Everyone who works on a college campus finds that the rhythms of the summer are very different from the rest of the year. With students gone and with faculty working on their research, the campus is indeed quiet. For those of us in residence, though, summer provides the perfect opportunity for developing long-range, strategic plans for the institution.
Summer also provides an opportunity to do other things of import. For six days following our festive Bicentennial ReUnion, I traveled to Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria and Wroclaw, Poland to set up new exchange programs with the American University in Bulgaria and The Technical University of Wroclaw.
Both programs should provide magnificent opportunities for our students to be exposed to other peoples and cultures. Aside from the obvious benefits of living in another country, the exchanges will give Union students the chance to see democracy in its early stages at work. Although the programs will not appeal to everyone, they will give the right Union students a truly wonderful experience.
In Blagoevgrad, for instance, students will be studying in a university housed in former Communist Party headquarters, and they will be residing in one of the country retreats of the former dictator of Bulgaria. Situated less than ten kilometers from the Macedonian border, Blagoevgrad also offers a great jumping-off point for those wanting to examine the roots of Western civilization.
Wroclaw will present students with a very different opportunity. Formerly Breslau, Germany, Wroclaw is a splendid city that has been completely restored. Situated in western Poland, Wroclaw was ceded to Poland by Germany at the end of World War II. In addition to providing Union students with a beautiful and historic setting in which to learn, it will give them also an opportunity to delve into twentieth-century history firsthand.
Four weeks later, I traveled again, this time to Wyoming for six picture-perfect days. No exchange programs, just great Union friends-and wonderful fishing and hiking! Among the joys of this job is the opportunity to meet interesting people. When they are
also interested in Union, our visits are all the more enjoyable for me. In the case of the Wolds John '38 and Jane-and Sy Thickman '44, Union has wonderful friends.
The Wolds, who have established a chair in geology, are among Union's most supportive friends. Each year since I have been at Union, we have managed to get together, sometimes to ski, but mostly to fly-fish. John, a great fly fisherman, and I were able to walk down to Outlaw Cave, the reputed hideout of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and to fish the waters of the middle fork of the Powder River. Yet it was on his Hole in the Wall Ranch, where the Powder River flows, that we had our greatest success.
Success for a fly fisherman is for many measured by the number of fish and by others by the size of those fish. Although we did pretty well on both scores, real success is simply being in great country with wonderful people.
Following those productive days on the Powder River, Sy Thickman picked me up to “go for a walk in the park”-Grand Teton National Park. Having read about the Schenectady to New York City canoe trip last fall, Sy wrote to say that he had a great adventure in Wyoming if I wanted to take him up on it. Never being one to turn down an offer like that, I quickly accepted. The walk, scheduled to be a twenty-mile hike that went from 7,000 to 13,000 feet, was altered somewhat by the fact that a three-mile stretch of the Consolation Loop was still under deep snowpack. Instead, therefore, we simply went for a fifteen-mile stroll in the park.
Along the way, we encountered, among other things, half a dozen moose. Since Newt Gingrich had raised some eyebrows by saying that the reason he went to New Hampshire during the weekend that President Clinton was there to see a moose, we couldn't help remarking on the fact that the Speaker should have gone west to Wyoming, rather than north to New Hampshire. Besides, Wyoming also has a primary, although not the first in the nation.
Sy, who has made a major commitment to Union for an endowed scholarship, and John and Jane Wold certainly refute the argument that those who are not located close to the College lose interest in it. Last I looked, Casper and Sheridan, Wyoming were more than a stone's throw from Schenectady. Yet, the Wolds and Sy Thickman are great supporters of Union in every sense of the word.
Exchange programs in Eastern Europe, and fishing and hiking in Wyoming are hardly everyday occurrences. For me, though, the change of pace of summer in Schenectady gives us a chance to do much-needed planning-and me an opportunity to set up important programs and see good friends.
ROGER H. HULL