7. The 1970s

From View from the Dean’s Office by Robert McKersie. “I had been on the job just a week when Keith Kennedy, vice provost, called and said we needed to make a trip to Albany to meet the chancellor of SUNY, Ernest Boyer. This was late August 1971. After a few pleasantries, it became clear that this was not just the courtesy call of a new dean reporting in to the top leader of the state university. Chancellor Boyer went right to the point: a new Labor College was going to open on the premises of Local 3 IBEW’s training facility on Lexington Avenue in Manhattan, and the ILR School had to be there as a partner. It was not clear what unit of SUNY would take over the Labor College, but it was clear that given its broad mandate for labor education, the ILR School was going to play a key role.” Includes: View from the Dean’s Office; From Eric Himself; Another Perspective; Labor College Graduation: VanArsdale’s Dream Fulfilled; The View of a Visiting Faculty Member; Another Perspective; and The Student’s View.