Table Of Content

The Long Goodbye Reunion Weekend was a busy one for Fred Neuberger "50, who retired this spring as dean of admissions after working for the College for 40 years (see the Spring 1991 issue). On Thursday evening, May 30, a couple of hundred of Fred’s friends and admirers gath ered at Bread Loaf for a “surprise” retirement party. The crowd included many of those who have worked with Fred over the years in ad missions at Middlebury; classmates; family; colleagues in the admissions dodge; and even most of the members of the morning discus sion group at the Weybridge Garage, at which Fred has been a participant for some years. Fred was toasted, and roasted, and received some lovely parting gifts — including a set of golf clubs and a golf cart. At left, above: Fred with one of the evening’s speakers, longtime co-worker Eleanor Collins, who is also retiring this year. At left, below: Carolyn Leggett Fer ine ’73, an associate director of admissions, gets a thank-you kiss after presenting the por trait of Fred that will hang in Emma Willard House. Top photo: Fred was also honored at the Reunion Convocation on Saturday, June 1, this time with the Middlebury College Alumni Association’s Alumni Plaque Award, the MCAA’s highest honor for service to Middlebury. - 5 îSâl uef^RY COLLEGE MAGAZINE Volume 65, Number 3 F E A T U R E S Letting the kids be the scientists 20 Three Middlebury educators — physics professor Bob Prigo, Sue Lewis ’58 and Gregg Humphrey ’70 — are in the midst of an effort, supported by the National Science Foundation, to change the way science is taught in elementary school. By Tim Etchells '74; photos by Erik Borg '67. Words from two different worlds 24 Julia Alvarez ’71, an associate professor of English at Middlebury, talks about her new book. How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, and about her jump from the Dominican Republic to the whirlwind of the 1960’s in America. By Dwight Garner '89; photos by Erik Borg '67. If the walls had ears ... 28 Little did she know when she moved into that house in East Middlebury that she was moving into not just an old house, but the oldest house in town. By Debby Hodge '60; photos by Erik Borg '67. Coming to grips with the Holocaust 30 In this year’s Holocaust Remembrance Lecture, a noted rabbi talks about the chal lenges that the Holocaust continues to present to Judaism, Christianity and humanity. By Rabbi Ira Stone. Top photo: Sue Lewis ’58, part of the Vermont Elemen tary Science Project (page 20). Bottom photo: Julia Alvarez D E P A R T M E N T S ’71, an author and professor at Middlebury (page 24). Editor’s Note 2 Book Reports 27 From the President 3 Alumni Newsletter 33 On the cover: At the Mary Hogan School in Middlebury, Letters 5 Families 34 teacher Vickie Greenhouse works on a physics lesson Around the Hill 10 The Schools 35 (this one on how much a clay boat can hold before it sinks) Sports 17 The Classes 36 with Stephen Rizner, left, and Myra Sohotra. Photo by Erik Faculty Notes 19 Obituaries 68 Borg '67. E D I T O R N O T E Middleburv College Magazine Kditor, Tim Etchells '74 • Associate Editor, Debby Hodge '60 • Class Notes Editor, Dotty McCarty • Pho tography Editor. Erik Borg '67 • Sports Editor, Max Petersen • Contributing Editors, Robert Peskin. Spring, Katherine Siebbins '91, Josh Pepin '93 and Dwight This we’ve had to say Garner '89 • Production Consultant, Steve Metzler • Director of Public Affairs, Ron Nief • Editorial office (address correspondence): Farrell House, Middlebury goodhye a few too many times College, Middlebury, VT 05753. ♦ Diverse views are presented and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors or the official policies of Middlebury Col lege. I t’s been a season of farewells at Middlebury College of Middlebury, 'Vt., 05753, pub lishes the Middlebury College Magazine (ISSN-0745- Middlebury, As spring turned to 2454) four times a year: Winter, Spring, Summer and summer, the College was saying so Autumn. © 1991, Middlebury College Publications. The Middlebury College Magazine is printed at Dart long to several longtime employees who mouth Printing in Hanover, N.H. Second-class postage picked this year to retire — Fred Neu- paid at Middlebury. Vt., and at additional mailing of fices (USPS 964-820). POSTMASTER: Send address berger ’50, dean of admissions; Eleanor changes to Middlebury Magazine, Middlebury College, Collins, Fred’s longtime assistant; Jim Middlebury. VT 05753-6120. Ross ’51, the College’s business manager; Middlebury College Simon Barenbaum, who has taught French Timothy Light, President at the College for many years; Cap Potter, Charter Trustees the anchor, since the 1950’s, of Middle- Milton V. Peterson '58, Chairman, Fairfax, Va. • bury’s theatre department. Patricia Judah Palmer '57. Vice Chairman, Wellesley Hills. Mass. • Allan R. Dragone '50, New York, N.Y. • Also leaving this summer are Maggie C. Irving Meeker '50, Portland, Maine • Jonathan O’Brien, professor of chemistry and dean O’Herron. New York. N.Y. • W. Kyle Prescott ’49, Montreal. Quebec • Jane Bryant Quinn ’60, North Sa of the faculty, who heads for Virginia to lem, N.Y. ♦ Robert P. Youngman ’64, New York, N.Y. become the eighth president of Hollins Term Trustees College, and her husband, Jim Grube, who Frederic W. Allen, Shelburne. Vt. • Ronald H. Brown has been Middlebury’s head lacrosse Maggie O’Brien and Jim Grube, who '62, Washington, D.C. • Dort A. Cameron III '67, New York, N.Y. • Sister Elizabeth Candon, Burlington. Vt. • coach for about a dozen years. Our con will be heading to Virginia this summer. Susan Comstock Crampion, Jericho, Vt. • James S. gratulations to Maggie, whose accom Davis '66. Boston. Mass. • Claire Waterhouse Gargalli '64, Pittsburgh, Pa. • Betty Ashbury Jones, M.A. plishments as a teacher, researcher and ad copy for each issue that we were rarely French ’86, Louisville, Ky. ♦ Reuben Mark ’60, New ministrator at Middlebury will be long re able to use more than half of it. But it was York, N.Y. • William E. Odom, Washington, D.C. • David E. Thompson '49, Panton, Vt. membered. It says something about those all there — the stats, the records, the team accomplishments that she was chosen and individual honors earned. No one .Alumni Trustees from among more than a hundred candi knew more about sports at Middlebury — Pamela Nugent Czekanski ’81. Boston, Mass. • Patri cia Sherlock Davidson ’59, Boston, Mass. • Peter R. dates for the Hollins job. Jim, whose name and, probably, about Middlebury College Decker ’57, Vice Chairman, Denver, Colo. • Albert H. is on the short list of the country’s best in general. At the magazine, we thank him Elfner ’66 • Churchill G. Franklin '71, Boston. Mass. • Martha Saenz '65. Bethesda, Md. lacrosse coaches, remains head of the for many years of hard work on our behalf, NCAA’s lacrosse rules committee, and and yours. We’ll miss him. Directors of the Alumni Association William H. Kieffer III '64, President ♦ Virginia Van will, we’re certain, be back in the coach Finally, and most tragically, Middle Vranken '82, Vice President • George L. Cady '72 and ing business before long. We wish both of bury this spring had to deal with the loss Susan Daniell Phillips '58, Co-Chairs Annual Giving • Jane Abbott Barry '38, Tri-State Alumnae • Cynthia J. them the best of luck. While they’re both of a student, sophomore Matt Slautter- Bear ’72, Career Counseling and Placement • Jennifer being succeeded by extremely capable back. Matt’s death on May 9, two days L. Blake ’86, Athletics • Marilyn R. Bruhn '47, Con tinuing Education • Bruce K. Byers ’55, Athletics • folks (Carol Rifelj, a professor of French, after he was seriously injured in a skate Thomas F. Calcagni ’78, Greater Burlington. Vt.. Chap will become dean of the faculty, and assis boarding accident, came as a blow to the ter • Joseph F. Ferguson Jr. '61, Admissions • Lucy C. Garrily ’83, Young Alumni • Andrew B. Gluck '85, tant coach Erin Quinn ’86 will be the new entire College community. Our sympathy Young Alumni • Karin Bloom Heffeman '82. Class head lacrosse coach), they will certainly be goes out to his family, who rushed to Secretaries • Thomas J. Knox '84, Washington. D.C.. Chapter • Andrew T. Mayer '81, Denver Chapter • missed. Vermont from California to be with Matt Susan McLaughlin McFadd '62, Admissions • David Unfortunately, the College also had to on the day he was injured, and to all those T.W. Minot '74, Hartford Chapter • Mark A. Patinkin say goodbye, in May, to 17 staff members, at the College — and there were many — '74, Career Counseling & Placement • Alice Nief Per- ine '47. Midd-Vermont Chapter • Charles R. Rice '58, whose jobs were eliminated in an effort to who were close to him. Communications • Pieter J. Schiller ’60, Nominating close a $2.8 million budget deficit. All Committee • Robyn H. Slone ’81, Philadelphia Chapter • Doris Maurer Thompson '48. Nominating Committee were friends or acquaintainces, and we A clarification • Gladys F. Waltemade '73, Communications • W. feel uncomfortaDle singling out one of In an item in the Spring issue on faculty Lambert Welling '54, Boston Chapter Ex ofTicio: David W. Ginevan, Treasurer • Hugh W. them. But if your main contact with the members who had been granted tenure, we Marlow '57. Director of Alumni Relations • Susan College comes through this magazine, as reported that one of them, Clara Yu of the Veguez, Graduate Alumni is the case for many alumni, the person Chinese department, was also a poet. Af Middlebury College complies with the 1964 Civil you’ll miss first is Max Petersen, who had ter reading that, Yu wrote us, saying she Rights Act, Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972, the 1RS Anti-Bias regulation, and Section 504 of worked in public affairs at the College for does write poetry, and her poems will soon the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. In so doing. Middlebury 28 years, most recently as director of be published. But she doesn’t feel com College does not discriminate against any individual on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, ethnic origin, or sports information. Among Max’s many fortable being called a poet, a title she feels handicap in any of its programs or activities. jobs was the preparation of the sports news must be earned over time. Fair enough. for the magazine. Max produced so much — Tim Etchells '74 F R O M T H E P R E S I D E N T The sweet songs o f the sirens By Timothy Light This essay is adapted from the flesh and spirit to the events of our Ian Fleming’s magical automo tures him and turns his men into Baccalaureate Address that Presi common past. Most particularly, biles. pigs. The nymph goddess Calypso dent Light gave to the Class of’91 Vidal’s Lincoln gives a grippingly Mostly, however, I think I was seduces him, and he indeed lives on May 25, the day before this haunting portrait of this peculiar drawn back to the Odyssey because with her until he can bring himself year's Commencement. man who, with all of his massive for us who are children of the to insist that his ultimate goal of flaws and strangeness, defines us as Western tradition, Ulysses’ tortu returning to his home, returning to M ost of us here do a lot of a people more than any other indi ous voyage home to Ithaca is our himself, is finally more important reading. I mean real vidual in our history. And our own story. It is the first of our stories, than remaining in a casual paradise reading, not just assign Jay Parini’s The Last Station with and, far more than we realize, it where his desires are fully met and ments. Think of that, real reading is its gnawing account of Tolstoy’s tells us much of who we are. We are where he has the prospect of being the only reading that you will do final year as seen through the eyes a people who talk of life as a jour made an immortal. He and some of from now on. Real reading is read and voices of members of his con ney, of work as a career path, who his men even journey into Hades ing for pleasure, reading for that tentious family. Parini’s Tolstoy discuss our organizations in terms and return. His ship is wrecked and instruction and elevation of the and his disciples plunge headlong of directions in which they are his crew lost. In the end he is able mind and soul that no one else towards absolutes of idealism going, and who measure success by to return to his home in Ithaca to orders, but that we feel constantly which are the precursors of the rigid whether or not we have reached oui- fight to win that home back only that we need. Real reading is also ideologies which have cast so long destination. Our vocabulary is so through the generosity of the Phae- reading for escape. I’m not sure a shadow over our century. Read replete with metaphors of travel to cians, on whose shores he has been often which books are pleasurable ing at the end of this century about describe the more significant of our wrecked. Even though they know for their escape value and which are this torn giant at the end of the last actions that we do not even think of of his fame, they are chiefly moved instructional. Recently, 1 think I’ve century, one has the glimmering of them as related to travel anymore. by his current helplessness as a learned quite a bit about life from a .sense of why our world has so Our goal orientation, our worry derelict, and they return him home mysteries filled with intrigue. eagerly defined itself along lines of about deviating from the stated almost in the way they would an Those books that are doomed with competing ideals which have too road, our celebration of efficiency invalid. the frightening handle of “classic” swiftly turned into weapons of in getting there faster than ex Ulysses’ voyage reflects that turn out more often than not to be control and warfare. pected, our praise for the individual dark journey of the soul, that so filled with tales that are pretty hard Like a lot of people, 1 turn to who operates at top speed — all of journ in the wilderness, that con mysteries and thrillers for the most these metaphors are us. tending with both adverse circum complete escape. Agatha Christie, The shape of Ulys.ses’ journey stances and the deliberate forces of Len Deighton, Robert Ludlum, is us, too. It is not a straight-shot opposition that are understood by ‘I think I was drawn back John Dickson Carr, Rex Stout, and governed by cruise control along a our culture to be the necessary to the Odyssey because a host of others are companions for smooth super highway. prerequisites to any meaningful and for us who are children of sleepless nights and those times The home to which Ulysses worthy success in life. We at Mid- when there is no energy to read strives to return has been invaded dlebury have had a wonderful year the Western tradition, anything more elevating. In recent by greedy men who have seen the in athletics; Athletic Director Tom Ulysses’ tortuous voyage years, the extraordinary mysteries opportunity to have it all without Lawson says it was one of the best home to Ithaca is our of Tony Hillerman and his Navajo expending effort and without exer ever. As we celebrate those story. It is the first of our Police Force in the American cising the care and judgment and achievements, think of how we stories, and, far more Southwest have both thrilled as responsibility which are the mini describe them. We talk of the than we realize, it tells us mysteries should and reaffinned the mal requisites of those who ask for strenuous period of training with its much of who we are.’ nobility of human life and courage the right to lead others and who deprivations, of the precarious na reflected in the most disregarded expect to have access to greater ture of many of our victories and of and abused of our fellow citizens. resources. Claiming that Ulysses the dark periods in contests when In the past couple of months must be dead, these raiders demand we are uncertain of our ability to to put down or forget. With summer my escape reading has been to re that Ulysses’ wife Penelope marry prevail. And we frequently refer to coming on and with it the happy read the Odyssey. That may be one of them, thereby bestowing on the close victory assured by a last- prospect of a few connected hours because the Odyssey is a story of a that lucky one Ulysses’ possessions second goal or by the preservation of reading, 1 feel pushed by the man attempting to get home. But and the rule of his kingdom. No of a slim lead as being .saved. In anticipation of excitement in stories also, Homer’s tale is just good great celebration awaits this warrior deed, the epic terms of odyssey and of new lives and calmed by the adventure. Ulysses’ adventures and when he returns home. His last and .saga are frequently employed to prospect of learning from every struggles are quite as exciting as most decisive battle will be to re talk about the competitive lives of one’s tale ever more penetrating anything that James Bond or Tom gain that home once he finally gets our athletic heroes and heroines. interpretations of the lives that we Clancy’s heroes undergo. And, there. Deep down in our culture, that live together now. filled with gods, goddesses and The getting there is beset by all is what we think life is. We prepare Gore Vidal’s historical fiction miracles as they may be, Homer’s the perils which our ancestral ourselves for travels marked by is a particular favorite for me, espe episodes really make no greater imagination had as its nightmares. struggles and victories — and cially his American series which demands on credulity than do The Cyclops threatens to devour sometimes by defeats. We interpret gives legendary and mythic human Clancy’s jockeyed submarines or him. The witch goddess Circe cap our darkest times as the hells that SUMMER 1991 3 we must traverse and from which of all these seductive .songs — or TA X -W IS E G IF T S we eventually emerge with re even a significant proportion of newed life and greater strength. them. I would like to mention one BY JANE BRYANT QUINN '60 Homer’s Ulysses fights against which has been sung mostly among all the forces that contrary gods can colleges and universities in the past cast in his path. But each battle is few years, but it has analogues in just as much a struggle with himself many areas of society. This song as with outside forces. Nowhere is concerns what we shall consider as Gifts for this more prominently demon basic to teach our young about the strated than in the tale of the Sirens. human world in which they live. A very brief passage in a very long One extreme version holds that the art's sake work, the episode of the Sirens has only proper general education that nevertheless become as well known we should expect of all should be a tale as anything in the Greek clas grounded in our classical heritage, L ast winter, I promised you ext. 5181. He knows what meets sics. It is certainly a fitting one for by which is principally meant ac were through with me. Af the government’s “related-use” our time, and it is interesting what quaintance with major works from ter five years of pelting you with criteria. He’s also your contact the word siren has come to mean to the Greco-Roman tradition, tax-smart ideas for giving money with the committee that reviews us. We live in an age of sirens. If matched to some degree by those to Middlebury, I thought it was proposed donations. Tip: Yes, you dwell on the route to the hos from the Hebrew tradition. An time to give you (and me) a rest. we do need a concert grand, and pital as we do, you learn that mod opposite extreme version holds that So I retired, I thought. some practice pianos, too. Not to ern technology has been applied cultural education should be gov Then along came the Omni mention paintings and sculp with particular effectiveness to si erned by a principle of uniform bus Budget Reconciliation Act tures. But no, we don’t need an rens. Our modern life is dubiously amounts of attention to the claimed of 1990, better known as “the old couch with sagging springs. graced not only by those formal background of each ethnic group new tax law.” Buried in its fine We have plenty of those already. sirens of police and emergency that chooses so to identify itself. print is such a neat tip that I When your gift is accepted, vehicles and building alarms, but Each extreme is erroneous. couldn’t resist passing it along. you get a charitable tax deduc also by all manner of demonic The very debate is itself fundamen It affects gifts of tangible tion for the property’s full mar devices that rudely claim our atten tally false. No society can long personal property. That’s prop ket value. You get this deduction tion just when we should be con endure without a widely accepted erty you can touch, like paint even if you’re subject to the al centrating on what is at hand. set of cultural traditions which ings, original prints, furniture, ternative minimum tax, which Nowadays comic relief for a gath define that society and which iden jewelry, antiques, cars, boats, hasn’t been the case in recent ering such as this Baccalaureate tify each of the members of that sculpture, books, manuscripts, years. And, of course, you pay Service is inevitably found in the society with the whole and their coins and so on. no long-term capital gains tax, insistent beeper and the pocket place in it. At the same time, no If you make Middlebury no gift tax and no sales commis cellular telephone. When the of major culture draws its tradition such a gift in calendar year sions. fending instrument erupts during from a single source. Over the 1991, you’ll receive the maxi So think about it. Maybe prayers at church, one sometimes cour.se of time, each of the world’s mum charitable deduction. If you’re moving to a smaller place wonders if that can be counted as major cultural traditions has bor you put it off until 1992, your de and have surplus furniture and instant service. rowed and absorbed from others. In duction may shrink (depending paintings. Maybe you inherited Ulysses’ Sirens, of course were human history, there is no such on whether this tax break is ex an antique whose period goes technology-free. As he prepares to thing as purity. Everything is tended). So these next six badly with your decor. Maybe leave Circe’s island, she warns him mixed. months are an obvious window you’ve been wanting to give of the floating rocks Scylla and Think for a moment about the of opportunity. Gifts made now something to Middlebury but Charybdis, which may crush his Greek tradition from which the will really count. haven’t had the ready cash. ship and which give our language Odyssey derives. As I look around Most likely, your tangible This year, in particular, the its interesting idiom of being caught the Chapel. I see very few people personal property appreciated College needs help with its Arts between a rock and a hard place. who could be considered descen greatly in the 1980s. The huge Center and newly-renovated On the same passage, Circe tells dants of Ulysses or Homer, or rise in prices was great for col Student Center. Come see them. Ulysses, he will hear the sweetest Plato, or Aristotle. When the great lectors. But it was hard on insti You'll love them. singing there ever was. That will be works of our Classics were being tutions like Middlebury that Remember how beautiful the voices of the Sirens, who sit in composed, the ancestors of most in couldn’t afford many of the Middlebury is in the summer a green field and entice sailors to this room — including my.self — items it needed for teaching pur and fall? It’s all the more won wreck on the rocks just below them. were living in caves in Northern poses, especially in the arts. derful to walk the campus, To protect his men, his ship and Europe. Later on, our ancestors Generous gifts from alumni and knowing that you’ve made a himself, Ulysses is told to put wax sacked Rome and one of the things friends helped take up the slack. lasting contribution to the stu in the ears of his crew and have that they most rapidly and eagerly But with our splendid new Arts dents of today and tomorrow. himself tied to the mast so that he dispen.sed with was the Roman Center nearing completion, more can hear the wondrous song but not preservation of the great works of needs to be done. One of the nation’s top reporters respond to it. Greek literature, philosophy and To earn the maximum tax on personal finance, Jane Homer does not tell us what science. deduction, the property you do Bryant Quinn writes columns for the Sirens sing of, only that they Much later on. our ancestors nate must relate specifically to Newsweek and Woman’s Day enchant people to drive willingly to held a protracted series of wars with Middlebury’s educational mis and her tK'ice-weekly column for their own destruction. I cannot another Mediterranean people, the sion. How do you know if your the Washington Post is syndi recall a time in my life when there Arabs, over control of Palestine. It concert grand is eligible for the cated to more than 250 newspa were more seductive songs which was through the Arabs that they full deduction or if, in fact, the pers. She is the author p/'Every realistically only promised destruc first learned of the bulk of our College even needs a piano? Just one’s Money Book, published tion than there have been in the past Greek heritage. It was also through call Mike Schoenfeld, director of hv Delacorte Press. decade or so. the Arabs that our ancestors learned Development, at 802/388-3711, There clearly isn't time to talk of Indian mathematics. Without 4 MIDDLEBURY MAGAZINE L E T T E R S Arabie preservation and transmis The point is not that all deserve sion of Greek and Indian learning, uniform time and attention, for to we would not have Western phi make a crude uniformity the mark losophy, or mathematics, or sci of our sense of justice would be to ence. Without our Arab teachers, deprive ourselves of the unity that On political correctness, we would not have had the scien can help us as a country. The point tific revolution nor the industrial is rather that our unity must be staff reductions, and DKE revolution. It is withal that we re expanded to include far more than call and celebrate our debt to Ara it has so that we neither leave whole bic civilization, particularly at this groups of citizens feeling that they The Middlebury College Magazine wel board of directors and advisory commit time in our history when we as a do not belong, nor insist that be comes letters from readers on the con tee. With this group of supporters, FCF nation have been guilty of Arab- longing consists in being domi tents of the magazine or on topics related recently organized and sponsored its first bashing. nated. to the College. Letters may he edited for workshop designed to help students conciseness. To he published, letters prepare and study for the SAT’s. Thanks What is our Western heritage, As I have meditated on Ulys must he signed, and should he addressed to the Stanley H. Kaplan Educational and who is the we that we speak ol7 .ses and the Sirens over the past to: The Editor. Middlehury College Center. Howard University, Jimmie We do not truly descend from those couple of months, I have been Magazine. Farrell House. Middlehury. Johnson of the Washington Red.skins whom we claim as our cultural struck by how often the Sirens and VT0575?. and Safeway Stores, Inc., the day was a forebears. Is it not that we make the thugs who attempt to take over great success. FCF drew 75 people to the choices of who our cultural ances Ulysses’ home seem to become Thanks from the workshop on a Saturday afternoon. tors will be? We remake those merged in my mind. Whatever Neuberger kids Feedback from participants and observ choices with each generation, and Homer’s Sirens were really sing Editor: On May 30, a group of Middle ers has been extremely positive — two as a new a major influence comes ing, their song promised sweetness bury alumni and friends of Middlebury attending students expressed interest in College put on a tremendous surprise volunteering for FCF over the summer, on us, we choose to include more but offered only doom. The gangs retirement party/roast for our father, and many parents requested further in than we previously had. In former that were taking over Ulysses’ Fred Neuberger ’50. {See the inside front formation about the program. times, our influences principally home tried to assure a sweet life for cover, this issue.) We would like to This summer. FCF will begin to came from people outside our ac themselves, but at a cost of the thank the dinner committee for putting establish the tutorial program and the quaintance who moved into our destruction of Ulysses’ family and on an unbelievably good meal, the gift complete SAT, financial aid and college sphere. In our own time, we have the safety of the people whom he committee for the extremely generous application workshops in targeted com suddenly discovered different governed. The 20th-century Sirens (and well targeted) gifts, the excellent munities. Many young Middlebury peoples long amongst us whose whom I have tried to imagine here “roasters,” and, most importantly, we alumni have contacted me about tutor traditions have gone unacknow today — those who ask for a life want to thank everyone who attended the ing students and helping with the work gala event. People Hew in from Minne shops, which is terrific: The more people ledged, but whose prominence full of choices with no conse sota, Florida, Denver, Canada and many we can organize, the greater the effect. demands that we choose together a quences, those who assert pre other places. Fred was surprised, over Raising funds for college scholar- renewed common heritage. formed ideologies to answer com whelmed and extremely pleased. Having .ships will be our primary task once non I began discussing the tale of plex questions, and those who so many of his friends make the effort profit status, expected this summer, is in Ulys.ses’ journey by referring to it claim special cultural privilege for to get to tjie party was the best gift you hand. Every dollar FCF raises for schol as the first of our stories. It is indeed themselves at the expen.se of others could have given him. arships will match community-raised that, and I do not believe that one — all of these share with the thugs On June I, the Middlebury College dollars, which will encourage commu can belong to this American branch a disregard for responsibility for the Alumni Association gave Fred a special nity participation while achieving a of Western society without partici whole. All of them share in an as commendation (the Alumni Plaque multiplier effect. The implementation Award) for his 39 years at Middlebury. phase will involve working directly with pating (at least in an unconscious sertion of the private self over the Again, we would like to thank the people targeted communities, individuals, foun way) in the patterns of life which commonweal. who chose to recognize our father’s dations and businesses to ensure that are interpreted through the Members of the Class of 1991. work at Middlebury College in this deserving students have a realistic op struggles that Ulysses undergoes. As you leave this place tomorrow, public forum. He was very pleased with portunity to further their education. At the same time, however, I do not you will continue an odyssey of the award, and the plaque will be a su The support I have received from believe that at the end of the 20th which we have been privileged to per reminder to him of both the Col my fellow alumni has proven to me once century one can grasp the full im be a part. I hope and believe that lege's and the alumni’s appreciation of again that the community Middlebury plications of that common tale of all our part of your own journeys has his efforts on their behalf. College has created is concerned about of us without simultaneously begin been devoted to illustrating through Although we would like to person a broad range of other communities. I ally thank everyone who participated in encourage and welcome advice and in ning to learn the stories of some of education the dangers of succumb these events, this letter will have to do terest at all times. If you would like more those whom we have long been ing to the easy songs of the sirens. for now. Again, we heartily thank each information about FCF, please write to living beside but whose contribu 1 hope and believe that the liberal and every one of you who helped make me at 7205 MacArthur Blvd., Bethesda, tions we have ignored. arts education you have been ex these two events happen. MD 20816, or call 301/229-3073. We are one of the world’s posed to has equipped you with the KARL. PETER. MARY ALICE Thanks again for the strong support. important Spanish-speaking coun confidence of mind and steadiness and CHRISTY NEUBERGER DAVID MILNER '90 tries. Yet how many of us speak of spirit that will enable you to sail Bethesda, Md. that language? The retnaining ora on the more difficult but ultimately An update from FCF tory in our society is largely to be straighter course that goes by the Thank you. Middlebury alumni, for your Layoffs disturbing enthusiastic responses to “Investing in 1 am deeply disturbed by the recent turn found among our black fellow citi seductive ease promised by the the future,” the article about Funds for of events at Middlebury: Nearly 20 zens. Are we fully aware of that — multiplying sirens of our time. As the Community’s Future that appeared members of Middlebury's staff were of the rich tradition of oral poetry you leave this place, you go with in the Spring '91 issue of the magazine. discharged from their positions in the and chanting which has been devel the highest confidence of your The many phone calls, letters, and offers second week of May. In an article in the oped in African-American culture teachers here that you will chart of assistance have been extremely help May 9 issue of The Campus, President over centuries, and which today steady and creative courses, and ful as FCF continues its efforts to offer Light stated. “This has not been done at reflects a marvelous art? What do that, in the not too distant future, we college .scholarships to less advantaged Middlebury in over 40 years and it's we know of our Asian-American will be following you. high school students through commu very, very hard. It's agonizing, so the brothers and sisters other than our Congratulations. God bless nity-based fundraising. committee that looked at the budget tried Since January, when the article was to find every other way to solve the stereotype that they excel in you all. written, FCF has grown to eight volun problem first.” school? Thank you. teer staff persons and 29 members on the Just a few years ago. concerned SUMMER 1991 5 members of the stuff organized Middle- ing staff members in such a humiliating ceived problem. and faculty. Let's hope that this activist bury's Staff Council, a group of ex and degrading fashion. The whole opera As Wendell Berry asks in the title spirit grows to include the many commu tremely bright, thoughtful and dedicated tion stinks of imported policy — one that essay of a recent book. “What are people nities at Middlcbur)' that have remained members of the staff who convene to is not appropriate or necessary for a for?" silent loo long. negotiate with a traditionally “lough” community like Middlebury. Likewise, what are colleges for? TODD AVERY SUMMERS '82 administration. Light's committee did I love Middlebury College dearly; DAVID J. PERLMAN '75 Medford. Mass. not even consult with members of the it is not only where I spent four of the Philadelphia, Pa. Staff Council before the devastating most wonderful years of my life, but it I just wanted to say how heartening it is announcement was made. is also my literal home. I could not be Enclosed is an article from the May 26, to learn of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance My distress over the situation is that more devoted in spirit. I hate to see it 1991, edition of The New York Times at Middlebury. Finally! of an alumna of the College, and some scarred physically by hideous edifices, concerning the “Gestapo-like tactics” JOHN HARRIS '72 one who grew up in the Middlebury area. and I hate to see the community scarred used in laying off 17 Middlebury Col Los Angeles, Calif. I had my first summer job at the College by the events of the past few weeks. Just lege employees. As a member of the when I was 15. By the time I became a a month or so ago. I pledged a small Class of 1976, I find the methods de In ’30s, gay students, student. 1 knew a lot more of the staff amount to the College. I am now retract scribed to dismiss these people horren faculty were respected members than most Middlebury students ing that pledge in protest to the recently dous, insensitive and inexcusable. While I was heartened by the letters of Profes did — they were the parents of my implemented policies. I understand the such practices are sometimes used to sor Moss and others (Spring 1991 ), stat friends from high school, they were irony in this, that Middlebury needs my layoff workers at large corporations in ing what are my own views on Paul friends of my family, they were class donations, modest though they are, as the oft-perceived-as-cutthroat business Vaughn’s insensitivity and poor taste. mates of mine at MUHS. It positively much or more than ever, but I will not world, de.spite the “recommendations” Actually, I was away from home when appalls me that in the midst of multi support an administration, even indi of the out-placement service, were they your Winter issue arrived. Otherwise I'd million dollar construction to build hide rectly, that so obstinately pursues poli really necessary in the rather non-threat also have written, expressing my reac ous and extravagant, and perhaps super cies that will damage the spirit of the ening environment of Middlebury Col tion to the opinions of one who appar fluous, structures, people are losing their school and the welfare of the larger lege? ently regards himself as a latter-day Jobs. In the same issue of The Campus, community. As an alumnus of the College, I was Swift while remaining in reality an old- Ron Nief (director of public affairs) said Surely there has got to be another offended to read about such practices in fashioned smart aleck. Incredibly Mr. that Middlebury is not the only school way. a national newspaper. Until such time Vaughn doesn’t realize that the devotion dealing with budget constraints by re MEGHAN LASLOCKY '90 when I receive a full and satisfactory of a gay man to his mate is as respect ducing its staff. “Northeastern Univer Washington, D.C. explanation, you can be sure I will with able, fervent and natural as is that of a sity has cut its staff by 175 workers, the hold any future financial contributions husband to his wife. Just as amazing is University of Vermont is letting go 75 I found Middlebury’s dismissal of 17 to the College. I am encouraging my his reference to a menage a trois, imply to 100, and Yale University is eliminat staff members, as described in the May classmates — many of whom are sub ing by indirection that a gay man might ing as many as 50 faculty positions.” 26 New York Times, to be reprehensible. stantial donors — to do the same. willingly seek women as sex objects. Fine, I understand. But Middlebury, Apparently concerned about its budget PETER M. KRISTOPH '76 The fact is that, for a gay, heterosexual Vermont, is not Boston, New Haven, or and the cost of debt service on newly- New York, N.Y. relationships would be abnormal. even Burlington. Staff persons who lose constructed buildings, the College de Jeffrey Spencer is undoubtedly their jobs at Middlebury face a local job cided to trim fat by firing. It hired a so- Work of gay/iesbian correct in assuming that the proportion market that is nearly non-existent. I called “outplacement” firm — no doubt, alliance applauded of gay students has increased only in understand that it is not Middlebury’s a costly one — called Challenger, Gray Imagine my surprise at finding a dia visibility and not in numbers. When I explicit responsibility to employ every & Christmas. logue in the Middlebury College Maga came to Middlebury as a transfer in member of the community, but surely it Coincidentally, my wife just had a zine on the issue of gays and lesbians on 1933,1 heard many stories about a stu should exhaust all other possibilities, similar experience with the same firm campus and in the extended family of dent the previous year who was so attrac which I am certainly not convinced that when her corporation decided, without alumni. I've come to expect the usual tive that he had managed to seduce some it did. and it should certainly handle the warning, to eliminate an entire line of letters on fraternities, tenure and the basically straight males. There were also situation in a far more caring and in business. She determined that Chal Dalai Lama; the opportunity to discuss a number of students who were gay and formed fashion than it did. This should lenger, Gray & Christmas, as polite as it a controversial issue of personal impor respected on campus. At least one of have included consultation with the was. had nothing to offer and found tance to me and to hundreds of other these, whom I encountered many years more than competent Staff Council. another job. Such firms are hired to do readers is a rare treat. later, became a devout Episcopalian I realize that President Light has the dirty work of bungling managers I applaud the work of Jeff Spencer priest. There were several gay men on been greeted with a legacy of extrava while also insulating them from any ’93 and others to establish the Middle the faculty and at least two lesbian pro gance that has perhaps led to an unten possible twinge of conscience. These bury Gay-Lesbian-Straight Alliance. fessors. able financial situation (not to mention stylized executions are difficult to stom Had such an organization been estab During my senior year, a .story I successfully ruined the most beautiful ach in the profit-making arena. At a lished during my college days. I might wrote won a prize and was published in college campus in New England), and I college, they are unacceptable. have had a chance to save myself from The Saxonian. It was a satire inspired by sympathize with his efforts to set the In recent years. I contributed to a few years of closeted hell. The stifling police mishandling of the famous Lind College on a more modest course. I Middlebury. My contributions, though insularity of the College community bergh kidnapping. The chief characters would hope that he does indeed find it de minimis in proportion to Middle deprived me of an opportunity to know were Mary and her lamb, Eugene. A “agonizing” to imagine 20 people driv bury’s budget, were not so in proportion persons with varying sexual orientations Proustian allusion indicated that Eugene ing home from their jobs for the last to mine. Why did I contribute? Because (not to mention political perspectives, was homosexually attracted to a certain time, weaving their way through the of happy memories. Because of a belief cultures, and colors). More ag- goat. The significance of this reference chaos of construction, but 1 cannot that the academic institution, the College gregiously, it helped to keep me from was noted by Charlotte Moody, daugh fathom why the cuts were conducted in community, and the surrounding Ver coming to know myself as a gay man. I ter of Middlebury’s prexy. Using a gay the way they were. mont landscape have something special look back at my years at Midd with English instructor as intermediary, she Staff members in the library were to offer. I like to think that 1 am contrib gratitude for the intellectual challenges invited me to lea at 3 South Street. The notified at 8:35 in the morning, and uting to a certain spirit — to principles I faced and the friendships 1 gathered, result was a longtime friendship with the bodily escorted from the building. They that are incompatible with treating but I also remember the incredible an Moody family. were told that they would have to make people like instruments in some money- guish of being different in an environ As a sequel I might mention an appointments to return to clean out their driven scheme. I would rather have seen ment where diversity was punished with event having nothing to do with the ini desks. They were also told that they my entire contribution go toward the social isolation. tial reason for this letter. Five years af should not speak with their former co salary of the fired 38-year Middlebury Middlebury — administration, ter my graduation Charlotte and I met for workers and that they should not discuss veteran than see a .small fraction go faculty, .students and alumni — has an cocktails in New York at the Belmont their dismissal with members of their toward the executioner’s fee. obligation to build a new college where Hotel bar (since tom down). She was in families who did not live in their homes. I understand from the Times that, diversity is celebrated, not denigrated. I the city to go with Professor Harry Owen One woman, for whom I worked the although the budget had a deficit, there share the sentiments expressed by Guy to a play called “Father Malachy's Mir summer before my freshman year, had was not a financial crisis. Middlebury’s Kettelhack '73 in his article, finding a acle.” At 8 o’clock, after .seven martinis worked at the library for nearly 40 years. endowment is over S200 million. There sense of hope in the efforts of the Alli and no dinner, 1 .saw her into a cab and There is absolutely no reason for treat were alternative .solutions to the per ance to support gay and lesbian students .said: “Be careful. Charlotte, not to stag 6 MIDDLEBURY MAGAZINE ger down the aisle.” She sal up straight quire courses on Third World authors Middlebury, without false inducement, My two most influential professors and uttered the last words I ever heard and require history of other nations should most certainly be welcomed, and at Middlebury were an American litera from her: “A Moody never staggers; a replacing traditional electives with the 1 will continue to do my best to find such ture professor who was an ex-Marine Moody stalks!” “sole intent of the elimination of West students, no matter what their color or infantry officer, and a history professor Charlotte once confided to me: ern culture as automatically sexist and sex or who accuses me of what. who was a self-proclaimed Marxist. “I’ve never read Alhertine Disparue. I'd racist.” The quote is from a Decon- I find, from my experience, educa Both publicly slated their desire to di hale to think there was no Proust left for structionist professor in the March At tion comes down to finances. Parents are vorce their personal politics from their me to read for the first time.” She died lantic Monthly, not from me. willing to spend $7,000 to send their teaching, and both to some extent suc prematurely a few years later, not hav The Deconstruction approach is children to state universities where these ceeded (no mean feat for the latter, since ing read all of Proust. offered by those unrequited warriors new courses may be more easily incor a Marxist historian is a contradiction in Dr. Moody survived his daughter from the ’60s who are now coming into porated into a more multi-faceted cam terms!). The challenge these teachers by a number of years. After the war, he academic power on college campuses. pus, but for $20,000-plus, parents I meet posed to their students was to separate became rector of a church on lower Fifth Again, from the Atlantic Monthly, not a prefer a first-rate traditional education. their personal biases from their leaching, Avenue. I was living in Greenwich Vil fabrication of mine. One Middlebury None of my accepted clients to Duke, and their lasting lesson was that this lage at the lime, and we used the same professor is quoted: “Now that we have Smith or Reed were allowed to attend separation was vitally important. barber shop, where occasionally we’d tenure, the hard work of reshaping the those colleges next fall because of the I would submit this same challenge meet and chat about days at Midd — universities has begun in earnest.” ambience that exists. I accept change as to today’s Middlebury students, and days that 1 can look back on as happy Why do I contemplate Middle- part of my everyday life, but change would warn them from a temporal dis ones, untarnished by such views as are bury’s survival if Deconstructionism does not automatically mean a better tance that today’s professors are perhaps carried into middle age by bigots like becomes the game of the decade? world. less apt to help them in this task. The Mr. Vaughn. Simple. Midd caters to a highly special I have enjoyed immensely volun current overheated debate on what JIMFECHHEIMER ’34 ized student, which has nothing to do teering for Middlebury for many years, should not even be an issue has made the Glen Head, N.Y. with color or gender. Middlebury is not but I have no desire to be made a “cause concept of a politicized university pos a first choice to the vast majority of celebre” in a war of the sexes. After sible, although this stands as a direct Paul Vaughn responds white students in America, because of its discovering that the response to my let challenge to the very basis of learning as Editors have the inalienable right to keep location. College records show we lose ter had been initiated by a phone-to- embodied in the concept of academic the tone of their respective magazines in top students because of our remoteness. phone Middlebury gay hotline. I can see integrity. While in the pedantic vein, I harmony with the majority of their read All my clients have opted for choices no reason to continue, and so, not with would also challenge teachers and warn ers without being accused of discrimina other than Middlebury in the last two out a certain sadness, I withdraw my students to aggressively eschew jargon. tion. In a previous letter, I satirized the years. support, it is obvious the administration Currently popular terminology is emo inanity of one alum's complaint that a Alumni treasure the tranquility of has decided about which subjects there tionally loaded and comes clattering male/male relationship was not included changing autumn leaves, but from the can be free speech, and thus “political along with so much “moral” baggage as in this magazine’s Class Notes section. 17-year-old perspective, isolation, lack correctness” is established. Unfortu to be harmful to clear thinking. The aim As a writer. I am accustomed to all my of bright city lights, no single sex frater nately, McCarthyism returns. One alum should always be to clarify rather than work being edited, sometimes even by nities or sororities, an unbelievable can complain, another cannot. Whining obfuscate. I fear the goal of this jargon the producer’s or editor’s wife! I don’t wind-chill factor, two seasons (cold and is allowed. Satire is not. That's scary. is to substitute a Pavlovian emotional whine discrimination. I choose not to colder), do not attract a huge number of PAUL VAUGHN ’57 response for honest intellectual investi live in anger nor do I choose to allow my prospective freshmen. Forty percent of Van Nuys, Calif. gation. In any case, English is a rich and child to control my adult. our juniors flee Middlebury “confine subtle enough language not to need code Homophobic? C’mon. Research ment” in their junior year. I found this Resist the urge to words or phrases. your prey belter than Kitty Kelly. I was to be an accurate evaluation when I re politicize curriculum As I write this, our nation is en a drama major at Middlebury. In 1957, turned recently to teach during a Win I address this letter mostly to the current gaged in a war, and the hollowness of that was tantamount to sleeping with ter Term. faculty and students of my College, and our intellectual, moral and economic Rock Hudson. As an actor, I work and There is no reason to believe that much less to its alumni, whose opinions adversaries in the East is being graphi live in Hollywood where I have been this Deconstructionist “reshaping” will are mostly irrelevant to academic de cally demonstrated as their Empire dressed, undressed, made-up, unmade- attract more students of color or alterna bates, and whose interest in the Col crumbles. Never in recent history have up, cast, coached, directed and produced tive sexual orientation to our pristine lege’s philosophic and moral direction “Western” ideas and philosophy been so by the “gay” community. No lambasting tundraland. There is no reason to believe seems at limes vicariously self-serving. clearly at the heart of our nation’s politi from them, only from a few alumni that merely because the ethnic make-up I haven’t taken an active part in any cal and military resolve. Yet these same strangers who have never met me nor of the U.S. is changing, that hordes of of these debates for 16 years for the values, which so clearly and powerfully know anything about who I am. Almost new Pilgrims will flock to our beloved above reasons, and because I have been motivate most of the world, and are so weekly. I'm acquainted with someone in ice palace. There is no reason to believe very busy. I have, however, followed strongly vindicated in the collapse of this town, with whom I have worked, that if we have African-American pro from a distance the College’s intellectual their Marxist opposites, are blatantly who has died of AIDS, and I'll be happy fessors on campus, that black students and moral progress through turbulent ignored or angrily attacked in institu to match my AIDS donation with any will automatically follow in great num and confusing times and feel a perhaps tions which should know better, and detractor. bers. This is academic, insulated theory. gratuitous need to weigh in on what I which should have the moral courage to Homophobic is a term uttered with Our current attrition rate among black perceive to be the beleaguered side of a stand in support of them. I ask the cur the same nastiness as “queer, WASP, students is slightly better than horren critically important debate. rent faculty and student body at nigger and kike.” It is meant to decimate dous. I refer to the tendentious academic Middlebury to resist the self-destructive anyone who does not agree with the Approximately 7(K) black profes discussion about cultural relativism trend toward politicizing the curriculum, ulterer’s position. It is an epithet cur sors are available yearly, and most all are versus “Western” philosophy. This is not to diligently study the “Western” think rently being thrown about by those in being hired by large urbanized univer an academic debate, it is a political one. ers who underpin our moral judgments, volved in the new language of “political sities. Perhaps with huge salaries, Mid Intellectuals with a distinct and radical and add as a solo voce aside to the stu correctness.” This term hurled indis dlebury can seduce one or two for one agenda are attempting, rather success dents that pride in your philosophic criminately at enough innocent hetero or two years, but so far those hired fully it appears, to corrupt the basis of heritage and in your nation is not at all sexuals could leave homosexuals with haven’t stayed in snowville. Two black academic and intellectual integrity by a bad thing. out allies when needed. Winter Term teachers, who boiU’ded with overtly politicizing philosophy. Philoso PHIL WHEELER ’75, I also referred to liny minorities me at Middlebury, said no way they phy and religion become not only irrele Commander, USN causing changes on “the hill.” Many would stay in that “Jack London” envi vant but dangerous when shifted from FPO San Francisco, Calif. college hills arc currently changing. For ronment on a long-term basis. the clarity of hard-edged academic those who find satire not to their under There are students of various eth honesty, or the intensely individual On protesting standing, allow me to clarify. Duke nic and sexual orientation currently at proving ground of a man’s soul, to the Bush’s ‘immoral’ war University now teaches “The Muse of Middlebury who are there e.xpressly faddish murkiness of politics. “Libera It was with the keenest delight that I Masturbation," “Literary and Critical because 1, as a college counselor (yes, I tion theology” and “multicultural rela attended my son’s February graduation. Theory from the Lesbian Perspective,” have three professions) fell Middlebury tivism” are wrongheaded and antitheti The spectacle of all those grinning kids and that American business is synony could be appropriate for them. Minority cal to the church and the university, skiing down the mountain through the mous with crime. Other campuses re students and professors who come to respectively. brilliant sun.shinc in their black caps and SUMMER 1991 7 gowns was magnificent and unforget people believed that we had a great deal a commencement address that seemed to mailings ... or other communications, as table: for that incandescent moment. I of choice about starting this war; many me mindless and smug. well. will always be grateful to Middlebury. of them provided le.slimony that seems I write in the hope that your gradu EDWARD F. REGAN '57 I am considerably less grateful to eerie, so vividly did it predict the politi ates, if not your professors, will see the McLean. Va. Middlebury for what happened next. At cal and economic chaos that has been world as a place where the duty of moral 4:30 that afternoon I attended a recep produced by this stupid and barbaric man is to fight evil. Reverse decision tion for the graduates and was treated to war. And of course I write to give pub on DKE’s banishment a speech, delivered by an elderly and In his riveting book. The Politics of lic expression to my outrage at George I could not believe what I was reading doubtless distinguished professor (Ed.: Rich and Poor, Republican Kevin Phil Bush’s loathsome, evil and immoral in your Spring issue regarding the drop Pardon Tillinghast, professor emeritus lips describes the massive transfer of war. ping of DKE because they refused to of history), that seemed to me to embody wealth from the poor and working MICHAEL PADNOS comply with coeducational requirements everything that should not be said in a classes to the rich during the Reagan Somerville, Mass. of the trustees. I have rarely heard of commencement address. years. He points out, as have many other anything quite so weird. The professor’s message (which observers, that this transfer of wealth It seems to me that this is above and was delivered with reassuringly aca was and is being accompanied by a Editor’s note: Michael Padnos, a law beyond the powers of the trustees. It was demic chuckles) seemed to be that most gargantuan sell-off of American assets, yer, is the father of Theo Padnos '91. We an unthinking, and very possibly illegal things in life are neither as bad nor as largely to Japanese interests. sent a copy of his letter to Professor stand. Before this bomb was dropped, good as most people think. He cited In a particularly chilling passage, Emeritus ofHistoiy Pardon Tillinghast, had anyone considered the famous Dart various examples to support this contro Phillips notes that the Japanese are fully who prepared this reply: mouth College case, which involves the versial thesis; and issuing a philosophi aware of the reason for their rise and inviolability of charters? This case was cal sigh appropriate to a man of his America’s concomitant decline. They T ve just been sent a copy of Mr. Padnos' argued by Daniel Webster, and was advanced years, he advised the graduates refer to it, he tells us, as imperial over infuriated letter about my February ruled on by the U.S. Supreme Court in and their parents that the War in the Gulf reach, or the insistence of Washington, graduation speech. He has three counts 1819. It has been a very important te.st was an excellent example of his theory. “in the face of ebbing resources, to against me: my advanced age, my moral case ever since. Basically, it ruled that I am not as old as the good profes maintain too great a global military flaccidity and general mindlessness, and a charter cannot be abrogated or tam sor, but I am old enough to have my own role.” my smugness. About my age: Alas, I am pered with by any outside party. I would opinions on the War in the Gulf. As the George Bush’s War in the Gulf, in no position to remedy this one. On my assume that Delta Kappa Epsilon does father of two children old enough to have which was opposed by nearly half of the moral flaccidity, Mr. Padnos is in no have such a document, or basic platform died there, I would like to register my United States Senate and an entire gal position to judge. We have never met. As which serves the same purpose, if pos intense disagreement with your speaker. axy of distinguished officials, scholars far as smugness goes, I've noticed (over sibly by a different name. In my view, the War in the Gulf and ordinary citizens, is an example of the creaking years) that anyone who I find it difficult to believe that was morally, politically and economi this imperial overreach. It cost us tens of feels passionately about any topic what Middlebury has stooped to such an ac cally scandalous. billions of dollars that ought to have ever is apt to call its opponents smug: tion. Men are men, and women are In my view, moreover, it was the been spent on improving our competi Others see things in a somewhat more women, and each is glad to be what they responsibility of every thoughtful per tiveness and/or updating our rapidly shadowed light, and the rights and are. And do they really want a vanilla son, including the professors, the stu decaying infrastructure; in addition, by wrongs have not been revealed to us pudding mix in everything? Do you also dents, the parents and the graduates of requiring the expenditure of vast sums nearly so clearly. Since, in this issue as insist on unisex restrooms? If not, why Middlebury College, to oppose it with of tax money on military gadgetry — in most others, I see immense complexi not? It fits right into the pattern. What every resource at his or her disposal. and perhaps on massive aid to Israel, ties and many points of view held by is happening to our basic rights to be an And in my view, a professor whose Kuwait, Iraq and various other allies presumably rational and well-inten individual, and not be squeezed into a moral fiber has grown so flaccid as to see who were damaged by the war — it will tioned people, I will of course seem to rigid pattern to fit all? in this act of international barbarism give new life to the recession that is someone so utterly committed as Mr. Must I remind you that frater means (100,000 Iraqis killed by the bombing; already strangling our country. Padnos to be weak and immoral. I fear brother, and soror means sister? Why an estimated 2 million Kurds turned into When I was a college student some that no evidence I have seen on this war can’t they exist as such, and not have to refugees; tens, or perhaps hundreds of 35 years ago, I attended a lecture by an has given me any reason to change my climb into bed together? Do brothers and thousands of Kurds and Shiites killed in editor of the then-liberal New Republic. opinion. sisters share the same bedrooms in our the aftermath of the fighting) nothing The editor’s message was simple: Find homes? Not beyond the age of infancy, more than “on the one hand, on the other something to believe in and then go out at least. If the women are so anxious to hand” ought to be handed his slippers and fight for it. He told us, in ringing Magazine content belong to a fraternal (using the term and gently retired to the fireside. words that I remember to this day, that ‘saddening, distasteful’ generically) organization, why not bring I gather that many people on the the most dangerous document in Amer I recently received and read an unsolic back the sororities, which were elimi Middlebury campus take the view that ica is not the stolen state secret, but the ited copy of the Spring 1991 issue of the nated in a snit? Or have a system in this tragic and misguided war is unpleas note from the friend of your father, in Middlebury College Magazine, sent, I which certain women students are cho ant but that it was somehow “inevitable.” viting you to spend a smug and comfort presume, to acquaint me with past affairs sen carefully, and invited to be non At the reception following the speech, I able life as a member of his law firm. and current events at the College. member “sisters,” with none of the for heard a number of parents and students “Make a bonfire of your reputa Aside from the reasoned discourse mal privileges, or initiation, as was one sigh heavily and say that “we had no tion,” the editor told us. “But whatever of Professor Nicholas Clifford (“Faculty of my daughters at Colorado State Uni choice.” you do, don’t be silenced. And don’t Views”), I found a good deal of the versity. Why should the Masons be al Permit me to disagree. Forty-seven waste your beautiful young lives by content saddening, some portion dis- lowed to have Masons (exclusively United States senators, including the opting for the safe job, the safe opinions, ta.steful and the bulk of the remainder male) and a “si.ster” organization. East chairman of the Senate committees on the safe existence.” merely a catalogue of the trivial: ern Star (female)? And how about the Foreign Relations and Armed Services, As I watched my son and his class — saddening indeed is the trustee- Elks, where the male member of the as well as Sen. Leahy of Vermont, voted mates skiing down that luminous hill. I imposed abridgement of freedom of family is the only member. All the rest against the president on this issue, and thought of those triumphant sentiments. association and the right to personal of the family is allowed to tag along, but many of these senators delivered pas I thought that now more than ever, preferences and privacy as in the case of it is basically a male secret society. sionate and compelling arguments to America needs its youth to stand up and the fraternities; Until one is initiated into a frater support their votes. In addition, an entire fight against cynical and self-serving — distasteful the paeans to aiding, nal organization, he/she does not really battalion of former secretaries of De politicians like George Bush; against our abetting and encouraging the abnormal. know what the basic foundation of any fense, special assistants to various presi drift toward economic stagnation; and While sodomy (which, beneath the ob particular one is. And that remains secret dents (including Zbigniew Brzezinski, a against the environmental and social fuscation, is the issue) has been recog information forever, and is not the former special assistant to President degradation that seem about to over nized and at times discreetly tolerated damned business of anyone else. And is Carter who was a supporter of President whelm our country. since at least classical times, seldom if not to be tampered with by someone Bush) and various other experts, both What America does not need is yet ever has it been endorsed or .sanctioned outside who attempts to make the rules, within and outside the government, one more distinguished professor telling in the structure of any society ... or col but does not play the game. provided Congress with elaborate and them with a complacent chuckle that this legium. I sincerely hope and pray that this closely reasoned testimony against mili evil war is “not as bad as people think.” Kindly favor me by ensuring that I decision will be reversed. I cannot imag tary intervention in the Gulf These I write this letter in protest against am not the recipient of any further such ine you forcing DKE to sever their ties 8 MIDDLEBURY MAGAZINE