Colgate has changed a lot in the three years since I was a freshman. The school has instituted different programs for students both academically and socially. Hamilton has improved its dining options. The student body has also become more politically active, responding to national trends and movements that they are applying to Colgate. I've cataloged some of these changes below.
1. Thanksgiving Break
Thanksgiving break didn’t always used to begin the Friday before Thanksgiving. My freshmen year, the campus was open and classes were held on the Monday and Tuesday before the holiday. The expanded break allowed students from the Midwest/West Coast make the trip home for Turkey Day.
2. Sophomore Residential Seminar
Commonly referred to as SRS, the Sophomore Residential Seminar program didn’t start until my second year at Colgate. In fact, the Class of 2016 was the first to be offered admittance to the program during the 2013/2014 academic year. Since then, the program has expanded as students desire a chance to take classes in their dorms, take part in a week-long trip during Winter Break and foster close-knit communities in their dorms. Some current classes offered by the program are "Hunting, Eating, and Vegetarianism" and "Empire and Its Aftermath."
3. Good Nature Brewery
Called the “Taproom” by most, Good Nature Brewery opened its Broad Street location in the fall of 2013 during my sophomore year. It serves craft beers brewed locally and is a hub for upperclassmen and professors alike. On many weekends, the Taproom features live music. From the Annie, an Imperial IPA, to the Oatmeal Stout, the Taproom has a beer for everyone.
4. (Ex)-President Herbst
Jeffrey Herbst was Colgate’s president from 2009-2015. He was a recognizable figure on campus my freshmen and sophomore years, but his administration faced serious scrutiny in the fall of 2014, during my junior year, when the Association of Critical Collegians organized a sit-in in the Admissions building in protest of shaky race relations at Colgate and across the country. Later that academic year, President Herbst respectfully resigned and was replaced by Interim President Jill Harsin. The former president is now president of the "Newseum" in Washington D.C.
5. Association of Critical Collegians
Commonly referred to as the ACC, this social justice organization burst onto the Colgate scene in the fall semester of my junior year when it organized a sit-in in Colgate’s admission building in protest of race relations at Colgate. Throughout its tenure at Colgate, the ACC has been working towards improving the way the administration handles race, gender and class problems in its policies and personnel.
6. Frank Open 24/7!
Before the start of the current semester, Colgate’s dining services were provided by Sodexo, a college dining service. Under Chartwell’s, Colgate’s dining halls have moved in a completely different direction. Frank is open 24/7 and students have taken advantage of it. Once a desolate wasteland at 10 p.m. - 3 a.m., Colgate students flock to it in droves as they come home from a night out. Unfortunately, the new Frank has its costs. Once a bastion of late-night comfort food, the Coop has been decimated, featuring fewer selections and "Coop classics". It also closes at an early 8 p.m.
7. Sigma Chi
At the beginning of my freshman year, Sigma was a thriving fraternity with many members. After a few scandals during my sophomore and junior years, the fraternity was banned from campus and all its members were forced to leave the Sigma house and move to new locations on campus. Sigma lost recognition from the school for five years and cannot take new members. Many have cited the Sigma case as evidence that the Colgate administration is aligned against Greek life and see it playing a role in Colgate’s future.
8. Add/Drop
In the 2014-2015 academic year, Colgate changed the way students could add and drop classes after registration. During my first two years, a student couldn’t add a class until the beginning of the semester and they were required to obtain both the signature of the professor whose class they were adding AND the signature of the professor’s class they were dropping (always a very awkward conversation that most people would rather not have). Also, the day before classes started always featured an “Add/Drop” day where students would come to the Hall of Presidents in search of a random class to add or a professor (who never usually showed up) of a class they wanted to add. Now the process is much more simple, requiring the student to get in touch with the professor they wish to take a class with, talk about a potential opening (or not) and complete the process.
9. Downtown Food Options
When I arrived at Colgate, downtown food options was slightly different than it is now. In recent years, Hamilton has added Yo-Gate, a frozen yogurt shop and N13, an asian fusion/noodle restaurant. The Barge was bought out by Saxby's, a national coffee house change, while the esteemed Nichols, once a hub for freshmen and chicken wings, is now the Number 10 tavern, a slightly better restaurant without a bar scene.
10. Campus Facelifts
Lathrop Hall was closed during the first semester of my freshman year in the fall of 2012. It reopened that spring and bolstered several new classrooms with new functions, making the predominantly English oriented building dynamic.
11. Residential Commons Program
Colgate instituted the Residential Commons program in the beginning of the 2015-2106 academic year. In its first phase, the Residential Commons has turned Drake and Curtis Halls into freshman-sophomore living spaces and have expanded to 100 Broad Street. Known as the Ciccone Commons, headed by Colgate faculty Mark and Rebecca Shiner, the Commons attempts to create bonds between class years outside of Greek Life or sports teams.
