Dear Williams community,
I want to close the academic year with one more tribute to this weekend’s wonderful commencement and a look at some of the challenges in front of us.
I will start by once more congratulating our undergraduate and Master’s degree recipients. It buoyed my spirit to greet so many of you as you crossed the stage yesterday! Thank you, too, to all the family, friends and supporters who cheered the students on, in person or from afar. We will be posting videos and photos on the Commencement 2025 website this week to help you relive the weekend’s festivities.
There were several instances of protest over the weekend, as there have been recently on other campuses. But at this time when society is so politically divided, I was deeply moved to see thousands of people from around the world cheering together for the graduates. It reaffirmed the messages delivered by our Baccalaureate and Commencement honorary speakers about the power of unity.
In that same spirit, I want to use the remainder of this message to talk about our concerted efforts to advance Williams’ values against strong political headwinds.
Our international community
Last weekend’s graduating class included dozens of international students at the B.A. level and from our Masters programs in the history of art and development economics. At both Baccalaureate and Commencement, our graduates and guests enthusiastically cheered every mention of our international community.
Next fall’s entering class will include yet another cohort of highly talented students from across the world. The global character of our campus clearly benefits everyone’s learning. Unfortunately, the federal government is trying to hinder or even prevent U.S. schools from recruiting international students, faculty and staff. Government agents have also detained and sought to deport people who were in the country on student visas or work visas.
Over the summer and into the new year, the college will continue working on support for our international community members, to make them feel as welcome and safe as we can under the circumstances. And we will continue recruiting outstanding students, faculty and staff from around the world.
Campus diversity
Our graduating class also included students from a broad spectrum of racial, religious, ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds. In addition, there were 85 B.A. graduates who were the first in their families to attend or graduate from college—approximately 15 percent of the class!
The government is also challenging the ability of schools like Williams to support such multifaceted and engaged communities, through efforts to ban or impede our work. Their efforts are often justified by references to “illegal DEI”—a concept that is largely left undefined, and whose legality is being aggressively challenged.
Williams is fully committed to complying with federal anti-discrimination law. However, we do not believe that it is discriminatory to welcome all kinds of people into our community and to make support available to all, so that everyone at Williams can take advantage of our offerings without regard to their personal identities. We will continue our decades-long commitments to expanding access and maintaining a fair, supportive educational environment.
Finances
The 2025 graduates represented a stunning array of majors, interests, and accomplishments. The learning opportunities of which they availed themselves at Williams were funded by tuition dollars, alumni support and a well-managed endowment. Among other things, we used our endowment and alumni gifts to provide financial aid for 53 percent of the student body in 2024-25, amounting to roughly $92M in aid for this year alone.
Williams’ highly effective financial model, which funds both our academic excellence and our work on affordability and access, is also under threat. The House of Representatives recently passed a budget bill that, if passed into law, would increase our federal endowment tax liability at least tenfold and possibly more. In the worst scenarios, the college could go from our current average annual payment of 1.4 percent of returns, or about $2M per year, to as much as 21 percent, or $49M per year: more than 15 percent of our annual operating budget.
Attention is now shifting to the Senate’s half of the process. Along with my presidential colleagues, I will spend time this summer reaching out to senators and their staff. My message to them: Education is part of the American dream. The so-called “endowment” tax is actually a tax on students and families.
If you have personal connections to anyone in the Senate who might be helpful to us in that cause, or if you are willing to write op-eds, blog posts, or otherwise add your voice in support, please use our advocacy interest form to signal your willingness to aid the cause. We are a community of many voices and viewpoints, and you do not need to agree with everything the college does. Just be honest about the parts of Williams you value most, and why you think Washington should allow us to preserve them for future generations.
Research
Other areas of Williams’ strength and distinction are also being challenged. For example, America and the world have benefited from a decades-long, close partnership between the U.S. government and higher education in the area of research. As such, the government supported faculty research, while respecting institutions’ autonomy and expertise. In return, scholars’ work produced incredible medical and scientific advances, technological innovations, economic dynamism and cultural vitality. At Williams, we involve students in the work of knowledge creation alongside faculty who are leading scholars in their fields (many staff, too, are important partners in research and teaching). Our model has delivered tremendous value for students and society, far beyond the cost to taxpayers. Unfortunately, the government has backed away from this longstanding partnership. We will continue pressing government officials to recognize its value to the national interest. Three principles will guide that work: our commitments to the scholarly enterprise, to building and supporting a diverse academic community and to ensuring that the college is not placed in serious legal and financial jeopardy.
The Williams community comprises smart, dedicated people of every kind, from every place. If you are as proud as I am of this year’s class, if you believe as strongly as I do in the ideals they represent, if you want to help us offer future students the same kinds of opportunities, please fill out the advocacy interest form and let us work together to secure our future.
Sincerely,
Maud