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Western Newsletter (1955-71) Western Michigan University

9-1970

Western Michigan University Newsletter, September 1970 Western Michigan University Newsletter, September 1970

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WESTERN MICHIGAN '/15/5 September 1970

UNIVERSITY NEWSLETTER2,550 RECEIVE DEGREES IN AUGUST COMMENCEMENT

Apollo 13 Astronauts Made Honorary WMU Alums

and alumni events

Photo shows, L to R: John J. Swigert,Jr.; Capt. James A. Lovell, Jr.; and Fred

Hot evening sunlight was the setting as the three U. S. Apollo 13Astronauts drew a standing ovationfrom the Waldo Stadium audienceof nearly 10,000 persons, including2,550 graduates, before and after thethree were awarded honorary doctorates by Western at its AugustCommencement. All three receivedthe honorary degree of Doctor ofScience.Although the astronauts were the

highlight of a commencement program which did not have a speaker,eleven students were awarded earneddoctor's degrees and five WMUalums received Distinguished AlumniAwards.The alumni awards went to: Uni

versity of Michigan political scienceprofessor Dr. H. Gardner Ackley,

W. Haise, Jr. just after the astronautsreceived their honorary doctorates.

former chairman of the U. S. President's Council of Economic Advisersand former U. S. Ambassador toItaly; Margaret E. Feather, who hasserved many years as a key WMUfinancial aid adviser and before thaton the staff of the WMU Dean ofStudents; Dr. Homer H. Stryker, whohas been an orthopedic surgeon fornearly 50 years and during that timeinvented numerous orthopedic bedand brace devices for patients; Dr.Merze Tate, who has been a historyprofessor for many years at HowardUniversity after studying at OxfordUniversity in England and becomingthe first Negro woman to enroll atRadcliffe College and earn a highresearch degree there; and DavidWayne, noted stage, screen and TVactor, who has been a great source

DR. STRYKER

of inspiration and encouragement toyoung actors and actresses.Among the 11 persons who were

awarded earned doctorates were sixwho hold previous degrees fromWMU, five of those with bachelor'sdegrees: Thomas W. Asmus andBruce L. Jensen (both in chemistry) ;Charles H. Link, Ralph C. Skrockiand Lloyd G. Swierenga (all in educational leadership) ; and Robert H.Poel (science education).Capt. Lovell, in making the re

sponse on behalf of himself and histwo colleagues after they wereawarded their honorary degrees, saidthere are two types of governmentalprograms: one that uses resourcesand one that creates them.He noted that the nation's space

program has helped to create resources, "not the program by itself,"he said, but in its side benefits to

WMU President James W. Miller andCapt. Lovell on platform just beforeLovell gave his response.

DR. ACKLEY MISS FEATHER DR. TATE WAYNE

A number of Kalamazoo area newsmen and film crews were at the newsconference.

other programs which combat pollution, poverty and hunger in ournation, in reply to criticisms of spacespending by the U. S.At an earlier press conference in

the WMU Student Center shortlyafter arriving in Kalamazoo via airfrom the Glenview, 111., Naval AirStation, Lovell had said "We'll findout just how mature the space program is" while answering a questionabout future advances in space exploration despite budgetary cuts.However, all three were agreed

that answers to our world problemsof overpopulation, pollution andadequate food supplies may be foundthrough space exploration and thenecessary developments and researchto carry it out.On hand for the press conference

were three TV movie cameras, several radio reporters, and six newsmen. The astronauts were greeted atthe Kalamazoo Airport by about1,000 persons.Included among the WMU Au

gust graduates were 57 who receiveddiplomas with high honors. Of these,four women were graduated summacum laude (with a grade point average of 3.9 or more on a 4.0 scale) :Kathleen M. Earles, Uldis V. Mier-valdis, Brenda K. Mitchell, andMonica E. Nahm, all of Kalamazoo.The program listed another 19 as

magna cum laude graduates (3.7 to3.89 grade average) and 34 as cumlaude (3.5 to 3.69).One of the summa cum laude

graduates, Mrs. Kathleen Earles,completed her four years of collegework only two years after graduatingfrom Kalamazoo Central HighSchool in spite of having a babyduring that period. She was able totake some college credit courses while

Class of 1920 president Ernest Gid-dings, standing, spoke briefly, as WMUPresident James W. Miller and Marion

still in high school, which helpedher scholastic acceleration.

Golden AnniversaryBreakfastThe event-filled summer com

mencement day began with thetraditional Golden AnniversaryBreakfast for the class of 1920 whichwas attended by a record 80 guestsin the Student Center. Among thosewho attended were Ernest Giddingsof Ann Arbor, Mich., 1920 classpresident; Fred W. Adams, vicechairman of the WMU Board ofTrustees; Mr. Marion Sherwood,who was a faculty member in 1920and was also the first president ofWestern's Alumni Association; Mrs.Lillian Waldo, widow of Dr. DwightB. Waldo, Western's first president;and WMU President James W.Miller, who spoke briefly and readcertain items in a 1920 Brown andGold yearbook about some of theclass members in attendance.

WMU's First UpwardBound Graduate IsAlso First in StateThe WMU August commencement

was also noteworthy in that RobertI. McCoy of Benton Harbor becamethe first graduate under WMU's Upward Bound program, which wasbegun in 1966. McCoy, who plansto enroll in WMU's Graduate Col-

MC COY

il I 1!

Sherwood listened, during the GoldenAnniversary Breakfast.

lege this fall to study in the socialsciences, majored in pre-law andpolitical science at WMU. He completed the four years of scholasticwork in three years.After receiving his master's degree

at Western McCoy says he hopes towork in public administration forseveral years and then enter lawschool. His ultimate goal is to workin social service administration.McCoy is the first Upward Bound

student to be graduated from anyMichigan college or university.

WMU Seeks to IntegratePolitical Issues WithFall Semester MaterialWMU will not have a "political

campaign recess" this fall, but therewill be opportunities for students todirect their energies into the campaigns of their favored candidates.The furlough plan was recently rejected by a special committee offaculty and students.In a report to the WMU Faculty

Senate, the special committee saidthe plan would "permit the University to meet its primary academicresponsibilities and would, at thesame time, permit students who wishto participate in the political processto do so with the greatest possibilityof engaging themselves in a meaningful way. In addition, the planperforms the essential task of protecting the individual volition of bothstudents and faculty."The general recommendations of

the special committee include suggestions that ways be found by instructors to integrate various politicalissues with course subject matter or

if this is impossible because of subject matter, to amend so far as possible schedules of exams and duedates for papers to accommodate student political participation; that theadministration be encouraged to facilitate responsible individual andgroup involvement in social andpolitical affairs to the fullest extentcompatible with the educational mission of the University; that studentsbe encouraged to accept individualresponsibility in personal involvement in the political process, viaavailable courses, study projects, andassociation with social and politicalagencies at the national, state andlocal levels.

A Look Back-We Must End ViolenceOn Campuses and AbroadThe month of May, 1970 is con

sidered in many quarters as one ofthe most sobering and tragic in theannals of American higher educationand virtually everyone in academe isadamant that it must not be allowedto happen again.First, the killing of four students

at Kent State University followed ina few short days by the deaths oftwo Jackson State College, Mississippi, students has left its mark onall who are connected with highereducation.In reflecting back on that critical

time, it might be well to recall thestatement made in response to theJackson State tragedy by WMUPresident James W. Miller, WMUFaculty Senate Pres. David W.Adams, and Ethan Vinson, presidentof the Associated Student Body ofWMU:"The response of massive, brutal,

and tragic gunfire by law enforcement officers on the campus of asister institution, Jackson State College, Mississippi, leading to thedeaths of two black students, is inour eyes senseless, shocking andshameful. Following as it does a progressive series of violent acts on campuses, particularly the earlier slayingson the campuses of South CarolinaState College and Kent State University in Ohio, it must be seen as adramatic link in a long chain of

brutality and unreasoning use offorce that threatens to shackle theland. Its special significance lies inthe fact that recent confrontationshave seriously threatened the verylife and purpose of colleges and universities, where the challenge to social and political institutions shouldbe met with reason, not force."We share the grief of the families

of the slain students and the moraloutrage of students and faculty atJackson State College."Only eight days earlier, at a cam

pus memorial for the victims of theKent State University shootings,WMU vice president Russell H.Seibert spoke in place of PresidentMiller who was out of town.In excerpt, Dr. Seibert said,

"There is a new awareness that inour society there should be no placefor violence — neither violenceabroad, nor, more emphatically,violence at home."Today we have met to memor

ialize the violent deaths of four students in a neighboring state. Perhapstheir deaths should lead each one ofus here today to ask himself to whatdegree he, personally, has contributed to this Age of Violence. It iseasy — sometimes even exciting — todemonstrate, to parade, to shoutnames. It is particularly easy toblame a scapegoat for all that goeswrong: the military-industrial complex, the President, the blacks, thewhites, the establishment, the communists, big business. In times ofemotional stress, irrationality is quickto take over. But no bright newworlds have been born ofirrationality."Dr. Seibert had said the Kent

State students were shot down asthey sought to make known theiropposition to a conflict costly inAmerican lives and waged at theexpense of reforms much needed athome, in reference to the Vietnamconflict.

Faculty, Emeritus DeathsDR. WILLIS DUNBAR

An apparent heart attack while ona mid-August vacation in Petoskey,Mich., claimed the life of Dr. WillisDunbar, professor and former historydepartment head and a WMU faculty member since 1951.A long-time member and official

of the Michigan Historical Commission and Michigan Historical Society,Dr. Dunbar wrote a number of historical books on Michigan subjects,including two on Kalamazoo, one onKalamazoo College (he was a 1924graduate of that school), one onMichigan's railroads, one on highereducation in the state, the fourvolume "Michigan Through theCenturies," and others.Dr. Dunbar held masters and doc

tors degrees from the University ofMichigan.He had served for a time as Dean

of Kalamazoo College and also asa history professor there for 15 years.

DR. ROBERT FRIEDMANN

Dr. Robert Friedmann of Kalamazoo, who retired as a professor fromWestern's faculty in 1961 after serving 16 years as a philosophy and

history teacher died July 28 at hishome.Born in Vienna, Austria, Dr.

Friedmann left his native land in1939 to teach in England and atYale University, and in 1940 becamea research fellow in Mennonite andAnabaptist History at Goshen College, Goshen, Ind.Shortly after joining Western's

faculty in 1945 he introduced theteaching of philosophy at WMU.Dr. Friedmann earned his doctor

ate at the University of Vienna.

1969 WMU Annual FundDrive Over the TopWestern's 1969 Annual Fund

Drive has exceeded its goal by morethan 20 percent, reaching nearly$301,000. A total of 6,738 personscontributed to the drive, including6,079 WMU alumni. The goal hadbeen $250,000.Gifts were designated for 140 dif

ferent areas of WMU's operations,with 37 percent earmarked forscholarship areas and nearly 33 percent going to various Universitydepartments.

WMU's Reading Center and Clinicrecently was given a reading eye cameraensemble by the Education DevelopmentLaboratories, a division of McGraw Hill.Dr. Dorothy McGinnis, seated, directorof the WMU clinic, here demonstratesthe operation of the unit as, L to R inthe rear, Bud Locke and Gerald Wood ofE.D.I, and WMU President James W.Miller watch.The instrument, being used primarily

for basic reading research in the clinic,records on film a person's eye movementsmade during the reading process, thusproviding objective evidence of the manner the person being tested uses his eyeswhile reading.

Student EnvironmentalCleanup ActivitiesOne of the first environmental

efforts of a new ecology group calledClean Environment CoordinatingCommittee, organized by two WMUstudents this spring, was a "RoadsideTrash Cleanup Operation." DennisDudley, a Kalamazoo sophomore,and Stuart Mortensen, then a seniorfrom Breedsville, Mich., the co-chairmen, said the group was formedto coordinate the efforts of all Kalamazoo area anti-pollution groups.

New officers elected by Alpha BetaEpsilon, WMU's alumnae sorority insouthwestern Michigan, include, left toright: president Mrs. Beatrice Maynardof Battle Creek, president-elect Mrs.Miriam DeHaan of Kalamazoo, vicepresident Mrs. Mary Ellen Doe of Muskegon, recording secretary Mrs. Shirley

Annual Fund Drive'sMost Unusual DonorWas a SailorThe story of perhaps the most

unlikely contribution to WMU'sAlumni Fund Drive began in, of allplaces, a trash can aboard the U.S.S.Josephus Daniels. In the crew is anunidentified Western alum. Included in his mail one day was a copyof the WMU Newsletter and AlumniEvents. Along with it was an envelope in which he could send tohis alma mater a contribution to thefund drive. However, he merelytossed the publication and envelopeinto the trash can.Another member of the crew,

Christopher N. Thorpe, found thenewsletter and the envelope. Thisnon-alumnus wrote James R. Foster, annual fund director, "I read

Bundy of St. Joseph, treasurer Mrs Barbara Rams of Muskegon, historian Mrs.Marion Krall of Watervliet, and adviserMrs. Harriet Oliver of North Muskegon.Not shown are chaplain Mrs. WilmaCalkins of Grand Rapids and corresponding secretary Mrs. Frances Miller ofBattle Creek.

your Alumni Newsletter with greatinterest, as I have never before heardof this school."Along with his letter was a con

tribution of $25 to WMU's annualfund drive.

Middle-Junior HighConference Oct. 30The 6th annual Middle and Jun

ior High School Conference atWMU on Oct. 30 will feature keynote speaker Dr. Gerald Weinstein,professor of education at the University of Massachusetts. The conference theme, "Humanizing theMiddle School Curriculum," promises some highly introspective remarks from a series of 12 speakersplus a panel of middle and juniorhigh school teachers.Also on the program, which runs

from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., is Charles A.Smith, associate professor of English

WESTERN MICHIGAN

UNIVERSITY NEWSLETTER

Second class postage paid at Kalamazoo, Michigan. Published eight times a year by Western Michigan University,Kalamazoo, 49001. Robert G. Rubom, Editor

Vol. 15, No. 5

September 1970

and alumni events