News From Fort Schuyler

September 8, 2008 - Volume 8, No. 31

BOWLING RIGHT ALONG - The SUNY Maritime College football team opened their 2008 season with a big win, entitling them to claim Chowder Bowl bragging rights for a second straight year. The Privateers deep-sixed Massachusetts Maritime Academy 24-14 in a night game that was played at Fort Schuyler on 04 September. According to the Cape Cod Times, the Privateers gained all but six of their 329 yards of offense on the ground, with JAMES SPANOPOLOUS '12 running for 142 of those yards. (www.capecodonline.com) An article about the game on the Maritime College website reported that the game attracted a crowd of 3,500 plus. As if the win wasn't enough to warm the hearts of students and alumni alike, "On top of a great night of football, fans also had a chance to sample [and vote on] five of the finest Manhattan Clam Chowder recipes this side of the Throgs Neck Bridge." (The winner was the Icehouse Caf'.) The college website article includes photos of the team - and the Chowder Bowl. (www.sunymaritime.edu)

ANOTHER PERSPECTIVE - A long-time NFFS reader, BOB SCHWIEGER '64, raises issues about the college ratings that were highlighted in last week's issue: "I read your letter from top to bottom every week. I figure whatever you write about is worth reading. My logic: Why would you write something that's meaningless when you're not getting paid by the word? So, I decided to click on the link provided with the first article even though I don't place much value in rankings per se. Quite frankly I was shocked and disappointed at what I saw: SUNY Maritime College finished DEAD LAST in its peer group (northern maritime colleges). Coast Guard Academy, Kings Point, Mass Maritime, and Maine Maritime all were ahead of us."

"Sooooooo, how come the administration is patting itself on the back with high scores on thickest whipped cream in the cafeteria, neatest penmanship, etc. What in Sam Hill is "peer assessment" anyway? Other colleges blowing smoke up your shaft alley telling you how good you are when they've been in port for two days before you tied up? Percentage of international students? Who gives a damn? What's the goal: Fill seats or graduate the best people in the industry? And the score__a 31__was even lower than I used to average on Norm Wennagel's thermo quizzes." Bob concludes his jeremiad: "In my view, something's seriously wrong with the college mission. Or maybe it's the administration." [Strong words, Bob. A provocative reaction? Perhaps a good topic for a future Homecoming Day seminar. Let the discussion begin!]

SCHUYLER SCULLER - The Lewisboro Ledger, a newspaper in Maine, published a profile of JON JENSEN '85 which begins, "''Most people still think of sculling and rowing as some sort of elitist sports pursued only in Ivy League and prep school circles,' said Lewisboro Hamlet resident Jon Jensen, 'but that is now changing as more and more people become interested.'" Jon, an oil trader in his professional life, "...has been involved in recreational and competitive sculling and rowing for approximately 15 years" on the Norwalk River in Connecticut. "I graduated from SUNY Ft. Schuyler Maritime College, which is a merchant marine school near the Throgs Neck Bridge in the Bronx. I did some competitive rowing back then, but didn't really get seriously involved until I settled down with my family.." (www.acorn-online.com) Maritime College's crew teams, coached by Captain RICK SMITH '81, the Master of the Training Ship EMPIRE STATE VI and the Commandant of Cadets, "...consistently finish at or near the top of every regatta they enter." (www.sunymaritime.edu/Waterfront/index.aspx) Don't forget that on Homecoming Day, 27 September, the college hosts the SUNY Maritime College Alumni & Friends Regatta to race dingies and keelboats. Registration information is the college website or contact Director of Waterfront Programs, ROB CRAFA at rcrafa@sunymaritime.edu

ONWARD AND UPWARD - In a followup to the recent item about CATE HANFT '85 assuming her new command, JACK HAYES, '47 e-mailed several items. One was an article, Capt. Catherine Hanft to take NSASP helm, which noted that she was the first woman NAVY ROTC scholarship awardee at Fort Schuyler and earned a master's degree at the Naval Postgraduate School. Her previous assignments included a stint at the Defense Intelligence Agency in Washington, and postings in Puerto Rico, Corpus Christi, Guam, and Groton, CT. "In October 2003 she was assigned as executive officer of Navy Consolidated Brig, Charleston, S.C. and assumed command of the brig in May 2004, serving with distinction as the commanding officer of the only facility on U.S. soil to house enemy combatants. In August 2005, she was selected for a second command tour as the first permanent commander for Navy Expeditionary Guard Battalion, assigned to Joint Task Force Guantanamo, in command of 650 sailors responsible for the safe, secure and humane detainment of nearly 500 enemy combatants in support of the Global War on Terror. She was dual-hatted as deputy commander of the brigade-level Joint Detention Group as well, with oversight of an additional 700 soldiers." Thanks to timing of her command at the Charleston Navy Brig she is named as the defendant in a landmark court case concerning the indefinite detention of an enemy combatant, Padilla v. Hanft. Jack provided the following link to a summary of this case: http://www.acluva.org/docket/padilla.html

COMING UP - The Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance's 2008 conference is scheduled for Thursday, 13 November to further its objectives of a healthy, shared harbor. Topics to be discussed include Mass Water Transit, Harbor Education, and Waterfront Works. SUNY Maritime College is a member of MWA. For more information about the alliance and the conference go to www.waterfrontalliance.org.

KIDNEY, NOT - Her operation was a complete success. Connie is on the road to recovery, already with enough energy and good will to edit NFFS. Thanks to everyone for their prayers and good wishes for her speedy recuperation.