Our UMass
When I first came to work at UMass, I
wasn't allowed to use the word. Not in print, anyway. In 1984, administrators
on this campus were still punchy from the bad press of the rambunctious
70s and traumatized by the "Zoo-Mass" label; they didn't want
anything that even rhymed with it. It was "the university"
or else.
The edict relaxed somewhat in subsequent years. But it remained sufficiently
in force that, in 1989, when the old Alumnus and Contact publications
were merged, there was no question of naming the offspring anything resembling
the term by which this campus is popularly known. It was Massachusetts,
the whole mouthful, or nothing.
All of which has made it a special pleasure, of late, not only to rename
our magazine but to quote our own elegant and eloquent chancellor to the
effect that "UMass is on the move." But as several of the letters
that follow make clear, in the course of broadcasting that sentiment in
our last issue I inadvertently upset a number of people at UMass Boston
by referring to our campus -- twice -- as the UMass.
I certainly should have lost the italics. I should probably have said "the
original UMass," "Ur-UMass, or even "our UMass."
As I explained to the several UMass-Bostonians who chose to call rather
than write, that's all I meant by the distinction I drew. People on this
campus of course say "UMass-Amherst" when referring to ourselves
as part of the five-campus system, when calling outside the Pioneer Valley,
or on any number of other appropriate occasions. When we say "UMass,"
unmodified, we simply mean our UMass.
But frankly, so do a lot of other people. The widespread vernacular understanding
of "UMass" is "UMass Amherst." To acknowledge this
casts no aspersion on our sister campuses. It reflects the reality that
there was a place called UMass before our sibling campuses were adopted
or born, and the place is in Amherst.
How does it feel to bring our language in line with the vernacular, and
with a reality of which UMass people are properly proud? Bad when it gets
people whom we like and admire mad at us. Otherwise, excellent.
-PW
This UMass
When Contac became Massachusetts,
the magazine staff skipped an issue to engage in a deliberative redesign
process. This time around, art-director/hero Elizabeth Pols has deliberated
on the run. So has classnotes-editor/hero/webmistress Linda Cahillane,
who, while Elizabeth was reinventing the paper version, was inventing an
electronic one. It was quite a winter around here.
But now it's done. Both the new UMass and UMass On-Line reflect
the results of our readership survey.
Both bubble, for us, with possibility. As just one example, UMass ON-Line
lets us publish the full texts of your irritated, nostalgic, or simply expansive
letters with no limitations of space.
So write more of them, please. In both mediums, we are yours for the subversion
of limitations, and for the greater glory of this delightful place.
-The Editors
ERRATA [Winter 1996]
A transcription error in the article
"Making It New" resulted in our statement that the Hatch Act,
which established the system of agricultural-experiment stations, was passed
in 1867. The date should be 1887. For additional corrections and reflections
regarding the land-grant colleges, see our Letters columns.
A reporting error in our "Lead Gifts to Campaign UMass" column
led to an overstatement of a gift by Ken Feinberg `67 toward an endowed
professorship in the history department. An error in our sister publication,
the recently released Chancellor's Report for 1996, understated
the gift made by Dorothy `43 and Joe Gavin to establish the Center for
the Family. Also in that publication, the names of Elizabeth "Swiftie"
Hicks `46 and John Hicks `43 were omitted from the list of Chancellor's
Council members. We apologize for these errors.
Former math major Janet Birnie `51 was the first of our readers to point
out that New England is a region of six states, not five as we stated in
our review of Inventing New England: Regional Tourism in the Nineteenth
Century. Another reader wanted to know which state we had decided to
exclude. How about Ohio?
OFFENDED, STARTLED,
DISTURBED
In the fall issue of the UMass Magazine,
you make several references to the fact that UMass Amherst is "the"
UMass. You quote your chancellor as saying "UMass is on the move"
and write that "with all due respect and affection to our sister campuses,
he doesn't mean UMass Boston, Dartmouth, Lowell, or Worcester. He means
the UMass."
As a UMass Boston alum, I take great offense to that statement. So UMass
Amherst is bigger than UMass Boston. So you guys have a bigger budget,
more students, and dorms. But to say that you are the only UMass campus
"on the move" shows that you have no knowledge of what goes on
at your sister schools ...
I am not saying that UMass Amherst is not a good institution. I will say,
however, that saying that UMass Amherst is somehow superior to its sister
institutions shows that the people at UMass Amherst are willing to make
broad, sweeping statements without checking their facts. I would also like
to add that William Bulger, the President of the University of Massachusetts
system, has said repeatedly that he wishes to see all five campuses act
as a unit. How can we fulfill this mission when UMass Amherst has elected
itself as the leader of the four other campuses?
In the future, I hope that you will do your homework more carefully.
Thank you for your time and attention.
Mara S. Klein
Boston
As a long-time faculty and staff member
at UMass Amherst, I was startled by the lead editorial in the Fall 1996
UMass Magazine, which dismissed all other UMass campuses as "not,
in our book, the UMass." With all due respect to the "flagship,"
I found the notion that in the mind of the Amherst Chancellor, UMass "doesn't
mean UMass Boston, Dartmouth, Lowell, or Worcester" a disturbing sentiment.
As a new program director at UMass Boston, I have found a reservoir of
talent and commitment among the "sister" campuses that is quite
remarkable. A touch of humility and collaboration might serve us all well;
even flagships sometimes need tugboats and rescue ships.
Robert L. Woodbury
McCormack Institute of Public Affairs
UMass Boston
FIFTIES HOOT
What
a hoot it was to scan through the Fall 1996 issue (with the new look, of course)
and see a pic of my daughter, Kathy, among those photos catching the "glories"
of the '50s!
How she became the cheerleader mascot was directly related to my toil as
assistant SID (Sports Information Director). With my wife working at the
Amherst Diner, Kathy usually accompanied me to my cubbyhole in Curry Hicks,
playing with whatever while I churned out news releases hyping the Redmen.
One day Gail Totman dropped by on her way to cheerleader practice and said,
"Why not let Kathy hang out with us?"
Why not, indeed! Thus was born her short career as "The Littlest Redman."
Her only problem was that she was terrified of the biggest Redman, Metawampe.
Whenever the drum major, decked out in war paint and feathers, got in her
vicinity, it was panic time! I think the cheerleaders spent more time consoling
her than cheering ...
The pics of the "new" Student Union tossed me back in time as
well. It provided me a night job as mechanic for the pin-setting machines
in the bowling alley. But I think I spent most of the few bucks I earned
there paying for the gallons of coffee ingested trying to stay awake!
Ah, well. Maybe I'll make it back in 1999 for the 40th reunion. Even though
it's my policy never to go north of I-10 in months with an "R"
in them.
Ted Raymond '59
Fort Walton Beach, Florida
LAND GRANT AGENDAS
In "Making
It New" [Fall 1996], Chancellor
Scott and the editors note that one of the innovative aspects of land-grant
colleges in the 1860s was the breaking of the "barrier of class: the
land grants were specifically directed toward agriculture and 'the mechanic
arts'." The land-grants "breached two more barriers: between liberal
and industrial education, and between higher education and society."
Yes, most states set up both an A. & M. college and a public university
for the liberal arts and professions. But Massachusetts already had a university
and didn't need a public one. And it was Mass Aggie, not Mass A & M.
Consequently we are only now beginning to surpass our land grant sibling,
M.I.T.
Details of how these class barriers remain(ed) unbreached in Massachusetts
would be of interest.
Prescott Smith, '74
Amherst
Your article "Making
It New" [Fall 1996] contained
several errors. The most noticeable one related to the Land Grant College
Act of 1862. This act apportioned to each state 30,000 acres of federal land
for each senator and representative in a given state's congressional delegation.
Massachusetts had twelve in its congresssional delegation in 1862. Thus it
received 360,000 acres of federal land, not 30,000 as stated in your article
You are correct that this act did require the teaching of agriculture and
the mechanic arts, but it also required the teaching of military tactics.
Incidentally, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT, enjoys the
benefits of the mechanic arts or engineering potion of this act, not the
University of Massachusetts.
The Land Grant College Act of 1862 was written with great clarity of purpose
and foresight. It should be "required reading for every one associated
with any land-grant institution," especially editors of its publications.
Merle L. Howes
Professor Emeritus
Amherst
The article "Making
It New" [Fall 1996] omitted
a key aspect of the Morrill Land Grant Act of 1862. You state that "the
land grants were specifically directed toward agriculture and the `mechanic
arts.'" You failed to mention that this bill signed by President Lincoln
on July 2, 1862 stipulated that institutions founded as a result of this act
include in their curriculums military training. This legislation was the precursor
of what became today's Reserve Officers' Training Corps.
Your article appropriately discusses how the act not only aided in the
financing of colleges but the "democratization of the very idea of
college." This act also served to strengthen the very democratic concept
of the "civilian-soldier," which has served the nation well over
the past 130-plus years. An officer corps with a broad-based university
education has done much to ensure this nation's rigid adherence to the
constitutional dictum of civilian control over the military.
Chancellor Scott states, "I think it's worth asking what it is a university
makes." The answer to this rhetorical question is found in a short
walk from the Whitmore Administration Building to the R.O.T.C. building.
Today, the majority of officers in the armed services are products of ROTC
programs, such as that UMass, which trace their legacy back to the Morrill
Land Grant Act. UMass and other schools continue to develop outstanding
young junior officers representing the diversity of this nation. Many of
these young men and women, after serving an initial tour of duty, go on
to become leaders in civilian fields. The legacy of the Morrill Land Grant
is a partnership between academe and the military which has benefited virtually
every segment of our society.
Lt. Col. Lee F. Kichen
U.S. Army
Yorktown, VA
LAUGHS ON US
I find it almost laughable ["The
Rhino in the Room," Fall 1996]
every time university administrators are questioned about the cost of going
to college and the rising thereof. How many of them make more than $60,000
a year? How many professors do? Is it really necessary that people earn more
than $60K? Maybe if the really high salaries were reduced, tuition increases
could slow. I'd like to see an honest breakdown of tuition costs. Rather than
fixing existing buildings, they're talking about building more. Has anyone
been in Bartlett Hall lately? It's in desperate need of repair; they say they
can't afford it; hello?
Marcy Tanter `86 Ph.D. `96
Amherst
MATH ALA MASS MAG
Re. your report on the fall cranberry
crop in "Research, Outreach, Teaching" [fall 1996]: 1.6 million
barrels at 100 pounds per barrel, spread between 483 trees the size of
the one in Rockefeller Center, comes to approximately 331,000 pounds per
tree. Just how big is the tree in Rockefeller Center????
Neil Snow
Grosse Pointe Park, MI
Did we say 483?--we meant 4,830,000. No, we admit it, our math in the fall issue seems to have been a little off. The tree was a 40' Colorado blue spruce, and even circling 4,830,000 of them many, many times would probably still leave enough cranberries to create 7,500 Martha Stewart-style wreaths--but let's not even get into that.
HORSEPOWER REDUX
It made me smile to read the letter
in your fall issue from Pat Fielding Jaouen `63, who asked "Any other
`older' equestrians out there?' Back in `40 and `41 a few of us were allowed
to ride the R.O.T.C. horses about once a week. We were instructed by the
officers in charge.The horses were so well trained that when a command
was given, they knew how to respond before we did. Made us look good.
Maybe we could be called the forerunners of the team.
Mary Judge Wall `42
Bridgewater
REACH OUT AND NET SOMEONE
I have found the Internet location
http://www.alumni.net to be an excellent resource. I'm in no way connected
with this organization except as a user. Currently there are about 60 alumni
registered for UMass Amherst; I have already run into someone I have not
had contact with since 1985!
This resource helps you have on record your email and street address if
you so choose. This provides a very nice way for alumni to be in touch
with each other easily. UMass Magazine seemed a logical place to
let other alumni know of its existence.
Nari Kannan `85
Colorado Springs, CO
BOYS OF SUMMER ROUND THREE
The writer of a letter in your fall
issue was disturbed because the magazine used the word "boy"
in connection with a black athlete, but then goes on to reference African
Americans.
First of all, it was extremely clear that this was only a play on the "Boys
of Summer" theme. Second, there is a huge difference between
being black and being an African American! You cannot use the two
interchangeably! Many of my black friends and acquaintances would be insulted
to be called African American. People from Haiti, Jamaica, the Bronx, are
not African American (they are Haitian, Jamaican, American). Similarly,
I know at least two "white" people who were born and raised in
Africa and now live in the U.S. -- are they African American?
I believe uptight people, who are more focused on name, appearance, and
"politically correct" garbage than on the actual person, create
more race tension than anyone. Three words: get over it.
Steve Weingold `90
Sanford, FL
`TO DREAM, TO ACT' ANNOYS
Recently I wrote a letter to the editor
criticizing the use of a quote from a speech by Jack Welch, the CEO of
GE, as the motto for Campaign UMass. Later I received your latest magazine
which presented a more balanced view of the campaign, a truly inspiring
speech by Julius Lester, and a nostalgic romp through the 50s.
It is not enough to balance Campaign UMass with a presentation of varying
perspectives. It is certainly not enough to call, as Vice Chancellor Hedgepeth
did in his personal reponse to my letter, a critique of UMass' aggrandizement
of an overpaid CEO who permits the destructive behavior of a corporation,
an example of "diversity." We, the educated and concerned citizens,
the graduates of our state university, must call on Mr. Welch to exert
all his influence on GE to do the right thing without further court orders.
If we and our alma mater cannot do this, then what is the point of education,
and why should we support it?
It is heartening to learn that GE is beginning to do some serious clean-up
here in Pittsfield as it was ordered to do by the court. There is more
to be done. I for one urge our fellow alumnus to get on with it.
Pam Fleming `65
Lee
Mat "Henry Higgins" Brown '58 is seeing more of what he likes in the mag.
WRITE TO US
We want to hear from you and will publish as many letters to the editor as we can. Responses to the content of the magazine receive priority; comments on more general campus matters will appear as space allows. We may need to edit for style, length, or clarity. Write Letters, UMass Magazine, Munson Hall, UMass, Amherst, MA 01003; fax (413) 545-3824; email lcahillane@urd.umass.edu (The email address published in the winter issue (umassmag@umass.edu) is not working at this time. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.)
