Posted on Nov 3, 1995

Richmond Hall is making a large — and rather weighty — donation to the YWCA of
Schenectady.

The residence hall is donating their Universal Gym — an all-in-one workout center that
had been sitting idle in the basement — to make room for a group study area.

While there are individual study spaces, there has been no place in the hall for
residents to study in larger groups, according to Kathy Walter, head resident assistant of
Richmond.

When the Hall Government consulted the Office of Residence Life to find a space for the
study lounge, the exercise room in the all-female dorm seemed the obvious choice, Walter
said. So, after some brainstorming and calling around, the Richmond residents decided to
remove the gym and donate it to the YWCA.

Elaine Troy, director of health promotion services of the YWCA, said the gym is a
“welcome addition” to the fitness room at the YWCA, which is open to women at
low membership dues and also to the 55 women who live at the Washington Avenue facility.
“We're obviously very interested in health,” Troy says, “and this donation
is most appreciated.”

Posted on Nov 3, 1995

A reappointment review for Prof. Peter Meyers, assistant professor of political
science, is under way. Members of the campus community are invited to submit written
comments on his teaching, research or college service to members of the committee.
Comments may be directed to Byron Nichols, chair.

Posted on Nov 3, 1995

Think of Tajikistan as the youngster away from home for the first time. Gone are
the familial ties that provide security, money, even identity. Somewhat overwhelmed,
perhaps, the youngster embarks on a tenuous process of self-invention.

So it is with Tajikistan, a small mostly mountainous, landlocked country north of
Afghanistan, trying to invent itself in the wake of the dissolution of the Soviet Union
that was its family. Like other former Soviet republics, Tajikistan has had its share of
problems since 1991: a devastating civil war and simmering ethnic and religious tensions,
industry slowed by lack of spare parts, agriculture (primarily cotton) hindered by lack of
fertilizer, a crumbling infrastructure, floods, and political uncertainty.

Also, there is a decided lack of foreign aid and investment. Enter Eshragh Motahar,
assistant professor of economics, who, at the invitation of the government of Tajikistan,
the U.N. Development Programme, and the World Bank this fall, conducted a month of
meetings and seminars with economists and government officials in Dushanbe, the capital of
Tajikistan. Also present were representatives from the United Nations, the U.S. Agency for
International Development, and other international bodies. Many of Motahar's meetings were
held in a large, austere government building, complete with relics of the Soviet era,
including a large altar where a bust of Lenin once stood. Motahar gave his talks in
English with a Russian translator.

“They are somewhat bewildered,” Motahar says of Tajikistan. “They need
to develop their own set of priorities. They're a bit passive in that they expect foreign
aid and investment to just flow in, and they assume it will be all to the good.”

Among his recommendations, Motahar told officials to set priorities and capitalize on
their assets — a good cotton export (10th largest in the world), aluminum processing, and
mining of gold, silver and uranium. He urged that they streamline the bureaucratic legacy
of the Soviet era and establish a single agency, a “one-stop action center,” for
foreign investors.

Motahar also advised caution, pointing out that foreign investment requires a large
investment by the host country, and that multinational corporations have shareholder
interests as their primary goal. In addition, he explained problems associated with
foreign aid. For example, Kenya had help from 18 countries in a large water project, but
very little coordination. The result: a system, using 18 technologies, that was impossible
to maintain.

Tajikistan's process of inventing a nation has been especially fascinating to Motahar,
who intends to incorporate his experience into his international economics course.
“Economics is not a lab science,” he says, “but this is as close as you can
get to experimentation.” Motahar, some of whose research focuses on “economies
in transition,” keeps tabs on the country through his contacts there, via e-mail, and
via Tajikistan's homepage on the Web. (http://www.soros.org/tajkstan.html)

And Motahar says the country of 6 million holds treasures for other social scientists
— anthropologists, political scientists, and sociologists — who are interested in the
emergence of a nation and an independent people.

Posted on Nov 1, 1995

Question 8:

This nineteenth-century alumnus achieved a certain fame-or notoriety – when he wrote a book that contained extensive descriptions of his drug-prompted hallucinations. He also wrote the words to a song every alumnus knows. Who was he, and what were these two literary contributions?

Answer 8:

The alumnus was Fitz Hugh Ludlow of the Class of 1856, and the literary contributions we were looking for were The Hasheesh Eater and “Ode to Old Union.”

Ludlow came to Union in April, 1955, a transfer from Princeton. He had begun taking hashish in his hometown of Poughkeepsie, even before going to Princeton. At Union, the habit was a source of thrilling visions and sensations that gave scope to his literary gift. We know, for example, that on one walk across campus he saw the College field turn into an Asian field thronged with a Tartar horde. One critic called him a “drugged Dante in reverse, descending from the Paradiso to the Inferno.”

He wrote his famous poem, “Ode to Old Union,” when he was an undergraduate. Set to the tune “Sparkling and Bright,” it has been sung at every Commencement since 1856.

The book on which much of his fame rests was published by Harpers in 1857, when he was just past twenty-one. It was to be his one real success. A slender and sensitive man plagued by ill health, he married in 1862 and was divorced a year later. He contacted tuberculosis; continued writing, mostly short stories in Harper's and the Atlantic Monthly as well as some topical and travel articles; remarried; and, in 1870, died at the age of thirty-four.

Correct answers also came from:

• Frederick Frank '57, Meadville, Pa. 
• Bill Allen '59, Saratoga Springs, N.Y. 
• Dr. Gustave Davis '59, Bridgeport, Conn. 
• Joe Zolner '76, Brookline, Mass. 
• Gary Dryfoos '77, Cambridge, Mass. 
• Andrew Nevas '83, Stamford, Conn.

Question 9:

Who were the two nineteenth-century brothers and alumni who were grandsons of a prominent founder of the College? A hint: Both became medical doctors and were professors and authors in their field. (Submitted by Richard A.B. Mitchell `50, of Monticello, N.Y.)

Send your answer to Puzzle, Public Relations Office, Union College, Schenectady, N.Y. 12308.

Posted on Nov 1, 1995

During spring term, while most seniors finished their senior thesis, searched for a job, prepared for graduate school or just enjoyed their last few weeks on campus, class officers Thor Benander, David Levine, and Dawn Schwartz vigorously encouraged all of their classmates to give to the 1995 senior gift drive.

On an almost daily basis, Benander, Levine and Schwartz posted signs in the Reamer Campus Center and left reminder messages on seniors' voice mail and in campus mailboxes. Someone was always sitting at the senior class gift booth in the Campus Center. When, on graduation day, the last gift was counted, the Bicentennial Class had much to celebrate 232 seniors (56% of the class) had contributed $2871.18.

The Class of 1995 voted to link themselves forever with the College's most recognizable landmark, the Nott Memorial: the senior gift was used to help defray the landscaping costs. If you haven't yet seen the finished product, landscaping and all, come to campus soon… it is a sight “Nott” to be missed!