News — Many people cringe when Friday the 13th rolls around. At Colgate University, it's cause for celebration.
To kick-off Colgate Day, celebrated every Friday the 13th, Colgate University President Rebecca Chopp along with 13 alumni will ring the opening bell of the New York Stock Exchange in New York City at 9:30 am, Friday June 13.
Colgate fever will certainly sweep the globe, as alumni wear Colgate garb to work, to the park, or to grab a slice. Out in cyberspace, alumni will post photos of their own celebration on the university's Facebook page.
Colgate has a strong connection with the number 13.
In 1817, 13 men — six clergy and seven laymen — met in the frontier settlement of Hamilton with "13 dollars, 13 prayers, and 13 articles." During that meeting, the men founded the Baptist Education Society of the State of New York, the cornerstone for what would become Colgate.
But the relationship with the number doesn't stop there.
There's the university's address, 13 Oak Drive.
And Colgate's zip code, 13346. The first two numbers, standing alone, are the number 13, and the sum of the remaining three totals 13.
Even the university's motto has a connection with 13. There are — no surprise here — 13 letters in "Deo ac Veritati," a Latin phrase meaning "for God and for truth."
By celebrating Colgate on Friday the 13th and scoffing at triskaidekaphobia, the university community is enjoined to not be superstitious.
Founded in 1819, Colgate University is a highly selective, residential, liberal arts college serving nearly 2,800 undergraduates with diverse backgrounds, interests, and talents. Colgate is situated on a rolling 515-acre campus in central New York State.
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