LESSONS LEARNED:
1. How to function and make it in the USA.
2. How to avoid mistakes and which mistakes are likely to cause the most long-term problems (e.g. the Australian fiancées who got pregnant on ship; Charlie Albert).
3. During long voyages on board ship, relationships can become strained over time, particularly because space is limited and it is difficult to hide from others.
4. When choosing a college, pick one where one is likely to be sufficiently comfortable and can achieve success.
5. Try to avoid fights with minorities in today’s culture. Find a way to back away. The incident in the science class would turn out very different in today’s politically correct climate.
Chapter 4
Wesleyan University (1950-1954)
I arrived in Middletown, CT, to start my college career at Wesleyan University, an all-male institution, in Mid-September, 1950.
Wesleyan University was founded in 1831 by the Methodist Church. The university focused on liberal arts, including science, and broke its ties with the Methodist Church in 1937. Founded as a male institution, it was coeducational between 1872 and 1912. Alumni pressure terminated the arrangement and it reverted to a male institution in 1912. The ousted female students established The Connecticut College for Women in New London, CT to continue their higher education. Wesleyan became coeducational again in 1968 and likely will stay that way in perpetuity.
My dorm room was in Clark Hall and consisted of a three room suite. At the front was a larger room with four desks and in the back were two bedrooms with bunk beds. Arriving early, I took the lower bunk bed in one of the rooms.
Soon the three other roommates arrived. Andy Maggatt was a party boy who flunked out by mid November. John Stacey was a quiet individual. He left Wesleyan after a year to attend business school. The person who shared my room and took the upper bunk was Mowbray (Mo) Dietzer. He came from Syracuse, NY, and graduated from a private school, Pebble Hill in upstate New York. Mo and I graduated and Mo made his career with The Wall Street Journal.
The freshman orientation included registration, opening up a local bank account, hearing pep talks from Alumni Trustees about Wesleyan’s virtues, a physical education screen, a cursory medical exam at the university health center, and participating in Fraternity Rush. This was an experience for which I had no preparation as I moved from fraternity to fraternity trying to scope it out.
My three roommates were pledged to various houses. Maggatt was pledged to Delta Kappa Epsilon, Stacey to Sigma Chi, and Dietzer to Alpha Delta Phi. I was not invited to pledge any fraternity but received invitations to join the eating clubs of Delta Tau Delta (DTD) and Delta Upsilon (DU). Although initially disappointed, it gave me more time and options to assess the fraternity system.
Wesleyan fraternities were limited by the number of freshman pledges they could accept so those who were considered “alternates” were invited to join their eating club (one dined there and participated in all their social activities). If all went well, one was pledged the following year. I chose DTD for the Fall Semester, and then switched to DU during the Spring Semester because I liked it better. DU told me at the end of my freshman year that I was on their sophomore pledge list and to return in the fall.
I signed up for the usual distribution requirements expected of freshman: English, Spanish, Humanities, Biology (with lab), and a general social science course. The general social science course overlapped a lot with what I had learned at Scotch College. The Humanities course was of marginal interest mostly because we were trying to divine what the professor in charge wanted us to think was important.
In reality, I was untypical of the students at Wesleyan. I was one of two immigrants in the class of 1954. The other, Sigmund Franczak, spent most of World War II in a Nazi concentration camp in Poland and later in Germany. He was separated from his family and did not know if they survived. An American Army Captain arranged to adopt him and he went to high school in St. Charles, MO. He was accepted to Wesleyan on a scholarship studying pre-med.
Sig spent a lot of time trying to locate his family. During his sophomore year, he finally heard they were all alive. He and his adoptive father arranged for them to move to Middletown where his father got a job.
Most of the student body at Wesleyan during the early 1950’s came from small New England towns. Sig and I were the first immigrants they ever met. During Freshman Orientation, the university president, Victor Lloyd Butterfield, told the class that the aim of a Wesleyan education was to acquire a liberal arts background so we could return to these small towns and become community leaders. My goal was different. I originally planned to become a marine lawyer which required Law School and practice it in a major port city like New York or Los Angeles.
The student body at Wesleyan was also very turn-of-the-20th-century, ‘old-style’ Republican. During the 1952 Presidential Primary season, a mock primary was held. 79% of the students voted for Robert Taft, a staunch Ohio Republican conservative Senator. Except for one black classmate who later became a federal Judge and three black students who arrived in 1955, the campus was anything but diverse. In fact, diversity was a concept that was not on the minds of the Wesleyan Faculty, administration, or student body. It was a New England, white, Protestant campus.
I auditioned for and was accepted to the chapel choir, a plum assignment that paid $1 per hour, and simultaneously enabled me to meet the college chapel requirement (10 per semester). I also tried my hand at debate, and found the faculty member in charge a phony and dropped it.
My English professor, Dr. Cowie, told me after a month of classes that I had absolutely no writing ability. Thus, he was transferring me to a special English class to improve my writing. Colloquially, it was called “Bonehead English”. I discovered much later that it was a game-changer for me and one of the best things that could have happened. I took the course both semesters. It was taught by a Dr. Cochran who tutored us individually as well as in class and did a great job.
By the middle of the fall semester, my academic performance was not good and I received a warning letter of impending probation. Although I applied myself more rigorously, I could not turn it around and ended the semester on probation. That meant I had to drop my extra-curricular activities. I filed an appeal to continue with the choir because I earned part of my expenses that way and it was approved.
The choir experience was a good one. To balance it, ladies from Middletown participated. We went on local tours with them. However, the men’s section also did an annual joint home-and-home engagement with a choir from one of New England’s many women’s colleges. Some of my choir-mates met their wives that way.
One cloud on the horizon was the Korean War. I observed my fellow students of all classes facing draft notices. They chose instead to enlist in Officer’s Candidate School (OCS). Many left Wesleyan during the middle of the semester and returned to complete their studies after I graduated. I estimate 15% of the student body departed that year to Navy or Air Force OCS schools.
As an immigrant, I was required to register for the draft. If called up, I had the choice of being drafted and receiving citizenship quickly. If I declined, I would be ineligible for US citizenship. A system of deferments for science and engineering students and professionals was established during the summer of 1951. Such deferment was at the option of the local draft board. My draft board deferred me until age 35 when my eligibility for military service expired.
When the second semester started in 1951, I resolved to improve my grades and compete for the prize of “The most improved freshman.” I worked hard studying in the library to avoid distractions. The only memorable thing that semester was that in the biology class, we dissected a baby piglet. Biology labs for the freshman course were all on Wednesdays, and that evening all campus fraternity houses served roast pork for dinner. It was no accident.