Southeastern Massachusetts University - Scrimshaw Yearbook (North Dartmouth, MA)

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Scrimshaw: I think one of the things that impresses the students is that you really don't seem to be afraid to do anything up there. Scionti: Part of this job is being a ham. It really is. You have to enjoy showing off a little bit, to teach at all. People don 't have that kind of personality have trouble with this. Probably all their teaching career, they have to fight themselves as much as the material they're dealing with. Everybody's run into teachers like that who are shy in front of crowds and have a lot of trouble, and they 're really in the wrong business. They should be doing something maybe teacher-related. They should do a lot more research, maybe. And publish a lot, because a lot of the people who are very good as publishers and really contribute a lot that way, are really bad in front of a class. I 've had that experience a lot in my own career as a student. I've run into guys who are famous as scholars who just couldn't zeach their way out of a paper bag because they couldn't get in front of a class and confidently state what they thought and give an orderly kind of lecture. Scrimshaw: How have you been following the Celtics.? Scionti: Gee, since the founding of the league in 1946. I hate to admit that. In fact, it wasn't the NBA then, it was called the Basketball Association of America or something like that. The Celtics were a rather weak team in a rather weak league then. But, since then, things have changed a lot. I've had a season ticket since... I came back from the service in 1957... 1959 I guess. I like basketball. They used to have games when they 'd score 40 points 40-35 would be a normal score. I like the sport more than hockey. I don 't like hockey at all. I like football, but I don't go the games .... For one thing, it's a matter of practicality and money. If you're a season ticket holder for one sport, it costs you a bundle anyway. If you try and do it for more than one., not only the money, but then I'd be away from home too much. My wife would kill me. She'd be right. Scrimshaw: Anything particularly memorable happen to you these fen years here? Scionti: Often. When I got my degree, my PhD in '67, I had a class, a Freshman class, and they surprised me with a cake, and all kinds of stuff right in class. And, that kind of thing is valuable, because you know you're getting across when students will go to the trouble to do something like that because it doesn't frequently happen. Scrzmshaw: What is the biggest difference, in your opinion, between SMU and a larger college? Scionti: Well, we're a state school, which means that most of the kids have to work, at least part-time, to foot the bills. We don't get a rich student body, like the ivy-league schools, for instance, where kids have grown up in families who have already got a good deal of money, or have had college experience before. Whereas, a lot of our students are the children of immigrants, as I was myself so you can get into the same wavelength with students like this because if you've got the same kind of background yourself you understand them very well. Scrimshaw: Do you think the economics of our present situation here will sway the legislature from the logic of funding SMU equally but leaving it autonomous? Scionti: I hope not. Geez, who knows what those guys will do?I don't have a lot of faith. in the legislature. But, I think they should be smart enough to recognize that that's a bad idea ltotal state reorginizationl. I think we need an independent board of trustees, we need to have our own financial apparatus. In other words, they should give us the money, the way they have, and let us handle it, or let our people deal with it, and not control it from a central position. If they centralize too much, I think they 're going to stifle us. This part of the state 's been ignored, anyway, it seems to me, over the years... until this place came along, we didn 't have anything... We've been sort of the poor relations of the state for years. This school's really the hope of the area. I hope the legislature has enough sense to see that. elif . lfq

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The beginning of this academic year, September 1975, saw a nation of disspirited and cynical people. The rash of scandals following Watergate left us numb...new stories of corruption and incompetence among those in power broke almost daily. Worse, no major reforms followed. This bred a strong feeling of distrust of leadership, and, as it seemed to the general public that they were helpless to stem the tide, most Americans went about their daily tasks unconcerned with the ills of the nation insofar as they were not affected by them. This attitude could be seen most graphically on the college campuses. The image of students deeply involved with political and ecological concerns was washed away by waves of students meekly attending classes and caring little about the world outside the University except for the job market. Q These are broad generalizations, of course, but if one considers the national trend, they hold true.j Of course, at this time we are also experiencing a Bicentennial celebration of sorts, but its form remains nebulous, taking concrete form only in that it seems someone is always trying to sell us something. If our founding fathers could have.known how much garbage was going to be sold in their name, they would have kept their mouths shut and PAID their taxes. Come to think of it though, it isn't so unreasonable that everyone's out to make a fast buck on the Bicentennial. This country was built by tax evaders. gggwfs Jeff Faria editor-in-chief SMU Scrimshaw April 2, 1976