Forum: November-December 2010

Earle an Exemplar

I really enjoyed the article on Sylvia Earle ["The Life Aquatic," July-August 2010] and her dedication to our oceans. I participated in an Aspen Institute Dialogue on fresh water with her some years ago, and I can say she is sincerely dedicated to preserving our entire natural world, not just the marine one. When walking to our session one day, I found her in the parking lot picking up worms off the pavement and moving them to a grassy area. I hope she inspires everyone—as she has inspired me—to make our little home of Earth a better place.

Karin M. Krchnak '89 Bethesda, Maryland

Homecoming Highlighted

I enjoyed the homecoming article ["The Last Homecoming Queen," September- October 2010], but wanted to add that not quite all of the female undergraduate students from 1930 to 1970 lived on East Campus. In the fall of 1967, a small group of women moved into part of the Graduate Center, which was located across the street from Hanes House. It was the result of an on-campus housing shortage when the university was increasing undergraduate enrollment by one-fifth over the decade from 1966 to 1976. The Graduate Center is listed among the "East Houses" in The Chanticleer,but it was about as close to off campus as one could get. The approximately fifty residents were a mixture: Some of us had most of our classes on West, some were transfers, and a few were freshmen. In checking my facts, I found an interesting bit of trivia—the Homecoming Queen for 1967 was Pamela Davis [Leight '68]—a resident of the Graduate Center!

Suzanne Brooks Taylor '69 Jefferson, North Carolina

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Thank you for the wonderful article and photos that made it so easy to imagine student life at Duke in the early 1970s. I would like to say to Christy Stauffer [Sturgeon '71] that her picture on the cover of the December 1970 Alumni Register makes her worthy of a Miss America crown, in addition to hers from homecoming.

John E. Ladany '79 Montclair, New Jersey

Querulous Quotation

In the Quad Quotes page [September-October 2010], David Steinmetz disparages the impact of religion in America. Many issues that have come before the judicial system have been influenced by religious thought, such as slavery, Prohibition, human rights, and abortion. By saying that the Supreme Court, which now has six Catholics and three Jews, is not a religious body, and therefore the absence of a Protestant is not important, ignores the depth of religious life in the fabric of America and the contributions that Protestants have made to its culture and laws, going back to the 1600s when Protestants fled persecution in Europe and founded a new order in America.

Richard N. Bergesen '59 West Chester, Pennsylvania

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