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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Williamstown Zoning Board Considers Art Museum Plan
By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff Updated 09:16AM
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Zoning Board of Appeals on Thursday began its review of the development plan for a new Williams College Museum of Art at the junction of Routes 2 and 7.
College attorney Jamie Art, museum Director Pamela Franks and members of the design team went before the board to talk about the project to replace the current museum housed in Lawrence Hall on Main Street.
The college hopes to break ground on the new museum in September with a completion date in the summer of 2027.
First it needs a couple of approvals from town boards: the Planning Board, which will determine that the new museum has appropriate parking and the ZBA, which needs to grant a special permit.
Part of the permitting process is the development plan review.
Although the museum as designed largely is compliant with many town development standards, as a commercial building over 2,500 square feet, it triggers the development plan review.
The museum is designed at 76,800 square feet, and the planned three-story structure and grounds do require a couple of waivers from town zoning bylaws.
The exhibit "Fragile Beauty" fills the pavilion with glass objects from the Corning Museum of Glass, showcasing different cultures, time periods and techniques, and will run through Oct. 27.
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The Zoning Board of Appeals on Thursday began its review of the development plan for a new Williams College Museum of Art at the junction of Routes 2 and 7. click for more
Greylock Canine Club owner Peter Umbrianna is always surprised when owners drop off their dogs at his South Williamstown doggy day-care. click for more
During a discussion about goal setting and priorities for the 2024-25 term, Select Board member Randal Fippinger on Monday pointed out that the body has limited bandwidth. click for more
Williams College Thursday sent all non-essential personnel home and closed the campus in response to a bomb threat that later was deemed 'not credible.'
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The Select Board and Milne Library Board of Trustees on Monday unanimously appointed Ben Lee Cohen to fill the remainder of a vacant term on the library board.
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