Concert, fundraisers generate nearly $9,000 for Haiti
The sounds of campus and community music groups turned into some much-needed financial support for relief efforts following the devastating earthquake in Haiti on Jan. 12.


Students perform during the Hope for Haiti benefit concert, which raised funds for the American Red Cross, Doctors Without Borders, and Partners in Health. (Photo by Andrew Daddio)

    More than two dozen musical acts performed at Colgate’s Hope for Haiti benefit concert in Memorial Chapel at the end of January, helping to draw a crowd of 600 and raising about $6,000. Additional fundraising efforts by Greek-letter organizations raised $2,250, and the Colgate Bookstore raised more than $400.
    “A crisis like we are seeing in Haiti brings out a strong desire to help and, in this case, a strong desire to band together with a sense of common purpose,” said Mark Shiner, Catholic campus minister and one of the concert organizers. “I was deeply moved to see everyone reaching out.”
    The concert lineup featured central New York musicians including Grammy Award–winning artist Joanne Shenandoah, Hamilton schoolchildren, and students, faculty, and staff from Colgate.
    All proceeds went to the American Red Cross, Doctors Without Borders, and Partners in Health.

Workshops, class support sexual misconduct policy
After a year of research and careful consideration, Colgate has put into place a new student sexual misconduct policy that more clearly defines prohibited behaviors and also emphasizes the responsibility of all parties to express their consent.
    Students are learning about the new policy, as well as the channels for reporting violations, through a series of mandatory training workshops. By press time, a few hundred students had attended so far, and more than 20 additional sessions were scheduled for the remainder of the spring semester.
    “The questions have been thoughtful and nuanced, and the conversations very productive,” said Kim Taylor, dean of the sophomore-year experience. “These sessions are just the beginning of many conversations we will be having about healthy sexuality on campus.” Taylor serves as a harassment adviser and co-facilitator of the training program.
    In addition to the student sessions, some members of the faculty, administration, and staff are participating in first-responder training in case a student comes to them before officially reporting a problem.
    “We’re out to educate people about what exactly misconduct is,” said Marilyn (Lyn) Rugg, professor of Romance languages and literatures and the university’s harassment officer.
    The policy, which addresses student interactions with other students, explicitly defines two categories of sexual misconduct as well as sexual exploitation. It deliberately stops short of attaching sanctions because, Rugg said, “We wanted a policy that could work for every case and not hamstring the process.”
    According to the policy, the distinction between acceptable and unacceptable conduct lies in the notion of mutual respect and clear consent, which can be blurred by the use of alcohol or drugs. “However,” the policy states, “being under the influence of alcohol or drugs is not a defense to an allegation of sexual misconduct or sexual harassment.”
    In addition to explaining the new policy, Rugg hopes the training will foster a stronger buddy system on campus. “What I want is to empower people — men and women — so that if they see someone drinking too much or being taken advantage of, they will step up,” she said.
    Consent is also one of the subjects of a five-week non-credit class called Yes Means Yes, which looks broadly at sexuality at Colgate and in general. Developed from a senior thesis by Jaclyn Berger ’09 and supported by Colgate’s Wellness Initiative, the class is facilitated by Dawn LaFrance, associate director of Colgate’s counseling center, and other staff and faculty.
    “The policy brings up a lot of new issues,” said Nick Mitilenes ’10, who is a peer counselor, president of the Intrafraternity Council, and member of Colgate’s conduct board. “You could have cases where a person thinks they got consent, but maybe they didn’t.”
    Molly Kunzman ’12, a leader in Gamma Phi Beta, agreed. “For me, the scariest part is not that someone will take advantage of another person, but that when people drink too much, there are two people who might both be in an unhealthy place.” Her sorority held a joint training session with the members of Sigma Chi fraternity.
    “Even if now it feels confusing, the administration wants everyone to know that they have options if something happens to them,” said Kunzman.


Music and dance from several student groups kicked off the celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day in Memorial Chapel. Colgate hosted a month-long series of discussions, keynote addresses, workshops, and other campuswide activities. (Photo by Andrew Daddio)

Students spring into action as community volunteers
With suitcases filled with supplies carried by arms ready to do work, 65 Colgate students set out during spring break to engage with communities in need.
    The Center for Outreach, Volunteerism, and Education (COVE) and the Office of the Chaplains run alternative spring break trips for students looking to do something meaningful with their time away from campus. Students served communities as near as Edmeston, N.Y., and as far away as Hato Mayor in the Dominican Republic, while learning what it means to be global citizens.
    “These trips open students’ eyes so that whatever job they end up in, they have an awareness about the world,” said Ingrid Hale ’89, COVE director.
    The COVE sent teams to four locations: Oglala Lakota Nation on Pine Ridge Reservation, S.D., for community building; Hato Mayor, to lead income-generation workshops; the Pathfinder Village (a community for individuals with Down syndrome) in Edmeston, to provide residential assistance; and New Bern, N.C., for Habitat for Humanity.
    Hale noted that students were doing more than manual labor — they were partnering with a community. “The students [participating in the Habitat for Humanity trip] were asked to speak at a local elementary school about the importance of community service,” she said. “Colgate has a very positive relationship with Habitat for Humanity. Not only are the students respectful and professional, but they also work hard. They want to make the most of this experience, so they wholeheartedly throw themselves into it.”
    Students participating in the chaplains’ office trips also collaborated with communities. Through the Colgate Jewish Union (CJU), a group traveled to New York City to volunteer at schools in Harlem and prepare kosher-for-Passover packages to send to the elderly. The University Church sent a team to Jamaica for service work, and members of the Newman Community traveled to Vatican City.
    Rebecca Blake ’10, who went on the CJU trip, spoke of the value of a faith-based service trip. “I enjoy traveling with Rabbi Dave — he is both my professor and spiritual mentor. I find that service in a religious context is very fulfilling.”
    After the trips, participants had brown bag lunches to share their experiences with the Colgate community.
— Brittany Messenger ’10

It’s electric: panel discusses alternative transportation
The question is not “if” but “when” electric cars will be seen on local and national highways, according to a panel of experts who discussed alternative transportation technology as part of Colgate’s 13 Days of Green. The seven panelists included filmmaker Chris Paine ’83, who took on the automotive and oil industries in his documentary Who Killed the Electric Car?
    A range of questions about electric cars was asked by audience members in Love Auditorium as well as those tuning into the live webcast on colgatealumni.org. 


As part of a discussion during the 13 Days of Green, panelists agreed that alternative transportation is on the horizon. (Photo by Andrew Daddio)

    “What would it take to charge a car individually at a house or a fleet of cars at Colgate?” asked one person.
    “The charging is potentially a barrier, but I think it’s an insignificant one, a relatively cheap one,” answered Colgate’s sustainability coordinator, John Pumilio. “In some cases, it’s as simple as running an extension cord, and in other cases it might be setting up an electric station where we park our vehicles.”
    As part of Colgate joining the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment, Pumilio hopes to reduce the university’s vehicle emissions. Ninety-five vehicles make up Colgate’s vehicle fleet, and all are due to be replaced in the next six years, according to Pumilio. “If we replaced our gasoline fleet with an electric fleet, we would save an estimated $48,161 per year in fuel costs, and we would avoid 186 tons (409,000 lbs) of emissions,” he said.
    Paine, who has driven electric cars for 13 years, added: “It becomes like your cell phone. You stop thinking about it, you begin to trust that your car’s going to work, and you have it charged. I’d go to friends’ houses to spend the night, and I’d have my fifty-foot cord and I’d ask, ‘Do you mind if I string this into your electric charger?’ You maybe cost your friend a dollar fifty with the power you’re using. It becomes very convenient.”
    Steven Von Bargen of Bannon Automotive, an electric car company in Syracuse, fielded questions about battery issues. “Batteries are not stable — no two are really alike, and coordinating the batteries is a major obstacle, but it can be solved,” he said. “With the amount of money being pumped into battery research, it’s going to be improved,” he said about the life span of an electric car battery. “We’re still climbing, and I think it’s going to evolve quickly.”
    Panelists agreed that government support and regulations are essential to the success of alternative transportation. “If we enacted a set of laws that required a certain number of electric vehicles to be in place, Shell and Exxon would be building electric refueling stations along the highway because they could make a bucket doing it,” said geology professor Bruce Selleck.
    Paine is hopeful that attitudes in Washington are changing: “In the most recent presidential election, both the Democratic and Republican parties argued for the electric cars and battery research and funding, and that wasn’t happening when we made our film.” His optimism that “change is going to prevail” is the subject of his next film, Revenge of the Electric Car.
    Also as part of Colgate’s 13 Days of Green, alumni working in various environmental fields returned for the Green Careers Forum, a panel discussion and networking opportunity for students. Watch videos of both the alternative transportation panel and the Green Careers Forum at www.colgate.edu/video.

Former NFL star shares stories of adversity, hope
Earlier this year, former NFL running back Warrick Dunn handed keys and $5,000 checks to two single moms who each became first-time homeowners in Baton Rouge, La.
    In February, the soft-spoken Dunn delivered a powerful message to Colgate students about why he helps single parents through his Warrick Dunn Foundation, and why it’s so important for everyone to give back to the communities in which they live.


Warrick Dunn, who played 12 seasons in the NFL with the Buccaneers and Falcons, talks about his foundation for single parents. (Photo by Andrew Daddio)

    Dunn, named to the Pro Bowl three times during his 12-year NFL career, was invited to campus by the Brothers student group. He shared intensely personal stories with students and staff members in Love Auditorium. He spoke about how his mother, a Baton Rouge police officer, was gunned down in 1993 as she worked a second job as a security guard. Dunn, 18 at the time and the eldest of six children, was devastated.
    “I lost my mom; I lost my world that night,” he said. “A part of me died when she died.”
    His mother’s dream was to one day own a home of her own. His foundation is a way to honor his mother and make the dreams of others a reality. “The foundation is a way to change lives,” he said, urging students to find what they are passionate about and make a difference in the lives of others. So far, his foundation has helped 93 single parents, who had to go through an intensive process to become eligible, and more than 250 dependents.
    Dunn also talked about how after leaving the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and joining the Atlanta Falcons, a casual conversation with a teammate led him to contact a counselor who helped him address his clinical depression. He never looked his counselor in the eyes during the first eight months of sessions. Eventually, he became more comfortable, and counseling helped him “take my life back,” he said.
    In talking to student-athletes in attendance, he stressed how important it is to view sports as just one part of life, and the importance of being good citizens.
    Dunn, 35, who graduated from Florida State with a degree in information technology and now is a minority owner of the Falcons, left a solid impression with the students.
    “He stressed how important relationships are in your life, how you need to hang out with the right people,” said Emmanuel Christian ’12.
    Dunn told students that even after being in the NFL for eight years, he still had not bought himself a new car. Instead, it was family that came first.

Tuition-free week
Whether you tend to see cups as half-empty or half-full, one measure remains constant: Student fees only cover 67 percent of the Colgate
experience. Since those 13 men with 13 dollars and 13 prayers first gathered at Olmstead House, alumni and friends have stepped forward to fill the legendary “gap.”
    If the university started funding its mission exclusively with tuition revenue on move-in day, those dollars would run out at approximately the same time students returned from spring break on March 21. To commemorate the moment, undergraduates and members of the university’s advancement staff expanded it into a week-long celebration: Tuition-Free Week.
    Signs posted around the university, March 21–28, recognized generous alumni and reminded everyone that philanthropy has an impact on each aspect of campus life — the courses students take, professors they encounter, trips they participate in, buildings they inhabit, and even the food they eat.
    On March 24, students gathered in the Coop for a Thank-a-Thon, a new initiative that gives undergraduates a chance to send personal notes to alumni who have provided critical support for scholarships, financial aid, and more. Two days later, student members of the Presidents’ Club — the university’s leadership giving society — had an opportunity to say “thank you” in person when they met with the Board of Trustees for a networking luncheon in Donovan’s Pub.
    “This is a perfect time to talk with students about philanthropy while they’re on campus,” said annual fund assistant director Mike Tone ’07, who coordinated the program.



Brown bag
The dirt on Marcellus Shale
Geology students and community members crowded into a Ho Science Center classroom in February to hear John Williams ’76 present “Hydrogeology of the Marcellus Shale Gas Play in New York State.” A hydrologist who works for the U.S. Geological Survey, Williams has studied the Marcellus Shale and aquifers above it in Pennsylvania and is now focused on New York State. He discussed the proposed, yet controversial, drilling of the Marcellus Shale for the extraction of natural gas, explaining the hydrogeology, the technology that will be used, and the possible environmental effects.
    The Marcellus Shale is a black shale formation that extends deep underground from Ohio and West Virginia northeast into Pennsylvania and southern New York. Active drilling and gas development has already begun in Pennsylvania and West Virginia. “In New York, the state said we’re not ready, so there’s been none of this fever that’s been down in Pennsylvania, but it is coming to New York State very soon,” explained Williams. 
    Hydraulic fracturing — the method used in gas extraction — is at the center of the debate. Those opposed to “hydrofracking” are concerned with its possible effects, including surface water and groundwater contamination, chemical spillage, and the amount of water required.
    Those in favor of the drilling argue that the potential job opportunities and fiscal incentives will greatly benefit the economically depressed areas of the state.
    Williams presented both the advantages and pitfalls. He said that the state must use the best technology available, including microseismic monitoring of hydraulic fracturing, reducing the impact on freshwater resources by reusing fluid, and sampling local well water before and after drilling.  
    At press time, New York State had developed draft regulations and was reviewing the more than 13,000 submitted comments from the scientific community, other regulatory agencies, and the public.



Back on campus
Real World
On the weekend of January 15, hundreds of Colgate seniors convened on campus just a few days before the official end of winter break. They came to meet with more than 100 alumni, who made the trek to frosty Hamilton for Real World 2010. These alumni generously advised the soon-to-be-graduates through a series of panels and cocktail receptions, reassuring them that although the future may be uncertain, the Colgate network is always available.
    J. Austin Murphy ’83, senior writer for Sports Illustrated, delivered an amusing yet poignant keynote address in which he related his own life experiences as a “reverse barometer for success.” He reminded the seniors to be optimistic about the next step: “You’re about to be unleashed on the world with an enviable array of advantages, most of which you’ve earned. You have youth, wisdom beyond your years, a superior work ethic, and a network of alumni who care deeply about your progress. In a lot of ways, you’ve already won.”


J. Austin Murphy ’83 (Photo by Andrew Daddio)

    At the Government/Public Policy panel, Patrice Chang Bey ’94 described her experiences teaching in Africa and St. Lucia before taking a job in Syracuse, N.Y., government. She encouraged the seniors to “be fearless” in their job searches and in life: “Research the people who are holding the positions that you want,” she said. “Learn what they do, who they are, what they need. It is important that you come out of your comfort zones and engage them.”
    Glenn Ivers ’73 spoke at the panel on nonprofit organizations about how being at Colgate during the peak of activism against the Vietnam War inspired him to enter the nonprofit sector. “Part of what we were doing as a generation was reacting to the horrific things our nation was doing,” said the executive director of Wanderer’s Rest Humane Association in Canastota, N.Y. “Over the years, I have really derived not just monetary wealth, but also emotional wealth from helping people in my career.”
    The print news industry transition to web content was the topic of a discussion led by Paul Toscano ’07, producer for CNBC.com, at the Media and Journalism panel. He sounded optimistic for the future, explaining that, “There is a new frontier. The fact that we can’t monetize it just means we haven’t figured it out yet.”
    Interim President Lyle Roelofs encouraged the seniors to reflect on their accomplishments at Colgate, and be proud: “You’ve been exposed to the great thinkers of all eras, you’ve majored in a discipline, and at this point you probably don’t have the realization that you are better prepared for the real world than most people your age. Don’t be shy about your abilities. Employers might not know it yet, but it’s very much to your advantage, and theirs, that they understand that.”

— Kate Preziosi ’10

Go figure –
Colgate on Facebook

7,818 on the Colgate network

24 Colgate class groups

1976 earliest class with a dedicated Facebook group

907 friends of Raider

2,077 Raider Nation fans

83 members of the “I’m from Colgate University and I use Colgate Toothpaste” group

36 videos of performances at the Barge Canal Coffee Company

2,297 fans of New York Pizzeria — aka “Slices”

58 “fan photos” on the Colgate University fan page

3 photos of students snoozing on the Extreme Napping (Colgate Chapter) group page

12 members in the Colgate group Chuck Norris Concentrators

[Numbers collected in March 2010] 

— Jason Kammerdiener ’10

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