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According to a recent study conducted by Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Penn., Colorado College faculty inspire a relatively large number of students to return to the college classroom - or the research laboratory - with their Ph.D.s in hand.

Colleges awarding doctoral degrees routinely report the "baccalaureate origins" of the persons receiving those degrees.

Franklin & Marshall College, in conjunction with the Higher Education Data Sharing Consortium, groups doctoral recipients by academic discipline, undergraduate institution and time period. In its finalreport, Baccalaureate Origins of Doctoral Recipients, Franklin & Marshall ranks baccalaureate institutions by academic discipline for two time periods, 1920-1995 and 1986-1995.

Between 1986 and 1995, 102,641 doctoral degrees were awarded, according to the study. Of the scholars earning those degrees, 266 had earned their bachelor's degree at Colorado College. Only 28 other private, four-year colleges could boast a larger number of doctorate-earning graduates.

In some disciplines, Colorado College ranked among the top 20.

In earth sciences, for example, 1,898 people were awarded doctoral degrees between 1986 and 1995. Fifty of these Ph.D. recipients listed Carleton College in Minnesota as their baccalaureate origin, making it the top-ranking private four-year college in this discipline. Colorado College, the baccalaureate origin for 15 earth sciences doctoral recipients, ranked 13th.

Colorado College ranked 14th among private, four-year colleges in anthropology and sociology, disciplines which were combined in the report. Nearly 2,500 people earned Ph.D.s in anthropology and sociology between 1986 and 1995; 13 of them had received their undergraduate degree at Colorado College. History, too, welcomed a large proportion of Colorado College alumni into the ivory tower. Thirteen of the nearly 3,000 Ph.D.s awarded in that discipline during 1986-1995 went to Colorado College graduates. As an institution, CC ranked 19th among private, four-year colleges whose graduates earned Ph.D.s in history.

Among the disciplines tracked by Franklin & Marshall, Colorado College ranks highest in political science and international relations.

As an institution, CC ranks 12th in the nation among private, four-year colleges whose graduates earned Ph.D.s in these fields. Twelve of the roughly 1,800 doctoral recipients in political science/international relations earned their undergraduate degrees here.

It's the faculty commitment behind the undergraduate degree that inspires Colorado College students to devote their time and energy to the completion of a doctoral degree, says Eric Kos ‘90. "I think back to CC and the great experience I had in political science, and it's what keeps me in political science still," says Kos, who is working on his doctoral dissertation at the University of Michigan. "The faculty at CC instilled in me the desire to learn and to teach in the liberal arts tradition."

Three sorority houses slated to move in June to the new residential quadrangle across Nevada Avenue will stay put for at least another year as college and city officials iron out development plan details, secure building permits, and map out a relocation route that will not require tree removal.

Phase I of the plan, developing the south block for student activities facilities, remains on schedule, with landscape and sodding work expected to be complete this summer for use in the fall. For this phase of the plan, the college was cited by the Partnership for Community Design and complimented for its willingness to work responsively with its civic neighbors.

Beams will eventually be inserted under the existing Kappa Alpha Theta and Kappa Kappa Gamma houses in order to lift and transport them. Next year, Kappa Alpha Theta will be moved to a site off Nevada north of Lennox House. Kappa Kappa Gamma house will be moved in three sections to a site just south of Lennox House where Yampa Street currently cuts through to Weber. (The plan requires the eventual removal of both blocks of Yampa and San Rafael Streets between Weber and Nevada.) Finally, the present Delta Gamma house will remain on its site as the new Student Cultural Center, and a building currently at 1152 N. Cascade will be moved to the eastern quadrangle to become the new Delta Gamma house.

Two new fraternity lodges are scheduled to open this fall. During May, the old human resources offices along Nevada will be moved to a site at 1010 N. Weber St. as the Phi Gamma Delta lodge. The Sigma Chis will continue to use their present house until late in the fall semester. Construction on a new Sigma Chi lodge will commence this summer at a site off Weber Street near San Rafael, with tentative completion scheduled for the end of fall semester. The existing Sigma Chi house faces eventual demolition. The Kappa Sigma lodge will move to an existing building at 230 E. Yampa, on the corner of Weber.

The building renovations at 230 E. Yampa are part of a "demonstration project," partially funded by the state historical society. The project will develop historical preservation guidelines for several older buildings in the tract. As Dave Lord, the college’s business manager, points out, much of the east campus perimeter has been designated the Wahsatch Historical District and attention will be given to the architectural integrity of existing and new buildings, particularly along Nevada.

One significant change in Greek life for men will be the change from a fraternity house system, in which buildings were member residences, to the lodge system permitting no more than six residents in a lodge. The Greek buildings will become primarily social centers, as the sororities have been since their establishment at Colorado College earlier in the century.

The three-block east campus quads will continue to house the Colorado College Children’s Center, as well as new residences for faculty and the Dean of Men. Eventually all student organizations will be headquartered within the east campus. In effect, these changes will transform the tract into a multi-use, multi-generational community. "The east campus provides a unified community for students, faculty, staff, and children," says Lord. "In many ways, it functions as an inter-generational living and learning center."

In addition, the Donald E. Autrey Playing Field, the first of two projected athletic fields in the area, is ready for spring sodding. These playing fields will comprise common areas for fraternity and sorority lodges. Finally, the San Rafael Apartments are slated for demolition in June, freeing additional space for projected buildings.

"The student organization quadrangle provides a rich mix of student residential, organizational, and recreational activities in a strongly identifiable campus neighborhood," Lord says. "Student groups will now be located in close proximity to each other, allowing opportunities to work together as a community."

On the west side of campus, directly off the Loomis parking lot and sandwiched between two sorority houses sits a somewhat dilapidated, somewhat ugly, very utilitarian red brick building - a typical example of fabulous 50s architecture - that soon will be no more.

The Student Cultural Center, or PACC House, as some call it, has an imminent date with the wrecking ball. Although the name was officially changed to the Student Cultural Center several years ago and the sign on the outside of the building visibly proclaims it as such, many of us - old and new students - still cling to the old name, which stood for Political Action Committee. I guess old labels die hard, especially when they are attached to something as symbolic, as important as this old, red brick building.

To those of us who are minority alumni of CC, and even to many current minority students, the SCC will always be a special place. For hundreds of us, it is inextricably interwoven into the fabric of our memories and, in fact, provides its own unique and dominant pattern: parties, meetings, parties, dinners, parties, hanginí out, parties, strategy sessions, parties, classes and...well, you get the picture. But, it wasnít just the parties; to minority students, this place was our refuge...our living room...our kitchen...our office...our fraternity house...our sorority lodge...our archive...our clubhouse...our own.

I should stop right now to let you know that the college is by no means abandoning the concept of a Student Cultural Center - CC wholeheartedly supports the continuation of the center. It will still exist, but it will also have a new home on the east campus, housed in a two-story Victorian on Yampa Street. It WILL go on...it just wonít be the same, at least not for those of us who "lived" in the old house.

Moving day was bittersweet. We read poetry and drank a toast to our old PACC house and thanked it for being there these many years. This summer we'll begin unpacking in the new PACC House and the Student Cultural Center will begin again. The new house will belong to new students who will begin to build their own experiences and memories.