Connecticut College Digital Commons @ Connecticut College Linda Lear Center for Special Collections & Alumni News Archives Fall 2003 CC: Connecticut College Magazine, Fall 2003 Connecticut College Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.conncoll.edu/alumnews Recommended Citation Connecticut College, "CC: Connecticut College Magazine, Fall 2003" (2003). Alumni News. Paper 296. http://digitalcommons.conncoll.edu/alumnews/296 This Magazine is brought to you for free and open access by the Linda Lear Center for Special Collections & Archives at Digital Commons @ Connecticut College. It has been accepted for inclusion in Alumni News by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ Connecticut College. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The views expressed in this paper are solely those of the author. • Staying green: four lives • "Leave No Trace" on trial • Hidden world of plants· letters, etc. As to the concern that the College in CC: Connecticut College Magazine TOthe Editors: general is going the way of radical "herd Volume 12 I Number 3 instincts" and brainwashing students, this I'M NOT SURE if you've shifted a bit in couldn't be further from the truth. Conn's your editorial coverage, but it seems that EDJTOR: Lisa H BrlJwnell robust core curriculum (in the form of .\SSOCLUE EDITOR/CLASS NOTES: Mary Howard this issue [Summer 2003] is an indication area requirements) ensures broad-based NE\l:'S EDITOR: Nina Lentini of a less esoteric, more humanistic out- exposure to various disciplines and intel- EDIlUR. ADVANCEMENT: Rebeurt NIlS/; look. In the past, I've skimmed the edico- lectual perspectives. However, a world- CONTRlBlJIlKG WRITERS: Rebecca NtlSh, Wif[ Tomasian rial quickly, skipping ahead to Class class liberal arts education also requires ART DIRECTOR: Susan Lindberg Notes. With this issue, instead, I paused advanced seminars on more focused and ADMINISTRATIVE ASSIST,\NT: Karen Lnskey over the thoughtful letter from President sometimes esoteric topics, usually taken SECRE:1i>.RY or THE COLLEGE IDJREcmR OF COLLEGE REU\TIONS Fainsrein: the description of the Watson Patricia M. Carry in the third or fourth year. These electives fellow studying the relationship between EDITOIlJAL ADVISORY BOARD: Af[ell Can'oll 73, Mrtria Bmden are the most exciting for students: they Clark '68, Wtmm Cohen '89. Grorge Willmler Jewish cooking and heritage: the Wally typically draw on the specific intellectual Lamb commencement address; the CC: Connecricut College Mngnz;"e is p~blished by Connecticut and research interests of faculty and College. Thc magazine's mi'''on .5 to ma.main lies bc,ween Ihe excerpt on architectural history of sum- College, ,tS alumni and all odler eons,ill1ems and to repon On issues encourage open debate and discussion. ofimpo"anee [0 ,hese groups. mer camps; and the account of the alum CC: ConneC[iCL1rCollege Mngllzi,,~ [USPS 129~140) is published Students at Conn are lucky to have such fouI rimes a year, in summer, fall, ",mer and spnng, and is m,ailed teaching on a Navajo reservation. free of charge. to members of the Connt'Ctlcm College AI"mnl courses and are especially lucky to have Assoc""on and fnends of Ihe College. PenodicaJs class post'b~ paid These stories remind us of what we can at New London, CT, and at additional offices. them with faculty of Spencer's caliber. reach to - a great aspiration for any pub- CONTRJlIlIflQNS, CC: ConneC[ic,", College Magay", will consider College students - who, let's not but is nm re'ponsible for unsolicited manuscrip's, propoSJls and lication and a privilege to read for the photographs, Addre», correspondence to, forget, are adults - should be exposed Ediwr, CC: ConnectiCut College Mngllzhlf, Becker House, Connecticut College community at large, 270 Mohegan Avenue, New London, CT 06320-41 ss. to a wide range of subjects and perspec- Phone: 860-439-2500; Thank you. FAX: 860-439-540.5 tives. This is the essence of a liberal arts ALUMNI: Send address changes to education, Sexuality, the subject under Katharine Canfield '84 Alumni Office debate, is clearly a major theme in Western Connecticut College Boston, Mass, literature (try reading Plato's 270 Mohegan Avenue Symposium, New London, CT 06320 the Bible, Rousseau's Conftssions or or e-mail to [email protected] AS A GRADUATE of Connecticut Dosroyevsky's Crime and Punishment Posrmasrer: Send address changes to CC: Connecticut College Mt/gn",;"e, 270 Mohegan Avenue, New College (with a minor in French) and now without discussing it) and as such should London, cr 06320·4196 an academic myself, 1 read the exchange be addressed In any reasonable curncu- CONNECfICUT COLLEGE BOARD OF TRUSTEES between Mary J. Driggs Pacholczyk '58 and lum. A vanety of sexual identities and Barb.", Shmuck Kohn '72, Chair: Jean c. Tempel '65 and Frank tvl. Turner, Vice Chairs; Judith Ammerman '60, Alexandra Band '02, Catherine Spencer [letters, Summer 2003] behaviors have always existed and have Ford W. Bell P:02, Gri",e1llenilez-Hodl!c '86, James S. Berrien 74, Jerrold B, Carrll1gron '79, Vedat Gashi 01. Carolyn R. Holleran '60, with great interest and concern. I wish to helped define individuals, cultures, and Ann Wel'Jler Johtl50n '68. Andrew Keller" '71, Chester W. Kitchings Jr.• Wendy Lehman Lash '64, Virginia Slaughter Loeb '48, defend Spencer and the role of advanced eras, so It makes sense to think about P'77, Sylvia Pasternack Marx '.57, Helen Fricke Ma,hieson '52, Jonathan D. McBride 'oz, Philip R. Mcloughlin 1"02 & '05, Naney seminars in a good liberal arts education, these topics intellectually rather than S. Nc,,""Comh'67, John F. Nlblack P'98. Anstiu P. Olney P'04, Joan Redmund Plan '67, Mary Lake Polan '65, 1"02, Douglas C Professor Spencer deserves praise, not ignore them. If this approach upholds the Renfidd·Milier '75. Thomas A. Sargent '82, Eugene B. Sifrovicl. '03. Ellen c.L Simmons '69, P'04, W. Carter Sullivan '79, Sally personal attacks, She IS an exceptionally "Religion of the Open Mind," as Ms. Susman '84, Stephen A. Van Dyck 1"98, Run .. It Wimon '82. Ex Ollicio: Fleur H. Lawrence 'SO, Norman F.ins,cin, Presidem, enthusiastic and personable instructor who Pacholczyk complains, I'm a believer! Elizabeth Ann Sabi]i., Dale Chakarian Tm"1.a'71 is loved by her students; I was lucky to take Indeed, a choice to systematically ignore CC: Connecticut College Mng"")'" Copyright 2003 by Connenicu[ a course with her myself She has devoted these and other topics deemed inappro- College, all "ght, reserved. RcprudllCtlon in whole Or in p"" wuh- om wri\len permission is prohibited. Views expre.,secl herein are many years to Connecticut CoHege and priate IS the dangerous "agenda" that those of rhe a,,[hors and do nOt nec"',"nl)' cetlen offiu31 pohey of the College. has risen to the rank of full professor and should draw our concern, not the choice PRINTED IN U.SA by"Il', Lane Press, Inc., South Burlington, VemlOm chair, We should rrusr her to select courses to include them. of interest to her and her students. www.connecticurcollege.edu continued on page 14 .." '" CC: Connecticut College Magazine welcomes letters from readers. Contact us by: .. '. Voice Mail: 860-439-5135 E-mail: [email protected] Fax: 860-439-5405 t o~ Write: Editor ~. s CC: Connecticut College Mrtgazille '. ............ o' 270 Mohegan Ave. !I New London, CT OG320-4196 Please include your fit/I name and n d{/}/I'me phone number. Submissions mny be edited fir clarity or !ipace. • 2 U;,CONNliCTICUT COI.Lc.G1'. "AGAZINr rAl.l. 2~~J firstcolumn Enriching the learning environment through diversity President Norman Fainstein on creating a pathway ftr change onnecticut College can Presidential Commission on a Pluralistic require economic resources that need to and should be a national Community at Connecticut College. be developed, and many would need to be leader in creating a truly Since then the commission has worked coordinated with other goals and pro- pluralistic community. diligently and effectively. It has conducted grams for the College. In such a community- studies and consulted widely in assessing I firmly believe that institutional whether a college, a the state of our pluralistic community and change must rest on the foundation of rea- (Own, or, indeed, a country - diversity in providing recommendations on how soned consensus, and that it takes time and unity are appropriately balanced we can grow stronger. and care to build that foundation in a within a democratic environment. For The report of the commission was democratic manner. At the same time, I colleges and universities, real pluralism released before the start of the fall semes- recognize that we as an institution have allows a full range of ideas and points of ter in both written and electronic form. firmly committed ourselves to construct- ing the best possible pluralistic communi- view (0 be represented in every discussion A copy can be found on the College and in every setting, thereby making for a Web page at http://camel2.conncoll.edu/ ty - one that recognizes and supports richer and more rigorous educational people/president/pluralism/. I urge every- diversity as it simultaneously creates a experience. To the extent that they provide one in the College community to read it. I new unity that transcends our differences. a pluralistic educational experience, high- believe it is an extraordinary The work of the commission ly selective institutions like our own are document, one that will pro- constitutes a critical first step in more effective in preparing students for vide the basis for lively discus- that process, and the momentum the diversity of the workplaces and com- sion as we build an informed talent established by the commission munities in which they will be leaders consensus about how best to does not needs to be maintained.