Pride Week 2012: OUT is the new in; Return of the Queen

The best week of the year is upon us: Pride Week. With a packed schedule of events, this year is bound to please.

Murphy a campus leader through The Bridge, Goldfarb

Sophomore Dave Murphy has thrived in the Colby environment in his two years on campus, with active roles in The Bridge, the Goldfarb Center, several athletic teams and campus life.

Spark, Sadoff present new works to the Hill

The evening was a wonderful way to remember and to celebrate the accomplishments of the English Department’s incredibly talented faculty.

Senior skis every mountain in Maine

Senior Peter Landsman has recently completed his college goal of skiing every mountain in Maine. When he's not busy hitting the slopes, he currently serves as a four-year dorm president and helps organize the College's chapter of Relay for Life.

Daniel Shea named Goldfarb director

The College has named Daniel Shea as the next director of the Goldfarb Center for Public Affairs and Civic Engagement, President William Adams announced on March 7.

Sophomore channels passion for politics

Sophomore Ben Wexler-Waite is the son of two Colby alumni and has already made his mark on the Hill before even hitting the halfway point, most significantly with the founding of _Outside Colby_.

Spike Lee speaks to full chapel

Acclaimed film-maker Spike Lee spoke to a full house in Lorimer Chapel on Friday, Feb. 24 when he gave the fifth annual S.H.O.U.T. keynote address.

Spike Lee on Race and Doing What You Love

Acclaimed filmmaker Spike Lee spoke to a full house on Friday, Feb. 24 for the fifth annual S.H.O.U.T. keynote address.

Tony Blair to deliver 2012 commencement speech

Former Prime Minister of Great Britain and Northern Ireland Tony Blair will speak at the College’s 191st commencement honoring the Class of 2012 on Sunday, May 20.

A Jorgensen's regular

Waterville resident Vernon Miller spends so much time in Jorgensen’s Café on Main Street that there is a sign over his usual table that reads, “Reserved for Vernon.”

Moore sings, leads others

Senior Than Moore, who is involved in organizations such as the Blue Lights, tennis, Student Athletic Advisory Committee, Colby Outdoor Orientation Trip, and Colby Emergency Responses, discusses pursuing leadership on the Hill and how it will translate into a hopeful future as a doctor.

Dual-degree options expand to Columbia

Students from the College interested in engineering now have the opportunity to pursue a dual-degree from New York City’s Columbia University, through its Combined Plan Program, the College announced in late 2011.

Boys from Bates create hard cider company

Recent Bates College graduates Ben Manter, Tyler Mosher and Ross Brockman own and operate their own hard cider company, Downeast Cider, based out of Waterville. The cider is made from high quality ingredients and is currently available on draft in a number of bars and pubs, including Mainely Brews.

February Bachelor and Bachelorette

The Colby Echo presents the College's bachelor and bachelorette for the month of February: Seniors Evan O'Neill and Rachel Goff.

CVC reaches Nov. fundraising goal

Under the leadership of Director Dana Roberts ’12, the Colby Volunteer Center (CVC) has reached its goal of raising $10,000 in the month of November to donate to the Mid-Maine Homeless Shelter’s capital campaign for $1.75 million, which will build a new shelter with two-year’s worth of programming.

Students build houses at Mid-Maine Tech.

The Mid-Maine Technical Center, a vocational institute attached to Waterville Senior High School, offers a very hands-on approach to learning: students learn how to construct a house, which they then sell for material costs.

Speakers address issue of homeless ME youth

Realities of Youth Homelessness in Maine, a panel held on Thursday, Nov. 17, began with the anonymous story from a student of the College: “I couch surfed for a couple of years before I officially became an unaccompanied, throwaway teen; that is, a homeless youth.”

Students’ experience with sexual assault

Anonymous student narratives on sexual assault on campus.

Dottie greets all diners, brings joy to the students on campus

Dottie is a familiar face to all who have dined in Roberts' Dining Hall, always with a smile and a remembered name. She recalls the journey that brought her to Colby and her time on the Hill.

A room of her own

Erica, a petite 20-year old dressed in a black turtleneck and glasses, sat in the kitchen of a scrupulously neat and sparse apartment. Her apartment.

Finding Respite: A Young Mother at Mid-Maine

She’s staying in the Mid-Maine Homeless Shelter with her daughters now. Life has dealt her a tough hand, and although the offers her some respite, things are really hard right now.

Capital campaign will help build and fund new shelter

Breaking Ground, Rebuilding Lives is the Mid-Maine Homeless Shelter’s (MMHS) effort to raise $2.75 million, which will build a new shelter to house 40 residents. Students on the Colby Volunteer Center (CVC) aim to raise $10,000 in contributions.

Student volunteers pitch in downtown

Volunteers at the Shelter agreed that their experiences have been eye-opening and incredibly rewarding.

Bath salts: a scary new drug

The popularity of a dangerous hallucinogenic drug marketed as "bath salts" has skyrocketed in Maine in the past two years.

College honors NPR reporter

Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson flew back to Cairo, Egypt from Tunisia the night before the revolution broke out in January 2011

Former Echo editor writes, travels, blogs

“Every morsel of my being was saying it’s too risky. But that’s sort of why I did it—because it’s so out of character...let me challenge myself to see if I can do something like this.”

Over 50 face charges from party

Over 50 College students face alcohol charges after Waterville Police showed up at an off-campus party at a Winter Street house late Saturday night, Sept. 17. The party hosts, three students who rent the house, were arrested.

First-year passionate about environment

First-year student travels to the College from Mongolia, and hopes to bring back the information she learns in environmental studies to help her home country fight against the harmful effects of global warming.

Tent City brings COOTs together

Of the many changes on campus the past few years, COOT leaders were subjected to a major change this summer as they spent the first few days of training living in tents on Runnals Hill.

Postcard from Sevilla

I can't believe I'm reaching the halfway point of my time here in Sevilla, España.

Mourning loss of 17th President

Robert Edward Lee Strider II, the College’s 17th president and life trustee, passed away in Boston on Sunday, November 28, 2010 at the age of 93. Strider served from 1960 to 1979 during a period of great social change both at the College and across the nation.

Screening independent films in Central Maine

The history of the Railroad Square Cinema, located in downtown Waterville.

Pugh Community Board brings diversity to forefront

The Pugh Community Board (PCB) is the College’s student-run programming board whose mission is to “help the community…become more aware of multiculturalism and all the different issues that fall under that category,” Nicole Murakami ’11, treasurer of PCB said. Its programs “seek to affirm cultural differences and educate the community on multicultural issues,” according to the group’s webpage on the College’s website.

Swiss math professor admired by many on campus

Assistant Professor of Mathematics and Statistics Otto Bretscher hails from Switzerland, but has found a new home here on the Hill.

Colby couples find love and marriage on the Hill

Currently the marriage rate among College alumni stands at 11 percent.

Bringing Zimbabwe to Waterville

Students, faculty and community members didn’t need to cross the Atlantic for a taste of Zimbabwe last weekend; The Oak Institute for the Study of International Human Rights brought a little Zimbabwe right to Mayflower Hill Saturday, October 16. The extravaganza featured a student panel, a home-cooked buffet meal and the music of one of Zimbabwe’s most celebrated musicians, Chiwoniso, and her band.

Suicide and cyber-bullying at Rutgers

Rutgers University first-year student Tyler Clementi, of Ridgewood, NJ, jumped off the George Washington Bridge and took his life on Friday, September 22 after his roommate and another student secretly filmed and then posted footage of Clementi’s intimate encounter with another man online, according to authorities. His body was found in the Hudson River on Wednesday, September 29.

Corchado faces death to tell a people's story

Alfredo Corchado has stared down threats of death and mutilation in the pursuit of a story—an important and timely story.

Campus Culture Q & A

In response to dangerous alcohol use on the Hill highlighted by 14 hospitalizations during the May 2008 "Champagne on the Steps," a celebration for seniors which has since been discontinued the Board of Trustees charged the College "to address comprehensively the broader issue of excessive drinking as a feature of Colby student life."

Club brings home four medals from world championship

Three members of Colby Tang Soo Do traveled to Greensboro, N.C. this summer to compete in the World Tang Soo Do Association (WTSDA) World Championship and brought home four medals for their performance there.

Finances, diversity theme of address

The annual State of the College address drew about 40 community members to Page Commons on the evening of Tuesday, September 14.

Silence on queer issues perpetuates heterosexism

Heteronormativity is the societal construction that defines heterosexuality as the normal or desired sexual orientation. This belief deems all other sexual preferences as 'abnormal.'

Pilot program puts course evals online

The administration will offer course evaluations electronically beginning this spring as part of a one-year pilot program that hopes to improve student feedback in the evaluations.

National Geographic editor to visit Hill

A College Tradition Reviewed

In the October 1962 issue of Liberal Education, then President of the College Robert Strider described the Colby January Program as: "A month of the college year devoted to independent study by the student body, on a diversity of subjects, creates a new outlook on learning and offers the faculty an unusual release for routine."

Help Haiti raises over $70K for relief

Lisa Kaplan '13, one of the students heading Colby's Haitian Relief Effort, said she has "a theory about good karma points. It works kind of like a bank." Kaplan and the rest of the students and faculty who have been diligently raising funds since the earthquake on Jan. 12 cashed in big on the good karma they have been collecting at the Colby for Haiti Benefit and Auction.

Opera House: A Century of History

SGA elections streamlined

Student Government Association (SGA) President Jake Fischer '10 opened both of the organization's meetings this semester by demanding more from the members of SGA. He expressed his "disappointment" in SGA members not "stepping up" and how doing the "bare minimum" is "not acceptable." SGA, he said, can only be successful if its members pursue their own initiatives actively.

Curricular Review is underway

A Curricular Review designed to revise academia on the Hill and focus on improving students' written and oral communication skills has been in the works for three years and is on course to be ready for implementation in the fall.

Mock Trial makes nationals

Plans for spring term are underway

Kelly Wharton Resigns

Kelly Wharton, Assistant Dean and Director of Campus Life, said goodbye to the Hill last Friday, February 5. Wharton quit her job so that she could spend more time with her partner, whom she married in October.

Deans visit dorms, residence halls make community living agr

Clubs collaborate for winter carnival

Burnt PPD Van Still a Mystery

Flames engulfed a Physical Plant Department (PPD) van on the evening of Saturday, November 14, burning the vehicle to an unusable shell. The cause of the fire is currently under investigation.

Campaign engages community in a sustainable future

Shortages go beyond the Hill

The College has only received 100 of the H1N1 vaccine of the 2,000 doses that it ordered from the Maine Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Maine CDC).

College hires a new dean of faculty

Alcohol policy under revision

Steps are underway to change the College's current alcohol policy.

November Election Recap

Embracing eccentricity

Lovejoy journalist to visit campus

Hardy Girls, Healthy Women get freaky at 5K 'Fun Run' fundra

Trustees approve CCWG report

The Board of Trustees unanimously passed the Campus Culture Working Group's (CCWG) report this weekend, said Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students Jim Terhune, who also led the CCWG.

Paul Salopek lives Lovejoy's legacy

Students rally to vote "no" on one

The fight for marriage equality has made its way to the Hill this fall as the Colby Democrats, the Bridge-the College's gay-straight alliance-and the League of Progressive Voters have been working closely with the statewide grassroots campaign No On One/Protect Maine Equality.

Lovejoy awarded to Salopek

From the Hill to the Himalayas

When Associate Professor of Music Steven Nuss saw a PBS television special on the Gandhi Ashram School four years ago, he knew that going there was something he had to do. Now, each January, Nuss takes 21 students to Kalimpong, a small town in the foothills of the Himalayas in the North-East corner of India for what is officially known as MU267. Those who have taken the course, however, know it as a life-changing experience.

Documenting the truth is not so easy

Faith at core of life for many on Hill

Hardy Girls takes on offensive campaign

American Apparel (AA), the largest clothing manufacturer in the United States, according to its website, has launched a new advertisement campaign seeking "the Best Bottom in the World."

The Cost of Colby Education

The Colby tuition, I've been told, doesn't even cover the full cost of a Colby education. Where does our money go?

Retreat addresses issues of race

Film addresses reconciling sexuality with faith