No Green Bearcat Then

May 20, 2013 at 2:26pm

I have been reading the accounts of this past weekend’s graduation ceremonies at my alma mater, Binghamton University, and marveling at how they differ from when I graduated 41 years ago.  This year, there were at least six (or maybe eight) separate ceremonies for the various schools of the university, spread out so that each graduate could march individually across a stage and receive a degree; and most of the ceremonies were held at the university’s Events Center, which did not exist until 2004. 

In 1972 there was one ceremony, at the West Gym, and about half of the graduating class of 1,000 did not attend, since it wasn’t required.  Those of us who showed up wore black caps and gowns, rented from the college bookstore, which were hot as we waited in the sun.  Although the university colors were, as they are still, green and white, they were not really on display; and there were no academic hoods for B.A. types. We didn’t have a formal graduation speaker, just the person who was the acting President, whom I do not recall at all (not even this person’s gender).  President Bruce Dearing had left a few months before, and President Peter Magrath had not yet taken office.  The only ones who marched to receive their degrees were the relative handful of master’s and doctoral candidates.  We Bachelor of Arts types just sat; no names were read.  The paper diplomas were handed out after the commencement, in separate ceremonies in the residential colleges.  Since I was a local, living off-campus, I had to go to the administration building and pick mine up after lunch.  My “magna cum laude” designation came in the form of a sticker, a couple of weeks later in the mail, so I could apply it myself.  Talk about getting a gold star on your paper.

No one graduated from the School of Management, or Nursing,or Education, because those were little more than twinkles in academicians’ eyes in 1972.  We had a few engineers, though.  Those were the guys who wore slide rules in holsters from their belts. Anyone remember slide rules? 

I’ve seen photos from Binghamton University portraying things like students from China at the School of Management being recruited at the Career Center by the likes of Ernst and Young.  No such thing was possible in my youth—no budding MBAs, no Career Center, no recruitment period. The only possible recruiters in 1972 were from the armed forces, and they weren’t allowed on campus. 

And of course it was not called Binghamton University.  It was the State University of New York at Binghamton (still its official name) or Harpur College, but "BU" discourages use of those terms nowadays.  The athletic teams are now called the Bearcats, changed from the culturally uncomfortable Colonials (named after the colonial mansion where Harpur College started in 1946) of yesteryear.  Which reminds me of the line from “Sweet Jane”:  “Ridin’ in a Stutz Bearcat, Jim / Those were different times.”   I hear you, Lou Reed.

 

 

W.J. Smith

 

Dr Swerdloc, OBF

'Ars longa, vita brevis'