Alumni

LETTERS

Captain Courageous
The courageous Captain Joanne Gordon ’02 (featured in “Army Advocate”) caused me to recall the many dedicated military people I met while serving with the State Department in Iraq from 2004–2006. She is a truly great example of the citizen–soldier. We do not hear very much about alumni who have served their country. It was good to see Captain Gordon featured.

Russell Diehl ’68
Irvine, California

A Note on Neckties
When former Iranian President Mohammed Khatami visited the College last September he was, as the winter 2006 Spectrum article “Khatami’s Quest” put it, on a tour to “promote the idea of cross-cultural understanding.”
 
The Spectrum conveyed the intercultural meaning of the Khatami visit quite well. But in an easily overlooked detail it also did so in an unusually graphic way.
 
The main photo for the article shows nine men. Three of them, identifiable with the College, are Professor Ahmad Sadri, President Stephen Schutt, and Director of Library and Information Technology Jim Cubit. They are all wearing neckties. The other six are Khatami and his Iranian party. None of them is wearing a necktie. Neckties? So what?
 
In the United States, ties are part of our culture, part of dressing up out of respect for an occasion or a person, such as the visit of a foreign dignitary. But in Iran a tie means nearly the reverse. Because it is a sign of Western culture, it signifies indifference, if not hostility, to Islamic Persian culture. Iranian opponents of the Shah called the necktie the Shah’s donkey tail. (The Shah, overthrown in 1979, was notoriously close to the United States.) Some Muslims in Iran consider the bowtie a symbol of the Cross.
 
Therefore, if Schutt and Cubit had not worn neckties, they would have been acting completely out of American character. But for Khatami and his fellow Iranians, wearing a necktie would have been inconceivable.
 
What then about Sadri? Is he wearing a necktie because he is welcoming a distinguished guest to Lake Forest? Or is he wearing one as a message to Khatami that he has disagreed with every Iranian government from the Shah’s to the present, including Khatami’s? Perhaps in the next issue of Spectrum Sadri can instruct us on this small but knotty complication of intercultural understanding.

Charles A. Miller, Professor Emeritus, Politics & American Studies
New Market, Virginia

Remembering Adlai
I know of another “notable name” for your list (as featured in “Khatami’s Quest”). I was Student Congress Vice President in 1959–1960. That year Adlai E. Stevenson visited Lake Forest when he was ambassador to the United Nations. He wanted to present his view of the recent visit he made to a then-Iron Curtain country — Poland. The Student Congress hosted the news event. He said to me that he did not want big press but wanted to inform the citizens of his findings and views on Poland. As vice president I was fortunate to have some time with him, back stage, before he did his presentation.

Ed Okpisz ’60
Wonder Lake, Illinois

Accessible Professor
A primary factor in my choice to attend Lake Forest College was the prospect of developing close relationships with my professors. My first advisor, Professor of Economics Carolyn Tuttle, and I had much in common and we enjoyed working on social justice issues. When I began working to make the College more accessible (as featured in “Opening Doors”), I immediately asked for Carolyn’s help. I write to recognize her indispensable assistance in writing a review of the College’s accessibility. The College is lucky to have someone who is not only a wonderful professor, but also a great friend and outstanding mentor.

David Kuriniec ’08
Deerfield, Illinois

Another Place We Love
What marks my memories of Lake Forest College is a building that in the 1940s was known as Durand Hall. Its medieval look housed an auditorium plus offices on the first floor and class rooms and a bookstore on the lower level. It was the first school building seen as one entered campus by Deerpath Road. The massive rose-colored blocks and impressive arched doorway made me feel that to enter promised wonderful things.
 
Phyllis Edholm Carper ’48
Newllano, Louisiana