HONOR AMONG STUDENTS

I had forgotten about the honor spirit when I attended Davis from 1960 to 1963. Your article "Honor Among Students" [summer 2000] brought back fond memories of Davis. When I was a student, each classroom had a sign as a reminder about the honor spirit. There were only students present during exams. If we observed cheating we were supposed to write on the blackboard what we saw. If the student did not stop then the Judicial Council was to be notified. I never saw any cheating as a student or even heard much about it. I was surprised when I went to dental school and observed some cheating the first year. I am glad to see an honor system still in place even though Davis is much larger than when I was a student. UC Davis is still a special place.

ARTICLE HITS SOUR NOTE

As a UCD student in 1970-1973, I mostly remember the Cal Aggie Marching Band as a misogynist musical fraternity. I was disgusted by how the author of the cover article "And the Band-Uh Played On" trivialized the struggle to end gender discrimination and sexual harassment in the band. I assumed the problem was the result of poor editing until I discovered the article was written by the editor. If feminism can be so marginalized in a magazine that promotes UCD, I question how effective the institution is in teaching awareness of sexism and sexual harassment. If the band had the same history of contempt for African Americans, would the editor have been as eager to whitewash blatant racism?

BELL PULL

I enjoyed the article in the UC Davis Magazine summer 2000 issue titled "The Bells From Hell."

It reminded me of a happening in the early '50s when the Aggie alumni board was discussing means of breaking away from the Berkeley board. We met in Davis, Sacramento and Berkeley, and I suggested we meet in my home in Stockton as some of the members lived in the south part of the state.

My home was just a block away from Burns Tower, which houses the campus bells, played at noon, different times of the day and for campus events at the University of the Pacific.

I knew the man that played the carillon, so I called and asked him if he could possibly play some Cal songs on the morning of the meeting at 10 a.m. I offered to send him the music. "No," he answered. "I know them."

Stan McCaffrey was then executive director of the Berkeley group (later president of the University of the Pacific).

The first person arrived at about 10 to 10, and instead of inviting him inside the house I stayed out on the front porch talking to him, and as more arrived we stood there talking. At 10 a.m. "Our Sturdy Golden Bear" along with some other Cal songs came from the carillon. By this time practically all of the group had arrived.

"Wow! DeCarli--you sure have pull in this town!"

Different members of the group have reminisced about that over the years. They remember that meeting. Oh, and the Aggie alumni decided to go on their own!

MEMORIES OF DR. MEYER

My wife and I enjoyed reading the story about Chancellor Emeritus [James Meyer] on page 43 of the summer issue of the magazine.

I had the honor of being one of the first graduate students under the guidance of Dr. Meyer at UC Davis in the early 1950s.

UC Davis graduates are not too plentiful here at Kansas State University, but my copy of the magazine always ends up in the reading room of the Department of Animal Science and Industry.

PROFESSOR REMEMBERED

Like Michel Ann (Gribble) Jensen '74, I was saddened to read of the passing of G. Ledyard Stebbins. However, I have no recollection of falling asleep in his Genetics 100 class. His puns, such as twins being "wombmates" and "boys and girls having something different in their genes" at a time when girls as well as boys were wearing Levi's on campus, were enough to keep us awake and teach us a lot of genetics as well. I will always remember him and his class.