Around the college (The Colgate Scene, July 2000)

The Colgate Scene
July 2000

Around the college

Hollie Young '00, with her parents, and Dean Wise '76, with his daughter Elizabeth '01, were the featured speakers at the annual Scholarship Recognition Dinner, which brings scholarship recipients and donors together.

New Trustees
At the May meeting, the Board of Trustees elected four new members to begin service on the board. James L. Elrod Jr. '76, Gwendolyn Smith Iloani '77 and Russell C. Wilkinson '70 fill regular trustee positions. Ronald J. Burton '69 is an alumni trustee.

Bethanie Sawyer '02, daughter of the president of the North American Sundial Society, noticed there was something wrong with the sundial that had been placed on the marker commemorating the spot (outside the Chapel) where Samuel Payne felled the first tree to begin clearing the farm he later donated to the Baptists. The Sawyers donated a new and correct sundial so all who pass will know the (sunny) time of day.

A force for nonviolence

Peter Ackerman, left, and Jack DuVall

To be effective, nonviolence must be strategic -- and to document this point Peter Ackerman and Jack DuVall (both Class of 1968) have produced a feature-length documentary, shown in Hamilton in April. The directing talents of Steve York, Jack DuVall's experience as a documentarian and executive producer, allied with producer (and Colgate Trustee) Peter Ackerman's scholarly background and books on this topic blended in a compelling film -- A Force More Powerful: A Century of Nonviolent Conflict. Already a prize winner at festivals, the film was viewed by a packed audience in the Hamilton Movie House. Peace Studies, sponsor of the screening, brought campus and community together for a panel discussion and reception afterwards at the Colgate Inn, where audience members fired questions to the movie makers and the panel was chaired by Cooley Professor of Peace Studies Nigel Young, director of the peace studies program. As well as Ackerman and DuVall, faculty member Wanda Warren Berry (philosophy and religion) and Delores Walters, director of the ALANA Cultural Center, offered their analyses of the film and a lively debate ensued.

Professor Emeritus Eric Van Schaack and Professor Robert McVaugh discussed the various styles of 20th century architecture on campus as part of an architectural walking tour sponsored by the Madison County Historical Society and the department of art and art history.

Chairman of the MTA Virg Conway '51 spoke on "lessons learned from 40 years of public service" as part of the College Republicans lecture series. Earlier in the day, Elaine Wingate Conway, director of the New York State Division for Women and a member of Gov. George Pataki's cabinet, spoke at the Women's Studies Center on "American Women: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow."

Honorary degree for Mosby
On May 6, Dewey Mosby received an honorary doctor of arts degree from Kendall College of Art and Design at its commencement ceremony, where he also delivered the commencement address. Director of the Picker Art Gallery since 1981, Mosby is a scholar of 18th and 19th century French painting, late 19th and early 20th century African American art and museology.

Frank Pommersheim '65, lawyer, teacher and poet, gave a lecture titled "From the Chenango Valley to the Rosebud Sioux Reservation: Going West to Find Vocation and Landscape." His visit was sponsored by Native American Studies.

The Graduate Fellowship Committee, top; from left, Jill Tiefenthaler, Jane Pinchin, Judith Oliver, Anne Pitcher, Judy Fischer, Andy Rotter, Myra Smith, Ken Valente, Lourdes Rojas and John Novak, hosted a celebratory lunch for this year's recipients, including, from left, Chi Chi Obichere, Courtney McDonough, Beth Willis, Rachel Cherry and Mishi Sztaray. [Zoom]
Since the May Scene was published, two more members of the Class of 2000, Lara Hueth and Rachel Cherry, have received Fulbright Scholarships, bringing this year's tally to five. Both will be in Russia, although Cherry will study there under a Watson Fellowship, having already accepted that award.

Hamilton Initiative acquires landmark village buildings
Hamilton Initiative, a limited liability company, has purchased and begun refurbishing the Nichols & Beal Building and Number Two Broad Street, principal buildings at the main intersection in downtown Hamilton. Hamilton Initiative is funded by Colgate with the support of alumni and friends who have an enduring interest in the village.

"Hamilton Initiative is a different kind of real estate management company," said company president Roger Bauman. "We are motivated by a desire to contribute to the vitality and quality of life in Hamilton and the surrounding community. It is a for-profit company, and the buildings will remain on the tax rolls, but the quality of life in Hamilton is more important to us than the bottom line."

The Nichols & Beal Building currently houses a restaurant and a vacant commercial space on its ground floor. For many years it was the location of the Blue Bird Restaurant. The building includes second-floor apartments and an unoccupied third floor that Bauman said will be renovated for apartment or office space.

Number Two Broad Street, at the corner of Broad and Lebanon Streets, houses a fine gift store at ground level and apartments on its second and third floors.

Bauman said the first order of business for Hamilton Initiative is to correct structural conditions such as leaking roofs, and to clean thoroughly the unoccupied spaces in both buildings. Bauman said that Hamilton Initiative's concept is to provide a level of finish quality that will attract commercial and residential occupants who will add to the vitality of downtown.

"Our goal is to foster business enterprise downtown and enhance the economic health of the community," Bauman said, adding that Hamilton Initiative is in negotiation to acquire another downtown property that would be restored and renovated with the same purpose.

Dana Scholar, Cobb Fellow, student senator, link, member of the campus activities board, four-year Dean's Award winner Ron Varnum '00 was presented the 1819 Award at the annual Awards Convocation in May. Varnum, a political science major with a minor in mathematics, also served on the Academic Affairs Board, was involved in admission and the Disciplinary Board. Varnum, a Phi Beta Kappa, graduated with a 4.0.

Producer Jeff Sharp '89, who signed a few autographs, screened Boys Don't Cry, the Oscar-winning film produced by Hart Sharp Entertainment as part of Professor John Knecht's Alternative Cinema film series. "There is this incredible need to stomp out what is different," Sharp told the packed house.