School Spirit at Colgate?

<p>Nervedoctor,</p>

<p>I am glad you resuscitated this thread.</p>

<p>Posts 2 and 6 mention Colgate men’s lacrosse which had a marvelous season with wins over Maryland and Massachusetts, the number 1 team at that time, only to fall to Duke in the NCAA’s next round. Then there’s Peter Baum '13, winner of the Tewaaraton trophy, the top player in the country. For a school of 2900 students with such high academic standards and impeccable graduation rates of its student-athletes, Colgate distinguishes itself.</p>

<p>About school spirit, apparently this concept has different meanings to different people. Of course, demonstrating it goes beyond varsity, club and recreational sports to include whatever pursuits students, alumni, faculty and staff support. Maybe quality, as opposed to quantity, are useful to frame how you perceive school spirit in schools and their settings, both large and small.</p>

<p>I have always believed that Colgate people are very enthusiastic of alma mater and what it achieves. Delivering on its $400 million capital campaign more than a year early with $450 million in donations, the last tranche in the direction of making Colgate need blind, is an inspiring example of that.</p>

<p>Back to varsity sports, we are looking forward to the 2012 football season and our men’s and women’s soccer seasons when we can support our players and coaches. Let’s see if we can win the Patriot League this year in these sports where we are always strong contenders.</p>

<p>Go 'gate!</p>

<p>Further to my own post, I would like to update everyone on the details Colgate’s recent fundraising effort, according to President Jeffrey Herbst today:</p>

<p>“I am pleased to announce that generous alumni, parents, students, faculty, staff, and friends gave a total of $480 million to Passion for the Climb: The Campaign for Colgate, which ended on June 30. This total exceeds our original $400 million goal by 20 percent and includes $141.5 million for financial aid.”</p>

<p>This is excellent news for the Colgate community of alumni, parents, students, faculty and staff as well as other supporters, and especially those excellent applicants in need of financial aid who otherwise could not afford a Colgate education. We are working towards need blind admissions but still have some way to go to get there.</p>

<p>School spirit is indeed thriving in Hamilton, NY! In fact, it’s “Colgate Day” which coincides with the 13th of the month (our lucky number- as legions of Colgate alumni know) and President Herbst will ring the bell at today’s NYSE opening. How many schools could achieve so much with a capital campaign launched during the 2008 recession? </p>

<p>Go 'gate!</p>

<p>Happy Colgate Day! Anyone who reads the New York Times online (and doesn’t have adblock) may have also noticed the banner ads thanking Colgate alums, parents and friends for making the Passion for the Climb campaign such a big success!</p>

<p>Raising nearly half a billion ($480 million) isn’t anything to sneer at, and in fact it’s a type of “school spirit” most colleges would have great difficulty matching. </p>

<p>Colgate will probably never be the kind of school that virtually floats on a reservoir of money like the Ivies and others, but they are vastly more famous and have a far larger pool of alumni to draw from, have large graduate schools which get most of the donated money for research, etc., all of which help explain some of the difference. </p>

<p>I don’t think Colgate tops the list of colleges with high percentage of alumni donors, but it is fairly high up with about 50% donating regularly. In fact, there has been some conern at Colgate to get the percentage of alumni donors higher. But I know of a lot of colleges and universities which have trouble just getting 20% or more to donate! That a few schools – Williams and Amherst come to mind – have 60% or more donate annually is truly impressive, of course. But most of the schools I know would be ecstatic to have half of the graduates donating annually. School Spirit.</p>

<p>Pretty comical that after your disparaging, and yes, nasty, comments concerning Colgate and the town of Hamilton, you now feign offense, and a bit of condescension. The school and the town are both wonderful places. Who are you? What is your affiliation with the school? What sour grapes are you trying to deal with? I couldn’t care less if you attend another Colgate athletic event.</p>

<p>My perspective on Colgate’s school spirit is influenced by a long time horizon, having graduated from Colgate in the late 60’s. This was before co-education, women’s sports, the formation of the Patriot League, the evolution into a more international and multicultural student body, the introduction of pc’s and the internet and a plethora of other significant changes too long to recite. When I think of school spirit, my initial reaction is that a good portion of it comes from the traditions associated with intercollegiate athletics and quirky events associated with a school’s history. Upon reflection, though, I think my initial reaction may not be very insightful. The tangibility of surface events that continue from generation to generation don’t necessarily reflect the breadth and depth of a school’s current spirit. The traditional “rah-rah” school spirit is convenient because someone like me can ask the question, “compared to who or when ?” That’s why it’s easy for me to cite Raider Nation’s support of the 2012 men’s lacrosse team in its run into the NCAA quarterfinals as a sign that Colgate’s school spirit is quite healthy. But, there’s something about Dancefest that really touches my sense of school spirit, even though it was created way after my time. Observers should admire Colgate’s capacity to tap into newer generators of school spirit, when they authentically touch our collective soul. Somehow, a few years ago a group of students sensed an opportunity that eventually evolved into Dancefest. By creating an event around dance representing a broad range of cultures and lifestyles, they tapped into a sense of school spirit that invites in even an observer without a Colgate connection. Now featured twice a year, filling the Chapel to capacity and webcast over livestream, it has become one of Colgate’s biggest events in a remarkably short period of time. In my mind, Dancefest is as much a reflection of Colgate school spirit as the outpouring by Raider Nation for the national CBS Sports and ESPNU telecasts of this year’s lax games. That’s saying alot because the games were a reflection of Colgate’s historical role as a small selective LAC in Div. 1 athletics engaging in “giant killing." But, this isn’t everybody’s cup of school spirit. The greatest testament to Colgate’s school spirit is its capacity to tap into multiple wells of energy. On the one hand are the traditions that continue to resonate with a large portion of the student body that remind us of where we’ve come from. On the other hand is an openness to invent new expressions of our school spirit that inspire our sense of community in novel ways and tap into deeper reservoirs of our collective energy.</p>

<p>Colgate students have a lot of school spirit, in that they LOVE their school. I have never really seen another college/student body that is as in love with their school as Colgate students and alums. </p>

<p>Attendance at sporting events is spotty. I went to less than five football games in my entire four years there - the same with all my friends. The tailgates on the other hand get a lot of attendance. I have gone back for a few homecomings, and never made it out of the tailgate field.</p>