The Commentator

Issue date: 3/29/05 Section: YUdaica

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Dr. Leonard Hammer

It is somewhat gratifying for me as an alumnus of Yeshiva College currently residing in Israel to reflect on a particular, unfortunate, incident that occurred when I was a student at Yeshiva. I say gratifying since the incident tended to have a longer term affect on me personally, while the desired immediate impression on the student body at the time sadly seemed to have been largely lost.

I attended Yeshiva from 1983-1985 and majored in Political Science. I was active in the Political Science Society and (thankfully) established a rather strong relationship with my professor, Dr. Ruth Bevan, who not only supported me back then, but has continued to patiently answer my occasional questions and queries to this day. In fact, Dr. Bevan is probably the reason for my veering towards academia. Her fantastic course in "Contemporary Political Ideologies" was a wake up call to philosophical applications and analysis of political systems. It was as if from then on I perceived political events in a different light and began to grasp the power of ideas. The other staff members were Dr. Blanche Blank, whose expertise was American Politics. I still remember engaging in what seemed like repetitive debates about the American political psyche but which were, on reflection, introspective exercises into understanding one's own political views and allowing for their expression. I remember Dr. Blank's claim to fame was that her husband was some type of business entrepreneur. While I do not know if that was the case, she certainly was a classy lady, in the traditional American sense. I recall that the third member was Dr. Bernard J. Firestone. His forte was international relations. He was quite rigorous and a bit intimidating -- I think that was intentional -- but he was also quite sharp and while the classes were small, they were enlightening. Dr. Firestone has since moved over to Hofstra University, where he is now the dean of Hofstra College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Finally, there was Dr. Michael Hecht who taught the constitutional law course. You could sense his excitement and enjoyment at teaching the course and he provided true insight into legal analysis and the manner in which to engage US case law.

In my senior year, I was president of the Joseph Dunner Political Science Society, named in memory of Dr. Bevan's husband, Dr. Joseph Dunner, a longtime Yeshiva College faculty member. I remember it was an election year and thus we published an election pamphlet offering viewpoints and analysis about the upcoming elections. I cannot recall the name of the publication but it was a glossy in the style of the National Review or New Republic (well, at least in style and not necessarily in substance). We also ran a "Meet the Congressman" evening, where we met with now-Senator Charles Schumer, then a congressman from Queens. We also participated in the obligatory Harvard Model UN, and ran a fun dinner downtown at the end of the year for all members. I seem to recall that Dr. Bevan was the only one who knew how to properly use chopsticks.

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