Posted by Mike Biel on July 16, 1998 at 13:14:18:
As many of you know, I have been in Europe for the past seven weeks, leaving less than two days after attending the reunion bar-b-que.
Coming out of my jet lag stupor, I logged onto the WRTI site and was greatly saddened to see the info on the destrucion of Thomas Hall. Glad to see that the group was able to get back into the building one last time. I would have been far more upset if it had not been for the fact that I had been able to go down there myself about 6 or 7 years ago. (Remember, I am the one who told you guys that the studio walls were intact.)
I noticed that in the pictures that a lot of you guys were walking out with 12-inch by 12-inch items under your arms. Were those the wall tiles that just happened to fall off the wall, or were those some old LPs? Seems like ole' times. Actually, as I was starting to look at the pictures I had wondered if you guys would think to take some tiles, and then I saw you did. Did any of you think to get an extra one for me?????????
Concerning Jerry Klein's letter, I also had been in Budapest, as well as in many other European cities in the past two months, and had much the same thoughts as he did about the historic preservation of buildings there as opposed to Temple. In the response to the letter, I also sense an administrator out-of-touch, much as I had felt the administration of Temple during our time was likewise out of touch.
Do students want gardens? No, administrators want gardens because they can use them for fundraising parties and pretty promotional pictures.
Did any of his examples of "overbuilds" represent progress that would have been possible without distrucion? No, they represented a rebuilding following the destruction which itself had been anti-progressional. Shana's comment was appropriate--the sacking and looting of Temple by Temple is unnecessary.
One thing is true, there has ALWAYS been a need for an on-campus community at Temple. Mickey Saperstone and I are about the only ones of this group who were dorm students. (Mickey, didn't you have a set of wheels and tires stolen off your car a block down Norris St?) At that time there were under a thousand dorm students (450 Johnson Hall, 190 Peabody Hall, 90 Williams Hall) among 33,000 students. Nothing was open during the weekend, even the library was closed. We finally got them to open it for three hours on Sunday afternoon. Temple was a commuter's school. It is about time they did think of making a campus community, but that dorm didn't have to come at the expense of Thomas Hall. And I bet that the three other dorms are in such bad shape that they will be considered slums when the new one opens. It might not result in an addition to the number of on-campus residents!
On a happy note, it was great looking thru the pictures of the bar-b-que. All those pictures of Mickey and Jane. Hmmmmm. It was great to see everyone again and to meet a few new folks.
It is good to be back in the U.S. and looking thru the WRTI site. Just wish ALL the news was happy.
Mike Biel mbiel@kih.net