Yes, I googled it, and didn’t get a conclusive answer.
Yes, they are. Colgate (of the toothpaste) donated to the school, hence the name. I have this from a Colgate alumnus, who wore a T-shirt with Mayan glyphs (from a Colgate expedition to Central America) that included a toothpaste tube.
Extra bonus: The Administration building at Colgate, he told me, was the inspiration for the Addams family house. It’s an old house with the characteristic mansard roof. Apparently Addams went there. (Apparently there are other possible inspirations for that mansion, but Addams DID attend Colgate, so it’s hard to think it didn’t influence him Charles Addams - Wikipedia )
For future reference, I googled “Colgate University”, went to the wikipedia page, read the first paragraph that said " It is named for the Colgate family who greatly contributed to the university’s endowment", clicked on “Colgate” to go to William Colgate’s page, where it shows that he created the Colgate soap company.
If I’d gone with the first google result, Colgate University’s website, and clicked on “About Colgate” at the top of the page, and gone to the “Past Present and Future” link, where it states:
some of the buildings on campus are:
Total Advanced Whitening Student Union
Optic White Science Hall
Max Fresh Arts Building
Sensitive Residence Hall
the biomass Triple Action Heating Plant
[Dr. Dre]
Before you kiss her use COLGATE!
[/Dr. Dre]
All the exams are orals.
Here’s one I’ve never been able to substantiate (but I’d love it if it were true): Collegiate football booster squads have been known in the past (and possibly still are) to reserve a block of seats in the stadium, and fill them with members holding huge pieces of cardboard (usually dark on one side and light on the other). In a bit of elaborately staged choreography, the people would hold up their cards over their heads, showing light or dark shade, depending on where the member was sitting, so that people on the other side of the stadium would see a spirited message, such as the name of the booster squad’s team, or school.
So, in the story I heard, Colgate University had a game scheduled against a rival university, where, whatever opinion you wanted to hold about their football team, had a truly excellent math department. So, some genius prankster broke into the offices of the Colgate Booster squad, found the document with the seating assignments, and switched in one of his own design.
Come Game Day, it was time for the Colgate Boosters to display the word “COLGATE” to their rivals across the gridiron. Thanks to the genius saboteur, however, what they displayed was “PEPSODENT”.
Doubt it.
Googling “COLGATE UNIVERSITY PEPSODENT FOOTBALL” gives no relevant hits with this thread being the number one hit (perhaps this has something to do with my own browsing history).
This is probably a local urban legend somehow corrupted from the legendary Cal Tech prank at the Rose Bowl.
Wow! I had no idea there was that much history behind the Addams Family. I thought it was just a 1960s TV show…