Media Coverage

Following the release of a poll conducted by Colby that shows a statistical dead heat in Maine's U.S. Senate race, several media outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, covered the news. These outlets include: The Hill Washington Examiner NBCBoston New England Cable News Maine Public Portland Press Herald Bangor Daily News Morning Sentinel Mother Jones Magazine The Week Magazine Salon

Caroline Wren '20, an environmental policy major and cinema studies minor, is quoted in a Lewiston Sun Journal article following her testimony at a recent Maine Legislature public hearing on a bill to help low-income Mainers test for arsenic in their well water. For her honors thesis with Gail Carlson, assistant professor of environmental studies, Wren interviewed people in the Blue Hill, Maine, area about their experiences with their drinking water, and she also provided test kits with a grant from the Buck Lab for Climate and Environment. Wren is currently doing data analysis and write-up about her results.

Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies Gail Carlson penned a letter to the editor, "Mainers’ health vulnerable to climate change," that ran Feb. 5 in the Morning Sentinel. In it, Carlson notes how climate-related events such a rising heat index, increased rainfall amounts, more ticks and Lyme disease, and worsening air pollution affect Mainers, especially vulnerable populations. "Protecting the health of all Mainers requires us to take climate action, and the public is welcome to engage with the Maine Climate Council as it develops a climate plan for the state that will strengthen our economy and build healthy, resilient communities," Carlson writes.

A Portland Press Herald article heralds Colby and Waterville's partnership as "a better model" for helping cities get on solid economic footing. Herald reporter Greg Kesich's article "The View From Here: Do we have to be the next San Jose?" ponders how the recent announcement that Northeastern University will establish the Roux Institute in Portland will affect the city, perhaps by further driving up property values and driving out residents, phenomena happening in San Jose. "There might be a better model a little closer to home. That’s the city of Waterville," Kesich writes. “Colleges and universities have a privileged position in this country because we provide a public good,” President David A. Greene said in a phone interview. “We all have an obligation to contribute in multiple ways.”

Melody Larson '20, an environmental policy major, attended the Maine Climate Council Jan. 29 and wrote a letter to the Morning Sentinel about her experience. In "Maine doing right for climate," Larson recounts what she learned attending the Maine Climate Council and participating in Maine Youth Voices Day. "As a Mainer and Colby College student, it was a powerful experience to stand with fellow Maine youth as demands for the Maine Climate Council, including quicker climate action and a just framework for climate adaptation and mitigation, were presented," she wrote.

Mainebiz covered this week's announcement that Verna's All Day will be opening in downtown Waterville later this year. Their article, "Colby completes 'food triangle' with lease to Portland restaurant owners," reports not only that Briana and Andrew Volk plan to open a chop house as well as a food market at the Bill & Joan Alfond Main Street Commons, but that Colby had been searching for the right tenant. "Colby was looking for a 'high-level, quality destination' tenant to fill the space," Brian Clark, vice president of planning, told Mainebiz, "and people in the area had made it clear they wanted a Maine business, not a chain." The article also updates readers on other Colby initiatives downtown: a recent gift to the planned Paul J. Schupf Art Center, on-schedule progress on the Lockwood Hotel, and "exciting news" expected soon on plans for the space at 14-20 Main St. Mainebiz also reports on the athletic center under construction on campus and that the College has "filed a notice of intent with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to begin work on a new performing arts center that it's been planning for several years. Work on the Gordon Center for Creative and Performing Arts is expected to begin this summer, and the center will open in 2022," Clark said.

A new book by Lindsay Mayka, assistant professor of government, was the topic of an episode of the podcast New Books in Political Science. Mayka spoke with host Lilly Goren about her book, Building Participatory Institutions in Latin America: Reform Coalitions and Institutional Change (Cambridge University Press, 2019), which "examines the idea and implementation of participatory institutions, asking the question about when they actually work, and when they do not work, and why this is the case, especially in Latin America," New Books reported.

The Portland Press Herald reached out to Sandy Maisel, the Goldfarb Family Distinguished Professor of American Government, for an article titled "Sen. Collins in a ‘uniquely difficult’ position, impeachment observers say." Maisel believes that the impeachment vote "will test her. ... She may vote to allow witnesses and then vote not to (convict). She has to think about whether splitting that vote will alienate people or please people.”

Colby senior Tori Paquette '20 created the course "Faith, Class and Community," which paired students with Waterville faith-based organizations to study poverty relief efforts, and the Morning Sentinel reported on the results of the class. The nine students in the class "not only volunteered with the organizations, they also learned about how faith-based organizations in Waterville help people in need with food, clothing, fuel, personal essentials and other necessities," the Sentinel reported. "Students wrote profiles about the pastors, volunteers and others who work in those organizations. The profiles are available on the course website, web.colby.edu/faithinwaterville."

The Central Maine Growth Council has been selected to join the 2020 Rural Innovation Initiative, "which helps rural communities create digital economy jobs with an innovation hub strategy," Mainebiz reports. Colby will partner the council as another component of its ongoing relationship with the city. "We’re eager to continue partnering with the Growth Council and others to advance strategies that further the region’s innovation economy and drives job creation," said Brian Clark, Colby's vice president of planning. The council was just one of 10 organizations nationwide asked to join the program.