Satisfaction with the small
From Gwendolyn Scott '79
Almost every time I receive my copy of Reed and read about famous Reedies who've done amazing things, I feel vaguely embarrassed that I haven't won the Nobel Prize. I haven't won any major prize. Neither have my Reedie friends. We work at what we love. I'm a half-time park designer, half-time volunteer. One Reed friend is the manager of two bookstores. Another edits medieval publications. Another works as a technical editor and another works for the Nuclear Information and Resource Service in Washington, D.C. She's the closest to being a star since she testified before Congress on nuclear waste issues.
It's not that we live small lives. Our lives are rich and varied. We go about our business. We have our tragedies. I think the best part of a liberal arts education is the reassurance that what life hands us has been experienced before, that we are part of a continuum.
I would like to see an article on how a Reed education has affected the lives of Reedies who've chosen to go back to the family ranch or business or chosen to stay home and raise children.
To be or not to
be upstanding
From Jennifer Hunter Galovich '69
Just finished the article on traditions in the February alumni mag.
I don't know about the alumni party, but the boar's head procession was the opening event at the dinner that preceded the annual holiday dance for students. I am morally certain that we did NOT stand!
I also remembered being told that there had once been two Doyle owls and that one of them was indeed at the bottom of the Willamette, the owl having lost its grip during an owl showing.
Finally, does anyone have all the lyrics for "Epistemology Forever?"
Best to all, especially Florence Lehman '41.
[Ed. note: Read about the thesis parade on page 34 in this issue's Traditions feature.]
Conservative
ideals persist
From Bruce Schuler '72
It was with sadness that I recently heard of the December 5, 1997, death of former Reed professor of philosophy (1948-54) Stanley Moore. I felt both anger and sadness, however, when I learned several years ago that Moore, despite being tenured, was fired by the Reed board of trustees in 1954 for his refusal to answer questions asked him by the House Un-American Activities Committee and by the trustees.
Reed is to be commended for finally addressing this issue publicly by hosting a panel discussion on academic freedom and McCarthyism on April 10, 1997, which I attended. Former students of Moore's from the '50s whom I met on that occasion commented especially on his rapier wit. I envied them the experience of studying with a professor of Moore's caliber--an opportunity which I, as a student at Reed from 1966 to 1971, was denied.
While at Reed I found the math and science faculty was of consistently high quality, but the humanities faculty was quite uneven. This may have been partially due to the hegemony of cold war values at Reed and in the rest of the nation during that period, which also affected the treatment of left-wing students, including myself. As Professor Carl Stevens noted in his paper delivered at the panel discussion on academic freedom and McCarthyism, threats to academic freedom did not end with the McCarthy era; thanks to conservative and ideologues, they persist today.
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