Knew Her When
Thanks for the article on Julia Bergofsky '02 ("Wonder Woman," fall 2002). She comes across as an impressive and disciplined athlete and person. I also came to Midd from Phillips Exeter ('80). I was coached by Julia's father, Eric, for the first couple years of his long tenure as the boys' varsity lacrosse coach at the academy. Julia attended my games in a baby stroller. I don't remember her "catching anything that anyone might throw at her," but she might have! I have not met her since then; it's just one of those startling moments when I realized how much time has gone by.
Joseph (Maruca) Cook '84
Arlington, Massachusetts
Shocked by Bi Hall's Size
I just finished reading the article on Bicentennial Hall in the fall 2002 issue of Middlebury Magazine ("Science Fare"), and felt that I must submit a few comments. The article describes with great enthusiasm the quality work space for science students that the building provides. Having never been inside of it, I have no reason to doubt that Bicentennial Hall is indeed a state-of-the-art facility, superior to the science building it replaces. It is the exterior of the building, and its visual impact on the Middlebury campus, that I have a problem with.
Since graduating more than 25 years ago, I have visited the campus maybe five times, and for all but the most recent visit, the overall look and feel of the campus had not changed much from when I was a student. I last visited about two years ago, after Bicentennial Hall was built. I had seen photos of it in the magazine, but was shocked at the overwhelming size of the building when approaching Middlebury from the west. It seems totally out of place and out of proportion to the existing buildings, especially perched on the ridge at the west edge of the campus, where it appears to dominate the landscape. I believe that the building is out of character, mostly because of its huge size, with the rural, small-town feel that Middlebury has always been known for. It seems to me that the equivalent class and research space could have been provided in a building or buildings that fit in better with the existing campus. At a minimum the building would have been better placed further down the hill where visual impact would have been less.
The author also reports with enthusiasm that the previous science building, which was finished in 1969 (I think), was "demolished and recycled." Although the modern style of the building was not something that I found terribly attractive,
I did attend many classes in the building when it was practically new, and do not recall that it was all that bad a facility. A point to remember is that if all campus buildings had been torn down when they became slightly out of date or outof style, the classic buildings of Old Stone Row would have been long gone before Middlebury College reached its 100th year, let alone its 200th.
Mark Jennings '74
Valley Falls, Kansas
Double Take
Recently I saw a copy of the fall 2002 issue of Middlebury Magazine, with the picture of Frank Goss, (reading a letter in front of Hastings Store in West Danville, Vermont), on the back cover. It might interest you to know that Frank Goss's granddaughter, Hazel Hoxie Greaves, is a 1954 graduate of Middlebury College.
Jane Hastings Larrabee
Third-generation owner of Hastings Store
West Danville, Vermont
Cheers for Cheerleading
How timely to run the cheerleading column in the fall 2002 issue of Middlebury Magazine ("Bring it On") to coincide with the picture of the new Ross Commons Dining Hall. It might convey to the current undergraduates the essence of the late dean of women, Eleanor S. Ross. If the Commons diners sit a little straighter, have proper table manners, it's the ghost of Dean Ross, that tiny tyrant, overseeing her namesake domain . . . and proud of the honor. I'd like to identify the pioneering squad pictured in the fall issue: (left to right) myself, Captain Elliot A. ("Eb") Baines '43, Jean Crawford McKee '46, Ann Curry Munier '46, Hugh M. Taft '44, James B. Nourse '43, Vava Stafford Brown '46, Joseph H. ("Mike") Mann '45.
Dottie Laux O'Brien '45
Manchester Village, Vermont
The Men's Version
I just received the fall 2002 Middlebury Magazine and read with interest the article by Dottie Laux O'Brien '45 on cheerleading back in the early 1940s. I, also, have a story to tell. In 1942, I was sort of the head cheerleader, and called for a practice in the old McCullough gym. I walked into the gym with about six to seven men; about 30 to 40 coeds were already there. I told them we had the gym reserved for cheerleading practice. The women said they wanted to be cheerleaders. I informed them no women cheerleaders were allowed at Midd. To make a long story short, I, too, went to see Dean Ross, like Dottie and Jean Crawford. She finally relented with three stipulations: skirts to the knees, socks to the knees, and no cartwheels!
By looking at the picture, you can tell the ladies did not exactly adhere to her instructions: skirts were just above the knees; socks were ankle length; but, one thing we did obey, no cartwheels! Dottie is also correct in another thought. In 1944–45, I was in Burma (now Myanmar) lobbing 81 mm mortar shells at the Japanese. Only trouble was, they were lobbing their shells back at us.
Joseph H. (Mike) Mann, Jr. '45
Slingerlands, New York
Walking Our Talk
A column in your fall issue described the mission of our Alumni Association, emphasizing its roles in communicating alumni opinion to the College, providing "guidance" on major issues, and awarding alumni for "achievement in their field." As if to underscore this message (but unmentioned in the column), the association had just concluded what turned out to be a highly controversial move during Alumni Weekend, inviting Ari Fleischer '82 to speak and receive an achievement award. President McCardell himself presented the award, which states that Fleischer has achieved the "pinnacle" of the "profession" of "political spokesperson." A pinnacle indeed.
When this magazine featured Fleischer a year ago, it sparked a passionate outpouring of 13 letters (pro and con) over the next three issues. This time, the attempt to showcase Fleischer sparked an outpouring of angry protest: He and McCardell were loudly booed and interrupted inside Mead Chapel, while about a thousand demonstrators—students, faculty, war veterans, and others—chanted and sang outside. The Campus newspaper reported that "[s]tudents, staff and faculty left . . . polarized by the fracas." A discomfited McCardell said he'd seen nothing like it since the 1980s' apartheid demonstrations and cautioned that "courtesy begets courtesy, disrespect begets disrespect." Robert Jones '59, a College trustee, was sufficiently distressed to contribute a Campus opinion piece urging protesting students to "respect other students as much as the alumni do," suggesting they be guided by Gandhi's "respectful" example.
Well, here's one alumnus who is solidly in the protesters' camp, and who urges alumni to honor and respect them as much as he does. Fleischer is unimportant: If you like Bush and his notion of perpetual military "dominance," you'll find Ari reassuring; if not, you'll find him an annoying circus barker beckoning all into the Tent of One Voice. The important thing is that the Alumni Association's divisive gaffe woke a lot of people up: Persons on both sides of the Iraq issue were ruffled and bestirred, and many decided to walk their talk. That is exactly what McCardell called for in his excellent millennial commencement address, a takeoff on the College motto, scientia et virtus. We've too much, he said in essence, of the former (knowledge), and not enough of the latter (guts).
Gandhi, of course, in the face of life-and-death issues, consistently broke laws and urged his followers to do likewise. Martin Luther King did as well. Both went to jail for their virtus and both died for it. War and violence are not courteous or respectful. In confronting them, one college president's or trustee's lack of civility is another's civil disobedience. What McCardell might also have said, on that Sabbath evening in a house of worship, is that "violence begets violence," and that "those who live by the sword, die by it."
What he might have done was to point over the heads of the multitude to the dark recesses of the chapel balcony, where the names of Middlebury's 88 fallen soldiers are inscribed, and ask the congregation to ponder for a moment how each of them might feel about this latest executive's urge to start a war, were they still alive. All of them died uncourteous deaths; all wore their virtus on their sleeves.
However each of us comes out on all this, I thank President McCardell for urging us to have the guts to act, and the Alumni Association for having the guts to rub Fleischer in our faces. But I especially thank those who had the guts to unfurl banners of peace in a chapel, or wait in the dreary rain outside, to speak truth to power, however riling that truth may be.
Mike Heaney '64
Madison, Connecticut
Heaney is a wounded combat veteran of the Vietnam War, who has been active in disabled veterans affairs. He helped organize Middlebury's all-veteran reunion in 2000 and will participate again in next year's Midd Vet Reunion 2003.
Indefensible Early Admissions
John M. McCardell's defense of the binding early admissions policy at Middlebury ("Choosing Early, Choosing Well," fall 2002) comes across as disingenuous, because he omits what's really in it for the College beyond the platitudes about getting highly motivated students to attend. From an administrative point of view, E.D. is a numbers racket that pays off lavishly by boosting Middlebury's selectivity and yield, in one fell swoop. All administrators want their school to be perceived as very hard for students to get into and at the same time very hard to be turned down by students once they are admitted. E.D. is the answer to their prayers. By killing two birds with one stone, E.D. instantly improves a school's ranking in the closely watched U.S. News & World Report annual issue, which unfortunately has become the litmus test for educational quality. The higher the ranking, the easier it is for administrators to raise money from alumni. E.D., in short, serves Middlebury's interests first and foremost, not those of students, despite what Mr. McCardell maintains.
Walt Gardner '57
Los Angeles, California
Thumbs Up for Early Decision
I was pleased to open the fall Middlebury Magazine and read President McCardell's wonderful column, "Choosing Early, Choosing Well." As parents of an early decision candidate in 2001, we strongly support the process. Our anxiety level was relieved after our son's visit to Middlebury that summer. Alex visited seven colleges and finished the college tour at Middlebury. He felt confident that this was the college for him, a decision we supported. I will always remember December 15, 2001, the day we learned Alex was accepted at Middlebury. Does this process work? As a parent I give the early decision process two thumbs up! I am glad President McCardell endorses it, too.
Anne Demas P'05
Norwich, Vermont
Calling All Firefighters
Last October, I was fortunate enough to go to New York City to be part of the 50,000+ firefighters who had traveled from around the world to honor our fallen brothers and sisters in a memorial ceremony for the FDNY. Last summer, you published an article about the Middlebury Volunteer Ambulance Association ("To the Rescue," summer 2002) and, later, excellent letters in response to that article. One writer in particular grabbed my attention: Ketchum Fire Captain Miles Canfield '92. It raised the question: How many Midd grads or current students are in the fire service? My own evolution into the fire service is kind of odd. After Midd, I spent four years teaching and then went into the California Department of Forestry to fight wildland fires in the summer to make money for graduate school. I fell in love with the profession. I have yet to finish grad school but have three fire seasons under my belt, plus almost three years now as a professional firefighter in the Seattle area. Are there others out there with similar stories? Are there others who received a white-collar education and now belong to their local firefighters union? I'd love to find out who they are. Maybe it beckons for our own little online community.
Andrew T. Bozzo '94
Kent Fire Department, Seattle-metro area
Inspired by Rohatyn, Not by Fleischer
Ari Fleischer's prominence as President Bush's press secretary should not be mistaken for distinction as a Middlebury alumnus, in my view, made by letter writers in the magazine's fall issue, by the magazine's editors who featured him and President Bush on the cover of the winter 2002 issue, and by the Alumni Association for honoring him as a 2002 distinguished alumnus.
Capable as he is at one of the toughest jobs in Washington, his serving a president who is demonstrably and callously wrong on many domestic issues and dangerously wrong in his determination to wage an unprovoked war with Iraq brings no credit to the College.
In the context of these critical times, I draw my fellow alums' attention to a truly distinguished Middlebury alumnus: Felix Rohatyn '49 has been a governor of the N.Y.S.E., chairman of the N.Y. Municipal Authority, and U.S. ambassador to France. His exceptionally well-informed and trenchant analysis of our country's present economic and international problems is a lesson and challenge to the nation—and can be read in the November 21, 2002, issue of the New York Review of Books.
Pete MacDonald '50
Washington, D.C.
Letters Policy
Letters addressing topics discussed in the magazine are given priority, though they may be edited for brevity or clarity. On any given subject we will print letters that address that subject, and then in the next issue, letters that respond to the first letters. After that we will move on to new subjects. Send letters to: Letters, Middlebury Magazine, Meeker House, Middlebury College, Middlebury, VT 05753.
E-mail: middmag@middlebury.edu.