Posted on Mar 11, 2008

As a child, Michael Wakita’s grandmother saw racism at a Japanese internment camp in Lillooet, British Columbia, where her extended family of 14 lived in cramped and primitive quarters. But she also found humanity a few miles away, where a doctor provided her housing so that she could attend a local school during the week.

It was one of many lessons that Wakita took from his grandmother to create a poster –  “Japanese Canadians: From Racism to Redress” – that he presented Tuesday in the Nott Memorial.

He was one of 70 students in four sections of the Sophomore Research Seminar: “Opium East and West” (Joyce Madancy, History); “Japanese-American Internment in World War II (Andrew Morris, History); “Balancing Acts: Research in Gender, Work and Family" (David Cotter, Sociology); and “African American Protest Movements” (Melinda Lawson, History).

Both of Wakita’s grandparents were in the camp as children, his grandmother from 1942 to 1951, his grandfather from 1942 to 1949. The families were close, and the two married as adults after they left the camp. His grandfather passed away before Wakita was born. His grandmother runs a general store in western British Columbia.

“I spoke with her a lot,” said Wakita, a student in Morris’ seminar section, about preparing for his topic. “Her first memory of the camp was as a 9-year-old on her first train ride,” he recalls. “She thought she was going to a picnic.”

Instead, she found a tiny building of two-by-fours and plywood that offered little protection from the harsh elements. “B.C. has terrible winters,” said Wakita, a native of Kitimat, about 500 miles north of Vancouver. “It sounded miserable.”

Wakita found that Japanese Canadians, like their counterparts in the United States, had a strong loyalty to their adopted homeland despite the racially motivated treatment they endured. About 21,000 Japanese Canadians went to Canada’s internment camps, mostly in British Columbia, during and after World War II, Wakita said. In the Redress of 1988, the Canadian government apologized and offered compensation.

Wakita found the experience of preparing his topic "a lot different than the usual problem solving" he does for his coursework in Mechanical Engineering. "When you're looking into something like this, there's so much information between primary and secondary sources."

Among the other students who presented:

• Anthropology major Sara Mark ’10 of Needham, Mass. gave a poster on “Race and Drugs” as part of Prof. Joyce Madancy’s class on “Opium East and West.” She argued that race was the most significant factor in Congress passing harsher laws for opium and crack cocaine offenses. She compared perceptions of opium users in the late 19^th century to those of crack cocaine users a century later. Crackdowns on both groups, she said, were motivated largely by white individuals'  fears of minorities. Mark said she found the topic appealing because of her interest in the problem of racial profiling and the suppression of African Americans. Of the course, she said, “Once I got into the research, I found so many interesting things that I wouldn’t have had the chance to learn in a traditional lecture course. Prof. Madancy walked us through the research and how to do citations. We learned the subject and how to do research at the same time.”

• Psychology and Theater major Kiki Lightbourn ’10 of Miami, Fla. , studied black poets during the Harlem Renaissance for Prof. Melinda A. Lawson’s class on the “African American Protest Movement.” She found that black women poets were not discriminated against during this time period for their race, but rather because of the subject matter they chose. In her poster, “Resisting the Harlem Renaissance,” Lightbourn illustrated that black women poets, including Jessie Fauset, Zora Neale Hurston, Gwendolyn Bennett and Georgia Douglass Johnson, preferred to write about love and nature instead of writing about black pride and the struggle for equality, as did their male counterparts, such as Countee Cullen, Langston Hughes and W.E.B. Dubois.

• Environmental Studies major Brian Cooke ’10 of Mashpee, Mass., researched the “Role and Reactions of Students in the Late Civil Rights Years” for Prof. Lawson’s class. He studied written and oral histories of black and white students who participated in student sit-ins from 1960 to 1964 to protest segregation in Greensboro, N.C., Albany, Ga., and throughout Mississippi. “I thought it was important to study and present this subject from a student perspective,” said Cooke. “It was interesting to search out the primary sources for my research and see what they revealed about the reactions during that period.” Cooke showed that although black and white students both believed the sit-ins accomplished something, many of the black students still held strong resentments about the white students’ participation.

• Psychology major Katie Smidt ’10 of Andover, Mass., researched “School, Sex and Substances” as part of Prof. David Cotter’s class on “Balancing Acts: Research in Gender, Work and Family.” She focused on the prevalence of alcohol and drug use and sex among students whose mothers were not at home after school. She also considered math grades for this population. She found a correlation between students whose mothers were not home after school and an increased use of alcohol and drugs and sexual activity. Surprisingly, however, it was the students whose parents were home after school who reported lower math grades. “I found that the students whose parents weren’t home after school exhibited more independence,” said Smidt. “The students whose parents were home tended to help them with their homework. So, when it came time to take the tests, they weren’t able to perform well without parental assistance.”

The Sophomore Research Seminar introduces students to independent research – library skills, constructing an argument and providing evidence to back it up, said Madancy. Tuesday’s session also served as a checkpoint of sorts, allowing students to test and defend their arguments as they prepare their final papers.

“These posters give students another way to visualize the outline of their argument,” Madancy noted.

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Posted on Mar 11, 2008

 

The Union College Bookshelf features new books written by or about alumni and other members of the Union community. We also highlight books edited by Union alumni, faculty or administrators.

To be included in Bookshelf:

Send the book and the publisher’s press release to:

Office of Communications

Union College

Schenectady, NY 12308

or

Send publisher’s press release and a high-resolution book cover image to magazine@union.edu.

 

CHARLES STUART ’59

Bin Laden's Second Strike

CES Book Trust

A thriller that tells the story of a scheme by Osama bin Laden to assassinate the U.S. president in May 2003. Stuart weaves together factual events with fictional ones to create a terrifying story. The assassination plot is uncovered by a brilliant young female CIA analyst, Danielle Lamaze-Smith, who stops the attack despite the government's bureaucracy and limiting protocols. Former U.S. National Intelligence Officer Edward B. Atkeson calls it "a credible tale … of how matters look from the inside." The book was published just after Stuart's death in August 2007 by a trust he established and is available on Amazon.com. All sale proceeds go to scholarship funds, principally at Union College.

 

PAUL BOOR ’68

The Blood Notes of Peter Mallow

Pero Thrillers

Dr. Peter Mallow, a university scientist working on a virulent bird-flu virus, becomes concerned when his brilliant research student, Jorge, "freaks out" during a routine autopsy of a drowning victim. Jorge, obsessed with vehicular drownings, persuades Mallow to confront a board of auto-industry safety executives with damning evidence, but the older scientist is ruthlessly dismissed and his career threatened. Jorge secretly plots to take revenge, and Mallow’s notes take us into the downward spiral of his scientific career, a devastating hurricane and, eventually, the deadliest pandemic in history. Blood Notes is Boor’s first novel, though his short fiction and poetry has been published in literary journals dating back to 1976. His poetry recently appeared in the anthology Primary Care: More Poems by Physicians.

 

ANDREA BARRETT ’74

The Air We Breathe

W.W. Norton & Company

In the fall of 1916, debates rage about whether America should enter the European war. But at Tamarack Lake in the Adirondacks the focus is on the sick. Wealthy tubercular patients live in private cure cottages; charity patients, mainly immigrants, fill the large public sanatorium on the hill. For all, time stands still. Prisoners of routine, yearning for absent families, the patients, including the newly arrived Leo Marburg, take solace in gossip, rumor, and secret attachments. To provide stimulation, an enterprising patient initiates a weekly discussion group. When his well-meaning efforts lead instead to a tragic accident and a terrible betrayal, the war comes home, bringing with it a surge of anti-immigrant prejudice and vigilante sentiment. The conjunction of thwarted desires and political tension binds the patients so deeply that, finally, they speak about what's happened in a single voice.

 

JEFFREY D. CORBIN

California Grasslands: Ecology and Management

University of California Press

Grasslands are one of California's most important ecosystems in terms of both biodiversity and economic value. Bringing together the large amount of research conducted in recent years on California's grasslands, this comprehensive, state-of-the-art sourcebook addresses the pressing need to understand this unique habitat. Providing an authoritative summary of current grassland science and management, leading scholars examine the history of grasslands from the Pleistocene through European settlement. Corbin was one three editors of the book.

 

LORI JO MARSO

Director of Women’s and Gender Studies

W Stands for Women: How the George W. Bush Presidency Shaped a New Politics of Gender

Duke University Press

In W Stands for Women ten feminist scholars analyze various aspects of Bush’s persona, language and policy to show how his administration has shaped a new politics of gender. One contributor points out the shortcomings of “compassionate conservatism,” a political philosophy that requires a weaker class to be the subject of compassion. Another examines U.S. Army Pfc. Lynndie England’s participation in the abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib in relation to the interrogation practices elaborated in the Army Field Manual, practices that often entail “feminizing” detainees by stripping them of their masculine gender identities.

 

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Posted on Mar 11, 2008

 

Professor Henry J. Swanker ’31

Henry J. Swanker ’31, of Schenectady, professor emeritus of chemistry, died Nov. 16, 2007, at the Ellis Center for Long Term Care. He was 96.

Swanker, who was with the College from 1942 to 1976, also served as director of Institutional Studies, assistant to the dean of faculty, director of Alumni Relations and Placement, and vice president for External Affairs. He also served as editor of alumni magazine.

A Schenectady native, he attended city schools before enrolling at Union, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in 1931, and a master’s degree in 1932. His interest turned to public education and he taught science and mathematics in the Schenectady schools until 1936.

Swanker helped form the Schenectady Collegiate Center that met in a General Electric building on Erie Blvd. He was on the board of directors and taught chemistry. The center was a forerunner of the Schenectady County Community College. In 1938, Swanker transferred from the center to what was then Albany State University, where he taught chemistry until 1942. He also earned a master's degree there in 1941.

In 1943, he enlisted in the Naval Reserve and was assigned to naval aviation training at Union. In 1945, after a medical discharge from the Navy, he was awarded a scholarship in advanced studies at Harvard University.

In 1946, he returned to the College’s Chemistry Department, where he remained until 1951, when he was appointed director of Alumni Relations and Placement.

In the summers, he was director of Union’s GE Science Fellows Program, which trained a select group of high school science teachers. In 1957, the federal government folded the program into the National Science Foundation.

Swanker was a member of several national alumni and placement organizations and was often a speaker or panelist for these organizations. He was treasurer and a member of the board of directors of the Center for Urban Development and Donovan-Swanker Associates, two educational consulting firms.

Along with many articles in professional magazines, he helped write a chemistry textbook and wrote a student guide to finding the right job. He received the Alumni Gold Medal and the Faculty Meritorious Service Award from the Alumni Council.

He is survived by his wife, Esther Morey Swanker, a well-known community activist in Schenectady.

 

Stanley R. Becker ’40

Stanley R. Becker ’40, a retired developer and investor for whom the College’s career planning center is named, died Dec. 8, 2007. He was 89.

Becker twice funded the renovation of the former Old Gymnasium. In 1981, the building was dedicated as the Stanley R. Becker Hall, home to Admissions and Financial Aid. In 2002, after he funded a conversion, the building was re-dedicated as the Stanley R. Becker Career Center.

Becker once gave the following career advice: “Select a field of employment that you will get great pleasure from, stay with it and work hard because the competition out there is keen.”

In 1978, Becker established the Stanley R. Becker Scholarship, to juniors and seniors in political science who show a promise of contributing to the public good.

He received an honorary degree from the College in 1980, and the Alumni Gold Medal in 2000. He also served as class head agent, chairman of the Annual Fund, and member of the Trustees Board of Advisors, the national committee for the Campaign for Union and the Terrace Council.

Becker, who earned his bachelor’s degree in science, joined the U.S. Department of the Interior as a junior topographer after graduation. He joined the U.S. Navy in 1942 and was commissioned as an ensign.

When he left the service in 1945, he began as a junior construction supervisor on Long Island. As a self-employed builder and real estate developer, he owned the Beckitt Construction Corp. and was owner and operator of Howard Johnson Motor Lodges in Stratford and Hartford, Conn., and at JFK Airport in New York City. In 1969, he was elected chairman of the board of Howard Johnson National Operators Council. He retired in 1984 and formed Stanley R. Becker Investments.

Among his community activities, he was on the board of directors of the East Hampton Healthcare Foundation, president of Halsey’s Marina of East Hampton, N.Y.; on the board of governors of the Saugatuck Harbor (Conn.) Yacht Club; and past president of the Rotary Club at JFK Airport.

His interests included trans-Atlantic sailing and collecting historical documents and nautical antiques.

Survivors include his wife, Betty Ann; three daughters, Hilary Oran, Joni Becker and Betsy Salinger; two stepchildren, Michael and Kim; and seven grandchildren.

 

Charles Stuart ’59

Charles Stuart ’59, a former aide to President Richard Nixon, a real estate developer and preservationist, died Aug. 19, 2007 at his home at Rose Hill in Port Tobacco, Md. He was 69.

Stuart grew up in Ridgewood, N.J., served in the U.S. Army after Union and in 1965 moved to New York City, where he worked in advertising and finance and met his wife, Constance. He volunteered as a Republican fundraiser and became the party’s fundraising chairman for Connecticut. After Nixon’s nomination in 1968, Stuart became a campaign advance man and excelled in this work. He was later asked to join the White House staff.

In 1972 Stuart tendered his resignation to the president and, not touched by the Watergate scandal, became a vice president, and later president, of Interstate General Company. There he led the development of the city of St. Charles, Md., now home to 35,000.

Also in 1972, Stuart acquired Rose Hill, a 326-acre farm built in 1774 by Dr. Gustavus Brown, who was George Washington's physician. Listed on many historic registers, preservation of the farm became Stuart's passion. He saved the estate from deterioration and revered its history and grandeur.

In 1975, at 38, Stuart was diagnosed with a brain tumor and had risky brain surgery. During the next 31 years he had 12 brain surgeries to remove 16 tumors. After each surgery, he battled debilitating side effects with great self-discipline, always showing great courage and an undying a sense of humor.

Stuart was a student of American history, a hunter and fisherman, a world traveler, and mentor. Although he had no children, he was a devoted brother to his two younger sisters and a beloved uncle of five nieces and nephews.

In 2005, his book Never Trust a Local was published, detailing some of the incidents and activities of his years in the Nixon campaign and White House.  

Just before Stuart’s death, longtime friend Joe Coons ’59, readied the novel, Bin Laden's Second Strike, for publication. Stuart established the CES Book Trust for this book, short stories and a book Stuart was dictating about his brain surgeries, called 18 and Counting. The trust will give proceeds to charity, the largest of which will be a scholarship fund to be established at Union.

Stuart was everything a Union alumnus should be: A highly ethical, caring person who cherished his friends, family and community, while using all of his faculties to expand his knowledge and make a positive and lasting difference in the world.

Obituary written by Joe Coons ’59.

 

Professor Joseph B. Board Jr.

Joseph B. Board Jr., the Robert Porter Patterson Professor of Government emeritus, died Oct. 12, 2007 after a lengthy battle with cancer. He was 76.

Board, who taught in the Political Science Department from 1965 to 2003, was known not only for his high level of scholarship but for his warm and interactive teaching style.

 “Without question, I always learn a great deal from the students I teach,” he once said. He truly enjoyed his time with students, and he remained close to a number of alumni who regarded him as a mentor.

In 1999, the College dedicated the Joseph B. Board Jr. Seminar Room in the Social Sciences building. The richly appointed room is not only a state-of-the-art facility for the kinds of exchanges Joe relished. It is a tribute to him from the many alumni who donated to make it possible.

“I’m terribly proud of the students I’ve had at Union,” Joe said at the dedication. “This … is really a reinforcement of what I’ve done as a teacher. My feelings are beyond description.”

From the late 1960s to early 1970s, Joe was instrumental in the expansion of the Political Science Department from three to 10 faculty who had what he called “a strong mix … in both research and teaching.”

Joe lived in Arlington, Vt. with his wife, Dr. Mary Squire. Born in Princeton, Ind., he received a bachelor’s degree in government, highest honors, from Indiana University; a bachelor’s and master’s degree from the Honours School of Jurisprudence, Oxford University; a law degree from Indiana University School of Law; and a doctorate from Indiana University. He was also a Rhodes Scholar and a guest lecturer at universities around the globe.

In a recent Union College magazine story, Board’s former student, Devin Wenig ’88, said: “He was worldly and he was articulate and I know there are a lot of alumni that feel that Joe made a positive impact on them. Joe would often say, ‘The way you learn and grow is by witnessing other people behaving in a professional context.’”

Memorial contributions may be sent to:

The Joseph B. Board Scholarship Fund

c/o Trustco Bank, New Scotland Ave. Branch

301 New Scotland Avenue

Albany, New York 12208              

 

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Posted on Mar 11, 2008

 

A runaway slave taken in by abolitionist Eliphalet Nott became the College president’s coachman, messenger and servant, and in Nott’s years of illness, his steadfast friend and constant companion. Despite being one of the College’s most recognized characters, Moses Viney is afforded little space in history, usually only a mention as Nott’s employee.

Yet Viney was the man who at Nott’s side became one of Schenectady’s most visible figures. Viney was the driver of nearly every dignitary who visited the campus—statesmen, financiers, generals, bishops and authors all rode with Viney in Nott’s unique three-wheeled carriage. A ride with Viney came to signify celebrity and importance.

Viney was born March 10, 1817, in Talbot County, Maryland on the plantation of William Murphy, and later passed in the distribution of property to the owner’s son, Richard Murphy. Since the younger Murphy and Viney had grown up as playmates, Moses was treated kindly. Still, A.S. Wright (Class of 1882) wrote in the Centennial Souvenir (1895), “… within the slave there was a native instinct of liberty, a craving for a man’s dignity, a dissatisfaction with things unworthy.”

Moses started a “liberty fund” from the pennies he collected for stacking wheat. On Easter morning in 1840, after he had collected $20, Viney and two friends began a northward journey. With Sunday and Monday as holidays, they hoped for a two-day start before they were discovered missing.

By Wright’s account, they traveled by night, making their way on the Underground Railroad to Philadelphia, Troy, N.Y. and later Schenectady. Moses, then in his mid-20s, worked several jobs before he was hired as Nott’s driver in 1847.

Codman Hislop’s book Eliphalet Nott (1971) gives this account: “Driving the little three-wheeled carriage, helping the ailing Doctor (Nott), ‘venerable’ in appearance at last, carrying his messages about the campus and into town, Moses was to become even more of a campus character than Old McKenney, the head janitor of the College buildings, or Mr. Gonsaul, the steward of the commons, whose charge of $1.25 a week for board during the 1840s was considered gross profiteering.”

The Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 allowed southern slave owners to reclaim runaways with the help from U.S. Marshalls. Abolitionists redoubled efforts to protect fugitives, but many, including Viney, fled to Canada.

“Union was full of Southern students,” Wright wrote. “Moses trembled for his safety and Dr. Nott thought his fear well grounded. Accordingly, Hon. James Brown and Judge Douglass Campbell took the matter in hand and sent Clarkson Potter south to negotiate with Richard Murphy. The modest Murphy demanded no less than $1,900.”

Viney remained in Canada until 1852, when Murphy agreed to sell the papers of emancipation for $250. After returning, Moses continued as Nott’s driver until Nott was stricken with a series of paralyzing strokes from 1859 through 1864. Then he became Nott’s servant and constant attendant. Hislop wrote that by the summer of 1859, Nott’s career as “the Maecenas and the Nestor of American educators was over.” The ill man was in the care of, among others, “a Moses Viney, who, of all those closest to him, expected the least.”

Nott died Jan. 29, 1866, after 62 years as president, the longest tenure of any American college president. Viney apparently continued to work for Mrs. Nott. Three years before Nott died, Treasurer Jonathon Pearson wrote in his diary, “(Viney) is to have, in addition to his wages, $1,000 on Dr. Nott’s death. Mrs. Nott wants (Viney’s) house, which stood in the garden south of South College, moved nearer the President’s House.”

Union College President Andrew Van Vranken Raymond (1894 to 1907) summarized Viney’s relationship with Nott in the 1904 centennial ceremony: “Dr. Nott presented him with his freedom, and from that day Moses was bound by stronger than legal ties to his benefactor, and right loyally did he serve him until the day when, with uncovered head, he walked just behind the bier that carried the silent form to its last resting place.

“When the solemn exercises of that day were over, and all who had gathered to pay loving tribute, among them the foremost scholars and statesmen of the land, had left the place of burial, one who was among the last to leave looked back and there, touched by the last rays of the sun, stood Moses with bowed head, as though he must still watch and guard his more than master, his liberator and friend.”

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Posted on Mar 11, 2008

 

Read a Schenectady Sunday Gazette story about John Tomlin ’08 covering the presidential primaries in New Hampshire.

Daily Gazette Web site: http://www.dailygazette.com/

Link to story: http://www.dailygazette.com/news/2008/jan/06/0106_youngvoterissues/

Below:

Schaffer Library adds 250,000 volumes with access to new databases. The databases contain searchable copies of printed books, pamphlets and musical scores dating back to the 1400s.

 

Project offers a voice to young voters

By Sara Foss

This story first appeared in the Sunday, Jan. 6, 2008 edition of Schenectady’s Sunday Gazette. 

At Union College, most social science majors write a big paper before they graduate.

John Tomlin is doing something a little different.

Armed with a small video camera that’s about a decade old, the political science major is traveling through Iowa, New Hampshire and North Carolina and covering the presidential campaign. Every day, he posts a video on www.meettheprez.net; recent clips feature John McCain, Mitt Romney and Ron Paul.

Tomlin, 22, got the idea for his project a couple years ago, while eating dinner with his father at Cornell’s, an Italian restaurant in Schenectady.

“It just came to me,” he recalled during a phone interview from southern New Hampshire, where he was doing post-production work on a video of McCain. “I said, ‘Someone should cover the election from a young person’s perspective.’ Most media coverage is geared toward a certain audience, and it’s an audience that’s not made up of young people. People say young voters are apathetic, but they have no real media outlet.”

Union College associate professor of political science Zoe Oxley, Tomlin’s adviser, thought his focus was a good one.

“Young voters in America are very turned off by politics, and presidential campaigns tend to focus on older voters because they’re the ones who vote,” Oxley said. “That’s a real problem for our democracy.”

Although young voters are less likely to read newspapers or watch the news on TV, they are turning to new media formats, such as the Internet, for information, she said.

So far, Oxley is pleased with how Tomlin’s senior project is taking shape. By asking candidates what they’re doing to reach out to young voters, “he’s shining a spotlight on an issue other reporters probably aren’t focused on,” she said.

Tomlin already has a strong media background. He has worked at Union’s television station, TVUC, and started “News on the U,” the station’s first weekly news show. He has also interned at “The O’Reilly Factor” on Fox News and “The Howard Stern Show.” His father, John M. Tomlin, served as executive producer of both “A Current Affair” and “Inside Edition” and now has his own production company. He became interested in politics during a class on the subject that he took his freshman year.

“If a student didn’t have a background like that, I would be hesitant to [approve such a project],” Oxley said. “But I knew John could package a story. I knew he knew how to write. He had skills, plus a project with important, overarching goals.”

Young voters overlooked

Young adults are concerned about a lot of things, but those issues are seldom discussed on the campaign trail, Tomlin said. In a speech before college students, Democratic candidate Barack Obama talked about the steep price of college. But in debates or speeches before a broader audience, such issues are generally ignored, he said.

In his videos, footage of Tomlin commenting on the candidates is interspersed with clips of the candidates shot by Tomlin.

When he asked Romney what he was doing to reach out to young voters, the candidate seemed a bit startled, he said. In that video, Tomlin observes that most of the people in the audiences at campaign events “were senior citizens.”

In the video, Romney tells him, “I’ve done a lot of events at colleges and universities, and I will continue to do so. I think I’m doing my best to connect with young people in the state, and I think that’s a group that will be there for me on Jan. 3.”

Tomlin then notes that Romney hasn’t appeared on “The Daily Show with John Stewart” or “The Colbert Report,” news parody programs that are popular with young adults, or on MTV.

Tomlin began his trip in Iowa in the first week of December, then went to his hometown of Briarcliff Manor in Westchester County for Christmas. He’s now in New Hampshire; after the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday, he will head to South Carolina. He’ll follow candidates through Super Tuesday, Feb. 5, when 24 states are scheduled to hold caucuses or primary elections for one or both parties. Then, he’ll write a paper about his experiences.

On the campaign trail

His routine is pretty basic, Tomlin said.

One day last week, he got up around 8 a.m., then headed to Pembroke Academy, a public high school in Pembroke, N.H., for a media session with McCain. He arrived late, missed the event and followed the “Straight Talk Express” — McCain’s campaign bus — to Insight Technology, a company that manufactures night vision goggles. From there, he went to a diner in Derry and watched McCain eat with Joe Lieberman, the Democratic senator from Connecticut.

“I’m definitely having fun with it,” Tomlin said. “It’s exciting.”

Tomlin described himself as a citizen journalist, “whatever that means,” and added, “I’m just a normal college kid.” Today, anyone can go out and “create their own content about an election,” Tomlin said.

“Most of the media coverage is about poll numbers, who’s raising money,” Tomlin said. “It’s less about the leadership qualities of the candidates and their positions on the issues. At Mitt Romney’s press conference, most of the questions were about Mike Huckabee’s surge in the polls rather than his positions. The candidates have speeches that they use at all of the events.”

Tomlin has spoken to only a few candidates, including Paul, a Republican Congressman from Texas, and Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., who withdrew from the race after this week’s Iowa caucuses.

“Those guys seemed pretty nice,” he said.

Obama, he noted, “has really good oratory skills … he’s good at getting a crowd excited.”

Paul is also energetic, he said.

He watched former President Bill Clinton speak but didn’t think the crowd was that energetic.

As for his favorite candidate, Tomlin was noncommital.

“I’m not really sure yet,” he said. “I’m not sure who I like. I’d like to be out here for a while longer before I decide.”

 

Schaffer adds 250,000 volumes with new databases

Two databases cover English books and documents from beginning of printing to founding of College.

Raoul LeFèvre’s Recueil des Histoire de Troye (Recounting of the History of Troy), published by William Caxton around 1474, is widely regarded as one of the most important formative works in the development of English literature and poetry.

But getting a look at original editions could take weeks at best. Until now.

Schaffer Library at Union College has just added 250,000 volumes to its collection through two on-line databases: Early English Books Online (EEBO) and Eighteenth-Century Collections Online (ECCO). The databases, available to those on the Union network, contain searchable facsimiles of printed books, documents, pamphlets, musical scores and similar materials.

Together, the databases cover the beginning of printing to the end of the 18^th century, around the founding of Union College.

“These two collections make available to faculty and students resources that no single library in the world contains, and many of which are available in only a handful of institutions ,” said Thomas G. McFadden, College librarian, who in recent months coordinated the acquisition with Head of Collection Development Courtney Seymour.

EEBO contains digital facsimile page images of virtually every work printed in England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and British North America and works in English printed elsewhere from 1473 to 1700, from Caxton’s book through the age of Spenser and Shakespeare and the tumult of the English Civil War.

ECCO contains every significant English-language and foreign-language title printed between 1701 and 1800 in the United Kingdom, along with thousands of important works from the Americas.

Stephen Sargent, professor of history, used EEBO to prepare for Scientific Revolution, a course he is teaching over winter term. He said he found that he could hypertext through EEBO to evaluate works cited by an author of a book on 16^th-century science and magic.

“This kind of hypertexting has been impossible until recently, since to get hold of a treatise, you had to order the microfilm in [Interlibrary Loan], make a copy on the microfilm reader, and take it back to your office to read,” he said. “The process could easily take two weeks. Now it takes less than a minute.”

EEBO and ECCO may be accessed through the Union network at the following URL:

http://www.union.edu/PUBLIC/LIBRARY/news/refupnews.htm#trials

 

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