William Eidle Oral History Transcript
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Interviewee: William Eidle July 18, 2002
Interviewer: Gus Nolan MHP
1
William Eidle
Marist College
Poughkeepsie, NY
Transcribed by Erin Kelly
For the Marist College Archives and Special Collections
Interviewee: William Eidle July 18, 2002
Interviewer: Gus Nolan MHP
2
Transcript: William Eidle
Interviewee:
Dr. William Reynolds Eidle
Interviewer:
Gus Nolan
Interview date:
18 July 2002
Location:
Marist Archives and Special Collections Reading Room
CD No.:
Topic:
Marist College History
Subject Headings:
Marist Brothers - United States - History
Marist College History
Marist College (Poughkeepsie, New York)
Marist College Social Aspects
Summary:
The following interview is with Dr. William Reynolds Eidle, who the former
Chair and Dean of the School of Social and Behavioral Sciences at Marist College. In
the beginning of the interview, Dr. William Eidle gives a brief summary of his
educational background as well as his initial acquaintance with Marist College through
Jack Dougherty and Brother Dan Kirk. Dr. William Eidle describes the creation of the
Psychology Department and his years as Chair and Dean of the School of Social and
Behavioral Sciences at Marist College, as well as the former joint Psych special Ed
program between Marist and Vassar Colleges. The interview ends with Dr. William
Eidle’s stance on what he wish would have happened with the College during his term as
well as where he believes the direction of the College lies in the future.
Interviewee: William Eidle July 18, 2002
Interviewer: Gus Nolan MHP
3
“BEGINNING OF INTERVIEW”
Gus Nolan (00:01):
Good afternoon. Today is Thursday July 18
th
. We’re interviewing
Dr. William Eidle, the former Chair and Dean of School of the Social Sciences,
particularly of Psychology. This project is part of the ongoing Archive project. We’re in
the Marist College Library, James Cannavino Library. It’s about 2:30 in the afternoon.
Good afternoon Bill.
Dr. William Reynolds Eidle (00:26):
Hello Gus. How are you doing?
GN (00:39):
Bill, for the records, could you give you give us your full name?
WRE (00:43):
William Reynolds Eidle.
GN (00:46):
Were you named after any member of the family?
WRE (00:49):
Boy, yes I was.
GN (00:50):
Would you tell us who? [Laughter]
WRE (54:00):
William is after my grandfather, William S. Eidle and the Reynolds was
my mother’s maiden name.
GN (01:04):
Where and when were you born?
WRE (01:06):
I was born here in Poughkeepsie, New York right up in St. Francis
Hospital on October 3
rd
, 1936.
GN (01:13):
Do you have any siblings, brothers and sisters?
WRE (01:16):
I have a brother, Ed. He’s four years younger than I am. He’s also
retired.
GN (01:25):
And your parents’ names and what did your father do?
WRE (01:28):
My father’s M., standing for Maurice but he never used it, Kevin Eidle.
And he retired many years ago as the executive vice-president of what is now The Bank
Interviewee: William Eidle July 18, 2002
Interviewer: Gus Nolan MHP
4
of New York here in Poughkeepsie. Started out as the Merchant’s National Bank and
became Dutchess Bank and is now The Bank of New York. My mother is Marie
Reynolds Eidle and she had been an early-age employee in the Dutchess County
government offices and that’s that.
GN (02:14):
Well, what about your early education? Where’d you go to grade school?
WRE (02:17):
I went to elementary school at Nativity School down on Lower Newman
Street which is the site where… It had been Health Shield, I don’t know what’s in there
now. The building still stands.
GN (02:30):
Now skipping ahead to later in life. When did you marry Nan?
WRE (02:33):
In 1961.
GN (02:37):
And you’ll tell us about the children and where they are now?
WRE (02:41):
We had three children. They didn’t all start at Marist but they all ended
up graduating from Marist. The oldest is thirty-nine, is a senior vice-president with Free
Bank Corporate in Boston. He’s married and has three children. And Paul… also in the
realm of Marist, got his Degree and Master’s Degree in Teaching and teaches carpentry
for the Suffolk County Boces down on Long Island. He’s married and has two children.
And our daughter, Kierstin, who not only went through Marist but was in the
combination undergraduate/Master’s Program in Psychology and then went on and got
her Doctorate in School Psychology, it’s near Albany. And is a school psychologist in
the Guilderland School District just outside of Albany. She’s married, no children yet.
GN (03:48):
Okay and about… Back to your own education, where did you do your
college and your graduate education?
WRE (03:55):
Well, let’s go from Nativity School to Poughkeepsie High School.
Interviewee: William Eidle July 18, 2002
Interviewer: Gus Nolan MHP
5
GN (03:58):
Well you had high school education too? [Laughter]
WRE (04:00):
Yea, yea. I went to Poughkeepsie High School and from there to
Fordham College. And at the time I was… I went off to medical school and once I got to
medical school, I decided I didn’t want to be there and went back to Fordham. Why did I
go back to Fordham? Because I decided I wanted to do graduate work in psychology and
I had never had an undergraduate psychology course and there were few places that
would take a person in graduate programs who have never had anything undergrad. But
my record at Fordham was very good and they very graciously accepted me so I could get
my Master’s and Doctorate there at Fordham.
GN (04:41):
Give us a year. When did you get your Doctorate?
WRE (04:44):
I completed the Doctorate, actually I completed everything in fall of ’65
but the Degree is January ’66.
GN (04:55):
Okay, and let’s come on to teaching at Marist. When did you start teaching
at Marist?
WRE (04:58):
Fall of ’65.
GN (04:59):
And how did that happen?
WRE (05:00):
Well, it was a very unusual happening because I was living and working
in New York City and the last place in the world I wanted to be was Poughkeepsie, New
York. And I was at that time going on to graduate school, working for Catholic Charities
and I continued to work there full-time. My dad who was mentioned earlier was at
Dutchess Bank and, which was also the bank of this place called Marist College, and I
had little knowledge of Marist College. I had been out of Poughkeepsie for years and
years and years and as far as I was concerned, there was that Brothers place with high
Interviewee: William Eidle July 18, 2002
Interviewer: Gus Nolan MHP
6
bushes up on Route 9 and that was the end of that. At any rate, my father was a good
friend of, oh God his name’s now escaping me, he was the DR here with…
GN (06:09):
Jack Dougherty.
WRE (06:10):
Jack Dougherty, very good friend of Jack Dougherty’s. And so one day
Jack Dougherty and Linus Foy were in the bank and my father was chatting with them
and I came up evidently in the conversation and next thing you know I get a call at my
home in New York saying, “You know up in Marist College, they need a psychologist
and Jack Dougherty and Linus Foy…” “But dad, I don’t really want… I never even
heard of Marist College. I don’t want to be in Poughkeepsie.” And a week or so later I
got a similar call, so alright, alright, the only thing to do here is get the call and I was
invited up for an interview, to which I was very late because we came up from New York
in the middle of a fierce snowstorm on the Taconic Parkway. At any rate, I met Dr. Dan
Kirk who was the Chair of the Psychology Department and we had a lovely conversation.
It was hardly an interview by the way we understand interviews today. It was more of a
conversation. It was very pleasant and we said goodbye and then we went back to New
York and I figured I had done my duty to satisfy my father. And I had some other plans
in mind and frankly never thought of Marist College again, expect for perhaps, I don’t
recall, a couple weeks later, my secretary in New York comes to my office door and says,
“There’s a Brother Kirk here to see you.” And I’m thinking who? “It’s Brother Kirk.”
And with that his face appears in the door and he says, “Well, are you coming up?”
[Laughter] And I said “What are you...?” And at any rate my thought was oh my gosh, if
they came all, if they bring their body all the way down to New York to invite me, I said
oh, this is something I should be considering more seriously than I have up to this point.
Interviewee: William Eidle July 18, 2002
Interviewer: Gus Nolan MHP
7
And there I was back up in Poughkeepsie in the summer of 1965, commuting on a regular
basis to New York to my job in New York until the fall semester began.
GN (08:44):
Now in the fall semester, who is on the staff at that time? Dan Kirk?
WRE (08:48):
In psychology?
GN (08:49):
In psychology.
WRE (08:50):
Dan Kirk was the Chair. Ed O’Keefe, who had been in my graduate
classes at Fordham did not at that point have his Doctorate. He was going part-time
because he had taken this full-time job at this place called Marist College. And they were
the only two psychologists but there was a guy by the name of Dr. David Miller, who was
the… He was associated with the Psychology Department by way of being the person
who was the psychological counselor on campus. So, he did all psychological
counseling. So, for several years, it was Kirk, O’Keefe, Eidle and Miller.
GN (09:38):
And how big was the student… Was there a major in Psychology at that
time?
WRE (09:45):
Yes. There was a major, it was very small. And indeed, up to that point,
courses in the main were taught by Dan Kirk and Ed O’Keefe. Ed O’Keefe’s training
was in Clinical Psychology, mine was more in Experimental Research Psychology. So,
Ed O’Keefe was delighted to see me arrive. That meant he didn’t have to teach the
Experimental courses anymore, [Laughter] which he despised. So, it was all a very
happy occasion.
GN (10:23):
Okay, let’s move along and talk about now some of your first assignments,
your teaching more in your field and what other things were you asked to do? Did you
Interviewee: William Eidle July 18, 2002
Interviewer: Gus Nolan MHP
8
do any committee work? Were you involved in other activities of the college in those
years?
WRE (10:38):
Well initially, I remember I had eight preps a year. [Laughter]
GN (10:46):
Eight preps a year?
WRE (10:48):
Eight preps a year which meant four different courses each semester.
GN (10:52):
Right.
WRE (10:53):
And they included of course, the Experimental Psychology courses and
the Physiological Psychology courses, which in those years we didn’t call Physiological
Psychology, it was Mind Body I and Mind Body II.
GN (11:08):
Was there a requirement that students had to Psychology for some reason to
keep you so busy?
WRE (11:16):
I believe students probably… I don’t know if, I really don’t remember
whether Intro to Psych was required. It might have been. If anything was required, it
would have been Intro to Psych.
GN (11:27):
Right.
WRE (11:28):
The other courses were of course primarily for majors although they
served also as electives for students in other majors.
GN (11:38):
What was the first committee you were on that you recall with joy?
[Laughter]
WRE (11:43) :
Oh, my lord. Oh, I think I was on the, yes, I remember now, I was on
the Finance Committee with Cornelius Russell…
GN (11:53):
This is a college financial committee?
WRE(11:54):
College Finance Committee with Cornelius Russell and Linus Foy and…
Interviewee: William Eidle July 18, 2002
Interviewer: Gus Nolan MHP
9
GN (12:02):
Was your father asked to be on it?
WRE (12:04):
No. [Laughter]
GN (12:05):
They didn’t want a banker?
WRE (12:06):
I can’t remember who else was on it. I remember we used to meet up in
Linus’ office in the top of Greystone. Unless you had asked me, I totally would have
forgotten that.
GN (12:23):
Well moving along…
WRE (12:25):
I would say that Cornelius… My contributions were minimal because it
was so like board meetings that I go to today where the CEO and the CFO seem to have it
all together and they just tell you what’s what.
GN (12:42):
Right. I’m not sure that’s true about the Marist board meetings but may be
true too. [Laughter] Moving on, you not only taught in the department. In time, you
would take a role, an administrative one, and become a Chair of the Department. How
long were you here before you became the Chair?
WRE (13:04):
Oh, about… Well, I can tell you when I became Chair. I became Chair
in 1976.
GN (13:09):
Okay.
WRE (13:10):
And Dan Kirk had asked me if I would do that and I was happy for…
GN (13:20):
But by that time, some great strides had been made. The Master’s Program
was already in place, wasn’t it?
WRE (13:24):
Exactly, Dan had developed the concept and did all of the groundwork
for the introduction of the Master’s Program in Psychology, more specifically in
Interviewee: William Eidle July 18, 2002
Interviewer: Gus Nolan MHP
10
Community Psychology. And both the Master’s in Community Psychology and Master’s
in Business opened at the same time in 1972.
GN (13:57):
Okay, and then during these years there’s a gradual transformation in the
development of the college. They’re going from a sixty-sixty to a core, which requires
more and more students to balance out their program, so the need for more teachers
becomes dominant in Psychology as well?
WRE (14:14):
Exactly. There was a gradual increase in the faculty in Psychology.
Back in the late sixties, early seventies, I can’t be exactly sure of the dates, we added a
couple faculty spots and they included Dr. John Scileppi and Dr. Midge Schratz. And
they were in the department for a period of time and then we expanded further, you
know, in the city. Dr. Royce White came on board.
GN (14:56):
Dr. Linda… The name escapes me. Oh Linda.
WRE (15:02):
Linda Dunlap?
GN (15:03):
Dunlap.
WRE (15:05):
Oh, she came, well she came a fair amount later. She would’ve been
after I was Chair so it would’ve been after ’76. Oh yes, I think Linda Dunlap came just
about the time that Dennis Murray became President. I believe he became President
around…
GN (15:28):
‘78
WRE (15:31):
’81. And so Linda Dunlap came about that period of time.
GN (15:37):
Okay.
WRE (15:38):
And Joe Canale came in that same time frame.
Interviewee: William Eidle July 18, 2002
Interviewer: Gus Nolan MHP
11
GN (15:41):
Okay, in your relieving Dan Kirk as the Chair, what were the new elements
and objectives that you saw coming into the department? Was there to be more of a
focus in one direction or another? Were you staying with the Community Psychology as
an application for most students to be involved in…?
WRE (16:08):
No, well what happened at that point and actually the reason for that
change was Dan Kirk went on a sabbatical and it was on that sabbatical that he built his
house up here on the Marist campus
GN (16:19):
Yes.
WRE (16:22) :
[Laughter] And in those early days, you know, the program, the
Master’s Program was doing fairly well and there was, let’s face it, there was a not a
unanimity on campus about the value of having a Master’s Program at all. So, we were
constantly, had our feet to the fire to have the enrollments of a number of justified
existance of the program. And at that point in time, Lou Zuccarello was the dean and he
was constantly after me, we had to do something. And so, we came up with this notion
of a five-year program in which we could have the combination of a Bachelor’s and a
Master’s Degree within a five-year time span. I developed that program and actually I
was happy to do so. I thought it was a really great idea and it took long, a little bit. One
of my big problems was selling it to the Admissions office. The Admissions office said,
“We don’t want this. Nobody wants to hear about a Master’s Program when they’re
applying for a Bachelor’s Degree.” And after it’s Jim Daly, who just simply did not want
to hear about the…
GN (17:58):
The combination of them both, yea.
Interviewee: William Eidle July 18, 2002
Interviewer: Gus Nolan MHP
12
WRE (18:00):
The combined program. The MA, we used to call it the MA program.
Fascinating that in time, over a period of a decade, that became the biggest draw on the
Marist campus to the point that the Admissions office is saying, “We’re going to have to
cap this. We have too many applicants for this program.” [Laughter] So, I just chuckled
to myself, “Ah ha!”
GN (18:29):
Yes, yes. Things turn around, don’t they?
WRE (18:33):
Yes.
GN (18:34):
While you were the Chair, you also thought it wise to continue with one of
the traditions at Marist, handing you with the Teacher Ed program and you brought that
in under the direction and the wings as it were of Psychology. What moved you to do
that?
WRE (18:52):
Well, actually the Teacher Ed really stayed with… was with Psychology,
I believe, while Dan Kirk was still Chair. And I think the initial arrangements had been
made when he was still Chair and then I carried it forward. And because there was an
interest in… I should back up. There had always been an association between Teacher
Ed and Psychology because the Teacher Ed program at Marist had, was running
conjointly with Mount Saint Mary and it was a Special Ed program. And that was in
place, I believe, even when I first came to Marist College because a number of our
students were students who regularly, every week we’d go down to Mount Saint Mary to
take their Teacher Ed courses down there. In time, that program became increasingly
popular but it was also a time when all colleges were struggling to maintain their
enrollments. And Mount Saint Mary got the idea that well, look at all these students
we’re bringing down here from Marist. What if we closed down this program, then all
Interviewee: William Eidle July 18, 2002
Interviewer: Gus Nolan MHP
13
those students would come here instead of going to Marist. Well, we said “Well, we
don’t like that very much so we’re going to sever this relationship with Mount Saint
Mary” and we developed a relationship with Vassar College. So, we ended up having a
really terrific [program] for about a four-year period, Psych Special Ed program
sponsored conjointly by Marist College and Vassar College and indeed, Gus, as you
know, it was your wife Liz Nolan, who was Chair of the Teacher Ed program at that
point and we had hired a new faculty person by the name of Jan Stivers. And Liz and Jan
and I would meet regularly with the faculty administrators at the Vassar program, and the
Vassar Teacher Ed programs were all relatively small and put that program together. The
folks from Albany came down on several occasions to oversee this venture and
eventually approved it and it turned out to be very, very successful. So successful on the
Marist side that there were many, many more Marist students in that program than there
were Vassar students.
GN (21:54):
Once again, our break is right. [Laughter]
WRE (21:57):
And so, Vassar wanted to keep the program but they wanted us to cap it
at twenty-two majors. And the administration at Marist College, knowing what a vital
program it was and how the numbers were going off the charts, said “No, we’re not going
to cap something that is so popular.” So, we petitioned the State Ed Department and got
permission to carry the program on our own. And again, the rest is history. That
program was bringing in more majors every year than any other major in the college.
GN (22:36):
Yea and I think it’s significant to note that the college originally started as a
normal school for training teachers and I think I know [one global] is known is certainly
grateful for your encouraging and taking a stand that Psychology would house the
Interviewee: William Eidle July 18, 2002
Interviewer: Gus Nolan MHP
14
program. Since it didn’t have this particular academic home, each of the majors becomes
the source of where the students would get their requirements to complete their Degree.
Looking back, would you indicate any particular problem of sort that was happening as a
result? I think you really touched on it here, but other than that, in the field of
Psychology and faculty and developing, were there features that you saw that were
somewhat, you know, meddlesome that you had to work out?
WRE (23:43):
Oh, we were never without our challenges. [Laughter]
GN (23:50):
You’re always…
WRE (23:52):
Always the pressure to keep the numbers up of course and we did a good
job of that. Actually, Dan Kirk, going back, after he stepped down his Chair, he really…
He retained his position as director of the Master’s Program and he was interested in
seeing the Master’s Program develop into a Doctoral program in Psychology. Not a
Ph.D. program but a Psy.D. program in Psychology. And so we spent a great deal of time
and energy doing some of the state work to get that program off the ground. The college
faculty, nor the administration for that matter, were enthusiastic about this. It was an
uphill battle from the get-go. There was a person in Albany who was the head of the
licensing here for Psychology in Albany. Interesting that we had to work initially
through her, it was Judy Hall. Before going to State Ed per say, Judy Hall, in and of
herself was quite a challenge and she was not encouraging at all. I do remember about, it
was the time of a Middle States visit and because this program was on the table, the State
Ed came at the same time as the…
GN (25:40):
Middle States people.
Interviewee: William Eidle July 18, 2002
Interviewer: Gus Nolan MHP
15
WRE (25:41):
Middle States people. And Judy Hall sent down a gal by the name of her
assistant, Rita Madrasa Peterson and Rita Madrasa Peterson went back to Albany and the
report came, “You are not ready to have a Doctoral program” and furthermore the Middle
States document encouraged us not to pursue a Doctoral program. I have to admit I was
relieved. [Laughter]
GN (26:11):
Yea.
WRE (26:13):
Dan on the other hand, was very, very disappointed. Part of the problem
was our Master’s programs we had gotten off the ground with the understanding that as
need arose for new faculty, we would hire new faculty for the regulations for Doctoral
programs said you had to have all the faculty and all the resources in place before you
open the door. The college was not in position to do that. So, the next best thing was to
expand out Master’s Degree offerings and so given that we had a Master’s in Psychology
and we weren’t calling it Community Psychology by that point, and we were just calling
it a Master’s in Psychology, with an emphasis in Counseling. We had that in place, we
had the Teacher Ed program so we decided to combine the two and do our Master’s in Ed
Psych and the Master’s in Ed Psych served to fulfill the Master’s requirement for getting
one’s permanent certification in Teacher Ed and as a teacher in New York state at that
point in time. Brother Jim Kearney came on board at that point. Liz Nolan was still the
director of the Teacher Ed but Jim Kearney who had…
GN (27:54):
The former Superintendent of schools.
WRE (27:57):
Who had stepped down and had recently stepped down as the
superintendent of schools for the Archdiocese in New York came… And he was also on
the Board at Marist College… Came and I was really grateful for his presence here for
Interviewee: William Eidle July 18, 2002
Interviewer: Gus Nolan MHP
16
that period of time. It’s a couple years. And he was the initial director of that Master’s in
Ed Psych and he got the State Ed people to put in writing that that program counted…
Counting was a very big thing… Counted for the permanent certification. And many
times we had to refer to that letter. But nonetheless…
GN (28:41):
It was there.
WRE (28:42):
It was there.
GN (28:44):
Tell me about another strategy that you developed in order to be able to
entice teachers in the area to take student teachers which was a requirement also, was
there a way in which you were able to offer them something?
WRE (29:00):
Well, there were… Initially it was just the teachers who were eligible to
take courses.
GN (29:08):
They could take courses here?
WRE (29:10):
They could take courses here at Marist. Initially, it was undergraduate
courses and of course it became clear that the likes of that many teachers who wanted to
take undergraduate courses so then it got expanded to graduate courses but they had to
pay a small portion of the tuition. I think they had to pay a quarter of the tuition just to
assure that they were serious students.
GN (29:35):
Serious students.
WRE (29:38):
Then however, given that we had the two Master’s programs, one in
Psychology with an emphasis in Counseling and Master’s in Ed Psych, we went a step
further and built upon those two and developed the Master’s in the School of Psychology.
And that was really
pièce de résistance
in my perspective. That was just an incredible
program but it was built… At all, every step of the way, we built on what we had.
Interviewee: William Eidle July 18, 2002
Interviewer: Gus Nolan MHP
17
GN (30:11):
What I do want to ask you now though is talking about the development of
Marist academically in terms of you know, your first coming here and what was in place
and then when you retired as the dean in the school where we were? The whole going
from the core to division to school. Did you see this as a natural flaw in development or
was it…?
WRE (30:34):
Absolutely. Everything… I think our strength was always in that we
built on our strength. And we were always, as I kind of mentioned earlier, in that
situation where we’re able to make our new hires as the need, as the number of students
increased, as the number of course offerings increased. Unfortunately, I think we had far
too many adjunct faculty but that was the way it was in many institutions across the land.
But we were very, very dependent upon a core, an outstanding adjunct faculty, they really
were. They would teach year after year of the same courses. They used to get excellent
student evaluations. But we were, there’s little question that even though our full-time
faculty had expanded extraordinarily, we also had… Well, by the time I left we had over
one hundred adjunct faculty.
GN (31:37):
Just in Psychology?
WRE (31:39):
In the School of Social and Behavioral Sciences.
GN (31:41):
Yea, yea.
WRE (31:42):
With a substantial portion of them being in the Psychology programs.
GN (31:48):
Alright, tell me about the physical development at Marist. As you look
around now, when you came there was one building if that? Was Donnelly constructed?
Were you working out of Donnelly?
Interviewee: William Eidle July 18, 2002
Interviewer: Gus Nolan MHP
18
WRE (31:57):
My first office was in Donnelly. And then yes, I said that the outset here,
I knew little about Marist College and so even seeing the Donnelly structure when I came
here, it was the first time I’ve ever seen it even though I was in here, Poughkeepsie. And
at that point, they were completing the building of Champagnat.
GN (32:26):
The other two dorms were up? Sheahan was up and Leo was up?
WRE (32:29):
Sheahan and Leo were up. I think they were finishing Champagnat.
Adrian Building was there. In fact, we used to have faculty meetings in the Adrian
Building, I remember that rather well. My own office, psychology was housed in the
middle of the corridor in the lower Donnelly… No windows. We moved from there to
the end of the corridor in lower Donnelly, still no windows, and I was there for many
years until we moved to the new Dyson building on the third floor with windows, big
windows and Hudson River views. Jack Kelly never quite got over the fact that I got
those Hudson River views.
GN (33:21):
He had a view of Route 9 I believe for years.
WRE (33:33):
Right and I said, “Jack, that’s because you were so hell-bent that you
were going to be down there at the door on the first floor. You didn’t think to kind of use
your other half of that third floor.” [Laughter]
GN (33:37):
Alright, besides the buildings and the academic aspects of the core
development, let’s turn a little bit to another important feature, mainly the students at
Marist. Would you comment on the student body in a contrasting way or is it again, a
natural development? The students that you first experienced and the students that would
be at Marist today? Do you see a major difference, well versus female, and then…?
Interviewee: William Eidle July 18, 2002
Interviewer: Gus Nolan MHP
19
WRE (34:05):
Well, of course initially, the student population when I came in ’65, it
was totally male and then about 1968, certainly without a lot of committee meetings,
[Laughter] the College went co-ed and…
GN (34:28):
By night school first though. We allowed women into the night school.
WRE (34:30):
This is true, this is true. And became non-sectarian. Then indeed we did
have some women and initially, particularly in that Teacher Ed program. There was a
real, what I would consider, a real communal spirit at Marist College in those earlier
days, much more so than at the time that I retired.
GN (35:08):
Well, you in those days, didn’t you… People make it a point to have a
community room for your majors who are… For Psych people?
WRE (35:16):
Yea, that’s true. That’s interesting and I do remember that. Down there
in lower Donnelly we had…
GN (35:24):
No windows. [Laughter]
WRE (35:26):
No windows but…
GN (35:27):
A coffee machine.
WRE (35:28):
We did have a room set aside as the faculty, excuse me, the student
lounge. Actually, it was the faculty/student lounge and just to use that term was grating
on faculty and students from other areas who did not have such a facility. But it was…
Again, that was one of the things that Dan Kirk introduced and it was in the name of the
graduate program, so it was another perk that their grad program seemed to acquire that
people who did not have grad programs didn’t have. But nonetheless, it certainly… And
not only did it contribute to a sense of camaraderie among faculty and students but it also
facilitated that social and economic interrelationship between the undergrad and the grad
Interviewee: William Eidle July 18, 2002
Interviewer: Gus Nolan MHP
20
students, which we found to be very, very helpful and it was an excellent environment in
which to build those combination of the BA, MA programs.
GN (36:37):
Could you expect the same from the students today academically as you
required in those days? Would they be able to do the same amount of work or will they
do better work now?
WRE (36:49):
It’s a tough question. Initially I want to say, no, no, no that they were
much better then and much more dedicated then. On the other hand, let’s face it, the
environment has changed significantly with the advent, availability of the computers, the
internet with the focus on discussion in classroom and things of that sort as opposed to a
more traditional lecture kind of a class. So, there’s certainly an evolution or change in
the way faculty conducted their classes. Perhaps an attempt to focus student learning
much more in the sense that students could become more participant in what they’re
learning rather than just take the notes instead of that.
GN (37:54):
In each semester did you always teach? Was teaching one of the things you
wanted to do?
WRE (38:00):
I always taught up until… Probably the last five years I was here I didn’t
teach. My administrative responsibilities were just too great.
GN (38:11):
And by that time you were the dean of the school.
WRE (38:14):
I was the dean of the school of Social and Behavioral Sciences, yea.
GN (38:16):
Okay.
WRE (38:17):
But probably maybe the last four years I didn’t teach and then prior to
that I taught one course and it was… It was not an undergraduate course, it was a
graduate course. So, my undergraduate teaching probably ceased about, oh gosh…
Interviewee: William Eidle July 18, 2002
Interviewer: Gus Nolan MHP
21
GN (38:42):
A long time ago?
WRE (38:44):
Ten, fifteen years before I retired.
GN (38:48):
You worked under the two presidents I believe, President Foy and
President Murray?
WRE (38:52):
Yes.
GN (38:53):
Okay, could you make some comments about the… Just the interaction
with working with each man as the president of the college.
WRE (39:03):
Yea, I could and I would also add that I was hired under acting president,
Ed Cashin.
GN (39:09):
Oh.
WRE (39:10):
And I very, very much admired Ed Cashin. I liked him a lot. And I can
remember at a faculty meeting when I was first here and there was talk about… It was
over in Adrian and there was talk about developing a new nursing program in
combination with St. Francis Hospital and this was… Sister Ann Elizabeth was coming
down to talk to the faculty about it. But Brother Cashin was in charge of this thing here
at Marist at that point because he was the acting president and he kept saying to the
faculty, “We will do what you want. This is your college.” Those words astounded me.
I was really taken in by them. Perhaps taken in more than I should have been [Laughter]
but it was a language that I thought typified the Marist College that I had joined, become
a new faculty member in, and the sense was “We are giving you the responsibility to
create this place.” Having said that, I don’t know that subsequent administrations always
felt exactly that way.
Interviewee: William Eidle July 18, 2002
Interviewer: Gus Nolan MHP
22
GN (40:41):
Well even in that point of the nurses, I think the administration would like
to have seen a positive vote to accept them but the faculty…
WRE (40:50):
Said no.
GN (40:51):
And it was no.
WRE (40:52):
It went down.
GN (40:53):
Yea.
WRE (40:54):
At any rate then of course, Linus came back from his sabbatical and I
very, very much enjoyed working with Linus. I remember being Chair at the time the
college was experiencing some serious financial difficulties and not only the Marist
College but colleges again, across the nation were. And there was a question as to
whether or not we were going to have to declare financial exigency and that’s something
we didn’t want to do. But we were in a meeting and we were just about to make the
decision that yes and Linus was sitting next to me, “We’re going to have to do this,
declare financial exigency.” When the word came in of the, oh I can’t remember the big
grant…
GN (41:54):
Title III?
WRE (41:55):
Title III. The big Title III grant came in and that saved the day. When
the word came we were getting Title III, it became clear we were not going to have to
declare financial exigency.
GN (42:09):
So, it was a close call, was it not?
WRE (42:11):
It was a very close call and there were some very interesting programs
that developed out of that Title III.
Interviewee: William Eidle July 18, 2002
Interviewer: Gus Nolan MHP
23
GN (42:18)
Right. Speak about your experience with Dennis Murray as a leader of the
college and a…
WRE (42:26):
He was a very different leader than Linus Foy. I think Linus had a little
more casual approach to Dennis, not that he was any less serious or any of that sort of
thing. There’s a certain kind of difference. I think Dennis…
GN (42:52):
He’s more formal?
WRE (42:54):
Well, yea. Dennis was much more formal…
GN (42:56):
Public relation conscious?
WRE (42:58):
Much more focused on public relations and perhaps although the college
grew exceptionally well under the more casual leadership of Linus Foy, perhaps at the
time that Dennis Murray became president, it was also the right time that the college if it
was to move onward needed the kind of leadership, more formal type of leadership that
Dennis has provided. And certainly, all we had to do was look around in terms of the
buildings that were going up around us, that whatever Dennis was doing was a very, very
good thing.
GN (43:44):
Okay, rather than focusing more on the presidents, you’ve also dealt with
vice-presidents and I’ll mention some of them, Dr. LaPietra, Zuccarello, Molloy, van der
Hayden, Artin. Which of these steps out as a more… Well, your experiences with them
and as a dean of the department and as the director really of to whom you reported. Were
they encouraging, challenging?
WRE (44:16):
Every one of them was a major thorn in one’s side. [Laughter]
Richard…
GN (44:23):
We can of course, can edit this tape you know. [Laughter]
Interviewee: William Eidle July 18, 2002
Interviewer: Gus Nolan MHP
24
WRE (44:27):
Richard was… Of course I knew Richard from the very beginning but I
didn’t work that closely with him as dean, just perhaps a year or two. When Lou
Zuccarello came on, I worked very, very closely with Lou. And Lou was always, “Gotta
watch those numbers.” He was a numbers man and he was going to see if that Master’s
Program go out of business and I was held then for election that that Master’s Program
was not going to go out of business. And of course, the five-year program merged out of
those difficulties I used to have with Lou.
GN (45:13):
Andrew Molloy?
WRE (45:15):
Andrew Molloy was excellent. He was very, very supportive. I thought
he was exceptionally supportive of our programs. Perhaps of all the deans that I worked
with, I might have valued Andrew exceptionally.
GN (45:37):
Did van der Hayden give you a hard time? [Laughter]
WRE (45:40):
van der Hayden gave me a hard time but I always gave him a hard time.
[Laughter] We always got along well. He could infuriate me, I’m positive that I could
infuriate him but when all is said and done we got it together and indeed Marc van der
Hayden was exceptionally encouraging of the Master’s in Ed Psych and the Master’s at
School of Psych and the joint Psych Teacher Ed program. He was very, very supportive
of those and for that I am grateful. I used to take it… It got a lot of flack from Marc van
der Hayden more for some of the other programs that were in School of Social and
Behavioral Sciences. I mean, thus far this interview sounds like it was just Psychology
and Teacher Ed but we also had a very excellent program in Criminal Justice and
program in Social Work.
GN (46:42):
Right.
Interviewee: William Eidle July 18, 2002
Interviewer: Gus Nolan MHP
25
WRE (46: 44):
And those numbers used to lack and there we had to work very, very
hard and indeed the social work program not only… It was an excellent program but it
was… carried a national certification, CSWE certification and we had to do a lot of
things to keep that certification that cost money and there in we’d erupt. [Laughter]
GN (47:17):
Tell me now from your perspective, what would you have wished to
happen that didn’t happen, in your terms here? Are there… Would the Nursing program
been the key one or is there more majors or how do you feel about the Doctoral program
now? Any of these things come to mind?
WRE (47:41):
Well when I retired I was kind of like, people were saying “Well, why
are you retiring?” and my sense was you know, “Get out while they’re still flapping.”
[Laughter] We had done very, very well. I mean, we had very excellent enrollments. We
had three terrific graduate programs. All of the undergraduate programs were doing very
well. The Criminal Justice program had grown and we were at a point in time when there
was a great demand for criminal justice. There was a point in time when the Social Work
program was growing. So, things were doing very, very well. I have to admit I
personally was never convinced we shouldn’t move to the Doctoral program and the
reason for that was that I knew the kind of resources the college was going to have to
expend in order to make that happen. I could also… I also knew that Doctoral programs
did not make money, that indeed, many Doctoral students went tuition free. Given what I
knew to be the history of Marist College and how Marist College did business and
developed…
GN (49:04):
It’s not an area to go.
Interviewee: William Eidle July 18, 2002
Interviewer: Gus Nolan MHP
26
WRE (49:06):
That’s wasn’t part of the deal so I was satisfied that we had done what we
had done. I… During that period of time also, I was responsible for having developed an
office that till… Well, up until... I’m not exactly sure if it was Dennis at the moment who
was in it. But Beth Teed was the officer of Community Research, which is something
that we developed as a resource source for Psychology and could have been any of the
other majors in the School of Social and Behavioral Sciences but it was primarily
Psychology, in the community and our initial work was with United Way. That really
developed and I would have liked to have seen that develop more. I don’t think the
college was willing to put the resources at its disposal that that would have been needed.
Tony O’Brien and I, Tony was associated with the school development and he was
involved in bringing in entrepreneurial programs and I think between Tony and myself
and Beth, we could have done some very good stuff but it would have required some…
GN (50:42):
Financial commitments.
WRE (50:43):
Financial commitments and you know, the college wasn’t open to doing
that at that point.
GN (50:52):
Okay, what do you anticipate for the future? What do you think the college
has going for it or against it as we get into this new century now? Do you think Marist is
crested or are there are more things to come? Are there directions that remain open for us
to take, distance education or should we stay with the knitting that we know, that is the
interpersonal kinds of things that we do here?
WRE (51:18):
Well, I must admit I’m a person who contrary to most of the other folks I
know who have retired from Marist College, have really been retired from Marist College
so I don’t remember which and I’m not exactly sure what the directions of some of the
Interviewee: William Eidle July 18, 2002
Interviewer: Gus Nolan MHP
27
programs are at this point in time. This I do know that Marist College is a place that
evolves. Initially it was by necessity and it’s become part of its essence at this point to be
an evolving place. It is, in a sense, an entrepreneurial place. It has always paid attention
to the market. It’s a tuition driven place in the name and so it’s going to constantly have
its feelers out for new kinds of opportunities that will both provide good programming for
the students and serve to keep the college alive and well and healthy. As you know Gus,
Marist is capitalized incredibly on the technological age and with our arrangements with
IBM and the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Library and god knows all the other associations
we had in that regard. I don’t know exactly where it’s going, as I said, because I’m not
here. I don’t have my ear to the ground…
GN (53:06):
Okay, but do you suspect… I mean, many times when you here, you heard
we were capping at 1,500, we’re capping at 2,000, we’re going to cap at 3,000.
WRE (53:13):
Right. Marist never capped.
GN (53:16):
Do you think it ever will? I mean, do you think…
WRE (53:18):
It’s not part of the… It’s not part of its nature. It will always try to
culminate…
GN (53:26):
Evolve?
WRE (53:27):
Accommodate in some fashion and in that accommodation, the evolution
continues.
GN (53:33):
Now you mentioned that you retired. What are you doing in your
retirement?
WRE (53:38):
Oh, I do lots of things. [Laughter]
GN (53:40):
Are you on boards yet? Are you still serving to the community?
Interviewee: William Eidle July 18, 2002
Interviewer: Gus Nolan MHP
28
WRE (53:43):
Oh, I’m on several boards. I’m on the Board of Cabrini Home of the
children’s portion and adult home portion. I’m on the developing committee for
Dialogue House
, which is Ira Progoff’s intensive journal organization. I am the
formation director for the secular Franciscans down at Mount Alvernia. What else do I
do...?
GN (54:23):
Do you donate to St. Mary’s? Do you read for them? [Laughter]
WRE (54:26):
Well I… I am interested in being a minister and elector of St. Mary’s in
Poughkeepsie but I’m Chair of the Site Committee at the condominium development
where I live, Springside, which is Matthew Vassar’s former summer estate of Matthew
Vassar and expensive park-plan type place and so usually before I have my foot out of
the bed in the morning, the phone is ringing and somebody complaining about something
[Laughter] I have to report. I have to admit I enjoy doing that.
GN (54:58):
Okay, on that point, is there anything I didn’t ask you that you’d like to
mention and how would you kind of put into summation statement what you didn’t know
about Marist. Was it a good ride? Do you feel it was a…?
WRE (55:12):
Yea, it was a very, very good ride and I was particularly fortunate in that
I had the opportunity to build a program. If I had a strength, my strength was in building
a program. I said that… I think there are some other people who might say that as well
and I liked building a program. And so, this array of programs that’s existed in the
School of Social and Behavioral Sciences at this point, I can take a lot of credit for
having seen and developed. And I had a good mentor, Dan Kirk was an excellent mentor
in the sense that he first of all, developed that undergrad psych major, encouraged the
bringing in the Teacher Ed and developed that initial Master’s program. But I’ll tell you,
Interviewee: William Eidle July 18, 2002
Interviewer: Gus Nolan MHP
29
I was on the… but he relied on me to redesign that initial Master’s program so that the
Master’s program in sight that’s in place as we speak is pretty much, I don’t want make it
sound like it hasn’t changed, there have been many changes but the gut format of it is the
one I put in place back around 1976. So, and not only people like Dan but all those vice-
presidents we mentioned before, they were clearly supportive in all these moves of the
development. They were encouraging they were supportive with everything but money.
[Laughter] So long as I could make it work and not cost the college anything, it was a go
and I thoroughly enjoyed that. That’s what I liked doing, I liked building the program.
GN (57:24):
Good, thank you very much Bill.
“END OF INTERVIEW”
Interviewer: Gus Nolan MHP
1
William Eidle
Marist College
Poughkeepsie, NY
Transcribed by Erin Kelly
For the Marist College Archives and Special Collections
Interviewee: William Eidle July 18, 2002
Interviewer: Gus Nolan MHP
2
Transcript: William Eidle
Interviewee:
Dr. William Reynolds Eidle
Interviewer:
Gus Nolan
Interview date:
18 July 2002
Location:
Marist Archives and Special Collections Reading Room
CD No.:
Topic:
Marist College History
Subject Headings:
Marist Brothers - United States - History
Marist College History
Marist College (Poughkeepsie, New York)
Marist College Social Aspects
Summary:
The following interview is with Dr. William Reynolds Eidle, who the former
Chair and Dean of the School of Social and Behavioral Sciences at Marist College. In
the beginning of the interview, Dr. William Eidle gives a brief summary of his
educational background as well as his initial acquaintance with Marist College through
Jack Dougherty and Brother Dan Kirk. Dr. William Eidle describes the creation of the
Psychology Department and his years as Chair and Dean of the School of Social and
Behavioral Sciences at Marist College, as well as the former joint Psych special Ed
program between Marist and Vassar Colleges. The interview ends with Dr. William
Eidle’s stance on what he wish would have happened with the College during his term as
well as where he believes the direction of the College lies in the future.
Interviewee: William Eidle July 18, 2002
Interviewer: Gus Nolan MHP
3
“BEGINNING OF INTERVIEW”
Gus Nolan (00:01):
Good afternoon. Today is Thursday July 18
th
. We’re interviewing
Dr. William Eidle, the former Chair and Dean of School of the Social Sciences,
particularly of Psychology. This project is part of the ongoing Archive project. We’re in
the Marist College Library, James Cannavino Library. It’s about 2:30 in the afternoon.
Good afternoon Bill.
Dr. William Reynolds Eidle (00:26):
Hello Gus. How are you doing?
GN (00:39):
Bill, for the records, could you give you give us your full name?
WRE (00:43):
William Reynolds Eidle.
GN (00:46):
Were you named after any member of the family?
WRE (00:49):
Boy, yes I was.
GN (00:50):
Would you tell us who? [Laughter]
WRE (54:00):
William is after my grandfather, William S. Eidle and the Reynolds was
my mother’s maiden name.
GN (01:04):
Where and when were you born?
WRE (01:06):
I was born here in Poughkeepsie, New York right up in St. Francis
Hospital on October 3
rd
, 1936.
GN (01:13):
Do you have any siblings, brothers and sisters?
WRE (01:16):
I have a brother, Ed. He’s four years younger than I am. He’s also
retired.
GN (01:25):
And your parents’ names and what did your father do?
WRE (01:28):
My father’s M., standing for Maurice but he never used it, Kevin Eidle.
And he retired many years ago as the executive vice-president of what is now The Bank
Interviewee: William Eidle July 18, 2002
Interviewer: Gus Nolan MHP
4
of New York here in Poughkeepsie. Started out as the Merchant’s National Bank and
became Dutchess Bank and is now The Bank of New York. My mother is Marie
Reynolds Eidle and she had been an early-age employee in the Dutchess County
government offices and that’s that.
GN (02:14):
Well, what about your early education? Where’d you go to grade school?
WRE (02:17):
I went to elementary school at Nativity School down on Lower Newman
Street which is the site where… It had been Health Shield, I don’t know what’s in there
now. The building still stands.
GN (02:30):
Now skipping ahead to later in life. When did you marry Nan?
WRE (02:33):
In 1961.
GN (02:37):
And you’ll tell us about the children and where they are now?
WRE (02:41):
We had three children. They didn’t all start at Marist but they all ended
up graduating from Marist. The oldest is thirty-nine, is a senior vice-president with Free
Bank Corporate in Boston. He’s married and has three children. And Paul… also in the
realm of Marist, got his Degree and Master’s Degree in Teaching and teaches carpentry
for the Suffolk County Boces down on Long Island. He’s married and has two children.
And our daughter, Kierstin, who not only went through Marist but was in the
combination undergraduate/Master’s Program in Psychology and then went on and got
her Doctorate in School Psychology, it’s near Albany. And is a school psychologist in
the Guilderland School District just outside of Albany. She’s married, no children yet.
GN (03:48):
Okay and about… Back to your own education, where did you do your
college and your graduate education?
WRE (03:55):
Well, let’s go from Nativity School to Poughkeepsie High School.
Interviewee: William Eidle July 18, 2002
Interviewer: Gus Nolan MHP
5
GN (03:58):
Well you had high school education too? [Laughter]
WRE (04:00):
Yea, yea. I went to Poughkeepsie High School and from there to
Fordham College. And at the time I was… I went off to medical school and once I got to
medical school, I decided I didn’t want to be there and went back to Fordham. Why did I
go back to Fordham? Because I decided I wanted to do graduate work in psychology and
I had never had an undergraduate psychology course and there were few places that
would take a person in graduate programs who have never had anything undergrad. But
my record at Fordham was very good and they very graciously accepted me so I could get
my Master’s and Doctorate there at Fordham.
GN (04:41):
Give us a year. When did you get your Doctorate?
WRE (04:44):
I completed the Doctorate, actually I completed everything in fall of ’65
but the Degree is January ’66.
GN (04:55):
Okay, and let’s come on to teaching at Marist. When did you start teaching
at Marist?
WRE (04:58):
Fall of ’65.
GN (04:59):
And how did that happen?
WRE (05:00):
Well, it was a very unusual happening because I was living and working
in New York City and the last place in the world I wanted to be was Poughkeepsie, New
York. And I was at that time going on to graduate school, working for Catholic Charities
and I continued to work there full-time. My dad who was mentioned earlier was at
Dutchess Bank and, which was also the bank of this place called Marist College, and I
had little knowledge of Marist College. I had been out of Poughkeepsie for years and
years and years and as far as I was concerned, there was that Brothers place with high
Interviewee: William Eidle July 18, 2002
Interviewer: Gus Nolan MHP
6
bushes up on Route 9 and that was the end of that. At any rate, my father was a good
friend of, oh God his name’s now escaping me, he was the DR here with…
GN (06:09):
Jack Dougherty.
WRE (06:10):
Jack Dougherty, very good friend of Jack Dougherty’s. And so one day
Jack Dougherty and Linus Foy were in the bank and my father was chatting with them
and I came up evidently in the conversation and next thing you know I get a call at my
home in New York saying, “You know up in Marist College, they need a psychologist
and Jack Dougherty and Linus Foy…” “But dad, I don’t really want… I never even
heard of Marist College. I don’t want to be in Poughkeepsie.” And a week or so later I
got a similar call, so alright, alright, the only thing to do here is get the call and I was
invited up for an interview, to which I was very late because we came up from New York
in the middle of a fierce snowstorm on the Taconic Parkway. At any rate, I met Dr. Dan
Kirk who was the Chair of the Psychology Department and we had a lovely conversation.
It was hardly an interview by the way we understand interviews today. It was more of a
conversation. It was very pleasant and we said goodbye and then we went back to New
York and I figured I had done my duty to satisfy my father. And I had some other plans
in mind and frankly never thought of Marist College again, expect for perhaps, I don’t
recall, a couple weeks later, my secretary in New York comes to my office door and says,
“There’s a Brother Kirk here to see you.” And I’m thinking who? “It’s Brother Kirk.”
And with that his face appears in the door and he says, “Well, are you coming up?”
[Laughter] And I said “What are you...?” And at any rate my thought was oh my gosh, if
they came all, if they bring their body all the way down to New York to invite me, I said
oh, this is something I should be considering more seriously than I have up to this point.
Interviewee: William Eidle July 18, 2002
Interviewer: Gus Nolan MHP
7
And there I was back up in Poughkeepsie in the summer of 1965, commuting on a regular
basis to New York to my job in New York until the fall semester began.
GN (08:44):
Now in the fall semester, who is on the staff at that time? Dan Kirk?
WRE (08:48):
In psychology?
GN (08:49):
In psychology.
WRE (08:50):
Dan Kirk was the Chair. Ed O’Keefe, who had been in my graduate
classes at Fordham did not at that point have his Doctorate. He was going part-time
because he had taken this full-time job at this place called Marist College. And they were
the only two psychologists but there was a guy by the name of Dr. David Miller, who was
the… He was associated with the Psychology Department by way of being the person
who was the psychological counselor on campus. So, he did all psychological
counseling. So, for several years, it was Kirk, O’Keefe, Eidle and Miller.
GN (09:38):
And how big was the student… Was there a major in Psychology at that
time?
WRE (09:45):
Yes. There was a major, it was very small. And indeed, up to that point,
courses in the main were taught by Dan Kirk and Ed O’Keefe. Ed O’Keefe’s training
was in Clinical Psychology, mine was more in Experimental Research Psychology. So,
Ed O’Keefe was delighted to see me arrive. That meant he didn’t have to teach the
Experimental courses anymore, [Laughter] which he despised. So, it was all a very
happy occasion.
GN (10:23):
Okay, let’s move along and talk about now some of your first assignments,
your teaching more in your field and what other things were you asked to do? Did you
Interviewee: William Eidle July 18, 2002
Interviewer: Gus Nolan MHP
8
do any committee work? Were you involved in other activities of the college in those
years?
WRE (10:38):
Well initially, I remember I had eight preps a year. [Laughter]
GN (10:46):
Eight preps a year?
WRE (10:48):
Eight preps a year which meant four different courses each semester.
GN (10:52):
Right.
WRE (10:53):
And they included of course, the Experimental Psychology courses and
the Physiological Psychology courses, which in those years we didn’t call Physiological
Psychology, it was Mind Body I and Mind Body II.
GN (11:08):
Was there a requirement that students had to Psychology for some reason to
keep you so busy?
WRE (11:16):
I believe students probably… I don’t know if, I really don’t remember
whether Intro to Psych was required. It might have been. If anything was required, it
would have been Intro to Psych.
GN (11:27):
Right.
WRE (11:28):
The other courses were of course primarily for majors although they
served also as electives for students in other majors.
GN (11:38):
What was the first committee you were on that you recall with joy?
[Laughter]
WRE (11:43) :
Oh, my lord. Oh, I think I was on the, yes, I remember now, I was on
the Finance Committee with Cornelius Russell…
GN (11:53):
This is a college financial committee?
WRE(11:54):
College Finance Committee with Cornelius Russell and Linus Foy and…
Interviewee: William Eidle July 18, 2002
Interviewer: Gus Nolan MHP
9
GN (12:02):
Was your father asked to be on it?
WRE (12:04):
No. [Laughter]
GN (12:05):
They didn’t want a banker?
WRE (12:06):
I can’t remember who else was on it. I remember we used to meet up in
Linus’ office in the top of Greystone. Unless you had asked me, I totally would have
forgotten that.
GN (12:23):
Well moving along…
WRE (12:25):
I would say that Cornelius… My contributions were minimal because it
was so like board meetings that I go to today where the CEO and the CFO seem to have it
all together and they just tell you what’s what.
GN (12:42):
Right. I’m not sure that’s true about the Marist board meetings but may be
true too. [Laughter] Moving on, you not only taught in the department. In time, you
would take a role, an administrative one, and become a Chair of the Department. How
long were you here before you became the Chair?
WRE (13:04):
Oh, about… Well, I can tell you when I became Chair. I became Chair
in 1976.
GN (13:09):
Okay.
WRE (13:10):
And Dan Kirk had asked me if I would do that and I was happy for…
GN (13:20):
But by that time, some great strides had been made. The Master’s Program
was already in place, wasn’t it?
WRE (13:24):
Exactly, Dan had developed the concept and did all of the groundwork
for the introduction of the Master’s Program in Psychology, more specifically in
Interviewee: William Eidle July 18, 2002
Interviewer: Gus Nolan MHP
10
Community Psychology. And both the Master’s in Community Psychology and Master’s
in Business opened at the same time in 1972.
GN (13:57):
Okay, and then during these years there’s a gradual transformation in the
development of the college. They’re going from a sixty-sixty to a core, which requires
more and more students to balance out their program, so the need for more teachers
becomes dominant in Psychology as well?
WRE (14:14):
Exactly. There was a gradual increase in the faculty in Psychology.
Back in the late sixties, early seventies, I can’t be exactly sure of the dates, we added a
couple faculty spots and they included Dr. John Scileppi and Dr. Midge Schratz. And
they were in the department for a period of time and then we expanded further, you
know, in the city. Dr. Royce White came on board.
GN (14:56):
Dr. Linda… The name escapes me. Oh Linda.
WRE (15:02):
Linda Dunlap?
GN (15:03):
Dunlap.
WRE (15:05):
Oh, she came, well she came a fair amount later. She would’ve been
after I was Chair so it would’ve been after ’76. Oh yes, I think Linda Dunlap came just
about the time that Dennis Murray became President. I believe he became President
around…
GN (15:28):
‘78
WRE (15:31):
’81. And so Linda Dunlap came about that period of time.
GN (15:37):
Okay.
WRE (15:38):
And Joe Canale came in that same time frame.
Interviewee: William Eidle July 18, 2002
Interviewer: Gus Nolan MHP
11
GN (15:41):
Okay, in your relieving Dan Kirk as the Chair, what were the new elements
and objectives that you saw coming into the department? Was there to be more of a
focus in one direction or another? Were you staying with the Community Psychology as
an application for most students to be involved in…?
WRE (16:08):
No, well what happened at that point and actually the reason for that
change was Dan Kirk went on a sabbatical and it was on that sabbatical that he built his
house up here on the Marist campus
GN (16:19):
Yes.
WRE (16:22) :
[Laughter] And in those early days, you know, the program, the
Master’s Program was doing fairly well and there was, let’s face it, there was a not a
unanimity on campus about the value of having a Master’s Program at all. So, we were
constantly, had our feet to the fire to have the enrollments of a number of justified
existance of the program. And at that point in time, Lou Zuccarello was the dean and he
was constantly after me, we had to do something. And so, we came up with this notion
of a five-year program in which we could have the combination of a Bachelor’s and a
Master’s Degree within a five-year time span. I developed that program and actually I
was happy to do so. I thought it was a really great idea and it took long, a little bit. One
of my big problems was selling it to the Admissions office. The Admissions office said,
“We don’t want this. Nobody wants to hear about a Master’s Program when they’re
applying for a Bachelor’s Degree.” And after it’s Jim Daly, who just simply did not want
to hear about the…
GN (17:58):
The combination of them both, yea.
Interviewee: William Eidle July 18, 2002
Interviewer: Gus Nolan MHP
12
WRE (18:00):
The combined program. The MA, we used to call it the MA program.
Fascinating that in time, over a period of a decade, that became the biggest draw on the
Marist campus to the point that the Admissions office is saying, “We’re going to have to
cap this. We have too many applicants for this program.” [Laughter] So, I just chuckled
to myself, “Ah ha!”
GN (18:29):
Yes, yes. Things turn around, don’t they?
WRE (18:33):
Yes.
GN (18:34):
While you were the Chair, you also thought it wise to continue with one of
the traditions at Marist, handing you with the Teacher Ed program and you brought that
in under the direction and the wings as it were of Psychology. What moved you to do
that?
WRE (18:52):
Well, actually the Teacher Ed really stayed with… was with Psychology,
I believe, while Dan Kirk was still Chair. And I think the initial arrangements had been
made when he was still Chair and then I carried it forward. And because there was an
interest in… I should back up. There had always been an association between Teacher
Ed and Psychology because the Teacher Ed program at Marist had, was running
conjointly with Mount Saint Mary and it was a Special Ed program. And that was in
place, I believe, even when I first came to Marist College because a number of our
students were students who regularly, every week we’d go down to Mount Saint Mary to
take their Teacher Ed courses down there. In time, that program became increasingly
popular but it was also a time when all colleges were struggling to maintain their
enrollments. And Mount Saint Mary got the idea that well, look at all these students
we’re bringing down here from Marist. What if we closed down this program, then all
Interviewee: William Eidle July 18, 2002
Interviewer: Gus Nolan MHP
13
those students would come here instead of going to Marist. Well, we said “Well, we
don’t like that very much so we’re going to sever this relationship with Mount Saint
Mary” and we developed a relationship with Vassar College. So, we ended up having a
really terrific [program] for about a four-year period, Psych Special Ed program
sponsored conjointly by Marist College and Vassar College and indeed, Gus, as you
know, it was your wife Liz Nolan, who was Chair of the Teacher Ed program at that
point and we had hired a new faculty person by the name of Jan Stivers. And Liz and Jan
and I would meet regularly with the faculty administrators at the Vassar program, and the
Vassar Teacher Ed programs were all relatively small and put that program together. The
folks from Albany came down on several occasions to oversee this venture and
eventually approved it and it turned out to be very, very successful. So successful on the
Marist side that there were many, many more Marist students in that program than there
were Vassar students.
GN (21:54):
Once again, our break is right. [Laughter]
WRE (21:57):
And so, Vassar wanted to keep the program but they wanted us to cap it
at twenty-two majors. And the administration at Marist College, knowing what a vital
program it was and how the numbers were going off the charts, said “No, we’re not going
to cap something that is so popular.” So, we petitioned the State Ed Department and got
permission to carry the program on our own. And again, the rest is history. That
program was bringing in more majors every year than any other major in the college.
GN (22:36):
Yea and I think it’s significant to note that the college originally started as a
normal school for training teachers and I think I know [one global] is known is certainly
grateful for your encouraging and taking a stand that Psychology would house the
Interviewee: William Eidle July 18, 2002
Interviewer: Gus Nolan MHP
14
program. Since it didn’t have this particular academic home, each of the majors becomes
the source of where the students would get their requirements to complete their Degree.
Looking back, would you indicate any particular problem of sort that was happening as a
result? I think you really touched on it here, but other than that, in the field of
Psychology and faculty and developing, were there features that you saw that were
somewhat, you know, meddlesome that you had to work out?
WRE (23:43):
Oh, we were never without our challenges. [Laughter]
GN (23:50):
You’re always…
WRE (23:52):
Always the pressure to keep the numbers up of course and we did a good
job of that. Actually, Dan Kirk, going back, after he stepped down his Chair, he really…
He retained his position as director of the Master’s Program and he was interested in
seeing the Master’s Program develop into a Doctoral program in Psychology. Not a
Ph.D. program but a Psy.D. program in Psychology. And so we spent a great deal of time
and energy doing some of the state work to get that program off the ground. The college
faculty, nor the administration for that matter, were enthusiastic about this. It was an
uphill battle from the get-go. There was a person in Albany who was the head of the
licensing here for Psychology in Albany. Interesting that we had to work initially
through her, it was Judy Hall. Before going to State Ed per say, Judy Hall, in and of
herself was quite a challenge and she was not encouraging at all. I do remember about, it
was the time of a Middle States visit and because this program was on the table, the State
Ed came at the same time as the…
GN (25:40):
Middle States people.
Interviewee: William Eidle July 18, 2002
Interviewer: Gus Nolan MHP
15
WRE (25:41):
Middle States people. And Judy Hall sent down a gal by the name of her
assistant, Rita Madrasa Peterson and Rita Madrasa Peterson went back to Albany and the
report came, “You are not ready to have a Doctoral program” and furthermore the Middle
States document encouraged us not to pursue a Doctoral program. I have to admit I was
relieved. [Laughter]
GN (26:11):
Yea.
WRE (26:13):
Dan on the other hand, was very, very disappointed. Part of the problem
was our Master’s programs we had gotten off the ground with the understanding that as
need arose for new faculty, we would hire new faculty for the regulations for Doctoral
programs said you had to have all the faculty and all the resources in place before you
open the door. The college was not in position to do that. So, the next best thing was to
expand out Master’s Degree offerings and so given that we had a Master’s in Psychology
and we weren’t calling it Community Psychology by that point, and we were just calling
it a Master’s in Psychology, with an emphasis in Counseling. We had that in place, we
had the Teacher Ed program so we decided to combine the two and do our Master’s in Ed
Psych and the Master’s in Ed Psych served to fulfill the Master’s requirement for getting
one’s permanent certification in Teacher Ed and as a teacher in New York state at that
point in time. Brother Jim Kearney came on board at that point. Liz Nolan was still the
director of the Teacher Ed but Jim Kearney who had…
GN (27:54):
The former Superintendent of schools.
WRE (27:57):
Who had stepped down and had recently stepped down as the
superintendent of schools for the Archdiocese in New York came… And he was also on
the Board at Marist College… Came and I was really grateful for his presence here for
Interviewee: William Eidle July 18, 2002
Interviewer: Gus Nolan MHP
16
that period of time. It’s a couple years. And he was the initial director of that Master’s in
Ed Psych and he got the State Ed people to put in writing that that program counted…
Counting was a very big thing… Counted for the permanent certification. And many
times we had to refer to that letter. But nonetheless…
GN (28:41):
It was there.
WRE (28:42):
It was there.
GN (28:44):
Tell me about another strategy that you developed in order to be able to
entice teachers in the area to take student teachers which was a requirement also, was
there a way in which you were able to offer them something?
WRE (29:00):
Well, there were… Initially it was just the teachers who were eligible to
take courses.
GN (29:08):
They could take courses here?
WRE (29:10):
They could take courses here at Marist. Initially, it was undergraduate
courses and of course it became clear that the likes of that many teachers who wanted to
take undergraduate courses so then it got expanded to graduate courses but they had to
pay a small portion of the tuition. I think they had to pay a quarter of the tuition just to
assure that they were serious students.
GN (29:35):
Serious students.
WRE (29:38):
Then however, given that we had the two Master’s programs, one in
Psychology with an emphasis in Counseling and Master’s in Ed Psych, we went a step
further and built upon those two and developed the Master’s in the School of Psychology.
And that was really
pièce de résistance
in my perspective. That was just an incredible
program but it was built… At all, every step of the way, we built on what we had.
Interviewee: William Eidle July 18, 2002
Interviewer: Gus Nolan MHP
17
GN (30:11):
What I do want to ask you now though is talking about the development of
Marist academically in terms of you know, your first coming here and what was in place
and then when you retired as the dean in the school where we were? The whole going
from the core to division to school. Did you see this as a natural flaw in development or
was it…?
WRE (30:34):
Absolutely. Everything… I think our strength was always in that we
built on our strength. And we were always, as I kind of mentioned earlier, in that
situation where we’re able to make our new hires as the need, as the number of students
increased, as the number of course offerings increased. Unfortunately, I think we had far
too many adjunct faculty but that was the way it was in many institutions across the land.
But we were very, very dependent upon a core, an outstanding adjunct faculty, they really
were. They would teach year after year of the same courses. They used to get excellent
student evaluations. But we were, there’s little question that even though our full-time
faculty had expanded extraordinarily, we also had… Well, by the time I left we had over
one hundred adjunct faculty.
GN (31:37):
Just in Psychology?
WRE (31:39):
In the School of Social and Behavioral Sciences.
GN (31:41):
Yea, yea.
WRE (31:42):
With a substantial portion of them being in the Psychology programs.
GN (31:48):
Alright, tell me about the physical development at Marist. As you look
around now, when you came there was one building if that? Was Donnelly constructed?
Were you working out of Donnelly?
Interviewee: William Eidle July 18, 2002
Interviewer: Gus Nolan MHP
18
WRE (31:57):
My first office was in Donnelly. And then yes, I said that the outset here,
I knew little about Marist College and so even seeing the Donnelly structure when I came
here, it was the first time I’ve ever seen it even though I was in here, Poughkeepsie. And
at that point, they were completing the building of Champagnat.
GN (32:26):
The other two dorms were up? Sheahan was up and Leo was up?
WRE (32:29):
Sheahan and Leo were up. I think they were finishing Champagnat.
Adrian Building was there. In fact, we used to have faculty meetings in the Adrian
Building, I remember that rather well. My own office, psychology was housed in the
middle of the corridor in the lower Donnelly… No windows. We moved from there to
the end of the corridor in lower Donnelly, still no windows, and I was there for many
years until we moved to the new Dyson building on the third floor with windows, big
windows and Hudson River views. Jack Kelly never quite got over the fact that I got
those Hudson River views.
GN (33:21):
He had a view of Route 9 I believe for years.
WRE (33:33):
Right and I said, “Jack, that’s because you were so hell-bent that you
were going to be down there at the door on the first floor. You didn’t think to kind of use
your other half of that third floor.” [Laughter]
GN (33:37):
Alright, besides the buildings and the academic aspects of the core
development, let’s turn a little bit to another important feature, mainly the students at
Marist. Would you comment on the student body in a contrasting way or is it again, a
natural development? The students that you first experienced and the students that would
be at Marist today? Do you see a major difference, well versus female, and then…?
Interviewee: William Eidle July 18, 2002
Interviewer: Gus Nolan MHP
19
WRE (34:05):
Well, of course initially, the student population when I came in ’65, it
was totally male and then about 1968, certainly without a lot of committee meetings,
[Laughter] the College went co-ed and…
GN (34:28):
By night school first though. We allowed women into the night school.
WRE (34:30):
This is true, this is true. And became non-sectarian. Then indeed we did
have some women and initially, particularly in that Teacher Ed program. There was a
real, what I would consider, a real communal spirit at Marist College in those earlier
days, much more so than at the time that I retired.
GN (35:08):
Well, you in those days, didn’t you… People make it a point to have a
community room for your majors who are… For Psych people?
WRE (35:16):
Yea, that’s true. That’s interesting and I do remember that. Down there
in lower Donnelly we had…
GN (35:24):
No windows. [Laughter]
WRE (35:26):
No windows but…
GN (35:27):
A coffee machine.
WRE (35:28):
We did have a room set aside as the faculty, excuse me, the student
lounge. Actually, it was the faculty/student lounge and just to use that term was grating
on faculty and students from other areas who did not have such a facility. But it was…
Again, that was one of the things that Dan Kirk introduced and it was in the name of the
graduate program, so it was another perk that their grad program seemed to acquire that
people who did not have grad programs didn’t have. But nonetheless, it certainly… And
not only did it contribute to a sense of camaraderie among faculty and students but it also
facilitated that social and economic interrelationship between the undergrad and the grad
Interviewee: William Eidle July 18, 2002
Interviewer: Gus Nolan MHP
20
students, which we found to be very, very helpful and it was an excellent environment in
which to build those combination of the BA, MA programs.
GN (36:37):
Could you expect the same from the students today academically as you
required in those days? Would they be able to do the same amount of work or will they
do better work now?
WRE (36:49):
It’s a tough question. Initially I want to say, no, no, no that they were
much better then and much more dedicated then. On the other hand, let’s face it, the
environment has changed significantly with the advent, availability of the computers, the
internet with the focus on discussion in classroom and things of that sort as opposed to a
more traditional lecture kind of a class. So, there’s certainly an evolution or change in
the way faculty conducted their classes. Perhaps an attempt to focus student learning
much more in the sense that students could become more participant in what they’re
learning rather than just take the notes instead of that.
GN (37:54):
In each semester did you always teach? Was teaching one of the things you
wanted to do?
WRE (38:00):
I always taught up until… Probably the last five years I was here I didn’t
teach. My administrative responsibilities were just too great.
GN (38:11):
And by that time you were the dean of the school.
WRE (38:14):
I was the dean of the school of Social and Behavioral Sciences, yea.
GN (38:16):
Okay.
WRE (38:17):
But probably maybe the last four years I didn’t teach and then prior to
that I taught one course and it was… It was not an undergraduate course, it was a
graduate course. So, my undergraduate teaching probably ceased about, oh gosh…
Interviewee: William Eidle July 18, 2002
Interviewer: Gus Nolan MHP
21
GN (38:42):
A long time ago?
WRE (38:44):
Ten, fifteen years before I retired.
GN (38:48):
You worked under the two presidents I believe, President Foy and
President Murray?
WRE (38:52):
Yes.
GN (38:53):
Okay, could you make some comments about the… Just the interaction
with working with each man as the president of the college.
WRE (39:03):
Yea, I could and I would also add that I was hired under acting president,
Ed Cashin.
GN (39:09):
Oh.
WRE (39:10):
And I very, very much admired Ed Cashin. I liked him a lot. And I can
remember at a faculty meeting when I was first here and there was talk about… It was
over in Adrian and there was talk about developing a new nursing program in
combination with St. Francis Hospital and this was… Sister Ann Elizabeth was coming
down to talk to the faculty about it. But Brother Cashin was in charge of this thing here
at Marist at that point because he was the acting president and he kept saying to the
faculty, “We will do what you want. This is your college.” Those words astounded me.
I was really taken in by them. Perhaps taken in more than I should have been [Laughter]
but it was a language that I thought typified the Marist College that I had joined, become
a new faculty member in, and the sense was “We are giving you the responsibility to
create this place.” Having said that, I don’t know that subsequent administrations always
felt exactly that way.
Interviewee: William Eidle July 18, 2002
Interviewer: Gus Nolan MHP
22
GN (40:41):
Well even in that point of the nurses, I think the administration would like
to have seen a positive vote to accept them but the faculty…
WRE (40:50):
Said no.
GN (40:51):
And it was no.
WRE (40:52):
It went down.
GN (40:53):
Yea.
WRE (40:54):
At any rate then of course, Linus came back from his sabbatical and I
very, very much enjoyed working with Linus. I remember being Chair at the time the
college was experiencing some serious financial difficulties and not only the Marist
College but colleges again, across the nation were. And there was a question as to
whether or not we were going to have to declare financial exigency and that’s something
we didn’t want to do. But we were in a meeting and we were just about to make the
decision that yes and Linus was sitting next to me, “We’re going to have to do this,
declare financial exigency.” When the word came in of the, oh I can’t remember the big
grant…
GN (41:54):
Title III?
WRE (41:55):
Title III. The big Title III grant came in and that saved the day. When
the word came we were getting Title III, it became clear we were not going to have to
declare financial exigency.
GN (42:09):
So, it was a close call, was it not?
WRE (42:11):
It was a very close call and there were some very interesting programs
that developed out of that Title III.
Interviewee: William Eidle July 18, 2002
Interviewer: Gus Nolan MHP
23
GN (42:18)
Right. Speak about your experience with Dennis Murray as a leader of the
college and a…
WRE (42:26):
He was a very different leader than Linus Foy. I think Linus had a little
more casual approach to Dennis, not that he was any less serious or any of that sort of
thing. There’s a certain kind of difference. I think Dennis…
GN (42:52):
He’s more formal?
WRE (42:54):
Well, yea. Dennis was much more formal…
GN (42:56):
Public relation conscious?
WRE (42:58):
Much more focused on public relations and perhaps although the college
grew exceptionally well under the more casual leadership of Linus Foy, perhaps at the
time that Dennis Murray became president, it was also the right time that the college if it
was to move onward needed the kind of leadership, more formal type of leadership that
Dennis has provided. And certainly, all we had to do was look around in terms of the
buildings that were going up around us, that whatever Dennis was doing was a very, very
good thing.
GN (43:44):
Okay, rather than focusing more on the presidents, you’ve also dealt with
vice-presidents and I’ll mention some of them, Dr. LaPietra, Zuccarello, Molloy, van der
Hayden, Artin. Which of these steps out as a more… Well, your experiences with them
and as a dean of the department and as the director really of to whom you reported. Were
they encouraging, challenging?
WRE (44:16):
Every one of them was a major thorn in one’s side. [Laughter]
Richard…
GN (44:23):
We can of course, can edit this tape you know. [Laughter]
Interviewee: William Eidle July 18, 2002
Interviewer: Gus Nolan MHP
24
WRE (44:27):
Richard was… Of course I knew Richard from the very beginning but I
didn’t work that closely with him as dean, just perhaps a year or two. When Lou
Zuccarello came on, I worked very, very closely with Lou. And Lou was always, “Gotta
watch those numbers.” He was a numbers man and he was going to see if that Master’s
Program go out of business and I was held then for election that that Master’s Program
was not going to go out of business. And of course, the five-year program merged out of
those difficulties I used to have with Lou.
GN (45:13):
Andrew Molloy?
WRE (45:15):
Andrew Molloy was excellent. He was very, very supportive. I thought
he was exceptionally supportive of our programs. Perhaps of all the deans that I worked
with, I might have valued Andrew exceptionally.
GN (45:37):
Did van der Hayden give you a hard time? [Laughter]
WRE (45:40):
van der Hayden gave me a hard time but I always gave him a hard time.
[Laughter] We always got along well. He could infuriate me, I’m positive that I could
infuriate him but when all is said and done we got it together and indeed Marc van der
Hayden was exceptionally encouraging of the Master’s in Ed Psych and the Master’s at
School of Psych and the joint Psych Teacher Ed program. He was very, very supportive
of those and for that I am grateful. I used to take it… It got a lot of flack from Marc van
der Hayden more for some of the other programs that were in School of Social and
Behavioral Sciences. I mean, thus far this interview sounds like it was just Psychology
and Teacher Ed but we also had a very excellent program in Criminal Justice and
program in Social Work.
GN (46:42):
Right.
Interviewee: William Eidle July 18, 2002
Interviewer: Gus Nolan MHP
25
WRE (46: 44):
And those numbers used to lack and there we had to work very, very
hard and indeed the social work program not only… It was an excellent program but it
was… carried a national certification, CSWE certification and we had to do a lot of
things to keep that certification that cost money and there in we’d erupt. [Laughter]
GN (47:17):
Tell me now from your perspective, what would you have wished to
happen that didn’t happen, in your terms here? Are there… Would the Nursing program
been the key one or is there more majors or how do you feel about the Doctoral program
now? Any of these things come to mind?
WRE (47:41):
Well when I retired I was kind of like, people were saying “Well, why
are you retiring?” and my sense was you know, “Get out while they’re still flapping.”
[Laughter] We had done very, very well. I mean, we had very excellent enrollments. We
had three terrific graduate programs. All of the undergraduate programs were doing very
well. The Criminal Justice program had grown and we were at a point in time when there
was a great demand for criminal justice. There was a point in time when the Social Work
program was growing. So, things were doing very, very well. I have to admit I
personally was never convinced we shouldn’t move to the Doctoral program and the
reason for that was that I knew the kind of resources the college was going to have to
expend in order to make that happen. I could also… I also knew that Doctoral programs
did not make money, that indeed, many Doctoral students went tuition free. Given what I
knew to be the history of Marist College and how Marist College did business and
developed…
GN (49:04):
It’s not an area to go.
Interviewee: William Eidle July 18, 2002
Interviewer: Gus Nolan MHP
26
WRE (49:06):
That’s wasn’t part of the deal so I was satisfied that we had done what we
had done. I… During that period of time also, I was responsible for having developed an
office that till… Well, up until... I’m not exactly sure if it was Dennis at the moment who
was in it. But Beth Teed was the officer of Community Research, which is something
that we developed as a resource source for Psychology and could have been any of the
other majors in the School of Social and Behavioral Sciences but it was primarily
Psychology, in the community and our initial work was with United Way. That really
developed and I would have liked to have seen that develop more. I don’t think the
college was willing to put the resources at its disposal that that would have been needed.
Tony O’Brien and I, Tony was associated with the school development and he was
involved in bringing in entrepreneurial programs and I think between Tony and myself
and Beth, we could have done some very good stuff but it would have required some…
GN (50:42):
Financial commitments.
WRE (50:43):
Financial commitments and you know, the college wasn’t open to doing
that at that point.
GN (50:52):
Okay, what do you anticipate for the future? What do you think the college
has going for it or against it as we get into this new century now? Do you think Marist is
crested or are there are more things to come? Are there directions that remain open for us
to take, distance education or should we stay with the knitting that we know, that is the
interpersonal kinds of things that we do here?
WRE (51:18):
Well, I must admit I’m a person who contrary to most of the other folks I
know who have retired from Marist College, have really been retired from Marist College
so I don’t remember which and I’m not exactly sure what the directions of some of the
Interviewee: William Eidle July 18, 2002
Interviewer: Gus Nolan MHP
27
programs are at this point in time. This I do know that Marist College is a place that
evolves. Initially it was by necessity and it’s become part of its essence at this point to be
an evolving place. It is, in a sense, an entrepreneurial place. It has always paid attention
to the market. It’s a tuition driven place in the name and so it’s going to constantly have
its feelers out for new kinds of opportunities that will both provide good programming for
the students and serve to keep the college alive and well and healthy. As you know Gus,
Marist is capitalized incredibly on the technological age and with our arrangements with
IBM and the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Library and god knows all the other associations
we had in that regard. I don’t know exactly where it’s going, as I said, because I’m not
here. I don’t have my ear to the ground…
GN (53:06):
Okay, but do you suspect… I mean, many times when you here, you heard
we were capping at 1,500, we’re capping at 2,000, we’re going to cap at 3,000.
WRE (53:13):
Right. Marist never capped.
GN (53:16):
Do you think it ever will? I mean, do you think…
WRE (53:18):
It’s not part of the… It’s not part of its nature. It will always try to
culminate…
GN (53:26):
Evolve?
WRE (53:27):
Accommodate in some fashion and in that accommodation, the evolution
continues.
GN (53:33):
Now you mentioned that you retired. What are you doing in your
retirement?
WRE (53:38):
Oh, I do lots of things. [Laughter]
GN (53:40):
Are you on boards yet? Are you still serving to the community?
Interviewee: William Eidle July 18, 2002
Interviewer: Gus Nolan MHP
28
WRE (53:43):
Oh, I’m on several boards. I’m on the Board of Cabrini Home of the
children’s portion and adult home portion. I’m on the developing committee for
Dialogue House
, which is Ira Progoff’s intensive journal organization. I am the
formation director for the secular Franciscans down at Mount Alvernia. What else do I
do...?
GN (54:23):
Do you donate to St. Mary’s? Do you read for them? [Laughter]
WRE (54:26):
Well I… I am interested in being a minister and elector of St. Mary’s in
Poughkeepsie but I’m Chair of the Site Committee at the condominium development
where I live, Springside, which is Matthew Vassar’s former summer estate of Matthew
Vassar and expensive park-plan type place and so usually before I have my foot out of
the bed in the morning, the phone is ringing and somebody complaining about something
[Laughter] I have to report. I have to admit I enjoy doing that.
GN (54:58):
Okay, on that point, is there anything I didn’t ask you that you’d like to
mention and how would you kind of put into summation statement what you didn’t know
about Marist. Was it a good ride? Do you feel it was a…?
WRE (55:12):
Yea, it was a very, very good ride and I was particularly fortunate in that
I had the opportunity to build a program. If I had a strength, my strength was in building
a program. I said that… I think there are some other people who might say that as well
and I liked building a program. And so, this array of programs that’s existed in the
School of Social and Behavioral Sciences at this point, I can take a lot of credit for
having seen and developed. And I had a good mentor, Dan Kirk was an excellent mentor
in the sense that he first of all, developed that undergrad psych major, encouraged the
bringing in the Teacher Ed and developed that initial Master’s program. But I’ll tell you,
Interviewee: William Eidle July 18, 2002
Interviewer: Gus Nolan MHP
29
I was on the… but he relied on me to redesign that initial Master’s program so that the
Master’s program in sight that’s in place as we speak is pretty much, I don’t want make it
sound like it hasn’t changed, there have been many changes but the gut format of it is the
one I put in place back around 1976. So, and not only people like Dan but all those vice-
presidents we mentioned before, they were clearly supportive in all these moves of the
development. They were encouraging they were supportive with everything but money.
[Laughter] So long as I could make it work and not cost the college anything, it was a go
and I thoroughly enjoyed that. That’s what I liked doing, I liked building the program.
GN (57:24):
Good, thank you very much Bill.
“END OF INTERVIEW”