Remembering Bob Burnett ’62 and the Highwaymen

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I often celebrate the musical culture generated by the students, faculty, and staff at Wesleyan. Indeed, I’ve told prospective students to check out the music scene here if they really want to understand the personality of our school and to compare it with other places in which they are interested. I thrilled to hear Persephone Hall sing the national anthem at a football game, to listen to Sam Friedman ’13 play piano anywhere, or to marvel at the vocal ingenuity of our a cappella groups. I’m told that Eclectic still controls the music scene in Brooklyn (hence, the world), and I take great pride in the rock ‘n roll chops of Wesleyan’s Treasurer (John Meerts), Provost (Rob Rosenthal), head of the faculty (Gil Skillman) and dean for academic advancement (Louise Brown). Don’t even get me started on the all-star musicians in the Music Department! From the experimental to the traditional, they play with nuance and intensity.

This past week, we lost a storied voice in the chorus of Wesleyan’s music history. Bob Burnett died on December 7 at his home in Rhode Island. Bob and four other frosh were told to put on some entertainment for their fraternity in 1958, and they decided to become a folk band. While they were still undergraduates they had a #1 hit with their version of “Michael, Row the Boat Ashore.”

Bob Burnett is at the lower left. After graduating Wes he went to Harvard Law School, and it looked like he’d left the music business behind. But more than three decades after that freshmen concert, the original Highwaymen started performing and recording again — and winning great praise! I started hearing about Bob and the Highwaymen almost on my first day on the job at Wes. They inspired friendship and devotion. They still do.

I took the photo here from Bob’s obituary in the New York Times. You can read more about the Highwaymen here and here.

 

 

Fall Phi Beta Kappa Inductees — An Extraordinary Group!

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Yesterday I participated in one of my favorite events, the December induction ceremony for Phi Beta Kappa. The thirteen seniors we recognized have all excelled in their studies, and they have contributed mightily to the campus culture of inventive, rigorous work. All of these students have faculty mentors who are proud of them, who cheer them on, and who are among the first ones to acknowledge their accomplishments. Staff members, too, have contributed to their success, and it was wonderful to see them at the ceremony, beaming with pride. In Yiddish we call this kvelling, a feeling of fullness from pride and happiness, a gushing of pleasure in someone else’s accomplishment. There was plenty of kvelling at the ceremony today!

Here are the thirteen new inductees:

Brittany Laine Baldwin-Hunter
Biology

Alicia Doo Castagno
American Studies

Ali Khalid Chaudhry
Economics/Mathematics & Computer Science

Lee Solomon Gottesdiener
Chemistry/Neuroscience & Behavior Program

Zin Lin
Mathematics & Computer Science/Physics

Cassidy Siegel Mellin
Neuroscience & Behavior Program/Psychology

Rachel Leah Merzel
Chemistry

Emma Kathryn Mohney
English/Romance Languages & Literatures

Emma Elaine Paine
English

Reed Leon Sarney
Mathematics & Computer Science

Allegra Stout
Feminist, Gender & Sexuality Studies/Psychology

Brianna Megan van Kan
College of Letters/Music/Russian Languages & Literature

Kathryn Emily Wagner
Biology/Molecular Biology & Biochemistry

 

 

 

In Memoriam: Elisabeth Young-Bruehl

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I received the sad email message from Professor Paul Schwaber on Friday: his close friend and COL colleague Elisabeth Young-Bruehl had died quite suddenly. Elisabeth was a philosopher, psychoanalyst, teacher…a great friend and mentor to many of my fellow-students at Wesleyan in the 1970s and for many years afterwards. She was a presence in the College of Letters, where she taught everything from ancient Greek philosophy to contemporary political theory. Although I did not study with her myself, I remember her vividly. Her questions from the back of the room at the Monday night Center for Humanities lectures often punctured the puffed up and pretentious, yet she was given to warm, easy laughter. We knew one another from a distance, but the devotion she inspired from her students was always evident. Evident and admirable.

Elisabeth’s intellectual biographies of Hannah Arendt and Anna Freud combined dogged empirical research with sophisticated theoretical analysis. Over the last several years, she was working as a psychoanalyst, having made a major contribution to this field with her Anatomy of Prejudices, among other works. Recently, the editor we both work with at Yale University Press sent me a glowing review of Elisabeth’s latest book, Childism:Confronting Prejudice Against Children. It’s an urgent call for action to protect some of the most vulnerable victims of prejudice and violence: children. The book will be published in the next month or so.

I last saw Elisabeth a few years ago in New York, when she stopped by to say hello after a talk I’d presented on the photographer David Maisel. She seemed vital and engaged, and she was generous and welcoming. The writer Dominique Browning, who studied with Elisabeth at Wesleyan in the mid 1970s, offers a loving tribute to her friend and teacher on her blog.

The legacies of great teachers continue on and on. Elisabeth Young-Bruehl’s memory will be a blessing for so many of her students, friends and readers.

 

Wes Students: Exceptional in Any Element!

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I met yesterday morning with Ben Travers, who for the last few months has been making very cool videos about Wesleyan students. For example, there is this wonderful, short piece about Mary Vallo ’13, who is doing research on epilepsy with Prof Jan Naegle’s team. Mary is one of the many Wes students who are able to contribute to sophisticated research in the sciences. And check out the video of Oscar Takabvira ’14, who has the great line: “I love numbers and I think they like me back.”Arya Alizadeh ’13 is portrayed as the active citizen he is. I know him from his role with the WSA, but it was great to learn more about his ambitions in engineering and history — and that he rows crew. Senior Carmen Yip also has a memorable line: she hates sweating! Carmen has come to Wes from Hong Kong, but that didn’t satisfy her urge to travel and study. She spent a semester in Regensburg, and has already landed a job with Deutsche Bank!

Ben has also made videos of athletes (including Arya). Casey Reed ’12 is a devoted volleyball player from California, a fundraiser for Wesleyan and a sketch comedy performer. Arthur Burkart ’14 was welcomed onto the crew team, into the African students association and has given back by being a note taker for students who need that assistance. In her video, soccer star Laura Kurash ’13 tells us that she is getting ready for medical school (her memorable line: I’ve seen a lot of blood squirt out; it’s cool). Laura also shows off her musical talents (without using her feet too much!).

One of the coolest (certainly the most fiery) videos Ben has made so far is on Prometheus, Wesleyan’s fire performance group. The students actually are not on fire, but they certainly do light up the night!

If fire isn’t your element, go under water with the swim team. And watch out for Ben as he makes his way around campus, video camera in hand.

 

In Theory….

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Last year the faculty approved a new “certificate” in Social, Cultural, and Critical Theory.  The website for the program proudly announces that “the commitment to critical theory evidenced in the scholarship and coursework of the Wesleyan faculty is one of the university’s greatest and most distinctive strengths. The Certificate allows students to identify and leverage these curricular assets.” The number of departments that offer classes  that fall under this program is staggering: English and sociology, music and religion, film, history and philosophy — just to name a few.

What are “certificates” anyway? I used to refer to this Wesleyan mode of academic certification as “interdisciplinary minors.” But since we don’t currently have minors at Wesleyan (although the faculty is working on this now), perhaps that’s not the most helpful label. The Educational Policy Committee put it this way in 2010: certificates “organize curricular resources to structure a coherent interdisciplinary course of study independent of established majors.” That’s why the program in Social, Cultural and Critical Theory draws on so many different disciplines. Its “independence of established majors” allows the program to draw on work that examines religious belief or scientific knowledge (Mary-Jane Rubenstein and Joe Rouse, respectively); work that explores health care and ethics (Laura Stark) or diasporic communities (Khachig Tölölyan). All the classes aim at a broad based and critical understanding of how culture and society function (and for whose benefit).

This semester the program has been sponsoring lectures most Wednesday afternoons at 4:30 in Downey House (113). I began the series with a talk on Freud, and there have been discussions of  Hegel, Martin Heidegger, Hannah Arendt and Max Weber. No, this isn’t just a German-centric series. Historian Gary Shaw spoke on George Herbert Mead and this week and next the organizers dare to cross the Rhine with lectures from College of Letters faculty members Kari Weil and Ethan Kleinberg. Prof. Weil will be speaking on French feminist philosopher Luce Irigaray, and Prof. Kleinberg will talk about Jacques Derrida. My schedule doesn’t usually allow me to attend the talks, but I’ve been very impressed to hear that more than 50 people each week get together to discuss some of the most important thinkers of modernity and postmodernity. I catch up on some of the talks via the podcasts.

If you are on campus and haven’t attended the lectures yet, there are still two Wednesdays left in the semester! Be there, at least in theory….

Finding Those Times to Feel Thankful

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“The last few weeks have been especially hectic,” I told my older son recently, when we had our regular phone conversation to bridge the distance between West Coast and East.  “Do I say that every week,” I wondered. He, too, is increasingly busy, as are so many of the people around us. When do we take the time to stop and think? During this period of economic frustration and limited political horizons, when do we allow ourselves to feel gratitude for what we do have? For example, I am so grateful for those conversations with my son, and for knowing that he is having similar conversations with my mother. I am so grateful for my family.

Sometimes feelings of gratitude are bound up with feelings of vulnerability. When we realize how fragile life can be, we can be more open to experience that spirit of thankfulness. This season my family has faced some health challenges, and as we’ve gotten through them, I realize more than ever how lucky I am to have a caring, resourceful and loving family.

Sometimes feelings of gratitude are bound up with feelings of accomplishment. As we work hard on things that matter to us, we can be more open to experience a sense of gratitude and belonging. I work side by side with a very talented team, and I work on a campus infused with the energy of faculty, staff and students. I recognize how fortunate I am to work among people who aim to make a positive difference in the world.

Sometimes feelings of gratitude are bound up with feelings of hopefulness. When we realize how lucky we are to have family and friends who care for us, when we recognize how fortunate we are to be able to accomplish significant goals through cooperative work, we can be more open to feelings of hope for a meaningful future.

As we find the times to be thankful (especially in these tough periods), may our gratitude for present blessings be bound up with a sense of caring purpose.

Choosing Classes, Choosing Majors (Certificates? Minors? Clusters?)

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Wesleyan students are busily deciding on the classes they intend to take next semester. It’s an exciting and sometimes frustrating time. Students may have heard since their first term about Don Moon’s government class on the moral basis of politics (a top choice since I was an undergrad), while others will be eager to learn about the history of architecture from Joseph Siry (whose classes have also been popular for a very long time), or from Katherine Kuenzli, (whose class on Wagner and Modernism is cross-listed in 5 depts!). If students want to take a very popular course with limited enrollments, then they may well be frustrated. But a good antidote to this is to go to Wesmaps and search for classes with free seats (just check that box). You are likely to discover some real gems — be they classes in data analysis or biology, to classes in religion or a brand new new one on the history of the European novel.

As students plan for the spring term, sophomores in particular are thinking through how they will focus their studies. Choosing a major can seem very difficult, especially if one has diverse interests. It’s crucial that students talk this through with their advisors. I remember not being able to choose among philosophy, psychology and history — and then a dean asked me why I thought I had to choose. I wound up creating a university major that combined these fields. Today, many students double major, while others add certificates (much like an interdisciplinary minor) or other points of focus. I always suggest that students worry less about how their major(s) will look to others after graduation and focus more on what they are most interested in. What is it that generates your greatest intellectual passion? Your major will let you deepen that passion and discover how it might be relevant to what you do after graduation.

Professors are busy too, of course. Not only are we grading exams and papers from the fall, but we are thinking about those spring courses and how to make them as compelling as possible. I’ve been teaching the Past on Film since the Ice Age, but next term it will be very different than in previous years — we are going discuss how photography makes a difference in our cultural and personal recollections. We’ll also be looking at several films that hadn’t made it onto the syllabus in prior years.

We professors also look forward to seeing where our intellectual passions lead us. Our journeys are informed by the engagement with the interests of our students as we continue learning together.

Exercising “a degree of freedom which rarely exists”

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On Sunday our faculty forum listserve received an email forwarded by Prof. Donald Moon from colleagues at the University of California at Berkeley. The message described the excessive use of force by UC Berkeley police in their attempt to dismantle tents in Sproul Plaza. I was in that plaza a couple of weeks ago, speaking nearby at Berkeley’s Townsend Center for the Humanities. I was shocked to read that one of my hosts, Celeste Langan, the director of the Center, was arrested and manhandled along with several students, staff and faculty who were protesting peacefully. Here’s the beginning of Prof. Langan’s comment on what happened:

I participated in the Occupy Cal rally on Sproul Plaza on November 9 (my sign, “We’re Afraid for Virginia Woolf,” made it to the Daily Cal’s top 10) and stayed for the general assembly. The organizers of Occupy Cal asked those who were willing to stay and link arms to protect those who were attempting to set up the encampment; I chose to do so. I knew, both before and after the police gave orders to disperse, that I was engaged in an act of civil disobedience. I want to stress both of those words: I knew I would be disobeying the police order, and therefore subject to arrest; I also understood that simply standing, occupying ground, and linking arms with others who were similarly standing, was a form of non-violent, hence civil, resistance. I therefore anticipated that the police might arrest us, but in a similarly non-violent manner. When the student in front of me was forcibly removed, I held out my wrist and said “Arrest me! Arrest me!” But rather than take my wrist or arm, the police grabbed me by my hair and yanked me forward to the ground, where I was told to lie on my stomach and was handcuffed. The injuries I sustained were relatively minor–a fat lip, a few scrapes to the back of my palms, a sore scalp–but also unnecessary and unjustified. You can read more at: http://utotherescue.blogspot.com/2011/11/why-i-got-arrested-with-occupy-cal-and.html

Here’s a YouTube video that includes her arrest:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=kNHXuf6qJas

As indicated in the email from Berkeley, the absurdity of the university’s  response is best summarized by Steven Colbert: http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/402024/november-10-20

Berkeley, like Wesleyan, has a long and proud tradition of protest. As a student here I participated in protests, and now as president I have been (and likely will be again) their object. I can imagine (with dread) extreme situations in which force would be required to preserve campus safety and our ongoing operations. As students, staff and faculty make their voices heard, however, the university’s responsibility is to protect their rights, even as it ensures that the educational mission of the school continues. Our joint responsibility is for the future of an open and safe campus environment where learning, grounded in freedom of thought and expression, continues.

Prof. Langan wrote that she was defending liberal education in Sproul Plaza — that she was defending an idea of the university that is being dismantled by political and education leaders who support only the most narrow forms of instrumental training. Prof. Langan’s idea of the university emphasizes the links between the practice of free thinking and the cultivation of freedom in the years after graduation. She is a teacher and a student of Thoreau, the author of  Walden and of Civil Disobedience, who understood how our American emphasis on the bottom line can make us blind to the world before our eyes and to our possibilities for change. Thoreau wrote: We should seek to be fellow students with the pupil, and should learn of, as well as with him, if we would be most helpful to him. But I am not blind to the difficulties of the case; it supposes a degree of freedom which rarely exists.

At Wesleyan we believe strongly in this degree of freedom as we build a home for learning. And our colleagues on the West Coast, the faculty and staff who stood shoulder to shoulder with students at Berkeley, were exercising “a degree of freedom which rarely exists.” Their peaceful efforts to protest the dismantling of a once great university deserve our respect. The violent response to these efforts deserves our condemnation.

Theater Dept Presents THE GREAT GOD BROWN

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This week Wesleyan’s Theater Department presents The Great God Brown by Eugene O’Neill, directed by Yuriy Kordonskiy. The expressionistic play explores the intersections of art, identity, desire and public meaning. Check out the preview:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yICTm_cvw40

I know the week before Thanksgiving is crunch time for many Wes students, but you shouldn’t miss this production in the CFA Theater. It runs from Wednesday night through the weekend. Tickets are available by phone (860-685-3355) or online at http://purchase.tickets.com/buy/TicketPurchase?orgid=24317.

 

Flash: Men’s Soccer Wins in First Round of NCAA Tournament

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Far from home in Camden, New Jersey, the Wesleyan men’s soccer team defeated Misericordia last night in the NCAA tournament, 1-o. Rory O’Neill ’13 scored the game winner for the 5th time this season, off of an assist from the indefatigable Walter Rodriguez ’13! And Adam Purdy recorded his 11th shutout of the year, adding to his tally in the Red and Black record books.

The Cardinals continue into the next round this evening at 5:00 pm when they play Rutgers-Camden (the home squad). We are all sending good vibes to Coach Wheeler and the entire team. GO WES!!!