Editing Williams College (section)

==History==
Colonel [[Ephraim Williams]] was an officer in the Massachusetts militia and a member of a prominent landowning family. Williams was killed at the [[Battle of Lake George]] on September 8, 1755. His [[Will (law)|will]] included a bequest to support and maintain a free school to be established in the town of West Hoosac, Massachusetts, provided the town change its name to Williamstown.<ref>{{cite web| last =Heyes| first =Michael| title =Cycling in the Berkshires| url =http://3rvs.com/features/berkshires/berkshires.html| access-date =2007-09-13| archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20071020061141/http://3rvs.com/features/berkshires/berkshires.html| archive-date =2007-10-20| url-status =dead}}</ref>

Members of the Williams family first attempted to found Queens College in [[Hatfield, Massachusetts]], in 1762, but the charter was revoked within a year when Massachusetts [[Sir Francis Bernard, 1st Baronet|Governor Francis Bernard]] succumbed to pressure from [[Harvard College]], which opposed the creation of a second institution of higher learning in the [[Colonial history of the United States|colonial-era]] [[Province of Massachusetts Bay]]. 

In 1765, the west township was incorporated as Williamstown. Five years later, the town's proprietors brought the executors of Williams' estate before the General Court to dispute the delay in establishment of the free school, and in 1795, the Massachusetts legislature finally granted the school its charter.<ref>{{cite web| last =Kennick Brown| first =Sylvia| title =Founding of Williams College| url =http://3rvs.com/features/berkshires/berkshires.html| access-date =2021-04-06| archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20210407043524/https://specialcollections.williams.edu/williams-history/groups/founding-of-williams-college/| archive-date =2021-04-07| url-status =live}}</ref>

The Williamstown Free School opened with 15 students on October 26, 1791. The first president was [[Ebenezer Fitch]]. Not long after its founding, the school's trustees petitioned the Massachusetts legislature to convert the free school to a tuition-based college. The legislature agreed and on June 22, 1793, Williams College was chartered. It was the second college to be founded in Massachusetts.[[File:West College (Williamstown, MA).jpg|thumb|Depiction of West College, which composed the entire college in its early years.|alt=]]At its founding, the college maintained a policy of racial segregation, refusing admission to black applicants. This policy was challenged by [[Lucy Terry Prince]], who is credited as the first black American poet,<ref>{{cite book|last=James|first=Edward T.|title=Notable American Women, 1607–1950, Vol. III|year=1971|publisher=Belknap Press of Harvard University Press|location=Cambridge, MA|isbn=978-0674627345|page=573}}</ref> when her son Festus was refused admission on account of his race.<ref name="Phelps 1888 79">{{cite book|last=Phelps|first=John Wolcott and Rodney B. Field|title=The Local History of Guilford, Vt., 1754-1888|year=1888|publisher=Anny Maria Hemmenway|location=Chicago|page=79}}</ref> Prince, who had established a reputation as a [[raconteur]]<ref>{{cite book|last=Wheatley|first=Phillis|title=Complete Writings|year=2001|publisher=Penguin|location=New York|isbn=978-0140424300|page=199|editor=Vincent Carretta}}</ref> and rhetorician, delivered a three-hour speech before the college's board of trustees, quoting abundantly from scripture, but was unable to secure her son's admission.<ref name="Phelps 1888 79" /> Later scholarship questions whether these events occurred as Festus Prince may have been refused entry for an insufficient mastery of Latin, Greek, and French, all of which were necessary for successful completion of the entrance exam at the time, and which would most likely not have been available in the local schools of [[Guilford, Vermont]], where Festus was raised.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Proper|first=David R.|title=Lucy Terry Prince: "Singer of History"|journal=Contributions in Black Studies: A Journal of African and Afro-American Studies|date=January 1992|volume=9|series=15|page=14|url=http://scholarworks.umass.edu/cibs/vol9/iss1/15|access-date=17 March 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150919171358/http://scholarworks.umass.edu/cibs/vol9/iss1/15/|archive-date=September 19, 2015|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1806, a student [[prayer meeting]] gave rise to the American Foreign Mission Movement. In August of that year, five students met in the maple grove of Sloan's Meadow to pray. A thunderstorm drove them to the shelter of a haystack, and the fervor of the ensuing meeting inspired them to take the [[Gospel]] abroad. The students went on to build the [[American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions]], the first American organization to send [[missionary|missionaries]] overseas. The Haystack Monument near Mission Park on the Williams Campus commemorates the historic "[[Haystack Prayer Meeting]]".
[[File:Zephaniah Swift Moore, painting of.jpg|thumb|Zephaniah Swift Moore, the second president of the college and first president of Amherst College]]
By 1815, Williams had only two buildings and 58 students and was in financial trouble, so the board voted to move the college to [[Amherst, Massachusetts]]. In 1821, the president of the college, [[Zephaniah Swift Moore]], who had accepted his position believing the college would move east, decided to proceed with the move. He took 15 students with him, and re-founded the college under the name of [[Amherst College]]. Some students and professors decided to stay at Williams and were allowed to keep the land, which was at the time relatively worthless. Moore died just two years later after founding Amherst, and was succeeded by [[Heman Humphrey]], a trustee of Williams College.<ref>{{cite web| title =Williams College Presidents| publisher =Williams College| url =http://www.williams.edu/home/presidents/| access-date =2007-09-15| archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20070823052737/http://www.williams.edu/home/presidents/| archive-date =2007-08-23| url-status =dead}}</ref>
[[File:Thompson Memorial Church, Williams College, Williamstown, Mass (NYPL b12647398-68120).tiff|left|thumb|Thompson Memorial Church, early 20th century]]

[[Edward Dorr Griffin]] was appointed President of Williams and is widely credited with saving Williams during his 15-year tenure. A Williams student, Gardner Cotrell Leonard, of Albany, New York, whose family owned the city's Cotrell & Leonard department store, designed the gowns he and his classmates wore to graduation in 1887.<ref name="Academic Garb">{{cite web|title=Academic Garb |publisher=Williams College |url=http://www.williams.edu/home/focus/robes/ |access-date=2009-04-16 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090521102435/http://www.williams.edu/home/focus/robes/ |archive-date=May 21, 2009 }}</ref> Seven years later he advised the Inter-Collegiate Commission on Academic Costume, which met at [[Columbia University]], and established the current system of U.S. [[academic dress]].<ref>Walters, Helen. "The Story of Caps and Gowns," p. 9. Chicago: E. R. Moore, 1939.</ref> One reason gowns were adopted in the late 19th century was to eliminate the differences in apparel between rich and poor students.<ref>Leonard, Gardner Cotrell. "The Cap and Gown in America; Reprinted from the University Magazine of 1893; To Which is Added: An Illustrated Sketch of the Intercollegiate System of Academic Costume," p. 9. Albany, New York: Cotrell & Leonard, 1896.</ref> Gardner Cotrell Leonard went on to edit the book ''The Songs of Williams'', a collection of songs sung at the college. During [[World War II]], Williams College was one of 131 colleges and universities nationally that took part in the [[V-12 Navy College Training Program]] which offered students a path to a Navy commission.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://science.williams.edu/files/HistSci00/chapter3_3.html |title=The V-12 Program |publisher=[[Williamstown, Massachusetts]]: Williams College |access-date=September 27, 2011 |year=2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111122083715/http://science.williams.edu/files/HistSci00/chapter3_3.html |archive-date=November 22, 2011 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Originally a [[men's college]], Williams became [[co-educational]] in 1970. [[Fraternity|Fraternities]] were also phased out during this period, beginning in 1962.<ref name=fastfacts>{{cite web |title=Fast Facts About Williams |url=https://communications.williams.edu/media-relations/fast-facts/ |website=williams.edu |access-date=5 September 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180905102104/https://communications.williams.edu/media-relations/fast-facts/ |archive-date=September 5, 2018 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Following a [[liberal arts]] curriculum, Williams College provides undergraduate instruction in 25 academic departments and interdisciplinary programs including 36 majors in the [[humanities]], [[arts]], [[social sciences]], and [[natural sciences]]. Williams offers an almost entirely undergraduate instruction, though there are two graduate programs in [[development economics]] and [[art history]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Graduate Programs |url=https://www.williams.edu/academics/graduate-programs/ |access-date=2024-08-02 |website=Academics |language=en-US}}</ref> The college maintains affiliations with the nearby [[Clark Art Institute]] and [[Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art]] (MASS MoCA), and has a close relationship with [[Exeter College, Oxford|Exeter College]], [[Oxford University]], where the school runs a year-long [[Study abroad in the United States|study abroad]] program for juniors. The college competes in the [[NCAA Division III]] [[New England Small College Athletic Conference]] as the [[Williams Ephs|Ephs]]. Their athletic program has been highly successful, winning 22 of 29 College [[Directors Cup|Directors' Cups]] for NCAA Division III.<ref>{{cite web |title=Williams College Wins 22nd Learfield IMG College Directors' Cup in 24-Year History of National Award |url=https://ephsports.williams.edu/sports/2020/7/7/x-dl4f0.aspx |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210201192831/https://ephsports.williams.edu/sports/2020/7/7/x-dl4f0.aspx |archive-date=February 1, 2021 |access-date=27 January 2021 |website=Home of the Williams College Ephs}}</ref>

Williams is a [[College admissions in the United States|highly selective]] school with an acceptance rate of 8% for the Class of 2025.<ref name="Class of 2025 Acceptance Rate">{{cite web |title=College acceptance rate lowers to 8 percent for Class of 2025 |url=https://williamsrecord.com/456508/news/college-acceptance-rate-lowers-to-8-percent-for-class-of-2025/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210331162651/https://williamsrecord.com/456508/news/college-acceptance-rate-lowers-to-8-percent-for-class-of-2025/ |archive-date=March 31, 2021 |access-date=24 October 2021 |website=Williams Record}}</ref> It has ranked first in [[U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges Ranking|''U.S. News & World Report'''s rankings]] of National Liberal Arts Colleges every year since 2004.<ref name="US News history">{{cite web |date=July 13, 2017 |title=U.S. News & World Report Historical Liberal Arts College and University Rankings |url=http://andyreiter.com/datasets/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170916095502/http://andyreiter.com/datasets/ |archive-date=September 16, 2017 |access-date=26 August 2020 |website=Datasets |publisher=Andrew G. Reiter}}</ref> In April 2022, Williams transitioned to an all grants system for financial aid, one of the few institutions of higher learning in the United States to do so.<ref>{{cite web |title=Williams moves to all grants for financial aid |url=https://www.insidehighered.com/admissions/article/2022/04/13/williams-moves-all-grants-financial-aid |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220413155604/https://www.insidehighered.com/admissions/article/2022/04/13/williams-moves-all-grants-financial-aid |archive-date=April 13, 2022 |access-date=April 13, 2022}}</ref>

=== Coeducation ===

Though Williams College officially began the process of coeducation in the late 1960s, women integrated the college as early as the 1930s. Beatrice Irene Wasserscheid (née Acly) was the first woman to be awarded a Williams degree after successfully petitioning the trustees to pursue a master of arts degree in American literature.<ref name="timeline">{{cite web |title=Timeline of the Society of Alumni |url=https://alumni.williams.edu/200/history/ |publisher=Williams Alumni Relations |access-date=11 February 2021 |archive-date=February 12, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210212123225/https://alumni.williams.edu/200/history/ |url-status=live }}</ref> She received her master's degree in June 1931. That same decade, in 1935, Emily Cleland became the first woman to teach at Williams when she finished teaching her late husband's geology course after he died in an accident.<ref>{{cite web |title=History of Science at Williams |url=https://sites.williams.edu/history-of-science-at-williams/notable-events-timeline/ |access-date=11 February 2021 |archive-date=May 15, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210515112232/https://sites.williams.edu/history-of-science-at-williams/notable-events-timeline/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The first tenured woman faculty member at the college, Doris DeKeyselingk, oversaw the Russian department beginning in 1958.<ref name = "WaW">{{cite web |title=Women at Williams: The College's Road to Coeducation |url=https://unbound.williams.edu/williamsarchives/islandora/object/exhibits%3A34 |website=Unbound |access-date=11 February 2021 |archive-date=June 13, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210613140921/https://unbound.williams.edu/williamsarchives/islandora/object/exhibits%3A34 |url-status=live }}</ref>

During his time as president of Williams College, John E. Sawyer officially initiated the process of coeducation. After overseeing the abolition of fraternities, Sawyer created a faculty-trustee committee, the Committee on Coordinate Education and Related Questions, in 1967 to explore options for coeducation and co-ordinate education.<ref>{{cite web |title=Williams College Oral History Project Interview with John E. Sawyer |url=https://unbound.williams.edu/islandora/object/oralhistoryproject%3A163?search=%2522jack%2520sawyer%2522%2520and%2520%2522fraternities%2522 |access-date=16 February 2021 |archive-date=July 6, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220706034337/https://unbound.williams.edu/islandora/object/oralhistoryproject%3A163?search=%2522jack%2520sawyer%2522%2520and%2520%2522fraternities%2522 |url-status=live }}</ref> In response to the Committee on Coordinate Education's final report, the trustees voted in June 1969 to regularly admit women undergraduate students in fall 1971.<ref name = WaW /> The college welcomed 137 women as first-year students in fall 1971.<ref name="coed">{{cite web |title=Coeducation Collection (Williams College) |url=https://archivesspace.williams.edu/repositories/2/resources/34 |website=ArchivesSpace |publisher=Williams College Archives and Special Collections |access-date=11 February 2021 |archive-date=May 15, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210515113526/https://archivesspace.williams.edu/repositories/2/resources/34 |url-status=live }}</ref> They were joined by 90 transfer and exchange students from women's colleges who, during their junior and senior year, participated in the Ten College Exchange Program which Sawyer helped to establish in the mid-to-late 1960s.<ref>{{cite web |title=Williams College Oral History Project Interview with John E. Sawyer |url=https://unbound.williams.edu/islandora/object/oralhistoryproject%3A163?search=%2522jack%2520sawyer%2522%2520and%2520%2522fraternities%2522 |website=Unbound Williams Digital Collections |access-date=16 February 2021 |archive-date=July 6, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220706034337/https://unbound.williams.edu/islandora/object/oralhistoryproject%3A163?search=%2522jack%2520sawyer%2522%2520and%2520%2522fraternities%2522 |url-status=live }}</ref> The graduating class of 1975 was the first fully co-educational class to graduate from Williams.<ref name=coed />

The college's admission of women undergraduate students coincided with the diversification of faculty and staff. An [[affirmative action]] program, launched in 1972 by President [[John Chandler]], reinforced equal opportunity employment. In addition to facilitating the hiring and retention of African-American staff and faculty, the program prioritized hiring women. As a result of the efforts of the dean of faculty and the provost in collaboration with "Committee W", a women-led group dedicated to fulfilling the program's mission, the number of women faculty steadily rose. From the inception of Williams's affirmative action program in 1972 to its revision in 1975, the proportion of women full-time faculty increased from 4.5% to 11.7%.<ref name="women">{{cite web |title=Women Faculty, 1970 - 2006 |url=https://archivesspace.williams.edu/repositories/2/archival_objects/10942 |website=ArchivesSpace |publisher=Williams College Archives and Special Collections |access-date=11 February 2021 |archive-date=May 15, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210515115439/https://archivesspace.williams.edu/repositories/2/archival_objects/10942 |url-status=live }}</ref> By 1975, 34% of the first-term assistant professors were women.<ref name="women" />

Throughout the 1970s, Williams College experienced an increase of women in high administrative and advisory positions as well. In February 1970, the college hired its first female dean, Nancy McIntire.<ref>{{cite web |title=July 1st, 1970 |url=https://specialcollections.williams.edu/history-timeline/20th-century/july-1st-1970/ |website=Special Collections |access-date=11 February 2021 |archive-date=February 28, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210228094209/https://specialcollections.williams.edu/history-timeline/20th-century/july-1st-1970/ |url-status=live }}</ref> In October 1971, at age 29, Gail Walker Haslett was elected as a three-year term trustee on the Williams College Board of Trustees. She was the first woman to ever serve on the board.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Williams Record October 8, 1971 |url=https://unbound.williams.edu/islandora/object/williamsrecord%3A742?search=Gail%2520W.%2520Haslett%2520 |website=Unbound |access-date=11 February 2021 |archive-date=July 6, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220706034337/https://unbound.williams.edu/islandora/object/williamsrecord%3A742?search=Gail%2520W.%2520Haslett%2520 |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1976, Pamela G. Carlton '76 became the first woman alumni trustee<ref name="timeline" /> and Janet Brown '73, the first woman graduate of Williams to serve on the executive committee of the Society of Alumni.<ref name="timeline" />

{{As of|2021}}, 45.6% of full-time faculty<ref name="Ranking">{{cite web |title=Overview of Williams College |url=https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/williams-college-2229 |website=U.S.News Best College Rankings |publisher=U.S.News |access-date=11 February 2021 |archive-date=March 9, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210309135006/https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/williams-college-2229 |url-status=live }}</ref> and 51.6% of the undergraduate class are women-identifying at Williams.<ref>{{cite web |title=Faculty and Classes at Williams College |url=https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/williams-college-2229/academics |website=U.S.News Best College Rankings |publisher=U.S.News |access-date=11 February 2021 |archive-date=May 30, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210530152231/https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/williams-college-2229/academics |url-status=live }}</ref> In July 2018, [[Maud Mandel]] began her tenure as the 18th and current president of Williams College. She is the first woman to assume this role.

===Construction and expansion===

In the last decade, construction has changed the look of the college. The addition of the $38 million Unified Science Center to the campus in 2001 set a tone of style and comprehensiveness for renovations and additions to campus buildings in the 21st century. This building unifies the formerly separate lab spaces of the [[physics]], [[chemistry]], and [[biology]] departments. In addition, it houses Schow Science Library, notable for its unified science materials holdings and architecture. It features vaulted ceilings and an [[atrium (architecture)|atrium]] with windows into laboratories on the second through fourth floors of the science center.

In 2003, Williams began the first of three massive construction projects. The $60 million '62 Center for Theatre and Dance was the first project to be successfully completed in the spring of 2005. The $44 million student center, called [[David Paresky|Paresky]] Center, opened in February 2007.

Construction had already begun on the third project, called the Stetson-Sawyer project, when economic uncertainty stemming from the 2007 financial crisis led to its delay. College trustees initially balked at the Stetson-Sawyer project's cost, and revisited the idea of renovating Sawyer in its current location, an idea which proved not to be cost effective.<ref>{{cite web| author = Richardson, Chris| title = Costs are still a concern, but project gains support| publisher = Williams Record Archive| url = http://www.williamsrecord.com/wr/?sawContrib=yes&view=article&section=news&id=7423| access-date = 2007-09-20| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110716143555/http://www.williamsrecord.com/wr/?sawContrib=yes&view=article&section=news&id=7423| archive-date = 2011-07-16| url-status = dead}}</ref> The entire project includes construction of two new academic buildings, the removal of Sawyer Library from its current location, and the construction of a new library at the rear of a renovated Stetson Hall (which served as the college library prior to Sawyer's construction). The academic buildings, temporarily named North Academic Building and South Academic Building, were completed in fall 2008. In the spring of 2009, South Academic Building was renamed Schapiro Hall in honor of former president [[Morton O. Schapiro]]. In spring 2010 the North Academic Building was renamed Hollander Hall. Construction of the new Sawyer Library was completed in 2014, after which the old Sawyer Library was razed.

After several years of planning, the college decided to group undergraduates starting with the Class of 2010 into four geographically coherent clusters, or "Neighborhoods".<ref>{{cite web | title =Williams College: Neighborhood System 2006–2007 | publisher =Williams College | url =http://www.williams.edu/dean/campus_life/neighborhoodsystem.html | access-date =2007-09-20 | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20070526220804/http://www.williams.edu/dean/campus_life/neighborhoodsystem.html | archive-date =2007-05-26 | url-status =dead }}</ref> Since the fall of 2006, first-years have been housed in Sage Hall, Williams Hall and Mission Park, while the former first-year [[dormitories]] East College, Lehman Hall, Fayerweather, and Morgan, joined the remaining residential buildings as upperclass housing. During the spring 2009 semester, a committee formed to evaluate the neighborhood system, and released a report the following fall.<ref>{{cite web|title =Williams College: Neighborhood Review Committee Interim Report|publisher =Williams College|url =http://www.williams.edu/dean/nrc/|access-date =2009-11-09|archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20100810054949/https://www.williams.edu/dean/nrc/|archive-date =2010-08-10|url-status =dead}}</ref> From 2003 through 2008, Williams conducted a capital campaign with the goal of raising $400 million by September 2008. The college reached $400 million at the end of June 2007. By the close of the campaign, Williams had raised $500.2 million.<ref>{{cite web|title=Climb Far: The Williams Campaign |publisher=Williams College |url=http://www.williams.edu/alumni/campaign/ |access-date=2009-10-05 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091027135249/http://www.williams.edu/alumni/campaign/ |archive-date=October 27, 2009 }}</ref>
[[File:Morgan Hall of Williams College in the fall (27 October 2010).jpg|thumb|290x290px|The college's Morgan Hall]]
As of the 2008–09 school year, the college eliminated [[student loan]]s from all [[Student financial aid (United States)|financial aid]] packages in favor of grants. The college was the fourth institution in the United States to do so, following Princeton University, Amherst College, and [[Davidson College]].<ref>{{cite web|title =Letters from the President|publisher =Office of the President, Williams College|url =http://www.williams.edu/admin/president/letters/071101_no_loans.php|access-date =2007-11-02|archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20071116071908/http://www.williams.edu/admin/president/letters/071101_no_loans.php|archive-date =2007-11-16|url-status =dead}}</ref> However, in February 2010, the college announced it would re-introduce loans to its financial aid packages beginning with the Class of 2015 due to the college's changed financial situation.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/02/education/02loans.html | work=The New York Times | title=Williams College Will Bring Loans Back to Aid Packages | first=Jacques | last=Steinberg | date=February 2, 2010 | access-date=February 23, 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160221215839/http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/02/education/02loans.html | archive-date=February 21, 2016 | url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url=https://money.cnn.com/2010/04/09/pf/college/no-loan_financial_aid/ | work=CNN | title=No loans! Major colleges pledge aid without debt | first=Annalyn | last=Censky | date=April 9, 2010 | access-date=April 9, 2010 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110605103658/http://money.cnn.com/2010/04/09/pf/college/no-loan_financial_aid/ | archive-date=June 5, 2011 | url-status=live }}</ref><ref>Supiano, Beckie. (2010-04-08) [http://chronicle.com/blogPost/Most-Colleges-Plan-to-Stick/22392/ Most Colleges Plan to Stick With Pledges to Limit Loans in Student Aid - The Ticker - The Chronicle of Higher Education] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100726062037/http://chronicle.com/blogPost/Most-Colleges-Plan-to-Stick/22392/ |date=July 26, 2010 }}. Chronicle.com. Retrieved on 2013-08-02.</ref> In January 2007 the board voted unanimously to reduce college [[CO2 emissions|CO<sub>2</sub> emissions]] 10% below 1990 levels by 2020, or roughly 50% below 2006 levels.<ref name="Williams Sustainability Initiative">{{cite web| title =Williams Sustainability Initiative| publisher =Williams College| url =http://www.williams.edu/resources/sustainability/index.php| access-date =2008-05-08| archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20080513221247/http://www.williams.edu/resources/sustainability/index.php| archive-date =May 13, 2008| url-status =live}}</ref> To meet those goals, the college set up the Zilkha Center for Environmental Initiatives and has undertaken an [[energy audit]] and efficiency timeline. Williams received an 'A−' on the 2010 College Sustainability Report Card, following 'B+' grades on both the 2008 and 2009 report cards.<ref name="College Sustainability Report Card">{{cite web | title =College Sustainability Report Card | publisher =College Sustainability Report Card | url =http://www.greenreportcard.org/ | access-date =2009-11-09 | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20090405103641/http://www.greenreportcard.org/ | archive-date =April 5, 2009 | url-status =live }}</ref> In December 2008, President Morton O. Schapiro announced his departure from the college to become president of [[Northwestern University]].<ref name="Pres. Shapiro to Lead Northwestern">{{cite web|title=Pres. Shapiro to Lead Northwestern |publisher=Letters from the President |url=http://www.williams.edu/admin/president/letters/081216_Northwestern.php |access-date=2008-12-20 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081219084153/http://www.williams.edu/admin/president/letters/081216_Northwestern.php |archive-date=December 19, 2008 }}</ref>

On September 28, 2009, the presidential search committee announced the appointment of [[Adam Falk]] as the 17th president of Williams College. Falk, dean of the [[Zanvyl Krieger School of Arts and Sciences]] at [[Johns Hopkins University]], began his term on April 1, 2010.<ref name="autogenerated1">{{cite web| title =Adam Falk Named 17th President of Williams| publisher =Williams College Press Releases| url =http://www.williams.edu/admin/news/releases/1851| access-date =2009-10-05| archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20091001221840/http://www.williams.edu/admin/news/releases/1851| archive-date =2009-10-01| url-status =dead}}</ref> Dean of the Faculty [[William G. Wagner]] took the position of interim president beginning in June 2009, and continued in that capacity until President-elect Falk took office. In 2014, Williams College brought their endowment above the 2 billion dollar mark. On March 11, 2018, former dean of the college at [[Brown University]] Maud Mandel was selected to be the 18th president of Williams College.<ref>{{cite web|title=Maud Mandel named President of Williams College|url=https://president.williams.edu/announcement-from-the-board-chair/|website=president.williams.edu|access-date=15 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191216040135/https://president.williams.edu/announcement-from-the-board-chair/|archive-date=December 16, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> Mandel assumed the role on July 1, 2018.