Colgate Magazine — Summer 2019 by Colgate University

look L to R: Biology professor Eddie Watkins, Jacob Watts â&#x20AC;&#x2122;21, and Aidan Harrington â&#x20AC;&#x2122;21 measure photosynthesis on ferns in the greenhouse. The work is part of a National Science Foundation grant to examine the extent of genetic control over drought tolerance in plants.

andrew daddio

Summer 2019 Colgate Magazine 1

Photo / Art Credit

2 Colgate Magazine Summer 2019

look

mark diorio

Linking with alma mater: Presidents' Club members tee off during All-Class Reunion Weekend with a shotgun golf tournament at Seven Oaks.

Read this issue and all previous issues at colgate.edu/magazine.

Summer 2019â&#x20AC;&#x192; Colgate Magazineâ&#x20AC;&#x192; 3

Contents

SUMMER 2019 6

Deep Impact Alumni helped compile the Fourth National Climate Assessment.

Letters

Bitten by the GreenEyed Monster?

All-Class Reunion

Discover

President’s Message

Voices

Bicentennial

Poetic Connections What do Nicaragua and Ireland have in common?

Professor Jennifer Tomlinson explains the psychology of jealousy.

A Cataclysmic Adventure Professor Joe Levy and students see the Earth’s geological history.

Cultivating a Culture of Caring

Power to the People

Stephen Dickinson ’13

Professor Beth Parks’s solar project in Uganda

When I ask myself, ‘What were the things that the students of the 1820s felt that we would have felt?’ it would have been the trek up and down the hill. James Allen Smith ’70, author of Becoming Colgate

Ask a Professor Why do economists advocate for a carbon tax?

Scene

Colgate News 14

A Majestic Discovery Gretchen Coffman ’91 works to restore the endangered Asian swam cypress.

Plan.Act.Change. How Colgate met its carbon neutrality goal and what’s on the horizon.

A Budding Industry Alumni weigh in on the legalization of cannabis.

Cover: Colgate University is a smart, green community. Illustration by Oliver Weiss

Before Payne’s Farm

In It Together

Research into the Oneida lands pre-Colgate

For 200 years, the University and the Hamilton community have collaborated.

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Endeavor

Stopping Poverty’s Vicious Cycle Carol Redmon Naughton ’82 works with community leaders nationwide.

Vice President for Communications Laura H. Jack Managing Editor Aleta Mayne

Saving Humanity One Episode at a Time Quinn Emmett ’05 and his podcast Important, Not Important

Assistant Editor Rebecca Docter Communications Director Mark Walden Chief Creative Officer Tim Horn Art Director Karen Luciani Designer Katriel Pritts

The Producer With Free Solo, Matt Renner ’01 won an Academy Award.

University Photographer Mark DiOrio Production Assistant Kathy Jipson Contributors: Imani Ballard ’18, Bicentennial communications specialist; Gordon Brillon, web content specialist; Daniel DeVries, media relations director; Sara Furlong, advancement communications manager; David Herringshaw, digital production specialist; Jason Kammerdiener ’10, web manager; Katherine Laube, art director; Brian Ness, video journalism coordinator; John Painter, director of Athletic Communications; Kristin Putman, social media strategist; Celine Turkyilmaz ’21, communications intern Printed and mailed from Lane Press in South Burlington, Vt. Colgate Magazine Volume XLVIII Number 4 Colgate Magazine is a quarterly publication of Colgate University. Online: colgate.edu/magazine Email: magazine@colgate.edu Telephone: 315-228-7407

Free Solo documents the first ropeless climb of El Capitan.

Food for Thought Laurie Greene ’82 covers California’s underreported agriculture industry.

Alumni News

Salmagundi

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Change of Address: Alumni Records Clerk, Colgate University, 13 Oak Drive, Hamilton, NY 13346-1398 Telephone: 315-228-7453 Opinions expressed are not necessarily shared by the University, the publishers, or the editors. Colgate University does not discriminate in its programs and activities because of race, color, sex, pregnancy, religion, creed, national origin, ancestry, citizenship status, physical or mental disability, age, marital status, sexual orientation, veteran or military status, predisposing genetic characteristics, domestic violence victim status, or any other protected category under applicable local, state, or federal law. For inquiries regarding the University’s non‑discrimination policies, contact Marilyn Rugg, Associate Provost for Equity and Diversity, 13 Oak Drive, Hamilton, NY 13346; 315-228-7288.

Summer 2019 Colgate Magazine 5

President’s Message

Read more: colgate. edu/thirdcenturyplan

write this column in the busy days after a remarkable Bicentennial All-Class Reunion, which brought close to 5,000 guests to Colgate’s campus. During the weekend, I had the great opportunity to speak to the gathered alumni about Colgate’s Third-Century Plan. In the coming months, and briefly in this issue, we will highlight the details of this plan. If you wish to read the full document or an executive summary now, you will find them at colgate.edu/thirdcenturyplan. In this short column, I will offer a few words about this plan, as well as offer some updates on other campus activities. There is a lot happening at Colgate. Prior to the development of the Third-Century Plan, with the Board of Trustees and the faculty, the University made a commitment to be carbon neutral by the time Colgate celebrated its Bicentennial. I was happy to announce on Earth Day that Colgate reached that goal, becoming the first college or university in New York State to achieve carbon neutrality. The Office of Sustainability published its annual report last spring, noting that Colgate released a net 4,418 metric tons of CO2, or 1.5 tons per student, in 2018. That is a reduction of 72.9 percent since 2009, when Colgate made its long-term carbon neutral commitment. Colgate’s community garden now produces 4,800 pounds of food per year, which is distributed in the community and used in our own dining halls. Further, the University’s forested lands sequestered 3,776 tons of carbon. Guided by a campus committee, Colgate now purchases a small number of carbon offsets to make up the difference. As the sustainability staff members were collecting these data this year, Benton Hall was opening its doors. The home of career services and the Office of National Fellowships and Scholarships, Benton Hall was designed to LEED Platinum specifications and is currently operating at unexpected levels of efficiency. Actual steam usage is 10.8 percent less than building models predicted. Those same models predicted electricity usage at six times greater than actual consumption. Burke Hall and Jane Pinchin Hall, Colgate’s newest residence halls, are also designed to meet high sustainability standards. These halls reflect the architectural heritage of campus and respect the environment, even as they advance the Residential Commons system. Read more about the residence halls on P.14. Across campus, the University continues its Bicentennial tree-planting initiative. Colgate has planted more than 150 trees to date on the academic

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and residential quadrangles and along the hill near Case-Geyer Library. Local species have been selected for their resilience and biodiversity. More than half of these trees have been planted through the generosity of alumni, parents, and friends in honor of significant events and important individuals in their lives. (As just one example of this outpouring of support, during the Bicentennial All-Class Reunion, the Alumni Of Color organization celebrated the 30th anniversary of the ALANA Cultural Center by planting a tree in front of Olin Hall.) Shortly before the tree dedication ceremony, I presented Colgate’s Third-Century Plan to the alumni community in Memorial Chapel. This plan, in addition to setting a long-term course for Colgate, outlines a series of initial steps designed to guide Colgate as it pursues its mission at the highest possible level. Several of these initiatives will transform and enhance the campus. Among those first initiatives is the development of the middle campus — the area below the Academic Quad that contains James C. Colgate Student Union, Dana Arts Center, Little Hall, Ryan Studio, and the library. The plan for middle campus will transform this disparate set of buildings, several in need of significant renovation and renewal, into a new, cohesive academic neighborhood. There, we will assemble faculty, staff, and students in music, theater, dance, the visual arts, film studies, computer science, anthropology and archaeology, and entrepreneurship. It will also house the University’s many collections, including those from the Picker Art Gallery and the Longyear Museum of Anthropology. Colgate’s new Mind, Brain, and Behavior Initiative, funded through a generous $15 million gift from Robert H.N. Ho ’56, H’11, will support an expansion of Olin Hall. The renovation will provide an opportunity to, once again, steward current campus structures in a way that both expands their capacity for sustainability and reengineers their layout for interdepartmental collaboration. The Third-Century Plan reinforces Colgate’s commitment to sustainability, amplifies the importance of creativity and innovation in the academic experience, and will secure the University’s place as a leading American institution. The autumn edition of Colgate Magazine will go into more depth on these and other elements within the Third-Century Plan. Until then, know that the campus is being made more beautiful, sustainable, and relevant in our complex world. — Brian W. Casey

Letters I recall a meningitis case in Cutten (now 113 Broad St.) in 1990 or 1991. We all took pills that turned our urine a shocking Day-Glo orange. Spring Party Weekend T-shirts that year were in that color with the saying “the dorm that pees together, stays together.” This story drives home how very lucky we were. Erin Read ’92 Hannah is amazing. So glad she made such a remarkable recovery. It must have taken years off her parents’ lives. I think her roommate, Amina Rehman ’20, is the hero of this story. Liz Armstrong ’81

Showing Fortitude in the Face of Danger Reading “Patient Zero” (spring 2019, p. 34), I marveled at Hannah’s astonishing courage and resilience as well as the dedication and selflessness of her family and those who helped save her. There were also tears in my eyes, because the way in which Colgate rallied to her side reminded me of what it did for me, once. In January 1993, I returned to Colgate reeling from twin tragedies: the suicide of my mother and the (unrelated) suicide of my close friend and classmate, Bill Moll ’94. Every step of that awful road, Colgate was there for me, from President Grabois to Dean Linquest to my professors to my friends. Thanks in large part to their love, empathy, and support, I stayed in school, persevered, and graduated with honors. My mother would

have been proud. I’ll always be grateful to Colgate for that. The names were different, but the Colgate spirit remains. Best of luck to Hannah. H. Seth Resnik ’94 I could not get over reading about what Hannah Tubbergen ’20 went through. What incredible courage, bravery, and persistence. And what an amazing comeback she has made. Also, how the college supported her during her critical period of time — that was wonderful. What an unbelievable experience! Jennifer (Smith) Linck ’73 I have rarely been so captured by a story. Congrats to the entire University for its planning, preparation, and execution during what could have been a serious medical problem for the entire campus. Well done. Kevin Sio ’73

We thank everyone who played a part in our story. We were embraced by the Colgate community, alumni, prayer warriors, rugby and softball families, sorority sisters, hometown friends, and family. It was a terrible time, but we were totally blessed by God, and an outpouring of love and support. Thank you to all the medical members who worked on Hannah. We can’t express our gratitude for your caring. We truly appreciate you all. Debbie Tubbergen

I read the “Voices” column with unease, particularly the title, "Nevertheless, She Persisted.” That phrase came into its current popular usage because of a unique political moment. A woman was doing her job, a colleague disagreed with her approach, and a meme was born. Everything, from the time each registered for a political party, to the episode in the U.S. Senate, was the result of choices those people made. No one registers for cancer. Yes, those who have been diagnosed face choices, beginning with whether or not to seek treatment. But you can't reason with cancer. You can't vote cancer out of office. While certain aspects of politics are life or death matters, they are matters we can more fully comprehend. We know what happens when a bomb is dropped, or when a law is passed restricting or enabling a liberty. Equating cancer with politics is unfair. There is far too much out of our control. Jennifer Sharp '98

Remembering a Former Student On “A Lawyer Walks into a Bar and Doesn’t Leave” (winter 2019, p. 72): I feel honored to have been the adviser for Drew Kostic’s (Class of 2008) thesis on Tibetan Buddhism and its effects on anxiety about death. Rebecca Shiner, professor of psychological and brain Sciences

Thoughts on “Nevertheless, She Persisted” On “Voices” (spring 2019, p. 8): [Laurie Adami ’81, you] have taken on this cancer challenge just like everything else I have seen you tackle. I am so sorry you and your family have had to go through this. This sounds like a miracle! Cathy Ehrlich ’82

Another Iconic Professor On “Class Acts” (winter 2019, p. 22): And then there was the iconic Professor Bruce Selleck… Get that man going around a campfire on the Geology OC and you knew you were in for some great stories. Josh Solomon ’14

Incredible story of resilience, hope, tenacity and so much more. Laurie is an inspiration. Nancy Horwitz ’81

To share your thoughts on this issue, email magazine@colgate.edu, or connect with us on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter.

Summer 2019 Colgate Magazine 7

letters

t’d been 30 years since I’d been to reunion. I have vague recollections of my 5th Reunion — a warm day, a white tent, a brief exchange of “Hey, how ya’ doin’?” … “Good” … “Good” with guys from my dorm. A feeling of uncertainty, a twinge of fear, a shell of selfconsciousness. I tossed out the invitation to the All-Class Reunion, having no intention of attending. But the one Colgate friend whom I hadn’t lost touch with called and said, “You should come,” and for some reason, despite all my endless considerations and good reasons not to, I signed up. Perhaps curious, perhaps “200 years” had some weight of importance, perhaps something I needed to discover. I drove 3,228.6 miles from Seattle. Stepped out in downtown Hamilton on a warm evening. There were changes. An Indian restaurant and a Vietnamese restaurant — is this Hamilton? In the past months, I’d wondered if being back here would be a confusing spin of discordant snippets of random memories, a descent into despair at still trying to make sense of my experience here, a shadow of faces and names I no longer recognized. I headed to registration and picked up a maroon cap with a gold “C.” Early the next morning, Alumni Hall, rows of white chairs. I looked up as members of my class crowded into the back rows. I was surprised how moved I was that they had taken the time to be here — and at 9 a.m. on a Friday. I’d volunteered to present on “Navigating Change,” a key issue in my life, as in many 50-something-year-olds. I leaned back against the small desk at the front and opened my tattered copy of a gray book held together with duct tape, as religion professor R.V. Smith had done the fall of my first year in the room next to this one. He read to us, as I read to the class gathered that day, from H. Richard Niebuhr’s Radical Monotheism and Western Culture about the “one thing in life with which we all must reckon,” the “void” that is the “source of all and the end of all … from which there is no escape.” As an 18-yearold, I knew enough of loss to be riveted by Niebuhr’s words and his call to “trust” in this void. Now, at 57, I knew a lot more about what the “void” meant. After my talk, I stood in line for lunch on

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Whitnall Field wondering where to sit when I spotted a table with two white-haired couples. Angelo LaDuca ’59, P’91 extended a warm greeting and told me that at my age, he, too, had stepped out from a job of many years, took a plunge into the “void” of not knowing, and discovered a new passion. Thanks to the encouragement of his wife, he’d become an oil painter. He’d organized an alumni art show and invited me to attend the reception later that afternoon. I recall the scenes of the following days like Angelo’s oil paintings or Tommy Brown’s (Class of ’79) photographs of Madison County, little still lifes, stories in time. I sit in front of Olin Hall and introduce myself to Tiffany, a 2009 graduate from Jamaica. She tells me about her interest in immunology and her work with people who have HIV. I tell her about my own work running an AIDS organization in the late 1980s in Chicago. She tells me her stories of struggling to find a sense of grounding here at Colgate, so far from home. I share my own. We go over to join the Alumni of Color Bicentennial tree dedication. Provost and Dean of the Faculty Tracey Hucks ’87, MA’90 waters the tree, blessing it to grow deep roots, as a reminder that we must not forget the powerful legacy of students of color in this place that has struggled with accepting and celebrating their gifts over the past centuries. Afterward, we walk over to the ALANA Cultural Center 30th Anniversary Celebration. Diane Ciccone ’74, P’10 signs her book, Into the Light: The Early AfricanAmerican Men of Colgate University Who Transformed a Nation, 1840-1930. I wonder on all that has kept us from celebrating the legacy of these men who went on to become leaders. I realize that learning this history is part of an integration, a healing, that has drawn me back for reunion. Later that afternoon, I’m struck that I’m no longer apprehensive about going to the LGBTQ and allies reception. Thirty-nine years ago, a gathering like this would have been held in an anonymous site. Today, the reception is hosted by the Vice President and Dean of the College Paul McLoughlin II and his husband at their home. It was not an easy time at Colgate 1980– 1984, perhaps no era is when you are 18–22. It was a community torn as it struggled to

make real the welcome it proclaimed for students of color and women. Not a safe place for a young man like me who was questioning his sexuality. In Chapel House, Professor Steven Kepnes sparks a spirited conversation on “Why God Today?” — the conversation more inclusive of other perspectives than it had been decades before. Yet there’s a similar resonance that runs through the conversation, an appreciation that contemplation and reflection are values still to be celebrated and needed more

andrew daddio

Reunion Reflections

letters Peter Ilgenfritz ’84 won the reunion 5K race on the Harry Lang Cross-Country and Fitness Trails. Inset: Ilgenfritz (right) with John Kenney ’78, who placed second.

Letters

than ever before. After the conversation, I find myself talking about God with one of the guys whom, decades before, I’d never said anything beyond “Hey, how ya’ doin’?” Life’s changed. That night, on Whitnall Field, a classmate tells me: “I vaguely remember you. You were introverted, quiet. Don’t take this the wrong way, but what happened?!” I laugh. I’ve grown; we all have. Early the next morning, I gather with the small crowd on Trainer Hill for the reunion fun run. The long green field above campus

was always one of my favorite places to get away and watch the clouds drifting slowly down the valley. Amber Williams, director of track and field, jokes that she brought her stopwatch, “to set your PR if you want to.” I decided I might as well. It took 39 years for my first and only athletic achievement at Colgate: I won the race. I may never make sense of my Colgate experience, as I will never figure out my 18-year-old self. But perhaps that was never the point. Instead, to take in the wonder

of this present time, to witness how I’ve grown and Colgate as well. I reunited with a school, a history, that is a work in progress but one worth working at, moving toward wider inclusion, deeper justice for the future generations that will be shaped here, as I have been. I’ll be back. Peter Ilgenfritz ’84

For more on this year’s All-Class Reunion, see p. 28. Summer 2019 Colgate Magazine 9

Voices Teaching

Bitten by the Green-Eyed Monster? In her Science of Relationships core class, Professor Jennifer Tomlinson discusses the ways in which jealousy rears its ugly head.

esearchers have identified two types of jealousy. Reactive jealousy can occur when there’s an actual threat in a relationship. For example, if there’s been infidelity, the jealousy is founded and the other person is reacting. The other type, which can be more problematic, is suspicious jealousy. In this situation, the partner hasn’t misbehaved, but the other person is worried or mistrustful. Certain people are more prone to suspicious jealousy. One of the characteristics is when someone feels like they have lower power in the relationship and they may think they don’t have good alternatives. If someone is higher in power in a relationship, that person often perceives that they have other options, such as being in a relationship with someone else, spending time with other people, or participating in different activities like focusing on their career. Another characteristic that can make people more prone to suspicious jealousy is having a poor self-concept. One reason for this has to do with “attachment style.” Those who are high in “anxious attachment” have a poor model of themselves, but they have a positive model of others. Those people worry about their partners loving them back. In contrast, people who are more “securely attached” have a positive model of themselves and a positive model of other

10 Colgate Magazine Summer 2019

people, so they are less prone to worries about jealousy. Neuroticism — which is one of the big five personality traits — has also been linked to jealousy. People who are high in neuroticism tend to worry about a lot of things, and jealousy could be one of those fears. In addition to personality traits, a number of research studies have looked at gender as a possible factor. One early study (Buss and colleagues, 1992) found that women were more threatened by emotional infidelity, whereas men were more threatened by sexual infidelity. As researchers delved into this idea, some of the explanations were based on evolutionary theories. Women, it’s been suggested, would be most concerned about paternal investment — making sure they have a partner who will help them raise

the child. Therefore, emotional infidelity is especially threatening. Men, on the other hand, want to ensure that their genes are passed on, and because women have concealed ovulation, men don’t necessarily know if the child is theirs or not. This paternal uncertainty is believed to be the reason for men’s fears of sexual infidelity. Although the early research implies a strong gender difference, other researchers have pointed out problems with that study’s methodology, specifically the framing of the question. In the early study, researchers asked subjects, “Which would you find more threatening: emotional infidelity or sexual infidelity?” But a subsequent study asked the question differently: “On a scale from 1 to 5, how threatening would you find emotional infidelity and how threatening would you Illustration by Hanna Barczyk

find sexual infidelity?” In this case, the gender difference actually goes away; men and women find both sexual and emotional infidelity to be equally threatening. To further explore this idea, researchers have looked at how people think about love and sex. They’ve found that women equate love with sex and worry that emotional infidelity will lead to sexual infidelity. Men, in contrast, equate sex with love. They would be more jealous in terms of sexual infidelity, because men would think that is going to lead to emotional infidelity. Another study, conducted in 2006, examined neural activity and response to jealousy-evoking situations. It found that men and women showed different patterns of neural activity when they thought about jealousy. For men, the regions of the brain that are associated with sex and aggression were more active when imagining sexual infidelity compared to imagining emotional infidelity. When women were thinking about these two scenarios, there were no differences in brain activation — perhaps because they would have paternal certainty. People, in general, respond differently to feelings of jealousy. One way is trying to make the other partner feel jealous back, which might backfire and create a downward spiral in the relationship. Research has found that the most effective way to respond is for the jealous person to openly communicate their hurt, fears, and anger. They should then develop constructive ways of dealing with their negative emotions, such as building up their model of the self (because both anxiously attached individuals and people who are at higher neuroticism may have lower selfesteem). By bolstering their self-concept and developing a greater sense of self-reliance, they would hopefully have fewer worries. Thinking about ways to increase satisfaction and fairness in the relationship is another solution. If someone feels like they have lower power compared to their partner, they could try to increase the equity in the relationship. Rather than having an exchange mentality — comparing who does what in the relationship — partners should have a communal mentality. Couples who struggle with this could work on creating a better sense of fairness and equity so that they feel they are equally contributing to the relationship. ●

— An assistant professor of psychological and brain sciences, Jennifer Tomlinson researches the ways in which relationship partners seek out and support each other’s opportunities for growth.

“I am so proud to be a Colgate alum and have the opportunity to celebrate the Bicentennial, now as a member of Congress, by co-sponsoring this resolution.”

IN THE MEDIA “People are the ones who need these forests and they are the ones who’ve preserved them, so we should celebrate what the local people have done, help them do it better, and help support shadow conservation in other places.”

— Rep. Antonio Delgado ’99 (NY-19) proposes legislation with Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon ’80 (PA-05) and Rep. Anthony Brindisi (NY-22) that applauds Colgate’s Bicentennial, on Allotsego.com

“Something like this, a political thing outside our control, can definitely impact us in a unique way.”

— Catherine Cardelús, associate professor of biology and environmental studies, to BBC about her research on northern Ethiopian forest ecology

— Jamiere N. Abney, senior assistant dean of admission, in a Washington Post article on how friction between the U.S. and China could curtail Chinese enrollment

On our campus, in the world, and in our lives, so much had changed over 40 years. Yet that connection with professors whose knowledge and passion had inspired us as we entered adulthood still endured.

“Between satellites and smartphone apps, it’s almost impossible to imagine pulling off an operation like D-Day in 2019. It was hard enough to keep secret in 1944.” — Political science professor Danielle Lupton explains in a Washington Post article why D-Day probably couldn’t happen today.

“I wrote ‘Ghost’ about reminiscing from a relationship and having new memories now alone. I feel like a lot of people can relate to that feeling of not being able to let go.” — Lisa Heller ’18 to Broadway World about her newest pop single

— Goldie Blumenstyk ’79 in the Chronicle of Higher Education on returning for her 40th Reunion

“This is a big country. It’s a diverse country, and it’s a country where it’s essential that people know and talk to, and more important, listen to each other.” — Howard Fineman ’70 in Erie Times-News on unity in the face of political division

← The Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences is part of the new Robert Hung Ngai Ho Mind, Brain, and Behavior Initiative.

“For people to say ‘Thank you’ and ‘We love the way you play,’ it means a lot. I guess it is fitting with how I play to go out like that.” — Chris Wagner ’14 of the Bruins tells the Boston Herald about sustaining an injury before the Stanley Cup Final

“If they just wanted someone who could do what everyone has done, then they don’t need me. But if we want progress and creativity and innovation to drive progress, then we need someone to step up that has a story, that has vision, and that understands a pathway to success.” — J.J. Walcutt ’97 to Florida Politics about her non-establishment candidacy for president of the United States

“I am willing to run through a brick wall if that’s what I have to do to win a game.” — Kenyon Washington ’18 in an NFLdraftdiamonds.com interview

Summer 2019 Colgate Magazine 11

VOICES Learning to immerse yourself in an environment that is long gone is one of the most amazing feats of geology. You get to be a space-time tourist by reading the environmental clues trapped in the rock. The caverns are nearby, and they are actually from the same era and the same rock as the fossil reef. One was carved out by groundwater to make the caves, and the other is standing in the desert.

White Sands National Monument, N.M.

exploration

A Cataclysmic Adventure

approximately 350 million years ago during the Devonian mass extinction. Our trip was powered by fossil fuels, so I wanted the class to reach out and sniff the rocks that would keep us going on this adventure. The carbon in those shales came at great cost to life on Earth. It’s about the only upside to mass extinction.

One geology professor, 16 students, 5,500 miles

Imagine seeing two and a half billion years of the Earth’s history in only 18 days. That’s what Professor Joe Levy and 16 students did when they drove across the United States in May. The trip was the basis for Geology 120: Cataclysms in America’s Parks, which focused on mass extinctions, meteorite impacts, floods, and volcanoes. Grab your map and follow along as Levy provides trip highlights:

Lake Erie, Dunkirk, N.Y. On the shores of Lake Erie, students examined oily shales that were formed

White Sands National Monument, N.M. We wandered out into the dune field, a maze of white and tan wrinkles. By looking at an aerial photo, you can see the road through the monument. One student asked, “How did they decide where to build the road through the park? Aren’t they worried that the dunes will cover it?” I said, “Hold that thought,” because after a two-minute drive, we reached a place where the dunes were pouring across the road. They use snowplows to move them.

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Buffalo National Scenic River, Ark. A canoe-based hydrology experience, we saw how erosion has revealed the inner workings of geological features by cutting through solid rock. The Ozarks in May are breathtaking but stormy. We got caught in a thunderstorm and had to take shelter on a sandbar. The storm meant we could see the river at close-to-flood stage.

Guadalupe Mountains, Texas, and Carlsbad Caverns, N.M. Approximately 250 million years ago, you would have had to dive 2,000 feet to examine the same coral island that is now easily accessible in the Guadalupe Mountains.

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Flagstaff, Ariz. Visiting Sunset Crater National Monument, we walked on lava. Some flows were up to a million years old, while others erupted only in the last few thousand years. The lava pours across the sandstones that run from central Arizona all the way up to the Grand Canyon. The lava bakes the underlying rock and provides the volcanic icing to a sandstone cake hundreds of feet thick.

out of dunes frozen in time. The layers of sand look tilted, but they’re not. They’re the sloping downwind sides of ancient dunes, marching across a 275 million-year-old desert plain.

Grand Falls of the Little Colorado, Flagstaff, Ariz. A waterfall on the Navajo Reservation is a huge draw in the wet season; we were there in the dry season. The tourists were disappointed that the falls weren’t flowing, but we weren’t. It was the perfect time of year for geology. In the past, lava flows from the Flagstaffarea volcanoes flooded into the canyon and dammed up the river. The river then cut through the sandstone and the lava rock and eventually flowed down into the Grand Canyon. You can see this battle between water and fire playing out in the falls’ history. Even in the dry season, there’s evidence of the roaring river in the swimming pool– sized potholes at the bottom of the gorge.

Grand Canyon National Park, Ariz. An obligatory stop for any geology group in the Southwest, students were surprised to wake up to snow here. A few inches of fresh powder in the middle of May was a taste of Hamilton.

Sedona, Ariz. Here we encountered our first truly photogenic sandstones — layer after layer of rock built

Lake Powell, Ariz. At this site of one of the largest hydroelectric dams in the United States, we viewed layers of sedimentary rock along the shores of the lake via boat. These layers are the same former sand dunes we glimpsed at the Grand Canyon and Sedona, but now we could almost reach out and touch them from the boat.

VOICES

Observation

Cultivating a Culture of Caring

Mesa Verde National Park, Colo. The early Pueblo people built stone villages hidden beneath sandstone overhangs here just 1,500 years ago. They eventually had to abandon their cities because the climate changed. It’s a millenniumold cautionary tale about not becoming too reliant on local resources. Walking through the canyon to Petroglyph Point was a neat opportunity to touch axcarved boulders that were being hewn out a thousand years ago.

A Lifelong Commitment

Ryan Bradenberg

Ouray, Colo. The final stop took the class up through the San Juan mountains and down underground into a former gold and zinc mine. We learned about mining history and tried some mining methods firsthand. The roads we drove on were old mule trails cut into the sides of sheer gorges. Along the road, we could reach out toward the Great Unconformity — a 1.8 billion-year-old gap in Earth’s life story that peeks out of the landscape from Durango clear down to Las Vegas. Meeting local mine history enthusiasts gave us a chance to weigh the costs of using Earth’s resources and the risks of acid mine drainage. Many of our geology department alumni go out into the world as environmental consultants to help restore national treasures like the San Juans, so that they can be enjoyed by future generations.

s family lore tells it, I started the recycling program at my elementary school. Disgruntled that I had a special place to put paper and plastic at home but not at school, I brought a recycling bin to my second grade classroom and gave a presentation to my class about why it was important to put paper we no longer needed into this special bin so it could be turned into new paper. A decade later, I started looking at colleges. At the time, Colgate was sporting a C+ rating on its sustainability report card, with its best feature being the Cruiser that transports students up and down the hilly campus. While I was disappointed that my favorite school was not a leader in sustainability, I was hopeful that one day it could be. My time as a student at Colgate coincided with major sustainability developments on campus. The University hired John Pumilio, the first director of sustainability, and former President Rebecca Chopp had just signed the American College & University Presidents’ Climate Commitment (now called the Second Nature Climate Commitment), which set into motion our pledge to become carbon neutral. Colgate, as an institution, was signaling to its community that it was willing to take sustainability more seriously. These developments paved the way for my summer internship in the Office of Sustainability. I helped to develop the Green Raider Program, through which other student interns furthered sustainability efforts on campus by promoting green living and organizing events through peer-topeer interactions. This work enabled me to put some of what I was learning in my environmental studies major into practice. After graduation, I worked as the environmental studies and sustainability program coordinator for the sustainability office and the environmental studies

program. I mentored 13 (of course) of the brightest and most dedicated student interns, who saw the potential to transform Colgate into an institution that embodies an ethos of sustainability. Those interns worked tirelessly to bring their fellow students into a culture of caring for the environment and include sustainability in campus programming — from Recyclemania to the 13 Days of Green. There was a moment during my time working for Colgate when a donor asked why it was worthwhile to put money toward sustainability initiatives. I see the value of a sustainability program in ways that extend beyond institutional improvements and accomplishments. Sustainability programs provide the opportunity for students hoping to make a difference in the world to see how the material they learn in the classroom can make meaningful change in their own community. I’m proud of the work we did in the Office of Sustainability while I was there, but it was not until after I left Colgate that I realized its true value: enabling those who care about environmental problems to develop solutions and then take those lessons with them when they leave Hamilton. I am now earning a PhD in geography at Temple University, and my research explores how we can ensure that parks and green spaces in cities benefit everyone, not just the most privileged. While I had a devotion to environmental issues during my early years, my experience at Colgate catalyzed this passion into a lifelong pursuit. — Stephen Dickinson ’13 lives in Philadelphia, Pa., with his partner. Dickinson can be easily spotted as the tall man walking down the street carrying his reusable polka dot–patterned grocery bag. Summer 2019 Colgate Magazine 13

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⚫ Each will provide housing for 100 students as well as new classrooms and seminar rooms, offices, and student lounges. ⚫ Featuring native stone and design elements that reflect other buildings across campus, the halls frame a new quadrangle designed by Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates.

Campus Development

⚫ These are the only new residential additions to the upper campus since Stillman Hall was completed in 1927.

Halls of Honor

⚫ Jane Pinchin Hall, the westernmost residence, is named in honor of Jane Lagoudis Pinchin, former interim president, former provost and dean of the faculty, and Thomas A. Bartlett Chair and professor of English emerita. An anonymous couple with deep ties to the University — who wished to recognize the essential work of Colgate faculty — donated $10 million to name the residence. They donated an additional $5 million in support of student financial aid. ⚫ Its easternmost counterpart is named Burke Hall, in recognition of a $10 million gift from Gretchen ’81 and Steve ’80 Burke P’11, ’20. ⚫ The halls’ design, by the architecture firm of Robert A.M. Stern Associates, and their role in Colgate’s Residential Commons system inspired the Burkes, who were both resident advisers while students. 14 Colgate Magazine Summer 2019

Burke Hall

⚫ Both halls will be part of the Residential Commons vision that connects students with the campus’s academic core and with one another by fostering strong community through integrated intellectual, social, and leadership programs. The new residence halls also boast several sustainability features. Here’s a handful: ⚫ Built using recycled materials and materials sourced from within 500 miles of the site, including stone from Buffalo, N.Y. ⚫ The project uses native planting, which dramatically reduces the need for irrigation and reduces storm water runoff by 80 percent.

Jane Pinchin Hall

⚫ Window switches tied to valance units turn off heating/ cooling when the windows are open. ⚫ Efficient plumbing fixtures reduce potable water use by almost 45 percent ⚫ Low-flow faucets in the kitchen sinks and public bathrooms reduce the overall hot water consumption by 50 percent. ⚫ There is a 47 percent reduction in installed interior lighting and 72 percent lower exterior lighting power by using efficient LED fixtures.

mark diorio

s the Bicentennial year comes to an end, campus development is at the forefront of changes to the University. One of its first strides is two new upper campus residence halls, which open to students this fall. But before they could open to students, each hall needed one last furnishing: a name. Learn more about Pinchin and Burke halls:

⚫ The buildings adhere to LEED Silver sustainability standards.

Rep. Antonio Delgado ’99 delivered the commencement address, focusing on the power of love. “In love, you will find the courage to turn down all the outside noise in order to hear your inner voice. In love, you will find the strength to follow your heart and intuition when all around you think otherwise.”

13 bits 1 Benton Hall earned LEED Platinum certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.

Commencement details: →→ 719 undergraduates recognized with bachelor of arts (artium baccalaureus) degrees

Commencement

Celebrating New Beginnings

olgate’s Bicentennial class celebrated commencement along the banks of Taylor Lake — the University’s first outdoor ceremony since 2008. It was the culmination of a three-day celebration that included an allclass picnic on Friday, the senior

achievement

1819 Award Winner

mark diorio

’Jonita Cottrell ’19, an educational studies and psychology double major from Brockton, Mass., won this year’s 1819 Award. Colgate’s most prestigious prize, the 1819 Award is given to a student whose character, scholarship, sportsmanship, and service Illustrations by Toby Triumph

torchlight procession, seminars by honorary degree recipients, and a renewed baccalaureate service. “You are a class assembled at a unique moment in Colgate history,” President Brian W. Casey told them. “You are a class that saw Colgate enter its third century.”

to others best exemplify the University’s spirit and the value of a liberal arts education. Cottrell, the American-born child of immigrants, is the first in her family to attend college and appeared on the dean’s list every semester — often with distinction. Her academic work included research into underresourced schools in the United States, legacies of racial apartheid in American urban spaces, and forced displacement in post-apartheid South Africa. Outside the classroom, she was co-president of Konosioni, served as a first-year orientation leader and mentor on Linkstaff, worked in career services, and interned in the Office of Admission. Co-leader of the DDT hip-hop dance group, Cottrell was an active participant in the arts at Colgate. “Not only have I learned more about myself, my ability to work with

→→ 459 earned university honors →→ Valedictorian: Matthew Kato, history major, from Los Angeles, Calif., graduated summa cum laude

Michael J. Herling ’79, P’08, ’09, ’12 is the new chair of Colgate’s Board of Trustees.

3 Peter Balakian, Donald M. and Constance H. Rebar Professor in humanities and professor of English, received the 2019 Jerome Balmuth Award for Teaching.

4 Balancing out STEM: In the 2019 graduating class, more than 50 percent of physics and astronomy majors are women.

→→ Salutatorian: Tianyi “Mike” He, a chemistry and philosophy major from Shenzhen, China, graduated summa cum laude with high honors in chemistry →→ 39 elected to Phi Beta Kappa →→ 5 awarded master of arts in teaching degrees

others, and my capabilities as a leader,” she says, “but I have also contributed to an impactful sphere of Colgate life that binds our community together.” Community has been Cottrell’s focus off campus as well. A Manzi Fellow at Julie’s Family Learning Program in Boston, she coordinated grant-funded research while fostering a safe intellectual environment for children ages 2 to 4. In Philadelphia, she worked with marginalized students to prepare them for the SATs and improve their college admissions essays. “I seek to better understand others through everything I do,” she says. “I view this as an act of service, because it is this connection with others that gives me insight into their needs, passions, and goals, and further drives my efforts for positive change.” — Mark Walden

5 Thanks to the NFL, Thomas Ives ’19 headed back to his home state after graduation. Ives, who’s from Hinsdale, Ill., signed with the Chicago Bears as an undrafted free agent.

6 This year’s Spring Party Weekend Kick-off Barbecue was a zero-waste event featuring biodegradable plates and utensils and post-consumer composting.

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Summer 2019 Colgate Magazine 15

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▲ 7

8 It may be just a myth that Taylor Lake is shaped like a shamrock, but it’s true that it’s the work of the Irish. Lant Gilmartin and his team of Irish workers turned the Payne Creek marsh into Taylor Lake, according to Jim Smith ’70.

9 The SGA began selling subsidized menstrual cups for $5 as a sustainable initiative advocating for period destigmatization.

10 End-of-the-year food donations from students totaled 149 boxes that were delivered to the Hamilton Food Cupboard.

11 Rapolas Ivanauskas ’21 scored the Riley Wallace Award, given to the top transfer student-athlete in Division I college basketball.

12 Concussion Survival Kit, a venture by Chris Cervizzi ’19, won first place in the pitch contest during Colgate’s Entrepreneur Weekend organized by TIA.

Social skills: The University’s Instagram account reached 13,000 followers in April.

Academic Rigor

Goldwater Scholars Study Regenerative Medicine and Green Chemistry

arlene Lawston ’20 and Leah Weisburn ’20 have received Goldwater Scholarships for the upcoming academic year. They were selected from among 1,223 college sophomores and juniors at 443 academic institutions. The program supports outstanding mathematics, natural sciences, and engineering students pursuing careers in research. In particular, it seeks out individuals who display intellectual intensity and demonstrate the potential to serve as leaders in their chosen fields. Lawston (Niskayuna, N.Y.) is an Arnold and Mabel Beckman Scholar conducting research on stem cell biology and molecular neurobiology in the lab of Jason Meyers, associate professor of biology and neuroscience. Her current project focuses on uncovering the mechanisms behind mechano-sensory organ regeneration, using blind cavefish as a model organism. “I hope to be involved in the field of regenerative medicine, where there are a lot of problems to be solved,” she says. “We are on the cusp of gathering what has been uncovered about stem cell regenerative potential and routinely incorporating it into patient treatment.” Weisburn (Akron, Ohio) is a chemistry and mathematics double major who has worked in the lab of Jason Keith, assistant professor of chemistry, applying computational chemistry to her investigations of chemical systems. Her current work is an effort to optimize an environmentally friendly, inexpensive, and nontoxic alternative to a conventional heavy-metal catalyst. “Green chemistry, and reducing waste in the chemical industry, is increasingly important,” Weisburn says. Her research at Colgate thus far has focused on the application of computational chemistry to real-world systems. “The other half of computational chemistry is examining and improving the foundational theory to make the tool more accurately describe physical systems; doing this requires an understanding of both the underlying math and chemistry.” — Mark Walden

16 Colgate Magazine Summer 2019

staff profile

Well-Grounded The University’s landscape project manager focuses on both the natural and built environments.

n a sunny morning outside Case-Geyer Library, Katy Jacobs is checking the master list on her clipboard to verify tree tag numbers. Across upper campus, 200 trees are being planted as a tribute to the Bicentennial. This spring, 41 trees — including oaks, maples, beeches, elms, spruces, and pines — were planted throughout the Residential and Academic quads and along the hillside at Case Library. An additional 28 are planned for this fall. As Colgate’s new landscape project manager, Jacobs is handling all of the moving parts, including coordinating demo pits for the Hamilton Department of Public Works, verifying utility markouts, and working with an outside landscape contractor. In her role, Jacobs will be developing plans to help sustain and enhance both the natural and built environments on campus. So when she arrived in February, Jacobs began familiarizing herself with Colgate — touring the campus, reading up on storm water systems, and analyzing pedestrian patterns and parking. “We’re hoping to streamline circulation with the cars and, while doing that, create better gateways and safer passage for pedestrians,” Jacobs says. In addition, she’s been looking through past projects and plans in order to assess the campus landscape history. “I’ve been trying to understand what the repeat issues are and to think about creative ways to solve those issues,” Jacobs says. “The topography of campus makes for a lot of beautiful opportunities and challenges when it comes to what we want to do on-site.” Prior to Colgate, Jacobs was responsible for several large projects in Syracuse: developing a campus master plan for Le Moyne College, designing a sustainable site for the Cherry Road Elementary School, and serving as prime consultant and site designer for the elephant pool at the Rosamond Gifford Zoo. Jacobs is a registered landscape architect and LEED green associate. — Jasmine Kellogg

mark diorio

Case calculation: There were 587,440 total visits to Case-Geyer Library over the past year.

scene

Opera

Levitation and experimentation in the Visualization Lab

opera

Levitation and Experimentation in the Visualization Lab

mark diorio

ith mylar-lined walls, fog machines, and colored spotlights, the Ho Tung Visualization Laboratory was transformed for artist Paul Catanese’s avant-garde opera Century of Progress/Sleep April 4–6. The performance featured Catanese (vocals) and an ensemble: Gemma Godfrey (synthesizers, vocals), Julie Licata (percussion, vibraphone, timpani, vocals), Evan Runyon (double bass), and Matt Sargent (lap steel guitar, vocals). Hypnotic images of clouds, stars, a glowing golden hand, and thousands of candlesticks swirled on the Vis Lab dome, reflected and distorted by the walls, while eerie, sometimes discordant music filled the darkened room.

“I’m using theatrical strategies to make us think about our bodies being lighter than they are,” Catanese explains. “I would hope that by the end, we were somewhat levitating.” He envisioned the opera as an arc spanning from the time period 1833–1933 (the Century of Progress) to our current century and ending in 2034. The opera explores themes of progress and certainty, while interrogating our understanding of truth and the ways humans have conceived of nature. “I use art as one of many models and methods to think through and understand what it is I’m experiencing,” says Catanese, a hybrid media artist from Chicago, who was this year’s Christian A. Johnson Endeavor Foundation Artist-in-Residence. During his visit, Catanese taught technical workshops, visited classes, worked with students and staff on creating the visuals for the dome, and held open rehearsals to invite the public to participate in the art-making process. Computer science major Francis Criscione ’21 experimented with how to film the images of the golden hand, swirling fog, and candlesticks. “Experimentation lets you

into this environment where thought and experiment become the same,” he says. “You can stumble on things that encapsulate your thoughts in ways you didn’t expect.” Catanese originally developed and performed the opera as a solo piece, electronically manipulating his voice and the images using custom software. The artist used his residency to expand the libretto by two sections. He invited his ensemble of musicians to listen to his solo performance and then interpret their impressions on their instruments. The performance of Century of Progress/Sleep was the culmination of his residency. “It’s been deeply fulfilling to have this opportunity to go out on a new limb,” Catanese says. “We’re really thinking about the invention and interrogation of knowledge, and working together with ideas as embodied experiences.” — Jasmine Kellogg Catanese is the director of graduate study and an associate professor of art and art history at Columbia College Chicago. His works include installations, performance, printmaking, video, sculptural objects, and projections. Summer 2019 Colgate Magazine 17

SCENE

discourse

Journalist Ann Curry on Covering Climate Change

alternative facts and a lack of credibility, Curry believes the media industry is moving in the right direction. She acknowledged that journalism is “by humans, about humans, for humans,” and that it is inherently flawed, but she also pointed out that news organizations are becoming more serious and increasing their investigative reporting teams to cover stories in earnest. Despite decades spent reporting on the depths of genocide and communities threatened by rising sea levels, Curry spoke with a surprising amount of hope. She cited the enthusiasm of the upcoming generation as cause for this optimism. “I am really inspired by this generation. I can feel their passion for things that matter, and I can hear their concerns about the future,” she said. “This generation will be critical in starting a social revolution that will be thunderous on subjects like climate change.” Before the talk, Curry spent time in a workshop with Maroon-News staff, doling out 12 “hard-earned lessons from more than 40 years of journalism.” Her advice stemmed from practical to ideological: encouraging attendees to ruthlessly edit out their own opinion and pushing them to always work for the public and not who pays their checks. The talk was part of the annual Milmoe Workshop in Journalism and was hosted by the Maroon-News and the Kerschner Family Series Global Leaders at Colgate. — Lauren Hutton ’21

18 Colgate Magazine Summer 2019

bicentennial

200 Years of Leadership

uring a weekend-long celebration of Colgate leadership at 200 years, former defense secretary and CIA director Leon Panetta delivered the keynote address on April 5. Panetta described his path to leadership and outlined the challenges facing America during the Kerschner Family Series Global Leaders at Colgate. “I really do believe that the United States can go in one of two directions,” Panetta said to the audience packing Colgate Memorial Chapel. “One path could be an America in renaissance in the 21st century. The other path is an America in decline, in constant chaos.” A rising America would feature a strong economy, driven by creativity and innovation. It would be populated by citizens with an appreciation for national service, and it would represent its values through leadership abroad. A declining America would lurch from crisis to crisis, “divided by our hates and our fears and prejudices, unwilling to work together, unwilling to face the truth, frustrated by political gridlock, unable to protect our most basic freedoms,” Panetta said. Acknowledging the discord in Washington, D.C., he asserted that, “somehow we have always risen to the occasion because the fundamental strength resides in us.” Earlier in the afternoon, Colgate presidents past and present gathered in Love Auditorium to reflect on leadership at the University. The panel included President Brian W. Casey, alongside former presidents Charles Karelis, Neil R. Grabois, and Thomas Alva Bartlett. Moderators were former interim presidents Jill Harsin, Thomas A. Bartlett Chair and professor of history, and Jane Pinchin, Thomas A. Bartlett Chair and professor of English emerita. Two additional former presidents — Rebecca Chopp and Jeffrey Herbst — weighed in via video message. Casey noted that a great joy of the presidency is “to allow the story of the institution to develop. You are responsible for the narrative of the institution and responsible for the story of Colgate.” Alongside conversations about global and campus leadership, the community also celebrated Colgate’s ambitions to lead in the arts and in entrepreneurship. The weekend included performances and a panel conversation with Colgate community members in the arts. Participants in Thought Into Action pitched ventures to potential investors, and the Alumni Council recognized Robert Johnson ’94 as Entrepreneur of the Year. — Mark Walden

mark diorio

ward-winning journalist Ann Curry visited Colgate on April 22 to discuss climate change and her career. The talk coincided with Earth Day, which was fitting given Curry’s past coverage of climate change, including groundbreaking reports on glacial melt and the changing lives of Inuit communities in the Arctic. “The public needs to be on your side for change to happen, and that’s why media plays such an important role in climate science,” Curry said. “There is a tremendous body of work by scientists that should be shared in a manner that helps people understand what they can do about it.” Curry’s talk was moderated by Randy Fuller, Russell Colgate Distinguished University Professor of biology and environmental studies. The two sat down for a fireside chat in Memorial Chapel, attended by young journalists, environmental enthusiasts, and fans of Curry’s work. In her years as an international correspondent for NBC News, Curry reported on human suffering in the Middle East and across Africa, covered natural disasters, including Haiti’s 2010 earthquake and the tsunamis of Southeast Asia, and conducted exclusive interviews with world leaders. She stressed the importance of credible journalism: “Truth should not bow down at the altar of industry or economic progress — truth should not bow down to anything.” As climate scientists and journalists are currently both facing criticisms about

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TIA

How I Became an Entrepreneur

n the clothing line NaSo, each item sports a name from the Nigerian language Edo. The Oba, an evergreen shirt with a mint and orange print, means “chief”; Iyoba, a powder-blue tank dress with a swatch of black, white, orange, and teal print down the side means “beautiful”; a stark black jumpsuit — with a subtle red, yellow, and white print contouring the side — named Omose means “strong woman.” Dreamed up by Uyi Omorogbe ’19 — a first-generation Nigerian American — NaSo marries Western and African styles. The bold yet refined pieces feature simple Western silhouettes and designs accented with striking African prints. Omorogbe developed the company through Colgate’s Thought Into Action (TIA) incubator. At the end of 2018, he sold the first 300 pieces of the collection through Kickstarter, earning $45,000. Approximately 60 percent of the proceeds went to the renovation of a Nigerian school in his father’s hometown. As part of his mission to give back to his family’s home country, the clothing and school renovations were made by Nigerians. In April, NaSo won first place in the 2019 New York Business Plan competition. Having just graduated, Omorogbe plans to continue with his company full time, working on NaSo’s go-to-market plan and raising money to fund additional inventory made in Nigeria. This summer, he’ll work out of the incubator; Omorogbe was accepted by Colgate’s Entrepreneur’s Fund, giving NaSo an additional $10,000. It’s the “full start-up experience,” he says. Here’s Omorogbe on how he became an entrepreneur and philanthropist:

The problem with most African-inspired clothes is that they’re either too traditional or they’re oversaturated with vibrant prints, which limits the versatility of the clothing. I came to TIA with the idea of creating Africaninspired clothing that was minimalist, that people could wear anywhere. My first year at TIA was focused on building and designing the product. The summer after my junior year, I went to Nigeria to see if the clothing could be made there — to give back to the community in that way [and because] there are a lot of talented tailors there. While I was in Nigeria, I wanted to see where my father grew up. Urhokuosa is this remote, rural village. I was looking at the house my father grew up in, and I heard children’s laughter. I followed those voices, and they ended up coming from a school. When I got there, I was shocked at what I saw — a place with no desks, windows, or chairs. Giant holes were across the ceiling, so when

it rained heavily, class would have to end early because the kids would be wet and cold. I saw my dad in all of them because he went to the same school. The most important part about economics [which was my major] is the critical-thinking component: how to dissect a problem, break it down into digestible pieces, and then execute a solution. I wanted to sell enough NaSo products so that I could renovate that school. So, I came back to the United States with samples made by tailors, and I filmed a Kickstarter video. People really liked the product and the story. We ended up doing more than $45,000 worth of sales in just 30 days, and we rebuilt that school in March. The kids are going there as we speak. When our customers wear our products, we want them to have a feeling of empowerment, a feeling that makes them think, ‘well done,’ or as we say in Nigeria, ‘NaSo.’ — Rebecca Docter

in residence

“Studying Africana religions, civilizations, cultures, and histories — it matters. It’s important to understand the epistemologies, theologies, cosmologies, and the ways of life that have come down to people of African heritage and to this wider nation as a result of the involuntary presence of African descendants in this country.” — Dianne Stewart ’90, associate professor of religion and African American studies at Emory University, was Colgate’s 2019 Alumni of Color scholar-in-residence this spring. Summer 2019 Colgate Magazine 19

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Lecture

Edge of Order

20 Colgate Magazine Summer 2019

Community

Seeding Change Grafters X Change builds community resiliency

uddled together outside Schupf Studio Arts Center, Colgate students and local ecology enthusiasts took turns hammering away at the ground, chiseling out a hexagon-shaped piece of asphalt. Removing the asphalt airs out the soil below, eventually creating a small island ecosystem and helping heal the land that has accumulated toxicity in being paved over. This was one of the events during a twoday, late-March gathering titled Grafters X Change: Branches and Networks. The event brought together Colgate and local residents, eco-artists, and activists to foster creative community resiliency. Assistant Professor of Art and Art History Margaretha Haughwout conceived of the event after moving from the San Francisco Bay Area last year. There, she co-created the Guerrilla Grafters, a collaborative artactivist group that grafts fruit onto nonfruitbearing trees in urban areas to provoke conversations about food accessibility and the urban commons. Here in central New York, she invited artists and ecologists from the surrounding area to share their knowledge and address agricultural issues as a community through the scion exchange. “I’m interested in getting folks to share the stories of where their scion wood is coming from,” she says. “So when we’re grafting onto a new tree, we’re not only getting the branch, but we’re also getting a history of a community or location.”

As such, community members brought in labeled scions from their orchards, and attendees took them home to graft onto their own trees, allowing their orchards to produce increased varieties of fruit. The seed exchange, also ongoing throughout the event, was a collaboration between students in Haughwout’s Digital Studio Art: Distribution and Intervention course, Professor of Art and Art History Lynn Schwarzer’s Printmaking course, and artist Dawn Weleski, who has been working on a socially engaged project regarding seeds in the area. The professors gave their students the opportunity to collaborate with Weleski to tackle the prompt: How would you seed change? Students designed packets for a seed that might act as a metaphor for or potential solution to a political issue. Topics ranged from mental health issues to the abundance of plastics in the ocean. As participants trekked to Sherburne to spend that Saturday continuing to discuss the Anthropocene and climate change, it was clear that attendees from all backgrounds shared an interest in learning from one another and trying to bring back a respect for land and community. Haughwout plans to continue the exchange annually. “[The exchange] is first and foremost a socially engaged project, and when the intention is for greater community resilience, you have to keep doing it.” — Lauren Hutton ’21

mark diorio

rchitecture is “a cultural adventure,” Daniel Libeskind told an Olin Hall audience on March 27. The architect’s diverse portfolio includes the Jewish Museum in Berlin, the extension to the Denver Art Museum’s Frederic C. Hamilton Building, the Bundeswehr Military History Museum in Dresden, and the World Trade Center Master Plan in New York City. “He creates built environments for the present that locate memory and experience in their center,” Associate Professor of Art and Art History Carolyn Guile said in her introduction. Libeskind spoke at length about his recently published book, Edge of Order. The title is a nod to the French philosopher Paul Valéry, who said there are two dangers that constantly threaten the world: order and disorder. “Why was there such a [historical] fear of departing from the right angle?” Libeskind asked. “It is the police of geometry, because the minute you do an eighty-nine degree angle, you have sabotaged what appears to be an authoritarian order.” For good architecture to exist, Libeskind claimed, it must not fetishize either perfect order nor be completely without design and structure. “The Parthenon,” he reminded the audience, “does not have a single right angle. The entire building is out of alignment — to make it look like it is aligned with the right angle.” Libeskind’s philosophy relies on the balance between order and disorder, from which beauty is produced and all natural human environments can flourish. He expanded upon how this was applied in a number of his projects, including his work on the World Trade Center Master Plan. “To me, the client was, first of all, the victims. And, ultimately, every New Yorker, every American, every person in the world, they are clients of this project as well,” Libeskind said. He is currently working on several skyscrapers in Seoul and the restoration of the Vilnius Great Synagogue, among other projects. His visit was sponsored by the Center for Freedom and Western Civilization, with co-sponsorship by the Office of the President and the Department of Art and Art History. — Max Goldenberg ’21

SCENE

Women’s Lacrosse

In the Semifinals

Pretre considers himself a builder of programs, and he did just that as head coach of Division II Truman State in Missouri. In 2016, the Truman women won the 2016 Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) championship by upsetting topseeded and No. 2 nationally ranked Drury. For that result and his seasonlong success, Pretre was named 2016 GLVC Women’s Coach of the Year. “Colgate Swimming and Diving has a history of success and tradition,” he says. “I look forward to acting upon every opportunity for making this program even better.” The Westfield, N.J., native swam collegiately at West Virginia University, graduating with a degree in child development in 1997. Pretre went on to earn a master’s in special education/ teacher of handicapped at New Jersey City University in 2003. He was a special education teacher at the elementary and middle school level from 1998 to 2005, while also coaching on the YMCA level. — John Painter

Final to set the stage for a goldmedal performance at the Dad Vail Regatta. The Raiders that afternoon won the Richard O’Brien Trophy for the first time with a record-breaking time

of 5:30.598. With that victory, Colgate moved into the top 20 in both major polls and qualified for the IRA Nationals. — John Painter

Swimming and Diving

New Head Coach

fter beating No. 4 Boston University, the Colgate women’s lacrosse program advanced to the Patriot League Semifinals for the first time since 2015. The No. 5 Raiders then took on Loyola, No. 11 and Patriot League regular season champion, in May. The Raiders season came to a close when they lost to Loyola 20–12. Colgate finished the season with an 8–10 record, and earned a 5–4 mark in Patriot League regular season action. “Our season certainly had its ups and downs … but the team did an amazing job responding to everything thrown their way,” says Liz Beville, interim head women’s lacrosse coach. The highlights:

⚫ Tara Atkinson ’19 solidified her place in the record book and sits third in program history with 34 assists in a single season. ⚫ By winning 55 draw controls, Danielle Van Calcar ’21 ranks sixth in program history of draw control wins in a single season. She sits fourth in program history with 127 in her career. ⚫ Noelle Patterson ’20 is tied for fourth in program history with her 57 draw control wins in a single season. ⚫ Five Raiders earned postseason awards as Atkinson, Madeline Barcia ’19, Samantha Croston ’20, and Patterson were named to AllPatriot League Second Team honors while Lexi Luthringer ’20 was recognized on the 13-player Academic All-Patriot League Team.

dward Pretre is the new swimming and diving head coach, coming to the Raiders from Villanova, where he spent the last two seasons serving as an assistant coach on an award-winning Big East Conference staff. Pretre coached two Big East Swimmers of the Year as well as 12 individual conference champions, resulting in 10 school records. The Villanova men’s team in 2018 had its highest finish (second) since 1993, while the women won their sixth consecutive Big East title.

Men’s Rowing

Raiders Race to Finish

Colgate Athletic Communications

olgate rowing concluded one of the best seasons in program history with a sixth-place result in the IRA National Championships May 31–June 2. The Raiders rowed their Varsity 8+ boat to a time of 5:58.708 in the Third-Level Final, solidifying the team’s standing among the nation’s top 18 crews. Colgate’s run of success began last summer with Alex Damjanovic ’20 and Luke Smith ’20 winning the U23 National Time Trials in lightweight pairs. In February, Damjanovic and Smith won gold and silver, respectively, at the U.S. Rowing

Indoor Championships in the Under 23 Lightweight Men’s category. That momentum continued in the spring as the Varsity 8+ went to the Kerr Cup Grand

Summer 2019 Colgate Magazine 21

Discover analysis

Deep Impact Four alumni helped compile the nation’s biggest-ever report on the effects of climate change.

ach autumn, states across the Northeast prepare for two things: the brilliant fall foliage and the hordes of tourists who come to see it. But patterns of leaves may be changing due to climate change, putting that economic boost at risk. “There is a whole tourism industry in New England based around seeing red leaves in October,” says Ellen Mecray ’90, regional climate services director, Eastern Region for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). And what happens to the economy if warmer winters hurt skiing conditions, or a warmer spring impacts maple syrup yields? Those questions and more are addressed in the Fourth National Climate Assessment, a massive government report examining how climate change is affecting our country’s economy. Impacts on maple syrup and leaf-peeping are just the tip of the (melting) iceberg of its findings, which projects hundreds of billions of dollars in economic effects on agriculture, coastal infrastructure, human health, and transportation by the end of the century. “The report is more important than ever in serving as a conversation starter with communities about what kinds of impacts there are and how we can build resilience based on those impacts,” says Dan Barrie ’05,

The report is more important than ever in serving as a conversation starter with communities. Dan Barrie ’05

a program manager at NOAA, who was on the report’s steering committee and helped co-write its overview chapter. Mecray cowrote the chapter on energy and was the lead federal author on the chapter on the Northeast Region. Barrie and Mecray aren’t the only Colgate alumni who worked on the report. David Reidmiller ’01 oversaw the entire report as the director of the National Climate Assessment for the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP), while Natalie Bennett ’16 served as an adaptation and assessment analyst at USGCRP and coordinated the development of a number of chapters.

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Illustration by Gracia Lam

Nationally mandated by Congress, the report was a monumental undertaking, requiring four years and the work of hundreds of authors and administrators to complete. “We were trying to come up with a consensus across a very broad community of scientists and an evolving body of literature all superimposed on an evolving climate system in the background,” Barrie says. The first volume examined the current state of scientific knowledge on climate change in America, for the first time determining the role of climate change in specific extreme weather events in a National Climate Assessment. “We can look at the science of hurricanes and put it in the context of what we know about the strength and severity of them to make attribution statements, which is a major scientific advancement,” Mecray says. The second volume focused on specific effects climate change is already having on communities. “Rather than starting with the science and interpreting what that means, we started with observations of impacts already occurring in the environment and then attempted to explain those with science,” she explains. That emphasis served two goals: helping to reach people who might be skeptical about climate change by showing its concrete effects and giving communities actionable information about how they could focus their resources to mitigate climate change’s effects. “We’ve made all of these decisions based on an assumption of how the climate behaves now,” Barrie says. “As that climate is shifting, it’s going to have profound effects in ways we don’t expect based on historical precedent.” Already, local officials have reached out to the authors to discuss strategies on how to deal with climate-related issues. In New York, for example, communities might change their snow removal budget and traffic safety plans due to projected increases of lake effect snow in winter. In West Virginia, officials are developing plans to deal with increased flooding in the river hollows. And along the coastlines, communities are assessing the strength of buildings and infrastructure in expectation of rising sea levels and intensifying storms. “We wanted to put the best information out there so people who make decisions can have it at their disposal,” Barrie says. “They’re really craving this information, and they’re drawing on it and using it.” — Michael Blanding For the full Fourth National Climate Assessment, visit nca2018.globalchange.gov.

A Closer Look: How Climate Change is Affecting Hamilton

Figure 1. Probabilities of minimum nighttime temperatures observed at a measurement station in Norwich, N.Y. Two separate periods (1959–1988 and 1989–2018) are shown. Temperatures have become warmer, especially between June and October.

While the National Climate Assessment does not delve deeper than the state level in describing physical and socioeconomic impacts of climate change, we can examine local data to see climate change effects in the region around Colgate. According to data from NOAA, the average annual temperature in New York State has increased by about 2°F over the last two decades, with another 4° to 10° of additional warming expected by the end of the century, depending largely on the level of continued emissions of greenhouse gases. That average change, in addition to increased variability in temperature, will impact the agricultural sector, particularly during the critical spring growth season. Extreme precipitation events have also increased in frequency and strength throughout the Northeast, potentially leading to issues with springtime planting and stressing transportation, industrial, municipal, and other infrastructure. While many factors aside from climate change can impact the variability of local climate, some long-term trends are apparent. For example, a measurement station in Norwich, N.Y., (20 ERA

1959-1988

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Figure 2. Average annual number of days with more than 1.5 inches of rainfall at three stations near Colgate. Decadal variability on top of a clear long-term trend is evident.

miles south of Hamilton) shows a lurch toward warmer nighttime temperatures in the last 30 years (1989–2018) versus an earlier 30-year period (1959–1988) (Figure 1). Students lucky enough to enjoy a summer on Colgate’s campus may find themselves needing more air conditioning on increasingly warm July and August nights. Three measurement stations near Colgate also show a clear increase in the heaviest rainfall events (Figure 2). In the early 20th century, you would expect only 1.5 to 2 days per year with more than 1.5 inches of rainfall — a significant storm for central New York. Now, such events happen approximately three times per year — with further increases expected — potentially causing increased flooding, which could strain infrastructure and impact agricultural productivity. Snowfall patterns in the region are changing as well, in complicated ways. While measurement stations west and northwest of campus show a clear increase in annual snowfall, those to the south or southwest don’t. That is consistent with an increase in lake effect snowfall, which tapers significantly away from the lakes, but sometimes reaches as far as Hamilton. Although temperatures are rising around Colgate, the area experienced as many snow events in the last 30 Mays as the previous 30. So Colgate students may want to hold on to their coats through graduation, for now. — Dan Barrie ’05

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Summer 2019 Colgate Magazine 23

DISCOVER

Faculty

Poetic Connections What do Nicaragua and Ireland have in common?

decade ago, Javier Padilla ’10 took modernist poetry courses, studied Celtic literature, and went on an extended study trip to Ireland as a Colgate student. He majored in English, writing his honors thesis with professors Michael Coyle and Peter Balakian. Today, Padilla resides across the street from where he lived his senior year — only now, he’s an assistant professor of English and calls his undergraduate advisers his colleagues. Padilla joined Colgate’s faculty last fall, specializing in Irish and postcolonial literature. This spring, he taught the first iteration of the course Ireland: An Introduction to Irish Studies, which showcases Irish writers, playwrights, and poets from the 19th century. “My expertise is poetry,” Padilla says. “I love close reading and how a poem can be such a rich vehicle of cultural expression.” Born in Nicaragua, Padilla has always been infatuated by the interactions among literature, language, and culture. “One of the clichés about Nicaragua is that it produces a lot of writers; it’s a poet-heavy culture,” Padilla says. “I started writing poetry at a young age.” He applied to college in the United States, inspired by the likes of Allen Ginsberg and Sylvia Plath. At Colgate, a sophomore-year trip to Ireland with Coyle and Professor Morgan Davies fostered Padilla’s interests in that country. “I fell in love with Irish culture, and the late-blooming nationalism really spoke to me,” he says. “I saw a lot of similarities between Nicaragua and Ireland in so far as they are both extremely literary cultures.” After graduation, Padilla attended

24 Colgate Magazine Summer 2019

Princeton University to earn his master’s degree and was awarded a summer fellowship endowment to study W.B. Yeats in Ireland. When he returned to Princeton as a PhD candidate, Padilla wrote the first chapter of his dissertation on Ireland. His first published academic articles also addressed modernity and colonial mentalities through Yeats’s poetry. Through Colgate’s Inventing Ireland course, Padilla continues to explore these themes. He emphasizes how the literature’s nationalist sentiments helped Ireland maintain its own cultural identity in the midst of a struggle for self-governance and Britain’s colonial presence. “The Irish Literary Revival was important not just for Ireland, but also for other countries in the throes of colonialism — African countries and Latin American countries,” Padilla says. The first part of his course shows how modern Irish literature is bringing back old works. “There’s this continuity in which even after the Irish language was snuffed

out, it was revived. After all these Celtic legends started to disappear, they were revived,” he says. Padilla hopes the class will eventually include the extended study trip to Ireland that he once participated in. He hopes students can experience the importance of Irish literature in the age of Brexit, where the border between the Irish Republic and Northern Ireland is a contested issue and colonial mentalities remain. “Literature is an ongoing experience,” Padilla says. “All these problems that are part of Irish history are still with us.” Yeats addressed these problems by envisioning Ireland as a place of enlightenment in “Into the Twilight,” writing, “Come, heart, where hill is heaped upon hill.” As for Padilla, he has returned to Colgate’s beloved hill to contribute to a community of learning and revive his own history. — Lauren Hutton ’21

andrew daddio

DISCOVER

IDEA

Power to the People An update on Professor Beth Parks’s solar project in East Africa n Uganda, where only 20 percent of residents have electricity due to cost and access to the grid, solar power is a viable solution. Colgate physics and astronomy professor Beth Parks observed this — and the potential obstacles — when she began her yearlong Fulbright fellowship at Mbarara University of Science and Technology in 2015. “The trick is that you can’t just bring in a solution from the United States and expect it to work here,” Parks wrote in the summer 2016 Colgate Scene. Ever since, she’s been working to develop a solar system suitable for Ugandans. The first problem Parks identified was the inefficiency of stationary solar panels. In Uganda, solar cells are often welded onto roofs. But with a solar tracking system that pivots to follow the sun, the energy collected increases — 32 percent, she’s found. “That allows people to buy a solar cell that is thirtytwo percent smaller and still get the same amount of energy,” Parks explains. “So there’s less of a startup cost.” Cost is a top factor because “of the level of preciousness of money” in Uganda, she notes. Collaborating with a local welder, Parks’s master’s student at Mbarara University designed an inexpensive tracking solar cell mounting system. It works through simple gravity: the solar system is mounted on a pivot with a bucket of water on one side and a bag of rocks on the other. The bucket has a controlled leak, so as the water drips out of a valve, the balance shifts and the panel slowly tilts. This system is relatively small, so people can set it up in the morning and take it down at night (to prevent theft). To find a way to monitor the units’ data, Parks enlisted the help of physics major Scott Adler ’19. “There are data loggers already available, but a lot of them were expensive and not doing exactly what we wanted them to do,” he explains. So, using electronic parts and an Arduino-based circuit, he built a costeffective monitoring device that stores data and records how much energy the solar cell generates. Adler also created waterproof packaging for the monitor. This summer, Parks will travel to Uganda to start testing the system at households and small businesses. She says, “If the results are promising, we’ll be looking to partner with a small business or an NGO to offer the technology to households in the developing world.” — Aleta Mayne

Scott Adler ’19 will expand his research on solar energy during a Fulbright fellowship in Norway.

ASK A PROFESSOR

Why do economists advocate for a carbon tax? Heading off climate change is going to be costly, although not nearly as costly as letting it continue unchecked. We need to drastically shift our production and consumption patterns toward lower-carbon goods and services. A carbon tax is the cheapest way to do this. It does so by forcing the prices of goods to include the damage the good incurs on the climate. Last year, more than 3,000 economists of all backgrounds (specialties and political parties) signed a statement in favor of a carbon tax. This broad support indicates both the severity of the situation (we can observe the negative economic consequences of climate change in current data) and the strength of the carbon tax as a solution. From the gasoline that fuels our cars to the electricity that powers our homes, a vast number of goods we consume directly or indirectly generate greenhouse gases and therefore impose costs on current and future generations. Because neither producers nor consumers are responsible for these costs, markets underprice polluting goods, and too much pollution is generated. For example, a large fraction of our electricity comes from burning coal because it appears cheap, if we don’t account for its considerable impact on the climate and human health. A carbon tax corrects this problem by adjusting the prices of goods to reflect the greenhouse gases they generate and tilts the market in favor of lower-carbon goods. The carbon tax’s impact on most goods would not be huge.

Like any climate policy, it would raise price levels for energyintensive goods, so the cost of gas or electricity, for example, might increase approximately 20 percent. We expect this will place a disproportional burden on households at the lower end of the income distribution. To address this issue, economists recommend rebating the carbon tax revenues (which would be substantial) back to households or cutting other taxes. A carbon tax is the cheapest way to lower greenhouse gases because it induces reductions across all activities and sectors, provided they are regulated. With a tax on carbon, solar panels and windmills, efficient vehicles and homes, biking to work, vegetarian meals, and putting research dollars toward lowcarbon innovations will become more appealing. Other policies, such as emissions standards or clean energy mandates, could also drive a transition toward lowcarbon goods. But, this approach would require a daunting number of policies to induce the same adjustments as the carbon tax. Moreover, standards and mandates may be onerous for consumers and industries with limited low-carbon alternatives. With a carbon tax, these goods can still be consumed if one is willing to pay for the goods’ true cost.

Rick Klotz, an assistant professor of economics, researches environmental economics with a focus on climate, energy, and environmental policies. Do you have a big-picture question for a faculty member? Write to us at: magazine@colgate.edu.

Summer 2019 Colgate Magazine 25

DISCOVEr

RESEARCH

A Majestic Discovery Gretchen Coffman ’91 is leading efforts to restore the critically endangered Asian swamp cypress tree.

hen Gretchen Coffman ’91 was in Laos 12 years ago, surveying sites to restore wetland habitat for wildlife, she stumbled over the knobby knees of a tree that seemed strangely familiar. “I took one look up at the enormous tree and its knobby knees and knew it must be related to bald cypress of my childhood,” says Coffman, a restoration ecologist and associate professor at University of San Francisco (USF). She knew all about bald cypress from doing fieldwork in the swamps of her home state of Georgia after college. “I recognized this was a unique tree.” It was: Coffman had discovered the first wild population of the critically endangered Asian swamp cypress (Glyptostrobus pensilis). Fewer than 200 trees are known to exist elsewhere, in Vietnam and China, all of which are in poor health.

Minh Trail, had to be cautiously surveyed for unexploded bombs that had been dropped during the Vietnam War. In addition, seeds are found high in the canopy, so they recruited local young men to climb up the trunks to gather them as well as knock seed cones down with slingshots. The team then transported the live seeds on a three-day journey — down the Annamite Mountains, across more than 30 streams, along rivers and unpaved roads — from their high-elevation field site to the capital of Vientiane. Their efforts paid off. The researchers propagated more than 2,000 seedlings of the cypress. They will start restoration efforts with locals this June by planting 1,500 of the saplings, divided among three sites on the Nakai Plateau, on National Tree Planting Day. “Restoration ecology is a positive focus

in the environmental field in which we understand ecosystems through rebuilding them,” says Coffman, who was a biology major at Colgate. Coffman is in her element out in the elements. Most days, she is in the field with students, helping them hone their plant identification skills and monitoring multiple restoration sites throughout the Bay Area. As adviser for USF’s Ecosystem Restoration Club, she oversees their efforts on the Lone Mountain Native Plant Preserve, an on-campus dune restoration area that her ecology classes research throughout the semester. And the past four summers, she has led students in her Tropical Restoration Ecology class working on community-based restoration with local Malay villages in Borneo. Her team is now using the ecological data they’ve collected from the tree sites in habitat suitability models to find the best locations for future plantings. They are collaborating with a tree-ring dating specialist to analyze samples from 30 fallen trees for clues to past climate patterns. They are also conducting genetic studies in collaboration with Chinese and Vietnamese scientists. “The tree is so majestic,” she says. “Our research gives us a great chance to learn the importance of this tree and the ecosystem in which it lives.” — Kristin Baird Rattini

Some of the trees we found were more than one thousand years old. In the years since, Coffman and her research team have discovered eight stands (distinct groupings) of more than 600 individuals of this mighty conifer. It resembles the coastal redwood of Coffman’s adopted home of Northern California — one of its relatives — in both its stature and lifespan. “Some of the trees we found were more than one thousand years old,” she says. “When a tree lives that long, it is often difficult to propagate.” That was far from the only challenge in restoration of this tree population in Laos. The field site, located along the Ho Chi

26 Colgate Magazine Summer 2019

Coffman teaches Laotian children how to use a tree borer to sample Asian swamp cypress.

DISCOVER

origins

Before Payne’s Farm New research outlines how Oneida lands became Colgate

ong before the arrival of Europeans, the Oneida people of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Nation and their ancestors had lived in central New York for millennia, in an area covering more than 6 million acres from the St. Lawrence River to today’s Pennsylvania border. In observance of Colgate’s Bicentennial, the University’s Native American Studies Program commissioned Laurence Hauptman, distinguished professor emeritus of history at SUNY New Paltz, to research how the campus came to be situated on Oneida ancestral lands. Hauptman unpacked the complex account — including archaeology conducted by Professor Jordan Kerber (sociology and anthropology, Native American studies) and his student researchers going back to 1991 — in a detailed report. Given its strategic location, the region’s land was coveted and contested by colonial, state, and federal officials; military officers; land speculators; and turnpike and canal developers. The Oneidas were drawn not only into negotiations for land cessions, but also wars.

Oneida Chief Good Peter: Yale University art gallery

After the Revolutionary War, prominent New York State families “tripped over their own feet,” Hauptman reports, competing with one another for Indian lands in pursuit of economic gains through settlement and commerce. And while Governor George Clinton had made promises to the Oneidas — that they and their lands would be respected, and he would enforce state constitutional law forbidding Indian land sales to individuals without legislative permission — he was soon breaking them. With the Treaty of Fort Schuyler in 1788, New York State acquired 5 million acres for “safekeeping” through what Hauptman calls “a late–18th-century version of a Mafia protection racket.” Oneida Chief Good Peter “and his supporters were caught — on one hand fearing avaricious land speculators colluding with some of his people; and on the other, fearing the likelihood that the state government would not protect them and allow numerous non-Indian settlers to pour in and trespass on Oneida territory” — so they reluctantly conceded to Clinton and signed the “accord.”

By the early 1790s, acts of the state legislature provided for the survey and sale of the lands “acquired” at the Fort Schuyler treaty. William Stephens Smith — son-in-law of Vice President John Adams — purchased six of these townships. Soon after, Smith sold parcels within one township to Dominick Lynch of Utica, including a 123-acre parcel south of what would become the village of Hamilton. Lynch, in turn, sold that farm to Samuel Payne. With that purchase, Payne and his wife, Betsey, became the first non-Indian settlers in the area, in 1794. Arriving the next year, Payne’s brother Elisha purchased a nearby lot, founding what was first called in 1796 “Payne’s Settlement,” now the Village of Hamilton. The brothers went on to join 11 others in founding the Baptist Education Society of the State of New York. In 1826, Payne sold his land to the society for half its value — $2,000 — to serve as the campus for the Hamilton Literary and Theological Institution, which would become Colgate. The archaeological evidence so far suggests that Oneidas did not establish a village site on lands that became Colgate University. Native Americans employed a temporary campsite in the vicinity of Hamilton off and on for thousands of years into the 1600s, but as yet, according to Hauptman’s report, “no evidence of a permanent village site, no palisaded structure, and no longhouse residence have ever been found” in the village or town. Although eventual possession was made possible by the state treaty with the Oneidas at Fort Schuyler, records indicate that none of the original 13 founders of the Hamilton Literary and Theological Institution had participated in the councils in 1788, nor in other treaties with the Oneidas. And yet, Colgate’s campus is, Hauptman points out, part of the Oneida territory that “allowed New York ... to become the Empire State. To Albany politicians and to the emerging capitalist class ... the lands in Iroquoia were … vital for the building of a transportation network that would further land sales and populate New York’s frontier. The sale of Hodinöhsö:ni´ [Haudenosaunee] lands provided the very capital for future investment.” — Rebecca Downing →→ In 2011, the Seneca Nation of Indians bestowed on Laurence M. Hauptman the name Haiwadogêsta, meaning “interpreter” or “he straightens or explains the words.” Read a fuller version of the story at 200.colgate. edu/looking-back/places Summer 2019 Colgate Magazine 27

Bicentennial

COME ONE, COME ALL THE BICENTENNIAL ALL-CLASS REUNION

MAY 30–JUNE 2, 2019 See a complete gallery at colgate.edu/Reunion2019photos

28 Colgate Magazine Summer 2019

andrew daddio

he vista from the top of Colgate University’s hill is as arresting as the view from the bottom. Equally beautiful, they differ merely in perspective. Similarly, the fondest recollections of Colgate University’s Bicentennial All-Class Reunion might differ among the almost 5,000 alumni, family members, and friends who attended the event May 30–June 2. Yet, all of those memories, full of joy and deep connection, were made to last a lifetime. For class years ending in four and nine, it was a chance to sit under the tents on Whitnall Field or at class dinners in the Village of Hamilton, catching up on personal and professional news. If you were a member of Konosioni, celebrating its 85th anniversary, you might have focused on University traditions, like the torchlight procession, led this year by President Brian W. Casey and Board of Trustees members. For 90 minutes, as the sunlight dwindled behind Taylor Lake, alumni streamed from the Academic Quad to Whitnall Field, carrying the light of knowledge on brass torches, made possible through the generosity of classmates. If you were a Swinging ’Gate — a member of the University’s female a cappella group founded 45 years ago — you would have spent the weekend responding to the call of the pitch pipe. Meanwhile, members of Thought Into Action celebrated 10 years mentoring student entrepreneurs, and the Alumni Council honored a century of work on behalf of the community of graduates, now more than 32,000 strong. During its Bicentennial year, Colgate vowed to look back on a proud history and forward to an ambitious future. Alumni had

the chance to do the same during reunion weekend. Friday morning, former University trustees James Allen Smith ’70 and Diane Ciccone ’74, P’10 signed copies of their new books, each chronicling Colgate’s past. In separate Reunion College sessions, faculty members provided further detail on the Robert Hung Ngai Ho Mind, Brain, and Behavior Initiative and progress on campus planning around the arts, creativity, innovation, and design — a conversation that now includes the performing arts, University museums, multiple academic departments, Thought Into Action, and other campus partners. “When I was in college, there was a focus on rational thought. You read books, thought about them, then came back and talked about them, and that is a valuable way of learning,” Professor Lesleigh Cushing, associate dean of the faculty, said. “But people didn’t focus on learning with your body, with your hands. Now, the conversation has shifted. How do we create students who learn holistically through their bodies?” Other Reunion College events featured alumni talking about team building, mindful storytelling, founding craft breweries, and more. Memories of all kinds, collected by the thousands, were made possible by staff in alumni affairs with support from colleagues in the advancement office and across campus. No matter the class year or affiliation, the effort — years in the making — was both a rally and a rallying moment for an academic community on the move. Invoking words that he gives to first-year students during convocation, Casey said, “I want to leave you with these lines: ‘Make no small plans here. Have no small dreams.’”

Ron Hoham (far right), biology professor emeritus, leads a walking tour of the campus landscaping.

President Casey Presents Third-Century Plan Alumni packed the chapel and overflow rooms across campus while others watched from around the world via Livestream as President Brian W. Casey delivered an address about the Third-Century Plan on the Saturday morning of reunion.

We knew, when we began the planning process, that the trick was not to try to change Colgate, but to make it better. The newly approved plan is a long-term framework to guide the University as it pursues its mission at the highest possible level and becomes an even greater version of itself. “We knew, when we began the planning process, that the trick was not to try to change Colgate, but to make it better,” Casey said. He described the elements of the plan, based on Colgate’s most distinctive characteristics, and outlined the first steps that the University will take toward implementation. Those steps include the elimination of loans for students with family incomes below $125,000; expanded support for professors, particularly junior faculty members; a second Hamilton Initiative, including a renovation of the University’s golf course; the pursuit of a plan for arts, creativity, innovation, and design; and the implementation of the new Robert Hung Ngai Ho Mind, Brain, and Behavior Initiative. Stay tuned: Colgate Magazine will delve further into the Third-Century Plan in the autumn issue. Summer 2019 Colgate Magazine 29

bicentennial

Into the light

Diane Ciccone ’74, P’10 Rediscovers Colgate’s African American Past

KM: What motivated you to tackle this topic? DC: I chose African Americans because that is my heritage. Then I did a little survey and asked, who do you think was the first African American graduate? Most people knew about Adam Clayton Powell ’30. But nobody knew until Jason Petrulis [former Bicentennial research fellow] and Jim Smith ’70 [author of Becoming Colgate] started their research that the first African American to attend Colgate was in 1840, and the first graduate was in 1853. Only two came here before the end of the Civil War. They were born free. Those men came seeking an education at a time when most black people were enslaved and were criminalized and brutalized for wanting to learn. That men who were enslaved until the Civil War came out of the South to get an education and went back to educate their people — I wanted to celebrate what they’d done. I wanted to bring into the light these exceptional men and how they truly did help transform this nation. I wanted this to be celebratory, so Into the Light resonated that theme. KM: What was it like to read firsthand accounts? DC: It was rare, to feel what somebody felt like back then. Sterling Gardner, Class of 1875, was enslaved until the Battle of Richmond. He came to Colgate at 16 years old. He wrote letters to his Baptist mentor in Virginia, saying, “I hate this place” and “I don’t have any money.” But, he said, “I’m not complaining.” He stayed because he knew that, if he succeeded, he would open doors for others. KM: In shedding light on these men, what do you hope to inspire? DC: At the sit-in in 2014, the students said, “We Are Colgate.” I am hoping that people will pick up the banner and tell their stories about what it was like to be here, who we are, and what we’ve been, so that future generations can take pride in this place. — Rebecca Downing Imani Ballard ’18 and Max Longoria ’21 assisted Ciccone in researching her book.

30 Colgate Magazine Summer 2019

Shevorne Martin ’08, Alumni of Color president and Alumni Council member

ALANA Celebrates 30 Years Highlighting themes of activism and empowerment, community and mentorship, exploration and engagement, Colgate’s 30th anniversary celebration of the ALANA Cultural Center this year provided opportunities to celebrate, learn, and recommit. At reunion, after dedicating a tree in front of Olin Hall, Colgate’s alumni of color gathered at the ALANA Cultural Center to celebrate the activism that spawned its creation. “At a time when the rest of the country was trying to get rid of minority student programs, this building opened,” remarked one of those activists, Gregory Threatte ’69, a longtime student mentor, volunteer, and trustee emeritus. “I’m proud of Colgate.” “Many of you in this room were instrumental in the founding of this space,” said center director LeAnna Rice. “Your presence on this campus has contributed to the success and legacy of Colgate and has paved the way for so many students.” Rice highlighted the five commitments of the center’s mission: community building, social justice education, cultural and historical celebration,

student self-empowerment, and peer engagement. She outlined the efforts of this past year, including events; training; educational, cross-cultural interaction, and support programs; and extending the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day observance to two weeks. She also shared new efforts for 2019–20, which will include comprehensive social justice, educational, training, and peer education programs, as well as expansion of mentoring programs. “While this is an ambitious mission, it has to be,” Rice said. “The sacrifices that you have made, the challenges that you endured as students, require ALANA to grow to meet the challenges and the new landscape that many students of color continue to face.” Tracey E. Hucks ’87, MA’90, provost and dean of the faculty, added: “On the occasion of this Bicentennial Reunion, we mark a new beginning with Colgate. Moving into our third century, we want to commit and recommit to the alumni of color here… We have grown tremendously and we want to stay connected to you.” The event closed with a surprise. Teresa Delgado ’88 and Pascal Kabemba ’85 celebrated 30 years of marriage and looked forward to future years by renewing their wedding vows, with all those gathered as witnesses. Harvey Sindima, professor of philosophy and religion, officiated. — Rebecca Downing

mark diorio

Jonas Holland Townsend was the first African American to attend this institution, in 1840. Henry Livingston Simpson was the first African American to graduate, in 1853. Five black college presidents came from Colgate. Diane Ciccone ’74, P’10 details revelations such as these — and the histories of pioneering black men — in her new book Into the Light: The Early African American Men of Colgate University Who Transformed a Nation, 1840–1930. Ciccone herself is a Colgate pioneer — a member of the first graduating class of women, the first black woman on the Board of Trustees (1993–2000), and co-founder of the Alumni Of Color organization. Colgate has recognized her with a Maroon Citation and the Wm. Brian Little ’64 Alumni Award for Distinguished Service and one of the Residential Commons is named for her. Ciccone’s daughter, Kali MacMillan ’10, interviewed her for a Bicentennial Reunion event.

bicentennial

Overheard at Reunion College The liberal arts education at Colgate gives you the ability to think outside the box, to think on your feet. To critically analyze any situation. My business is very people oriented; it’s crucial to both tell our story and listen to others’ stories. Colgate has taught me the importance of hearing other perspectives and understanding where people are coming from. Ramsey Brame ’04 How Technology Is Changing Education Colgate understands the importance of a vibrant village. Members of the community are invited to attend cultural, social, and athletics events; there’s a real ease of movement from the village to the campus and back. That is unheard of in a lot of college towns. When I talk to other mayors, I realize how lucky we are in so many ways. RuthAnn Loveless MA’72 Partnership, Collaboration, Communication: Reflections of a Mayor in a College Town

The Swinging ’Gates celebrated their 45th birthday during the Bicentennial AllClass Reunion, but they didn’t sound a day over 22. The group held its traditional, impromptu stairwell sing in James C. Colgate Hall, where the acoustics reverberate as strongly as the memories. ’Gates veterans also performed during a Saturday-night concert in Memorial Chapel (above). Watch it at livestream.com/colgateuniversity.

andrew daddio

When I came to Colgate, I joined ROTC, and it worked wonderfully for me because my dream was to go to flight school. I succeeded in getting my ROTC at Colgate, getting my commission, and going on to flight school. After I graduated, I spent my time in active duty and flying in the Air Force. Bill von Fabrice ’54 Soaring Is Pure Flying One of my favorite moments this weekend was meeting Tom Wilson ’49. We gave him and his wife a ride to his dinner tent, and he told us about having a fabulous four years with his Kappa Delta Rho brothers — after he had adjusted to being a 16-year-old freshman with 27-year-old friends who had just come back from the war. He was lively, funny, and enthusiastic about his Colgate experience, even after all these years. I hope I come back for reunion when I’m 90. Betsy Whitehouse ’88 Colgate Through the Lens of CUTV Over the Years Class editor David Davies ’49, P’84 was the oldest alumnus at reunion.

Colgate at 200, a fulldome production of the University’s history, played in the Ho Tung Visualization Lab during reunion weekend. The production is the brainchild of Robert Garland, who is the Roy D. and Margaret B. Wooster Professor of the classics. Joseph Eakin, the Vis Lab’s technical director and designer, directed, produced, and edited Colgate at 200. A number of students and alumni assisted Eakin with research, videography, photography, 3D modeling, and voice-over narration. Summer 2019 Colgate Magazine 31

32 Colgate Magazine Summer 2019

PLAN. ACT. CHANGE.

By Daniel DeVries

hat started with a pledge a decade ago turned into a movement. That movement, and every step forward for the past 10 years, resulted in Colgate becoming the first carbon neutral campus in New York State. The Sustainability Council — made up of faculty, staff, and students — had a clear charge to advance sustainability and to guide Colgate toward a future of zero net carbon emissions on campus. The University hired John Pumilio as its first director of sustainability, and work began in earnest to find new initiatives that would help push Colgate toward its goal. It wouldn’t be easy, and the pathway to carbon neutrality was not without its curves. These are the milestones that helped the University make its mark.

MILESTONES 2005 →→ Colgate’s first Environmental COUNCIL (later renamed the Sustainability Council) forms. 2009 →→ President Rebecca Chopp takes action on the recommendation of the Sustainability Council and COMMITS Colgate to carbon neutrality by signing the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment (since renamed Second Nature’s Carbon Commitment). →→ The University hires its first DIRECTOR of sustainability, John Pumilio. First campus carbon footprint: 17,353 tons

2010 →→ The Colgate Community GARDEN breaks ground, helping to source more local food for Colgate’s dining halls. By supporting locally produced food, Colgate reduces emissions associated with transportation. Campus carbon footprint: 15,463 tons 2011 →→ First Sustainability and Climate Action PLAN released →→ First LEED Gold Certified building: Trudy Fitness Center Campus carbon footprint: 16,194 tons

Illustrations by Sally Caulwell – Folio Art

2012 →→ Colgate enters into a carbonOFFSET and educational program with Patagonia Sur. In Chile’s Aysen Region of Patagonia, the University finances the planting of native trees that remove carbon from the atmosphere and help offset the University’s carbon footprint. Research trips to the area enable students and professors to study forest regeneration and conservation efforts. Campus carbon footprint: 10,711 tons

2013 →→ A SOLAR thermal array is installed at 100 Broad Street residence hall. →→ First forest carbon INVENTORY is completed to determine how much carbon is sequestered. 1,578 tons of CO2 annually) →→ Carbon SEQUESTRATION = Carbon dioxide removed from the atmosphere and stored (in this case by trees) Campus carbon footprint: 6,244 tons 2014 →→ Colgate earns American Tree Farm System CERTIFICATION for long-term sustainable forest management. Campus carbon footprint: 6,962 tons

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OFFSET projects bolster sustainability domestically and internationally Work must continue to reduce Colgate’s campus carbon footprint. For every ton of carbon emitted on campus, the University must purchase an equal amount of offsets on carbon reduction projects off campus. At the same time, efforts on campus must continue to draw down that annual output in order to reduce reliance on annual offsets. To mitigate remaining University emissions for air and automotive travel and energy consumption related to buildings, Colgate has invested approximately $60,000 in the following new offset projects. A working group of the University’s Sustainability Council evaluated these projects based on their effectiveness, social and ecological benefits, cost, and learning opportunities for students. Seneca Meadows landfill gas to energy (New York): Supported by NativeEnergy, this project helps to fund a methane capture system for 413 landfill gas extraction wells to generate 18 megawatts of electricity (enough to power 20,000 homes). The project also protects a wetlands preserve that is home to more than 215 species of birds.

2015 →→ Green BUILDING Standards are approved and incorporated into the campus’s overarching Building Design and Construction Standards. Campus carbon footprint: 9,562 tons

2018 →→ Upgrades to biomass boiler in the heating facility allow the University to rely less on fossil fuel and more on RENEWABLE and carbon neutral wood chips. Campus carbon footprint: 4,290 tons

2016 →→ First GEOTHERMAL heating and cooling project is installed in Chapel House Campus carbon footprint: 10,358 tons

2019 →→ Colgate has reduced its oncampus carbon FOOTPRINT by more than 46 percent since 2009. Campus carbon footprint: 0 tons; carbon neutrality reached

2017 →→ Colgate harvests willow from a 7.5-acre plot planted in 2009. Over a 20-year period, this plot will yield approximately 900 dry tons of BIOMASS for the University’s woodchip burning facility. →→ Green Revolving Loan FUND is established (see sidebar) Campus carbon footprint: 8,175 tons

May Ranch Avoided Grassland Conversion (Colorado): This carbon sequestration and conservation project protects approximately 14,500 acres of grasslands in Prowers County, Colo. This preservation helps to prevent the release of carbon sequestered in soils while also serving to protect one of the most endangered ecosystems in the country. Rimba Raya Biodiversity Reserve (Indonesia): With the development of palm oil plantations threatening endangered Borneo orangutan, and the potential destruction of carbon-dense tropical peat swamps, this U.N.supported project, by Natural Capital Partners, shields approximately 160,000 acres of forest from development for oil production. Danjiang River Solar Cookers (China): This project aims to reduce coal consumption, and the resulting carbon emissions, by installing solar cookers in nearly 100,000 households. Solar cookers also help to reduce air pollution and related respiratory diseases stemming from burning coal. Renewable Energy Certificates (United States): Colgate has purchased renewable energy certificates (RECs) from the Greenlight Energy Group, the first U.S. female-owned renewable energy marketing company. Colgate’s purchase of Green-e certified RECs means that 100 percent of the University’s electricity is supplied from renewable energy that meets the highest environmental benefits.

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In addition to enhancing the landscape, trees play another important role on campus: They absorb more than 3,000 tons of carbon dioxide each year.

the big picture Beyond carbon reduction, Colgate is advancing environmental and social sustainability in general. “Carbon is part of it, but we don’t ever want to lose sight of the larger goal of trying to create a more sustainable society,” Pumilio says. Some of the University's efforts last year included: The community garden for campus and the community. Approximately 1,600 pounds were donated to the Hamilton Food Cupboard.

Pumilio has developed a strategic approach to measuring and managing the University’s power and energy use. All of the buildings are properly metered and provide continuous feedback. “We are getting to a place where we know in real time if there’s a problem in the building — if it’s underperforming or malfunctioning,” he explains. Then teams can go in, with precision, and fix the inefficiencies or malfunctions with the energy system. This not only saves energy and reduces carbon, but also makes the space healthier and more comfortable. The next phase, now that data has been collected, is setting energy goals. Also, as Colgate builds new structures in the years ahead, they will meet LEED Silver certification or better, according to the University’s

green building standards. “Benton Hall is a wonderful example,” Pumilio says. “We had to meet these core institutional needs, but we also designed and built that building with energy and sustainability in mind. We just got our measurement and verification data back, and the building is even outperforming what we thought it would do.” Over the years, this endeavor has been educational for everyone, President Brian W. Casey said in a WAMC radio interview on Earth Day. “What I think we’ve all learned is that there’s not a single straight line toward achieving a goal,” he said. “Instead, it’s a lot of different efforts, lots of adjustments. It’s easy to get frustrated [but] you just have to say to yourself, ‘This is a joyful thing for the University to accomplish, and we’re going to get there the best way we can.’”

Revolving Dollars

Water use • 21,859 gallons of water per student • 6.2% reduction since 2010 Total waste More than 20 tons (the same weight as about 12 Priuses) has been reduced since 2017 through ramped-up recycling efforts and waste reduction in the dining facilities. Electricity use • 30k megawatt-hour • 5% reduction since 2009 (enough to power approximately 150 homes for a year) When talking about sustainability efforts, the work is never done. In addition to furthering these efforts, the focus for the near future is on Colgate’s energy use and buildings.

When the term “investment” is mentioned, light bulbs, woodchips, and boilers don’t typically come to mind. But these items are delivering cost and energy savings at Colgate — thanks to the Green Revolving Loan Fund (GRLF). Often explained in the sustainability world as funds that “transform expenses into investments,” GRLFs turn upgrades into opportunities and projects into profits. “Colgate’s GRLF is an internal fund earmarked for energy efficiency, renewable energy, and other sustainability projects that generate cost savings over time while reducing carbon and ecological footprints,” Pumilio explains. “Savings are tracked and reinvested into the fund to finance the next round of green investments.” Colgate’s GRLF was created in 2018 with $1.25 million and has financed three official projects so far. Colgate’s first official GRLF project was two major performance upgrades to an existing biomass boiler system. Financed by the GRLF for $400,000, it is estimated that the recently completed project will reduce the cost of woodchips needed to heat the campus by approximately $22 per ton, for an annual savings of approximately $198,000. Combine these savings with others delivered by the upgrades and this project is expected to pay for itself in just 1.8 years. Even better, 100 percent of these savings will be returned to the GRLF until 120 percent of the initial project cost has been restored. “If invested responsibly, the fund keeps financing projects over and over again as it grows over time,” Pumilio says. “This ensures Colgate will always have the resources it needs to implement projects that will have a positive environmental impact.” — Sara Furlong The Class of 1970 has chosen to support this fund as part of its 50th Reunion next year.

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36 Colgate Magazine Summer 2019

A Budding Industry The growing cannabis business has created entrepreneurial opportunities for some alumni, while others address the potential consequences.

By G. Bruce Knecht ’80

p until a couple of years ago, Ernie and Callie (Rice) Craumer, both Class of ’77, were leading suburban lives in Greenwich, Conn. Ernie worked in finance, and Callie ran her flower shop when she wasn’t shuttling the kids between schools and sports. Fast forward to 2019 and things have changed: the Craumers and their daughter Caitlin ’05 now live in Colorado, where they sell marijuana from a pair of cannabis dispensaries. Their store in Niwot, an affluent community near Boulder, has an astonishing number of products. There are, of course, several strains of marijuana buds and the usual accessories. But there is also an array of edibles and other cannabis-infused products: 15 types of gummies, 78 vaping cartridges, a dozen drinks, 24 different mints and hard candies, 15 topicals (salves, bath oils, soaps, and massage oils), and 32 kinds of chocolate. “If someone predicted that I would end up selling weed, I would have called them crazy,” says Caitlin, who

Illustrations by Oliver Weiss

captained Colgate’s swim team and previously worked at an advertising agency in Manhattan. The other surprise is the customers. Yes, there are some young men and women who could be described as “stoners,” but they’re the exceptions. The Craumers say the average age of their customers is 48. “They don’t come here because they want to get messed up,” Callie says. “They come because they want to take the edge off, to feel better, or to do something about pain, sleeping, stress, or anxiety.” Whether you think the legalization of marijuana is a godsend or an epic disaster in the making, it’s a movement that’s taken on tremendous, possibly unstoppable, momentum now that 10 states permit its recreational use. Legalization has also set off a frenzy of entrepreneurship — and Colgate alumni are playing an outsized role. Some of the Craumers’ best-selling chocolates are made by a company called 1906, which was founded by Summer 2019 Colgate Magazine 37

Peter Barsoom ’92. After spending 20 years working for several financial services companies, he decided to set out on his own in 2014. Barsoom thought about ventures involved in health care and cryptocurrency but settled on legalized cannabis because of its growth potential. “Going from prohibition to regulated markets is a historic opportunity,” he says. Barsoom named his company for the year when a federal law was enacted that ushered in the era of cannabis prohibition. Barsoom’s specific strategy is centered on solving what he believes to be the three biggest problems with most edibles: “They taste terrible, you don’t know how they’re going to make you feel, and you don’t know when they’re going to make you feel that way.” By selecting particular strains of marijuana as well as other plants (some of them herbs used in Chinese medicines) for each of his products, Barsoom says, all of them are fast acting and each one has a singular benefit: “Midnight” helps people sleep, “Go” enhances energy, “Love” leads to sexual arousal, “Chill” promotes relaxation, and “Bliss” just makes you happy. A box of six chocolates costs $24 — more than most edibles, but Barsoom says that’s not a problem because his main target markets are women and seniors. “We see our competition as being a bottle of wine,” he says. Barsoom has raised $16 million in investment capital, and 1906 has become one of Colorado’s fastest growing edibles companies. He’s now working to expand into several other states and broaden his product line to include beverages, baked goods, and tablets. “Over the next five to ten years, there are going to be billion-dollar brands in the cannabis industry,” he says, “and we expect to be one of them.” More than 80 percent of 1906’s sales take place by way of LeafLink, an online marketplace founded by

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Ryan G. Smith ’13 that sells 44,000 different cannabis products to more than 3,000 retailers. The Craumers buy a substantial majority of their products through the company. “I don’t know how we could operate without LeafLink,” says Callie, who didn’t know about the firm’s Colgate connection until she was interviewed for this article. With 62 employees, LeafLink facilitates more than $1 billion in transactions on an annualized basis — about 16 percent of legal wholesale cannabis transactions nationwide. Smith’s entrepreneurial career began early. Growing up in Manhattan, he used eBay to sell everything from preowned cell phones and ski clothes to, on one occasion, a single sneaker. If his parents couldn’t find something at home, they assumed Ryan had sold it. As a first-year at Colgate, he joined Thought Into Action (TIA), the alumni-led incubator program that coaches student entrepreneurs, and he founded several ventures, starting with one that sold eco-friendly paper made from tropical plants. He also launched a real estate information service, which he continued to run after graduation. After Smith sold the business in 2014, he was in the market for a new idea. LeafLink came together after Wills Hapworth ’07, a founder of TIA who now works as its alumni executive director, introduced Smith to Zach Silverman, another young entrepreneur who had recently sold a company. When Smith and Silverman met for coffee at Grand Central Station, they spoke in the shorthand that’s commonplace among the city’s bustling community of young entrepreneurs. “I want to do a marketplace for an industry that’s totally underserved,” Smith said. It was clear to Silverman that Smith was talking about a web-based system for facilitating business-to-business transactions. When Silverman suggested a marketplace for cannabis, Smith pounded a fist on the table and declared, “That’s perfect.” With Smith as CEO and Silverman in charge of technology, they formed a company and started spending time in Colorado, where recreational use had recently been legalized. Business dealings between dispensaries and their suppliers were even more inefficient than the partners had imagined, mostly conducted via phone calls and texts. “When we asked if they’d like to have a simple way to do business,” Smith says, “they reacted enthusiastically.” LeafLink is based in Lower Manhattan and Los Angeles, where employees sit in open spaces, at long tables with large monitors. The offices are usually as quiet as a library because of the work involved with building and maintaining the company’s website. A display case in the Manhattan office contains a selection of cannabis products, but all of the boxes are empty because none of them are legal in New York. In fact, marijuana itself does not play a role in LeafLink’s office culture. Smith says it’s not a cannabis company as much as it’s a technology company and that employees are no more likely to consume marijuana than those at other tech firms.

LeafLink has raised $14 million from investors and has expanded into new states as quickly as they legalize. The legal patchwork is a mixed blessing. Because products can’t be shipped across state lines, the Craumers can only buy and sell Colorado-created products, Barsoom needs to set up a manufacturing facility in each of the states where he sells 1906 products, and LeafLink can’t function as a single marketplace. On the other hand, the extra burdens have hindered tobacco and liquor companies and other large firms from entering cannabis businesses. But Smith says it’s only a matter of time before major players jump into every corner of the industry, including LeafLink’s, so he says he’s in an all-consuming race. “The industry is growing fast, but we have to grow even faster to make sure our market penetration grows.”

Blunt Truths Of course, not everyone believes a rapidly expanding cannabis industry — or legalization itself — is a good idea. Colgate’s Charles A. Dana Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience Scott Kraly, who studies how psychiatric medications and recreational drugs affect human behavior and the brain, is among the

skeptics. He says legalization should not have been even considered without far more research into the risks of cannabis use. “Legalization is happening because of a change in attitudes, not science,” Kraly says. “People are saying, we’ve legalized alcohol even though we know it’s harmful, and tobacco is legal even though we know it’s harmful. Marijuana isn’t as harmful as either of them, so why not? Let’s go with it.” Kraly says marijuana is relatively safe in terms of addictiveness and that it may well have altogether less significant dangers than either alcohol or tobacco but, he says, it was a mistake to base legalization on impressions of relative risks. And while there has been surprisingly little research on the medical impacts of recreational marijuana, he says, some risks are known. “People pooh pooh the notion that pot is a gateway drug, but there is some evidence that it actually does play that role,” Kraly says. “Say a fifteen-year-old tries pot and he likes it. If he gets away with it, he’s going to be more willing to take further risks” with more dangerous substances. The impact on adolescents is a particular concern because legalization will inevitably increase their access to marijuana, especially edibles, and research shows that significant cannabis use can

Legalization is happening because of a change in attitudes, not science. Professor Scott Kraly

Summer 2019 Colgate Magazine 39

We jumped into the deep end with all our clothes on when we should have tried putting a toe in first. An alumnus (who declined to be named for this article) who is a police officer in a state where recreational marijuana is legal

permanently damage still-developing brains. “What’s happening in Colorado is a grand social experiment,” Kraly says. “What ends up happening there will tell us whether legalization was a good idea or a bad one.” In addition to potential health risks, there are other dangers to consider. A Colgate alumnus who is a police officer in a state where recreational marijuana is allowed says the evidence is already mounting — starting with dangerous driving. “People are getting into their cars after smoking pot and driving their kids to preschool, and they think that’s OK,” he says. In fact, driving while impaired is illegal, but enforcement is difficult. “We don’t have a breathalyzer for pot,” the officer says. A policeman for almost 20 years, this alumnus declined to be named. “I work for a police department in an incredibly liberal city,” he explains, adding that he could lose his job for sharing his views about legalization. That reflects another problem, he says: There’s been such a rush to legalize that voters and legislators haven’t paid enough attention to voices like his. As a result, he says, there is insufficient appreciation for how legalization constrains law enforcement. “I can’t tell you how many times a marijuana investigation led to the detection of other crimes —burglaries, firearm violations, and major drug dealings. So now we have one less tool.” Like Kraly, this alumnus says legalization has come far too quickly: “We jumped into the deep end with all our clothes on when we should have tried putting a toe in first.” Debbie Rush ’86 has also considered the ramifications of changing cannabis laws. For the last 30 years, she’s been working in the Bronx as a lawyer for the Legal Aid Society, the nation’s largest provider of legal services to indigent defendants. She says the aggressive policing and mandatory sentencing laws that resulted from the “War on Drugs” have had a catastrophic impact, particularly on minority groups. “Marijuana laws have had a hugely disproportionate impact on blacks and Hispanics because they are arrested at much higher rates,” she says. “If you’re a white male smoking pot in Central Park, you’re not going to be arrested. If you’re a black guy in the Bronx, there’s a good chance that you’ll end up in handcuffs.” At every stage, she says, people of color have been

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dealt with more harshly. In addition to being searched and arrested more frequently, they are more likely to be sent to prison, and their sentences are longer. And for anyone who has been found guilty of marijuana possession, the collateral damage can be profound. “Since marijuana is a drug under federal law, you have a drug offense,” she notes. “That makes it difficult to get a job, and if you want to go to college, you can’t get federal student loan money. For someone to be unable to go to college because they’ve had a single joint is insane, but that’s the law.” In recent years, the New York Police Department has changed its approach. First-time offenders are generally not prosecuted. But Rush says a second offense can still lead to a criminal record.

the complications of legalization Andrew Livingston ’12 has been pushing for legalization since he joined the Colgate chapter of Students for Sensible Drug Policy his first year. At the end of his sophomore year, he told his parents that he hoped to turn the campaign for legalization into a career. And he has. Immediately after graduation, he became a full-time activist in Colorado, where voters approved legalization a few months later. He then became the director of economics and research at a new law firm, Vicente Sederberg, which is entirely devoted to serving clients involved with cannabis. Today, the firm has 75 employees. Its office just outside of downtown Denver mostly looks like that of other midsized law firms, but there are some obvious differences: almost no one is over the age of 45, and you can find marijuana-inspired artwork in many of the offices. Livingston, who is not a lawyer, assists lobbying groups that are working to influence how laws and regulations are written in states considering legalization. For commercial clients, he develops financial projections showing how various cannabis markets are likely to develop. The legal part of the industry, $8–10 billion today, will grow to $40–60 billion in the next six years, he predicts. He believes the illegal trade, which he estimates at $30 billion, will eventually disappear. “People aren’t going to do business with illicit dealers when they can go to a store where they are more likely

to get quality products,” he reasons. (The police officer disagrees, noting that the taxes imposed on legal marijuana give black-market pot a substantial price advantage.) While Livingston is pleased by the move toward legalization, he isn’t completely satisfied. Why, he asks, are there bars for consumers of alcohol but nothing similar for pot users? Answering his own question, he points out that while most of the legislators who legalized alcohol after Prohibition did, or wanted to, drink, pot legislation has been mostly written by nonusers. “Sixty percent of Americans are in favor of legalizing cannabis, but only ten percent are users,” he says. And because lawmakers are motivated less by enhancing user happiness than the pursuit of tax revenue, no one is talking about creating pub-like options for marijuana consumption. As a result, he says, “The culture of cannabis use hasn’t really changed. It’s no longer underground, but it’s not really above ground either.” Laws are also complicated by the division between marijuana and hemp. Marijuana contains tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), which is what causes psychotic highs. Hemp contains cannabidiol (CBD), which does not have a psychoactive effect, but is said to alleviate pain, insomnia, anxiety, and depression, among other problems. Although there is little scientific research to support any of the claimed benefits, CBD products are proliferating. The legality of CBD is also murky. Unlike products that have THC, those with CBD are now permitted under federal law, but they are still restricted by some states and municipalities. Jonathan and Leah (Werner) Schultz, both Class of ’96, are developing CBDinfused soft drinks. After Colgate, they spent 14 years living in Cleveland where Jonathan worked for a bank before the couple started a small software company. Because they could run that business from anywhere, they moved to Denver in 2012. Two years later, they purchased Backyard Soda, a producer of carbonated drinks that were sold only in Denver. With Jonathan responsible for product management and production, and Leah handling the bookkeeping and social media, Backyard

Soda products are now sold in more than 100 retail locations throughout Colorado and in several other states. Now they’re working to create CBD-infused sodas with three flavors that are designed, in part, to overcome the “hempy” taste that is characteristic of CBD extracts: ginger lime, mango jalapeno, and pomegranate orange blossom. “I think infusing soda with CBD is a potentially huge opportunity,” Jonathan says. As it happens, Jonathan’s Colgate roommate, Reed Lewis ’96, is already making CBD products. Lewis moved to Snowmass, Colo., shortly after graduation. Thanks to the Colgate sweatshirt he frequently wore, he met Dick Kelley ’68, the owner of a popular liquor store, and after working in the store for a few years, Lewis ended up buying it. He later added a specialty food shop, and that’s where he sells his own creations: CBD-infused teas and chocolates. All of Colgate’s cannabis entrepreneurs are eager to expand, but the Craumers warn that their industry is more difficult than it may appear, in part because of challenges unique to the industry. For example, after they bought a building in Niwot’s main retail district in 2014, it took a stressful three years to secure the permits they needed to operate a dispensary. More than 1,000 letters were written in opposition. While a substantial majority of Coloradoans are in favor of legalization, the Craumers learned that no one wants the commercial consequences to be located nearby. Once the dispensary opened in 2017, marketing efforts were complicated by regulations that allow advertising only in publications that can be shown to have predominately adult readerships. Their pair of dispensaries now has more than $5 million in annual sales, and they’re profitable. Within a few years, the Craumers hope to add at least three more dispensaries. But they, too, have reservations about cannabis use, at least when it comes to themselves. None of them is a regular user. “I tried it in high school and college, but I didn’t like it that much,” says Callie. “I still don’t. I prefer chardonnay.”

G. Bruce Knecht ’80 is a former senior writer and foreign correspondent for The Wall Street Journal. Author of The Proving Ground: The Inside Story of the 1998 Sydney to Hobart Race and Hooked: Pirates, Poaching and the Perfect Fish, he has also written for the Atlantic Monthly, the New York Times Magazine, and Condé Nast Traveler. He lives in New York City.

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Mark diorio

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IN IT TOGETHER Colgate University and the Hamilton community have been inextricably linked for 200 years.

by jim leach

44 Colgate Magazine Summer 2019

In countless other cases — including the fire department, ambulance service, and nursery school — the community provides essential services. The University — recognizing both its dependence on those services and the additional expense that dependence represents — shares in the costs. Similarly, for many years, the University, though tax exempt, has voluntarily made direct contributions to the operating budgets of the village, town, and Hamilton Central School totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars annually. At the turn of the 21st century, shifting economic realities presented a challenge that town and gown confronted head on. As in many other small towns, changing consumer patterns had altered Hamilton’s business economy. Empty storefronts and deferred maintenance marred what had long been a vibrant business district. The marketplace changed as well for the small farms and home-based businesses that were key elements in the town’s economy. The community and Colgate together responded to those conditions in ways that have profoundly affected town and gown throughout the past two decades. Four programs that emerged as part of that response help define the relationship between the community and the University today: Partnership for Community Development (PCD) is a nonprofit economic development agency with equal representation from the village, town, and University. Hamilton Initiative is a for-profit limited liability company formed by Colgate to buy, restore, and manage distressed buildings downtown. Upstate Institute engages regional community members with students, faculty, and staff in research and academically grounded projects to advance upstate New York. The Max A. Shacknai Center for Outreach, Volunteerism, and Education (COVE) supports hundreds of students who volunteer their services locally and around the globe.

Colgate University President Brian W. Casey, Hamilton Mayor RuthAnn Loveless M’72, and Town of Hamilton Supervisor Eve Ann Shwartz

susan kahn

n Hamilton, where a rural community is home to a nationally ranked liberal arts university, how town and gown respond to shared opportunities has an effect on the experience of everyone who lives here or passes through. To their credit and benefit, campus and community have found ways to cooperate and communicate. And today, it’s “as good as it’s ever been,” says one lifelong resident, Town of Hamilton Supervisor Eve Ann Shwartz. Sometimes Shwartz and Colgate President Brian W. Casey discuss town/gown matters at the open community swim on Sundays at the University’s Lineberry Natatorium. Other times, town business puts Shwartz in contact with the University’s Associate Vice President for Community Affairs Joanne Borfitz. For broader issues of community concern, Shwartz, Casey, and Village of Hamilton Mayor RuthAnn Loveless M’72 are, by dint of their positions, the active “principal partners” of a nonprofit corporation that formed 20 years ago to promote economic development and quality of life. A byproduct of those interactions as they have become more frequent and routine: “I feel I can say what’s on my mind and there is someone to listen,” Shwartz says. Among the many opportune moments in the shared history of Hamilton and Colgate, the first occurred when Baptist minister Daniel Hascall and his friend Nathaniel Kendrick convinced other local clergy and laymen to start a seminary. The people of Hamilton promised $6,000 for a building and guarantees to have the institution located in their newly incorporated village. Two hundred years later, Colgate is celebrating its Bicentennial. First Baptist Church in Hamilton proclaims itself “Mother Church of Colgate” and notes on its website that founder/parishioners Samuel and Betsey Payne in 1826 gave the 123-acre farm that would become the University campus. Momentous. Villagers rallied to the University’s aid in 1850 when, confronted by an effort to move the institution to Rochester, they pledged to raise an endowment of $60,000 to help ensure that Madison University would remain in Hamilton. Colgate’s scale in relation to the size of its hometown has resulted in the village establishing services that are beyond the capacity of many other small towns. As Loveless, a 50-year resident, says, “We are more like a small city than a village.” Hamilton’s municipal utilities commission provides electricity, water, sewer systems, and, more recently, natural gas at economical rates that benefit residents and the University alike. Also, having a University in town helped justify the creation of Community Memorial Hospital, which has served citizens since 1951. Colgate gave the land on which the hospital was built and has been the lead donor to every major hospital fundraising campaign. Air traffic related to University people and events helps make it feasible for the village to operate an airport (and airpark) a mile from downtown, the only commercial airport in the county.

Broad Street photo taken by John Hubbard ’72 in the 1980s

PCD “Things were not good twenty years ago,” Shwartz recalls. As a first-term member of the town council in the late 1990s, she organized a comprehensive study of local issues affecting agriculture, small business, and housing. Colgate sociologist Adam Weinberg (now president of Denison University) and his students supported the study with their research. Hamilton’s mayor at that time, businesswoman Stella Brink, was facing similar conditions in the village, where major buildings were underused and in decline, and the village green had been worn ragged by years of heavy use. In 1998, Colgate President Neil Grabois invited representatives from the village, town, and University to explore ways they might collaborate to address those conditions. Grabois offered seed funding to hire a planner, Kate Lucey, and she staffed a collection of volunteers who devised PCD with a focus on community-based planning to “foster economic opportunity and community vitality.” PCD’s broadly representative board elected Shwartz as its first president and Loveless — who was Colgate’s alumni director at the time — as vice president. Both signed the incorporation papers. Kept in the loop by Loveless, Colgate’s Alumni Board, collectively and individually, was among the most generous early financial supporters. Almost immediately, PCD began coordinating community input and collecting contributions to finance a renewed village green. A “facade-improvement

program” offered the owners of downtown buildings the financing and architectural guidance to restore their storefronts. PCD organized workshops for small businesses and farmers, tapped foundations and government agencies for funds to support local entrepreneurs, and scheduled events to attract more business to town. Weinberg’s students surveyed homebased businesses and identified a burgeoning, hidden aspect of Hamilton’s economy. Today, 20 years later, PCD is thriving: “Achieving what we envisioned when we started,” says Loveless, who is now retired from Colgate and was elected mayor in 2017. The village, town, and Colgate each allocate funds annually for PCD’s operations. The return on that investment to date has been more than $6 million in outside support of economic development and community projects. Included in that total is more than $2.5 million raised since PCD hired Jennifer Marotto-Lutter as its executive director in fall 2015. During Marotto-Lutter’s tenure, PCD has won grants totaling $540,000 that enabled four businesses to launch or expand, including Good Nature Farm Brewery, HeartStone Artisan Bakery, FoJo Beans, and Kriemhild Dairy. Those businesses have brought at least 28 new jobs into the community. Another $200,000 in microenterprise grants supports six more start-ups, and an additional $100,000 will be awarded to businesses this year. PCD and Colgate’s Thought Into Action (TIA) program have established a relationship that gives local residents access to alumni mentors and other resources Summer 2019 Colgate Magazine 45

Hamilton Initiative’s Properties Sperry BlockGutted and renovated 2001–02. Home of the Colgate Bookstore and its well-used community meeting room. The clock tower is a village icon. Palace Theater Gutted and renovated in 2001–02. Leased to the community nonprofit Arts at the Palace, which organizes a year-round program of fine and performing arts. Hamilton Theater Built in 1895 as The Sheldon Opera House. Fully renovated this summer. Three movie screens; adjoining restaurant and shop on the first floor; second floor apartments; offices on the third. Colgate Inn Hamilton landmark kept open through Colgate’s purchase in the 1970s. It was completely renovated in 2011, and current updates include many upgrades to the first floor as well as a new tapas bar, The Library, coming to the former rathskeller. Nichols & Beal New home of FoJo Beans. Offices on the second and third floors. 2 Broad Street SWANK retail on the corner of Broad and Lebanon; one small shop on the basement level; five apartments above. Maxwell Hotel Maxwell’s Chocolates and the Mid-York Weekly on the first floor; offices on the second and third floors. 18-20 Utica Street Thought Into Action occupies the first floor; offices on the second floor. 22 Utica Street 8 Fresh restaurant at street level; two apartments above. 24-26 Utica Street Main Moon Restaurant and Hamilton Village Real Estate; two apartments above. Roth Building Yoga and Pilates studio on main floor; two professional offices on second floor. 46 Colgate Magazine Summer 2019

Clockwise from top left: Swank, FoJo Beans, Colgate Inn, Palace Theater

that also support the University’s aspiring student entrepreneurs, including coworking space in TIA’s facility downtown. A five-year, $625,000 grant awarded jointly to TIA and PCD this year will expand services and allow for the hiring of a full-time staff person at the business incubator to serve both students and community members. PCD also coordinated and funded a study of business prospects for the airpark. It worked with other local agencies and governments to develop public recreational resources. And, with funding from Colgate, it managed a study of housing options in the village and town — a perennial issue with ramifications across the local economy. Findings and reports on PCD’s work are presented and discussed at regular open forums that invite community input. Central to all that happens around PCD is communication. “The structure brings us together,” says Colgate’s Casey. While month-to-month activities are overseen and coordinated with a working board of directors that includes community members and representatives of the village, town, and University, the “principal partners” — the mayor, town supervisor, and University president — join the board and staff for at least one or two meetings each year to review progress and agree on plans for future work. The process creates continuity. Issues become part of a continuum. Participants develop common understanding. And when an actor changes, as inevitably happens, there’s a cast of players familiar with the story to help keep things on track. Former PCD board president Bruce Moseley calls it “the flywheel effect.” In addition to fostering communications within the Hamilton/Colgate community, PCD has a growing profile as a resource for outside concerns that have an interest in establishing a footprint in town. “Developers contact our office for information,” Marotto-Lutter says. “They feel they have a point person.” Colgate’s Borfitz says PCD has become “Hamilton’s economic development arm, doing all the things that are necessary to support a business community.”

Hamilton Initiative, LLC Downtown Hamilton is a period piece made up of buildings constructed immediately after the great fire of 1895 leveled the business district. But by 1999 — PCD’s nascent façade improvement program notwithstanding — those historic properties were in sad repair.

Architectural details on many of the structures were eroding and rusting away from neglect, at risk of being lost forever. Storefronts that once held prosperous retail businesses were boarded up or repurposed to other uses. Second- and third-story residential spaces sat vacant or underused. For lack of steady income, some owners deferred maintenance. Absentee ownership had already proven its downside, and local developers saw little promise to encourage their taking action. Townspeople were distraught. Those with memories of the Hamilton of old, including alumni, pined for the vibrant downtown of earlier times. That spring, encouraged by reports of PCD’s early success, Colgate’s trustees under Chair Brian Little ’64 approved a resolution creating a fund that would be “fully expended for programs and activities … to promote economic vitality and to preserve and enhance the historic character and the quality of life in the surrounding area.” Trustee Tony Whaling ’59 took the lead in organizing an effort to research

the prospects for buying and renovating a downtown building as a model project. Whaling, a self-made businessman and philanthropist who grew up in northern New York, was driving the process when fate presented a twist. The Whaling-led effort had identified several prospects for possible acquisition. When an out-of-state developer surfaced, expressing interest in the same properties, matters became more urgent. In breathtakingly short order, a new limited liability company, Hamilton Initiative, wholly owned by Colgate, had negotiated contracts on seven properties. Over the next three years, financed by gifts from alumni, parents, and friends, Hamilton Initiative gutted and restored the properties and recruited occupants. Hamilton resident Roger Bauman, former owner of a small bookstore, turned contractor, turned grant administrator, was hired to manage the process on site. Using predominantly upstate architects and builders, he kept the projects on time and on budget, and then stayed on for many years after their completion to serve as the

initiative’s president and property manager. Hamilton Initiative converted abandoned apartments into offices in two of its buildings. Fifty members of Colgate’s professional staff moved in, increasing daily foot traffic downtown. And when Hamilton Initiative purchased the Sperry Block (now home to the Colgate Bookstore), the deal enabled the previous owner to relocate to the airpark and modernize his business. Everyone who was involved in or affected by the renovations acknowledges the anxieties that were associated with

andrew daddio

Then and now: Different angles of what used to be Vantine Studios and is now the Colgate Bookstore.

Summer 2019 Colgate Magazine 47

the process early on. But, from the outset, Hamilton Initiative held to the guiding principle of investing in the diversity and vitality of downtown as expressed in that trustee resolution of 1999. Put another way, Hamilton Initiative has consistently placed the needs of the community ahead of the need to make money. “We are not the typical landlord,” Borfitz says. All of Hamilton Initiative’s properties remain on the local tax rolls. And while businesses occasionally change, Hamilton Initiative’s storefronts are never empty for long. Colgate, Hamilton, and PCD all work closely with the Hamilton Business Alliance (HBA). Borfitz and Loveless are regulars at HBA’s monthly meetings, and MarottoLutter serves on the HBA board.

Upstate Institute and COVE Town and gown people have always worked together to help one another and address needs in their community. In 2001 and 2003, the University created a center and an institute to make the most of those shared interpersonal opportunities. Established in 2003, Upstate Institute marshals the University’s research and academic resources to advance knowledge and understanding in ways that serve the regional community. Faculty and students, supported by Upstate, have engaged with local agencies and individuals to work on subjects as diverse as acid rain, homelessness, local food sourcing, and tick-borne diseases. One example among many: Professor Chris Henke, a sociologist and environmental scientist, leads a group of community members, representing both the town and the University, who have been working together for two years on a local climate action plan. “It’s an example of the kind of win-win where we can support the community through research, but also get better answers by engaging with the community on methods and questions,” Henke says. Environmental studies professor Andy Pattison adds: “It’s not just a bunch of pointy-headed professors talking about climate change and why polar bears matter. It’s a place for genuine dialogue between academics who are residents of the community and residents of the community who aren’t necessarily affiliated with Colgate in any official way. Relevant questions are: How could you live in this tiny village and not have your life be touched by Colgate? And, how can our community respond to the challenges posed by climate change in an authentic and inclusive way?” (See sidebar.) A generous donor-funded endowment enables Upstate to support the development of courses relevant to the region, award faculty research grants, and recognize and attract outstanding scholars with the Gretchen Hoadley Burke ’81 Endowed Chair for Regional Studies. When he held the Burke Chair, Pattison established connections that led to his students conducting a detailed study of local housing issues. The students presented their findings on homelessness and insecure housing to the Madison County Board of Supervisors. Through its Summer Field School, Upstate also provides stipends for student researchers who work

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2019 Upstate Institute Summer Field School projects include: →→ Mohawk Valley Resource Center for Refugees →→ National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum →→ Adirondack Center for Loon Conservation

with community organizations in central New York and the Adirondacks. PCD’s Marotto-Lutter says, “We give them real work.” The thoughtful engagement of campus and community enables each to benefit from its interaction with the other. “There’s so much wisdom in these valleys,” says international geographer and professor Ellen Percy Kraly, a former faculty director of Upstate. “Lessons I’ve learned on the ground here with Upstate inform all my work overseas.” Upstate also provides stipends to faculty who teach in the Lifelong Learning Program, a popular, communityorganized series offering 25 to 30 short courses each year. Launched in 2001, COVE was inspired by a paper written by three undergraduates who saw a potential for students to learn more from their volunteer service while having greater impact for those they serve. Organized within the student affairs division, COVE provides guidance and logistical support for students

During a COVEsponsored afternoon of service, students pitch in at the Colgate Community Garden. The garden provides produce to the Hamilton Food Cupboard.

who volunteer each year on as many as 40 teams. They work across the regional community and beyond to address disparate needs — from education, to public health, to community advocacy, to environmental stewardship. Endowed with a lead gift from Jonah Shacknai ’78 in memory of his son Max, COVE annually supports the activities of 600 to 800 students who provide tens of thousands of hours of service ranging from tutoring local schoolchildren to volunteering with the fire department. Jeremy Wattles ’05 brought his 10 years of experience in service learning and community engagement to Colgate when he joined COVE in January as director. COVE’s office in Lathrop Hall is adjacent to the Upstate Institute office, and Wattles meets regularly with Upstate’s executive director, Julie Dudrick, to discuss how their organizations can coordinate and work most effectively with the community. Outward looking. Community focused. In it together.

Preparing for Effects of Climate Change Representatives of the Village and Town of Hamilton, Colgate, and Madison County have been working together since 2016 to make Hamilton a Climate Smart Community. “Climate Smart Communities is a New York State program that encourages cities, towns, and villages to prepare responsibly for our changing climate,” says Professor Ian Helfant, director of the Environmental Studies Program at Colgate. “To earn this certification, Hamilton must complete a number of steps, each step carrying points. Benefits include access to grants, free technical assistance, and leadership recognition.” The Hamilton Climate Preparedness Working Group (HCPWG) is leading this process. It is chaired by Associate Professor of Sociology and Environmental Studies Christopher Henke, who is working with Colgate’s director of sustainability, John Pumilio. “John and I wanted to start a conversation about the need to proactively get our communities ready for climate change and the impacts we can see coming down the line,” Henke says. Students in the environmental studies junior seminar (ENST 390) have been working with local community members and the HCPWG. The mission of the HCPWG involves reducing greenhouse gas emissions, working with local communities to track and cut emissions, and identifying people and resources vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. “Ultimately, the goal is to assess Hamilton’s strengths and vulnerabilities and prepare the town and village to be as resilient as possible in the face of climate change,” Helfant says. “It’s important that we also prepare to support local farmers as they adapt to these changes.” Hamilton Mayor RuthAnn Loveless M’72 says the village’s Climate Smart resolution recognizes “that climate change may endanger our infrastructure, economy, and livelihoods; harm our farms, orchards, and ecological communities, including native fish and wildlife populations; spread invasive species and exotic diseases; reduce drinking water supplies and recreational opportunities; and pose health and safety threats to our citizens.” The Town of Hamilton has adopted a similar approach and is working closely with the team from the village and Colgate to achieve certification. Madison County has already been certified, and county planners have been advising the process in Hamilton. Concrete steps being taken include decreasing energy use, increasing use of renewable energy, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions through use of climate-smart land-use tools. The Climate Smart resolution stipulates that any initiatives cannot “adversely affect the Village’s energy supply contracts or the cost of supplying energy to Village residents and businesses.” Members of the HCPWG team meet monthly. The group coordinated with the Partnership for Community Development in March to sponsor a community informational meeting on its work. Later that month, Pumilio organized a Saturday workshop on climate preparedness that attracted members of the HCPWG, townspeople from Hamilton and surrounding communities, and students, faculty, and staff from the University.

mark diorio

— Kate Norton ’20

Summer 2019 Colgate Magazine 49

Endeavor

inspiration

Stopping Poverty’s Vicious Cycle Carol Redmond Naughton ’82 is helping to improve economic mobility, health outcomes, and racial equity by working with community leaders across the country.

n the United States, the annual aggregate cost of child poverty is $1.03 trillion, according to a recent study by researchers at Washington University in St. Louis. “Poverty impacts children in a much more profound way,” Carol Redmond Naughton ’82,

50 Colgate Magazine Summer 2019

president of Purpose Built Communities, emphasized in her TEDxAtlanta talk. “In fact, eighty-six percent of children who live in neighborhoods of concentrated poverty don’t read at grade level by third grade, which is an accurate metric in terms of predicting high school graduation

rates, community health costs, and the number of prison cells that we’re likely to need in ten years.” Through Purpose Built Communities, Naughton and her team partner with local organizations in communities nationwide to improve neighborhoods and help break the cycle of intergenerational poverty. “Our goal is to transform places so that low-income families can achieve their full potential,” she explains. Their efforts began in their own city, Atlanta, Ga., in 1995. The East Lake neighborhood was known as a pipeline to prison; the crime rate was 18 times the national average. Perhaps most troubling were the education statistics. Only 5 percent of fifth graders could pass the state math test, and the high school graduation rate was only 30 percent. “East Lake was a neighborhood that had ceased to provide opportunities for families to buy into the American dream,” Naughton says. At the time, she had left private practice to join the Atlanta Housing Authority’s (AHA) legal team. Naughton was tasked with creating the legal and financial model for mixed-income housing — a new concept at the time. AHA teamed up with businessman Tom Cousins, who founded the East Lake Foundation after learning about the neighborhood’s struggles, and Eva Davis, who was president of the East Lake Meadows Resident Association. They formed a committee to develop a plan for progress. “But first we had to build trust,” Naughton says. “People were skeptical. We had to get to know each other.” She was able to forge relationships with the community members, but it came about in unexpected ways. The first happened when she was headed to a neighborhood meeting and her son’s school called to say he was ill. So, Naughton ended up having to bring her nauseous 6-year-old with her to the meeting. “It turned out to be a great thing,” she recalls. “It changed how [the planning committee] looked at me. I was another mom, trying hard to balance work and professionalism.” Through this and other similarly humanizing situations, Naughton earned the residents’ trust. “As much as I hate to admit it, it wasn’t the fact that I was a great lawyer with a fabulous education and extraordinary negotiating skills that allowed me to build these relationships. It was the fact that I allowed myself to become vulnerable.” Working with the neighborhood’s leaders and residents, the partners created a model that included mixed-income housing, a cradleto-college pipeline, and high-quality health and wellness facilities with programming. Illustration by Delphine Lee

Today, crime is down more than 70 percent and incomes for families receiving the public housing subsidy are four times higher. “But it’s around education that we’re most excited,” Naughton says. Children attending the neighborhood charter school, which was once the lowest performing school in Atlanta, are competing at the highest levels in the state. In 2001, Naughton became head of the East Lake Foundation, overseeing the various pieces of the plan. As the group’s data kept improving, they started garnering the attention of people around the country, including New Orleanians trying to recuperate from Hurricane Katrina. “That was our ah-ha moment,” she says. “We could create a consultancy group that could work with local leaders, because the work is complicated and it takes a long time, so having an expert consultant to work with is terrific.” Thus, Purpose Built Communities was born. They’re now working with more than 20 neighborhoods across the country, from Syracuse to Tulsa, and in discussions with approximately 40 more. The neighborhood-focused approach is consistent across the country, but it is customized for each community. “In every place we’re invited, there are many strengths,” Naughton says. “So part of the early work is identifying the strengths and the community leaders who have been doing great stuff for a long time because we want to build on what’s working.” Naughton’s role is leading the consulting teams and working with civic and business leaders. In her TEDx talk, Naughton remembered reading To Kill a Mockingbird at the age of 10. “I found the book on my kitchen table, sat down, and read it five times straight through,” she recalled. “I wanted to be like Atticus Finch. I wanted to be part of the team of people who were dealing with the hardest problems we had, part of the team that could be counted on to work through the things that were getting in the way of creating the kind of society where we all wanted to live.” Naughton has dedicated her career to doing just that. “This work speaks to my soul,” she says. “I have an extraordinary belief in people, people who want to do better collectively to create opportunities for all of us. We can continue to do better. And, frankly, I think we must do better.” ● — Aleta Mayne A political science major, Carol Redmond Naughton ’82 recalls the Washington, D.C., Study Group: “It helped me understand what levers you can pull and what levers you can’t pull in order to drive change.”

Podcast

Saving Humanity One Episode at a Time Important: curing cancer. Not important: Battlestar Galactica?

rom a tiny Studio City, Calif., office in which they’re surrounded by Indiana Jones and Star Wars memorabilia, Quinn Emmett ’05 and his co-host discuss the two seemingly disparate topics (among others) on their podcast, Important, Not Important. Recently nominated for a 2019 Webby Award, the podcast started as a newsletter covering groundbreaking discoveries in science, technology, and medicine. Although it began as just a side project, the newsletterturned-podcast has received significant acclaim. It was nominated for best podcast host, competing against shows like Pod Save the People and Serial. It also earned an honorable mention in the science and education category. “[In each episode], we try to judge every potential conversation through the prism of: ‘Will this either kill us all or improve the majority of the species?’” Emmett says. “We try to entertain and make it fun, and then point you toward action steps.” Emmett and his co-host, Brian Colbert Kennedy, created Important, Not Important, in part, because they noticed the polarizing

effect social media has on people today. Because we — and the media outlets themselves — curate our feeds, we typically only see a smattering of news that’s aligned with our political views. Or, on the flipside, we use social media as an escape from the speedy news cycle, preferring to keep up with cute animals or celebrities. The duo aims to provide a more well-rounded view of news they feel is integral to the “survival of the species” by including guests representing an array of political backgrounds, careers, races, and genders. Since the podcast first aired a year ago, Emmett and Kennedy have interviewed more than 60 scientists, doctors, and activists for episodes such as “What Happens When the Atlantic Ocean Invades the Arctic Ocean?” Most topics on the show center on climate change, the other reason they started the podcast. “[I felt] a sense of scarcity and a sense of urgency,” Emmett says. Constantly hearing about Earth’s imminent doom can feel discouraging, so, sporting his quintessential Goonies T-shirt, Emmett often uses humor to cast a positive light on show topics. “Even if [the world] does look really different [in the future], and Indonesia, New York, and Miami are half underwater, there are still going to be incredible scientific advances that benefit humanity,” he says. At the beginning of every episode, Emmett asks his guests one resounding question: “Why are you vital to the survival of the species?” His guests often say it’s because they ask important questions, or disseminate information to the public. For his part, Emmett is leaving the log of conversations he’s made with Important, Not Important. Those conversations, he hopes, will be available in the future, when mankind has made significant advances and wants to look back on history. His three children are part of that future. “However they choose to spend their lives and spend their focus and curiosity, I want them to have an impact on the world. I feel like with modeling this for them, [with the podcast], I’m leaving a very public record of conversations and asking people, ‘What do we need to do?’ Hopefully that inspires them.” A sampling of “conversations most vital to our survival as a species” →→ Episode #63: How Do We Build a New Pipeline of Sustainable Farmers? →→ Episode #48: Why Does Childhood Cancer Exist and What Can We Do to Make It Go Away Forever? →→ Episode #31: Can Texas Go (Clean Energy) Independent?

— Rebecca Docter Summer 2019 Colgate Magazine 51

DOCUMENTARY

The Producer Academy Award Winner Matt Renner ’01

t was a matter of life and death. Alex Honnold was climbing a 3,000-foot, million-year-old vertical slab of granite, without a rope. Meanwhile, Matt Renner ’01 waited on his couch in a New York City suburb, sweating and panicking. “I was thinking, if he’s successful, he will have potentially achieved one of the most inspiring athletic feats in the history of humankind,” Renner says. At only 40, Renner is a multiple Emmy Award–winning TV and film producer currently serving as vice president of

52 Colgate Magazine Summer 2019

production for National Geographic. His latest film, Free Solo, won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 2019. The film chronicles Honnold’s deathdefying journey as he prepared to scale Yosemite’s El Capitan, free of any harnesses or ropes. “Most free soloists have talked about how it’s just for themselves, and they’re not doing it for a photographer,” Renner says. “We had to embrace the ethical debate about filming it and do it honestly and deliberately.” During the climb, Renner wasn’t on the ground with the production crew — only a handful of people were near Honnold, including directors Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi. Too many observers could create a mental block for the climber. As an executive producer, Renner was the hand that guided the story of Honnold’s climb. He and his team set out to tell a story fit for a mass audience, rather than a niche extreme sports film. Many people don’t understand how Honnold could free solo. But Renner can. He knows how much passion Honnold has

for the sport and how he lives in the moment while inspiring other climbers. Honnold had a story that needed to be told. The team needed to make strategic decisions in order to make the film relatable. Some of those choices: including a love interest to give the film more emotion and exploring Honnold’s cognitive ability to explain his sometimes-coarse personality. Before joining National Geographic, Renner honed his skills behind a water-soaked camera on the Bering Sea, shooting and producing for the TV show Deadliest Catch. His production work helped earn the show 16 Emmy Awards. Four years ago, his friend Tim Pastore, whom he met on Deadliest Catch, tapped him to work at National Geographic. Renner describes himself as someone who’s calm in the face of intense pressure. But the weekend Honnold started climbing El Cap, Renner was a nervous wreck. He knew that this man, whom he had come to know intimately through the documentary process, might die. “There are some things that are so far outside of his control, even on his best day,” Renner says. “It wasn’t until I got the phone call that he was on the top of the mountain [that] I relaxed.” — Rebecca Docter

mark diorio

endeavor

Journalism

Food for Thought Laurie Greene ’82 tells underreported stories in California’s agricultural heartland.

hen Laurie Greene began interviewing farm employees and labor rights officials during a labor dispute in California’s Central Valley in 2013, something felt off. Employees at Gerawan Farming, the nation’s biggest stone fruit producer, were not protesting the management — they were demanding decertification of the United Farm Workers (UFW) union. The protests were in response to an alleged cover-up by the UFW and the Agricultural Labor Relations Board (ALRB), two organizations created to protect their rights. Over the next four years, the legal dispute raised questions about union abandonment, equal protection principles, the reach of legislative authority, accusations of government corruption, and the farm employees’ right to choose their own bargaining representation. “It seemed like the employees’ rights were not being protected by UFW or the ALRB,” says Greene, founding editor of the agriculture news site California Ag Today. As she began to piece together the story, Greene launched what would become a nine-part series investigating the network of allegations between Gerawan Farming, its employees, and California’s powerful union lobby. She would interview farm employees, lawyers, judges, and ALRB officials. The series, titled Who Safeguards California Farm Workers’ Rights?, won a first-place journalism award from the Fresno County Farm Bureau in recognition of Greene’s extensive reporting on an issue that received little coverage in the wider region. When she began reporting on the Central Valley in 2010, Greene had limited knowledge about the politics that play out in the area. Having spent most of her life working on the East Coast as a marketing communications manager, and then at the University of California, Davis as an academic personnel specialist, her experience with food revolved around the

offerings at her grocery store. “My view of farming was very simplistic,” she says. When she married and moved to the Fresno area of the Central Valley with her husband, veteran agricultural reporter Patrick Cavanaugh, Greene began writing and editing articles for an agriculture news blog. She quickly learned the complexities of the state’s agriculture industry. And she also learned that although California farms provide food to the entire world, the farmers’ and farm employees’ concerns and innovations were getting little airtime anywhere. To address this dearth, Greene and Cavanaugh started California Ag Today in 2014. Initially an agriculture news blog, the two expanded it to include an online publication, a radio network, and social media with a small staff of reporters. They cover issues like industry innovations, sustainability, and how farms are responding to the challenges posed by recent droughts and labor shortages. Greene says her time in Hamilton contributed to her success in this field. Her experience announcing the news on WRCU enabled her to venture into radio broadcasting. And Greene’s psychology major helped her “to fine-tune my analytical skills and to know that the story is not as simple as it may seem — it’s important to question and look for facts,” she says. It was that critical eye that brought Greene to her labor piece, which shows a different side to the story of California’s

farm employees and the UFW. A thread that emerged in Greene’s reporting was the changing face of the American worker: the typical farm hand may now be a second- or third-generation American who already reaps the benefits of years of hard work. “[For the farm employees] to be told that they need to pay dues for promises they feel the management is already providing — health insurance, upward mobility, and good pay — is no incentive,” Greene explains. In 2013, Gerawan workers cast votes to decide whether to leave the union, but the votes were impounded and their tally kept secret for nearly five years. Pick Justice, a group advocating against UFW, and Gerawan campaigned for those votes to be released and counted. This effort paid off in September 2018, when the ALRB certified a tally of the 2013 votes, revealing a nearly tento-one vote to leave the union. The story of changing labor relations and the weakening role of unions has emerged in recent years as states consider “right-towork” laws that shed the mandatory union dues and resultant collective bargaining protections in the dwindling number of industries that remain union strongholds. “I believe it’s a crucial, underreported story,” Greene says. “We may yet write a book about it.” In the meantime, Greene will follow the changing landscape for California farmers and share the stories behind the food we eat. — Violet Baron

Summer 2019 Colgate Magazine 53

SALMAGUNDI Dupli’gate In each Colgate-related word or phrase, letters that appear twice or more have been removed. Using the clues below (in no particular order), fill in the blanks. Answers p. 59. 1

O E N

T TH

5 6

9 10

MAR

EWS M BO

RE EUT

• Major disciplinary study group • Sustainability goal • Full name of a founder • Storied pathway • Living-learning residence • MDCCCXIX spelled out • Roughly 73,000 days old — that’s an anniversary to celebrate

• Back in the day, a place to play (in the cold) • First full-time female professor • Campus tour treat • Athletics leader • On this day, a degree of separation • Was once Madisonesis

On Earth Day this year, Colgate celebrated by announcing its carbon neutrality and concluding the 13 Days of Green sustainability events. But how did students honor the inaugural Earth Day 49 years ago? Mike Smith ’70, who helped to organize, invites readers to step into his time machine: “We held discussion groups, and faculty members gave talks about the implications of what we were doing to Mother Earth. The focus was on the fouling of our waters, air, and land. Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring (1962) brought attention to unexpected devastation caused by the indiscriminate use of lethal pesticides, such as DDT. The chemicals were being ingested by bald eagles and other birds, which impregnated and weakened the shells of their eggs. The shells were prematurely cracking while being warmed by the birds, which killed the embryos. As a consequence, various species were nearing extinction. Our participation in Earth Day was yet another facet of Colgate students becoming involved in issues that extended far beyond the campus.”

“Centennial Was Largest Known College Reunion”

Clipped

From the Colgate Maroon, Oct. 17, 1919

A résumé of Centennial data brings to light some interesting facts. There were 1,129 registered alumni, and it is estimated that there were 80 more on the campus who did not register. Approximately 48 percent of Colgate’s living alumni were in Hamilton for the Centennial… Twenty-one states sent their quotas. The eastern states were prominent on the alumni register, but Kentucky was the only state south of the Mason-Dixon line to be represented. The middle west sent a large delegation… In all, seven countries were represented on campus during the Centennial. Facts such as these cannot help but cause the undergraduates to realize that the spirit of the alumni is well worth emulation. Summer 2019 Colgate Magazine 105

13 Oak Drive Hamilton, NY 13346-1398

In This Issue

p.26

Reduce your carbon footprint p.32

Catch up on sustainability efforts at a condiment company p.96

Uncover a union scandal involving California farm workers p.53

Paint murals with German DuBois III â&#x20AC;&#x2122;91 p.88

Reunite with old friends at the All-Class Reunion p.28

Find out why youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re feeling jealous p.10

Relive the first Earth Day in 1970 p.105

Free solo El Capitan p.52

Build a solar-powered boat p.65

Rethink the campus landscape p.16

Watch a different kind of opera p.17

JILL CALDER

Discover a new tree species