Sad Chapter in Pomona Life

I have been inspired to write you on the subject of gays at Pomona College by the request of Paul David Wadler ’83 to save Pomona’s LGBT history (Letterbox, Spring 2013 issue) as well as by the article in Harvard Magazine, March-April 2013, on “Litigating Gay Rights.”

I graduated from Pomona College in 1951. I was one of the first Fulbright scholars from Pomona. Pomona had a deeply homophobic culture. I was rejected for membership in the fraternities because I am gay, even though I had had no sexual activity to that point. Their rejection stigmatized me throughout the remainder of my time at Pomona. I was then a fervent Catholic, and I internalized their rejection. I felt that I had an illness which the fraternity men were right in not wanting to have around them. My reaction was that it was up to me to find a cure for my homosexuality.

(At the time I was president of the Newman Club for Catholic students. When I told the chaplain that I was gay, even though still without sexual activity, he insisted I resign.)

I found it impossible to find a cure and concluded I could not go into college teaching because I felt the homophobia I had experienced at Pomona would be hellish to endure on a college faculty.

I felt it was impossible to come “out” at Harvard in 1956, and so I stopped studying for my qualifiers and left with a master’s degree. I could not think of a better solution.

I am deeply concerned with the welfare of gay students at Pomona. Do all the fraternities admit gay men? Or is there still a “gentlemen’s agreement” to exclude them from some?

I would appreciate seeing Pomona College Magazine publish an article or more on gay Pomona men and women as rightfully belonging to the Pomona family.

 —Lino Zambrano ’51

 What Became of Zeta Chi Sigma?

I was accepted by the fraternity Zeta Chi Sigma second semester of my freshman year (that would be 1984). I remained a member throughout my Pomona career. We were coed; for most of my time in said institution women comprised 60 percent or more of our membership.

I also shared the statistic with my best friend as one of the two heterosexual males. In 1986 we changed the designations from fraternity to community and from brothers to siblings. My predecessor as president, a wonderful man named Michael Butterworth ’86, proposed this and we joyously embraced the idea. After his graduation I became president and continued the tradition.

Zeta Chi had history. It started in the early ’60s as the frat for those who couldn’t get into any other frat. Then it was the theatre frat. Then it was the drug frat. Then it was the gay frat (my era).

In my time, it was a collection of wonderful people. We proudly proclaimed ourselves as “siblings.” And we encouraged other students to join our all-inclusive community. Sadly, Zeta Chi no longer exists. I sincerely hope the spirit continues.

—Dan Nimmo ’87

Agonizing Decision

Bill Keller’s [’70] New York Times March 27, 2013, blog on the topic of abortion, titled “It’s Personal,” demonstrates the value of the liberal arts education that Pomona offers (keller.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/03/27/its-personal/?hp). It matters not if one agrees with Keller’s position, only that one recognizes and admires his ability to think hard, and then to express his thoughts with clarity and passion.

He acknowledges that his remarks are not “likely to satisfy anyone who can reduce abortion to a slogan,” and then he uses his own and his wife’s personal experience, as well as the experience of hundreds of readers who have written to him, to reach the conclusion that abortion, as a matter of law and politics, is a personal decision, “not a decision I would entrust to courts and legislatures, even given that some parents will make choices I would find repugnant.”

Pomona helped Keller learn to think hard. Pomona taught a lot of us to think hard. It continues to do so. Thank you, Pomona.

—Tom Markus ’56

New Ways in the U.K.

President Oxtoby’s reflections on Cambridge (“Autumn in Cambridge,” spring issue) were illuminating, but I do not agree there is less staff-student interaction than at Pomona—just not in the middle of a lecture.

He may also have observed that social class is no longer uniquely rigid in England, as the haute bourgeoisie find when trying to place their child in Eton or Cambridge. Old connections no longer work and the likes of Eton choose the bright offspring of Shanghai textile magnates rather than the “nice-but-dim” sons of aristocratic alumni.

The same is true of our leading universities and Cambridge would not dare show the kind of bias towards “legacy” students that is routine in American Ivies, hidden or otherwise.

—John Cameron ’64

Musical Memories

The Class of 1953 gathered for its 60th reunion on Alumni Weekend and reveled in nostalgia. At our Saturday dinner, Don Shearn and I served as emcees. When Don approached the mic wearing a measuring tape around his neck, he was heckled.

The evening included a video about classmate Frank Wells. Made by Disney colleague Jeff Katzenberg, the video was shown at Frank’s memorial following his death in a helicopter accident in 1994; it illustrated his remarkable achievements, from surviving an airplane crash at the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro during his Rhodes Scholar years to his attempt to climb the highest peak on each of the seven continents.

I shared more nostalgia from Hail, Pomona!, an original musical which was presented by alumni, students and staff during Pomona’s Centennial celebration in 1987-88. I read the lyrics of two songs, composed by Dan Downer ’41. Here is a sample:

On the Alluvial Fan

When we came to Pomona,

our mission was clear,

We had only one thing on our minds.

To become educated and quite liberated

With knowledge to help us to find… a man.

I partied up on Baldy at the cabins of frats,

And attended sneak previews at the Fox.

I danced at the Mish and had dates at the Coop

And had long philosophical talks.

I cut classes and went swimming

at the beach in Laguna,

But I only found out how to get a tan.

And then suddenly it happened

And I learned about love, out on the alluvial fan.

When he asked me if I’d like

to go out to the Wash,

I finally began to have hope.

I could tell by the way that he asked me this

That I wasn’t supposed to bring soap.

He said we would look at the stars out at Brackett

And he knew that I would know

what that would mean.

But if a girl’s going to learn

about love any place,

At least in the Wash it is clean.

On the alluvial fan with a Pomona man

You must remember one thing,

That senior or frosh, just a trip to the wash,

Might make those wedding bells ring.

Now I have what I came to Pomona to get,

A degree in fine arts and a man.

But I didn’t get either from my courses at Seaver,

I learned on the alluvial fan

In the Wash as a Frosh I learned about love

Out on the alluvial fan.

The lyrics of the second song resonated with a class that graduated 60 years ago.

Look Where I am in the Book!

As I looked through my mail one morning,

Something hit me without any warning.

Wasn’t something I read that hit me,

But where it was that quite undid me.

Look where I am in the book!

I’m nearing the front of alumni news notes,

In the back of Pomona Today.

I don’t know how it happened, it just couldn’t be,

I’ve moved up three pages since May.

Every issue ages me nine or ten years.

I’m face to face with one of my fears.

It’s an unhappy fact in each issue,

The classes ahead get much fewer.

While just behind there’s a long growing line,

Let’s sing one more chorus of Auld Lang Syne.

But the news of my friends is a comfort to see,

I can watch them getting older with me.

Look where I am in the book!

—Cathie Moon Brown ’53

Editor’s Note: Hail, Pomona!, The Show of the Century was produced by Cathie Brown and Don Pattison, former editor of Pomona Today.]

I had been looking forward to joining the Class of ’78 for our 35th Reunion, but, unfortunately, I was unable to attend. The celebration, however, has given me cause to reflect upon my Claremont days.

I am eternally grateful for the outstanding music education that Pomona provided, a foundation that has served me well in my career as a performer, conductor and educator. Equally important and influential was the schooling I received as a result of interaction with amazingly talented classmates.

The early departure of David Murray in 1974 might have left a tremendous void in Claremont’s music scene were it not for a group of remarkably accomplished singers and players whose eclectic interests and ardent collaborations contributed to a vibrant and supportive atmosphere for music and musicians.

Not to diminish the training I received from such gifted teachers as Kohn, Kubik, Russell, Ritter and Reifsnyder, but I will always be indebted to the brilliant and passionate student musicians I encountered during my years in Claremont. I am thankful for having had the opportunity to share music-making with the likes of Dean Stevens ’76, Bart Scott ’75, Richard Apfel ’77, Carlos Rodriguez, Julie Simon, Bruce Bond ’76, Anne McMillan ’78, Mary Hart ’77 and Joel Harrison ’79, as well as Dana Brayton ’77 and Tim DeYoung, who left us too soon. I hold fond memories of these good people.

Gratias multas to them and to those I may have forgotten. Little Bridges, the Smudgepot and the Motley still resonate with their great music and generous spirits.

—Jim Lunsford ’78

 Spelling (Sea) Bee

I have just finished reading the Fall 2012 issue of your excellent magazine. I enjoyed it, but am pained by an error. In the obituary of a classmate of mine, Armand Sarinana on page 59, he is listed as having been a Navy “See” Bee.

Actually, these men belonged to a Construction Battalion, hence the name, based on the initial letters, C.B., so they were known as “Seabees.” Their symbol was a very angry bee, in a sailor hat, holding a hammer and a wrench in two of his “hands” and a machine gun in his other “hands.” One of their many exploits was constructing aircraft landing strips on newly-captured islands.

Obviously, I’m a nit-picker. Must be the English classes I had at Pomona!

—David S. Marsh ’50

I grew up in deep-blue Dodger country north of Los Angeles, where our allegiance to the L.A. team was as solid and sure as that Steve-Garvey-Davey-Lopes-Bill-Russell-Ron-Cey infield. In my world, the region’s other major league franchise, the Angels, was tolerated but ignored, left to hang around in the background like your best friend’s little brother.

With adulthood, though, my life shifted. Shoeboxes full of trading cards were tucked away. No more family pilgrimages to Chavez Ravine. My interest in Major League Baseball faded. By the ’90s, I would have been hard-pressed to name more than a player or two on my once-favorite team.

When I finally settled in the Inland Empire suburbs east of L.A. and Orange counties, I found myself in up-for-grabs-territory: neither Dodgers nor Angels dominated. And to my surprise, among the two teams, it was the Angels who were on the rise.

Then, in 2002, as the Angels made a run for the World Series, the Riverside paper I wrote for at the time threw everything at the story, including me. At one practice, I met and gathered quotes from a bunch of the Angels: Salmon, Spezio, Scioscia. I chowed—purely for journalistic purposes—at the stadium’s fancy Diamond Club restaurant. The Angels vibe seemed a lot like, well, the 1970s Dodgers.

But even as the halos won the series, I couldn’t get past their past. Where was the proud history, the tried-and-true tradition? L.A.-area bookstore shelves are laden with Dodgers tomes. The Angels are literary laggards by comparison. One key exception, Ross Newhan’s The Anaheim Angels: A Complete History, offers a first chapter titled “The Parade of Agony,” aptly summarizing the team’s early decades. I wasn’t ready to completely ditch the Dodgers.

The next year I had a son, who eventually started playing baseball, which added new depth to the Dodgers-Angels dilemma. One year, Luke was on the Angels. Next, the Dodgers. This spring, he was back on the Angels again, and he was tilting toward them as his favorite major league team as well.

At this point, the biggest baseball stadium Luke had set foot in was the minor-league Rancho Cucamonga Quakes’ Epicenter. I wasn’t just being cheap. I was still mulling the all-important decision of whether his first major-league game should be at Anaheim or Chavez Ravine.

I hatched a plan. Out of tradition, we’d go to Dodger Stadium. But it would be an interleague play game against … the Angels. I bought the tickets for the Memorial Day game two months in advance. We were set.

Not quite.

Weeks before the big game rolled around, my father-in-law presented Luke and me with tickets to the Angels-Astros game at Angel Stadium. The next weekend. He hadn’t known about my plan, and I wasn’t about to try to explain my mental machinations. So Luke’s first major league game was at Anaheim, where the Angels won 4-1, with Mike Trout hitting a homer and a double. Not bad at all.

Memorial Day finally came. Dodger Stadium was packed. The Angels took an early lead, and by the fourth inning, they were up 6-1. The Dodgers rallied back to tie it up. The Angels made it 7-6. The Dodgers tied it up again. Another run. Dodgers won, 8-7.

So close …

Luke now tells me he is leaning toward the Dodgers because “they’ve been around longer.” I am, too. But that doesn’t mean I’ve made a final choice. That can wait until the Dodgers and Angels face each other someday in a freeway World Series. And, by the way things are going for both teams this season, I won’t have to decide for a long, long time.

The Great Debate

 Mark Wood’s column, “When Bad Things Happen,” marks the first time I’ve been truly angered by something I read in Pomona College Magazine. While one doesn’t expect hard-hitting journalism from a publication whose main purpose is to stroke alumni and encourage donations, this was beyond the pale.

 Comparing Pomona’s controversy over the firing of undocumented workers, many of whom were trying to unionize (a facet of the story Wood mysteriously omitted) to the disturbing events at Penn State, Wood waxed poetic about “when bad things happen to good institutions.” With all the subtlety of Rush Limbaugh on meth, he implied that it was somehow unfair and prejudicial not to “imagine good, caring thoughtful people agonizing over intractable problems,” suggesting that a failure to do so was the moral equivalent of blaming people with cancer or AIDS for their illness.

 It’s hard to imagine a more offensive and intellectually dishonest argument. What happened at Penn State was the result of people—maybe good, maybe not so good—making truly horrible decisions, in the context of a campus culture that placed certain programs on a pedestal. It appears that seriously horrible decisions have also been made at Pomona. Whether they were in fact made by “good, caring, thoughtful people agonizing over intractable problems” remains at best a matter under dispute. In any case, good intentions are hollow without good judgment.

 The decision to delay a more thorough examination of the firing controversy until the next issue was understandable, given the deadlines and lead times of a quarterly publication. To publish Woods’ apologia in the interim suggests strongly that the whitewash is well under way.
—Bruce Mirken ’78
San Francisco, Calif.

I’d like to compliment you on your article “When Bad Things Happen.” It gives proper perspective on an unfortunate situation. It reflects the thought and care I would wish of all journalists. Keep it up!—Bob Hatch ’51
Laguna Woods, Calif.

 I am writing in response to President Oxtoby’s winter letter to alumni lamenting the termination of 17 college employees after the worker documentation investigation.

 Few take pleasure in terminating employees. However, your sympathy may be misplaced, and your willingness to use scarce college resources to support the discharged employees seems inappropriate and misguided. While the intent of the discharged employees in working illegally may have been benign—a better life for them and their families— the results of their action were harmful:

 —They broke the laws of our country by entering illegally;
—They secured employment under false pretenses and in violation of the law;
—They compromised the integrity of Pomona’s hiring practices and, thereby, stained the reputation of the College;
—They placed themselves ahead of the millions who are attempting to immigrate legally into the country;
—They deprived U.S. citizens and legal residents of employment opportunities.

Perhaps, unemployment is not an important issue for the college staff and faculty, but unemployment in California has been running over 10 percent, and at a much higher rate among African Americans. By hiring illegal immigrants,

Pomona does nothing to relieve the suffering of the unemployed. Do you not think that the College has greater obligations to our own citizens than to those who have broken our laws and violated our trust?

 I strongly urge that you renounce the misguided decision to provide health insurance to the discharged employees through June 30 and, instead, use the funds for an outreach program to potential replacement employees who are citizens or legal residents, especially African Americans.

—George Zwerdling ’61
Carpinteria, Calif.

 I sent this to President Oxtoby in response to his alumni/ae letter about the pain of firing undocumented college workers: Responding to the dilemma of your valued long-term employees, who happen not to be citizens, doesn’t seem so difficult an issue to me at all, if the institution has any ability to take a moral stand.

 Declare Pomona College a sanctuary. Defy the damn racist law. Think of the university grounds in Mexico during 1968, declared sanctuary until the army violated it. Think of the European countries that allow non-citizens not only to reside and work, but to vote! I could go on and on and we’d inevitably end up with Jim Crow, the internment of Japanese-Americans and the anti-Jewish laws in Germany, so I won’t. Still, firing the employees without a struggle is shameful.

—John Shannon ’65
Topanga, Calif.

The Life of Liffey

 Like Jake Smith ’69 (“Class Notes” Spring 2012) I was moved by the article in the Fall 2010 PCM to seek out the complete series of Jack Liffey novels by my classmate John Shannon. John and I were dorm neighbors in Walker Hall freshman year, but had little contact after that and none since graduating in 1965. Finding all of the books was made possible by Amazon’s network of sellers of used books. Some of the earlier titles are actually library discards.

 I enjoyed all of the novels, some inevitably more than others, but wouldn’t hesitate to recommend the whole series, preferably read in order. The stories are well-told, the characters exceptionally well-drawn and the Los Angeles milieu fascinating. It is the latter that has drawn comparisons with Raymond Chandler, but because of the sense of history and the uncompromising social criticism I am more reminded of James Ellroy. But John’s voice is very much his own and he is driven more by indignation, where Ellroy is driven by paranoia. For a sometimes dark but always convincing vision of the hometown I left nearly 40 years ago, thank you PCM, thank you Amazon and especially thank you, John.

—Steve Sherman ’65
Munich, Germany

 A Sagehen Star

I just received your spring ’12 “racing issue.” Unfortunately, it appears to be missing an alumnus story that should have been included. I’m referring to the professional track career of Will Leer ’07. Let me say up front that I’m biased. I’m the managing editor of Track & Field News, a monthly magazine that covers the elite end of Leer’s sport at the world, U.S. national and high school levels.

 Will is a professional middle distance runner and aspiring Olympian, specializing in the 1500 meters, although he is now starting to explore the 5000 meters. At the ’08 Olympic Trials, he placed fourth (three make the team). At the USATF National Championships in the years since he has never placed lower than fifth. The ’09 and ’11 nationals served as trials for the World Championships, and last year Will missed a qualifying spot by 0.01 second. In 2010 at the USATF Indoor Championships, Will placed second and went on to represent the U.S. at the World Indoor Championships in Doha, Quatar.

 Will spent this winter training and racing in New Zealand and Australia with training partner Nick Willis, the Beijing 1500 meters silver medalist, and other members of their training group. He spends his summers racing on the pro circuit in Europe.

 Hopefully when your summer issue comes out Will Leer will be a London-bound Olympian, although this year’s 1500-meter Olympic Trials final should be as tough a nut to crack as the event has ever seen in the U.S. The story of a Sagehen competing at the highest level in his sport is compelling either way, if you ask me.

—Sieg Lindstrom ’84
San Francisco, Calif.

 In Memory of David Waring

We our hoping to establish an endowed scholarship fund to memorialize our late son, David A.T. Waring ’03, who passed away at the age of 29 from the ravages of myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), “an acquired neurological disease with complex global dysfunctions.” David—who played a riveting lead guitar in his college band, “Dave and the Sweatpants”—had planned to study applied mathematics and music in a graduate program before he was stricken with ME/CFS just four days after his 23rd birthday.

 The scholarship would be awarded to an incoming freshman whose dream of applying science/ mathematics to an understanding of music reflects Dave’s passion. We welcome contributions from the Pomona College and the wider communities to honor our late son. Donations, which are tax-deductible, may be made to the following:

The David A. T. Waring ’03 Memorial Scholarship Fund, c/o Don Pattison, Director of Donor Relations, Pomona College, 550 North College Ave., Claremont, CA 91711.

—Alan and Pat Waring
Parents of David
Irvine, Calif.

 Missing Meg Worley

During the 2011–12 academic year, Pomona College lost superstar English Professor Meg Worley to Colgate in New York. From the perspective of alumni, it happened quietly. After a protracted tenure-consideration process ended in a surprising “no,” Professor Worley decided to head east. For us English alumni, it is a sad way to say goodbye to a faculty member who provided so much stability and guidance during a period of significant changes in the English Department. From 2004 to 2011, Professor Worley saw a number of fellow English professors retire, move, or pass away (including many of the department’s institutional names: Martha Andresen, Paul Saint-Amour, David Foster Wallace, Steve Young, Rena Fraden and Cristanne Miller). During this time, her dynamic classes, patient mentoring and professionalism reinvigorated the department and it was no surprise to us when, in 2010, she won the Wig Award—the highest honor bestowed on Pomona faculty.

 We would like to thank Professor Worley wholeheartedly for organizing the first senior-seminar colloquium and night readings of Beowulf; for spicing up course readings with non-traditional literary texts such as graphic novels, Arthurian myth and the Bible; for offering her grammatical expertise, without judgment, whenever the need arose; for writing countless letters of recommendation for graduate school; for always keeping her office open for impromptu visits; and for expecting a lot from students but giving back so much more. In short, she represented the best of what Pomona advertises about its instructors: individualized attention, warmth and high-level intellectualism without pretension. She was a professor who brought creativity and energy to every endeavor she undertook. As one former student wrote, “No one could mistake a Meg-graded paper as you knew any assignment would be returned, every word read, and marked with one of her colorful array of pens and extraordinarily neat handwriting.” She learned our names, kept in touch after we graduated and invited us to lunch when we returned to campus for a visit. Professor Worley was a reason to stay connected with Pomona and we are so sorry that future Sagehens will miss the opportunity to learn why.

All our best to you in New York, Meg! We should have kept you, but here’s to new beginnings:

 “Whan that Aprill with his shoures soote…”

 —Carlo Diy ’06
—Emily Durham ’07
—Meredith Galemore ’06
—Coty Meibeyer ’05
—Carolyn Purnell ’06
—J.B. Wogan ’06

 Editor’s Note: The letter was signed by seven additional alumni.

 Alumni and friends are invited to email letters to pcm@pomona.edu or to send them by mail to

Pomona College Magazine
550 North College Ave.
Claremont, CA 91711.

Letters are selected for publication based on relevance and interest to our readers and may be edited for length, style and clarity.