ROB BADGER
Three somewhat amusing stories from Rob Badger, Geology Professor emeritus.
We were at a soccer game behind the schools, watching Dylan and Devin playing. The Potsdam team was winning handily, so everyone was in a jovial mood. The afternoon had started sunny, so no one brought rain gear. But towards the end of the game, clouds rolled in and the skies opened up. We got drenched. Of course, the game continued, so we as parents had to stay until the end. Afterwards Dave invited us to his house to dry out. A wet cotton t-shirt is quite uncomfortable, so once we were inside, he gave me a clean, dry shirt to put on. It read:
“Philosophy—I’m in it for the Money.”
Ha!!
We were at a function in the large room at the Barrington Student Union. I believe it was the annual A Major Affair, where undecided students can talk to various department representatives to see if they might want to major in that subject. I was manning the Geology table and Dave was manning the Philosophy table. For some reason my wife, Carolyn, had come along. While I manned my table, she wandered around, talking to professors she knew, one of whom was Dave. After a while she returned to my table at just about the time President Fallon stopped by to chat. Carolyn brought up Dave, what a terrific professor he was, and how fortunate the school was to have him. This was only two or three weeks after Dave had led a No Confidence Vote against Fallon! I knew this, but Carolyn obviously did not. My how Fallon did squirm!
When Peter Brouwer was Provost, he held a Provost’s Book Discussion Group every semester. Peter would choose an educationally themed book and those so inclined would read it and then we would get together to discuss. One book was written by a professor at an elite, private, division I school, and she spent much of the book complaining about her students. It was widely panned by those of us in attendance. Towards the end, I stood up, walked to the podium, and said, “We can do better.” We’re not division I; we’re division III. But we did wonderful things for and with our students. I proposed that we write our own book about different methods we used to educate this group of students. I called out several professors who I knew did a terrific job—Richard del Guidice, Kim Bouchard, Dave Curry—and challenged them to write about what they did in the classroom to motivate students. We would call it, “Ideas That Work in College Teaching.”
Articles slowly trickled in; I would review and edit, then send them back for revision. Dave’s article, “Blinded by the Light: A Reflection on the Teaching of Introductory Courses in Philosophy,” was the best written and really addressed the theme of the book. Later, after the book was published (SUNY Press, 2008), when I gave out copies I would encourage people, if they only read one article, to read Dave’s. It was the best.
Interestingly, two articles that never made it into the book were written by an Education professor and an English professor. They were both terribly written and rather pointless. The Education professor wrote, “If rigor has anything to do with rigor mortis, I want nothing to do with it.” Indeed, students who took her courses said they were a joke, taught at perhaps at a third-grade level. I rejected that article. But the English professor’s article was awkward to deal with as I was good friends with her. I heavily doctored up her manuscript and returned it to her. She slightly modified it and sent it back. What to do now? It was still awful, mostly talking about herself. So, I sent it to Dave to review, knowing he would do a thorough job. He did. She withdrew it in a huff. Problem solved. Thanks, Dave.