Academics | Picker Art Gallery, Dana Arts Center, 2nd floor
A Thought Is A Thread: Contemporary Artists Reworking Textile TraditionsMetaphors using the language of textiles are part of everyday idiomatic English: we follow threads on social media; storytellers weave tales or spin fantastic yarns; friend groups might be close-knit and and we might tie ourselves in knots trying to navigate complex situations. The history of textiles is intimately tied to the development of human societies. Weaving is at the same time one of the earliest human technological advancements, the foundation upon which modern industrial nations were built, and the basis for the computing revolution.A Thought Is A Thread brings together works by leading artists who investigate what textiles can still reveal about people and their relationships to each other, to themselves, and to language, land, and the future. Artworks by Faig Ahmed, Sanford Biggers, Diedrick Brackens, Melissa Cody, Suzanne Husky, Joy Ray, and Jordan Nassar present intertwining narratives that both cherish and complicate the web of meanings that emerge when traditional textile arts are given contemporary expression.Debuting at our opening, Picker Art Gallery welcomes members of the Colgate community to partake in Yarnival, a collaborative art experience. Yarnival will be on view and available for participation during the exhibition run of A Thought is a Thread, through May 18, 2025, in the upper atrium of the Dana Arts Center. Please stay tuned to our social media channels and website for more details on how to participate.A Thought Is A Thread is partially supported by funding from The Friends of Picker Art Gallery.

Academics | Lawrence Hall, The Robert Ho Lecture Room,105
Professors Ramakrishnan and Sklyar will discuss a contextualized approach to language learning informed by the interconnectedness of language, literature/texts, and culture. Such a contextualized approach allows for flexibility in the foci and depth of student and faculty engagement, as cultures evolve and hybridize over time and with the movement of people. This is part of a larger Roundtable Discussion held at the AATF Conference in San Diego, in July 2024 with students Kaitlin Maratea, '25, and Lucy Brewer, '26. Mahadevi Ramakrishnan, Senior Lecturer in French, Department of Romance Languages and Literatures Aleksandr Sklyar, Senior Lecturer in University Studies. Refreshments provided. All are welcome.

Academics | Little Hall, Golden Auditorium
Please join us to engage with Jonathan Turley on the subject of free speech at a time when it is under attack both in the United States and abroad. How can free speech survive a global movement to criminalize speech, particularly in the West? What is the meaning and the future of free speech in higher education? Turley has been at the forefront of the effort to restore free speech as a human right.The Center for Freedom and Western Civilization welcomes Jonathan Turley, J.B. and Maurice C. Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University Law School, for a lecture and discussion on “Free Speech in an Age of Rage.” Register via Zoom to join the event virtually.Professor Jonathan Turley is a nationally recognized legal scholar who has written extensively in areas ranging from constitutional law to legal theory to tort law. He has written over three dozen academic articles that have appeared in a variety of leading law journals at Cornell, Duke, Georgetown, Harvard, Northwestern, University of Chicago, and other schools.He is the author of the best-selling and award-winning book, The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage (Simon & Schuster 2024). After a stint at Tulane Law School, Professor Turley joined the George Washington faculty in 1990 and, in 1998, was given the prestigious Shapiro Chair for Public Interest Law, the youngest chaired professor in the school’s history. In addition to his extensive publications, Professor Turley has served as counsel in some of the most notable cases in the last two decades, including the representation of whistleblowers, military personnel, former cabinet members, judges, members of Congress, and a wide range of other clients. He is also one of the few attorneys to successfully challenge both a federal and a state law.In 2010, Professor Turley represented Judge G. Thomas Porteous in his impeachment trial. The trial before all 100 U.S. Senators was only the 14th time in the history of the country that such a trial of a judge has reached the Senate floor. In November 2014, Turley served as lead counsel to the United States House of Representatives in its successful constitutional challenge to changes ordered by President Obama to the Affordable Care Act. He has also represented four former attorneys general and high-ranking members of all three branches of government. He has also served as lead counsel in some of the most famous espionage and national security cases in the last two decades, including the Area 51 litigation and the Daniel King espionage case. He was also lead counsel in the World Bank protest case, leading to the largest settlement in history for the one-day arrests of journalists and observers. Professor Turley testified over 100 times before the House and Senate on constitutional and statutory issues, including the Senate confirmation hearings of cabinet members and jurists like Justice Neil Gorsuch.He appeared as an expert witness in both the impeachment hearings of President Bill Clinton and Donald Trump. He also testified in the hearing on the basis for a Biden impeachment. In the Trump impeachment, he was the only witness called by the Republicans. In the hearing, Professor Turley opposed the proposed articles of impeachments on bribery, extortion, campaign finance violations or obstruction of justice as legally flawed. The committee ultimately rejected those articles and adopted the only two articles that Professor Turley said could be legitimately advanced: abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. However, Turley opposed impeachment on this record as incomplete and insufficient for submission to the Senate. Professor Turley’s scholarship was cited by both the House Managers and the White House counsel in their Senate trial, including the showing of videotaped remarks on the interpretation of the constitutional standard. In 2024, the Washingtonian featured Professor Turley as one of the most influential persons in public policy in its annual review.He is also a nationally recognized legal commentator. Professor Turley was ranked 38th in the top 100 most cited “public intellectuals” (and second most cited law professor) in the study by Judge Richard Posner. He has been repeatedly ranked in the nation’s top 500 lawyers in annual surveys. In prior years, he was ranked as one of the nation’s top ten lawyers in military law cases. He has been ranked among the world’s top lawyers and legal experts on various international surveys, as well as one of the 100 best-known law professors in history.Professor Turley was called the “dean of legal analysts” by the Washington Post who has worked for various networks and newspapers for over three decades. He is currently the legal analyst for Fox News. He has previously worked as a legal analyst for NBC, CBS, BBC, and Fox News. He is also a columnist for USA Today, The Hill, and other national newspapers. Professor Turley’s columns on legal and policy issues appear regularly in national publications with hundreds of articles in such newspapers as the New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today, Los Angeles Times and Wall Street Journal. His award-winning blog is routinely ranked among the most popular legal blogs. His blog has received various awards and, in 2013, the ABA Journal inducted the Turley Blog (Res Ipsa) into its Hall of Fame. Professor Turley has also received various free speech and columnist awards.Professor Turley received his B.A. at the University of Chicago and his J.D. at Northwestern. In 2008, he was given an honorary Doctorate of Law from John Marshall Law School for his contributions to civil liberties and the public interest.

Academics | Persson Hall, 27
Join Michael Fitzgerald, the Gretchen Hoadley Burke '81 Chair in Regional Studies in the Department of Economics, for a panel discussion on the local, state, and regional perspective on Poverty, By America. Panelists include Rajni Chawla, Executive Deputy Commissioner of the Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance (OTDA), Paul Brady, Executive Director of New York Public Welfare Association (NYPWA), and Daniel Auwarter, Social Services Commissioner for Chenango County.Prior to being appointed to her current position, Chawla served as the First Deputy Commissioner at OTDA and as Deputy Commissioner of Audit and Quality Improvement. Before joining OTDA, Chawla served as Director of Internal Audit at the Office of Information Technology Services which is responsible for providing statewide IT strategic direction, directing IT policy, and delivering centralized IT products and services that support the mission of the state. She also worked as the Director of Internal Audit at the New York State Department of Labor. Prior to joining state service, she worked for the private sector in numerous capacities.Chawla received her Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of Commerce from the DAVY University, India. She is also a Certified Public Accountant, Certified Internal Auditor, and Certified Information Systems Auditor.Brady is Executive Director of the New York Public Welfare Association, which was founded in 1869. It is the oldest public welfare association in the United States. Its role is to independently represent New York's 58 local social services districts.The Association fulfills a key public role while presenting a variety of different opportunities for the exchange of ideas, development of new initiatives, and refinement of existing programs and services. The NYPWA is an active partner with government agencies, associations, and community organizations.The association provides information, policy analysis, and technical assistance to federal, state, and local policymakers and direct support to districts.Auwarter is the Commissioner of the Chenango County Department of Social Services. The agency’s mission is to ensure the provision of financial, medical, family and children’s services necessary to assist eligible residents of Chenango County towards enhancing family functioning and to reduce or eliminate dependency. Prior to his current role, Daniel was Director of the Chenango Crime Victims Program/Child Advocacy Center, providing services to victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, and child abuse and served on the NYS Office of Victim Services Advisory Board. Daniel was also the program supervisor for a group home serving children with PINS/JD adjudication. He has served on several boards and committees including the Chenango County Youth Bureau Advisory Board, Chenango Housing Council, Christopher Community Inc., Chenango United Way, Brookfield Central School Board of Education, UHS Chenango Memorial Hospital Crisis Response Team, Rogers Environmental Education Center, Chenango-Delaware-Otsego Workforce Investment Board, Hospice and Palliative Care of Chenango County, and the CHENTAC Threat Assessment Management Team.This event is sponsored by The Upstate Institute in collaboration with the Department of Economics.

Academics | Little Hall, 105 (Golden Auditorium)
Melanie Gilligan's Popular Unrest is a multi-episode drama set in a future much like the present. Here, however, all exchange transactions and social interactions are overseen by a system called ‘the Spirit’. A rash of unexplained killings has broken out across the globe. They often take place in public but witnesses never see an assailant. Just as mysteriously, groups of unrelated people are suddenly coming together everywhere, amassing new members rapidly. Unaccountably, they feel a deep and persistent sense of connection to one another.Filmmaker Melanie Gilligan will join us for Q&A.Co-sponsored by the Art Department

Academics | Ho Tung Visualization Lab, 401 Ho Science Center
Vast. Wild. Magical. The Arctic is not just one of the planet’s greatest natural spectacles, it’s a place with global ecological importance that has supported Indigenous communities and diverse ecosystems for generations.Narrated by Indigenous film producer Princess Daazhraii Johnson (Neet'saii Gwich'in) with National Geographic photographer Florian Schulz, The Arctic: Our Last Great Wilderness roams the 19.6 million acres of what is currently known as the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.Follow the elusive 200,000-strong Porcupine caribou herd as it migrates to the Arctic Coastal Plain, one of the longest animal migrations on Earth. Meet the polar bears, musk oxen, wolves, golden eagles, and people who call this area home. Experience the adventure of The Arctic, and learn why this remarkable land deserves our protection.