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The Yale Alumni Magazine is owned and operated by Yale Alumni Publications, Inc., a nonprofit corporation independent of Yale University. The content of the magazine and its website is the responsibility of the editors and does not necessarily reflect the views of Yale or its officers. |
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I enjoyed your tribute to Paul Mellon (“Exit an Icon,” Sum.) and would like to note a lesser-known side of the Mellon character. My stepson Scott (son of Anderson G. Flues '51) took odd jobs during his teen summers, including an occasional stint on the Mellon estate in Upperville, Virginia. More than once, he labored beside a quiet, older man, who joined the crew for a few hours at a time, clearing fencelines, digging trenches, and making all kinds of repairs. It was one of the surprises of Scott’s life to discover that the man was Paul Mellon. We have since heard that there is a network of retirement-age manual laborers in our area who remember Paul Mellon with pleasure, but less for his benefactions and more for his willingness to pitch in and lend a hand on outdoor tasks on his own property—despite his many millions. The essays in tribute to the late Paul Mellon provided four beautiful and diverse perspectives on the life and passions of this extraordinary Yale benefactor. J. Carter Brown, John Baskett, Jules Prown, and Duncan Robinson captured in very personal and memorable stories the qualities of this man who has left wonderful legacies to Yale, the nation, and the world. We are fortunate to have significant centers for learning about British art within the context of fine architectural settings in Cambridge, Washington, DC, and New Haven as the the result of Mellon’s philanthropy. Anyone who visits the Yale Center for British Art is enriched with a deeper appreciation of British art and the world around.
Missing Trove Your book review of Rush for Riches: Gold Fever and the Making of California (“In Print,” Sum.), by J.S. Holliday '46, neglected to mention his earlier book, And the World Rushed In, and, more importantly, made no mention of the spectacular collection of Western Americana given to Yale by William Robertson Coe while Holliday was a student, which helped inspire and inform him. Mr. Coe’s grandson, Michael Coe, was for many years a Yale professor of anthropology, dean of that department, officer of the Peabody Museum, a world class expert on Meso-America, and occasionally a great gentleman.
Cramped Campus In response to your coverage of the current renovations campaign (“Renovating a Classic Campus,” Nov.), this is a wake-up call. As a member of the class of 1942, I lived (along with nearly all my classmates) on the Old Campus, which is now being brought up to date. Then we moved on to the residential colleges. One could get a single, as I did, or a double with two bedrooms and one sitting room (occupied by two people only). The arrangement had privacy; one could really study in one’s room. I have wondered, over the years, when Yale is going to get back to making comfortable, un-crowded housing for undergraduates a priority. I can’t think of anything that would do more to improve the quality of undergraduate life than to restore those pre-war standards when Yale had the finest college housing in the country, and maybe the world.
Lux et Influx A more global Yale? (Feb.) The answer perforce is yes. With only 5.5 percent of foreign students (the Canadians being treated the same as U.S. students) Yale is sadly a part of l'arri’re garde of American universities, clinging to a parochial attitude with the excuse that, in David Gergen’s words, “It would change the nature of Yale.” To me, foreign students spice and brace the American student body for the exciting third millennium. If Yale is to follow her motto, Lux et Veritas, she must open her arms to foreign students for the enhancement of our global society. She must beckon students to become beacons in the 21st century unlimited.
Tobacco’s Bottom Line Regarding the letter of William H. Jarrett II '54 (Mar.): I too have spent my life advising my patients, and others when the situation warranted, of the medical havoc that tobacco has wrought upon our population. Today, few physicians remain immune from the obvious evidence one sees at the operating table or in the au- topsy room. But that is not the issue. Dr. Jarrett writes, “Yale should remove every dollar invested in tobacco companies.” The reality of stock funds, loaded or otherwise, where decisions are made by their managers, removes any realistic investor control of the makeup of that fund he chooses. Likewise, unless the individual invests in a corporation at its initial public offering (where money is actually given to the corporation), buys a new issue, or holds a sufficient quantity of stock to affect the management of the company, funds from an investor are given to the entity that has decided to sell. The corporation, looking towards its bottom line, pays its quarterly dividend to the owner of record on a specific date. It cares not where those funds are expended. On a moral basis, Dr. Jarrett has a point. Though I specifically do not invest in Phillip Morris, or others of their ilk, I recognize the lack of control I have when others choose where my money goes. But this is merely emotional. The rise or fall of the tobacco industry is far beyond the University’s influence. Yale should continue to place its investments where maximum return is realized with reasonable safety.
Christian Values Some time ago in the Kansas City area, people felt what was thought to be an earthquake. After reading the May issue of the Yale Alumni Magazine, I realized that it wasn’t an earthquake. It was the aftershock felt way out here in the heartland of America, caused by Timothy Dwight and generations of benefactors of Yale turning over in their respective graves. According to Teresa Mithen, Dwight Hall fellow, Yale is “thankfully” no longer a Christian institution (“Letters”). I wonder who, besides Mithen, has made this momentous decision. Was it the administration, the Corporation, or the students in a referendum? I fail to follow the reasoning that because there are students of various religious backgrounds, including many who are not Christians, at Yale, it is disrespectful to them to think of Yale as being Christian. What of the disrespect shown to Timothy Dwight and the many Christians who founded, built, and maintained Yale? I happen to think that Yale can be a Christian institution and show true Christian consideration for those students and faculty who are not Christians. But, I plead guilty to being old fashioned.
What’s in a Name I very much enjoyed “The Burdens of Belonging” (May), in which Dr. William Sledge mentions how his thoughts “about issues of race and how the institution (a residential college) figured in the ideals of a diverse community were stimulated when a student writing in this magazine raised the idea that the name of Calhoun College should be changed.” As a former resident of Calhoun College, I must admit that the naming of the college for an advocate of slavery, albeit a famous Yale alumnus, shocks the conscience. I really hesitate mentioning the name of the residential college in which I ate and conducted much of my life for four years. Perhaps it would be better for the University to rename the college for another well-known Yale graduate with whom everyone at the University could feel comfortable?
Class Cruising I was pleased to see that Professor Jerome Pollitt finally decided to become a guest lecturer on an AYA cruise of the Aegean (“News from Alumni House,” Apr.). I can only wonder at his reluctance to participate in lecturing on ancient Greece on these cruises, since memories of his class on ancient Greek art when I was a freshman (in 1965) continue to inspire me today. I finally toured Greece with my girlfriend in 1980 and was constantly remarking that I had studied this sculpture or this building with Professor Pollitt at Yale. Many thanks to him for instilling a life-long love for classical art. I am thrilled to read that he is now inspiring even older students.
The "Janet” Files The one “rich superkid” I got to know at Yale was reasonably nice; but a lot of preppies were pretty rotten in their scorn for those who, they felt, were deficient for not coming from families with money. As a scholarship student, I had to bus tables at the freshman dining hall; a lot of preppies would make deliberate elaborate messes on their tables just to make the busboys' lives a little harder. Their favorite prank was filling glasses with water, covering each full glass with a napkin, inverting the glass onto the table, and removing the napkin. They'd do this with a tray full of glasses—then put another tray on top, build up a second layer, and then a third. Twenty-four 12-ounce glasses times three is a lot of water. Despite the dining hall’s vastness, they'd once or twice been caught by Janet, the woman in charge (“Vintage YAM,” Oct.). She'd make them clean it up themselves while keeping their J. Press jackets on; they were very much aggrieved. Even nice rich kids with public school educations can have blind spots. My roommate, a rich high school grad, used to hang around with the heirs to Pan Am and Briggs & Stratton. They'd frequently ignore their prepaid dorm meals to dine out at Mory’s, and invite me along. I must admit I didn’t have the nerve to ask if we could eat somewhere more affordable, so I always ordered Jello, the one thing on the menu I could afford. None of them ever asked me why or figured it out. I know because I asked my roommate about it years later. “Well, we thought it was a little odd,” was all he could say.
Mory’s Reliquary I was particularly interested in your article about Mory’s ("A Very Special Saloon,” Apr.) because for many years I have owned a special item of Mory’s memorabilia. In the early 1900s, my father did bookkeeping for Louis Linder, and many times he had difficulty in collecting his overdue bill for services. On one such occasion, he was offered an old mantle clock by Mr. Linder in full payment of his bill. Perhaps my father saw this as his best opportunity to be paid for his services. Whatever the reason, the clock still strikes the hour and the half hour on my mantle today. The large marble clock bears the following inscription on an attached brass plate: “Presented to Mr. Frank Moriarty by some of his many friends in testimony of their esteem of his character as a man (February 22, 1866).” Since I had attended Yale, my father left the clock to me when he died in 1971, and I have treasured it ever since. If I adopt “Mory’s time,” it must be 145 years old!
Addenda We overlooked two alumni in the columns “Elected Elis” (Apr.) and “Who’s Blue: College and University Presidents” (Oct.): Pedro Rosello '70MD is Governor of Puerto Rico, and Dale Knobel '71 is president of Denison University in Ohio.
Correction In the photo on page 55 of the October 1999 Yale Alumni Magazine, Gus Speth is talking to U.N. Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, not Javier Pérez de Cuéllar.
Clarification Our October article about the plans for Yale’s Tercentennial (“Countdown to 300”), reported that a University-wide open house was scheduled for October 14, 2000. After the October Yale Alumni Magazine went to press, the Tercentennial Office announced that the date has been changed to October 21, 2000.
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