On-Line Class Notes?
I recently had the pleasure of discovering the ICQ on-line. However,
my favorite part of the publication was either missing or I was unable
to find it. That part is usually at the end of the ICQ, and it details
the lives of certain students from many class years. As you can imagine,
the older I get, the more I like to relive my days on the hill. Will that
section be included in future e-publications?
Louis P. Dettor ’90
Fayetteville, New York
Editor’s note: The on-line version of the "Ithaca College
Quarterly" does not contain the "Class Notes" section of
its printed counterpart. Because of the nature of the Web, anything in our
on-line version is potentially accessible to millions of people worldwide
— quite different from the limited, targeted circulation of the printed
magazine. Therefore, in the interests of protecting the privacy of our alumni,
we do not post "Class Notes" here.
Paralympics Contributor
I truly enjoyed reading the "Olympian Perspectives" piece
in the fall issue and learning about fellow IC alumni and their involvement
in the 1996 Paralympic Games. But I’m going to add to that list.
I’m a graduate of the class of ’79 and am director of entertainment
for the Jack Morton Company, one of the country’s largest producers
of business meetings and corporate and special events. I also was the talent
executive for the Paralympic Games, specifically the opening and closing
ceremonies. In layman’s terms, I booked the talent for these ceremonies
and worked as a part of the team that produced them. For the opening ceremony,
we had Christopher Reeve, Carly Simon, Aretha Franklin, and Liza Minnelli.
For the closing ceremony we had the Four Tops, Bo Diddley, Chubby Checker,
and Jerry Lee Lewis.
I’ve been in the entertainment business since graduation, but it
all began with my involvement with the IC Bureau of Concerts when we put
on shows in the Ben Light Gym with artists like Billy Joel, Bonnie Raitt,
Elvis Costello, and many others. I guess you can say that show business
is in my blood!
Again, I was delighted to see the Paralympics piece and thought you’d
be interested in learning of another alumnus’s involvement in this
very special event.
Mark Felix ’79
New York, New York
Question of Balance
 My indecision about attending Reunion ’97
was quickly and easily resolved by the cover of the Ithaca College Quarterly
(winter 1997).
The spirit of Ithaca College imparted to me by my mentor Walter Beeler
during the years 1958–62 was not sullied by an overemphasis on gladiator
combat in the athletic arena. Instead, his legacy incorporated the Greek
ideal of a balance in all things, for which I shall be eternally grateful.
I believe that the representation of my alma mater should be free of the
fetters of football.
As a faculty member in a state university held hostage by the scholarly
and financial deprivations caused by a mindless preoccupation with athletics
and its blind alliance of supporters, I foolishly believed that my beloved
undergraduate school had successfully resisted the inroads of the lowest
common denominator.
Sadly, Ithaca College is not the institution I knew and loved.
John H. Mead ’62
Huntington, West Virginia
A False Sense of Security
I’d like to offer comment on the article "Sex Crimes and Punishment"
(ICQ, winter 1997). Although I am a clinical psychologist, unlike
Kay Jackson I have not treated sex offenders, nor have I studied or researched
in this field. I am, therefore, rendering opinions on this matter as an
individual without any particular expertise on victimization or perpetrators
of sex crimes.
I am of the opinion that our culture is woefully biased in the favor
of perpetrators of violent crimes. The politics of contemporary jurisprudence
allow premature release from prison of social predators who are not likely
to be rehabilitated. The studies on violent sex offenders, particularly
pedophiles, have been impressive in attempts by researchers to discover
empirically derived results that demonstrate long-term treatment success.
Sadly, social science has been unable, through controlled and replicated
research, to establish positive outcomes among this population.
The state of affairs in our country reveals a lack of cultural will
to permanently remove sex-offending predators from society. Life sentences
in prison without possibility of parole are considered prohibitively expensive,
and liberal sentiment, I fear, would not stand for a judiciary system that
would hold to such a hard-line position. Therefore, the options are either
release sex offenders from prison without treatment follow-up or devise
counseling programs—such as those offered by Jackson—in the hope
that some perpetrators will be kept from future predation. Hope, indeed!
With all respect to Kay Jackson and her work in providing counseling to
sex offenders, it is my view that her efforts and government funding to
support such programs are not well spent. The article in the Ithaca College
Quarterly cites Jackson’s claim of a low recidivism rate, with very
few overt failures, and she is quoted as saying, "We have a large
number of clients who do, in fact, get better and that’s rewarding—to
realize that you are effective in reducing violence and working in the
favor of public safety." If Kay Jackson has developed a counseling
intervention and treatment program that can stand the rigors of controlled
outcome research, then she should publish these results, for they would
indeed be remarkable if confirmed.
In my opinion it is wrong for us as social scientists to engender confidence
in the public that such volatile felony offenders, dangerous as they are
for their predatory behaviors and high rates of repeat offenses, can be
successfully rehabilitated. In the absence of reliable and validated successful
treatment of sex-offending perpetrators, it seems to me to make good sense
for the public (particularly people who by circumstance are unfortunate
enough to live among those who pose real threats to them and their children)
to be informed as to what dangers they may face in living in communities
with released sex offenders. They should not be led into complacency or
unrealistic confidence. Furthermore, I feel that Kay Jackson’s efforts
would be better spent in lobbying politicians and influencing judges to
keep these predators away from potential victims, and in providing education
to the public in the pursuit of self-defense, expanding awareness of their
environment, and developing strategies to prevent violence by learning
to manage anger appropriately in their own families.
Finally, as is the case with alcoholics, sex predators — as long
as we are going to continue to release them from prison—probably should
never be considered successfully treated. Like alcoholics who are maintaining
sobriety, sex offenders ought to be considered in remission. They should
be required to continue to participate in rigorous, long-term, follow-up
treatment and peer support groups, perhaps following the AA model. Certainly,
these perpetrators should also be reeducated to view themselves for life
as recovering sex offenders and not allowed the delusion of thinking that
they are cured, a notion fundamental to people in a recovery program for
addictive behaviors.
Douglas L. Hazen ’67
Waukegan, Illinois
Kudos
Your spring issue of the Ithaca College Quarterly is a very excellent
edition — congratulations. Best wishes to the seventh president, Peggy
Williams.
Dorothy Duffy Coorman ’38
Boulder, Colorado |
