Posted on Apr 23, 1999

In response to what may have been one of the most-requested changes in campus parking
rules, the College has added four 15-minute parking spaces on the roadway approaching the
east side of Reamer Campus Center.

Even before construction of the F.W. Olin Center, the area was congested with parked
cars and delivery trucks for food, mail and bookstore inventory. Since Olin has been
complete, however, parking has been allowed only for handicapped vehicles and delivery
trucks.

“We've heard the voices of the masses,” says Dave Grzybowski, director
of facility services. The new spots will allow students to check their mail, visit the
bookstore, or grab a cup of coffee while keeping the road open for deliveries.

As of Wednesday at 2:45 p.m., all four spots were empty. That won't last long,
though, as word gets out. Then comes the challenge of enforcement. “After 15 minutes,
a crane will pull the cars out of the spots,” quipped Grzybowski.

Posted on Apr 23, 1999

What role should a college play in the life of a local community? Do students have a
responsibility to contribute beyond the classroom? How do perceptions on both sides of the
campus walls affect the relationship between a college and a community? What does the
future hold for Schenectady and Union College, and how will current projects – US
Initiative, Metroplex –impact the community?

These issues and others are being explored in a Wells House-sponsored series called
“The Union-Schenectady Relationship: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow,” on April
28 and May 3 from 7 to 9 p.m. in the Nott Memorial.

“Union College and the city of Schenectady have coexisted for more than 200 years,
and it's interesting and important to hear from all sides about how things were, are
and will be,” said Ed Lallier '00 and series coordinator. “We need to talk
about the successes and failures of this relationship to understand what's possible
in the future.”

On Wednesday, April 28, a panel featuring local media, human service organizations,
Union students, faculty and administrators, and elected officials will discuss “The
Union-Schenectady Relationship: Today.” The panel will engage in dialogue and debate
on such issues as the role of students in the community and the impact of
Schenectady's tarnished image.

On Monday, May 3, Union President Roger H. Hull and Schenectady Mayor Albert Jurczynski
will examine “The Union-Schenectady Relationship: Tomorrow.” The leaders will
discuss current and future initiatives aimed at improving the College and the city.

The three-part series began April 21 with a look at the past: “The
Union-Schenectady Relationship: Yesterday” featuring Robert Wells, the Chauncey H.
Winters Professor of History and Social Sciences.

Posted on Apr 23, 1999

Paul LeClerc, president of the New York Public Library, will be the keynote speaker at
the rededication of the renovated Schaffer Library on Saturday, May 22, at 1:30 p.m.
LeClerc is a former Union professor of modern languages. Details will follow.

Posted on Apr 23, 1999

Friday, April 23, through Monday, April 26, 8 and 10 p.m.
Reamer Auditorium.
Film committee presents The Faculty.

Friday, April 23, 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Schaffer Library.
Book sale.

Friday, April 23, 8 p.m.
Memorial Chapel.
Schenectady Museum-Union College chamber series presents Borromeo String Quartet in second
all-Beethoven concert.

Monday, April 26, 7:30 p.m.
Olin 115
Talk by Kathy Kelly, director of Voices of the Wilderness, which coordinates humanitarian
relief for Iraq.

Monday, April 26, 7:30 p.m.
S.S. 016
International Film Festival presents Wedding in Galilee, an Israeli film directed
by Michel Khleifi. Winner of the 1987 Cannes festival, called “the most important and
heartfelt exploration of the Israeli-Arab conflict to date.” In Hebrew and Arabic
with subtitles. Series sponsored by grant from IEG.

Tuesday, April 27, 11:30 a.m.
Olin 115.
Faculty colloquium with William Garcia, associate professor of Spanish, on
“Barbarians at the Gate: Two Latin American Medeas.”

Tuesday, April 27, 7 p.m.
Reamer Auditorium.
Reading of play “Cracked Pieces” with Katherine Ambrosio.

Wednesday, April 28, 7 p.m.
Nott Memorial.
Panel discussion on “The Union-Schenectady Relationship: Today”

Thursday, April 29, 4:30 p.m.
Memorial Chapel.
Piano Millennium Concert by Andrew Russo.

Thursday, April 29, 5 p.m.
Olin 115.
Prof. Paul Gremillion on “Sediment Record of Ballston Lake as an Archive of Water
Quality.” Seminar is finale of the Environmental Studies series “Lakes and
Environmental Change.”

Thursday, April 29, 11:15 a.m.
Arts 215.
Photographer Mitch Epstein gives a slide lecture on his work.

Thursday, April 29, 8 p.m.
Nott Memorial.
Religious historian Elaine Pagels on “The Origin of Satan.”

Through May 30.
Mandeville Gallery.
Work by painter Stephen Pace.

Posted on Apr 23, 1999

As the College and city collaborate to preserve and restore the buildings of
the neighborhood known as College Park, Gretchel Tyson and a group of Union volunteers are
working to ensure the well-being of the neighborhood's greatest asset – its
people.

Tyson, the College's director of affirmative action and community outreach, began
working last fall to relocate residents from homes that were to be renovated. She was
joined by a group of Union employees eager to help ease the transition for residents. The
USI volunteers include Don Arnold Jr., Donna Davenport, Kelly Herrington, Jim Meyer, Terry
Miltner, Rich Patierne, George Schiller and Bob Tomack.

The volunteers assist Tyson at community meetings and in distributing fliers. But they
are most valuable, Tyson says, when they accompany her on visits to ease the concerns of
neighbors who are facing relocation. “They help them to understand that we're
not going to push them out or evict them,” Tyson says.

Chief among concerns of nearly every family is easing the disruption to children by
keeping them in the same school district whenever possible. In some cases, Tyson has
worked with district officials to arrange to bus children to the school they were
attending before their move.

One family with five children has moved into a rental home for $550 per month; they had
been paying $900 for an apartment. Another woman, an elderly resident, said she hated to
leave the home she had lived in for so long; with some help from Tyson and the volunteers,
she eventually found a new home she likes.

Besides assisting with finding new homes for families, the College relieves them of two
months rent, and pays for moving expenses.

So far, 17 families, with a total of 24 children, have moved into new housing to their
liking. Another nine families are to be relocated.

“I'm a Schenectady native and I used to play in this area as a child,”
says Davenport, who has worked with the relocation of several families. “I wish there
was more that I could do.”