The Frosh Glossary
Eph (your newest nom de college) n. the abbreviated title given to those who reside in the Purple Valley of Williamstown. It stems from Col. Ephraim Williams, who had commanded the northern line of defense in the French and Indian wars, left money for the founding of a school on the grounds that they name the town after him. Today it is used freely, from "Eph Fries" to Geology 101, where the first day students are asked to locate "The Great Barrier Eph" on a map.
Entry (from the Latin word "habitus froshness") n. as a frosh, you will live with a surrogate "family" which we at Williams call an "entry". Imagine a house, filled with a group of frosh, with a couple enthusiastic and seasoned juniors bringing everyone together. They can be either vertically or horizontally arranged, so you will either have these individual yet connected "houses" next door or up and downstairs from you.
Junior Advisors (mum and pop) n. a junior at Williams College who has devoted him or herself to the absolute well-being of their frosh. A JA's duties may include but are not limited to late-night discussions about opposing genders, organizing large-scale bowling events, academic/career counseling and ruling over the infamous Pumpkin Game. It may sound hard to believe, but they will become your immediate best friends, to be sure.
The Pumpkin Game (a hairy Halloween fiasco) n. a really fun game that involves a small pumpkin which will get passed around your entry in some crafty fashion. Your JA may not be happy that I brought this to your attention, but nonetheless demand that you play. It brings out the sneakiness in us all.
Common Room (com'on Eileen) n. a much loved and used room that will replace the old family den, living room or room that you generally hung out in before you came to college. As relaxation spaces go, it is the best. With your help, it is usually replete with your favorite curl-up-and-nap-couch, some primary-colored bean bags, an outdated TV (with SEGA and VCR attached), several outdated issues of Glamour and school-issued Lava lamp (I jest).
Spring Street (urban Williamstown) n. the geographical and commercial hub of Williamstown. From the honest grub of the Clarksburg Bread Company to the late-night offerings of Colonial Pizza, the Street will satiate everything from your hunger pangs to your pharmaceutical needs. And restaurants and haircare happen to be Williamstown's specialty: in both cases there is 1 (restaurant or hair specialist) for every five residents (or 1 for every 3 cows).
The Log (a rustic gathering place) n. an incredible log-cabinish space on Spring Street which is filled with old pictures, dark wood, food, and large, crackling fires (in the fireplace). Home of the "Log Lunch," a Friday event involving soup, bread and a guest lecturer speaking on some interesting topic like "Biking up Mt. Everest Barefooted" or "Recent Trends in Rainfall at Hopkins Forest."
The Snack Bar (birthplace of the Ephburger) n. with old hand-hewn wood beams and giant windows, this space is a campus favorite. Many people will grab dinner here if they get back late from rehearsal or a sporting event. It is also a great place to read with some subtle background noise. My roommate and I believed strongly in the snack bar for purposes of a "first date." One could suggest a meeting at the snack bar and there would be no connotations. Simple, good food and fairly neutral territory.
Hopkins Forest (2,000+ acres of untouched wilderness) n. a large tract of land bequeathed to Williams College some time ago and now the home to: the world-class Rosenburg Center (a really neat gathering of early American life tools and history), a Williams Outing Club cabin used for outdoor overnights and such, a heavy-duty weather station and miles and miles of walking/running trails. Site of the annual Early American Fall Festival (a personal favorite) where they do everything from apple cider squeezing to sheep shearing. (If you have family member birthday around then, they have a guy who will hand hammer stuff...worked wonders for my mother that year.)
Chapin Beach (the only beach in North America that lacks sand) n. a series of southern facing steps outside of Chapin Hall, a great old huge performance hall with great woodcarvings that can entertain you for days in case Billy Joel or whomever is playing there for the Fall concert (he did a few years back) arrives a few hours late (as he did...he and Christie were just breaking up then, I believe). Somehow those steps average five more days of sun than the rest of Williamstown. With bonus sunny days and its central location, it is no wonder people congregate there until the first snow and again at the first hint of spring. Currently, the College is working on making it even better by eliminating a small road which runs in front of it and creating one big steps-to-grass beach. Even with the improvements, MTV still has declined our offer to stage the Grind here.
BBQ (No A-1 Steak Sauce required) n. the Beautiful Berkshire Quad is a great quadrangle space created by frosh dorms Fayerweather, East, Fitch North and upperclass dorms Currier Hall, Prospect, Fitch Central and South and lastly by the Hopkins Observatory (the oldest existing Observatory in the States which is home to a planetarium and a few large telescopes open on weekends). The BBQ is the site of the annual Spring Music Fest, which is described in detail in your Student Handbook.
Purple Cows (The Four-Leaf Clover of Cows) n. The bovine of choice around these parts. First developed here in Williamstown in the ‘30s by the same WPA scientists who brought you Purple Horseshoes (Lucky Charms). They happen to be our mascot (the cow, not the marshmallow), as we compete against other mammals like the Camels (Conn. College), the Jumbos (Tufts) and the Lord Jeffs (of Amherst).
Brunch Night (a culinary dream-come-true) n. A fairly recent dining option at Greylock (one of five dining halls) has become a hot-bed of campus-feeding. Breakfast for dinner is the concept, and while you can get the usual grub in one food-line, who can pass up on freshly baked bagels, waffles-while-you-whistle, Egg McGreylock and more. Be sure to befriend Lou, the Omelet Man, for the ultimate omelet experience.
HT (aka Hot Tomatoes) n. The abbreviated title for a pizza house in town that is several cuts above the Domino’s experience. Truly amazing pies if you order by 1 (a.m. baby, welcome to college). Even the cheese ‘za has enough goodies on it to make it a meal. The price is nice and the little red house they bake these bad boys in is so quaint it would make Martha Stewart gag.
Goodrich Hall (formerly known as The Center Primarily for Student Gigs, Gatherings and Clog Dancing) n. a rip-roaring-new student center where you are at once linked to a Lasell Gymnasium and a coffee IV. Where Ephs of yesteryear once convened in this unheated vaulted-chapel, this 1859 Gothic Revival has been historically preserved and transformed the nave into the finest coffee haus/student performance space/student group offices this side of the Hudson. Replete with incredible leather couches and chairs of the Arts and Crafts variety (they get a 2 (minutes) on Bell's How-Quickly-One-Loses-conciousness Scale). For those web-friendly out there: http://wso.williams.edu/orgs/goodrich.
The Frosh Buildings
East College
East College was so named for its obvious geographical location on the "eastern eminence" on campus ("eastern" then, when it was by itself). Built in 1798, it served as a dormitory with recitation rooms for juniors and seniors. It suffered a bad fire in 1841 and was rebuilt in 1842 with the help of a big-time Williams College benefactor Amos Lawrence. Worry not, it has been brought up-to-date and is quite well received as the frosh I spoke with and are quoted below will indicate.
As an architectural buff, I have taken the privilege to give you some history on the building itself (as well as the rest of the frosh edifices). The building itself is in the Federal style, meaning, among its English post-medieval highlights, it has marble lintels (those exterior beams over the windows), good-sized rectangular windows and brick. The later Georgian Revival doorways were done in 1907 by J.S. Oakman, a Williams College class of 1899 graduate who headed an undefeated boxing team (the Williams College Archives are a wonderful source of unusual facts). Those doorways actually marked the beginning of the Georgian period at Williams College with similar architecture reflected in Fitch Hall, Stetson Library, Chapin and Williams and Sage Halls.
The horizontally arranged entry is situated along a grand hotel-like hallway (though room service or complimentary shower caps are not included) and therefore houses great casual socializing spaciousness. Upon every floor of East there is an entry common room filled with comfy furniture where tribal gatherings of East-folk occur. East boasts a host of singles and double rooms and 2 bathrooms (brand new) per floor which strangely enough always becomes a social sanctuary wherein people become fluent in speaking and understanding the Tooth-brushing language. It is nestled nicely in the heart of the Berkshire Quad; nearby one can find the College Art Museum, the Gym, the soon-to-be-built student center and the recently completed Studio Art Building to name a few.
Fayerweather Hall
Fayerweather Hall, situated on the Berkshire Quadrangle, is named for rags-to-riches Daniel Fayerweather. Originally a shoemaker, Fay's fortunes took a favorable turn when he became a member of a firm of leather merchants. Not a college man himself, his early low opinion of higher education eventually took a dramatic swing. At first, Fayerweather refused to hire anyone with a college degree. Yet his generous will named a significant sum of money ($5,600,000, with $275,000 to Williams) to be divided evenly among several designated colleges and universities. This about-face in Fayerweather's attitude toward higher education came as a stunning and unwelcome surprise to those who had reason to expect a rosy future as heirs of his estate. However, after lengthy litigation, the will was eventually settled in favor of the colleges by the New York Court of Appeals in 1897. It was South College until that point (1905) when Mr. Fayerweather's money was used to renovate it.
Architecturally Fayerweather is similar to East in that it is a Federal style building built in 1842. The "Gold Coast," a southern addition, came in 1905 and was so named for the lavish nature of the space and furnishings. The Federal Style, for those who are not in the midst of a thesis on American Architecture, is characterized by balance and symmetry in design, light_ness and elegance in mood, delicacy and finesse in execution. "Chris, that sounded like a car ad for the AMC Gremlin, tell me, in plain terms, what does this say about Fayerweather," you ask? Well, applying those terms to Fayerweather, you have a symmetrical brick building (a Flemish brick bond, in case your were curious) with marble lintel over double hung sash windows (translation: those New England-looking windows with 9 smaller rectangles over 9 smaller rectangles) and a giant marble cornice running around the top of the building.
Fayerweather, located near Fitch North and East College, is almost a replica of East. The interior has pretty much the same lay of the land and has the horizontal entry arrangement and large floor bathroom setup. They are both carpeted, and will both have two bathrooms after this summer, despite the fact (evidenced by those who live there now) that the co-ed bathroom scene is often the social highlight of ones residential life.
Lehman Hall
Lehman Hall is so named for Herbert H. Lehman of the Class of 1899. Lehman is best known as a former governor of New York State (although that was still news to me). However, he served in a number of significant roles during his lifetime. He was lieutenant governor of New York under Franklin D. Roosevelt. After serving as governor for 10 years he served in the U.S. Senate from 1949 to 1956.
Currently a bronze plaque noting his generosity to Williams and recognizing his career accomplishments is placed on the southwest corner of Lehman. Built in 1928 by Ralph Adams Cram, it is brick with lots of neoclassical moments (columns with composite Corinthian capitals marking the doorways, to name a few).
Lehman Hall consists of two entries, glued together at the middle. They have a mutual TV room and great Foosball table (one of my favorites on the "tour"). Lehman has a vast green space next to it where Frisbee addicts and sun-lovers tend to gather. The rooms are arranged primarily in suites with a castrated fireplace (sans flame and flu), built-in cabinetry and nearby bathrooms.
Morgan Hall
Morgan Hall, built in 1882, is named for Edward Denison Morgan who was born in the small town of Washington, Massachusetts, in Berkshire County. Morgan did not attend college - he started out in the grocery business in the early 1830's in Hartford, Connecticut, where he first became involved in politics serving on the Hartford City Council in 1832. Later, after moving to NYC, he went on to become a State senator who introduced the bill to build Central Park.
Morgan never lost his love for his birthplace and returned frequently during the summer seasons. Williams, having noted his political and patriotic prowess, honored him with an honorary LL.D. This recognition was to bear fruit when, on Morgan's death in 1883, the College received $90,000 to build the dormitory which now bears his name.
Morgan is an atypical late 19th c. free adaptation of motifs from European medieval architecture. It doesn't have a specific style, although there may be a bit of Jacobean in the gables. Marianna Griswold Van Renssalaer, probably the best critic of American architecture in her day, thought that Morgan Hall looked like a promising new direction in American architecture. The architect, J.C.Cady, did many famous structures in his day including the old Metropolitan Opera House. Rumor has it the Gargoyle on the building was put there to scare away Amherst students.
Morgan sits in the heart of urban Williamstown on the corner of Spring and Main Street. It commands a strategic position on campus offering a wonderful view on the upper floors. It has four vertical entries: Morgan West, Midwest, Mideast, and East (if you wonder how people know whether they are in "East or "Mideast," they have given the walls various color shades). Morgan rooms come in various arrangements, some are part of a small suite; others are off a hall and across from each other. The bathroom situations vary, but in general are shared by a small number of floor-mates. Morgan is right off the Science Quad, the Computer Center and across from the Gym and the Student Center.
Williams Hall
Williams Hall, built in 1913, was named for our collegiate savior Colonel Ephraim Williams. Williams fell mortally wounded leading his troops near Lake George, New York, in 1755.* A month before his death Williams had completed his last will and testament leaving funds to establish a free school (quick quiz: that became a college in 179_)in his home town to be named Williamstown.
*It may be of interest to future Amherst College enemies that while Lord Jeffrey Amherst also fought the French and Indians in the same lengthy conflict in which Williams lost his life, Lord Jeff did not arrive in North America until 1758 - three years after Williams' demise. Thus, by an historical accident (or fate?), Amherst was not Williams' superior officer as Amherst's historically inaccurate students will claim at sporting events.
The architecture of Williams (built in 1911), and Sage (built in 1923) which is a mirror-image of Williams, is revival of, take a wild guess, Georgian (relax, those of you who have not seen the campus, a few of the buildings may be in a similar style, but it honestly hardly will phase you. Besides, if you are going to have a lot in the same style, Georgian is a good choice). Both were built by the famous architect Ralph Adams Cram (author of the giant St. John the Divine church in New York, just one of his many famous buildings). Williams is comprised of six vertical entries and with Sage, create the Freshman Quad.. The rooms in each entry vary a little, making for an interesting variety of living quarters. Common rooms compliment "intimate doubles" and singles usually also join a common room which create many suite arrangements. My roommate and I lived here for a semester as part of a half and half situation wherein the renovated one building while we lived in the other and then moved over for second semester. For the moving pains we received great t-shirts marking the event. We both liked our mini-balcony (a very select number of rooms have these and they really are not usable beyond making small talk at dinner parties) for sampling the variant weather of Williamstown. The bathrooms of Williams are usually single-sex and are shared by 4-6 people (see FAQ for more on bathrooms).
Sage Hall
Sage Hall was built in 1923 principally by monies donated and specified in the will of Mrs. Russell Sage who founded Russell Sage College in Troy, New York, in 1916. Her husband, Mr. Russell Sage, died in 1906 leaving $63,000,000. Apparently, her husband (Mr. Sage) was not know for his generosity and had been the subject of much criticism by the press. His widow was determined to counteract this poor image. In the process she created a most favorable one of her own. Other recipients of her largess included Yale, Cornell, Syracuse, R.P.I., and Tuskegee to name a few.
Sage was designed by Cram to be an exact copy of Williams. As a former resident of both Sage and Williams, the perks of Sage include a little shorter distance to Chapin Beach and the Student Center where you get your mail, meals and snack food. Bottom line, you are looking at probably anywhere from 1 to 3 extra minutes of sleep, depending on the class. It has the same room variation that Williams Hall has and the bathroom situation is also similar.