Santa Clara University

Fall 2005 issue

Is this Ignatian poverty?

I am disappointed to see that the Jesuit Community at SCU is asking us to finance their dream house to the tune of $12 million (“Campaign-funded projects support SCU’s mission,” Fall 2005). With a community of about 40 members, that averages to roughly $300,000 per Jesuit. Even with inflated housing prices, they could buy individual houses for less and be quite comfortable. Is this what Ignatian poverty has come to? 

James Anderson Murphy ’69
Chaplain, Sacred Heart Medical Center Spokane, Wash.

RAMAC Memories

Your Fall 2005 story on the RAMAC disk drive (“The Drive to Create”) brought back a couple of memories. In 1957, during my 14 years of engineering employment at Westinghouse Electric in Sunnyvale, one of my projects was design of a 2 horsepower “inside-out” electric motor as an alternative to the motor then being used to power the original RAMAC. (Its rotating member, carrying the storage disks, was external; the main stationary winding was internal.) We didn’t get the contract, though we did meet to discuss the design with the IBM team at 99 Notre Dame Ave.

The other memory came from the picture on page 8, showing the late Manning Hermes. He taught at Santa Clara for years (which, surprisingly, your article did not mention), including several of my classes, and he is pictured in your article exactly as he always looked in the classroom.

R. L. Nailen ’50
Hales Corners, Wis.

Editor’s note: According to Santa Clara University Archives, Richard Manning Hermes taught mathematics at SCU from 1935-1954. We regret the omission. In addition, the photograph of the RAMAC in the Hoagland article should have had the photo credit: “William C. Eymann photograph, Santa Clara University Archives.”

Sorry to see Hoagland go

Al Hoagland

I was surprised to see that Al Hoagland is retiring (“The Drive to Create,” Fall 2005). His name was ever present in my house growing up. My dad, Raymond Yarbrough, worked with him at the Institute for Information Storage Technology, and both my sister, Anne, and I spent many hours there transcribing lectures and becoming immersed in the then nascent personal computing world. 

It is truly a sad day for Santa Clara. I wish him all the best.

Matthew Yarbrough ’93
(submitted through santaclaramagazine.com)

Watch your language

“Jewsuits” is an unfortunate word and a little uncomfortable (“The Familiar Stranger,” Fall 2005). Our tradition does not need any new confusing terms such as “Jews for Jesus” or “Messianic Jews.” Remember, the word “Jesuit” is derived from the word “Jesus.” Additionally, I really do think that the elitist reference to “Society of Jesus Catholicism” is inappropriate. No one group has a special handle on intellectual curiosity and social justice.

The “tikkun olam” (“repairing the world”) described by Valedictorian Chris Wall (After Words, Fall 2005) reflects a life of learning, love, and action. He has a “still small voice,” and we are honored that this was nurtured at Santa Clara.   

Avraham Giannini ’62
San Francisco