Kelsey: When and where were
you born and raised?
Luboff: I was born in the
Bronx, New York,
September 1940, and raised in
New York City.
Kelsey: And where did you go
to college?
Luboff: Went to college at
Hunter College. It’s
now called
Lehman College. But I
went to college then, part of the city university
system. Did my master’s work at
Seton Hall University.
Started my
Ph.D. at
Loyola, and did some
graduate work two summers at
Selwyn College,
Cambridge, in
England.
Kelsey: And when did you
graduate?
Luboff: From undergraduate
school?
Kelsey: Yes.
Luboff: Undergraduate school,
let’s see, 1962.
Kelsey: And when did you get
your
Ph.D.?
Luboff: I didn’t finish my
Ph.D. After I left
Loyola—I had a
teaching fellowship at
Loyola University for
one year, and for numerous reasons, one of them being
living on a teaching fellowship, I couldn’t afford to do
that anymore. So I got a job teaching full time,
actually, for three years, at
Chicago City College,
at one of the branches.
Kelsey: What year was that?
Luboff: That was in 1965, I
think. Right, ’64-’65. I was there for three years.
The last semester there at that time is when I found out
about the opening of
County College of Morris—the
possible opening—and applied.
Kelsey: What subjects were
your degrees in?
Luboff: In English.
Kelsey: Why did you decide
to teach?
Luboff: Actually, I hadn’t
planned to teach; I planned to go into editing. The
teaching fellowship at
Loyola involved
teaching two sections of Comp 1. I was twenty-three; I
had never been in the classroom
before. I was not prepared for the classroom. I was
told as part of my
teaching fellowship I had to teach
two sections of Comp 1. Given books for the course, I
walked in the classroom, and ten minutes after that, I
knew that’s where I wanted to be—editing was out.
Kelsey: How did you find out
about
County College of Morris?
Luboff: One of my friends was
doing his
Ph.D. studies in
chemistry back east, in
New Jersey in fact, and
knew how much I wanted to get back east, because I
really was a
New Yorker, born and
bred. Still consider myself a
New Yorker, born and
bred. He saw an ad in the paper. It was a small ad,
cut it out—actually tore it out—it wasn’t even neatly
trimmed—about this job at
County College. So I
sent away for an application.
Hadn’t heard anything for a while. I
telephoned. Application finally came.
Filled out the application.
I hadn’t heard anything, so I called up and said, “I’ll
be back east for Christmas, can I arrange an
interview?” Everything was arranged, and that was it.
Kelsey: So describe what the
interview was like.
Luboff: Well, it was quite
interesting. I didn’t even think I was going to make
the interview. At that point, being a
New Yorker I had no
driver’s license, didn’t need a
car, had not even a
permit. So I had to take two
subways from the
Bronx to the tip of
Manhattan, to get the
Staten Island Ferry, in a raging snowstorm.
Took the
ferry across to
Staten Island.
One of my friends who lived
in
Staten Island, drove me
to
East Hanover for the
interview. Dean Gilsenen was the
one who interviewed me at the time. It was an
interesting interview, because I was a bit nervous, but
he put me at ease, because after five minutes of asking
me questions, he spent the rest of the time asking me
what I wanted to know about the college, and what I
would like to do for the college as a founding member,
if I got hired. So I felt very comfortable, and two
weeks later I had a contract in the mail, which was
quite nice, and a very, very pleasant surprise.
Kelsey: What drew you to a
county college? They
were a new phenomenon in most parts of the country.
Luboff: Well, yeah. If I
recall correctly, at the same time, if I’d stayed in
Chicago, I would have
been—if I’m not mistaken—assistant professor, instead of
instructor, the following year. I would have had tenure
as well. Coming here meant I gave that up. But as I
said, I wanted to come back east, and the big draw, I
think, was the fact that I’d be on the ground floor of
the English department, which was nice, because…. Not
that I knew that I would have a say in the
founding of the English department, but in the back of
my mind, it was a nice possibility at least to think
about—plus I’d be back east, at a college, new people,
and that was a big draw to me.
Kelsey: How old were you
when you started working at
CCM?
Luboff:
CCM?
Twenty-seven.
Kelsey: What was the
physical campus like at that time?
Luboff: (laughs)
Boy, that was interesting!
If I recall correctly, there was only
Henderson Hall, and that
wasn’t totally completed yet. In fact, we had postponed
opening the college for two weeks, because it had not
been completed. But when we did complete it…. Well, it
was sort of completed, Henderson Hall. We were in
classrooms with doors still being worked on, windows
being adjusted, and a flood in the president’s office.
When the chains were pulled, I understand, in one of the
bio labs or chemistry labs, to see if the piping was
correct, water plunged into the president’s office. So
it was sort of an interesting combination. Ground had
been broken for the library, the student center, and
maybe for the “A” Building. So it was lots of mud,
skeleton buildings, and as far as Henderson Hall went,
everything was there. You had your
cafeteria, your classrooms, your offices, your
library, your supply cabinets—everything was in
this one building. And with 600
students and 35 faculty,
everybody was sort of there and got to know everybody
very, very well. So it was a very pleasant experience,
actually.
Kelsey: What were the
parking lots like?
Luboff: I don’t remember
parking lots, to tell you the truth. There must have
been one, but that I don’t remember. What I do remember
about parking was that when I came to
County College, I still
didn’t have a driver’s license, and no
car. And I was living, at
the time, the first couple of weeks, in
Kenvil New Jersey.
After that, when I met Hank Founds
of the bio department, who wanted to get out of his
house, I was looking for a roommate, we got a place in
Morristown. I did
apply for a driver’s license and went to buy a car. My
first car was delivered on November
11, my driver’s license test was on December 2.
So that I was dependent upon a car, somebody else giving
me a lift. The first couple of weeks when I didn’t know
anybody, I literally was hitchhiking to school from
Kenvil. In fact, one
day—it was embarrassing—I was on the road with an
attaché case near
Kenvil, on Route 10,
hitchhiking, and then I heard a honking in the distance
about 200 feet down the road. I ran up, there were two
young guys in the car, and I
said, “Are you going past
County College?” And
they said, “You might as well get in, you’re our
professor.” That was a bit embarrassing. However, they
had a car and I didn’t. But I did eventually get lifts
from faculty until I got my car and then the test was on
December 2.
Kelsey: What kind of a car
did you drive?
Luboff: It was a
Rambler American—a
white,
Rambler American, my
first car, which cost a little over $2,000 at the time.
One very pleasant problem of being close with
students and
faculty—and I think being young at the time, too,
close to the students’ age—was that everybody got to
know everybody very well. I was the moderator of the
literary magazine at the
time. Hank Founds was the
moderator of the newspaper.
When it was found out that I’d just gotten my driver’s
license—was getting it—this made the front page of the
newspaper, with a black border. That went around the
school like wildfire, of course, and I paid the piper
for that bit of news. But it was a very pleasant, funny
experience.
Kelsey: What was the
cafeteria like?
Luboff: It was small, I
remember that. I don’t remember, to tell you the truth,
whether there was any hot food there, or it was all
machines. I remember vending machines there. There
probably was something to get sandwiches or some hot
foods. I just don’t recall, to tell
you the truth. But it existed, because everything was
in one building.
Kelsey: What were the rules
regarding
smoking on campus and
in the classrooms?
Luboff: I don’t remember
rules, I don’t remember
seeing anybody
smoking in the
classroom or in the hallways. This is not to say they
didn’t do it. I wasn’t a
smoker, so it didn’t
affect me directly. But I don’t remember anything in
the classroom. I don’t remember anybody eating in the
classroom or
smoking in the
classroom, or anything along those lines.
Kelsey: What was the
atmosphere like on campus, during that first semester?
There had been a lot of really jolting events in the
previous months, with
Bobby Kennedy and….
Luboff: Yeah. That was an
interesting time. I talk to my
students about it today, when the situation arises
where that is necessary to talk about or give as an
example. The country was torn apart with
Vietnam. There were
very few people, at least among the
faculty, and my friends in particular, who didn’t
have an opinion about
Vietnam. You were
either for it or against
it—for America’s involvement, or against America’s
involvement.
Demonstrations existed,
but I don’t remember a
demonstration on campus.
I remember one of the faculty members in the English
department—I’m not going to mention a name—at the time
said to his classes, because the president had given
permission for a certain time in classes, students can
miss class during the daytime to have a meeting on
campus about
Vietnam. It was a
beautiful fall day—I do remember that—and none of his
students wanted to go to it. They just didn’t feel they
wanted to do it. It seemed almost apathetic, which was
very surprising, because the student body at that
time—at least I remember talking to students—there were
a number of students who did have opinions. But to see
a large number not really care at the time was a little
disconcerting, a little disappointing.
Kelsey: Why do you think
that was?
Luboff: I don’t know,
I’m no sociologist, to tell you the truth. There were
certainly demonstrations in the bigger cities. I find
it very strange, as many people do, that there aren’t as
many demonstrations today about Iraq, to tell you the
truth—either pro or con. Certainly the world was
in turmoil over
Vietnam—maybe because
it was a small community, maybe because it was a
conservative community. Again, I can’t pass judgment on
that, or even come up with a viable answer, because I
just don’t know.
Kelsey: What was the world
like for you in 1968? What concerned you?
Luboff:
Vietnam certainly did.
Getting settled at a job, a job I loved. I mean, even
today I can’t even imagine myself doing anything
else but teaching. I did retire
last year. Most people said, “Oh, you’re gonna love
retirement!” I absolutely hated it. I don’t love it
now, I don’t hate it now. I’m not comfortable with it.
I miss the classroom desperately.
In fact, I came in the fall, I would come by simply to
hang around with my colleagues, my friends in the
English department, and it was obviously showing that I
missed the classroom. And one day I walked into the
English department, and my chairperson saw me at the
other end of the department hall, and motioned to me and
said, “Jerry, I’ve got you down for two classes in the
spring”—without even asking me! And I don’t think I was
ever happier, to tell you the truth. And when I came
back in the spring, it was absolutely wonderful. I
loved being back in the classroom.
And so coming
in on the ground floor on the English department, and
not realizing I was setting it up, consciously realizing
this was what I was doing, helping to set up the
department, it was a wonderful experience: instituting
new courses, determining how courses were to be taught,
choosing textbooks, looking through many textbooks, and
actually have a say, which is what I didn’t have
in
Chicago. Then again,
what was I? twenty-four,
twenty-five, coming into a college there, that had
already been in existence. I was pretty free in the
department, in the classroom,
so to speak—relatively free—but here I was sort of big
man on campus, basically, with the five original
faculty in the English
department. So it was an exciting time. It was
exciting to meet new people, it was exciting to have a
new social life with faculty,
with students, because as I
said, many of us were close to the age of the
students—not that we dated them or anything like
that—but they would drop in at our apartment, and it was
nice seeing that, and having that kind of a rapport. So
on the whole, yeah, it was a
very exciting time, academically speaking.
Kelsey: Was the student body
and the faculty-staff diverse?
Were there as many women as men, for example? Different
races, ethnic groups?
Luboff: Boy, I’d have to
think about that, but my gut response is yes, there
were. We had females in the English
department, we had males in the English
department. We had
Jewish people, we had
Christians. I don’t
know what other religions we had. What other races we
had, that I’m not quite certain of. I don’t want to say
yea or nay to the fact that it was that diverse.
But I don’t remember seeing or hearing about any
prejudices from administration,
from faculty, or from student at the time, to
tell you the truth. It seemed to be a very
communal atmosphere, a collegial atmosphere.
Kelsey: Did you encounter
any veterans?
Luboff: Oh, yeah. Yeah,
there were quite a few veterans on campus. In fact,
there was a veterans’ organization that had been
formed—I can’t tell you what month or year—but yeah,
there was a veterans’ organization on campus—not that I
had any direct involvement. I mean, I never had a
discussion saying, “Gee, what do you
think about
Vietnam?”
No, that I didn’t.
Kelsey: How were they
treated?
Luboff: From what I
understand, and what I could see, I never heard any
complaints. So again, as I said, I never had any direct
involvement, so I couldn’t pass judgment on that.
Overtly I didn’t hear anything negative.
Kelsey: What was
social life like for
faculty, and for those working at
the
college, at that time?
Luboff: It was pretty good.
I mean, as I said, it was a new body of friends for me,
because I was leaving
Chicago after four
years. And we were all new on campus. Now, some had
taught before, others were new at
teaching, but because we lived in a closed
community, we socialized a lot together—we often did,
whether we were married or single at the time. We had
dinners at each other’s homes, parties, get-togethers,
and multi-divisional, multi-department parties. It
wasn’t limited to the English department getting
together, or the soc department getting together. As I
said, students would drop in
periodically, too, at our apartments—not on a daily
basis, by any stretch of the imagination. So it was a
very lively and social atmosphere—very pleasant, very,
very pleasant.
Kelsey: Was there a local
hot spot or spots?
Luboff: You know, I remember
periodically going to…. Gosh, what’s the name? With
Hank Founds we went to something
Brown’s in
Morristown. I can’t
think of the full name, but we’d go there periodically.
Especially if you were single you went there. Hank and
I periodically went to
New York to
Your Father’s Moustache.
Went to
McSorley’s
in
New York. In
fact, it was amazing: one day we were at
McSorley’s in the
wintertime, in
New York.
Hank and I had gone. It was
wintertime and the potbelly stove was going, because it
was very cold outside, it was very crowded. And before
long, a number of students from
County College came
in. Whether they were of legal age or not at the time
in
New York—I don’t know
if it was eighteen at the time in
New York to drink—but
we all had a table together, and that was quite
an evening. It was a lot of fun.
So yeah,
there were places we went to in
New York and in
Morristown, people’s
homes. So it was a very nice time, very pleasant, very
social time. Maybe part of
it involving students, because we were younger, as I
said. Part of it was because we were all new, and in
one building. Even when the “A” Building was opened the
following year, we were still very close
faculty—very close. And then of
course it grew. And then things changed.
Kelsey: How did you
dress to go to work in 1968?
Luboff: Oh, it was still
trousers and shirts; sweaters in the wintertime or the
fall; and sometimes a tie. But that’s the way I used to
dress. Very rarely did I wear a jacket, but sometimes a
jacket too. Personally, I like getting dressed up for
class—not that I do it now. I don’t wear a tie to class
usually. But I do wear a sweater, trousers, shirt, that
sort of thing. Students also were more formally
dressed. Very few seemed to be in jeans—they wore
trousers, khakis basically, sweaters, shirts. I don’t
want to say it was the preppie look, but it was more
preppie than dress today, certainly.
Kelsey: What about the women
faculty, the women students? Do you
remember, did they wear pants?
Luboff: I don’t remember,
to tell you the truth. I just don’t remember. My
initial reaction is they didn’t, because it wasn’t the
style, but I don’t recall.
Kelsey: Describe what
Route 10 looked like at that
time.
Luboff: Oh boy!
a lot different than it does
today. I was coming from
Morristown. Basically
I’d get off Ridgedale Avenue onto 10, and the 8½ miles
or so to the college. There were farms on both sides,
for the most part. There was a big cornfield, I
remember, on one side; a dairy farm on the other. And
woods where there weren’t farms. There were no shopping
centers, no industry, no hotels, none of that existed—it
was country, definitely.
Kelsey: What about the
Center Grove Road corner?
Luboff: I don’t recall that,
to tell you the truth, what that was like. There
certainly wasn’t a
CVS [drugstore] there,
or a bank, or a shopping plaza—not at the time. I just
don’t recall what else was there. But those places were
not there.
Kelsey: And what about the
apartments?
Luboff: Where we lived?
Kelsey: No, the apartments
that are off Center Grove
Road now. Were they there in 1968, any of them?
Luboff: The Hamiltonian, I
don’t know about ’68. Hank and I
roomed together for three years before he got married.
We lived in
Morristown for two of
those three years, and then we lived in the Hamiltonian
Apartments the third year. So they must have existed
before the third year. They probably were there. And
there was that little shopping plaza across the road,
because I remember there was a travel agency that I used
at the time, at that little shopping plaza across
Route 10—so that did exist.
Kelsey: Where the
A&P is now?
Luboff: Yeah.
Kelsey: What were the
students like?
Luboff: Friendly, social,
sociable. They were, for the most part, very
good students, very good
workers. I remember very honestly the
grades. And I know my reputation as a teacher.
I’ll kid around with students, I’ll bend over backward
for them, but boy, they have to do the work—and that’s
my reputation today, it was then. And I gave a lot more
“A’s” and “B’s” then, than I do now. If I recall
correctly from my colleagues in other departments too,
there were very few “D’s” and “F’s” in those early
years. A lot more “A’s” and “B’s”
and “C’s.” Today there seems to be…. It’s
interesting, because I’ve discussed this with a number
of faculty:
there seem to be more “A’s” and “B’s” coming around
today, a number of “D’s” and “F’s,” and very few “C’s”
in between. It seems to be sort of a cosine curve,
rather than a sine curve that we had then. But they
were very good students, very good students.
Kelsey: Do you think that
the
draft had anything to
do with students applying themselves?
Luboff: I don’t know. I
think over the years where I’ve seen—and I can’t
pinpoint the times or the years—I think that there’s
been a lot of government pressure, perhaps
federal government to
state government, to
lower standards, to bring everybody else to a common
denominator, whereas in the past you really had to
work. I’m not saying the
draft didn’t have
something to do with it. I think those
students were better prepared,
better prepared for a college education.
Kelsey: Describe a typical
day in the classroom.
Luboff: I don’t think it’s
much changed—at least in my classrooms. When I had my
student reviews as an adjunct for the first time this
past semester—I guess it was spring semester—there’s a
question about what they liked about me, and the
course—I guess about me— what they disliked. They
disliked the research paper, but that’s happened for
years. They don’t like to work—that’s a requirement of
the college. But they seemed
to get through with it. What they liked
about me—and this was from quite a few comments, if they
put it in a few words—was my sense of humor. I do kid
around a lot with the students. I do make English—poetry,
short stories, drama—relatable to them, put it on a
common denominator level, but raise that common
denominator level so they have a critical understanding
of the work. And I’ll kid around, as long as they do
the work in the course. I did that at the beginning, I
do that now. I have not changed my sense of direction
in the classroom.
Kelsey: Is the interaction
with the students in the classroom pretty much the
same? Were there differences between then and now?
Luboff: I’m guessing to a
certain extent, but I think it’s an intellectual guess:
I think in the past, at the beginning, those first ten
years let’s say, we had a lot more participation in the
classroom, less use of
Cliff’s Notes, more
reading of the primary sources. I’m not saying I have
anything against
Cliff’s Notes, as
long as they read the primary sources—in fact, I
recommend it, if they read the primary sources, if
that helps them. I get less participation
now—not one or two students—I
get quite a few students participating, and because I
explain that participation doesn’t mean necessarily
having the right answers. You can have the wrong
answers. It just doesn’t mean raising your hand saying,
“Can we leave today earlier?” That’s participation,
no. Being wrong is part of the
classroom experience. I explain that to
them—there’s nothing wrong in being wrong. So I do
get participation. I wish I had 100% participation, but
that’s a dream world. I didn’t have it forty years
ago. But I had more then than I do now, but I would say
a significant number still participate—without begging.
Kelsey: Describe what was
considered cutting edge classroom technology in
1968.
Luboff: Boy, “cutting edge
classroom technology.” I think cutting edge classroom
technology involved bringing something outside the
classroom into the classroom, in a reverse way. I had
my student go to the theater, and I would go with them
as well. And we did that a lot. We went to the theater
in
New York. And even
though, very honestly, most of the students lived 45
minutes to an hour from
New YorkCity, most of
them had not been to
New York City before.
If they had gone, it was to a hockey game, basketball
game, and for a beer at
Blarney Stone Tavern,
and that was what they knew about
New York. I literally
had one student say to me—and I’m not joking about
this—“Professor Luboff, you go to
New York a lot, don’t
you?” And I said, “Yes, I do.” He said, “What’s there
to do in
New York?” And he
wasn’t being snide about it either.
New York was not part
of their experience. And so going to the theater and
watching their eyes turn into silver dollar sizes, when
they’d see people on the street who they did not see in
Morris County—their
clothing, their dress, their mannerisms—and seeing the
live theater, other than a high school production in a
Morris County high
school, was something new to them. And theater, of
course, was viable. It was less expensive, much less
expensive than it is today. When I tell them that the
top price of a ticket at the
Met now is over $200,
they can’t believe it. Prices at
the theater in
New York City, even if
you have a two-fer, still $55-$65. That’s a lot
of money—it’s a lot of money for me! But we
would go to
New York, and then we
would talk about it in the
classroom. So bringing that
experience to the classroom. If I would teach
American lit, for example, which is what my area was,
and we’d talk about American literature in the early 19th
century, talk about the
Hudson River school of art,
because I would bring in artwork, and tell them what was
going on in music or art history at the time. We would
go to the museum, too. We would do that. I would not
give them permission to cut other classes—they would
have to get permission on their own, and take the
responsibility—but we’d meet on my prep day in
New York City. We’d go
to the museum with another faculty member
and her classes too—whoever wanted to do it. We
wouldn’t have 100% of the students,
but a large number did that.
On my prep
day to do research, I gave them a guided tour of the
New York Public Library.
We would meet and then go for lunch in
New York City. And
that was an experience, because I remember one time in
particular they all wanted to go for beer and hamburgers
after I gave them this personal guided tour of the
New York Public Library in
research. I took them to my favorite Indian restaurant,
in an Indian section of
New York in the
East Village. They had
no idea what the food was. They didn’t want to
go. I ordered everything. There were eleven of us. I
ordered everything. They did not have to wash those
plates afterward. They loved it. And that was
an experience they had never had before in their
lives—because they’d not been to
New York City. And
when they asked me periodically what should they do in
New York, where should
they go—they’re going to a basketball game, what else
could they do?—I said, “Follow your nose. You’re not
going to get yourself into trouble. Just follow your
nose.” And I gave them ideas, but pretty much, “Go
shopping at
Bonwit Tellers. If
you’re of legal age, go for a beer at the
Blarney Stone. Do
something. Just go to the
library! Spend a couple of hours in the library if
you have to, if you’ve got research to do.” So bringing
that part of an experience—museums, theater,
restaurants—into the classroom,
that to me was cutting edge, because they didn’t do that
in
Chicago.
Technology, I don’t even
remember what we had. We had record players. I
remember playing records in the classroom, music of a
period: 1920s, for example, we did
Hemingway or
Fitzgerald, that sort
of thing. Did we have cameras? Did we have CDs? No,
we didn’t have that. We didn’t even have tapes. So
that didn’t exist. Purple ink
mimeograph machines. I think we were past that,
but not far past that, at that point.
Kelsey: It’s an interesting
parallel that you draw when you mentioned earlier about
the students seemed somewhat
apathetic about the
Vietnam War, and….
Luboff: That was one
experience. I don’t want to judge other classes or my
students. I’m repeating what
happened with one other teacher in his class.
Kelsey: But they also seemed
to have not a lot of knowledge about what was going on,
even in
New York, because you
really introduced them to that, it was an experience
they had never had.
Luboff: Right. It was an
insular community. More open, I think, and more
responsive perhaps, the way I saw it, than it was later
on. And I think the pendulum has begun to swing the
last couple of years, to tell you the truth, when I was
a full-time faculty in the last
few years—or adjunct. I think the students are becoming
more responsive to the world around them. I think they
have to, because of the economy, for one thing. I think
that’s made them more responsive, perhaps. I think
because of the political scene, without the
draft, the political scene has made
them more responsive—at least I’m hoping.
Kelsey: What do you remember
most about that first year?
Luboff: Being back east,
having
New York at my
fingertips. Being back in a
classroom where I was able to have a say in what
went on, in the books I used, the papers I gave, the
assignments I made. And very honestly, in my 40 years
here—39 full-time, 1 year adjunct—I’ve had three
chairpeople. And every one of those chairpeople was
good as far as I was concerned, in that as long as we
did the work, we were masters of our own classroom. So
for 40 years, I had my own business, so to speak. I was
visited in the classroom, I was evaluated by faculty, by
administration, but I did
the work. And as long as I did the work, there were no
complaints. And that was a wonderful experience. That
first year, setting it up, was exciting. It was
exciting being, as I said before, with new people,
faculty and
students. It was exciting being close to
New York and taking
my students to
New York. Well, not
taking them—they went to
New York, I gave them
driving directions to a restaurant, and some of us met
in a restaurant. Going to museums
with them. Yeah, I had that at my fingertips,
and that was exciting.
Kelsey: How have
CCM and its students
changed since 1968?
Luboff: Method of
dress, for one thing, certainly.
But that’s minor. After those first fifteen years, I
think we had a problem academically. I think that
students came to us, in many cases, not as prepared as
they could have been. I’m not blaming the high
schools, I’m not blaming the
middle schools. Maybe the students felt they needed to
work [i.e., to earn money] more, because they did work.
Many of the students do work now, and try to carry a
full-time [class] load. We found that the students
academically were not as productive, let’s put it that
way. Yet there were good students, and there were
students who were not so great. As I said in the last
few years—maybe it’s in my
classrooms, but I have a feeling, talking with my
colleagues, I think students are improving. I think
academically—maybe I’m wrong—but I think academically I
think they’re improving because they realize that this
is a global economy now. The economy of the
United States is not
great, jobs are important, they need college degrees,
the college degrees are important. And I think a whole
lot of factors are coming into play here, and so they’ve
become more serious in the classroom than they were,
let’s say, in a prior
period. That’s my own judgment—I can’t speak for other
instructors.
Kelsey: And how about the
college itself, how has it changed?
Luboff: Bigger, for one
thing. Communication within my department is still very
good. Communication that I have with other departments
is very good. Over the years, with various
presidents—and I don’t know if it’s because the
first-year faculty had a special
relationship with the
administration—but we always felt—now I
accidentally said “we”—but I have a feeling it’s
true—certainly I always felt very comfortable with
whoever was president or vice-president or dean, for the
most part. Felt I could walk into the office and speak
my mind. And there was a response to that thought and
that conversation. I still feel it, when I speak to
President Yaw, I speak to
anybody who had been here before, although many of them
are gone now. There was that comfort level. That, to
me, always existed. So I don’t think that’s changed for
me. With newer faculty, there may be a different
thing—you’d have to ask newer faculty, people who’ve not
had that kind of relationship.
I think the
size of the college—and that’s just the physical element
there—makes it impossible to have the closeness that
once existed. I mean, when you’re all in one building,
it’s easy to walk into the president’s office or
vice-president’s office and say, “Hi!” and have lunch
together, or a cup of coffee or a cup of tea. It’s not
easy when you’re in “B” or “C” Building, fifteen minutes
between class, to walk down
to the president’s office. Although
the reception is the same. It’s just physically
impossible. But it’s like that on bigger campuses too,
I would imagine.
Kelsey: Is there anything
else you’d like to add?
Luboff: I miss the place.
I’m glad I was back in the spring. In the fall I can’t
be back teaching, even adjunct
work, but I’ve found out there’s a tutorial program, and
I’ll probably do that for a few weeks. And I’ve already
told the secretary of the department I’ll be back in
spring to teach. It’s part of my life. And though I
live 51 miles away, and friends have suggested—even
people here have suggested—“Why don’t you teach locally
at a college?”—it’s not home. This is home.
Kelsey: Well, thank you very
much.
Luboff: You’re quite
welcome. Thank you!
[END OF INTERVIEW]
INDEX