LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Columbia Connections

Within the past couple of years, I have been pleased to see an increase in programs to which alumni are invited. I attended the formal opening of the Kraft Center and contributed to further its programs. I attended a breakfast and lecture at West Point on Islam, organized by the Alumni Association, and found it very worthwhile. The insights of its professors are a great asset that Columbia should provide to its alumni on occasion.

Why should Columbia trouble its professors to serve the interests of alumni? I have only one data point: my oldest daughter. My lack of contact with Columbia meant that she had no special association with or feelings for Columbia. She had never heard me come home enthused from a lecture to alumni, because there had been none I could attend. I had talked about the Core Curriculum very positively, but it seems that was not enough. My daughter applied early decision to another Ivy League university and was accepted. Perhaps if Columbia shares its academic strength — its strong point — with alumni more, there will be a higher rate of application from the children of alumni.

I hope Columbia Connections will succeed in its goal of increasing alumni participation in the College.

Joseph M. Schachner ’78, ’79E
SUFFERN, N.Y.

[Editor’s note: Some of Columbia’s outstanding faculty members are featured in Dean’s Day, held annually in New York (the next one is April 12) and now being brought to other parts of the country.]

After perusing CCT’s article, “Columbia Connections,” an observation.

The main objective appears to be strengthening ties between Columbia College and its alumni/ae. While reading the section of the article under the heading “Reunion Enhancements,” a thought previously entertained reentered my mind. We all seem to agree that there exists many benefits to maintaining contact among graduates long gone from the Morningside Heights campus. Yet, for whatever reasons, much of the effort to draw Columbians together is reactive and not proactive. If we are to invest endowment money wisely, we need to take a much more aggressive stance in getting our peers to share stories of their lives and reengage the people they knew during perhaps their most formative years.

For example, the Class Notes section of CCT is dependent on alumni/ae sending in updates. Why not review the Office of Alumni Affairs and Development list of classmates from each year and proactively solicit updates from them? Many individuals have a much more natural inclination toward providing updates than others, but this does not mean that those who do not are not up to interesting things or that classmates are less desirous of hearing about their comings and goings. Instead of relying on the “usual suspects,” we need to recognize that both CCT and more recent efforts such as Columbia Connections may serve to reconnect the individuals who made five great friendships during college as those who made 50.

Let’s aggressively prod those who need prodding and see who falls out of the unlikeliest of bushes! We owe it to the memory of not only our closest friends from Columbia but to that of the girl from Lit Hum who always had something interesting to say or the boy from your floor on John Jay who you never got to know as well as you would have liked.

Marc Hanes ’89
NEW YORK

[Editor’s note: Point well taken. Increasing the number of alumni who participate in the life of the College is a primary goal of Columbia Connections. As for CCT, we regularly urge our class correspondents to go beyond the “usual suspects” and reach out to classmates they haven’t heard from for notes.]

Johnson, Not Jackson

I think you slipped in the “In Memoriam” of Eric L. McKitrick (September 2002) when saying he was best known for his book, Andrew Jackson and Reconstruction, which you described as a “pivotal work in the history of Reconstruction.” If Andrew Jackson had been involved in the post-Civil War Reconstruction, it would have been more than a pivotal work. It would have been miraculous. Jackson died in 1845. Jackson was better known for his deconstruction, as in his abolition of the Second Bank of the United States.

I think you meant Andrew Johnson, Lincoln’s successor in the White House.

Jay Woodworth ’65
SUMMIT, N.J.

Relationships

In your September 2002 issue, you published an “In Memoriam” of Kenneth A. Lohf, a dedicated librarian with an admirable record of four decades of professional work at Columbia. The obituary concluded with a mention of Lohf’s companion of 53 years, Paul Palmer. As a gay alumnus, I offer commendation and thanks for acknowledging Lohf’s and Palmer’s special relationship, which, in another era, or in an alumni magazine at many other colleges, would not have made its way into print.

Allen Young ’62, ’64J
ORANGE, MASS.

Crew Boating

I ran a series of six consecutive ads in Columbia College Today, from September 2001–July 2002, inquiring as to the boating of the Columbia JV heavyweight crew that rowed in the three-mile Poughkeepsie regatta on June 21, 1947. During the past year, I had the pleasure to hear from some of the oarsmen who had rowed in this shell and race, including John Murphy (coxswain), Bill Hayes (stroke), Charles Malcolm Gilman, George Swikart, George Pretat and Walter McVicar. I also heard from other Columbia oarsmen who had been at Poughkeepsie in June 1947.

This past summer, the development officer for intercollegiate athletics at Columbia, Ty Buckelew ’94, kindly sent me a copy (on official University stationery) of the submittal of the JV heavyweight shell written and signed by Kern Chatillon, the crew manager, dated July 3, 1947. The list was “Trozzi, Norman; Kayser, David; Gilman, Malcolm; McVicar, Walter; Swikart, George; Pretat, George; Hayes, William; Thomas, Arthur; Murphy, John G.”

Thank you one and all for your interest.

Arthur L. Thomas ’50
GREENWICH, CONN.

Columbia Athletics

I share the desire of recent correspondents to see the Lions become much more competitive in football and basketball (also soccer, baseball, track, etc.). President Lee C. Bollinger told Spectator that he is working on the athletics situation, and I hope he is. While the administration has the prime responsibility, I’ve always believed that fan enthusiasm is indispensable to a successful athletics program.

Columbia needs more alumni support than the norm because of its small undergraduate enrollment, off-campus stadium, and a smaller treasury than its rivals. It’s true that coaches and administrators must be accountable, but I still can’t envision success with football "crowds" of 3,000. Winning increases attendance, but at Columbia, the support must increase first or the winning will not.

A few alumni think sports should be abolished; a few even think it’s fun to lose. But most share the normal feeling that sports play an important role. Apathy has crept in over the years, but the University family is large enough and proud enough to turn things around by attending games and petitioning the administration. There is nothing gauche about rooting for Alma Mater, on the playing field as well as in the classroom.

Charles K. Sergis ’55
CALABASAS, CALIF.