Williams College President Morton O. Schapiro has been on the job just a year, and last week he reflected on the job itself, on the past year, and on the role of the college in the town.
His clear refrain was delight in being able to work at what he loves best.
He is pleased that the college is gearing up for curriculum redesign, and that the partnership with the town has entered a new era.
“It’s been good,†said Schapiro. “It’s good to be back.â€
Schapiro taught economics at Williams for 11 years before going to the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, where he was dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and vice-president for planning.
“A lot of people aren’t blessed enough to be able to do what they like best,†he said. “I believe in undergraduate education. We [at Williams College] wrote the book on it.â€
“At USC I spent a much higher percentage of my time dealing with professional education, graduate education, athletics and the university-owned shopping mall, hotel and hospital. What I enjoy is undergraduate education. I’m doing something I really believe in.
“Williams has a great faculty and staff,†he said. “I have have an advantage in having been here 11 years, so I’m rekindling old friendships rather than having to make new ones.â€
“And my family is reacclimating to Williamstown.â€
The new occupants have given the stately, pilastered president’s house on Main Street a livelier tone.
“The best thing is the kids love it here,†he said. “And they were pretty skeptical about leaving L.A.†The two oldest, Matt and Alissa, play tennis on Mount Greylock Regional High School teams. Matt’s team was runner-up at the state finals.
The family loves the spontaneity possible in a small town. “Our house is a youth center,†said Schapiro. “It’s hard to do that in L.A., where organized play dates, with transportation, have to be arranged as much as a week ahead of time.
“We have lots of sleepovers,†he said. “It’s a very large house in a central location, and kids like to play frisbee on the lawn.â€
His wife, Mimi, is a screenwriter, and the youngest family member, Rachel, is 18 months old.
But the big college in a small town presents unprecedented challenges.
“It’s wonderful but a little scary,†said Schapiro. “The college has such a big presence. I don’t have a life separate from my job.
“In L.A., I was the Little League coach, and very few people in Sherman Oaks knew what I did for a living. But there’s no separation here, and there are challenges in relating with different individuals and institutions. If, in a discussion, I raise a point about the Williamstown Youth Center or the Day Care Center, it makes me very conscious that what I say is assumed to have the force of the college behind it. I say, ‘This isn’t the college, it’s just Morty talking about his kids, his life,’ but they’re hearing the college anyway.â€
“The lines are blurred,†he said. “It’s always bothered me when people use their position for their own advantage. But it’s hard to draw that line here. And that makes it a little complicated.â€
The responsibility inherent in the president’s job is new, too, although his job as vice-president and dean at USC held plenty of responsibilities.
“Until you’re in the office it’s hard to understand,†he said. “In L.A. when I left the office I didn’t worry about a thing. But here, I always feel responsible. So many people depend on you.â€
“There are the 1,000 people who work for us, the current students and their families, former students, townspeople who are affected by the college,†he said. “You feel real responsible. You don’t want to let people down.â€
“It’s such a great place, and you want it to be even better,†he said.
Schapiro has visited 27 Williams alumni clubs worldwide over the past year, and is pleased that “in 26 of them there was a former student of mine. In San Francisco, there were nine.â€
He is proud, he said, that “the faculty stepped forward in favor of curricular innovation,†approving far-reaching changes at their May meeting.
“The president of Williams just lights a little fire and gets things going,†he said. “We’re lucky to have the right people in place.â€
“I’m convinced that a year from September, we’ll have state-of-the-art classroom educational experience. Williams will set a higher standard.â€
Schapiro focused on three of the proposed innovations. Interdisciplinary seminars — small seminars taught by two or three teachers — will focus on topics such as epidemics. Schapiro will take on the economic aspects of contagion, joined by a virologist and an English professor.
The second is the introduction of sophomore tutorials, to augment existing senior tutorials.
“There are two students, each one critiquing the other’s paper, and a faculty member to make sure they don’t kill each other,†said Schapiro. “Nobody but Oxford can afford to do this. It’s a tremendous educational experience.â€
“We’re creating the Williams in New York program as an alternate to the junior year abroad. It’s half experiential, with the students having internships. There will be 25 each semester, allowing 50 juniors to participate,†he said.
“Williams is able to do what others only dream about,†said Schapiro. “If it works academically, we can raise money for it.â€
“The issue is not what we can afford; the issue is what’s good for our students.â€
“I’m hoping to be here for this decade,†he said. “When I arrived I said to the faculty and staff that ‘a lot of you have a lot of new ideas. Let’s spend the year thinking about them.’ â€
“Our next big project is life outside the classrooms,†he said. “We’re dealing with all the things other people are grappling with.â€
Part of dealing with life outside the classroom involves a complete renovation of Baxter Hall, the colonnaded steamboat of a building west of Chapin. Still to be determined is whether the building will be completely reconstructed or partly remodelled.
“We want to educate students outside the classroom,†he said. So at the end of next year the housing system may undergo an overhaul.
The problem, as Schapiro sees it, is that students live in four locations over their college years, and so have little opportunity to either identify with a house, or to interact with students ahead or behind them.
“They develop no identity with their residence because they’re there only one year,†he said.
He recalled that formerly, in the house system that lasted for 25 years, there were 11 different dining facilities.
“I think we lost a lot when we disassembled the housing system,†he said. “I speak with a lot of students, and I agree with them that we can do a better job outside the classroom.â€
The combination of a bold new curriculum and student life outside the classroom can help form the foundation for a capital campaign, he said.
One building project, a performing arts center, has been the focus of much local attention, both on and off campus.
One of Schapiro’s first actions, taken before his installation, was to scuttle controversial, and divisive, plans for a foot-of-Spring Street location for the center.
Architect Bill Rawn is drawing up plans for a center that includes three or four theaters, including a somewhat modified Adams Memorial Theatre that seats 490, with a 550-seat, state-of-the-art theater adjacent, for guest performances, and a black box theater holding up to 250, scalable, with flexible space for dance and plays. The question remaining to be answered is what to do with the Other Stage, downstairs from the AMT, he said.
“I’m really hopeful that in early fall we can unveil the plans,†said Schapiro. “It’s shaping up to be very exciting. It’s a wonderful plan, and the facility is so needed. It will attract students of the arts, give the dance program proper space. We can show movies there on weekends, hold lectures.â€
A question posed by construction in and around the AMT is whether the Williamstown Theatre Festival can be accommodated here in the summer of 2003.
“Michael Ritchie [WTF producer] really isn’t in favor of it if it’s a construction zone,†said Schapiro. “I’d love to work around them. We will know shortly.â€
The college will have considerable flexibility concerning the foot of Spring Street once the old American Legion building has been demolished — its successor, being built by the college, is rising at the site of the former Robin’s restaurant. Also slated for demolition is the building that formerly housed The Travel Store. And the ultimate use for the corner of Latham and Spring that Williams alumni donor Herbert Allen is acquiring from former service station owner Art Lafave is still to be determined. Allen gave $20 million, a record gift, to Williams for the performing arts center.
The reconstructed Spring Street, said Schapiro, “looks great. I’m glad the college played a major role in that project.â€
The college contributed $777,000 to the $3.5 million project.
“We have a real commitment to do something at the foot of the street,†he said. “Now we’re going to have to fix it.â€
“The performing arts center is not going to be there, but we’re not just going to leave Spring Street. Our obligation is to make a great small-town street.â€
“We’re entering a new era of cooperation with the town,†he said. Schapiro praised college Vice-President for Administration Helen Ouellette for taking the initiative in that regard. A college planning committee contains town representatives, not, said Schapiro, “to make them feel good but to create synergy.â€
“It sounds trite, but this town wouldn’t be much without Williams College, and Williams College wouldn’t be much without the town. Some people have to remember the former, and we have to remember the latter,†he said.
Schapiro stressed that “I live in Williamstown,†so the well-being and appearance of the town are important to him personally.
“There are unexploited synergies,†he said. “These can include swaps of property, and the development of unused or underused property.â€
For example, the college is exploring the reuse of Southworth School, and is keeping an eye on the former General Cable building as well.
“Our partnership with the town is much more explicit,†he said. “No one on the trustees blinks an eye any longer when I say the town needs something, and we have an obligation to do it. What is the town going to do if Williams doesn’t?
“It’s in the college’s interest to do so,†he said. “We can’t attract the faculty and staff we want unless it’s one of the best towns to live in. You’re just not going to relocate unless your family is going to be in a good situation. That has precious little to do with Williams College and everything to do with Williamstown.â€
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Berkshire County Homes Celebrating Holiday Cheer
By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff
There's holiday cheer throughout the Berkshires this winter.
Many homeowners are showing their holiday spirit by decorating their houses. We asked for submissions so those in the community can check out these fanciful lights and decor when they're out.
We asked the homeowners questions on their decorations and why they like to light up their houses.
In Great Barrington, Matt Pevzner has decorated his house with many lights and even has a Facebook page dedicated to making sure others can see the holiday joy.
Located at 93 Brush Hill Road, there's more than 61,000 lights strewn across the yard decorating trees and reindeer and even a polar bear.
The Pevzner family started decorating in September by testing their hundreds of boxes of lights. He builds all of his own decorations like the star 10-foot star that shines done from 80-feet up, 10 10-foot trees, nine 5-foot trees, and even the sleigh, and more that he also uses a lift to make sure are perfect each year.
"I always decorated but I went big during COVID. I felt that people needed something positive and to bring joy and happiness to everyone," he wrote. "I strive to bring as much joy and happiness as I can during the holidays. I love it when I get a message about how much people enjoy it. I've received cards thanking me how much they enjoyed it and made them smile. That means a lot."
Pevzner starts thinking about next year's display immediately after they take it down after New Year's. He gets his ideas by asking on his Facebook page for people's favorite decorations. The Pevzner family encourages you to take a drive and see their decorations, which are lighted every night from 5 to 10.
In North Adams, the Wilson family decorates their house with fun inflatables and even a big Santa waving to those who pass by.
The Wilsons start decorating before Thanksgiving and started decorating once their daughter was born and have grown their decorations each year as she has grown. They love to decorate as they used to drive around to look at decorations when they were younger and hope to spread the same joy.
"I have always loved driving around looking at Christmas lights and decorations. It's incredible what people can achieve these days with their displays," they wrote.
The Wilsons' invite you to come and look at their display at 432 Church St. that's lit from 4:30 to 10:30 every night, though if it's really windy, the inflatables might not be up as the weather will be too harsh.
In Pittsfield, Travis and Shannon Dozier decorated their house for the first time this Christmas as they recently purchased their home on Faucett Lane. The two started decorating in November, and hope to bring joy to the community.
"If we put a smile on one child's face driving by, then our mission was accomplished," they said.
Many homeowners are showing their holiday spirit by decorating their houses. We asked for submissions so those in the community can check out these fanciful lights and decor when they're out.
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