scene Winter 2018
Cover Story: From Colgate’s hill to Capitol Hill A life examined 60 Minutes turns 50 News and views for the Colgate community
scene
Winter 2018
26 From Colgate’s hill to Capitol Hill
Alumni who work in the offices of John McCain, Bernie Sanders, and others share their experiences.
30 A life examined
Remembering Professor Jerry Balmuth, our longest- serving professor
36 60 Minutes turns 50
Executive Producer Jeff Fager ’77 gives the inside scoop on America’s most-watched news program.
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Message from President Brian W. Casey
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13346 — Inbox
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Work & Play
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Tableau: “With understanding comes calm”
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Lucky number: How Colgate got its storied 13
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Life of the Mind
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Arts & Culture
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Go ’gate
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New, Noted & Quoted
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The Big Picture
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Stay Connected
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Class News 74 Marriages & Unions 74 Births & Adoptions 74 In Memoriam
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Guess who: Match well-known alumni to their old-school photos
DEPARTMENTS
On the cover: Julie Tarallo ’11, Sen. John McCain’s communications director, is one of six alumni whom we profile on pg. 26. Left: Twinkling lights brighten Willow Path for the holidays. Photos by Mark DiOrio
News and views for the Colgate community
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scene team
Contributors
Ceasar
Volume XLVII Number 2 The Scene is published by Colgate University four times a year — in autumn, winter, spring, and summer. The Scene is circulated without charge to alumni, parents, friends, and students.
Kelly Nirenberg ’20 (“The Big Picture,” pg. 40) — a Washington, D.C., native who started being a shutterbug in high school — studies psychology and creative writing at Colgate.
An English major at Colgate, Jeff Fager ’77 (pg. 36) is now in his 14th season as executive producer of 60 Minutes, the longest-running primetime broadcast in history. In 2011 he became the first chairman of CBS News and, drawing on the values of 60 Minutes, he led a revitalization of the news division, including the turnaround of CBS This Morning. He returned full time to 60 Minutes in 2015.
RaNeeka Claxton Witty (“From Colgate’s hill to Capitol Hill,” pg. 26) is a storyteller. She has taught her craft and done travel writing in various parts of the world, including North West Province, South Africa, and the British Virgin Islands. Witty was also awarded a fiction writing fellowship to Nairobi and Lamu, Kenya. She lives in the Washington, D.C., area with her husband and baby girl.
What’s online
YouTube.com/user/ cuatchannel13 Did you have a kiss to remember on Willow Path? Take a virtual walk down the pathway.
Colgate University 315-228-1000 Printed and mailed from Lane Press in South Burlington, Vt. If you’re moving... Please clip the address label and send with your new address to: Alumni Records Clerk, Colgate University, 13 Oak Drive, Hamilton, NY 13346-1398 or call 315-228-7453.
We are family
Colgate.edu/flickr Flip through our 2017 Family Weekend photo gallery. Mark DiOrio
Opinions expressed are not necessarily shared by the university, the publishers, or the editors.
colgate.edu/scene Visit us online, share articles with friends via social media, and add your comments.
All the best
news.colgate.edu Check out the top photos, videos, and articles we posted in 2017. This picture of former Vice President Joe Biden taking a group selfie in Sanford Field House was one of the 2017 Libris Iconic Images award winners.
Go paperless
To stop receiving the printed Scene, e-mail scene@colgate.edu with your name, class year, address, and e-mail address, and put Online Mailing List in the subject. We’ll send you an e-mail when we post new online editions (colgate.edu/scene).
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Contributors: Gordon Brillion, Web Content Specialist; Daniel DeVries, Media Relations Director; Matt Hames, Communications Strategist; David Herringshaw, Digital Production Specialist; Jason Kammerdiener ’10, Web Manager; Brian Ness, Video Journalism Coordinator; John Painter, Director of Athletic Communications Contact: scene@colgate.edu 315-228-7415 colgate.edu/scene
Memory lane
Engage online
Vice President of Communications Laura Jack Managing Editor Aleta Mayne Assistant Editor Rebecca Docter Communications Director Mark Walden Creative Director Tim Horn Art Director Karen Luciani Senior Designer Katherine Laube Junior Designer Katriel Pritts University Photographer Mark DiOrio Production Assistant Kathy Owen
scene: Winter 2018
Notice of Non-Discrimination: Colgate University does not discriminate in its programs and activities because of race, color, sex, pregnancy, religion, creed, national origin (including ancestry), citizenship status, physical or mental disability, age, marital status, sexual orientation, veteran or military status (including special disabled veteran, Vietnam-era veteran, or recently separated veteran), predisposing genetic characteristics, domestic violence victim status, or any other protected category under applicable local, state, or federal law. The following person has been designated to handle inquiries regarding the university’s non-discrimination policies: Marilyn Rugg, Associate Provost for Equity and Diversity, 13 Oak Drive, Hamilton, NY 13346; 315-228-7288.
Message from President Brian W. Casey Throughout the past several months, I have met with alumni in a variety of settings, from small groups on campus to large groups in numerous cities across the country. With the help of the Alumni Council, I will start a new series of conversations with graduates about the future of the university as it looks forward to its bicentennial year. As these discussions continue, I plan on sending out to all graduates a document in which I will set forth what I believe to be the fundamentals for Colgate’s future. It is an important discussion to have as we consider Colgate in the next century of its existence. The first foundation upon which Colgate’s future rests, I believe, will be the extent to which we continuously strengthen the intellectual reach and impact of the university and nurture a culture in which intellectual rigor marks all of our endeavors. Simply put, to attract students of the highest potential, faculty of the highest regard, and staff who are leaders in their fields, Colgate must be known, even more than it is today, as an academic institution committed to academic rigor. This lies at the heart of the university’s mission. We must introduce our students to the challenges and power of rigorous, academic discourse. In an era of heated rhetoric and political divisions, at a time when shouting is prized, we will give our graduates a profound gift should they leave campus with the power to summon reason, gather facts, and engage in a discourse that is sound, fair, and powerful. With those tools, the next generation of Colgate graduates will be able to shape our world as accomplished, empathetic leaders. I raise this now because Colgate is in the midst of two discussions that will call, deeply, on our ability as a university to engage in debate and conversation marked by such rigor. First, Colgate, as is the case at many institutions, is having a serious conversation about the role of free speech and discourse on campus. You cannot read the news these days, it seems, without seeing examples of this sort of discussion occurring at several colleges and
universities. Few people reject the centrality of free expression on a campus. We must allow opinions to be expressed, ideas to be shared, and facts to be conveyed in clear and forthright manners no matter how difficult they may be to hear. Some argue that limitations or regulations of speech, however, should be considered to ensure that all feel welcomed on the campus and assured of their place in the community. How does one balance these interests in an academic community? Is there a balance to be achieved at all without some fundamental compromise in our values? Issues surrounding free speech on a campus, or elsewhere, are complex. There is an entire jurisprudence related to cases concerning the operations of free speech in our nation. But in order for Colgate to develop our own understanding of the role of free speech and expression on our campus, I have charged a task force — one composed of trustees, faculty members, and students — to draft a statement of principles regarding free speech that will be taken up by the Board of Trustees, the faculty, and the community as a whole this spring. What is important, indeed required if we are to be a great university, is that we consider the draft principles produced by the task force with a great and calm seriousness and have a debate about the proposed principles in an intellectually rigorous and respectful manner. People have very strong feelings about issues surrounding free speech, and we must recognize that. We must unpack those feelings so we can come to a set of principles we can all embrace. I look forward to the conversation that the task force’s work will engender. Second, we will be having many conversations this spring, and surely in the years ahead, about our Torchlight Ceremony. Before I arrived on campus, I had heard there was an ongoing debate about the meaning and symbolism of Torchlight. Last year, even before national events made the matter more acute, I was struck by how intense the conversation was about this ceremony. I was
disheartened that much of the discussion about Torchlight had moved onto social media, with people (many from beyond our Colgate community) expressing deeply vitriolic and accusatory statements about what the use of torches in a campus ceremony might mean, or might not. We were shouting at one another, not having a reasoned conversation. The decision to bring in a visiting artist, one who has earned national and international acclaim for his ceremonies (many involving fire), was made to afford Colgate the opportunity to have a discussion about our commencement rituals. We needed both an academic space and a reasonable venue to have this debate. We will have these continuing discussions about Torchlight this spring in the way a university must — by gathering facts, looking at history, considering context, listening carefully to the strongly held opinions of members of this academic community, and coming to reasoned conclusions. People disagree, quite passionately (this is Colgate, after all), about what we should do with this ceremony. Emotions have been running high on this topic for years. We have a rare opportunity now, in the midst of this heat, for Colgate to show — to a world that seems incapable of discussion — how one academic community considers a complicated matter. This is what scholars do, this is what academic communities do, this is what Colgate must do. I look forward to seeing alumni across the country as I work with the Alumni Council to consider Colgate’s future. And I look forward to these important discussions. We will do well to the extent we approach all of these matters with great respect, intellectual rigor, and a sense of obligation toward one another. I have been at Colgate, as of this writing, for three semesters. At more moments than I can even now recount, I have found myself proud of this university and honored to walk on the hills of this campus. This spring will afford more of these moments.
News and views for the Colgate community
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Love from the Western Pacific
Andrew Daddio
The Scene welcomes letters. We reserve the right to decide whether a letter is acceptable for publication and to edit for accuracy, clarity, and length. Letters deemed potentially libelous or that malign a person or group will not be published. Letters should not exceed 250 words. You can reach us by mail, or e-mail sceneletters @colgate.edu. Please include your full name, class year if applicable, address, phone number, and/or e-mail address. If we receive many letters on a given topic, we will print a representative sample of the opinions expressed.
Hafa Adai from Guam — where America’s day begins! Today was truly a special day. I had dinner with my 90-year-old mother (local land crabs cooked in coconut milk) and picked up my latest copy (autumn 2017) of the Colgate Scene. Spending time with my mother is always special. Getting the Colgate Scene is equally special, especially when I can remember how much my parents sacrificed to send me to New York to go to college. And I always count my blessings when I get the Scene. The autumn 2017 edition left me filled with many emotions. I smiled when I saw the picture of the new dean of the faculty, a woman, a member of the Class of ’87, and a person of color, walk alongside the president to
start off the convocation (“Message from President Brian W. Casey,” pg. 3). The struggles of the ’70s, the challenges of the ’80s and ’90s, and Colgate’s spotlight moments in the beginning of the 21st century all seemed to focus on Dean Tracey Hucks for me. I smiled thinking that the best and the brightest in academia are Colgate graduates. I was happy that a scholar/leader who is a fellow graduate will help lead Colgate and inspire new graduates to pursue academic careers. I wiped away more than a few tears reading Vanessa Fernandez’s essay about her parents’ sacrifices and how much they mean to her in driving to
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succeed (“Applying themselves,” pg. 30). My parents lived through World War II on Guam. My father graduated from high school, never went to college, and retired from administrative work for the government of Guam. My mother’s education was cut short because of the war. Her experiences and culinary reputation led to a career in teaching students with disabilities how to cook using local fruits and vegetables. With no tangible recipe for raising children who will succeed academically, my parents managed to send all five of us to college. Four of us have graduate degrees. Two of us have earned doctorates. We’ve all given back to our communities. My greatest Colgate regret is my parents did not see me walk across the stage as the first Chamoru student to graduate from Colgate. I hope Vanessa’s parents will be able to attend her graduation in four years. The photographs in the Scene are just amazing. They bring back wonderful memories. Scenes from the Colgate campus continue to make me marvel at natural beauty more than the buildings that add man-made ornaments to a beautiful landscape. Sometimes the colors of our island sunsets remind me of the colors of the leaves in the fall in central New York. And the white sandy beaches remind me of the new snow on the ground in January. I chuckled reading how Nancy Gorman and Jeffrey Kaufman met in New York City (“Colgate love stories,” pg. 64). Nancy is a good friend and someone who is responsible for many funny moments in Hamilton. Happiness and love begin at Colgate, are developed because of Colgate, and continue to be shared by Colgate. The end of the issue brought on some sadness. I was sorry to read of Bruce Selleck’s passing (pg. 79). I never had Bruce in a class, but I had great conversations with him when I walked through Lathrop Hall or ran into him downtown. He treated me
Mark DiOrio
Inbox
like a real colleague when I worked on the admissions staff. Thinking of Bruce makes me think of all the great Colgate students and graduates from small towns in upstate New York. I’m glad I have some good memories of Bruce. I’ve been blessed with great friends, great experiences, and fulfilling opportunities. The Scene reminds me more and more of the great years as an undergraduate at Colgate and to put those years near the top of the list of blessings. Juan Flores ’80 Tamuning, Guam
Continuing the hello tradition Reading President Casey’s message in the autumn ’17 Scene (pg. 3) reminded me of my own use of the hello tradition. Until I retired last year, I spent most of my life working with children and youth at the opposite end of the spectrum from Colgate’s student population. As the leader of large residential treatment programs, it was my job to welcome to campus youth who had been abused, neglected, and abandoned, and had failed in numerous other, less-restrictive treatment settings. Having lost control of their lives, usually through no fault of their own, these young people arrived hurt, angry, and suspicious of adults. Our relationship, at the core of our healing process, always began with a smile, a friendly handshake, and a warm hello. Whenever we met again on campus, there was always a repeat of the hello tradition. As I would often remind my younger staff members, working
with challenging youth was a bit like having an ATM account with each of these youth. If you didn’t make a deposit, even as simple as a friendly hello, there would be nothing in your account to draw on when times were tough. And times in these residential treatment programs could be very tough. So, the hello tradition works wonders in many diverse settings. Thank you to President Casey for reminding us all of its importance.
ber ’55 by the score of 150 to 140 in a match that was marred by denying Mount Holyoke points for a correct answer, which would have resulted in a tie. The Colgate team faced a rematch — won by Mount Holyoke. For those of us who enjoyed the heady days of quiz bowl notoriety, we appreciate the work done by the Scene to share the excitement of those days.
William M. Powers ’73 Allentown, Pa.
From the editor
The article in the summer 2017 Scene on the quiz bowl (“Battle of the brains returns,” pg. 32) was very interesting but missed an important detail that was reported in the Colgate Maroon Nov. 16, 1955. In the Scene, Jim Watchel’s recollections of the spring 1955 team activities and the vigorous rivalry between colleges on the quiz bowl circuit at that time was interesting but only half of the 1955 story. The 1955 fall quiz bowl team of Marty Heyert ’56, Peter Gould ’56, Tito Macias ’57, and Andy Tangalos ’56 defeated Mount Holyoke in Novem-
Last fall, we sent out a survey to alumni and parents to ask your opinions of the Colgate Scene. The questionnaire went to 43,378 readers, and we heard back from 2,663 respondents. Thank you to everyone who took the time to respond. Here’s what we’ve learned:
Who responded:
81% alumni - 14% parents of a current student - 11% parents of a graduate
How often you read the Scene:
For the spring 2017 issue of the Scene, Trey Spadone ’20 wrote a piece about his experience attending the Women’s March in Washington, D.C., last year. In response to his write-up, Spadone recently received a disparaging, anonymous letter. It is against our policy to publish anonymous letters, so you will not find it in these pages now or in the future. Furthermore, the letter’s derogatory comments are not something we would give voice to in this magazine. Although the Scene welcomes all opinions, in these heated political times, it is imperative that we are respectful of each other — even if we disagree. Aleta Mayne, managing editor
65% of alumni report reading every issue of the Scene - 79% of alumni from the Class of 1979 and earlier read every issue - 62% of alumni from the 1980s and 1990s read every issue - 41% of alumni from 2000+ read every issue
How much you read:
56% of alumni read most or all of each issue - 65% of parents of alumni read most or all of each issue - 51% of parents of students read most or all of each issue
Preference for print: 85% of alumni read the magazine exclusively in print - 91% of parents of alumni read the magazine exclusively in print - 65% of parents of students read the magazine exclusively in print - Fewer than 7% of readers consume the Scene mostly online
Top content of interest: Class notes (84%) - Campus controversies (77%) - Campus facilities and growth (74%) - Colgate history and traditions (73%) - Obituaries (68%) - Alumni profiles (65%)
Special Collections and University Archives
Quiz bowl: Colgate vs. Mount Holyoke
Jack Goodreds ’56 Delray Beach, Fla.
We asked, you answered
Other takeaways: - Across audiences, the vast majority of Scene readers feel informed about Colgate today.
- Generations are split: Older alumni tend to rely on the Scene print publication for information, while younger alumni are more likely to also engage in Colgate’s electronic media for information.
- Overall, alumni want the tone of the Scene to stay the same, although approximately 30% would prefer it to be more cutting edge, more nostalgic, or more scholarly. - Readers appreciate the Scene’s photography, ease of reading, and design.
News and views for the Colgate community
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work & play
Campus scrapbook A
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Hands-on experience in Professor Sarah Mattes’s sculpture class. Photo by Mark DiOrio
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At Colgate, students stretch their minds … and bodies. Photo by Andrew M. Daddio
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Sunrise or sunset, it's always study time in Case-Geyer Library. Photo by Mark DiOrio
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Getting micro in biology class. Photo by Andrew M. Daddio
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Celebrating indigenous art, music, and dance at Colgate’s Native American Arts and Culture Festival. Photo by Samto Wongso ’19
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Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, in the James C. Colgate Student Union. Photo by Samto Wongso ’19
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Ryan Rios ’20 helps root on the Raiders with his baritone saxophone during Family Weekend. Photo by Mark DiOrio
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Forward Tyler Jeanson ’21 revels in scoring the first goal against Arizona State University. Photo by Mark DiOrio
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gaining practical and entrepreneurial skills, career exploration, internships, and jobs. In 2016–17, more than 97 percent of the student body participated in career services appointments, events, workshops, and/or signature programs. The department has also seen a nearly fivefold increase in employer visits over the past five years. With welcoming entrances from both the Academic Quad and Oak Drive, Benton Hall will allow Colgate to provide seamless postgraduate exploration and planning by bringing together the Center for Career Services, the Office of National Fellowships and Scholarships, and the
Shiny copper roof flashing and grand white-mullioned windows signaled the buttoning-up of Benton Hall’s exterior just as early winter snowfalls began to blanket the campus. When it opens in July 2018, Benton Hall will stand as a best-in-class career center — and then some. It’s part of a current $60 million building investment to enhance the Colgate student experience in both residential life and career preparation. “There are few, if any, campuses building a stand-alone career center,” said Mike Sciola, associate vice
“ There are few, if any, campuses building a stand-alone career center.” — Mike Sciola, associate vice president of institutional advancement and career initiatives
Robert Johnson ’94
president of institutional advancement and career initiatives. The 18,500-square-foot building will move a department that served nearly 2,600 students last year in Spear House — which was built in the early 19th century — to a structure specifically designed to be the catalyst for the university’s 21st-century, comprehensive career development operation. Since 2012, Colgate has greatly expanded its career development offerings for students, from prematriculation through senior year and beyond. Programming is aimed at connecting students’ academic and career interests with opportunities for
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Thought Into Action entrepreneurship program’s administrative office under one roof. The building features suites for advising, employer relations, and interviews; reception areas; and administrative offices. And with flexible public areas such as a large “career commons” and a seminar room, Benton Hall will serve as a hub for activities like networking events, information sessions, and entrepreneur team workshops — as well as academic classes, seminars, lectures, exhibitions, and performances. Ten spaces will have videoconference capabilities, “so we will be able to connect with alumni from all over the world to interface with our students in real time,” Sciola said. “The vision for the program was to offer our students what the world will demand for career success in the 21st century,” Sciola said. “Benton Hall came out of the fact that we needed a facility that offered the flexibility and advanced technology to achieve what our graduates will need.” The $16.4 million-dollar, 100 percent donor-funded building, which is named for Colgate Trustee Daniel C. Benton ’80, P’10, H’10, was designed by R.M. Stern Architects, one of the world’s top academic architectural design firms, and adheres to LEED Silver sustainability standards. Romanesque exterior touches will reflect architectural features from both Hascall and James B. Colgate halls. Meanwhile, farther up the hill and a bit further out on the construc-
tion timeline, two new residence halls have begun to take shape above Stillman, Andrews, and O’Connor Campus Center. Opening in 2019, the halls will foster the living-learning and community-building experience among first-years and sophomores that are hallmarks of the Residential Commons program. Each 100-bed facility will feature not only places for students to sleep and socialize, but also seminar rooms, classrooms, offices, and study spaces. To be constructed of native stone and totaling nearly 85,000 square feet, the halls will reflect Colgate’s historic architectural vernacular, and their placement will create an additional gathering quad.
Four-star Family Weekend
Retired army general David Petraeus, former commander of American forces in Iraq and Afghanistan and director of the CIA, delivered Colgate’s Family Weekend keynote speech in Memorial Chapel Oct. 28.
Andrew Daddio
work & play Find project photos and more at colgate.edu/ constructionupdate
Building projects get off the ground
Petraeus spoke to the crowd about the state of the world and strategic challenges to American national security and foreign policy. According to him, American leadership in the second half of the 20th century wrought economic prosperity, the spread of democracy, and longstanding peace between great powers. But, said Petraeus, “the international order that America created is now under unprecedented threats from multiple directions.” In spite of those threats, Petraeus said, “I do believe that America is still in a commanding position to sustain and indeed bolster the international order that has served us, and, paradoxically, some of those seeking to change it, so well.” The country’s source of strength, according to the general, lies in its network of alliances, vibrant economy, political values, and appeal to immigrants.
Back on campus
Mark DiOrio
At an especially critical time in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria devastated the island, Teresa Delgado ’88 came to Colgate in the fall with a message of optimism for her people. “Our suffering is not our lot in life — it is but a moment to claim our resistance to our suffering,” says Delgado, an associate professor of religious studies at Iona College. “In God’s eyes, we are never a lost cause; there is always hope.” With her recent book, A Puerto Rican Decolonial Theology: Prophesy Freedom (Palgrave Macmillan), Delgado aims to create an understanding of Puerto Rican identity through their own lens as well as a theological perspective. “No matter what the wider society has claimed our place to be — as colonial subjects, as second-class citizens — we are anything but in the eyes of God,” she says. “Our identity is intentional and it is good.” By visiting Colgate to discuss her book, Delgado came full circle. For she’d had an epiphany when she submitted her book manuscript to the publisher: “I thought back on the entire journey that my academic life, my intellectual passions have taken. And I realized that my Latin American women’s literature class thirty years ago opened up these worlds that I had not been exposed to before.” The stories she read in that class “called to me,” Delgado says. She’d been in search of a Puerto Rican perspective of liberation and found that “in many ways, the colonial condition had suppressed voices that were calling out for freedom, but it hadn’t suppressed the creative writers who, through the process of their storytelling, were pointing in the direction of self-determi-
Bringing his words back to the most pressing issues facing students on a daily basis at home, Petraeus offered advice to combat “Groundhog Day syndrome,” or a feeling of being trapped in a set grind. “Look down at where you are and what you’re doing, and remind yourself of the extraordinary privileges you enjoy,” he said. “You are at one of America’s greatest private universities in one of our country’s most stunningly beautiful areas with a lot of fellow overachievers.” The general’s speech, which was sponsored by the Center for Freedom and Western Civilization, was one of the highlights of a packed Family Weekend agenda. Family members and students sat in classes together, enjoyed a barbecue on Whitnall Field, attended concerts by the university’s a cappella groups, and tailgated before Colgate’s football team took down Bucknell, 40–3. Men’s hockey was also victorious in Family Weekend competition at home. The atmosphere of excitement and achievement underscored Petraeus’s exhortation to his audience as stu-
dents headed toward final exams: “Pat yourself on the back, acknowledge your incredibly good fortune, get back to ground level, shoulder your rucksack, and pick up the pace.” — Brianna Delaney ’19
Applying made easier
This fall, Colgate announced two changes to the admission process to help reduce application costs for all prospective students. Colgate now accepts self-reported ACT or SAT scores for all applicants. Students may list their test scores in either the Common Application or Coalition Application for them to be considered. Additionally, students may send a copy of a score report to the Office of Admission. Colgate also accepts test scores submitted by a counselor from the applicant’s school or community-based organization. Students who are admitted in Regular Decision and decide to enroll at Colgate must submit official test scores by May 15; for Early Decision enrollees, scores must be received within two weeks of the decision release.
nation and giving voice to the deepest parts of the soul longing to be free.” Reflecting on her process, Delgado knew, after all these years, she had to contact her former professor, Lourdes Rojas-Paiewonsky, Charles A. Dana Professor of romance languages and literatures and Africana and Latin American studies. “I didn’t expect that she would have remembered me, but I wanted her to know what had transpired and that this book, in many ways, began in her classroom thirty years ago,” Delgado says. “I wanted to say ‘thank you.’” In fact, Rojas-Paiewonsky did remember Delgado as an A student (who also was the 1819 Award and Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Award winner). As a result, Delgado coordinated a campus visit with her trip to Hamilton for a Colgate Board of Trustees meeting. On Oct. 5, Delgado spoke in Rojas-Paiewonsky’s Spanish literature class and, later that day, delivered a talk about her book. The goal of the larger lecture was to “provoke a conversation about who gets to tell a people’s story and what happens when those who are situated in the subterraneous places in our society claim to tell their story,” Delgado says. “So in the context of Puerto Rico, in the current moment we’re in, it has highlighted the ways that a story has been told about us, and that is not our truth. Now is a particular moment to tell a different story.” In addition to Rojas-Paiewonsky, professors Coleman Brown, Marilyn Thie, Wanda Warren Berry, and Josiah Young strongly influenced Delgado; they helped guide her path to earning a doctorate at Union Theological Seminary. In her own role as a professor, Delgado is influencing the next generation. Because, she says, there aren’t any works that bring together a theological voice and the Puerto Rican story, Delgado was partly compelled to write this book so that it could serve as a building block for her students. “So many students I’ve worked with over the years have told me, ‘Professora, you need to write this. We need this for our own work,’” she says. “So, in some ways, it’s also for them.” — Aleta Mayne
Additionally, Colgate now waives the application fee for any student who is applying for financial aid and meets any of the criteria listed on the Common Application or Coalition Application for a fee waiver without requiring an official fee waiver form. Colgate also continues to accept fee waivers from the College Board, National Association of College Admission Counseling, Expanding College Opportunities, or a signed letter from a student’s counselor on official letterhead. These changes were effective for applicants entering in 2018.
resulting story led to a groundswell of accusations and news coverage. “This is not just a Harvey Weinstein problem; this is an abuse of power problem,” Farrow said. “We are realizing that, in every aspect of our society, there are vast systems in place that allow the most powerful people in our country to abuse their power and commit crimes against vulnerable individuals with impunity.”
Kay Nietfeld/dpa/Alamy Live News
Giving voice to Puerto Ricans
Ronan Farrow talks investigative journalism
At the end of November, Ronan Farrow, author of the explosive Harvey Weinstein sexual assault and harassment investigation published in the New Yorker, spoke with a crowd of Colgate students about the future of journalism. Farrow rose to prominence following his 10-month investigation into Weinstein’s history, including interviews with 13 women who spoke out against the famous producer. The
Before becoming a journalist, Farrow graduated from Yale Law School and became a member of the New York State Bar Association. He later worked in Afghanistan and Pakistan for the Obama administration as special adviser for humanitarian and NGO affairs. News and views for the Colgate community
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Samto Wongso ’19
Students learn how to play Bolivian instruments with professional musicians from that country in Professor Michelle Bigenho's class.
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“This is not going to be easy for any of you as you walk out of this school and change the amazing work that you’re doing on campus into amazing work that we all need in the world to address these problems,” he said. “Exposing injustice and fighting it is exactly what we need you to do.” — Emily Daniel ’18
A cross-cultural classroom
Students filed in to a rehearsal room in James C. Colgate Hall, greeting a group of Bolivian musicians with a warm “Hola!” As class started, the students didn’t grab notebooks or pens — they took out their tarka flutes to warm up. The hum of the indigenous Andean instrument began to fill the room. Led by Professor Michelle Bigenho and invited Bolivian music director Rolando Encinas, students in ALST204 learned voice parts and songs on their tarkas and sikus (panpipes) without any sheet music. Once they got the tunes down, students practiced dancing in a circle while playing their instruments. “Feel the music,” Bigenho encouraged, translating from the Spanish-speaking musicians who accompanied the students. ALST204: Performing Bolivian Music met five days a week for two weeks in October. In that time, students learned some oral traditions of Bolivian music with the help of the musical group Música de Maestros. Bigenho, an anthropology and Africana and Latin American studies professor who has conducted fieldwork in Bolivia for more than two decades, met Encinas, the director of Música de Maestros, in 1993. She was introduced to him through a mutual friend and, since then, Bigenho has played her violin with the group on multiple occasions. The professor invited Música de Maestros to Hamilton to co-teach this first-time half-credit course. Musical experience was not a prerequisite; everyone worked together to learn the music, regardless of their musical background. “In the countryside of Bolivia, anybody in the community plays these instruments, and there isn’t a distinct ‘musician’ who trains to learn the music,” Bigenho explained. “Music is part of the community, and the ritual involved in the community.” This style of Bolivian music is not learned through reading written music. The oral tradition of the
Coming of age When 21-yearold Lauren Sanderson ’18 looked back on her life, including four years of being away from her home in London, Ontario, she started asking questions like, “What does it mean to go from the role of daughter to woman? How do all these relationships shift as we move through the world?” She’ll address these questions and other complications of coming of age in her new book, due out fall 2018 from Write Bloody Publishing. Sanderson earned the book deal through a contest in which she submitted a manuscript and a selection of poems. Here’s one of the poems that caught the publisher’s eye: Brandon Alexander '18
work & play
“I eventually found that the most influential thing I could do was to tell stories about the injustices that I saw,” Farrow said. “Writing is a powerful and meritocratic way to tell the world important stories.” Now an NBC News correspondent, he hosts the investigative series “Undercover with Ronan Farrow” on the Today Show. “There has been a clear change in what readers want from news media. They want journalism that doesn’t play it safe, that doesn’t appease those in power,” Farrow said. “Investigative journalism is becoming more sought after than ever: Even Teen Vogue has assembled an investigative unit.” Part of the annual Milmoe Workshop in Journalism, Farrow’s talk was hosted by the Maroon-News and the Center for Leadership and Student Involvement. His visit to campus included a workshop for the newspaper’s editorial staff in addition to a public talk in Love Auditorium. “In light of the events last spring that caused a campuswide conversation about sexual assault, we thought Farrow’s perspective would be highly relevant,” said Jackie Dowling ’18, a Maroon-News editor-in-chief. “He wants to hand the baton over to the next generation of reporters, especially on college campuses, so that his work can have a lasting impact.” Farrow encouraged student journalists to use their voices to fight against the systemic problems young people are inheriting from previous generations, including climate change, economic inequality, and a pervasive rape culture.
You Can’t Kiss My Forehead Anymore Everyone’s daughter is a king, a king! And our fathers crawl out behind us, cradling the trains of our dresses. What questions do you have for us? Almost, it is summer. We are rulers of men. I speak and a city’s named. I bleed and a preacher sings. Name one thing that can’t be made a crown — a blunt? The voice of a man? A white dress is a sin in the rain. A king never prays. Our kingdoms come to compass us. Boys fight for the ends of our trains. Some of the boys are knights. Some of the boys are nights we crawl into for a blunt and a voice. We blow crowns. We say fatherless things.
Samto Wongso ’19
Giving green, getting greener
The Second Shepherds’ Play kicked off an afternoon symposium about medieval drama.
A day of medieval play
A struggle for survival, marital strife, and conflict between friends and enemies. Actors explored these timeless
Colgate’s Green Revolving Loan Fund is a newly launched initiative geared toward reducing the university’s carbon footprint, and staff members in the Buildings and Grounds Department are already leading the way with the fund’s first energy-saving project. The loan fund, which is seeded with $230,000, is designed to support significant physical upgrades that have a clear, measurable change in the university’s ecological impact.
Special Collections and University Archives
themes on Dec. 2 during The Second Shepherds’ Play, which was originally a pageant in the late medieval and early modern periods. The play, which revolves around three shepherds and the theft of a sheep, ends when an angel visits the shepherds and announces the birth of Christ. Like a classic Nativity pageant, the shepherds travel to Bethlehem to greet the child with gifts. All the conflict at the beginning of the play ceases to matter, the birth of a holy child now paramount. “Though it’s an early English Christmas play, it is not limited by creed, chronology, or nationality,” Professor Lynn Staley explained. Performed in the Hall of Presidents by students from the Syracuse University Department of Drama, The Second Shepherds’ Play served as a jumpingoff point for an afternoon symposium organized by Colgate professors Susan Cerasano, Christian DuComb, and Staley. During the symposium, other professors representing English and theater departments from universities around the country discussed the text and the way that performance can act as an interpretive tool. DuComb, an assistant professor of theater at Colgate, cited the challenges and rewards of teaching medieval plays to students. “Because medieval drama feels so unfamiliar to most of my students, teaching The Second Shepherds’ Play provides an opening for me to encourage them to think critically about dramatic structure,” he said. “Since students have rarely encountered the use of parody to inspire religious devotion, the moment when they finally ‘get’ The Second Shepherds’ Play is a moment of discovery — a moment when they glimpse a previously unforeseen horizon of how drama might affect an audience in performance.” — Melanie Oliva ’18
music meant that the students had to learn through listening, imitating, and memorizing. In class, the Bolivian musicians demonstrated the melody of the songs and students recorded these to practice at home. Students also learned to find the rhythm through feeling and dance. “They learned the context of the music, but that context is entering their body through dancing, singing, and playing,” Bigenho said. “It’s a very different way of learning.” Students helped each other remember tarka fingerings and pronunciation of Quechua lyrics. Coordination was important. The siku was played in interlocking dialogue fashion; all of the students had only some notes of the scale on their instruments, and in order to complete an entire melody, they had to play with partners who had the other notes of the scale. On Nov. 3, the class members took their final exam — performing with Música de Maestros and Bigenho in the chapel for a lunchtime concert. The students presented each song for the audience by explaining translations of the lyrics, the cultural significance of the instruments, and when each of the songs is performed throughout the year. “This was different from any other experience I’ve had at Colgate,” said Ellie Robbins ’18, who used her Spanish language skills to act as a translator in the class. “I appreciated how unique, intensive, and fun it was.” — Melanie Oliva ’18
First flakes When you reminisce about your time at Colgate, the rigorous classes, beloved professors, and lasting friendships probably come to mind. In those memories, there’s likely also snow. We asked you on Facebook: “Do you remember the first time you experienced snow at Colgate?” “ Halloween night ’93, about 24 inches. Massive freshman class-wide snowball fight on the quad.” — Sean Costello ’97 “ When I visited my senior year of high school — at the beginning of May!” — Bari Brandes Corbin ’94 “ I remember calling home and saying ‘they measure snow by feet here, not inches.’” — Deb Goldstein Baum ’99
“The requirements for each project are that it reduces our ecological or carbon footprint, and it has to have a return on investment,” said John Pumilio, director of the Office of Sustainability. “It has to save money and reduce our resource use, with extra attention on carbon to help meet our carbon neutrality goal of 2019.” Individuals with project ideas must submit a proposal to the Sustainability Council for review. If the suggestion is approved, the fund finances the cost of the upgrades, and the savings from implementation go to pay back the loan, plus 20 percent, to grow the overall pool of money to fund future projects. The first identified green loan went to the replacement of 88 light bulbs in Little Hall. That $1,300 project
“ My freshman year roommate was from Miami, Fla., and had never seen snow before, so the first snowfall was an awesome experience.” — Rich Duncan ’00 “ How can anyone remember the very first snow? ‘Traying’ down for meals at the Hall of Presidents. 40+ inches and the first time Colgate ever had a snow day (or 3). All important stuff for making Colgate students so resilient. Just loved my time in Hamilton.” — Cynthia J Perry ’74
will cut approximately 33,000 kilowatts of energy use each year, take less than a year to repay, and will save the university nearly $20,000 during the expected lifespan of the new energy-efficient bulbs. “We’re starting small so we can understand how to best measure the effort,” Pumilio said. Colgate has committed to becoming carbon neutral in time for the university’s bicentennial. The revolving loan fund contributes to a concerted effort to improve building standards, increase recycling, reduce waste, and foster new programmatic offerings that enhance teaching and learning for long-term sustainability on campus.
News and views for the Colgate community
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Tableau
With understanding comes calm Observers of my son’s kindergarten class almost always said the same thing: “Why
is the child who pays the least attention the one who knows all the answers?” At 5 years old, my son was the kindergartner walking around the room reading posters on the wall, sitting on the side with Legos during morning meetings, and reading during discussions. But when the teachers asked a question, he was the first to raise his hand with (or, more likely, blurt out) the answer. This was my springboard to learning about twice exceptionality or 2e — a profile that includes a diagnosis of gifted along with a learning disability or learning difference. After a two-day neuropsychological assessment, my husband and I learned that our son was gifted and identified with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The gifted diagnosis was no surprise. Even during testing, our 5-year-old son answered questions in Hebrew — teaching the assessor as they moved through each task. Though I had heard of ADHD, I didn’t really know what it meant. Eight months pregnant with our third child, I felt an urgency to wrap my brain around this diagnosis and figure out what to do as soon as possible. A natural planner and problem solver, I would research, find the experts, and get a game plan. I spent three years learning everything I could about ADHD. I met some great professionals, read a lot, took courses, attended conferences, and got certified in various skills —but the messages always had a glass-half-empty vibe. They told me that my son would get into trouble a lot. He might even drop out of school, smart as he was. I learned that he was statistically more likely to abuse drugs and alcohol, drive recklessly, and even get a divorce. Having had our third child at that point, those postpartum and infant years were emotional. Then two happy coincidences happened. First, at tae kwon do, my son met a friend, and unbeknownst to me, this child’s mother was in gifted education. After a few play dates, she said, “Julie, why are you ignoring your son’s giftedness?” Head tilt. I had no idea what she was talking about. He was in a dual-curriculum school, enriched at home, and involved in activities. My new friend dropped off several books, and I sat at my dining room table for hours poring over these texts. With each page turn, there was another aha moment. Suddenly I had a deeper understanding of my son, my other children, my husband, myself, and our families. The second happy coincidence was when I attended a conference on learning differences. I learned about 2e Newsletter and about SENG (Supporting the Emotional Needs of the Gifted). Afterward, I subscribed to the newsletter (which I now contribute to) and attended my first SENG conference. The SENG conference gave me a whole new perspective of my son. I also learned the true meaning of giftedness — that it is so much more than just “smart” and includes asynchronous development, perfectionism/anxiety, and intensity. Each session presented another positive reframe or strengths-based approach to this learning style and the concurrent abilities and challenges. At my second SENG conference, I became certified to facilitate parent support groups. But I wanted to do more.
Parenting these awesome children can be lonely ... [people] can judge, make assumptions, and want to fit our children into a stereotypical box. I remember my son coming home from elementary school and asking if he could lay in my bed while he told me all the awful things that happened to him at school that day. I remember listening. Acknowledging. Then reminding him of the amazing “super powers” he possesses and engaging him in a deep conversation about one of his many interests. In the end, he would skip out of my room, but I wondered whether I said the right things and what more I could do to preserve his self-esteem. Parenting these awesome children can be lonely: as hard as it is for parents to understand their child’s complicated profile, friends, family members, and educators can judge, make assumptions, and want to fit our children into a stereotypical box. Parents have to get to the point of identifying strengths and shutting out the conventional reaction to their child being outgoing, frequently loud, often impul-
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scene: Winter 2018
sive, hilariously funny, constantly chatty, sensitive, and out-of-the-box brilliant. I realized my journey evolved through: 1. understanding and learning about my son’s profile (no two 2e kids are the same); 2. developing strategies; and 3. collaboratively and effectively advocating. I started my service, With Understanding Comes Calm, LLC (named after my mantra), to support parents of those I call “gifted and distractible” kids. I educate parents on the true meaning of giftedness and twice exceptionality. Learning differences can include anything from ADHD to dyslexia, dysgraphia, a languagebased learning difference, anxiety, working memory deficits, and so much more.
L to R: Julie, Dalia, Avi, Eric, and (front row) Eitan
Once we understand these realms, we gain calm and can strategize. I bring parents unique, durable strategies to address where their child is tripping up, whether at school, home, on the field — wherever and in whatever way. Lastly, we discuss an implementation plan — how to achieve your child’s buy-in and how to collaborate and advocate for your child. Through speaking at conferences and writing my monthly blog and online newsletter, “Gifted & Distractible,” word got around and adults began reaching out to me. These adults, often not formally diagnosed, read something I wrote or heard me speak and identified with what I discussed. So, I began taking on adult 2e clients to mentor them in succeeding in their personal and professional lives. Then schools started calling and asking if I could speak with faculty. I created a half-day workshop to do the same thing with educators as I do with parents and 2e adults. I teach about the profile, what they see and what to expect, how to address and implement strategies, and how to advocate on behalf of the child and themselves. I support clients all over the world — in person or via Skype. I often hear, “It’s so good to talk to someone who truly gets it and appreciates my kid’s strengths.” Not only do I now know why my son looked like he wasn’t paying attention and knew all the answers, but now I know what to do about it. I know how to support parents of similar children and give strategies to educators so we can preserve these students’ self-esteem and they can participate meaningfully in the classroom. — Julie (Rosenbaum) Skolnick ’90 is the founder of With Understanding Comes Calm, LLC. She serves as secretary to the Maryland Superintendent’s Gifted and Talented Advisory Council, is the SENG (Supporting the Emotional Needs of the Gifted) Maryland liaison, and has an advisory role in The G Word movie. Skolnick is also the mother of three twice exceptional children who keep her on her toes and uproariously laughing. Subscribe to Julie’s monthly newsletter on her website www.WithUnderstandingComesCalm.com, follow With Understanding Comes Calm on Facebook, and follow her on Instagram @letstalk2e and Twitter @JulieSkolnick.
Lucky Number By Rebecca Docter
HOW COLGATE GOT ITS STORIED 13
It’s not bicentennial time yet, but an important Colgate anniversary happened on Sept. 24, 2017. On that day in 1817, 13 men gathered and offered 13 prayers and $13. The occasion culminated in settling on 13 articles for a constitution that led to the creation of what is now Colgate University. We broke down the day into 13 elements to give a sense of what it was like to be part of the original 13: The Mission
At the time, some Baptists worried that ministers weren’t well educated. The men who founded Colgate believed that there needed to be an institution to educate people of the faith. “They felt like they were on the mission of their lifetimes,” said visiting assistant professor of history and bicentennial fellow Jennifer Hull.
The Meeting
A notice in the Western New York Baptist Magazine II asked men to gather at the Baptist Meeting House in Hamilton on the fourth Wednesday in September at 10 a.m. The notice invited ministers from several associations to give information about creating a theological institution. Only the Otsego and Madison associations responded.
The Journey
In part because of likely muddy September roads to Hamilton, only 13 men arrived for the meeting, though more were expected, according to Howard D. Williams’s book, A History of Colgate University: 1819-1969. The reason for the small attendance may also be that not everyone in the faith supported an educated ministry.
The Men
Jonathan Olmstead, Joel W. Clark, Nathaniel Kendrick, Charles W. Hull, Daniel Hascall, Samuel Payne, Elisha Payne, John Bostwick, Thomas Cox, Samuel Osgood, Amos Kingsley, Peter Philanthropos Roots, and Robert Powell assembled that day.
The House
Because attendance was lower than expected, the crew met at the home of Baptist Deacon Jonathan Olmstead. As far as we know, they convened in the parlor, which can still be accessed on the main floor of the building.
The View
Looking down from Olmstead House, the 13 men would have taken in a gorgeous view of the countryside.
The Dollars
A pledge of $1 earned each man membership into the Baptist Education Society of the State of New York. “These weren’t poor men, but they were not wealthy,” Hull said. “They were middle-class members of the community.”
The Wives
The founding men weren’t the only ones who had a role in creating what is now Colgate — their wives also played a large part. For example, Olmstead’s wife, Freedom, and the other women helped to raise money for the school by knitting socks and sweaters and selling them.
The Feeling
“Robert Powell remembered the meeting as a solemn and impressive occasion,” Williams wrote. “After the purpose of the meeting had been indicated, a period of profound silence followed, which [Nathaniel] Kendrick broke by a prayer in which all joined.”
The Name
A prayer was said by each of the men that day. “They would have prayed the Lord’s Prayer, at some point, and earnestly prayed for guidance, wisdom, and support,” Hull said.
After its founding, the university lacked an official name, but was sometimes known as the Hamilton Literary and Theological Institution, according to Williams’s book. Then, in 1846, it was renamed Madison University. In 1890, its name was changed to Colgate University.
The Articles
The Number
The Prayers
The collection of 13 articles laid out the foundation for the Baptist Education Society of the State of New York. It included rules for creating committees to oversee the institution, including the hiring of instructors and supervising student affairs.
• THE HOUSE WHERE THE 13 MEN MET •
To this day, the number 13 is at the center of Colgate’s identity. It’s in our zip code, in our address, and is the number of letters in our motto, Deo ac Veritati. Colgate Day, which comes around every Friday the 13th, is celebrated by the university community worldwide.
13 Page 13 is the showplace
for Colgate tradition, history, and school spirit.
life of the mind 14
The Monuments Men discovered art stolen by the Nazis in the Altaussee salt mines, among other locations, during World War II.
scene: Winter 2018
Preserving art in conflict
During World War II, the Mona Lisa was moved five times to keep it safe from looters. But other works of art and cultural materials weren’t so lucky. Under the direction of Adolf Hitler, the Germans looted paintings, church bells, Torahs, and more. Enter the Monuments Men, who were cultural-preservation officers recruited by the Allies to protect and recover art during the war. Robert Edsel, who has written three books on the subject, visited campus Oct. 19 to deliver the keynote speech for a three-day conference titled Preserving Cultural Heritage in Times of Conflict. “As the war progressed and the degree of theft became known as countries were liberated, [the Monuments Men] quickly became art detectives trying to track down these looted works of art,” Edsel said. The conference kicked off with a free film screening of The Monuments Men (2014), which was inspired by one
of Edsel’s books and directed by George Clooney. Over the next few days, national scholars with a variety of expertise addressed critical questions regarding theft of cultural property, art, and antiquities during wartime. The Monuments Men — many of whom were museum curators, art historians, archivists, and artists themselves — served as an example of how cultural property could be saved in times of conflict. The problems the men and women were seeking to solve are still happening today. One current example, Edsel said, is the architecture destroyed by ISIS in Palmyra, Syria, in 2016. “This is a challenge of our times, how to go about protecting these parts of our shared cultural heritage, but we’re not without guideposts.” Associate art and art history professor Carolyn Guile explained, “Our cultural property is being destroyed on a scale not seen since World War II.” This, she said, was part of the motivation for
the event, which Guile organized with archaeologist Michael Danti, NEH associate professor of the humanities. Throughout the weekend, visiting scholars addressed topics including moral and legal claims to cultural property, cultural heritage preservation post conflict, and the U.S. response to illicit antiquities trafficking. “We were proud to host a conference like this here and invite some of the key figures doing the on-theground work — including Michael [Danti] himself, [Shawnee State University Associate Professor of History and Anthropology] Amr Al-Azm, [associate curator in charge of the Near East Section at the Penn Museum] Richard Zettler, and [Executive Director of Red Arch Cultural Heritage Law and Policy] Ricardo St. Hilaire, among others — to bring the issues and discussion to the community,” Guile said. As respondents, Colgate professors Rebecca Ammerman, Robert Garland, Padma Kaimal, Elizabeth Marlowe,
Colgate’s own Monuments Man
Gilbert Harry Doane, Class of 1918, played an important behind-the-scenes part in World War II. A native of Fairfield, Vt., he served as a librarian in the Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives section. Here we trace Doane’s life:
After Colgate
He became a librarian for the Genealogy Society at the U.S. Naval Training Station in Newport, R.I. Doane earned his graduate certificate from the New York State Library School in 1920. He then worked as a librarian at a few universities before ending up at the University of Wisconsin, where he was the director of libraries.
During the war
Doane trained at the School of Military Government in Charlottesville, Va., from December 1943 until January 1944. At the American School Center in Shrivenham, England — an Officers Candidate School of the European Civil Affairs Division — Doane was a librarian who managed documents and lists of protected monuments found by the Monuments Men.
Post-war
In 1945, he retired from the military and once again became the director of libraries at the University of Wisconsin. He worked as a librarian, and later an archivist, until 1962, when he earned the title of professor emeritus.
As an author
Doane published several books about genealogy, including Searching for Your Ancestors (1937) and Collecting Bookplates (1941), in addition to a biography of Rev. Jackson Kemper, the first Episcopal bishop of Wisconsin.
In the church
He became a deacon of the Episcopal Church in 1943 and eventually served as a priest in Wisconsin. He died in 1980.
Robert Kraynak, and Xan Karn stimulated further discussion following each panel. Conversation around the destruction and preservation of cultural heritage also has a place on campus in Guile’s Borderlands class as well as through the Global Engagements, Arts, Classics, and Russian and Eurasian Studies programs, and the programs through the Center for Freedom and Western Civilization.
Education through activism
“My research isn’t detached from my activism,” said Woohee Kim ’18, an educational studies major who conducted research in Seoul, South Korea, in summer 2017. As a Lampert Institute Fellow, Kim researched Korean education and youth activism, concluding that students create new sites of learning outside of the traditional education system when they participate in activism.
The Lampert Institute for Civic and Global Affairs integrates on-campus programming with faculty-mentored student research. In addition to the summer fellowship, the Lampert Institute offers the Summer Language Scholarship and the on-campus Lampert Associates program. Kim became interested in the topic during her first year at Colgate, when she took the course The American School with Professor Anne Rios-Rojas and participated in the September 2014 campus sit-in organized by the Association of Critical Collegians. “I count that as the first moment of youth activism for me,” she said. “I then began to think about my life back home in Korea, and I wanted to bridge that to the activist self I started to build here.” The “banking” model of education in South Korea, which is focused on depositing knowledge, discourages participation in demonstrations and protests. In her paper, Kim argues that when students break out of this model and engage in activism, they transform from passive receivers to active producers of knowledge. Kim did fieldwork for three months in Seoul, South Korea. She collected participant observations by attending protests and meetings held by activist groups, and conducted interviews with 14 Korean youth activists. “I was immersed in my participant observations. I was climbing into sleeping bags in the street, camping out with youth activists, and shouting slogans with them,” Kim said.
“ I was immersed in my participant observations.” — Woohee Kim ’18, educational studies major She and other activists organized around a statue commemorating the thousands of Korean women who were trafficked and sexually abused by Japanese soldiers during World War II. Korean survivors erected the memorial in front of Japan’s embassy in Seoul; it is now under threat of removal, which activists are fighting to prevent. Both researching and participating in activism made Kim think about her position as a scholar-activist. Funded by the Lampert Institute, she attended an educational studies conference in Washington, D.C., to present on her experiences with scholar-activism in South Korea. “After doing my summer research with the Lampert, I came out with the understanding that this is what I want
to do with my life,” she said. “I want to be a scholar-activist, whatever shape or form that may take.” Kim and eight other 2017 Lampert Institute Fellows returned to Colgate after their summer research and presented their completed papers on Nov. 1. — Emily Daniel ’18
Ethics of war
Is it ever ethical to go to war? Can war be both politically advantageous and morally just? According to Valerie Morkevicius, associate professor of political science, the answers to these questions are more complicated than a simple yes or no. Morkevicius’s new book, Realist Ethics (Cambridge University Press), explores two schools of political philosophy — just war thinking and realism — and argues that they have more in common than both sides tend to think. “Just war thinking is a tradition that considers whether it is ever ethically sound to use war to solve a political problem, and if so, what would be the right ways to go about fighting that war,” Morkevicius explained. Realism is the more pragmatic counterpart to just war thinking, with some realists arguing that moral limits and moral aims should not be involved in war. “Realists are seen as war-mongering pragmatists, and just war thinkers are seen as naïve at best and pacifistic at worst,” said Morkevicius. “Realist Ethics argues that this oversimplification is not only wrong, but dangerous.” To show that just war thinking and realism have a common history, Morkevicius traces the roots of both in the Christian, Islamic, and Hindu religious traditions. “I argue that just war thinkers should be more realist, and I’m doing that by showing that the just war tradition has actually always been realist,” Morkevicius said. She added: “If you did realist ethics — if you did the just war tradition in a realist way — you’d end up fighting fewer wars, and with more limited ends. There would still be injustices in the world, but you’d think of ways to address them that are not the use of force.” To fight fewer wars, politicians and government officials should think of war as a last-resort cease and desist News and views for the Colgate community
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Star struck
Among the paintings and art installations in Little Hall, astronomy students talked dark matter, exoplanets, eclipses, and star systems on Oct. 21. At the annual research symposium of the Keck Northeast Astronomy Consortium (KNAC), hosted by Colgate, students from eight liberal arts universities
iStock/GCShutter
life of the mind
order to an aggressive state. “I want to push against this tendency in American foreign policy to think about war as a positive tool for creating liberal democracy,” Morkevicius said. “In my view, all war can do is stop a state from committing genocide, for example, but it can’t create a state that would never commit genocide.” In the case of North Korea or even ISIL, the just war tradition question of proportionality — how much harm will be done to accomplish a task — should cause American officials to seek alternatives to war. “Is a North Korean nuclear arsenal that could potentially reach the United States scary? Yes. But, involvement in North Korea would realistically mean hundreds of thousands dead in South Korea,” Morkevicius said. “We have to think about proportionality.” — Emily Daniel ’18
gathered to present their summer research findings. Megan Emch ’18 and Alina Sabyr ’19, who conducted research with Associate Professor of Physics and Astronomy Jeff Bary, gave presentations. Emch received a NASA Space Grant for her research, and Sabyr received funding from Colgate for her summer project. “I studied a binary star system called DQ Tau, which consists of two T-Tauri stars,” Sabyr explained. “T-Tauri stars are young pre-main sequence stars, which means that they are younger than our sun.” Emch also researched the DQ Tau star system. “I used high-resolution 16
scene: Winter 2018
spectroscopy to analyze indicators that mass is being shuffled around the DQ Tau system, as well as indicators of large cool spots on the young stars’ surfaces,” she said. More than 50 percent of stars in the universe exist in pairs, like DQ Tau, or groups of three or more. According to Emch, studying the movement of material — called accretion — around these stars helps astronomers understand how planets form. “Accretion activity, even around binary stars, can help shed light on how our own solar system may have formed,” she said. For students interested in STEM careers, the KNAC symposium is a chance to practice presenting research in a formal conference setting. Astronomy students from Haverford College, Middlebury, Swarthmore, Vassar, Wellesley, Wesleyan, and Williams attended.
More than 50 percent of stars in the universe exist in pairs, like DQ Tau, or groups of three or more. “It was a great opportunity to learn about astronomy from each other and improve our skills on how to present information clearly and concisely,” Sabyr said. Added Emch: “Scientific results don’t matter unless you can communicate them. For a lot of individuals, this was a key opportunity to prepare themselves for the next step in life, whether that’s scientific research at grad school or any other field. Communication is key.” Last summer, both students worked with Chenglu Wu ’19 to reduce data gathered by Bary on DQ Tau at the Apache Point Observatory. “[Conducting] research has helped me further develop my interest in astronomy and has also helped me think even more like a scientist: questioning things, testing, checking, and paying attention to details,” Sabyr said. Both Emch and Sabyr plan to keep learning about the cosmos at Colgate, and both will continue conducting research and sharing their findings with the community. “Long term, I’m interested in the communication of complex scientific ideas to the public,” Emch said. “I’d like to help people realize that science doesn’t have to be intimidating.” — Emily Daniel ’18
A closer look at Mars
Assistant Professor of Geology Joe Levy and his students are using NASA grant funding and images taken from the Mars Orbiter Mission to study glaciers on the red planet in an effort to further understand how that planet’s climate has changed throughout history. Images provided by the orbiter are of such high resolution that researchers on campus can measure individual boulders and glacier formations right from the comfort of the Robert H.N. Ho Science Center. These “debris-covered glaciers” are creeping rivers of ice covered by a blanket of soil and rock, Levy explains. “A whole debris-covered glacier on Mars is approximately ten kilometers long and one and a half kilometers wide,” he says. “To give you a sense of scale, a glacier’s length is the distance between Hamilton and Earlville.” If you melted down all of the glaciers on Mars, Levy adds, and “spread them out evenly over the surface of the planet, it would be a global layer about one or two meters deep — enough to make a little ocean over all of Mars.”
University gets NSF grants for new lab technology
Janna Minehart ’13
Dogs are funny. Every other animal lives longer as it increases in size — mice live a year or two at most, while elephants can live for 70. Not so with dogs, whose lifespans decrease as the breeds get larger. “A Chihuahua will live to 16 easily,” says Assistant Professor of Biology Ana Jimenez, “while a Great Dane is old at 6.” Jimenez has been working to unravel this mystery, and she now has access to a powerful new tool to do that: a Seahorse XFe 96 oxygen flux analyzer for integrative organismal and cellular biology. Colgate University recently acquired that mouthful of a machine through a $271,077 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF). “It’s our Ferrari on a benchtop,” Jimenez says about the device’s high price tag, before adding: “I’d prefer the Seahorse.” That’s because the state-of-the-art equipment is able to do something no other tool in the lab can do: measure metabolism inside living cells in real time. “Metabolism is the underlying biochemical process that affects everything in the cell,” Jimenez says. “This is a tool that can bring that abstract concept to life.” The Seahorse is one of two recent additions to Colgate’s equipment that juices up its already formidable capacity to carry on scientific research. “I’m not aware of any other undergraduate institution that has this equipment,” says Associate Professor of Biology Geoff Holm, who is using the Seahorse to investigate metabolism of viruses. “Resources like this are incredibly rare — and it’s even rarer for students to be using it to do research.” The size of a proverbial breadbox, the Seahorse contains a plate with 96 wells in which a researcher can culture cells for an experiment. The machine can then perform an array of processes to investigate how cells use oxygen and sugars. Jimenez and her undergraduate students have already found some metabolic links to certain diseases that may affect large dogs more than smaller dogs. “Our hope is that we might find some way to alter these metabolic pathways, possibly by altering the composition of dog food, in order to make them live longer,” Jimenez says. Holm is using the same machine to investigate how viruses alter the metabolism of human cells. “We know viruses use a whole lot of energy, but not much is known about how they alter cells to make that energy available,” he says. He is particularly interested in how viruses affect cancer cells and whether it might be possible to modify a virus to attack tumors by robbing them of oxygen while leaving healthy cells intact. It’s not just Colgate faculty, however, who are investigating the role of metabolism in disease. Students in assistant biology professor Priscilla Van Wynsberghe’s intermediate genetics class are using the Seahorse to investigate rare genetic diseases using small worms called nematodes. Each team of students chooses a human disease and analyzes its effects in the worms, which they can plop directly inside the wells of the Seahorse to measure its metabolism. “Working in a cell culture may not allow you to understand what is happening in a whole organism,” says Van Wynsberghe. The fact that students are able to do complex science on such a sophisticated piece of equipment ramps up the level of engagement in her class, Van Wynsberghe says. “I tell them we are going to play with a multi-hundred-thousand-dollar piece of equipment, and you can see how excited and motivated they are,” she says. And by using equipment most undergrads never touch, they are able to ask much more sophisticated questions than the typical student at their level. “It’s fantastic training in critical thinking,” Van Wynsberghe says. “They come out of Colgate already thinking like a grad student.” One student who has already benefited from using the equipment is Joshua Winward ’18, who has been working with Jimenez on researching the metabolism of dogs, driving with her for two summers to the University of Rochester to perform experiments. “Having a Seahorse on site will drastically reduce the amount of time running experiments as well as allowing us to run experiments more frequently,” he says. “Having this experience has given me an
appreciation for just how much you can learn about any given organism at the cell level just by having access to the right equipment.”
Messing around with magnetism
Not only is Colgate adding new, sophisticated lab equipment to its stable, but it is also upgrading the equipment it has with new capabilities. This fall, the chemistry lab received a $345,783 grant from the NSF to improve its nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectrometer, an instrument that uses the same technology as MRI machines to discover the structure of molecules. “When you do chemistry, you don’t know what you’ve made until you run a whole lot of tests on it,” says chemistry professor Ernie Nolen. “It’s not like in the kitchen where you can just taste it. It becomes a puzzle to solve for things you cannot see.” Common techniques such as mass spectrometry only tell researchers which atoms are present, but not how they are connected — a crucial element in dealing with complex organic molecules where the position of a hydrogen or carbon atom can dramatically affect how the molecule functions. In Nolen’s research designing and constructing molecules of biomedical interest, for instance, he needs to identify a galactose sugar called TN antigen, which differs from glucose by one hydrogen atom pointing in the opposite direction. “It’s a tiny change, but it makes a huge biological difference,” he says. The NMR consists of a powerful magnet — actually, a ball of energized superconducting wire suspended in liquid helium — that can shift the orientation that a nucleus is spinning on its axis. By detecting these “spin flips,” researchers can construct a 3-D picture of a chemical compound in real time. The new upgrade for the system will dramatically increase its sensitivity, allowing researchers to not only tell how an atom is connected to its immediate neighbor, but also how it relates to other atoms in the compound.
“ Resources like this are incredibly rare — and it’s even rarer for students to be using it to do research.” — Associate Professor of Biology Geoff Holm Chemistry professor Rick Geier is also using the device to characterize porphyrinoids, a versatile chemical structure in nature that does everything from binding oxygen in red blood cells and absorbing light in chlorophyll to catalyzing a range of biological reactions. Porphyrinoids can be used in a variety of applications, including harvesting energy in photovoltaic cells to improve solar energy, and destroying cancer cells by transferring energy from light to oxygen molecules. In order to achieve those goals, however, it’s necessary to discover efficient methods to synthesize these compounds — the focus of Geier’s research group. “There is a lot of trial and error in developing practical methods to create these compounds,” says Geier. “We are seeking to uncover general principles that make the trial and error more efficient. The NMR spectrometer is a key tool for quickly determining whether we are making the compounds that we think we are.” Like the Seahorse, the NMR spectrometer is also heavily used by students in both classrooms and research. Professor Anthony Chianese, uses the device in his organic chemistry lab, allowing more than 200 students per year to analyze samples. “They can immediately identify whether their experiments formed what they expected them to form,” he says. One of Chianese’s students, Linh Le ’18, is using the equipment to analyze reactions to create intricate catalysts called ruthenium pincer complexes. “As an undergraduate, I feel that it is a privilege to have access to this modern equipment, which is widely used nowadays in both industry and research labs,” says Le, who is applying to PhD programs in chemistry. “Consequently, I am more prepared as I embark on my career.” By learning experimentally rather than vicariously, students leave Colgate with all of the knowledge they need to perform high-level scientific experiments on their own. “We can do real science,” says Nolen. “We are not just saying ‘here is an example of what you would do when you go to graduate school.’ We are actually doing it here.” — Michael Blanding
This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant Nos. 1725841 and 1726308.
News and views for the Colgate community
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“Marching in the Soundsuit was fascinatingly disorienting.” — Christina Weiler ’21 Samto Wongso ’19 (2)
arts & culture
started out with 12 people wearing Soundsuits, and once they started moving, onlookers joined in, dancing and following along. The procession didn’t stay outdoors — it entered the normally quiet space of Case-Geyer Library. “So as students were going to class, they ran into this sort of invasion,” Cave said. “It’s always interesting when something can alter your day.” Outside of the chapel, students, faculty, and staff musicians provided the beats
Shake, Rattle, and roll Artist Nick Cave creates community with fall residency
BY REBECCA DOCTER In an empty room, a mannequin and a vibrantly colored, synthetic fur garment lay on the floor. This garment, called a “Soundsuit,” is a wearable sculpture created by Nick Cave, the Christian A. Johnson Visiting Artist in Residence last fall. It’s midOctober and Cave is working speedily with art and art history professor Lynn Schwarzer to set up his exhibition in Clifford Gallery. Soon, the Soundsuit adorns the mannequin. As the first thing gallery visitors see, the suit is striking. Cave’s fall exhibition was called Rattle, and the art was as noisy as the name. “[I’m] always looking for adjectives, words that speak about action and taking a position, such as ‘rattle.’ Rattle is about sound, making noise, generating attention, responding to something,” Cave said. “Right now we’re in such a critical time — there is an urgency in that word. The word comes off as fun and innocent, but it can really be proactive, direct.” Cave is a multimedia artist whose work encompasses sculpture, performance, fashion, installation, and more. He’s also a professor in the fashion design department at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. His famed Soundsuits, arguably the pieces of art he’s best known for, adhere to his rattle philosophy — they’re meant to grab attention. The ones he brought to Colgate are colorful and extravagant, some with bright hues and pieces that sway with movement. The suits also serve another purpose: They “provide protection and anonymity in times when categorizing by race, gender, class is the first impulse,” Schwarzer said. “Wearing a Soundsuit, then, is both liberating and empowering.” On the afternoon of Oct. 20, the community witnessed Cave’s work in motion as a procession flowed from the chapel to Little Hall, where the exhibition component of Rattle was displayed in the Clifford Gallery. The traveling performance
“ It’s always interesting when something can alter your day.” — Nick Cave 18
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to start the performance with clanging percussion instruments. Students in street clothes kept it moving with funky tunes blasting from tiny radios. Some of the suits made soft, swishing sounds, like a cheerleader’s pom-pom. They swayed easily as students marched forward and danced in circles. Other suits were 8- to 9-feet tall and had a stiffness supported by metal framework; they had the effect of long animal fur moving subtly. Depending on which Soundsuit students wore, they had varying experiences. “Marching in the Soundsuit was fascinatingly disorienting,” said Christina Weiler ’21, who intends to major in envi-
ronmental economics. “The sensations of wearing the suit were unfamiliar, such as carrying weight with my shoulders, legs, and arms all at once.” In addition to the physicality of wearing the suit, Weiler commented on the communal feeling of the experience: “I walked the routes I usually take to get to class while having a completely different intention. In the suit, my job was to move for the sake of self-expression and being together, not just to get from point A to point B.”
One of the reasons Cave came to Colgate was because he wanted to help students express themselves. “As an artist, an educator, I think it’s a responsibility,” he said. “Students need alternative ways of expression, building morale, and coming together collectively.” So, in addition to the Rattle procession, students had another way to get involved during Cave’s time at Colgate: workshops. “The workshops and residency are about bringing together a group of students who perhaps never even met each other and to think about a narrative or a point of view that they feel is necessary to express,” Cave said. Tasked with creating a performance around an object provided by Cave, students spanning class years and majors banded together in the name of art. In each of the three workshops — with the titles Glitch, Hailer, and Lineage — the students had one prop to work with: alphabetical letters crafted by the students, old-fashioned cheerleader megaphones, and a stretchy article of clothing, respectively. Cave checked in with students to give them advice, but armed with a prompt and their objects, they were largely on their own. “It’s all just about ideas,” Cave said. Mykel Macedon ’19, a political science major, became interested in participating in Cave’s workshops when he saw Cave's art for the first time. (The Soundsuits, in particular, piqued his curiosity.) Once Macedon learned more about the workshops, he decided to join Glitch — a word-associa-
Mark Diorio (2)
Students get to work
“ We began to realize the freedom that we possessed while connected within the cloth, and temporarily forming a new being.” — Mykel Macedon ’19 tion exercise — and Lineage, which was more of a physical performance. As an avid dancer, Macedon hoped to bring that form of art to Cave’s workshops. “Dance is something I always do for fun,” he said. “It’s a stress reliever.” In Lineage, students centered their performance around a swath of reversible black and orange cloth. The garment, complete with enough holes to fit the limbs of numerous people, required students to be in close proximity but it also stretched, allowing performers to enclose themselves as a group or open up to reveal individual movements. To figure out how they wanted to perform, the group tried a series of exercises with the cloth. They thought about it symbolically and stretched it into different shapes. They unraveled it and raveled it again. For their performance, the four Lineage group members weaved their limbs through the cloth and, as a student improvised violin music on a bench nearby, they ebbed and flowed. The stretch of the cloth allowed them to move separately, but it only extended a few yards, so they were still bound together — even when one student climbed upon a large rock, the others had to follow. Finally, they circled portions of the audience and moved them as a group. “So, by the end, all who came to watch became part of the performance themselves,” Schwarzer explained. “We began to realize the freedom that we possessed while connected within the cloth, and temporarily forming a new being,” Macedon said. “In contrast to these possibilities and freedom, we incorporated the theme of prison, which was inspired by the orange color on one side of the cloth and the concept of being constrained and more specifically constrained to others. For Jabari [Ajao ’18] and myself, being black men in the United States, this theme was also inspired by a deep-rooted fear of the U.S. criminal justice system. Although the four of us became one, we each ultimately experienced Lineage differently.” Cave is no longer on campus, but his work has left a lasting impression. “Since the performance, every time I reflect on it, I gain a knew depth to my understanding of Lineage.” Macedon said. In addition, the athletics department will show video of Glitch at halftime at events, and students hope to continue working on the poetry-focused workshop Hailer.
Cave (left) and community members at the Hailer workshop, which incorporated vintage cheerleading megaphones.
News and views for the Colgate community
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go ’gate
Dear future Raider
Adam Creech
Women’s soccer seniors wrote letters to next season’s first-year students. Here's one example:
Bitter-Sweet 16
A historic season for the men’s soccer team came to a close as it lost to No. 4 Louisville in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament at the end of November. The Cardinals secured a 2–0 victory and put Louisville in the Elite Eight.
“We’ve proven that we can compete at the highest level against the elite teams in college soccer.” — Erik Ronning, head coach Even so, the Raiders had an unforgettable season, having captured their second-straight and seventh overall Patriot League Championship. Colgate went on to win its first NCAA Tournament game in program history, beating the University of Massachusetts (2–0) in the first round. The Raiders then punched their ticket to their firstever Sweet 16, with a 3–2 win over Michigan’s Wolverines in the second round of the tournament. Colgate was the first Patriot League team to reach the Sweet 16 since 2006. “We’ve proven that we can compete at the highest level against the elite teams in college soccer,” Head Coach Erik Ronning said. “This is going to motivate our young men and this program to greater heights.”
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Colgate 2nd in nation for Student Graduation Success Rate
The university’s student-athletes posted a 98 percent Student Graduation Success Rate (GSR) for the sixth consecutive year, according to NCAA figures released in November. Colgate’s 98 percent rate stands as the second-highest nationally among Division I institutions and was even with the likes of Princeton and Notre Dame. Colgate ranked above the University of Pennsylvania, Stanford, Northwestern, and Duke at 97 percent, and Cornell and Vanderbilt at 96 percent. Colgate recorded perfect 100 percent GSR scores from 23 of its 24 NCAA-sponsored teams. “I want to congratulate the studentathletes who made this ranking possible,” said President Brian W. Casey. “Even as they dedicate themselves to the highest level of competition, they know that the ultimate goal is graduation. This is the nature of the Colgate Division I experience.” The Division I Board of Directors created the GSR in response to Division I college and university presidents who wanted data that more accurately reflected the mobility of college students than the federal graduation rate. The GSR formula removes from the rate student-athletes who leave school while academically eligible and includes student-athletes who transfer to a school after initially enrolling elsewhere. This calculation makes it a more complete and accurate look at student-athlete success.
To the next No. 13, Lift your head up in a huddle to look into your teammates’ eyes before a big game, take an extra minute in the locker room after everyone has cleared out, walk out onto the game field by yourself on a recovery day just to breathe the air of the place you love most on campus. The next four years will come and go faster than you’ll ever imagine, and that is what I would do to slow it down for myself, knowing that I may only have four years left playing the sport that helped me grow into the person I am today. I thought that slowing it down was the only way to appreciate the game. But as I have made my way through my time here, I’ve realized that it isn’t just those moments where I slow it down that make me appreciate the game the most. It is those moments in combination with the fast, intense, loud, and emotional moments that really make me love everything about Colgate soccer. It’s the 2v2 mini-goal games that get so competitive that you won’t talk to your teammate for an hour after practice, or the on-top-of-the-world feeling of winning a game in overtime and dog-piling each other, or screaming the fight song with your team on the bus traveling back from an away game. Don’t look past those moments, even though they may be easy to take for granted and even though they pass faster than others. So look into your teammates’ eyes in the huddle before a big game one day, but be the one screaming at the top of your lungs bringing the energy to the huddle the next day. Take a quiet minute alone in the locker room one day, but be the one leading the locker room dance-off the next day. Walk onto the field on a recovery day just to breathe the air one day, but get out there alone and push yourself through extra fullfield sprints the next day. Don’t keep it too slow, but don’t make it all go by too fast. Find the balance to appreciate the incredible next four years of playing the best sport in the world alongside your best friends. Enjoy it, Eliza Doll ’18, #13
The brief: sports edition Moving on up. After playing hockey for four years at Colgate, Craig Woodcroft ’91 went on to represent Team Canada. Now, the Toronto native is serving his country in a new role — as assistant coach for Canada’s 2018 Olympic men’s ice hockey team. “In many ways, it seems very natural, albeit surreal,” Woodcroft told CBC Sports. “I took great pride as a player [in] trying to be a student of the game, learning from all the coaches — both [their] tactics and personality traits that led them to be successful or not-so-successful coaches.” “ The World Cup was never our God-given right to participate in, and in the end, the tournament’s allure is too great to resist.”
9th Patriot League title for football
With a 35–10 thumping of Georgetown in November, Colgate captured its ninth Patriot League title. The win was Colgate’s fifth in a row to end the season, helping the Raiders wrap up a 5–1 Patriot League campaign. Colgate finished 7–4 overall and is the only 2017 Patriot League team to sport an overall winning record. After the win on Georgetown’s Cooper Field, the Raiders celebrated — many of them doing so for the second time in three seasons — and were joined on the turf postgame by many of the alumni from the 2015 NCAA playoff run. “They fought hard, and after a blip early, played our style of football and finished it the right way,” Head Coach Dan Hunt said. Although the team did not receive an at-large bid to the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision playoffs, it landed two major Patriot League Awards. Hunt was named Coach of the Year for the second time in three seasons, and Grant Breneman ’21 earned Patriot League Rookie of the Year. Also, Colgate placed 13 players on the All-Patriot League first and second teams.
—Rob Stone, who recently covered the men’s World Cup for the fifth time, tells Soccer America why Americans were still interested in the game despite the U.S. team not qualifying
Thanks, Doc. Dr. Merrill Miller received the 2017 Silver Puck Award for her contributions to the hockey program. Miller has been the athletics team physician for nearly four decades. “Over her 36 years at Colgate, she has helped countless hockey players get back to health and on the ice playing,” said Don Vaughan, men’s hockey head coach. “Colgate is in her DNA and we are so lucky to have her.” Going for the Gold. Colgate’s Class of 1965 Arena, opened in fall 2016, earned LEED Gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council in November. The arena houses an ice hockey rink in addition to facilities for Colgate’s lacrosse and soccer teams. The certification is earned through sustainable building methods and systems. This commitment toward green building practices started in 2011 with the construction of the Trudy Fitness Center. Colgate has a minimum goal of LEED Silver certification for all new construction and major renovations.
Bob Cornell
“ It’s not weird anymore to implement these kinds
Alli Lowe ’21 was named Patriot League Rookie of the Year, First Team AllPatriot League, and ECAC Rookie of the Year. Lowe led the Raiders with 382 kills this season, and her 3.82 kills per set ranks second in the Patriot League. The Kennett Square, Pa., native helped the Raiders finish the season 18–11. The team capped off their season by hosting the first two rounds of the National Invitational Volleyball Championship; the Raiders lost to Towson 2–3.
of advanced tools because technology has really helped.”
— Steve Chouinard, director of sports medicine and an athletic trainer, in a New York Times article about the Colgate athletics department’s cutting-edge measures to prevent staph and MRSA infections
News and views for the Colgate community
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Grab a few minutes alone with Brion Applegate ’76 on campus, and the subject can quickly turn to football. Applegate played for the Raiders in the 1974 and 1975 seasons after transferring from the U.S. Air Force Academy. During that change, he made the move from quarterback to wide receiver and wound up averaging 20.4 yards per catch his senior season. No Colgate Raider has matched that mark in 42 years. Since his playing days, few have equaled what Applegate has accomplished off the field as well for Raider Athletics. The Beachwood, N.J., native, who co-founded Spectrum Equity in 1994 and has been involved in private equity investing since 1979, was inducted into the 2017 Colgate Athletics Hall of Honor. Applegate still loves to talk football, all while downplaying his own accomplishments. “The consequence of that receiving record in terms of yardage per catch was really a lot more related to the number of attempts and number of completions,” said Applegate, who that year caught 25 balls for 510 yards and two touchdowns. “Back then — the offense we were playing was a wishbone option — we were maybe throwing 10 or 15 passes per game. “Today and in the offenses that have developed so wonderfully over the decades, it’s rare when you have a game where you throw fewer than 25 passes. So it’s really more related to the number of attempts and number of completions than anything else.” Applegate might have a point. He’s the last Raider to lead the team in receiving with as few as 25 receptions. John Maddaluna III ’17 topped the last two seasons with 62 and 54, respectively. But Applegate’s 20.4 yards speaks for itself, and that number helped propel Colgate to a 6-4 mark in the 1975 campaign. “Probably the game I remember most was at William & Mary,” Applegate said of the 21-17 Raiders’ triumph. “It was the second-tolast game that season, and we went down to Williamsburg and beat a very good team on their home field.” Another memorable Colgate Mark DiOrio
go ’gate
Talking football with Applegate ’76
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Raider Nation
Fan interviews by Tegan Graham ’20
Miranda Robles ’20
Football vs. Fordham; W, 38–12 What brings you to the game today? School spirit. I love supporting Colgate teams. What’s your favorite Colgate sports tradition? The wave. It hypes everybody up. What do you think makes a good Colgate fan? Someone who sticks around from the beginning to the end. They don’t leave because they’re not going to give up.
Patrick Letourneau ’13
Men’s soccer alumnus Soccer vs. Bucknell; soccer alumni weekend; W, 2–1 Do you have any pregame rituals? Before I come to a Colgate sporting event, I get pumped up with really good jams. What’s the craziest thing you’ve seen at a Colgate sporting event? My senior year, the volleyball team won the Patriot League championship. We all stormed the court and just went nuts. One of my good friends played on the team, and we picked her up and started throwing her around. It was pretty wild. What are you doing now that you’ve graduated? I’m a math teacher and varsity soccer coach at North Hunterdon High School (Annandale, N.J.).
Taurian Houston
Colgate’s assistant athletic director for compliance Volleyball vs. American; L, 2–3 What’s your favorite part about watching volleyball? The passion with which the young women play. I am a former student-athlete, and I recognize that having passion is vital in order to be successful in competing against opponents. It’s absolutely wonderful to have these young women compete and fight at that level. Do you have any pregame rituals? I’m always there trying to hype up the student-athletes. I joke with them, saying, “Hey, I need you to be big today.” And they understand that they are going to play big. What would people be surprised to know about you? I actually sang the national anthem my first year here. I held my own.
win that season was 22-21 at Princeton. “It was a funny game,” Applegate said. “We played them very tough and at the end of almost every period, we were ahead on the scoreboard. Our offense was way ahead of them in terms of yardage and our defense was playing well, but Princeton had a knack for making big plays and
“When we came back and won that game, our sidelines went wild.” — Brion Applegate ’76
Where are they now? Scott Whyatt ’86
Must love dogs
Andrew Turner
they kept coming back on us quarter by quarter. We had outplayed them, but we found ourselves down by six points with a couple of minutes to play.” Colgate got the ball back and drove the length of the field to tie the game with a touchdown, 21–21, with almost no time left on the clock. The extra point was good and Colgate escaped with the victory. “When we came back and won that game, our sidelines went wild and our fans at old Palmer Stadium went crazy,” he said. Applegate enrolled at the Air Force Academy out of high school and played quarterback there for the freshman team. But he decided to transfer to Colgate, having remembered his exceptional visit a few years back. His host for that visit: Mark van Eeghen ’74, who went on to play for the NFL. Colgate football was a family then, under Head Coach Neil Wheelwright, Applegate says, adding that it’s the same today under Dan Hunt. “This team plays hard and they play smart and they play tough,” Applegate
said. “I love to see that, so I’m a huge fan of this team and the way Coach Hunt is getting our kids ready to play.” Applegate was drawn to the campus by its people, had that magical season 42 years ago, and remains a huge influence on Colgate’s present and future. He is a Board of Trustee member emeritus and served on the Athletic Affairs Committee. He is a member of Raiders for Excellence and has donated to several athletics capital campaigns, including the Class of 1965 Arena, football press box, indoor golf facility, and most recently the new football locker room, team meeting room — which he named for his mother, Ruth Cline Applegate — and academic enhancement center.
After making it to the Patriot League Semifinals for the first time since 2014, women’s soccer closed out its 2017 season with a 3–0 loss to Navy. This was Colgate’s 10th-straight Patriot League Tournament appearance.
When Scott Whyatt ’86 wore maroon, the Colgate football team was often the underdog. Now, he’s helping other kinds of underdogs. Whyatt is the co-founder and executive director of TracysDogs, a nonprofit dog rescue and adoption organization headquartered in San Antonio, Texas, that has rescued nearly 4,000 canines to date. “When I was at Colgate, every game we played was an uphill battle and we came to really look forward to that,” Whyatt says. “That’s kind of how we approach every day now. There are rescues that are far bigger than us all over the country. But there’s nobody that does as much as we do with as little as we have.” TracysDogs was founded in 2011 when Whyatt’s wife, Tracy, was furloughed from her job. An avid animal lover, she began going down to city animal shelters in San Antonio and recording videos on social media of the animals in need of homes. “We started getting calls from people all over the country wanting to adopt the dogs that were being housed in a facility where they really had no exposure to anybody,” Whyatt says. “They put those dogs into an overflow complex because there was no room available at the main, public facility and they believed them to be unadoptable, so they were really just housing them prior to euthanasia.” At that time, the city of San Antonio euthanized approximately 75–80 percent of the dogs it took in because of lack of city resources, he explained. The idea of creating a rescue organization came about when the Whyatts received a call from a woman who had recently moved from San Antonio to Denver. She said that if they brought a few dogs to the Mile High City, she might be able to get them adopted at a PetSmart event on the weekend. The Whyatts drove through the night, arriving around 8 a.m. “Five or six hours later,” he says, “every single dog was adopted.” At that point, the couple decided to create their own adoption organization that would focus on rescuing dogs from high-kill shelters and give them a place to stay until they could find permanent homes. Scott, Tracy, and their team, which is primarily volunteer based, have built their brand around rescuing dogs with pending euthanasia dates located in South Texas municipal shelters, then rehabilitating and re-homing them with individuals and families who demonstrate a commitment to providing a loving, caring, and nurturing home environment. The organization adopts to families all over the country, running transport events called “Gotcha Days” once a month. Potential adopters apply online and speak with an adoptions manager and counselor to choose a dog that is the right fit. Once approved, adopters meet and take home their new family member at a Gotcha Day around the country. TracysDogs has continued to grow and has proven to be one of the most successful rescues in Texas. But, running a rescue isn’t easy. It takes a lot of dedication, another value Whyatt honed during his time as a Raider. “Building a business, and building a business with live animals, takes an awful lot of hard work,” Whyatt says. “There are a lot of days that you feel like giving up. But we can’t and we will never give up.” — Interview by Chelsea Vielhauer
News and views for the Colgate community
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new, noted , & quoted
Books, music & film Information is provided by publishers, authors, and artists.
In the Netflix-original film Cuba and the Cameraman, Emmy-winning documentarian Jon Alpert ’70 (pictured, center) chronicles the fortunes of three Cuban families over the course of four tumultuous decades in that nation’s history. Alpert filmed the documentary over 45 years and took more than 1,000 hours of footage.
Twilight Meditations Jeff Bjorck ’83 (Jeffrey P. Bjorck)
In Twilight Meditations, clinical psychologist Jeff Bjorck shares his mother’s journey of faith through her battle with Alzheimer’s disease. Complete with a photo essay chronicling her life and quotes about her faith, the book is meant to provide hope to those with loved ones suffering from Alzheimer’s.
Defeat It: A Woman’s Guide to Crushing Life’s Challenges and Finally Living the Fit Life Dali Burgado ’01 (Think Big International) After a near-death car accident and her experience losing 40 pounds following a high-risk pregnancy, Dali Burgado became a certified weight management
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specialist, personal trainer, and group fitness instructor. She wrote Defeat It to inspire women to live their fittest lives and find purpose. Described as a “woman’s transformation road map,” the book is a program for those who struggle with food, mind-set, exercise, or unhealthy habits. To read about Burgado’s “Road Taken,” see pg. 60.
The Brave Maiden Geoffrey Craig ’65 (Prolific Press)
Set in Medieval England, this novel tells the fictional story of a young woman, trained as a knight, who returns to her father’s castle from a morning ride to discover her entire family murdered by an evil count. She flees to a forest, finds supporters, and builds an army to pursue revenge, ultimately hoping to bring justice to a suffering land. Geoffrey Craig originally wrote The Brave Maiden as a Christmas present for his then 11-year-old daughter.
A Puerto Rican Decolonial Theology: Prophesy Freedom Teresa Delgado ’88 (Palgrave Macmillan)
This book explores the themes of identity, suffering, and hope in the stories of Puerto Rican people, which challenge us to ask: How can we affirm a Christian understanding of freedom while resigning ourselves to a colonial context? Using an interdisciplinary methodology of dialogue between literature and theology, this study reveals the oppression, resistance, and theological vision of the Puerto Rican community. It demonstrates how Puerto Rican literature and Puerto Rican theology are prophetic voices calling out for the liberation of a suffering people, on the island and in the Puerto Rican diaspora, while employing personal Puerto Rican family/ community stories as an authoritative contextual reference point. Read more about Delagado in “Back on campus” on pg. 9.
Over The Horizon: Time, Uncertainty, and the Rise of Great Powers David M. Edelstein ’94 (Cornell University Press)
How do established powers react to growing competitors? The United States currently faces a dilemma with regard to China and others over whether to embrace competition and thus substantial present-day costs or collaborate with its rivals to garner short-term gains while letting them become more powerful. David Edelstein analyzes past rising powers in his search for answers that point the way forward for the United States as it strives to maintain control over its competitors.
Snowbound
Olivier Lafont ’01 (Olivier Lafont) Christmas is dying. The last Santa Claus had triplets who each inherited a portion of his power, and that split is tearing apart the soul of Christmas. The eldest son, Niccolo Vecchio, has fortified the North Pole into a citadel of ice and metal. Santini, the middle brother, is in hiding somewhere in the Mediterranean. The youngest, Niccolo Piccolo, is raising legions to reclaim his inheritance. Two of the triplets will have to renounce their claim in the next 48 hours, or this Christmas will be the last one ever. It’s up to an underachieving teenager named Adam and his bully, Zach, to make that happen.
The Field Guide to Fundraising for Nonprofits Sarah B. Lange ’87 (Praeger)
In her new book, Sarah Lange seeks to change how nonprofits think of the all-important task of fundraising. Lange offers best practices and creative solutions to help nonprofit organizations increase their fundraising potential and overall impact. Lange includes case studies, worksheets, and tools to push readers from the research stage to the doing stage of their fundraising efforts. In the book, she also explores the limiting beliefs and outdated methods that can hurt an organization’s efforts to raise money.
Richie Havens and Pals: Mixed Bag for Kids of All Ages Kyle Morris ’72 (Sharing World)
Music is a powerful tool parents and teachers can use to help children learn to read. Kyle Morris combines the music of legendary
folk singer Richie Havens with an educational picture book that allows kids to practice literacy while having fun singing along. Read about how Morris and Havens brought the book to life on pg. 49 of this issue.
In the media
The Middlescence Manifesto: Igniting the Passion of Midlife
— Navine Murshid, political science professor, in her Washington Post article, “Why is Burma driving out the Rohingya — and not other despised minorities?”
Barbara Waxman ’84 (The Middlescence Factor)
For as long as anyone can remember, we’ve associated midlife with unwelcome life changes and stagnation. Boomers, millennials, and even Generation X get all the press, but it’s people from 45 to 65 who are at the peak of their earning power and the height of their careers. The Middlescence Manifesto is a call to action and a declaration of a new understanding of what it means to be in midlife today. Rather than perpetuating ageist attitudes or expectations about turning 40, 50, or 60, Barbara Waxman’s new book describes a path to understanding midlife as “Middlescence,” a new life stage filled with potential, vitality, and purpose.
“Other ethnic groups rebelled but accepted the classifications. The Rohingya challenged the system wholesale.”
“We keep ending up in this situation where we either idolize or demonize foreign leaders.” — Political science professor Danielle Lupton in a New York Times article about Aung San Suu Kyi, de facto leader of Myanmar
“At what point is it in the interest of all governments on the planet to limit certain kinds of dangerous development when each one of those governments probably feels that it would be more secure if they had artificial intelligence for themselves?” — Daniel Monk, peace and conflict studies and geography professor, in TheRealNews.com about the perceived threat of artificial intelligence weapons
“Nixon was in various ways the candidate of grown-up, staid, majority-culture rule, standing athwart the forces of disorder and weirdness.” — Political science professor Sam Rosenfeld in a Politico piece on differences between President Donald Trump and Richard Nixon
Also of note:
In Tell Me About the River and The Floating House (Old Crow Press), Maine resident Ted Clapp ’41 shares his knowledge about the Pine Tree State. With Roasting Humans (David Dufty), D. Edward Dufty ’75 provides a guide to giving speeches for any occasion, including weddings, memorials, and retirements. Devin C. Hughes ’91 offers up two new books, one for adults and one for children. With Mindful Moment Journal: A Mindfulness Guide & Journal (Create Space), he suggests calming practices. In the picture book Tangie and the Bitter King: A Moon Patrol Story, Hughes teaches about inclusion and diversity.
“There is frequently overlap in the smuggling and sale of weapons and antiquities.” — Classics professor Michael Danti on Syria’s arms market, in the TFI Daily News
“Younger Evangelicals, especially, they just don’t want to be a part of that — that’s not what they want to be associated with.” — University chaplain and Protestant campus minister Corey MacPherson talks to the Christian Science Monitor about the Nashville Statement, a list of conservative Evangelical beliefs on sexuality and gender
In Mrs. Parsley: The Cat on the Mantle and Other Stories (CreateSpace), Julian Padowicz ’54 tells the good witch’s humorous adventures, which are stories for adults as well as children.
News and views for the Colgate community
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From Colgate’s hill to Capitol Hill
Six alumni who work in Washington, D.C., politics share their stories
By RaNeeka Claxton Witty
A metonym of all things politics, Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., has been the epicenter of young and seasoned political hopefuls for many years. Among those hopefuls are Colgate University alumni — some of whom have been fortunate enough to land in U.S. Senate and Congressional offices.
How did they accomplish these great feats? The Scene recently sat down with six alumni to hear them talk about
their individual successes. H
Rep. Claudia Tenney ’83 Congresswoman (R-NY)
Mark DiOrio
For Rep. Claudia Tenney, the past five years have meant a world of change in her move from New York State Assemblywoman to Congresswoman. In fall 2012, Tenney was reelected to the then newly formed 101st Assembly district. The redistricting changed her district from a cluster of central New York towns to a four hours’ worth drive that stretched from New Hartford (outside of Utica) to Montgomery (just north of New York City). The Albany Times Union described the district as “made up of the misfit towns nobody wants.” Even so, Tenney took on the challenge of representing a completely new constituent base. But, after two terms, she felt strongly that her fellow politicians needed to focus more on the real issues and do a better job of representing their constituencies. So, she made the biggest leap of her career: She ran for Congress.
A day in the life “While I’m in D.C., we’ll have conference at 9 a.m., then meetings with constituents all day. We vote twice a 26
scene: Winter 2018
day on bills. If I have a bill that’s on the floor or in the jurisdiction of the committee I serve on, I’ll speak on that. I’m on the Financial Services Committee, and I serve on three subcommittees. Our committee brings in a number of leaders in the industry to speak. Recently, we had [U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary] Ben Carson and the Equifax CEO. There’s always one committee meeting or hearing per session day. Sometimes a hearing takes an hour, three hours. Sometimes, it can take two days, in a 22-bill series. That’s a huge difference between Congress and the Assembly. In the Assembly, that process is much shorter and one sided. With bills on the floor in Congress, there’s an often lengthy debate from both sides. “In the evening, there are several events — sometimes a fundraiser, meetings with constituent groups. We also meet with foreign ambassadors. Usually on weekends, I travel across the district meeting with constituents all day.”
Issues she cares about The economy. “The 22nd District is one of the most economically depressed areas in the nation. Our region was once a hub for manufacturing, but unfair trade deals and high tax rates have sent our jobs overseas and caused people to leave our state in record numbers. Our region has become the Rust Belt of New York. It’s among my top priorities to bring jobs and people back to our community and allow our businesses and families to thrive once again.” The trade issue. “I support free trade between the United States and the world, but it must be fair. Many regulations that have been passed down aren’t fair
to the consumer. Often when deals are made, the wealthy and well connected receive all the benefits and the consumers and middle-income families get all the penalties.” “There are 11 colleges in our district. We want to create a thriving environment in upstate New York that encourages our students, the next generation of leaders, to stay.” Agriculture. “It’s the number one industry in our state. Upstate New York has a rich history of agriculture, and our region is home to a number of dairy farmers. Small dairy farmers are struggling under the current regulatory environment. I’m working on writing legislation to help our small farmers.” “The 22nd District has a very large refugee population with 42 languages spoken in the Utica school district alone. As someone with a long history of helping to resettle refugees in our area, I’m interested in working with our refugee population to help them realize their American dream, too.”
Being a member “As much as Congress gets derided, there are a number of accommodating, good public servants on both sides. It’s fun to get to know them in a different way. In my freshman (Congress) class, they sent us to Williamsburg for an orientation to learn the basics of how to be a member. One of my colleagues said, ‘What is going to define us as a freshman class?’ So, we made a commitment to civility — to reach out to each other in an effort to change the tone of our current political discourse. Putting out bills and resolu-
“Being on the Hill is a great privilege.” — Franco Brunet ’16
Staying strong “In politics, one can get really caught up in the orthodoxy of what it is. You have to be resilient and not take things too personally. “Years ago, when I was partner in a law firm, on Fridays, there’d be a note posted that said, ‘Meeting Friday, noon, all the men.’ I didn’t take that personally. My father always said, ‘Don’t be a victim.’ That reflects on them, not you. All the successful people I know, they don’t get caught up in that stuff. It’s hard to do, but that’s what makes you strong.”
Reflecting “[While at Colgate], I went to Italy and Yugoslavia. I took courses on China, Africa, and Russia. All of my experiences were examples of an effort to learn and understand something I didn’t know about. Doing things outside of my comfort zone has been the defining feature of my life. I’ve failed a lot and learned more from my failures than successes. From these experiences, I learned more about who I am, my mission, and what I wanted to accomplish.”
The five Cs “The night before Colgate’s Convocation [in 1983], Father Theodore Hesburgh [then president of the University of Notre Dame] gave a speech. He said, ‘You’ve got to live by the three Cs: competence, compassion, and commitment to the cause.’ I’ve added my own two Cs: character and courage. I strive to live by this mission in all that I do, and it’s what has driven me in my role in public service.”
André Chung (2)
tions, together we’re making our effort to include our colleagues on the other side of the aisle. There was an equal number of Republicans and Democrats, so it worked out well. “There’s been some really good people I’ve met. We all play together, Republican and Democrat, Senate and House members, on the Congressional Softball Team. It’s a great opportunity to get to know your colleagues on the other side of the aisle and the other side of the Capitol. We’ve found out we do have more in common than you think.”
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Franco Brunet ’16
Staff Assistant, Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) Francis (Franco) Brunet was raised with just the right ingredients necessary for him to end up with a career in politics. He grew up between St. Thomas, Virgin Islands — where his mother was chief policy advisor for the lieutenant governor — and Port-au-Prince, Haiti — where his father ran for president in 2015. And his brother, Thomas, works in the U.S. Senate. “The example my parents set definitely helped to inform my interests,” he says. News and views for the Colgate community
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H
Dan McLean ’97
Senior Press Advisor, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) Many years covering politics as a newspaper journalist — and his openness to new opportunities amid a changing newspaper industry — earned Dan McLean a
— Julie Tarallo ’11
spot as senior press advisor for Sen. Bernie Sanders.
experience with working in newsrooms comes in. That has served me well.”
How he landed in Sanders’s office
On finding support through Colgate
“I was hired by the Burlington Free Press, and my interest focused on covering politics. I got to know Bernie pretty well from doing interviews on the news side. He thought I was smart and asked good questions.”
“I remember going to a Real World event, where alumni come back and talk about what they do. Eamon Javers ’94 [now Washington Correspondent for CNBC] spoke. He was an editor at The Hill. I expressed an interest in politics and journalism. With his help, I was able to get aninternship there after graduation, covering Congress. During my internship, Howard Fineman ’70, who now works at Huffington Post, Eamon Javers, and I ended up grabbing a drink. Fineman shared his thoughts about Washington politics. I’ve always found Colgate alumni to be very helpful.”
His role McLean’s responsibilities include, but are not limited to, fielding reporters’ questions, pulling information from policy staff and drafting press statements for Sanders to review, writing press releases, and building media campaigns to help make complex political ideas approachable. “We
H
Julie Tarallo ’11
Communications Director, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) Julie Tarallo wakes up at the crack of dawn each weekday morning. While preparing to go to work as Sen. John McCain’s communications director, she’s glued to her phone reading every major news source she can get her hands on so that the senator “never gets caught flat-footed,” she says.
How she got to Capitol Hill McLean watches one of Sanders’s TV appearances from a control room.
have to think about how events will be reported, if we want to be in that news story, if we should comment on that,” he says. “That’s where my
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scene: Winter 2018
During Tarallo’s junior year at Colgate, a contact helped her get a summer internship at the public relations firm Powell Tate in D.C. The firm offered Tarallo a full-time position as assistant account executive after graduation, and she worked her way up to a senior account executive. At Powell Tate, Tarallo helped clients from the government, nonprofit, and business sectors develop and implement their communications strategies.
Mark DiOrio
“I wake up every morning excited to go to work.”
Mark DiOrio
But what seemed like the perfect career path for him didn’t hit Brunet until his sophomore year at Colgate, when he studied international relations and philosophy. That’s when he came in contact with Professor Karen Harpp, who, he says, “helped me to maximize my Colgate interests and opportunities. She went above and beyond on many occasions, even after she was no longer officially my adviser.” The following year, he reached out to Amy Dudley ’06, who was communications director in Sen. Tim Kaine’s office. In June 2016, she suggested he apply for the legislative intern position — for which he was hired and he later slid into his current role at the front desk as staff assistant. Dudley has since transitioned off of the Hill, but for about eight months, she and Brunet overlapped and “repped Colgate every chance we could,” he says. In his current role, Brunet works on aspects of legislation, communications, and administration — wearing many hats. “Being on the Hill is a great privilege,” he says. “I’m a big believer in experiences and being able to take away from them,” Brunet adds. “I’ve had a diverse perspective on a lot of things. Coming from two places in the Caribbean, being all over the East Coast, I’ve been introduced to a lot of different perspectives in my short life so far. That’s been helpful in allowing me to contextualize things and further my interests. It gives me a better sense of where help is needed.” Looking ahead, Brunet sees himself continuing to work on the Hill but taking on more policy responsibilities. He also hopes to go to law school or a graduate program that focuses on public or international policy. “I ultimately want to further my interests and passion so I can enact meaningful change,” Brunet says.
What she learned at Colgate A philosophy and Spanish double major, Tarallo benefited from the rich discussions, writing, and reading in her courses. Professors were “open to you speaking your mind, looking into an issue, and getting to know it intimately,” which is a big piece of the work she does now with McCain.
Finding balance When her day ends at around 7 p.m., Tarallo is on her phone reading news again as she walks to the Metro. But, even after her busy days, she finds time to do something she loves: running. While attending Colgate, Tarallo ran cross country and track. She was Patriot League Champion in the 10,000 meters as a sophomore in 2009, and captained the cross country and track teams as a senior. As captain, she helped lead the team to its first Patriot League team title in the university’s history in 2010. Since then, her passion for running hasn’t waned. Today, she holds a spot as the women’s team director of the Georgetown Running Club and runs at night.
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Erin Hatch ’10
Press Secretary, Ways and Means Committee Democrats, U.S. House of Representatives Having grown up in Bethesda, Md., Erin Hatch remembers getting the Washington Post on her doorstep every day and becoming engaged in politics from a young age. Hatch went on to major in geography and minor in political science at Colgate. She wasn’t certain what she wanted to do careerwise upon graduating, but making Colgate connections through alumni events in D.C. helped Hatch find her way. She first spent a year working for Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.). Then, Hatch got a lead on a press secretary position in the office of Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) from Alan He ’12, a political reporter whom she befriended. Hatch became Castro’s press secretary, and a few years later, his communications director. Her responsibilities included working with reporters, writing a variety of materials, staffing and organizing press events, and more. “As a political nerd, it’s neat to be in the middle of everything,” Hatch says. Just recently, she switched roles and became the press secretary for the Ways and Means Committee Democrats. “Huge issues that affect every single American are in the committee’s jurisdiction,” she explains. Case in point, Hatch started her new job during the tax debate. “It’s at once thrilling and sobering to be a part of such consequential work,” she says. In terms of preparation, Hatch has her Colgate education to thank. “Knowing how to switch gears, and taking writing-intensive courses” all helped, she says. “Writing is a huge part of the work I do. Everything in politics is about persuasion.” Beyond this, she is quickly reminded of Elizabeth Oblinger ’10, her best friend who previously worked for a Republican senator and was her D.C. roommate
“As a political nerd, it’s neat to be in the middle of everything.”
Mark DiOrio
— Erin Hatch ’10
for five years. Living with Oblinger helped Hatch keep perspective, she says. “In these partisan times, we’re all still Americans and still people. The divisions don’t run that deep,” Hatch adds. “Working on the Hill, we’re all here to try to make the country a better place.”
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Bryce Mongeon ’12
Senior Legislative Assistant, Rep. Charlie Dent (R-Pa.) Bryce Mongeon had always been interested in politics, but it wasn’t until a spring break trip to D.C. that he discovered he was specifically excited
Mark DiOrio
In her spare time, Tarallo honed her networking skills, and soon she “had a roster of people who were looking out for me,” she says. Through one of those contacts, Tarallo joined McCain’s office, starting as deputy press secretary, then working her way up to press secretary and now communications director. She oversees the senator’s communications strategy; writes statements, opinion editorials, and speeches; books the senator on interviews and prepares him for media engagements; fields constituent questions and reporter inquiries; manages his social media accounts; and more. She also manages the digital director and the press secretary. “No two days are the same,” she says. “I wake up every morning excited to go to work.”
by policy and governance. A political science major, he spent his senior-year spring break meeting with alumni whom he’d contacted through football, his Delta Upsilon fraternity, and the alumni directory. In his current role with Rep. Charlie Dent’s office, Mongeon appreciates understanding the concerns of Dent’s constituents, “figuring out the nexus of their problems and potential ways to give them answers,” Mongeon says — especially because he hails from Dent’s state of Pennsylvania. When Mongeon arrives in the office, he checks what Dent might be covering on the Appropriations Committee, prepares Dent to meet with constituent groups, and researches issues. Colgate prepared Mongeon for this position by teaching him how to digest information and translate it for laypeople. Also, being a student-athlete, he came away from his college experience as a pro with timemanagement skills. As a football player, Mongeon had to learn how to balance his class schedule with his extracurricular activities. From a rigor perspective, he had to juggle waking up early to weightlift and going to practice with a full course load. “It all seemed daunting, but when I came to D.C., I thought, ‘This is not as bad.’” It showed him what he was capable of, he says.
News and views for the Colgate community
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Andrew Daddio
A LIFE EXAMINED H O N O R I N G Colg at e ’ s lo n g e st-s e rvi ng pr of e s s or , Je r o m e “Je r ry ” B al m u t h {May 8, 1924–Sept. 28, 2017}
disciple of debate and a lover of language, Professor Jerry Balmuth was a masterful rhetorician. Through his words, he articulated his philosophy of how one should live; even more importantly, he embodied those qualities. Balmuth, the Harry Emerson Fosdick Professor of philosophy and religion emeritus, came to Colgate in 1954. He joined a department with “unusually strong teachers” — luminaries including Huntington Terrell, Stephen Hartshorne, and Herman Brautigam — and “a strong following among students,” Balmuth recalled in a 2004 Scene article. Alongside these scholars, he established himself as a rigorous professor who yearned to spark a fire in his students. “I believe education is not a demonstration of the knowledge of the instructor but rather an attempt to provoke the students into discovery of his or her own talents,” he said in a 2008 video interview. “If we give them the challenges that come with intellectual imagination and reflection upon learning itself, they will respond and they will discover for themselves that learning is the one pastime that continues to pay and repay in its richness and its range of significance.” While he strove to support students’ autonomy, Balmuth also noted: “Liberal education is moral education. Meaning, ultimately, there is a large section of liberal education that is purely designed for the understanding, but all that understanding goes into living a life in a certain way. And moral education is the choices of one’s actions in day-to-day life and ultimately in the choice of not only how to live one’s life but also how to relate to others in that life.” Known for being welcoming and amicable, Balmuth was an early proponent of inclusivity. When he joined Colgate, he was one of only two Jewish faculty members in the department. Overall, the university community lacked diversity — something students and professors, including Balmuth, would seek to change in subsequent years. He was a mentor to many African-American students and taught in a nascent version of the Office of Undergraduate Studies. Outside the classroom, Balmuth was one of a few professors who, in the 1960s, joined students in a peaceful sit-in during the civil rights movement. He was supportive of Jewish life at Colgate as well and helped spearhead the creation of the Saperstein Jewish Center on campus. In the village of Hamilton, Balmuth and his first wife, Ruth, were also instrumental in the founding of an interfaith Sunday school. As Balmuth was known to quote Socrates and would often say, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” In recognition of this, some of Balmuth’s former students and colleagues reflect here on how he led his life with thoughtfulness, wit, and wisdom. Undoubtedly, there are more who remember Colgate’s longest-serving professor — a man who taught more than 9,000 students in his 56 years at the university. Share your recollections at colgate.edu/scene. — Aleta Mayne
In memoriam Jerome Balmuth’s storied career at Colgate began in 1954, when he joined the Department of Philosophy and Religion after receiving his undergraduate degree from Amherst College and a master’s in philosophy from Cornell University. In 1995 he was named Harry Emerson Fosdick Professor of philosophy and religion. He retired in 2010, after 56 years of full-time teaching; his love of teaching brought him back to the classroom for part-time teaching for another year. Balmuth was born in Brooklyn on May 8, 1924. He was drafted into the Army in 1943 and served in the European theater during the final Allied assault on Germany; he was assigned to the Dachau concentration camp shortly after it was liberated and turned into a POW camp. He attended officer school, was commissioned as a second lieutenant, and was discharged at the rank of acting captain. The GI Bill enabled Balmuth to study at Amherst. There he found his calling in the study of philosophy. At Cornell, he studied with many of the leading lights of 20th-century philosophy, and through them first encountered the thoughts of Ludwig Wittgenstein. This encounter set Balmuth’s path for his research and teaching. A point of pride to Balmuth was how many of his students went on to graduate study and successful careers as teachers of philosophy; to the end of his life, he kept a mental tally of all 100-plus such former students. Balmuth garnered every teaching award that Colgate offers: the Alumni Corporation Teaching Award (1988), the AAUP Professor of the Year (1992), Phi Eta Sigma Professor of the Year (1994), and the Sidney J. and Florence Felten French Prize for outstanding teaching (1997). He was predeceased by his first wife, Ruth, and his brother, Daniel. He is survived by his wife, Martha; his sisters, Lorraine Widman and Marilyn Stolove; his children, Deborah Balmuth (Colin Harrington), Beth Raffeld (Philip Khoury), and Andrew Balmuth ’89 (Akemi Ohira Balmuth); and his grandchildren, Eli Raffeld ’10 (Jennifer Wu Raffeld), Miriam Raffeld, and Hanna Balmuth. He is also survived by many nieces and nephews, including David Balmuth ’82; and grandnephews and grandnieces, including Amy Balmuth ’17. Gifts in memoriam may be directed to The Jerome Balmuth Endowed Scholarship Fund, through the advancement office of Colgate University.
News and views for the Colgate community
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A guiding light
“I Was quite impressed with how secure jerry was with his idea of what belongs in the academy.” — Tony Aveni, Russell Colgate Distinguished University Professor of astronomy and anthropology and Native American studies emeritus
Contemporaries “When I came here in ’63, Jerry was a young faculty member getting established,” remembers Tony Aveni, Russell Colgate Distinguished University Professor of astronomy and anthropology and Native American studies emeritus. “He was friendly and open; and he loved to argue, but that’s what a logician does for business.” Balmuth showed that arguments aren’t necessarily a negative activity, Aveni explains. “A good philosopher knows that reason and argumentation make up the dialogue in so many parts of the academy,” Aveni says. And Balmuth was always a “good guy to exercise your brain with.” If Balmuth had one bad habit, Aveni notes, he was often tardy for functions — especially lectures — but Balmuth made up for it with a knack for always asking penetrating questions at the end. “I admired him for that; I even envied him that he could do that,” Aveni says. “He had a sharp mind.” Another cause for his admiration of Balmuth, Aveni adds, was his collegiality during the revision of Colgate’s core program in the early ’80s. As director of university studies who led the modifications to the core curriculum, Aveni faced some resistance from other faculty members who didn’t want changes to the philosophy and religion program. “But not Jerry,” Aveni says. “I was quite impressed with how secure Jerry was with his idea of what belongs in the academy. He was very persuasive and ended up being one of our staunchest allies in altering the program.”
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Alonzo McCollum ’72, MA’73 recalls that coming to Colgate from Newark, N.J., in the late ’60s “was a big change of scenery, but Professor Balmuth made it more comfortable.” Balmuth was McCollum’s adviser during all four years of the philosophy and religion major’s undergraduate studies. McCollum remembers having dinner with Balmuth and his family at the professor’s house on multiple occasions. “We talked about philosophy and religion, and the civil rights movement,” McCollum says. The alumnus adds that he recalls the professor often speaking about the connections between the struggle of African Americans, women, Native Americans, Latinos, and other disenfranchised groups. “He was an important example of what America should be about: openness, respect, honor, integrity, and diversity,” McCollum emphasizes. Noting that Balmuth was outspoken about Colgate’s need to be more inclusive, McCollum adds, “Professor Balmuth walked the walk and talked the talk.” Due to Balmuth’s and other Colgate professors’ encouragement, McCollum says, he was motivated to “stick to it and be serious about my scholarship.” After receiving his bachelor’s degree, McCollum earned his master’s in student personnel administration, guidance, and counseling at Colgate. Balmuth’s influence, McCollum says, was integral in shaping his career path. Today he is the director of the Educational Opportunity Program at SUNY Old Westbury. McCollum wanted to work in a field that helps disadvantaged youth who face barriers because he himself came from a similar background. “I specialize in helping students get in school, stay in school, graduate, and become productive citizens,” he says. “I connect that to my experience at Colgate.” McCollum maintained his connection with Balmuth and the university over the years, returning for reunions and keeping his ties to the ALANA Cultural Center. One memory that continues to make him smile: He came back for reunion one year, walked into ALANA, and was greeted with the vision of Balmuth dancing with his wife. “I’ll never forget that,” he says.
A public thinker “How well do you know other people? That’s an existential question that I think Jerry would find interesting to talk about,” muses Daniel Little, chancellor of the University of Michigan-Dearborn. Little came to know Balmuth quite well, he says, while teaching at Colgate from 1979 to 1996. When Little started as an assistant professor, Balmuth “was just so welcoming, and not in a perfunctory way. He was really interested in talking, in making me and my family feel welcome in Hamilton.” The two remained close friends as Little went on to become department chair of philosophy and religion, then associate dean of the faculty at Colgate, and when Little continued his career at other universities. Little remembers Balmuth’s fascination with language — specifically how we convey meaning from one person to the other — similar to one of Balmuth’s philosophy heroes, Ludwig Wittgenstein. Akin to Wittgenstein’s “private language argument,” Balmuth believed language is inherently social and interpersonal. “Jerry’s way of interacting with students, colleagues, and friends was that he was a very public thinker,” Little says. “He enjoyed talking and arguing — not in a legalistic way but exchanging and testing ideas. He was a public intellectual.” Little captured some of Balmuth’s contemplations in 2008 during a two-part video interview. How would Little characterize the man of so many words in just one word? “Ebullient,” he says, “which I would describe as effervescent, always something to say, always in good humor.”
The symmetry of life “I have applied the spirit of investigation and discovery as taught by Professor Balmuth” to my artwork, explains Stuart Zimmerman ’59, who had Balmuth as a professor when he was a first-year student. To create these works of art, Zimmerman starts either by painting a piece or using other imagery that he photographs through a kaleidoscope (which he himself manufactures). As a chemist at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, he created his earlier kaleidoscope work using objects like gemstones. Balmuth, Zimmerman says, “served as an inspiration for his students to undertake alternate experiences to enrich their lives.”
B i rt h day T R I B U T E S In 2014, as Balmuth’s daughter Beth Raffeld was planning his 90th birthday celebration, she reached out to alumni asking for letters in his honor. More than 100 alumni responded. Here are excerpts from two letters:
Special Collections and University Archives
THERE WAS ALWAYS the sense that Balmuth and his students were engaged in Something important. — Vincent Brocki ’75
n the Platonic dialogue Laches, Socrates focuses his thought on the meaning of courage. Together with friends and acquaintances, including two generals in the Athenian army, the discussion centers on various definitions of courage, and the relationship between this quality and other aspects of virtue such as wisdom and justice. A superficial reading of Laches suggests the two generals are unable to define the nature of courage. Socrates even says as much in the text. A critical analysis of the dialogue, however, reveals a much different understanding of their efforts. For those who look beneath the surface, there emerges a powerful and coherent understanding of courage, and the way this quality relates to other universal ideas. According to Plato, courage is the rational and unending pursuit of truth, wherever it may lead and whatever its consequences. It is the use of the dialectical process to question assumptions, destroy illusions, and challenge beliefs, lest we mistake the truth for that which is not. Within this Platonic understanding of virtue, Jerry Balmuth is the most courageous man I know. The standard of excellence he brought to the classroom, and the university community at large, was uncompromising. His classes were not lectures on meaning, but explorations of meaning, and this distinction made all the difference in creating a learning environment that was challenging, vital, and creative. From Core 170-180 to the senior seminar on Wittgenstein, there was always the sense that Balmuth and his students were engaged in something important, and that insight into meaning was possible for everyone who cared enough to become part of this dialectical process. The Laches ends with Socrates advising his friends that education never ends. This realization, perhaps more than any other, captures the essence of why Jerry Balmuth matters so much to those of us who were privileged to be his students. Plato has Socrates as the teacher who champions the pursuit of truth. Colgate University has Professor Balmuth.
y first introduction to Professor Balmuth was after becoming a philosophy major and learning that my father had had Professor Balmuth when he was at Colgate. I remember seeing him for the first time in the late 1980s and expecting him to be ancient (after all, my dad was almost 50 years old, for gosh sake) and being surprised that he appeared to be a similar age to my dad. Apparently my father had Professor Balmuth during one of his very first years at Colgate, when Professor Balmuth wasn’t that much older than his first students. I took Professor Balmuth’s course with my then boyfriend, now husband, Anthony DeFusto ’91. We sat next to each other in the front row and we were both in complete awe, sprinkled with a strong dose of intimidation. His teaching style was intense. He had a sixth sense of identifying students whose attention may have wandered for a moment and he would then call on that student immediately. Anthony and I sat at full alert, hoping only to not make complete fools of ourselves if we were asked one of Professor Balmuth’s famous probing questions.
theater enjoying a popular film while chewing contentedly on Jujubes humanized him a bit in our eyes. Although it made his intellectual status even more impressive realizing that he was also just a mere mortal like the rest of us. It was hard to believe that the same man who taught us about Buridan’s ass enjoyed Lethal Weapon. Anthony and I were making it through the semester without much humiliation when one day we passed Professor Balmuth on the Quad. We were holding hands, and Professor Balmuth acknowledged us and smiled. Shortly after, it was a visiting day for parents, and they were invited to sit in on their children’s classes. My parents greeted Professor Balmuth and took their seats in the back row. It just so happened that we were studying a passage that included a section on the definition of love. Professor Balmuth called on me to read the section aloud. He then proceeded to alternately ask Anthony and me questions on this section, much to our complete horror. Somehow, we couldn’t help but admire his mischievous sense of humor. Anthony and I both became teachers and we fully appreciate that having fun during the job is es-
We were both in complete awe, sprinkled with a strong dose of intimidation. — Elizabeth Tarvin ’92 A few things were clear from the first day of class. First and foremost, Professor Balmuth was brilliant. Second, he had not only read the book being discussed, but by the condition of his book — full of comments and Post-it notes — it was obvious he was an expert on the reading. A visit to his office was even more intimidating because it was then that you realized that he had not just read a few books with such intensity but that he had read hundreds of books with that intensity. Even as Professor Balmuth ascended to a god-like status in our minds, spotting him at the Hamilton movie
sential, and sometimes the most fun isn’t necessarily fully appreciated by the students at the moment. We don’t go a day without being thankful for all we learned at Colgate. We had awesome (in the literal sense of the word) professors, with Professor Balmuth being the most awesome of them all. Those professors taught us how to think deeply, and we use those skills every day. From Professor Balmuth, we also learned humility about how much there is that we don’t know, as well as how much wisdom one person can acquire. — Elizabeth Tarvin ’92
— Vincent Brocki ’75
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The Jerome Balmuth Award for Teaching and Student Engagement Balmuth’s professorial legacy lives on through the Jerome Balmuth Award for Teaching, established in 2009 by Mark Siegel ’73 to honor “a faculty member whose teaching is distinctively successful and transformative, recognizing that such distinction can be achieved through a broad spectrum of methodologies ranging from traditional to innovative.” Former students, friends, and family members also endowed the Jerome Balmuth Fund (which supports visiting speakers and enhances the outreach of the philosophy department) and the Balmuth Endowed Scholarship Fund. “For me, the most important aspect of Colgate was the commitment professors had to their students getting a fine education,” says Siegel, a philosophy major who is now president of ReMY Investors & Consultants. “And by that, I mean not just teaching Plato or a particular topic, but helping them get a real understanding of the human condition as each of the great thinkers had considered it — to broaden students’ thinking and awareness.” By naming the award after Balmuth, Siegel was honoring his mentor: “Jerry stood out as one of those who was a great teacher.” As other alumni often recall, Siegel remembers Balmuth as a challenging professor. “He was not a person to suffer fools gladly,” Siegel says. “He wasn’t mean, but if somebody said something that was not sensible or on point, he would let the person know that it wasn’t a good answer.” Balmuth didn’t just expect the most out of his students for the sake of being difficult; he wanted to educate and prepare his students. In return for his students’ commitment to their work, he dedicated his time to their work. For example, when grading papers, Balmuth wrote extensive notes so students “knew he read it carefully and thoughtfully and that he had put as much effort into it as you had,” Siegel says. “And he would talk with you about what he saw and what you did, which I thought was incredibly helpful in my growth as an educated person.” In 2010, the inaugural award went to Marilyn Thie, professor of philosophy and religion and women’s studies emerita. She was one of the university’s first female faculty members when she joined Colgate in the mid-1970s. Other recipients have included Anthony Aveni, Russell Colgate Distinguished University Professor of astronomy and anthropology and Native American studies emeritus; Margaret Maurer, the William Henry Crawshaw Professor of literature; and, most recently, Frank Frey, professor of biology and environmental studies. “I think teaching is important,” Siegel says. “There’s almost nothing in the world I have done that I have been as proud of as this award.” Visit colgate.edu/scene to watch the 2008 video interviews with Balmuth as well as his renowned talk “Why we should read Plato,” which has almost 25,000 views on YouTube.
Thinking cap: Balmuth’s trademark accessory was his Plato hat, which his daughter Deborah bought him in the mid-’80s. Her dad always wore hats, she says: “I think it was his version of a yarmulke.” So, when she found a Plato cap at the Harvard Square Booksmith, she knew “it was so perfect with the name of one of his heroes on it.” In the beginning of his talk “Why we should read Plato,” Balmuth explains further: “People ask me why I wear this hat, and the answer is, it’s a billboard for Plato. Because I believe both in philosophy as the most profound and critical subject that one can engage in and also as Plato as the central focus, the seminal thinker in the philosophical tradition.” Through the years, the professor collected hats with other philosophers’ names on them (although he mostly donned the Plato cap), and in celebration of Balmuth’s 50th year of teaching at Colgate, the Department of Philosophy and Religion had maroon “Balmuth” baseball caps made. His colleagues can still be seen wearing them around campus. As for Balmuth, his Plato cap is buried with him in the Colgate cemetery. Balmuth with grandson Eli Raffeld ’10 and granddaughter Miriam Raffeld
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A 5 5 -y e ar m e n to r s h i p Karl Baumgartner ’65 says he had his ups and downs as a student. But Balmuth, as his professor during his first year and adviser for four years, was a steadfast supporter. Even when Baumgartner left school for a semester, Balmuth corresponded with him and encouraged him to return to Colgate. “He was a mentor all the way through,” Baumgartner says. The two stayed in touch, writing letters right up until Balmuth’s death. These two letters encapsulate their relationship. The letter from Balmuth to Baumgartner was his last to his former student. Here, too, Balmuth will have the last word.
The classroom was then, for us, the laboratory for the mind; and I tried to bring the student with me. — Jerry Balmuth
April 14, 2014
Dec. 30, 2016
Hi, Mr. Balmuth, Well we’ve known each other 50 years and we’ve stayed in touch throughout. That’s a pretty good accomplishment. Of course I’ve always known that I got the better end of this deal, I the student, you the mentor. Over the years I’ve wondered how my life might have turned out differently had it not been for the arbitrary circumstance that I was placed in your Core 13 class in 1961 and you were assigned as my adviser. I think possibly quite a lot. For one thing, it is unlikely that I would have majored in philosophy had you not made it so interesting and challenging. When I arrived from Oklahoma in 1961, I certainly didn’t contemplate it as a major; I was barely familiar with it as a discipline. But I believe the philosophy major has distinctly impacted my life. Personally it has contributed to the shaping of my intellectual beliefs, my perspectives, my ethical foundation. And professionally it benefited my critical thinking and gave me confidence that analytically I was better prepared than others. Some of the first concepts you exposed us to are indelibly retained. “I’m not wise, but I’m wiser than you because I know I’m not wise.” “I think, therefore I am.” “The unexamined life is not worth living.” And you made it such a challenge. I still remember Core 13 vividly. The thinking, the conceptualization, the challenge, the excitement. I took notes diligently and studied intently for days prior to the semester final, and was apprehensive awaiting my semester report card. It arrived in my little mailbox at the student union, and included Philosophy & Religion: B+. I thought, “That means I must have gotten an A on the final!” It is the single academic achievement of which I remain the proudest. For me, another bit of serendipity was your ability to understand the students. You might recall I suffered a major sophomore slump. I was called on the carpet by Dean Griffith. He told me to go speak to my adviser. I went to your office, not for the first time; I talked, you listened. You told me that when I returned to Colgate you would allow me to submit an overdue paper for which I had received an incomplete the previous semester and was still carried as an “I” on the books… So now we enter our golden years and look back. Congratulations on a wonderful and meaningful life. You have given much but no doubt at the same time received much. As my friends get older many are considering their legacy, what kind of footprint they will leave, what might they do now to have an impact. That is a consideration that you don’t have to dwell on. You know the impact you made on me and countless other students over the years, and moreover the impact doesn’t end there. It is carried on in bits and pieces through our children and those whom we have influenced in our lives. It is a pretty large chain.
Dear Karl, You comment on the serendipity of our friendship since you could have easily been assigned a different section and our lives been different, and I would have been bereft of the special sense I have that we’ve sustained a bond that goes beyond a particular classroom experience. For this gift, I need to thank you … and I do … since it is your persistence and determined follow-up that has sustained our relationship and developed into friendship and concern! Along with your other remarks about your education at Colgate, you comment on the effect my teaching had on you and possibly other alums. I appreciate these comments since they point to whatever strengths I have as a teacher as distinct from whatever skills I may have as a writer or scholar or philosopher. The fact is that the classroom was my self-teaching and discovery period; even more emphatically, it was the occasion when I, with the class, were really thinking fresh thoughts and developing new ideas — special insights — on old, often classical questions. The class was where the text — a classical text usually — was confronted by the student, challenged by and challenging the teacher and the class to find an insight or the special truth, which made it a classic text worth re-pursuing in class. What was attractive to me, and possibly to some of my students, was the rehearsal and understanding of much older thoughts now in new circumstances … a rethinking from a new perspective, of those discoveries and important ideas tied to the tradition of thinking scholars about the human condition … religious, ethical, epistemological, and scientific … facing the way things are and are not! To bring Socrates back into our thoughts challenging the “unexamined” life was, for me, to revitalize a dead history into a live and exciting provocation, experiencing what earlier provoked other minds. The classroom was then, for us, the laboratory for the mind; and I tried to bring the student with me, often further than they (or I) were often willing (or able) to go; and while some hung back, I was always grateful for students like you who took the challenge and went along, if not convinced or understanding, seeing it even as a game, ultimately recognizing that the intellectual journey was, in the long run, an exciting challenge and ultimately worth the while! Exploring intellectual geography in the effort for enlarging thought beyond the mundane and immediate, engaged in producing and living new thoughts … actually discovering new worlds! So thanks for your friendship, Karl. It’s been good for me and I hope for you as well. You have been a student who did (and does) the work of provoking new thoughts, new language, which open new ideas and new opportunities for the mind.
Karl
Jerry
News and views for the Colgate community
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Executive Producer Jeff Fager ’77 gives the inside scoop on the most-watched news program in America.
W
ith his new book, Fifty Years of
60
60 Minutes: The Inside Story
of Television’s Most Influential News Broadcast (Simon & Schuster), Jeff Fager ’77 regales readers with behind-the-scenes reports. He writes about embarrassing set disasters as well as real-world tragedies. He shares personal experiences, including arm wrestling Vladimir Putin and, on the more serious side, a mistake that Fager calls “the worst on [his] watch.” Like any well-told story, Fager’s anecdotes focus on the human drama and the people involved — including Mike Wallace, Morley Safer, Ed Bradley, and, of course, Colgate’s most beloved curmudgeon, Andy Rooney ’42, P’74, GP’05.
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MINUTES turns
Excerpt
John Filo /CBS
In its first year, 1968, the broadcast came in 75th out of the 81 programs airing that season. It took six years and several moves to different time slots until 60 Minutes landed in its permanent spot on the schedule, Sundays at 7 p.m. Only then did it start to get traction. By the time my generation came along, 20 years later, it had become a hit… That prime decade encapsulates in many ways the reasons 60 Minutes did achieve enduring success, both through its original genius and its ability to constantly reinvent itself. Like a lot of young producers who first arrive for work at 60 Minutes, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. But Don Hewitt settled that within a few hours on the job. “We don’t have meetings, and there are no memos to the staff,” he told me. “Just bring us good stories and everything will be all right.” There was a journalistic spirit at 60 Minutes that I felt from that first day on the job in 1989, during the twenty-first season. It was a sense that the story came first, and that the rituals and obsessions of most every other television news organization, including our own CBS News organization, did not matter so much. I was hired as a producer to work with Steve Kroft, the first young male correspondent since Ed Bradley had joined in 1981. There was a lot of pressure on him and on me. Could we do the kind of work expected of us? I remember Mike Wallace taunting me in the hall: “We’ll see if you can handle it soon enough; see if you’re good enough to be here.” There was a twinkle in his eye, but I couldn’t tell if he was kidding or not, which was a fundamental part of his appeal. He was a rascal — a very likeable rascal — with a big heart and a manic personality.
Being around Don and Mike and Morley Safer and Ed Bradley was a real thrill and an honor, but they were nervous about us newcomers. Nobody wanted Morley Safer. Right: Don Hewitt (left) handed over the reins to Fager in 2004.
CBS News/60 Minutes
Above: Jeff Fager (right) with
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the “kids” to screw up what they had worked so hard to build. Still, we were pretty much left to fend for ourselves. It was an adult place to work, with little supervision and high expectations, a refreshing place to be for Steve and me. We had grown up in the hard news part of CBS News, covering conflicts, summits, plagues, and floods out of the London bureau. Steve had already earned a reputation as one of the finest storytelling correspondents in an organization that included the very best. He was confident he could do the work well. Still, we both had to earn the right to be there. I found that out early in a conversation with Don’s number two, Phil Scheffler, the executive editor of the broadcast. Phil was crucial, always trying to make sure the journalism was solid and accurate. We liked to joke that his sour and gruff exterior camouflaged his prickly interior. A month or so after starting on the job, I took a deep breath, entered his office, and said, “Phil, I have worked at CBS News since 1982. I have covered the world and every kind of story, and I always thought that coming here would be a promotion. So, I’ve been looking for a raise.” He looked up with a scowl and said, “Then why don’t you start looking for another job.” He looked back down at his papers, and I slowly, one step at a time, backed out of his office. At the time they were handing out new computer terminals to replace the old typewriters. I didn’t get one of those, either. The first story Steve and I did was about the chief of orthopedics at San Francisco General Hospital, Dr. Lorraine Day, who was angry that not enough was being done, in her opinion, to protect physicians against the occupational risk of infection with HIV. Producing the story was a first lesson in life at 60 Minutes. In 1989 the AIDS epidemic was raging, and San Francisco, with its huge gay population, was at the epicenter. Not since polio had there been such a fear of a virus, and Dr. Day wanted doctors to understand their risk of infection. The story promised to be provocative and controversial, and Dr. Day did not disappoint. We had heard that she wore what amounted to a space suit in the operating room to protect her from the potentially infected blood of her patients. She agreed to let us film her in the suit. Lorraine Day was a perfect 60 Minutes subject because she wasn’t at all shy about her position. She was outspoken and passionate, though we wondered if there wasn’t some homophobia behind her complaints. Her position did not include much, if any, compassion for the predominantly gay population suffering horribly from the disease, but she was unequivocal: treating AIDS patients could be life threatening. She backed her opinions up with a statistic that accidental injury from a contaminated needle was estimated at one in 200 by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. “If you came to work every day and flipped the light switch on in your office, and only one out of two hundred times you would get electrocuted, would
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you consider that low risk?” she asked on camera. Dr. Day had created a stir at the hospital, and she had significant opposition, articulated well in our story by Dr. John Luce: “I think that having fears about HIV infection and AIDS is very appropriate and I think any physician that doesn’t have fears about getting infected is crazy. At the same time I think carrying the fear to the point that Dr. Day does, and to try to instill [fear], and I believe she has instilled fear in other people, is wrong. I think that Dr. Day is an alarmist.” We reported and filmed the story during our first summer and got ready to show it to Don in August so that it could run in the new television season starting in mid-September. By the time we sat down to interview Dr. Day, she had promised to reveal on 60
Minutes that she had decided to quit over the issue. Now we had some news to go with our first story. After about six weeks of shooting and writing and rewriting and reorganizing, we thought we were ready to show the story to Don. Screenings at 60 Minutes are infamous. In CBS News mythology, they’re usually associated with strong language and shouting matches. A team made up of a producer, a correspondent, and a videotape editor had worked for months to get the story into good shape, but it was well known that Don could hate the result. This was a frightening possibility even for the veterans; for a newcomer, the experience was like being a rookie up at bat for the first time in Yankee Stadium. And there was an added twist at our first screening: Mike Wallace decided to attend to see if the new guys were any good. We knew that if the screening did not go well, Mike would make sure that everybody on the Eastern Seaboard knew about it. To our relief, we got a round of applause when the lights came on. And Don made the story better by making it more about Dr. Day. He had us drop a scientist, calling him “Marvin the expert.” You don’t need Marvin the expert, he argued, when you know as much about this story as he does. An important lesson learned eventually by most everybody who works at 60 Minutes is to choose your
stories well, because you will be living with them for a long time, and it can be very painful if they don’t work out well. Soon after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Soviet Union’s future was the biggest story — and Steve and I wanted to get in on it. We looked at the Eastern Bloc states, which were winning their freedom one by one. I started working on a story about Poland attempting to start up a free market system, and came upon the Harvard University economist Jeffrey Sachs, who was working to help the country pull it off. We sent the story idea to Don and Phil Scheffler in the form of a blue sheet: the traditional term for a story idea because the paper on which a producer used to pitch a story was blue. Don told me within a few days that he didn’t like the idea, but that we could do it if we thought he might be wrong. Don always wanted us to work on stories we wanted to work on. He was the boss, but even if he didn’t like your idea, he would give you the green light if you were passionate about it. We decided to go ahead, against Don’s instincts, and shot the story in Poland. By midwinter, we were ready to show it to him. The 60 Minutes room is a comfortable place, with theater seating and a big monitor in the front of the room. In those days, the correspondent sat out in the seats with senior producer Merri Lieberthal, while Don and Phil sat behind a small desk. The producer sat in an elevated area toward the room, next to the senior editor, Esther Kartiganer, who timed a clock. The lights dimmed, the tape rolled, and everybody watched. In this setting, a story always looks different, even to those who have been editing it for weeks. Sure enough, as I watched it with the group for the first time, our story seemed … kind of boring. When the lights came on, Don swiveled his chair around in my direction and looked up at me sitting on the elevated platform. That’s when he asked me, “Where do you want it, kid? Right between the eyes?” Don hated the story, and at that point, so did I. So did Steve. A bad screening was one thing, but “right between the eyes” seemed worse. I remember going home to my wife and kids in a bit of a daze. Then the phone rang. It was Don. He said he had an idea for how to fix the story and asked that we meet him the next day in the edit room. The story became much more about the brilliant young economist Jeff Sachs — called in to save the new independent Polish government — and much less about turning an Eastern European economy toward capitalism. Within a week, we were back in the screening room. Don gave us all the credit for turning around the story, even though the suggested improvements came from him. Several years later, when I was offered the job of executive producer of the CBS Evening News, I asked Don what he thought I should do. He told me to take it because there is no better feeling than helping someone make his or her story better. I remember thinking back on that damn Poland story and knowing he was right.
A
John Filo /CBS
B
Remembering Andy Rooney ’42, P’74, GP’05
C
D A Fager carrying a tripod in Vatican City in September 2015
during a shoot about Pope Francis. Photo credit: Nicole Young
B President Barack Obama joked with Fager and Steve Kroft
after his January 2017 exit interview that they would stop taking his calls once he left the White House. Photo credit: Aaron E. Tomlinson
C Fager and Bob Simon celebrating an Emmy win.
Photo credit: Harold Gold
By the third decade of 60 Minutes, Andy had become a fixture at the end of the broadcast. He succeeded in that spot because he was direct, original, and provocative. People always asked me, “What’s he like?” The short answer is “Just like what you see on TV: not a phony bone in his body.” I remember being with him years later at a Super Bowl cocktail party. He was sipping his usual Maker’s Mark on the rocks when a friend of mine, Bruce Taub, approached. I said, “Andy, you should meet this man. He’s the CFO of CBS. He’s the one who signs your paycheck every week. He’s responsible for all of that money at CBS.” Andy, without missing a beat, said, “Well … nobody’s perfect,” took a sip of his bourbon, and walked away. Andy was thoughtful, quick, smart, and funny. His genius was as an absurdist, commenting on the things in daily life that make no sense at all. Most of his comments were benign or simply amusing — about silly trends or consumers getting ripped off. This was a typical Andy piece from that period: “Here’s a regular box of fake strawberry Jell-O that costs $1.05. And here’s a smaller box of Jell-O without sugar that costs $1.19. Now; you could say that whatever they put in instead of sugar costs more than the sugar in Jell-O, but what about these cans of Hunt’s tomato sauce? Both the same size, but this one costs ten cents more than this one, because they didn’t put any salt in this one.” The war in Iraq brought out the best in the
curmudgeonly — bordering on belligerent — side of Andy Rooney. Our resident veteran reporter of World War II was not happy about “shock and awe,” the phrase the Bush administration was using to describe the Baghdad bombing campaign. Not many people on television, let alone prime-time television going out to 14 million people, had the stature to say something like this: “Experts talk about precision bombing, but on the ground where bombs hit, it’s not precise. People are killed, history destroyed. We didn’t shock them and we didn’t awe them in Baghdad. The phrase makes us look like foolish braggarts. The president should fire whoever wrote that line for him.” I loved working with Andy. In all his years with 60 Minutes, he had never moved his office from the CBS Broadcast Center, which had been CBS News headquarters since the early 1960s, to our offices across the street on the ninth floor of the Ford building, where 60 Minutes had been since the mid ’70s. He liked being separate because it made him feel independent. He would cross the street once a week with his team — cameraman-tape editor Keith Kulin and associate producer Susie Bieber — to show me his weekly commentary. I rarely suggested changes, though when I did he was always responsive. Andy was a real reporter who wanted to show his stories to an editor with fresh eyes. When the screening was over, he would duck into Morley Safer’s office to catch up on some gossip before heading back across the street.
D Patti Hassler, who was Fager's deputy at 60 Minutes II,
eventually moved into that role at 60 Minutes. Photo credit: John Filo/CBS
From Fifty Years of 60 Minutes by Jeff Fager. Copyright @ 2017 by CBS Worldwide Inc. Reprinted by permission of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
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Kelly Nirenberg ’20
News and views for the Colgate community
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Questions? Contact alumni relations: 315-228-7433 or alumni@colgate.edu
scene: Winter 2018
3000 Nights in one night
Chris Anderson (2)
stay connected
The Office of Alumni Relations is pleased to offer many ways for alumni to stay in touch with each other, and with Colgate! E-mail me with questions or concerns at tmansfield@colgate. edu — Tim Mansfield, associate vice president, institutional advancement and alumni relations
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and other members of the Colgate community the chance to engage in lifelong learning with professors. To find out more about upcoming opportunities to learn from professors through regional lectures, travel, and online programs, visit colgate. edu/alumni. — Carolyn Strobel, assistant director for alumni relations for professional networks
Alumni programs, volunteer opportunities, career networking, and more
Venice, Italy: Past and Present In late October, 22 alumni, family, and friends spent a week in Venice, Italy, as part of a trip organized by the Office of Alumni Relations. Venice, Italy: Past and Present was led by Mary Ann Calo, Batza Professor of art and art history emerita, and Elaine Ruffolo, Italian Renaissance art historian. The group explored both Renaissance and modern art in Venice. Calo led the group through world-class contemporary art at the Biennale, Peggy Guggenheim Museum, and the Punta della Dogana and Palazzo Grassi, where they saw the muchbuzzed-about Damien Hirst exhibition. Participants also saw Renaissance masterpieces from Titian, Tintoretto, Bellini, and more at the Galleria dell’Accademia, Doge’s Palace, and Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari church. In a behind-the-scenes opportunity, alumni watched art restoration in progress at the Galleria dell’Accademia. Architecture was also on the agenda, with a day trip to the Italian countryside to visit La Rotonda and other buildings designed by Andrea Palladio.
In addition, the alumni group hosted a reception for students participating in Colgate’s Venice study group, led by Ulrich Meyer, professor of philosophy. Alumni and students connected at the informal networking reception, which was followed by a private visit to St. Mark’s Basilica, one of the highlights of the trip. Another memorable experience was a visit to San Lazarro, an Armenian monastery on a Venetian island. After a guided tour of the monastery, the group presented the monks with signed copies of English professor Peter Balakian’s Pulitzer Prize–winning poetry book, Ozone Journal, and his memoir, Black Dog of Fate. “The Colgate Venice trip was like a chance to do a study abroad program all over again,” Jane Anderson ’01 said. “Even better was the chance to explore with art historian Mary Ann Calo, one of my favorite professors.” The trip was part of the Office of Alumni Relations’ Intellectual Engagement programming, which gives alumni
In New York City last fall, alumni and parents of students got a taste of Colgate’s campus-based film events through the university’s collaboration with The Flaherty. The nonprofit organization, whose mission is to promote independent films, held The Flaherty NYC fall 2017 program. Parents of students and alumni living in the area were invited to a reception and screening of Mai Masri’s prison drama, 3000 Nights, at Anthology Film Archives. The film, which focuses on the struggles imprisoned Palestinian women face, was an extension of Masri’s documentary work. Following the screening, Professor Mary Simonson, director of film and media studies, moderated a discussion between Masri and her daughter, Hana Chamoun, who portrayed a prisoner in the film. “It’s really exciting for our alumni who are out in the world working. For those working in industries outside of film and media, it's an opportunity to feel like they're back on campus,” Simonson said. “For those working in the film and media industry, it’s also a way for them to network with the independent filmmaker community and the documentary filmmaker community in New York.” After the event, Masri and Simonson traveled to Colgate to continue the conversation. It was part of the Colgate/ Flaherty Global Filmmaker Residency, which brings filmmakers to campus each fall for an intensive weeklong exploration of film and filmmaking. On campus, Masri discussed her exploration of Palestinian identities and the techniques she used in filming. Throughout the week, students
“...Even better was the chance to explore with art historian Mary Ann Calo, one of my favorite professors.” — Jane Anderson ’01
Filmmaker Mai Masri (right), who spent time discussing filmmaking with Colgate alumni and students in the fall, on the set of Children of Shatila
Discussing disruption in retail More than 200 Colgate alumni and friends joined the Colgate Real Estate Council and the Digital Business and Technology Network last month for a conversation on eCommerce and the changing face of retail sales. The panel, “Beyond the Box: Disruption in Retail and the Impact of eCommerce,” was chaired by Dan Hurwitz ’86, P’17, ’20, founder and chief executive officer of Raider Hill Advisors and chairman of the Colgate University Board of Trustees. It featured Colgate alumni from multiple areas of the retail and real estate industry, including: Reuben Hendell ’82, P’18, co-founder and CEO of BrandShop Digital Commerce; Bill Hecht ’86, chief operating officer, Westfield Corporation; Paul Petras ’88, P’20, attorney at law; Eric Biddle ’98, managing director, Barclays; Kate Foster Lengyel ’99, founder and CEO of SwearBy; and Chris Erb ’01, group vice president, head of development, Macy’s. Panelists discussed the ways that the retail industry has changed in recent years. Although consumers continue to do the majority of their shopping in brick and mortar stores, eCommerce has begun to account for 10 percent of sales in the United States. Hendell said that the consumer is the driving force of the economy. Because consumers and consumer interactions are “anything but stable,” the industry's future is unstable, too, he said. Lengyel echoed that sentiment, saying, “The consumer is the boss. Technology needs to keep up to consumer demands.” Because consumers in the United States often buy things out of want rather than need, retailers work to convince consumers that their products are worthy of being purchased. Retailers have readjusted their consumer experiences, hoping that the experience helps to sell their products. Panelists reached a consensus that the product and the experience are equally important. The product is the core of the retail experience, but the experience can affect the perception of the product.
“Good real estate could not bail out a terrible merchant, and great merchants did a tremendous amount of business in some pretty mediocre real estate,” Hurwitz said. After panelists finished their discussion, Colgate’s Real Estate Club — tuned in from Hamilton, N.Y., via LiveStream — asked the first question of the night, and the conversation returned to the reimagining of brick and mortar sales, because many traditional retailers may cease to exist after attempting to refinance in the next few years. L to R: Reuben Hendell ’82, P’18; Chris Erb ’01; Kate Foster Lengyel ’99; Wal-Mart has used eCommerce to Paul Petras ’88, P’20; Eric Biddle ’98; Bill Hecht ’86; and Dan Hurwitz ’86, bring consumers back into the store. P’17, ’ 20. Costco has brought consumers into the store by offering short-term sales that may not be available the next time the consumer visits. Only 2018 Alumni Council time will be able to tell which of the various strategies will create the most convincing consumer experience. Nominees At the end of the panel, alumni took time to reflect on the ways Colgate Professional Networks have affected The Alumni Council, upon recommentheir post-graduate experience — connecting alumni, studation of its nominating committee, dents, and friends of the school to create enriching profeshas approved the following slate of sional experiences. alumni for election at Reunion 2018. — Melanie Oliva ’18 The candidates, chosen from approximately 300 alumni, have strong Greetings from the Alumni Council records of varied Colgate volunteer The Alumni Council represents the more than 33,000 livservice, a consistent history of giving members of Colgate’s alumni body, who live and work ing financial support to Colgate, and around the world. The council convenes at Colgate three meaningful personal or professional times per year to engage with university administration, accomplishments or contributions to faculty, and students (future alumni) on a variety of topics. the greater community. In these discussions and throughout the year, the Alumni Complete information about the Council provides an alumni perspective that draws from the nominations process, as well as short diversity of class years and viewpoints represented by the biographies of the nominees, are council members. posted at colgate.edu/acelection18. The Alumni Council consists of 55 alumni leaders who have Paper copies are available by calling been elected by the alumni body in recognition of exemplary 315-228-7433, or by sending an e-mail volunteerism, devotion, and consistent support of Colgate. to alumni @colgate.edu. As representatives of the alumni body, the members of the Alumni Council are available to hear your thoughts and ideas ERA I: John McQueen ’70 year-round, and share these perspectives as part of on-camERA II: C. Thomas Kunz ’72 pus discussions. ERA III: Lauren D'Onofrio ’82 Through the years, the Alumni Council has spearheaded ERA IV: Bruce Ferguson ’91 a variety of initiatives in partnership with the university, ERA V: Jessica Prata Cianciara ’01 including Real World and the Partnership for Community (beginning her own term after filling Development, which aligns Colgate and the Village of Ham unexpired term) ilton’s economic interests. Currently, the Alumni Council ERA VI: Jarrett Turner ’04 contributes significantly to mentoring programs such as ERA VII: Karl Fries ’10 SophoMORE Connections and Day in the Life. As this edition of the Scene goes to print, 140 alumni have just visited At-Large: Greg Dahlberg ’98 (beginning Colgate as part of the SophoMORE Connections program, his own term after filling unexpired which enables sophomore students to learn about career term) opportunities from alumni. At-Large: Lauri Hadobas ’77 The council would like to thank all alumni who strengthen the Colgate network by volunteering for the university, Regional VP Far West: Emily Raiber ’02 participating in regional alumni clubs, and joining the proRVP Southeast: Kevin McMurtry ’88 fessional networks. We send you good wishes for the year RVP Southwest: David Rea ’82 ahead and encourage you to reach out to any member of the Alumni Council anytime to catch up on Colgate news and share your thoughts. Sincerely, The Alumni Council
News and views for the Colgate community
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Lorenzo Ciniglio
watched 3000 Nights, Masri’s documentary Children of Shatila, and excerpts from her other documentaries. In addition to bringing the filmmaker to campus, Colgate also hosted The Flaherty NYC fall 2017 curators, Maori Holmes and Charlotte Ickes. Throughout the week, the director and curators met with students in classes and at post-screening discussions. This annual fall event builds on The Flaherty Seminar, which brings 170 filmmakers, scholars, and curators from around the world to campus each summer. Although some faculty and students from the film and media studies department participate in the summer seminar, the fall residency allows all Colgate students and faculty to participate during the academic year. — Melanie Oliva ’18
salmagund
Guess who Can you match these well-known Colgate alumni to their old-school photos? Check your answers on pg. 65.
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GLORIA BORGER ’74
JAY CHANDRASEKHAR ’90
CARRIE CLIFFORD ’93
A chief political analyst for CNN, this journalist was on a team that received an Emmy Award for Outstanding Live Coverage on the night of the 2012 election.
This comedian directed episodes of Arrested Development, Psych, and Community, but he’s best known as a co-founder of the Broken Lizard comedy troupe. The group wrote and starred in the film Super Troopers.
This actress has had supporting roles on Bob’s Burgers, The Office, and Girlboss. She played “Pumpkin Mom” in the film Fun Size.
ANDY ROONEY ’42
This famed 60 Minutes newsman was drafted out of college at the end of his junior year. In the war, he knew Ernie Pyle and Ernest Hemingway. BOB WOODRUFF ’83
With his wife (who is also a Colgate graduate), this ABC News correspondent founded an organization to support veterans and their families.
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scene: Winter 2018
GILLIAN VIGMAN ’94
She has been a supporting actress on TV shows and films including Parks and Recreation, Chopped, and The Hangover. This actress was also in commercials for the fast-food chain Jack in the Box.
ADONAL FOYLE ’99
He played 10 seasons for the Golden State Warriors and is a native of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. FRANCESCA ZAMBELLO ’78
She is artistic director of the Washington National Opera and the Glimmerglass Festival in Cooperstown, N.Y.
JOHN MARKS ’31
ADAM CLAYTON POWELL ’30
Songwriter who created “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer.”
He changed history when he became the first African American elected to represent New York in Congress.
Above: In Colgate’s underground hallways, new murals by studio art students make a world of difference. Back cover: Perfect snow crystals form on a splendid blue-sky day. Photos by Andrew M. Daddio
News and views for the Colgate community
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