Yale62.org

Happy New Year, Class of 1962!

The beauty of having a CorSec column is that it can grow or expand depending on how much I have to say.  This will be a relatively short one because even though I have a lot to say, much of it relates to the politics and  economics of the day, and I feel we have all had an abundance of informed media coverage of both for the last several months, so how much could I add?  Classmates, however, can and are encouraged to log their thoughts & vignettes on our political and economic landscapes using the Comment feature of this site.

I do feel obligated to disclose I voted for Obama with enthusiasm, and in following the campaign and the early days of the new Administration am hopeful that at last we have able people running the country. In perspective, the past eight years make me think of my times with bad teachers, bad coaches, and bad managers. On the economic side, I did not do anything with Bernie Madoff, but a clue to my current mood is that my wife went mostly into cash early last year and stayed there while I, supposedly the financially talented one, watched many of my favorite investments go over the cliff in a few horrifying days in the Fall. I did not do much better than the averages in 2008.

Hoping for a happy feeling to balance bad vibes from the stock market, I ventured to the Yale-Harvard football game accompanied by Gus Hedlund.

Pre Game

Ominously the climate at Harvard Stadium was a wind-chill 10 degrees, and the pre-game Yale Club tent was sparsely attended.  Courtesy of one of my friends at Harvard, we had excellent seats, close to the field at the 50-yard line on the Yale side (going through Yale’s ticket process normally places CorSec between the goal line and the 20, in case you thought this job carries any privileges).  All of us who follow football know the story of the game, in which Yale’s defense held Harvard to 10 points, 20 points below their season average, and Harvard’s one touchdown  came after a lucky break  followed by a disputed call  that gave Harvard the ball almost at the Yale goal line.  Yale’s offense aka Coach Siedlecki, who called the plays from the sidelines,  remained scoreless despite having two first downs inside the 10 yard line at game end. Final score Harvard 10- Yale 0. 

 
After the game

For those who want more in depth reporting on Yale football and other sports, including the story of Siedlecki’s resignation and the hiring of  new football coach Tom Williams from the NFL coaching ranks, I recommend the Yale Daily News web site.  And wish Tom every success. Footnote: Harvard has just recruited Yale’s defensive backfield coach.

When I started my CorSec career, I launched a contest in the form of a mystery, who could name the Classmate who got a date with the model who posed as the Pantino Girl?  You all remember, don’t pretend, the one who kept looking at us over her shoulder in the NY Times Sunday Magazine?  Well, the contest is officially over, with no winner!  Not even a guess!  Of course I could have claimed the reward, having stood  there in the courtyard to hear the whole story from the hero of this story. Instead, I  sent an email urging him to come forward, but there has been no response.  So this choice anecdote will remain forever between me and him.  Or maybe try again at the 50th.

In closing, keep your news items coming, but don’t think you have to wait for the annual class dues mailing!

Al Chambers
Ann Arbor, MI
published on our site: January 29, 2009 

The optimism and satisfaction about Yale at the annual November AYA Assembly from both the speakers and the delegates was palpable. That was despite the fact that the meeting took place only a few days before what was taken, at least for a while, to be the bottom of the 2008 stock market decline. President Rick Levin obviously was aware of concern over the endowment because he opened his President’s Summary by saying that he would deal with the University’s endowment situation first because it was the question he was being asked most often. He quickly added that what he really wanted to talk were several of the encouraging developments that had taken place since the AYA’s 2007 meeting.

The Yale President acknowledged that it had been a bad year for Yale’s investments but reminded the audience that markets go down as well as up and that the annualized performance over the previous 15 years had been extraordinary. Levin stated that “everything in Yale’s strategy would move forward but not at the speed we anticipated. There will be no change in need-based enrollment even with people at all levels of income able to pay less of the enrollment costs.” It would be the same for the two new residential colleges and the development of the West Campus.

He explained that both he and chief investment officer David Swensen were economists and were working diligently together to protect the University’s investments in what was turning out to be a difficult period. He joked that he thought that regarding its investments, “Just like the 2008-football team, Yale plays better defense than offense.” The Bulldogs went on to beat Princeton the next day in what was a cold and windy Yale Bowl. A month later, Swensen confirmed that Yale’s endowment had plunged about 25% or $6 Billion dollars in 2008 but said that the historical performance remained far ahead of other universities and investment entities. It was his first losing year since coming to Yale in 1988.

Finances aside, Levin contended that the University was doing very well and reconfirmed his commitment to becoming even more international and in sharing the richness of the academic experience with the general population largely by creative use of the web. Both he and other speakers emphasized the pride and excitement in making 15 of Yale’s best professors and most popular courses publicly available on the web. The professionally produced high definition television lectures and course materials can be found at http://oyc.yale.edu. My conversations with delegates, speakers and students all indicated that Yale remains very much on a high.

The unusual theme for the 2008 Assembly was “Building on the Legacy of Publishing at Yale,” which obviously was attractive to your 1962 delegate as a former Yale Daily News editor and career journalist and communicator. What was clear was that the present leaders in this field at Yale have an abiding commitment to “providing diverse electronic and print resources in support of teaching and research at the university.”  The main panel included University Printer John Gambrell (Yale was the first to have a University Printer in the United States); University Librarian Alice Prochaska, and Director of Publications and end Editor of Yale Global Online Magazine Nayan Chanda (a former contact of mine from my days at Ford Motor Company and his at the Wall Street Journal). Yale’s Digital Strategy Consultant, David Schiffman, moderated the fast-paced session.

Equally interesting were Student Editors in a session titled “The Medium for the Message.” It included Editors-in Chief from the Yale Daily News, Yale Record, School of Forestry & Environmental Studies magazine (SAGE) and The Pocket Part, an online publication of the Yale Law Journal. The surprise was that with the exception of the online law publication, the other three all explained that their publications were pursuing strategies and looks that went back to earlier generations and were part of an effort to preserve and strengthen conventional print publications. That, by the way, doesn’t mean that they don’t have online products but only that they most value their print traditions.

Break-out groups on these subjects were fascinating and self-selective, so I naturally returned to the OCD Building on York Street. No surprise here -the delegates who had selected this session were every bit as interested in talking about the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s as the exciting activities now taking place. The outgoing News editor-in-chief was proud of the paper’s all-night election coverage of Barack Obama’s victory, where News reporters had been assigned to key locations around the country.  I remembered how the ‘62 Newsies had relished in our coverage of the 1960 squeaker election. We ignored our deadlines and were one of the very few Eastern seaboard newspapers to headline Kennedy’s victory over Nixon when the decisive Illinois vote count finally was declared after four o’clock in the morning.

Day Two of the Assembly focused on the Alumni Association and its myriad of activities. How many of you know that AYA supported what was called “Feb Club” last year? Did any of you go the parties, which were held at various locations around the country, all organized by Yale alums? It was an effort to resuscitate for Alumni an idea that apparently flared and then failed at Yale in the 80s to make late-winter February an organized party month at Yale. The 2009 plan is to have an Alumni party event in a different location around the country plus a few international locations each night in February. Organizers reported that many of the alumni who attended the 2008 parties said that they had never before been to a Yale Alumni event. Here is the web site including the schedule: http://www.febclub.webs.com . How about a few reports for Mike Kane and the web site about this year’s Feb Club festivities? So far, there is nothing scheduled here in Michigan.

AYA Executive Director Mark Dollhopf is full of ideas and enthusiasm. He again said, “the chief concept of the AYA is ‘revisioning’ with the Shared Interest Groups as major Alumni constituencies. The three types of ‘SIGS’ are by Identity (Hispanics, African American, Gay and Lesbians, etc.), Student Life-based Groups (Yale Daily News, etc.) and vocational groups (Yale Real Estate Association, etc.) These groups are starting to hold meetings and mini-Reunions of their own and are getting favorable response.  Dollhopf said that the next stage of the AYA Strategic Review concerns classes. When I told him that a class such as 1962, while in favor of progressive change, was likely to be focused on our own 50th Reunion in 2012. He of course understood.  At the same time, he clearly was interested in exploring new concepts such as cohort Reunions where classes from several successive years might come to New Haven on the same weekend. Findings and possibly recommendations about future class events should be part of the 2009 Assembly.

An issue of minor controversy was the energy being expended by activist Alumni to put together travel groups to foreign countries to explain Yale’s alumni ideas and successes. A group visited Australia in 2008 and a trip to Japan is scheduled in June,  2009. Although no one objected to the overseas travel, there was some support for the idea that it might be as important and valuable to schedule trips to locations in the United States that might benefit even more from the efforts of these Yale Alumni.

The alumni who attend these annual Assemblies are incredibly dedicated and committed to Yale. I am proud of the University and very impressed by its vision, recent policies and accomplishments. But in this group, my own level of enthusiasm is minor compared with many others. Their abiding commitment to Yale helps make the University even better.

Class Secretary Jim White reports that, at the AYA Assembly last November, the AYA announced “May 16, 2009, will be a global ‘Yale Day of Service’ with alumni from all over the world coming together through the common act of providing service to others through their local Yale Clubs.” This is an excellent idea, so why not sign up and do someone, and yourself, some good? If you’re interested in participating, contact your local club. If your club doesn’t have this in mind, why don’t you organize the effort? Finally, Jim wishes one and all a happy and healthy New Year. Also, Jim reminds all Class Council members to save this May 9th for the 2d annual Class Council meeting, to be held in NYC at the Yale Club.  Lunch and favors are part of the deal, as before. Jim will send an agenda in due course.  Al Chambers attended the AYA Assembly as our class AYA Rep, and his report on the event is part of this posting.

The many friends of Uncle Al Ordway will want to join me in sending him get well messages following his recent mishap while skiing at Sunday River.  Al is at home now after  treatment at the Maine Medical Center, recuperating from a rather severe collision with unfriendly fir trees. He is expected to be his old self well in time for camp season.  Get well and other messages should be routed through Michelle at msordway@roadrunner.com.

Tom Chapman, (Washington DC) and Roger Clapp, (Addison, Me)  are this issue’s candidates for a shout out for graciously accepting CorSec’s invitation to act as news scouts for their respective area.  In something of an experiment, I sent them the class lists for Maine (13 classmates)  and the greater DC area ( 51 classmates), and encouraged them to  do their best to  generate classmate news.  Following up, on their own initiative, this month Roger and Tom sent emails/letters to the troops and already  we have two responses with news from Ed Worthy and Ralph Kissick which you can read  in the March issue of Yale Alumni Magazine.

Those who recall that classmate Chris Cox was our keynote speaker at the 45th Reunion will realize the Obama inauguration involved a change in his employment status.  NYTimes chief financial columnist Floyd Norris posted a blog on Thursday, January 22 under the caption “Christopher Cox departs from the Securities and Exchange Commission, leaving an agency in far worse shape than when he arrived.” See the Floyd Norris blog entry here .  Unlike GWB, Chris leaves office without the benefit of an honorary degree from Yale. Now that he is free from the confines of high office, Chris will surely speak out to rebut Norris and other critics, and we look forward to hearing from him (maybe even on this website?).

Recent conversation with Tom Luckey showed him full of vinegar and working his way through some changes.  He is engaged in competing for a large-scale sculptural project in the  New Haven  area, details not disclosed, but with major recognition potential if he gets the commission.  In personal affairs, he expects to recover from a stubborn bed sore affliction within the next month or so, and will welcome a new companion into his life in the form of a capuchin monkey from the non-profit agency “Helping Hands.”  These endearing little creatures are very smart and are trained by “Helping Hands” to live with people with  disabilities. Knowing how much Tom loves animals, and vice versa, this could be a wonderful team.  Classmate Steve Rose, who visited Tom recently,  suggested a class contest to name the monkey. Unfortunately, the creatures come complete with names, so Steve’s creative idea will not work.  Tom says that he fully intends to lead our class in singing the Star Spangled Banner at the 50th!

For a nice overview of how much Tom has accomplished, both before and after his accident,  go to www.luckeyclimbers.com . Also, many of you may recall we ran a feature article on Tom’s business here on our own site some time back. This is the link to that article.

Some may recall this column some months ago mentioned a movie being made by Laura Longsworth, an independent documentary  film producer.  The movie deals with the early phases of Tom’s accident and some of the family issues that evolved  from that. CorSec contacted Laura and learned that the movie has been completed and had its world premier at the International Documentary Film Festival in Amsterdam in November. The US premier will be in March  at the SXSW festival in Austin, Tx.  The Sundance Channel has scheduled it for TV broadcast this Fall.

Speaking of  Steve Rose, he has become a Massachusetts resident, relocating from Pa to Acton, Mass, near a meditation center he is associated with.

 Just last Saturday, we heard how Steve Susman’s legal offensive into New York is already paying off, as the NYTimes reported that  his firm, Susman Godfrey, was representing plaintiffs in a shareholder lawsuit against directors and executives of Bank of America and Merrill Lynch. Steve says recently he has been spending half his professional time running the firm’s new Manhattan office, quote : “  The economic downturn has created more lawsuits than in my entire career.”  Several classmates shared in Susman Godfrey’s good fortune by attending the firm’s Dec 2 holiday party in NY, including Ron Etra, Bill Nye, Chris Cory,  and Steve Danetz.

In another earth-shattering development, Gus Hedlund has succeeded in talking the FCC into giving him the equivalent of a vanity plate in ham radio world. He finds his new call letters “W1BV” far superior to the former W1GUS, because it is much easier to say into the microphone “Whiskey One Bravo Victor” than whatever he used to say for GUS.  By the way, Gus recently witnessed  the power of  www.Yale62.org  when he got a radio message from a Yale graduate living in Thailand.  This guy  had read our web feature about Gus and was looking for help with his ham radio hobby!

Heard from (Dr.) Howie Kaufmann, an old friend from Freshman lightweight crew.  Howie lives in Boca Raton, near one son, has another son graduating from YLS this spring.  He recently returned from Perth where he attended the 90th birthday party for his father- in- law. While Down Under, he had tea with the Governor of Western Australia and dinner at the renowned Sydney Rowing Club, where  the Australian Olympic crews come from.  Howie says he enjoys reading Yale62.org, and plans on coming to the 50th.

After a number of years away Steve Buck is happily back at the Industrial College of the Armed Forces at Ft. McNair in Washington, teaching a seminar on North Africa and the Levant . Last summer he and  wife Hala expanded their 45th Reunion lecture “Making Sense of the Arab World,” into a week-long series at the Chautauqua Institute. They’re giving it again in February  to a big adult education course in Northern Virginia. Daughter Leila has a lead role in award-winning Lebanese/Canadian playwright’s play “Scorched” February 25-March 29 at the Wilma Theater in Philadelphia. (More info on that here.)

Jack McCredie has written to say that he voted for Obama but had a number of concerns about the electoral process, one of them being that much is promised but much less is delivered.  So, he recommends a web site to track the record of the new administration -
“President Obama made approximately 500 promises (some large, and some small) during his election campaign. Who kept track of them, and more importantly, who is keeping track of them now that he is our president. The answer is – the OBAMETER. See it here: http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/

All for now,

Mike Kane

Rob Flint
Woodside, CA
Published on our site: January 29, 2009

The Yale connection can lead into some strange and wonderful encounters: last spring I received an email forwarded to me by our corresponding secretary from Dr. Mary Albert, who was the chief scientist on the U.S. – Norwegian traverse in East Antarctica. She had found my name through an internet search which turned up the article that I wrote a few years ago for our ‘62 website entitled “My life in Antarctica“. On the traverse, she and her companions had visited Plateau Station, which I had helped to establish in December 1965 and where I served as Station Scientific Leader for the austral winter of 1966. This remotest of all U.S. stations (planes to it were refueled at the South Pole) was occupied for only three years and abandoned at the end of the 1968 austral winter. The station had not experienced a single human footprint for nearly forty years

I was fortunate to meet Dr. Albert in person this summer, when there was a gathering of the Antarctican Society at Port Clyde, Maine, at the home of one of the founders of the organization. (The Antarctican Society is a sort of alumni association for people who have worked in Antarctica or are otherwise interested in the continent.) It was wonderful to see so many old friends from my early years in Antarctica, swap “hero tales”, and share beer and lobster with people with whom I once shared a small piece of polar geography. Among the highlights for me was Mary Albert’s photos of the traverse and Plateau Station: it was most interesting to see a place that was once so familiar (there were only eight of us there for the winter; so indeed every nook and cranny of the station WAS very familiar).

There were a number of attendees who has been part of the Antarctic program during the International Geophysical Year 1957-58. This marked the beginning of the modern exploration era, the first time Man had wintered in the interior of the continent, and the beginning of the era of continuous Antarctic research. We even had a fellow who had wintered in 1947 and the former chief of the British Antarctic Survey who had wintered in 1951. These aging gentlemen are the pioneers of the modern age of polar exploration. It was a remarkable event.

And what is more remarkable is that these guys were closer in time to Shackleton and Scott than we are to the time when they initiated the modern era of Antarctic research!

Rob Flint