David Driscoll (interview); Creator: Driscoll, David; Interviewer(s): Harold McNamara; Interview location: Driscoll's apartment in Southbury, CT; Running time: 45 min., Apr 23, 1991
Dates
- Creation: Apr 23, 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:1 [tape stock length: 60 minute]
General note
Coverage: 1960s-1970s
Topics discussed : (side A): Growth of WestConn from 1960s; Dr. Haas; she had been there for many years; very pleasant and easy to get along with; Changes in student body; influx of minority students; academic preparedness of students was poor in some aspects; many of the better students were women; Academic standards of faculty; easy/relaxed standards; Teacher/student relations; student was a student, teacher was a teacher; Vietnam War; had effect on the male students between 19; 21; male students upset; Minority students; many were black males w/ attitudes; faculty felt threatened by them and their grading policies were effected; "Nature of Man"; the beginning of humanities at WestConn; Name change; went from DSC to WCSC while he was there; Transition from teacher's college to liberal arts college; student wanted program that allowed them to earn a degree that gave them opportunity to teach in CT; students wanted opportunities to stimulate leaning process; Dr. Greenwald; was in charge of the "Nature of Man"; he was also chairman of department; both used to talk about what the program meant; Make up of "Nature of Man"; a four year program w/ each year following the previous; "Old School"; teacher's training; concern was the educational background; preparing students to teach; neither he nor Dr. Greenwald cared about training teachers; both concerned about philosophical ideas; His role in "Nature of Man"; he taught the "Nature of Man I" course; Defining "Nature of Man"; selling the idea to the faculty; Student reaction to "Nature of Man"; general reactions was mixed; some unsure, others got it; students didn't change in his opinion over the course of the program; Kent State; students at WestConn didn't change much after the incident (side B): New Faculty; joined the college during the mid 1960s; many were young, mostly men; not sure about the impact of the new faculty had on college; Generation gap; may have been some by students; he didn't feel there was one; general attitude was liberal and not against student beliefs necessarily; Dr. Greenwald was the same way as him; the gap came from those who came from the teacher's college time; these faculty were more focused on teacher education; Dr. Haas stayed out of the way potential gap; Dr. Haas and how she viewed change of the college; her attitude was you didn't disrupt the status quo; Dr. Haas as president; she was overall a liberal woman; must have had a great deal of difficulty in her position; she had to deal w/ the state a lot; as faculty increased, they had ideas and had to adjust to them
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