Media Coverage

Colby's plans to celebrate the Class of 2020 were the focus of a May 22 Morning Sentinel article. "Colby College will not hold the in-person commencement ceremony scheduled for Memorial Day weekend, but is planning a virtual celebration of the Class of 2020 on Sunday that is to include speakers, music and, likely, many memorable images and moments," the Sentinel reported.  

Colby's Pay it Northward initiative continues to draw national attention, this time in the Wall Street Journal. "It’s really reassuring to know that they’re making sure we’re not being thrown into the wind,” graduating senior Matthew Garza told the WSJ in a story highlighting Colby's leadership in generating postgraduate opportunities for every member of the Class of 2020. 

CNN Business spoke with President David A. Greene about Colby's Pay it Northward initiative for the article titled "Class of 2020 entering worst job market since Great Depression." President Greene urged other institutions to follow suit. "I think we can all do our very best to help these students, they just need a little bit of a leg up right now," he said. "If we can give them a little bit of a boost right now to get them to jobs that they could really do the best in, they'll be fine."  

The Washington Post ran a story titled "With dorms shut and classes online, college students DIY campus life" that includes a section on "the Boothbay Commune," a group of 16 Colby students who chose to live in a summer cottage rental property when Colby moved to remote learning in mid-March. The students held study sessions and pulled all-nighters, and they engaged in non-academic learning. "The group organized food purchases, cooking and cleaning. They did yard work and brought kayaks, rowboats, paddleboards, a sailboat and a motorboat out of storage. To keep some feel of their old social life, they replicated trivia nights and, with several members of the ultimate Frisbee team present, played a four-day Frisbee golf tournament," the story reports. This story also ran in the San Francisco Chronicle and on the Hechinger Report website.

Hannah Dineen of NewsCenter Maine produced a story about Colby's Pay it Northward, talking with a Colby senior, Patrick Sopko '20, as well as Sandy Maisel, the Goldfarb Family Distinguished Professor of American Government. "If somebody is in a position to help somebody not create that deficit," Maisel said regarding the lack of jobs in the current recession, "it seems to me it's almost a moral obligation to do so."

CNN spoke with President David Greene about the College's potential delayed opening in a May 14 article. "I would rather open in January and go into next summer and have two full semesters worth of in-person instruction, if it were safer to do it at that time than it was earlier in the fall.”

Trustee Bob Diamond '73, P'12 spoke with CNBC news about the possibility of Colby delaying the start of school in order to ensure students have a full academic year on campus. “One of the things that we’ve decided as a leadership of the college, and as of a board of trustees, that even if we had to delay the first semester as late as December or January, we could still run a full year of in-person education,” Diamond, former Barclays CEO and Colby College trustee, told CNBC. "Diamond, appearing on '“Squawk Box, said the school was 'very, very focused' on finding a way to safely conduct in-person classes for its roughly 2,000 students."

In an editorial posted on the Mass Live website, Pay it Northward, Colby's new initiative to find postgraduate opportunities for its graduating seniors, is praised for its innovative, compassionate approach. "As many graduates struggle with the weight of college tuition, and student debt ... aggressive assistance in job placement can make a huge difference, not only for the individuals involved, but for the long-term health of the economy. Other schools might look to this example and consider generating similar initiatives for its students," the author wrote.

Colby's Pay it Forward campaign, launched May 7, is receiving wide media coverage. Among the outlets making note of this powerful, innovate initiative include: WMTW TV-8 Maine Public

In its article titled "What Colleges And Graduating Seniors Need To Do To Find Jobs During These Tough COVID-19 Times," Forbes holds up Colby's new Pay It Northward campaign as an initiative others should emulate. "At this time, every university and college should follow Colby’s lead. There should be an immediate all-hands-on-deck approach to helping graduates find jobs," Forbes said.