During the College's strategic planning process, one conclusion quickly became clear: The Williams community needed a family room, a welcoming common space where all students--as individuals, as members of organizations, as advocates for social causes, as volunteers or simply as classmates and friends--could come together to share experiences and opinions. Baxter Hall, the current student union, offers the perfect locale; but with twice as many students, far more student organizations and an array of increasingly complex student services since its construction in 1954, Williams has outgrown this familiar old shoe. On the recommendation of faculty, students and administrators, the College selected the award-winning New York firm Polshek Partnership, architects of the American Museum of Natural History's Rose Center for Earth and Space, to design a new student center, with a groundbreaking planned for June 2004. For more information on the student center project, visit http://www.williams.edu/go/strategicplanning/bldgprojects/studentcenter/.

Gifts to the Alumni Fund and Parents Fund support all projects of the Campaign for Williams. Or, if you'd like to make a capital or endowed gift to help sponsor this particular initiative, please contact Megan Morey, director of major gifts, at 413.597.4248.