
Anyone with information can contact Williams College CSS at 413-597-4444.
"When someone defaces our campus — our own home — with symbols of those ideologies, it becomes especially personal," Mandel wrote. "I will join you all in defending the right of every member of this community to live and work here free of bias or intimidation."
The Williams Soldier's Monument was dedicated in 1868 to the memory of alumni who fought for the Union in the Civil War.
The report of its desecration came on the same day a group of Williamstown residents at the other end of Main Street installed 50 lawn signs on the Field Park rotary acknowledging the town's and college's presence on the homeland of the Stockbridge-Munsee Community.
An iBerkshires.com Facebook post referencing the "50 Mohican Reminders" installation generated several derisive comments on Monday morning.
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Incumbents Returned to Williamstown Prudential Committee
By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — As expected, incumbents Lindsay Neathawk and David Moresi won re-election to three-year seats on the Prudential Committee on Tuesday.
Williamstown Fire District Clerk Sarah Currie reported Tuesday morning that 27 residents turned out at the polls at Williamstown Elementary School for the district election; there were no contested races on the ballot.
A small crowd of residents convened for the district annual meeting that followed the election.
All articles on the meeting warrant passed unanimously.
The only question from the floor came regarding Article 11, a $60,000 appropriation for design work for the new fire station.
A resident asked whether that expenditure is covered in the $22.5 million bonding authority district voters approved in February 2023.
District building consultant Bruce Decoteau explained to the meeting that the $60,000 in question is a new expense related, in part, to value engineering work needed to keep the Main Street station on budget.
Dylan Turner went 2-for-3 with an RBI to give his team a 3-0 lead in the fourth, and then he left the bases loaded in the sixth and seventh innings to secure a 3-2 win over rival Drury in front of a big crowd at Joe Wolfe Field in the Class C Championship Game. click for more
Jonathan Howard and Jacob Thomas scored in a low-scoring second half Tuesday to secure a 9-8 win over Wahconah in the Western Massachusetts Class B Championship Game at BCC. click for more
Jason Codey struck out nine, and Morrie Fried went 2-for-3 with a triple Tuesday to lead the Pittsfield High baseball team to a 6-1 win over Wahconah at Wahconah Park in the Western Massachusetts Class B title game. click for more
The name change was announced last year during the annual Memorial Day service at the Field Park rotary, one of several high-profile events for the Legionnaires throughout the year.
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The Fire District on Tuesday will ask voters to approve a fiscal year 2025 budget that includes a 3.5 percent increase in the operation budget over the current year. click for more