Spring Scene 2013 by Colgate University

scene Spring 2013

News and views for the Colgate community

Orderly and Humane Light from the Island of Refuse Behind and Beyond the News in the New Middle East

scene

Spring 2013

28 Orderly and Humane

Professor R.M. Douglas reveals an atrocity in plain sight

34 Light from the Island of Refuse

Sam Spitz ’13 tells a story of resistance in Mexico City

38 Behind and Beyond the News in the New Middle East

Photojournalist Lindsay Mackenzie ’05 shares her work covering the Arab Spring

Message from President Jeffrey Herbst

Letters

Work & Play

Tableau: “The unsung warrior”

Konosioni

Life of the Mind

Arts & Culture

Go ’gate

New, Noted & Quoted

The Big Picture: New views in Lathrop Hall

Stay Connected

Class News 77 Marriages & Unions 77 Births & Adoptions 78 In Memoriam

Salmagundi: Puzzle, Rewind

DEPARTMENTS

On the cover: Emmett Potts ’15 and his classmates took part in an archaeological dig at Beit Guvrin as part of Steven Kepnes’s Land of Israel extended study course in January. Read more on pg. 15. Photo by Dani Machlis Left: The Ho Science Center as seen from the landscaping in front of O’Connor Campus Center. Photo by Andrew Daddio News and views for the Colgate community

scene team

Contributors

Volume XLII Number 3 The Scene is published by Colgate University four times a year — in autumn, winter, spring, and summer. The Scene is circulated without charge to alumni, parents, friends, and students.

In addition to his book on the expulsion of Germans after World War II, historian R.M. Douglas (“Orderly and Humane,” pg. 28), is author of four other books. Named one of Princeton Review’s Best 300 Professors in 2012, he specializes in 20th-century Europe. At Colgate since 1996, Douglas earned his BA from the University of Dublin, Trinity College; MA from Ohio State; and PhD from Brown.

Sam Spitz ’13 (“Light from the Island of Refuse, pg. 34), a history major from Chicago, Ill., is heading off to the University of Oxford for a master’s in U.S. history. He begins a speaking tour with The Greens, his film about life at Chicago’s Cabrini-Green housing project, with an appearance at Knox College in May. His personal essay about superbugs and the food system was published in Mother Earth News.

Freelance photojournalist Lindsay Mackenzie ’05 (“Behind and Beyond the News in the New Middle East, pg. 38) was named a 2012 Flash Forward Emerging Photographer by the Magenta Foundation. She has worked for the Wall Street Journal, El Pais, Globe and Mail, the National, Washington Post, Financial Times, BBC, AP, and others (visit lindsay mackenzie.com). She earned an MA from the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

Author of many Scene and colgate.edu news stories since spring 2012, Katie Rice ’13 has also been a marketing intern for Colgate’s Donovan’s Pub. After a semester in Spain, she landed a sales and advertising internship at Horyzon Media in Madrid. The editor-inchief of the Colgate Portfolio, and member of Delta Delta Delta and the Ultimate Frisbee team, she’s pursuing a marketing career in New York City.

Listen

Colgate faculty share expertise: tinyurl.com/ColgateFacultyExpertise Our YouTube playlist features professors Ellen Kraly, Tony Aveni, Jay Mandle, and several others as they discuss their research or share their views on the latest topics in the news.

Look

Stunning Colgate photography, just a click away: Colgate.photoshelter.com Visit our galleries to order customized photographic prints in a variety of sizes. Bring home images you’ve seen in the Colgate Scene and other university publications as well as scenic views from around one of America’s most beautiful campuses.

Watch

Detangling quantum entanglement: tinyurl.com/ColgateQuantumGalvez Professor Enrique Galvez built a machine to observe quantum entanglement, and demonstrated it to a crew from Scientific American.

scene: Spring 2013

Contributors: Barbara Brooks, Director of Marketing and Public Relations; Daniel DeVries, Admission Marketing Manager; Matt Faulkner, Assistant Director of Athletic Communications; Matt Hames, Manager of Media Communications; David Herringshaw, Online Community Manager; Jason Kammerdiener ’10, Web Content Specialist; Karen Luciani, Art Director; Katherine Mutz, Graphic Designer; Timothy O’Keeffe, Director of Web Content; John Painter, Director of Athletic Communications; Mark Walden, Senior Advancement Writer Contact: scene@colgate.edu 315-228-7417 colgate.edu/scene

scene online

Vice President for Communications Debra Townsend Managing Editor Rebecca Costello Associate Editor Aleta Mayne Director of Publications Gerald Gall Coordinator of Photographic Services Andrew Daddio Production Assistant Kathy Bridge

Talk

Get social: facebook.com/ colgateuniversity Join the discussion about all things Colgate on the university’s Facebook page. Feel free to share your ’gate-related photos, too!

Go paperless

Online Scene subscription: scene@colgate.edu To stop receiving the printed Scene, e-mail us your name, class year, address, and e-mail address, and put Online Mailing List in the subject. We’ll send you an e-mail when we post new online editions (colgate. edu/scene).

Colgate University 315-228-1000 Printed and mailed from Lane Press in South Burlington, Vt. If you’re moving... Please clip the address label and send with your new address to: Alumni Records Clerk, Colgate University, 13 Oak Drive, Hamilton, NY 13346-1398. Opinions expressed are not necessarily shared by the university, the publishers, or the editors. Notice of Non-Discrimination: Colgate University does not discriminate in its programs and activities because of race, color, sex, pregnancy, religion, creed, national origin (including ancestry), citizenship status, physical or mental disability, age, marital status, sexual orientation, veteran or military status (including special disabled veteran, Vietnam-era veteran, or recently separated veteran), predisposing genetic characteristics, domestic violence victim status, or any other protected category under applicable local, state, or federal law. The following person has been designated to handle inquiries regarding the university’s non-discrimination policies: Marilyn Rugg, Associate Provost for Equity and Diversity, 13 Oak Drive, Hamilton, NY 13346; 315-228-7288.

Message from President Jeffrey Herbst

Entering the job market

is much more difficult today than before

the economic crash of 2008. And we know that how students get their start in the labor market has implications for their long-term success. For many prospective students and their families, career preparation and employability are major factors in deciding on a college. It’s essential that our career programs ensure that students have every advantage possible — and that, as a liberal arts college, we do a good job of telling the story of how well we do that. more effectively tap our strong alumni network, we moved the Office of Career Services into the Division of Institutional Advancement. We also recruited Mike Sciola, an outstanding professional who served for many years at Wesleyan, to lead our career services team as associate vice president. Mike has already brought tremendous energy and new ideas to campus. This realignment is already yielding innovations and results. We expanded the longstanding Real World program — where alumni come to campus in January to give career advice to seniors — to a full-year’s worth of programs, workshops, and networking events both on campus and around the nation. To get students into career planning and development earlier, we also launched SophoMORE Connections, a three-day career discovery event in January. More than 400 members of the Class of 2015 came back early from winter break to take part, and more than 100 alumni and parent volunteers helped them to explore the many careers open to liberal arts graduates [read “Back(flip) on campus,” pg. 9]. Finally, we know that internships matter more to employers than any other factor on a recent college graduate’s resume, as confirmed by a survey released by Marketplace and the Chronicle of Higher Education in March (“Internships become the new job requirement,” Marketplace.org, March 4, 2013). We are redoubling our efforts to find internships and develop resources that will help students take advantage of special, but unpaid, opportunities regardless of financial need. Of course, the incredible Colgate network greatly helps in those efforts. If you would like to help a Colgate student find an internship, or if you have one available, please do not hesitate to contact Mike Sciola and his team at ccs@colgate.edu. You will be providing an important start to wonderful students who will have much to offer. Alumni working in communications and media professions shared their insights at a career cluster session, part of the first SophoMORE Connections career exploration program in January. Andrew Daddio

In order to better understand the realities of today’s job market for recent graduates, the Board of Trustees held their January meeting in Los Angeles, a city that has been at the heart of American reinvention for a century. Our keynote speaker was Michael Lynton, chief executive officer of Sony Corporation of America and Sony Entertainment. He used his background in the entertainment industry — a sector that has experienced repeated technological disruption — to describe how students can adjust to, and take advantage of, a rapidly changing world. Several other speakers talked about how Colgate could and should adapt to the new economy. A panel of young alumni shared how they had parlayed their Colgate educations into successful careers in Los Angeles. A common theme was the decentralized, rapidly changing, and unpredictable nature of the new economy. Lynton noted how, in contrast to the dominance of big firms in the past, there is no “on-ramp” for current graduates, who must navigate a job market with great opportunities but also unprecedented complexity. Our young alumni panelists, some of whom have already had to change jobs or even professions several times, confirmed that notion. We have responded to the need to help our students enter this economy, which has much to offer but is hard to access, in several ways. To

News and views for the Colgate community

Letters

scene

Milk Money

Winter 2013

News and views for the Colgate community

Milk Money Local Legacies Responsible Adults Only

The Scene welcomes letters. We reserve the right to decide whether a letter is acceptable for publication and to edit for accuracy, clarity, and length. Letters deemed potentially libelous or that malign a person or group will not be published. Letters should not exceed 250 words. You can reach us by mail, or e-mail sceneletters @colgate.edu. Please include your full name, class year if applicable, address, phone number, and/or e-mail address. If we receive many letters on a given topic, we will print a representative sample of the opinions expressed. On occasion, we may run additional letters online.

scene: Spring 2013

Kirk Kardashian deserves commendation for addressing complex and controversial dairy policy issues (“Milk Money,” winter 2013 Scene, pg. 26). U.S. dairy farmers are an unbelievably hard-working group that has endured a significant number of challenges in recent years, from adverse weather to unpredictable prices. Dairy farmers are the quintessential American entrepreneurs, taking on extensive personal financial risk and dedicating long hours to producing milk while seeking fairly minimal support from government programs, which they would rather avoid, if possible. Federal dairy price support programs are controversial. As Kardashian noted, U.S. dairy policies created in the 1930s have sought to ensure a reliable supply of milk at a fair price for dairy farmers. While not perfect, these policies have put a floor under milk prices when too much is produced, while giving dairy farmers free rein to seek higher prices for upscale and novelty products that they may choose to produce. (The description of Hudson Valley Fresh’s premium milk marketing campaign ably illustrated this option.) Equally important, federal dairy policy has allowed lower-cost and larger-scale dairy producers to expand and supply “commodity” grade milk at very reasonable prices for Americans with limited incomes who cannot afford premium products and for export to developing countries whose production conditions are not well suited to dairy products. I write from the perspective of having worked in the Foreign Agricultural Service of the USDA, where I was involved in the administration of the Dairy Export Incentive Program, su-

pervised the administration of USDAfinanced Market Access Program export promotion for U.S. dairy industry organizations, and worked with other USDA agencies (Agricultural Marketing Service, Farm Services Agency) that run federal dairy programs. New Englanders needn’t worry about having to drink reconstituted milk made from concentrate trucked across the country from large-scale farms in the West. As long as they are willing to pay a little extra for fresh milk from higher-cost Northeast dairy farmers, there will always be dedicated and hard-working local dairy farmers willing to supply them — at minimal cost to U.S. taxpayers. Howard Wetzel ’77 Fairfax, Va. What a small and wonderful world. My Colgate Scene arrived and, finally, a great article I could relate to. I graduated in 1964, went to Ecuador to serve in the Peace Corps, and then returned to my family’s 50-cow registered herd and lived my dream. Raised three children and, along with my hardworking wife, we managed to survive and prosper. One son is home making cheese and our 24-year-old daughter, Sarah, will be taking over the farm, starting with 30 cows and dreams of intense pasture management and raw milk sales in the future. My dear friend Sam Simon, of the Hudson Valley Fresh cooperative profiled in the article, mailed me the book when I told him of the Colgate article. Thank you to Kirk Kardashian for a fascinating and wonderfully accurate account of the dairy industry. His explanation of the convoluted milk pricing system is the best I have read. Barry Chase ’64 Chaseholm Farm, Pine Plains, N.Y.

On “Responsible adults only” Congratulations to Alan Frumin ’68, a classmate I unfortunately do not know. His article (“Responsible adults only,” winter 2013 Scene, pg. 38) is the most lucid, informative, and entertaining writing to come out of Washington, D.C., probably since Thomas Jefferson. My only regret is that I most likely won’t be around when his memoirs are, of prudent necessity, published posthumously. There’s gotta be some great revealing and enlightening “stories” Alan could tell, should he so choose. Here’s hoping. Bill Badenoch ’68 Huntington Beach, Calif.

Many thanks to Alan Frumin for his enlightening piece on the U.S. Senate. I also must congratulate the Scene for giving Alan the space to make his article thorough and complete. The current unwillingness of American elected officials to compromise reminds me of days in U.S. Embassies abroad when I and other American diplomats had to deal with unyielding, uncompromising foreign officials who had dug in their heels. “Short-sighted knuckleheads” was the term we used most often to describe them. Can I use that to characterize

several senators who have dug in their heels in Washington? Compromise has become a dirty word in our political discourse. Until we change that, and until our Congress sees the advantage in “giving a little” in order to gain a little back, the word “stalemate” will be commonly used to describe our political situation. Very unproductive. And, very dangerous for our interests, foreign and domestic. Don Mathes ’55 U.S. Foreign Service Officer (ret.) Steamboat Springs, Colo. Congratulations on a superb presentation of Alan Frumin’s adaptation of his inaugural Edgar L. Shor Memorial Lecture presented at Colgate last October. I had Alan in class back in the 1960s. His discussion of the filibuster as a venerable Senate institution and procedures to end unlimited debate is fairly heavy going for uninitiated readers, but enhanced by the glossary of key terms and Alan’s list of instances when, as Senate parliamentarian, he had to deal with procedural issues not settled by established rules or governed by precedent. I have been pondering meanings one can attach to illustrator David Vogin’s striking full-page collage, which seems to be in keeping with the mysteries of parliamentary practice and its shadowy arbiters. I must draw attention to an error in the caption below Alan’s portrait. Howard Williams ’30 briefly describes in his History of Colgate University (pg. 303) the origin of the Washington Study Group, the first of its kind. Professor Rodney Mott, then director of the Division of Social Sciences, not Shor, is credited with the idea. Professor Paul Jacobsen ’27 took the first

group of students to Washington in 1935. That said, I recently helped Professor Stan Brubaker establish a memorial lecture fund for Ed Shor (1916–2012), who was at Colgate from 1963 to 1983 — for much of that time as head of the political science department and for many years as director of the Washington Study Group. Charlie Naef Professor of Political Science Emeritus

On the preservation of original knowledge I was both surprised and thrilled to see the beautiful image of Sky Woman in the winter 2013 Scene (“Local legacies,” pg. 32). This legend, the Haudenosaunee creation story, and so many other creation stories from throughout Indian country represent knowledge still preserved in the ancestral memory of the People, and is the only knowledge indigenous to this hemisphere. And it’s still here, despite the odds. Traditional knowledge is timeless, and precious, and may hold keys to our common survival.

ceremonies, and medicines of their ancestors. In gratitude to you for a beautiful piece, including the names of the Haudenosaunee nations written in the languages! Eric Noyes ’86 Executive Director American Indian Institute Bozeman, Mont.

Of championships and scrums I really enjoyed the coverage of athletics in the winter issue, and congrats to the three teams that won fall Patriot League championships and the individuals earning significant Patriot League honors. In the interesting “Get to know” profile of Anne-Marie Lemal (coach of figure skating and the rugby club), reference is made to an NCAA rugby championship game. The NCAA does not sponsor rugby for men or women. The writer must have meant to refer to some other kind of championship. Brad Tufts ’59 Hilton Head Island, S.C. Editor’s note: The event in question was an international tournament at Pebble Beach.

I’m glad Colgate students, who live so close to the central fire in the longhouse at the Onondaga Nation, are being made aware of this original knowledge of the Onkwehonh:we. There’s so much to learn from the Clan Mothers, Chiefs, and Faithkeepers who still carry the ancient instructions,

Lucky 13 Just thought I’d share another tidbit from a proud dad for your Lucky 13 list (Page 13, autumn 2012 Scene): Colgate wide receiver Chris Looney ’13 is the 13th first-team football Academic AllAmerican from the Patriot League! Wayne Looney P’13 Verona, N.J.

Remembering a father We have received countless messages ranging from people who have only met our dad, George Swan ’82 (In Memoriam, pg. 79), once to people who have known him their whole lives, all with the same message — what a positive impact he had on their lives. He truly loved Colgate, and the people he met there — many of them epic figures in his life — left a tremendous impact on him. He talked about them often and lit up any time he told us stories from his experiences with them. We are thankful for the lifelong friends he acquired from his years at Colgate and how they stuck by his side throughout his life. Shauna, Kacey, Brennan, and Tanner Swan Ridgewood, N.J.

Picture this: stunning Colgate University photography, just a click away Visit our galleries at colgate.photoshelter.com to order customized photographic prints in a variety of sizes. Bring home images you’ve seen in the Colgate Scene and other university publications as well as scenic views from around one of America’s most beautiful campuses.

News and views for the Colgate community

work & play

Campus scrapbook

Just hear those sleigh bells jingling at Endless Trails Farm in Brookfield, N.Y., where members of University Church glided along with the song. Photo by Ashlee Eve ’14 Velkommen, Bienvenido, hu¯ an yíng! Now welcoming the hungry to Frank Dining Hall, 48 flags represent the melting pot of Colgate’s student body. Photo by Gabriela Bezerra ’13

Whether a 49ers fan, rooting for the Ravens, or just tuning in for the Calvin Klein commercials, Delta Delta Delta sisters gathered ’round for the Super Bowl. Photo by Ashlee Eve ’14

Fat Tuesday fundraising: swinging into Mardi Gras to raise money for the Hamilton Interfaith Holiday Project. Photo by Ashlee Eve ’14

These hotshots both stay warm and keep a Colgate tradition alive while playing hockey on Taylor Lake. Photo by Ashlee Eve ’14

There was no boredom in the board room at The Games Strike Back, a night of games, nerf gun wars, competitions, and prizes coordinated by student group the Game’s Afoot. Photo by Ashlee Eve ’14.

Stargazers view student work on the Chinese zodiac with Neil deGrasse Tyson, the popular astrophysicist. For more on Tyson’s February visit, see pg. 15. Photo by Andrew Daddio

Getting raw with executive chef Michael Stagnaro during a sushi-making demonstration at the Coop. Photo by Andrew Daddio

Biology professor Engda Hagos and other professors helped Cub Scouts with a hands-on science demonstration for the local Dens of Wolves, Bears, and Webelos at the Ho Science Center. Photo by Andrew Daddio

scene: Spring 2013

G H

News and views for the Colgate community

work & play

Picking the next pontiff

Mourning the death of Luke Stalker ’14

The Colgate community has been mourning the tragic death of Peter “Luke” Stalker ’14. Stalker, 21, died March 10 as the result of a fall at a Paris hotel where he had been staying with the university’s Geneva Study Group. According to Stalker’s family, they were informed by French authorities that his death has been ruled accidental. Specifically, the authorities concluded that Stalker, who had been resting alone in his room, went out on the window terrace outside his hotel room for a cigarette, fainted, and fell to the sidewalk below.

Ashlee Eve ’14

Model papal conclave: Chaplain Mark Shiner, acting as the dean of the College of Cardinals, holds the Bible as James Buttner ’15 takes an oath swearing that his votes would not be influenced by outside parties.

cast. In an overwhelming victory, Pat Gillick ’13 (Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle of Manila) won the papacy. His first order of business? “I would jokingly ban Twitter, and then I would actually institute abstaining from meat on Fridays all year,” Gillick said. — Natalie Sportelli ’15

In light of the Catholic Pope Benedict XVI’s resignation, on March 2, 13 “cardinals” reverently took their seats in the Clark Room of James C. Colgate Hall. With Gregorian chants playing in the background and a projection of the Sistine Chapel, Colgate’s first model papal conclave commenced. “When we heard the pope was resigning, students were asking me a lot of questions about the conclave,” said Mark Shiner, university chaplain and Catholic campus minister. Their curiosity prompted Shiner and the Newman Community to set up the mock proceedings. “We wanted to hold a conclave that was authentic, and to get people to learn about it,” said Tom Wiley ’13 of the Newman Board. People were encouraged to participate regardless of religion or belief system. In advance, 12 students and one professor each chose a current cardinal who reflects their personal beliefs or who they thought would make a good pope. After researching their cardinal, participants adopted that person’s character, discussing their platforms with other contenders over lunches, one-on-one interactions, and through a blog. “It was interesting to hear the various perspectives from everyone embodying their different characters,” said religion professor Ben Stahlberg, who represented Cardinal Odilo Pedro Scherer of Brazil. Three rounds of voting — alternating with discussions of the most pressing issues facing the church and the cardinals extolling their qualifications — narrowed down the candidates before the final votes were

scene: Spring 2013

Stalker, of Jackson, Wyo., was an international relations and peace and conflict studies double major. “Luke was a passionate young scholar, and his contributions and presence will be sorely missed,” said Stefanie Fishel, a postdoctoral fellow in peace and conflict studies who advised and taught Stalker. A member of Phi Delta Theta and several other student groups, Stalker had attended the Journeys School of Teton Science Schools in Jackson. Immediately following his death, the university offered counseling to the students on the study group and organized gatherings at Memorial Chapel for anyone seeking comfort or wishing to talk. As of press time, a memorial service was planned for late March to celebrate Stalker’s life. The service was to be webcast live so that Stalker’s fellow students on the study

Views from the hill What are your spring break plans? “I’ll be going to Georgia with the Frisbee team to play in the High Tide Tournament. We always look forward to it as a chance to bond and make memories.” — Jeanie Arnold ’13, anthropology and English double major from Houston, Texas “I’m going on the Colgate trip to Martinique. It’s a quarter-credit class attached to History 377, History of Caribbean Culture. We’re going to learn about the Creole culture and do some service work, like help university students practice their English. Maybe we’ll get to go to the rain forest, too.” — Spenser Nehrt ’13, philosophy and French double major from Cheshire, Conn. “I’m going to Turkey for nine days with a group organized by the Office of the Chaplains. It’s an interfaith trip to explore Turkey’s religious history and discuss interfaith issues. I am on the leadership team for Colgate Christian Fellowship, and I applied because it seemed like a wonderful opportunity to learn about other religions and interfaith discourse in a dynamic context.” — Erica Weston ’15, double major in peace and conflict studies and Asian studies from Hamden, Conn.

Dreams can spur positive action

What do a young reverend fighting for civil rights in America and a Colgate student have in common? Spanning different locations, time periods, and personal situations, they share connecting threads: hopes for the future, aspirations, and the belief that personal hardships or other struggles will be overcome. That realization struck me after attending campus events commemorating Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy in January, where I heard incredible stories of resilience and strength in the face of adversity. At the opening ceremony, Andrea Finley ’12, the first student ever asked to give opening remarks, shared her sense of urgency that we must critically analyze our surroundings, even though the knowledge we gain may make us uncomfortable: “I challenge us to make mistakes, but to learn from them, so that we will not repeat the vicious cycle of normalcy that has led us to complacency.” (Read a profile of Finley on pg. 49.) “We have to have liberty, and justice, for all,” said Van Jones in his keynote address. The author of Rebuild

the Dream and founder of a nonprofit of the same name dedicated to social justice also founded Green For All, which works to get green jobs to disadvantaged communities. Campus organizations and departments collaborated to share myriad perspectives at a workshop about the struggle of undocumented youth in America, a brown bag discussion about refugee education, a presentation by ALANA student ambassadors to local schoolchildren, and an afternoon of community service. The challenge is upon us to take action on the path paved by Martin Luther King Jr. more than 40 years ago. — Marilyn Hernandez-Stopp ’14

Back(flip) on campus “You always have to be attuned to — and looking for — those opportunities that will catapult you to the next level.” That was sound advice from Backflip Studios founder Julian Farrior ’93, for whom opportunity came through a career-changing brainstorm. In 2006, Farrior was engineering a new mapping software for a company in Boulder. Sales were stagnant until the program crossed over from desktop computers to the iPhone. At the same time, he recalled, “I was watching my wife, who had never played a game in her life, play Words with Friends for an hour a day. It felt like there was this huge opportunity to create mobile game content specifically for the mobile platform.” Farrior, who had previously worked at prestigious firms from Sotheby’s to Wall Street to Yahoo, hadn’t taken a salary since moving to Boulder. But he bootstrapped Backflip Studios in 2009 with the last of his savings and soon had filled the gaming void with now-legendary content like Dragonvale, Paper Toss, and Ragdoll Blaster. The venture has grown from a simple idea to a $150 million enterprise. Farrior shared his story in his

Black History Month: discussing social change

“There is something fundamentally wrong about how we distribute opportunity,” civil rights activist Lani Guinier said as she kick-started the campuswide celebration of Black History Month in February. The American Dream has become a means for finding a scapegoat when the idea of working hard and playing by the rules doesn’t work, asserted the Harvard University law professor and author. Focusing on issues of race and class, Guinier took the audience on a journey through time, placing her narrative in the context of the Civil Rights movement and the movements to desegregate schools in the South. In an example to explain how race is deeply related to class, she revealed a surprising twist of events that has

Andrew Daddio

The opening ceremony in January commemorating Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy

been, for the most part, omitted from what we’ve been taught in our textbooks about this monumental time in American history. Guinier recounted that the attempts by black students in Little Rock, Ark., to desegregate Central High School prompted the city’s upper–middle-class elites to build their own all-white school. Lowerclass whites then felt that they’d been hit by “a double whammy,” she said. In an issue closer to home, Guinier discussed the role of higher education institutions in perpetuating the misrepresentation of people of all races and classes. She said that we need to “democratize” education, and ensure that people of all backgrounds can gain admittance to prestigious institutions like Colgate or Harvard. Among other Black History Month events, Touré, a political commentator, columnist, and the author of Who’s Afraid of Post-Blackness? What It

keynote address for Colgate’s first SophoMORE Connections program. More than 100 alumni returned to Colgate January 18 and 19 to offer sophomores career advice through panel presentations and networking receptions. Having established his credentials, Farrior offered five tips for success: surround yourself with talent, generate a lot of ideas, chase disruption, learn from failure, and do something you love.

Andrew Daddio

group and others could participate virtually. Stalker is survived by his parents, Peter III and Anne, of Jackson, and three sisters: Laura Everard, Emily Hardwick, and Helen Stalker. “We offer our heartfelt condolences to Luke’s family, his many friends, classmates, teachers, and fraternity brothers,” said President Jeffrey Herbst.

Adding a last piece of encouragement, Farrior said, “I’ve read all of this bad stuff about opportunities for young people coming out of school. However, mobile is changing the world. It’s blowing up business models that were significant 10 years ago — there’s extraordinary opportunity.”

Means to Be Black Now (named a Most Notable Book of 2011 by the New York Times and the Washington Post), spoke at the chapel. Provost Douglas Hicks discussed two monumental figures who used their religious leadership for social change, Martin Luther King Jr. and Jesus, for the Great Minds Lecture Series. As part of Africana Women’s Week, Sisters of the Round Table brought a former Black Panther Party chairperson, Elaine Brown, to discuss the concept of the “school-to-prison” pipeline. Spoken word activists Hill L. Waters and Durell M. Callier presented a choreopoem (a dramatic art that combines poetry and dance) called “Love, Funk, and Other Thangs.” — Marilyn Hernandez-Stopp ’14

Honoring Sandy Hook victims

In the wake of the school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in

News and views for the Colgate community

Ashlee Eve ’14

work & play Andrew Daddio

An interfaith memorial service remembered the Sandy Hook shooting victims.

scene: Spring 2013

Newtown, Conn., Colgate’s Office of the Chaplains and Interfaith Service Initiative held a service at the chapel in February. Faith-based organizations including the Newman Community, University Church, Colgate Christian Fellowship, Colgate Jewish Union, Hindu Student Association, and Colgate Secular Association of Skeptical Students (SASS) took part. “There are many prayers for dif-

ficult times,” said Christopher Donnelly ’15, president of the Newman Community, “but there is no perfect response for a tragedy such as Sandy Hook.” Donnelly chose to combine Catholic prayers of mourning and of hope, which were followed by a short performance by the Newman choir. Thomas Wobby ’14, president of SASS, read the victims’ names. “When somebody commits a terrible crime such as this one, their names get remembered forever while the victims’ get forgotten,” he said. “If everyone remembers just one of the people from this list, I will feel as if I did my job.” Annie Hoefler ’15, president of University Church, added portions of President Barack Obama’s speech addressing Sandy Hook into her presentation, while a representative of the Colgate Jewish Student Union read a Jewish prayer for the dead that speaks of hope and love, and a member from the Hindu Student Association recited a prayer in Hindi. “When something happens, it’s all over the news, but people don’t think about it after,” remarked audience member Fareeza Islam ’14. “I’m glad

The Palace Theater hosted Flashback – Summer Lovin’, a cabaret of love songs, just before Valentine’s Day. The smooth vocals of local performers Jenni Lachar and Erin Schey brought romance to the stage with their renditions of love songs from the 1920s–1960s, such as “Dream a Little Dream of Me” and “Catch a Falling Star.” Free dance lessons got the crowd moving. Among its stops on all seven continents, the Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour screened outdoor adventure films to a sold-out crowd at the Hamilton Movie Theater in late February. The tour has been coming to the Hamilton since 2000 in conjunction with Colgate’s Outdoor Education program. Hamilton Central School’s Winter Fest took place on March 2 as part of its continued fundraising efforts to support Long Island’s East Rockaway School District, which was hit hard by Hurri-

that Colgate and the interfaith community are still remembering those victims.” The Colgate community also joined together to honor a member of its own family. The Class of 1993 has established a scholarship fund named after the son of Mark and Cindy Radley ’93 Mattioli, 6-year-old James, who was one of the victims. — Marilyn Hernandez-Stopp ’14

Makeover: Lathrop Hall edition

Lathrop Hall, built in 1905, has a rich history and its share of quirks and secrets (some that are now revealed!). A mainstay of the Academic Quad, the building has undergone major changes: a flood of natural light, revamped classrooms and offices, and new spaces that allow for collaboration and use of technology. The renovation was largely completed when students returned from winter break. A wide-open lobby directly accesses a multipurpose classroom that replaced the lecture hall that once blocked off all the back windows. Its bank of windows can be darkened with a flip of a switch so that people

cane Sandy. The event included a 5K walk/run, volleyball tournament, indoor obstacle course, crafts, and a scavenger hunt. Local artisans are Village Green displaying their paintings, fabric art, sculpture, and more at the Community Art Show that began in April and runs until the second week of May. Held at the Hamilton Public Library, the show features the works of approximately 60 people. Librarian Sandy Crumb noted, “It’s nice to see all the talent in this town. It’s amazing!” A new series of concerts known as the Local Music Project will be held at the Colgate Inn’s Rathskeller. Hamilton resident and musician Bruce Ward said he wanted to give regional performers an opportunity to share their songs with encouraging audiences. Shows are booked through May, but Ward is hopeful that more musicians, including Colgate students, will audition for future performances. Such festivals and activities helped earn Hamilton the #11 spot in Forbes’s “America’s Friendliest Towns” rankings. As with the other communities on Forbes’s list, Hamilton also features a high rate (more than 60%) of home ownership, a highly educated population, and relatively little crime. — Alicia Klepeis

Go figure... Career prep adds up 3

immersion trips to New York City this semester helped students learn more about their intended professions

54 students participated 18 majors represented 1.19:1 ratio of participating alumni to participating students

707 total years’ experience held by alumni who advised students

2.5 minutes spent by each Women in Business member in speed networking rounds

8.5 real estate class hours offered on topics ranging from investment sales to affordable housing

24+ companies visited and represented by alumni, including Goldman Sachs, Deloitte, and Massey Knakal

13,982.91

Dow Jones closing value on 2/13, when the finance group visited the New York Stock Exchange

make their home in Lathrop. Natural light now floods in from once-secreted skylights and dramatic arched windows in several revamped spaces. Architectural features such as handcrafted dentil crown moldings on the fourth floor have been restored. A newer design element involves hallway benches with seats made from recycled seat belts. The $9.5 million renovation was shepherded by Colgate project manager Robert Dwyer, who worked closely with a campus committee and the architects. Dwyer said there is a good deal of work that visitors will never see, including spray foam insulation, new air handling, and other mechanical systems. The building was renovated with LEED certification in mind. At press time, that review process was ongoing. (See The Big Picture on pg. 44.)

Seniors have a ball

In a classy revival of old traditions, the Class of 2013 transformed the Hall of Presidents into a dance hall for their Senior Class Ball in February. Decked out in formal attire, students arrived as a string trio played. Servers from the Colgate Inn passed around hors d’oeuvres, while chocolate fondue fountains and bartenders serving local wine and beer flanked the corners. Candles flickered at the white clothdraped tables dotting the room. Soon, couples were dancing to jazz by Caitlin Grossjung ’13 and No Standards. “I loved the idea of bringing our entire class together, because that’s not something we’ve done since the first time we met freshman year,” said William Civitillo ’13, the driving force behind the event. When Civitillo connected with Konosioni about the idea, he found out about the lost Colgate traditions of Senior Stag and the Winter Ball, and the idea for the revival was born. The organizers decided the ball should also benefit a charity. As seniors arrived, they were asked to donate to Two-by-Two Nursery School in Hamilton for its playground and classroom technology projects; the class raised $2,000. “It was fun and really nice to see a lot of people I don’t normally run into,” said Rebecca Raudabaugh ’13. Civitillo is hoping part of the “lucky” Class of 2013’s legacy will be a continued tradition of the senior ball. — Katie Rice ’13

Get to know: Suzy Nelson

Andrew Daddio

in the lobby won’t be a distraction when class is in session. To the right of the lobby is the Writing and Speaking Center (formerly in Alumni Hall), where students can discuss their writing in the spacious main room. Students can practice oral presentations, videotape themselves, and review their speeches in a smaller, private room. The new digital media writing classroom features a seminar table for class discussion and computer workstations along the perimeter, allowing professors to seamlessly incorporate technology into their teaching. The writing and rhetoric department is committed to enriching its classes with new media technologies. Two recently introduced courses — WRIT 222: The Narrative in New Media and WRIT 340: Visual Rhetorics — focus entirely on new media study. The Division of University Studies and the English department — including the Lawrence Hall lounge supported by Jeff Fager ’77, P’06 and his wife, Melinda, that serves as a meeting space for English majors — also now

Vice president and dean of the college since June 2012 Central New York native. I grew up in Oxford. My father was our high school principal. My mom taught high school English in Sherburne. I’m the middle child of five. First job. My senior year of high school, I was a Rotary exchange student in the Philippines, but when I came back, I waitressed at the Little Red Diner in Oxford before college. From high school English teacher to the college milieu. When I graduated from Potsdam, I knew I didn’t want to teach my whole life. I had liked being an RA, and having tutored, worked in the dining hall, and been active in different organizations, I interacted a lot with administrators and professors. I liked the working environment, so I went to career services and said, “How do I get a job like yours — at a college?” So I taught in Camden, N.Y., for two years, but went back to graduate school knowing that I wanted to pursue higher education. Working with college students. Students at this age are really open to change. They’re trying to put together a lot of different pieces, such as what they’re learning in the classroom and how it intersects with who they are as people. They want to change the world. They care about promoting human understanding. Their idealism is just exciting to be around. What makes this generation distinctive. I’d rather speak more about the parents — and that includes me, because I have four kids. My parents, who were born during the Depression, were hands-off. They expected us to be resilient. But the way I was parented is different from the way I have. I’ve had to catch myself doing too much for my children. I often tell a story about a mentor who said to me about my oldest child, “Paul knows his mom is really good at this stuff. He needs to figure out if he can do it.” That was a nice way to remind me that you learn by doing and you need to fail and flounder. With this generation, we’re more hands-on — and not always for the good. What we want to do here is make sure there’s a safe environment for students to test, to cut their teeth, so they can become mature adults. Family matters. My husband, Jack, and I met in high school. He’s a master electrician/ commercial project manager. We live on East Kendrick, right next to campus, so I’m close by for student events and activities, which is nice. Three of our children live in Boston: Paul’s 27, Erin is 25, Greg is 24. Our youngest, Jack, who’s 21, is at Binghamton University. Proudest moment? It’s a real toss-up. The proudest thing in my life is that I have four children. Professionally, it’s when I successfully defended my thesis. I did my PhD at Syracuse University part time, so it took me 12 years to finish. Like all women who work and have a family, I’ve struggled with how you blend the two and feel you’re committing enough and doing a good job in both. For me, part of that has been to become comfortable in both places. My children saw me write my thesis at the dining room table. I’ve gone to basketball games with a computer — I’d be watching while they actually played, but in between, I always made use of that time. So together they represent a challenge and a success. Pastimes. In the summertime, I like to golf. In the wintertime, my favorite hobbies are crosscountry skiing and hiking in the snow. But my favorite thing to do is to visit with family. Last book read for pleasure. I’m almost through Anne Tyler’s The Beginner’s Goodbye. Pizza toppings of choice. One of my favorites is garlic, cheese, and chicken.

News and views for the Colgate community

Tableau

The unsung warrior By Tiffany (Drewniak) Cloud Olson ’90

For the year that my husband, SSG Erik Olson, was deployed, I never slept. Not a full night, anyway. On lucky occasions, my emotional exhaustion was so profound that I would easily fall into a deep sleep, but it never lasted. Inevitably, around 1 a.m., a sense of urgency and dread would overwhelm my restless mind. I’d shoot awake, heart pounding, wringing-wet from head to toe, knowing it was early morning in Afghanistan and Erik was being rocketed by the enemy on his remote combat outpost. This was not his first tour of duty. A seasoned combat veteran, he had served two tours of duty in Iraq and was highly decorated: three bronze stars, including one for valor, among other commendations. He had sustained four traumatic hits in combat. What he did in the military… scary stuff. My second husband and the love of my life, Erik and I married when I was 42, old enough to bring a lifetime of experiences to the table. Yet when it came to being a military wife, I was naïve. He warned me it would be harder than I expected… He was right. During his tour in Afghanistan (my first as his wife), I learned that the military wife goes to war in a way, too — but the enemy is invisible: fear, doubt, worry, and lack of control. A business executive (and, OK, control freak), I was used to setting the course, steering strategy to achieve a desired outcome. But when he was down range in combat, I quickly came to realize that, in this new life — as a military wife — I had absolutely no control over whether he would hit an IED or be bedded alongside an Afghan National Army soldier who was really a jihadist awaiting the moment to strike. So, I controlled the little I could. I sent care packages (he loved Gummi Bears, which I found endearing, because they’re not exactly “tough guy eats”).

I followed all the news reports I could find on the war (ignoring his advice to shun the news for my own sanity). Whenever he could tell me he was heading out on a mission, I checked the online casualty reports several times a day, as if checking them could somehow change the outcome. And I opened my front door repeatedly, to beat the uniformed messengers of death to the punch. I found part-time work hosting a political talk show at a local TV station. Storm Politics focused primarily on interviews with politicians and candidates. But one of the things that bothers me most as a military spouse is how oblivious most Americans seem to be about the fact that we are at war — that brave warriors are fighting and dying each day for our country. Most Americans’ interests seem to be reality television and sporting events. So, I infused interviews related to the military on occasion. My first guest was Amy Crego, founder of The Rolling Angels for Armed Forces, a motorcycle group supporting soldiers and their families. I also turned to writing. (The strokes of the keyboard were something I could control and, admittedly, it became a source of personal therapy.) But, despite my attempts at control, I quickly learned that all my actions on the home front had no influence over what was going on over there. A mere six weeks in, just as the news broke that Osama bin Laden had been killed, Erik was on a medevac chopper en route to a hospital in Germany, in critical condition. After a difficult recovery, the doctors cleared him to go back down range (fine by him — like most military men, he was addicted to war — not fine by me). And then, a few months later, after surviving the summer fighting season (barely), he was hit in September 2011, the day after my 43rd birthday. As we spoke over Skype on the day after the hit, he joked that my birthday present that year was his purple heart. I would have preferred flowers. While there are many books written about war from the perspective of the veteran, few come from the one manning the home front. All those sleepless nights, I poured my thoughts, worries, fears, dreams, and hopes onto paper. Eventually, I had a memoir, Sleeping with Dog Tags, which was released in September 2012. I wanted to provide a window into what I felt and experienced — love, longing, anger, fear, terror, frustration, sadness, anxiety, and hope. All of my insecurities, coping mechanisms — out there for the world. As I’m sure most authors do, I had a moment of panic after the book was published, fearing judgment for something I could not change — my own life story! But I got over that quickly after receiving so many messages from military spouses all over the nation about how the book resonated with them; how they cried and laughed through the whole thing, how it helped them prepare for their own spouse’s deployment. One even thanked me for “…being so openly pathetic in the book; it helped me feel less insane during my own fiancé’s deployment.” Uh, you’re welcome. One tour of duty as a military spouse hardly makes me an expert. But through my writing, I’ve found a platform to share a bit about the world of the unsung heroes of our country: America’s military spouses. Tiffany Cloud Olson’s memoir Sleeping With Dog Tags was Amazon. com’s #3 Hot New Release in the military biography category and hit its bestseller list in that category last fall. She has written about issues relevant to veterans and military families for ThoughtfulWomen.org and was selected to give the keynote address at the Wayne County (Pa.) Republican Committee Lincoln Day Dinner in February. Visit her on Facebook.

scene: Spring 2013

The cryptic history of Konosioni Cloaked in a veil of mystery, the history of Colgate’s senior honor society is rooted in two societies sounding like something out of a Harry Potter novel. Little is known about either Skull and Scroll or Gorgon’s Head, but each was meant to acknowledge men of great character. Skull and Scroll, founded in 1908: • The skull represents death and human mortality; the scroll, education and ritual. • Members donned white hats with a black skull and scroll sewed on the front. • Several founding members are recognizable Colgate names: Ellery Channing Huntington, Melbourne Stuart Read, and Harold Orville Whitnall. Gorgon’s Head, formed in 1912:

• The Greek mythological monster symbolizes both

life and death. According to legend, the blood from the Gorgon’s head can either resurrect the dead or act as an instantaneous poison. • Members sported black hats embroidered with yellow Gorgon’s head seals. • Membership was based on distinguished service, achievement, and character. The two societies competed as rivals until a 1934 proposal to end the divisiveness the rivalry caused on campus. Representatives from each worked together to draft a constitution and settle the details, choosing a symbolic name for the new organization. Meaning “House of Council,” a reference to the longhouses of the Six Nations of the Iroquois, the name Konosioni reflects a unified community and the gathering of leaders. Konosioni was meant to act as a true honor society, removed from campus politics and favoritism. The first initiation ceremony was held at the Taylor Lake peninsula (which continues today). Members were tasked with upholding traditions, including enforcement of student conduct “rules” such as forcing freshmen to wear green beanies or risk being paddled, which eventually fell out of favor with the changing times. In the early 1970s, Konosioni’s departing president, David Michonski ’73, urged the community to refocus the group onto service and student leadership enacting real change on campus. Today, the society is composed of 13 men and 13 women, and the inductees are informed of the former societies’ symbolism. The tradition of community building has continued, marked by events including first-year arrival day and field day; the annual charity auction; leading the beloved torchlight procession at commencement; and a new event, the Welcome Back Block Party in the Village Green (pictured right). — Marilyn Hernandez-Stopp ’14

13 Page 13 is the showplace

for Colgate tradition, history, and school spirit.

scene: Spring 2013

iStock/Frank Gerritsma

life of the mind 14

Syllabus

The Ganges: a changing tale

Although the Ganges River is considered sacred and purifying to Hindus, pollution and damming have contaminated those beliefs, according to initial findings by Srikar Gullapalli ’13 and Brian Lemanski ’14. Previous scholarship has indicated that Hindus believe the river’s sanctity could not be fouled by human actions, but Gullapalli and Lemanski have found that the opposite is true. The students spent 59 days this winter traveling along the Ganga (the Hindi name for the Ganges River), conducting field research into how pollution has influenced Hindus at seven major shrines. They also studied how uses of the river are changing, and found that some Hindus have stopped bathing in the river and drinking from it as frequently. “However, most surprising was how people were saying things like ‘Mother Ganga [the goddess who personifies the river] has left because we scared her away with our pollution,’” said Lemanski. Their project, titled “Voices of the Ganga — The Interplay of Religion and Pollution,” was chosen out of a pool of 150 applications for a prestigious $5,000 Young Explorers Grant from the National Geographic Society. They received supplemental funding from President Jeffrey Herbst’s office. Gullapalli — a mathematical economics major from Bangalore, India — and Lemanski — an environmental biology major from Albany, N.Y. — developed the project entirely through their own initiative. Upon meeting their first year at Colgate, they had discovered a shared interest in conducting research in India that looked at “how people interact with

their environment,” Lemanski noted. After refining their idea and grant proposal, in spring 2012 they approached religion professor Eliza Kent. She helped them develop a survey, which they used to interview approximately 140 people — from residents living and working along the river, to the Swami Avimukteshwaranand (who is soon to be one of Hinduism’s primary religious leaders). Wanting to study political action regarding the Ganga’s current state, the students met a grassroots group in Varanasi which had successfully lobbied to close a sewage pipe that had been flowing into the river. The students also consulted with Dr. Vinod Tare, convener of the National Ganga River Basin Authority, a governmental entity. Along the way, they collected 35 liters of water samples. Lemanski is analyzing the water samples for pollution, looking for pesticides and other chemicals. The students will use Geographic Information Systems to create maps to show what’s happening along the river, such as what chemicals people are exposed to at specific locations. They plan to use an online interactive tool and smartphone app to display their findings. Gullapalli will use their survey data to measure the causal effect of pollution on the religious experience of citizens living along the riverbanks. “Interviewing these people gave a face to the [pollution] data. Behind all these numbers and figures are people’s lives,” said Lemanski. The students are now working with National Geographic to disseminate their results in an effort to evoke change. — Alicia Klepeis

13 cool courses for the lucky Year of ’13 1. Artificial Intelligence (Computer science) 2. Dispossession, dislocation, and diseases: Geographies of population vulnerability (Geography) 3. Dynamical systems and chaos (Mathematics) 4. Political corruption (Political science) 5. From the Atkins diet to the Kyoto Treaty: Science, the news media, and you (Core) 6. Megageology (Geology) 7. Molecules that rock your world (Core) 8. How to build a baby: A developmental science approach to the nature-nurture debate (Core) 9. Pirates in the Atlantic World (History) 10. Poets, Lovers, and Monsters (Classics) 11. Sex, Drugs, and Chocolate (Core) 12. The problem of evil (Religion) 13. Volcanology (Geology)

Deep in a Tel Aviv cave that was believed to be abandoned by the Indumeans in the 2nd century BCE, three students unearthed a 2,000-year-old piece of golden glass with a decorative ridge. This rare find was in addition to pieces of clay pots, shells, and ancient compacted sand and shell building materials uncovered by students in The Land of Israel extended study course while doing an archaeological dig at Beit Guvrin. The group also visited with a Bedouin tribe in the Negev and explored the city of Tel Aviv as part of a trip led by Steven Kepnes, Murray W. and Mildred K. Finard professor of Jewish studies and religion. The trip over winter break followed a semester of on-campus study of Israeli history, culture, and religion. While in Israel, the group visited holy sites of Judaism, Islam, and Christianity, and had a chance to hear Israelis and Palestinian Arabs speak about their views of the ongoing conflict. And, while the group spent a significant time learning, there was also a bit of time for sightseeing. Two students, Caitlin Whittemore ’14 and Noah Potash ’15, chronicled the group’s experiences through a blog. “We saw many examples of the Bauhaus international architecture and European eclectic architecture styles,” commented Whittemore. “I particularly loved this part of the day because I have a lot of interest in modern architecture.” Potash related a story of watching the sun rise in the Negev Desert: “All of a sudden, the sun rises above a distant plateau, looking like a flaming tangerine in the sky,” he wrote. “Slow-

ly the desert is set alight. Cameras fail to capture the moment entirely. I am at peace.”

• Colgate: it’s your job to put 13 back. Tyson showed pictures of elevators in New York City that don’t include 13 as a floor number because of superstition. “We have people walking around in the 21st century who are scared of numbers!” Tyson said.

Stuff you should know

When he visited campus on February 25, acclaimed astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson originally intended to talk about “Ten Things You Should Know About the Universe.” But, the popular spokesman for science revised his lecture in Memorial Chapel to “Stuff You Should Know” when he realized his list was far longer than 10. Here are some gems: • We are all stardust. The elements in our bodies are the same as those formed in the birth and death of stars. • Pluto had it coming. The planet’s demotion to “dwarf planet,” which Tyson publicly supported, was well deserved … especially considering that the Earth’s moon is five times its mass. • The universe is like a time machine. Pictures of the farthest reaches of space are photos of the distant past, because that light has taken millions of years to travel to Earth. • Molecules are small. There are more molecules in 1 cup of water than there are cups of water in all the oceans on Earth. • The Earth wants to kill you. Evidenced by famine, disease, volcanoes, tsunamis, hurricanes, drought, and pestilence … to name a few. • The universe wants to kill you. Meteors large enough to destroy life as we know it have slammed into moons and planets in our solar system. The Earth needs a plan to deflect meteors in the future.

Janna Minehart ’13

Rare finds in Israel

Tyson is director of the Hayden Planetarium at the Rose Center for Earth and Space and a research associate in the department of astrophysics at the American Museum of Natural History. He has numerous books and TV programs, and has received the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal, the highest civilian honor bestowed by NASA. While on campus, Tyson visited with students across scientific disciplines while touring the Robert H.N. Ho Science Center, answered questions at the ALANA Cultural Center, and had dinner with faculty and students from the astronomy and physics departments.

Nuances of immigration reform

Dani Machlis

Students unearthed a 2,000-year-old piece of golden glass from a Tel Aviv cave in January.

The number of unauthorized immigrants coming to the United States has slowed in the past decade, according to a new report by the International Migration Review. The Center for Migration Studies publication was edited by Ellen Percy Kraly, Colgate’s William R. Kenan Jr. professor of geography. “The study represents the most comprehensive analysis of the U.S. unauthorized population to date,” Kraly explained. “It highlights the dynamic nature of the unauthorized population, particularly the role of departures, and uniquely provides trends (annual estimates over two decades) for each state. This research also anticipates the critical contribu-

Live and Learn: 2013 Inauguration

It’s not every day that you get to witness a moment in history, but on January 21, I had my chance to do just that. As a member of Colgate’s 2013 Washington, D.C., Study Group, I had arrived at the nation’s capital just a few days before Inauguration Day. As an editor and contributing writer for the Colgate Maroon-News, I was told that the paper had one press pass that I could use. Although I was excited to have a ticket, I had no idea just how close I would be until I found my seat. After passing through airport-like security, I made my way to the front steps of the Capitol and found myself sitting in the first row of the very first section with nothing but the Marine Band separating me from the president’s podium just 30 feet away. As I waited for the festivities to begin, I roamed my area to see the name tags on the chairs around me, which included the likes of Time magazine, the Washington Post, Vanity Fair, and just about every other big-name publication from across the nation. As a young and modest reporter, I felt as if I was surrounded by royalty. And if I wasn’t out of my league as it was, it became official when I saw musicians Stevie Wonder, John Mayer, and Katy Perry sitting just several rows behind me. But, at the end of the day, one memory stood out above all the rest. When President Barack Obama walked down the red carpet toward the podium, I took a quick glance behind me to see nearly a million Americans chanting his name from a sea of red, white, and blue flags waving proudly. Never before had I felt as ardently American as I did that day. As I listened to President Obama give his inaugural address, I thought of how many other presidents had stood where he stood and given their own speeches. The tradition of American democracy came to life for me. — Cody Semrau ’14

News and views for the Colgate community

Colgate women mean business

Psychology professor Carrie Keating spoke about leadership to the Colgate Women in Business club.

From LinkedIn etiquette to the many hats that entrepreneurs wear, female students have been learning about various facets of the business world through a new club. Carly Keller ’13 founded Colgate Women in Business last fall, and it quickly grew to include

approximately 150 members. Keller got the idea when she learned from a friend about the robust conferences organized by the Stanford Women in Business Club. Being from Silicon Valley, Keller has business acumen in her blood. So, the dual psychology and environmental studies major gauged interest on campus, found that students were enthusiastic about the idea, and formed an executive board. An alumnae advisory board provides additional structure. Club members represent a range of concentrations, although international relations majors are a large contingent. Monthly coffee hours attract around 40 people and focus on specific topics. “I want them to be a meaningful educational experience,” she emphasized. At one coffee hour, the group Skyped in Charlotte Burkly ’07, assistant admissions director at Columbia Business School. At another, psychology professor Carrie Keating spoke about women in leadership. To get a taste of different business cultures, with the help of career services, 19 club members traveled to New York City in February to visit alumnae at their workplaces, from Google to Deloitte. After learning more about Deloitte from Deirdre Ryan ’90, who is a strategy and operations principal, McKenzie Hume ’15 is now considering a career in consulting. “She was incredibly engaging and enthusiastic about consulting,” said

Hume, the club’s chief communications officer. “That experience made me really interested in consulting because it sounds like an analytical field with a lot of new challenges, which appealed to me.” In addition to the site visits, how-to workshops covered everything from interviewing, to preparing for day one on the job, to the benefits of a liberal arts education. “Colgate teaches us to think critically, be able to articulate our ideas, and build relationships — that’s the strength of a liberal arts degree. So one of my takeaways was knowing that it’s an advantage as long as I sell it correctly,” Hume said. Keller and the other executive board seniors have been preparing younger club members for taking over the reins. And soon, Keller will exercise all that she’s learned at Colgate and through the club — she’ll join the marketing team at Chegg, a Californiabased academic company.

Oscar win leads to payday for men, not women

Janna Minehart ’13

life of the mind

tion of demographic analysis to U.S. immigration policy evaluation and development.” In addition, Kraly said, it’s important to examine how members of the press discuss immigration policy. She emphasized close attention to detail and a skeptical eye when it comes to rhetoric used by pundits. “We should be using evidence rationally, scientifically, and objectively,” Kraly said. “We will be hearing a lot about the size of the unauthorized population in the United States. When you hear the number of one million immigrants being admitted to the United States, that’s very much a legal reference. It has less to do with demography and arrivals.” Kraly explained that about half of that one million figure are immigrants already in the United States who are changing their legal status. She also said she sees a major immigration overhaul forthcoming: “I do see those voices emerging on both sides of the aisle … I think if we gain some traction for immigration policy, the future could bode well for other domains of national policy making,” she said.

scene: Spring 2013

After winning an Oscar, that golden statuette can turn into real gold in the pockets of some, but not all. It’s another case of the gender gap in Hollywood. “Winning an Academy Award for lead actor causes men’s salaries to increase substantially,” Kevin Sweeney ’10 deduced in his economics honors thesis. “Female winners do not experience this same clear boost … the actresses’ salaries seem to decrease.” The mathematical economics major and film studies minor used IMDb. com, Box Office Mojo, and other online resources to create his data set from scratch. Sweeney focused on bigger stars — from Katherine Hepburn to Julia Roberts — because their salaries are publicly available. “I had to comb sites for budgets, box office data, and who got paid what. It was a big undertaking,” he said. Although Sweeney can’t say for certain the reason behind the phenomenon he uncovered, he posed several theories in his thesis. “First, this could possibly mean that winning the lead actor award is regarded as more of an accomplishment than winning the lead actress award. Second, it can be explained by industry-wide gender bias. I believe that there are more starring roles available to men in Hollywood than there are for women. This would then mean that the demand is

Fostering debate in Cambodia A newly formed all-female debate team in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, is

iStock/Sucek

now practicing three times a week, thanks to the help of Elise Bronzo ’10, the Colgate Speaking Union, and technology. Bronzo traveled to Cambodia to spend the last three months of 2012 as a volunteer with the Harpswell Foundation, a nonprofit group that works to assist young women in attending college. The day she arrived, Bronzo said, she was approached by a student interested in debate. Bronzo had no debate experience, but having worked at Colgate for the ALANA Cultural Center after graduation, she thought of someone on campus who might be willing to help. She contacted John Adams, coordinator of the Colgate Speaking Union. He built a blog with links to videos and instruction about how debate works, as well as the rules and conduct for British Parliamentary Debate, the form practiced at Colgate. Adams also worked with Bronzo and the students in Cambodia (who speak English) through video chats on Skype. “I’ve never met someone with so much energy as John Adams,” Bronzo said. “The girls have fed off of that, and their knowing that someone is so invested in them is one of the reasons why this has been so successful.” Bronzo said the participants have grown as public speakers in just three months. “It’s the loudest I’ve ever heard any of the girls speak. That’s been amazing. They are brilliant and have great things to say, but they [usually] silence themselves,” she said. “Seeing them being forced to get up in front of a group and explain why they should be elected prime minister, you can see how empowered they feel.” “Debate is an amazing vehicle for preparing men and women to take on active political public lives,” Adams said. “It’s a way of speaking that people have employed … to make decisions, and to promote the beautiful and the good and everything else in between.” The new group has plans to continue with Bronzo, who is now back in the United States. Len Leng, a Cambodian student who helped form the club, noted she’s learned how “debate helps everyone with critical thinking skills, responsibility, positive thinking, and being challenged with real-world issues.” The group has a goal to compete in an international debate forum in the future.

Get to know: Douglas Hicks

Andrew Daddio

higher for men who have proven that they are accomplished actors than it is for accomplished actresses.” Sweeney’s interests in film and gender issues, in addition to his mixed feelings about the Academy Awards, inspired his choice of thesis topic. “They have always been something I’ve liked, but I’ve also had a lot of problems with the Oscars,” said Sweeney, who can name every best picture winner since 1970. “So, I decided to do something with the Oscars and gender and equality.” Just as it can take years for an actor to be recognized by the academy, it can also take time for academic research to become of public interest. Although Sweeney conducted his study in the 2009–2010 academic year, it just garnered media attention in February. His research was first reported in an article on the personal finance site LearnVest, which then got picked up by Forbes. com. Because of the dearth of information on the topic, the LearnVest reporter was digging deeply and stumbled across Sweeney’s work (which had been published by the economics department on Colgate’s website) after this year’s Oscars ceremony. “It worked in my favor that no one is really researching this topic,” explained Sweeney, who is now a head digital strategist at the film company Sirk Productions in New York City. “Kevin came up with his own thesis idea, hand-collected unique data, applied a set of appropriate and reasonably sophisticated econometric techniques to the data, presented his findings to his peers, and incorporated peer feedback into his final thesis,” noted Professor Takao Kato, Sweeney’s economics adviser. “Through his thesis work, Kevin stopped being a mere recipient of existing knowledge and became an active participant in the challenging, demanding, and rewarding process of transforming and extending knowledge.”

Provost and dean of the faculty, professor of religion since July 2012 You talk in your most recent book about how we live our lives in terms of values and the economy. What are the roots of your interest in that intersection? My college professors who invested in me at Davidson were in economics, Spanish, and religion, so a lot of my projects bridged economic questions with ethical and theological ones. A service mission trip to Mexico also made a great impact on me. Economic justice — how we create a society where everyone has a fair shot and can be a full member — is now central to my research. You’re both a religion professor and a Presbyterian minister. How do those two intersect for you? Participating in church had been a fundamental part of life growing up. As early as college, I was exploring a connection between higher education and ministry. So for me, building strong communities and teaching people to love ideas have always been connected. I’ve been a parish associate or affiliate on an as-available, as-needed basis since graduate school. And I enjoy campus ministry — I enjoyed participating in the Christmas lessons and carols service in the chapel in December. But at a university, where people come from so many backgrounds, it’s important for me as a leader to help create an environment in which people of all backgrounds can express themselves and flourish. What was the draw for you in moving into administrative leadership? I love my work because I get to make connections across departments, ideas, and disciplines, and also to connect academic programs to IT, the library, museums, and athletics. It’s not just organizational work — it’s intellectual work about how we meet our educational goals. Are you finding time for scholarship? This year, I’ve put my effort into getting to know Colgate and the faculty, staff, and students. But, I’m collecting ideas on liberal arts education and material for a book on what makes religious leadership distinctive — whether its very nature is different from political or business leadership. I have a yes-and-no answer. Will you have the chance to teach here? I’m looking forward to team teaching Religious Faith and Social Ethics with Steven Kepnes this coming fall. Tell us about your family. My wife, Catherine Bagwell, teaches psychology here. She specializes in childhood development and childhood friendships. We’re living on Broad Street near the athletics complex. People have asked us how we balance home and work, but for us, it’s more about integration. We’re able to take advantage of the activities and athletics events. Our son, Noah, who’s 9, and I went to see Neil deGrasse Tyson’s and Van Jones’s talks. Our daughter, Ada, who’s 6, loves the a cappella groups. We hear you’re a sports buff. I played baseball at Davidson — better stated, I sat on the bench and participated in practice. But in terms of watching, I love basketball and the drama of March Madness. I essentially grew up on the Butler campus; my dad was a longtime professor there, so even though I didn’t attend, I root for Butler. This summer, I’m going to help out with coaching in Hamilton Little League, and my son and daughter will both play. What’s your favorite kind of sandwich? Peanut butter and jelly. It’s a classic.

News and views for the Colgate community

Michelle White ’13 teaches children to dance at the Hamilton Center for the Arts.

Cincinnati Symphony premiere

Children learning to plié and pirouette at the Hamilton Center for the Arts (HCA) are being taught by instructors who could also tutor them in neuroscience. Several Colgate students have been teaching about 20 children, ages 6 to 10, beginner dance lessons. HCA Director Kathy Herold said having Colgate students willing to teach for a nominal fee makes the seven-week program possible and affordable for children in the community. “Even if it’s not as structured as a dance school, it fills a gap,” she said. “They’re listening to music, they’re learning about rhythm, and maybe they’re gaining some self-esteem,” Herold said. Michelle White ’13, a neuroscience major from Meadville, Pa., has practiced dance in one form or another since age 3, so teaching beginner jazz comes naturally. “Their attention spans aren’t very long, so you just have fun with it,” White said. “I love dance. I tell people my dream job would be part-time dance teacher and part-time doctor, which is pretty unrealistic, but you never know!” Emma Satchell ’13, also a neuroscience major, from Seattle, Wash., teaches a creative movement class that blends ballet and modern dance. “It’s rewarding to see them excited about dance; it has been such an outlet for all my life,” she said. Satchell added that she also sees her time teaching dance to children as a way to relieve stress after long days of class work. “They’re silly and uninhibited and free. It’s nice to remember the things that really matter.” She will begin her professional career at Seattle Children’s Hospital after graduation.

While smog in China continues to make news, one of that nation’s newest composers is providing American audiences with a breath of fresh air. Zhou Tian, a music professor at Colgate since 2011, premiered his newest work, “Poem from a Vanished Time,” with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra (CSO) on March 22, and the performance was repeated throughout the weekend. The CSO commissioned the piece, which harkens back to China’s pre-industrial heritage as a country full of magic and beauty. The Cincinnati Enquirer called the performance “one of the most creative — and most enjoyable — concerts heard at Music Hall this season.”

scene: Spring 2013

Preview

The 59th Robert Flaherty Film Seminar THE 59TH ROBERT FLAHERTY FILM SEMINAR JUNE 15-21, 2013 COLGATE UNIVERSITY, HAMILTON, NY PROGRAMMER: PABLO DE OCAMPO June 15–21 Film screenings throughout the week in Little Hall’s Golden Auditorium and the Hamilton Movie Theater. Meghan Berneking

Colgate composer Zhou Tian, right

Janna Minehart ’13

arts & culture

A chance to dance

Zhou was born in Hangzhou, China, where rapid industrialization and modernization have taken a toll on art, architecture, and culture. “The price of such growth in such a short period of time is exceedingly high,” he said. “Many small, ancient cities and landmarks have been destroyed, the environment severely damaged, and many cultural values lost.” Through new works like “Poem,” as well as previous works like “A Thousand Years of Good Prayers” and “The Grand Canal Symphonic Suite,” Zhou has attempted to reclaim his cultural inheritance and remind his audiences of China’s rich, complex past. “The cumulative effect,” said the Enquirer, “was one of joy, never sorrow … Zhou, 30, was present to receive the crowd’s warm applause.” Mei-Ann Chen conducted the piece, and concertmaster Timothy Lees played the violin solo for the CSO — the latest in a long list of ensembles to perform Zhou’s compositions. The Pittsburgh Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Houston Symphony, Hong Kong Philharmonic, and others have also played his scores. Last October, “Grand Canal” received its U.S. debut

Under the theme, “History is What’s Happening,” films will examine the subject of history in cinema to understand how the social and political conditions of the past are inextricably linked to the present. This annual international film festival fosters “intensive viewing and impassioned discussion” about film. The 2013 seminar programmer is Pablo de Ocampo of Toronto, Ontario, who is an independent curator and has worked on special screenings and projects around the world. The week of screenings and discussions — named after the man who is often dubbed the “father of documentary film” — creates a tight-knit community among the participants affectionately known as the “Flaherty Experience.” Registration is open to the public and some grants are available for professionals or students of video art. At least one screening is hosted at the Hamilton Movie Theater and is free and open to anyone in the community. Visit Flahertyseminar.org for more information or to register.

For other arts events, visit the calendar at colgate.edu.

Professor Marjorie Kellogg, pictured in her home studio, was one of the first subjects in photographer Stephen Joseph’s Broadway Revealed traveling exhibition.

with the Princeton Symphony Orchestra, and the Dover String Quartet played a pair of his pieces while in residence at Colgate in mid-February.

Behind the scenes

On Broadway, the audience is presented with a new world, full of imagination and magic. But playgoers never see the wig maker, the prop shop workers, and the lighting designer who invent that world for them. Until now. With the help of Colgate professor Marjorie Bradley Kellogg, photographer Stephen Joseph composed a new exhibition, Broadway Revealed, showing the people behind the scenes. “It’s a nice cross-section,” said Joseph. “People don’t realize that every single part of a Broadway show has to be created and brought together on the stage, from the choreographers, to the milliners, to the mask maker.” The California-based photographer grew up in Oneonta, N.Y., where his parents still live, so he and Kellogg met through mutual friends. Kellogg, associate professor of English, theater, and design, has created sets for highprofile Broadway shows, operas, and theaters across the nation. She has worked with numerous notables, including George C. Scott, Woody Allen, and Helen Mirren. Starting with set designers, Joseph photographed Kellogg in her Franklin, N.Y., home studio. He then tapped into her extensive contact list to seek out more subjects. Using his signature

360-degree, panoramic photography style, Joseph has shot hundreds of theater professionals at work. The traveling exhibition, which debuted this winter at Bedford Gallery in Walnut Creek, Calif., includes 89 portraits, ranging from Kellogg’s cozy workshop to lighting designer Donald Holder working on the fantastical set of the musical Spider-Man. “He’s ended up with this amazing record,” Kellogg said. “It’s like looking into little dioramas of other people’s lives and work. There’s no one who has looked at the whole picture with this kind of detail.” And neither Joseph nor Kellogg are finished with the project yet. Kellogg’s role has evolved into soliciting and editing information from the artists for the exhibition labels, catalogue, and possibly a book. Meanwhile, Joseph has continued photographing theater production members and expanded the project’s scope to include opera professionals. Next February, he plans to bring the show to the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts in Lincoln Center. “I don’t think he or I understood how big this was going to get,” Kellogg said. “It all started with Marjorie,” Joseph said. “And now it’s turned into something no one has ever done before.”

New director of university museums

Anja Chávez has been selected as Colgate’s director of university museums, effective May 1. She will direct the Picker Art Gallery and Longyear Museum of Anthropology, as well as

the university’s envisioned Center for Art and Culture. Chávez joins Colgate from Syracuse University’s Warehouse Gallery and SUArt Galleries, where she had served as the curator of contemporary art since 2008. From 2003 to 2008, she was curator of contemporary art and curator of exhibitions at the Davis Museum and Cultural Center at Wellesley College. Earlier in her career, Chávez held curatorial positions at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the Fitchburg Art Museum in Fitchburg, Mass., and Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus in Munich, Germany. An art historian, Chávez holds MA and PhD degrees from the University of Bonn, Germany, and she attended the École Normale Supérieure and the Université de Paris Sorbonne (Paris IV). She has taught and lectured at several American universities and museums and held residencies in Beijing and Taiwan. Chávez has produced high-profile, innovative scholarly exhibitions and created partnerships across institutions and communities, at regional, national, and international levels. “Anja Chávez not only brings the experience, vision, and passion gained from working in highly regarded museums, but she also is part of an international network of artists, curators, and institutions working across many time periods and cultures,” said

Douglas Hicks, provost and dean of the faculty. “She has effectively built collections and has worked successfully with benefactors, advisory groups, and all of the many communities that are involved in defining and growing university collections.” Chávez, who has come to call central New York her home, said she consistently strives to implement new and compelling ways to bring art and culture to people. “I am profoundly committed to the principles of a teaching museum, to excellence and innovation in the arts, and to sharing my passion with academic communities and the general public,” she said.

Fringe Fest features first-timers

From a surprise hanging at a Salem witch trial to two women losing their New York City apartment in a trivia challenge, scenes at the third-annual Colgate Fringe Fest showed a range of topics and talents during the first weekend in March. Hosted by Masque and Triangle, the hour-long event showcased four sets of directors and actors performing a few scenes from larger productions. The featured scenes were selected from the Greek comedy Lysistrata, the wildly popular sitcom Friends, Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, and Arthur Miller’s The Crucible. Creators Halley Goldman ’13 and Coco Vonnegut ’13 modeled the event after Edinburgh’s world-famous Fringe Festival, which takes place over many weeks. Colgate’s Fringe Fest keeps the same spirit, but is performed in a single night. Before the actors brought the scenes to life, the directors gave introductions and

News and views for the Colgate community

arts & culture

explained their personal reasons for choosing the scene. Surprisingly, for many of the directors and actors, Fringe Fest was their first time on the Colgate stage. Alexis Manrodt ’13 said she auditioned because “it was on my bucket list of things to do before I graduate.” The audience was engaged with each scene, laughing with the Greek women in Lysistrata and on the edge of their seats watching the heartwrenching final scene of The Crucible. “It’s fascinating to see how Fringe Fest has evolved over the past three years,” said Xavia Publius ’13, who also participated during its first year. “It seems more official this year.” — Katie Rice ’13

Ashlee Eve ’14 (2)

Prayer Song for Eventide

During Colgate’s Fringe Fest, students acted out brief scenes from selected shows. Top: From the TV show Friends; bottom: Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night.

scene: Spring 2013

Soprano Chérie (Woodland) Hughes ’94 was recently featured on Eventide, trumpeter Brian Chin’s new album. This is the second solo album for Chin, who’s the principal trumpet of the Tacoma Symphony Orchestra. Hughes’s contribution is a performance of “Prayer Song” for strings, trumpet, and voice, composed by Stephen Newby in response to theologian Theophan the Recluse’s The Art of Prayer. Eventide (Origin Classical) also includes a piece by composer Edward Castro inspired by an intriguing combination of Stravinsky, Copland, and Radiohead, as well as a setting to music by Kerry Turner of Edgar Allan Poe’s famous poem “Annabel Lee.” It’s also the second album of Chin’s Universal Language Project, which “aspires to share a new body of music across generational divides, through geographic borders, and beyond language and cultural differences.” Hughes, who directs the vocal studies program at Seattle Pacific University, has also appeared in numerous operas in the northwestern United States, in roles including Susanna, Musetta, Manon, Gretel,

and Pamina. Her recent solo oratorio performances include “Gabriel” in Haydn’s Creation, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, Mozart’s Mass in C Minor, and J.S. Bach’s Magnificat with Helmuth Rilling. Also a professional violinist/ chamber musician for many years, Hughes has performed throughout the United States and Mexico with guitarist Roberto Limón as part of the Pacific Duo. While at Colgate, Hughes studied voice with Neva Pilgrim and violin with Laura Klugherz. She received her DMA at University of Oregon. — Katie Rice ’13

Formulating a film in 48 hours

The challenge: to create a five-minute film from scratch in under 48 hours. Issued with their instructions and information packets, six excited film teams dashed out of Case-Geyer Library on February 22. Teams composed of two to six members brainstormed ideas, wrote scripts, shot the films, and edited the footage throughout the weekend. The challenge was a collaboration between the ITS digital media staff and the art department to make students aware of the technologies available in the Digital Media Learning Center on the fifth floor of Case Library. No prior experience was required to participate in the contest. Colgate provided equipment as well as training in various video-editing programs. Not only was this a great opportunity to create something out of nothing, but there was also incentive to do well. The winning team was awarded with their choice of a $300 camera or a $300 gift card to the bookstore. All of the films debuted on Sunday, February 24, at the Hamilton Movie Theater to a crowd of students and faculty. Although it was a complete coincidence that the film screening fell on the same night as the Academy Awards, it seemed fitting that these aspiring filmmakers be honored alongside the big-time directors and screenwriters of Hollywood. The styles ranged from documentary to comedy to drama. Minorities Report asked several students probing questions like why they chose Colgate and whether or not the administration could improve its treatment and awareness of minority issues on campus.

The student film Settlers — a contender in the 48-Hour Film Challenge — chronicled a philosophical conversation between two friends about life and their places in the universe.

Dispirit was a dramatic monologue about the drug-like quality of happiness, depression, and the proverbial monsters inside all of us. This austere and intense video was in sharp contrast to the humorous and whimsical one that preceded it, The Bet, about a wager between two guys to see which one could score the girl. But it was Right Hand Romance by Dashing Tree Productions that was chosen by a panel of judges and given the coveted honor of Best Feature. The film followed the main character’s attempts to win his love’s affection while being plagued by “alien hand syndrome,” a disease that quite literally gave his hand a mind of its own. Despite his hand making a pass at another guy and throwing tea in the face of the character’s crush, love conquered all in the end. With the success of the first film challenge, plans for the second challenge, which will be held in October, are already underway. — Christiane Olivero ’16, originally reported in the Maroon-News

Danube symposium flows

In one weekend, Alexa Windsor ’13, a double major in German and history, had access to more academic gravitas in her field than many students have in four years of college. In March, she attended the Black and Blue Danube symposium, which featured film screenings, a student poster session, and three panels showcasing a dozen academic papers by leading scholars from Colgate and elsewhere. They came together to discuss the historical and metaphorical impacts of Europe’s second-longest river.

“The black and blue symposium was absolutely brilliant,” said Windsor, of Birmingham, Ala. “I am currently in a seminar on Vienna at the turn of the 20th century, so many of the lectures thoroughly deepened my understanding of that culture.” Marijeta Bozovic, assistant professor of Russian and Eurasian studies, said the event was created as a result of professors at Colgate from across disciplines discussing the creative intersections of their work. “Working and living in this small community of scholars ‘forces’ us to work and collaborate across — not only within — our fields, sub-fields, and disciplines,” said Bozovic. She developed the symposium idea with German professor Matthew Miller; Jennifer Stob, visiting assistant professor of art and art history and film and media studies; and Bill Martin, visiting instructor in German. The resulting series of panels and lectures examined themes of nationhood and transnational circulation, history and trauma, pollution and purity, and the transgression of boundaries as they relate to the river. The Danube directly connects 10 countries and is a watershed for four more, but the region through which the river travels receives little scholarly attention, Bozovic said. “All of the papers presented were of such high quality and inherently interesting,” she said. “On top of that, the scholars present really showed themselves willing to meet each other halfway, or part way, outside of their own areas of expertise, and in order to engage each other’s work.”

In February, three students in Professor Zhou Tian’s composition class had a rare opportunity — a reading and performance of their works by a renowned professional ensemble. Zhou had invited the Dover Quartet — currently the Graduate Quartetin-Residence at Rice University — to campus for a four-day residency that included a public performance in the chapel, a reading and open rehearsal of the students’ works, and a Q&A session. Called “Bright lights in the city” by The Strad, the quartet was the 2010 Fischoff Competition Grand Prize winner. His reasoning behind the idea, Zhou said, was this: “For a composer, the most exciting experience and the best lessons come from hearing his or her work played for the first time. It is especially gratifying when the music is played by professionals, because the composer will know immediately what worked and what didn’t. And better yet, the students would get to direct and shape the performance.” The quartet ran through each piece — “Molly’s Asylum” by Corin Kinkhabwala ’13, String Quartet No. 1 by Xavia Publius ’13, and “Psyche and the Seeds” by Clare Pellerin — in front of the composers, then rehearsed them in detail, incorporating suggestions and changes. In short order, they performed the pieces, which were recorded for posterity. Kinkhabwala, a music major from Pelham, N.Y., who plays piano, double bass, and guitar, said his piece is programmatic. “Molly’s not her name, but I had a friend with schizophrenia, so it tells the story of realizing you’re schizophrenic, and then trying to come to terms with it,” he said. “When I heard them play it the first time, it was like painting a picture without being able to see color, and then having the magnificent colors revealed to you.” In describing the process of refining his composition with the musicians, he said, for example, he hadn’t provided bowings or slur marks, which would indicate how smoothly or roughly to play specific notes or passages. “I left it up to the performers. Their second time through, I suggested they play everything legato [smoothly] except for the middle section.” Asked what kind of feedback the quartet gave, Kinkhabwala exclaimed, “They thought it was really cool, which made me so happy! In the animato section, the cello has a certain melody. The cellist said, ‘Is that Molly’s asylum?’ He was singing it in rhythm, as if it were a theme, but I hadn’t even noticed that! That was really interesting.” The icing on the cake came a few weeks later when Kinkhabwala learned the faculty had awarded him Colgate’s Lorey Family Senior Prize, which came with a $500 award.

Listen to the Dover Quartet’s performances at Colgate at zhoutianmusic.com/dover

News and views for the Colgate community

Al Torres

Open mic

go ’gate

Fundraising is well under way for a new athletics facility that could look something like this preliminary rendering.

Plans for new athletics facility approved

In February, Colgate’s Board of Trustees voted unanimously in favor of the construction of a new $37.8 million, 97,000-square-foot athletics facility, contingent on the receipt of $25 million in gifts. At press time, commitments toward the project totaled $20.8 million from alumni, families, and friends. The new facility will be adjacent to Reid Athletic Center, and will feature a hockey rink, locker rooms, training and meeting space, and offices for coaches of the men’s and women’s ice hockey, lacrosse, and soccer programs. It also would allow for the eventual repurposing of Starr Rink for practice facilities. “Student-athletes across our 25 Division I teams will benefit from the facility as they continue to compete at the highest level, and we will continue to attract the best and the brightest to Colgate,” said athletics director Vicky Chun ’91. “Upgrading Colgate’s athletics facilities exemplifies the university’s

Ward granted Watson

Bob Cornell

Stephanie Giannopoulos ’14, a forward from London, Ontario, helped the women’s ice hockey team defeat Union 3-1 on February 2. The team, who wore special light-blue jerseys to support Autism Speaks, closed the season at 11-21-3. Qualifying for the ECAC Tournament as the eighth seed, they swept the final weekend to make the postseason before losing to Cornell in the first round.

commitment to sustained excellence at the Division I level, and is consistent with recommendations from the strategic planning working group on athletics,” said President Jeffrey Herbst. Emphasizing Colgate’s relationship with Hamilton and the region, Herbst added: “Assets that promote a sense of place are critical to both Colgate and the community. The new facility, where 1,500 people can come together in common spirit, will be a major benefit to all of us.” The decision continues the momentum established with the construction and renovation of academic buildings, including the Case Library and Geyer Center for Information Technology, Robert H.N. Ho Interdisciplinary Science Center, and Lathrop Hall. The board’s actions guarantee that the project’s funding will be aligned with the academic priorities of the operating budget. Trustee Michael J. Herling ’79, chair of the board’s committee on athletics affairs, is enthusiastic about the commitment, which, “in combination with the Trudy Fitness Center, illustrates Colgate’s commitment to fitness and athletics as a distinctive part of the educational experience for our students.”

scene: Spring 2013

Basketball season’s over, and Raiders guard Rebekah Ward ’13 is busy making plans to head for Europe. But she won’t be earning her keep on the professional hoops circuit. One of 40 recipients of the prestigious 2013 Watson Fellowship, Ward is being paid a $25,000 stipend to study abroad. She chose to research the bias against and condemnation of Roma culture, mostly in Europe but also in Brazil. Ward plans to begin her tour by August 1. The stipend covers her living expenses and research for 12 months. “I’ll be going through Europe west to east — or, the familiar to the unfamiliar in terms of languages and places I’ve been before,” she said. “I’ll be looking at the cultural communication between Roma populations and the majority population in each place I visit.” Known more widely by the derogatory term “Gypsies,” the Roma have no nation or homeland. Ward says they have been marginalized and discriminated against across the globe. “In certain regions, they’ve been enslaved, in others they’ve been chased out or

Rebekah Ward ’13

been victims of genocide,” she said. “The dynamic of having two distinct cultures in close proximity and how they interact is what interests me.” Ward, a Montreal native, just completed her Colgate basketball career as a four-year letter-winner. Her dedication to the team despite playing a reserve role was never lost on her head coach. “I vividly remember my first meeting with Bekah after accepting the position as head women’s basketball coach at Colgate,” Nicci Hays Fort said. “After my initial blank stare of amazement when Bekah was sharing with me her educational focus and what she wanted to do in life, I realized this was a very special student-athlete.” Hays Fort added that Ward’s commitment to the team was never more evident than during her final Watson Fellowship interview, which fell on the same day as the team’s January game at Army. “Her interview time originally was in the afternoon, which means she would have missed the game. So Bekah asked to have her interview time moved to the morning, and afterward one of our coaches drove her to West Point in time for the game. It was just a true statement of her dedication to her commitments.” For Ward, it’s simply part of her DNA. “The question people ask me is, ‘Why Roma?’” Ward said. “But I counter that by asking, ‘Why social justice in general? Why do so many people fight for equality or against prejudice when it’s also such a piece of the way humans think and act?’” The Watson Fellowship is a oneyear grant for independent study and travel outside the United States awarded to graduating college seniors

force for the game against Union and, like a Hollywood movie, Goulakos scored the final goal in a 4-1 win. “It was unbelievable,” said Vaughan. “It’s an incredible story, and we hope he continues to feel well. We will see how it goes, but right now he looks like he hasn’t missed a step. He is a real inspiration.” Simply being cleared to play was a gift for Goulakos — especially because the game was on his 23rd birthday. Returning to Montreal for treatment every couple of weeks, Goulakos finished the season playing on a caseby-case basis. At press time, he was still attending classes, and doctors are optimistic regarding his recovery because they were able to identify and diagnose the cancer early. “I have had a lot of support from everyone at Colgate,” Goulakos said. “The team has been especially supportive, and that helps.” The team raised money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society at their games against Union and Rensselaer. And, they found a way to make sure Goulakos is always with them as he tries to beat his toughest opponent: they’ve placed “SG6” (his initials and jersey number) stickers on their helmets.

nominated by participating institutions. Srikar Gullapalli ’13 also received a Watson, and will be studying local citizen-government relationships in several different countries.

Men’s hockey rallies around Spiro Goulakos ’15

Defenseman Spiro Goulakos ’15 was an inspiration to his team this past season when, after being diagnosed with Hodgkins lymphoma and undergoing treatment in late January, he returned to the lineup sooner than expected. Goulakos was having a great year on the blue line for the Raiders, leading the power play unit as one of the top players in the league, before heading home to Montreal for winter break. During a routine physical exam, one of the lab tests returned abnormal results. Additional tests revealed that Goulakos had a large swelling in his chest. More tests were performed in Montreal, and Goulakos underwent further tests with Colgate team physician Dr. Merrill Miller upon his return to Hamilton. Those results showed a likely lymphoma in his chest. On the final weekend of January, he broke the news to the team that he would begin chemotherapy immediately. “The news came as quite a shock to everyone,” said Head Coach Don Vaughan. “Spiro is such an integral part of our team and adored by his teammates.” However, Goulakos and his teammates got a lift in mid-February when he unexpectedly returned to the lineup after successfully going through his first round of treatment. The student body came out in full

Looney catches recognition for academic prowess

Bob Cornell

Spiro Goulakos ’15

Capping an amazing senior season, wide receiver Chris Looney ’13 was named to the 2012 Capital One Academic All-America Division I Football Team. Selected for first-team honors by the College Sports Information Directors of America, he is Colgate’s first Academic All-America recipient since John Frieser in 2003. Like Frieser, Looney was also named Patriot League Football Scholar-Athlete of the Year in his senior year. In November, Looney was named to the Capital One Academic All-District I Team. Looney was joined on the Academic All-America first team at wide receiver by Liberty University’s Pat Kelly. An international relations and history major with a 3.90 grade point average, Looney led the Raiders to an 8-4 record and the Patriot League championship. He earned All-Patriot League second-team honors after leading Colgate in all three receiving categories with: 43 receptions, 776 yards, and 6 touchdowns. A Verona, N.J., native, Looney has

Where are they now? Art Bayern ’54

Left: 1952, behind the Beta Theta Pi house; Right: 2013, keeping score for the Spurs Art Bayern ’54 is proud to have earned a San Antonio Spurs championship watch and multiple championship rings. But he didn’t earn them on the court — rather, from behind a table. For the past 38 years, Bayern has been working front-row and center as a member of the statistical and scoring crew for one of the NBA’s model franchises. As a Colgate student, Bayern played tennis and also tried out for baseball, but he was a walk-on who didn’t see much roster time. Instead, he participated with the school’s marching and concert bands and also served as a track and field manager. Air Force flight training in San Angelo, Texas, brought Bayern to the Lone Star State after graduation. He completed service as an instructor pilot at Ellington Air Force Base in Houston, spent a few years with IBM there, married a Texas gal, and attended law school at the University of Texas at Austin. In 1965, he was hired by a firm in San Antonio, and away they went. Fast-forwarding 10 years, working the professional basketball circuit still wasn’t in Bayern’s plans. He was co-coaching his son’s basketball team, and the other coach happened to be running a stat team for the Spurs. “He was always looking for people to help him,” Bayern recalled. But, as he told his friend: “I have two little boys and I’m trying to build a law practice. I don’t have time for that.” They struck a deal that, in exchange for filling in once in a while, Bayern would get tickets and meals. Fill-in turned into full time and, now, 38 years later, “I’ve done every job they have on the official table, including game clock, the 24-second clock, and now scoreboard operator.” Not only does Bayern have a close-up view of the world’s best professional basketballers at the beautiful AT&T Center (home of the Spurs), but he also welcomes quite a few of those players into his own place of business at the Bayern, Aycock & Bayern law firm. “I do estate planning and probate work, and I get referrals from their agents, generally.” Bayern, 79, recalled one impromptu player meeting that had nothing to do with his counseling skills. “Calvin Murphy, who was with the Houston Rockets, came right over the scorer’s table,” he said. “I got a footprint on my stat sheet. He had stepped on the table and then jumped right over me and somebody in the seats caught him. There have been many memorable moments, but that was a close call.” In addition to staffing all 41 Spurs home games during the regular season, the timekeeper has also occasionally mixed in an NCAA Final Four — four, in fact. San Antonio has hosted three men’s and one women’s Final Fours; Bayern has been right there at center court. “My wife calls herself a basketball widow,” he joked. Although he no longer gets tickets for his family — “they are too valuable,” Bayern said — he does get paid, a parking pass, and a free meal. And, every now and then, maybe a footprint or two. — John Painter Latest in a series of “Where are they now?” profiles on members of the Colgate athletics family. Visit Gocolgateraiders.com for more.

News and views for the Colgate community

Football Signing Day

Bob Cornell

go ’gate

who played offense. Six studentathletes are from Florida, four are from New Jersey, there are two each from New York and Pennsylvania, and one is from Ohio. Colgate will also welcome one quarterback, and two players each at the defensive back, linebacker, and wide receiver positions. The defending Patriot League champions will open their 2013 season August 31 at Air Force. Bios of the Class of 2017 can be found at Gocolgate raiders.com.

Children’s Hospital and breast cancer research, and served as a mentor for fifth-grade students on the dangers of drugs and alcohol.

Chris Looney ’13

received the Dean’s Award for Excellence and was placed on the school’s Athletics Honor Roll four times apiece. He is a Charles A. Dana Scholar for “superior achievement as well as demonstrated leadership in the college community.” He also has done plenty of work off the field in his time in Hamilton. Part of the Colgate University Leadership Academy for three years, he is an executive board member for Uplifting Athletes, helping to raise more than $15,000 for ependymoma research. He also participated in events for St. Jude’s

For the first time, Colgate took part in National Signing Day in early February, adding 15 members to the Class of 2017. Head Coach Dick Biddle said the ability to offer scholarships this year changed the recruiting dynamic. Last year, Colgate kept recruiting through signing day and announced its signing class in late April. “It was a unique thing for us,” Biddle said. “We were fortunate to be able to grant scholarships based on athletic merit, and that opened up the pool for the kind of player we were able to get this year. Overall, with all the newness about scholarships, our coaches did a great job.” Biddle reminded everyone, however, that some things aren’t changing on the Raiders sideline. “They still have to be great students,” he said. “It’s always going to be that way at Colgate. But [scholarships] enabled us to go after a Division I player or a Division I-AA scholarship player who maybe, financially, we weren’t able to go after.” The Raiders inked eight linemen — four on the defensive side and four

Students to watch

Bob Cornell

Jhazmine Lynch ’13 from San Diego dribbles around Army players in the Raiders’ biggest victory of the year on February 20. The hoopsters came back from a 12-point deficit in the last 12 minutes to knock Army out of a first-place tie with a 60-56 stunner. Colgate finished 10-21 and became only the fourth, eighth-seeded team in Patriot League history to reach the semifinals after beating the top-seeded Black Knights in the tournament’s first round.

scene: Spring 2013

Peter Baum ’13 and Ryan Walsh ’15 are Colgate’s initial representatives on the men’s watch list for the 2013 Tewaaraton Award, given annually to the most outstanding American lacrosse players. Winner of the 2012 Tewaaraton trophy, Baum led the nation with 67 goals and 97 points. He was the first Colgate, Patriot League, and West Coast (his hometown is Portland, Ore.) player to take home the honor. At press time, Baum and Walsh had already helped spearhead the Raiders’ offensive attack through the first two games of the year. Baum owned five goals and three assists for eight points — sparked by his 28th career hat trick at Vermont — while Walsh had three goals and four assists for seven points. In mid-May, five men’s and five women’s finalists will be invited to Washington, D.C., for the 13th annual Tewaaraton Award Ceremony, May 30 at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian. In addition, Baum was one of 20 candidates for the 2013 Senior CLASS Award in collegiate men’s lacrosse. To be eligible, a student-athlete must be classified as an NCAA Division I senior and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence: community, classroom, character, and competition. The Senior CLASS Award focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages students to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities. Early in the 2013 season, Baum became the all-time leader in goals and points scored for Colgate, and the career goals leader for the Patriot League. He passed Bob Woodruff ’83 for the Colgate goals record of 131 on February 10, and Derek Laub ’93 for the school points record of 200

Raider Nation

Fan spotlights with Kat Castner, athletics communications assistant on March 12. Baum also was named Patriot League Offensive Player of the Week in mid-February. The Senior CLASS Award winner will be announced at the 2013 NCAA Lacrosse Championships in Philadelphia May 25–27. For more information, visit seniorCLASSaward.com.

Two Raiders selected in drafts

In January, two Raiders were drafted for the major leagues in their respective sports. The Ohio Machine made Peter Baum ’13 the overall No. 1 pick in the 2013 Major League Lacrosse Collegiate Draft. He became the highest Colgate draft choice in school history, surpassing Brandon Corp ’09, who was taken fourth overall in the 2009 first round by the Boston Cannons. In December, Baum was named one of three 2013 team captains for the first time. Also, Mike Reidy ’13 was selected by Major League Soccer’s Sporting Kansas City in the fourth round of their 2013 Supplemental Draft. The Patriot League Offensive Player of the Year was chosen 71st overall in the draft and will join the team for the remainder of their preseason camp. This past season, Reidy led the conference in goals, with seven, and game-winning goals, with three. He was also second in the conference with 56 shots and 16 points. The Webster, N.Y., native led the Raiders to their third-consecutive postseason appearance. Throughout his career, Reidy had action in 77 games for the Raiders, notching 19 goals and eight assists. He

tallied seven game-winning goals and finished 12th in Colgate history with 47 career points. Reidy is the second Colgate player in two years to be chosen in the MLS Supplemental Draft.

Mary Nolan

25 and going strong: She’s been attending Colgate sporting events for more than 25 years. Her most memorable event was when the women’s basketball team played in the 1991 and 1996 Patriot League Tournaments. Occupation: Retired secretary in athletics Resides in: Hamilton Game: Women’s basketball; Colgate lost to Lafayette, 53-45, 1/30/13

Rainbow pride Cotterell Court was awash in rainbow pride at the Blue for Q men’s basketball game against Lehigh on February 16. As part of Colgate’s week-long QueerFest celebration, the match was dedicated to anti-bullying and raising awareness for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) initiatives. Delta Delta Delta sorority sisters in rainbow bandanas held posters that read “G8 against H8.” Members of the team wore rainbow socks, and the coaches sported rainbow ties. Attendees received free rainbow Colgate athletics pride T-shirts. Broadcast on ESPN, the game had an enthusiastic audience who cheered for the team as well as various dance performances. The Raiders beat the Mountain Hawks 64-60. “It was definitely a “Go, ’Gate!” moment to see so many students show up as allies to the LGBTQ community,” remarked Joe Spina ’14, a member of Lambda. QueerFest also included a family dinner in town, a brown bag luncheon, a drag performance, and a keynote address by Robyn Ochs, a writer and LGBTQ activist. — Marilyn Hernandez-Stopp ’14

What words of encouragement do you have for your favorite team? Play your best, and enjoy every moment! What other Colgate sports do you follow? I love watching football and women’s volleyball. This year was even more special because we won the Patriot League title in both sports. How many sporting events do you attend each year? My husband and I try to attend as many as we can. We usually make it to about 25 to 30 a year.

J.T. Anderson ’16

Stats: Men’s track and field team; undecided major Hometown: Brooklyn, N.Y. Game: Men’s basketball; defeated Lehigh 64-60, 2/16/13 Who’s your favorite Colgate athlete? Chad Johnson ’14 from the men’s basketball team. When I was in high school, I visited Colgate, and he did an awesome job showing me around the campus; that’s why I come out and support the team. What do you think is the best Colgate sports rivalry? Colgate vs. Cornell ice hockey, by far. I was at our men’s home game this season when the fans threw packets of Big Red gum onto the ice. That was priceless! What moment from your first year will you always remember? The men’s hockey vs. Dartmouth game. We were down 4-1, and the majority of the crowd was just bummed out. Then we scored four-straight goals in the last period and won the game. It was insane, and the crowd — me included — loved it.

Ashley Weaver

Carrying on the Colgate Tradition: Father is Bob Cornell, who was Colgate’s director of athletics communications for 33 years. She has been supporting her father and Colgate her entire life (27 years). Occupation: Administrative assistant, residence life, Drake Hall Resides in: Hamilton Game: Men’s hockey; took down No. 20 Union 4-1 on 2/22/13

Delta Delta Delta sisters were just one group of students who showed their support for LGBTQ initiatives at the Blue for Q men’s basketball game.

Why do you follow men’s hockey? Hockey has always been my favorite sport. The energy, the athleticism of the athletes, and the fast-paced nature of the game make it exciting and impressive to watch.

Ashlee Eve ’14

What Colgate game will you never miss? The Colgate/Cornell men’s hockey game. That rivalry is one of the biggest and most exciting here at Colgate, and the game always showcases great hockey. What’s one of your greatest Colgate sports memories? Watching our 2003–2004 football team while they went on their National Championship run. The Raiders lost to Delaware in the championship game, but it was a special year for the program as well as our university.

News and views for the Colgate community

new, noted , & quoted

Books, music & film Information is provided by publishers, authors, and artists.

Still: Of the Earth as the Ark Which Does Not Move Matthew Cooperman ’86 (Counterpath Press)

In his latest book of poems, Still: Of the Earth as the Ark Which Does Not Move, Matthew Cooperman attempts the “theory of everything,” the implications of which are, it goes on … wave upon wave of stuff, categories, speakers, news. Employing quotation, catalogue, and a roving, sometimes aerial point of view, Still is at once a formal argument of containment, and the trajectory of twilight-modernity jacked on too much “product.” A panoply of speakers keeps the Ark moving, simultaneously invoking history and creating a habitat that is easily recognizable as webbed space. The poems are radically topical in their capacity to address large swaths of contemporary experience; decidedly political, they are also humorous and sad. Challenging prevailing sentiments of lyric poetry, these writings are a new mode as much as anything, incorporating the formal cues of drama, film, journalism, and advertising.

What We Mean By Experience Marianne Janack ’86 (Stanford University Press)

Social scientists and humanities scholars rely What We Mean by Experience on first-person accounts of experience to understand how subjects construct their worlds. The problem they face is how to integrate first-person accounts with an impersonal stance. Over the last century, this problem was compounded as the concept of experience itself came under scrutiny. This book takes up the critique of empiricism and the skepticism with Marianne Janack

scene: Spring 2013

regard to experience that has issued from two seemingly disparate intellectual strains: anti-foundationalist and holistic philosophy of science and epistemology and feminist critiques of identity politics. Both render experience an intractable problem by opening up a gap between a naturalistic understanding of human beings and an understanding of humans as non-natural makers of meaning. Marianne Janack, philosophy professor at Hamilton College, closes this gap, allowing us to be at once naturalistic and hermeneutic.

Grand Ambition: An Extraordinary Yacht, the People Who Built It, and the Millionaire Who Can’t Really Afford It G. Bruce Knecht ’80 (Simon & Schuster)

Doug Von Allmen was poised to build a palatial 187-foot yacht that would cost $40 million. But the economic crisis of 2008 changed everything. Von Allmen’s lifestyle suddenly became unaffordable. Then it got worse: desperate to reverse his losses, he fell for an audacious Ponzi scheme. Would Von Allmen be able to complete the yacht? Would the shipyard and its 1,000 employees survive the financial meltdown? The divide between the very rich and everyone else had never been greater, yet the livelihoods of the workers, some of them illegal immigrants, and the yacht owners were inextricably intertwined. In a sweeping, high-stakes narrative, Bruce Knecht, the author of The Proving Ground and Hooked, weaves Von Allmen’s story together with those of the men and women who are building his yacht. As the pursuit of opulence collides with the reality of economic decline, everyone is forced to rethink the meaning of the American Dream.

Love in the Time of Algorithms: What Technology Does to Meeting and Mating Dan Slater ’00 (Penguin)

From its start as “computer dating” at Harvard in 1965, the online-dating

industry now serves one-third of America’s 80 million singles. Once considered the realm of the lonely and desperate, this phenomenon has now been embraced by every demographic. Dan Slater tells the remarkable story of how online dating is spurring on a new kind of sexual revolution. Thanks to the efficiency of the Internet, compatible mates are no longer a scarce commodity. Efficiency and control are altering our perception of what’s possible in our personal lives and reconditioning our feelings about stability and commitment. Blending history, psychology, and interviews with site creators and users, Slater takes readers behind the scenes of a fascinating business. Dating sites like Match and Plenty of Fish capitalize on our quest for love. But how do their creators’ ideas about profits, morality, and the nature of desire shape the virtual worlds they’ve created for us and the relationships we engage in offline?

This Is What Happy Looks Like Jennifer E. Smith ’03 (Poppy)

In Jennifer Smith’s new young-adult novel, when teenage movie star Graham Larkin accidentally sends small-town girl Ellie O’Neill an e-mail about his pet pig, the two 17-year-olds strike up a witty and unforgettable correspondence, discussing everything under the sun, except for their names or backgrounds. Then Graham finds out that Ellie’s Maine hometown is the perfect location for his latest film, and he decides to take their relationship from online to in-person. But can a star as famous as Graham really start a relationship with an ordinary girl like Ellie? And why does Ellie want to avoid the media’s spotlight at all costs?

In the media You Can’t Get There From Here: How Gerrymandering and the Absence of Voter-Owned Elections and Term Limits are Destroying Democracy Harry Taylor ’66 (Taylor Publishing Co.)

Long disillusioned with leadership in America, Harry Taylor confronted President George W. Bush in 2006 during an openforum event in Charlotte, N.C. The resultant dustup received national media attention. Today, Taylor believes, leadership in America still remains questionable, and although frustration mounts, few citizens will stand up to demand honesty and transparency. Weary and apathetic, we abdicate our role in democracy by refusing active and thoughtful involvement, he says. Taylor chose to run for Congress in 2008 against a seven-term incumbent. However, he asserts, Taylor ran headlong into the insidious practice of gerrymandering, the rigging of election districts to favor political parties. The author shares his journey and his thoughts on the need to rethink how election districts are formed, how long members of Congress serve, and the sensibility of voter-owned elections.

Native Footsteps: Along the Path of Saint Kateri Tekakwitha Edited by Christopher Vecsey and Mark G. Thiel (Marquette University Press)

Native Footsteps gathers together 13 documents, 25 interviews, and 26 illustrations, most of them color photographs, to celebrate the canonization of Kateri Tekakwitha (1656–1680), the first Native American Catholic saint, who was known as the “Lily of the Mohawks.” Christopher Vecsey is Colgate’s Harry Emerson Fosdick Professor of the humanities, Native American studies, and religion. He teamed up with Mark G. Thiel, archivist of Native

Catholic collections at Marquette University.

Timber Creek

Veronica Wolff ’89 (Berkley) In Veronica Wolff’s latest romance novel, Laura Bailey weathered her teen years at her quaint family lodge in the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas. Fleeing for San Francisco the minute she graduated from high school seemed like a good idea — until she lost her job and her fiancé. The blow to her pride sent her back to Sierra Falls to figure out her life. But her hometown is undergoing a bit of renovation. A new resort is posing a threat to the Bailey family business. Worse, the company developing the property is run by Eddie Jessup, Laura’s cocky high school nemesis. But their battle isn’t the only thing heating up between them. Before long, they realize that getting to know each other all over again has its rewards; only, fate isn’t through with them yet.

Also of note:

In A Rogue’s Yarn (Publish Green) by Russell Drumm ’69, John Finch is an aging surfer on a downward spiral who lives undetected in the basement of the Royal Hawaiian Hotel in Waikiki. He has an obsession and a dark secret. Lawrence Norton ’54 begins his story, Masked & Gowned: The Making of a Surgeon (Xulon Press), at Colgate and then traces a decade of demanding training that finally fulfilled his dream of becoming a surgeon and a medical missionary in Assam, India, in the 1960s. Clinical Chaos: The Strange Attractors of Childhood Trauma (Inner City Press) by John Van Eenwyk ’67 combines chaos theory and Jungian psychology to explore the psychodynamics of unconscious adaptation. Bringing such unconscious contents into consciousness is only half of the story, however. This book describes how one must also consciously learn how to negotiate the chartless territory of the unconscious.

“With the advances in 3D scanning and other digital technologies, I suspect it is easier than ever to duplicate work and create copies.” — DeWitt Godfrey, art professor and an authority on unethical castings, discussed sculpture knockoffs plaguing the art world with the Vancouver Sun

“They know everything: if you’ve been drinking, if you’ve had an affair, if you’ve paid your taxes.” — Susan Thomson, peace and conflict studies professor and Rwanda expert, commented to the Daily Beast about the Rwandan Patriotic Front

“Something like this really puts everything in perspective.” — Zach Sawin ’16 in the Orlando Sentinel. He and a group of friends helped save a man from drowning in Lake Mary, Fla., in December

“There’s always a tension of whether to perceive the cabdriver as an independentbusiness man who has costs like you and me, or as a servant.” — Graham Hodges talked to the New York Times about how tips are affected by taxi fare increases

“We found out that Adam Duritz had scheduled a meeting with us, and another guy … and Adam had hatched an idea to make this into a movie.” — Jay Chandrasekhar ’90 in a Q&A with Shockya.com about how the Counting Crows lead singer approached his Broken Lizard comedy troupe about a new film

“As Christmas has grown commercially, Hanukkah has kept stride so Jewish kids don’t feel left out.”

— Lesleigh Cushing, religion and Jewish studies professor, in the Wall Street Journal’s “great Hanukkah gift debate” about gift giving throughout the holiday

News and views for the Colgate community

Orderly and humane

An overlooked atrocity in plain sight By R.M. Douglas

scene: Spring 2013

he screams that rang throughout the darkened cattle car crammed with deportees — as the train jolted across the icy Polish countryside five nights before Christmas — were Dr. Loch’s only means of locating his patient. Formerly the chief medical officer of a large urban hospital, Loch found himself clambering over piles of baggage, fellow passengers, and buckets used as toilets, only for his path to be blocked by an old woman who ignored his request to move aside. On closer examination, he discovered that she had frozen to death. Finally, he located the source of the screams, a pregnant woman who had gone into premature labor and was hemorrhaging profusely. When he attempted to move her into a more comfortable position, he found “she was frozen to the floor with her own blood,” he said. Other than temporarily stanching the bleeding, Loch was unable to do anything to help her. He never learned whether she lived or died, but when the train made its first stop after more than four days in transit, 16 frost-covered corpses were pulled from the wagons before the remaining deportees were put back on board to continue their journey. A further 42 passengers would later succumb to the effects of their ordeal, among them Loch’s wife. Tragic scenes like this were commonplace during the Second World War as Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin moved entire populations around like pieces on a chessboard, seeking to reshape the demographic profile of Europe according to their own preferences. What was different about the deportation of Loch and his fellow passengers, however, was that it took place by order of the United States and Britain as well as the Soviet Union — nearly two years after the declaration of peace. In fact, it was between 1945 and 1950 that Europe witnessed the largest example of ethnic cleansing, and perhaps the single-greatest movement of population, in human history. Between 12 million and 14 million German-speaking civilians — the overwhelming majority of whom were women, children under 16, or the elderly — were forcibly ejected from their places of birth in Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Yugoslavia, and what are today the western districts of Poland. Historians disagree on the number who died, but estimates suggest that between half a million (closest to my own view) and 1.5 million people lost their lives over the course of the operation.

Dark schemes

In terms of numbers, the highest (or lowest) point of modern ethnic cleansing was World War II. I don’t think it’s sufficiently appreciated that, from the broadest perspective, for Nazi Germany the war was actually all about the redrawing of the population map of Europe and moving entire peoples around to make that happen. For Hitler, there were too many Germans and not enough land for them to thrive. Lots of land lay to Germany’s east in Poland, the Baltic states, the Soviet Union, and elsewhere. That land, though, was inhabited by

non-Germans whom the Nazis considered racially inferior. From the Nazi perspective, the solution was clear. Those people must be driven out and German colonists put in their place. In the most expansive German war scheme, known as Generalplan Ost (General Plan East), up to 50 million of these people were to be forced out and dumped into the Soviet Union’s more gruesome backwaters (principally, Siberia), where they would be left to die of “natural causes.” Over the course of the war, the Allies had watched with keen interest what the Nazis had been trying to do. And they decided to take a leaf out of Hitler’s book. In particular, Allied leaders were worried about the number of ethnic Germans whose homes were outside of Germany proper and had been for a very long time, in some cases up to 1,000 years. For example, more than three million Germanspeakers were living in Czechoslovakia (which might with more accuracy have been called CzechoGermano-Slovakia because the Germans were the second-largest ethnic group there). There were about 600,000 German-speakers in Yugoslavia; half a million in Hungary, and probably 400,000 in Romania. And around eight million had their homes in the eastern provinces of Germany itself, which the Allies proposed to turn over to Poland after the war. By 1944, the “Big Three” leaders (Winston Churchill for Great Britain, Franklin D. Roosevelt for the United States, and Joseph Stalin for the Soviet Union) had decided that, once the Allies had won, all these people would be driven out of their homes and deposited in Germany. They had a number of reasons to do so. First, they saw it as a means of preventing future conflict. After World War I, Allied attempts at moving borders to take into account the existing distribution of peoples had not worked out well. In central Europe especially, the various ethnic groups were so mixed up together that it wasn’t possible to draw borders that would accommodate everybody’s wishes. So this time, it was decided that instead of moving the borders to accommodate the peoples, they would move the peoples to keep the existing borders. The second reason was as a form of collective punishment. The suffering that would undoubtedly be caused by the relocations would make ordinary Germans appreciate the comprehensiveness of their defeat. Bringing the war home to them in this way, it was hoped, would make them think twice about backing expansionist leaders in the future. Third, all of the big powers were jockeying for influence in central Europe. They wanted support from the local populations, and helping them to get rid of their German minorities seemed a cheap and easy way of doing so. Putting the scale of this operation into perspective, the Allies were proposing to move a larger number of people against their will in just a few months than the total of all the immigrants admitted to the United States in the first half of the 20th century, noted the New York Times in a December 1945 editorial. How that was supposed to be accomplished was

anybody’s guess, but the Allies fully recognized that a humanitarian disaster would be inevitable.

Crimes against humanity

Even so, the logistics of the expulsion were much more complicated than expected. Originally, the expelling states had hoped that the selective use of terror was all that would be required. Occasionally, massacres of Germans took place in hopes of setting off a stampede across the nearest borders. In one case (by no means the largest), in the central Czechoslovak town of Pˇrerov, soldiers took 265 people, 120 of them women and 74 children, off a train, forced them to dig a mass grave behind the railway station, and shot them in the back of the head.

In addition, as many as 750,000 were rounded up and put in what became a massive archipelago of camps extending across central and southeastern Europe — many of which, including Auschwitz I and Theresienstadt, were the very same camps established by the Nazis, and sometimes explicitly replicated conditions under German control. Although not extermination camps, life in these facilities was often extremely harsh, including starvation rations of a mere 400 to 500 calories per day. Many prisoners were beaten or even tortured. Hundreds Facing page: Jaworzno camp in Poland, formerly a subcamp of Auschwitz during World War II, was kept in operation into the 1950s. A government inspector described the soup issued as food to its inmates as “pure water”; about 50 people per month were dying of starvation. Inspections also revealed a sexual supermarket in operation: guards would “take Volksdeutsch women at gunpoint home at night and rape them.” PRO FO 371/100718. ©HMSO Above: A shaven-headed 11-year-old girl from the Recovered Territories, weighing only 31 pounds at the time of her expulsion. Christopher Emmet Papers, box 29, Hoover Institution Archives.

News and views for the Colgate community

of thousands were subjected to harsh forced labor (or, in the Allies’ cynical formulation, “reparations in kind”) of up to 100 hours per week. Women and girls, the majority of the inhabitants, were the targets of a truly massive and systematic campaign of sexual violence by either the guards or by visitors from nearby towns to whom the gates would be opened in the evenings. We are still attempting to quantify the true scale of this wave of sexual abuse. Tens of thousands, including many children, perished as a result of ill treatment in the camps, which were kept in operation for years after the war. These detention centers were often secret. No one knew just where they were, or how many there were. The local town council would often stake out a site, such as a school, football stadium, or church, and begin rounding up the local Germans without bothering to get permission, much less notifying the central authorities. Neither the massacres, nor the rapes, nor the threat of the camps was enough to induce most people to leave of their own accord. Further, despite expectations, remarkably few incidents of grassroots violence by Czechoslovaks, Poles, or Hungarians took place. So, beginning in February 1946, the expelling powers decided to systematize the process and conduct clearances in a more “organized” way. Typically, entire towns or villages would be surrounded by troops and policemen, usually in the middle of the night, and expellees rounded up with as little as 10 minutes’ notice. Their property would be redistributed to the local population or taken by the state. They would be hauled off to an assembly camp, then taken in cattle cars to their eventual destination. Because the European railway system had been more or less bombed flat by the Allies during the war, those journeys could take weeks, and if the expellees hadn’t managed to bring food with them, as they frequently didn’t, they were out of luck.

The dying continued in Germany itself. Many of those deposited in the ruins of Allied-occupied Germany were left to fend for themselves without housing, heating, food, or clothing, leading to many needless deaths from exposure, hypothermia, and disease. Their plight was aggravated by the Allies’ decision to declare them ineligible for any kind of assistance from international relief agencies. Local welfare officers performed miracles of improvisation, housing expellees in schools, barns, air raid shelters, even caves. Again, former concentration camps came in handy as reception centers, and many stayed in use for years. Dachau, the very first camp founded by the Nazis, didn’t close down until 1964. But the numbers were just too great. The population of a small- to medium-size town, twice the size of Hamilton, N.Y., was descending upon Germany every day. Ironically, at the same time and less than 100 miles away, the surviving Nazi leaders were being tried by the Allies at Nuremberg on a bill of indictment that listed “deportation and other inhumane acts committed against any civilian population” under the heading of “crimes against humanity.”

Eyes wide open

Such a massive operation could hardly be carried out secretly. Nor was it. This tremendous exercise in demographic engineering required thousands of bureaucrats, officials, camp guards, troops, policemen, and transport workers. The Polish component alone involved, as two British historians have recently pointed out, “administrative expertise of the sort attributed to [Nazi operations chief] Adolf Eichmann, and logistical planning on a scale at least twice as large as anything attempted during the Holocaust.” Moreover, it was undertaken in full view of thousands of Western journalists and humanitarian workers, as well as innumerable Allied military administrators.

When the train made its first stop after more than four days in transit, 16 frostcovered corpses were pulled from the wagons. A Czech “organized expulsion” in progress at Nový Jic ˇín. Margaret Fait Papers, box 4/16, Hoover Institution Archives

scene: Spring 2013

In many cases, these observers openly denounced what seemed to them a betrayal of the ideals for which the war had been fought. Reams of letters of protest flooded into the embassies of the Western powers and the headquarters of the Red Cross in Geneva. George Orwell described the expulsions as “an enormous crime” that was certain to result in “suffering and the sowing of irreconcilable hatreds.” The philosopher Bertrand Russell asked, “Can those responsible for the deaths of those who die after expulsion be regarded as less guilty because they do not see or hear the agonies of their victims?” Anne O’Hare McCormick of the New York Times, the first female winner of the Pulitzer Prize, wrote of the deportation operation: “No one seeing its horrors firsthand can doubt that it is a crime against humanity for which history will exact a terrible retribution.” Even some Allied officials were shaken by the extent to which they had allowed themselves to become complicit. In an internal protest, Robert Murphy, the U.S. State Department’s chief official in Germany, characterized the operation as “retribution on a large scale, but practiced not on the Parteibonzen [Nazi bigwigs], but on women and children, the poor, the infirm.” The problem, then, was not a conspiracy of silence about what, by any measure, ranks as one of the most significant examples of the mass violation of human rights in recent history, but that few citizens of the Allied countries were disposed to pay any attention to stories of German suffering, or to acknowledge gradations of German guilt. When Life magazine published a harrowing exposé of the scenes of dead, dying, and raped expellees arriving in Berlin, one of those few, an injured veteran in San Francisco, wrote in response: “I lost my fear of death at Guadalcanal. I lost my best friend at Okinawa. I lost my leg at Iwo Jima. But I lost my faith in American democracy after reading your article on deport-

ed German peoples. What was I fighting for?” The reaction in one New York woman’s letter, however, was more typical: “I gloated over them. May they continue to suffer long and hard for the monstrous crimes they inflicted on the rest of Europe.” Remarkably, such attitudes persist largely intact nearly 70 years later. There are several reasons. The most obvious is that so few people outside Germany have ever heard of this story, even in academia. In the textbooks I assign to my students in my 20th-century European history courses at Colgate, the expulsions typically do not rate as much as a mention. On the rare occasions that they do, they are passed over in a fleeting reference to the “chaos” existing in Europe after the war. For example, the most commonly used text in U.S. colleges and universities, John Merriman’s 1,500-page A History of Modern Europe, disposes of the episode in a single brisk sentence. These works leave the more intellectually curious undergraduates on their own to grapple with attempting to understand how the most richly diverse and heterogeneous parts of the continent in 1939 had become ethnic monoliths 10 years later, or why Germany alone among the major belligerents emerged from the war with a larger population than it began.

The victims

From whatever angle they are viewed, the expulsions are a deeply unsettling complication to the conventional understanding of World War II as a righteous crusade against one of the most barbaric régimes of modern times. Does this mean that we ought to revise our overall attitude to the “Good War?” I do not believe that we should. Despite the efforts of Holocaust “revisionists,” neo-Nazis, and other unscrupulous actors in Germany and elsewhere to draw parallels between the two episodes, no legitimate comparison can be made.

The scale, ferocity, and, above all, intensity of Germany’s unhinged genocidal program stands unequaled in the annals of man’s inhumanity to man. While the postwar expulsions were similarly accomplished through the lavish use of state-directed violence against civilian populations, they were not exterminationist either in intent or in effect. And, however inhumane many of the postwar camps may have been, most of the people detained in them survived their incarceration and were allowed to rebuild their lives, with full legal rights restored to them. None of this is true of the Nazis’ victims. But as the historian J.R. Sanborn has rightly observed, “greater evil does not excuse lesser evil.” The level of death and suffering caused to vulnerable civilians (particularly children who could bear no guilt for Nazi crimes) by the expulsions was prodigious by any measure. Moreover, the human costs had been accurately predicted in advance. Contrary to what is often claimed, the postwar deportations were not the result of a groundswell of revenge by the citizenry in the expelling states. Rather, they resulted from a series of decisions taken by the leaders of the Big Three states, whose primary aim was to serve the great powers’ national interests, not to identify and punish Nazis and their collaborators. When in 1942 the Czechoslovak government raised the possibility of linking expulsions only to culpability, the British government firmly vetoed the idea. “We fear that the acceptance of this principle might lead to an unwelcome limitation of our right to make considerable transfers of population,” the Foreign Office warned, “since we may want (and the Americans may propose) to use this remedy on a large scale without reference to ‘guilt’ and it seems important that we should keep our hands free to do so.” As is the case with ethnic cleansings in general, then, it was the “static” elements of the population — women, children, and the elderly — rather than

the “mobile” adult males, who became the primary targets. Contrary to Anne McCormick’s belief that so cold-blooded an operation would be widely considered a “crime against humanity,” national and international law was crafted in such a way as to leave those affected without recourse of any kind. Uniquely in the history of modern Europe, as a matter of policy, the German expellees were declared by the victorious Allies to be beyond the reach of human rights law or protection by any humanitarian organization, the International Committee of the Red Cross included. The “minorities treaties” of the 1920s and 1930s that had protected vulnerable populations from discrimination were, by common agreement among the Allied powers, pronounced as no longer having effect. Further, the Nuremberg Principles that criminalized “deportations and other inhumane acts” were deemed to apply only to the leaders of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945, not the powers that had put them on trial. Even the Genocide Convention of 1948 was amended so as not to impede the process. Although its first draft had defined “forced and systematic exile of individuals representing the culture of a group” as a form of genocide, after the U.S. delegate pointed out that this “might be interpreted as embracing forced transfers of minority groups such as have already been carried out by members of the United Nations,” the prohibition on expulsions was deleted. To this day, surviving expellees — most of whom, given the lapse of time, were children at the time of their removal — have no legal means of obtaining redress for the physical, financial, or sexual victimization they may have suffered.

A long view

Not all historical injustices, it is true, can be rectified, and many Poles, Czechoslovaks, and others have also gone without adequate (or any) compensation

The Allies … decided to take a leaf out of Hitler’s book. An ethnic German child, transported from Eastern Europe, waits beside stacks of provisions. ICRC V-P-HIST-03226-22.

News and views for the Colgate community

for what they suffered at the Germans’ hands. But the weakness of the laws regarding mass population transfers is troubling, for they are by no means a thing of the past. And, in fact, because ignorance of their disastrous European record is so pervasive, policy makers and pundits have actually begun to cite the postwar expulsions as an example of a painful but proven method of dealing with intractable minority problems existing today — in the former Yugoslavia, the Middle East, Sudan, and elsewhere. Scholars like John J. Mearsheimer, Andrew BellFialkoff, Chaim Kaufmann, and others have attempted to introduce a distinction between “genocidal ethnic cleansing” on the one hand, and “preventive resettlement” on the other, with the expulsion of the Germans standing as a model of the latter. To be sure, the recent introduction in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (the most important legal treaty criminalizing grave human rights abuses) of a provision declaring forced population transfers to be an offense in international law impedes the general use of methods of this kind. But, as we have seen, such instruments offer little protection when the great powers agree on the necessity of making an exception. Indeed, the legal scholar Timothy Waters has argued that the fact of the postwar expulsions remaining unchallengeable in international law — even where their ongoing effects (i.e., continued denationalization and expropriation of surviving expellees) are concerned — has already done much to undermine the force of the Rome Statute. As Waters argues, if tribunals can continue to place German expellees beyond the scope of international law on the basis of their ethnicity, a precedent has been created for other disfavored minority groups to be treated in the same way. If the legal problems associated with the expulsions are thorny, the historical ones are no less so.

“What was I fighting for?” — injured U.S. veteran

Elderly expellees assisted onto German soil at Travemünde near Lübeck, under the supervision of a British soldier. Christopher Emmet Papers, box 29, Hoover Institution Archives.

scene: Spring 2013

During the 1950s and 1960s, German complaints about the expulsions were internationally dismissed as attempts by chauvinists and “revisionists” to cover up their own misdeeds or even to regain Germany’s lost eastern territories. Frequent inflammatory and inconsiderate statements by German politicians helped to fan such suspicions. Later, partly in reaction to those attempts, as the country first began seriously to confront its dreadful wartime record, public opinion even in Germany itself (especially among the younger generation) grew harsher and more unsympathetic from the 1970s until the fall of the Berlin Wall. By the turn of the 21st century, what had already been a polarized debate became much more so as surviving expellees began to lobby for a memorial in Berlin to relatives who had lost their lives in the operation, as well as to press a variety of legal claims (virtually all of which proved futile) through the European Court of Human Rights and the United Nations. This newfound assertiveness on their part aroused a furious reaction in Poland and the Czech Republic, which accused the expellees of turning history on its head in an attempt to make Germans into the true victims of the Second World War. The notion that any form of recognition, even symbolic, was due to any citizens of a nation that had treated its own peoples with such apocalyptic barbarity seemed completely bizarre to them. These are by no means unreasonable perspectives. In integrating the story of the expulsions into the narrative of modern European history, space must not be created for a self-pitying “victim” mentality in Germany that would obscure the infinitely blacker record of its wartime crimes. But this is not a zero-sum game. Nor is it naïve or anachronistic to question what I have called the “inevitability thesis”: the proposition that, because of the Nazis’ atrocities,

the victors could not have acted other than as they did. The Second World War, it must be recalled, was not simply a struggle between two rival power blocs fighting for supremacy. Rather, it had an explicit ideological component that was placed at the very forefront of Allied war aims — not least among them President Roosevelt’s “Four Freedoms” address to Congress in 1941, which emphasized that “Freedom means the supremacy of human rights everywhere.” Perhaps the most important question the war attempted to settle was whose vision of the human person, and of human dignity, was to prevail — the murderous Nazi version, with its demented utopian schemes, collective and mechanistic attitude to personhood, and contempt for the entire concept of inalienable rights, or the Allies’ declared commitment to a world order founded on the notion of the individual as a creature of infinite value by virtue of his or her very humanity. It’s not unreasonable, then, for us to try to assess how fully that commitment, for which so many Allied servicemen and civilians sacrificed their lives, was lived up to in reality. This is an especially good moment to do so. Most of the countries involved in this episode have joined hands as partners within the European Union. With many (although far from all) of the relevant archives having been opened in recent years, the first professional and objective studies of how the expulsions were conducted are appearing in the expelling countries themselves, although an immense amount of painstaking research remains to be done. As the last surviving expellees pass from the scene, the time is surely ripe for this disturbing but significant chapter in Europe’s recent history at last to receive the attention it deserves.

A conversation with the author When R.M. Douglas, professor of history at Colgate, published Orderly and Humane: The Expulsion of the Germans after the Second World War (Yale University Press) last June, he knew that it was likely to generate a vigorous international response. But, little did he know he’d soon be invited to address the British Parliament on his subject. Already translated into five languages, with additional translations to come, the book has opened up conversations across the globe. Named one of the 15 best books of 2012 by Atlantic Monthly, and an American Publishers Awards for Professional and Scholarly Excellence honorable mention in European and World History, it has been reviewed by the New Republic, London Times, Wall Street Journal, Le Monde, and more. Douglas has been interviewed on NPR, BBC Radio, and Bloomberg Business Week, and presented his work to large audiences on both sides of the Atlantic. The reaction to Orderly and Humane, he said, has been in some ways as fascinating as the story told in the book itself. How did your appearance in front of the British Parliament come about? A former member of the Blair administration invited me to address a joint meeting of parliamentarians from the U.K.’s House of Commons and the House of Lords in March. One of the main reasons I wrote Orderly and Humane was my alarm over the fact that the idea of solving minority problems through mass population transfers is once again becoming fashionable in public policy circles — along the reasoning of “it’s not ethnic cleansing so long as the UN or NATO does it.” Quite a number of policy makers around the world are becoming concerned about that trend, so I welcomed the opportunity to give a talk to British political leaders about this method’s disastrous record. How have surviving expellees responded to your telling of their story? Nearly all of the German expellees still alive today were children or teenagers when they were deported; the older ones are now dead. I’ve received a lot of e-mails and letters that show how deeply scarred they were by their experiences. One thing they mention over and over is how much pressure they have felt throughout their lives to keep their stories to themselves. “Even my own children don’t want to know,” one elderly man told me. Another correspondent, a parent of a Colgate alumnus, wrote to me about her expulsion as a 7-year-old from what is now Poland. Her family had a nightmare journey on foot during which they suffered a great deal of physical and sexual violence; her young brother didn’t survive the experience. Her relatives didn’t think she was going to make it, either. “By the time we arrived in Berlin and the Soviet Zone,” she said, “I was severely malnourished and looked like a skeleton. I have seldom talked to anyone about this because mostly I receive a stare of incomprehension.”

A third, a child detainee in the brutal Potulice internment camp who now specializes as a clinical neuropsychologist in the treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder among U.S. veterans, said that after she came to live in this country, “I could hardly mention my childhood in captivity. On rare occasions when the subject came up, people said that Potulice was ‘nothing.’ The mere mention of my captivity called forth statements of distress and grief over the atrocities of the Nazi era. That was the harm I should have experienced, some people said.” You’ve also had some rather ugly reactions that, collectively, come with a heavy dose of irony. That’s true enough. The response from fellow scholars and critics, both here and in Europe, has been extremely positive. But some members of the public haven’t always seen it the same way. The people who have probably been angriest of all are the members of various neo-Nazi and Holocaust-denial circles. Many of them like to make simplistic comparisons between the expulsion of the Germans and the extermination of the Jews, and they’ve been very upset with me for pointing out all the reasons why that’s just flat-out wrong. In fact, for the past nine months, part of my morning routine has been the diversion of e-mail messages from these characters denouncing me as a “kosher historian,” a “cryptoJew,” and other amusingly unhinged descriptions in the same vein, to my spam box. But other people have been just as upset with me for describing the maltreatment that so many expellees suffered. To them, it’s a contradiction in terms that the notion of a German of this era, regardless of sex or age, didn’t deserve the severest punishment. One Polish man pulled me up for overlooking what he saw as female expellees’ biological complicity. “German women,” he claimed, “participated frequently in the Nazi system [by] growing little Nazis.” But probably the most chilling response I’ve seen so far came from an American who took issue with my inclusion of a photograph in the book of an 11-yearold girl who, as a result of her detention in Poland, weighed just 31 pounds at the time of her expulsion. Perhaps, he wrote, this was not truly a picture of a “starving darling,” but rather one of “a teutonic bitch from birth [who was] getting just what she finally deserved.”

margin, and a lot of analysts say that his stance on the expulsions wound up costing him the election. What was the genesis of this book? Although a great deal of literature has appeared on various aspects of the expulsions — a 1989 bibliography listed more than 4,000 books and articles on the subject, most of them in German, Czech, or Polish — there has been little agreement on some of the most basic factual elements, and no single work that sought to tell the entire story on a foundation of verifiable scholarship. Orderly and Humane was my attempt to fill this gap, based on original research in the archives of the various countries (including the United States) that carried out this extraordinary and tragic operation as well as the excellent local studies that have begun to appear in central Europe since the fall of communism. What is your biggest takeaway from all of this? I’ve learned a tremendous amount from the responses I’ve received, about how the Second World War continues to shape — if not haunt — our contemporary consciousness, nearly 70 years after the guns fell silent. It’s pretty clear by now that 1945 was not the great watershed in modern history that we once considered it to be. One of my British colleagues, Gregor Dallas, spoke more aptly than perhaps even he realized when he described the Second World War as “the war that never ended.” Certainly, World War II did not end in 1945 for surviving expellees themselves, or for their families. Even after the passage of two generations, psychological wounds are still raw on many fronts. But as another British historian, Antony Beevor, has recently reminded us, we have an obligation to recognize those who suffered and died in the Second World War and its aftermath “as individuals, not as nameless people in caricatured categories, because that sort of dehumanization was precisely what the perpetrators had sought to achieve.”

What about resonance on a broader scale? The expulsions are still a very hot potato in Europe. Whenever anyone brings them up publicly, raised voices and angry words are usually the result. Just this past January, Karel Schwarzenberg, who was one of the candidates in the Czech presidential election, broke a taboo when he said in a debate that “what we committed in 1945 would today be considered a grave violation of human rights.” His opponent immediately jumped on this and accused him of “speaking like a Sudeten German [expellee].” Schwarzenberg went on to lose by a pretty small

News and views for the Colgate community

Light from the Island of Refuse: A Story of Resistance By Samuel Spitz ’13

“The cry of the poor is not always just, but if you don’t listen to it, you’ll never know what justice is.” —Howard Zinn, A People’s History of the United States

An FPFVI protest in Mexico City. Frente Popular Francisco Villa Independiente is a social movement that builds autonomous housing collectives for the poor on reclaimed government lands.

scene: Spring 2013

We arrive at 1 a.m. There are five of us. Our van rolls toward a heavy metal gate. It’s 8 feet tall. The letters FPFVI are spray painted in silver. The brakes squeak. A small side door opens, and the guard asks for our papers. Half an hour passes, and finally the van lurches forward. The gate slams behind me. I wonder, where am I going? I would never have spent a summer with social movements in Mexico had it not been for Professor Heather Roller. Her classes The Making of Latin America, Race and Ethnicity in Latin America, and Colony and Conquest whetted my interest in Mexican history and prompted me to inquire deeper into the legacies of colonialism. Our focus on individual agency, collective resistance, and hybrid societies allowed me to see indigenous peoples as historical actors, rather than the passive recipients of European political, social, and economic structures. Professor Roller’s approach inspired me. And I became fascinated with groups in resistance, historically and contemporarily. I read about revolutionaries like Túpac Amaru, Francois-Dominique Touissaint L’Ouverture, Emiliano Zapata, Francisco “Pancho” Villa, and Ernesto “Che” Guevara, and studied their influence on late 20thcentury social movements. I wanted to understand what their struggle looks like today. After writing a term paper about the Zapatista Revolution in Chiapas (1994), it became clear that I would have to go down there. How could I understand a “people’s movement” if I didn’t listen to the people who started it? That was December of 2011. By February 2012, I had submitted my application for the Mexico Solidarity Network (MSN) summerabroad program. The MSN was the logical choice. Well, actually, it was the only choice. MSN is unique in the level of political solidarity they’ve built with the Zapatistas over the past 15 years. The organization distributes artisanry produced by indigenous communities in Chiapas, runs Photos courtesy of Mexico Solidarity Network

an autonomous community center for mostly Spanishspeaking immigrants in Albany Park, Chicago (my hometown), supports dignified housing and immigrant rights groups also based in Chicago, organizes speaking tours with Mexican activists around the United States, and leads a study-abroad program that gives college students the opportunity to live with and learn from Mexico’s most important social movements. You might have noticed that I wrote, “live with and learn from,” not “help” or “assist.” That’s an important distinction. The MSN doesn’t take students to Mexico to build houses or teach English. They take them there to listen. The program is designed for organizers — so the hope is that students will apply what they learn to their own communities, not the ones they encounter in Mexico. When I left last June, I expected most of those lessons to come from the Zapatistas. At the time, Chiapas was the only place in Mexico I had ever heard U.S. activists talk about. There have been dozens of books written about the Zapatistas, many of which I thumbed through in Case Library. I had read that they declared war on the Mexican government in 1994, that they occupied five regions of Chiapas (including the capitol, San Cristobal), and that many of those regions remain autonomous still. I knew that their spokesman, Subcomandante Marcos, had become legend in Latin America, much like Zapata, Villa, or Guevara, and that their political theories had spread far beyond Mexico, beyond Latin America, even. Turns out I was wrong. Not about the Zapatistas or Marcos — all that’s true — but about which movement I would learn the most from. In the end, it wasn’t the famous one that inspired me; it was the one I had never heard of, the one with a struggle I could relate to, the one from a city like my own. It’s the story of that movement that I share with you.

pon a e w e Th

Iztapalapa, Mexico City – The bright green, pink, purple, and blue apartment buildings of La Polvorilla housing collective rise like an island from the sea. Perched atop a rocky mesa, the community is surrounded by poverty. Mounds of garbage bags roll like black waves over the gullied landscape below, casting shadows over tin-roof shanties, chickenwire coops, and food carts that bob between the heaps. Moldering piles of fouled diapers, burnt-out appliances, and broken DVDs line narrow streets. The region is home to Mexico City’s largest waste dump — and its most powerful social movement. Frente Popular Francisco Villa Independiente (FPFVI), or Los Panchos, creates alternatives for the poor of Iztapalapa. The movement builds autonomous housing collectives on government lands reclaimed by the people.

Los Panchos squat and build. They do not ask permission. They do not wait for loans.

Residents clear rubble and garbage by day and put up fences by night. Everyone helps build each other’s homes. Half a dozen community members sit near the entrance to the gate at all times — usually sharing coffee, cigarettes, and laughs. They are the vigilance committee, and their job is to protect their land from intruders. Each patrolman carries a red FPFVI flag, a truncheon, and a whistle. The weapon is the whistle. One shrill can mobilize the neighborhood in seconds. The State is an adversary, so if police or military intrude, the streets will swarm with

le t s i h w is the

supporters. The threat of a surge cows even the brashest politicians. FPFVI has more than 300,000 supporters. The organization can shut down the Federal District of Mexico City. They have videos of their demonstrations. Taxi drivers block intersections along march routes. Their cabs channel tens of thousands of people into El Zocalo, the center of the city, the political heart of Mexico. Each protester carries a red FPFVI flag and a chant sheet. The cries have echoed through the streets here before. Now, with inequality on the rise again, the thunderous voice of the People shakes the old colonial buildings of El Zocalo once more. Ya Basta! (Enough Is Enough!)

Iztapalapa is not a tourist destination. Its neighborhoods are accessible only by bus. The borough lies just beyond Estación Constitución de 1917, the last stop on the Metro train. It is the poorest borough in Mexico City. Most residents earn $4 to $6 a day, experience hunger, and attain low levels of formal education. Few have adequate shelter or transportation. Iztapalapa has become an industrial pond of progress, where the dregs are dumped for the sake of “sustained growth and prosperity.” Every morning that pond drains into the city. In La Polvorilla, laborers flow through the gates as

Scenes from La Polvorilla, the oldest of the seven FPFVI collectives in Iztapalapa. Left: Sam Spitz ’13 at the entry gate. Center: Single-story dwellings line a street. Right: During his month in La Polvorilla, Spitz lived in one of the two-story houses on this block. His hosts were among the community’s first residents; the husband is a taxi driver in Mexico City and the wife a stay-at-home mom. In addition to observing the collective’s activities, Spitz remembers many moments of everyday community life, from working out at their outdoor gym to “playing monkey-in-the-middle with kids in the street.”

early as 3 a.m. For many, this marks the beginning of a daunting two-hour commute. Estación Constitución de 1917 is a 40-minute bus ride from the community, and unless you have a car, it is the only way downtown. The station serves a population of 1.8 million people, most of whom do not have cars. All of the district’s buses converge there. The station is a chokepoint. Crowds cram buses so tightly during rush hour that men hang onto each other five deep from the doorways, and pray they are not scraped away as the bus hugs narrow roads. The train is just as bad. Cars get so packed that mothers carry their children on their shoulders. The humidity is stifling — windows steam and rills of sweat sprout from every forehead. The train deposits residents of La Polvorilla all across the city — in sweatshops, textile mills, and factories; in thoroughfares and street markets. Many work for foreign corporations (few of which pay taxes). Others drive taxis or buses, push food carts, fix ATMs, hawk food in mobbed markets, or sell oversized sombreros and “I [heart] Mexico City” T-shirts. No one makes much money. Children as young as 7 ride the rails for their living. They squeeze through the muggy cars with candy bars, cellphone cards, and packs of chicle (gum). They scream “Compras! Compras!” as loud as they can, with faces a brilliant red, straining every chord in the backs of their throats so by the end of the day they will be fed. It is difficult for a child to make a living this way. Competition is News and views for the Colgate community

fierce and margins razor thin. A vendor sells only when his voice sits atop the din, so at every stop, the child’s shouts are drowned beneath the men. In the end, the torrent of cries matters little. The rumble of the train swallows the vendors’ calls all the same. It is deafening. Those who stand cling to what they can as the ground shakes beneath their feet.

Mexico has been on the march toward “economic modernization” for the past three decades. The project began in 1982 when Harvard-educated President Miguel de la Madrid accepted loans from the International Monetary Fund and the United States in exchange for implementing U.S.-designed structural adjustment programs (SAPS). One could argue that the president and his cronies did not have the public interest at heart. The programs were designed to attract foreign capital, but investments were mostly speculative. To keep them, Mexico had to cultivate a friendly business environment. In the coming decades, President Madrid and his successors would sign free trade deals with lender nations, auction off public enterprises and resources to multinational corporations, slash subsidies and social programs for working people, raise interest rates, crush unions, devalue currency, and prioritize debt repayment over every other domestic interest. Even disaster relief. In fact, when the Mexico City earthquake struck in 1985, President Madrid waited 39 hours to respond. In his earliest addresses, he informed the nation that Mexico would neither accept international aid nor divert any of its debt payments toward the recovery effort. Instead, his government deployed 1,800 troops to protect private property from “looters.” Historian Burton Kirkwood writes in his History of Mexico that soldiers “assisted factory owners in retrieving their machinery rather than in removing the bodies of dead factory workers.” The government’s negligent response symbolized a radical redefinition of the relationship between citizen and state — one that came entirely at the expense of the poor. Mexico once boasted the most progressive constitution in the Americas. It guaranteed education, land grants, and livable wages for all. It promised that the state would keep control over its natural resources (so that Mexico would never again be colonized by foreign corporations). Its constitution was the product of a bloody, decadelong revolution, and the document for which General Francisco “Pancho” Villa and his soldiers gave their lives. Now, the government promises to protect private property, a guarantee of little help to those with no property to protect. And, despite a three-decade–long campaign for “sustained growth and prosperity,” that’s still most citizens. Today, 53 million Mexicans live at or below the poverty line, while one, Carlos Slim, controls an

scene: Spring 2013

ra o f e z i n a They org e. r u t u f r e bett

empire worth more than all of them combined. Twenty-seven million work three or more jobs, and U.S. remittances are the second-largest source of hard currency. Real minimum wage, 62 pesos per day ($4.70 U.S.), has not increased in 30 years. In 2006, the Centro de Análisis Multidisciplinario estimated that the average minimum-wage earner had to work 13 hours and 19 minutes to purchase the basic recommended daily food requirement. That figure reached 22 hours and 55 minutes in 2011, despite 19 percent growth in Mexico’s GDP and a New York Times article that celebrated the country’s growing middle class. (The number of people living at or below the poverty line rose by 6 million during President Felipe Calderon’s administration, 2006 through 2012.)

Economic modernization devastated Mexico. The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA, 1994), President Salinas de Gortari’s signature deal, subjected millions of Mexican farmers and smallbusiness owners to the ravages of the global market. Transnational corporations and wealthy capitalists — foreign and domestic — gobbled up public enterprises and resources, pushing middle-class workers outside the boundaries of state unions and into freshly deregulated labor markets. Mexico’s only comparative advantage was cheap, exploitable labor. The agreement forced millions to abandon their lands and livelihoods for the strawberry fields of California, the sweatshops of Juarez, and the informal markets of Mexico City. Many of those people ended up on the streets of

On summer days in La Polvorilla, children chase each other through broad, welcoming streets, cackling as they race between rows of shimmering cabs. At night, their parents and grandparents gather beneath a tent at the center of the community, where they discuss a progress all their own. A silver whistle dangles above the entryway of every home.

Vigilance committees. General assemblies. Whistles.

These things embody the collectivist spirit of Los Panchos. But those qualities are not unique to Iztapalapa. FPFVI represents just one autonomous movement — there are dozens across Mexico, Latin America, and beyond. For “developing” countries, neoliberal modernization is a race to the bottom, a competition between former colonies to determine which can provide the cheapest labor. Autonomous social movements like

The residents of La Polvorilla come together about twice a month for local governance and organizing activities. The man standing with his back to the camera is one of the settlement’s main organizers; his son became Spitz’s best friend there.

Iztapalapa, where 30 percent of the buildings remain damaged from the quake.

And still, the refuse of modern Mexico rise like buoys from beneath the swells. Whether victims of economic or environmental misfortune, Iztapalapans, like their indigenous ancestors, refuse to disappear. They will not sink into the depths of history as “necessary sacrifices” for the middle-class American lifestyle. They will not be buried beneath unmarked graves for a progress they have never known nor had the opportunity to define. The people have a knack for survival. They always have. FPFVI is just one of their more recent

collaborations. But, unlike a number of other movements over the past few decades, this one will not demobilize for paltry concessions. Instead, the members of Los Panchos are pursuing autonomy from the State. The organization works desde abajo y a la izquierda (from below and to the left) to ensure the poor need never rely on small government again. In FPFVI collectives, the people do everything for themselves. Residents build and maintain houses, schools, offices, cultural centers, radio stations, electric and plumbing systems, gates, soccer fields, workout facilities, and sidewalks; grow food for those who need it; organize vigilance committees to keep police and military away; and develop laws that fit the wants and needs of the people, not the country.

FPFVI members tap into the Mexico City drainage system to connect the drains from a new community of apartments they built for 98 families. Had the authorities tried to stop them, they would have deployed their whistles to call other FPFVI members and their allies — such as taxi drivers who could congest the streets in moments — to foil them.

Frente Popular Francisco Villa Independiente refuse to participate. They will not take part in a system that treats them as waste, so they organize for a brighter future. Their resistance emanates from a 500-year-long tradition of struggle. The vibrant green, pink, purple, and blue apartments of La Polvorilla are not cosmetics for a blighted district. A masterpiece of the human spirit, they rise like a torch from the darkest corner of Mexico City to lighten a path toward more hopeful shores. They stand amidst a sea black as pitch, fronting furious tides as if to say, Otro Mundo es possible/Villa Vive, La Lucha Sigue! Sigue!! (Another World is Possible/Pancho Villa Lives, the Struggle Continues!) News and views for the Colgate community

Behind and

Beyond the News in the New Middle East By Lindsay Mackenzie â&#x20AC;&#x2122;05

scene: Spring 2013

was the news — the Arab Spring revolutions — that brought me to Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen in 2011 and 2012. It was certainly a historic time in the region. Ordinary citizens who’d been brought up to fear and accept the dictatorships they were born into suddenly rediscovered their own agency, and in unbelievable individual acts of extraordinary bravery, walked onto the streets into a wall of tear gas and riot police to demand change. Yet, what captivated me most — what I told friends and family about when I went home — were the small acts of hospitality that always followed me through the region, and the ability of Tunisians, Egyptians, and Yemenis to shatter their own stereotypes. The nature of the news is that it rarely allows me to publish images that don’t conform to preconceived ideas of the region; images of women without headscarves or men without weapons, for example. Most positive images, or images of everyday life, don’t make the editor’s cut. It is difficult to show that, not far beyond what’s “breaking,” is what has always been: men and women going about their daily lives, just as we all do in the rest of the world. There are, of course, major challenges facing the region. But if we only see the problems, we don’t get the full picture. The following images show the news that brought me to these countries, but also what captivated me about them: their beauty, history, and hospitality — and, indeed, our commonalities.

I was midway though completing my MA in journalism at Newcastle University in England when I heard that Tunisians had just toppled their dictator. I put down my books on media theory and started reading the latest news. A few years earlier, I had briefly worked in Egypt. While there, I read Inside Egypt: Land of the Pharaohs on the Brink of a Revolution, in which author John R. Bradley stated that the dictatorship couldn’t continue as it was for much longer and predicted instability and even revolt. At the time, I was working with tourists, guiding groups on visits to the Egyptian Museum, the Pyramids, the Temples in Luxor, and on cruises down the Nile. The dire predictions of an imminent uprising seemed far-fetched. Yet, now a neighboring country was in revolt. A region’s and a generation’s time for change had finally arrived.

It’s not every day that you are within a few hours’ flight from a revolution. History was not going to wait for me to finish my MA — it was time to start working. I packed my cameras and booked the next available flight to Tunis. I arrived in Tunisia on January 17, 2011, just days after President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali had been forced to flee his country after 23 years in power. Nobody knew at that time just how far the ramifications of these events would stretch across the Arab World. And, on a personal level, I did not yet know that I was about to begin a long-term stay in Tunisia. I started to photograph frequently for the National, an English newspaper based in Abu Dhabi, and to pick up a variety of other freelance work. I moved to a small town outside of Tunis that March and ended up staying for two years to document the transition from dictatorship to democracy and to use Tunisia as a base from which to cover the rest of the region.

Tunis, January 20, 2011 — Violence was limited during the Tunisian Revolution because the military made the essential decision not to follow presidential orders to attack protestors. Here, protesters in downtown Tunis had placed flowers in the barrels of the guns of soldiers who were protecting the building that had, until days earlier, been the headquarters of president Ben Ali’s political party.

News and and views views for for the the Colgate Colgate community community News

39 39

1. Tunis, October 2012 — Egyptian musician Youssra El Hawary records in a private studio in Tunis. The recording session was part of a workshop for female Arab musicians to produce a record together. Participants also included a Tunisian singer and a Libyan rapper. Visible in the reflection are the German project supervisor and American producer. (Published in Intro magazine)

36 40

scene: Spring Spring 2013 2012

2. Carthage, April 2012 — Models prepare backstage for the third-annual Tunis Fashion Week. Tunisia’s ability to accommodate both the religious and the secular segments of its society will be one of the country’s major challenges as it moves forward. It could also be an opportunity for Tunisia to again set the stage for the rest of the region.

3. Ben Arous, October 21, 2011 — Two days before the first democratic elections in two decades, young supporters of the Islamist party Ennahda embraced during an election rally. During the era of Ben Ali, the party was banned and Islamists were often persecuted and imprisoned.

4. Tunis, August 2011 — An employee of a new English online news website, Tunisia Live, works at the office in a suburb of Tunis. The framed signs behind him are those that the website’s owner carried through the streets during the uprising. The website is one of a number of new media organizations that started up after the revolution. (Published in the National)

The regional dominoes began to fall quickly after Tunisia. I had barely returned from my initial trip to Tunisia when massive protests began in Cairo. Having lived in Cairo almost exactly two years earlier, this was a story I wanted to follow. I booked my flight to Egypt and arrived in Cairo on January 30, 2011, on an empty British Airways flight. The city I knew was unrecognizable. The normally chaotic road from the airport to downtown was deserted, the cars replaced with informal neighborhood checkpoints. Crowds were already camped out in Tahrir Square. Military tanks were parked in front of the Egyptian Museum. I went without an assignment but picked up work for the National, La Vanguardia, and the Globe and Mail in the three weeks that followed.

5. Sidi Bou Said, October 2012 — The view from a hill above Sidi Bou Said. Overlooking the Mediterranean, this iconic seaside neighborhood is famous for its whitewashed buildings and blue doors and windows. It’s a popular place for residents of the congested capital to escape for a coffee and a stroll on evenings, weekends, and holidays.

Tahrir Square, Cairo, February 11, 2011 — Although I was impressed by what the Egyptian protestors had achieved in their 18-day takeover of Tahrir Square, I wasn’t sure that their actions could ever actually result in the removal of President Hosni Mubarak after almost 30 years in power. On February 10, 2011, Mubarak addressed the nation on television with a depressing speech that served only to highlight his disconnection from events on the ground. Crowds who had assembled in hopes that he might announce his resignation went home sorely disappointed. Yet, what a difference a day makes. The next day, I was photographing a group of protesters in front of the presidential palace when an announcement rippled through the crowd: “He’s finished. We did it!” Cairo erupted in wild celebrations. Everyone in the crowd started screaming, singing, jumping, and magically procuring and handing out flags and fireworks. Every car horn in the city seemingly added to a chant that echoed through the long night: “Ma-sa-la-mah! Ma-sa-lamah!” (Good-bye! Good-bye!). They’d achieved something that, less than a month before, they had hardly dared to dream of, and they danced through the streets with wild abandon. (Published in Arches magazine. Awarded an honorable mention in the General News category in 2011 from the News Photographers Association of Canada.)

News and and views views for for the the Colgate Colgate community community News

41 41

1. Cairo, February 16, 2011 — While walking in the Old City one evening, I asked about decorations that were being put up along a side street and was promptly invited to a wedding. Although weddings often take place in hotels and reception halls, booking a private venue is a luxury that many cannot afford, so in this case, the couple took to the streets, bringing in a band and decorations and inviting the neighborhood. During one dance, the bride and groom held knives in their teeth, prompting me to stare in disbelief and the other guests to laugh at my reaction. I could only take a few photographs before I was dragged onto the dance floor by a group of women. Thankfully, by then, the knives had disappeared. 2. Cairo, February 13, 2011 — Outside Tahrir Square, life in many parts of Cairo continued as it always has. Here, a fruit vendor sat behind a mosque in a quiet street waiting for customers shortly after sunset. Informal fruit stands and market stalls are a way of life, particularly in the winding lanes of the area known as “Islamic Cairo” — a historic neighborhood dense with famous mosques and Islamic monuments.

scene: Spring Spring 2013

3. Cairo, February 16, 2011 — A sandstorm hung over the city for a day, enveloping the streets in a cloak of brown dust. Although Cairo is infamous for its air pollution, it was rare to see the city cloaked in sand. A photographer friend and I decided to check out the view from the rooftop of a mosque in Islamic Cairo. The diffused light gave the cityscape an unfamiliar feel and seemed to reflect the uncertainty of the new, post-Mubarak era after the initial euphoria started to fade.

Taking their cue from Egypt’s Tahrir Square takeover, in the spring of 2011 Yemenis created their own space for protest in the capital city, Sana’a, dubbing it “Change Square.” The protesters in Change Square, however, would have to wait much longer than the Tunisians and Egyptians to see their demands met — some remain in the protest camp to this day. In November 2011, President Ali Abdullah Saleh bowed to national and international pressure and agreed to a peaceful transfer of power after elections in February 2012. The country faces a daunting array of challenges, including removing the remains of the former president’s power structure from the government and military. It was much more difficult to enter this country, but I managed to work in Yemen twice — in late 2011, and for the elections in February 2012. I again provided photographs for the National and also produced two radio documentaries for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Of all of the 55 or so countries I’ve visited so far, Yemen is one of the most surprising, hospitable, and picturesque. People invite foreigners into their homes without hesitation, offering you food, wedding invitations, and friendship. They usually aren’t consciously trying to disprove the Western stereotype of Yemen — they are just genuinely friendly and goodnatured. Almost everyone who saw me with my camera wanted to be photographed. They’d smile or pose, laugh, and then run off. I once had a kebab lunch in the Old City, and when I attempted to pay, I was told that someone else had already paid for me. I looked around for someone to thank, but they’d already left without a word. Another day, I had to catch a domestic flight but arrived to find it canceled. Instead of sending me home, the airline staff found me a seat in the cockpit of another plane so I wouldn’t miss my connection. The captain sent me off with a bag full of sandwiches for good measure. Only in Yemen. I now compare everywhere else with Yemen, and nowhere else can quite live up to it.

1. Aden, Yemen, February 2012 — I visited an elementary school in the port city of Aden while working for CBC radio and was impressed by the enthusiasm of the students, particularly these girls. (Published by CBC)

2. Old City, Sana’a, Yemen, February 2012 — The biggest “problem” working as a photographer in Yemen was that I was stopped and asked by almost everyone — men, women, children — to take their photo. They’d tap me on the shoulder, point at my camera, and give me a smile. I’d snap their picture, they’d thank me, and then they’d disappear around the corner or into a crowd. Here, Spanish photographer Samuel Aranda obligingly takes a photo of two girls who’d followed us around the Old C ity asking to have their picture taken. After he took the photo, they giggled and ran off. 3. Sana’a, Yemen, November 2011— Every Friday during their uprising, thousands of supporters of the revolution would walk to Siteen Street to pray, putting their strength and defiance on public display. The lines of men (and, off to one side, women) standing shoulder-to-shoulder often continued down the street for at least a kilometer. The massive crowd could be strikingly silent as they moved in unison through their prayers. When the prayers were finished, the crowd would break into a roar, demanding the removal of President Ali Abdullah Saleh and his family from power. 4. Sana’a, Yemen, November 20121— Men on a hillside took photographs of a crowd below using their mobile phones. (Published in Magenta Foundation’s book Flash Forward 2012)

scene: Spring 2013

Andrew Daddio

News and views for the Colgate community

The Office of Alumni Relations is pleased to offer many ways for alumni to stay in touch with each other, and with Colgate! E-mail me with questions or concerns at tmansfield@ colgate.edu. — Tim Mansfield, director of alumni relations Questions? Contact alumni relations: 315-228-7433 or alumni@colgate.edu.

scene: Spring 2013

Don Rith ’56

stay connected

Your portal to alumni programs, volunteer opportunities, career networking, and more

Learn

Connect

Celebrate

Women@Colgate Book Tour Margaret Maurer, William Henry Crawshaw Professor of literature, is inviting alumnae in and around Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C., to join her for the 2013 Women@Colgate Book Tour. Perhaps you remember classes with Professor Maurer — or maybe you never had the pleasure. Either way, you won’t want to miss this opportunity to head back into the seminar room with a legendary Colgate professor. For more details on dates, locations, and the book that will feed the conversation, keep your reading glasses trained on colgate.edu/wac.

Picture this Stunning Colgate University photography, just a click away: visit colgate. photoshelter.com to order customized photographic prints in a variety of sizes. Bring home images you’ve seen in the Colgate Scene and other university publications as well as scenic views from around one of America’s most beautiful campuses.

Reunion 2013 May 30–June 2 It’s not too late to register! In addition to welcoming back the ’3s and ’8s, it’s the lucky 13th Reunion for the Class of 2000. We’re also celebrating the 40th anniversary of women’s varsity athletics. Register today at colgate. edu/alumni/reunion.

Summer on the Hill June 30–July 3, 2013 Nine engaging Colgate professors will adapt popular class material for alumni, family, and friends. Together, you will explore our changing world — its biology, sociology, history, and more. The program also includes activities outside of the classroom, so you can enjoy all that Hamilton and Colgate have to offer. Tuition includes courses, extracurriculars, meals, university amenities, lodging at Wendt University Inn, and local transportation. Visit colgate.edu/summerhill for details and registration.

Link your LinkedIn profile Colgate seniors and your fellow alumni want to network with you! Thankfully, it’s never been easier to keep your professional details up to date. Visit colgate.edu/alumni and click the “update and view your profile” link. Follow the on-screen instructions to connect your profile to your LinkedIn account. Whenever you update your information on LinkedIn, it will automatically update your Colgate alumni directory profile. While you’re online, you can also use iCAN (Alumni Career Advisory Network at colgate.edu/ ican) to make additional contacts.

Colgate.edu/alumni Your page for alumni news and happenings. Catch the latest news about fellow classmates, register for an event, and check out — or submit! — wedding and baby photos on the Births, Marriages, and In Memoriam page.

Year of ’13: The Movie Celebrate Colgate’s lucky year by submitting a short film that offers your creative take on any aspect of the number 13. Comedy, drama, documentary — wherever your muse takes you, we’ll go along for the ride. All Colgate alumni are invited to enter this once-in-a-century competition. Films are due Oct. 13, 2013, and celebrity judges will announce a victor on Colgate Day, Dec. 13, 2013. The winning film will debut at the Slater Brothers’ Hamilton Film Festival in 2014. For more information, and to see who the celebrity judges are, visit colgate.edu/ yearof13movie.

Ruth Hartshorne: 100 years young Ruth Hartshorne, wife of the late Professor M. Holmes “Steve” Hartshorne, will be celebrating her 100th birthday at her home in Hamilton on July 13, 2013. She’d like her alumni friends to join the party. Questions? Call Ruth at 315-824-3493 or e-mail rhartshorne@colgate.edu.

salmagundi

Key Changes

These two photos might seem identical, but only the top one is the original photo of a Colgate string quintet. The bottom one has been changed in eight places. When you find a difference, draw a straight line connecting the center of the affected area in the top picture to its changed counterpart in the bottom picture. (Use a ruler for best results.) Each line you draw will cross through a colored square with a letter. When you’ve found all eight differences, the letters in the uncrossed squares, read in order, will give you the answer to this riddle: Which key do these students work on outside this ensemble? Answer to Key Changes puzzle on pg. 71.

Puzzle by Puzzability

Rewind Souvenirs and serendipity By Richard Duvall ’50

The picture of the 1950 Winter Carnival on Page 13 (winter 2013 Scene) knocked me over: 63 years later, here is my date, Ellye Marshall, a young actress from Hollywood, crowning the carnival queen, Joyce McLean of Garden City, N.Y. The photo sent me scurrying into my old Colgate files. I found clippings from Utica papers, photos, and letters, even one from Lloyd Huntley ’24, director of student activities at the time. Our class had arrived at Colgate in February 1946, 96 strong, mostly 24-yearolds coming from war service and eager to become graduates. This group of veterans was focused on their studies and dedicated to receiving the education they had earned through their service. Parties during those years seemed to be more sophisticated than the “wild” ones of prewar years. This group, much more mature, had the most memorable parties. I’d never met Ellye — who had just filmed Champagne for Caesar with Ronald Coleman, Celeste Holm, and Vincent Price. But I invited her to be my date through her agent, United Artists, and they said yes. (Coincidentally, Joyce was a high school friend of mine in Garden City, N.Y.) My 1936 Ford convertible had no top, so I wondered how to meet her at the Utica train station. A couple of my Colgate pals knew Bill Smith, the Ford dealer in Norwich. Soon, he delivered a red 1950 convertible fresh out of the showroom. The Utica Daily Press took lots of pictures as Ellye stepped off the train that afternoon for the drive down to Hamilton. This was better than Hollywood! She had all the dapper qualities of a movie starlet. I tracked down Joyce, now a widow living in Savannah, Ga. We are still looking for Ellye. She made five films between 1950 and 1954. These two ladies had helped to make “’50 Winter Carnival” one of the most exciting and beautiful ever! Do you have a reminiscence for Rewind? Send your submission of short prose, poetry, or a photograph with a description to scene@colgate.edu.

scene: Spring 2013

Above: A series of portraits — 29 in all — depicting prime movers of human thought by award-winning artist Robin Morris have been on display at Colgate and in Hamilton this academic year. Commissioned by Dick Resnick ’61, P’90, the Great Minds Collection was meant to provoke discussion and give students a chance “to make connections where none existed before, to entertain possibilities for their own work,” said Resnick. “A literature major might find inspiration in Einstein, or a science major might find Virginia Woolf provocative.” As part of Colgate’s Year of ’13 celebration, a series of lectures on some of the figures, including Woolf, Thomas Jefferson, Nelson Mandela, Jesus, and Martin Luther King Jr., were scheduled for the 13th of each month. Photo by Erica Hasenjager Back cover: Taylor Lake at sunset. Photo by Andrew Daddio

News and views for the Colgate community

scene: Colgate University

13 Oak Drive Hamilton, NY 13346-1398

colgate

CHANGE SERVICE REQUESTED

Nonprofit Organization U.S. Postage PAID Colgate University