Author Archives: yale74webmaster

Bennett Gilbert’s Op-Ed: ‘Securing humane values at Yale’


Our classmate Bennett Gilbert (SY), who teaches history and philosophy at Portland State University, weighs in on Yale’s renaming of University Commons, heavy use of adjunct faculty and the purpose of Yale’s endowment. This op-ed appeared in the Yale Daily News on November 14, 2022.

Jim Liebman on ‘Where the Supreme Court is Headed’


James Liebman '74
Jim Liebman ’74

At our Class of ’74 lunchtime talk on August 9, 2022, Columbia Law Professor James Liebman (’74 TC) reviewed recent Supreme Court decisions on abortion, guns and religion and what they reveal about the new Court majority’s hidden and not-so-hidden agenda.

He also fielded questions from classmates about the prospects for new Constitutional amendments, changes to the Electoral College, limits to regulation by federal agencies, and other issues in what he sees as a dramatic transformation of the Court’s direction.

Jim is the Simon H. Rifkind Professor at Columbia Law School and founder of the school’s Center for Public Research and Leadership. During his career, Jim has tackled school desegregation including at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, accountability in education for the NYC school system, and the death penalty and habeas corpus, arguing five cases in the Supreme Court. From 1978 to 1979 he was law clerk to Justice John Paul Stevens of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Watch the video of this session [login required].

Watch now: “Where the Supreme Court is Headed”


James Liebman '74
Jim Liebman ’74

At our Class of ’74 lunchtime talk on August 9, 2022, Columbia Law Professor James Liebman (’74 TC) discussed recent Supreme Court decisions on abortion, guns and religion and what they reveal about the new Court majority’s hidden and not-so-hidden agenda.

He also fielded questions from classmates about the prospects for new Constitutional amendments, changes to the Electoral College, limits to regulation by federal agencies, and other issues in what he sees as a dramatic transformation of the Court’s direction.

Jim is the Simon H. Rifkind Professor at Columbia Law School and founder of the school’s Center for Public Research and Leadership. During his career, Jim has tackled school desegregation including at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, accountability in education for the NYC school system, and the death penalty and habeas corpus, arguing five cases in the Supreme Court. From 1978 to 1979 he was law clerk to Justice John Paul Stevens of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Watch the video of this session here.

Chapter breaks:
0:00 Intro by host Alec Haverstick
4:10 Jim Liebman’s opening remarks
22:00 Q&A with classmates – Questions from classmates Alec Haverstick, Mark Cramolini, Larry Robbins, Lisa Goldman, Harry Manhoff, Patricia Sheppard and Charles Schwartz.

Chat transcript:
Susan Doud: I’d like to shout out for Anne Riney’s book club. Anne, what are we. reading next?
Anne Riney: Red Notice by Bill Browder
Carolyn Grillo: Fred, where will you be moving?
FPeters: I will remain here in the Free Republic of the Upper West Side!
Alec: Yay Fred. Then I will stay too
Stanley H. Weiss: TY Larry for bringing the EPA related decision up. Research of mine had partly underpinned the EPA regulations that the Supreme Court then invalidated. Very concerning to me that science is routinely getting overpowered by politics. It had taken the EPA over 20 years from when the law had been passed by Congress (that was co-written by Frank Lautenberg) requiring such regulations! for it to finally institute the required regs. And now none.
Carolyn Grillo: Thank you, Lisa. Good, sensible questions from a civilian!
Lisa Goldman: Thank you.
Lisa Goldman: Harry- I’m so glad you asked about the religious right to an abortion.
FPeters: Me too. But I also want to hear Jim’s opinion about the whole larger issue of representation
Lisa Goldman: What about breaking California up into several states? Each would get two senators if that happened.
Carolyn Grillo: And New York! And even states like Virginia that are politically and geographically bisected! Wahoo!
Harry Manhoff: We have tried to get rid of Northern California for a long time, but that would give the conservatives two more Senate votes.
Carolyn Grillo: PS but Puerto Rico as a state would make up for that. I like LIsa’s suggestion.
Harry Manhoff: The only way we will get Puerto Rico as a state will be to give Guam statehood as well. Once again setting up a stalemate.
Anne Riney: I would argue that each territory should be given the choice of independence or state hood. Not way to know how the senate falls out with that,
Carolyn Grillo: Jim, this has been fascinating and disturbing. Thank you for creating the opportunity for this conversation!
Lisa Goldman: We have not addressed the Republicans violation of standard processes in order to create the current court.
Stanley H. Weiss: If a state refuses to certify electors (based on actual vote) in a future presidential race: what are the constitutional issues?
Lisa Goldman: thank you, Jim. Very thought-provoking!
Stanley H. Weiss: Excellent talk. TY.

Reflecting on Sunset, by Charles Martin

Charles Martin exhibits ‘Metropolis’ photos in NYC


A collection of cityscape photos by Charles Martin [’74 SM] — reflecting New York, São Paulo, Paris and Montréal — will be on view at a solo exhibition in downtown NYC from Sept 8 – Oct 18, 2022.

The exhibition, titled Metropolis, explores how “daylight, twilight and electricity luminously shape and paint the cities,” Chuck writes, calling up comparisons to the geometry of Henri Cartier-Bresson, the abstract vision of Alfred Stieglitz, and the sentiment of Bob Marley in his song “Concrete Jungle,” where he wonders what the city has “got for me now?”

Chuck is a photographer, filmmaker and writer whose work has appeared in American group shows at the Museum of Modern Art (NY), Brooklyn Museum, Smithsonian Institution, New York Public Library, Leica Gallery (NY) and the Center for Photography at Woodstock. He has also exhibited in Paris, Algiers and Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and Mato Grosso, Brazil. This is his eighth solo show at June Kelly Gallery.

Metropolis
Charles Martin Photographs
June Kelly Gallery
166 Mercer Street
New York, NY
8 September – 18 October, 2022

Classmates share ‘most memorable’ books


A few years back, on the occasion of our 45th reunion, we asked classmates to name the most memorable books they had read since graduation day in 1974.

The responses were as diverse and far-ranging as you’d expect from our classmates, tending toward history, biography and classic novels but also including religious texts and fantasy fiction. The most frequently mentioned authors were Robert Caro, Charles Dickens, Patrick O’Brian, Philip Roth, Leo Tolstoy, John Updike and Edward O. Wilson.

Here are the individual titles (or in some cases, series) most frequently mentioned as “most memorable books.”

Add your suggestions and comments on our Facebook 1974 group page (contact Alec if you need an invite to the group).

  • Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind (anthropology – 2018) by Yuval Harari
  • Guns, Germs and Steel (geography-history – 2014) by Jared Diamond
  • Thinking, Fast and Slow (psychology – 2011) by Daniel Kahneman
  • Master and Commander series (historical nautical novels 1969-2000) by Patrick O’Brian
  • The Bible (2nd century BCE, first print version 1455!)
master and commander
“Master and Commander”
  • A Gentleman in Moscow (historical thriller – 2019) by Amor Towles
  • Moby Dick (literary novel – 1851) by Herman Melville
  • Harry Potter series (fantasy – 1998-2007) by J.K. Rowling
  • Ulysses (literary novel – 1922) by James Joyce
  • One Hundred Years of Solitude (magical realist novel – 1967) by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
  • War and Peace (historical novel – 1869) by Leo Tolstoy
  • The Power Broker (biography of Robert Moses – 1975) by Robert Caro
  • Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (metaphysical fiction – 1974) by Robert Pirsig
  • Angle of Repose (historical novel – 1971) by Wallace Stegner
  • Neuromancer (science fiction – 1984) by William Gibson
  • All the Light We Cannot See (historical novel – 2014) by Anthony Doerr
  • Team of Rivals (history of Abraham Lincoln – 2006) by Doris Kearns Goodwin
  • Anna Karenina (historical novel – 1878) by Leo Tolstoy
  • The Unbearable Lightness of Being (historical novel – 1984) by Milos Kundera
  • Years of Lyndon Johnson series (4-volume biography – 1982-2012) by Robert Caro
  • Steve Jobs (biography – 2011) by Walter Isaacson

Watch now: “Where do we go from here?” – Class Zoom discussion May 10, 2022


Alec Haverstick hosted this open conversation on how to make our 50th reunion as meaningful and inclusive as possible. The session began with news of the passing of our classmate Dan Voll, as noted by Sharon Vaino. Then the reunion ideas began to flow from Lisa Goldman, Harry Hamlin, Steve Blum, Bob Martin, Sandy Wood Forand, Fred Peters, Mark Cramolini, Susan Doud, Joan Katter and Harvey Kent.

Runtime: 60 minutes

Watch now: How Buddhism has guided my crazy modern life


Lela Singie Shepley-Gamble boating

Lela “Singie” Shepley-Gamble (’74 BK) spoke to classmates about her unorthodox life journey from Wall Street to the Canadian wilderness and beyond, influenced by the Buddhist Humanism she has practiced for the past 33 years.

Recorded April 12, 2022. Hosted by Alec Haverstick. Runtime: 66 mins. See chapter breaks below.

Chapter breaks:
0:00 Prologue: Wall Street ‘good life’
6:00 My journey begins
25:57 From NYC coop to wilderness cabin
39:50 Back to St. Louis
46:08 Q&A with classmates