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.
== Athletics ==
The school's athletic teams (except for the men's rugby team, the White Dawgs) are called the Ephs (rhymes with "chiefs"), a shortening of the first name of founder Ephraim Williams. The mascot is a Purple Cow. They participate in the NCAA's Division III and the New England Small College Athletic Conference. Williams also competes in skiing and squash at the Division I level. Williams is ranked first among Division III schools for athletic spending per student.
Williams has a traditional rivalry with Amherst College and Wesleyan University. The "Little Three", a subset of NESCAC, comprises the three schools Although Williams College typically sports purple and gold as their …
