PAGE 4  YALE DAILY NEWS  ·  ALUMNI EDITION 2019  ·  yaledailynews.
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OPINION
A message from the class of 1954
BY RUSSELL REYNOLDS
CLASS OF 1954
A
s the Class of 1954 contem-
plates its 65th (and hopefully
not last) reunion this com-
ing weekend, a great many thoughts
and memories come to mind. First
of all, our classmates, who are all
male, respected and revered the
Reverend Sidney Lovett, Yale’s
Chaplain, who literally put the fear
of God in us — and also inspired us.
While the President of Yale, Whit-
ney Griswold, was a wonderful man
and greatly admired, Sid Lovett was
the person who really got our motors
going, or stopped the wrong ones.
We had a tightly knit class from
the beginning. Our first class secre-
tary, the late William K. (“Sandy”)
Muir, Jr., was an inspirational leader
and a great man, even though he
did it all from a wheelchair, having
contracted the dreaded Poliovirus
the summer after our graduation.
Sandy organized the class council,
and got people behind him. It has
been a very productive council ever
since then.
At one point, around 25 years out,
Dick Gilder ’54, Joel Smilow ’54,
Fred Frank ’54, a few others and I got
together and decided we hoped we
would be able to give a significant
gift to Yale for our 50th reunion. We
formed the 54/50 fund and invited
classmates five years later to make
contributions.
After the fund was formed,
around 60 classmates had contrib-
Wilson and the “Wiki test”
BY ARTHUR RUBIN
CLASS OF 1989
I
t has been 30 years since I wrote
my last column for the News
(March, 1989: “It is time to
legalize drugs in the City of New
Haven”). My 30th reunion pro-
vides an opportunity for this one-
time denizen of Formerly Known
as Calhoun College to comment on
the 2017 decision by Yale to rename
Calhoun as Grace Hopper college,
which has prompted everything
from sober reflection to heated rant-
ing.
While criticism of the Yale
administration for the somewhat
halting process to adopt the name
change was warranted, the report
that the Committee to Establish
Principles on Renaming (CEPR)
issued presented a model of the kind
of even-handed, thoughtful dis-
course so woefully lacking in today’s
political culture. It was a welcome
echo of the 1975 Woodward Report
that set the standard for the defense
of free speech on college campuses,
which seems to have increasingly
lost its influence today (including,
sadly, at Yale itself).
A recurring criticism of the deci-
sion to rename Calhoun is that it
uses a double standard: the sins of
Calhoun are allegedly no worse than
of other slaveholders whose names
figure prominently on campus,
including Elihu Yale himself. This
whitewash of history, it is claimed,
picks Calhoun as a convenient tar-
get to assuage liberal guilt, ignor-
ing complex historical realities and
overlooking Calhoun’s achieve-
ments as a statesman and political
theorist.
Is it reasonable to single out one
dead white man for our collective ire
when so many others whose names
adorn great institutions have their
own sins to bear? Or has the con-
servative backlash against politi-
GUEST COLUMNIST
RUSSELL REYNOLDS
uted approximately $600,000 to it.
The university offered to manage the
funds for us, but we were young and
optimistic, and maybe even a little
visionary, so we gave the funds to Joe
McNay ’54 in Boston, who managed
it with Dick Gilder and a few others,
and leveraged it to the hilt. The fund
grew dramatically. Ultimately, with
some prodding from Rick Levin, the
class was in a position to give Yale
around $70 million to fund the Class
of 1954 Science Center.
There was some serious nego-
tiating between our class and Yale.
At the time of our 50th reunion,
the fund was nearer to $110 million,
and our brilliant classmates, Gilder,
Smilow and company, arranged for
us to have the Class of 1954 Skybox
at the Yale Bowl, which we still have.
One of our classmates, Char-
lie Johnson ’54, who played football
and was recently encouraged to join
our 1954 Whiffenpoof group, which
still performs, made one of the larg-
est gifts in collegiate history, provid-
ing the initial funding for Yale’s two
new colleges. Irv Jensen ’54 and his
family provided the funds for the
dramatic entrance to the Yale Bowl,
and Joel Smilow ended up endowing
the Smilow Cancer Hospital as part
of the Yale New Haven Health Sys-
tem. During this period, Dick Gilder
and his daughter Ginny also funded
the beautiful Gilder boathouse for
the winning Yale crews. Also, at
President Levin’s request Fred Frank
helped establish and fund the Yale
School of Management in 1976, now
GUEST COLUMNIST
ARTHUR RUBIN
cal correctness become so all-con-
suming in today’s polarized culture
that it fails to distinguish between
left-wing snowflakism, and a rea-
soned examination of whether the
symbolism a name carries is consis-
tent with Yale’s values?
In evaluating the merits of
changing an institution’s name, I
suggest it is reasonable to adopt a
kind of “Wikipedia test” to see how
a historical figure’s defining quali-
ties are remembered in the first few
lines of his or her Wikipedia entry.
To illustrate, compare the entries
for John C. Calhoun and Woodrow
Wilson, another controversial fig-
ure whose embrace of racist theo-
ries and policies prompted demands
that his name be removed from a
school at Princeton.
For Wilson, Wikipedia highlights
his positive achievements — serving
as President of the United States,
Governor of New Jersey, sponsor
of progressive legislative policies,
and some lesser accomplishments
(President of Princeton). His rac-
ism and actions to remove African
Americans from the civil service
while President deserve condemna-
tion, but these are not what primar-
ily define him for posterity.
Calhoun, by contrast, is
described by Wikipedia as a states-
man who strongly defended slav-
ery and “Southern values.” He is
remembered first and foremost for
being not only an apologist for slav-
ery, but also an active defender of it
as a positive good.
No less a liberal icon than John F.
Kennedy called Calhoun “a master-
ful defender of the rights of a polit-
ical minority against the dangers of
an unchecked majority” when he
named him one of the five greatest
U.S. Senators. But even if you believe
in the importance of the political
rights of minorities (as I do), to the
extent that Calhoun’s defense of
such rights was primarily driven by
a globally ranked business school.
None of this would have been
possible without the spirit that
Yale drummed into us — namely, to
become leaders and to do the right
and honorable things for the right
reasons. Today, Yale is a vibrant,
thriving, much different place than
it was in 1954. So many changes have
taken place. Change creates not only
opportunity, but also controversy.
There are those in our class today
who feel that the university is too lib-
eral, and there are others who proba-
bly think it is not liberal enough.
The good news is that regard-
less of what we think, and con-
cerns we may have, Yale College is
stronger than ever, financially and
academically, as are its flourishing
world-leading law school, medical
school and divinity school. To have
been part of the great Class of 1954
has been a particular blessing for
all of us. I hope Yale will continue
to encourage people to do the right
things for the right reasons, and to
listen to the Chaplain, as well as the
professors and the coaches.
Our class is just one of many, but
we have been lucky to have some
very generous classmates.
Our class motto is “Be Positive,
Be Grateful, and Be of Service.” I am
very proud of our classmates, who
have exemplified our motto.
Russell Reynolds ’54 is the founder
and chairman of Russell Reynolds
Associates, an international executive
recruiting firm.
his desire to maintain slavery, hold-
ing up Calhoun as a statesman wor-
thy of commemoration is deeply
problematic.
This “Wikipedia test” falls short
of the CEPR’s charge that the Uni-
versity “study and make a scholarly
judgment on how the namesake’s
legacies should be understood” but
is a valid way to consider how con-
temporary society measures a fig-
ure’s essential historical relevance
against its values.
Too easily have conservative crit-
ics of Calhoun College’s renaming
hurled charges at Yale’s adminis-
tration of succumbing to political
correctness. While criticisms of the
tyranny of political correctness have
been all too valid in many other con-
texts (notably in Yale’s sorry han-
dling of l’affaire Christakis), the case
of Calhoun is fundamentally differ-
ent than that of Wilson and other
historical figures whose names
grace buildings at Yale.
The failure of conservative crit-
ics to make this distinction weak-
ens their argument both in this case
and in others where such charges are
on firmer ground. And the failure of
liberals to distinguish between the
likes of Calhoun and other dead
white male slaveholders whose rel-
evance to posterity is not defined by
slave ownership simply drives their
political opponents to adopt more
extreme positions in reaction, esca-
lating the cycle of polarization.
I will forever think of myself as
a “Hounie,” even if of the “f/k/a”
variety. But I can hold onto a sen-
timental identity formed 30 years
ago, and at the same time acknowl-
edge the validity of the decision that
it was time for the Calhoun name to
go.
Arthur Rubin ’89 works in Latin
American finance in New York City
and is the former Chairman of the Yale
College Republicans.
VALERIE NAVARRETE/ILLUSTRATIONS EDITOR
GUEST COLUMNIST
A N T H O N Y L AV E L Y
Designed for
Controversy
BY ANTHONY LAVELY
CLASS OF 1964
C
all me a cynic, but when
the News asked me to
write an opinion piece
about “any pressing matter that
relates to the Yale alumni com-
munity,” I assumed it was an
invitation to stir the pot from
the vantage point of 55 years out
of Yale. Looking back now with
many more life experiences, I
concede that attending an all-
male and mostly white Yale
College was a limiting factor
in developing my perspectives
— but we still had more than
enough controversies.
LOOKING BACK NOW
WITH MANY MORE
LIFE EXPERIENCES,
I CONCEDE THAT
ATTENDING AN
ALL-MALE AND
MOSTLY WHITE
YALE COLLEGE WAS
A LIMITING FACTOR
IN DEVELOPING
MY PERSPECTIVES
— BUT WE STILL
HAD MORE
THAN ENOUGH
CONTROVERSIES.
As Secretary of the Class of
1964, I regularly receive emails
with polarized and heated opin-
ions from classmates at all
points on the political and cul-
tural spectrum. I am not writ-
ing this as a spokesperson for
my classmates. Rather, I am
offering my personal observa-
tions that sharp differences of
opinion and controversies have
always been a feature of Yale.
Historically, it seems that
many campus controversies
have pit newer Yalies (espe-
cially current students) against
older alumni. So, I revisited my
1964 Class Book to recall what
issues agitated us in 1960-64.
There were plenty: civil rights,
diversity, the environment,
co-education and Vietnam, to
name a few. To be sure, we did
some stupid things, too, like
launching snowballs down on
New Haven’s “finest,” knock-
ing down the construction bar-
rier at the Beinecke to protest
extravagance and regularly vio-
lating parietals. (Note: I never
participated in these things; this
is not self-incrimination!)
Our more conservative elders
in the Class of 1909 — who
were just celebrating their 55th
reunion when we graduated —
mostly thought we were naïve
and foolhardy. For me, the les-
son here is that all generations
of college students challenge
and protest the status quo. And
what better place to assem-
ble talented and aspiring young
people at any time than a place
like Yale? Yale was designed for
controversy.
In recent years, the 1964
Class Council has met in per-
son with diverse groups of Yale
undergraduates to gain a bet-
ter understanding of 21st Cen-
tury student life. We have met
with students from the Afri-
can American Affinity Group,
the Muslim Student Associa-
tion, and some LGBTQ Affinity
Group members among the first
undergraduates at Benjamin
Franklin College, where we ded-
icated the “Class of 1964 Gate.”
These groups did not exist when
we were undergraduates. The
consensus reaction that I heard
from my classmates was, “These
kids are way smarter than we
were — and they love Yale just as
much as we did!” For their part,
many of the students candidly
admitted, “We’re stunned that
you [old] Yalies wanted to hear
about our experiences!” We’ve
also met with New Haven inner-
city kids (and their Yale stu-
dent-coaches) who are enrolled
in Squash Haven as well as Yale
interns in the Urban Resources
Initiative who work with New
Haven inner-city residents to
build community greening proj-
ects.
As members of the Class
of 1964 gather for their 55th
reunion this month (over 200
classmates out of about 780
who survive will attend), we will
be encouraging the widest pos-
sible range of viewpoints, in
what we’re calling “Conversa-
tions.” Topics will include: “Free
Speech on College Campuses,”
“How Can Red & Blue America
Learn to Talk with Each Other,”
“Stopping Climate Change is
Hopeless. Let’s do It!” “Wealth
Inequities” and “The Erosion of
Ethics in the 21st Century.” Cer-
tainly, tempers sometimes flare
(especially at the bar), but we try
to avoid ad hominem attacks.
Our reunion theme song
posted on our class website
is Clint Eastwood’s Don’t Let
the Old Man In. This appetite
for debating issues is not just
a reunion phenomenon. The
Class of 1964 has produced
more than 70 published authors
who have written over 200
books in aggregate (and numer-
ous articles in leading publica-
tions) on topics such as politics,
the environment, conflict and
war and health care. And there
are 20 regular bloggers among
us, who also address many con-
troversial issues.
It’s common these days to
cite the evils of social media
for feeding people only what
they want to hear (confirma-
tion bias). Certainly, that is
a systemic weakness, but for
people with open and inquir-
ing minds, social media can be
a wonderful platform for shar-
ing experiences and points of
view. I’m impressed by the way
Yale has adopted social media
for connecting alumni more fre-
quently than the bi-monthly
issue of Yale Alumni Magazine
could ever do. Beyond one’s own
Facebook, Twitter and Linke-
dIn pages, there are many pri-
vate Yale special interest groups
with pages that resonate with
interesting and — yes — contro-
versial posts. To me, it feels like
being back in a late-night Bran-
ford Common Room debate all
over again.
BEYOND ONE’S
OWN FACEBOOK,
TWITTER AND
LINKEDIN PAGES,
THERE ARE MANY
PRIVATE YALE
SPECIAL INTEREST
GROUPS WITH
PAGES THAT
RESONATE WITH
INTERESTING
AND — YES —
CONTROVERSIAL
POSTS. TO ME, IT
FEELS LIKE BEING
BACK IN A LATE-
NIGHT BRANFORD
COMMON ROOM
DEBATE ALL
OVER AGAIN.
So, call me an optimist. I
believe Yale is an ideal place to
wrestle with our differences
and also remember that, in the
words of our alma mater, “Time
and change shall naught avail /
To break the friendships formed
at Yale.”
Anthony M. (“Tony”) Lavely ’64 works
as a consultant to the restaurant
industry and private equity firms and is
a former member of the varsity football
team.