As 2026 seeps into February, Colorado College is back in full swing. Light snowstorms make their way through Colorado Springs, student events like Dance Workshop have begun in earnest and intramurals, including futsal and basketball, are as intense as ever.
President Manya Whitaker is also fully back in action after winter break. Currently, she spends much of her time on the road, frequently attending higher education conferences designed for presidents and chancellors.
“I’ve started the semester in the space of big picture [higher education] landscapes,” Whitaker said. “What are other institutions managing that we are also managing? How can we work together?”
As a continuation of last semester, she intends to continue collaborating with other institutions. Colorado College recently joined the Small Colleges Coalition, a group of more than two dozen colleges and universities across 17 states. Originally, CC joined the coalition to lobby against federal policies that would impact funding, like the Endowment Excise Tax.
While there are no current impending threats from the federal level, the Coalition remains intact, with the goal of combining efforts on ideas and initiatives in the small college space.
“Right now there [are] four ideas on the table that we have decided as a group to pursue: the relationship between faculty and administration, student research, the value of the liberal arts and access and affordability,” Whitaker explained.
Whitaker volunteered to lead the “value of the liberal arts” and to participate in the access and affordability group. Throughout her presidency, she has placed continued emphasis on overarching long-term goals, including “claiming our space” and value as a liberal arts institution in the higher education landscape.
But when enacting broad institutional goals, it can be difficult to actually act and pursue on-the-ground solutions. Whitaker emphasizes the importance of having a strong, effective cabinet team to see these large, overarching goals through.
“If it were just me having to keep eyes on and monitor the progress on all these areas, it would be impossible, and I would be very overwhelmed. But with such a strong leadership team, who each have their own expertise in all of these areas, I lean heavily on them to make sure they are monitoring progress,” she said.
On Monday, Jan. 26, Whitaker released a Winter State of the College Update via email. Rather than conducting a speech, Whitaker framed the update as a conversation between herself and Student Body President Royce Hinojosa ‘26.
“I am not a speech giver. I am much more of a dynamic, relational, authentic person. Sitting in my office talking into a camera for 12 minutes didn’t feel natural to me,” Whitaker said.
In the State of the College Update, Whitaker and Hinojosa covered lots of ground, including a large donation to the Four Corners Pledge. The pledge intends to make CC more accessible to potential students in Arizona, Utah, New Mexico and Colorado.
According to Colorado College, “if your family’s adjusted gross income (AGI) is under $250,000 a year and your family holds assets typical for your income, the price of a CC education is designed to approximate what you’d pay at our region’s top public universities.”
“We have never been intentional about giving back and supporting our own community,” Whitaker said. She mentioned that since announcing the initiative, Colorado applications increased by 7.2%, and Four Corners states’ applications increased by 9.4%.
The school intends to publicize the initiative in the coming months through a media campaign.
Another administrative update, which has received mixed reactions from students, is a school brand refresh, namely CC’s website redesign. While Whitaker hadn’t seen the final product before the website launched, she exclaimed how it encapsulates the school’s identity quite well. “It’s eclectic and vibrant. We just do us,” she said with a smile.
In the coming weeks, Whitaker will be attending the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities (NAICU) in Washington, D.C., to gain answers concerning potential federal cuts to Pell Grants and work-study opportunities for students.
Whitaker is also prioritizing enrollment and finding more ways to be present in student spaces.
As Whitaker looks ahead, her attention remains split between navigating broader higher education challenges and staying engaged with the day-to-day realities shaping life at Colorado College.