Richard Cyr (interview); Creator: Cyr, Richard; Interviewer(s): John Caldwell and Shawn Curioso; Interview location: unknown; Running time: 62 min., May 8, 1991
Dates
- Creation: May 8, 1991
Creator
- From the Collection: Janick, Herbert F. (Person)
Access Restrictions
Open for research without restrictions.
Extent
From the Collection: 16 Linear Feet (, 14 boxes, and 1 OS Folder)
Language of Materials
From the Sub-Series: English
General Physical Description note
Number of tapes:2 [tape stock length: 60 minute]
General note
Coverage: 1969-1991
Topics discussed : (tape 1;side A): Streaker incident; Union; wasn't one when he first started; there was a CT State Employees Association; not a union, all paid dues, had no rights; could be fired w/out notice; Dr. Haas; good person, ran school like "Mom and Pop Store"; Dr. Carl Robinson; Vice president of university; he was a "tyrant"; AFL; CIO; he called for someone to come down to see what Robinson was doing; man named Mike Furucci came down to talk w/ Cyr; Cyr basically started the union; Dismissal; he was fired on trumped up charges; took several members of the university to court for lying, including Robinson and Dr. Mel Goldstein; Mel Goldstein; almost went to jail on perjury charges; changed story afterwards, said Robinson told him to lie; Union strength; got stronger after this; he was hired back; everyone began joining the union; stronger VP got, more "tyrannical" Robinson; Relation w/ administration; got along well w/ most; Robinson afterwards always backed Cyr; State employees; it became hard to fire a state worker w/out just cause; Collective bargaining; was given to them by Governor Ella Grasso; could bargain for salary; changed union to another union; Relationship w/ Dr. Goldstein; at time Goldstein was up for chairmanship of his department, but lost it because of what he did; Dr. Groff prevented him from becoming chair; Goldstein refuses to look at him in the eye; buried his car in the snow during the 1978 Winter Storm; Maintenance of school; used to do it by himself; set; up for the football game at field at Osborne; did the announcing for game, picked up the officials, and cleaned up after the game (Club Football); Football; first game was in 1971; minimum of 2,000 people came to that game; played at the field on Osborne Street; Al Thomas; athletic director (but w/out that title); they wouldn't give him that title, so he quit and left for California; Haas Library; just finished when he got here; White Hall; he put the name on Ives Hall (did sandblasting); Dr. Burke; meet him while he was sandblasting name on White Hall; it was summer and Cyr was watching the girls sunbath; Burke told him he couldn't, but Cyr asked him if he was his age if he would be doing the same (Burke said probably); he and Burke became friends after that; Addition to Higgins Hall; Charges against him; there were three charges against him; he was night supervisor at the time; filing false reports, insubordination, and demanding orders; only one that stuck was the insubordination charges to which the firing turned into a 60; day suspension; Dr. Robinson today; retired and went to North Carolina; they formed a good relationship afterwards; they played golf together and bowled together; Dr. Sullivan replaced Robinson; OSHA; he brought them in because unsafe working conditions; the workers were getting sick from the boiler room chimney; WestConn was fined and forced to take down chimney; Outcast; after the OSHA incident, everyone was encouraged not to talk to him; clerical staff primarily the ones who didn't talk to him; Beginning of Collective Bargaining; set WestConn back initially; the "Blue Book" had rules for collective bargaining; he was called the "Philadelphia Lawyer" because he had one of these books and would always know what was going on; Union and administration; relationship today is very good (tape 1;side B): Helping others; he saved many people's jobs by plea bargaining for them; Relationship w/ the WestConn presidents; always had working relationship w/ all of them; had the first meeting w/ Dr. Feldman after he became president; was on first name basis w/ both Bersi and Feldman; Importance of having a good maintenance; clean campus attracts students; broken campus doesn't; Dr. Haas; he went w/ Al Thomas to Hartford and heard her say they didn't need to purchase the field on Osborne Street; surplus of money she always gave back to state; Westside; Haas began push for it, but Bersi was the one who ultimately got it; Relationship w/ Haas; told her that she should go ask the students herself what the school could do to make the college better; believes she didn't want the college to expand because she might lose control over the school; New field house; thinks it is a good thing for the university; believes the football games should move to Westside; Football field; the turf is going to be replaced w/ Astro; turf; the current field is in terrible condition because of the amount of activity that has been done on that field; it would take at least a year to bring it back up; Astro; turf is cheaper; most of the use of Astro; turf is by colleges and universities; Change of direction of college under presidents; Haas changed towards end of her presidency; Bersi cared about WestConn, but was always in Hartford trying to secure money for the college; Goals of administration; all administrators are the same, better opportunity offered they will take it; primary concern is to make money; Abundance of administrators; there was only one vice president in beginning, now about 3; 4; college didn't get that much bigger to justify the increase in administrators; Too much administration; waste time having meetings over nothing; those who suffer most are the students; Support services at WestConn; Creating jobs; placed people position because of nepotism and patronage; many are given jobs because of who they know; Cost; cutting; it is affecting the lower paying jobs; executive level are never affected; Student life change; late 1960s; early 1970s was the "Flower Era"; no swearing on campus, no drugs evident, little drinking; by 1980s, swearing was used often, drinking was abundant; "Pinkerton Police"; went w/ them to Fairfield Hall to care for a girl who had drank too much alcohol and did a lot of drugs (she tried to kill herself); Dorms; only girls lived on campus in beginning; when guys came in, then chaos came in; guys would destroy the dorms and nothing was done about it (tape 2;side A): Dorms (cont.); the establishment of football brought these guys here; these types were "macho" and passed on this image to other guys; WestConn changed w/ the coming of football
Repository Details
Part of the Western Connecticut State University Archives and Special Collections Repository
Haas Library
181 White St
Danbury 06810 USA US
203.837.8992
203.837.8322 (Fax)
stevensb@wcsu.edu