The public will always believe a simple lie rather than a complex truth," Gary Bannon ’76 told students as he presented the Haines Biochemistry Lecture in March. He paraphrased de Tocqueville’s well-known aphorism to sum up public fears concerning Monsanto Corporation’s genetically modified (GM) crops.
"Of course, I’m from Monsanto." Bannon smiled. "But my aim here is to offer you a scientific view. I believe the argument over GM crops has mutated into a political argument."
Bannon emphasized the importance of critical thinking in analyzing the debate. "Most of the public is not getting the liberal arts education you’re getting here at Wabash," Bannon told students, adding that today’s scientists must be both researchers and educators.
Dennis Whigham ’66 returned to campus to discuss his decades of research as Smithsonian Environmental Research Center senior scientist—work that has contributed to successful efforts to bring the Chesapeake Bay estuary back from the threshold of destruction.
But as a former student and fraternity brother of Professor Tom Cole ’58, Whigham was especially honored to be chosen this year’s Thomas Cole Lecturer. He opened his presentation with a photograph from 1963 of his Delta Tau Delta pledge brothers, noting that Cole had also been a member of that fraternity during his own student days.
"The president of the house the year this was taken was Dan Daniels ’63, who now funds this lecture series," said Whigham, also a former president of the house. "Three guys not pictured here—Mike Hall ’66, Frank Grove ’66, and Tom Moorman ’66—joined the Marines after graduation. In those days, if you didn’t have the grades, you didn’t have a choice. And Mike Hall gave his life in Vietnam.
"Looking at this picture, just like returning here to Wabash, brings back so many memories."
Read more about Whigham’s talk here.
For more on his research, click here.
Blue Ace Media President Jo Throckmorton ’87 (pictured at right with MXI Chair Charles Jackson ’07 and MXI Director Professor Tim Lake) premiered Legacy of Hope, his documentary about the Malcolm X Institute of Black Studies at Wabash, during the MXI’s Alumni Weekend February 17.
"When I was a student at Wabash, I never really understood the history of the MXI, what it really was," Throckmorton said following the screening. "Only when we began considering making this film did I begin to understand what the MXI was really about—that it was a student organization. I started to see the courageous acts that occurred in the creation of it. Things changed dramatically. People had to take risks, and that makes a great story."
The film took more than one year to complete and includes interviews with former MXI Director Horace Turner H’76, former President Andy Ford H’06, Trustee Daryl Johnson ’82, Olympic Coach Rob Johnson H’77, Eugene Anderson ’83, MXI Director Tim Lake, and founding member Keith Nelson ’71. The film is narrated by Keith Veal ’92, and Hugh Vandivier ’91 also assisted Throckmorton.
"This is a very powerful piece of work—you’ll have grown men crying as they see their lives in this," said Marta Collier, University of Arkansas professor, wife of Willyerd Collier ’75, and a supporter of the Institute since the early 1970s. "We’ve been talking about how to get alumni reconnected and how to introduce incoming freshmen to the MXI. This film would be a powerful thing to show young men who don’t know this story. It could also be part of the healing that needs to take place for brothers to reconnect to the MXI—brothers we need to carry on this work."
Read more about Throckmorton's work here.