Letters: May 20, 1966

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Sir: The legend of Vincent Scully's falling off the platform in the midst of a passionate lecture was well established when I was at Yale. It went something like this: Mr. Scully was lecturing on Greek art, on the Feminine God of Minoan Crete, and while "entranced," fell off the platform into the lap of a beautifully endowed female in the front row. He leaped up, ringingly proclaiming, "Into the arms of the Mother Goddess!" and then went on with renewed articulateness.

AUSTIN C. TOWLE, '60

Cincinnati

Sir: My sympathies to Berkeley's Haller, who seems to have fallen under the random eye of your report on college teaching, under the heading "Harsh Judgments." As a Berkeley student, I found Dr. Haller a fine teacher and a serious scholar. Neither he nor his students seemed "bored." I mention this merely to indicate how difficult it is to say what is, and what is not, good college teaching. Students lap up flair, but too often they are too dull or too lazy to sense depth.

R. A. CHRISTMAS

Teaching Assistant, English

University of Southern California Los Angeles

Sir: Great teachers? Maybe. But you should put more emphasis on the teachers at East Alphabet State, who work with a minimum of salaries, facilities and raw material to turn out the people who are the backbone of our country. On a clear day one may feel that the backbone has slipped a disc, and yet I sometimes have occasion to take a dim view even of our product.

ROBERT M. KOZELKA

Associate Professor of Mathematics

Williams College Williamstown, Mass.

Sir: Your failure to mention any teachers at the University of Wisconsin leaves me to conclude that you realized there are just too many whom, in fairness, you would have had to include.

EDWARD F. BERGMAN Madison, Wis.

Sir: Not a single "great teacher" from the Deep South? I nominate T. Harry Williams (Lincoln and His Generals) of Louisiana State University.

BETTY HARREL

Shreveport, La.

Sir: Your coverage of Harvard lecturers was lamentable. You mistake patronizing showmanship for inspired teaching. Professors Bruner and Fieser, though not so "entertaining" to freshmen as Professor Wald, communicate complex material far more comprehensively and effectively.

FRANCIS X. COLE, '66

ROBERT M. NELSON JR., '66

DONALD L. ROSSMAN, '66

CHARLES N. SMART, '66

Harvard College Cambridge, Mass.

Sir: You forgot two outstanding teachers at the University of Alaska: Dr. J. Meeker and Dr. W. Hollerbach.

(MRS.) DANIELLE-PAULETTE KOZLOSKI

URSULA OTTO

College, Alaska

Sir: Dr. Joseph R. Berrigan Jr., chairman of the department of history at Loyola University.

FREDERICK H. GRAEFE

New Orleans

Sir: Notre Dame's Ara Parseghian?

JOHN C. DEVONA, '66

University of Notre Dame Notre Dame, Ind.

Sir: Professor Richard Gustafson, head of the Russian department at Barnard.

ANYA KAPTZAN, '69

Barnard College New York City