Parental Pride
This is a thank you for the excellent Colgate Magazine, which I read from cover to cover because the quality is that good and the articles compelling. When I have finished devouring each page, I pass it along to my friend Ethel McGee, whose grandson is a Colgate junior. She loves it, too.
Marlene Spigner, mom of Joanne Spigner ’76
Notes on Colgate’s Architecture
The Colgate campus is beautiful and vastly improved since I graduated in 1974, but I wish your article in the spring issue (“Building Colgate”) on notable campus buildings had included mention of some of the architectural disasters.
When I arrived, the library facade had giant yellow Mondrian-like panels totally out of character with the campus. Paul Rudolph’s brutalist Dana Arts Center is a monument to architectural arrogance that, from its opening day, was barely usable for art, music, and theater. Dormitories with cinderblock walls are like prison cells. The Olin science building was another attempt at modernism that didn’t fit.
One architectural victory was saving the red stone old biology building that the administration wanted to tear down while I was a student. Now it hosts the philosophy department, although I always thought it should be the offices for student government, publications, and the radio station, right in the heart of daytime student traffic.
Brian Rooney ’74
Go, ’gate!
I just wanted to say how amazing the 40 under 40 edition was. I loved reading up on so many great folks I had the privilege of interacting with at Colgate, some of whom I have the joy of being in Chicago with. I did not go to school with Andrew McCormick ’13, but read his piece and was very proud that he was in Brothers. I thought he had some really profound words about how Colgate formed him. I also enjoyed the short blurb on the alumnus at Lincoln’s nomination; the touching story of Professor Alexander Nakhimovsky; the tribute to President Grabois; Andrew Weinstein’s gorgeous art, etc.!
As a CUTV alum, I was also excited to see the very best of us: Jay Chandrasekhar’s (Class of ’90) name come up [in Alumni News]. I’ll finally close by saying how much I enjoyed Wendy Gruber ’87 Segal’s piece on her trip to Japan. I went a few years ago in 2018 and was similarly amazed at the hospitality of the people, and I was glad I wasn’t the only one who had such a nice experience. Thanks again for another great issue.
Henoch Fente Derbew ’07
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