Posted on Jan 23, 1998

It's a big week for the College's chapter of Big Brothers and
Big Sisters.

On Thursday, Jan. 22, senior Ruthie Strosberg and junior Beth
Wierzbieniec will accompany 20 “littles” to a performance of the skating show,
“Beauty and the Beast” at the Pepsi Arena in Albany. The group is to be featured
– skating on the ice with the performers before showtime – in a segment with
WNYT's Chris Kapostasy. The segment is expected to air in several weeks, said
Stephanie Wolos, who directs the College's chapter.

On Friday, Jan. 23, Wierzbieniec, sophomore Roger McShane and Leif
Roberg '97 (a current MAT student) are to accompany 10 unmatched local children to
the Meadowlands for a basketball game between the Chicago Bulls and New Jersey Nets. The
brainchild of the event was Vincent Lopez '97, a “big” for three years, who
works for Anderson Consulting in New York City.

Posted on Jan 23, 1998

Schaffer Library will be closed during spring break — March 21
through 29 — to move library operations from the soon-to-be-renovated 1961 building
to the new wing, said Thomas McFadden, director.

Special collections and periodicals will be moved beginning in
mid-February.

“We are now looking, tentatively, to move Special Collections and
the Schaffer Library basement (bound periodicals, microforms, maps) into the new building
in about mid- February,” McFadden said in a memo to the College community. “All
materials currently in the old basement will be accessible immediately following the
shift.”

Special Collections will be closed from Jan. 19 through Feb. 24 to allow
time for packing, relocation and unpacking.

The Circulation/Reserve Department will be in touch with faculty soon
about the scheduling of reserves requests and the return of books during the second move,
McFadden said.

“As always, we will make every effort to minimize the negative
impact of these dislocations on Union College faculty, staff and students.”

Posted on Jan 23, 1998

Francis Federighi, professor emeritus of computer science and electrical
engineering, died Dec. 15 at Ellis Hospital after a brief illness. He was 66.

He joined the faculty in 1982 as the College's first full professor
of computer science, and retired 10 years later.

Previously, he had been a physicist at Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory,
and an associate professor of physics at the University at Albany. He was a guest
scientist at the Swiss Federal Institute for Reactor Research in Wuerenlingen.

He held a bachelor's degree from Oberlin College, and master's
and Ph.D. degrees (all in physics) from Harvard University.

He was a member of the College's Standing of Students Committee.
Among his many publications, he co-authored a text on VAX Assembly Language.

“By his teaching, advising of graduate students, and service on
college-wide committees, he has contributed significantly to the life of the department
and the College,” said colleague David Hannay at Federighi's retirement in 1992.

Survivors include his wife, Renie; and daughter, Carol.

Posted on Jan 23, 1998

“Cubans from Castro on down are hopeful that the Pope's visit
will be an entree to lifting the blockade,” according to Teresa Meade, professor of
history, who visited the island nation last November as citizens were gearing up for the
papal visit.

Everyone there is saying, “If the Pope can visit, why can't
everyone else?”

“Many of the people in Cuba say they are not religious or
don't know much about Catholicism,” Meade says. “But there are a lot of
expectations. The Pope has spoken out against political blockades and this is the only
place they exist; even Iraq can get pharmaceuticals. Many Cubans think the Pope's
visit will embarrass the U.S. into lifting the blockade.”

Among items the Cubans desperately need, said Meade, are
pharmaceuticals, gasoline (about 90 percent of petroleum came from the now-defunct
U.S.S.R.), chemicals, heavy construction equipment, industrial goods and automobiles.

Cubans have been eagerly awaiting Pope John Paul II for months, Meade
said. As early as last November, when Meade visited Cuba with Pilar Moyano, modern
languages and Patricia Acerbi '98 for a conference on women's studies, posters
celebrating the Pope's arrival were appearing in the streets.

Lesbians and gays in Cuba are hopeful that the papal visit may improve
human rights conditions, even though “this Pope has not been especially interested in
gay and lesbian rights,” Meade says.

Meade points out that Cuban Catholicism is not the same version as the
one in Rome, since it is heavily influenced by Santeria and other African and Latin
American religions. Also, Cubans have long had free access to birth control and abortion,
with the average Cuban woman having two abortions during her life, according to Meade.
“That part of the Pope's message will go unheard,” she noted.

Meade, Moyano and Acerbi were to have been discussants (with Byron
Nichols as moderator) in a program titled “Cuba Past and Present: What Difference
Will the Pope Make?” on Thursday, Jan. 22, at 7 p.m. in Strauss Lounge.

Posted on Jan 23, 1998

Friday, Jan. 23, 4:30 p.m., Social Sciences 112. Rekopantswe Mate
of the University of Zimbabwe will speak on “Women and Cultural Development in
Zimbabwe.” Sponsored by Women's Studies.

Friday, Jan. 23, through Monday, Jan. 26, 8 and 10 p.m., Reamer
Campus Center Auditorium. Film, Air Force One, presented by film committee.
Free.

Sunday, Jan. 25, 7 p.m., Nott Memorial. S.P.A.M. (Spiritual
Protestants Active in Ministry) presents “Walk the Labyrinth,” an ancient
walking meditation.

Sunday, Jan. 25, 8 p.m., Memorial Chapel. Pianist Anthony de Mare
performs a program featuring Ive's Celestial Railroad, Cowell's Piano
Pieces and Rzewski's de Profundis. Presented by the College's
Performing Arts Department. Free.

Monday, Jan. 26, 1:30 to 2:30 p.m., Arts 215. Lecture and
performance by pianist Anthony de Mare.

Wednesday, Jan. 28, 8 p.m., Reamer Campus Center Auditorium. Speaker's
Forum presents Brian Wilson Key, who has written about subliminal advertising, on
“Subliminal Seduction.”

Thursday, Jan. 29, from 4 to 6 p.m., Mandeville Gallery, Nott
Memorial. Reception and gallery talk by Prof. Chris Duncan. Abstract drawings and
sculptures on display through March 6. (See story this issue.)

Through Feb. 5, Arts Atrium. Exhibition by Anthony Cafritz, a
sculptor from Bennington, Vt.