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11 A Stanford Man WE RENTED A THREE-BEDROOM HOUSE AT 324 LA Mesa Drive in the Ladera neighborhood of Menlo Park, just west of Stanford University.At first,we considered living in married student housing on campus, but after looking at the tiny rooms, we decided to look elsewhere. Ladera was home to a number of Stanford faculty members.John Ralston,the football coach,and his family lived up the block. There was also a neighborhood recreation center complete with a pool, where the kids learned to swim. The rent was somewhat pricey, but Terri and I felt that since the house was so much roomier, it was well worth it. Besides, we would be there for only a year. Stanford University lived up to its reputation, and then some. The academic excellence of its faculty members and the richness of its course offerings were even better than I had anticipated. During our orientation to the Public Affairs Fellowship Program, I was pleased to learn that a great number of course offerings were available to Fellows.We had only one required class, a five-unit seminar taught by Dr.Eric Hutchinson,director of the program. At the same time, we were encouraged to audit as many elective classes as we could schedule. I looked forward to taking as many classes as I could squeeze into my one year at the university.There was so much from which to choose. Moreover, academic offerings had changed significantly. When I was in college during the 1950s, courses in such subjects as ethnic studies and civil rights were nonexistent.At Stanford,there seemed to be no end to the intriguing offerings in these and other subjects. Knowing that I did not have to worry about tests and grades,I signed up for such diverse courses as History of Portuguese Slave Traders, Constitutional Law, Business and the Civil Rights Movement, Public Administration Theory and Practice, and Nonviolent Civil Disobedience. It was a great opportunity to catch up on my knowledge. How was I able to afford the books required for so many classes? My fellowship included a government charge card for the Stanford Bookstore. Fifteen Fellows made up the Public Affairs Class of 1969–70,representing virtually every federal department.All but two were men, and all were white except for Tony Elias and Jack Brent, who were black;Bill Babby,who was Native American;and me.At thirty-nine, I was the oldest. The Fellows were superbly articulate, intelligent, and knowledgeable about a whole host of subjects.I had never been in the company of such gifted people.We became a close-knit,compatible group, thanks to our shared background as federal employees and because we were older than most of the university students. Our closeness also grew out of our interactions in Dr.Hutchinson’s weekly seminar. The seminar was loosely structured, appropriate for a group that had such wide-ranging interests and concerns.We discussed current topics such as civil rights, the emerging women’s movement, and hippie lifestyles as well as traditional subjects like the role of government in a changing nation. After the seminar, we Fellows usually went to a nearby pub where we continued our intense discussions. Of all the Fellows,I became closest toTony Elias,originally from New Orleans, and Bill Babby, from the Big Sky State of Montana, perhaps because of our status as ethnic minorities. Through seminar discussions, we learned early on that we had the same views on race relations and civil rights. Tony’s outgoing and engaging personality was not unlike my style of interacting with people.We were like kindred spirits. Bill was quiet and thoughtful, but, like me, he was a country boy who had an appreciation for rural life.Their wives, Sara Elias and Bert Babby, were compatible with Terri. We began to socialize as couples more and more. a stanford man 157 As far as other facets of Stanford campus life were concerned, I found that my elective classes were instructive and met my desire for increased knowledge on a variety of subjects. The young students in these classes seemed to accept my active participation despite our age difference.I admit that the bra-less girls on campus initially distracted me, but like the other male Fellows, I soon got over it. Some aspects of Stanford students were personally irritating. First, I could never quite get used to the unkempt and shabby state of many of the students...

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