The Rock, Winter 1981 (Vol

Whittier College Poet Commons The Rock Archives and Special Collections Winter 1981 The Rock, Winter 1981 (vol. 51, no. 4) Whittier College Follow this and additional works at: https://poetcommons.whittier.edu/rock Part of the Creative Writing Commons, and the English Language and Literature Commons Recommended Citation Whittier College, "The Rock, Winter 1981 (vol. 51, no. 4)" (1981). The Rock. 92. https://poetcommons.whittier.edu/rock/92 This Magazine is brought to you for free and open access by the Archives and Special Collections at Poet Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in The Rock by an authorized administrator of Poet Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE ROCK Volume LI, No.4 Winter 1981 THE ROCK (USPS 608-180) is published four times a year, Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter, by Whittier College, 13406 Philadelphia Avenue, Whittier, California 90601. Contents THE IRANIAN REVOLUTION: AN APPRAISAL 1 EDUCATIONAL PARTNERS.. 8 STUDENT SERVICES 10 ON CAMPUS 14 SPORTS 21 LAW SCHOOL 23 OLD ACQUAINTANCES 24 ALUMNI OFFICERS The President's Corner Robert Blechen '56, Bel Air President As I write these lines toward the middle of December, I look Dr. Arthur F. Major '67, Arcadia Vice President back over an exciting two-week period. Allen Moss '79, Beverly Hills On our return from the Impact Meeting in Washington, DC, Law School Representative Dotty and I participated in the very successful Quaker Festival. The Susan (Elliott) Roberts '67 fine performances of our own Orpha Ochse and award-winning Hacienda Heights oragnist Catharine Crozier and the presence, as panelists and speakers Alumni Director of author and trustee Jessamyn West, Pulitzer Prize-winning compos- ers Ned Rorem and John LaMontaine, and actor Peter Mark Richman, The Rock Staff Daphne Lorne,Editor all combined to add luster to the week's celebration. There were John Strey, Sports Editor dinners for campus and community leaders and special programs Tom White,Graphic Design featuring cooperation between the College and First Friends Church. Ed Prentiss,Photography In the middle of this festivity the campus hosted a crowded football banquet sponsored by the 11-9-5 Club (we were SCIAC champions this year!). Cover story: Painted by the son of Sultan We also held the first public showing of the John Greenleaf Muhammad, this picture is an illustration Whittier Collection, at which we were honored by the presence of of the parable of the Ship of Shi'ism. Mrs. Amy Meek, widow of the late Dr. Frederick Meek who had spent (Mid-sixteenth century.) so much time and energy accumulating the Collection. This event enabled us to pay tribute to those donors who so generously contributed to the acquisition and in particular to the untiring efforts of our trustee, Mrs. E. L. Shannon, Jr., whose leadership insured that the John Greenleaf Whittier Collection is housed where it so rightfully belongs, in the College that bears the name of the abolitionist and lyricist. And finally, we have just had an excellent meeting of our Board of Trustees. Under the leadership of Chairman Chandler Myers, the Board has taken steps to begin an unprecedented fund-raising effort that will lead us into our second century with new strength. It is a great pleasure to report that Whittier College is moving forward with vigor and high purpose. Eugene S. Mills An Appraisal Of The Revolution In Iran William H. Sullivan William H. Sullivan was the U. S. Ambassador to Iran from 1977 until he retired from the Foreign Service in 1979. A graduate of Brown University and the Fletcher School of Law, he served aboard destroyers in the Atlantic, Mediterranean and Pacific theaters from 1943-46 and joined the Foreign Service in 1947. He has seen service in Bangkok, Calcutta, Tokyo, Rome and The Hague. As Special Assistant to Secretary Dean Rusk he was chairman of the Interdepartmental Co- ordinating Committee on Vietnam. In 1964 he was appointed Ambassador to Laos and in 1968 was pro- moted to the rank of Career Minister, becoming Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs in 1969 and Ambassador to the Philippines in 1973. Currently Ambassador Sullivan is President of the American Assembly, an educational institution which illuminates issues of United States policy and is affiliated with Columbia University. In October he came to Whittier College as the first Nixon Scholar for 1981-92 and on October 27 gave a public convocation. What follows is an abridged tran- script of that talk. Unfortunately the tape was faulty and much was missing. And, in what must necessarily be a decimated version of his speech, there is no way to convey his command of the language or his personal charm. One further note. At the time of going to press in December we learned that all the Universities in Iran have been closed. What effect this may have on the future of that country we would not attempt to guess, but it will certainly add to the chaos to which Ambassa- dor Sullivan referred. Inheritors of a Great Tradition he Iranians are descended from the ancient deserts of their civilization, coupled with a sense T Persians who, 2500 years ago under Cyrus that they are in some way superior to some of the Great and then Darius, founded the first real their neighbors, particularly their Arab neigh- empire state; a state that stretched all the way bors—a sense that because of their tradition and from what is now the southern part of the Soviet past they will somehow still achieve future glory. Union down to Egypt; a state which introduced The Iranians have had a long history of the concepts of juris prudence, of fiscal responsi- being overrun and controlled by foreign ele- bility and also of a civil service. For many cen- ments. Greeks, Romans, Seijuks, Turks, Monguls, turies after the old empire fell apart, the Persians Arabs, British and Russians have all, at one time were still civil servants in most of the successor or another, conquered Persia. It is interesting states around the Middle East. that through all this, the Persians have neverthe- Iranians today, therefore, are the inheritors less been able to maintain their sense of national of a truly great tradition. For many Iranians there identity, partly by their adherence to the past, is a sense of loss, a feeling that somehow they have not reaped what should have been the just 1 The Pahlavi Dynasty Reza Khan, as he was first known, was born near the Caspian sea. He came from a fairly hum- ble family, a tall, strapping young man who grew up to be quite an athlete. He was a person of some charisma, who, despite the fact that he was illiterate, decided he wanted a military career. To be a soldier in Iran at that time meant he had to join the Cossack Brigade, whose ranks were recruited from residents of Persia, but whose officers were culled from the Imperial armies of the Tsar of Russia. They maintained order in the northern part of the country, while in the eastern and southern parts it was maintained by the Persian Light Rifles who were also recruited locally, but whose officers came from the British The doorway of Pa-Menar Mosque, showing fourteenth century tilework. East Indian army. Because of his natural abilities, his intelli- partly because of this feeling of superiority and gence and the application he put into his career, also partly through a shrewd sense of accommo- Reza rose rapidly through the ranks and by the dation, knowing which of the current political time of the Russian revolution in 1917, he was parties seem in the ascendency and which appear the senior Persian in the Brigade and became the on the decline. commanding officer. In trying to assess the attitude and the The British suggested that he should bring characteristics of the Iranian people, we must the Brigade to Tehran, put pressure on Ahmad recognize what happened to Persia in the 19th Shah and persuade him to put Persia under a century, when the country found itself caught British protectorate. But Reza Khan had other between two super powers, the Russians from ideas, he wanted to emulate what Kernel Ataturk the north and the British from the India sub- was doing and set up a republic which would be continent to the east. modernized, westernized, secularized and which At that time, Persia was ruled by a very would follow the western European pattern. weak king, Qajar, whose rule did not extend Ironically, in light of later history, he was dis- much beyond the city of Tehran. In the country- suaded from this plan largely by the Ayatollah of side authority was vested either in the tribal Shi'ism, who preferred a monarchy for several chief, the landlord, or the religious authorities. reasons. In the first place, under the constitution The British and the Russians made most of the of 1906 governing the monarchy, Shi'ism was decisions that affected the lives of the average stated to be the official religion of Persia and Persians. They manipulated the tribal groups second, under that same constitution there was a of the region for their own imperial interests council of twelve Mullahs, often fanatical theo- rather than for the benefit of individuals or of logians, who could review any action taken by the Persian state. This experience has left a resi- due of bitterness and xenophobia in the minds of most Persians even today. It is a major factor in the reactions of Iranians. All of this is important if we are to under- stand at least some of the background that led to the revolution of 1978 and 1979.

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