Colgate’s Student Government Association (SGA) has been in recent talks with students at Hamilton College in Clinton, N.Y. over a potential partnership to promote and advertise events. However, members of SGA at Colgate are not on board at present.

“Hamilton College emailed me asking if we would help publicize a concert that they were having,” SGA President senior Matt Ford said. “They wanted to build a relationship of

mutual publicity.”

But Ford explained how he felt that this shared relationship, for the sake of publicity, was not something that would benefit

Colgate overall.

“We didn’t really think it was one of the greater ideas we ever had,” Ford said. “Not many students go to Hamilton College from here except for a few who do a dance program there, but that’s something that they’ve chosen to do.”

Ford also noted that in the past, there have been issues with Hamilton students coming to Colgate for Spring Party Weekend (SPW) and not being held accountable for their actions.

“We usually have a problem with Hamilton students getting bussed in for Spring Party Weekend,” Ford said. “Hamilton College, through their SGA, gets buses to shuttle kids to Colgate and then they have no responsibility for the town or the cleanup. They look just like us, so it’s pretty bad for our image when a lot of the disruptions with SPW goes on that are actually  caused by Hamilton students. We did not think it was necessarily in the best interest to then foster such a relationship.”

Campus Activities Board Concerts Coordinator at Hamilton College Senior Lily Reszi Rothman said that the reason the relationship was proposed was that they were looking to

promote an upcoming concert on their campus.

“It would be great to bring Hamilton and Colgate students together to create a larger community to offer our events to, as both campuses bring so many amazing acts and events, and both student bodies should be able to benefit,”

Rothman said.

The partnership, according to Ford, is not a top priority.    

“If they reach back out to us, maybe we can consider it or maybe next year’s presidents will consider it, but just having talked to a lot of the people that are involved in these kinds of events, it seems to me as if they are trying to justify them coming to our SPW,” Ford said. “Hamilton had buses last year going every half hour from Hamilton College. That’s money that comes out of the student activity fee, and in my opinion, that is for Colgate students to enjoy.”

Administrative figures at Colgate echoed Ford’s feelings regarding the partnership.

“I briefly mentioned it to [Director of the Center for Leadership and Student Involvement (CLSI)] Mike Maningas,” Ford said. “I expressed my opinion, and the opinion of the executive board, and he agreed that there’s a lot of fallout from SPW every year and he was not interested in having any more.”

While the musical performers for this year’s SPW have yet to be formally announced, Ford said that he feels the planning of this year’s SPW are going well.

“The situation with the acts is difficult because performers work on a different schedule than the University does,” Ford said. “Whoever we have, I’m sure it will be good. I know there are some really top people working on it.”

Ford also shared details on the new venue set for the performers at this year’s SPW.

“In terms of the new venue, I’m pretty excited for that,” Ford said. “It used to be that we would have it on Whitnall Field or in Sanford Field House, but this year the concerts will all be held in the parking lot between Donovan’s Pub and Case Library, with the students up the hill on the Persson steps and the grounds there. Everyone thought it was a bit too steep, but it’s really not as steep as you’d think.”

Ford stressed that while not shooting down the collaboration entirely, he feels that Hamilton College would need to provide more on their end before Colgate would warm up to the idea of a mutual publicity relationship.

“I’m definitely not opposed to the collaboration with Hamilton College, but I think that we’re bringing a lot more to the table than they are,” Ford said. “So to me, I would like to see some more input from them or a commitment to responsibility when their students are in our town before I really consider that.”

Rothman emphasized the importance she felt behind establishing such a relationship between the schools.

“We were seeking more publicity for the April 5th Walk The Moon concert, and figured that it was about time we created a partnership with Colgate,” Rothman said. “I know that the [Hamilton CAB equivalent] E-Board has made efforts in the past to reach out to Colgate to establish a partnership or cooperation, but I’m not sure if those efforts were ever realized. I was surprised that this hadn’t successfully taken off in the past, and I thought it was worth another try.”

“The fact that the campuses are only a 20-minute drive away from one another just makes the cooperation more logical and convenient. If the cooperation catches on, maybe we would start running a bus back and forth during big events that would be funded by both schools, and we could offer discounts on tickets for

Colgate students as well.”

There are no immediate plans to start a formal relationship centered on publicity between Hamilton College and Colgate University.

Contact Amanda Golden at

[email protected].