Alumni Judges Share Expertise

Two Harpur College alumni, both judges in New York state, spent an evening back on campus to share their expertise at Ethics and the Court: A Judicial Perspective on November 11. The Mock Trial Club's co-presidents and the event's moderators, Rebecca Surash `06 and David Shternfeld `05, asked The Honorable Ferris D. Lebous `76 and The Honorable Frank Maas `72 several questions about ethical issues facing the legal system, including victim's rights, cameras in the courtroom, and the election of judges.  More than 50 students, alumni, staff and community members attended the panel discussion.

After each explained his journey from Harpur College to the bench, the moderators asked the judges to describe ethical situations they face.  Maas said he frequently gets offers for free courses in attractive locations such as San Antonio and San Diego.  The courses are usually politically charged or sponsored by corporations that may influence a judge's decisions.  Judges may be asked to step down from cases involving companies or political parties that sponsor these courses.  Lebous said every day judges must ask themselves if their daily activities impair their judicial fairness.  "We don't attend political functions, we can't support candidates, and we're prohibited from having any outside business interests," he said.

Shternfeld asked Judges Maas and Lebous to comment on the protection of victim's rights versus the public's right to know.  Lebous said in the courtroom, the defendant has the right to face his or her accusor.  The public has the right to know the facts of the case, but they don't always need to know names or see photographs of the parties.  Maas agreed and said Federal court sees cases that have been appealed at several lower levels, so this is not often an issue.

The judges also spoke about how court backup and case overload affects the entire justice system.  Maas said cases move more quickly at the Federal level.  "But, the last thing I did before coming here was granting a writ of habeas corpus for a case dating back to 1988," he said.  "Sometimes innocent people sit in jail for this reason."  Lebous acknowledged that court backup is a terrible problem.  "Often in civil cases, the discovery process will go on forever as each side tries to wear each other down.  The public sees this as justice denied," he said.

Lebous and Maas agreed that cameras have a place in the courtroom - but only to a point. "The more people see, the better. It helps people understand the court system," said Judge Lebous. He scorned the "feeding frenzy" of reporters, microphones and satelite trucks outside courtrooms during well known cases. Maas said television has changed the public's perception of law. "When people come into the courtroom, they're expecting to see 'Law and Order' re-enacted, but many trials are boring."

The judges gave students who are considering law school plenty of advice about their profession. "It's about protecting people's rights, not about frivolous lawsuits," said Lebous. "Don't be afraid to say no to a client." Maas warned students about the expense of law school (now up to $100,000!) and said law is not necessarily an easy route to high salaries, particularly in public interest.

The moderators asked how the judicial system's reality compares to the American public's perception. Maas said judges want to move cases along quickly and that the process does indeed work. "It's better than people hitting each other with rocks to see who wins," he joked. Lebous said the public accepts court decisions as legitimate because people, for the most part, obey the law.

  Send this article to a friend

Top

Student Spotlight: Kira Slocum `05
by William S. Duffy `05

Kira Slocum arrived at Binghamton in the Fall of 2001 from her hometown, Syracuse, NY. She chose to live in Broome Hall's music module, then housing only eight students, because she wanted to live with people with whom she shared common interests. Upon her arrival, she auditioned for and was accepted into Harpur College's prestigious symphony orchestra, conducted by Timothy Perry. "I auditioned for orchestra because I wanted to keep playing flute.  I was thinking about majoring in music and I had never performed with strings before." Slocum enjoyed the experience so much that she decided to major in music.

Spring semester brought new opportunities and new challenges for Slocum. She became the first freshman ever to become a Discovery Assistant (DA), a peer counselor who lives in the residential communities and assists students with academic and career-related questions.  DA's help students understand the general education requirements and help connect them to experiential education opportunities.  They also help form study groups within their communities for some of the major courses offered.  Slocum said she wanted to be a DA because "the skills and knowledge I would attain would be valuable to me and I liked the idea of helping students find classes and find out about opportunities on campus. Besides, I needed a job." Being a DA was time consuming, but Slocum said the experience allowed her to learn about herself."

Slocum, along with roommate Talitha Phillips `04, spearheaded the movement to keep the music module, which was in danger of being cut, alive for another year. "We worked a lot with Maria Carra, the Discovery Assistant coordinator, and basically begged and pleaded with Gladys Watson (the resident director of Newing College) to keep the module alive," recalled Slocum. Their efforts paid off and the music module survived another year, and over the summer more than tripled in population. Slocum knew Harpur College was a perfect fit when, at the end of the year, she was inducted into Phi Eta Sigma, a Freshman Honor Society.

Slocum began her sophomore year with some clear-cut goals: she wanted to help the music module grow, and she decided to double major in comparative literature and music.  The music module went on to have a phenomenally successful term.  According to Michael Kohler, who was Resident Director at the time, of all the events in Broome Hall, the ones related to the music module had the most attendance.  Slocum also the joined the first of several flute quartets in which she would take part.

During the spring semester of her sophomore year, Slocum became the manager of the music module, helping to ensure that it remained as part of the university. She also volunteered for the Harpur Jazz Project (a group that is dedicated to bringing jazz to Binghamton University), helping to bring New York based jazz artists Ben Allison and Medicine Wheel to Binghamton. 

As a D.A., Slocum organized a debate about the war in Iraq. She said, "It effects every person in the United States. I thought it was important that students learn about the war in Iraq and have a chance to be involved in a discussion about it, since the people who would be going to war would be fellow students and people from our generation."

Now a junior, Slocum has joined the Harpur Jazz Ensemble and is a teaching assistant in the course, "Translating Literature Into Film." Outside of school, she works repairing jewelry and is a founding member of Students for Dennis Kucinich, a group of college democrats supporting the Ohio Congressman's bid for the presidency. She is thinking of applying to Fulbright program to teach English to French students after she graduates. Whatever her plans, Slocum takes pleasure in knowing that when she returns to campus as an alumna, the music module mural she helped paint will still be here.

The Harpur Jazz Ensemble performs Thursday, November 20^th at 8:00p.m. in the Anderson Center Chamber Hall, with guest artists drummer Rob Vincent and trumpet player John McNeil. You can also catch Kira in the Concerto Competition Sunday November 23^rd,and a flute recital on December 5^th, both in Casadesus Recital Hall.

  Send this article to a friend

Top

Alumni Spotlight: Gordon Taylor `74

From diving under the ice in Antarctica to basking on the beach in Margarita Island, Venezuela, this alum's quest to rescue our environment has taken him all over the world.

Gordon Taylor `74, an associate professor of biological oceanography at SUNY Stony Brook, hopes that by studying our oceans and their ancient history, and measuring their absorption of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, we can control global warming and protect the environment for generations to come.

Working with geologists and other oceanographers, he is looking at carbon deposition to  the ocean floor in Venezuela's Cariaco Basin, an area of the Caribbean Sea whose depths are devoid of oxygen so that only microorganisms can survive there.  Because no animals live in the sediment, it remains undisturbed, and therefore, easier for geologists to study.  "There's no other place in the tropics like it," said Taylor

Sediment cores from this site are like tree rings in that they reveal millennia of history and allow the geologists with whom Taylor works to examine what's been deposited on the ocean floor.  "We are looking for patterns of sedimentation that reflect changing ocean climate."

"If you can better understand the past, you can better predict climate changes of the future," he said.

Taylor has been to other far-flung places, and not always in the balmy climate of Venezuela.  During the last year of his Ph.D. at the University of Southern California, Taylor spent 9 weeks at McMurdo Station in Antarctica, scuba diving under the ice to study how sea ice supports microscopic plants and animals.

"When you dive in cold water, you use a dry suit, which is supposed to prevent water from coming in contact with your body," he recalled. "But in those days, our equipment also exposed a lot of your face to the water.  The initial sensation was like needles and my face went numb within 30 seconds."

Taylor's frozen face paid off.  His work helped discover how algae that grow on ice crystals in the sea support a significant portion of the Antarctic food web.

After concluding his research under the ice, Taylor decided to take a break and thaw out in Hawaii.  On a whim, he decided to visit the University of Hawaii at Manoa and introduce himself to one of the world's leading marine microbiologists, Prof. David Karl.  "I knew him by reputation only and just stopped in to chat," said Taylor.  Within an hour, he'd secured a postdoctoral position which eventually turned into a professorship.

In 1990, Taylor, now married with a daughter, accepted a position at SUNY Stony Brook, which he said, "felt like coming home."  He has been working on the Cariaco Basin project since 1995, which is one of three major oceanographic time series nationwide.

Taylor is optimistic that his work will in some way contribute to repair of our fragile ecosystem and he has already seen improvements to portions of our environment.  "The best examples are the Great Lakes," he said, recalling how the Clean Water Act of 1974 reversed the downward spiral of the lakes' ecosystem.  "They went from summer after summer when most beaches were closed and dead fish washed ashore to clean beaches and healthier fisheries," he said.  "The water quality has improved dramatically."

  Send this article to a friend

Top

Area Violists Learn and Perform at Harpur College

Harpur College opened its doors to around 75 violists from New York and Connecticut at its second annual Viola Fest on November 1, 2003 in the Anderson Center. Last year's inaugural event was such a resounding success that its sponsors, the New York String Teachers Association and the National School Orchestra Association (NYSTA / NSOA) chose to continue the daylong event which included classes and a concert.

In classrooms and studio space donated by the music, theatre and dance departments, students of all ages and levels attended workshops in performance technique, posture, and movement. They most enjoyed "Fiddle Jam," an improvisation class in which instructor Geoffrey Fitzhugh Perry strummed an electric bass and encouraged students to play along on their violas whatever came to mind.

Members of the Viola Fest staff gave a midday recital of short works for viola, and the day ended with a grand concert in the Anderson Center.

Roberta Crawford, coordinator of strings in Harpur College's music department, said violas are often relegated to accompanying role in ensembles and not given the solo lines in orchestral and chamber music. However, over the past century, the viola is coming into what Crawford feels is a much-deserved spotlight. "The viola's image is changing and people are more aware of it," she said. "Events like Viola Fest go a long way to help."

The previous evening, Crawford, Michael Salmirs, lecturer of piano, and Mary Burgess, associate professor of voice, kicked off Viola Fest 2003 in Casadesus Recital Hall with the concert "An English Legacy: Works for Viola." They played music by Ralph Vaughan Williams, John Dowland, Benjamin Britten and several other English composers who produced music for the viola between the 1500's and 1970's.

Send this article to a friend

The Tradition Continues: Passing of the Vegetables

Top: Harpur seniors Carolyn Walther `04 and Rakshita Koirala `04 read poetry, followed by the passing of the vegetables (below). Students from the Campus Preschool joined the fun.

You wouldn't think passing a pumpkin around in a circle would be a tradition that's spanned nearly three decades on our campus, but Passing of the Vegetables has been going on since 1975 as a way for our students to wish for good weather. On October 30, a small crowd gathered at the Dickinson Amphitheater to carry on this tradition, during which students recited poetry, gathered in a circle, and passed vegetables around to symbolize the harvest and ask Mother Nature for a mild winter.

"It's like Stepping on the Coat in that it marks the changing of the seasons, especially now as we usher in the colder weather, said Dave Husch, interim director of Off Campus College.

In the last few years, the event has become a way to connect BU students with the Campus Preschool.

"It's more the 'marching of the little kids' than the passing of the vegetables," joked Husch.

Harpur College seniors Carolyn Walther `04 and Rakshita Koirala `04 read "Sacred Poem," a poem about the earth and the ecosystem, and an untitled poem about how the carrot, a root, reaches for the sky.

Koirala said "Sacred Poem" has been part of the tradition, but she selected the carrot poem herself. "I thought the preschoolers would enjoy it."

When Walther and Koirala were done reading, everyone gathered in a circle, joined hands, and passed around vegetables, including a cucumber, a mini-pumpkin and a squash.

After the vegetables made their rounds, everyone enjoyed a more common Autumn ritual: donuts and cider. "It's nice to be part of such an old tradition," said Koirala, "It's something that I'll remember when I'm an alumna."

  Send this article to a friend

Top

Professor Emeritus Haskell M. Block Dies at 80

Haskell Block, professor emeritus of comparative literature, died Thursday, November 6, 2003 at the age of 80.  His three children, Randall, Laurie and Linda, survive him.  Funeral plans are incomplete at this time.

Born and raised in Chicago, Block earned his Bachelor's from the University of Chicago in 1944, a Master of Arts from Harvard University in 1947, and a doctorate from the University of Paris, France in 1949.  He began teaching at Harpur College in 1975, served as chair of Comparative Literature from 1981 to 1982, retired in 1987 and continued teaching part-time until 1991.

Before joining the faculty of Harpur College in 1975, Block taught at Harvard University, Queens College, The University of Wisconsin and Brooklyn College.  Throughout his academic career, he taught at several universities around the world as a visiting professor, including the University of Dusseldorf, Germany in 1972, the University of Szeged, Hungary in 1979, and the University of Antwerp, Netherlands in 1983. 

A member of Phi Beta Kappa, Block was a two-time Fulbright Scholar: once in 1956 when he attended the University of Cologne, Germany, and once in 1968 at the University of Paris, France.

He was a leader of several professional associations, including the International Comparative Literature Association for whom he served as president from 1974 to 1977.  He served on the selection committee for the National Endowment for the Humanities in 1977.

Block wrote and edited several books, including Naturalistic Triptych: The Fictive and the Real in Zola, Mann, and Dreiser in 1970 and Mallarmé and the Symbolist Drama, Vol. 14 in 1977.  Even after full retirement, he remained a prolific scholar and co-edited Anglistische Literaturstudien in 1999.

In October 1988, Harpur College's Comparative Literature department hosted an international conference on the poetry of Paul Celan; Block collected papers from the conference and edited them into a well-received book, The Poetry of Paul Celan: Papers from the Conference at the State University of New York at Binghamton, October 28-29, 1988.

Fred Garber, Bartle Professor of comparative literature said, "Haskell was one of the major figures in developing modern comparative literature, especially in this country, but also in Europe.  Because of his genial personality and linguistic capacities, he was able to bring together people from different languages and cultures.  He was a very close friend of many people, very sociable and well liked,"

"He was a walking library," said Marilyn Gaddis Rose, distinguished service professor of comparative literature.  "Last time I taught James Joyce, he came to the class as a visitor, and my students were enthralled by his encyclopedic command of the literature.  He was, of course, polylingual, and incredibly wide ranging.  He had a renaissance command of scholarship.  He not only knew the names of people and their works, but had explored and appraised them."

  Send this article to a friend

Top

1965: Janet Warner Maher (pictured left with her daughter, Joanne, a teacher in Palo Alto, CA) recently retired from many years of teaching literature at Seneca College in Toronto, Canada. She earned an M.A. from the University of Toronto in 1967 and did further graduate work at York University. Maher told the Hotline, "In my retirement, I will be traveling and my first visit will be to Susan Calkins `65, in Naples, Florida."

1967: Neil and Dorothy (`68) Henry are pleased to announce that they're back together! The Henrys divorced after 29 years of marriage, and, after 5 years apart, in September 2003, rekindled their old flame. Neil is retired from the New York City Board of Education and currently runs Baldwin Counseling Center. Dorothy works with Alzheimer's patients.

1972: Nancy Macko was among several alumni who attended the Judges Panel on Nov. 11. Since 1994, she has been a victims' advocate for the SOS Shelter, a Binghamton-area domestic violence prevention agency. Previously, she was a child protection caseworker. Nancy and her husband, Jim, have two sons, both on our campus. Jason Macko `05 and Jonathan, a junior at Vestal High School who works as a research assistant for Professor Sadik in Chemistry.

1985: Arline Coffelt also returned to campus for the Judges' Panel on November 11. She is an RAB Certified Quality Management Systems Auditor. After several years as an engineer at CAE Link, she started her own consulting business, COACHworks, in 1994. Coffelt specializes in ISO 9000 and management systems training. She is also a senior member of the Binghamton Society for Quality (ASQ). Coffelt lives in Candor, NY.

1996: Nancy Conley-Wheeler (M.M.) returned to campus last week for Viola Fest 2003 (see above). She is a violist with the Tri-Cities Opera in Binghamton and teaches string music at Southside High School in Elmira, NY. She is married to Andy Wheeler, a musician in the band Haunted by Angels.

1996: Greg Catarella graduated from Cornell Law School in 1999 and practices law at Levene Gouldin & Thompson LLP in Binghamton. In his spare time, he advises BU's Mock Trial Club, attends local sporting events, and is active with Binghamton's Newman House. His wife, Christine (Naughton) `97 teaches autistic children, ages 6-8, at Broome-Tioga BOCES. The Catarellas live in Vestal.

2000: Andrew Farber, a fourth-year medical student at New York Institute of Technology's (NYIT) New York College of Osteopathic Medicine (NYCOM), has been elected as the national chair of the Council of Osteopathic Student Government Presidents (COSGP). Farber will also serve as the student representative on the American Osteopathic Association's (AOA) Board of Trustees for 2003-2004. Upon graduation, Farber plans to pursue his residency training in orthopedic surgery.

2001: Congratulations to Ruchir Gupta on the publication of his first book, The Ramayan: A Poetic Translation (2003, Global Scholarly Publications). (Click the book for more information.) His second book, Of Massacres and Movements, is an outgrowth of his senior honors thesis in political science and has been accepted by a literary agency. Gupta is in his 3rd year at SUNY Upstate Medical Center and will graduate in 2005. He is interning at United Health Services in Binghamton.

2001: Ryan Prucker has created a website, www.makethisatvshow.com, to attract network executives to two drama series he has written and produced, "Coming of Age" and "Defined."  The website features story premises, character pictures and bios, video, online episodes, quotes and message boards for the shows.  Visitors can sign a petition/guestbook to share their support in making one of these shows a real TV show.  Prucker's show, "Coming of Age" was a huge hit at BU with over 8,000 viewers.  Prucker is the owner and founder of Ryan Prucker Productions, which specializes in television, video and film concepts, writing and production.

2002: The popular search engine, Yahoo named the National Institute for Technology and Liberal Education (NITLE) Arab Culture and Civilization website its Pick of the Day on November 1, 2003. The site is edited by Michael Toler (Ph.D. `04). In its review, Yahoo said, "As the diverse Arab world constantly evolves, this web project seeks to grow and properly present a dynamic people." Following his Ph.D., Toler hopes to find a position that combines his interests in North African and Middle Eastern literature and society, translation and the innovative use of technology in academics, especially the liberal arts.

  Send this article to a friend

Top

Shop Harpur Online

Shop the campus bookstore from the comfort of your PC or Mac. Want to pick up a copy of the new Harpur history book The Cornerstone? Visit The Campus Bookstore.

For more Harpur College merchandise, such as hats, shirts and window stickers, contact the bookstore at 607-777-2745.

  Send this article to a friend

Top

Back Issues of the Harpur Hotline

Miss an issue? Want to read more? Check out: http://harpur.binghamton.edu/hotline.cgi

Harpur College Development Team Mission Statement:

The Harpur College of Arts and Sciences Development Team encourages alumni, students, faculty and friends to identify with Harpur College's past, present and future by engaging them in events and programs that connect them to the college. We facilitate ways for our constituents to enrich Harpur College through their financial contributions and personal talents and resources.

Contact the Webmaster.

Top