Reader Responses to Open to Discovery

President Paxson’s “Open to Discovery” (September/October) got me thinking about what happened to me 50 years ago. The zeitgeist then included the “New Curriculum,” of course, as well as coed dormitories, a call for more ethnic diversity, the widespread use of marijuana and, for some, other psychoactive substances. In the background was the Vietnam war and the incessant demand for more young people as fodder.

I suppose I could have got into trouble with some of these things, but I never did. My focused life, however, got its comeuppance. At 11:30 p.m. the night before a term paper was due, I realized I needed to look something up. I found the needed book and was still taking notes furiously at midnight when the Rockefeller library closed. Informed that the book could not circulate, I refused to leave the Rock. The librarian called campus police. Very politely, I explained that I needed ten minutes. “You’re under arrest,” the officer said, “and I’m taking this book as evidence.” We walked to the police station. Was I going to be fingerprinted? Expelled?

Once we arrived, he said he didn’t understand what the fuss was about, handed me the book, and gave me his desk to complete the task. He also offered to let me wear his police cap. Ten minutes later I was done, and we walked back to the Rock and put the book in the return slot.

While I had many memorable experiences as an undergraduate, my arrest ranks as one of the best. A kind hand in a time of need gave me a life lesson I still cherish, and serves as an example I have tried to carry forward. I learned the campus police were our friends, and the University existed to facilitate growth.