Arts and Humanities

  • Suppose, for a moment, that the Good Samaritan didn’t rescue just one person merely by chance. Let’s say that he spent his entire life walking up and down mountain passes, finding wounded travelers by the hundreds, spending his children’s lunch money on the medical bills. Would we still respect him? When New Yorker staff writer […]
    December 6, 2016
  • Orpheus Chamber Orchestra plays onstage in the Colgate Memorial Chapel
    Democracy — typically applied to politics — has found a place in music. The Grammy Award–winning Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, famed for its lack of a conductor and uniquely democratic approach to music making, visited Colgate this semester for a performance and discussion about the applications of a collaborative organizational structure. The New York City–based orchestra was […]
    December 1, 2016
  • “Who knew that so many new things could be made from junk?” said Fiona Adjei Boateng ’19, a theater student who was making handbags out of denim pants during an upcycling workshop. Reet Aus, an Estonian fashion designer and environmental pioneer, hosted the workshop in Clifford Gallery. She is known for upcycling, which is using […]
    November 14, 2016
  • Socrates’ suicide, reenacted on the Ho Tung Visualization Lab’s domed screen.
    Some say that the death of a great philosopher in Colgate’s Ho Tung Visualization Lab on October 27 was a miscarriage of justice and a stain on Athenian democracy. Socrates’ suicide, reenacted on the Vis Lab’s domed screen by actor H.C. Selkirk, didn’t require the response of law enforcement, but it did draw a crowd […]
    November 10, 2016
  • Vassar professor Nicholas Adams delivers lecture at podium in the Chapel House Sanctuary
    Colgate’s Chapel House is at once an architectural novelty and a sanctuary. Beneath the flat roof, behind the 1950s abstracted formalism, you’ll see rare works of religious art and books on world religion; you’ll find a dining room, music room, and living quarters. In silence and meditation, you can lose yourself or find yourself at […]
    November 9, 2016
  • Reet Aus in the documentary Out of Fashion
    Over the next few days, environmentally conscious fashion trailblazer Reet Aus is visiting campus. She’ll lead a handful of special events to highlight how she’s been working to make fashion more sustainable. Her doctoral thesis focused on efforts to incorporate upcycling into mass production, and since 2012 she has been working with Beximco, a major apparel […]
    October 28, 2016
  • Dani Solomon, performing in One Way Red, a solo show that followed a young woman’s one-way journey to Mars.
    Real science fused with science fiction when Dani Solomon ’13 performed One Way Red, a solo show that followed a young woman’s one-way journey to Mars. The 90-minute performance on October 6 unfolded as Sam, played by Solomon, stumbled upon an online video about the Mars One project — an actual nonprofit that intends to […]
    October 26, 2016
  • Peter Balakian teaches an advanced writing class at Colgate.
    Living Writers — one of Colgate’s most popular courses, both on campus and in the wider Colgate community — featured Pulitzer Prize-winning professor Peter Balakian as part of inauguration week festivities at Colgate. Balakian, the Donald M. and Constance H. Rebar Professor in humanities, professor of English, and director of creative writing at Colgate, won the […]
    September 30, 2016
  • Image of Colgate in the fall and Brian Casey headshot
    This Friday, Colgate inaugurates Brian W. Casey as its 17th president. A full slate of special inauguration-week events kicked off yesterday with a panel discussion focused on Colgate’s historical roots. Participants then turned to the question of how the university’s long journey from Baptist seminary to modern liberal arts institution may inform its path forward. […]
    September 28, 2016