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Gloria Feldt, who has served as president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America for the past nine years, gave a lecture titled "Stop the War on Choice: How to Fight Forward for Reproductive Rights" at Hamilton on Feb. 2. The lecture, Feldt's first since stepping down as president of Planned Parenthood last week, outlined the mission of her organization and what she sees as the future path of the pro-choice movement. Feldt's lecture, sponsored by the Levitt Center, was the secondin a series on abortion issues.

We have done our best to protect what we hold most dear, the right to speak, think and study freely. But there is a higher responsibility that this institution carries, and that is the safety and security of our students, faculty, staff and the community in which we live.  Credible threats of violence have been directed at the College and members of the panel. These threats have been turned over to the police. Based on the information available, I have made the decision to cancel this event in the interest of protecting those at risk.  -- Joan Hinde Stewart, President

Gloria Feldt, who led the national Planned Parenthood organization as president for nine years, will give a lecture at Hamilton College on Wednesday, Feb. 2 at 7:30 p.m. in the Chapel. The lecture, which is free and open to the public, is sponsored by the Levitt Center and is the second in a series examining abortion issues.

Burke Library has received a gift of communal society materials, an addition to Hamilton's Communal Societies Collection that will make it one of leading collections of material by and about the American Shakers and other intentional communities in the country. The collection, which includes approximately two thousand books and artifacts, will be given to Hamilton in five installments over a 10-year period by Dr. Walter A. Brumm, a retired sociology professor from California University of Pennsylvania.

Sidney Wertimer, professor emeritus of economics, died early on February 1 in Charleston, S.C., with his family at his side. He was 84 years old and had been in declining health. Sidney served Hamilton for the past 52 years.

To examine the issues associated with Mr. Churchill's scheduled visit and its subsequent cancellation due to threats of violence, the College has developed a Web page to include Hamilton's official statements, various news articles, editorials and interviews. We welcome additional responses from our alumni community. Please visit our HOLAC Message Boards.

The 11 members of Hamilton's Model United Nations Club traveled to Montreal, Quebec, on Jan. 27 to participate in the 2005 Model United Nations Conference hosted by McGill University. They met with 1300 other students, representing more than 80 different colleges from the United States and Canada. 

Assistant Professor of Theatre Mark Cryer was interviewed in Newsday (1/30/05) about his play, "99 Questions You've Always Wanted to Ask an African-American but Were too Afraid to Ask for Fear They'd Break Their Foot off in Your --!" that he will perform at Nassau Community College in February. The one-man, multicharacter, multimedia play includes videos of questioners.  Cryer worked on the play with a student, Jared Johnson '02, who conducted interviews of people in New York City to arrive at the questions. The article notes: "Cryer doesn't view any question as racist, he said. '"We all have our biases, and we all have our ignorances. So when you get a question that really slaps you in the face, you have to think: If they knew better, they wouldn't have phrased it that way.'"

Professor of Anthropology Douglas Raybeck was interviewed in the Detroit News for the article "iPods set off iMania; Portable music players create their own culture -- and controversy." Raybeck said, "They isolate us, more accurately, they insulate us."

President Joan Stewart sent an all-campus memorandum on Sunday, Jan. 30, updating Hamilton faculty, students and staff about the status of the pending visit by Ward Churchill later in the week. Mr. Churchill is speaking on campus as part of a panel discussion sponsored by the Kirkland Project.