Submissions

As a very proud and thankful mother of a current freshman at Colgate, I would like to envision Colgate University as the great environmentally-conscious institution of higher learning that it is, but also renowned for it's hosting of some of the most humane, truly empathic, and respectful world leaders of the twenty-first century.

In an era of fake news and unrestrained disrespect, exhibited by many world and government leaders today, our students have "very small shoes to fill" in their admiration of many contemporary leaders. I truly believe that college students could greatly benefit from attending lectures by noteworthy leaders, such as Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who have chosen to pursue their personal goals, while consistently embracing character traits and ethical standards that do not diminish those who oppose them.

Further, some of such lectures could be considered black-tie, while others more informal, based on the consideration of the speaker. Our young people could truly benefit from the graces and customary norms of those students and faculty who helped frame Colgate University as an outstanding institution of higher learning, truly set apart from all others.

And lastly, such lectures could be considered by many courses of study to be extra-credit attendance (pre-commitment basis), as well as mandatory attendance by other courses. This could insure the attendance of a broad, varying range of students, with more frequent use of the Honor Code, which hopefully will engender greater respect for Colgate's Honor Code. Of course, RSVP seating for the truly curious student, of all things academe, should also be a consideration.

Thank you so much for allowing me to express my thoughts in this regard. If I were forty-three years younger, I would have also applied to Colgate.

Since the years that I've spent as a student, when our excellent sustainability director John Pumilio was first brought to campus, Colgate has made many great strides towards improving the environmental friendliness of the campus. The adoption of sustainable building standards, move to lower flow showerheads, emphasis on recycling, adoption of simple and highly effective technology to reduce printing waste, and so much more has been accomplished. And while that progress has been great for reducing Colgate's impact on the environment, it should not be overlooked that such improvements help to streamline the university's operating budget, saving money from leaking out through windows and discarded papers, leaving more to be spent on supporting the university's academic endeavors.

That said, there remain clear areas where time and resource investment can have a real impact on reducing energy and material waste. Wouldn't it be great if Colgate was not only carbon neutral but carbon negative? Updates to older, energy inefficient facilities like Huntington gymnasium come to mind as low hanging fruit for large-scale improvement, provided Colgate can find the donors to support such projects.