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Image provided by: SUNY Maritime College
Page 10 PORTHOLE Special Students College Work- Although most of th cadets know them by face, not much else is known about Maritime College’s two special students from Liberia, Mr. Issac Chie Davies and Mr. Plato Autridge. Both Mr. Davies and Mr. Autridge a r e here on a one y ear schol arship given by the Monrovia Port Management Company of Liberia as part of its training program for employees. They are taking 12 courses during the y ear in Admiralty Law, Accounting and Marine Transportation. Mr. Davies is from Grandsiss, Maryland County, Liberia. He graduated from the University of Liberia in 1962 with Bachelor of Arts degree in political science. Hewas an Assistant Office Manager with the Monrovia Port Management Company before applying for the scholarship. Out of 5 applicants, he was the iy ne eligible, for the M aritime College required that students have a college background. Mr. Autridge, who comes from Grandassa County, graduated from the University of Liberia in 1962 with a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics. He had taken his first two years in engineering but the University did not offer a four year course. He had hoped to be able to go abroad and finish his engineering studies. Upon graduation, he began to work for the Bureau of Natural Resources and Survey as a surveyor in training. He was recommended for the scholarship by the President of the University. Both men arrived in the United States on September 13, 1964. After orientation by the African-American Institute, they arrived at the college. During the Christm as leave period, they spent a week in Washington D.C. and a week in Manhattan. During the E a ster leave period, they w ere guests at Universal Stevedoring Co., in practical observation. After finishing classes, Mr. Davies and Mr. Autridge hope to visit some ports along the eastern seaboard before returning to Liberia. They will return via Europe, so that they can observe the port of Rotterdam. Upon returning to Liberia, both men will work for the Monrovia Port Management Company. Mr. Davies will work in the adminis trative offices and Mr. Autridge hopes to work in operations. The port of Monrovia, which was completed in 1948, is one of the few places on the west coast of Africa where ships an dock. It has a 2000 foot long pier which can accommodate 4 dry cargo vessels, finger jetties for the unloading of iron ore ships, and finger jetties for the unloading of tankers. The port handles m ore than 25 ships a month. Both men think that the courses here at the M aritim e College are quite good. They have acquired a great deal of knowledge of which they may not be able to use everything. They hope that in the future the training program may be lengthened to two y ears which would benefit both student and company. They have enjoyed their stay here at the M aritime College and they feel that both faculty and cadets have been friendly and helpful in everyway possible. Use Of College Scholarship Service The M aritime College has sub scribed to the services of the Col lege Scholarship Service of Princeton, N .J., in accepting and considering applications for National Defense Student Loans and scholarship awards made by the M aritime College. This means that any cadet who plans to submit an application for a National Defense Student Loan for the school sem e ster of February 1966 and any sem ester thereafter is required to have his parents submit a Parents Confidential Statement. The purpose of the college sub scribing to this service is to get a more accurate picture of the financial needs of students and to make as wide a distribution of ■funds available undertheNational Defense Student Loan or the scholarships available at the M aritime College to those stu dents in need. It will therefore be required of every student who intends to apply for a National Defense Stu dent Loan for the Spring S em ester of 1966; the cruise period of 1966; or the Fall Sem ester of 1966 to have submitted a Parents Confidential Statement to the Col lege Scholarship Service of Princeton, N .J., prior to 1 Oc tober 1965. An application for a Parents Confidential Statement is avail able at the Dean of Students Of fice, or the College Scholarship Service at Princeton, N.J. The M aritim e College has been given code ft 2536 for those who are interested in submitting an ap plication. It is important for all cadets to know that the Parents Con fidential Statement is not n eces sary for a Regents Scholarship or a Scholar Incentive Award, or any other scholarship outside the college. It is only necessary for the National Defense Student Loan and such scholarships as the Rudder Club, Marine Square Club, Tode Foundation, and Dex te r Fellow Tent. Any cadet needing further in formation on this should inquire at the Dean of Students Office. Study Program The M aritime College has made application to the Depart ment of Health, Education and Welfare for a College Work- Study Program for the school year 1965-66. The purpose of this College- Work-Study Program is to provide, through employment, financial assistance to students who a re in financial need. The way the program works is, a committee at the Maritime College (made up of Department Chairmen and members of the Administrative Staff) has in dicated certain work as signments that can be performed within the various department. These work assignments are given such titles as Lab Aides, Clerical Aides, Physical Edu cation Aides, Library Aides, and Dormitory Aides. In these jobs a cadet would be allowed to work on an average of eight to twelve hours per week (not more than fourteen) and by this work he could earn approximately $200 per sem ester. This work could also be performed on weekends. It is hoped that students who are interested in these positions will not be held to a rigid sched ule of work unless it is ab solutely necessary, but will be allowed to work whenever their academic work load provides them with free time. Certain standards are set up for those who wish to apply for this Work-Study Program and one is the factor of financial need on the part of the cadet. However, all cadets who have been awarded a full Scholar In centive Award of $400 are eligible to apply. This program does not prohibit out of state or students outside the United States from applying for one of these College Work-Study jobs. The M aritim e College, in ap plying for this College Work- Study Program , is doing it on a trial basis believing that there is a need for financial assistance on the part of certain students and to help them obtain money while attending college without using loan funds which have to be paid back upon graduation. Initial interest on the part of the cadets at the college toward this program has not been v ery high, but it is hoped that this article will c reate an interest in cadets who need financial assistance to apply to work in the Fall term . There are approximately twenty-four positions available for the 1965-66 period in which a cadet could earn approxi mately $400 during the two school sem e sters. Any one interested in further information regarding this pro gram should see the Dean of Students. Thomas M iller has been named supervisor of the custodians in the fort area as of 13 May 1965. He succeeds P e ter A. Campbell who retired on 30 April. Mr. Mil le r was form erly the assistant to Mr. Campbell and took care of the Administration Offices and the classroom s that were re cently converted to the Business offices. His a ssistant will be Don- nally Thornhill. Parents Assoc. Last General Meeting Friday, May 28 at 8:00 P.M. CAPTAIN PHILLIPS will speak about THE CRUISE Question and Answer Period will follow. REFRESHME NTS will be served. 0P THE PAST ( C o n tinued from page 3) them. This was where we had to bear down heavily on our \new mugs” to keep a proper lookout and they did. 1950 seem s so long ago yet up and until that tim e the Spaniards had received no European Recovery assistance and they could not understand our attitude towards their government. Their reason was that they had fought the Reds and by defeating them they p re vented the formation of a communistic state south of the Pyrenees. Many political w riters today believe that a ll W estern Europe would have been overrun by communism if Spain had not fought them and won. However, the Spaniards felt then that the United States would need them as an ally and they were waiting for us to come to them. History has proven that they were right! During this period, our visits went a long way in cementing our relations with Spain. In 1950, we were the first training ship to visit that country and the interest shown in the EMPIRE STATE D while the ship was in Barcelona was amazing. Thousnads visited the ship and other thousands were turned away. Up until the time we left, we had had over one hundred p ress releases throughout Spain which I believe was an u n surpassed record. In 1951, we visited Bilbao, Spain, the Basque country. The Basque country is famous for three things; their excellent cuisine (espe cially sea foods); their choral singers; and their beautiful women. \The Very Noble Village of Portugalet” (its real name) a t the entrance to the Nervion River where the ship tied up, d eclared a \F iesta Week” and mothers perm itted their daughters to mingle and dance with our cadets without form a l introductions; (A thing unheard of in that country). This was one occasion when o u r cadets could use their Spanish without inhibitions and restraint. The local citizens were surprised that so many \A m ericanos” could speak their language and do you know something? So was I! One night, while the ship was tied up a t “ The Very Noble Village of Portugalet” , an incident happened which might have had tragic consequences if the Spanish sentry had been a better marksman. Unknown to us, the Spanish m ilitary authorities posted several arm ed sentries at night in the vicinity of the ship just to fore stall any communistic disturbances by the left wing element. One night an overleave cadet was seen r unning towards the ship, whom the sentry mistook for a red, and he took aim and fired his rifle. Fortunately it was pitch dark and he missed. I can assure you that this cadet was n ever overleave a fter that. In one of h is letters, Mr. Montegue Pigott, our Consul in Bilbao, had this to say: \I can only wish that we might have a few more EMPIRE STATES do for our country what your cadets have done here!” / That sam e year, we went to Leith, Scotland, where the Highland regim ent paraded the band in our honor a t a r e tr e a t in Edinburgh Castle. At that sam e ceremony, our Pershing R ifles, of approxi mately 75 cadets, put on an exhibition before a crowd of 6.000. It was the first tim e in the one thousand year history of Edinburgh Castle that a foreign government was ever perm itted to do this! In 1953, the ship went to San Juan, the port for San Sebastian, the sum m er capitol of Spain. This was the port from which La fayette departed from when he s e t out to join Washington's Army. I saw General Franco fishing from the stern of a Spanish destroyer and I noticed another destroyer astern with s a ilors manning ma chine guns fore and aft. It was there that I met the Admiral of the Ocean Seas, Christobal Colon, 27th direct descendent of the Great Navigator who was as signed to me as my Liason officer by the Spanish Commandant. Al though he held the honorary rank of Admiral of the Ocean Seas (which his ancestor insisted upon it being a prerogative to be in herited by all his descendents and Queen Isabella acceded to this) he was a Spanish Navy Lieutenant and a t that tim e he was in com mand of a tug. It was customary when in port to m u ster the band for morning colors. Following colors, the band would play the National Anthem of the country we were in followed by our own. This ritual was then followed by some lively tunes which was a pleasant way to s tart the work day routine. We were in Santander, Spain in 1954 where a local wine merchant enjoyed our band so much that he sent the following letter: \Sir: I do not know where I heard the joke that farm e rs, clergymen, and mem bers of the arm ed services do not really work too hard but what they do, they do early. As proof of how your neighbors in the wine trade enjoy the concert given from 0800 to 0890, please allow us to offer, as a token of friendship, this demi-john of red table wine, 13% a l cohol strength for mem b ers of the brass band, in acknowl edging their concert. P.S. They may bring back the empty cask to our c e llar.” What would you do in my place? In summing up these nineteen post-w ar c ruises involving three training ships, there w ere 114 port of call. Out of 114 p o rts, there were only two occasions when a casualty necessitated a _ delay of one day. One hundred twelve p o rts were made according to our schedule. Considering that there were a total of 9,000 per sons involved in this total operation and bringing 400-500 young people abroad each year, the disciplinary cases were few and those of you who served know we ran a taut ship. Before ending this talk, 1 would like to say a few words about the future and where we a r e heading. A rather comprehansive prelim inary report has recently been submitted by the \Long-Range Curriculum Study G roup\. This is a committee formed to p roject the college into the future and which is part of the M aster Plan project of the State University of New York. Let me reiterate, our identity as a m aritim e school can only continue its important role if its efforts produce g raduates who will go to sea. Here are some of the questions facing this study group today: (1) Could m o re than the present program s be offered and s till meet o u r obligations to the m aritim e industry? (2) And could this be served by issuing two d egrees in he Marine Transportation Department, one a baccalaureate and the other an associate? (3) Could both exist side by side on tme college campus with course offerings for one group of students and different course offerings for the other group? (4) Remember our faculty must determine what direction the curriculum will take and also determine what the school should be ten years from now. (5) Could this institution become widely known both nationally and internationally as an academic center for studies in trade and transportation whose academic program would be truly unique and significant? (6) Can these proposals lead to innovation which do not contradict or even destroy the traditions of America’s oldest m aritim e school? In conclusion, I am proud of the fact that in 19 c ruises there was never a fatal accident on board; and for that I am truly thanlrhil. I am thankful too, to the Alumni Association for a l l o w i n g me rhis privilege and honor of addressing you.
