This Saturday, October 30, is a big day on campus for the
men and women student-athletes at Union.
Football, the men and women's soccer teams and the field hockey squad
represent the fall teams that will be playing home games while the women and
men's swim teams, the women's hockey team and the men's hockey squad represent
the winter teams with home contests.
The weekend starts on Friday night where the Dutchmen hockey
team looks for its first win of the season against Mercyhurst at 7 p.m. at
Frank L. Messa Rink.
The nationally-ranked women's soccer (14-1-1) team kicks off
a very busy Saturday with a noon showdown against Nazareth on Garis Field (the
game could be moved to the turf at College Park if the weather is bad). The football team (4-2) plays its last
regular-season home game at 1 p.m. on Frank Bailey Field while, at the same
time over in Alumni Gym; the swim teams open their season with the annual Union
Relays. At 2 p.m., the women's hockey
team (2-2) takes on Rensselaer at Messa Rink and at 2:30, the men's soccer team
looks to clinch second place in the Liberty League against Skidmore in the
regular-season finale down on the new turf at College Park. The field hockey team concludes its season
with a 5:30 showdown against Brockport on Bailey Field and the men's hockey
team ends the day with its 7 o'clock game against the University of Lowell.
The weekend ends on Sunday when the women's soccer team
hosts St. John Fisher at 2 p.m. on Garis Field (but it could be moved to
College Park if it rains).
WOMEN AND MEN'S SOCCER BID FOR LIBERTY LEAGUE TITLES
Both the men and women's soccer teams will battle for their
respective Liberty League tournament championships on Friday and Saturday,
November 5 and 6. The 4-2 Dutchmen, who
are currently in third place but could finish as high as second if they beat
1-5 Skidmore, will be at St. Lawrence, which finished at 7-0. Hamilton finished the league season at 4-2-1
and will be either the second or third seed.
The winner of Saturday's gave between 3-3 Rensselaer and 2-4 Vassar will
play the Saints as the No. 4 seed.
The Dutchwomen, which finished second with their 6-1 league
record, will be at Hamilton as the No. 2 seed.
Union will take on No. 3 William Smith (5-2) while the Continentals
(6-0-1) play No. 4 Skidmore (4-2-1).
Union is looking for its third consecutive league tournament
championship and its sixth-straight berth in the NCAA tournament.
The winner of the tournament gets the Liberty League's
automatic berth in the NCAA tournament.
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FOOTBALL CONTROLS ITS OWN DESTINY
The Dutchmen have fate in their own hands. If Union defeats both St. Lawrence and
Hobart, they will win the Liberty League and earn their first NCAA tournament
berth since 2000.
St. Lawrence comes into Saturday's (Oct. 30) game with a 2-2
league record (3-4 overall) while the Dutchmen are 4-0 in the circuit. Hobart, meanwhile, is 5-0 in the league (6-1
overall) and has a bye this weekend before hosting the Dutchmen on November 6
at 1 p.m. Union concludes its regular
season on Saturday, November 13 at 1 p.m. at Rensselaer in the annual battle
for the Dutchman Shoes Trophy.
Participating in Community Service
is a big part of undergraduate life at Union College.
Each year Union opens its academic
calendar by involving freshmen and other members of the campus community to
take part in a daylong community service project. The commitment to community
service does not stop at the stroke of midnight for most of Union's population.
In fact, the athletic department's 25 intercollegiate varsity teams have been
committed to community service for a number of years.
“Being involved in community
service projects allows our team to give something back and shows our kids how
other people live and what they have and don't have,” said head football
coach John Audino, whose team is involved in several activities throughout the
year. “Getting involved also helps with team chemistry, leadership, and
allows our kids to have fun outside of football and Union.”
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One of the community service
projects that have been undertaken by the football team is tutoring elementary
school children at Zoller School in Schenectady. Audino, in conjunction with
Mike Newell '74 and Jane Poklemba, began working with the fourth and fifth
grade boys as Zoller School last spring and have taken the project to a higher
level this fall.
“The guys have been great,” said
Poklemba, who is the principal at Zoller. “There has been nothing but
compliments from the teacher/advisors and me!
The two teachers that are advisors for the club, Mrs. Clawson and Mrs.
Gutowski, are big fans. The rest of the
staff thinks it's a great thing for our students.”
Before members of the football
team can take part in this weekly “Homework Club”, they go through an
orientation.
“We review the logistics of
course, where to meet, where to park, and other similar organizational
necessities,” explained Poklemba. “We
talk about our school, the nature of the students, the importance of being a
good role model, and planting the seed of 'college.' We advise the college mentors not to get into personal issues,
but to focus on the homework.”
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According to Poklemba, many of the
students at Zoller have special needs.
Whether it is financial, behavioral, or academic, the students at
Zoller, which has 515 students and is the largest elementary school in the
district, are at some kind of disadvantage.
“Last year we tapped 'at risk'
students for the club,” said Poklemba.
“We continued with these boys this year but also opened the club up to
other students as well; every boy wanted to be involved! The focus, however, is still primarily on
students who need extra support.”
Newell, who is past president and
current treasurer/secretary for the Fighting Dutchmen Gridiron Club, helped get
the project started and sees it as a win-win situation for both the boys at
Zoller and the student-athletes who represent the Union College football
program.
“The children at Zoller get a role model,
motivation to do school work, a mentor, and a friend,” he says. “The players
get the opportunity to work in the community, a chance to work with children,
and a friend.”
Seniors Ed Larkin, who is one of
the team's captains, and Joe Andriano and junior Tim Cannon feel fortunate to
be involved.
“I have always felt it was
extremely important to use ones own gifts and talents to help others,” said
Larkin, who is from Tupper Lake, New York. “As college students at Union we
obviously have tremendous opportunities in front of us, and this gives us a
chance to give something to people with fewer opportunities.
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“The benefits for the kids at
Zoller are unbelievable,” he continued.
“These kids don't differentiate us from the football players at Miami or
Ohio State. They are getting a chance
for someone they hold in such high regard to sit down with them, one on one,
and help them with their homework. They get someone who they can look up to who
provides a quality roll model.
“I personally have taken more from
this than the kids have,” Larkin continued. “It is extremely fulfilling to see
the smiles on these kids' faces every week.
You feel like a celebrity every time you're there, and honestly, you
make a one of a kind friendship with a kid that has a lot to offer.”
Andriano, a resident of nearby
Watervliet, also feels that he has gotten as much, if not more, from the
experience.
“I have learned from this
experience,” he says. “I have never
spent this much time with the type of kids that this program involves, and it
has certainly been an interesting experience. The best part of this whole
program, for me, has been that it is a lot of fun. I think that we have just as much fun each week as the kids do,
and that's what makes it successful.”
While “homework” is the key
element for the Homework Club boys, the project is not all work and no
play. The first half hour to 40 minutes
accomplishes the academic goal, but it is the final 10 to 15 minutes that the
kids from Zoller really look forward to.
“After the work is finished the
boys get to go out and have a playtime with the member of the football team,”
Poklemba explained. “That is what our
kids really look forward to doing.”
Andriano agrees, “I think my
favorite part of the involvement might be the same as theirs, playtime. If the kids do their work they are allowed
to spend the last 15 minutes of every other session throwing around the
football with us. It is a great joy for
them to be able to play football with “real” football players.
Junior Tim Cannon
“Aside from this, the pleasure of
knowing that I am helping out a kid that really needs it is enough to keep me
coming back each week.”
Cannon, a native of Roxbury, Massachusetts, got involved
because he heard this program was being put together with the football team and
he had done a great deal of volunteer work with kids at home in his local
community center and saw an opportunity to do the same in Schenectady.
“Every Monday
when we go over to the Zoller it puts everything in my life on hold for an hour
and allows me to try and help a local child with their homework and throw the
football around,” he explained. “The big thing is just witnessing the smiles on
these the kids' faces when the 25 or so of us walk in to their school. My
favorite part of the involvement is spending time with these kids and my
teammates in an atmosphere where it seems like all involved are really enjoying
being together.
The immediate gains that Poklemba
sees from the interaction with the members of Union's team are that the Zoller
students are improving academically while at the same time raising their self
esteem. Her long-range hope is that the
idea of going to college will be planted.
“I see the relationships
potentially being an important factor in how our students feel about
themselves,” she explained. “The vast
majority of our students do not have parents who have attended college so it's
not an automatic. Most of our students
however have the intelligence to get into a college but need it to be on their
radar screen, which it isn't typical.
I'm hoping that this experience will open the door and plant the seed.”
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Audino is extremely pleased that
so many of his players have decided to contribute their time and talents to the
Zoller students and feels that the experience will be something that will be
part of their Union memories.
“This project allows our football
players to get out into the community and help someone else by giving their
time to a good group of kids who need role models,” Audino explained. “It benefits the players because it shows
them how influential they can be in a young person's life and allows them to
give back and use their talents to improve someone else's life and attitude.
“The players and kids are getting
to know each other and develop relationships with people from different
backgrounds. The players are learning
that not everyone has the things that they have. Our guys are having a lot of
fun with the children and are beginning to bond with them. I honestly believe that being involved with
this project will be one of the fondest memories of their Union College
experience.”
On October 30, in conjunction with
the NCAA's Seventh Annual “Take a Kid to the Game” program, the Zoller students
and their parents are being invited to the Dutchmen's regular-season home
finale against St. Lawrence. Union is one of more than 200 schools across the nation that are
taking part in this campaign, which is focused on allowing youth the opportunity
to attend college football games.
“The athletic department is very pleased and proud to have
the Zoller students and their parents be part of the NCAA initiative,” said
Ramsey Baker '93, Union's Associate Director of Athletics. “We are providing the children and their
parents with free admission, we are giving them all autographed team schedule
posters and we will be recognizing them on the field at halftime. We will also invite them to participate in
the Halloween costume contest that we will be having.”
Perhaps
Larkin summed it up best when he said, “These
kids, though most have very few opportunities in life, are so vibrant and have
so much potential. If this program can
help even a small percentage of the kids realize the potential they have and
drive them to succeed, the success of the program cannot even be measured. “
In March 1934, a year into Franklin D. Roosevelt's first term, a woman from North Dakota wrote the president:
“I am now 72 years old and have never had anything. I have always been poor and always worked hard, so now I am not able to do any more. I am all worn out but am able to be around and I thank God that I have no pains. It is hard to be old and not have anything. I do not own as much as one cent to my name, so I know God would bless you, if you could help us to get more money for pension, so we would have enough to eat.''
In 1934, outside of emergency assistance, neither Roosevelt nor the private sector had much to offer her.
Being elderly in an industrial society, as America had become in the early 20th century, was not easy. Few jobs offered pensions or retirement plans, and for most workers living close to the bone, day-to-day expenses overwhelmed saving for old age.
Most elderly people worked as long as they possibly could, then moved in with family. If they had no family, they would be warehoused in charitable homes for the elderly, or county poorhouses, which by the 1920s had become dumping grounds for impoverished old people.
Being elderly was even harder during the Depression. As unemployment passed 20 percent in the early 1930s, older workers were among the first fired. Emergency relief from towns, states and finally the federal government saved many from starving, but when economic recovery did not materialize during Roosevelt's first year in office, radicals offered alternatives. Huey Long, the charismatic and controversial senator from Louisiana, proposed a “Share the Wealth'' program radically redistributing income.
But it was Francis Townsend, an elderly doctor from California, who caught the attention of older Americans. He proposed that people older than 60 should receive $200 every month from the government on the condition that they would not work, and would spend the entire pension every month — thus, in one fell swoop, relieving old people, freeing up jobs and injecting money into the economy. Groups of the elderly formed “Townsend Clubs'' nationwide and flooded their congressional representatives with demands to enact Townsend's proposal.
Roosevelt responded with Social Security. While committed to the idea that the government had a role in helping the needy, FDR thought Long too radical and Townsend's plan too expensive. The 1935 Social Security Act, he hoped, would derail these movements by offering “social insurance'' to the elderly and the unemployed — government guaranteed assistance to reduce the impact of two of the most common causes of poverty, old age and unemployment.
Social Security's original provisions also provided for payments to the elderly in absolute poverty (regardless of work history), and to those who were blind. Over time, coverage for people with other disabilities was added and was consolidated in 1972 under Supplemental Security Income, a less heralded but extremely important element of the program. Similarly, benefits were added in 1939 for survivors of Social Security recipients, adding a level of family security to a program that was originally written for individual workers.
It remains the basic fabric of the weak public safety net in the United States, and, along with Medicare (passed in 1966), its most successful element. In 1999, 8 percent of Social Security recipients were classified as poor; without Social Security, 48 percent would have been considered poor.
Memories of the Depression fade, and with them, the sense of how precarious life was for most elderly people even before the crash of 1929. Social Security, to many, seems like a poorer version of an individual retirement account. Advocates for privatization use this analogy, and urge, at the very least, the chance for those with a taste of risk to opt out.
It is worth noting that private-sector programs have had their own troubles as of late — note United Airlines' proposal to renege on its pension plan, the emptying of retirement plans at Enron and elsewhere, and those who have had to push their retirement dates back when their portfolios lost value with the decline in the stock market.
In addition to the huge costs it would take to cover those funds that left the system to maintain payments for current recipients (and the fees that would go to private brokers), such a policy erodes the common commitment this country has made to the elderly.
We may forget how important Social Security, meager as it may seem, remains to many elderly people — in 2003, Social Security was the major source of income (50 percent or more) for 65 percent of the elderly, and the only source of income for 20 percent of the elderly.
Instead of regarding it in the same light that the luckier among us look at their stock portfolios, a more accurate way to think about Social Security, as historian Michael Katz suggests in “The Price of Citizenship,'' is as a form of social insurance against poverty in old age, and by comparison, hold it up against the other forms of insurance that we regularly invest in.
In that light, it is not a bad deal — by all participating in it, we all extend help to those who need it the most.
Efforts to radically reform Social Security gained more traction in the late 1990s, mostly because of dire predictions about the financing of the program. While Social Security is facing problems, this is nothing new.
The architects of the program anticipated that eventually the contributory base would erode, and that the plan would have to be adjusted — most likely, in their view, with additional tax dollars. Time and again, Congress has revisited Social Security — in 1939, in 1950, in 1972, in 1983, to name the most significant, broadening its coverage and solidifying its finances.
Many of the demographic and economic figures that underlie the dire predictions are essentially unpredictable, and while we should not be afraid to countenance reform, we should do so with a sense of history and proportion.
The Depression generation learned the hard lesson that the vagaries of the free market can undermine the best-laid plans of individuals for their future; thus, their tenacious defense of Social Security as an element of protection, through the government, underlying their own lifetimes of hard work.
The generations subsequent to them have seen less need, and have less faith, in this role for the government, and the ideological climate of the early 21st century does not seem to support the language of social commitments through broad government programs like Social Security.
On the other hand, while Americans have shied away from the language of “big government,'' they remain very much attached to big government programs such as Social Security, and it will be interesting to see, when push comes to shove, how successful market-based reforms actually are.
We can hope that a 1929 stock market crash will never happen again, but keeping in mind how bad the elderly once had it — and the precarious situation of many today — may prompt us for renewed efforts to keep the “social'' in Social Security.
All Times Union materials copyright 1996-2004, Capital Newspapers Division of The Hearst Corporation, Albany, N.Y.
The benefits that a “tier-one” school like the state University at Albany has to offer high-tech businesses are obvious, but where does a small liberal arts college fit into the region's high-tech happenings?
If you talk to people at Union College in Schenectady, they'll tell you that their school has plenty to offer and is an important part of Tech Valley.
Bill Schwarz, director of corporate and government relations, aggressively pursues and develops the relationships that will align the college as a major player in the economic development of the Capital Region.
Schwarz's chief focus is discovering just exactly how Union College can add to the development of Tech Valley. Schwarz said that the college's blend of liberal arts and engineering fits the bill for what businesses need.
“Companies across the board are looking for more than just technicians,” he said. “They want people who can run a company, who are at home with technology, but just as at home with a spreadsheet, with a budget, with a Web site. That's the blend that we bring to the table here.”
Ron Bucinell, associate professor of mechanical engineering and the chair of the mechanical engineering department at Union College, sees the college's “Converging Technologies” initiative to bring together academia, business and government in economic development and to prepare students in emerging fields of study, as a continuation of the college's historical involvement in the community.
He points out that the college was one of the first liberal arts institutions to offer science and engineering in the early 1800s, and in 1903, the college engaged in one of the first industrial-academic partnerships when it hired a General Electric engineer to start the school's electrical engineering program.
More recently, Union was one of two schools funded by General Electric to “define” the engineer of the 21st century. Being an integral part of Tech Valley and the economic growth of the region is just another extension of this tradition of partnering with industry.
The idea is to produce engineers, but well-rounded ones.
“We do believe in the liberal arts, and we do educate our engineers in liberal arts,” Bucinell said. “This gives them the soft skills that are essential to leadership.”
Also, the school believes that liberal arts majors fill an important role in the high-tech arena, bringing their business, communications, culture and management skills to the table.
Schwarz said that the college can fill a niche in the region that has yet to be filled.
“The tier-one level universities do wonderful and well-funded R&D, and it's critical,” he said.
However, a small company that is moving from research and development to commercialization has different needs, such as quality testing, which the faculty and students in Union's laboratories can provide. The relationship is symbiotic.
“What it does is, it satisfies the company's needs. It takes care of a commercialization project, and it offers our students graduate-level research opportunities to get involved with leading-edge technology,” Schwarz said.
The students benefit from the practical experience they gain conducting research for industry, and the companies make capital investments in the college's facilities, keeping them current and up-to-date. In turn, businesses have the location and the workers to perform operations critical to commercialization.
For example, Schenectady-based Automated Dynamics, which fabricates fiber-placement equipment and advanced composite structures, equipped some of Union's laboratory facilities so students and faculty could perform composite testing.
CardioMag Imaging in Schenectady is another example. The company, which designs and manufactures cardiac diagnostic devices, has been meeting with Union faculty and staff to figure out what it might do with the college.
Alex Ross, a research scientist at the company, said an internship program is a possibility.
He said that bringing students into an industrial setting will offer them the opportunity to bring the theory they learned in the classroom into practice in a real-world setting.
At the same time, CardioMag will get a better idea of the local talent pool and also let students see its strengths as a potential employer.
“It allows us really to give back to the educational system and the community and produce a generation of working professionals,” Ross said.
In addition, Ross said, the experiences and unique perspectives of students might be valuable to the company.
Another way that CardioMag may potentially partner with the college is to provide hands-on projects for design courses.
Creating a work force in this area is a critical component to economic development and a key factor in attracting and retaining high-tech companies.
To that end, both two-year colleges like Schenectady County Community College and Hudson Valley Community College, as well as four-year institutions, will be creating curricula to support the skilled and educated work force that these high-tech companies require.
Paired with courses of study are internships.
“The sooner and the earlier we do that, the more likely these students are to stay in the region post-graduation,” Schwarz said.
Schwarz is contacting local companies to establish partnerships, and he is also networking with Union alumni such as Brian Epstein, CEO of Menands-based WiFiFee, a wireless Internet Service Provider.
Epstein's company is working with the college to set up a wireless Internet for downtown Schenectady. Epstein would like to see all of Tech Valley go wireless.
Bucinell, the professor of mechanical engineering, said Union's role is complementary to institutions like Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and UAlbany.
“Our mission is kind of unique because it targets the creative class that everyone knows is so important to economic development,” he said.
Lyn Taylor, president of the Albany-Colonie Regional Chamber of Commerce, said Union's initiatives could serve as a model for other institutions in the region.
“People thought initially that it was only about tech schools and businesses. It's about technology being the vehicle by which the entire community will benefit,” Taylor said.
Richard Leppert, a musicologist from the University
of Minnesota,
will give a public lecture on “Water Music, or Caruso in the Jungle” on Monday, Oct. 25, at 8
p.m.
in the F.W.OlinCenter Auditorium.
The talk is free and open to the public.
Leppert, who comes to Union
as the Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar, will address the theme of opera and soundscape
in Werner Herzog's film “Fitzcarraldo.” The plot of the 1982 film develops
the concept of building an opera house in the Peruvian jungle for the benefit
of the native populations, together with the grand idea of having Caruso
inaugurate the theatre.
Leppert
has written extensively on music, representation, and visual art.
The
College's chapter of Phi Beta Kappa is sponsoring the event.
