Editing Williams College (section)

==Student activities and traditions==

===Student media===
The longest-running student newspaper at Williams is the ''Williams Record'', a weekly [[broadsheet]] paper published on Wednesdays. The newspaper was founded in 1887, and now has a weekly [[Newspaper circulation|circulation]] of 3,000 copies distributed in Williamstown, in addition to more than 600 subscribers across the country. The newspaper formerly received no financial support from the college or from the student government and relied on revenue generated by local and national ad sales, subscriptions, and voluntary contributions for use of its website, but the paper went into debt in 2004 and is now subsidized by the Student Activities Tax. Both Sawyer Library and the College Archives maintain more than a century's worth of publicly accessible, bound volumes of the ''Record''. The newspaper provides access free of charge to a searchable database of articles stretching back to 1998 on its website.

The student yearbook is called ''The Gulielmensian'', which means "Williamsian" in Latin. It was published irregularly in the 1990s, but has been annual for the past several years and dates back to the mid-19th century.<ref name="Gulielmensian">{{cite web| title =35th Semi-Annual Williams College Trivia Contest| publisher =Williams Students Online| date =December 5, 1983| url =http://wso.williams.edu/orgs/trivia/phaser83/questions.html| access-date =2007-09-19| archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20071016104106/http://wso.williams.edu/orgs/trivia/phaser83/questions.html| archive-date =October 16, 2007| url-status =live}}</ref>

Numerous smaller campus publications are also produced each year, including ''The Telos'', a journal of Christian thought; ''The Haystack'', a humor magazine; the ''Williams College Law Journal'', a collection of undergraduate articles; the ''Literary Review'', a literary magazine; and ''Monkeys With Typewriters'', a magazine of non-fiction essays.

====91.9 WCFM====
[[WCFM]] is a college-owned, student-run, non-commercial radio station broadcasting from the basement of Prospect House at 91.9&nbsp;MHz.<ref>{{cite web
| title =91.9 WCFM Williamstown
| url =http://wcfm.williams.edu/
| access-date =2007-09-19
| archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20050323231808/http://wcfm.williams.edu/
| archive-date =March 23, 2005
| url-status =live
}}</ref> Featuring 85 hours per week of original programming, the station features a wide variety of musical genres, in addition to sports and talk radio.<ref>{{cite web | title = WCFM Schedule | publisher = 91.9 WCFM Williamstown | url = http://wso.williams.edu/orgs/wcfm/public/schedule.php | access-date = 2007-09-19 | archive-url = https://archive.today/20051125073458/http://wso.williams.edu/orgs/wcfm/public/schedule.php | archive-date = November 25, 2005 | url-status = dead }}</ref> The station may also be heard on the Internet via [[SHOUTcast.com]]. Members of the surrounding communities above the age of 18 are allowed to DJ on the station, which, as part of its mission, seeks to serve the surrounding community with news and announcements of public interest.<ref>{{cite web| title = Become a DJ| publisher = 91.9 WCFM Williamstown| url = http://wcfm.williams.edu/becomedj.php| access-date = 2007-09-19| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070627045158/http://wcfm.williams.edu/becomedj.php| archive-date = 2007-06-27| url-status = dead}}</ref> The board of the radio station has held a handful of concerts.<ref>{{cite web| title =WCFM Presents...| publisher =91.9 WCFM Williamstown| url =http://wcfm.williams.edu/wcfmpresents.php| access-date =2007-09-19| archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20070627045113/http://wcfm.williams.edu/wcfmpresents.php| archive-date =2007-06-27| url-status =dead}}</ref>

===Trivia contest===
At the end of every semester but one since 1966, WCFM has hosted an all-night, eight-hour [[trivia]] contest. Teams of students, alumni, professors, friends, and others compete to answer questions on a variety of subjects, while simultaneously identifying songs and performing designated tasks. The winning team's only prize is the obligation to create and host the following semester's contest.<ref name="trivia rules">{{cite web| title =Contest Rules (and Rules of Thumb) for the semi-annual Williams College Trivia Contest| url =https://wso.williams.edu/orgs/trivia/rules.html| access-date =2020-01-30| archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20160529032442/http://wso.williams.edu/orgs/trivia/rules.html| archive-date =May 29, 2016| url-status =live}}</ref>

The precise date of the debut contest is uncertain.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Williams Trivia Contest |url=https://wso.williams.edu/orgs/trivia/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161022171441/http://wso.williams.edu/orgs/trivia/ |archive-date=October 22, 2016 |access-date=2020-01-30}}</ref> Most spring contests occur in early May, but during its first decade, Williams Trivia was sometimes held in March or February. Assuming a May date, [[Lawrence University]]'s 50-hour-long [[Great Midwest Trivia Contest]], first held on April 29, 1966, would be the oldest continuous competition of its sort in the United States, but if the first Williams contest was held earlier, it would be the oldest. 

While other college-based trivia contests in the United States emphasize marathon endurance and revel in the obscurity of their arcana, the aim of the Williams contest is to cram as much evocative and entertaining material into as concentrated a space as possible. Lasting just eight hours, a typical Williams Trivia contest will demand between 900 and 1,200 separate "bits" of trivial information,<ref name="trivia rules" /> delivering twice as much content as its "competitors" in a fraction of the time. No discernible rivalry exists between any of the various contests. The contest has occasionally received outside media coverage, including in the [[New York Times]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/06/06/weekinreview/word-for-word-trivia-marathon-pulling-all-nighter-this-college-means-acting.html?scp=1&sq=WCFM%20%20Trivia&st=cse |title=Word for Word/Trivia Marathon; Pulling an All-Nighter at This College Means Acting Out 'Nietzsche in Love' |author=Thomas Vinciguerra |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=June 6, 1999 |access-date=January 10, 2012 |author-link=Thomas Vinciguerra |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130510010657/http://www.nytimes.com/1999/06/06/weekinreview/word-for-word-trivia-marathon-pulling-all-nighter-this-college-means-acting.html?scp=1&sq=WCFM%20%20Trivia&st=cse |archive-date=May 10, 2013 |url-status=live }}</ref>

===School colors and mascot===
Williams's [[school colors]] are purple and gold, with purple as the primary school color.<ref>{{cite web| title =Williams College Campus Life| publisher =CollegeData| url =https://www.collegedata.com/cs/data/college/college_pg05_tmpl.jhtml?schoolId=229| access-date =2007-09-15| archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20110724204252/https://www.collegedata.com/cs/data/college/college_pg05_tmpl.jhtml?schoolId=229| archive-date =July 24, 2011| url-status =live}}</ref> A story explaining the origin of purple as a school color says that at the Williams-Harvard baseball game in 1869, spectators watching from carriages had trouble telling the teams apart because there were no uniforms. One of the onlookers bought ribbons from a nearby millinery store to pin on Williams's players, and the only color available was purple. The buyer was [[Jennie Jerome]] (later [[Winston Churchill]]'s mother) whose family summered in Williamstown.<ref name="joProctor">{{cite web| last =Proctor| first =Jo| title =Frequently Asked Questions| publisher =Williams College| url =http://www.williams.edu/home/parents/faq.php| access-date =2007-09-15| archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20071022075807/http://williams.edu/home/parents/faq.php| archive-date =2007-10-22| url-status =dead}}</ref>

The Williams [[college mascot]] is a [[purple cow]].<ref name="joProctor" /> The mascot's name, Ephelia, was submitted in a radio contest in October 1952 by [[Theodore Friend|Theodore W. Friend]], a senior at Williams.<ref name="purple cow">{{cite web |title=Purple Cow, Mascot |url=https://archivesspace.williams.edu/repositories/2/archival_objects/76821 |website=ArchivesSpace |publisher=Williams College Archives and Special Collections |access-date=28 January 2021 |archive-date=February 2, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210202092557/https://archivesspace.williams.edu/repositories/2/archival_objects/76821 |url-status=live }}</ref> The origins of the cow mascot are unknown, but one possibility is that it was inspired by the ''Purple Cow'' humor magazine, a student publication begun in 1907, which used the college color along with a cow.<ref name="purple cow" />

===Alma mater===
Williams claims the first ''alma mater'' song written by an undergraduate, "The Mountains", was by [[Washington Gladden]] of the class of 1859.<ref>{{cite web| title =Washington Gladden (1836–1918)| publisher =Williams College Archives and Special Collections| url =http://archives.williams.edu/williamshistory/greylock/wgladden.php| access-date =2007-09-20| archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20070825195804/http://archives.williams.edu/williamshistory/greylock/wgladden.php| archive-date =August 25, 2007| url-status =live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book
| author =Gladden, Washington| title =Recollections.| url =https://archive.org/details/recollections00glad_0| publisher =Houghton Mifflin| year =1909}}</ref>
{{Wikisource|The Mountains}}
In 2016, a college-wide contest was held for a new official Williams song. The winner was "Echo of Williams", music by Kevin Weist, class of 1981, and lyrics by [[Bruce Leddy]], class of 1983.<ref>{{cite web| title = Williams Magazine| url = https://magazine.williams.edu/2016/summer/notice/echo-of-williams/| access-date = January 15, 2020| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20191013070130/https://magazine.williams.edu/2016/summer/notice/echo-of-williams/| archive-date = October 13, 2019| url-status = live}}</ref>

===Mountain Day===
On one of the first three Fridays in October, the president of the college cancels classes and declares it [[Mountain Day]]. The bells ring, announcing the event, members of the Outing Club unfurl a banner from the roof of Chapin Hall and students hike up [[Stony Ledge]]. At Stony Ledge, they celebrate with donuts, cider and ''a cappella'' performances.

The first known mention of Mountain Day was made in 1827 by Williams president [[Edward Dorr Griffin]] in his notebook on college business. He wrote, under 'Holidays': "About the 24th of June a day to go to the mountain. If not then about the 14th of July. Prayers at night."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.williams.edu/home/traditions/|title=About Williams – Williams Traditions|publisher=Williams College|access-date=2009-01-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090125084139/http://williams.edu/home/traditions|archive-date=2009-01-25|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In 2009, with the threat of bad weather for each of the first three Fridays of the month, Interim-president Wagner declared "Siberian Mountain Day". Festivities were relocated from Stony Ledge to the much more accessible Stone Hill.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://record.williams.edu/wp/?p=552/|title=Wagner declares 'Siberian' Mountain Day|publisher=Williams Record|access-date=2009-11-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111003181001/http://record.williams.edu/wp/?p=552%2F|archive-date=October 3, 2011|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Alpine Club of Williamstown===
In 1863 Professor Albert Hopkins founded the Alpine Club of Williamstown, one of the first mountain clubs in America. Most significantly, it was likely the first hiking club of any type in the world to include women. In addition to Professor Albert Hopkins, Professor Paul Chadbourne and Reverend Harry Hopkins, there were nine unmarried ladies from Williamstown who formed the nucleus of the original club. Over the course of its first year four more women and nine men were added to the membership rolls. Most of the new male members were students from Williams College, among them [[Samuel H. Scudder]], who would become one of the co-founders of the [[Appalachian Mountain Club]] in 1876.<ref name="Ramble On: How Hiking Became One of the Most Popular Outdoor Activities in the World">Doran, Jeffrey J. (2023), ''Ramble On: How Hiking Became One of the Most Popular Outdoor Activities in the World'', {{ISBN|979-8373963923}}</ref>