Latest news with #PeterKellner
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Colgate University Announces Lower Campus Initiative, $105M in New Gifts for the Student Experience
HAMILTON, N.Y., June 2, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- The most significant campus expansion in history at Colgate University is now underway. Through the support of a number of significant new gifts, Colgate has announced the launch of a project to create a cohesive Lower Campus along Broad Street. Among the contributions to the project is a gift of $50 million to The Campaign for the Third Century from Peter Kellner '65 — the largest single gift ever made to Colgate. Jean-Pierre L. Conte '85 has given a remarkable $25 million gift to name the building that will anchor Lower Campus. Additional leadership support for this Lower Campus initiative brings total investments to $105 million, with gifts of $10 million from Becky Hurley '81 and Christopher Hurley '81, Robert Fox '59, and Stephen Sprague '72. "I offer profound gratitude for these gifts," says President Brian W. Casey. "Colgate intends to offer the strongest residential liberal arts education in America, and the Lower Campus initiative is key to achieving that vision." Colgate's Third-Century Plan, launched during the University's Bicentennial celebration in 2019, includes the completion of the Residential Commons system and the Lower Campus as initial priorities. Currently, first- and second-year students reside in one of four Residential Commons on top of the hill. Extending that residential life experience for juniors and seniors — ensuring that their living spaces provide the opportunity for community and for the development of independence that will serve them well after graduation — is the vital next step. "When President Casey began working with the faculty, administration, and trustees on the Third-Century Plan, that really grabbed me — recognizing that it's not going to be done overnight," says Kellner, reflecting on his gift and the change he hopes it will bring to Colgate. "I wanted to do something that really would have an impact on the University." A re-envisioned Broad Street will demand extensive new construction. New residential units will be added to this part of the campus. Among the new residential units will be Fox House at 70 Broad Street and Hurley House. The Social Center, named Conte House, will draw the community to Lower Campus for events, activities, and other programming. "My Colgate experience helped me achieve my personal and professional dreams, as both a first-generation student and the son of immigrants, by providing me with an education that continues to serve me today," Conte says. "The new Conte House will be a vital gathering place for students of all backgrounds, and supporting future generations in this way is nothing short of an honor for me and my family." Buildings in the Lower Campus will be designed by Robert A.M. Stern Architects (RAMSA) and other architects, and landscapes will be designed by Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates (MVVA). Both firms have worked extensively with Colgate: MVVA is completing initial work on Peter's Glen, also funded through a gift from Kellner, and RAMSA most recently completed Bernstein Hall, which opened in fall 2024. Once construction and renovations are complete, juniors and seniors will move into Lower Campus theme houses, fraternity houses, sorority houses, apartments, and townhouses. This renovation and construction work will ensure all future seniors will have the option to live in single rooms, if they so choose, and approximately half of the junior class will also have the option to live in singles. "Residential life at Colgate plays an important part in the education of our students," says Vice President and Dean of the College Paul McLoughlin. "In their first and second years, they build community with their classmates. In their junior and senior years, we want that experience to continue even as they build the skills to live independently and to be good citizens after they graduate. I am so grateful for the gifts that have made it possible for Colgate to achieve this vision." Now in its sixth year, the Third-Century Plan is just beginning to guide the University's long-term development and secure its place as a leading national liberal arts institution. To support initial priorities within the Plan, Colgate launched The Campaign for the Third Century in 2022, setting a goal of $1 billion — the largest fundraising effort by a liberal arts university of Colgate's size. "This moment is of great significance for Colgate, and will allow us to complete a two-hundred-year-old campus," Casey says. "These projects — and the creation of a new part of the historic campus at Colgate — will set the trajectory of Colgate for decades to come." Contact:Kristin Putman395983@ View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE Colgate University
Forbes
6 days ago
- Business
- Forbes
Five Alumni Give Colgate University A Record $105 Million
Colgate University in Hamilton, New York, reports receiving $105 million in gifts to support new ... More campus enhancements. (Photo by John Greim/LightRocket via Getty Images) Five alumni have given Colgate University a total of $105 million, an amount that includes a $50 million donation from Peter Kellner, which the university described as the largest single gift in its history. The new gifts will be used primarily to support a comprehensive residential building program in the university's lower campus located along Broad Street in Hamilton New York. The project is part of Colgate's Third Century Plan, a long-term strategic framework unveiled in 2019. It sets out a strategy for the university to achieve several academic and financial goals in addition to transforming its physical campus and improving students' overall collegiate experience. To help finance the plan, Colgate launched a $1 billion capital campaign titled The Campaign for the Third Century in 2022. Colgate has previously described that effort as the largest fundraising project by a liberal arts university of its size. In addition to Kellner's gift, Jean-Pierre L. Conte has donated $25 million for a new social center that will host events, activities, and other programming on campus. In recognition, the social center will be named after him. Three $10 million dollar gifts have also been received from 1981 Colgate graduates Becky and Christopher Hurley; Robert Fox, a 1959 graduate; and Stephen Sprague, who graduated from Colgate in 1972. 'I offer profound gratitude for these gifts,' said Colgate President Brian W. Casey in a news release. 'Colgate intends to offer the strongest residential liberal arts education in America, and the Lower Campus initiative is key to achieving that vision.' 'This moment is of great significance for Colgate, and will allow us to complete a 200-year-old campus,' Casey added. 'These projects — and the creation of a new part of the historic campus at Colgate — will set the trajectory of Colgate for decades to come.' A key feature in Colgate's Third-Century Plan, launched in 2019, is the completion of a residential commons system through both new construction and the renovation and restoration of existing structures. The new projects on the lower campus are designed to enhance the residential life experience specifically for upperclassmen. Colgate plans to invest more than $200 million over the next several years to complete the work. Last year, Vice President and Dean of the College Paul J. McLoughlin, II described the goal of the project this way: 'We are constructing not only sleeping spaces, but also social, dining, and study places, where juniors and seniors can embrace community while enjoying greater independence.' Kellner, a former managing director at Morgan Stanley, said, 'when President Casey began working with the faculty, administration, and trustees on the Third-Century Plan, that really grabbed me — recognizing that it's not going to be done overnight." 'I wanted to do something that really would have an impact on the University,' added Kellner, who earned his BA from Colgate in 1965. 'My Colgate experience helped me achieve my personal and professional dreams, as both a first-generation student and the son of immigrants, by providing me with an education that continues to serve me today,' said Jean-Pierre L. Conte, chairman and managing partner of Genstar Capital, a San Francisco-based private equity firm. 'The new Conte House will be a vital gathering place for students of all backgrounds, and supporting future generations in this way is nothing short of an honor for me and my family.' Colgate has hired Robert A.M. Stern Architects, in addition to other architects, to design the lower campus buildings. Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates will design the landscapes.
The Guardian
30-01-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Young people say they'd elect a 'strong leader'. I say give more of them the vote
For God's sake don't give them the vote! Many people said that after a shocking poll published this week appeared to show young people rejecting democracy. But that's utterly wrong. On the contrary, this should prompt Labour to accelerate its manifesto pledge to give 16- and 17-year-olds the vote. They need more democracy, not less, and soon. The Channel 4 poll found that 52% of 13- to 27-year-olds think 'the UK would be a better place if a strong leader' were in change 'who does not have to bother with parliament and elections', and 33% thought the country would be better run 'if the army was in charge', among other dark impulses. I have doubts about the value of springing kneejerk, contextless questions on people. (Does anyone want a 'weak' leader? Was there a follow-up question: 'Do you want the right to get rid of a leader you hate?') Psephologist Peter Kellner reckons 'it's more a top-of-the-head response indicating a general sense of pessimism, disillusionment and disengagement than a thought-out view of how society should be organised'. It's a spasm, much like Peter Finch in the film Network leaning out of the TV studio window and shouting: 'I'm mad as hell and I'm not gonna take this any more!' But some working knowledge of politics matters. Citizenship education flowered briefly when David Blunkett as education secretary made it compulsory in England, with specialist teachers. But it was killed off by Michael Gove dropping it from his Ebacc, along with bursaries for teachers training in it. Officially, it's still compulsory for state-maintained schools – academies are not curriculum-bound – but it's often absent, left to form tutors, untimetabled. Ofsted barely checks, and what's not inspected gets ignored. Five times fewer pupils take the GCSE than 15 years ago, according to Liz Moorse, chief executive of the Association for Citizenship Teaching. This latest poll should spur the national curriculum review to restore it, when it reports in March. Forget memories of grim 'civics' lessons, citizenship is nothing like that. At Priory school in Southsea, Hampshire, headteacher Stewart Vaughan and his specialist citizenship teacher Helen Blatchford promote it enthusiastically, not just to study but as democratic practice running right through the school, with a school council, consultations on the curriculum and priorities for spending capital. Students there 'know they are heard', says the head, even if they don't get the final say. Blatchford has submitted her evidence to the curriculum review about the good effect of citizenship education on the whole school. Critical thinking is its core, which means learning about problem-solving, weighing evidence, making arguments and learning how to agree and disagree. Students run mock elections and take practical collective action with local councillors and voluntary groups. Teaching media literacy, debunking myths and identifying reliable online sources is not easy, says Vaughan. 'They are overwhelmed 24 hours a day by a volume of online material: we can't keep up. We only hope to equip them to filter unreliable sources, but schools can't do this alone. It needs families, and government regulation of these sites.' Difficult subjects are not ducked. Gaza arouses strong passions, so they discuss Middle Eastern history, conflict and identity, Vaughan says, 'with impartiality, listening to students' stories. They are opinionated, but respectful of arguments.' Where better to debate Andrew Tate's misogyny? Forty of the school's year 10s choose citizenship for GCSE. Plentiful studies show good effects rippling through schools that teach it seriously. Voting at 16 and 17 would affect schools and teenagers profoundly. Politicians eagerly pressing the flesh in care homes would turn to schools and colleges with equal solicitude for the young. In Scotland and other countries where 16-year-olds vote, Dr Christine Huebner of Sheffield University finds, they vote more than the 18-24s – perhaps because they live at home and are encouraged by their schools. But once 18-year-olds leave for colleges and universities elsewhere, registration plummets – their lives are disrupted and they move frequently, 'with crucial NI numbers often left at home'. Huebner wonders if that's exactly what David Cameron intended when he banned colleges and universities from registering all students: young votes 'fell off a cliff' with his individual voter registration from the 2015 election, she says. Voter ID rules passed by the Tories in 2022, another anti-youth gerrymander, allowed pensioners' travel passes for identity but not young people's travel cards. The ability of schools, universities and colleges to register students needs to be restored, alongside automatic voter registration, to stem falling turnout. Here's why voting at 16 is crucial: if someone votes once, it's likely to become a lifelong habit. Many of the never-voted secretly fear getting it wrong at the polling station because their literacy or English is poor, covering it with a bluff: 'They're all the same!' But if every pupil were taken to the school's local polling station by a teacher and everything explained (including the option to spoil their ballot), that habit would start right there. I would make the quid pro quo for votes at 16 a compulsion to vote that first time, but good citizenship education might make that unnecessary. Electronic voting is essential – and again, barred by the Tories to deter the young. There are too few 16- and 17-year-olds in any constituency to significantly shift the dial, even if they all voted for the same candidate (and they are as diverse as other age groups, says Huebner). But would George Osborne's austerity have targeted their educational maintenance allowances and their housing benefits, or closed youth centres, if MPs were soliciting their votes? Generation Z has grown up since the 2008 crash and knows only stagnation, dwindling life chances and vanishing home ownership, so no wonder 47% of them told the Channel 4 poll that 'the entire way our society is organised must be radically changed through revolution'. Citizenship education makes them more tolerant and more supportive of democracy and increases their intentions to vote, but it won't assuage that indignation. It should channel justified anger into political action to force Westminster's attention. The government says votes at 16 will definitely be law 'in good time ahead of the next general election': speed it up. If anyone thinks young people are too stupid, just spend a day out canvassing. Polly Toynbee is a Guardian columnist
