Colgate University is an elite, private liberal arts college located in the Town of Hamilton in Madison County, New York.

Brief Timeline of the University

• 1817 - Baptist Education Society of the State of New York is founded
• 1819 - charter is granted by the state
• 1820 - school is opened
• 1823 - Baptists in New York City (including soapmaker William Colgate, who created Colgate-Palmolive) move their seminary to Hamilton, NY to form the Hamilton Literary and Theological Institution
• 1846 - name changes to Madison University (right to grant degrees established)
• 1856 - first fraternity established, the Mu Chapter of Delta Kappa Epsilon (membership has to be kept secret or risk expulsion)
• 1890 - name changes to Colgate University (after 7 decades of involvement by the Colgate family)
• 1928 - becomes non-denominational
• 1970 - begins accepting women as entering students
• 2003 - private ownership of fraternity and sorority houses strongly discouraged
• 2004 - buys fraternity and sorority houses; those that do not sell will not be recognized and active members will be subject to expulsion. There is a strong backlash from students and alumni

Athletics

Colgate is part of NCAA Division I for all sports except football, which is Division I-AA. The athletic teams are called the "Raiders," and the team colors are maroon and white. Colgate plays as part of either the Patriot League or the Eastern College Athletic Conference, depending on the sport.

For much of its history, Colgate's sports teams were called the "Red Raiders." The origin of the name is disputed -- some claim it was in reference to the school color, maroon, while others say that it was a reference to the team's ability to defeat its much larger rival, the Cornell University "Big Red." In the 1970s, the school debated changing the name because of concerns that it was offensive to Native Americans. At that time the name was kept, but the mascot was changed from a Native American to a hand holding a torch. In 2001, a group of students approached the administration with the concern that the name "Red Raiders" still implied a Native American mascot. The school agreed to drop the word "Red" from the team name starting in the 2001-02 school year; however, its has been revealed that the "Red" moniker was a reference to the Vikings, yet it has not been reattached to the nickname.

In the 2003 season, for the first time, the Raiders made it to the NCAA I-AA championship game in football, where they lost to the University of Delaware. Their season record was 13-1.

Facts (as of 2003)

• Number of Students - 2700 (51% women)
• Student-Faculty Ratio - 11:1
• Ranked in the top 20 best liberal-arts colleges in the USA by U.S. News and World Report
  • #16 as of 2005
• President - Rebecca S. Chopp
• Tuition / Total Incl. Room and Board - $28,165/$35,130
• Radio Station - WRCU
• Colgate's student newspaper, The Colgate Maroon-News, is the oldest college weekly in America. The Colgate Maroon was founded in 1868, and merged with The Colgate News in 1991 to form the Maroon-News.
• The Colgate Thirteen (all-male a cappella group) was founded in 1942 in a split from the University Glee Club and is the country's third oldest. Notably, The "13" performed the National Anthem at Super Bowl XIII.
• Konosioni, senior honor society, was founded in 1936 by joining rival senior societies Gorgan's Head and Skull and Scroll. The society honors outstanding achievement in co-curricular activities and the spirit of Colgate. Each year 26 men and women are peer-selected for membership.

External links

• Official Site
• The Colgate Thirteen
• Students and Alumni For Colgate