By Milton Schwebel ’34
The Class of 1934, which will celebrate its 75th ReUnion in late May, lived through the same type of nationally daunting and politically exciting times that Union students are now experiencing. We came on campus in the economically depressing months of the fall of 1930, saw President Franklin D. Roosevelt inaugurated in March 1933, experienced the exhilarating first hundred days, and witnessed, mostly with pleasure, the creation of programs like the Civilian Conservation Corps, the National Youth Administration, the Works Progress Administration, and many others intended to salvage the economy, create jobs and, in general, reverse the sense of hopelessness in the nation.
The campus was abuzz with excitement. Scheduled lectures, talks in chapel, the topics of our debating society, the choices of our Mountebank plays, articles in The Idol and conversations at fraternity dinner tables all reflected a nationwide struggle, under FDR’s leadership, that sought to free itself from the mire of poverty and despair. There were some dissenting voices, as there always are in a democratic society, but the prevailing mood on campus was supportive of the massive changes. The political views of my professors in philosophy, economics, political science and English were decidedly in keeping with the times; they were unapologetically liberal and supportive of Roosevelt’s leadership. Some of us, individually or jointly in clubs, societies or fraternities tried to make our support public and useful to the national effort, perhaps by campaigning for FDR and other New Deal supporters.
Let me be clear. We of ’34 were not a bunch of nerds. We participated on team sports, played touch football during free periods, debated, acted, wrote for (The Concordiensis), played a musical instrument, and – in our all-male environment – spent much time discussing “girls”, as young women were then called, and planning dates. We went to fraternity and other dances, the junior prom, and, after Prohibition was abolished, even enjoyed a beer at a bar. Our behavior, you may be sure, was different from that of current Union students: We attended Union thirty years before the women’s liberation movement, the pill and Woodstock. Many of us, I say with some regret, were “good boys,” still victimized by Victorian standards of virtuous behavior.
Count how many ways Union has changed since our day. Examining Union Collegemagazine, I am reminded of its many profound advances. We had no women among our classmates, no African-Americans, and Jewish students (perhaps some ethnic groups as well) were admitted on a quota basis. These painful facts should be considered against a background of the national scene: New York state, and later, during World War II, the U.S. Employment Service, filled some employers’ orders for workers based on codes like “WMP” (white, male, Protestants). And the U.S. Army, in which many of us of ’34 served, and other defense forces, ironically fighting for “the free world” were segregated so far as African-Americans were concerned.
There are too few of us of ’34 left to celebrate the changes in our nation and our College. They would, I like to believe, see the election of President Barack Obama as part of the trajectory of progress initiated in our times. They would see his efforts at reconciliation and reaching out even to unfriendly nations as an extension of the New Deal; and they would also see Union’s extensive programs abroad, described in issues of this magazine and lauded by President Stephen C. Ainlay, as an historic effort to include evermore diverse peoples and cultures in our knowledge base and personal experience.
As I sit at my computer and write this piece, I hear whispers of approval traveling over the decades from classmates and professors (with names like Larrabee, Stanley, Herrick, Cummins and Godshall), now long dead, who helped me transform myself.
Milton Schwebel holds a doctorate in counseling psychology and is an emeritus dean and professor at the Rutgers University Graduate School of Education. He is also an emeritus professor at the university’s Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology. He lives in Tucson, Ariz.
Editor’s note: Harold A. Larrabee was a professor of philosophy; Philip Stanley was a professor of philosophy; Raymond M. Herrick was a professor of English; Earl E. Cummins was a professor of economics; and Wilson L. Godshall was professor of political science.