Fall 2001

Departments

Exchange

Around the Pond

Branches of Learning

Extended Family

Great Sport

North 40

Performing Arts

Contributors

Features

Classic Turf

Berkshire Nightingales

A New Road to Learning

Exchange: To and from the editors

ALL THE LETTERS, ALL THE TIME From our readers, most recently:

THE POND SAYS IT ALL IN THESE STRANGE, POLITICAL, terror-stricken, whatever-you-call it times, I know every single one of us has thought back on the good old days. It's like a pick-me-up when things seem so uncertain. We know that at one time in our lives we had something safe and solid. Some reminisce about their grandparents making porridge early in the morning. Others think about the pet that was their best friend in the whole world. I look back and see the Campus Pond. As a freshman in 1995, I will never forget the way the moon looked so surreal against the shimmering waters of the pond next to the modern library and the ancient chapel. And every time I strolled past FAC I tried my hardest to see how it looked like a piano. Surrounding the pond, the past and the present merged in an odd way, but as time wore on, I got used to it. I used to think of it all as symbolism — that from the days UMass was an agricultural school until today, the university withstood changing times and ever-increasing knowledge. Hence the medieval chapel and the enormous, bursting library on the landscape. And there the pond reflected the university's inspiring history like a silvery mirror, perhaps urging us to not take a quick glance at the continuous reflection, but rather mull about the times the university has endured and triumphed. The pond was an escape. If I studied late, sometimes I would stroll by there in the dead of winter and not hear a sound. That's pretty remarkable on a campus with umpteen thousand people. On the first day of spring, people would feed the rabid ducks. On a sunny day, students were strewn about sunning themselves or reading a book for class or just plain staring at the world because they were so glad winter had come and gone. The pond was also the center of a lot of activity. Concerts, fairs, powows and rallies were held on its banks. Some who were brave enough took scientific samples from the water and its wildlife. These all make me smile. There was a time, though, when the pond was the center of a lot of contraversy. A couple of years ago, several rapes were reported on the pond's boundaries. It terrorized the female population of the school and made the pond a dangerous, hostile place. I have not gone back there since that time for many reasons. And I am sorry for it. I can't help but think back fondly on the pond now that a few years have passed. Since the attack on America, a lot of things have come into perspective. The pond really is a beautiful place and should be cherished. And we cannot go about our lives in fear. Living 20 miles from Manhattan, I occasionally go into the city for work, though my company's base is in New Jersey. And I will never forget the first day after September 11th that I had to go in. It was painful seeing all of the photos of missing people and the realization that they would never be found. The city seemed to have lost a certain innocence that would never be regained. You could see the pain in the faces walking by on the street. But today, I cannot say the same. When I look at Manhattan, I do not see smoke or planes or the missing towers. I see hope. I see possibility. I see exactly what I saw in the Campus Pond — the past and the present merging together to give us knowledge. So we should be grateful and take the time not only to see the pond in all its beauty, but also the message it is trying to give us. Tough times have plagued this nation before, but we still stand proud, strong, resilient, and a little bit wiser. Veronica MacDonald ’99 Long Branch, New Jersey LUCKY TO HAVE HAD ALI I WAS VERY SADDENED TO read of the death of [former UMass professor] Agha Shahid Ali. I didn't know him very well, but we crossed paths a few times during my English Ph.D. program and I always found him to be friendly, articulate, and interesting. His poetry is striking for its intensity and originality and well deserved its recent nomination for the National Book Award. UMass was lucky to have had Ali on its faculty for a time and we are all lucky to have his poetry for all time. Marcy Tanter ’86, ’96G Stephenville, Texas Note: Poet and former professor Ali died December 8 in Amherst. He had served the university for seven years before leaving for a position at the University of Utah in 2000. An appreciation in the Spring 1998 UMass is online at www.umass.edu/umassmag/archives/1998/spring_98/spg98_books_ali.html . GREEN-GRASS MEMORIES THERE IS SO MUCH IN the Fall 2000 UMass Magazine that I felt inspired to write. Re. The article "Classic Turf," especially the reference to the Orchards Golf Club: I caddied and played there from the age of 12 until I moved from South Hadley to Cape Cod at the age of 48. The Orchards was the home course for the UM (at that time it was Mass State!) golf team — of which I am proud to say I was a member. Ed Anderson was our top player and he won the individual championship title during The New England Intercollegiate Tournament one year while he was a student at UM. Some ten years later, my brother-in-law, Bill Young, also won the individual championship title during his years at UM. Bill’s father, James D. Young, was the first golf pro at the Orchards, serving in that capacity for 39 years, and he had a keen interest in the greenskeeping aspect of running a golf course. What is all that leading up to? I can tell you that as Jack Leaman was urging me to become a member of the Varsity M Club, I suggested to him that the time might be ripe to reinstate golf as a varsity sport, given the ever increasing popularity of the sport. Jack demurred, expressing concern over the expense of fielding a team. I would guess that fielding a golf team would be fairly low on the expenditures for varsity sports. Enough on that subject. The picture "Under Quabbin" in "Around the Pond" also brought back a memory. It was on a Saturday in the late 1930s. My father worked for a large hardware company in Holyoke, and I went along with him as he delivered several dozen axes to the Quabbin area which was in the process of being turned into a reservoir. My memory of things long past is much better than what I had for breakfast yesterday! Incidentally, the Mary Chaffee ’83 mentioned on page 49, is my daughter. Tom Chaffee ’50 South Yarmouth Note: Mary Chaffee ’83 was listed in ClassNotes as a recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Award of the UMass Alumni Association. She is Commander of the Navy Nurse Corps. GALVANIZING THE SOUL I WANT TO APPLAUD your article ["A New Road to Learning," Fall 2001] that recognizes those undergraduate students choosing community service over white sandy beaches. While the latter may bring temporary bliss, the former has the capability to galvanize and uplift the soul. The Alternative Spring Break Program provides yet another example of how diverse and rich the undergraduate experience is at UMass. The university has always provided avenues for active participation both within and outside the Five College Community. UMass's long tradition of service has been shaped, in part, by its geographical location. The Amherst campus is located in one of the most socially and academically progressive hubs in the country. A quick glance at current occupations of alumni will provide clear and strong evidence to the impact of the university's dedication to service. Outreach courses such as Anthropology 397 should continue to be supported and available to the general student body. Widening the base of the ASB Program should be a committment of both faculty and students alike. The ability to strengthen communities and form lasting personal relationships is a benchmark in applying one's education. There is truly no place like UMass; an outstanding and vibrant atmosphere for undergraduate learning. Kofi A. Cash ’00 Southfield, Michigan THE BUTTERFIELD EDGE I ENJOYED YOUR ARTICLE about Butterfield House ["‘Reprogramming’ Butterfield," Around the Pond, Fall 2001]. I has the good fortune to be in residence there from '64 thru '67. Butterfield's size made it easy to get >acquainted with everyone. And its location gave it a true feeling of independence. After all, we were the last outpost between campus and the "real world." Being "on the edge" had a great deal to do with Butterfield's distinct personality among the residence halls. I'm not surprised to hear there was a pirate flag flying from the rooftop. Deprogramming may be what's called for at present. I only hope the new residents come to realize what a special place they're living in. Neil Scanlan '67 Tulsa, Oklahoma BUTTERFIELD LOSSES TRAGIC I WAS DEVASTATED READING "’Reprogramming’ Butterfield" [Around the Pond, Fall 2001], suggestive that Butterfielders are a cult. As a proud former Butterfielder ('88-'90, '91), I cannot condone the alleged destructive actions of individuals last year, but I cannot help feeling the university's resolution conspired to punish both the innocent and the guilty. Most tragic is the loss of Phil Cavanaugh, a Butterfield icon whose contribution to students and staff cannot be measured. He is a loss to the institution as is the family-centered, artistic, communal living space that made my UMass experience what it was. I feel as though a piece of my personal history has been forever removed from the UMass landscape. Lisabritt (Kenefick) Solsky ’92 Durham, New Hampshire NOCTURNAL SUBMISSIONS RE. "CALLING ALL DREAMERS" [Letters in Print, Exchange, Fall 2001]: Since graduating from UMass in '76 I have returned many times in my dreams. One theme is about academics and the other about housing. 1.) In my academic dream I am taking too large of a course load and have forgotten to attend one of my classes all semester and I'm worried I'll be "discovered." I keep trying and failing to remember to atttend the class and do the required reading. It is either an English Literature or a History class. 2.) In my housing dream, it has been discovered a few years after I've graduated that I am several credits short of qualifying for my degree. I am forced to return to UMass to complete my undergraduate egree. I am wandering (car-less) the campus dorms in Southwest and surrounding apartment complexes and rental houses trying to fit in as a roommate with a younger group of undergrads. Every single dorm room and rental house is full because the semester is just ready to start and I'm too late. These two dream themes seem fitting to UMass life as I remember it. Nancy Goodell '76 Springdale, Utah GROUNDS AND BUILDINGS BLUES I CAN APPRECIATE THE FRUSTRATION with the appearance of the campus expressed in David A. Katz's letter [Letters in Print, Fall 2001]. Over the past 30 years I have had a similar experience when I contrast our campus with the many that I have visited, but I think alumni would have a better perspective on how the campus spends its annual state operating budget if they were to read the recent report comparing our spending priorities with those of the six state universities with which UMass Amherst is regularly compared in discussions like this. Alumni can see the full text of the report on-line at www.umass.edu/senate/governance.htm. Briefly, the report shows that, compared with our peers, UMass Amherst currently spends a much larger proportion of its state annual operating budget (as opposed to the capital budget) on student financial aid, athletics and operation of the physical plant than do our peers. We spend a significantly lower portion of our annual state budget on institutional and academic support, instruction, research, public service and capital projects. Why is this? There are two major reasons. Our president and trustees have not secured a state capital budget, separate from the state operating budget, that is sufficient to meet the campus $300 million deferred maintenance debt. As a result we have been raiding academic funds to keep ahead of the building closures forced by the state building inspector. But even this has not been enough to enable us to maintain the grounds meet the expectations of visitors. As for athletics, the total amount that our campus spends on athletics is actually not very different than the total spending levels of our peer institutions, but they spend much smaller proportion of their state budgets on sports because their alumni and outside sources put up much more money than do UMass alumni and outside sources here. The report also inidates that the most important strength of our campus is the quality of our faculty. They are the reason that we have achieved such a high level of excellence on the national level even under serious financial constraints. But this cannot continue indefinitely. A logical conclusion to draw from this report is that both our trustees, with respect to capital funds, and our alumni, in the case of athletics, need to improve their performance to a level closer to that we see at our peer institutions. Joseph S. Larson '56, '58G Pelham Note: The writer is a professor emeritus of natural resources economics at UMass. SADDENED BY BUTTERFIELD I WAS TRULY SADDENED by your story on Butterfield — my first home at UMass in '44-'45 ["Reprogramming Butterfield," Around the Pond, Fall 2001]. My lasting memories are strong and persistent of good friends and yes, good food. Surely the dorm had not been built for women since the communal bathrooms were equipped with urinals! Not being familiar with this device, we used them to wash our feet. We were naive, but we weren't jocks. We walked the hill to and from class and entered a dorm with a great living room next to the apartment of the housemother, Mrs. Whipple. She was a model of civility and gracious living. Her presence gave us something to aspire to. Demolishing that dorm, our home away from home, was the last thing on our minds. Claire Commo Fish ‘48 Carlisle, Pennsylvania NIHILISM LIVES YOUR ARTICLE "UMassists at the barricades!" [Extended Family, Fall 2001] begins, "Dadaism, surrealism, post-structuralism, UMassism ? It might not seem like the most natural progression. But at ‘The Big Small Press Fest’ at Memorial Hall last May, the words zeitgeist and avant-garde - even fin de siecle — would not have seemed out of place. On campus for this most unusual conference, the first of its kind anywhere as far as anyone knows, were some of the leading names in alternative publishing today. . . " I see that nihilism is alive and well at UMass. Conferences such as the one described are indeed a "natural progression" and have occurred before. They are documented in Dr. Leonard Peikoff's brilliant work of history and philosophy titled The Ominous Parallels: The End of Freedom in America. Dr. Peikoff documents how the irrationalist and nihilist philosophy, literature, and culture of Germany opened the door for the rise of the Nazi philosophy and war machine in Germany And now UMass and poetry professor Dara Wier are bringing this same experience to America. How happy UMass will be to be identified as one of the "ominous parallels" to Nazi Germany when America's future history is written. Paul Saunders ‘70 Bethlehem, Pennsylvania ON SEPTEMBER 11 AND BUTTERFIELD DORM THE EFFECT OF THE EVENTS of September 11th on the UMass community ["The kind of people we have here," Around the Pond, Fall 2001] reminded me of a time nearly 40 years ago when the impact of another national tragedy struck the campus. A crisp, clear November day. Midterm exams before the Thanksgiving break. As I crossed campus towards Bartlett Hall I encountered a classmate. "Did you hear the news, the President was shot." My first thought was who would shoot John Lederle (former UMass president). One could not comprehend any harm coming to the President of the United States. Our professor gave us the option of postponing our exam to another time, but we decided to take the exam. Midway through the test, the Chapel bell began to toll. President Kennedy had died. Some classmates openly wept. At the end of the day, UMass shut down and sent us home to our families for a never- to-be-forgotten Thanksgiving weekend. The events and images of November 22, 1963 and September 11, 2001 are forever etched into our brains. We will mourn for a while and we will never forget, but we will go on with our lives. This is what we must do. Re. another story ["Reprogramming Butterfield," Around the Pond, Fall 2001], I could not help reflect on how the world has changed so much since I resided in Butterfield in the 1960s. In my freshman year I can remember locking myself in my room in fear of upper classmen making me dance on a tabletop while wearing my UMass beanie. Girls (that's what they were in 1962) had a 7:00 pm curfew from Sunday through Thursday! Only on Friday and Saturday nights could they stay out until 11:00 pm! When I heard that Butterfield had gone totally coed I just shook my head. I am not a prude, but just maybe the priorities of why we attend college have been misplaced? Liberalism run amok? We had our water fights, spiked the punch when our housemother wasn't looking, stayed up all hours of the night watching the Celtics beat the Lakers, and sophomorically rated the girls on a scale of 1 to 10 as they filed into the dining commons each night. But we were there to receive an education first and foremost. And we did. We were a closeknit community within the dorm who loved the building. We fielded great intramural athletic teams and competed against other dorms and fraternities. We were proud to be members of the Butterfield Independent Society. There was no trashing of our home away from home. It is a shame that a few misfits have spoiled it for those who are serious about learning. Perhaps we need to go back to the fundamentals. Very disappointed, Alexander Woodle '66 Groton PRAYING FOR TODD Editor's note: The following message, a paragraph of which appears in "Personal losses" in the Around the Pond section, was sent to Chancellor Williams on September 13. Michael Petrocelli's reminiscence of his friend Todd Hill will appear in our next issue. I AM AN ALUM OF the class of '90. Another alum, Todd Russell Hill '90, is still lost in NYC at the World Trade Center Mariott Hotel. It is my understanding that he placed a phone call this evening from somewhere in New York saying that he was trapped in the rubble. If you would, please have our campus community remember Todd in its prayers. I don't think I have a memory of UMass that doesn't include Todd. He was an active member of the campus community and loved everything about UMass. Often, even as late as last Friday night, we would talk about the fun we had in Amherst and the amazing time we had growing up at UMass. Please, ask the students and faculty there to take a look at their friends in Amherst to think about how fragile life is and how important their friends are and to pray for people like Todd who still need help in New York city. I know that I will be taking you to lunch with Todd in Amherst so he can thank you personally for the strength and good will our campus showed in helping him with their thoughts and prayers. Mike Petrocelli ’90 Arlington CONCERNED FOR BATS RE "FRIENDS IN A PINCH" [Spring 2001] about an Outing Club trip through a cave last winter: I wanted this comment to be brought to the leaders’ attention. One of the rules of caving is do not disturb the bats. Obviously they were disturbed per the author’s comments at the end of the article. While I think it is great that everyone had a wonderful time and found inner resources they didn’t know they had, I wish to point out that when bats are disturbed during their winter hibernation, they use up a great deal of energy. They must go from a torpid state (reduced activity and metabolism) to one of normalcy. The energy used to come out of this torpor is energy that is necessary for their very survival through the winter. They were put at risk because of man’s disturbing their hibernation site. I would like to suggest you visit another cave with no bats or visit that cave when the bats are absent. For more information please write Bat Conservation International, Inc. P.O. Box 162603, Austin, Texas 78716-2603. Tel: (512) 327-9721. Jean Conway ’75 Beaverton, Oregon

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All the letters

LETTERS IN PRINT, Fall 2001

TURNING TOWARD EACH OTHER: remarks by Chancellor Williams

CORRECTIONS