Fine Features
I just received the March issue of the magazine
and enjoyed it thoroughly, especially the long pieces. Even though I would
never make a good engineer (math and I never saw eye to eye), I enjoyed
the article on what the engineering departments are doing ["Re-engineering
Engineering"]. Professor Fountain's story on all-nighters ["Up
All Night"] was excellent, and I enjoyed the humor immensely. The
article on the mid-'60s to 1971 ["The Cauldron Bubbles, A University
Emerges"] was a good remembrance history lesson for me. I went to
University College from '65 to '69, then switched to day in '69 and graduated
in '72, so I remember all of those problem days. I also enjoyed Keith Atkinson
on the death penalty ["Fatally Flawed?"]. I still do not care
much for the cover work, but I do enjoy the magazine. Keep up the good
work!
Merle A. Peabody, Ed'72
East Taunton, Massachusetts
Teaching Matters
I strongly disagree with John Cipolla Jr.'s comment
that research is more important than teaching undergraduates ["Re-engineering
Engineering," March]. This is why we have learned professors and department
heads doing research in colleges across the country while their classes
are being taught by interns and graduate students.
Robert M. Walshaw, MBA'65
Coweta, Oklahoma
The Cauldron Seethes
The article "The Cauldron Bubbles, A University
Emerges" in the March issue can certainly raise one's anger. What
right have a bunch of college kids (albeit influenced by leftist radicals)
to protest or question the nation's foreign policy and stage riots on the
university campus and to further demand the closure of the ROTC program?
Changes in government are accomplished in voting booths. If the students
were justified, as this article seems to indicate, then we during World
War II should also have staged antiwar protest riots to demand that the
U.S. get out of Europe and stop ROTC and military training. It would be
the same as these Vietnam protests. This article makes one feel as though
there should have been protests, maybe desertions, to help the Axis powers.
The SDS [Students for a Democratic Society] should have been declared a
subversive organization and its leaders imprisoned.
William Hamilton, E'53
Melbourne Beach, Florida
It was nice to see the write-up of the 1971 Cauldron
in your March issue. Managing editor Richard Tourangeau, LA'71, deserves
credit for compiling the on- and off-campus history between 1966 and 1977
that was the core of the yearbook. The fact that an evocative audio history,
created by Bob Matorin, LA'71, accompanied each book should also have been
mentioned. The goal of everyone who worked so hard on the 1971 Cauldron
was to produce a document that, years later, would help members of the
class of '71 remember those changing and challenging times. Although our
efforts and their result provoked only the usual disinterested silence
from the Northeastern administration at the time, your article-albeit almost
thirty years later-suggests we may have achieved that goal.
Jim Vrabel, LA'71
Brookline, Massachusetts
Vrabel was editor of the 1971 Cauldron.
The article titled "The Cauldron Bubbles"
is so good-and if I hadn't been involved, I would feel absolutely sure
I had a full picture of the student protests at N.U. during the Vietnam
war era. However, I feel that the story of the 1970 graduation protest
should have been included.
During the years of the antiwar activity, workshops
were organized on campus and run daily in the Ell Center for those who
wished to investigate the issues. But when the murder of four students
at Kent State struck, the university exploded! That was what precipitated
the closing of the schools and, in most cases in our area, the cancellation
of graduation ceremonies. N.U.'s administration decided to call the students
back for a graduation ceremony and it was then that our planning began
for a student speaker. The administration sent a professor to meet with
our committee. He talked down to us and soon it was clear that he had come
not for discussion but for the objective previously decided by the administration.
I rose to the occasion and told him we had no intention of bowing to their
wishes. Our committee expanded. We wrote up flyers, we prepared peace symbols
for our graduation caps (hundreds wore them at the ceremony), and we got
out publicity to the press and TV.
Since we were pretty certain "they"
would stop us from speaking, we prepared flyers to give out to those attending
the graduation. Many students stood outside the gates handing out the material.
It was a fully organized effort; we were careful and yet determined to
get our words out. About 100 activists participated and many, many more
quiet supporters proudly wore peace symbols on their mortarboards. Following
Michael Collins's address, fifteen of us walked up and I alone ascended
the stage. The plan was that if I were challenged, another would come forth
to try to speak. I was the most protected merely because I had become known
as a grandmother. When I spoke with [President Asa] Knowles on the stage,
I said only, "I am going to speak now." "Oh, no you are
not," he said. "Oh, yes I am," said I. And then, with his
authority, the speaking equipment was cut. They also had prepared. The
campus police began to push the other students and firmly ushered out those
who were not among the graduates. I felt we had made our point-enough!
I took off my gown, threw it on the stage floor, and walked off while urging
the others to return to their seats. I was able to return to my assigned
seat and walk up to get my degree at the appointed time.
Edith (Stein) Sarah, UC'70
Brookline, Massachusetts
Check the Date
I think your date on the photo on page 72 of the
March issue [Huskiana] is incorrect. It's probably 1937, not 1938. I entered
Northeastern as a freshman in the fall of '38 and the West Building (now
Richards Hall) was essentially complete. Most of our classes were held
there. The picture you show is of open ground, so it must be either spring
or fall of 1937 or earlier. Also, our class picture-we were, if I remember
correctly, Section D-22-was taken on the steps of the West Building.
William J. O'Connell, E'43
Northfield, Vermont
Standing by the Standards
The statement by "the younger Brubeck"
in your fine story on "Quartet Times Two: Kronos, Brubeck Brothers
blow into Blackman" [March]-"if you're younger, you can go there
and not see a bunch of old farts in straw hats playing Dixieland"-says
a lot about his ignorance of the development of music and his lack of understanding
of jazz. As the Kronos Quartet would attest, if there were no Bach, there
would be no Beethoven, Brahms, or Bartok. And if there were no Dixieland-the
music of the early Louis Armstrong-there would be no Roy Eldridge, Dizzy
Gillespie, Thelonius Monk, or Dave Brubeck. Especially no Dave Brubeck,
who came to jazz as an adult from a classical music background. Here's
a challenge for the Brubeck brothers: how about buying a couple of straw
hats and taking a couple of "good old good ones," as Louis Armstrong
used to say, like "Muskrat Ramble" or "Struttin' with Some
Barbecue," and playing them in 5/4 or 11/8 time. That ought to be
a terrific attraction for the "traditional jazz" fan and those
who are younger as well.
Mel Levine, E'44
Boston
It Ads Up
Imagine my surprise when the ad I placed in the
March issue for the Clark University Graduate School of Management was
juxtaposed with a letter from loyal alum Kelly Higgins voicing her objections
to an ad for Suffolk University's MBA program. If it helps any, Kelly,
what we at Clark would like you to take away from our ad is that we agree
with you! Northeastern does a fine job in undergraduate education (graduate,
too)-so much so that we would like to recruit graduates for whom our program
may be a strong complement to their undergraduate experience and for whom
our central Massachusetts locations may be quite convenient to work or
home. We obviously don't agree that the only advertiser need be the Northeastern
business programs.
John Brandon
Worcester, Massachusetts
Brandon is director of admissions at the Clark University Graduate School
of Management.
Plagiarists Prosper?
Your March "Talk of the Gown" ["Your
Thoughts Exactly"] article left me with rather sad memories of a particular
occurrence at the school. Plagiarism existed and was, to some degree, sanctioned
by the staff. I remember all too well a situation that has continued to
bother me. In our thermodynamics class, a week project was to evaluate
a Ford truck V-8 engine. Knowing such facts as the bore diameter, length
of stroke, compression ratio, etc., we were to analyze this engine and
determine its efficiency, horsepower, etc. I postponed all my other studies
that evening to concentrate on resolution of the problem. I made a detailed
outline. The next morning, proud of my prior night's accomplishments, I
went to the professor's office to obtain guidance on the soundness of my
approach. I was in total awe to find that three "honor students"
had not only outlined their attack on the problem but had already typed
out the conclusions with all calculations in a neat format bound in a folder
with a colored frontispiece.
I proposed to the professor that in no way could
these three students have accomplished such a feat without obtaining copies
of previous studies and just updating the dates to claim the work as their
own. (This was 1952-there were no word processors.) No action was even
considered. It was then that I learned something that the instructors never
told us. Cheating was sanctioned as long as you were of the elite. Fraternities
had records of all tests and lab reports dating back many years. This was
common knowledge. If you belonged to a fraternity, you had access. If you
were poor and worked as you went to school, you didn't have the added information
that makes a C student an A student. There should have been a course at
N.U. to teach the idealistic student that in the real world, one cheats,
steals, and uses all the available tricks to get ahead. These few so-called
honor students learned at an early age "how to succeed in business."
The world has advanced, as your article points
out, to such a degree that plagiarism, as well as other forms of cheating,
are accepted practice. We see it at all levels of society, from our president
on down to the bankers and politicians who do not pay their fair share
of taxes. The world does have corrupt people in it. Power begets power.
This is a way of life. So, Mr. Kirtz, thank you for acknowledging the reality.
Yet I marvel at my other classmates who advanced to higher levels by sheer
hard work, honesty, intelligence, and raw intuition, and became the real
success stories of my class.
Frank Drozdick, E'54
Andover, Massachusetts
Decomposition
Guy Rotella's "Poem" in the March issue
[E Line] left me in a quandary. I enjoyed my American literature and Shakespeare
courses at N.U. in the late '50s (must engineering students still take
liberal arts courses?) and in high school previous to that. I don't delve
into poetry, but I feel that I should be able to get something out of any
that crosses my path. My first impression of Rotella's opus was, "This
must have been composed by a computer-on a bad day." I was probably
fatigued when I read it, and have just reread it, just to be fair. Now
it seems that only part of it was done by a computer; the rest is either
too quirky/clever in some areas and too illogical in others-it's hard to
put labels on something you can't grasp. Since you introduced Rotella as
a scholar rather than a poet, both he and the magazine may have been better
served by a summary of his lecture than by "Poem," or perhaps
some explanation of his creation; or am I being boorish? Part of my problem
is that I've always thought of N.U. as an engineering school, so to my
mind all the other academic areas are peripheral.
Joel M. Goldberg, E'63
Newton, Massachusetts
Housing Row
It has been universally accepted that public housing
has failed in its mission to elevate the poor into more productive, self-reliant,
and responsible members of the community. While grounded in good intentions,
public housing has spawned communities rife with crime and poverty and
straining under depressed property valuation. This is evident in the more
depressed areas surrounding Northeastern and in urban settings throughout
the country. Why is it then that university officials think they can "spark
community renewal . . . and urban rebirth" [Talk of the Gown, January]
by implementing a program proven to elicit the exact opposite result? Heightening
my concern is the university's plan to finance this program by levying
an additional tax on students, already some of the community's most burdened
members.
Those readers disagreeing with me will want to
cite specific examples where public housing has had some success. I rejoin
that these cases are by far the exception, and that this policy will drain
scarce resources away from the university's true mission, educating students.
Matthew S. Quail, E'87
Boston
A Woman's Day
Thank you for the article about the Women's Day
Program ["A Classroom of One's Own," January]. N.U. certainly
changed my life with its innovative day program, solving my life predicament
at that time. Attaining a work schedule geared to my four children's school
schedule seemed to be my best solution. That meant I had a mere twenty-two
transfer credits (from twenty years before) toward the bachelor's degree
I needed in order to work in an educational setting. My transfer credits
were augmented by language lab courses, local college summer classes, and
night school. I learned to budget time, to the extent of saving routine
typing for the last moment; in case I got sick and could not study adequately,
I could at least type. I learned to concentrate by perching on a window
sill to study as I watched over Cub Scout carnival activities! Later, I
was encouraged by a professor who urged me on to graduate work, telling
me there was no question that I could do it. When I received my master's
degree, I wondered if I ever would have thought I could do it without his
kind support.
It was suggested that the women in our psych course
be given the MMPI [Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory] to evaluate
our very high motivation to achieve. We were all rated as "off the
scale" regarding motivation and achievement, even beating out the
men who had preceded us and engaged in the G.I. Bill, who were then rated
as educationally superlative. Came the great day-thirteen of us participating
as the first Women's Day Program graduates, taking place in a huge graduation
ceremony in the Boston Garden. Looking up into the balconies bulging with
people, I saw a big waving sign: "Congratulations Mom!" What
a moment. What a great experience. What a great innovative college.
Jean P. Warren, UC'68
New London, Connecticut
Your recent article on the Women's Program at
Burlington recalled part of my history, as I was one of the women. It was
an amazing program and so successful it soon was not needed. Grand that
you wrote and reminded those of us fortunate to have been an early part
of an ongoing transition.
Patricia F. Smith, UC'68
Machias, Maine
Survey Standpoints
In your January issue, you report on a survey
completed by the Cooperative Institutional Research Program on last year's
entering freshman class [E Line]. I found the questions in the study to
be oddly worded. If 20 percent supported laws prohibiting homosexual relationships,
why was it not reported that 80 percent were against such laws? If 25 percent
wanted to abolish the death penalty, why was it not reported 75 percent
did not? And if 36 percent thought marijuana should be legalized, why was
it not reported that 64 percent were not in favor of legalization?
Jan Foster, BB'63, MS'74
Bridgeport, Nebraska
The results of the survey by the Cooperative Institutional
Research Program should not be too surprising. The findings indicate that
more than fifty percent of last year's entering freshman class leans toward
the liberal end of the political spectrum. We can attribute this to the
overwhelming bent and bias of their parents and the curricula of the secondary
educational system today.
Actually, their sophomoric attitudes change as
they get older, when they finally realize that legalization of marijuana
is quite dangerous; legalization of abortion, especially partial-birth
abortion, shows their disrespect for human life; and the idea of national
health care proves quite costly and wasteful. They quickly change their
minds regarding abolishing the death penalty when one close to them is
killed. Can this explain the attitudes of more than half our electorate,
who think that the character issue does not count as long as the stock
market is doing great guns and we have practically full employment? Character
does count! And that comes with maturity.
M. L. Galambos, BA'58
Joppa, Maryland
Gunned Down
Reference was recently made to the N.U. rifle
club [Huskiana, January]. Let's face it, the club was not a "dinosaur"
when disbanded; it was a planned operation by the university to eliminate
firearm competition. As a past Olympic rifle referee, all I can say is
that at least MIT had the guts to prevail in its programs.
William A. Dennis, UC'76, UC'78
Sanbornville, New Hampshire
Dennis is editor of the National Monitor,
published by the U.S. section of the International Police Association.
We welcome your letters and reserve the right
to edit them for space and clarity. Send them to: Letters to the Editor,
Northeastern University Alumni Magazine, 360 Huntington Avenue, 598 CP, Boston,
Massachusetts 02115. Fax: 617-373-5430. E-mail: <kgornste@lynx.neu.edu>.
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