On Campus
Summer 2002

James and Mestres Honored At Founder's Day

"Indefatigable devotion" to the Academy characterized the service of both Ricardo Mestres Jr. '51 (second from left) and Barbara James '74, '85, '93 (Hon.) (second from right), who were honored at the May 17 Founder's Day assembly by Principal Ty Tingley (left) and General Alumni/ae Association President Alan Jones '72 (right).

Barbara James '74, '85, '93 (Hon.) and Ricardo Mestres Jr. '51 were honored with the Academy's Founder's Day Award, which is given annually by the General Alumni/ae Association (GAA) in recognition of devoted service to the Academy. Alan R. Jones '72, president of the GAA, conferred the honor on James and Mestres at a May 17 assembly attended by the campus community and members of the class of 1952 who had returned to Exeter to celebrate their 50th reunion.

James, who retired in 2000 as director of student activities, was cited for "encouraging the Exeter community to see student activities as a central, rather than a peripheral, component of how we work with young people." James was also honored for work with social issues. "For three decades," Jones said, "you raised the political consciousness of this community and so many others. So universally open and caring are you that, over the years, your vocation and personal life have been entwined-the one indistinguishable from the other and both an inspiration."

Jones also praised James for "exemplifying and continuing to exemplify the dignity of teaching outside the classroom, reminding us that we are all ultimately educators of the students in our charge, whether we are custodians or coaches or instructors."

In her remarks James told the audience, "You have the power to change the world, and the power not to let it change you."

Jones lauded Mestres for his decades of "indefatigable devotion" to the Academy beginning with a variety of volunteer positions, continuing with his work as a trustee and culminating in his service as president of the board. Under his leadership, Jones noted, the endowment grew by 120 percent and "a true, working relationship" was established between the faculty and the trustees. "For over 50 years" Jones said, "you have worked tirelessly, intelligently and with unparalleled attention to detail to preserve the best of Exeter, while at the same time encouraging the Academy to embrace change in the continued search for excellence.

"Through your generous involvement in the life of this community, your community, you remind us of the importance of Exeter's high standards and of what it means to be loyal. Your friendship is a blessing to us, and your leadership continues to stir and inspire us."

In his acceptance speech, Mestres touched on three distinct decades at the Academy: the 1950s, when he was a student; the 1970s, when his son, Ricardo Mestres III '76, was a student; and the 1990s, when he was a member of the board. No matter the era, he concluded, "Exeter is its people."

New Professorships Awarded

Richard L. Parris

Nita G. Pettigrew

Two members of the PEA faculty have been awarded endowed professorships.

Richard L. Parris was named the George Albert Wentworth Professor of Mathematics. A member of the faculty since 1978, Parris received his B.S. from Tufts and both his M.A. and his Ph.D. from Princeton. In 1991, he received the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science and Mathematics Teaching from the National Science Foundation. Exeter has also recognized the excellence of his teaching, presenting him with the Charles Ryberg Award in 1987, the Rupert Radford Award in 1988 and the Brown Family Faculty Fund award in 1993.

Nita G. Pettigrew was appointed the Woodbridge Odlin Professor of English. She received her B.A. from Louisiana State University, her M.A. from the University of Oregon and her M.Ed. from Harvard. Pettigrew joined the Exeter faculty in 1986; left for six years to chair the humanities department at Deerfield Academy; and then returned to the Academy in 1996, where she now serves as chair of the English department. In 1999, she received the Brown Family Faculty Fund award.

Spring Cleaning, Exeter Style

On a beautiful spring day in April, students, faculty and staff joined together to sweep, rake, paint and mulch away the ravages of winter-albeit a mild one this year-during the annual Community Cleanup Day. "This is our little piece of the planet, and we want to leave it better off than we found it," says Assistant Principal Tom Hassan. "We also realize our important role in the town of Exeter and the Seacoast region, and Community Cleanup Day is our way of being a good neighbor."

A spring tradition since the mid-'80s, and a formal engagement for students, Community Cleanup Day was originally known as Environmental Day and focused exclusively on Academy grounds. In 1999, projects were expanded to include public spaces and nonprofit organizations throughout the Seacoast region. "This year, we changed the name to better reflect all the work being done off campus, in addition to efforts within our own PEA community," says Hassan.

Students, faculty and staff gather in the Academy Library for the Favorite Poem Celebration.

"When I was about 8 years old, I found out there was a famous poet who had my name."-Emily Gustavson '03, reading "A sepal, petal, and a thorn" by Emily Dickinson.

On Friday evening, May 3, over 150 members of the Academy community gathered in the Class of 1945 Library for a Favorite Poem Celebration. One of the events planned in honor of the 20th anniversary of the Lamont Poetry Series, this celebration offered everyone in the community an opportunity to read a favorite poem and say a few words about its importance. Listeners sat in chairs scattered casually around Rockefeller Hall, or stood against the marble staircase, or paused in the library stacks looming above and looked over the balconies, still, and intent:

"Listen! . . . . let us be true to one another!" -Abby Burns '04, from "Dover Beach" by Matthew Arnold.

"He walked, himself at last, a man among men." -Charly Simpson '04, from "A Journey" by Edward Field.

Kneeling down, a father held the microphone for his 7-year-old daughter as she read. Her older sister stood nearby, clutching her poem, which she had copied onto a piece of paper and decorated with a drawing of a rose. Off to the side, three young boys huddled, practicing, until their group was called, and one took the microphone:

"My neck is stiff, my tongue is weak, I hardly whisper when I speak." -Nicholas Johnson, 9 years old, from "Sick" by Shel Silverstein.

Music librarian John-Philipp Gather, music instructor Rohan Smith, Academy Librarian Jacquelyn Thomas and English instructor Margaret McGuinn model the event's official T-shirt, each of which is emblazoned (on the back) with a different poem.

From high above, the readers and listeners looked like the brightly colored grains of a kaleidoscope, many wearing golden, red, azure or emerald green T-shirts made for the occasion, each color emblazoned with a different poem. Readers spoke of the ways poems connected them with family or friends:

"I chose this poem because I've grown up with it. It reminds me of my childhood." -Angel Desai '03, reading from "The Bride," part of the Mahabharata, by Vyas Maharishi.

"This is the first poem I ever heard. My father read it to me when I was going to sleep." -Miriam Pasternak '03, reading "Jabberwocky" by Lewis Carroll.

". . . this isn't really my favorite poem, but my brother asked me to read it for him. This is my poem by Robert Frost." -Eliza Sneeden, 7 years old, reading "Fire and Ice."

Stepping up to one of the standing microphones, a woman softly explained that in college, Joseph Brodsky, the Nobel laureate and a former Lamont poet, had been her mentor and friend. Brodsky died six years ago. "Since he can't be here, I thought I would read this poem," she explained:

"Some future night you will appear again. / You'll come to me, worn out and thin now. . . ." -Kristin Fogdall, from "On Love" by Joseph Brodsky.

As two little girls lay on their backs on the Turkish carpet, listening to poems, others got up and wandered among the seven-foot-tall displays of handwritten manuscripts and photographs of the 45 Lamont poets who have visited campus since the series began with Jorge Luis Borges in 1982. (Endowed by Corliss Lamont '20, the series this year brought Stephen Dunn, winner of the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for poetry, to campus for a public reading on May 7.) A young girl, holding her poem on folded paper, waited to read, while on a floor above another girl leaned forward, her eyes closed.

"This poem says something to me about the persistence of love over an entire lifetime." -Todd Heron, reading "The Song of Wandering Aengus" by William Butler Yeats.

A mother described the experience of memorizing a poem in fifth grade, "because it was short," but discovering its meaning again, and again:

Nicholas Johnson, son of drama instructor Sarah Ream '75, reads a poem by Shel Silverstein while Madeleine and Eliza Sneeden, daughters of English instructor Ralph Sneeden, wait their turn.

"It has different meanings for different parts of my life. You'll see what I mean." -Jane Mallinson, reading "He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven" by William Butler Yeats.

Listening, one could hear that poetry articulates the feelings for which we don't have words, or don't have sufficient words.

"Poetry's this new thing for me-I found that maybe poems could say something that was important to me. This is a poem with secrets in the words." -Kelsey Smith '03, reading "Going to Walden" by Mary Oliver.

"I have so many of his poems on my wall, above my bed." -Emily Ethridge '02, reading "Becoming" by John Rybicki.

"I went through a period of wild confusion, and this poem made me very content. It's a comfort poem." -Hye Min Choi '04, reading "Essay on the Personal," by Stephen Dunn.

English instructor Peter Greer '58 chose a poem by Robert Frost, who gave a reading at the Academy while Greer was a student.

As new listeners wandered in, and others got up to enjoy desserts and fruit in the library alcoves, a man stood up and described his graduate school experience of filling his office with geometric models, entranced by the study of new forms; suddenly he remembered the words of a poem he had memorized for a speech prize long ago:

"Then felt I like some watcher of the skies / When a new planet swims into his ken." -Phil Mallinson, from "On First Looking Into Chapman's Homer" by John Keats.

Others described first discovering power in the words of a poem:

"You usually see me in the gym, which is a very physical world; poetry appeals to my nature because you can reach out and touch it and feel it." -Shane Cooper, reading "I Stopped Writing This Poem" by Tess Gallagher.

"When I was little, I was always really short, and my kindergarten teacher would read this to me. This poem made me feel a lot taller than I was!" -Michelle Wong '04, reading "One Inch Tall" by Shel Silverstein.

"Whenever I get too serious and need to be reminded that life is play, I pull out my books and read through poems that reflect this spirit." -Jess Zaricki, reading "A Cat, a Kid, and a Mom" by Shel Silverstein.

"At MIT almost 50 years ago, I remember Frost reading this poem. I was astounded that anybody could do this with words." -Charlie Pratt, reading "Departmental" by Robert Frost.

A man who was a student at PEA when Frost read here in 1956 recalled the experience:

"I don't know if Robert Frost actually read this poem. I hope that he did, because I want to read this as a tribute to him. It may be that something seeped in." -Peter Greer, reading "Spring Pools" by Robert Frost.

Morgan Fletcher '04, Jjais Richards '04 and Kathryn Reinhold '02 listen closely to "a poem with secrets in its words."

At 9 o'clock, the grandfather clock rang, and though over 60 people had read poems, more waited. A young man took the hand-held mike and began:

"I first read this poem during the time that I was applying to Exeter. It reminded me that I couldn't give up, because if I did, I was throwing away all my parents' hard work to get me here." -Marvin Guerra '03, reading "Mother to Son" by Langston Hughes.

Opposite him, another young man stepped up to a standing mike and faced his audience. He had been up until 3 o'clock in the morning, he said, searching for the right poem to read.

"I chose this poem because Countee Cullen back in the Harlem Renaissance dealt with the dilemma that I am dealing with right now: can a poet who is black win respect as a poet, without being thought of as a 'black' poet?" -Adrian Hopkins '02, reading "Yet Do I Marvel" by Countee Cullen.

The clock tolled the quarter-hour; people stood and stretched, and a final reader described how "this sonnet speaks to me not only as a person, but as a writer."

".unless this miracle have might, / That in black ink my love may still shine bright." -Lois Beckett '05, reading Sonnet 65 by William Shakespeare.

-By Margaret McGuinn

The Eleanor Gwin Ellis Instructor in English and a member of the PEA faculty since 1987, Margaret McGuinn was one of the organizers of the Favorite Poem Celebration.

PEA Hosts Forum for Jewish Boarding School Students

As part of the first annual Jewbilee Conference, Exeter students (left to right) Jacob Sendowski '03, Rebecca Zeidel '02, Alex Silverman '04, Nathan Bruker '05 and Nathaniel Weiss '05 light candles during a Havdalah service marking the end of the Jewish Sabbath.

Religion instructor Andrew Dubin may laugh when he relates stories about boarding schools serving loaves of fluffy challah bread for Passover, the Jewish holiday on which only unleavened bread is eaten, but his frustration is real. "You can't get angry at these things, because they are done with the very best of intentions," says Dubin, who is also chaplain to Exeter's Jewish community. "But there is definitely a lack of familiarity with Judaism and its customs on most campuses."

Such stories were not uncommon at the first annual Jewbilee Conference, held at PEA on April 13 and 14 and bringing together almost 70 Jewish students-including 23 Exonians-from 11 New England boarding schools to celebrate their faith, attend workshops and brainstorm on ways to maintain religious identity when away from home. Panels provided information on how to observe Jewish holidays in the dorm and ways to best communicate religious needs to school administrators. Alumni/ae from various schools were also on hand to impart advice, and a former spokesman for Israel's U.N. delegation led a discussion on the Israeli-Arab conflict. Ample time was also allowed for singing, dancing and general merrymaking.

"Coming to Exeter was a culture shock," remarks Miriam Pasternak, an upper from Bell Canyon, CA, and member of the Exeter Jewish Community (EJC), who helped organize the Jewbilee. "I come from a very traditional Jewish background and even attended a Jewish day school before coming to Exeter. This event was a great opportunity to meet other Jewish students and talk about ways to integrate Judaism and spirituality into everyday campus life. It was a lot of fun and I made a lot of new friends."

The conference was initiated by Dubin and the EJC, led by seniors Rebecca and Sarah Zeidel, of Pittsburgh, PA, in collaboration with the Curriculum Initiative (a not-for-profit organization that provides resources on Judaism and ethics to independent schools). It was by all accounts a rousing success. "There has never been anything for Jewish boarding school students on this scale before," enthuses Dubin. "The kids are still talking about it and several schools are already vying to have it on their campus next year."

Every year, Exeter's many cultural clubs-from the Chinese Student Association to La Alianza Latina to the Islamic Society-join forces to present International Day, a celebration of the different countries, cultures and traditions represented in the Exeter student body. This year's festival, held May 19 in the Wetherell quad under brilliant skies, offered an afternoon's immersion in international music, dance, fashion and food.

'The Mikado' Meets the 21st Century

The cast and orchestra share the stage of Fisher Theater in The Mikado.

In honor of Fisher Theater's 30th anniversary, the PEA drama and music departments put on a dazzling production of Gilbert and Sullivan's The Mikado, the same play that inaugurated the stage in 1972. This time, the classic comic operetta took place in a 21st-century Titipu, cleverly rendered through the set, costumes, props and the occasionally updated text. A largely student orchestra shared the stage with the actors and singers, becoming an integral part of the action in the play. (Nanki-Poo, played by Peter Sherman '02, attempted suicide by sawing at his wrist with a borrowed violin bow, and the Mikado, played by Nathaniel Webb '02, usurped conductor Peter Schultz's baton.)

In the 2002 Mikado, the "gentlemen in Japan" sported power suits, cell phones and laptops. Pooh Bah (Max Staller '04) handed out business cards to the audience and Pish-Tush (Steven Constantino '04) emphasized his point while waving a squash racquet. Nanki-Poo sported jeans and a Pokeman T-shirt. The "three little maids from school" (Joanne Shea '02 as Yum-Yum, A. Genisha Saverimuthu '02 as Peep-Bo and Rachel Rhoades '04 as Pitti-Sing), teeny-boppers in hot-pink plaid pleated skirts and pink cardigans, arrived on scooters, amid a throng of similarly dressed schoolgirls. Josh Stern '02 played Koko-the poor tailor-cum-Lord High Executioner-as a consummate politician. Koko's "hit list" of those who wouldn't be missed included people whose gadgets go off at inopportune moments. "A yuppie on a car phone like a crazed orangutan," he sang, "To think that all this awful junk is made here in Japan!" And Christina Johnson '02 as Katisha, looking for all the world like Leona Helmsley in spangled cats-eye glasses, descended from the upper reaches of the audience to the sound of chopper blades whirling.

For all its cleverness, what was most outstanding about this Mikado was the uniformly high caliber of performance delivered by every member of the production, on stage and off, to the delight of seasoned Gilbert and Sullivan fans and neophytes alike. That same high caliber extended to the set designed by Fisher Theater technical director Cary Wendell; lighting by drama intern Kathryn Krier '97; and the costumes by drama instructor Vivian Brown '75. Stage director Sarah Ream '75 and music directors Steve Kushner, Peter Schultz and Rohan Smith indeed achieved a "joyful collaboration" between music and drama. This production of The Mikado honored not only the generosity and vision of James Fisher '38, which resulted in the Academy's first dramatic theater, but also the generations of students and teachers who have wrought transformations big and small onstage at Fisher Theater

"This will be our reply to violence: to make music more intensely, more beautifully, more devotedly than ever before." On its five-city spring tour of the Northeast, which included a performance in New York City, the PEA Concert Choir took as its motto those words of Leonard Bernstein. Under the direction of Stephen Kushner, the 40-member choir presented a program of deeply felt, deeply moving works for deeply troubled times, including Bernstein's Chichester Psalms, sung in Hebrew; Lux Aeterna by Edwin Fissinger; Charles Ives' setting of Psalm 90; as well as a series of traditional African songs on which they were accompanied by the Academy's African Drumming Ensemble. The concerts were recorded and will later be released on a CD.

Table Talk with Vice President of the Trustees Julie Dunfey '76 | by Bill Ewing

"When I was a student, the trustees were these mysterious old guys going in and out of the Latin Study," laughs Julie Dunfey '76. "I had absolutely no idea what they did." Now in her sixth year as a trustee herself and having just assumed the post of vice president this month-the first woman in Exeter history to hold such an office-Dunfey is well aware of the important role the board plays in the long-term health and prosperity of the Academy.

"I think the first job of the trustees is to choose the right person with the skills and vision to administer the school," says Dunfey, who was asked by trustee president Ricardo Mestres '51 to serve on the most recent Principal Search Committee. "Our second job is to support that person."

Following that model, the trustees have worked closely with Principal Ty Tingley, faculty and staff in the development of the Academy Master Plan (AMP) and continue to oversee the short- and long-term financial health of the Academy to best support AMP initiatives. Ample time is also allotted during trustee meetings to have what Dunfey calls "meaningful contact" with students, be it sitting in on classes, doing dorm duty or attending events. "I'd like to think that the trustees are more visible and better understood than when I was a student," she says.

As vice president, Dunfey will work closely with new board president Jim Rogers '63, overseeing the three annual meetings of the 19-member board and coordinating the ongoing work of the seven standing subcommittees. "One of my prime responsibilities will be to maintain the smooth functioning of the board," she explains. "We give the chairs of each subcommittee the latitude to run their own show, but Jim and I are responsible for making sure that all of the committee work is coordinated and moving forward in a timely fashion."

A documentary filmmaker by profession-with credits that include work with Ken Burns on the acclaimed PBS series Civil War and Jazz-Dunfey is well acquainted with managing large, multidimensional projects and guiding them toward a polished final product, skills that are well suited to her new position. Because Exeter trustees come from all over the country and many are leaders in their fields, she says, "It's important that work is handled efficiently and that we make the best use of everyone's time and talent."

During her tenure as a trustee, Dunfey has earned great respect from her colleagues for her thoughtfulness and attention to detail. She is currently chair of the Trustees and Nominating Committee, which is responsible for identifying potential new trustees and making sure the board always maintains a diverse cross-section of Exonians. In 2000, she and fellow trustee Melissa Orlov '77 conducted research that led to a new policy allowing same-sex faculty members who are in committed relationships to live in the dorms; she also played a key role in the production of a new admissions video. The latter, she says, "was the first time my professional experience could be used to help the Academy in a concrete way."

A native of southern New Hampshire, Dunfey entered Exeter in 1972 as a day student and then moved into Bancroft Hall for her remaining three years. Although she was among the first coed classes to graduate from the Academy, gender issues were far from her biggest concern. "I was focused on making friends, playing basketball and surviving academically," she says. In addition to being a dorm proctor, Dunfey also captained the girl's varsity basketball team and played varsity tennis.

From Exeter, Dunfey went on to earn a B.A. in European history from Dartmouth and an M.A. in American history from Stanford. Her plan was to get a Ph.D. and become a college professor. An internship at WGBH in Boston working on the Vietnam series, later followed by an intensive film production workshop at Stanford, however, set her on a new career path. "I absolutely loved filmmaking, especially the collaborative nature of the work," she says. "For me, it presented a new way to do history. And not just a single, 10-year period, but a broad range of eras and subjects."

Living on the West Coast at the time, Dunfey decided to move back to New Hampshire to start a family-she and her husband, Dr. Christopher Daniell '72, and their three children now live in Hopkinton-when she was offered a job working with Ken Burns, already one of the country's top documentary filmmakers. Dunfey has since been involved in almost every film Burns has made as either a co-producer or consultant, and is currently doing preproduction work on a new five-part series called America's Best Idea on the national park system, due in 2009.

Even before she had returned to New Hampshire, Dunfey was hearing good things about PEA, "that it was becoming a warmer place and paying more attention to the whole student," she says. "My interest was piqued." Slowly but surely, she was drawn back into the Academy fold-first by attending Essential Exeter, an event that brings small groups of Exonians back to campus to see the Academy today in a more personal way, and then getting involved with the Trustee Council and the Awards Committee. "I enjoyed the people and what I heard each step of the way," she says. Her involvement eventually led to a formal invitation to join the board in 1995. "What I love most about being a trustee is connecting with Exonians from all walks of life and working toward a wonderful common goal: making Exeter the best place that it can be."

Historian Bryan Mark Rigg '91 discusses his new book, Hitler's Jewish Soldiers, with students in religion instructor Betsey Farnham's Holocaust class.

"It's hard," says historian Bryan Mark Rigg '91, "to find rational reasons for Hitler's actions." That fact has been brought home with special force to Rigg, who has spent much of the past decade-first as a Yale undergraduate, and then as a doctoral student at Cambridge-researching how Hitler, while pursuing the systematic extermination of the Jews, could also find a rationale for drafting men of Jewish descent into military service.

This spring Rigg returned to Exeter to talk about his just-published book, Hitler's Jewish Soldiers: The Untold Story of Nazi Racial Laws and Men of Jewish Descent in the German Military (University Press of Kansas, 2002). Rigg spent just a single, post-grad year at Exeter, but credits teachers like Harvard Knowles, David Weber, Andrew Polychronis and his adviser Tom Hassan with sharpening his interest in writing and his study skills.

In Hitler's Jewish Soldiers, Rigg details the plight of men, who, because one or more of their grandparents was Jewish, were defined by the 1935 Nuremberg laws as part-Jewish. Faced with a "choiceless choice" between military service and the likelihood of deportation, Rigg estimates that up to 150,000 men of Jewish descent served in the Wehrmacht, based on his exhaustive research into military personnel records and interviews with more than 430 veterans, or their family members.

Why, students ask Rigg, would men serve a regime that openly persecuted them? "Many believed their service would protect their family members," he replies. "Others saw themselves as loyal Germans." Few, he believes, had a full understanding of the Final Solution being pursued by the Nazis.

As for Hitler, says Rigg, "his racial ideologies ran into conflict with his need for soldiers." Part-Jews were required to serve; even after Hitler rethought this policy he signed thousands of exemptions declaring valued soldiers to be "of German blood." That such exemptions flew in the face of Nazi notions of "racial purity" appears not to have troubled him. Quoting historian Henry Turner, Rigg says, "Hitler was driven by 'the unshakable conviction that reality would eventually conform to his will.' "

Rigg's groundbreaking research has garnered praise from historians and coverage on the NBC newsmagazine "Dateline." It has also generated controversy among scholars who fear that his findings could be used by revisionists to lessen Nazi culpability. Rigg believes the opposite is true: "In the end, this study shows just how flawed, bankrupt and tragic were the racial theories and policies of Hitler and the Nazis."

Lincoln Caplan '68 Puts the Law in Context

Lincoln Caplan '68 edits Legal Affairs, a new magazine examining issues of law in the broader context of culture, politics and society in New York.

"Everybody has mixed feelings about the law and lawyers," says Lincoln Caplan '68. "And nobody's mixed feelings are stronger than those of lawyers themselves. With Legal Affairs, we are engaged in an effort to transport readers beyond their preconceptions about law."

A handsome new bimonthly magazine, Legal Affairs is the first general-interest publication to examine issues of law in the broader context of culture, politics and society. According to Caplan, the magazine's editor and president, academic writing about the law has become increasingly inaccessible even to practicing lawyers, let alone the general public. Legal Affairs is intended to "create a space for a conversation" between lawyers and law scholars and between lawyers and the broader society.

The idea for Legal Affairs had been percolating at Yale Law School for several years when the school's dean brought Caplan on board in 1998 to develop the editorial content and create a business plan. "We share a unique relationship with Yale Law School," explains Caplan. "They raised the startup money for the magazine and got us up and running. We benefit from an intellectual link to the school, but we are independently incorporated and editorially independent."

A graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School, Caplan has written extensively about the law as a staff writer for The New Republic and The New Yorker, as well as for U.S. News & World Report, where he was a top editor. He is the author of five books, and serves as the Knight Senior Journalist at Yale Law School and a lecturer in law and in English at Yale University.

The premiere issue of Legal Affairs hit the street in May, and Caplan is very happy with the buzz it has generated, including coverage on NPR's "All Things Considered" and CNN. "We are off to a terrific start, but we have our work cut out for us," he says. "This is a small publication and our success will be measured not in numbers, per se, but in our ability to reach leaders, and leaders-in-the-making, in a range of fields."

For more information, visit the Legal Affairs website at www.legalaffairs.org

Trustee Roundup

The Academy's trustees were on campus for their spring meeting from May 16 to 18, 2002. This meeting focused on the transition in board leadership and financial planning issues.

The trustees approved the operating budget and capital budgets for the 2002-2003 fiscal year. As part of that vote, funds have been allocated to spruce up the Academy Building, a two-year project slated to be completed by the summer of 2004. This summer will see the installation of an elevator to provide access to the Assembly Hall. The trustees also toured the new faculty houses and reviewed the status of renovations to the Academy library and Phillips Church and the next phases of the landscape plan. All are progressing on schedule.

The Housing Task Force reviewed the considerable progress that has been made in adding to the number of dwellings available for post-dorm housing. When the new units are completed in August, six houses will have been added to the inventory in the last year.

The group recognized the work of four retiring trustees: Alan Jones '72, who was recognized for his "extraordinary conscientiousness" as president of the General Alumni/ae Association; Claude Hoopes '68, also an alumni/ae trustee and the principal advocate for the campus landscaping plan; Ted Shen '62, vice president of the board and chair of the critically important budget and finance committee for the better part of the last decade; and Byron Rose '59, president of the board for the past three years. These individuals have each devoted hundreds of hours to Exeter in their careers on the board.

New trustees of great talent will succeed these four trustees. Two incoming alumni/ae trustees will be elected by the general alumni/ae body and announced later this summer; two new regular trustees have been elected. The first, Robert Ho '73 of Hong Kong, is president of Fairmont Shipping Lines. Robert has been a fine representative of Exeter in Hong Kong for many years and is a member of the Harvard International Studies Planning Committee. The second is David Beim '58, former executive in corporate finance with a number of firms including First Boston, Bankers Trust and Dillon Reed, and since 1989 a professor at the Columbia University Business School. David is a former chair of the board of Outward Bound and also a Rhodes Scholar.

Finally, the trustees elected new leadership. Jim Rogers '63 will serve as president, with Julie Dunfey '76 as vice president. Leigh Bonney '76 will become the new chair of the budget and finance committee and John Ettinger '69 will chair the buildings and grounds committee.

The trustees meeting coincided with the 50th reunion of the class of 1952, who announced a reunion gift totaling more than $23 million. This is an extraordinary record and includes gifts for the science building, the church renovation, a scholarship fund and an endowment to name the faculty house at 66-68 Front Street "Dennen House" in honor of the late Bill Dennen '52, a former trustee and president of the General Alumni/ae Association.

And with their business completed, the trustees adjourned to marvel at the most unwelcome phenomena of a May snowstorm.

Exeter In the News

Since last December, Exeter has been back online-on the rail line, that is, now that Amtrak has resumed passenger train service between Portland, ME, and Boston's North Station. The Downeaster, which makes eight stops at Exeter's Lincoln Street station every day, has proved a tremendous success, with ridership vastly outstripping projections-14,000 passengers in the first 16 days alone.

• The second annual Shakespeare Conference, a weeklong program for high school teachers organized by PEA English instructor Rex McGuinn, was the subject of a feature article in The Boston Globe North Section on June 23.



• Education Week ran a lengthy cover story, "Students Polishing Their 'Table' Talk," in the June 5 issue. The article focuses on the application of Harkness teaching methods, as taught in the Exeter Humanities Institute last summer, into a public school setting.



• Senior Grace Sur, a native of Korea who co-founded a successful big sibling/little sibling program for adopted Asian children in the New Hampshire Seacoast region three years ago, was the subject of feature articles in The Boston Globe on June 2, the Union Leader on June 3 and the Portsmouth Herald on May 17.



• The Wall Street Journal ran a cover story on April 23, "New England Preps That Excel at Hoops Face a League Split," that explored the possibility of a new basketball league forming within the New England Prep School Athletic Conference. Basketball coach Malcolm Wesselink was one of several coaches that voiced his concerns about "talent disparities" in NEPSAC.



• The cover story of the April 19 issue of The Forward, a national Jewish newspaper, was an article titled "At Bastions of Mayflower Power, Jewish Preps Seek Place at Table," detailing the first-ever national conference for Jewish boarding school students that took place at PEA on April 13 and 14. The event was organized by PEA religion teacher Andrew Dubin.



• PEA basketball star Casey Gibbons '02 scored a feature article in The Boston Globe, West Weekly on April 7. Gibbons was the season's MVP and led his team with an average of 25.3 points, 4 assists and 1.7 steals per game, while shooting 56 percent from the floor and 86 percent from the foul line.



• On February 8, Wall Street Journal writer Steve McKee used the novel A Separate Peace by alumnus John Knowles '45 as the departure point for an essay on the Winter Olympics, September 11 and the redemptive power of sports. In the piece, Charles Terry, English instructor emeritus, speaks eloquently about the novel he has taught for over 30 years at the Academy.



• The completion and dedication of the Phelps Science Center was cause for considerable excitement and media attention during the fall months. Virtually every local and regional media outlet covered the event, with significant pieces appearing in The Boston Globe, The Boston Herald and Natural New England magazine.

Letters to the Editor

Great Teachers Make Great Schools

Recently two communications from the Academy have set me thinking. First was the spring issue of the Bulletin with the splendid obituary of Ms. Aquilino. I finished it much impressed and wishing I had known this young woman. Exeter still seems able to attract talented teachers. Then came the letter from Principal Ty Tingley outlining the themes emerging from the new Academy Master Plan, the second of which was "a clarion call.to the finest teachers in the nation."

The obituary and the principal's letter coming so close together reminded me of the centrality of the faculty in the greatness of Exeter. I recalled those who shaped my future, such as Norman Hatch (arguably the best teacher I had in the Academy and two universities), D'Arcy Curwen, Herrick Macomber and Peter Lloyd, whom I had when a student, or George Bennett, Jack Heath, Paul Molloy, Len Rhoades and Wells Kerr, colleagues and models when I was a young teacher myself. I recall we used to say of another well-known New England school that when a good man (always men then) came, he always left in due course to lead another school, but of Exeter, that a good man never left.

When as a very young teacher at the Academy with no experience in administration I was appointed president of Marlboro College, I sought out Dr. Perry and asked for advice. (At that time he was living in retirement in the old Hotel Vendome in Boston, known by many-and I expect by him-as "God's Waiting Room.") His advice was simple: "Find the best teachers you can and leave them alone." That guided me throughout my career. Professor Perkins, housemaster of Lowell House at Harvard (which by chance provided Marlboro with many board members and supporters), put it another way. He considered his main responsibility to be "the care and feeding of tutors." A school or a college exists for students but is the faculty-not the trustees, not the campus, not even the curriculum per se (the curriculum is, or should be, an outgrowth of the faculty).

As long as the Academy seeks out the best teachers and gives them their head, it will remain the great school I remember. I am encouraged by the presence of such teachers as Ms. Aquilino and by the new Master Plan.

      Thomas B. Ragle '45 Guilford, VT

Passing the Hammer

It was a pleasure to read the account by George Plimpton '44 of his adventures and misadventures at Exeter in the spring 2002 issue ("How Failing at Exeter Made a Success of George Plimpton"). I have fond memories of Dean Kerr, Principal Perry and other teachers and coaches Plimpton mentions, although he was three years after me and I would not have noticed him as a preppie.

Permit me to add an addendum to his memoir. The illustration of him playing the bass drum in the band reminds me of myself as I looked in 1940-41, also playing that instrument. My carrier was Howard Sawyer '41, who went on to a distinguished career in medicine. Howie was about eight inches shorter than I was and we were certainly a funny sight on the field on football Saturdays. It is pleasant to think after all these years that I passed the hammer on to someone so successful in life!

      William Spencer '41, Ph.D. St. Augustine, FL

The Greeks Have a Word for It

What a wonderful article in praise of Roger Nekton, PEA's coach of boys' swimming, diving and water polo for more than 30 years ("Making a Splash," spring 2002).

Coach Nekton used to smile whenever any of his protégés noticed that the name Nekton was derived from the Greek nektos or "swimming." Both Roger and his wife, Kathy, reminded us all that in Greek nekton meant "all the minute organisms, swimming in large numbers, on or near the surface of the sea."

Coach Nekton's athletes were "all the larger organisms, swimming in large numbers, on or near the surface of the pool."

      Helen Bayly P'82, '85 Tucson, AZ

Sports Trivia

In your "Scouting Report" (spring 2002) you noted that Sam Fuld '00 batted .550 as a senior, while gathering six homeruns and 12 RBI's. This seems an unusual set of stats; six HR's would account for at least six of the RBI's . . . would not a .550 batting average ordinarily produce far more than the few remaining RBI's you reported? The only explanation is a remarkable absence of base runners while Mr. Fuld was at bat. Is this possible

      William A. Stoops P'74 Freedom, NH

Editor's note: It is indeed, because Sam Fuld '00 was the lead-off batter during his senior year at Exeter.

Exoniana: Do You Remember?

Only at Exeter would you find these tasteful delights. Do you remember the names of the specialties Ian Pearson '04 is holding? Where did you order them? Care to share any savory memories? The first person who sends (via U.S. mail only) the correct answer(s) will win a prize. Answers and/or reminiscences will be published in the next issue. Mail to Exoniana, c/o The Exeter Bulletin, Phillips Exeter Academy, Communications Office, 20 Main Street, Exeter, NH 03833. Answer to the Last Issue: The twists and turns of the spiral staircase located in the Amen Room of the old Davis Library (now known as the Davis Student center or day student center) did stir up the memories of Exonians from near and far. And the Winner is: Krystian von Speidel '94 of Boston, MA, who received a leather notepad holder engraved with the Academy seal for being the first person to mail in the correct answer. "This spiral staircase is located in the reading room of the Day Student Center, formerly the Academy Library. The picture evokes memories of sometimes brief and sometimes long waits for my parents to pick me up during my lower year. One day while I was waiting there, the Exonian board met in this room. On a whim I took an assignment for an arts page article. A few years later, I was named arts editor of the Exonian. I am now a lifestyle journalist based in Boston." Best Friends This is what was then the Amen Room of the Davis Library. I met Bob Butcher '60 here in 1957. We've become best friends. Robert R. "Bob" Gambee '60 Rye, NY Federalist papers I have a particular memory of these stairs and this room, because in October of 1962 I spent a long afternoon there trying to read The Federalist Papers but worrying about the possibility of World War III. Morning crew had freed up my afternoon and my best friend, a freshman at Middlebury College, had called after lunch to share his opinion that the ultimatum JFK had just given to the Russians and his military alert were the beginning of the end. The events of the day went down in history as the Cuban missile crisis, and I remember wondering at the time what the Federalists would have thought of that particular afternoon almost 200 years later. John J. Colony III '63 Harrisville, NH Welcome That was my favorite room on campus. With two stories of books and wonderfully worn leather armchairs, it seemed to me a privilege even to enter it. And yet, like all of Exeter, it said, "Come on in-you are part of this!" (I think I napped there more than I read!) A wonderful haven! Morrison D. "Toby" Webb '65 Harrison, NY Chain of moving books I fondly remember being in the reading room of the old Davis Library moving the books to the new library in the fall of 1970. I was stationed at the bottom of these stairs to be part of the chain that moved the books first off the shelves, down the spiral staircase, out of the building, across the yard and up into the new library. It was a long task for which we were rewarded with a day off without classes. Harold B. Johnson II '73 Watertown, NY Dungeons and Dragons Finally, you have asked a question that I think I can answer. I was a day student, which may give me an advantage in this case over those who boarded. The spiral staircase is located in a small library in the southeast corner on the second floor of the Davis Student Center. The staircase is in the northeast corner of the room. It leads up to a balcony that goes about halfway around the room. The room's area is not very big, but its height is about twice that of a normal room. My earliest memory of the room occurred sometime during the spring of 1978. It was there that I played my first game of Dungeons and Dragons (D&D). The players sat around a large table in the middle of the library. The Dungeon Master went up on the balcony with all of his stuff, presumably so that he could hide it from the players down below. Occasionally he would purposely drop a map drawn on a piece of paper, which would flutter back and forth like a feather as it fell. He named the fantasy world that he created "Shadow World." It was a dead planet that revolved around a sun that had already gone nova. I'm trying to remember the names of the people who were there: Eric Theis Jr. '78 was one of the players; two students with the last name of Nickerson also played, although I can't remember their first names. Anyway, I enjoyed the game very much and have continued to play it until this day. David T. Bannon '79 Corvallis, OR Love at first site I love this room. I always thought it was so cute with that tiny balcony that went around the room. The room has appeared in a few of my stories, completely separate from either the building it's in, or the Academy. How can I have such strong feelings for a room, with no memories of any particular thing happening there? As a little prep on scholarship-it was my job to vacuum it! Frances A. "Fran" Johnson '82 Mayfield Heights, OH Magical That tight, spiraled staircase is in the Davis Student Center. At the time, I observed spiral staircases as a sort of Narnian improvement on the normal square-set stairs we've all seen: so much more magical, so much more potential for leading to something unusual, too. So full of movement! Fiona D.J. Bayly '85 New York, NY Tucked away I cannot remember the name of the room, but when I was at Exeter, from 1985 to 1989, it was the only place in the building that had retained the character the whole building must have had when it housed the school library before 1970. The memories it calls to my mind are of the orientation week before classes began prep year, when Allison I. Morse '78 and I spent hours tucked away in there. Both day students, we had much less to do during these few days than those who would be boarding students. And so there we waited, in those last remaining hours of "free time" before the four-year trip that was Phillips Exeter began! I wonder if she remembers it this way? Thanks for recalling this for me! Elizabeth Rogers Goodman '89 Lenox, MA Awesome That awesome spiral staircase is in the old library, which had become the student center by the time I was at Exeter. I always loved that room because of the disarray of the old books. It seemed a haunted place because it was so dusty and seemingly forgotten. I could never understand why all of those great books weren't in the new library (which is extremely organized and clean). I spent hours in there looking at the titles, and when I found a good one I would sit and browse through it on that staircase. I was not sure how to check books out, so I would just get through as much as I could right there. The staircase and library also evoke fond memories for my parents. When my father was a scholarship student in the '50s, he worked in the library. He had to climb up and down that staircase a hundred times a day shelving books. The building is my mother's favorite. Whenever we eat off the Exeter china, mom's place is set with the old library. Thanks for the memories. Elizabeth "Libby" Nunez '93 Alexandria, VA Dusty Layers The balcony bookshelves house what look like very old books, although layers of dust may disguise their actual age. As a day student seeking a quiet refuge, I occasionally climbed these stairs, always feeling that perhaps I shouldn't. I would sit up there in the light from the great windows and imagine having my own library, with countless books, a balcony and a spiral staircase. Meagen M. Ryan '93 Washington, D.C. A Meeting Place It is clear to us that the pictured staircase is to be found in the library of the Davis Student Center, the site of at least one spirited meeting for The Argument, a student publication. Simon J. DeDeo'96 and Caitlin P. Riley '96 New York, NY Big Screen TV The picture reminds me of watching the big screen TV located in the main lounge on the second floor of the Davis Student Center. Elaine Y. Wang '98 Medford, MA Thank you for taking time to share your memories. -Alice Ann Gray

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