ARCHIE CHAMBERS


Marist College
Poughkeepsie, NY
Transcribed by Melissa Fletcher
For the Marist College Archives and Special Collections





























Transcript – Archie Chambers
Interviewee:
Archie Chambers
Interviewer:
Gus Nolan
Interview Date:
10 September 2018
Location:
Marist Archives and Special Collections Reading Room
CD No
.:
Topic:
Historical Account of Marist College
See Also:


Subject Headings:


Summary:
Archie discusses his journey to Marist College, and his life here at Marist for the
past 25 years.



00:05

Gus Nolan
: Today is Monday, the 10th day of September. We have an opportunity to
introduce to you and to our archives. A man that’s been at Marist for 25 years now, Archie
Chambers. Good Afternoon Archie.
00:20

Archie Chambers
: Good afternoon.
00:22
GN
: Archie, this is an interview that goes in the Marist archives and the idea is we're
trying to get a historical account from people who have been here 20 or more years, uh, of what
has happened in their experience here as a growth and development of Marist? How do you think
it happened and where are we all going? But before we do a kind of a preliminary things and say,
who are you anyway? So this has five parts, it is: before Marist, coming to Marist, development
of Marist, personal aspects, Crystal Wall, where we're going. So, to begin with, Archie, can you
tell us something about your early years, a place where you grew up, grade school, that kind of
thing?
01:10

AC
: Well, I was born in Little Rock, Arkansas.
01:15

GN
: In Arkansas?
01:17
AC
: Arkansas.
01:17
GN
: You’re the first I’ve had here born in Arkansas.
01:21
AC
: I’ve come from Arkansas to New York state. Um, my father was in the construction
business. He was a brick mason, and he had a brother that lived in Rochester, New York, so he
informed his older brother, which is would be my father, that it was opportunity up in Rochester,
New York, and that it would probably be an ample place to bring him in his family and my father
packed us up and moved us to Rochester, New York.
01:50
GN
: And how long did that last?
01:53
AC
: My primary family still lives in Rochester. My mom is still in Rochester. My father
passed away some 15 years ago.
02:08
GN
: You went to grade school in Rochester?
02:11
AC
: Oh yes, I did.
02:12
GN
: Okay and high school all in the same town?
02:16
AC
: Yes I did, in Rochester. Most of my life I've lived in Rochester, New York.
02:22
GN
: Really?
02:22
AC
: Right up until ‘93 when I moved to Poughkeepsie, New York.


02:29
GN
: Oh, why did you move to Poughkeepsie?
02:30
AC
: Well, I was working in the printing industry. I worked at Gannet newspaper and um,
there was doing some reconstructing and it was a layoff period, while they reconstructed. And I
came down to, actually I came down to Connecticut. My sister was working in Connecticut and
um, she had a conference meeting in Poughkeepsie, and she asked, well do you want to just ride
over with me? Because I was there visiting because I was on a two-week sabbatical. Wasn't
really looking for employment, but just looking, just trying to get a fresh, a breath of fresh air
and, I came to Poughkeepsie with her. First time I'd ever been to Poughkeepsie and um, she went
to her conference, and I had her car so I was driving around to see what the area looked like and I
stumbled upon Marist College.
03:28

GN
: In 1993
03:30
GN
: In 1993.
03:31

GN
: Wow. All right, let's back up a little bit. Let's go back to high school. Tell me about
high school. What kind of, how big was the school? Boys and girls? Programs you were involved
in?
03:45
AC
: I went to East High School in Rochester, New York. It was a coed school. It was,
thinking maybe the third or fourth largest high school in city of Rochester.
04:03
GN
: How many were in your class? Roughly… 100?
04:07
AC
: About a hundred.
04:09
GN
: Okay. And in high school any particular interests?
04:14
AC
: Uh, I played sports, I had a fine interest in sciences. I love the science. Just the
intrigue-ness of it. Um, the chemistry, especially and the earth science, getting an understanding
of, you know, the mechanics of, of science.
04:37
GN
: When did you graduate from high school?
04:41
AC
: I graduated from high school in 1974.
04:45
GN
: 1974. Okay. And then what did you do after that?
04:51

AC
: I went to, I went to the University of Buffalo, actually, at the University of Buffalo I
studied business management because I remember a lot of the, um, the statistic courses and stuff
that I was taking and the University of Buffalo was just up and coming then.
05:15
GN
: Computers were not on the scene really?
05:16
AC
: Not yet. Well, they were, but there was, there was... (Unable to recognize)


05:21
GN
: any office computers, (Unable to recognize)
05:24
AC
: It wasn't one that you can put in your pocket like we have today.
05:27
GN
: IBM had what was a whole building up there in Kingston. Yeah. In college, particular
interest? Did you get into any hobbies, any political stuff or any activities?
05:43
AC
: Well I was heavily involved in the black student union, as far as to just having a
social identity on the campus,
05:55
GN
: This is the late seventies now.
05:57
AC
: yes, yes.
05:59
GN
: And what was going on in the country, Vietnam in place yet?
06:03
AC
: Vietnam was over, but it was a lot of the sentiment was still lingering.
06:08

GN
: (Mumble) No drafts now?
06:10

AC
: No no
06:10

GN
: Ok. So the southern military was not really doing over your head. You didn't have to
go to Canada or someplace.
06:19
AC
: No. Like, college, it really, it really didn't grasp my attention. So I took back from
going to college. I got a job at Eastman Kodak and then we're like 1977, ‘78 in that area there.
Um, it was, it was a really a lucrative job, you know, plenty of people was, it was, Eastman
Kodak was…
06:55
GN
: Oh it was a big thing at the time. In New York City, we had grand central with a big
Kodak, film there changes every month, you know.
07:03
AC
: It was on the same level as IBM was to Poughkeepsie, in that era, you know, if you
had a job in IBM in the early eighties because they didn't start going down until the mid-nineties
or so, you did pretty well. You could buy your house and your kids to college and live pretty
middle class life. And um, I did that for a few years and I went into the military.
07:31
GN
: Oh, you did?
07:32
AC
: Yeah. Well, my oldest brother was in the military. My second oldest brother was in
the military.
07:37
GN
: Army, Airforce?


07:38
AC
: Army, well Eddie was in the army and Ted was in the navy and I just, I just marvel
just the way that they looked, their physique and how they carry themselves with the uniform, I
said I want to do that.
07:53
GN
: you got a gist about whether you wanted to do that or not
07:56
AC
: Well I went into the military, um, because they, they entice me. They gave me, I was
a 05 Charlie and that was a radio teletype operator. And you just sit in a rack and read with the
computers, sending texts from companies to companies, and that was intriguing to me.
08:21
GN
: How long you were in the military for?
08:22
AC
: For the Four years. Then I got out of the military, uh, got married. Yeah.
08:35
GN
: So what job did you go to? After getting out of the military. Back to Kodak or on
to…
08:41
AC
: No, no, I went to, I went back into printing. Well, no I had went in to printing because
that's when my printing started. That's when I started working at Gannet newspaper.
08:52
GN
: So, did you ever come to the journal here? Were you involved in…?
08:58
AC
: Well, when I came to Poughkeepsie, the journal here was on its way down, about to
close, because I came in ‘93. I believe the journal actually closed in 2000, ‘99, ‘98 somewhere in
that area.
09:19
GN
: Okay. Really what I’m coming to now is how did you get to Marist? How did that
door open?
09:25
AC
: How did I get to Marist. Well, that was the story, as it was, I was here with my sister.
I was driving her car. I noticed Marist and I had some, some college inclination because I went to
the University of Buffalo, so I was just wandering around, just to see what Marist had to offer,
you know, what type of college it was, it was a very small college
09:47
GN
: It was indeed there wasn’t many building ups at this time. Well Dennis Murray was
here, so he we had Lowell Thomas was up anyway
09:54

AC
: But that was way before the new library where we're sitting now was built.
09:58
GN
: Oh that’s 99. Yeah, (yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)
10:00
AC
: Its way before that. We had the annexes sitting right where
10:06
GN
: Oh Fontaine was
10:07
AC
: Well Fontaine was-


10:09
GN
: Well the library, I mean you had the chapel, there was a kind of library and then there
was a dormitory setup here, which eventually became offices. I had an office in that building at
one time.
10:23
AC
: That’s way back.
10:25
GN
: Well, uh, who did you see, did you see an ad in the paper?
10:29
AC
: Well as I say, I was wandering around the campus. Wandered into Donnelly Hall, and
went downstairs, now then they posted the jobs on the bulletin board. And they had a position for
the copy center. And I had some printing background so I said I want to wait some time, so I
said, let me just fill out the application, filled out the application, and low and behold, they called
me the next day.
10:54
GN
: Really?
10:55
AC
: Yeah.
10:56
GN
: And who did you see when you came in? Do you remember?
10:58
AC
: Um, I spoke with. Um, well it was, what was her name? Flynn was the head of HR
then.
11:10
GN
: Okay. Uh, I'm just forgetting out. Me, Neil, the vice presidents and so on that were
involved. Water’s was gone by now and now you had, Kelly, No, he well, because he was telling
you know is another. Well, anyway,
11:31
AC
: Came in and it was um, well let me see who was it, who was running the copy center
then. Neil was there, Deb was there.
11:39
GN
: Oh, Neil was there. Okay. Neil Hogan
11:42
AC
: It was here in the, in Donnelly Hall then.
11:47
GN
: upstairs.
11:48
AC
: Right, Richardson was it? It wasn't Richardson, I forget his name because he hired
me. An older gentleman.
12:00
GN
: Yeah. Okay. Uh, there was a woman in before all of this who, who even before we
got the Xerox, we had just a duplication, you know, they turned the wheel and you, uh, you
turned out this, you put a carbon copy of something
12:18
AC
: Ditto machine


12:19

GN
: A Ditto machine right. Oh God. Do I remember those days, running off tests and
running off, you know, whatever it was. Um, so you're really starting, it's kind of a new phase.
The, when you were coming into the printing here, we just about, had gone into dual indication
as it was as mechanical.
12:45
AC
: I was coming from an offset background, because I was actually running the offset
hybrids.
12:54
GN
: We didn’t have the printing shop here then did we? You know, the chest issues and
the smaller guy who ran a printing shop down… that was gone.
13:03
AC
: Oh yeah, right. We had one of the older presses here, Neil was the press man and he,
um, ran the, um, it was the AB Dick or. Yeah, just the one single color black ran through there.
Yeah.
13:20
GN
: Um, how many would it be on the staff there?
13:23
AC
: It was three, was four actually because it was the manager. It was Debbie. Neil and
myself. Okay.
13:33
GN
: Alright. Moving on, now let's move ahead. Marist has changed a lot. I would say we
call this now the development of Marist you are here. Okay. What, what do you say? How did
this happen? I mean, you look around this campus now, you look around the student body, now
you look around the faculty now. Big Difference in the 20 years old.
14:01
AC
: Oh, night and day.
14:02
GN
: Oh yeah, yeah. How come?
14:05
AC
: Um, it's just a diverseness now, that Marist is taking the steps forward to recognize
that diversity is probably in their best interests because of the population of the world and of the
United States. How much more diverse we're becoming now.
14:25
GN
: Um, you’re not familiar with the Marist Brothers so much but that’s the Marist Order.
See when, when the college first began to develop the wisdom thought that we were going to
become a college for the Hudson Valley and we wouldn't need, dormitories. People would come
from their homes and so the first dormitory to go up was Sheahan and then Leo and then
Champagnat, you know, and the reason was they found out there were not as enough students in
the Hudson valley to come to Marist if they wanted to go to college, why would they come here,
we weren't known, you know, they would go somewhere else. So. But we hired high schools in
New York. We had 10 high schools in New York, Mount Saint Michael, Archbishop Malloy, St
Agnes, Cardinal Hayes says 100 in New York and only 72 miles away. So some would say, well,
it's the proximity to New York also, that you walk around the campus today. What do you see
the new students coming in? This is only September, and the word is out, you know, get a look at
Marist, if you have a chance, you know. So, uh, I mean, I'm talking. You talk. What do you see?
You See Diversity.


15:42

AC
: I see a tremendous growth. Yeah, when I started here, uh, I can go down the list. The
Rotunda wasn't here. Um, McCann hadn't been upgraded. You have the, uh, the uh, friendly field
wasn’t built. No stands there. Hancock wasn't there. Right. The update to Lowell Thomas wasn't
there. Um, of course.
16:15
GN
: Was the new Fontaine up yet? Not just yet. When you first came in, because the old
one we still here. Right. Then they took this down.
16:24
AC
: Well it was an annex. Right. It was an annex when they was building there.
16:29

GN
: Was there a bank over there still? Was there a bank on…
16:34

AC
: Yup in that parking lot right there. Where they did all of the new dorms and cafeteria,
Bank of New York. That whole parking lot was, was the gist of Bank of New York.
16:47

GN
: I mean you turn around a new building goes up here. I mean those 4 dormitories went
up like overnight.
16:53

AC
: Well we're talking across the street that’s… that was just wasteland over there. All
that was just woods. It wasn't nothing, the science building wasn't there. None of the dormitories
over there, wasn't there. The Steel Plant wasn't there. Well, it was there, but it was a steel plant
and they had like the car company was there.
17:17

GN
: Oh yea the diamond or whatever they call it.
17:21

AC
: pick that up. Um, what else? Oh, Hancock wasn’t there. Oh, so it was like this, the
campus only consisted of maybe five buildings maybe. Yeah.
17:36

GN
: And then, uh, the building of this, Cannavino Library that's 99.
17:43

AC
: And this was the first thing to go up. Yeah, it was the library. Yeah.
17:49

GN
: Well, yeah, it depends on when you come on the scene because like I-
17:54

AC
: well out of all of the newer buildings, you know, the library was the first of the new
ones.
18:00

GN
: Yeah. Okay. All right.
18:02

AC
: Then after that, I think Fontaine went up.
18:05

GN
: That's true. Right.
18:08

AC
: Then once Fontaine comes, they came back over and did some work to McCann.
Then they came back over and they did some work to the Rotunda. Then they came back over
and he says, well, let's do the Hancock building, so they built the Hancock. Then from there-.


No, before the Hancock they went across the street. They started building, cause we needed more
space-
18:34

GN
: More Dormitories. And now even since leaving then the medical building has gone
up, you know, it's just.
18:44

AC
: Well that's the last one of the many. Yeah, right.
18:48

GN
: Hold your breath because maybe tomorrow they will be telling us
18:51

AC
: Well they're saying now that they got to redo Dyson. That's the newest thing. Yeah.
18:59

GN
: Uh, all right. Uh, the, uh, along with this though, there has been a change of
personnel. Do you get to meet very many people in printing in the Xerox area or whatever. I'm
not sure how to call your office, printing office, duplication office.
19:17

AC
: Its printing, well we have the old term, copy center. The new term is the digital
publication center, but um, at some point in your time here as far as this student or even a faculty
or even staff, at some point you're going to come through the digital publication center at some
point for either if your faculty you need, um, exams. If you're a student, you need help with your
projects. And if you are staff you might say, hey look, I got an outside project that my daughter
or sons getting married. Can you print out my invitations for him? So, at some point you're going
to come through the digital publication center, so you have an opportunity to meet most of the
campus. That includes the students, staff and faculty.
20:10

GN
: I always just, I wondered about that. Personally, have you had advanced training in
these areas or you picked it up on your own? Have you gone to seminars or is there a learning for
training as far as printing a, knowing all that you do? I mean, you sit down at a computer, and
you turn out some wonderful stuff. Where'd you learn that?
20:35

AC
: Well, I do have a degree from Marist College. I originally started in the graphic
design here, but…
20:45

GN
: but were, you weren't a student with Louis, were you?
20:48

AC
: Yes.
20:49

GN
: You were? Oh, there’s a whole new page here.
20:52

AC
: Dan McCormick. I did the digital photography with Dan McCormick. I did the steel,
the black and white with Dan McCormick. I did, I did a variety of the applications that I use
now. I took those classes here.
21:07

GN
: Really. I didn't realize that, uh, do we have any contracts with the hospital or with
other people here? When I was young, young professor here, uh, we used to do printing for Saint


Francis Hospital while with St Francis at the time, now it's Westchester, whatever. All of our
work is really in house. I suppose,
21:31

AC
: Well, most of the majority of it's in house. Um, I guess because a lot of the outside
facilities, they have their own printing departments now, so they don't really depend on outside
sources like Marist but Marist college was, was a hub for this area. So most of your needs that
you needed, they came to Marist College to, to provide those needs for even with the IBM says,
well, we're in the need of having up and coming IT people we need, we need a place to, to
exercise some of our technology. Can we use Marist College? Marist College said, sure, come on
in because your innovator, we're a technology mentor to write academically so we could work
together and they've been working together for quite some time and you know, um, IBM and
Marist College.
22:26

GN
: Do you integrate, interrelate with, with Vassar or Dutchess Community College or of
the other colleges or is it-?
22:33

AC
: Well, we used to, because when we used the copy center upstairs, we used to help
each other out. Say like at Vassar, if they ran out of toner for a certain, a printer and we had that
printed, they will call us up and we would loan them one until they get their supplies in and they
will return it back to the same way (Mutual understanding) and Dutchess Community is the same
way.
22:55

GN
: Okay. Just off the top bar, how much paper do we buy? A ton?
23:01

AC
: Woah, well, we do a, just a regular eight and a half, by 11, 20 pounds. We buy 800
cases of that paper. Um, per year. 800 k under cases in per case you have 5,000 sheets.
23:17

GN
: We only had a school for nine months. It's almost 100 cases a month.
23:23

AC
: Well on average. The library itself, it uses 10 cases a week. On average I ever, I, I
ordered 10 cases a week for them during the school year.
23:37

GN
: Oh, of course. We have machines around here too. That's. And that's quite a. I
couldn't believe it tree. I mean you go to the. Yeah. Yeah. What do you mean? They learned a
long time ago and she it to give it away than how, don't copy it, you know, take up, take out page
as a student going, doing research for an article and the article is gone, you know, uh, they
weren't, not so
24:04

AC
: well the, the chain now the technology wasn't there either. If was studying and I saw
an article in a book. Yeah, it was easier for me to tear that page out all being selfish because
obviously
24:20

GN
: I used to be selfish too but not anymore, a world


24:24

AC
: well, there wasn't the technology there to be able to make a copy of that page or to be
able to use your computer, your phone today, take a picture of it and use it. You don’t think well,
someone else is going to come behind me and want that same information. But now,
24:41

GN
: You just can't imagine anybody else wanting this, I just have to keep my eye on
what's going on here. What do you think now? What are some of the, the. I'd say the three most.
If you want a chance to talk to the board of trustees about the needs of Marist, what does Marist
need in your view?
25:04

AC
: Well, Marist needs a better understanding of its population (
GN
: across the board)
across the board, a diverse population there are not so diverse population and see how we can get
an understanding of how to marry all of that together.
25:27

GN
: How do you think? What's one methodology of doing that? Could we have coffees? I
mean,
25:34

AC
: you know, talk to each other. Get to know you have the same desire that I do. You
know your kids. I want the same things for my kids as you want for your kids. I want to bring
them up in the safe and healthy environment. You know, we're no different because we look
different.
25:57

GN
: We can park in the same parking lot and we go different ways and we never talked to
each other.
26:02

AC
: And never say a word to each other. Then I have my, my misconceptions of you. And
you have your misconceptions of me, because we don't talk to each other. We live on those
misconceptions until we actually talk to each other then we're like, hey! You know?
26:21

GN
: I never know you took the originals, you know, I already, you know, all that, you
know, you've learned.
26:28

AC
: You learn it, I mean I learned it right here. Yeah.
26:31

GN
: Uh, something else that, that's an ideal a perfect one. I say that it'd be good. I just
read. I went to a place in Minnesota, St John's University and College of Minnesota, its way out
in the sticks and they’re like us said there a small college, maybe 4,000 and everybody lives on
campus but they have a departmental interaction. Uh, everyone month one department serves
coffee to the others and donuts, and they just come and it's not business, you know. And I was
just thinking, that would be something if we could, at one time when we were all in Donnelly.
Many faculty members who, you know, we used to eat in the bio lab, you know, there was a lot
of interaction and all of that is English is over here, communications is over here. The sciences
are over here, you know, we're in separate buildings. We don't have that.
27:25

AC
: Well, the thing is that the, the Christmas party is the prime example of all of that.
When you come into the Christmas party, you can tell human resources is over there. The
science departments here, maintenance is here, English is over there.



27:42

GN
: The one chance they get to interact they stay in their own cocoon.
27:46

AC
: Right so you got to separate them as they come through.
27:49

GN
: That's an excellent one. Give me another one.
27:52

AC
: Um, just to be able to, to listen to others instead of having an answer now just listen
to the question. Well, just listened to the question cause a lot of times I got the answer, but I don't
even know what the question is.
28:15

GN
: You’re right. This is interesting. One of the things I hear about is the parking, you
know, what, what can you do with the parking. Security has told me because I have had security
people here too and I say the same thing to them you know what does the campus need. And they
say new parking space and they say yeah, well we have an idea to have them plan to put up a
high rise, a parking area and it would go in that space on the way down to the McCann center.
You know, there's that big. Well single parking now but they can put a high rise as high as the
dormitories maybe, but its $17,000 of parking space to build it. Who's- What millionaire is going
to give us money to whatever parking lot. I mean we just got a dormitory dedicated that’s
different. Yeah.
29:09

AC
: Well, I, I think if we control our parking more so than. Because Donnelly, say we
have just estimate to say we have 300 parking spaces, and we have 10 for guests. So, if those 300
parking spaces is dedicated to the 300 people that are working in Donnelly and no one else, then
it wouldn't be a parking issue. But you have people come in from McCann had people come in
from Lowell Thomas, you got people coming from Dyson. You got people coming from
everywhere. Parking in Donnelly didn't you see? We don't have enough parking. We have
enough parking. We just a park in this controlled.
29:48

GN
: Yeah, that's it. Good. I mean, you do get a pad about. You're supposed to park and
three. Nobody can park in 8, you know, that's, that's reserved for the president, and I stay up.
30:00

AC
: That's the only. Even you give people trying to park it in there too.
30:04

GN
: I do. I take my chance. I fully retired. Handicap and security. Let me go
30:12

AC
: And the students, they had that same mentality, right? You put a ticket on my car, I
don't care. My parents got a little money and they're going to pay the $500 in the after you apart.
So what we should have is to swipe. You can't get in unless you swipe and if you have an id, we
all have an ID. Swipe your Id. It knows you belong in and Donnelly parking. You parlayed the
thing will come up, you go in, comes back down and if you-
30:41

GN
: You talk a bit people about. He's an excellent idea. I had John Kelly out here about
two years ago before he retired and he told me about a student who ran up, I just had, you know,
$500 in tickets to screw it, screw it, you know, at the end of the year, he couldn't register the next
year until the penalty is paid. So, the mother comes in crying, she says, you know, he's killed. So,
he says, okay, you pay 1/10
th
percent of this, but if he gets one more ticket and he, you know,


you got to pay the whole thing. So, putting these in the drawer, I say, and you know, we'll excuse
them now of negligence and the grow up, you know, what, uh, he met aligned because if not the
next ticket is going to cost them $400 for these. Had to be paid, you know. So, uh, I like that
thing about swiping. No, maybe that's something I can talk to somebody about

31:41

AC
: or even with the kids. See, the thing is, is that see my daughters, I have twin
daughters, they both work in corporate Wegman's, for Wegman’s they work in the corporate
office, both of them. When they were younger going to school, they went to college during the
summer they worked, so they helped pay their college loans off there. They didn't just primarily
just depend on daddy was, I'll give you the bill. You pay it now it's students here. They get their
parents to build a pay it. Then the parents have to come and have to make excuses for the
children's negligence. They don't have enough responsibility for that. As parents in our pay. This
for it to student is responsible for the parent and the parents. We just say, hey look, you get your
little part time job or whatever you need to do. You pay $20 a month on this, on this bill until
you get it down to a point now, I'll pick up the other half. Yeah, it has. That's how they got their
first car. They had $1,500. They thought it was the most money in the world. All I got 1500
brother wasn't the money. I put $1,500 million we got in my car. I bought him a car for 5,000,
but they loved it because they worked hard to get it and it was something that they can appreciate
it. Yeah. Same thing with some of the. I'm not saying how two people raised their kids anywhere
they want, but we have to start giving a younger generation a little bit more responsibility to their
part that they're playing in their lives.

33:17

GN
: You have to write that little book, you know, guiding children, bringing other
students around here or whatever. He has some good ideas there. A price normally what a, what's
the, uh, the biggest disappointment you've had at Marist might be get from promoted. He wanted
another job. Uh, medical benefits aren't where they should be. What will you say-

33:46

AC
: Promotions. Um, I've been here. Um, that's what I got. Why I got away from the, the
graphic design element here, and I went into, to the business element. I actually, I have a
paralegal certificate here also and um, my degree was in more predicated towards business
because of the time that I had been here, and I worked in the copy center and I'm, I had a great
understanding of the dynamics of that, that department, but I couldn't get any, any promotions.
It's still to this day I can't get any. They had a position open up as the production specialists. I
came up with the, with the title, but they gave it to someone else because they said that I wasn't
qualified for it.

34:34

GN
: So let me outside or within a well, well I'm, I'm just, uh, an I, I, I've asked you what is
one of the disability, is there another one like that disappointment?

34:39

AC
: Um, the, the uh, the only other disappointment and I don't look at it as a
disappointment, but I think it's a blessing in itself because I'm disappointed that I stayed in the
copy center so long that it have without the promotions and whatnot, but it wasn't the
development of the copy center board. So then there was the development of me. Uh, let me see.
I've gotten more out of work in there then I could have been the copy center could have ever
gave me, you see, it's the improvement of myself as a human being, as a person of how I see the


world. And I gathered that from being stubborn, hardheaded and sticking through. Well, I didn't
get the promotion. Instead of me going on tampering, well let me try and improve myself, you
know, how I see things and you know, and see why the things are the way that they are. It has
nothing to do with my ability because if it had something to do with my ability, I wouldn't have
been able to last year, 25 years, that's exactly where I'm going.

35:52

GN
: Alright. That’s exactly where I’m going, why did you stay here 25 years? What
would you say are the things had kind of kept you humble?

36:00

AC
: I'm stubborn and hardheaded and I was like, well, I'm not going to let them run me
away. No, I'm okay. I'm going to leave.

36:10

GN
: You have friends here.

36:12

AC
: Oh yeah. Oh yeah.

36:13

GN
: So the social life, I mean the audio one day.

36:18

AC
: Camaraderie. The Colorado associations. Most people that have been here a fourth
wall, there was a lot of. It's far and few between now. Yeah. But a lot of other people have been
there as long as I have, I've had an opportunity to do, to beat them. I had an opportunity to, to
establish some type of rapport. Even you'd come in, hi, how can I help you, is there something
that you need. Can I help you get this? You yourself as a, as a prime example,
36:48

GN
: I, I, yeah, I mean, yeah, it's one of the most pleasant places to go with the 20 year for
a variety of things, you know, can you reproduce this, you know, make it bigger, make it smaller,
you know, and uh, can you do it in color, you know? Or these are a good thing
37:07

AC
: that helped me to establish people skills. Yeah. Okay. See, regardless of your
background and what you look like, what you study, what you believe in, how you pray, you got
to get our paper. Nevertheless, we're human beings and when you come into my department, my
domain, I'm helping you as a human being. Not as a professor, not a one prime example of Tony
Camp Pili oh, right now he comes into office out here. Hey Archie, Hey Tony, how's it going?
Oh, don't you know who he is, just totally. No, he the CFO.
37:54

GN
: Excellent example. Yeah. Okay. Um, that's uh, moving on. So we looked at the
current needs. Well, you say, uh, is not nourished course. The kid. The question is, is Marist
worth the investment to, for a student? I mean, you have all these kids going around and I'll look
in their Marist. Did they realize the parents realize it's the only course them more than $200,000,
$30,000 a year for years. That's just the beginning. I mean, and then do you have books and all
the rest, you know, and at the end of it is, is it worth investment? You know, you're not only is it
money, but it's time, its effort. You got to go to class. He can't just stay in the dormitory, you
know, they know. So, what would you say about that? When you finish, you may not get a job
that.


38:54

AC
: Well, the thing is that merits only bring in the top tier of the high school kids. So
those kids are used to study it. They used to getting good grades. So, when they come to college
it's not a. If I'm going to class is when I'm going to class, Right. So that's the end of reputation
that Marist has also in this region of New York state, you know, if you go south of here and you
mentioned merits college, most of the time someone is in an organization, there's a lot of merits.
Yeah. So they, they went the reputation that Marist has and says, well you got a quality
education because I got one from there and I knew what I had to go through to get my degree and
I know you had to go through the same thing. So, we have someone that is quality of education
coming into my place of employment and, and like I say, the reputation their Marist has. So, if
you go down to the New York City area and you say, well I'm in the fashion department. What
did you graduate Marist College. Oh, come on in, we want to talk to you. Come out on it.
39:55

GN
: You can't even get in here now unless she came in with a portfolio of idea where it
went through a deal, you know, and accomplished on it. Where are we? Oh, we get 10 minutes.
Anyway.
40:05

AC
: So, they know that you met, you meet the criteria. Yeah.
40:08

GN
: So, uh, so you'd say for the very fact of going here, sticking it out, graduating, they
are your means something and means it's may not mean so much money right away. Whether it
be the entree to something better.
40:27

AC
: Right. Well, the same. It's not quite on the level of Harvard, but if you walk into an
office and said, I'm a Harvard graduate. Yeah. Most of the time you going to get employed.
Yeah. Just from the reputation of Harvard itself. You can say Harvard, Cornell, you could say
Columbia. You can say uh Stanford for all of these, these inner institutions, no matter where
they're at. MIT, you know, you've never been there before, but the MIT, you graduated from
there. Come in and we want to talk to you.
41:03

GN
: I had a student who is director at MIT by. We'll handle, y'all ain't got in his school.
He went there as in physics at the rent, you know, so he went from Marist to mit. He's making
them while he's passed away now. Yeah. What I couldn't get over there. One time I had a student
who is the director of psychology at Notre Dame, director of physics at MIT. We had produced
these guys, you know, we're not really well known then now it's much better than. Of course, I
don't have to brag about their funeral challenges that I have. So that's it.
41:39

AC
: The thing is that you should and Marist as a whole, does a lot of that too. It brags
about what it does. It says, well we have 5,000 freshmen apply for Marist this year. We only took
1500. That's bragging pat myself on the back. So because we're not taking the whole 5,000, we
only took the best out of that 5,000.
42:05

GN
: Yeah. Which can lead to a little problem to levine too. Uppity. You know, we got to
keep the date.
42:15

AC
: They keep it at a, at a, at a nice, smooth kill. They don't brag too much now if they
want a little bragging rights.


42:23

GN
: Yeah, we ring in some handicap, you know, or you know, some people who need
help and so on and some who needed some financial help with that kind of thing. Let's look at
the crystal wall. Where is Marist going to be when you, let's say 10 years from now, will we be
here, uh, or you know, with the lack of, who has to go to college anymore, you know, is it really
worked at his college education going to fade? What do you think? More than ever? Uh, it'll be
an institution.
43:02

AC
: Uh, no. A college education is always going to be on the rise because that's where
technology has taken us. You have to be smart. Well, you know, we don't have to be smart with.
You have to have some intuition. You have to have some be innovative and you start by going to
college to say alright fine, you know, I'm going to go to college because I want to learn the, the
technicals. But all learning those technicals makes me innovative. Yeah, I can know what I've
learned enough of that writing and reading. I could do that. I want to take some ideas that I have,
and I got through to the point that taking my ideas and putting them into something by going to
college at least just starting that, wheel to the role. Bill Gates is a primary example of that. Know
went to college. He says, you know what, that reading writing, I know how to do that, but I want
to take this. I want to be innovative. I want to take this idea that I have, and I want to put it
together. You know, I want to put a computer in every household now. Okay, let's see. And then
took him to be the one of the riches in the world.
44:10

GN
: Is it going to become too technical, you know, or you're going to have too much, uh,
computers and to watch, uh, you know, while the technical aspect of it that seems to be
dominating now more than, than the liberal arts, what are you going to always
44:27

AC
: But you’re gunna always have that humanitarian aspect of it. There's always going to
be a feel for humanitarian. Nurses, Doctors, know even though technology helps them within
that field, but it still is the humanitarian aspect of being a doctor, to being a nurse. I have a, I
have a niece now. Going to Maverick University to be a doctor. Smart as a whip. She's been
taking AP courses since she's in kindergarten. Oh my God. She Says No.
45:01
GN
: Yeah, I mean we just opened up. You do have to go to school over there. Go enter a
dude. Listen. It's more important than what I'm saying.
45:11

AC
: *Picked up phone call* {Hello. Hi, how are you? I'm good… and it probably could
be… great… maybe once the weather comes down me once it dries up tomorrow or the day
after, I can come up and
…
okay. All right… yes, because you guys close at five? Correct? Six.
So, I'd get out of here six today. Um, so I'm going to have to get there and get back here before
six. Okay. All right. That'd be great. Thanks.} I have my car in the shop, or they can't find out
what this noise is coming from, but it's annoying. She heard the noise before. She says, oh, it's
within the steering. So, it's like that all wheel steering and it's a pretty expensive car, you know,
so I'm trying to get it.
46:32

GN
: Oh, you have to. I mean there are certain days you really need good health is one
thing. What do you need to be transportation too. What about going back to the future? Uh, how
about, uh, online learning, you know, staying at home and taking you to court said, uh, you


know, your residents instead of coming to campus, uh, is that, will that work for undergraduate
or is that just a thing?
46:58

AC
: Is. It does because it helps with the expense of it and it helps with people having
families. Now that's how I got back into being able to afford going to college because I went to
University of Buffalo, and I stopped going. I couldn't afford to get back into college. I was
blessed with a job that would pay for my tuition for me to go to college. So that's why I was here,
and I got my degree in 1918, 18… 20. ‘07, in 2007. I graduated in 2007. But um, it, it, it
wouldn't have been able to afford it. But what the online classing and stuff and people having a
life, you know, kids and you don't have to work and what negative rather have time to go to the,
to a traditional classroom and sit down in it. At least you have an opportunity to say, hey look,
you know what, I would've never been able to finish my degree if I had to go and sit in the class
after working all day, taking time off during the day. So thank God for online computing. I think
more people would have degrees, um, with online studies versus just campus.
28:09

GN
: just having a guardian campus, but still going to canvas would have its advantages if
you can get afforded the time.
28:17

AC
: Well, if you're growing up, you know, in the age of 18 to 22. Yeah. Yeah. But when
you started getting 30 and you've got two kids and wife is kind of hard, you know, like, well I
have class from 8 to 10 but I’m supposed to be to work eight to 10. So how do I do that? Yeah.
48:38

GN
: Uh, now, uh, or where's it going and in terms of development and so on. Uh, you
were saying the new buildings, he and Jane the tank right now, and a or a physical therapist as it
is. Then you have the advanced medical program line. So on, uh, these will certainly be more
attractions.
49:04

AC
: Bring again more money in, more people, more minds.
49:09

GN
: Yeah. And, and again, the word would get out. I mean, we're here or went out little
college on the Hudson, you know, I sounded to me down to it, it's just something I have not
asked you that you think would be good for, for our archive, some view or other, some insights,
some experience that you would like to talk about.
49:32

AC
: Um, just for Marist to have an, as you're implementing an open mind, uh, you know,
being able to incorporate other thoughts and not just certain groups, thoughts for a certain
population or certain class of people, invite everyone in and get a viewpoint from everyone. And
then that's how the college will be able to continue on this projector.
50:05

GN
: Yeah. That one day if he could think of some way of bringing a kind of a colloquial,
you know, ring.
50:12

AC
: You're doing it now. This is a, this is the start. This is how it starts.
50:19

GN
: Well, alright. But I need three other people here with you today. Know Archie. Yay.


50:24

AC
: Then that creates a, a dialogue. It has to start here first to say. All right, fine. Now
let's get three or four more people they'd get. So, we can, you know, compare your thoughts or
your experiences 10 years ago with the experiences from now because I'm pretty sure they
experience from now. It's not going to be the same as 20 years ago.
50:50

GN
: You know, like the hundred and 20th person I've interviewed. What'd you just can't
be a whole new idea? Just when you're talking about, I mean, I'm running out of people for
personal, you know, I'm saying, you know, who's been here, and I didn't realize you were here
for 25 years. How many of you were here when I started coming in and asking you for favors,
you know, that you had that other background that hey, wait a minute. You know, and now I was
thinking of closing the book and saying I've done my thing here, but this kind of opens a book
and saying, well, it starts all over again.
51:26
AC: Yeah. You got more to do.
51:31

GN
: Okay. Archie, I think we've done almost an hour. Fifty-one minutes so
51:36

AC
: we can stay as long as you like.
51:38
GN
: Well, uh, I have a myself, I know how to go anywhere, but I've gone through my list.
Oh, and now I have to get you to sign this. And that time he had you come from printing area. So
a really depends. All right, let me go get a pen.



Transcript – Archie Chambers