Cornell Alumni News - eCommons@Cornell - Cornell University
Cornell Alumni News - eCommons@Cornell - Cornell University
Cornell Alumni News - eCommons@Cornell - Cornell University
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ITS<br />
CLASS<br />
REUNION<br />
TIME . .<br />
And we're looking forward<br />
to greeting returning <strong>Alumni</strong><br />
once again.<br />
Remember our two locations<br />
BARNES HALL Books and<br />
Academic Supplies<br />
SHELDON COURT All <strong>Cornell</strong><br />
items, photographic supplies<br />
and clothing.<br />
<strong>Cornell</strong> Campus<br />
Store, Inc<br />
Barnes Hall<br />
Ithaca, New York 14850<br />
aware we must reckon with the practical<br />
difficulty of making it palatable to the<br />
academicians who would have to pass on it.<br />
"In the end I was obliged to turn down<br />
the whole idea because both the Dean and I<br />
faced up to the fact that having once made a<br />
financial commitment, I would lose all control<br />
over what was being taught and publicized.<br />
In other words, I could not be at all<br />
sure that within a few years the Chair would<br />
not be used to further liberal or even<br />
socialistic ideas.<br />
The most recent CACBE proposal<br />
seeks to get away from the possibility<br />
of the faculty setting standards for any<br />
Free Society Center staff members, by<br />
having the center responsible directly<br />
and presumably solely to the university<br />
President and Board of Trustees. President<br />
Perkins pointed out one problem<br />
any such staff would have, that of being<br />
"marked men." By this he appeared to<br />
say such men would be thought by other<br />
members of the university community<br />
not to be open-minded, to be required<br />
instead to uphold a particular point of<br />
view no matter what.<br />
The feeling of CACBE on this point<br />
is stated by one of their strong supporters.<br />
Even though all parties cannot agree<br />
on the need, or the existence of an "unbalanced"<br />
situation at present, he said,<br />
"It is the obligation of the university to<br />
be darned sure that both sides are presented<br />
and well presented."<br />
Another part of this question is where<br />
the university would draw the line if it<br />
accepted Mr. Tuller's proposal. The<br />
President raised this in his first letter to<br />
Mr. Tuller, the question of "how far you<br />
would extend the principle you suggest<br />
for the development of special academic<br />
arrangements to teach material in the<br />
way you have in mind, should this option<br />
be open to others so that those who<br />
have a particular concern could see them<br />
reflected in a special school. I can see<br />
some problems with groups on the other<br />
side of the argument asking for equal<br />
privileges and equal attention, not feeling<br />
that the current faculty represents<br />
their views either."<br />
Thus are the points of view presented,<br />
and have been presented in varying<br />
forms for some eight years since Mr.<br />
Tuller first followed up his original idea<br />
of establishing a chair, and then moved<br />
to other proposals.<br />
What effect has all this had on the<br />
university and the large list of alumni<br />
who have been receiving his criticisms<br />
of the balance of the existing faculty<br />
and his proposals for a new scheme?<br />
As nearly as can be judged they have<br />
served as a lightning rod for many sorts<br />
of criticism of <strong>Cornell</strong>, all universities,<br />
and US society in general. <strong>Alumni</strong>-circuit<br />
speakers, university officials, volunteer<br />
fund raisers for <strong>Cornell</strong>—all attest<br />
to the fact that Mr. Tuller's message has<br />
gotten through, and his criticisms are<br />
accepted as true in some quarters. <strong>Alumni</strong><br />
receiving even a small number of the<br />
Tuller series of 500-plus letters are<br />
bound to have been affected.<br />
It should be noted, however, that<br />
there appears no effort on the part of<br />
CACBE supporters themselves to punish<br />
the university for its presumed imbalance.<br />
A careful reading of quite a portion<br />
of the series of Tuller letters does<br />
not reveal any such attempt. The continued<br />
willingness of Tuller and others<br />
to contribute to the university they criticize<br />
speaks of their intent. Tuller himself<br />
was a considerable contributor to<br />
the Olin Library and Emerson Hinchliff<br />
'14, a CACBE Executive Committee<br />
member, endowed a $250,000 chair in<br />
Spanish literature in 1964. The continued<br />
support of the Tower Club members<br />
of CACBE appears as further evidence<br />
of their attitude.<br />
This has not prevented their criticisms<br />
of the university from catalyzing others<br />
to further criticism and to withhold contributions<br />
and write <strong>Cornell</strong> out of their<br />
wills. Some correspondence in this connection<br />
was turned over to me during<br />
my work on this piece, spelling out how<br />
violently one alumnus reacted to a particular<br />
piece of news about <strong>Cornell</strong>. He<br />
had, he wrote, taken <strong>Cornell</strong> out of his<br />
will and was not going to give another<br />
cent to the place. A CACBE Executive<br />
Committee member received the letter.<br />
He sent back a detailed explanation of<br />
the particular piece of news that had<br />
upset the alumnus, and told of how the<br />
university had acted in several other,<br />
related incidents. Among other things he<br />
wrote, "an underlying trouble is that<br />
Activists, on Campus as in the nation,<br />
grab the headlines, get appointed to committees<br />
and chairmanships, and raise a<br />
stink." He concluded with a kindly personal<br />
comment and the advice that "the<br />
'dumbness of mankind' will always be<br />
with us, so don't let its current manifestations<br />
get you down."<br />
Dan Tuller concluded a letter in late<br />
1965 with "an excerpt from a letter by<br />
a former college president, a non-<strong>Cornell</strong>ian,<br />
to whom these letters are being<br />
sent: 'From the material sent me I<br />
gather that your <strong>Cornell</strong> Committee is<br />
making steady, if not electrifying, progress.<br />
I fear the situation is such that<br />
the effort can only bear fruit slowly, but<br />
I think not less surely for that reason.<br />
I greatly admire your patient, step-bystep,<br />
tactics. Too many Conservatives<br />
14 <strong>Cornell</strong> <strong>Alumni</strong> <strong>News</strong>