Dear Earlhamite,

Thank you for publishing the photo of Joy Brown in the article "Opening the World," (Summer 2007 issue). You probably know that Joy never came back from France, She met and married Yves Sarfati and then died young. I shouldn't say she "never" came back because she visited her family.

Joy was the reason I came to Earlham. We were friends in high school in Galesburg, Ill. She had chosen Earlham, told me about it and gave me a catalogue. I read about, "educating the whole person," and was sold.

It touched me deeply to see once again the directness and brightness of her smile. Thank you very much.

Sincerely,

Kathryn Work '58

(Editor's note: This letter was sent in response to a profile of Eugene McGraw that appeared on the Alumni Spotlight page of Earlhamite Extras. To read the article, go to the Alumni Spotlight archives.)

To the Editor:

My name is Fookwah Tang a student of ACS Sitiawan in the '50s. I benefited from the introduction of Industrial Arts by Eugene McGraw. In the mid-50s it was introduced as an option, a non examination subject. I remember looking forward to coming back to school in the afternoon to attend the workshop he established with all the hand tools and workbenches.

I did not realise it then, but on reflection, the skills in the workshop had such an impact on my future. After ACS, Sitiawan, I was offered a scholarship to UK to train as a teacher. I specialised in Handicraft which I gained a distinction, the only distinction for that year at College. I came back to Malaysia to work in Kelantan, the Sultan Ismail College as an Industrial Arts teacher and an examiner in Woodwork for the Overseas Cambridge Examination Board. I left after serving my contract of five years with the Government.

I found myself back in UK reading for the Bar. Unfortunately, in the course of my studies both my parents passed on. I went back to teaching and taught Design and Technology for 20 years in London. While teaching, I was aware of the rising property prices and invested. I maintained the properties myself. It was only possible because I had the basic skills acquired from ACS Sitiawan. I took early retirement in '91.

I thank you Mr Eugene McGraw and Earlham.

Fookwah Tang,
D'arcy Hall,
White Rock Gardens,
Hastings, TN34 1LD.
UK.

To the Editor:

I was happy to receive the Earlhamite today in my mailbox, but I was disappointed again to see a false statement in the piece about this year's Watson Fellowship.

I was awarded a Watson Fellowship in March of 2003, the year before Megan Kennedy (see previous fellows at www.watsonfellowship.org). I'm not looking for glory, just accurate reporting and credit where it is due.

Thank you,
Matthew Schreiber

Editor's Note: The Summer 2007 issue mistakenly stated that this is the third year in a row an Earlham senior has earned a Watson Fellowship. Actually, it is the fourth. We regret the error.

To the Editor:

As always, I was pleased to receive my Winter 2006 copy of the Earlhamite. I was also very pleased to see a story about Earlham's recent perfect-score for Post-Graduate health matriculations. Congratulations to all 13 of those students! Unfortunately, your number was off, by at least 1. As a graduate of Earlham's class of 2004, I enrolled in a post-graduate health program in 2005. My program is in Nursing, unlike any of the other recent graduates. I am studying to become a masters-prepared Nurse Practitioner at the Massachusetts General Hospital Institute of Health Professions (MGHIHP).

Nursing of course, has struggled with its own identity for decades, and has often taken a back-seat to Medicine, but it seemed particularly telling to have been left off Bill Harvey's list of recent graduates pursuing careers in the health field. In the future, please try to include all allied-health professions in your articles, and not just continue the legitimization of Medicine; It will bring Nursing, and other valuable health science professionals one step closer to receiving the respect they so dearly deserve.

Sincerely,

Nicolas Houghton
Class of 2004

Dear Earlhamite Editor,

In the notes for the class of ‘74 in Earlhamite in the Summer 2005 issue, our chair Dianne Coffey was kind enough to summarize my successful Whistleblower Protection Act case against the Bush Administration. The best news however, includes more recent victories in reforms I have had the privilege to help bring about during the three and one half years since I left the federal government after calling attention to a series of violations of law and risks to the environment.

In 2004, I coauthored Government Accountability Project reports on the lack of whistleblower protection in the World Bank and regional development banks. I then carried out a successful reinstatement campaign as the attorney representing a World Bank employee/whistleblower which also helped strengthen internal oversight.

From 2002 to late 2005, I helped Indiana’s Senator Richard Lugar, Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) as they led Congress to take action on problems I had highlighted while at USAID. On behalf of a series of under-funded public interest groups I helped prepare reports, hearings and briefings which resulted in the enactment in November, 2005 in the Foreign Operations Appropriations Act for 2006, of a broad set of statutory standards for accountability and controlling corruption in the World Bank and other multilateral development bank loans and operations. These provisions become part of permanent law, rather than expiring with the fiscal year. This followed our successful effort to enact legislation in January 2004 setting initial accountability standards and requiring reports from the Treasury Department. Those showed some improvement but not enough by the Multilateral Development Banks to meet a deadline of June 30, 2005.

We also won another victory in late 2004 strengthening the “Pelosi Amendment”, requiring improved public environmental assessments for a broader set of World Bank and regional bank proposals before they can earn the votes of the US members of their boards of directors.

So it has not been quite as dour and unrewarding for me as the story in the Christian Science Monitor that Dianne and others read made it seem.

I would also like to note that without the help of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), I would probably not have won my own Whistleblower Protection Act appeal which took more than two years of litigation, as Dianne mentioned. We had to overcome bad law and bad application of it by the initial judge, to win our appeal in September 2004. That claim, again, arose from having my position eliminated after I made disclosures of Bush Administration violations of law, abuse of authority, and serious risks to public health and the environment in World Bank and other multilateral bank loans and the loan review process. Thousands of other civil servants have faced similar fates with no real recourse given the backlogs and broken systems now in place. Neither process is fully corrected yet and US whistleblower protection for federal workers is a shambles.

Perhaps we could coin the phrase “Repress Oblige” to refer to the obligation of those repressed, rather than nobly blessed, to use that repression as a source of energy for reform. I had the information, the background, and therefore, the obligation, it seemed, and luckily some key Members of Congress, beginning with Senator Leahy, responded at least with regard to the large parts of the problem that pertain to the multilateral development banks.

Indiana residents should thank Senator Lugar and encourage him to do more as Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee in fighting both corruption and the destruction of the global environment. Only more time will tell if the reforms enacted so far will make a real difference in sustainable development.

Now I need to make up for lost time and make some real money before my
daughter has to pay (Earlham?) tuition and I have to retire.

John M. Fitzgerald
Class of ‘74

Friends:

We want to hear from you! After many years of not publishing letters to the editor, this site offers the Earlhamite a place to share correspondence from our readers. Whether you have compliments or complaints about the print edition of the magazine or this online supplement, we welcome your comments. Send us an e-mail today.

Cordially,

Jonathan Graham
Editor