An Evening with Shaun King

Last night, Colorado Springs community members and our campus came together at Shove Chapel to listen to writer and activist Shaun King’s talk “Beyond Dialogue: Tools for Reclaiming Truth.”

King challenged notions of upward progress in human moral behavior, highlighting contemporary injustices such as police killings of unarmed black Americans as well as family separations at the U.S.-Mexico border. King also emphasized catastrophes such as the Rwandan Genocide and the Holocaust, making the case that the relative historical proximity to our current moment negates the Darwinian notion that human ethics and behavior always progress as time goes on. King also noted ancient periods of history that were characterized by cooperation, little to no war, and relative prosperity. He emphasized that for society to exist in a state of peace, people must engage in collective and well-organized action.

Shaun King has been named by TIME magazine as one of the top 25 most influential people on the Internet. He is CEO of The North Star, co-founder of the Real Justice PAC, columnist for The Intercept, and Writer-in-Residence at Harvard Law School’s Fair Punishment Project.

Thank you to Pikes Peak Community College, Citizens’ Project, Jody Alyn Consulting, Pikes Peak Library District, and Pikes Peak Women for partnering with The Journalism Institute at Colorado College to bring Mr. King to Colorado Springs.

Professor Bañagale ’00 in The Conversation

Professor Ryan Bañagale ’00 (Music) published “Weezer’s Cover Album: Is the Rock Band Honoring or Exploiting the Originals?” in The Conversation this past week. His article begins with commentary on Weezer’s “Teal Album,” which is entirely composed of cover songs and then explores issues of authorship, appropriation, and popularity in music.

Read the full article here.

State of the Rockies Releases Annual Conservation Poll Results

The Colorado College State of the Rockies Project has released its ninth annual Conservation in the West Poll, with results from a total of 3,204 voters from Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming.

Conservation in the West is a bipartisan survey conducted by Republican pollster Lori Weigel of New Bridge Strategy and Democratic pollster Dave Metz of Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin, Metz and Associates. These poll results make clear that Westerners agree on the importance of public lands for community recreation, across political party lines.

The State of the Rockies Project aims to foster public awareness and action regarding socio-environmental challenges in the Rocky Mountain West through collaborative student-faculty research, community education, and public partnership.

Read more about the poll results here.

Block 6 First Mondays – Adrianne Chalepah

Welcome to Block 6! This morning, Kiowa/Apache businesswoman and international artist Adrianne Chalepah delivered the Block 6 First Mondays lecture, “The Rise of Indigenous Women” to a packed Kathryn Mohrman Theatre.

Adrienne Chalepah is an accomplished entertainer, having performed with “49 Laughs Comedy” troupe, as well as for First Lady Michelle Obama (2012). She founded her own troupe, “Ladies of Native Comedy” (2014), and her writing has been published in Funny Girl and #NotYourPrincess: Voices of Native American Women (2017).

Thanks to the Academic Events Committee, the Fine Arts Center, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and the NEH Professorship, for sponsoring Adrianne Chalepah’s lecture. She will be performing to a sold-out Comedy Night tomorrow, Tuesday, Feb. 19, at the Fine Arts Center.

Half Block is Growing at CC

Half Block (9 days in early January before Block 5) offers CC students the opportunity to earn half a course credit, or invest in career development through non-credit courses. This past Half Block, we offered 25 for-credit courses and 21 non-credit courses. With 461 and 282 students registered respectively, 2019 is a record year for half-block enrollment.

Students earned credit in courses such as Brazilian Music and Language, Science and Pseudoscience in Clinical Psychology, and Advanced Head and Neck Anatomy.

Non-credit courses provided students an opportunity to hone their life skills, learn from emerging technologies, and delve into specific industries. Students could develop spreadsheet skills in Excel at Excel, learn graphic design in Design Like a Pro, or learn about podcasting in Radio Production. Below, students practice field scenarios in the NOLS Wilderness First Responder course (left) and learn pitching strategies during The Big Idea Half Block (right).

Several CC alumni taught non-credit courses this year:

• Michelle Chalmers ’89 and Heather Carroll ‘89, Non-Profits and Philanthropy
• Chris Edmonds ’14, Our Careers in Climate
• Board of Trustee member Jerome DeHerrera ’97, Public Policy-Making in the Era of Trump

Other alumni contributors included Lisa Tormoen Hickey ’81, Steve McDougal ’87, Jennifer DeCesaro ’97, Katherine Neebe ’97, Tony Rosendo ’02, Greg Zimmerman ’06, Lucy Kessler ’08, Mat Elmore ’09, Zac Chapman ’13, Holly Moynahan ’15, Ben Criswell ’16, Mary Friedman ’17, and Lana Cohen ’17.

Thanks to everyone who made this half block a tremendous success!

During a half block class Eyner Roman Lopez, Charlotte Wall and Oliver Jones listen to instructions for the best idea pitching strategies. Students participating in the Big Idea competition returned during the Half Block session to take a class at Innovation at CC focused on helping students develop their business plan, pitches and ideas ahead of the competition.