Colgate Magazine — Spring 2020 by Colgate University

SPRING 2020

Presidentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Message

Notes From an Empty Campus P.6 Feature

Privacy Matters: data security P.34 discover

Listening to your inner critic P.21

TRAVEL BACK TO ANCIENT GREECE WITH PROF. ROBERT GARLAND P.24

look “Ask yourselves: Where have you been when your sisters and brothers needed you? We have a role to be there for one another.” During the University’s Martin Luther King Jr. celebration opening ceremony in Memorial Chapel, Christian Johns ’20, co-president of the Student Government Association, addressed the audience.

mark diorio

Spring 2020 Colgate Magazine 1

Photodiorio / Art Credit mark

2â&#x20AC;&#x192; Colgate Magazineâ&#x20AC;&#x192; Spring 2020

look In nature, at least, spring continues as usual on campus. Leaves begin to appear on the serviceberry tree (Amelanchier canadensis), and the otherwise quiet is broken up by the birdsongs of orioles, warblers, and tanagers.

Read this issue and all previous issues at colgate.edu/magazine. Spring 2020â&#x20AC;&#x192; Colgate Magazineâ&#x20AC;&#x192; 3

Contents

SPRING 2020 President’s Message

Discover

On Target

How to Survive in Ancient Greece

Letters

Hilary Nicholson ’12 is using a decades-old concept to take aim at cancer.

Travel back in time to 5th-century Athens with Professor Robert Garland.

6 9

Unpacking Perceptions There’s value in listening to your self-critique, according to philosophy professor Maura Tumulty.

Voices

The Writing Totem Professor CJ Hauser gives her students tiny chickens for inspiration.

Net Gains The men’s basketball team has proven its grit by overcoming challenges and breaking records.

Beyond Borders An economics class looks at the cost and benefits of immigration.

Senior Theses An Unexpected Journey Through poetry and prose, Matthew Cooperman ’86 and his wife write about life with a child living with autism.

From automatic voter registration to the biological mechanosensors in cavefish

Scene

Colgate News 14

Cover: As Professor Robert Garland retires from Colgate, he leaves his legacy of knowledge about ancient history and the classics. Illustration by James Steinberg

Privacy Matters Three professors offer perspectives on one huge issue: data security.

illustration: matt chinworth

Endeavor

Dissecting a Dictator

Vice President for Communications Laura H. Jack

Jung Pak ’96 provides expert analysis of North Korea’s Kim Jong Un.

Managing Editor Aleta Mayne

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

Good things are built slowly and through imperfect circumstances. Professor CJ Hauser, p. 10

Clothes Make the Man With a new athleisure brand, Brian Duford ’05 helps bring versatility to menswear.

University Photographer Mark DiOrio Production Assistant Kathy Jipson Contributors: Gordon Brillon, web content specialist; Daniel DeVries, media relations director; Sara Furlong, advancement communications manager; Jason Kammerdiener ’10, web manager; Katherine Laube, art director; Brian Ness, video journalism coordinator; John Painter, director of athletic communications; Kristin Putman, social media strategist Printed and mailed from Lane Press in South Burlington, Vt. Colgate Magazine Volume XLIX Number 3

photography: Bryan meltz (top right), andrÉ chung (right)

Colgate Magazine is a quarterly publication of Colgate University. Online: colgate.edu/magazine Email: magazine@colgate.edu Telephone: 315-228-7407 Change of Address: Alumni Records Clerk, Colgate University, 13 Oak Drive, Hamilton, NY 13346-1398 Telephone: 315-228-7453

A Different Kind of Dad Rock

Dena Robinson ’12

Meet children’s musician Billy Hartong ’97

This Is Awesome, I Swear! A digital platform created by Kate Foster Lengyel ’99 recommends the products women really use.

Alumni News

Salmagundi

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

President’s Message

Notes From an Empty Campus

6 Colgate Magazine Spring 2020

By Friday, March 20, Gov. Andrew Cuomo called for all nonessential enterprises to move to remote work. Colgate, while still able to provide essential services to the students on campus, became even quieter as staff and faculty shifted to working from home. By the weekend of March 21–22, Colgate had become a stunningly quiet place. The following are notes written from campus during this time.

The day after I sent the closure announcement to the campus community, a group of seniors emailed to ask if they could come by the office to say goodbye. More than a dozen came. Social distancing rules were not yet in play, so the seniors piled on the sofa in the office, or jammed two to an armchair. I rolled my desk chair over to sit in the newly created circle. As the students talked, there was some crying, but mostly it was a room filled with laughter and campus gossip. We began to share a kind of familiarity. The period from spring break to commencement is usually a time of a loosening, an unwinding for the senior class. There is a new openness, a giddiness to the soon-to-be graduates. They want to talk all the time — as much to administrators and faculty as to each other. They tell us that they were young here, and did silly things, but that they are past that now. They do much

Visit colgate.edu/ president

andrew daddio

ollowing increasingly ominous warnings from state and federal agencies regarding the threat of the emerging coronavirus situation, Colgate, like many other colleges and universities, announced to its students that, following the completion of what would have been spring break, classes would move online and students would leave campus. We took this step after attempting an approach to the virus not seen at other institutions. Specifically, we sought to keep all students here in Hamilton under the belief that such a move might be safer for the community. A string of official pronouncements — the World Health Organization designation of the situation as a pandemic, the governor of New York’s orders to close all public colleges and universities, and the eventual prohibition against gatherings of 50 or more people — made this approach untenable. So, with great sadness, I sent an announcement to the campus telling everyone to begin shutting Colgate down. We did, however, offer to provide housing to those students who, for many reasons, could not make it home. Some were international students who would not be able to cross closed borders. Others stayed because their home internet would not be sufficient for their online studies. Approximately 300 Colgate students decided to stay behind on the rapidly emptying campus.

the same with each other those weeks, and they move in new, larger groups. By the end, old grudges have fallen away, and new friendships are made. I realize, in my office with students piled on top of each other, that, in addition to the formal ceremonies of commencement and baccalaureate, this, too, was taken from them. But somehow, they know to take this approach now, to speak loosely and comfortably about their time at Colgate and to let me know what it meant to them. They leave the office, and I go home.

It is rare for me to stop by the Colgate Bookstore. It’s a feature of my job that an endless stream of Colgate gear comes into the office, almost on a daily basis. It would be possible, if I were to choose this route, for me to wear Colgate T-shirts and sweatshirts every day for several months without ever repeating any article of clothing. So why go to the T-shirt section of the bookstore? I saw a Colgate shirt on a colleague, and I liked it, so I stopped by the bookstore two days after the closing announcement. The bookstore was jammed, and it was jammed with seniors. Usually, on typical commencement weekends, it is the parents who flood the bookstore — buying class banners, mugs, and sweatshirts. Every year, the graduating seniors act mortified by their parents’ spending sprees, but they shrug at the inevitability of it all. This year, it was the students taking up this task. Their shopping bags were filled up with Colgate gear. They became tourists to their own last days at Colgate, more committed to the shopping than their parents ever would be.

Usually on the first Monday of spring break, the campus is quiet, but it is an easy quiet. The “spring” term at Colgate begins in late January, in the snow. By March, we have been cooped up inside for months and everyone needs a break. So, spring break relieves the campus. In an ordinary year, the typical first day of spring break sees deans wearing casual clothes and talking on the pathways. They have fewer meetings now with school out of session. The facilities workers are clearing leaves out of planting beds. The campus has a quiet and happy hum about it. This year, the first morning of what would have been spring break has a stunned sort of silence — an eerie quiet, like a movie set. This is not spring break, it’s something else. And no one quite knows what to do with it.

that day as he was rushing about. I, too, was surprised to see him and saddened to realize he was saying goodbye. I shook his hand and wished him well. As I walked out, I wished we had the next few weeks to really say goodbye, and I wished my last handshake with him was with both of us wearing academic robes. He deserved that. As I left the building, I started composing a letter to his class in my head.

My walks on the campus are profoundly quiet now... I see the old buildings and the old trees, and I think of the year. And ... I think about the future. It’s time to recommit. — President Brian W. Casey

We don’t really say goodbye to the seniors on the morning of commencement. We have been slowly saying goodbye to them for weeks. On commencement morning, students are in robes, surrounded by their families. Everyone is taking pictures. So when I see students, our official goodbyes are rushed. The graduates have to go meet their fathers back in their dorm room, or they have to get their grandmothers to the car. The quick goodbyes are part of the day, and they are easy, if poignant. The graduates are going off to their lives, and they are excited, so our goodbyes are a kind of happy salute to them. My goodbye with one senior, Eli, missed those qualities this year. Eli has worked in the admission office for a few years, in the same building where the Office of the President is located. So I see him whenever I leave my office to go to lunch or a meeting. We have developed an easy, teasing relationship over the years, and I always like seeing him. He is a member of this Class of 2020, the class I arrived with. So, he’s been part of what I have always thought of as “my class.” As he was leaving campus after the closure announcement, he had come into the admission office to say goodbye to his coworkers. He wasn’t expecting to see me

I used to live in the woods on Colgate’s campus. The president’s house, Raab House (formerly Watson House), was built in the 1960s, during a time when most college presidents didn’t wish to live in the middle of things. So, Raab House was built above the campus, past the observatory, behind a line of trees, and, presumably, away from students. My first year at Colgate, the house felt far away. But with the recent completion of the new Burke and Jane Pinchin halls, which jut out toward Raab House, I now live, essentially, in a quad. It’s an altogether nice change. I now see what is happening on campus, and I feel it. The lights indicate the most about what is happening on campus and the mood of the students. I wake up early to swim most days, and I can see the few lonely lights of students pulling all-nighters, especially during midterms and finals. That’s a poignant sort of quiet light. Then there are early Friday evenings when every residence hall room is lit up. You can hear music from the open windows. The students, done with classes for the week, are planning their weekends and their adventures. The lights are never brighter. Now the few lights glowing in the residence hall windows seem like beacons, messages from the few students who have stayed on campus — like lighthouses signaling each other.

In the early 20th century, as large numbers of students were off to colleges for the first time, the American college novel emerged. They are tales of young men (it was almost always young men) who find themselves on a fancy campus and have to learn the mores of a strange new environment. Nearly every example of these novels has a “night walking scene,” in which the protagonist, having suffered some defeat, walks the campus alone at night. Drenched in despair and under soft moonlight, the young man first licks his wounds, but then recommits himself to the values of the Spring 2020 Colgate Magazine 7

Colgate will be Colgate once more. — President Brian W. Casey

A common critique of American campuses is that they are “bubbles,” unreal playgrounds. They even look unlike any other part of the American built environment, with towers, cupolas, and stone buildings arranged in courtyards. Students always speak of the Colgate bubble, and by that, they mean it is an unnatural world in which “reallife” concerns and tribulations are artificially kept at bay. This critique almost always leads to a call to “burst the bubble” — to expose students to real-world concerns. I have always thought those sorts of sentiments confusing or mistaken. Shouldn’t the campus be a place

8 Colgate Magazine Spring 2020

apart, a place with a different set of rules and concerns? The coronavirus is a major bursting of the bubble of this campus, and no one is happy about it. When we are through this, I suspect we will not quite be the bubble we were before. But we will remain so in some meaningful way. I think we’ll cherish more intensely the ways campuses are a place apart. We’ll need that of Colgate. Its beauty, long a thing that set it apart, will be more important than ever.

For those of us who work on campuses, there’s always one morning in August when it hits you: The school year is about to begin. After the students being away, you can feel the rumble of the year about to begin. The campus is suddenly awake, alert, and expectant. And, on that morning, you want it all back: the drama, the noise, and the lights. You want sports teams on fields and students walking to class. All of it. When that day next comes for Colgate, I know how the campus will feel. The facilities workers will be preparing the welcome tents, and faculty will be heading to their offices to prepare for their classes. Even the campus trees will seem excited. I have a strong suspicion that morning will be among the happiest moments of my life. Of all our lives. And it will come. The lights will blaze, the teams will play, and the professors will teach. And Colgate will be Colgate once more.

— Brian W. Casey

andrew daddio

college and determines to do better in the next years. In one of the most celebrated of the college novels, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s This Side of Paradise, Amory Blaine goes into the night after some failure, and he falls for the gothic spires of Princeton. Another of these popular novels, Stover at Yale, has the scene in which Stover, alone on the campus at night, recommits himself to striving for collegiate success. I take my dog, Emrys, on evening walks on campus and, usually, these are moments when I meet students. They miss their own dogs, so they come up to say hello to Emrys. And, after a few moments, they talk about the campus. It’s perhaps the best part of any day for me. My walks on the campus are profoundly quiet now. It’s now me on the “night walking scene.” And like Amory and Stover before me, I see the old buildings and the old trees, and I think of the year. And, like them, I think about the future. It’s time to recommit.

Letters not go. (Remember, I grew up in the early 1950s.) At that time, admission was 25 cents. I met my husband, Carlos E. Caban ’63, in the summer of 1962, and during his senior year at Colgate, on occasion we would go to the movies. Thanks to Chloe You ’22 and Molly Adelman ’21 for doing this article. Elinor (Snyder) Caban

Good Photo Op Mark DiOrio of Colgate University nailed it! This is a beautiful photo (cover, winter 2020); well-planned and executed. Matt Brown Remembering a Brother Thanks for sharing the story about Mu of DKE brother Oswald T. Avery (“Gene Idol,” winter 2020, p. 26). His fraternity pin is placed in his records in the Rockefeller University Faculty Archives right next to his Copley and Pasteur medals. Avery was a classmate of fellow DKE and Colgate geology professor Harold O. Whitnall, Class of 1900. Imagine the conversations! Sean Fitzmichael Devlin ’05 Memories on Film I remember the Hamilton Theater as Schine’s (“Reel History,” winter 2020, p. 18). I grew up in Hamilton, and I graduated in 1959 from Hamilton Central School. At that time, Colgate University’s student body was all male. My father’s family ran a dairy farm, Elm View Farm on Lebanon Street (no longer there). In fact, when my sister and I expressed a desire to go see a movie, my father would go to the movie theater to check out the movie, and if he felt it was not a movie we should go and see, my sister and I could

Back in the day, many classmates turned out for the movies. Mostly, we were there not for the movie, but for the improv by students prior to, during, and after the showing — and for the one-liners from the audience (mostly unprintable) that truly would rival SNL! Many years later, when Chuck Fox ’70 was managing the Hamilton Theater, my grandson, Sam Hale, worked there while at Hamilton High. Sam would update me with all the creative things Chuck did to make the theater a favorite venue for many people beyond just the local community. Some of the special events included: dressing in costumes themed to The Sound of Music, animals in the lobby depicted in Disney shows, and a fish buffet (shark sushi?) prior to the showing of Jaws. Every time I return to Colgate, it is with pride and a smile of great memories when I view the theater’s marquee gifted by the great Class of ’56. Gordie Miller ’56

Lessons in Literature It was particularly gratifying for me to read the article by Steve Hannah ’70 lauding the remarkable talents of the late Professor Jonathan Kistler. Some 30 years ago, I established the Jonathan H. Kistler Memorial Fund, designed to support projects within the English department. In the

ensuing years, the fund has contributed tens of thousands of dollars toward a multitude of projects, including a memorial prize awarded annually to two outstanding students majoring in English literature. On my first day at Stanford Law School, the dean noted to the entering class that those who had majored in political science had wasted their time as far as the law school was concerned. A huge groan filled the room. Then, he went on to explain, those who had majored in English lit or philosophy would probably know how to read and write, and “that will help you here.” He was right; thank you, Dr. Kistler. Harry F. Lee ’57

Wish a pachyderm like Barbara would run loose in my snowy, sleepy little town north of Boston. LUCIA GREENE ’76

Hooray for Hannah Two excellent pieces, Steve Hannah ’70 (Voices, winter 2020, p. 8–9). Wish a pachyderm like Barbara would run loose in my snowy, sleepy little town north of Boston. February could sure use some excitement. Lucia Greene ’76 The Professor Works in Mysterious Ways Great love story (“From Lord of the Rings to Wedding Rings,”

summer 2019, p. 98). That summer was so special for [my father, Professor Bruce Selleck ’71], and he spoke of [Karen ’12 and Alex Crawford-Alley ’12] often. My dad worked in all sorts of mysterious (well, not that mysterious really; he typically knew what was best for people) ways. May you find many more years of adventure together. Beth Selleck Fiore

From One Couple to Another Hooray for Colgate Magazine (winter 2020) for inserting the charming love story of David Ganz ’86 and Kim Kramer ’87 (“One Night Can Change a Life,” p. 71). I don’t know them, but it brought a tear to my eye to read about a true love story similar to mine. These well-written, interesting inserts make for good reading. Cal Low ’58 Music Men I never met Lin Brehmer ’76 at Colgate (“It’s Still Rock ‘n’ Roll to Him,” winter 2020, p. 63) but I did have the most amazing student job working the Colgate record store. What a collection of vinyl! Maybe Lin visited and built his collection there? Michael Scher ’78 Message to a Storyteller Amazing film (Free Solo); so many risks taken on all fronts to bring this story to life. Riveting and remarkable. Can’t wait to see what you do next! (“The Producer,” summer 2019, p. 52) Karen Calabrese Chapman ’97 To share your thoughts on this issue, email magazine@colgate.edu, or connect with us on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter. Spring 2020 Colgate Magazine 9

Voices teaching

The Writing Totem A tiny chicken can introduce a world of writing spaces.

t’s hard to remember when I first started calling my creative writing students chickens. It was after I started feeling like you guys wasn’t the best collective to use for groups that were sometimes largely female, but before I caught the y’all bug during my three years in the South. Whenever it happened, I did it because I liked the idea of them as a brood, of myself as a mother hen, of us all bustling about trying to make sense of stories and the world together. To spend a semester sharing your rough work with a collective of fellow artists in a writing workshop can be an intense bonding experience. The last day can sometimes feel a bit anticlimactic. I am a person who believes in ritual, so I wanted to find some kind of closing ritual for these classes. This led me to the plastic chickens. The chickens are tiny plastic roosters that come in a variety of colors. They’re actually game pieces for a Dominos variation called Chicken Foot. They are not fancy or special in any way except that I have been giving them to my students for almost a decade, so there are a lot of them out there. On the last day of the workshop, as the students read from their stories, I pass a bowl of chickens around the table. As each person picks out a chicken, here is what I tell them: People enjoy asking writers about their practice. I, too, want to see beautiful photos of my favorite memoirists’ desks or find out what kind of tea a beloved novelist consumes while in the zone. I have also read the profiles about a certain wild talent who always wakes up at 5 a.m., reads an invocation from Wordsworth aloud, swaddles themself in a special scarf while listening to a particular symphony,

10 Colgate Magazine Spring 2020

and then the words just come. All of this is good if it works for the people for whom it works. But this is not writing, and nor is any of it a prerequisite for writing. I think it’s misleading, and possibly dangerous, to imply that most or even some writers have a practice like this. Truly, all you need to be a writer is to get your butt in a seat and write. And then to do that again. And again. In my writing group we call this sitzfleisch. I wrote my first novel on a commuter rail. In bodegas on lunchbreak. In a weird cat pee–smelling place called the Yippie Café that offered dollar coffee and did not resent me spending my lunch break there for that fee. Sometimes I worked on the novel while at my desk job. I worked on it after the kids I nannied were asleep. This is not supposed to be an inspirational story. This is how most things you’ve read have been written: in the scraps and stolen moments of work time a writer has carved out for themself. It is the rare book you read that was written completely at one beautiful desk during the same set of perfect circumstances every day. I want my students to know: If you are always waiting for the perfect-feeling moment to write, you will never write anything. And this is what the chicken is for. It is a tiny flag planted in the ground to say This Is Now A Writing Space. This time is my time. I know some of my students’ chickens travel in their eyeglass cases, waiting to be deployed. I once had a student materialize a chicken from her inside jacket pocket, where it traveled with her always. Some chickens DO live on writing desks, which is a wonderful and beautiful thing as well.

And listen, here’s another thing that’s important: If you’re a person looking to make more creative space in your life, you don’t need me to give you a chicken. You can do this yourself. Find a particularly pleasing stone on a hike. Feed a quarter into the gumball machine at the grocery store and use

→ Last fall, Hauser was interviewed on Late Night with Seth Meyers as part of his author series: “Two days before my Late Night appearance, the producer told me that Seth Meyers would ask me about my writing practice and rituals. I knew I was in trouble — because the whole reason I give chickens to my students is to debunk this notion of writerly practice. I was 20 minutes out of town and stewing over whether to tell the truth or to make up some shiny-sounding answer when I turned the car around, drove back to my office in Lathrop Hall, and picked out a chicken to give Seth Meyers.”

whatever little toy comes out. That’s the whole point of the “chicken.” You don’t need anyone’s permission or any outside anything in order to sit down and write. Good things are built slowly and through imperfect circumstances. All you need is to claim a small patch of time for yourself. And then another one, and another one.

— Professor CJ Hauser teaches creative writing and literature at Colgate. Her recent novel, Family of Origin, was published by Doubleday in July 2019. She is also the author of the novel The From-Aways, and her work has appeared in the Paris Review, Esquire, and the Guardian.

NBC / Contributor

mark diorio

→ Three Florida State University students — very different people who became friends in Hauser’s fiction workshop — made her this T-shirt. Hauser says, “It is the thing I would rescue from my office if there were a fire.”

Spring 2020 Colgate Magazine 11

VOICES to a fancier doctor, a specialist, and she said, “Yes, your daughter has autism.” She said she was sorry. So began the strange journey of diagnosis, which stretches time and warps understanding, and doesn’t do much for treatment. This is the paradox of autism: so spectral are its manifestations, so idiosyncratic. We learned that no autistic child is like any other one, and our little girl is her own little world. How to understand a world? The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders code for autism is 299.00. Children with autism tend to struggle with social interaction, communication, behavioral regulation, and various sensory sensitivities. Maya met, and still meets, all those descriptions. Additionally, she rarely sleeps, does not speak, and struggles with gastrointestinal and digestive functioning. She has a g-tube because she refuses to eat. And so Maya is not just 299.00, but 299.00, NOS (not otherwise specified). Love for our daughter and care for her quality of life led us to investigate causes and cures. And it spurred us to write a book, NOS (disorder, not otherwise specified):

Parenting

An Unexpected Journey Through poetry and prose, Matthew Cooperman ’86 and his wife, Aby Kaupang, write about life with a child living with autism.

ow many stories do each of us have to tell? Are they what we expected? We came at it pretty traditionally: Two writers became lovers, got married, and became parents. We had a beautiful daughter. Yet, by the time she was barely 4 years old, we were teetering between placing her in hospice or subjecting her to the repeated trauma of hospitalization, testing, and therapies. We were living in a circle of treatments. This

12 Colgate Magazine Spring 2020

is a story about disability: the diagnosis, the acceptance, the learning to live in a new reality. Maya was an easy baby — quiet, serene, unfussy, nursed well. But by 6 months old, she lagged behind normative milestones. How far behind can a child be by 6 months, we wondered? The gap widened. She couldn’t sit, wouldn’t eat, her muscle tone was low. She didn’t make eye contact. Toys were of no interest. We took her to a doctor, and he said, “I suspect autism.” We took her

What is there to say of this child? She lived, lives through this. So did we. You want to know more about her. So do we. The girl began and then so did our book, a mirror for sorrow or anger or fear. The book is a messenger, out in front. It canvases the halls of many hospitals. Again and again at the ER soothing her body. The daughter didn’t eat, didn’t sleep, didn’t laugh, didn’t poop, didn’t walk anymore. We went for a long visit. Doctors said autism, Valium, Abilify, sensory processing, seizures, inactive GI. They said tape a venting bag to her shoulder. We went again when they said she was crazy, a crazy summer when our little girl lived with other unspecifiable children. We met others there and parents of others who cared for/were eaten by the unseen and unseemliness of it all. We were told it all in notes and looks and [medical records] notations: “fear of a dog she doesn’t have,” “a dog she needs for her night terrors,” “attachment disorders,” and “negligent mothers.” We have heard it all. “Clearly the parents are rude.” Rage and catastrophe, diagnoses and advocacy, our story embodies both the human condition of mortality — sooner or later, all bodies decline — and the nebulous peril autism brings to parenting and language. Our story follows our medically frail child into the labyrinth of care: Illustration by Hanna Barczyk

VOICES when she is in treatment and we are waiting she is in a procedure and we are waiting she is being diagnosed drugged poked drawn wired scanned dressed and undressed we wait when we are not with the daughter we visit the offices of payment and records we walk

walk again

Hospital architecture, and especially pediatric hospital architecture, employs palliative design — murals, soothing colors, interactive art, soft lighting — but what of the structure of care? There is sometimes disaster with difficult and multiple diagnoses. There are sometimes failures of communication that accompany long-term treatment of disability.

There is a lost gnosis in our little girl, there is a lost gnosis in your little boy. The pronominal drift of allegiance pulls at the cell strings. Arias of dissonance. Wires are seized in a symbol of something gone wrong. Language unkempt, everywhere pages are kept.

Questions arise

for/ on/ to / of/ and we will see these things through to the finish.

When (the public are) criticizing the China Red Cross for real here, they’re criticizing the government. — Sociology professor Carolyn Hsu talks to CNN about Chinese reactions to the organization’s handling of coronavirus

“Can the U.S. government require a church to perform a wedding for an LGBT couple? Almost half of Americans are either unsure of the answer to this question or incorrectly believe that religious organizations can be required to do this.” — Associate Professor of Religion Jenna Reinbold on WAMC’s Academic Minute

What can be finished in any human thing?

Beyond documenting harrowing hospital experiences, we share our experiences from the point of view of parents of a child with multiple disabilities, and the familial traumas that become a family’s “living with disability” legacy. This, itself, has been a profound deepening of identity. For if identity has everything to do with agency, the acquiring of one through the formation of the other, and vice versa, then what to do with a subject who has no agency? Our daughter sometimes identifies with her peers, but more often than not, she lives in an otherly structured world. She is, as such, a resistant figure, which becomes us in the shared prism of parents-of-special-needs children. Children like Maya forever change their parents. We take on this new reality, this new identity; we shape it, mask it, deny it, reveal it variously. We experience rage, guilt, defiance, despair, but also humor, sudden joy, absurdity, empathy. This has a way of both opening and closing doors, conversations. We write about para-disability: those who are adjunct to, attendant upon, in the wake of. We write for that silent population.

they that were in the children’s hospital they that on the pavilion parented they that refined their faces in the sieve of seizure in the daylight met the carded men the parking arm the vertical blades of the guillotine elevator

IN THE MEDIA

doctors rose as did their entourage

We have escaped the trauma of those early years. Maya is now 13 and, while she still struggles with the challenges that autism presents, she’s variously thriving. We celebrate the life that is ours, however tumultuous.

— Matthew Cooperman ’86 and Aby Kaupang wrote this piece based on their 2018 book, NOS (disorder, not otherwise specified) (Futurepoem Books, 2018), which is excerpted throughout. Cooperman is an English professor at Colorado State University. Kaupang is a writer and occupational therapist.

“The announcement that al-Bashir will be handed over to the International Criminal Court is a significant step in the right direction. But the peace negotiation process has a long way to go.” — Tsega Etefa, associate professor of history and Africana and Latin American studies, wrote about the Darfur conflict in The Conversation

“This dynamic can lead to a dangerous spiral in which both Iran and the United States escalate the conflict to demonstrate their willingness to fight.” — Danielle Lupton, assistant professor of political science, wrote an analysis in the Washington Post after Iran claimed responsibility for launching missiles at military bases

“I do think the sentiment is real to want a political system that doesn’t seem quite as divided.” — Sam Rosenfeld, assistant professor of political science, in USA Today Spring 2020 Colgate Magazine 13

Hallmarks

SCENE

Colgate Crests Introducing new iconography for the Residential Commons

The Brown Commons

celebration

Unity, Reflection, and a Call to Action Colgate gathers to honor Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy The Ciccone Commons

Black Lives Matter co-founder Opal Tometi speaks in Memorial Chapel

student keynote speaker. Bennet spoke about the abolitionist movement and its roots in central New York, urging the community to remember the histories of extraordinary abolitionists, to “celebrate the light and vision of MLK,” and to strive for a “beloved community.” Johns encouraged the Colgate community to consider that, “In this world that can be so cruel and unyielding, we have to love each other to the best of our ability.” The opening ceremony also featured performances by Grace Darko ’22, Juan Saenz ’20, and Assistant Director of the ALANA Cultural Center Esther Rosbrook. Rosbrook and Saenz performed the song “Lean on Me,” by Bill Withers, inviting the audience to join in on the singing and ending the production with the entire crowd taking part in the revelry. During the course of the next week and a half, students, staff, and faculty participated in the MLK Day of Service, a program

14 Colgate Magazine Spring 2020

hosted by the Max A. Shacknai COVE. They attended brownbag conversations on topics such as “Community Accountability” at the Center for Women’s Studies as well as “The Barriers People of Color Must Overcome to Thrive at a PWI” and “The Privilege of Self-Care” at the ALANA Cultural Center. They gathered for a Unity Dinner to reflect on how faith, service, and identity intersect and align with MLK’s vision. Joining together in Memorial Chapel on Jan. 30, reflecting on the experiences of the week, community members heard Tometi’s call to take action in fighting for marginalized communities. “Black Lives Matter is continuing the work of our ancestors,” Tometi said. “There is no such thing as a post-racial society. I feel like I do not have a choice but to do something. It is one thing to say or tweet something, but what are you actually doing?” — Jake Gomez ’21

The Dart Colegrove Commons

Caption ebissim de simendus eos id quam faccus dolutem quis re con exeruptus aut The Hancock Commons

n the years since Colgate University launched its four Residential Commons, each has developed its own distinctive programming and personality. With the arrival of Colgate’s third century, new iconography will highlight the leading characteristics of Residential Commons’ namesakes and link those noble traits, in perpetuity, to the University’s livinglearning communities.

mark diorio

ith a keynote event in Memorial Chapel on Jan. 30, Black Lives Matter co-founder Opal Tometi helped Colgate University conclude its twoweek commemoration of Martin Luther King Jr. Tometi established Black Lives Matter alongside Alicia Garza and Patrisse Cullors to fight racial discrimination and violence against black communities following the 2013 acquittal of George Zimmerman in the murder of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin. “I wanted all black people to know that [George Zimmerman’s] acquittal did not mean that their lives didn’t matter,” Tometi said in her keynote, which included a Q&A session with students, moderated by Visiting Assistant Professor of History T. Dionne Bailey and Taylor Dumas ’20. Tometi’s appearance was the final event in an extensive celebration that began with an opening ceremony on Jan. 20, featuring Thomas Bennet ’72, board member of the National Abolition Hall of Fame in Peterboro, N.Y., and Christian Johns ’20, co-president of the Student Government Association and this year’s

The Brown Commons Coleman Brown was a graduate of Princeton University and Union Theological Seminary. Joining the Colgate faculty in 1970 as an instructor of philosophy and religion, he arrived on campus after participating in the Civil Rights movement and joining clergy protests against the Vietnam War. During his decades at Colgate, he served as university chaplain, dean of students, chair of the diversity committee, and chair of the Department of Philosophy and Religion. The crest: With their heartlike shape — a symbol of love and modesty — common blue violets signify both Brown’s home state of Illinois and his sensibilities. Compasses — symbols of his moral guidance and teaching — sit across the center of the crest, which is anchored by his monogram, built around the formation of an “I” for his wife, Irene.

The Ciccone Commons Diane Ciccone ’74, P’10 is a pioneer. One of the first 132 women to enroll at Colgate, she went on to become a founding member of the Alumni of Color organization and was the first black woman on the Board of

Trustees. Also a member of the Alumni Council, she volunteered on behalf of the University and has served as a mentor for students — even while building a career in law and journalism. In recognition of her dedication, she received the Maroon Citation and the Wm. Brian Little ’64 Award for Distinguished Service. The crest: Vivid, bold beams of light cut through darkness, creating 13 rays that suggest Ciccone’s enlightening work, both as an author and attorney. A series of open books, spanning the top of the crest, represents her personal history, academic journey, and shared wisdom. The Dart Colegrove Commons Mabel Dart Colegrove, Class of 1882, was a daughter of local orchardists who ran Colgate’s boarding hall. She passed a “long and searching” entrance exam to join the otherwise male ranks of students learning on the Hill. Strong in languages, she spent seven semesters at Colgate but was forced to transfer to Vassar to receive a degree for her work. After graduation, she became a librarian and teacher. In June of 1947, seven years prior to her death, Colgate officially recognized her as its first alumna.

The crest: Leaves in the upper left and bottom right quadrants of the crest symbolize Dart Colegrove’s growth from farmers’ daughter to scholar, teacher, and librarian. The sun and moon represent day and night — guiding lights that endure, like the strength and perseverance she showed in overcoming adversity. The Hancock Commons Gordon Blaine Hancock, classes of 1919 and 1920, H’69, earned a bachelor’s degree at Colgate in 1919 and a divinity degree from the Colgate seminary in 1920. As a sociology professor at Virginia Union University (VUU), he taught the first academic course on race relations in 1922, organized VUU’s school of race relations in 1931, and pastored the Moore Street Baptist Church in Richmond. He was a spokesman for African American equality, authoring a widely syndicated newspaper column and co-founding the Southern Regional Council. The crest: Large parallel bars, centered in the crest, symbolize Hancock’s lifelong commitment to equality and civil rights. Steps that ascend to the top of the crest represent his unrelenting climb to educate himself and to improve humanity.

13 bits 1 The French Minister of Culture in Paris made John Naughton, the Harrington and Shirley Drake Professor of the humanities, a Knight in the Order of Arts and Letters.

2 Boys Don’t Cry, produced by Jeff Sharp ’89, was one of 25 films recently chosen for the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry.

3 An Armenian flag recently joined the 40-plus others at Frank Dining Hall.

4 Published research by 10 Colgate students and led by Professor Engda Hagos reveals how a specific protein inhibits cancer growth at the cellular level, which could one day lead to new treatments.

Discourse

“I’ve had the privilege of going to Alaska, Greenland, and Iceland to see what’s happening and how people are thinking about [climate change] across parts of the Arctic. One of the things I’ve noted in a lot of those places is that anthropogenic climate change is real [to them]… When I visit Arctic Russia, however, that’s not always the case. The weight of everyday life, the struggles come first… The future is a far-off prospect for a lot of people when everyday concerns [e.g. food security] are front and center.” — Associate Professor of Geography Jessica Graybill, who is also associate professor and director of the Russian and Eurasian Studies Program, on Colgate’s 13 podcast Illustrations by Toby Triumph

5 At EuroSim 2020, Tommy Vlattas ’21, who acted as the Russian ambassador at the conference, was named Best Delegate in a Special Role.

6 Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Chris Hedges ’79, P’12 spoke at Brown Commons’ annual Seekers, Believers, and Doubters event on campus.

▼ Spring 2020 Colgate Magazine 15

SCENE

▼ 7 Representing seven sports, 118 student-athletes made the 2019 Patriot League Fall Academic Honor Roll — a 13% increase over last year.

8 Warren Carter ’20 won the 60m hurdles at the Robert J. Kane Invitational, beating his own record with a time of 8.15 seconds.

Class of 2020

Art as Perspective

s part of Colgate’s studio art concentration, graduating seniors are required to produce one studio piece to serve as the capstone for the academic major. This year, 17 students produced works that were displayed in the University’s Clifford Gallery. Each piece invites viewers to consider new perspectives and to engage thoughtfully with its subject. Cells, Not Cells Sophie Chen Oil on canvas 30 x 40 inches Artist’s statement: Shrinking and shrinking, I’m about the size of a cell. My body is no longer the restraint; my vision goes beyond what I can see. I’m exploring, discovering, and imagining the alien creatures within me. I’m now part of the mystical world, the mesmerizing reality, and I decide to picture the tale I could not physically experience.

9 The National Forest Foundation appointed Patricia Hayling Price ’76 as the first female chair of its board.

10 All 51 men’s lacrosse players shaved their heads for a national fundraising effort to support Boston Children's Hospital, raising $51,000 as a team.

11 Synchronized skating competed in the U.S. Figure Skating opencollegiate division, bringing home the bronze medal.

12 Banana Republic held a pop-up shop featuring NaSo, a clothing line created by Uyi Omorogbe ’19, in February.

13 Colgate’s curling club was ranked 13th in the U.S. Curling Association’s college top standings at press time.

Condemned Andrea Cornelius Acrylic, paper, and moss on wood panel 11 x 5 feet Artist’s statement: The future of younger generations is under threat. We are approaching an earth damaged and made inhospitable by formidable, unsustainable corporations, and by authorities that refuse to prevent it. The corporate world is powerfully interconnected and pathetically regulated. It consumes the planet without regard to the ecological effects. It leaves the world to drown, to wither, to suffocate, and to burn. We see on the news that many people are already facing the consequences, but it is easy to shut off the TV, turn off our phones, close our eyes, and assume we’re not in danger. Privilege protects us. For now. But we are in danger. And the ones responsible simply turn their backs to the rallies, the protests, the posters, the marches, the cries of outrage from the planet’s youth. I’m scared. Why aren’t they?

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In Ink Margaret Reed Archival inkjet print 24 x 28 inches Artist’s statement: I made a space in my studio where I could give full attention to my portrait subjects, and where they could share their stories. I used a film camera so neither I nor my subject could preview the images as we created them. There was no critiquing of poses or expressions. I used my camera to capture my spontaneous interaction with each individual. All of the portraits were taken while the subject was in the midst of explaining to me what their tattoos mean to them. A tattoo in itself is a self-portrait, a reminder of the experiences that make us who we are. By photographing these tattoos, I am capturing both the subject and their representation of self. Our conversations about why and when, sometimes evoking fond memories, sometimes evoking past hardships, led organically to the images.

SCENE

Sports

New Women’s Soccer Head Coach

Sports

Seasons Come to a Close Coronavirus spread causes cancellations

n an effort to prioritize the health and safety of student-athletes, the Patriot League Council of Presidents, which includes President Brian W. Casey, halted spring athletics practices and competitions for the academic year. Additionally, ECAC Hockey canceled the remainder of the men’s championship. The Raiders had earned a spot in the quarterfinals following a win over Brown March 7. While these cancellations were abrupt, they marked the end of positive seasons for many Colgate teams. A look back on this season:

Men’s hockey: → 12-16-8 overall, 8-9-5 ECAC Hockey

justin wolford

→ “Our guys played their hearts out this season and we made a huge step forward. In time, I hope ... among other great moments over four years, that the lasting memory [for our seniors] will be the fact that their last game as a Raider ended with an overtime win in the Class of 1965 Arena.” — Head Coach Don Vaughan → Colgate made 76 goals this season, by 16 goal scorers → Nine Raiders scored points in the double-digits

→ Several players will graduate this semester, but the Raiders retain 22 of its 28 players to compete against top teams next season. Men’s basketball: → 25-9 overall, 14-4 Patriot League (for more, see the feature on p. 30) Women’s basketball: → 19-11 overall, 11-7 Patriot League → Colgate’s loss to Lehigh in the Patriot League Tournament Quarterfinals ended one of the best seasons in program history. → Rachel Thompson ’20 finished the season making Colgate records: She’s in the top 10 for scoring, rebounding, assists, and steals. → “There’s disappointment with the way the season ended, but when the dust settles and people are able to take a look and see what was accomplished, what these four [seniors] have meant to our program and how they've put us on the map... I’m proud of them and they should definitely hold their heads high for what they have done.” — Head Coach Bill Cleary Women’s hockey: → 17-15-6 overall, 11-8-3 ECAC → Goalie Liz Auby ’20 posted six shutouts this season, more than any Raider in program history. → Three players were placed on the ECAC All-Rookie Team.

Read more sports news at gocolgate raiders.com.

yndse Hokanson is the new women’s soccer head coach, becoming the sixth in Colgate history. Hokanson comes to Colgate after serving five seasons as an assistant coach at Georgetown University. At Georgetown, she guided the Hoyas to five consecutive NCAA tournament appearances, three straight Big East championships, and two trips to the College Cup Semifinals. Hokanson was selected to the 2018–19 WeCOACH Coaches Council in September 2018. The Coaches Council is a selected group of individuals who will help ensure WeCOACH is strategically serving women coaches from all sports and levels. In May 2019, she received the Cecile Reynaud Coaching Mastery Award from WeCOACH. “Coach Hokanson is an outstanding young professional, a demonstrated winner, and a person with great integrity, who does the right things on and off the field every day,” said Nicki Moore, vice president and director of athletics. During Hokanson’s tenure, Georgetown set multiple team records, including most wins (20 in 2016, and then 21 in 2018), most shutouts (17 in 2016 and 2017), and fewest goals allowed (10) in a season. She helped lead the Hoyas to a 79-17-17 overall record and a 31-4-9 conference mark in five seasons. She has been part of a staff recognized twice as the United Soccer Coaches National Coaching Staff of the Year and Big East Coaching Staff of the Year. Prior to her five years at Georgetown, Hokanson spent the 2014 season as a graduate assistant coach at DII Valdosta State, where she worked in all aspects of team operations. — Jordan Doroshenko

Spring 2020 Colgate Magazine 17

SCENE

Careers

Dear Sophomore Self

uring this year’s SophoMORE Connections weekend, 90 alumni returned to campus to provide academic and career advice to second-year students. We asked some of the panelists: Looking back, what would you tell your sophomore self?

→

Uzoma Idah ’10

→

Natalie Sportelli ’15

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Steve Bennett ’90

18 Colgate Magazine Spring 2020

Gain an understanding of your strengths, weaknesses, and motivations. Courtney Lane ’00

Live in the moment as much as you speculate on the future. Follow those things that energize you. Nurture those interests that you thought didn’t fit the image of an All-Patriot League football player. Do not be afraid to dive deeply into your curiosities. Discovery lies in the depths. Although the image may not seem clear, keep painting so the world may see the masterpiece you are. Finish what you start. — Uzoma Idah ’10, an art and art history major, is now working at Y.A. Studio in San Francisco, designing architecture.

Learn how to advocate for yourself and ask for what you need. Build up the resolve to admit when you need help at work and the confidence to ask for a raise or promotion. This takes time, but the earlier you can learn how to speak up and ask for what you want or need, the better positioned you’ll be to advance and find happiness not only at work but also in other aspects of life. Feeling confident and self-assured when having these tough conversations is a skill you can start practicing today. — Natalie Sportelli ’15, an English literature major with a creative writing emphasis, is now content and brand manager for Lerer Hippeau in New York City.

In the short term: Don’t worry about what major to choose. Choose a subject that you really like, not what you think employers want to see, and focus on building important practical skills. Most important is communication. Being able to deliver concise, on-point narratives in both written and oral format is a skill that will serve you well for your whole career. For the long term: You will likely have many jobs during your career; some you’ll like and some you won’t. Go for what you love to do, understanding that the path is long, and there are many twists and turns. You’ll probably learn more

from your defeats than from your triumphs. That long-term advice is applicable even now. Take that notoriously tough class. I bet you’ll find it fascinating, and even if you get a lower grade than you’re used to, the challenge — and maybe the setback — will teach you more than you’d expect. — Steve Bennett ’90, a history major, is now senior vice president for academic operations at Syracuse University.

Use your time at Colgate to explore your interests and gain an understanding of your strengths, weaknesses, and motivations. After graduation, it may take a couple of jobs to figure out the right fit, and that’s OK. Understanding what you don’t like about a job or a work environment is still a valuable experience that can help you navigate future opportunities. If you continue to follow your interests, work hard, and make connections, you will find an exciting and fulfilling career. — Courtney Lane ’00, an environmental geography major, is now a senior associate at Synapse Energy Economics in Cambridge, Mass.

Seek out positive mentors and ignore naysayers. S. Tyler Constantine ’04

There are many acceptable paths into a medical career. It’s important to seek out academic, extracurricular, and postgraduate opportunities that interest you and provide you with meaningful growth and experience. These experiences can shape your future and make you a unique candidate for schools and employers. Keep an open mind about the types of medical careers that exist and don’t lock yourself into one track — you will find career niches you never knew existed. Reach out to people with experience and ask them the hard questions about their lives and careers. Seek out positive mentors and ignore naysayers. Colgate alumni, especially, are an incomparable resource for advice and will be happy to help you. — S. Tyler Constantine ’04, a philosophy major, is now an emergency physician at a level 1 trauma center and emergency medicine residency program in Charlotte, N.C. Illustrations by Rebecca Clarke

SCENE

The Third-century plan Support

Bicentennial Challenge Exceeds Goal

n the eve of Colgate University’s third century, more than 4,200 alumni, parents, and friends came together in support of the institution and its students during the Colgate Fund Bicentennial Challenge. Between Colgate Day, Dec. 13, and Dec. 31, the community contributed a total of $1.74 million in gifts to the Colgate Fund. The following group of devoted challengers matched each gift, dollar for dollar, up to $1.3 million, for a challenge

total of more than $3 million: Gretchen H. Burke ’81, P’11,’20 and Stephen B. Burke ’80, P’11,’20, H’04; Christine J. Chao ’86 and James O. Shaver Jr. ’86; J. Christopher Clifford ’67, H’11 and Keena Clifford P’93; Eric A. Cole ’93 and Ashley Cole; John K. Colgate Jr. ’57 and Diana Colgate P’88; Giovanni Cutaia ’94 and Maree Cutaia; Amy Everett DiSibio ’86, P’18,’21 and Carmine DiSibio ’85, P’18,’21; Jennifer H. Farrior ’95 and Julian W. Farrior III ’93; Gregory J. Fleming ’85, P’21 and Melissa S. Fleming ’85, P’21; John A. Hayes ’88 and Susie B. Hayes P’19; Chris Hurley ’81, Becky Bair Hurley ’81, Matt Hurley ’12, and Dan Hurley ’12; Nora Gleason Leary ’82 and Robert G. Leary; Ramzi M. Musallam ’90; Andrew W. Sweet ’93 and Alexis Sweet; William T. Winters Jr.

’83 and Anda Winters; and six anonymous alumni and parents. On Dec. 29, Paul Carberry ’94 issued a second challenge, offering to make an additional contribution for graduates from the last 10 years who made a gift. This announcement inspired more than 350 recent alumni to make gifts to Colgate. Alumni fundraising volunteers were also instrumental in helping to build awareness of the challenge. Nearly 700 alumni, representing class years from 1945 through 2019, bolstered the efforts by performing outreach to their classmates and sharing news of the challenge. As the University begins to implement its ThirdCentury Plan, the Colgate Fund is essential and touches every aspect of the Colgate experience, including the

No-Loan Initiative, faculty recruitment, academic programs, research, study abroad, sustainability efforts, and much more. “The success of this challenge demonstrates the remarkable commitment of the Colgate community and the excitement surrounding plans for its future,” said Carberry, executive chair of the Colgate Fund. “All around the country, gifts to unrestricted resources like the Colgate Fund are declining. At Colgate, they are reaching record numbers and thriving because we have a passionate community of alumni, parents, and friends who believe in where Colgate is headed. It is moving to begin the University’s third century with this swell of support. Thank you to all who participated.” — Sara Furlong

Lorenzo Ciniglio

In January, President Brian W. Casey presented The Third-Century Plan to alumni gathered in New York City. The event featured a conversation with Goldie Blumenstyk ’79, senior writer at the Chronicle of Higher Education. “The Alumni Council was pleased to sponsor the event,” said council president Chris Johnson ’02. “This is an important moment for the University that the entire alumni community should embrace. Brian Casey and his staff have set the course forward, and we stand behind them fully supportive.”

Spring 2020 Colgate Magazine 19

research

On Target Hilary Nicholson ’12 is using a decades-old concept to take aim at cancer.

n Dec. 10, 2019, as medical oncologist William G. Kaelin Jr. walked across the midnightblue carpet of the Stockholm Concert Hall to receive the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, Hilary Nicholson ’12 was watching from the nearby Grand Hotel. Kaelin and two collaborators were being honored for having detailed the molecular mechanism by which all animals sense and adapt to changes in oxygen. But Nicholson wasn’t in Sweden just to applaud her mentor. She was also there to deliver

20 Colgate Magazine Spring 2020

a lecture on how she was using Kaelin’s discovery to develop new, more precise ways to treat kidney cancer. This year, an estimated 73,750 Americans will be diagnosed with kidney cancer; some 14,820 of them will die from it, according to the American Cancer Society. Nicholson, a cancer biologist, focuses on the most common form of the disease: clear cell renal cell carcinoma, or ccRCC, which accounts for more than 70% of all adult cases. In a paper published in Science Signaling on Oct. 1, 2019 — six days before Kaelin

— Sarah C. Baldwin

M. Scott brauer

Discover

got the call from the Nobel committee — Nicholson and her coauthors reveal a possible new target for treating kidney cancer. Central to their findings is the pathway Kaelin illuminated, which involves the interaction between two proteins, HIF and VHL. HIF causes new blood vessels to grow when needed, “which is great if you’re a mountain climber at 8,000 feet,” says Nicholson — and also if you’re an oxygen-hungry cancer cell. VHL, a tumor suppressor, destroys HIF when it senses a cell’s got enough oxygen. In 90% of ccRCCs, though, VHL is mutated — so more and more blood vessels are produced, enabling cancer cells to thrive. Nicholson’s approach, she says, was “to find a way to exploit this mutation and use it against the cancer.” To do so, she deployed a concept known as synthetic lethality. While it sounds like a good reason not to wear polyester pants, the phrase, coined in the 1940s, actually refers to a relationship between two genes in which a mutation in one has no effect on a cell, but a mutation in both leads to cell death. This approach is particularly attractive in cancer therapy because it makes it possible to target only cells that have the cancer-specific mutation, leaving healthy cells untouched. In fruit fly and human cells as well as in animal models, Nicholson and her team identified a way to deliver a one-two punch to kidney cancer by combining a drug that is lethal to VHL-mutant cells with an inhibitor of HIF. “That’s hitting on both sides,” she explains, “killing the cancer and preventing it from being able to hijack the blood supply.” The results are so promising that the FDA has already approved a clinical trial based on the study. After working in Kaelin’s lab at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute for four years, Nicholson took on a new role in January, as a senior scientist at Tango Therapeutics. Established in 2017, the Cambridge start-up is using synthetic lethality to discover new targets for cancer treatment. Kaelin is a cofounder. Nicholson, a biochemistry major who graduated with high honors, fondly remembers learning from professors Roger Rowlett and Ernest Nolen and says she discovered her passion for research at Colgate. “The thing that I’ve always found so beautiful about science is that it’s the pursuit of the truth,” she says. “At the end of the day, if you conduct a good experiment, if you ask a good question, your answer should be correct. It should prove new truth.”

DISCOVER

Philosophy

Unpacking Perceptions There’s value in listening to your self-critique.

If I were a better human being, I wouldn’t have had that experience. Most of us, at some point in our lives, have thought this to ourselves in response to something we heard or saw. For example, suppose you think your colleague’s voice sounds shrill — not just high pitched. And you wonder, “If I were nicer or a better human being, would her voice have sounded that way to me?” Your worry might get more specific. You might wonder, “If I were less subject to bias, if I lived in a different cultural landscape — one where my background assumptions about voice and authority had been shaped differently — would my colleague’s voice actually just sound high?” Here’s another example: The North American media landscape tends to be white centric in its portrayals of “good” grooming and beauty. So if you — regardless of your own racial identity — have had little exposure to people with tightly coiled hair worn naturally, you might perceive that

hair as dry, where “dry” has an implication of being unhealthy. You might think, “Intellectually, I know that’s perfectly healthy hair. If I had been less exposed to biased media, maybe that person’s hair would look different to me.” However, having those realizations doesn’t shake the perceptions of the hair, or of the colleague’s voice. You can know that “a different me might have a different perception” and can even think of your original perception as problematic, but it doesn’t disappear. In that sense, our experiences seem beyond our immediate control. But there’s still something right about seeing our moral selves as invested in them. In part, that’s because of some practical implications. The debate about whether beliefs, desires, or intentions can directly change perception matters, for example, in legal contexts. Suppose someone is testifying in court that they saw another person do something incriminating. The person testifying might think to herself, “If I were less affected by racist media portrayals, I might have seen or heard things differently.” So, what do we do about all of this? Part of what I’m arguing is that our perceptions are another area of life in which you could subject yourself to moral critique. You could say, “My better, more authentic self wants to be different.” But exactly how could that be managed? One of the things I’ve been researching is the role vivid imagination plays in reducing certain kinds of bias. It’s an empirical hypothesis that is still being tested, but I became interested in it because, through imagining, you can recommit to how you think it is appropriate to see things. Here’s an example most parents can relate to: You’re having trouble getting your 3-year-old’s bedtime routine underway, and you’re tired and cranky. His face strikes you as having a rude or a disrespectful expression. But you remember the previous night when you were cheerful and well

You can know that “a different me might have a different perception” and can even think of your original perception as problematic, but it doesn’t disappear. In that sense, our experiences seem beyond our immediate control. But there’s still something right about seeing our moral selves as invested in them.

rested, and you were having fun goofing around. You think, “I’m not sure there’s much difference between what he’s doing now and what he did last night when he just looked cheekily affectionate, or mischievous but loving.” When you vividly imagine the way his face looked yesterday, that’s part of what pulls you to the awareness that maybe your current experience is not just being driven by his face but also by your emotions, because you can remember a similar face yesterday that looked very different to you. So, alternative imaginings are vivid considerations about what it would be like for someone to behave in a counterstereotypical way — like a large man being gentle, or an elderly person displaying rapidfire wit. But, you can only do that imagining if you believe it is in fact possible for the person to be going against the stereotype. You have to do that work. And that is a commitment to prevent your negative assumptions, or your emotional state, from clouding how you view someone. It’s philosophically significant — that gut sense of “I did not come off well at this moment.” It’s something to trust, and then consider what it reveals. Getting to that worried reflection actually strikes me as a self-improvement; you’re trying to restore a balance between what inside of you and what outside of you is driving your perceptions.

— Associate Professor of Philosophy Maura Tumulty, as told to Aleta Mayne. Tumulty delves further into this topic in her new book, Alien Experience (Oxford University Press, January 2020).

DISCOVER The entire experience was an awakening for the students. “I got an honest, true, and refreshing perspective on immigration, talking to people in academia, activists, attorneys, and journalists who have been involved with immigration for a long time,” Sahil Lalwani ’22 says. “I did not feel like I was crossing the border; it felt like the border had crossed and divided these cities, countries, and the communities.” Leading up to the trip to Mexico, the students spent the fall preparing in the classroom. Simpson emphasized learning

We tried to personalize and contextualize the data that we study in the class.

Muralist Cimi Alvarado

learning

Beyond Borders An economics class looks at the cost and benefits of immigration. n an effort to understand the complexities of immigration at the U.S.-Mexican border, 18 students traveled from El Paso, Texas, to Tucson, Ariz., in January. Led by Professor Nicole Simpson and her colleague Diana Barnes from Skidmore College, the trip was the culmination of Simpson’s Economics of Immigration course. Simpson’s goal was to get students to engage with the many sides of immigration across America’s borders. “I wanted them to have a good understanding of the cost and benefits of having a country that has a large immigrant

22 Colgate Magazine Spring 2020

share, but also relies on them, and that there are political tensions,” she says. Over the nine-day excursion, the group met with various people and organizations involved in the immigration issue. When the students first arrived, they visited Seguimos Adelante, an NGO that assists immigrants released from detention centers. The students then walked across the border to Ciudad Juárez, where they went to a migrant transition facility called Centro de Atencion a Migrantes. To hear a different perspective, the students talked to border patrol agents the following day. “They framed their perspective as working to make sure the borders are secure,” says Kate Maro ’22. In the following days, Simpson and her students immersed themselves in the local community. They walked a portion of the migrant trail, a route taken by migrants trying to enter the United States; worked at a soup kitchen; attended immigration hearings at a Federal courthouse; and toured El Paso with muralist Cimi Alvarado, who talked about what it’s like to live in a border town.

about the actual experiences of migrants. “What are the perils of migrants, why do they put themselves in danger to cross, and what are the circumstances in their home country?” Simpson asked the students. “We tried to personalize and contextualize the data that we study in the class. ” In September, the class traveled to the Canadian border, where they spoke with Native American groups from the Mohawk Nation of Akwesasne to draw comparisons among the different boundaries they studied. Back on campus in November, students helped set up a traveling art exhibit, Painting the Border: A Child’s Voice, in the 100 Hamilton residence hall. The exhibition included paintings from children who are stranded in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, as a result of deportations and new measures for asylum legislation. In addition to teaching students about the border issues in Canada and Mexico, the course enabled students to consider how the border crisis affects Madison County and Colgate. “They were able to connect the things they saw and learned with the experiences of families in upstate New York, where raids from ICE have happened recently,” Simpson says. Economics of Immigration was a Sophomore Residential Seminar, which offers second-year students the opportunity to be part of an immersive living-learning community based on common interests. Other Sophomore Residential Seminars in January traveled to Uganda and Berlin. — Jake Gomez ’21

Nicole Simpson

Professor Nicole Simpson

DISCOVER

Senior Theses: A Sampling s students approach their final year, they face the culmination of their higher education: the senior thesis. This year, Colgate students engaged in thesis work on topics ranging from voter registration to cavefish. Here’s a glimpse into some of their studies.

⚫ Will automatic voter registration be effective in increasing voter turnout rates? Political science major Eli Cousin ’20 asks this question in his honors thesis titled “Reducing Barriers or Negligible Impact? Analyzing the Impact of Automatic Voter Registration on Voter Turnout Rates Across the United States.” Cousin began by studying what motivates people to vote and how economic circumstances can prevent some from reaching the ballot box. He then analyzed data from the 2014 and 2018 midterm elections within states that had implemented Automatic Voter Registration — a process that automatically registers individuals to vote when they interact with government agencies like the DMV — in order to gauge this system’s efficacy. Early results indicate that, while existing data show this newer election reform is successful in registering more people to vote, it may not generate as

large of an increase in voter turnout as some scholars and proponents of the policy might have initially expected. Following graduation, Cousin hopes to work in public service or political communications.

⚫ A network of biological mechanosensors in cavefish — known as a lateral line — detects surrounding vibrations, allowing these blind swimmers to navigate, find food, and escape predators in complete darkness. Molecular biology major Marlene Lawston ’20, an Arnold and Mabel Beckman Scholar, is taking a closer look

in “Changes in Progenitor Populations Lead to Expanded Mechanosensory Lateral Line in Cavefish.” Cavefish lateral line sensory hair cells are comparable to those in the human inner ear. Lawston is examining the sensory adaptations in cavefish that compensate for their blindness, which include vibration attraction behavior and a lack of schooling behavior. After graduation, she will pursue her MD at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and her PhD as a National Institutes of Health Oxford-Cambridge Scholar. No word yet on whether the three cavefish she currently keeps as pets will go with her. ⚫ Wired and wireless networks on campus waste a significant amount of energy due to low efficiency and long idle periods. This inefficiency harms our environment and contributes to climate change. Computer science and mathematical economics double major Owen Sun ’20 is alarmed by the amount of energy expenditure and carbon emissions that information technology causes and hopes to remedy it with his research project “Energy-Aware Network Routing.” Sun has been programming a solution that considers both wired and wireless networks together. He will test this method’s efficiency on a simulated network modeled after the Colgate campus network. “If we just consider wired data, that’s not efficient, since a large portion of our data is wireless. We need to combine them to gain the most efficient method for our campus.” After graduation, Sun plans to pursue a PhD in computer science. ⚫ Most romance poets share a similar conception of what love looks like, finds Hope Orjuela ’20 in “Traditions in 20thCentury Love Poetry: Pedro Salinas, Pablo Neruda and Octavio Paz.” The romance languages major is examining the connections between 20th-

century love poems and how interpretations of love have changed or remained constant since that era. “Love is something that people haven’t quite figured out,” she says, “so it’s interesting to see how different poets interpret it.” Orjuela has found many trends throughout love poetry, including metaphors invoking the supernatural. “I’m excited by the idea of a woman as a goddess, some unattainable being who saves the man with her love.” Orjuela will take a gap year after graduation as she applies to medical school. She will conduct clinical research and volunteer as an emergency medical technician, then travel to Spain to walk El Camino de Santiago.

⚫ Many popular rap songs, including those by artists such as Kanye West and Kendrick Lamar, have shifted toward overt Christian references. Religion major Neil Van Cott ’20 is studying the trend in “Christian Rap Theodicies: Examining Rap Music with Christian Themes.” Van Cott is examining how modern rap uses Christianity for more secular and artistic purposes, rather than with pious intent. “Though West and Lamar are sincerely concerned with the spiritual welfare of their race, both rappers stop short of Bible-thumping in favor of mainstream commercial success,” he says. A selfproclaimed “hip-hop head,” Van Cott hopes to use his thesis to apply to a graduatelevel divinity school after graduation to study sacred music. — Phoebe Sklansky ’22

Spring 2020 Colgate Magazine 23

Illustrations by James Steinberg

how to survive in

Ancient Greece An expatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s guide to living in classical Athens

By Robert Garland, based on his new book from Pen & Sword Books

Imagine you suddenly find yourself transported back in time, to late 5th-century Athens. What do you need to know in order to survive? The year is 420 BCE, when Athens and Sparta are enjoying an uneasy peace. Athens’ manpower is revitalizing after a devastating plague; she rules a maritime empire that dominates the eastern Mediterranean; she has invested more faith in the judgment of the common man than any society before or since; Sophocles and Euripides are writing tragedies that will provoke audiences 2,400 years later; medical science is advancing; and the Parthenon, the greatest Greek temple ever built, crowns the Acropolis. In short, human excellence has reached a peak. You might not want to stay too long, however, for five years later, Athens will make a decision that will set her on a downward spiral, ultimately leading to her total defeat at the hands of Sparta and her allies.

26 Colgate Magazine Spring 2020

What you should know about classical Athens Most of our evidence about classical Greece comes from Athens, the city named after the goddess Athena. That’s because the Athenians are both highly literate and accomplished in all branches of artistic expression. This helps us to envisage how they lived in some detail. Athens’ surrounding landmass, known as Attica, is shaped like an elongated carrot and comprises some 1,000 square miles. Its urban center is more like a medium-sized provincial town than a metropolis in our understanding of the word. The total population of Attica is about 150,000, half of whom live in Athens and the other half in the countryside. Approximately half of the population, too, are slaves and will remain so all their lives. Having produced more men of genius per capita than any other place in history, classical Athens is remarkable by any standards. Its contribution to western civilization — in literature, art, history, architecture, philosophy, and many branches of science, including astronomy and medicine — is unparalleled.

What your house looks like There aren’t two distinct words for “home” and “house” in Greek. Oikos and oikia both mean “house” and “home.” Most houses are flat-roofed dwellings made of mudbrick with a tiled roof. The mudbrick is often covered in plaster. In the center of the main room, there’s a hearth. There’s no chimney; just a hole in the roof, by which the smoke, or at least some of it, escapes. Windows don’t have glass panes; only shutters. This means that in cold weather, when the shutters are drawn across the windows, it’s dark and smoky. The only source of artificial lighting is small lamps that burn animal fat. If you’re well-todo, you sleep in a wooden bed. If you’re not, you sleep on the floor, which is beaten earth with perhaps matting or straw on top. In the courtyard there’s a small altar where you perform daily sacrifices to your household deities. There are one or more flimsy structures to accommodate your slaves, though your domestics sleep in the house. The boundaries of your property are marked by heaps of stones. In some cases, these will take the form of herms: pillars mounted with the head of Hermes, god of boundaries and commerce. The pillars are uncarved except for an erect penis. This is intended to be apotropaic — to deter would-be malefactors and trespassers.

How women have to behave If you’re a “respectable” woman, you’re expected to spend most of your time inside the home. It’s your task to manage the running of the household, including the education of your children. Convention demands that you never leave your home unaccompanied. The statesman Pericles once said, “A woman’s greatest glory is to be talked about neither in praise nor in blame.” In other words, you’re expected to be socially invisible. Modesty is also important. When you do go outside, be careful not to expose any part of your face or body. I suggest you drape your cloak over your head to cover your face. Likely, your husband will be out of the house most of the day, either working, engaged in public business, or merely chewing the cud in the Agora (town center). He regards this as his male prerogative. Most of the time, you’ll be reliant on your relatives (female, of course), your slaves (also female), and your children for companionship. You probably can’t read, though if you’re wealthy, your husband might purchase an educated slave who can read for you. Whichever social class you belong to, you’ll be expected to contribute to the welfare and prosperity of the home. One of the chief ways you can do this is by spinning and weaving. Even Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty, owns a distaff (hers is made out of gold), with which she spins wool or flax into yarn or thread. Odysseus’ wife, Penelope, deceives her suitors by pretending to weave a shroud for her father-in-law, Laertes, and then undoing the weaving at night. She’s told them that she will marry one of them only after she’s finished weaving the shroud. She held them off for years by this ruse.

What it’s like being elderly Being elderly is a mixed bag at best. You’ll feel a lot of aches and pains. Both your sight and hearing will be impaired. Almost inevitably you’ll be leaning on a stick or hobbling on a crutch. You’ll probably begin demonstrating the symptoms of old age by the time you’re in your 40s or even earlier, assuming you survive that long. (In Athens, about half of the population is dead by the age of 40.) The medical profession doesn’t concern itself with the elderly. That said, as a senior citizen, you’ll be looked up to and treated with respect. That would be especially true if you lived in Sparta. The Spartans are famous for

deferring to their elders. They stand aside for them in the street. Though there’s no old-age pension, you can support yourself by jury service, which pays a drachma a day, though the work isn’t guaranteed, and it’s only an option if you live in Athens or close by. Maybe you’ll be able to continue working on the land, like Laertes, Odysseus’ elderly father, who tends vines. Homer describes a happy old age as “glistening” or “shiny.” What he means by that is unclear, but it does at least suggest that longevity isn’t without its compensations, so long as you are well-heeled.

reason, chariots are unsuitable as a method of transport. The mountainous nature of the landscape is partly why the system of independent city-states has grown up, since it’s generally difficult to get from one polis (city-state) to another. If you want to get anywhere quickly, I suggest you run. The chances are, your feet are calloused and have been since you were a child, so you’ll hardly be conscious of the rocks and the brambles you’ll encounter along the way. Of course, that’s only an option if you’re a man. A woman can hardly hitch up her dress and expose her knees, except under dire emergency.

The political arena Participation in politics is expected of every adult male Athenian (women aren’t considered citizens). In the speech that he delivered in honor of the soldiers who died in the first year of the Peloponnesian War, Pericles remarked, “We regard the man who takes no part in politics not as somebody who minds his own business but as good for nothing.” You are expected to attend the assembly and vote on every issue under debate. Meetings take place four times a month. Though the agenda is decided by the council

What you eat The Greeks eat only two meals a day: a fairly light meal early on called ariston, which consists of olives, cheese, honey, bread, and fruit, washed down with diluted wine; and deipnon, a heavier meal in the early evening, also washed down with diluted wine. (Wine is more trustworthy than water.) If you get peckish mid-morning, you can always grab the equivalent of a souvlaki, i.e., bits of vegetables and scraps of meat on a skewer. Wealthy people eat fish or meat for their deipnon. If you are poor, sausages are readily available. The downside is that they tend to be stringy and the meat is pretty dodgy. Casseroles and stews mostly comprise beans and vegetables. There’s no chocolate or sugar. Oranges, lemons, tomatoes, potatoes, and rice haven’t been discovered either. Salt is available but not pepper, and there are no spices. It’s going to be a challenge to get used to the cuisine. At best, it’s going to taste rather bland. At worst, it’ll turn your stomach. The good news is that you won’t have to count your daily calorific intake. You’ll be able to consume as many calories as you can get. You’re almost certain to come up seriously short compared with what you normally eat. For that reason, you won’t see many obese people in ancient Greece.

This is the origin of our word “ostracism”; literally “a vote that is recorded on a potsherd.”

Ways of travel Many Greeks walk long distances on a regular basis, whether for recreation or for work. At the beginning of Plato’s Republic, Socrates has walked 5 miles from Athens to the Piraeus to witness a festival, and he would have returned to Athens the same day, had he not been spotted by a friend, who urged him to come back to his house. In the countryside, it’s a common sight to see men and women riding on a donkey. Horses are pretty useless over any distance due to the roughness of the terrain. For the same Spring 2020 Colgate Magazine 27

of 500, any citizen is entitled to bring forward a subject for discussion. Once a year, the Dêmos (the people) are asked if they want to hold an ostrakismos, or ostracism. If they vote in the affirmative, every citizen will subsequently write the name of the prominent individual whom he wants to send into exile for 10 years. The citizens write on an ostrakon — a piece of broken pottery, which is the most readily available writing material. This is the origin of our word “ostracism”; literally “a vote that is recorded on a potsherd.” This expedient is evoked when two politicians are constantly locking horns and producing a stalemate. An ostracism breaks this impasse by eliminating one of them from the political arena. It isn’t a punishment as such, but a kind of negative popularity contest.

How to get the gods on your side There are two ways to invoke the favor of a deity: by making a votive dedication or by performing a sacrifice or libation. Such actions must be accompanied by prayer. Where appropriate, remind the deity of any previous gifts you have given or sacrifices you have performed. That will help grab their attention. Always remember that they’ve got better things to do than attend to the gripes of wretched mortals. A votive dedication is anything of value. For instance, it can take the form of a small terracotta figurine in the image of the deity, which you deposit in the sanctuary or inside the temple. But, it’s best if you give something precious; a bronze figurine, say, or, better still, a life-size statue. If you’re an aristocrat, you might commission a hymn and have it sung by a choir.

28 Colgate Magazine Spring 2020

The more generous you are, the more likely the deity will heed your prayer. A sacrificial victim might be a sheep, goat, or pig. The more victims, the merrier. If worse comes to worst, offer a chicken or some produce from your garden. As a libation, make an offering of wine, honey, or milk; or all three combined. The same principle obtains with sacrifices and libations as it does with dedications: The more generous you are, the more likely the deity will heed your prayer. The worship of the gods is conducted out in the open. No religious observance takes place inside a temple, which is used solely for displaying the cult statue and storing dedications and implements that are used for cultic purposes.

Why you might want to consult an oracle The Greeks believe that their gods regularly send signs intended to warn them of the outcome of their actions, so it’s a good idea to consult an oracle whenever you’re faced with a big decision.

The most important oracular sanctuary is that of Apollo at Delphi. Be prepared to wait in line. Apollo’s sanctuary is only in session for a few days every year, and there’s bound to be a long queue of petitioners. You will put your question to the god through a priestess who is called the Pythia. She’s so named because Apollo’s cult title is Pythios. The god was given this title because he killed a python when he first arrived at Delphi. The Pythia, a female medium, will give you Apollo’s response. Quite likely, what she utters will be unfathomable, in which case an interpreter will promptly step forward and, no doubt for a fee, explain its meaning in plain Greek. Even then you will need to study it carefully and not jump to rash conclusions. The words “know yourself” are inscribed on the retaining wall of the sanctuary. Knowledge of the future is not much use without selfknowledge. Professional seers equipped with prophecies are also plentiful throughout the Greek world, so if you can’t make it to Delphi, you can engage the services of a seer in Athens. Meteorological phenomena such as eclipses and flights of birds are other tried and tested methods of gaining insight into the future. You’ll soon learn that the gods are doing their best to assist you in your decision making. You’ll have no one but yourself to blame if you don’t take their warnings seriously.

A final word of advice There’s no doubt that adjusting to ancient Greece is going to be something of a challenge. Life, as you have gathered, is lived without amenities, labor-saving devices, and the many distractions that enable us to escape the harshness of reality in the 21st century. You’ll be almost wholly dependent on your friends for entertainment, other than the rare times in the year when dramatic performances occur. I recommend that you put a high premium on conversation. You’re going to be living much closer to the edge in all kinds of ways. Your vulnerability to accident, disease, famine, fire, and war is reflected in the fickleness, jealousy, and vengefulness of your gods. I hope I haven’t put you off too much. There are also many compensations to justify your moving to classical Athens. Your oikos (family) will be a much closerknit structure than families are generally today. You’ll feel a stronger degree of

kinship to a much larger community than most people do today. Your polis will be more unified than virtually any modern society. All the members of the polis, slaves included, are facing certain inescapable existential imperatives. Of these, the principal imperative is life’s unpredictability. In other words, everyone is in the same boat. Unless you happen to be standing beside an odiferous pile of dung, you’ll find the air is pure to a degree that you may never have experienced before. From the Acropolis on a good day, you will be able to see all the way to Acrocorinth in the Peloponnese, some 60 miles distant. At night, the stars will be more plentiful and brighter than they are almost anywhere in the developed world today. Also, there won’t be any chemicals in your food. Racism is largely unknown. You’re unlikely to encounter any color prejudice. You may even discover that the Greeks are darker-skinned than you will be expecting. Greek women are generally subject to male authority, but don’t assume that if you return to ancient Greece as a woman you will automatically be complaining about your lot in life. You might see certain advantages in being looked after, even at the cost of your personal liberty. There are many hazards and threats out there. Don’t take your 21st-century sensibility with you. You’re not going to encounter anyone advocating women’s liberation or debating the ethics of slavery. You’ll have to accept that slavery is a fact of life. Your sense of hearing will be much more acute. You’ll be able to pick up sounds from a far greater distance. Your sense of smell will be more intense as well. That’s because you’ll be more reliant on these senses for your safety than you are today. In the absence of spreadsheets, filing cabinets, and the like, your memory will be vastly superior. You’ll be able to remember long passages of literature, deliver lengthy speeches, and reel off information effortlessly. Everything will be safely stored in that complex computer we call the brain. If you have an ounce of sensibility, the beauty of the natural world, uncontaminated by the human species, will knock your nonexistent socks off. Greek poets are always writing about the misery of human existence and wishing they were dead. “Not to be born in the first place is best for men on earth, or if born to pass through the gates of Hades as quickly as possible,” writes gloomy old Sophocles. But is that the majority view? I seriously doubt it. Most Greeks, I suspect, relish life to the full, and it is for that reason above all that I would love to return to ancient Greece and why I recommend you do too.

Garland’s Odyssey Over the past 34 years, Professor Robert Garland has been a time-traveling tour guide, taking students and audiences back to ancient Greece. In light of the classics professor’s retirement from Colgate, we guide you through his time in Hamilton, starting with his arrival in 1986. An epic blizzard was pummeling central New York when Garland traveled to campus for his interview. He’d been invited by then chair of the classics department, John Rexine. In addition to Rexine, Garland was to interview with Jerry Balmuth, but the philosophy and religion professor never showed because he couldn’t get out of his driveway. The weather continued to threaten Garland’s positive impressions of central New York during his snowy departure in a taxi to the airport. “I’m not a praying person, but I said, ‘God, if you get me back, I promise I’ll be good,’” remembers Garland, who had spent most of his life in England. Rexine must have also had the gods on his side, because he convinced Garland to return to Colgate. “The classics is a passionate subject,” Garland says in explanation for his fervor for the discipline. “The Greeks were always banging on about how life is brief and carpe diem.” The subject matter is full of humanity, he adds, offering The Iliad’s ending as an example. “Priam enters the tent and kisses Achilles’ hands that have slain so many of his sons, and the two weep together. They’re no longer Trojan and Greek, they’re just two human beings. That is the essence of what I want people to know: We’re all the same.” These lessons, Garland hoped, were ones his students would keep pondering outside the classroom. “I liked to say to them, ‘Do you go off, as I did, and talk with your best mates about the nature of human existence?’” When he was outside the classroom, Garland explored creative ways to share his subject matter. Some of the highlights of his career, he says, included directing a standing-room-only production of Lysistrata at The Palace Theater, as well as Prometheus and Antigone. The theater has long been an interest of Garland’s, having trained as an actor at London’s Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts in his 20s. “I’ve always had that other side to myself,” he says. “I think it made me a more effective teacher because I was conscious of my audience.” Garland has also invited audiences into ancient history with his numerous books — although How to Survive in Ancient Greece is a departure from his usual academic writing. “I wanted to break out of the straitjacket,” he says. “I looked at this world, and I tried to suggest that it is one worth visiting. I chose a moment in Athenian history when there was optimism. And I treated it as an exercise in imaginative engagement.” In the book, he flexes his creative muscles in other ways, too: Several of his illustrations bring the text to life. Garland committed to a regular drawing practice over the last two years, working primarily in charcoal and crayon. “I particularly like two tone — black and terracotta — because those are very Greek, as seen in their vases,” he says. In retirement, Garland plans to continue with his art, as well as occasionally teach online through the Great Courses. Just as he was preparing to leave Hamilton for his new home in New York City, a snow storm loomed. But, history proved that Garland can handle it; now he’s ready for the future. — Aleta Mayne

Professor Garland

Bride and Groom (left) and Horseman by Robert Garland

Spring 2020 Colgate Magazine 29

Net Gains By aleta mayne

Clockwise from front: Jordan Burns ’21 (#1), Nelly Cummings ’22 (#0), Rapolas Ivanauskas ’20 (#25), Tucker Richardson ’22 (#15), and Will Rayman ’20 (#10)

30 Colgate Magazine Spring 2020

hen Head Coach Matt Langel met with his team for the final time this season, he acknowledged their frustration while maintaining positivity. They had just learned that the NCAA prematurely ended its season and the Raiders wouldn’t have the chance to play in the National Invitation Tournament because it was canceled. Langel made sure to recognize the team’s successes, despite the circumstances at hand. No Colgate team before has ever broken the program record three years in a row for most wins. They finished this season with an overall record of 25–9 and a 14–4 mark in Patriot League play. “Even though it wasn’t the perfect ending, this team went on a great journey, achieved so much, and it was an incredible season,” Langel tells Colgate Magazine. Three upperclassmen reflect on how they got to where they are today.

Full-Court Press

mark diorio

Although the season didn’t finish as hoped, the men’s basketball team showed its grit by overcoming challenges and breaking records.

Athletes often refer to their team as a family, and Jordan Burns ’21 is willing to take it even further by saying Colgate’s men’s basketball team “is the closest group of guys in the country.” He attributes that to the coaches fostering a closeknit climate and the University’s rural location. Plus, the players genuinely like each other, Burns says, and that’s contributed to their success. “If you don’t like the players you play with, you can be talented, but it’s hard to win if you don’t trust each other. We really love each other, and that’s why we’ve been able to win so many games.” Burns even rooms with teammate Nelly Cummings ’22. “He’s my brother now,” says Burns, who has gone home with Cummings to visit his family in Pittsburgh, Pa. “His mom is my mom; my mom is his mom. We’re really close.” Spring 2020 Colgate Magazine 31

Rapolas Ivanauskas ’20 adds, “We all click together. Especially this year, we put our egos and selfishness aside and played well. We wanted to be a great team rather than great individuals.” The team’s familial feeling became apparent to Will Rayman ’20 when he first visited Colgate in high school, and it’s the reason he made the University his top pick. He and his mom traveled to Hamilton to see the campus and watch a practice. Langel invited them over to his house for a barbecue, joining two student-athletes who were being recruited. Even though Rayman wasn’t there on an official visit, he says, “They made me feel like I was at home.” Rayman started high school at 6-foot-4, “not very athletic,” and his coach predicted he would be a Division III player. Then in his senior year, Rayman grew 4 inches, improved his athleticism, and attracted the attention of Colgate’s coaches. At the time, the Raiders did not have an academic scholarship available for him, and the coaches thought he needed more preparation, so they suggested he attend prep school for an extra year and then come to Hamilton. It was a tough decision for Rayman, who was excited to enter college and was being recruited by Loyola University Maryland. “But I wanted to go here; I didn’t want to go anywhere else,” he says. Rayman decided to spend a year at New

32 Colgate Magazine Spring 2020

Ivanauskas

Hampton School, competing against some of the top players in the country — some of whom are in the NBA right now. “It was an unbelievable experience. I was ready to be a Division I basketball player,” he says. He remembers committing to Colgate on June 27: “It was an important day.” This season, Rayman was named Patriot League Defensive Player of the Year. He became the first player in Colgate history to score 1,800 points and 900 rebounds. Burns also had to overcome challenges to make it to Colgate. “I’ve always been the smallest guy,” says the 6-foot-tall guard. What Burns lacks in height, he makes up for in speed and moxie, exploding down the court before his opponents can catch up. Noting that he wasn’t a top-10 player in his hometown of San Antonio, Texas, Burns says, “most people didn’t believe in me besides my own family.” So, he put in overtime at the gym and studied the game intensely. “I wasn’t blessed to be the tallest or most athletic, but I constantly worked to become the person and player I am today,” he says. “I have that dog mentality — I’m going to take what’s mine, and nobody’s going to stop me.” This season, Burns was the leading scorer for the Raiders, averaging 15.8 points per game. In the Legends Classic Subregional Championship against Green Bay, he scored 40 points — a tournament record and career

high. He also ranked third in Colgate history in career assists (418). Ivanauskas spent his first two years of college at Northwestern University and was looking for a fresh start when he transferred to Colgate as a junior. At Northwestern, the player didn’t get much game time because of constant issues with shoulder subluxation (partial dislocation), which led to two surgeries. Determined to make the most of his second chance at Colgate, last season Ivanauskas was named Patriot League Men’s Basketball Player of the Year and garnered All-American honors — making him the first Raider to be given both of these recognitions since Adonal Foyle ’98 in 1997. This season, Ivanauskas played center for the first time — a decision the coaches made after last year’s seniors graduated and they evaluated the team’s strengths. Although the new position was a learning curve for Ivanauskas, he became more comfortable throughout the season. “Our team defense improved immeasurably this year, and his defense was a big part of that,” Langel says. Colgate coaches work hard to help their players reach full potential. “Part of that is looking at the big picture,” Langel says, “by helping them improve individually and figuring out a way to take advantage of their abilities and talents together.” When they’re assessing new recruits, Langel says,

mark diorio (2)

Rayman

This season's average attendance rate exceeded 1,000 (at 1,014) for the first time since 1997.

“We’re looking for guys who are talented and have the skills and athletic abilities to have success, but we also need guys who are committed to the hard work and the challenges — those who are able to overcome adversity and difficulty.”

The Ball’s in Their Court

As students left campus mid-semester to finish their classes online, Rayman was making plans to also continue training at a court near his home on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. His post-graduation goal is to hire an agent and play professionally. Eventually, the educational studies major would like to become a college basketball coach. “I want to have an impact on the next kid,” Rayman says. “Not just on the court, but in their lives too.” At Colgate, “my coaches have done so much for me,” he says, adding that he and Assistant Coach Dave Klatsky have “probably watched over 100 hours” of basketball games together. And Langel, Rayman says, is “like Yoda” because of his knack for reading situations and offering dependable advice. “I’ve gone to him with problems, and he’ll Ivanauskas give me an anecdote that’s changed my life completely,” Rayman says.

Burns still has another year to decide which direction his life will take after Colgate. In the meantime, he’s trying to influence the next generation. On visits home to San Antonio, he speaks to middle and high school student-athletes about giving their all in the classroom and on the court. Burns tells them to “treat education how you treat the game of basketball and work hard in all aspects of life because the game could stop any day, but your intelligence lives on.” Ivanauskas knows firsthand that everything can change and that “the game — something I love so much — can be taken away.” Because of his injuries at Northwestern, he missed the remainder of his first season. So, after this season, he still has one year of eligibility remaining. At press time, Ivanauskas was settling in at home in Barrington, Ill., weighing his options. As someone who tries to take a mindful approach, he says, “My mentality is, ‘What can I do today? How can I be a better player, a better person, and maximize today?’ And if I do that, it’ll all work out, I think, in the end.” Taking life day by day, being our best, and celebrating the good: It’s a mindset we can all embrace in these strenuous times.

HIGHLIGHTS LANGEL → Won his thirdconsecutive Patriot League Coach of the Year award. Now in his ninth season, Langel is the first head coach in Patriot League history to receive this honor three years in a row. → NABC District 13 and ECAC Coach of the Year honors in 2018–19

→ Speaks six languages: Lithuanian, Russian, Spanish, German, French, and English

→ Played professionally in Europe for Chêne BC in Switzerland, ALM Évreux Basket in France Pro A, the MBC and Hagen in German Bundesliga I, and the Eiffel Towers

RAYMAN

BURNS

→ 2000 graduate of UPenn’s Wharton School of Business

→ First player in Colgate history to score 1,800 points and 900 rebounds; second in program history in scoring (1,836 points) → Choosing an educational studies major: “I wanted to understand why people are the way they are, what backgrounds they came from, and how that affects them in the learning environment.”

Justin Wolford

→ 2020 All-Patriot League second team; 2019: Patriot League Men’s Basketball Player of the Year and garnered All-American honors

→ Choosing a history major: “You get to go back in time, put yourself in other people’s shoes, and see how things were. You also see how similar we are to some situations. Like they say, history repeats itself. To listen to the stories when people foul up, and how we can learn from that — it gets me excited to think about.”

→ 2020 Patriot League Defensive Player of the Year; 2020 AllPatriot League first team; named to the All-Defensive team for the second consecutive season; All-Patriot League second team in 2018 and 2019; 2017 Patriot League Rookie of the Year; 2020 NABC District 13 second team

Burns

IVANAUSKAS

→ Senior thesis: “The Court to the Classroom,” a look at how coaches can contribute to studentathletes’ academic achievement

→ Leading scorer for the Raiders this season, averaging 15.8 points per game; he ranked eighth in the Patriot League → Third in program history in career assists (418) → Became the only non-senior to make the All-Patriot League first team this year; All-Rookie team in 2018 and second team in 2019; 2020 NABC District 13 first team → Scored 40 points in the Legends Classic Subregional Championship, a tournament record → Choosing a sociology major: “The study of people and societies is so interesting — including how we view gender, race, and religion. It’s valuable in knowing how to interact with people and realize where people are coming from.”

Spring 2020 Colgate Magazine 33

Privacy Matters Three professors from different disciplines provide their viewpoints on big data, data security, and the societal implications of this growing issue.

By aleta mayne illustrations by Matt chinworth matchbox-sized device that monitors Assistant Professor Neta Alexander is implanted in her chest, just under her collarbone. The device is a pacemaker and, as such, keeps her heart beating. However, its wireless capabilities mean that her biodata are stored in the cloud, which has prompted her to question: Who owns my personal information, how secure is it, and what are the potential risks? As a media and technology scholar, the professor looks at the bigger picture and what the future could hold — for us all. “A month before turning 34, I received an unexpected birthday gift,” Alexander wrote about her cloud-connected pacemaker in a 2018 Atlantic article, where she first began

34 Colgate Magazine Spring 2020

publicly analyzing the Internet of Medical Things (IoMT). From medical devices to smartwatches that provide data to health care systems via the internet, IoMT is a rapidly growing industry that is expected to exceed more than $158 billion by 2022, predicts Deloitte. Alexander was a doctoral student at New York University (NYU) in August 2017 when she couldn’t shake symptoms of fatigue and weakness. She had initially chalked them up to jet lag and exhaustion from spending the summer in Berlin, where she’d been doing an arduous writing fellowship for her dissertation. “But it didn’t go away,” she remembers. “It actually got worse.” An appointment with Alexander’s physician revealed that her pulse was dangerously slow — 20 beats per minute. They rushed her to the ICU and ran a battery of tests, from Lyme disease to a possible

infection. “They reached a conclusion that I had a complete heart block and needed a pacemaker,” she says. The device constantly collects data including her heartbeat and physical activity. When Alexander puts a remote control–sized monitor up to her chest every few months, the information is transmitted to her physician and Medtronic, her pacemaker’s manufacturer. Medical professionals tout the convenience of these devices because patients can receive remote care. Alexander’s doctoral research focused on the ways in which digital technologies — specifically streaming services — are reshaping behavior. Whether it’s Netflix or a pacemaker, Alexander’s research has given her the mind frame to question the dark side of technology. “It was easy for me to see that there’s more to the story than ‘We saved your life and now we just want to

Spring 2020 Colgate Magazine 35

monitor you to make sure you’re fine,’” she says. “There are other things going on.” In addition, Alexander has been a journalist since the age of 17, writing for Haaretz, a major newspaper in her native Israel. This training motivated her to begin digging into the topic. Every new pacemaker implanted in the United States is cloud connected, Alexander learned from her NYU physician, Lior Jankelson. Overall, there are 3.7 million connected medical devices in use, which means that millions of people face concerns similar to Alexander’s. Several major cybersecurity vulnerabilities in medical devices have been reported by the media. In 2017, the FDA recalled 500,000 pacemakers (all made by Abbott) when a cybersecurity firm found vulnerabilities that could allow hackers to change a patient’s heartbeat or run down the battery. In 2018, at a security conference, two researchers showed that malware can be installed on a type of pacemaker by Medtronic. And last spring, Medtronic disclosed a cybersecurity weakness in 750,000 of its defibrillators. Last fall, the FDA urged device manufacturers, health care providers, and patients “to remain vigilant about their medical products” in light of a cybersecurity vulnerability affecting several operating systems. “These cybersecurity vulnerabilities may allow a remote user to take control of a medical device and change its function, cause denial of service, or cause information leaks or logical flaws, which may prevent a device from functioning properly or at all,” the report stated. “The more I read, the more I felt that I didn’t have access to the full picture before the surgery,” Alexander says. Lying in a hospital bed, she wasn’t in a position to question her cardiologist’s advice or research the information she was given. “In that context, consent is a tricky word,” she says. “I’m not going to say ‘No, I’d rather die.’ That’s not an option.” Furthermore, because hospitals and doctors tend to work with specific manufacturers, patients can’t shop around and compare devices. Alexander felt further disempowered when she tried to obtain her pacemaker data from Medtronic and the hospital. They told her she’d have to sign a release form and wait for its approval before the data could be sent to her — via postal mail. As she waited, Alexander’s Atlantic article caught the attention of Medtronic, and the chief medical officer invited her to the company’s Minneapolis headquarters so they could address her questions. “I asked them if I could come as an independent

36 Colgate Magazine Spring 2020

journalist and record all our conversations,” she says. Medtronic agreed, and Alexander spent an entire day touring the facility and meeting with engineers and cybersecurity experts. “Some of the things they said about the security and privacy units reassured me,” Alexander says. “Also, they made an important distinction between wireless and Wi-Fi technology.” Her pacemaker, Alexander explains, can be connected to Wi-Fi via a bedside monitor in order to send data, so she is not constantly connected to the cloud. In short, it isn’t wireless and always connected to the extent that our mobile phone is. “But, that doesn’t mean that other models or future models won’t be,” she says. During her visit, Alexander also wanted to emphasize to Medtronic officials that, as a for-profit company, its operations may not always put the patient first. “In different moments throughout the day, I was trying to make the point that we should acknowledge the company mission to make a profit for its shareholders and the fact that, in terms of the public image, all they talk about is saving lives.” Although Alexander says she “left feeling more informed,” her concerns were not entirely put to rest. But the company did resolve one issue: She told them she hadn’t yet received her data as she’d requested, and soon after, a thick envelope arrived with pages of numbers and graphs. Each page was stamped Copyright © 2001–2018 Medtronic, Inc. “It was great to finally receive my own data, but these numbers and charts require a medical literacy that most cardiac patients do not have,” she says. “As patients-turnedactivists argue, device manufacturers and medical professionals should help us figure out ways to obtain that kind of literacy. Not every patient wants to be a cardiologist, but many want to feel the kind of empowerment that comes with being able to understand one’s own data, or at the very least, detect abnormalities and warning signs.” Alexander adds that she is grateful to Medtronic for its life-saving device and to her doctors for her medical care, but she wants medical professionals to empower their patients by giving them more information about the devices with which they’ll share a body. “We need to find a way to communicate all of the dangers and risks and benefits to patients and let them make an informed decision,” she says. “And if you can’t do that right away because it’s an emergency, then offer a training workshop or webinar — something to say, ‘Here is what we know about hacking and privacy.’” Many patients, she acknowledges, may not

wish to learn more about their devices. “But, psychologically, one of the difficult things about having a pacemaker is a lack of agency; so, help us regain a sense of control by providing us with some basic knowledge about our devices.” From telling her story, Alexander also hopes people realize data security is something everyone needs to think about — even those in perfect health. Google recently acquired FitBit — and, thus, the health data of its millions of customers. Meanwhile, Apple Watch Series 4 has an ECG scan that can detect heart rhythm abnormalities. Alexander asks: Who will guarantee that this information is not sold to insurance companies or pharmaceutical firms? “The fact that I have a device inside my body, monitoring my biodata, is just a glimpse into the future,” she says. “We’re all going there.” Neta Alexander, assistant professor of film and media studies, focuses on science and technology studies and digital culture, film, and media. Her recent book, Failure (Polity, 2019), co-authored with Arjun Appadurai, studies how Silicon Valley and Wall Street monetize failure and forgetfulness.

A BALANCING ACT

n 1996, MIT grad student Latanya Sweeney mailed Massachusetts’ Gov. William Weld his medical records. She was proving a point. The governor had assured the public that patient privacy was protected when the Massachusetts Group Insurance Commission released “anonymized” data to facilitate research efforts. Anonymization, or de-identification, is a common practice to protect individuals’ privacy in shared datasets by removing identifiers like names, Social Security numbers, and dates of birth. Sweeney crossreferenced the released medical data with voter records to determine Weld’s identity, and she famously pointed out the flaws of the oft-used method of anonymization.

FPO

In an effort to develop a stronger approach to securing sensitive information within datasets that are shared for statistics and research, Colgate computer science professor Michael Hay has been working on a model of privacy protection called differential privacy. Differential privacy promises that whatever information is publicly released cannot be reverse-engineered to determine whether any one person’s record appears in the original dataset. This promise is typically achieved by adding random noise to the computations performed on the data. The noise obscures individual records, but still allows a data scientist to learn about the population as a whole. Hay was one of the first to study differential privacy after it was invented by a group of researchers in 2006. “I was interested in the concrete applications,” he says. “So I did some work that was practically focused, wrote code, and ran experiments.” In 2010, Hay and colleagues released a paper, “Optimizing Linear Counting Queries

Under Differential Privacy,” which proposes an algorithm called the matrix mechanism. “The matrix mechanism helps a data scientist balance the competing goals of ensuring privacy and accurately preserving the statistics of interest,” Hay explains. A variant of this approach will be used in the U.S. 2020 Census, for which Hay has been a consultant. Differential privacy has been named one of 10 breakthrough technologies in 2020 due to its deployment for the census. And, Hay’s paper won this year’s ACM PODS Alberto O. Mendelzon Test-of-Time Award. The matrix mechanism is also used in the products that Hay and two colleagues are building at Tumult Labs, a start-up company the trio founded in 2019. “Our ultimate goal is to build software tools that allow people to use differential privacy to safely share their data and be assured rigorous privacy protection,” he says. Their clients include statistical agencies as well as businesses operating in the private sector. Next year,

Hay will be taking a sabbatical to work at the company full time. Although differential privacy has been adopted by the U.S. Census — as well as Apple, Google, and Uber for some of their projects — it should be acknowledged that it is not without controversy, Hay points out. Critics are concerned that it is too restrictive and will muddy the census data that researchers and statisticians rely on. “But, any release of information incurs some risk of privacy loss,” Hay argues. “With differential privacy, the privacy loss can be controlled and mathematically quantified. This technology is not a silver bullet, but it does enable institutions to decide how much data to share in a principled way.” Michael Hay is an associate professor of computer science. His research interests include data privacy, databases, data mining, machine learning, and social network analysis. Spring 2020 Colgate Magazine 37

“To be a person is to be networked through your community.” — Emilio Spadola

FEEDING THE MACHINE

hat does it mean to talk about the individual as private, or of an individual’s data as private? Professor Emilio Spadola looks at privacy from an anthropologist’s viewpoint. “Culture is public, language is public, social institutions are public, and so the self is also fundamentally public,” he says. “We are each a unique individual, but we build our individual selves in and through publicly available material.” Arguments about privacy often suggest an ideal of autonomy — no one should penetrate or influence our inner thoughts and lives. But, “the very possibility of being a person in the fullest sense already presumes that we’re not isolated individuals,” says Spadola. To be a person is to be networked through your community. So, to think in terms of social science is to think: “Yes, we’re each an individual with a unique personal life, and yet there’s no absolute privacy.” Historically, the word “public” has meant, in some way, “held in common and thus communal,” he explains. So as we

38 Colgate Magazine Spring 2020

use communal elements like language or cultural and social expectations in everyday life, we help maintain communal life as a whole. “The problem with social media and big data is the increasingly total commoditization and monetization of everyday personal interactions — our friendships and family lives — that we do not associate with commerce,” Spadola says. “When you post something, you’re renewing communal life, but also producing value for corporate profit. The problem is when the latter comes at the expense of the former.” Both he and Alexander cite The Age of Surveillance Capitalism (PublicAffairs, 2019) in which Harvard professor emerita Shoshana Zuboff describes how corporations are financially benefiting from people sharing their personal experiences, predilections, and interactions. Of course, sometimes data is collected without our express permission. Most of us have had the experience of seeing ads on our devices that make us think our technology is listening to our conversations. Spadola points out that this has carried into his classroom. In his anthropology course, Culture, Diversity, and Inequality, he assigned his students the movie The Matrix (in which bodies fuel the machine that keeps them imprisoned). Later that day, when one of his students returned to her

room and opened her computer, Netflix was advertising The Matrix to her, even though she’d never searched for it previously. “Clearly, her phone was listening, our class interaction was being monetized, and we were laboring for a social media giant,” Spadola says. “Whether we like it or not, we’re constantly having data scraped off us or having all of our interactions stored and monetized.” Even so, Spadola says, social media and the internet can’t be blamed as the source of the problem. “Ultimately we’re seeing the ordinary force of capitalism. We’re workers, producing value that’s enriching certain individuals and classes.” The issue, he adds, is that theories of capitalism have described it as a system in which individual self-interest paradoxically produces an overall public good. “But social media interactions do not necessarily renew societies,” Spadola says. “In fact, there are socially destructive interactions, such as sharing ‘fake news’ and posting extremist propaganda. These don’t produce value for society, but deplete it. Social media isn’t enriching the commons.” Emilio Spadola, associate professor of anthropology and Middle Eastern and Islamic civilization studies, explores technological media, social life, and security in Muslim societies.

IN THE KNOW

How to Protect Your Location Privacy BY DARA SEiDL ’10 Our location is in demand. Constantly collected and leaked from our devices, a thorough history of our daily trajectories is available to companies and individuals who want it. Marketers use location data to classify us into categories for targeted advertising based on where we visited. Insurance (auto and health) companies buy location data to predict risk among customers and set rates. Location histories are also used for openly nefarious reasons, including identity theft, stalking, and targeting empty homes for burglary. Geoprivacy, or location privacy, is the right to control how and the extent to which your location is shared with others. Short of dumping your smartphone and never going online again, there are steps you can take to protect your location privacy in our state of hyperconnectivity. ON YOUR PHONE Delete or deny permissions to apps that are unnecessarily collecting your location. For example, you don’t need to share your location while using a flashlight, and you can still check the weather without giving away your GPS coordinates. These types of location collections are built in to be sold to data companies. On Apple phones, you can see which applications have been accessing your location under Settings, then Privacy, then Location Services. For Android, go to Settings, then Location, then App Permission. Turning off Location Services is a helpful step, but it does not prevent your phone’s location from being tracked. Last year, news broke that cell service providers were selling real-time cell tower location data while location services were turned off, a technology only supposed to be used to locate 911 callers in an emergency. Device locations are also collected when they come within range of Wi-Fi beacons and Bluetooth receivers. One way to avoid this is to turn off your smartphone when on the go, or to consider using a Faraday bag, which blocks wireless signals. ON YOUR COMPUTER Your IP address and internet searches also give away location. Consider using a privacyforward browser and search engine for your

online activity. Try out extensions such as DuckDuckGo, Ghostery, Brave, Firefox, or Safari to prevent ad tracking. You can also change the location associated with your internet use. To change your IP address, and thereby mask your location, use VPN or Tor technology to encrypt and pass your internet activity through a different IP address linked to a faraway location. Once you start to plug the location data leaks from your devices, you can turn to cleaning up your personal data that are already out there. Remove yourself from data broker websites, which may have your name, age, ethnicity, previous addresses, relatives, inferred political affiliations, and estimated income and wealth. Spokeo, Pipl, SuperDataProfiles, and InstantCheckmate are just a few of the hundreds of data brokers out there. These sites typically have an opt-out page. IN THE PHYSICAL WORLD When out and about, your time-stamped location may be captured by surveillance cameras, automated license plate readers, and credit card swipes. Facial recognition technology has a known high error rate and can lead to false identification, including for crimes. To prevent recognition by surveillance cameras, artists such as Adam Harvey and Kate Rose have developed clothing and accessories designed to trip up facial recognition technology. When making purchases, use cash and opt out of mobile-payment platforms, such as Square. These systems sell data on your location, what you bought, when you bought it, and your spending habits. For example, after visiting a psychologist’s office, you might receive targeted ads for mental health treatments. In at least one case, a woman received targeted maternity ads at her home before she told her family she was pregnant. Mobile location data are also being purchased by political campaigns to attempt to turn voters, such as those who attend particular events or protests. Finally, advocate for stricter privacy regulations for companies that package and sell your location data without knowledge or consent by writing to your representatives.

DARA SEIDL ’10 is a 2019–20 EthicalGEO Fellow selected by the American Geographical Society. Seven fellows were awarded $7,500 each to pursue their “big idea” or project to address ethics in the use of geospatial tools and technology. Seidl is creating a series of short films to help educators teach geoprivacy in high school and college classrooms, thereby serving as a springboard for discussion of privacy issues related to modern location capture technologies. A 2018 PhD graduate of the joint doctoral program in geography between San Diego State University and the University of California at Santa Barbara, Seidl is a researcher focused on the intersections between privacy and Geographic Information Systems. Colgate Magazine 39

Endeavor books

Dissecting a Dictator

At the start of this year, you told The Hill: “Kim is poised to increase his tough talk and belligerence in 2020.” Tell us more. I would say Kim is going to be conducting additional missile tests and weapons demonstrations. He’s already said he is not bound by his self-imposed moratorium on intercontinental ballistic missile testing or nuclear testing. He is laying the groundwork for additional provocative actions that the North is willing to take and lay the blame on Washington for whatever bad things North Korea is going to do.

Jung Pak ’96 provides expert analysis of Kim Jong Un

orth Korean dictator Kim Jong Il had just suffered a stroke when Jung Pak ’96 joined the CIA as a political analyst specializing in Korea issues. “The stroke spurred the succession process,” Pak explains, “and that’s when [Kim Jong Il’s son] Kim Jong Un started to appear.” Pak has been analyzing Kim Jong Un since his rise to power following his father’s death in December 2011. She later led the U.S. intelligence community’s strategic analysis as the deputy national intelligence officer for Korea at the National Intelligence Council. Based on her experience, Pak wrote the recent book Becoming Kim Jong Un: A Former CIA Officer’s Insights Into North Korea’s Enigmatic Young Dictator (Ballantine Books).

There is this tendency to look at him in this binary way: defensive or offensive, crazy or not crazy. “I wanted to provide a fuller version of this leader who’s often caricatured in the media,” says Pak, who is now a senior fellow and the SK-Korea Foundation Chair in Korea Studies at the Brookings Institution. “I also wanted to put flesh and bones into this man who has such a huge impact on geopolitical dynamics.”

40 Colgate Magazine Spring 2020

Do you think he is unpredictable? Kim’s strategic approach is predictable in that he is unlikely to give up his nuclear weapons, so his actions will reflect that goal. But he is unpredictable in a tactical sense. Is he going to do a ballistic missile test today or tomorrow, a week or three months from now? Is he going to engage in negotiations with the U.S. or South Korea, and if so, what would be on the negotiating table and why? These are very tactical moves, but in the big picture, he is more predictable than most people realize.

How would you describe Kim Jong Un? Kim is prone to caricature, as was his father, because there’s little reliable information on the North Korean regime. There are few things that we can corroborate with confidence. There is this tendency to look at him in this binary way: defensive or offensive, crazy or not crazy. He is young, and he wants to be modern. But while he embraces technology and all of the accoutrements of modernity (such as amusement parks, restaurants, and smartphones), he, like his father and grandfather before him, wants to ensure that he alone controls the information that flows to his people. He’s also ambitious, but he’s constrained to a large extent by his history and what he inherited — a dictatorship and the infrastructure of repression that goes along with it. And he wants to ensure that he doesn’t squander his inheritance: the Kim family dynastic rule of a nuclear-armed North Korea.

What are your thoughts on the U.S.’s current relationship with North Korea? President Trump rushed into a decision to meet with Kim and has touted his personal relationship with him since 2018. So, this very difficult, complicated national security issue has been boiled down to how much the two men like or dislike each other. Meanwhile, Kim has used summits to chip away at the sanctions that are in place to prevent proliferation of North Korean weapons of mass destruction technologies and to strangle the regime’s ability to generate hard currency to fund its illicit programs. The North is almost certainly improving its nuclear weapons capabilities, despite Kim’s relationship with Trump. In addition to producing more fissile materials for nuclear weapons, Pyongyang’s ballistic missiles are now more reliable, more mobile, and more dangerous. Considering what you’ve told us, is there a positive endnote? Having worked in the national security world, I’ve seen a lot of the national security infrastructure that we have built, the U.S. government’s expertise, the partnerships that we have with our allies, and how our diplomatic, military, and economic power contribute to stability and prosperity.

— Aleta Mayne

Rubric

Business

Clothes Make the Man Brian Duford ’05 helps bring versatility to menswear

s one of the first employees of Gap’s new men’s athleisure brand, Hill City, Brian Duford ’05 is helping reinterpret what men’s clothing can be. Previously working as a business forecaster at the women’s athleisure brand Athleta, Duford spent most of his time looking at spreadsheets, not clothes. “I’m

bryan meltz

an economics kind of guy,” he says. “I like being surrounded by creative people, but I’m the guy who is not creative.” For months, Duford had a folder on his desktop for a new project that the company, part of Gap Inc., was considering for a “men’s Athleta brand.” When Athleta leadership approached him to be a part of an internal team to make it a reality — building a new brand from the

ground up — he didn’t hesitate. “It was a unique opportunity,” Duford says. Now he is one of approximately two dozen employees in the fledgling clothing brand Hill City, which hopes to do for men what Athleta and Lululemon did for women a decade ago: create a new category of clothing — athleisure. “It’s all about versatility,” says Duford. “Men’s clothes are siloed — if you are going on a hike, you wear Patagonia; if you are going to the gym, you wear something with logos all over it.” While he never gave much thought to clothes before, he considers himself the target demographic for the company, as a young urban professional in San Francisco who wants functional clothes to wear to the office, as well as after work. “If you want a pair of pants that looks good at night, but is also comfortable and has some stretch in the waistband, there aren’t a lot of options.” Along with a new clothing category, Duford and his colleagues are creating a new kind of company, with a start-up mentality inside a legacy brand. This has required him to look beyond the numbers and take on multiple roles. Duford studied international relations at Colgate, focusing on international business economics. When he started at Gap, Inc. in San Francisco after graduation, he enjoyed the challenge of economic forecasting in an industry disrupted by the internet. “We found there is a place for retail stores, but it has to be done a little differently,” he says. While at Athleta, he pushed initiatives for smaller stores with running clubs and athletics events to bring in customers. “If you build a community and engage with the clientele, it keeps them coming back,” he says. Hill City is primarily an internet brand, but Duford and his colleagues are pursuing innovative ways to market the company, with pop-up stores and clothing “food trucks” at athletics events. “We are doing something scrappy and different,” says Duford, who has taken on everything from inventory management to wholesale distribution to working in the store. “It’s energizing to come into work and not know what you are going to do that day,” he says. “And seeing how your work has direct impact on the bottom line is motivation to work harder.” Duford hopes to help grow Hill City to the point where he can once again focus on forecasting. For now, though, he’s enjoying looking beyond the spreadsheets every once in a while to be closer to the creative energy of the brand.

— Michael Blanding Spring 2020 Colgate Magazine 41

endeavor

music

A Different Kind of Dad Rock Meet children’s musician Billy Hartong ’97

illy Hartong ’97 plugged his acoustic guitar into an amplifier and readied his microphone. Adjusting his conductor’s hat and Buddy Holly-esque thick-rimmed glasses, he blew a train whistle and began to play his throwback hit “Mama Go Choo Choo.” His audience cheered, forming a conga line. They are all under the age of 10. Hartong is the founder and front man of the children’s music group The Jolly Pops. The classics major got his start in music jamming with college bands in fraternity basements and local venues, eventually touring with the band Breaking Laces for more than a decade. Once he settled into fatherhood, he adjusted his songs for his new (read: younger) audience. He turned his aptitude for entertaining the next generation into a career with The Jolly Pops, seeking to help kids develop their own musical tastes in an energetic atmosphere. With a rotating band of “happy dads,” Hartong cruises (in his black Toyota Sienna) to gigs at libraries, schools, and summer festivals. Get to know him through some of the band’s favorite objects:

→ Conductor’s hat/whistle “The first song I wrote for The Jolly Pops was called ‘Mama Go Choo Choo.’ My wife, Sarah, would leave to get on the subway in the morning. My oldest child was 3 years old, and anytime mama left, she would cry. I started singing her what became the song, and it calmed her down.”

→ Pig puppet In addition to his larger shows with The Jolly Pops, Hartong performs at local schools. “I never really wanted to be a puppeteer, but I started bringing puppets into the classroom. I'll show up at a preschool now, and they’re not even interested in seeing me. They just want to know where the pig [‘Bacon’] and alligator [‘Chompy’] are.”

Billy Hartong (left) and bandmate

→ Acoustic guitar Hartong uses his acoustic guitar to write songs in styles ranging from heavy metal to reggae to bluegrass. “We’re introducing kids to music at a very early age. We don't confine ourselves to one genre: We just take every idea of the song and think, ‘How best would that be served?’”

→ Albums The title track for The Jolly Pops’ latest release, Bad Bad Dinosaur, was influenced in part by Hartong’s youngest daughter. “You’ll be hard-pressed to find a kid who, if you mention dinosaurs, doesn’t light up. I thought, ‘What if a kid dug up a rock outside, and it ended up being a dinosaur egg? Then it grows up and it starts chasing him around the house.’ “I started telling the story to my 4-year-old, and then I started pretending that I was the dinosaur biting her arm. She turned to me and said, ‘Daddy, I am not food.’ That was the lyric I needed.”

— Rebecca Docter 42 Colgate Magazine Spring 2020

endeavor

online

This Is Awesome, I Swear! A digital platform created by Kate Foster Lengyel ’99 recommends the products women really use

ate Foster Lengyel ’99 and Roger Lengyel ’99 like to toss business ideas back and forth, Shark Tank–style. “Roger would say I had a lot of cockamamie ideas,” says Foster Lengyel, who has been married to him since 2004. But when she pitched him the idea for SwearBy — a digital platform where women would share recommendations for products they love — he told her, “You’re on to something.” He was right. Last January, less than three years after quitting her job to devote herself full time to SwearBy, Foster Lengyel sold it to Meredith Corporation, the nation’s largest publisher of print and digital magazines. Meredith, which hired Foster Lengyel to stay on as the site’s general manager, wants to turn SwearBy into the “gold standard” for endorsements of beauty, style, entertainment, and parenting products. Foster Lengyel was an executive vice president and chief marketing officer at NYDJ Apparel when a chat with customers about the company’s jeans gave her the idea: an online forum where women would share the items they “swear by” without being paid for their referrals, as many online influencers are. “I was fascinated by word of mouth and how women on a microscale are influencing their friends every day,” says Foster Lengyel. Women are invited to offer their recommendations on SwearBy and may receive free products as rewards. Leaving a well-paying job to create a prototype of SwearBy (with Foster Lengyel’s Colgate roommate Christina Licursi ’99 providing legal assistance) was “a leap into the great unknown,” she says. “But I wanted to commit to this.” The next step was pitching the concept to potential investors, which she found “exhausting and humbling.” Then she reconnected with Catherine Levene, Meredith’s president and chief digital officer, whom she had met at a dinner for female entrepreneurs. Two months later,

Left: Jamey Guy; Right: michelle Rose

she was in Times Square with the friend who helped build the technology end of SwearBy — Foster Lengyel was SwearBy’s only full-time employee — when she received a phone call with the news that Meredith was going to make an offer. The deal closed on New Year’s Eve 2019. Now a mentor for Colgate’s Thought Into Action entrepreneurship program,

Foster Lengyel tells students that “half of entrepreneurship is being bold enough to act.” It takes dedication — she often used to have to set her alarm for 4:45 a.m. — and it can be lonely, she says, but when an idea strikes, you need to seize the day. “There’s no time like the present.”

— Jennifer Altmann Spring 2020 Colgate Magazine 43

SALMAGUNDI Crossword

Puzzle by Kyle Dolan â&#x20AC;&#x2122;06 ACROSS

1 Prohibits 5 The Paris Agreement, e.g. 9 Cheese with a red wax coat 13 University Orchestraâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s tuner 14 WRCU sign 16 Starch made from a palm

17 19 20 21 22

Hamilton business known for its frozen assets? Get ready, as for an exam Evaluate Big (Raidersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; rivals) Queen portrayed by Olivia Colman in The Favourite

23 Creator of Sonic and Tails 24 Challenging period for Colgate students? 26 It may precede tune or correct 28 Barrel of laughs 29 One in a stack at Frank Dining Hall 32 Emulates Lizzo, say 35 Cultural Center (Colgate champions of inclusivity) 38 â&#x20AC;&#x153;Ri-i-ight thereâ&#x20AC;? 39 Hall (new Colgate building of 2019) 41 Garland of the Pacific 42 Merlot or pinot noir 44 Without delay, in shorthand 45 Winter sight on the Hill 46 One might be suckled on a sow - benefit analysis 48 50 Venue that last hosted games in February 2016 54 Roman emperor who was a student of Seneca 57 Highlands girl 58 Big stink 59 Rodeo contestants, often 61 Good Natureâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Blight Buster and Non-Stop Hop Onslaught, for two 62 Oft-photographed Colgate scene 64 â&#x20AC;&#x153;Whip Itâ&#x20AC;? band 65 Flower whose root is used in Chinese cuisine 66 â&#x20AC;&#x153;And our lips but /That old song of yoreâ&#x20AC;? (alma mater) 67 Steinbeckâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s East of 68 Super (50x50 New York Times crossword) 69 Point on a Colgate cruiser route

DOWN 1

2 3 4

tea (drink with tapioca pearls) Bottomless pit Like the myths of Odin and Freyja West African country

5 6

Dolphin families Fifty Shades of Grey heroine, for short 7 Capital on the Nile 8 Like someone who pulled an all-nighter 9 Language one might practice at La Casa Pan-Latina Americana 10 â&#x20AC;&#x153;Phooey!â&#x20AC;? 11 S.H.I.E.L.D.â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Peggy Carter, e.g. 12 Dejected 15 Winona of Stranger Things 18 Jacobâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s twin 24 Disney film set in Polynesia 25 Knives Out director Johnson 27 Ironman competition, briefly 29 What you might keep under a chair during class 30 Implement on Lake Moraine 31 Exuberant cry from a hockey announcer 33 Dells, e.g. 34 Palaceâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s opposite Dart, 36 Mabel Colgrove Colgateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first full-time female student 37 Financial (42% of the Class of 2023 receive it) 39 Orchard fruit 40 2019 event for Uber or Lyft: Abbr. 43 Where to take Colgateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Games and Strategies course 45 Grasslands of central Asia 47 Drag, Gloucester-style? 49 Forecast for, like, 75% of a Colgate academic year 50 Playground fixture 51 Not live 52 Hit the books, e.g. 53 Nick of The Mandalorian 55 Undergo a change, in chemistry 56 Prefix with -pedic or -dontic 59 Parks of Civil Rights movement 60 Compare prices, with â&#x20AC;&#x153;aroundâ&#x20AC;? 63 Haul

Answers on pg. 61.

Clipped

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Good leadershipâ&#x20AC;Ś There will be difficult challenges, but as long as we have the right kind of leadership, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not that much of a problem.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Sen. Robert F. Kennedy in an interview with editors Perry Margoles â&#x20AC;&#x2122;66 and Christopher Hall â&#x20AC;&#x2122;66 during a flight from Schenectady to Washington, D.C., Sept. 24, 1965.

From the Colgate Maroon, October 6, 1965 Spring 2020â&#x20AC;&#x192; Colgate Magazineâ&#x20AC;&#x192; 85

13 Oak Drive Hamilton, NY 13346-1398

In This Issue

Perfect an at-home mani p.77

Study new targets for cancer treatment p.20

Sing along with Billy Hartong ’97 and The Jolly Pops p.42

Get product recommendations from people you trust p.43

Secure your personal data with geomasking p.39

Read about man’s best friend in American lit p.67

Shoot pucks with alumni hockey coaches p.71

Fight for workers’ rights p.79

Meet Hamilton’s new pastor from the Class of ’10 p.56

Give advice to your sophomoreyear self p.18

Play basketball like a Patriot League Player of the Year p.30

Test out your crossword skills with Kyle Dolan ’06 p.85

jill calder

Learn CIA insights into Korean dictator Kim Jong Un p.40