WESLEYAN 70 FIFTIETH REUNION | MAY 21–24, 2020 | WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY WESLEYAN 70 FIFTIETH REUNION | MAY 21–24, 2020 | WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY Dear Classmates, I have always felt lucky to have been at Wesleyan from 1966–1970. We were able to experience the conflict and change of those years in a safe environment that encouraged learning, arguing, and experimentation. So, when Kate Quigley Lynch asked me to edit our fiftieth reunion yearbook, I was happy to take the job. Ted Reed, a Wesleyan roommate and former Miami Herald reporter, agreed to be my partner in creating the book. Our goals were to let everybody know what our classmates have been doing for the past half century, to celebrate the lives of classmates who have died, and to honor the professors who were important to us. Additionally, we hoped that through preparing essays, compiling Argus stories, and chronicling outside events, we could help you remember not only our time on campus, but also the drama of the unique period when we were there. Jeff Sarles did a terrific job of finding, organizing, and writing captions for photos highlighting events happening in the outside world during our Wesleyan years. Much of this work is in the book. His full presentation is available on the class page (www.wesleyan.edu/classof1970) and will be played as a slide show during reunion weekend. John Sheffield, Maurice Hakim, and Jeremy Serwer read every Argus edition published during our time at Wesleyan and identified stories of interest. Many of you wrote heartfelt remembrances of classmates who died and others helped identify photos. Diana Diamond and Ted contributed essays. Kate Quigley Lynch and Beth Watrous of the alumni office helped with research and encouragement. Ellen Maurer, who has designed 50th Reunion yearbooks for fourteen Wesleyan classes, brought her talent, knowledge, and perspective to the project. We also used photos from the Class of ’70 Olla Podrida that Tony Balis skillfully put together a half century ago. —JOHN GRIFFIN PS. A last thought. The new class at Wesleyan, the class of 2023, is highlighted in Ted’s essay “Would We Even Get Into Wesleyan Today?” They are to us as we are to the class of 1917. WESLEYAN 70 Reunion Committee Table of Contents John Alschuler, Bob Apter, Charles Bosk, Bill Bullard, Bob Carter, Ed Castorina, Jerry Cerasale, Would We Even Get Into Wesleyan Today? Prince Chambliss, Chip Conley, Alan Dachs, Elliot Daum, David Davis, Diana Diamond, By Ted Reed ...........................................................................................................................................................4 James Elston, Gordon Fain, David Geller, Marcos Goodman, Barry Gottfried, Tim Greaney, What We Did About the Vietnam War John Griffin, Maurice Hakim, Darryl Hazel, Nathan Heilweil, Bill Jefferson, Carl Johnson, By Ted Reed ...........................................................................................................................................................8 David Jones, Russell Josephson, Douglas Knight, Murray Krugman, Robby Laitos, Bob Murphy, The Wesleyan Argus: Vietnam War ................................................................................................................... 12 Steve Ossad, Stephen Policoff, Darwin Poritz, Ted Reed, Judy Saltzman, Jeff Sarles, Jacob Scherr, Jeremy Serwer, John Sheffield, Brian Silvestro, Peter Simpson, Bob Stone, Steve Talbot, Bill Tam, How the Class of 1970 and a Guy from Birmingham Helped Lead Wesleyan Integration David White, Bruce Williams, Bob Woods By Prince Chambliss with Ted Reed .....................................................................................................................14 The Wesleyan Argus: Black Voices ..................................................................................................................... 18 Reunion Book Editors: John Griffin, Ted Reed, Jeremy Serwer, Maurice Hakim, John Sheffield The Transition to Coeducation at Wesleyan (1968–1978) By Diana Diamond, Ph.D. ................................................................................................................................. 20 We appreciate all members in the Class who have helped this Committee by suggesting ideas, making phone calls, finding “lost” classmates, and supporting Wesleyan. The Wesleyan Argus: Women Arrive ................................................................................................................. 26 Autobiographies ..................................................................................................................................................... 28 1966 Year in Review ......................................................................................................................................... 38 Special Thanks To… The Wesleyan Argus: Advertising ...................................................................................................................... 50 1967 Year in Review ......................................................................................................................................... 62 Kate Quigley Lynch ’82 P’17 ’19, Director of the 50th Reunion, The Wesleyan Argus: Controversies ....................................................................................................................74 and Beth Watrous MALS ’02 in Wesleyan’s Office of Advancement 1968 Year in Review ......................................................................................................................................... 86 The Wesleyan Argus: Our Music ........................................................................................................................ 98 Alex Wong ’23, Student Intern 1969 Year in Review ....................................................................................................................................... 110 Jennifer Hadley and Amanda Nelson in the Olin Library Archives The Wesleyan Argus: Winning ........................................................................................................................ 120 Ellen Maurer of Maurer Designs 1970 Year in Review ....................................................................................................................................... 134 Hitchcock Printing Remembrances ..................................................................................................................................................... 136 Faculty Tributes .................................................................................................................................................... 160 Commencement ................................................................................................................................................... 170 Back cover photo credit: Charles Spurgeon ’72. Fifty-four years ago, in the Would spring of 1966, Wesleyan admitted its first diversity class. We Even Get That was us. “Hoy’s Boys” we were called to honor then- Into Wesleyan admissions dean Jack Hoy. We actually weren’t that diverse. Of the 352 Today? admitted to our class, zero were women, while 33 were from minority groups, mostly black. Their inclusion was viewed as historic, the first step in By Ted Reed making prestigious New England colleges more open and more representative. Still, it’s hard to avoid recall- ing that most of us were white guys from New York, New Jersey, or Connecticut, along with a handful of Californians. Today, comparing board scores, class rank and diversity stats for the Class of 1970 with the same stats for the Class of 2023, you cannot help but conclude that many of us would be unqualified for today’s Wesleyan. It’s as if we were major league baseball players between 1901 and 1947, the period when all the players in the Negro Leagues were excluded. Amin Abdul-Malik Gonzalez, Wesleyan’s current dean of admissions, and “ It’s as if we were Robert Kirkpatrick, who succeeded Hoy in the position in 1969, both told me in November 2019 interviews that it’s impossible to tell whether we would be major league admitted today, given all the variables. Possibly they were just trying to be nice. baseball players “It is a true statement that competition for admission is more keen today than between 1901 it was then, but to bring that to an individual student is hard to do,” said Gon- zalez. “The landscape is different; the pool was different. It’s hard to change a n d 19 47, the variables so that you can weigh things identically.” the period when Gonzalez, a member of the Class of 1996, said he sometimes asks himself whether he would be admitted today. “It’s twice as hard as it was when I all the players came,” he said. “In 1992, when I applied, Wesleyan admitted 33%. This in the Negro year it’s only 16%.” Leagues were When I asked Kirkpatrick whether we would get in today, he responded, “I have no idea. The admissions world is unbelievably excluded.” different. It’s a much more complicated, much more aggressive kind of environment now than it was then. If you look at the racial, religious and socio-economic makeup now, it’s mind-bog- glingly different.” “The diversity of the undergraduate population is much more pronounced than it was,” he said. “The value of academics as primary criteria for admission is the same now as then, but within that, diversity plays a more important role. I would hope the overarching value of having students who could take advantage of opportunities would have put you at the admit level,”