Column

Column: What Do We Call This Feeling?

Anna Tolette — Mon, 20 Jul 2026 19:15:21 +0000

Column: What Do We Call This Feeling? Anna Tolette Mon, 07/20/2026 - 13:15

Pedro DiNezio

For those of us old enough to remember a different climate, the feeling is one of loss: the summers of childhood, the winters that arrived on time.

For younger people, the feeling may be different, but no less real. It’s closer to dread — a sense, even without personal memories of a better time, that things are accelerating toward the unknown.

I grew up near the coast in Argentina, where people spent all year waiting for summer: the beach, warm nights, relief from winter. Now, many people I know are apprehensive about its arrival. These months increasingly bring long stretches of brutal heat that feel like a warning.

Japan recently gave that feeling a name. In April 2026, Japan’s Meteorological Agency oﬃcially adopted the term “kokushobi” to describe days when temperatures reach 40°C or higher — a threshold now frequent enough to require its own word. The character “koku” carries moral weight in Japanese: harsh, merciless, cruel. It was the first time the agency introduced a new weather term since 2007, when “mōshobi” — “extremely hot day” — was coined for days over 35°C. The fact that the language had to be updated again, within a single generation, says something statistics alone cannot.

In Colorado, this anxiety takes a different shape. It’s not scorching summers so much as uncertain winters — whether there will be enough snow and water to sustain the rhythms of life as we know it. In 2021, a destructive wintertime wildfire in �ֲ��ý County became part of a growing trend of fire activity extending well beyond the summer. That detail — fire in winter — also captures something data doesn’t: the old categories no longer hold.

What we do with our grief — our older generation’s loss, our younger generation’s dread — is the only climate question that matters now. The science is settled. The feeling is not.

Pedro DiNezi is an associate research professor at CU �ֲ��ý’s ATLAS Institute.

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Illustration by Kara Fellows

For those of us old enough to remember a different climate, the feeling is one of loss: the summers of childhood, the winters that arrived on time.

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Summer 2026

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The �ֲ��ý Cruiser Ride

Anna Tolette — Mon, 20 Jul 2026 19:12:04 +0000

The �ֲ��ý Cruiser Ride Anna Tolette Mon, 07/20/2026 - 13:12

Gabriel Shahrouzi

If you find yourself in �ֲ��ý on a Thursday night, just after the sun slips behind the Flatirons, listen closely. The town will start to hum with bells, laughter and music stitched together on two wheels.

This is the �ֲ��ý Cruiser Ride. The Ride began in the 1990s when a handful of �ֲ��ý’s Sports Garage employees started pedaling around after work to see where the night might take them. Somewhere along the way, a rider showed up with blue velvet fur on their bike. Themes and costumes emerged soon thereafter.

This year marks the ride’s 33rd anniversary, and it remains one of �ֲ��ý’s best-kept traditions.

I came into it sideways on a midsummer night in 2008. I’m still here — now as one of its stewards. My role is simple: guide people from point A to point B with my lightsaber and custom music trailer by my side.

Growing up in �ֲ��ý, I was not an archetypal outdoorsy kid, and I was usually the last one picked in gym class. But when I stumbled onto the Ride, I found something: a space where I could belong, contribute and grow into who I am today.

It happened in the details: a tandem bike rolling past a kid on a hand-me-down cruiser; a glowing parade of glow-stick-covered spokes; someone hauling a portable system like cargo. The ride moves like a mobile carnival, winding from Pearl Street toward the outskirts of town.

And then, as if by instinct, the Ride pauses at a park, a parking lot or an open field. A dance floor appears under battery-powered neon lights. People share grilled cheese from bike-mounted grills. Someone jumps on top of a trampoline bike (yes, really). Strangers become neighbors, if only for an hour.

�ֲ��ý has changed a lot since I was a kid. Some of its stranger edges have softened. But the Ride still carries a spark of that old frequency — the one that reminds you that community isn’t something you find, it’s something you make.

And if you ask me, that’s about as close to magic as this town gets.

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Photos courtesy Hernan Cortez

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Editor’s Note Summer 2026

Anna Tolette — Mon, 20 Jul 2026 19:05:09 +0000

Editor’s Note Summer 2026 Anna Tolette Mon, 07/20/2026 - 13:05

Christie Sounart

Last summer when my husband, Levi Henry (Math’12), and I moved our family from Westminster to Lafayette, Colorado, it was apparent we were in Buffs country.

CU flags, license plates, stickers and gear often decorate our neighborhood. University-related chats are common within the community.

While there’s a certain excitement about being in proximity to CU �ֲ��ý, nothing compares to finding other CU links far from here. I’ll never forget the elation I experienced when I walked into an Airbnb in the tiny town of Kinsale, Ireland, and immediately spotted a poster of campus framed on the wall. It launched lively conversation and connection with my Irish hosts.

This issue can start talking points of your own. As we continue celebrating 150 years of CU �ֲ��ý, read about a few of the research innovations shaping our world, along with stories about the dance program, the beloved Hellems Arts and Sciences building, a visual evidence lab and sustainable grocery shopping.

Hopefully, this issue sparks memories from your time on campus — or the CU links you’ve created since you left. I’d love to hear about them!

Christie Henry (Jour’12)

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CU connections around the world.

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Does Free Speech Have Limits?

Anna Tolette — Mon, 09 Mar 2026 21:10:01 +0000

Does Free Speech Have Limits? Anna Tolette Mon, 03/09/2026 - 15:10

Steve Vanderheiden

Should there be limits on speech and expression, and are the limits that we now legally recognize the right ones?

John Stuart Mill’s classic defense of free speech in his 1859 essay “On Liberty” endorses strong but not unlimited protections — but for reasons that many have come to question. Any silencing of what we now call political speech would be socially harmful, he wrote, in that it would deprive us of the opportunity to exchange error for truth. Truth, Mill was convinced, is essential for society to progress, and he thought that it emerged “in collision with error.”

But some speech can be divisive. “Hate speech” refers to highly offensive forms of expression designed to denigrate, divide or incite. Some now call for stricter limits on such speech. To the extent that speech potentially incites violence, Mill allowed for restrictions on the time, manner and place of its utterance, but not its content (a distinction now enshrined in First Amendment law). Mill thought people should be allowed to express ideas that others find offensive, including those that denigrate and divide. Silencing speech that is merely offensive would lead to repression of dissent and stifle diversity of thought, especially as those in power often take offense at challenges to the social order.

Few now believe that truth necessarily emerges from unfettered speech, as Mill thought it would. Too much contemporary speech is designed to misinform and mislead, or to foster animus and resentment. We as a society are less informed, and less civil, from having to hear speech of this kind. But, as Mill warned, when we try to silence this kind of speech, we often miss our target, repressing legitimate expression. Improving our ability to recognize and combat misinformation, while resisting and condemning speech laden with animus or resentment, offers a better solution than restricting its content.

Steve Vanderheiden is a CU �ֲ��ý professor of political science.

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Illustration by Kara Fellows

Should there be limits on speech and expression, and are the limits that we now legally recognize the right ones?

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Spring 2026

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The Partnership that Shaped �ֲ��ý

Anna Tolette — Mon, 09 Mar 2026 21:07:57 +0000

The Partnership that Shaped �ֲ��ý Anna Tolette Mon, 03/09/2026 - 15:07

Thomas Andrews

As a �ֲ��ý-born Fairview High School graduate and one of just a few second-generation faculty members at CU �ֲ��ý, it is nearly impossible for me to imagine either the town or the university in isolation. Looking back at CU’s first 50 years as we approach its sesquicentennial anniversary, however, it’s clear that nothing was inevitable about this marriage.

As �ֲ��ý postmaster and former newspaper owner Amos Bixby put it in 1880, the city’s founders understood that making the fledgling town the university’s home “would bring here the best class of citizens — the intellectual, the cultured, the moral, coming both for the education of their children and for the sake of the society that clusters about prosperous seats of learning.” Realizing this prescient vision, though, took time.

CU remained relatively small, underfunded and isolated through its early decades, though it did provide �ֲ��ý with its first high school, known as the “preparatory department.” Together with agriculture, mining and commercial development, CU also helped to fuel �ֲ��ý’s growth from 3,000 inhabitants in 1880 to more than 6,150 by 1900. By the turn of the century, the university boasted a faculty of 92, a student body of 850, and a full slate of athletic, artistic and social offerings. Perhaps the clearest illustration of CU’s significance to �ֲ��ýites, though, came in 1899. After a deep economic depression caused property values and tax revenues to nosedive statewide, local citizens raised $20,000 to keep CU afloat.

CU had already become �ֲ��ý’s main claim to fame. It also fueled development near its growing campus, particularly after the founding of the Texas-Colorado Chautauqua in 1898. �ֲ��ý’s first streetcar line connected town and gown. By 1905, enough people had moved to the area west of Broadway to support the construction of University Hill school for 1st through 8th grades; and by the 1920s, The Hill was assuming familiar form as a hub of student-centered businesses. �ֲ��ý and the university had grown together to such an extent that 50 years after CU’s founding, it was no longer possible to imagine the one without the other — much as it is today.

Thomas Andrews is director of CU �ֲ��ý’s Center of the American West and professor of history.

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Photo courtesy CU Heritage Center

How CU �ֲ��ý's early beginnings shaped the city of �ֲ��ý.

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Happy 150th CU �ֲ��ý

Anna Tolette — Mon, 09 Mar 2026 21:00:31 +0000

Happy 150th CU �ֲ��ý Anna Tolette Mon, 03/09/2026 - 15:00 Maria Kuntz

In 1882, CU �ֲ��ý graduated its first six alumni in a small ceremony at Old Main — a lone building on the vast prairie lands of eastern �ֲ��ý County. Today, you are among the 320,000 “cherished sons and daughters,” as President George Norlin would call the 1935 graduates, along with all future generations of Buffs.

Norlin also said, “The university consists of all who come into and go forth from her halls, who are touched by her influence and who carry on her spirit. Wherever you go, the university goes with you. Wherever you are at work, there is the university at work.”

Forever Buffs, you are the university. Your accomplishments, your deeds, your community impact — that’s you and the university at work in the world.

To celebrate CU �ֲ��ý’s 150th anniversary, each Coloradan this year is designed to be a collector’s edition, starting with this volume, highlighting a handful of spectacular Buffs who’ve impacted the university and the world since 1876.

While we can’t feature everyone here, we encourage you to send us the names of outstanding Buffs we can feature online, in Class Notes or at events this year.

As for the rest of the issue, we’re covering cyborg jellyfish, Olympians, free speech and state-wide economic impact. Enjoy reading about the limitless reach of Forever Buffs like you.

Happy 150th anniversary, CU �ֲ��ý!

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To celebrate CU �ֲ��ý’s 150th anniversary, each Coloradan this year is designed to be a collector’s edition, starting with this volume, dedicated to a handful of spectacular Buffs who’ve impacted the university and the world since 1876.

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Stopping Violence Before It Starts

Anna Tolette — Mon, 10 Nov 2025 18:11:21 +0000

Stopping Violence Before It Starts Anna Tolette Mon, 11/10/2025 - 11:11

Beverly Kingston

We live in a society where youth violence is often viewed as inevitable. It’s not.

Most people don’t realize that we have decades of research and on-the-ground experience that demonstrates youth violence can be prevented.

Youth violence shows up in many forms — from bullying and fighting to gun violence and mass shootings. And while violent events that appear in the headlines may seem sudden, their roots are embedded in trauma, disconnection, inequality and lack of opportunity. These aren’t “youth issues.” They are reflections of our adult decisions and societal priorities.

Young people exposed to violence often face lifelong consequences, including higher rates of anxiety, depression, substance use and chronic health issues. Communities suffer, too. Violence undermines economic stability, widens inequities, and erodes trust. In the United States, youth violence costs an estimated $122 billion each year.

Effective violence prevention begins early and continues through childhood and adolescence. It builds strong local systems that reduce risk and strengthen support. These systems use evidence-based programs tailored to each community’s needs, fill resource gaps, and reinforce what’s already working on the ground.

At CU �ֲ��ý’s Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence, we’ve partnered with schools and communities across Colorado and beyond to build prevention systems that work. In one recent effort in Denver, we saw a 75% reduction in youth arrests for violent crime using a science-backed, community-led approach.

Yet most funding goes to policing and incarceration, instead of investing in proven prevention strategies that can stop violence before it happens.

We need public understanding. We need political will. And we need to stop asking whether youth violence can be prevented - and start asking why we’re not doing more to prevent it.

The solutions are here. The question is whether we’ll use them.

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Illustration by Kara Fellows

Research shows youth violence is preventable through early, evidence-based interventions, but lasting change requires shifting resources to proven prevention strategies.

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Fall 2025

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The Hill in �ֲ��ý, Reimagined

Anna Tolette — Mon, 10 Nov 2025 18:09:14 +0000

The Hill in �ֲ��ý, Reimagined Anna Tolette Mon, 11/10/2025 - 11:09

The newly opened Limelight and Moxy hotels.

Aimee Heckel

Limelight Hotel

�ֲ��ý has been the backdrop of nearly every milestone in my daughter Betty Anne’s life. She was born at �ֲ��ý Community Hospital and raised on Pearl Street Mall; her dad pushed her up and down its brick paths while I juggled deadlines at the Daily Camera. As she grew, I taught her she was beautiful like the Flatirons — wild, magical, enduring. Now a high school sophomore, Betty dreams of going to CU �ֲ��ý, ready to trade her first steps as a toddler downtown for her first steps into adulthood on The Hill.

And as fate would have it, The Hill seems to be growing up alongside her. Two new hotels — the spirited Moxy and the freshly opened Limelight — are reimagining the neighborhood, not just as a late-night student hub, but as a destination for families, visitors and locals alike.

The Moxy �ֲ��ý, which opened May 2024 at 1247 Pleasant St., greets guests with cocktails at check-in and offers social spaces alive with music, trivia and the buzz of CU energy. It’s as bold and welcoming as �ֲ��ý itself, with cozy rooms that encourage guests to drop their bags and leave to explore the city and nature. Michael DiMaria, operating partner, said the Moxy was designed to be “the living room” of The Hill neighborhood.

Moxy �ֲ��ý

The Limelight Hotel and Conference Center, which opened its doors at 1295 University Ave. this August, brings one of the state’s largest ballrooms, flexible gathering spaces and unobstructed views of the Flatirons. Even more fitting for its location: CU professor Wil Srubar’s company, Prometheus Materials, provided sustainable cement for its construction.

Together, the Moxy and Limelight are helping revitalize The Hill year-round, giving surrounding businesses a boost even in the summer months when students scatter.

“This really helps reshape The Hill as a destination and a launching point, a focal point in addition to Pearl Street,” said Joe Steiskel, property general manager.

For alumni returning after decades, these hotels offer something new: a welcoming home base just steps from campus.

For me, they offer the possibility that my sweet Betty’s next milestones — move-in day, graduation, maybe even a wedding — might continue to be celebrated right here with the wild and magical Flatirons.

Growth can feel strange, but as �ֲ��ý teaches, strange can be beautiful, too.

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Photo courtesy Aspen Hospitality (Limelight photos) Courtsey of Moxy �ֲ��ý (Moxy)

Two new hotels are transforming �ֲ��ý’s historic Hill neighborhood into a destination for families, visitors and locals.

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Fall 2025

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A fresh look for the Coloradan

Anna Tolette — Mon, 10 Nov 2025 18:02:31 +0000

A fresh look for the Coloradan Anna Tolette Mon, 11/10/2025 - 11:02 Maria Kuntz

Six years ago, then Coloradan editor Eric Gershon wrote: “Words matter — and for magazines, so do looks.” I couldn’t agree more.

Over the past year, our team partnered with Pentagram’s Austin, Texas, branch to reimagine the visual landscape of the Coloradan, one of the university’s oldest traditions.

Our goal was a fresh, modern look: lighter spreads, cleaner styling, simplified color palettes and bold photography that captures CU �ֲ��ý’s spirit. We refined fonts, sizes and spacing to make our signature “slim jim” format more accessible and engaging. (Fun fact: The magazine’s unique size originated as a cost-saving measure for postage and has since become iconic.)

Today, its shape, weight and sustainably sourced paper help ensure every alum can receive a copy.

Inside, you’ll see updated sections alongside the same great storytelling. Sports is now Rundown. Elevated highlights a campus story through visuals and data. Fieldwork dives into faculty and leadership insights. And new features — Buff Built, Point of View and Waypoint — showcase Buff innovations, faculty perspectives in an op-ed format and CU’s statewide impact.

We hope you enjoy the new look and, as always, we welcome your feedback.

Maria Kuntz

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The Coloradan has undergone a modern redesign with refreshed visuals, updated sections and new features.

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Fall 2025

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Ode to �ֲ��ý's World Famous Dark Horse

Anna Tolette — Mon, 10 Mar 2025 20:10:54 +0000

Ode to �ֲ��ý's World Famous Dark Horse Anna Tolette Mon, 03/10/2025 - 14:10

Anna Tolette

Push through the doors of �ֲ��ý’s Dark Horse, and you’ll find yourself in a veritable labyrinth, crammed to the gills with old movie props and memorabilia from the past century — anything from a grammar school diploma from Bangor, Maine, to a mod-podge collage of magazine cut-outs. Located on the corner of Baseline Road and U.S. Highway 36, this longtime favorite townie bar and grill has been a stalwart go-to for both community members and CU �ֲ��ý students since 1975 — but it also holds a special place in my heart.

On weeknights, my friends and I often pack into an oversized corner booth to cash in on amazing happy hour deals (half-off wells!). “The usual” for my partner, Omar, and I means we’re splitting a burger and an order of the spicy dry-rub wings with blue cheese and a side of hot sauce. Over the five years we have called �ֲ��ý home, this ritual has become an anchor of mine. Many an evening has been spent in various nooks and crannies of the bar discussing our next grand adventure, celebrating birthdays and milestones and partaking in what we affectionately call “horsing around.” A quick text to our friend group chat simply asking, “Horse?” rallies the troops in record time.

In early 2024, developers announced plans to reimagine the parcel of land where the Dark Horse has lived for more than five decades. Construction is slated to begin in 2026. According to the Denver Post, the proposed development, dubbed “Williams Village II,” would include 610 housing units, mostly dedicated to off-campus student housing and commercial space.

Long-time fans of the Dark Horse showed up in droves to the City of �ֲ��ý planning board meeting last March to express dismay about the proposal, citing their love for the quirky space and sharing concerns about how the plan would contribute to a lack of affordable housing in the �ֲ��ý area, among others.

The thought of losing the Dark Horse is unfathomable to me. The developers have promised to relocate the iconic bar nearby, but the sticky counters and years of names etched into the booths lend the bar its charm.

For now, my friends and I have taken it upon ourselves to plaster the town with “Save the Dark Horse” stickers.

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Photos courtesy �ֲ��ý�ֲ��ý.com and Anna Tolette

The Dark Horse bar faces an uncertain future as redevelopment plans are formed.

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Column

Column: What Do We Call This Feeling?

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The �ֲ���ý Cruiser Ride

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Editor’s Note Summer 2026

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Does Free Speech Have Limits?

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The Partnership that Shaped �ֲ���ý

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Happy 150th CU �ֲ���ý

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Stopping Violence Before It Starts

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The Hill in �ֲ���ý, Reimagined

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A fresh look for the Coloradan

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Ode to �ֲ���ý's World Famous Dark Horse

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The �ֲ��ý Cruiser Ride

The Partnership that Shaped �ֲ��ý

Happy 150th CU �ֲ��ý

The Hill in �ֲ��ý, Reimagined

Ode to �ֲ��ý's World Famous Dark Horse