Media Coverage

Rabbi Rachel Isaacs wrote a letter titled "Small Town Jewish Life Takes Center Stage" printed in the "Readers Forum" section of eJewish Philanthropy June 11, 2019. In it, she chronicles how she came to settle in Waterville and create Colby's Center for Small Town Jewish Life. "Our core values of economic accessibility, dynamic learning, and collaboration across institutional and generational lines have animated all of the center’s programs since its inception," she writes. Communities like Waterville are the future of Jewish life, she continues. "Small town Jewish communities have always demanded elbow grease, innovative solutions, and a determined entrepreneurial spirit. If you look at who is leading major Jewish organizations today, you would be surprised by how many of them come from towns like Waterville, bringing their determination and hard-won Jewish knowledge back to the centers of Jewish life."

In an article titled "Are Historians Doing Enough to Address Climate Change?," the author, Walter G. Moss, cited a 1998 book by Jim Fleming, the Charles A. Dana Professor of Science, Technology, and Society. After citing the opinions of others on the dearth of historical writing on climate change, Moss writes, "Fleming’s words of 1998—'Since the mid-1980s, the dominant concern has been global warming from rising concentrations of CO2 and other greenhouse gases'—[this] remains true today."

Sandy Maisel, the Goldfarb Family Distinguished Professor of American Government, was quoted in the article "Calling all challengers" in Pine Tree Watch. As speculation on whether or not Susan Collins will be re-elected builds, pundits are weighing in. “I think there is more dissatisfaction than at any other time," Maisel told Pine Tree Watch. "Certainly from Progressives, especially women, but also from conservative Republicans who are angry about her votes on healthcare and the (immigration) emergency.”

An article by Assistant Professor of Government Lindsay Mayka and government and economics major Andrés Lovón '21 was published in the May 23 Washington Post. Titled "How one company’s deep web of corruption took down governments across Latin America," the article breaks down a large bribery scandal that played out across several Latin American countries, including Peru, Brazil, Ecuador, and Mexico. "Prosecutors have investigated and/or charged hundreds of high-level public officials for receiving Odebrecht kickbacks," Mayka and Lovón wrote about the Brazilian construction company. "After investigating Odebrecht’s bribery payments funneled through Swiss and U.S. banks, the U.S. Department of Justice called it 'the largest foreign bribery case in history.'”

Julia Nelson '19 and Catherine Fraser '19, students in the class Environment and Human Health, had letters to the editor published in Waterville's Morning Sentinel. Both letters urged support for L.D. 1433, “An Act to Protect the Environment and Public Health by Further Reducing Toxic Chemicals in Packaging,” a bill currently before the Maine Legislature. Nelson's letter, printed May 20, wrote that the bill "aligns with Gov. Janet Mills’ commitment to a healthy environment and healthy people in Maine as it would ban the unnecessary addition of a variety of chemicals that are used in packaging materials and have understood human health impacts." Fraser's letter ran May 19 and pointed out that "Maine is a leader in creating safer chemicals policy, regulating BPA in 2011 and 2013 under the Kid-Safe Products Act and flame-retardant chemicals in 2017. We need to regulate PFAS chemicals to reduce the body burdens and adverse health impacts associated with these harmful chemicals."

In an article titled "Where the Buffs Roam" Down East magazine asked "10 art-world luminaries," including Sharon Corwin, director and chief curator of the Colby College Museum of Art, "to share the under-the-radar places where they find great Maine art." Corwin recommended the Langlais Sculpture Preserve in Cushing to see the wooden sculptures by Bernard Langlais. “To experience these sculptures in the gorgeous landscape where he made them is really special," she told Down East.

Facsimile Cabinet of Women Origin Stories, an exhibition by Theaster Gates at the Colby College Museum of Art, was reviewed in the Boston Globe May 9. The exhibition includes cabinets holding "3,000 photographs and page mockups from Ebony and Jet through the years, specifically of women," the Globe reports. "There’s something monumental about it: The cabinets emanate significance and authority, a purpose-built archive of Very Important Things that had always been there, and always would be."

The Los Angeles Times cited James R. Fleming, the Charles A. Dana Professor of Science, Technology, and Society, in an article titled "The real climate change controversy: Whether to engineer the planet in order to fix it." The article is very loosely based on Fleming's book, Fixing the Sky: The Checkered History of Weather and Climate Control. 

In a Mainebiz article titled "Maine’s colleges and universities find new, innovative areas for growth," Colby is highlighted for its investment in downtown Waterville. President David A. Greene told Mainebiz that "in order to remain relevant, Maine colleges must continue building open, collaborative relationships with their communities." Of note were four projects Colby has undertaken downtown, including the construction of the Bill & Joan Alfond Main Street Commons and a proposed downtown art gallery. “The cloistered walls of our academic institutions are beautiful,” Greene said, “but they have to be permeable.”    

Neil Gross, the Charles A. Dana Professor of Sociology, reviewed Biased, a new book by Jennifer Eberhardt, in the Sunday New York Times. Gross called the book an "unexpectedly poignant overview of the research on cognitive biases and stereotypes, especially racial bias in criminal justice."