1963

Here's a downer apropos of the sentiments expressed a few months ago in the newsletter by a classmate tired of reading about fellow '63s for whom success and upward mobility seem divinely ordained.

Joe (H.) Casey has been teaching history at Keene State College here in New Hampshire since 1968. Although highly popular with many students, Joe will not be teaching here after this spring. His contract is terminal. Part of Joe's problem is a matter of degrees. He hasn't completed his master's and Ph.D. (75 credits earned thus far at the University of Maine), which apparently bothers some members of the Faculty Evaluation Advisory Committee.

But the major difficulty is philosophical. Dr. Peter Ch'en, the department chairman, told Joe last year in writing that, as a historian, Casey's views of man, especially his motives, are distorted and that he does not correctly judge the principal forces governing human affairs.

To which Joe replied to the faculty committee: "Who decides what is the correct view of man and man's motives? If all professors at Keene State must conform to a correct view of man, then academic freedom is dead at Keene State College."

Ch'en also was critical of Casey's teaching methods. But Joe said, "Let the consumers be the judge of my teaching," and several, indeed, have spoken in his behalf.

Ch'en said he realized Joe is a "singularly popular teacher among certain students" and that this had been taken into consideration. But he said students do not have sufficient basis to form sound opinions of their instructors.

Ch'en added, according to the college newspaper, that students should demand that the college provide them with excellent teachers.

I conclude from this that students deserve excellence from their teachers, but they cannot be expected to recognize it when they see it.

From regulator to regulated: Howard Culver has left his attorney's post in the Office of the General Counsel for the Civil Aeronautics Board in Washington after five years to join the Regulatory Affairs Department of Western Airlines in Los Angeles.

Riding high: Denny Emerson of Strafford, Vt., has been named "The Leading Ride of the Year" by the U.S. Combined Training Association. Denny placed eight times in combined training events - dressage, cross-country steeplechase and stadium jumping - riding three horses, House Guest, Cat, and Line Storm.

The award normally is given to a member of the Olympic riding team. Denny says he "probably wouldn't have won it if all the team riders hadn't been in Europe."

Along with the award, Denny and his wife May have a new son to boast about.

We Knew Him When Department: At least one classmate has thinned down since graduation - Tom Berardino who has shed the "Mastro" by which we all remember him.

Secretary, 11 Nelson St. Keene, N.H. 03431

Class Agent, 54 Bryant Ave. Metuchen, N.J. 08841