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The Cornell 7 and the Stories We Think We Already Know
Seven names. One number. Three words.
“The Cornell 7” has become shorthand for a case that is anything but simple.
A former Cornell University student has sued the university and seven Chi Phi fraternity members, alleging she was drugged and sexually assaulted at the frat house in Oct. 2024. After initially declining to pursue criminal charges, the Tompkins County District Attorney’s Office has reopened its investigation and said evidence could be presented to a grand jury.
Much of the renewed attention came from reporting by The Cornell Daily Sun, Cornell’s student newspaper, which uncovered previously undisclosed messages from a fraternity group chat. CBS News later reported that fraternity members exchanged messages about the woman that night, including “Shop still open?” and “Yea.”
This reporting has intensified the scrutiny on Cornell, which conducted its own Title IX investigation and imposed sanctions, including expulsions and suspensions.
In a letter to the College community, President David Greene wrote that the allegations “fill [him] with a mix of rage, disgust, and sadness.” He also wrote that the investigation “will hopefully reveal truths, which may or may not correspond to initial reports and commentary.”
Greene continued,“We don’t have to wait for the findings of that investigation to know that sexual misconduct, violence, and harassment happen on campuses and in communities across the country, including here at Colby.”
Greene has asked Provost Denise Bruesewitz and Dean of the College Gus Burkett to appoint a task force to examine the College’s policies, training, reporting mechanisms, and campus culture.
The Student Government Association expressed its “full support.” SGA President Aubrey Costello `27 and Vice President Jed Swan `28 wrote that they are “proud of Colby’s commitment to the safety of our community.”
The Cornell case also raises questions about how media coverage shapes public understanding of sexual violence allegations. The name “the Cornell 7” may invite comparisons to another numbered group: “the Central Park five.”
The five teenagers in the 1989 Central Park case were initially convicted before their convictions were vacated in 2002 after DNA evidence and a confession established that another man was responsible. The Cornell defendants have not been criminally convicted, and the investigation remains ongoing. “The Central Park five” and “the Cornell 7” are inherently different, as one involved determining who was guilty and the other is a question of whether or not what happened at the frat constitutes sexual violence that should be subject to criminal charges, as well as the proper way for a university to respond.
Regardless, in this context, “the Central Park five” may help us think about how quickly public narratives can form around allegations, as well as how difficult they can be to reverse. The lesson is not that every accused group will ultimately be exonerated, nor that public outrage establishes guilt. Instead, it illustrates journalism’s responsibility to distinguish allegations, evidence, and legal findings.
That responsibility is particularly relevant to student journalism. The Cornell Daily Sun helped bring previously undisclosed information to public attention, demonstrating how campus news organizations can influence conversations about sexual violence beyond their universities. Its reporting also shows that student journalists can play a role in uncovering information that changes a national conversation.
For the College, Greene’s task force provides an opportunity to examine its policies, reporting systems, training, and culture. For student journalists, the Cornell story is a reminder of a parallel responsibility — to investigate thoroughly while remaining precise about what is known, what is alleged, and what remains unresolved.
~ Mia Dinunzio `28
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Formula Electric: How to Build a Race Car from Scratch
Founded in 2025, Colby Formula Electric is an early step toward bringing engineering opportunities to Mayflower Hill. The club has the ambitious goals of not only building a race car from scratch, but of racing that car to a podium finish at the Formula SAE competition in the next five years.
The club was founded around the same time the College received the largest donation in the school’s history — $150 million toward a new science complex. The subsequent direction of funding toward developing engineering programs has helped the club build strong foundations.
Still, starting such an ambitious project from the ground up hasn’t come without its challenges. Zachary Gellert `28, co-founder and president of the team, said that not having an established engineering school means it has taken longer for the College’s team to develop the kind of engineering knowledge they require.
“One of the things that we see ourselves doing is legitimizing the engineering school before it even exists,” he said. “A lot of the learning we’re doing right now is learning that students and faculty will have to do for this new science program. We’re the students leading that charge, and so we’re collecting a vast amount of information and curriculum in a way that’s pretty inefficient and pretty slow.”
The team also doesn’t have access to the same kind of workspaces as larger schools. “A lot of engineering schools just have maker spaces, and MuleWorks is a cool space, but it’s not the type of space we need,” Gellert said.
However, the team also has a lot going for them. William Cerepak `27, head of finance for the team, said, “I think [being a liberal arts school] gives us an advantage. We have students who come from tons of different majors. Think computer science, data science, physics, arts, and economics.”
“With this,” he said, “we’re able to have students who are interested in contributing to all different parts of the team, both with hands-on stuff working on the vehicle, but also on the business side. That’s an advantage that other teams do not have. Our students aren’t just excited to go build the car, but are invested in putting in the legwork to actually set up the proper infrastructure for a winning team.”
Cerepak said this legwork includes things like meeting with faculty, administrators, and alumni “three to five times a week,” and building “a special environment where students feel like they are part of a really well-functioning team surrounded by people who really care about them.”
While other teams might solely be focused on the engineering side of things, the three club leaders repeatedly emphasized the importance of ensuring the long-term viability of the club. “One school, for example, had to go back to their student association and ask for 20,000 more dollars the other year because they just didn’t plan their car correctly. William wants to have the perfect audit every year as a team, which is not something that all the other teams are doing,” Gellert said.
When asked how Formula Electric plans on achieving their ambitious five-year goal, Cerepak said, “Colby students are what gets us [to our goal]. Just driven, ambitious students who are able to really think critically about little decisions. It’s the little details that matter every day, and we have a really strong culture here and a strong group of students that we believe in, which is really special.”
~ Cleo Rehkopf `28
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Primetime Is the Fall Hit Nobody Saw Coming (No Spoilers)
Lance Oppenheim’s Primetime is the fall blockbuster that few saw coming. With an IMDb rating of 7.2/10, an 86 percent Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes, and an average of 3.7/5 on Letterboxd, the movie has seen surprising success. A24’s dramatization of the “behind-the-scenes” aspect of the show To Catch a Predator took a peculiar take on the highly controversial but popular NBC series. The film has already grossed almost $20 million over its $15 million budget.
On paper, the film sounds like it shouldn’t work. Robert Pattinson acts as host Chris Hansen, who became a household name. What makes the film unique, besides the nature of the original show, is the decision not to make a biopic, but something stranger.
The first noticeable thing in the film is how it looks. From grainy filters to authoritative angles, the film is doing something different in every scene. What is especially noticeable, though, are the faces, often half-lit, which produces a fifty-fifty split that makes each character seem divided against themselves and their own beliefs. Colors are pushed to their absolute extremes, and the saturation is hard to ignore. It keeps the audience off balance, and it’s no accident that multiple viewers call it just as much a horror film as a thriller. Following the film, the people I talked to kept landing on similar words. Miles Potter `29 called it “unsettling,” and Kent Ordal `29 said it was simply “weird and strange.”
It seems Robert Pattinson has established himself as a cheat code in the film industry. Pattinson has already had a massive year, appearing in The Drama and Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster take on The Odyssey. Chris Hansen also helped with the movie’s sudden widespread popularity. Whether Hansen meant it or not, by publicly criticizing the film and Pattinson’s portrayal, it brought new eyes and new perspectives. Pattinson’s performance is also where critics and audiences have been unanimous. Across almost all platforms, viewers have identified him as the film’s anchor.
Not everyone, though, was fully satisfied. Rich Kang `29 said, “the plot left more to be wanted.” Although he conceded that he “can appreciate the cinematography and acting.” This review sums up a common reaction. In multiple instances, the plot can seem and feel thin, and the ending, which I won’t spoil, leaves much to be asked and desired. Much of the film is ambiguous. If you go in expecting a tightly plotted thriller, you may find yourself wanting more. But if you go in for an atmospheric film, both in performance and style, you will likely leave much more satisfied. The film definitely takes its liberties in many places, so it may be better to treat it more as a story and not as a documentary.
Primetime is inherently messy in many ways. It is unmistakably the work of a filmmaker with a certain point of view, and it takes its liberties where it can. It begs the question of the line between justice and entertainment, then declines to really answer either. The film may frustrate some and exhilarate others, but that divide is exactly what is driving all the buzz.
~ William Maasbach `29
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Colby First-Years on AI
Last week, I wrote about the new AI module that the College rolled out for this year’s first-year orientation. Then I spent a lot of time speaking with first-years about their thoughts on the module and the broader topic of generative AI. These conversations only tell part of the story. Though I reached out to people with diverse perspectives on generative AI, I wasn’t able to document any conversations with people who feel positively about the technology.
Donovan Thompson `30 has concerns about many aspects of generative AI use, including its impacts on the environment and on the brain: “I already knew the environmental impacts of using AI, like how much water it uses and how harmful the data centers are… I also know that it’s really harmful for your brain because I’ve read studies about, like, LLMs and how using them decreases retention and memory and intellect and everything and it decreases your critical thinking ability… I believe it’s just harmful overall.”
Thompson is also a creative, and it disheartens him to witness the proliferation of AI-generated art. “I love to write and draw, so just seeing people auto-generate short stories or books or art really angers me, because… the whole point of art is that it’s meant to be made by humans and represent that humanity. And I feel like it’s really harmful when I see people… not having the media literacy to detect that AI art is not art,” he said.
He found it surprising that the College would provide its students with access to generative AI software through its Google Suite: “They provide us with Notebook LM and Gemini for free, and I feel like that’s harmful because it’s kind of… encouraging students to use generative AI because they’re being given it as… a resource from the school.”
Will Grosshuesch `30 felt that the module didn’t put enough emphasis on the ramifications that data centers have on surrounding areas: “They could’ve gone more into the environmental impacts… they just said it uses a lot of water, but it uses a lot of water, and, like, how they’re clearing land for that kind of thing… I think they should talk about the cons a little more than the pros.”
Another first-year source who preferred to remain anonymous expressed slightly more favorable feelings toward the technology, saying, “I feel like once [generative AI companies] clean up their act—a lot—then I’d be more open to it, but at the moment I’m trying to stay away from it.”
The source felt that the module failed to cover an important criticism of generative AI usage: “They focused a lot… more so on the intellectual cons — I feel like they didn’t touch as much on, like, creative downsides… I know there was a debate around here about a banner, someone made a banner using AI. It was just for some silly little thing but, you know, there are people out there that do that for work.”
Anthony Kihwele `30 is worried about what the proliferation of generative AI means for his future: “Using AI… prompting and all that, it’s a major loss of human agency. You know, as an adolescent, someone growing up, the future is already very blurry… the only thing I see is human demise in the use of AI… I don’t want to see human demise, and I don’t know what my future looks like, so I say no to demise.”
Despite his apprehension and his personal decision to not use AI tools, Kihwele sees the value in the College choosing to provide Gemini and Notebook LM to students through the Google Suite. “I didn’t know that source-bound large language models were a thing… [the College’s Gemini and Notebook LM tools] don’t release information out there, they don’t train their models [on what students input into the tools]… You can’t really stop someone, so if you are [going to use generative AI], this is the safest viable option,” he said.
It can be difficult to form an opinion on generative AI in a world inundated with sensationalized media coverage and a steady stream of new and often conflicting information. These first-years represent some of the varying opinions held by students at the College. What we can likely all agree on at this institution of higher education is that nobody wants these generative AI tools to harm student learning.
According to Thompson, the module made that clear: “I thought it was important to address AI, especially in current times… [the module] made the point that they don’t encourage using it as a replacement for learning… if it’s going to be used, it should be something that advances learning.”
~ Anna Izquierdo `29
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A Typical Tuesday: How A Colby Musician Spends Her Tuesdays
“Music’s a big part of my life,” Liz Echt `28 said. She’s right. From band practice to voice lessons to a cappella, Echt is immersed in many of the realms of the College’s music community.
As a member of the College’s Global Entry Semester (GES) program, Echt spent her first semester of college in Dijon, France. “I had never been to France, so it was a really cool opportunity,” she told me. “I still text my host mom sometimes.” She said her host mom had a guitar that she used to play all night.
But when Echt came to campus, she felt unsure of where she belonged. “JanPlan is definitely not the easiest time to come back,” she said. “I remember at first being like, ‘Oh my god, there’s, like… I don’t know what I’m supposed to do here.’ I really pushed to be in the music scene here,” Echt explained.
Then, she found the Colby Music Incubator (CMI), an organization that connects musicians at the College and facilitates events. She met most of her friends through attending a CMI Saturday Night Live Event, a monthly Open Mic show held in Mary Low Coffee House. “Anybody can sign up, play songs.” It was there that Echt learned about the Colbyettes, an a cappella group, through Jo Scher `26, a fellow student musician.
A typical Tuesday for Echt begins at 7:30. Usually, she goes outside for a run, covering anywhere from three to seven miles. After her run, she showers off and makes a breakfast of two boiled eggs with toast and Good Culture cottage cheese in her kitchen.
Since Echt doesn’t have class until 1 p.m., she uses her Tuesday mornings to study. Around 11 a.m., she drives up to campus and sits in Bixler Library to finish her work. By noon, she heads to the Spa for some coffee and a quick lunch.
In her World Music class, taught by Associate Professor of Music Natalie Zelensky, Echt and her classmates are studying the music and politics of Zimbabwe. Echt is a music and psychology: neuroscience double major. “I’m really interested in musicology and ethnomusicology,” she said.
After class, Echt goes to the practice rooms in the Gordon Center for Creative and Performing Arts to play her instruments and sing. She has vocal lessons on Mondays with Applied Music Instructor Dr. Wee Kiat Chia, and she spends a lot of time working on what she’s learned from the day before. Echt also plays a bunch of different instruments, including violin, guitar, bass, and piano. She leaves Gordon and grabs a snack: “It’s important to fuel up,” she said.
By 4:00 p.m., Echt heads over to practice for her rock band, Toejam. “It’s a great group, love them,” she said. She’s also in a new blues band that isn’t yet named. “If anybody has any recommendations, shoot me an email with a band name!” Echt said.
After band practice, Echt heads to Lorimer Chapel for the Colbyettes’ rehearsal, which runs until 8:00 p.m. As music director this year, Echt arranges most of the music. “I do them by ear,” she said. A lot of her time in practice rooms is spent working on an arrangement. “An arrangement can take me anywhere from four to five hours, to like a longer time,” she said, laughing. “It depends on how intricate the song is.”
By 8:00 p.m., Echt drives home and cooks dinner, which she usually eats with her three roommates. “We all bump into each other all the time, like cooking and stuff,” she said. “They’re lovely.”
To wind down the night, Echt plays guitar and sings. “I think it’s better than scrolling on my phone.” She tries to keep the noise down if her roommates are sleeping. “I’m a loud singer,” she said, smiling. Echt writes soulful folk music, but her favorite band is The Beatles.
“If you’re interested in music, there’s a lot of opportunity and a lot of ways to get involved,” Echt said. “It’s kind of a place where you really need to put yourself out there and meet people, and I know that can be intimidating, but everyone’s excited to meet you too.”
~ Anya Eder `29
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“Responding to the Moment” — The 2026 Maine Lit Fest
This past weekend at the Gordon Center for Creative and Performing Arts, the Creative Writing Program at Colby College hosted the 2026 Maine Lit Fest, with this year’s theme being “Responding to the Moment.” The 2026 Maine Lit Fest, which takes place from Sept. 30 to Oct. 9, is a week-long celebration of books and stories presented by the Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance. Many of the scheduled events have already happened, and multiple Maine towns got involved in the festival, including Waterville, Portland, Brunswick, Farmington, Rockport, Presque Isle, and more.
Supported by the Jennifer Jahrling Forese and Kristina Stahl Funds, the College participated in the Maine Lit Fest from Oct. 2 through Oct. 3.
The events at the Gordon Center kicked off the evening of Oct. 2 with award-winning poet and scholar Dr. Alexis Pauline Gumbs, who gave the Jennifer Jahrling Forese Keynote Speaker Reading. Gumbs read from and discussed her newest book, Primary: After and With Alma Thomas, and then Assistant Professor of African American Studies Sonya Donaldson moderated a Q&A segment.
At the Jennifer Jahrling Forese Keynote Address the following day, Arisa White, associate professor of English and director of the Creative Writing program, said the kick-off event was “a true ceremony honoring modernist painter Alma Thomas’s life and work. Beginning with breath, Gumbs offered her ekphrastic poetry as an oracle for us to practice dedication, questioning, remembering, and relishing the magic of life’s randomness. The beauty of being in relationship, interconnected, and interrelated.”
After the events on Friday evening, the festival was far from over. Starting the following day on Oct. 3 at 9 a.m., Katherine Ferrier led a morning workshop called Moving the Body Poetic. Ferrier’s workshop entailed somatic improvisation and a workshop for writers of all backgrounds.
Following this workshop, Gumbs returned to give the Jennifer Jahrling Forese Keynote Address, discussing June Jordan, Fannie Lou Hamer, Alma Thomas, and a poetics of nourishment.
One of the major themes of Gumbs’ address was accountability for children. Gumbs shared the words of Maya Freelon, an award-winning contemporary artist and educator: “It should not be possible to hold the reality of childhood and the violence of slavery.… It should not be possible to hold the reality of childhood and the cruelty of apartheid. The reality of childhood and the evil of genocide in the same realm at the same moment. And yet, we live in a world shaped by these contradictions.”
Gumbs also brought our attention to our commitments. Introducing June Jordan’s poem Home of Commitment, Gumbs said, “Because I think that how we meet the moment is, in fact, with our commitment. Iterations and iterations of our recommitment. Nuclerity is about what that commitment might be.” During the Q&A that followed this poem, Gumbs invited the audience to share what is coming up for them around their commitment at that moment.
After the words shared by Gumbs in their keynote address, the events continued with more workshops, readings, an open mic, and a special In the News. The special In the News featured New York Times–bestselling author adrienne maree brown in conversation with Assistant Professor of English Onnesha Roychoudhuri on Movements, Power, and Political Possibility.
As all these exciting events were held, the lobby of the Gordon Center hosted regional literary organizations and publishers, including Oliver & Friends Bookshop, A Clearing, ACLU of Maine, The Colby Review, Custom Typewriter Poems with Katherine Ferrier, Creative Professions Specialist Destiny Ross of DavisConnects, Elizabeth Kirscher’s Mothering the Word Postcard Project, and Pickwick Independent Press.
Overall, the 2026 Maine Lit Fest at Colby College featured many local artists and writers, shared many beautiful words, and offered many fun workshops. If you did not stop by this year’s Maine Lit Fest, you should join in on the exciting festivities celebrating books and stories next year.
~ Haley Hegarty `28
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STS Department: Thom Klepach
“It is a sacred thing to be able to help young people figure out who they are and what they can be,” Thom Klepach said. Klepach is a non-tenure-track lecturer in the College’s Science, Technology, and Society (STS) Department.
Klepach moved frequently while growing up. “I had a very tumultuous childhood and lived in a lot of different places,” he said. “But the place I would [call home] would be Detroit, Michigan.”
After graduating from a Jesuit high school in Detroit, Klepach took an unconventional path through higher education. “My education is a wild story – I didn’t really start college in earnest until I was 20.” He then attended medical school while working on his dissertation and serving as a teaching assistant in a medical school cadaver lab.
As a graduate student, Klepach was a “theoretical carbohydrate biophysicist,” using “a bunch of computations to interpret the structural properties of complex carbohydrates.” His research also led him to questions about consciousness: “Are there scientific models that can help us understand how it is that an organism can be conscious?”
Klepach joined the College in 2012 with his wife, Denise Bruesewitz, and took a different path from his research. “I never wanted to have tenure here at Colby,” he says. “I sort of like what I do. I get to teach, and have a little more freedom, so I teach a lot of interesting classes.”
That freedom shapes Klepach’s approach to teaching in the STS Department. “For me, the students are the most important thing,” Klepach said. He describes college as “the peak of humanity,” where students encounter ideas that are “fresh and unique.”
“So much of our existence outside this realm is a little bit mundane,” he says. College, by contrast, allows students to discover “these kinds of eternal truths” for the first time. Klepach enjoys watching students have “those aha moments” as they grow and find themselves.
Stella Reynaga `28, a biology and STS double major, sees that energy in Klepach’s classroom. “Professor Klepach brings a sense of energy and purpose to the classroom,” she said. “He makes learning feel experiential and genuinely fun while consistently connecting lecture to real-world relevance… I am proud to say that he is the reason why I became so passionate about the STS major.”
Klepach wants his students to understand science beyond facts and formulas and consider its social consequences. “Science cannot be done properly without a grounding in an ethic and an understanding of the sociological impacts, the context leading up to and the consequence, and the downstream consequence of the scientific work,” he said. “All people need to be and should be able to understand science that relates to their lives,” he said, “at least with a qualitative sense.”
For Klepach, this interdisciplinary approach shows the purpose of a liberal arts education. He uses food as an example: understanding it can require biology, biochemistry, economics, agriculture, and government policy. “You can, like, look at one narrow wedge of it, but that narrow wedge of it is like you’re putting blinders on and you’re not actually seeing the whole picture,” he said.
Rather than becoming “technicians” within a single field, students can develop a broader perspective. “That’s what leaders are,” Klepach says. “One of the traits of a leader is being able to have a very wide perspective, a broad perspective, that understands how particulars affect the total, the whole.”
Ultimately, Klepach’s journey has led him to a profound understanding: “Be grateful that you are alive and here and able to connect with other people.”
“We are here to understand what it means to be alive and to be aware in this space with other beings that are also alive and aware,” Klepach said. “Understanding how sacred [life] is is gonna fulfill you… You’re gonna meet your human potential.”
~ Summer Woo `28
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The Creator and the Mind: A Case for the English Major
In high school, my junior-year English teacher asked my class to write biweekly op-eds. While I rarely ever submitted something that was really good, I do remember handing one paper in with a little more confidence than the rest. I called it, “Why I Love Words.”
The other day, spurred by a fit of nostalgia and maybe boredom, I started digging through my mementos. I found a copy of my paper, marked up with bloody pen ink and shoved in the crevasse of a dense class folder. I had written the following:
“There is something so modest about words that make them so crucial, and yet they are often overlooked. Words are how we think, how we feel, and how we change the world; to me, words are the single most important skill one can have.”
Maybe I was overly optimistic then. But, I still hope to dedicate myself to something that has meaning — and I believe, wholeheartedly, that words are that thing. To quote Emma Morley in David Nicholls’s contemporary romance One Day, “Better by far to simply try and be good and be courageous and bold and to make a difference. Not change the world exactly, but the bit around you.”
How do we manifest change in the little bits around us? I posit: words.
I speak of words and not sentences, or books and novels, or poetry and papers, or writing in general, because they are separate. With the exception of the letters that constitute them, words are the simplest structure we have. We connect words, like toy Lego pieces, until they materialize into some kind of worthwhile construction. Words are rudimentary and, yet, they are complex. Words are not easy.
Consider how often you speak, write, read, and think; how often your mind expresses itself in language; how often you look at a street sign or get in an argument or feel more than usual; how often you breathe and smile and laugh and cry and kiss and hurt and hug. Digest all that you do. It is all made of words — of split-second thoughts transitioning into action.
As an English major, I am often asked to justify what I do. To take what I hope to devote my life to and make it understandable or legitimize it with monetary gain and a tangible outcome. I never have quite the right answer. Frankly, it would take too long to explain. But I’ve finally found an explanation that seems to suffice.
I recently finished reading Rosa Montero’s book of essays The Danger to Be Sane. I discovered what I believe to be the most substantive argument for the necessity of words yet. In her chapter, “A Sea of Disorder,” Montero writes, “Existence is chaos and one of the services we novelists provide (one of the main reasons why you’re reading me now, why I read at all) is to give some semblance of causality and meaning to a reality that is nothing but sound and fury.”
Montero’s essays suggest a connection between the creative impulse and those struggling with emotional and mental wellbeing. Statistically, artists are more likely to suffer from mental health challenges. “Socrates always wore the same clothes, walked barefoot, and danced alone; Proust went to bed one day and never left it again…Agatha Christie wrote in the bathtub; Rousseau was a masochist and exhibitionist. Freud had a phobia of trains; Hitchcock, of eggs; Napoleon, of cats,” Montero continues. People make art, quite possibly, because it heals something inside us.
I don’t seek an English degree for a job title. To most realists, that may seem rather obvious. When I filled out my college applications and checked a box that would decide my future studies, and in parallel with this, my future life, it didn’t seem very noteworthy. I suppose that is abnormal. But finding a major wasn’t life altering. I didn’t think much about it. Choosing to study English was spontaneous. It was natural — and that’s kind of the point.
Artists do not claim to be scientists or doctors or agrarians. Individuals collectively read and write and think in words, not because it is necessary for our survival in a general sense, but because words are survival of the mind. Montero validates the urgency of words through a paradoxical sense; we choose words, whether recreationally or professionally, because they unravel the confusions, intricacies, and pains that knot our brains. Words are metabolic; they are the enzymes that break down vast dilemmas into manageable parts. Words help us persist, and yet, bizarrely, those most disposed to use words are bound by disproportionate struggle.
I am privileged. I do not feel pressure to find a lucrative job. In many ways, this absence of pressure allows me to pursue a degree that, according to our cultural norms, seems impractical. But, we must not confuse economic production with societal usefulness.
Words are useful. We all need them. But those who choose words most consistently are often the ones forced to cling to them. That’s why I choose words — they are my anxiety killer. I sought an English degree, and continue to pursue one, because words grant me organization. Organization of the mind — of thoughts. Choosing an English major was both a selfish and selfless act. Words have given me every semblance of balance I can hope to find, but they also provide for others. Words are reciprocal, mutual. They liberate and empower and revive.
The English major is our sustenance.
~ Maya Corrie `29
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Reflection on the Feast of St. Francis
The Feast of St. Francis of Assisi is celebrated the week of Oct. 4 every year in the Catholic and Anglican traditions. The service celebrates the life of St. Francis, an Italian friar who is the patron saint of ecology and non-human animals. In the Episcopal community that I am a part of, this service includes the blessing of animals. Members of the congregation would bring their pets, and the priest in charge would go around the sanctuary to bless them individually.
The blessing is accompanied by the prayer, “May you be blessed in the name of God who created you, and may you and the humans who love and care for you enjoy life together with our God.” This prayer is remarkable in that it not only acknowledges the value of animals in complementing the life of humans but also the human-independent value of animals as “creations” themselves.
Generally, non-human animals are believed to lack a soul and cannot resurrect. According to the Book of Genesis, humankind is the only species “created in [God’s] own image.” Followers of the faith are also told to “be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the Earth, and subdue it.” Animals are considered to be valuable insofar as they are instruments for human flourishing. These doctrines leave little room for characterizing our consideration of animals beyond their instrumental value; non-instrumental characterizations of animals exist under the heading of human stewardship, the prescription that humans must act as entrusted caretakers of all of God’s creations. Both characterizations of animals — under instrumental value and human stewardship — deduce the value of animals from our hierarchical relationship to them rather than asserting their intrinsic value.
However, a being without intrinsic value cannot sustain the kind of relationship we have with pets. According to environmental ethicist Paul Taylor, an entity is intrinsically valuable if the realization of its goods — that which enhances or preserves its life and well-being — is intrinsically valuable. To say that a pet animal does not have intrinsic value would be to say that its health and happiness do not have value on their own. This is not how we view our pets. I become happy when I see signs that suggest that my dog is happy to see me, such as his tail going up or his snout becoming active. I am also inclined to support my dog’s particular interests by learning which treat or harness he prefers. These cognitive processes occur because I view my relationship to my dog primarily as family and secondarily as a hierarchy. If the converse were the case, I may decide not to take him on walks in rainy evenings or give him unlimited access to treats at the cost of his health. A family relation is founded on the principle of intrinsic value. My dog may not be able to reciprocate, but that is because it is a kind of being that lacks rationality; this should not prevent it from having intrinsic value just as we do not consider an infant human to be without intrinsic value.
A student in the class of 2027 shares her experience adopting her pet Sunshine as an emotional support animal. She recounts struggling with anxiety and deciding to adopt Sunshine following a few visits to volunteer at the local animal shelter. She says that she “saw so much of [herself]” in Sunshine when Sunshine was hissing at everyone in the shelter at first but eventually opened up and started purring at the student. She shares two ways the experience was eye-opening. First, Sunshine became “something independent [from Colby]” that is part of her world, a reminder that “the world doesn’t collapse [even when her life in Colby is not going well].” Second, Sunshine challenged the student’s core belief that “if I upset someone they would not want to be my friend.” The student recounts that Sunshine would frequently “get upset” at her but eventually became comfortable, which taught her “people can be upset at me, but it is not the end of the world.”
Our pets are our teachers, family members, and most importantly, individual animals whose life and well-being are valuable for the pet’s own sake, without needing reference to its human owners. We do, and must, treat them as such.
~ Benjamin Ha `27
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Colby Club Cheer Looks to Take Campus by Storm
The Colby club cheer team has rapidly built a spirited presence on Mayflower Hill. Re-established in the fall of 2024, the student-led club sport was created to provide students with the opportunity to learn cheer disciplines such as stunting, spreading school spirit, and building an inclusive athletic community at the College.
This fall, the squad has already cheered in the stands for the Homecoming football game on Sept. 26 and the women’s volleyball match against the University of Southern Maine on Sept. 29. Performing cheers like “Stomp Your Feet, Our Mules Can’t Be Beat,” “Colby Get Tough,” and many more, the team is now preparing for the upcoming home football game against Amherst College on Oct. 17 at 1 p.m. Next season, the team plans on cheering at basketball games as well. Although the squad aims to expand into men’s and women’s hockey, members explained that performing at the rink isn’t feasible until they acquire cold-weather warmups.
Practicing twice a week for two hours at a time, squad members refine motion drills, choreograph dance routines, and practice stunting on mats. Operating without a formal head coach, the student-led organization relies on its captains and executive board to direct practices, teach techniques, and manage team logistics.
Cianney Saunders `29, a co-captain and choreographer with a background in dance, leads the dances and cheers. Saunders explained that while managing the team without a coach certainly presents challenges, it has ultimately strengthened team bonds. “It’s challenging, but it’s pushed us to be more independent and hold each other accountable,” Saunders said. “We figure out routines together, which has made us closer.”
For team members, student leadership has created a supportive atmosphere for both experienced cheerleaders and newcomers. Nyree Hidalgo `29, a subcommittee member who joined with previous experience in gymnastics and ballet, described the team environment as “fun, chaotic,
and loving,” and added, “Honestly, the captains do a great job as coaches and leading the team.”
Equipped with official uniforms including shells, skirts, poms, and bows, the squad has expanded its impact far beyond athletic sidelines. The team has showcased its skills at Admitted Students Day and the Colby Dancers shows. Last spring, the group also hosted a campus-wide Powderpuff flag football tournament that drew participation from over 60 club athletes. Carlos Salcido Parra `28, a co-captain now in his third year with the organization, noted how much the club has grown.
“By the end of my freshman year, I really enjoyed and loved what we made Colby cheer into,” Parra said. “It’s like a family, and we all really care about each other. And I know we still have so much to prove and create for this club to be even bigger and better.”
A central goal for the program is securing full sideline access during outdoor football games. Currently restricted in their performance location, team members explain that sideline access would allow them to perform full stomp-and-shake routines, execute stunts safely, and face the student section directly.
Layla Chai `28, co-president and former co-captain who brought high school stunting experience to the squad, emphasized how sideline access would allow the squad to further elevate their skills. “It would let us showcase our hard work and help us improve our stunting skills because we’d get to practice them more consistently,” Chai said.
Looking ahead, leadership hopes to expand the roster, perform at a football halftime show, and eventually represent the College at regional cheer competitions. “We are a wonderful team and we want to prove to ourselves that we are stronger together,” Salcido Parra said. “Please support your cheerleaders!”
~ Mandy Zhang `30
October 8, 2026
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