This former student sounds whiny. But after speaking with some current students at Previews, makes me think this thinking is more widespread than I thought.
Not great with a few days left to commit…
Please read the comments on that article, as they show that people do NOT agree with this person. This is not the type of thinking that usually exists at Williams, I promise. There are people here who do agree with this post, but they are few and far between. Most people are aware that Williams is one of the most tolerant, open-minded places in the world, and that the opportunities you can get here are surpassed by none.
Additionally, keep in mind that the pieces on this publication are all unreviewed and represent the opinion of the author ONLY, not that of any member of the publication’s board. Williams groups are not involved with this article at all.
What are your other options you are considering?
Keep in mind, first of all, that this anonymous rant may be in no way sincere, but rather an attempt at mocking the over-the-top rhetoric employed by many undergrads – because it is anonymous, we have no way to know.
While I am not a recent enough grad to opine about current campus race/class relations (jersey454 does an excellent job on that front), I do want to make a few points. Assuming the post is sincere, any school, including Williams, will always have a handful of extremely unhappy people. In some cases, those students have legitimate grievances, while in others, they would likely be unhappy pretty much everywhere due to a habit of seeing the world in a negative way. I wouldn’t put too much stock in one over-the-top article which attacks pretty much everyone on campus, of all races, in such vitriolic terms, especially when there are plenty of people (including minority students) who respond by forcefully rejecting those attacks. If you meet with a lot of people all of whom share the same views, then I’d take it more seriously. But I wouldn’t grant much credibility to someone who describes Williams as a place that induces post-traumatic stress discorder – this letter is either an intentional self-parody, or is penned by someone who just enjoys being perpetually aggrieved, because whatever flaws it may have, Williams, which invests enormous resources in providing one of the best and most welcoming learning environments in the country to students of any background, is hardly a place that could ever seriously be accused of creating traumatic stress. The far more likely explanation is that the source of that level of hysterical antagonism predated matriculation at Williams.
The other point I’d make is to be a bit skeptical about the claims of some huge racial divide or disparate expectations of ethnic miniorities on campus when, at this point, half of the admitted class (and something like 45 percent of the enterring class) is composed of students other than causcasian, American citizens. It’s a little over the top to suggest that nearly half the student body is viewed as, or behaves in conformity with, race-based stereotypes. 20 years ago, when the student body was 20 percent minority students? Perhaps that claim would hold more resonance, although none of the minority students I was friends with ever expressed such a viewpoint. But Williams a is a place where students from different backgrounds mingle together in every classroom, athletic team, student group, or campus event, and if it wasn’t, it would be immediately obvious upon a visit to campus.
Also, this letter makes factual claims which are simply untrue, exaggerated, or taken out of context for the sake of sensationalism. It was determined that the “All niggers must die” graffiti from a number of years back was almost certainly a hoax/joke perpetrated by a non-white student. I see no relevance of a cross-burning that occurred on or near campus in 1980 (but I believe was not actually perpetrated by anyone in the Williams community) 12 years before any current student was even BORN, and bringing that up as some sort of “evidence” pertinent to the minority experience at Williams shows just how desparate this article is to search for true, recent grievances. If the worst actual, specific example of racial insensitivity that the author can point to in four years at Williams is a few students dressing up in a tasteless Halloween costume, and that experience has led to this level of hostility and trauma, I’m sorry but the author is in no way prepared to deal for the real world, which, unfortunately, is a far less sheltered place, full of far more overt examples of racism than Williams is or will be.
At this time of year when new profiles appear– esp with only one post– and that post is a sketchy critique of a particular college ending with a comment about “a few days left to commit” you can be certain this is a Williams detractor with a singular agenda to discourage prospective students. This happens fairly often on CC and more often with LACs it seems. I’m sure no one will take this post seriously, or comments by new poster “WilliamsAlumni” who is likely the same person as this OP. (No one who graduated from Williams would use “alumni” in the singular)