A TIME OF PROTEST REMEMBERED
As one of the roughly 350 student protesters, I remember that warm spring day in May 1970 (“A time of protest,” p. 4). Two of the many rallying cries from the bullhorn were, “What do we want?” and “When do we want it?” The chanted response from the crowd was, “Peace” and “Now” respectively.
I too remember the intensity of the students and our wish to make a beneficial change in the direction the U.S. government was taking.
Whilst Union did not cancel classes or go on strike, as some other institutions did, it is worth expanding on the flexibility and opportunities that the College did offer the student body. Normal classes continued for those who wished to go on as is. Alternatively, with the agreement of the professor, a student could take his grade up to that point as his final grade for a course. A student could also drop any course without penalty. And a student could create his own course (obviously related to the times we were living) as long as there was a professor willing to approve and grade it.
These alternatives enabled many students, including myself, to be active in the anti-war movement whilst ensuring the academic integrity of the Union family.
Howard J. Blank ’70
Howard is a commodities trader based in Brussels, Belgium.
I missed that spring in Schenectady because I was in Sweden on a Fulbright, but I saw news clips of the Union student march to General Electric on Swedish TV.
I supported the war, believing that, even though our involvement had been a mistake from the start, we were in too deep to walk out. Withdrawal, I thought, would have grave consequences. (I acknowledge that events have proved me wrong.)
I was by no means in the minority in the Union faculty. The heavyweights in the Political Science Department, for example, were much more stridently pro-war than I. Opinion soon shifted, but what surprised me was the extent to which even the most vociferous hawks developed amnesia and claimed that they had been anti-war from the start.
Some students against the war were idealists, but we should also recognize that avoidance of military service motivated at least as many. (Once Nixon got rid of the draft, student protest died down. National fatigue and the realization that blood and treasure were being recklessly spent in a questionable cause changed our course, not strikes on campus. Walter Cronkite had a much greater effect than Mario Savio.)
George Bain ’73 writes that Union, unlike other colleges, did not cancel classes, but that is not quite true. Students were given an option of getting a “pass” in their courses, receiving credit, and not continuing their participation. The reason given, by the faculty and the administration, was to permit Union students to coordinate anti-war efforts in the Northeast. In fact, reflecting something less than idealistic commitment, most students simply went home.
Frank Gado
Frank was a professor of English at Union from 1963 to 1995.
ROUNDUP MISSED FIELD HOCKEY
As a parent of a junior at Union, I was happy to see the Winter issue of Union Collegemagazine recently arrive at my home. However, I was dismayed that the fall athletics roundup on page 21 did not mention the accomplishments of the women’s field hockey team (for full disclosure, my daughter is a member of the team).
The 2008 squad had an outstanding year. They went 14-3 during the regular season and 14-4 overall, with two heart-wrenching overtime losses in Liberty League play. Despite those setbacks, and fighting hard in each game, the team kept piling up the wins and quite deservedly landed a spot in the highly competitive Liberty League playoffs.
During the season, the team notched dramatic wins over four teams that had appeared in the top 20 in national polls. That included the first win over perennial powerhouse William Smith College since 1980 and a thrilling overtime victory at Williams College.
Union also came tantalizingly close to cracking the national ranking itself, reaching 21 in a national computer poll. The team placed seven players on the All-League and Honorable Mention teams, led by senior team captain Anne Hanson, who also collected regional honors.
The field hockey program has made impressive progress in the last six years under the steady guidance of head coach Lacey French and her able assistants. The staff and departing seniors Anne Hanson and Liz Stanford, in particular, should be recognized for their efforts.
Don Ryan
Don Ryan lives in Westborough, Mass. and is the father of Allie Ryan ’10.
HEALTH CARE SOLUTIONS
I am sorry to have missed the health care symposium at Union last October (“Seeking solutions to America’s health care crisis,” p. 10). I owned a small business that paid most medical insurance coverage fees for its employees and I am now a retiree covered by a private fee-for-service plan. I have been involved with and concerned about this issue for quite some time.
My former employees did not have to be employed by my company to be covered. The policies were portable. I do agree that major medical insurance should connect individuals directly with medical providers and insurance companies. However, if an employer wishes to contribute all or some of the cost of premiums and deductibles, that should be allowed.
There should be a wide variety of insurance policies from which an individual can choose. Everything from basic minimum coverage to a full-blown deluxe model should be offered. A plan with government mandates could be one of the plans offered.
The universal system should be based on health savings accounts. Such plans would allow individuals to build up tax-exempt, interest-earning health savings accounts. For those individuals who could not afford the premiums or the deductibles, the government could subsidize these costs. This would be similar to what the government does now in financing almost 50 percent of the deductible for Medicare health savings accounts. I plan on subscribing to one of these plans this year.
The health care savings account system could also be the basis for replacing Medicare after age 65.
Bob Dorse ’53
Bob is the former owner of Dorse & Company, Inc. in Seattle.
MORE THAN A PIONEER?
In “A pioneering sociologist” (p. 48), the following sentence appears: “Yet in much of his scholarly work, Giddings was a calm analyst who laid a foundation for his predecessors.” This must have been an ambitious undertaking for Giddings, involving metaphysics, and perhaps, reincarnation.
Robert J. Galvin ’61
Robert is an attorney based in Jamaica Plain, Mass.
WEB VIDEO FEEDBACK ON RAMEE’S CAMPUS PLAN
A recent Alumni Newsletter sent via e-mail included a link to a new video about the seminal campus landscape that French architect Joseph Jacques Ramée’s created for Union in 1813. Below are some responses to the video. Visit www.union.edu to view the video.
The video on the history of the campus is excellent. It builds student understanding and appreciation for the heritage of our College. I, for one, am most happy that construction over the past 50 years has respected Ramée's plan as well as prior building designs. Some colleges did not adhere to a plan and today bear the burden of a hodge-podge of conflicting architectures and poor space utilization. Well done Union College.
Richard Nicholas ’58
Richard is retired from IBM and lives in Glastonbury, Conn.
Thanks for the nice video on the Ramée plan for the College. As a practicing landscape architect, I've worked on a number of college campuses, and I often wondered whether Union’s setting had some influence over my eventual career choice. An architect colleague once showed me a copy of an illustration of a campus that he thought would be a great model for a headquarters plan we were collaborating on. What he showed me was Ramée’s plan.
Mark Gionet ’77
Mark is a principal with LSG Landscape Architecture and lives in Alexandria, Va.
What a wonderful film. I recalled so vividly how I too loved the campus when I attended Union from 1978 to 1982. I cannot wait to send my children there as well.
William A. DiConza ’82
William is a lawyer based in Oyster Bay, N.Y.