Document Type
Other
Publication Date
1969
Volume
58
Number
3
Description
THE ISSUE
The Plan for Colby
Characterized by an ingenuity deserving of the name 'Yankee,' the $6.7 million capital funds campaign proposes sensible (and cost-saving) solutions to rather intricate problems, by making the best use of available space and walls with a minimum of new construction.
Benjamin Butler as Overachiever
Lincoln's first choice for vice-president in 1864 was this controversial general and politician, but Butler told the emissaries that he would not 'quit the field… even with himself as President, unless he will give me bond with sureties, in the full amount of four years' salary, that he will die or resign within three months after his inauguration.' Colby came that close to having an alumnus (Butler was in the class of 1838) as President; Lincoln was assassinated a month-and-a-half after the March 4, 1865 inaugural. Butler was a complicated man, and this article, taken from an address by Richard Harwell, librarian at Smith College and a noted Civil War historian, provides a good portrait of one of history's 'overachievers.' The talk was given at a convocation honoring Dana and Bixler Scholars last fall and commemorated the sesquicentennial anniversary of Butler's birth.
The discourse on curriculum and campus life, begun several issue back, continue with three articles. Two English professors – Colin MacKay and John Mizner – present views differing more in attitude than in belief. (Mizner observed wryly that 'Colin is right, but I'm moral.') MacKay , who has been at Colby since 1956, is an associate professor specializing in Anglo-Saxon and mediaeval literature; Mizner, who joined the faculty in 1963, is assistant professor.
Robert French '70, who has written for the magazine before (two of his articles have generated that rarity: letters to the editor), tackles the teaching of a science from the student's viewpoint. Readers will be interested in the material following his article: the new courses for freshmen being offered in September by the biology department.
Rights
Recommended Citation
Colby College, "Colby Alumnus Vol. 58, No. 3: Spring 1969" (1969). Colby Alumnus. 100.
https://digitalcommons.colby.edu/alumnus/100