Washington College Alumni Magazine Spring 2012 : Page 4

THE REPORTER Lowe is descended from a Hes-sian prisoner of war named Cristoph Oeste, “and they were looking for expertise in the captives detained by the new United States,” says Miller, whose book, Dangerous Guests: Enemy Captives and Revolution-ary Communities During the War for Independence , is forth-coming from Cornell Univer-sity Press. General Washington’s forces captured Oeste and more than 800 of his comrades at the Battle of Trenton in late December 1776 and took them to Lancaster, PA, the chief detention site for British and German prisoners. The Lancaster detention site and its German prisoners feature prominently in Miller’s book project, so he was well equipped to answer the show’s questions about the Hessians’ experiences in captivity and their interactions with their American captors. He even translated a prisoner list found in German archives. The Rob Lowe episode is scheduled to air later in the season, and Miller plans to tune in. “It’s a funny coincidence that Carol and I were con-tacted separately by the same series, for the same season,” he says. “It’s cool, though, to be sought out as an authority in your speciﬁc ﬁeld by a national media outlet.” Wilson agrees. “Although the show makes the research look a little easier (and faster!) than it actually is, it does help viewers realize that everyone, famous or not, has a history, and that your own history can be pretty interesting and important.” SPRING 2012 Profs Help Celebrities Discover Ancestral Roots C AROL WILSON HAS NEVER MET BLAIR UNDERWOOD. Nor has her colleague Ken-neth Miller ever talked to Rob Lowe. But both history professors helped researchers track down these actors’ ancestries for W ho Do You Think You Are?, the popular NBC series that traces the lineage of celebrities. • In researching Underwood’s family background, the show’s research staff found a female ancestor who was a free African American living in particular person’s life was really like. But we can create a picture of what life was like for, in this example, most free African Americans who lived in Virginia during the early nineteenth century.” Wilson, the Arthur A. and Elizabeth R. Knapp Profes-sor of American History and the chair of her department, says the show’s researchers did not reveal the identity of the celebrity subject. She found out only months later. And although she had never watched the show, she did tune in to see the segment on Underwood, which aired February 24, and found it surprisingly compelling. The episode is posted on the net-work website : www.nbc.com/ who-do-you-think-you-are.) Professor Miller had recently completed a fellowship at the David Library of the American Revolution in Bucks County, PA, researching a manu-script on how Revolutionary America treated its enemy captives, when Who do You Think You Are? came calling. They had discovered that Rob Virginia around 1800—which is where Wilson’s expertise came in. As a specialist in early and antebellum African-American history and author of Freedom at Risk: The Kidnapping of Free Blacks in America, 1780-1865 , Wilson was able to help ﬂesh out the skeletal history of the ancestor. “When you are creating the story of someone who was not famous, you don’t have much besides basic things like birth, marriage, death and census records,” she says. “We don’t have much to tell us what that WASHINGTON COLLEGE MAGAZINE 4

The Reporter

TV producers consult history professors on celebrity ancestries. College plans fitness center expansion. Students hear firsthand accounts of revolutions in the Middle East. Profs Help Celebrities Discover Ancestral Roots CAROL WILSON HAS NEVER MET BLAIR UNDERWOOD. Nor has her colleague Kenneth Miller ever talked to Rob Lowe. But both history professors helped researchers track down these actors' ancestries for Who Do You Think You Are?, the popular NBC series that traces the lineage of celebrities. • In researching Underwood's family background, the show's research staff found a female ancestor who was a free African American living in Virginia around 1800 – which is where Wilson's expertise came in. As a specialist in early and antebellum African- American history and author of Freedom at Risk: The Kidnapping of Free Blacks in America, 1780-1865, Wilson was able to help flesh out the skeletal history of the ancestor. "When you are creating the story of someone who was not famous, you don't have much besides basic things like birth, marriage, death and census records," she says. "We don't have much to tell us what that particular person's life was really like. But we can create a picture of what life was like for, in this example, most free African Americans who lived in Virginia during the early nineteenth century." Wilson, the Arthur A. and Elizabeth R. Knapp Professor of American History and the chair of her department, says the show's researchers did not reveal the identity of the celebrity subject. She found out only months later. And although she had never watched the show, she did tune in to see the segment on Underwood, which aired February 24, and found it surprisingly compelling. The episode is posted on the network website: www.nbc.com/ who-do-you-think-you-are.) Professor Miller had recently completed a fellowship at the David Library of the American Revolution in Bucks County, PA, researching a manuscript on how Revolutionary America treated its enemy captives, when Who do You Think You Are? came calling. They had discovered that Rob Lowe is descended from a Hessian prisoner of war named Cristoph Oeste, "and they were looking for expertise in the captives detained by the new United States," says Miller, whose book, Dangerous Guests: Enemy Captives and Revolutionary Communities During the War for Independence, is forthcoming from Cornell University Press. General Washington's forces captured Oeste and more than 800 of his comrades at the Battle of Trenton in late December 1776 and took them to Lancaster, PA, the chief detention site for British and German prisoners. The Lancaster detention site and its German prisoners feature prominently in Miller's book project, so he was well equipped to answer the show's questions about the Hessians' experiences in captivity and their interactions with their American captors. He even translated a prisoner list found in German archives. The Rob Lowe episode is scheduled to air later in the season, and Miller plans to tune in. "It's a funny coincidence that Carol and I were contacted separately by the same series, for the same season," he says. "It's cool, though, to be sought out as an authority in your specific field by a national media outlet." Wilson agrees. "Although the show makes the research look a little easier (and faster!) than it actually is, it does help viewers realize that everyone, famous or not, has a history, and that your own history can be pretty interesting and important." Beloit Professor Tapped For Dean's Post AFTER AN EXTENSIVE search process Washington College has selected Emily Chamlee-Wright to be the next Dean and Provost. Chamlee- Wright currently serves as Associate Dean at Beloit College in Wisconsin, where she also teaches economics and directs the Miller Upton Programs on the Wealth and Well-being of Nations. She will be moving to Chestertown with her husband, Brian, and their daughters, Linden, 11, and Cailin, 9, to start her new job in July. President Reiss says Chamlee- Wright stood out among a remarkably strong field of candidates because of her strengths as both a scholar and an administrator. "It is clear that Dr. Chamlee-Wright understands what it takes to be a great teacher and scholar and what it takes to be a great liberal-arts college in the 21st century," he said. "She impressed us all with her passion for engaged learning, both in the classroom and in the field. In these challenging economic times, we also value her experience in bringing financial stability and sustainability to high-quality academic programs and in expanding summer programs at Beloit. Her talents, energy and creativity will help us move the College forward in significant ways." Associate Professor of Politics Melissa Deckman chaired the search committee that unanimously endorsed Chamlee-Wright. She says the students, faculty and staff who met with the candidate were struck with her high level of enthusiasm. "She was dynamic and approachable and generated lots of good ideas," says Deckman. "Both on paper and in person, Dr. Chamlee-Wright evidenced a wonderful balance of confidence and humility, leadership skills and collegiality. The College community appreciated her big-picture approach to building and sustaining an engaging learning environment for students." Chamlee-Wright says she was attracted to the College in part by its commitment to interdisciplinary and integrative learning and also by its confidence in its liberal arts mission. "Washington College offers students the ideas, investigative skills and creative foundations necessary to navigate unchartered territory and then expects them to engage in genuine discovery. This is the kind of education that is truly emancipating." "SHE IMPRESSED US ALL WITH HER PASSION FOR ENGAGED LEARNING, BOTH IN THE CLASSROOM AND IN THE FIELD." Summer Tech Camp Introduces Kids To GIS WHEN YOU'RE a kid, nothing beats spending the height of summer on Maryland's Eastern Shore, particularly when you're looking for shipwrecks, creating virtual worlds or solving crimes. The College's Center for Environment & Society is hosting a Geospatial Discoveries Summer Program June 24-30, offering three tracks for students in grades 7 through 12. GIS program coordinator Stew Bruce says the camp offers young people an introduction to the growing field of geospatial technologies with applications in everything from business, communications and the sciences to historical geography, national defense and urban planning. In the Marine Exploration and Discovery section, students board the College's research vessel Callinectes to explore the Chester River and learn to map the river bottom. Working with a former NOAA scientist, they also compete to build and launch an underwater robot and a basic observation buoy that measures water quality. Students in the 3D Visualization and Virtual World Development will learn how to use several GIS technologies including 3D virtual world game development software. Using 3D re-creations of either the town of Chestertown circa 1920 or the Pluckemin Artillery Cantonment as it stood in 1778 in New Jersey, they will establish story plots and designs for a video game. The CSI sessions will focus on how GIS analysis can help law enforcement agencies prevent crimes. Students will learn how to visually map crime statistics and predict where police need to increase their patrols and surveillance. This is the fifth summer the College has hosted a GIS summer program, and director Bruce says it is satisfying to see many of the same students return to build on their past learning. He promises plenty of fun outside the labs, too, from kayaking and pool parties to movie night. Scholarships are available. To register or for more information, visit gis.washcoll.edu. THE REPORTER Students Hear Firsthand Reports Of Arab Spring ON A THURSDAY morning in late February, 12 students in Shiraz Maher's "Middle East Politics" class listen via Skype as a young Syrian resistance fighter named Khaled Abu Hunain describes how grim life has become for him and his anti-Assad colleagues in the besieged city of Homs. He had helped Sunday Times reporter Marie Colvin and other journalists sneak into the Baba Amr neighborhood that had become the heart of the resistance, and he tries with limited success to livestream cellphone video images from inside the house where Colvin and others had died the previous day during government rocket strikes. "Please don't show any bodies," Maher suggests, as grainy images appear on his laptop and shells explode in the background. Wishing Abu Hunain well and promising to follow up later, Maher then connects with a university colleague named Lorenzo, who is an expert on the Muslim Brotherhood. Speaking from his laptop in Zurich, Lorenzo gives the students a quick tutorial on the political group's history and its role in the Arab Spring. As a visiting lecturer in political science, Maher brings a wealth of connections and experiences – including a three-year stint as a member of Hizb ut-Tahrir, an extreme political group that advocates for the creation of one independent Muslim state under Islamic law. He is now a senior research fellow at the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation (ICSR) based at King's College London. In that role, the former Hizb ut-Tahrir recruiter works to counter the cultural, economic and political forces that lure young men into religious extremism and violence. Maher is in Chestertown at the invitation of College President Mitchell Reiss. The two met last fall in London when Reiss took part in a debate sponsored by the ICSR. With a history degree from the University of Leeds and a M.Phil. in Historical Studies from Cambridge University, Maher has scholarly credentials. But his personal experiences often make the difference in his teaching. "Professor Maher's own knowledge and the experts he has introduced in the class have enabled us to delve deeper into the material and made the topics much more engaging," says international studies major Mallory Kahn-Johnson. "To be able to talk to someone who is actually living what we read in the news is amazing." College To Expand Johnson Fitness Center INTENDING TO START construction this summer on an addition to the Johnson Fitness Center, Washington College is seeking to raise $1.8 million for the project that will benefit students, faculty, staff and members of The 1782 Society who opt to use campus athletic facilities. In partnership with the College, the William B. Johnson '40 family – lead donors for the original Benjamin A. Johnson 1911 Fitness Center construction – has issued a challenge grant, promising to match gifts to the capital project, dollar for dollar. The campaign seeks to raise the funds needed for the expansion/renovation project over the next five months. Built nearly 20 years ago for a student body of 850, the Johnson Fitness Center is clearly at capacity. Plans call for a 3,200-squarefoot glassed gallery addition to accommodate cardiovascular exercise equipment. Treadmills, stair steppers, elliptical machines and rowing machines will be arranged to face an 18-foot wall of windows. Exercisers will be able to watch the leaves change, or check the latest political developments on a bank of television sets mounted above the cardio equipment. A corner of the new gallery will be set aside for floor work – including body weight circuits and stretching. The existing fitness space will be renovated and devoted exclusively to strength training with universal weight machines and free weights. In early January an anonymous donor committed $418,000 toward the project – enough to fund the gallery and all new equipment. "This project represents a wonderful opportunity not only to enhance the experience of our student-athletes, but also to meet the fitness needs of the entire College community," notes Board Chairman Ed Nordberg '82, a former lacrosse player who is directing fundraising efforts for the Johnson Fitness Center project. Several naming opportunities remain. While construction is underway throughout the fall semester, the existing facility will remain operational. THE WRITING LIFE Faithful Nation BY JOAN SMITH CRAMER ONE OF PETER MANSEAU'S EARLIEST writing memories is of an assignment he was given in grade school – a mimeographed picture of a bunch of grapes. He could, perhaps, have written about grapes in general – what they are, how they grow – or even about himself eating grapes. Instead, he imagined what it might be like to be those grapes. "Early on, that's how I thought about stories," he says. It is this empathy that has made Manseau one of today's best young writers. This year's Patrick Henry Fellow at the College's C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience, Manseau writes about what he calls "the fringes of religion." But the best writers about religion – the great Huston Smith, for example – knew that faith cannot be properly illuminated from the outside. The son of a Catholic priest and a former nun, Manseau has written about his parents in an elegant memoir, Vows, that evokes the modern church and its devotees in all of their complexity. But he also taught himself Yiddish and wrote Songs for the Butcher's Daughter, a pitch-perfect novel from the point of view of "the last Yiddish poet in America" that won the country's most prestigious Jewish book awards. He co-founded, with Dartmouth English professor and author Jeff Sharlet, an award-winning online magazine about religion and culture, Killing the Buddha. Their critically acclaimed book of the same name was the result of a year they spent on the road together, studying the varieties of American religious experience – from witches in Kansas to a death row gospel choir. Manseau then traveled the world investigating the universal devotion to religious relics in Rag and Bone: A Journey Among the World's Holy Dead. "When writing about religion, it is not the suspension of disbelief we should strive for, but rather the elevation of empathy over agreement," Manseau wrote in an essay for The Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard. In other words, when writing about a woman who espouses witchcraft and believes she was visited by a Norse god, it helps to know that she'd "had her run-in with the cosmic trouble- maker Loki not long after she had lost custody of her son." That intense interest in real people and the specificity of their faith is at the heart of Manseau's current project – a retelling of the story of America from the points of view of the non-Christian believers who helped create the country. "My previous books each dealt with a particular religious subculture, but now I want to write a book that is relevant to all Americans," he says. "I want to weigh in on the question of whether we were founded as a Christian nation, not with a polemic, but with a series of narrative debunkings, using individual stories over a 500-year history to create this mosaic of the full reality of religious diversity in America." The Patrick Henry Fellowship in Chestertown has given Manseau a working home away from the home he shares with his wife, Gwenann Seznec, and their two children, Annick, 6, and Jeannette, 3. They live in a small house they've built on the Annapolis sod farm owned by Gwenann's parents, Jean-Francois '70 and Thackray '69 Seznec. On the farm, Manseau writes in a pre-fab shed he bought from Home Depot, which he insulated and wired himself. In Chestertown, he works late into the night in his Custom House office and in the Patrick Henry House on Queen Street. Somehow, he is also completing a Ph.D. in Religion at Georgetown University, where his dissertation examines American Yiddish literature from the early 1900s. "Being in Chestertown, a place so thick with history, it's easy to feel a connection with the characters I'm writing about," he says. "The house is wonderful. It's great to have the old oil paintings staring down at you, and even in this unseasonably warm weather, there is a distinct 18th-century chill. I enjoy that about it – I think I'm a cold- weather writer. I feel as if I'm living in a place out of time." Joan Smith Cramer is a freelance writer in Chestertown. College To Dedicate Ans Hillel House In April STUDENTS RETURNING to campus in January were thrilled to find a gleaming new Hillel House ready to host its first Shabbat dinner. The Hillel House, one of President Mitchell Reiss's early initiatives, serves as a hub for social events, religious services and intellectual discourse for Washington College's growing community of Jewish students. The creation of a Hillel House has implications for both undergraduate admissions and philanthropic support for the College, notes President Reiss. "As the College seeks to recruit top students, we are competing with institutions that have already committed the resources to provide an inviting and lively environment for Jewish students of all backgrounds – both religious and secular," he says. The House will be dedicated next month in honor of College Trustee Roy Ans '63 and his wife, Nan. Ans chaired the Hillel House fundraising committee that raised more than $208,000 for the creation of the facility – enough to cover the cost of construction and to begin to build an endowment to support permanent programming for Hillel. President Mitchell Reiss has invited Ron Prosor, the Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations, to give keynote remarks at the Hillel House dedication set for Friday, April 20, at 4:30 p.m. With more than two decades of experience at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Prosor has an international reputation as one of Israel's most distinguished diplomats. Fundraisers are now turning their attention to building an endowment. Interest from endowed funds will be used to cover the cost of start-up purchases for Hillel, to support events and to sponsor leadership training and development. Dwyer Is New VP For College Advancement GRETCHEN DWYER, a fundraiser and 16-year veteran of school development and alumni-relations work, is Washington College's new Vice President for College Advancement. Dwyer, 39, the former Senior Director of Campaign and Leadership Giving at Bennington College in Vermont, joined the College Advancement team in mid- January. Among her first priorities is to get to know the various constituencies of the College. "I am on the road trying to meet as many stakeholders as possible: the Board's Advancement Committee, the Trusteeship Committee and leaders of previous campaigns," Dwyer says. "I am so impressed by the unmistakable warmth and depth of affection everyone holds for this remarkable college, and the strong desire to support Mitchell Reiss's presidency." The launch of a comprehensive fundraising campaign is probably two years away, and Dwyer is encouraged by the College's recent efforts to raise money for small capital projects. "Our success to date in raising funds for the Johnson Fitness Center expansion and Hillel House certainly bodes well for future campaigns," she says. "People really love this place and want to support faculty and students in the work that they do." A native of California, Dwyer earned a bachelor's degree in English and African Studies from St. Lawrence University in Canton, NY, and a master's degree in literacy, language and cultural studies from Boston University, where she served as the Director of Development and Alumni Relations for the College and Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. She and her husband, Tom Dwyer, have three children, ages 7, 5 and 2. Save The Date For Sophie One Prize. Two Receptions. Join us in New York City when we announce the 2012 Sophie Kerr Prize winner or watch the simulcast on the Chestertown campus. Tuesday, May 15, 2012 6:00 p.m. University Club, One W 54th Street, New York Casey Academic Center Forum For details, email sophie_kerr_prize@washcoll.edu FACULTY NEWS Professor Oros Leads Study-Tour To Japan EIGHTEEN STUDENTS enjoyed a weeklong study-tour of Japan thanks to a generous grant from the Japan Foundation's Center for Global Partnership (CGP). Andrew Oros, associate professor of political science and international studies, designed the Spring Break trip for students in his "Japanese Politics and Foreign Policy" class to enhance their study of Japanese society and politics. He then sought funding from the CGP. The Center responded with the first grant under a new initiative called the Japan-American Collegiate Travel Program, intended to give American undergraduate students a more balanced and nuanced understanding of Japan. The $52,000 grant covered almost all the costs of the trip, including airfare and lodging. In addition, Oros used the first "Curriculum Innovation" grant awarded at Washington College to cover the costs of curriculum redesign, trip research and study materials. That $2,500 grant is part of the faculty enhancement monies created through a gift from the Hodson Trust. Oros designed the trip in collaboration with Noriko Narita, a long-time lecturer in Japanese at the College. In addition to visiting museums, shrines, an onsen bath and a traditional inn during the trip, the students met with Japanese politicians and government workers. The Battle For Quality Education A NEW BOOK BY Jill Ogline Titus, associate director of the C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience, tells the story of one Virginia county's radical reaction to the Supreme Court's ruling in Brown v. Board of Education. Published in December 2011 by The University of North Carolina Press, Titus's Brown's Battleground: Students, Segregationists, & the Struggle for Justice in Prince Edward County, Virginia explores how Prince Edward County simply closed all its public schools to avoid integrating them. Five years later, when the county was forced to reopen its schools, the battle continued as county officials worked to ensure that the "new" system remained segregated, impoverished and substandard. Titus, who earned her Ph.D. in history at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst in 2007, wrote her dissertation about the closing of the Prince Edward County schools. In converting her research into Brown's Battleground, she shifted her focus to the people whose lives were affected not only by that one drastic decision but also by the prevailing attitudes and prejudices of the time. "I wanted to show modern-day readers the disastrous consequences that befell children, the most vulnerable members of our society, when a group of adults decided that their community could do without a public school system." THE WORD ON WC Heard About Campus . . . "AS [OTHERS] WERE SWEPT UP IN NASTY PARTISAN VENDETTAS, WASHINGTON HAD THAT STERLING CLARITY OF VISION TO STEER CLEAR OF ALL THIS PARTISAN VENOM AND KEEP HIS GAZE FIRMLY FIXED ON AMERICA'S DESTINY." – Ron Chernow, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Washington, A Life, at Washington's Birthday Convocation, February 24, 2012 The Great Outdoors "One of the Washington College students on board [the schooner Pride II] was Henry Eschricht. 'On numerous sunny days, I've biked down to the docks with my laptop and textbook to do homework with my feet dangling over the river, just collecting myself before diving into one of Adam Goodheart's daunting reading assignments. One day, I thought of all my friends who are at prestigious Ivy League schools and imagined them studying in the grandiose libraries of Penn and Yale, surrounded by thousands of old books in the same spot as some of the greatest minds have been. They could in no way be as happy as I was with my open-air library.'" – "Outdoor School," Rafael Alvarez, Maryland Life Magazine, February 2012 Broad Strokes "Some great art proves to be commercially viable in the artist's lifetime, but we know, historically, that art that becomes revered and valuable in future eras is often underappreciated in its own time. Van Gogh and Keats are among the most famous examples of artists now revered who were unable to support themselves in their brief lifetimes.. . . a diverse cultural environment reminds us that our country is made of many streams – not just the mainstream. And it reflects the fact that contemporary popularity is often not a reliable judge of enduring value." – "Government Must Fund the Arts," Christopher Ames, professor of English, Baltimore Sun, January 22, 2012 Dishonest Abe "'Lincoln is such a towering figure in our history – for good reason,' says Richard Striner, author of the forthcoming Lincoln and Race (Southern Illinois University Press). . . .The problem with the prevailing hierarchy in Striner's view is the sticky matter of his correspondence with the abolitionist Horace Greeley: The Great Emancipator appears to soft-pedal his opposition to slavery. . . .'I believe he was the Great Emancipator first,' Striner says, 'and the savior of the Union second. And I believe that he was an extraordinarily gifted Machiavellian who practiced deception.'" – Amy Biancolli, San Antonio Express-News, February 12, 2012 A Culture of Inclusivity "Some Reiss initiatives (or pre-existing ones into which he has breathed new life) include a fellowship in Jewish-American Studies, an Institute for Religion, Politics and Culture, a Study Abroad in Israel program, a Washington College Hillel, and the Chestertown Havurah. When I ask Reiss why he has shown so much interest in introducing Jewish culture to a school that has never paid it much attention in the past, Reiss simply says: 'I want a school where all people and cultures feel welcomed and included. Naturally, I personally feel a special interest and connection to this culture.'" – "Buds of Jewish Life at Washington College," Jack Gilden '87, Baltimore Jewish Times cover story, February 2, 2012 IN THEIR OWN WORDS Professors We Love When we asked James Finlay '92 to recall his most memorable professor, he conjured up the antics and eccentricities of Peter Tapke, who taught philosophy and religion at Washington College for more than three decades. IT HAS BEEN 15 YEARS since Dr. Peter Tapke passed away, and I still miss him. Long after I graduated, I would stop by his house to see him when I came through town. He was always social – cordial, funny – and greeted me with the best grins. "Well helloooo, Jimmy, thanks for coming by. It's been too long." Our friendship was cemented during my senior year, when I had the good fortune, along with two other young men, of living in Peter's house at 119 High Street. What struck me first – in the fall of 1991, just off a year abroad at the University of Oxford, a program Peter started – was this: what other students, anywhere, dine with a professor every night? When I moved in I was excited for the year ahead even if I was a little naive about just how things would go. The house was well run. Peter had a housekeeper who came in a couple times a week and a cook who came every weeknight. With the chores taken care of, living there was mostly a question of, could you put up with a little bit of "crazy" and even enjoy it? Every day brought a new oddity. Something intellectually stimulating, fun or funny. I remember coming home one evening in April to be greeted by Peter anxious to tell me he had gotten a letter from the Vatican. "Oh?" I said, puzzled. "Yes, you see Jimmy, I had written the Pope and invited him to Chestertown last month and then forgotten about it. Got a letter today on Vatican stationery. Ever seen Vatican stationery before? Well, now you have. The Pope, it seems, is otherwise engaged and has politely declined." I had to laugh. The Vatican had no idea Peter did it as a joke. They responded earnestly. And why not? The letter came from a college professor. A professor who was chairman of the philosophy department. Who had gone to Harvard. It certainly had a level of authenticity. Despite his jokes, he was loyal. When a student Peter and I both knew well did not pass the class he needed to graduate, Peter lobbied the professor to give him another try at the final exam. When the student still didn't pass, Peter himself refused to dress for graduation and sat in solidarity with the student in the audience. Our friend completed his graduation requirements that summer and moved on to grad school and a successful career. The image of Peter sitting with his student will be with me for a long time. I wondered to Peter how the other faculty members responded to him. "I'll handle that, Jimmy, don't you worry," he told me. There were political debates in the house. He hated to hear stories about Baltimore crime so the nightly news was banned in favor of CNN. Clarence Thomas and Anita Hill went at it that spring, and it was unforgettable. He actually waffled a bit on it. "Well, so what if she's right?" he said at one point. Among Peter's proudest accomplishments were the founding of the crew program – "we've got this river, Jimmy, let's make use of it!" – and the William James Forum, which brought top speakers to the College. His contributions in the classroom and to the study abroad programs were just as significant. What sticks with me most is that Peter transcended the traditional role of professor and made me a part of his life for the year I was blessed to be a guest in his home. He was selling more than just a living arrangement. He was selling an eccentric personality; and I was buying every bit that I could. In my mind, it was well worth the price of admission. When I graduated, I realized that Peter had left a mark on my life that will be tough to match by anyone else I ever encounter. He showed me that friendship takes many forms – and that I could be friends with someone well beyond my years who didn't always share my interests. I know Washington College is better for having had him as a professor for 35 years and I know wholeheartedly that I am a better person for having known him. James Finlay graduated in 1992 with a degree in English. He has written for a TV show as well as several sports websites including LAXnews.com. He and his wife, Kim, both work full-time in the insurance industry, splitting time between Boston and Philadelphia. Jim's e-mail address is jamesfinlay99@yahoo.com.

Previous Page Next Page

Publication List
Using a screen reader? Click Here