REMEMBERING SIGMA PHI PLACE
We read President Stephen C. Ainlay’s column, “A lifetime membership,” in the Fall 2007 issue. His comments were touching and brought back the songs we used to sing together back in the 1950s, especially “the brook that bounds through Old Union’s grounds.”
Then we flipped to page 22, a full-page spread on the so-called Orange House that just blew us away. We lived, studied and played in that house for four years from 1947 to 1951 with 30 other undergrads. It was known as Sigma Phi Place. It was the second national fraternity established at Union back in 1827. The Sigs that lived there over a period of more than 90 years revered “The Place,” as we called it.
To see it transformed and reduced from one of the most respected national fraternities in the United States to a mere color, was just plain shocking and disrespectful.
What is regrettable and truly sad is the utter lack of historic memory by the [magazine] editors. Fraternities at Union played a vital role in the College and community for more than 150 years. We are proud of the legacy and would hope the current administration, Trustees, faculty and alumni would acknowledge this historic contribution.
John Edmondson ’51 Van der Bogert Shanklin ’51
Editor’s note: The former Sigma Phi Place is part of the College’s Minerva House System and was renamed in honor of David J. Breazzano ’78. An entryway plaque reads: “Breazzano House is the former home of the Sigma Phi Society. The first national chapter of Sigma Phi was founded at Union College on the fourth of March in 1827. In 1904 members of Sigma Phi erected this building and named it Sigma Phi Place.” Sigma Phi continues to thrive in its new home in Davidson House.
PROFESSOR BYRON NICHOLS RETIRES
Thank you for the terrific article about Professor Byron Nichols (Fall 2007, “A teacher’s legacy”). He and Professor Fred Hartwig were the foundation upon which my entire college experience rested. I fell for political science due to Byron’s intelligence and accessibility. He made students think harder. I recall how he guided our questions into bigger questions and ultimately bigger answers then we ever could have accomplished alone. He made us feel smart as we learned and gave us the great gift of self-esteem.
I send him my best wishes for a fabulous retirement. I’d also like to express my deep appreciation for the wonderful impact he had on my college career. To this day, I love the political machine, especially the electoral process. While my career is in the marketing and advertising world, I occasionally dabble in the political marketing world and recall with great affection the ideas and principles I learned from Byron and his colleagues.
Rob Quish ’83
If Professor Byron Nichols didn’t know it when he first arrived on Union’s campus, he soon discovered that his colleagues assigned to the new professors students who were lost causes. Byron became my senior advisor when I was a lot more interested in running Concordiensis and my fraternity—while figuring out how to survive the Vietnam War era—than anything remotely academic.
Byron pretty much rescued me from oblivion. He got me to put my senior thesis on my agenda. Partly because it required field work at Smith College and Skidmore College, I chose to do my project on college students’ attitudes about government in the turbulent 1960s. The study of politics was evolving into a science at the time and I used the campus computer to analyze survey results. When I did, he held me to high standards like nobody ever had. My nitpicky advisor noticed that a statistical test didn’t exist for certain types of survey responses, so he helped me invent one.
By spring, Byron had already developed a reputation as a tough grader, but he gave me my first and only ‘A’ at Union. If there’s a reason I serve today as president of a nonpartisan public policy think tank, which researches and promotes accountability in local government, it would be Byron.
Jeff Browne ’69 Jeff is the president of the Public Policy Forum in Milwaukee, Wisc.
A TIME OF PROTEST
The Union College magazine is planning a story about a series of Vietnam War protests organized by students in late April and early May of 1970. During the protest shown in this photo, students marched to the intersection of State Street and Erie Boulevard in Schenectady and staged a sit-in that blocked traffic for an hour. Photos by Dr. Lester Kritzer ’73.
If you witnessed or participated in these protests, let us know: magazine@union.edu or Union College magazine Office of Communications Schenectady, NY 12308-3169 or (518) 388-6748