JAN 30, 2025 | NEWS |
Students in GS216 Introduction to Journalism with Corey Hutchins are learning the basics of journalism and news writing. This week, students wrote a 250-word news brief covering a topic of their choice. All news briefs are available online through The Catalyst.
In stories regarding minor alleged conduct cases, The Catalyst didn’t name the students involved, taking into account that it could be the first hit for their names in search engines and, frankly, they wouldn’t have told us what happened otherwise.
Student Activity Fees Could Increase $20 to Pay for E-sports
By Margaret Freeman
The Colorado College Student Government Association (CCSGA) greenlit a roughly $20 increase to the student activity fee for the E-sports lab.
At the end of 2024, CCSGA’s student leaders heard a proposal from the campus E-sports team to increase the student activity fee by $19.67 to help cover the finances for its Palmer Hall lab.
In a unanimous vote, CCSGA approved the increase, pushing it forward in the approval process. Student Body President Koray Gates ‘25 said the Finance Committee recommended this increase to the Campus Budget Committee. The CBC will pass it along to President Manya Whitaker, who will decide whether to send it to the Board of Trustees for approval, Gates said.
Gates additionally said the board will be on campus in February to consider a final vote.
Chad Schonewill, a faculty advisor for the Esports team, has been with the group since its inception in 2016 and helped bring the funding proposal to CCSGA.
Schonewill said he is “extremely pleased” by what he said would allow the team to “thrive and grow.”
According to CC’s website, the current student activity fee is $510, a 7.5% increase from 2023-2024, when it was $474. This new increase would raise the fee another 3.8% to $529.67.
This might not be the last time the Esports team comes to CCSGA.
Schonewill indicated the team might ask for a roughly $20,000 increase every three to four years to travel to Texas and compete against other Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference schools.
Sodexo Staff Leaves Mathias Residents in the Dark with Shower Curtain Changes, Literally
By James Mitchell
A bathroom maintenance change shook up the world of shower curtains in Mathias Hall over winter break when all but two curtains on the first two floors went from white to dark blue.
“The new blue curtains in Mathias are part of a pilot program designed to assess the cleanability of machine washable curtains,” said Jay Jeanneret, general manager of Sodexo at Colorado College.
“Blue is often associated with calmness, relaxation and tranquility, which made it a perfect fit for a space like the bathroom,” Jeanneret added.
However, for some Mathias residents, the dark blue color might have resulted in something like a “pilot program” visibility crash.
“There’s no light in the shower and now no light can pass through in the shower,” said Maya Rosen ‘28, a Mathias first-floor resident. “So you just kind of have to shower in darkness.”
When asked about the color choice, Jeanarret said it was a “high priority” to choose a shower curtain with “the length requirements that would contain, which heavily limited our color options.”
To that point, Mathias second-floor resident, Leela Glass ‘28, praised the benefit of less shower flooding.
“I think they’re very good at not letting the water flood out,” Glass said.
Responding to a recent survey via posters in the dorm, roughly two dozen Mathias residents said they were split regarding their feelings about the change.
Jeanneret said the pilot program will expand to Mathias floors three and four as soon as the next order of curtains is delivered.
He added that Sodexo may “reassess” the decision to change the curtains if resident feedback is negative.
“So far, we’re pleased with the new curtains, but they’re still in the early stages of use,” Jeanneret said. “The true test will be seeing how well they hold up over time.”
Trash Girl’s Weekend in the Bin
By Stella Ward
One man’s trash is another man’s treasure or, in one student’s case, a weekend getaway.
Ennika Barton ‘28, a Mathias Hall resident, reportedly spent 24 hours inside a communal recycling bin on Saturday, Jan. 25, sleeping, cooking and socializing from the confines of the blue rectangular walls.
Coined “trash girl” by students in the Colorado College subgroup of the online Yik Yak platform, the weekend journey did not go unnoticed.
“Come see the last hour of trash girl,” one user said. “She’s quite a sight.”
Some onlookers, however, might not have understood her reasoning beyond seeing it as an exercise of free will.
“It became more of getting over being publicly embarrassed and judged,” Barton told The Catalyst in a text message. Barton accepted that she might have “looked stupid” but says she’s moved on. “I have a hard time with embarrassment, so this was good for me.”
Barton revealed a history of other challenges she had recently taken part in, such as attempting a one-week diet of only canned beans.
She described her feats as a mental game, emphasizing the importance of pushing through hard things and overcoming a fear of judgment.
“We all care so much about what others think, but why not do something random and funny if you have the idea,” Barton said.
Barton’s commitment to her bin included improvisation when nature called, flipping the bin over her head to use the bathroom. She demonstrated the lengths she was willing to go for the challenge.
What’s Up with L. Song Richardson? Back at UC Irvine, She Said, ‘the Best Part Are Our Students’
By Orlando Monroy
Last year, Colorado College President L. Song Richardson resigned abruptly after roughly three years at the institution.
Richardson began as the 14th president amid a global pandemic in July 2021. She left last summer to return to her previous campus, the University of California, Irvine School of Law, where she said she would focus “on issues of equity, opportunity, and leadership.”
In a recent UC Irvine video, Richardson spoke about her new role at the university.
When asked about her favorite part of UC Irvine, she said, “There’s so many amazing things about this place but the thing that I appreciate the most are all of the people. Our staff, our faculty, our students, our alumni, our board, every part of UC Irvine School of Law is amazing.”
She continued to answer questions, giving answers that might sound familiar to anyone in the CC community. Richardson said she appreciated many aspects of UC Irvine.
“The best part are our students,” she said.
Not a ‘Charlie Brown Tree:’ Christmas Undertaking Violates Fire Code
By Aeva Dye
Students at Colorado College might have some idea about what violates fire safety regulations; open flames, space heaters, candles.
How about this: “Live or excessive greenery.”
For two students who sought to evoke the Christmas spirit and instead caught conduct cases, it was a violation of this part of the code that got them into trouble.
The would-be-revelers were reportedly confronted by campus personnel after transporting live Christmas trees, some up to 20 feet tall, into Mathias Hall in December.
“Campo said, ‘This ain’t no Charlie Brown tree,’” said one of the students.
The students said their case was resolved on Jan. 23, and they were asked to create fire safety posters as penance.
The students say they had legally cut down seven trees in Pike National Forest before transporting them to Mathias, where debris in the stairwell led Resident Advisors and Campus Safety to the violation site.
The students said Campus Safety ordered them to remove the trees immediately. Though they complied, they say they later re-transported the trees into Mathias, where they remained in the weeks before the holidays.
What did they do with them? The students say they “crowd-surfed” the smaller trees at parties, gave them as gifts and planted several in the rooms of unsuspecting Mathias residents.
“It’s funny ‘cause it’s like, now you have to deal with a tree,” said one student about what motivated the pranks.
Though the tree pranks might have caused a disturbance, the students involved said no further charges were brought against them.
Want to Become an RA? Start Here
By Beau Toepfer
If you want to be a Residential Advisor at Colorado College next year but are unsure when or whether to apply, you’ve come to the right place.
The job requirements include supporting residents’ needs, responding to emergencies and upholding the college’s residential policies.
Applications will likely go live on Handshake, the student employment database, during Block 6 or 7, according to Trevez Bridgewater, Resident Living Coordinator (RLC). The housing department will release the application later to allow the two new RLCs to input their opinions and become familiar with the process. The new application will likely be similar to last year’s.
“All of us [RLCs] are from different institutions,” Bridgewater said. “We have different ideas that Residential Life is considering while developing this process.”
According to the 2019 application packet, prospective RAs must have a GPA of at least 2.75 and adhere to college policies throughout their employment. Applicants will likely undergo a two-step interview process, which includes a one-on-one interview with a residential life staff member and a group interview with multiple applicants.
The best candidates are students with strong and refined leadership and organizational skills, emotional support capabilities and a creative mindset, according to Bridgewater and RA Sonia Gutierrez ‘27. Accepted students can develop their own leadership and connection styles with their residents, making it easier to forge connections.
“[Being an RA] is helping me meet a lot of people I wouldn’t talk to otherwise,” said Gutierrez.
Friendly Prank War between El Diente Apartments Escalates with Conduct Case
By Kathryn Mahoney
An ongoing prank war in the El Diente on-campus apartments became a stalemate after the pranksters said Campus Safety mistook one attack as malicious.
Two pranksters living on the top floor of the El Diente student apartments said they faced disciplinary action on Jan. 20 after placing particularly vulgar bumper stickers on their neighbors’ cars.
“It was just a playful prank war between the hockey players,” one combatant said. “The boys literally came over the day before to prank us back and joked they loved the stickers. Campo [Campus Safety] seemed relieved to hear that we were good friends with them.”
Beginning in October, two El Diente apartments have gone back and forth, pranking each other with “leanerings,” including a bucket of water leaned against a door so, when the door is opened, the bucket spills. The downstairs residents allegedly “leanered” the upstairs apartment with a water bucket mixed with rice, leaving a moldy scent behind.
At first snowfall, the upstairs residents counterattacked by packing snow against their neighbors’ door, barricading them inside.
The pranks escalated in December when the upstairs residents purchased stickers with sexually explicit sayings and placed them on the vehicle bumpers of the downstairs residents.
Campus Safety reportedly conducted an investigation. After students explained the prank war, the case was concluded, according to one student. The two students say they are waiting to hear from the conduct committee about potential repercussions.
“We all had fun,” one prankster said, “so I wouldn’t change what we did.”
Film Students Make It Big Mastering for Professor Dylan Nelson’s New Documentary
By Ellie LaCasse
Dylan Nelson, Film and Media Studies department chair and producer, asked students to participate in the post-production stages of her latest film.
In 2016, Nelson received a mock-up of the documentary, “The Stolen,” from a former Colorado College student, Ryan Loeffler ‘12. The documentary follows the story of Argentina’s search for missing children after General Jorge Videla’s 1970s dictatorship.
After nine years, “The Stolen,” will debut at the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival on Feb. 19. The film is funded by CC’s Student Faculty Collaboration Grant, which supports students’ research with professors.
“It is evidence of the way that CC supports faculty research and faculty-student collaboration,” Nelson.
Nelson says the students are called post-production assistants, helping in the final phases by checking copyright, licensing, mastering, subtitles and offering creative notes on the rough cuts.
One of them, Katie Lockwood ‘27, described her role as “helping to make sure archival logs are accurate with correct sources and timecodes and helping replace screeners with master footage.”
Two of them presented Nelson and her team with a font treatment to enhance the look and visibility of the words on the screen.
“We created mock-ups of stills from the film that showed examples of opening titles, lower thirds, credits, and intertitles in various font choices that Dylan and the director could look at and choose from,” said Sophia Lisco ‘26.
The students are invited to the big premiere, which will be on Wednesday of the first week of Block 6.
New Club, CCCCC, Launches at Colorado College
By Julia Decker
How many Cs does it take to start a CC club? Five.
Colorado College Commercial Choreo Club, or CCCCC, held its first meeting on Friday, Jan. 24, in Cossitt North Studio.
Dancers, in their spare time, were excited to learn advanced choreography.
Founders Satchel Bell ’27 and Emily Haws ’27 shared the club’s mission on their Instagram account, @cc.commercialchoreo: “A space for intermediate/advanced dancers to share choreography in an informal class setting—improve choreo comprehension and expand dance vocabulary.”
At the meeting, club creators said they were passionate about dance and wanted to immerse themselves further in the CC dance community.
Bell, who is double-majoring in molecular biology and dance, has been choreographing since fifth grade.
“Coming to CC, I still danced a lot, and it was somehow less intense than high school,” Bell said.
Haws, who plans to major in neuroscience and minor in dance, started dancing in high school. The club caters to experienced dancers.
“A senior last year, Natalie Logue, did a thesis in the dance department, and the consensus was that students were looking for a space for more experienced dancers to train together,” Haws said. “We have been looking for that too, so we created it.”
Bell and Haws are open to feedback and want to create a club that best serves dancers’ needs.
“There’s something about Dance Workshop practices that don’t have the same hype because of performance pressures,” Bell said. “CCCCC is about fun, building community, and leaving it all out on the floor.”