A flash mob video shot earlier this semester in Frank Dining Hall was unveiled today to help celebrate Colgate Day.
Members of the campus community cherish every Friday the 13th, and this time around, the video added a new twist to the worldwide celebration.
Everyone is urged to take their photos, featuring Colgate gear, of course, and share them on the university’s Facebook and Twitter pages.
As many former undergrads know, the university’s connection to the number 13 dates back to its founding.
In 1817, 13 men — six clergy and seven laymen — met in the frontier settlement of Hamilton with “13 dollars, 13 prayers, and 13 articles.” During that meeting, the men founded the Baptist Education Society of the State of New York, the cornerstone for what would become Colgate.
But the relationship with the number doesn’t stop there.
There’s the university’s address, 13 Oak Drive. And Colgate’s zip code, 13346. The first two numbers, standing alone, are the number 13, and the sum of the remaining three totals 13.
Even the university’s motto has a connection with 13. There are — no surprise here — 13 letters in “Deo ac Veritati,” a Latin phrase meaning “for God and for truth.”