Established in 2016, the Hancock Commons community’s values of community, legacy, social justice, personal development, inclusivity, and curiosity are embodied in their mascot, the black bear.
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About Hancock Commons
Mascot: Black bear
Co-Director
Co-Director
- M 10:00am - 12:00pm (211 Bryan Hall)
- W 12:15pm - 1:15pm (Lili Frank Room, Frank Dining Hall)
- W 4:00pm - 5:00pm (211 Bryan Hall)
Area Director, Residential Life
Administrative Dean
Residential Fellow
Commons Program Director
About the Namesake
Gordon Blaine Hancock was a graduate of the Class of 1919, Colgate seminary 1920, and received a Colgate honorary degree in 1969. He also received an AM in Sociology from Harvard.
Hancock went on to be a sociology professor at Virginia Union University, where he is credited with teaching the first-ever academic course on race relations in 1922, and where he organized VUU’s School of Race Relations in 1931. He was also pastor of Moore Street Baptist Church in Richmond, and a leading spokesman for African-American equality in the generation before the civil rights movement.
In other endeavors, Hancock authored a long-running syndicated newspaper column, “Between the Lines,” which appeared in 114 newspapers, and was co-founder of the Southern Regional Council, a lauded 1940's civil rights organization.
As an alumnus, Hancock vocally pushed Colgate to return to accepting African-American students during the years when President Cutten did not accept any.
The Hancock Commons Crest
Large parallel bars, centered in the crest, symbolize Gordon Blaine Hancock’s lifelong commitment to equality and civil rights. Steps that ascend to the top of the crest represent his unrelenting climb to educate himself and to improve humanity.