COAA News college of the atlantic association march 1987 Over 300 Honor Kaelber, Thorndike at Boston Dinner The remarkable contributions of Ed Kaelber and Betty Thorndike to College of the Atlantic were warmly remembered by over 300 members of the COA community at the Phoenix Fund benefit dinner held in their honor on April 11 at Memorial Hall on the Harvard campus. The overwhelming success of the evening is a tribute to these people whose vision launched and continues to sustain the College. Sam Eliot, former COA Vice President eloquently expressed the feelings many of us have for Ed: the awe, respect and gratitude. Librarian Marcia Dworak spoke of Betty's many contributions to the College, including distinguishing the library with the Thorndike name. A further tribute to Ed and Betty is the $34,000 raised for the Phoenix Fund Campaign through ticket sales and generous donations by trustees and benefactors. This very significant contribution brings ground breaking for Kaelber Hall and Thorndike Library that much closer to being a reality. An event of this scope requires the time, creativity and faith of many people. Bob Holley '78 who, with the support of the COAA alumni board, conceived and promoted the idea for For the 5th Consecutive Year COA Senior Wins Watson Fellowship Betty Thorndike David Hecksher, soon to be a 1987 College of the Atlantic the dinner, deserves a very big thank you for giving all of us graduate, has been awarded an $11,000 Watson Fellowship the opportunity to honor Ed and Betty. for his proposed study of agriculture in the South American The dinner committee, including Mary Kay Eliot, Cathy Andes. Ramsdell Sweet, Larry Sweet, John Bideman, and Megan This is the fifth consecutive year that a COA senior has won Kraus, met regularly through the winter and spring to develop a Watson Fellowship. The fellowship, named for IBM and orchestrate this celebration. founder Thomas J. Watson, is given to recent bachelor degree In Bar Harbor, Gary Friedman served as the dinner graduates from selected small U.S. colleges for a year of travel committee's liaison with COA's staff and volunteers, and study. David joins former Watson scholars from COA: including development office secretary Terri Rappaport, Peter Wayne '83, Rick Espstein '84, Sally Greenman '85 and alumni coordinator Rebecca Buyers-Basso, Bar Harbor Carol LaLiberte '86. retiree Hilda Roderick, alumni and students. Hecksher's proposal focuses on potato agriculture. His The trustees play a large part in the success of any COA senior project is a study of the agricultural economics of event. Their unflagging support and encouragement of the Aroostook County, which he hopes will give him some college is vital and deeply appreciated. In his concluding preparation for his South American fieldwork. remarks trustee Frank Keppel summed up for many of us the "I'd like to discover how past and present agricultural underlying sentiment of the evening - that we were attending techniques affected the native Andean culture," Hecksher not a school reunion where we saw former classmates, told the Bar Harbor Times, "and how modern technology is colleagues and friends; but rather a family party where past changing and has changed that culture." experience and present ideals band us together in a common The first phase of his study includes work with biologists spirit and affection. and others at the International Center for the Potato in Lima, Jean McHugh '81 continued page 2 COAA Board Member COAA NEWS Senior Projects 1986-87 Student Advisor Project Title Allen, Bill Donald Cass Implementing Groundwater Protection in Maine: the Threat of Underground Petroleum Storage Tanks Anderson, Ross William Drury/George Allen Art of Boatbuilding Batchelder, James Peter Corcoran The Maine Woods and Concepts of Wilderness Bracale, Dennis Stewart Brecher/David Hancock Landscape Design Cox, James Sentiel Rommel Naturally Postured Vertebrae Daly, Jennifer Peter Corcoran Garden Education Project Ellsworth, Jonathan Sentiel Rommel Winter Coyote Study in the Bigelow Preserve Gale, Tim Anne Kozak Alternative Treatments for Cancer and Heart Disease: Their Contribution to the Emerging Medical Paradigm Girton, Phil Steven Katona Survey of Killer Whales in Western North Atlantic Gustafson, Lori Prassede Calabi Stress and Biomechanics/Wolves Heckscher, David John Buell History of Potato Agriculture in Maine Heyerdahl, Aaron Elmer Beal/Pamela Parvin A Business Plan for Apple Woodworks Jamieson, Tom Elmer Beal Banjo Performance Kearney, Wendy William Drury Observation of Red Squirrel Behavior Kelly, Joe William Drury/Vicki Nichols Oceanic Birds of the Gulf of Maine: a Resource Book Kimball, Mike John Visvader Squeezing Blood from the Stones: Study of Scotland's Ancient Stone Monuments Lentier, Susan John Visvader/Sentiel Rommel/ Systems Modeling Harris Hyman Lerner, Ellen Peter Corcoran Significant Uses of Local Flora in Sanctuary Management Lindenthal, Jodi Ernest McMullen Perceptions in Clay Marshall, Rob William Drury Ecology of a Massachusetts Salt Marsh Mead, Carol John Navazio/Craig Greene Greenhouse Management Meservey, George John Buell Island Economy Michaels, TC Gary Stellpflug/Carl Ketchum Acadia's Hills and Trails History Newman, Nell Sentiel Rommel Anatomical Illustrations of the Sharp-shinned Hawk O'Connor, Chris Donald Cass Chemical Demonstrations Post, Cynthia Susan Lerner Together We Move Robinson, Bruce Ernest McMullen Human Ecological Ideas on the Degrees of Order and Disorder within the Built Environment of Mount Desert Island Roos, Eric Anne Kozak/Ed Leiter/ Divers' Guide to Mount Desert Island Michael Mahan Silver, Mara Ernest McMullen Ceramics: Exploring Design and Function Smedstad, Gus Harris Hyman Contour Mapping Stolte, Etzard Steven Katona The "Rats" in the Gulf of Maine Stone, Pamela Anne Kozak/Durwood Zaelke Citizens' Guide to Groundwater Protection -WATSON continued from page 1- Peru. Hecksher also hopes to visit Bolivia, Chile, Argentina and Ecuador in the second phase of his study which takes him into the field, literally. "I plan to visit small mountain villages and learn from the native farmers there. I will also talk with biologists, economists, cultural anthropologists and other such professionals in related fields." In a personal statement attached to his proposal, David wrote, "The work in the Andes will transcend agriculture or anthropology as narrowly defined disciplines, for it will explore the difficult to define place where culture and agriculture touch and interact. My education at COA has taught me to analyze and synthesize, skills which are the foundation for understanding and wise action. The excitement of this proposal lies in the promise of discovering how a culture literally grew out of the potato, how the potato grew out of a culture, and how, with respect for the wisdom of the past and the complexity of the present, we can create beneficent futures." David Hecksher Rebecca Buyers-Basso '81 Alumni Coordinator 2 COAA NEWS COA faculty member John Buell was hired in the fall of '86 power plant is no more dangerous (and no more benign) than to teach courses in political theory, political economy and the a socialist meltdown. The bureaucrats of Union Carbide, history of ethics. Currently he is teaching a course entitled glibly denying the risks in pesticide production, speak the "The Nuclear Arms Race, the Third World and the Cold same langugage as their counterparts at state-owned War." Also the associate editor of The Progressive, John enterprises in the socialist world. All have been captivated by contributes editorial columns on public policy. the lure of technology as a quick fix for human problems, and Buell earned his B.A. in American studies from Amherst, by the promise of perpetual growth as the answer to human his masters degree in American History from Columbia and needs. his Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Until the prevailing assumptions about technological Massachusetts. "progress" have been subjected to close scrutiny, we will find no shelter - in private ownership, government regulation, or even state ownership - from the inevitable threats to the Washing the Rhine natural environment and the public's health and safety. Only when people begin to assess and debate the benefits and the Samuel Taylor Coleridge may well have been in the grip of costs of high-risk technology, only when they begin to premonition when he wrote, more than a century and a half evaluate the notion of perpetual growth, will we be able to ago: make rational and humane decisions. And then, too, we'll be Ye Nymphs that reign o'er sewers and sinks, able to wash the river Rhine and keep it clean. The river Rhine, it is well known, John Buell Doth wash your city of Cologne; COA Faculty But tell me Nymphs, what power divine Shall henceforth wash the river Rhine? Reprinted from The Progressive Feb. 1987 Like some other great rivers - the Volga and the Mississippi, the Danube and the Yangtze - the Rhine is more than a topograhpic detail; it is a mythic force, fabled in song, folklore, and literature, coursing through history and culture. And now the Rhine is something else, as well: It has become a symbol of deadly pollution and wanton destruction of the planet. Though it received much less attention in the U.S. mass media, the environmental disaster that struck the Rhine late last year was comparable to the nuclear accident at Chernobyl and the chemical catastrophe at Bhopal. A fire at a large chemical warehouse near Basel led to the discharge of huge quantities of highly toxic substances into the Rhine, washing out years of effort to clean up the badly misused river. It should be obvious by now that such calamities observe no political, economic, or geographic boundaries. The Third World, the nations of the Soviet bloc, and Eastern industrial powers seem equally vulnerable to systemic failures that threaten not only those who live in the immediate vicinity but also those who may be far removed in distance or time. Just days after the Basel mishap, its lethal consequences were detected several hundred miles down river. As usual, the authorities' first reaction was to conceal the full extent of the damage. Much worse, however, was the considered response of European governments - and especially France's socialist regime - which were content to insist that Switzerland merely abide by the Common Market's chemical safety standards. As in the case of Chernobyl, the principal question seemed to be how swiftly Jodi Lindenthal one could return to business as usual. When disaster strikes, every effort is made to treat it as an aberration - a case of human failure, a freak accident, a The Hague Wants You, Amy! wholly unpredictable equipment breakdown, a departure from accepted procedures. No consideration is given to the The Alumni Association of the American School of the central reality that we have embarked on inherently Hague (formerly the International School of the Hague) was dangerous technologies that are bound to fail from time to created in June 1985 in celebration of Dr. Dewitt's 25th time, exacting a terrible toll. No room is left for the possibility anniversary at the school. If you are an alumnus/alumna or that the price we pay for the products of these technologies know of anyone who has formerly attended the American may simply be too high. School of the Hague, please contact us at the following So the Soviets have opened new nuclear-power facilities address: Alumni Association since Chernobyl, once again issuing bland assurances that the American School of the Hague technology is safe in langugage virtually identical to that of Paulus Buysstraat 51 the U.S. nuclear industry and U.S. "regulatory" agencies. 2582 CH the Hague The Left, no less than the Right, needs to rethink its The Netherlands position on these issues. A nuclear meltdown at a capitalist COAA NEWS 3 College of the Atlantic Association Bar Harbor, ME 04609 Graduation Day Schedule of Events Saturday, May 30 COA Captain's Chairs 8-10 a.m. Alumni Breakfast Auditorium The College has commissioned a number of captain's chairs 10-11 a.m. COAA Annual Auditorium imprinted with COA's logo. Two of these chairs were meeting & elections presented to Ed Kaelber and Betty Thorndike at the dinner 1 p.m. Graduation The Shrine held in their honor April 11. (See story page 1.) 3 p.m. Reception Great Hall, Turrets Alumni who are interested in having a captain's chair may 5-6:30 p.m. Alumni Booze Cruise leaving from Bob contact COA's alumni co-ordinator, Rebecca Buyers-Basso Graduating Seniors Collier's Dock, for more information by sending in the form below. Invited Bar Harbor 9 p.m. Graduation Dance Bar Harbor Club Band: Futu Futu Registration Form Please check off the appropriate boxes and mail to Rebecca Buyers-Basso, College of the Atlantic, Bar Harbor, Maine 04609 Name Address Yes, I will be coming to College of the Atlantic Association's annual meeting on Saturday, May 30. #. people in my party will be attending the Alumni breakfast. # people in my party plan to join the Alumni Booze Cruise Saturday evening at 5. Yes, I am intereted in a COA captain's chair. Please send more information.