MS. HAHN: This is an oral history interview with Dr. Erwin L. Levine — December 2, 1981. The interviewer is Polly Hahn.
MS. HAHN: Now as I mentioned in my letter, I'm going to interview you about the decision of Skidmore to go co-ed. I know that you're chairman of the department, and I just want some of your memories and thoughts on what happened. First I'd just like to ask a little bit about your background at Skidmore; how many years have you been at Skidmore?
MR. LEVINE: This is my 21st year.
MS. HAHN: Your 21st year. And what brought you to Skidmore?
MR. LEVINE: There was a job opening, and I came here through almost by happenstance — because two years prior to that I had met Henry Galant at a political science convention in Washington. My particular mentor, the person I was working with at Brown, got his PhD at Harvard at the same time that Henry Galant did. And I met Henry through him, and a couple of years — about a year and a half later, I was then on the market looking for a position. I was just finishing a degree. So we wrote up here, and there was no opening here at the time, but a few months later, Henry called down and said to Elmer that the man they had here, which was his first year — was going back to New York; he had not finished his degree, and one thing just led to another. So I came up.
MS. HAHN: All right.
MR. LEVINE: This was in the days before affirmative action, advertising for people — it was a word of mouth system then.
MS. HAHN: What effect, if any, did the fact that Skidmore was a single sex college have on your decision?
MR. LEVINE: It didn't have any.
Erwin Levine was a professor in the Government Department from 1974-1988 and chair from 1979-1986. At his retirement, a fund was established in his honor to help Skidmore students who experience a sudden loss in their lives. Erwin died in 2002 at age 75.
MS. HAHN: This is an oral history interview with Dr. Erwin L. Levine — December 2, 1981. The interviewer is Polly Hahn.
MS. HAHN: Now as I mentioned in my letter, I'm going to interview you about the decision of Skidmore to go co-ed. I know that you're chairman of the department, and I just want some of your memories and thoughts on what happened. First I'd just like to ask a little bit about your background at Skidmore; how many years have you been at Skidmore?
MR. LEVINE: This is my 21st year.
MS. HAHN: Your 21st year. And what brought you to Skidmore?
MR. LEVINE: There was a job opening, and I came here through almost by happenstance — because two years prior to that I had met Henry Galant at a political science convention in Washington. My particular mentor, the person I was working with at Brown, got his PhD at Harvard at the same time that Henry Galant did. And I met Henry through him, and a couple of years — about a year and a half later, I was then on the market looking for a position. I was just finishing a degree. So we wrote up here, and there was no opening here at the time, but a few months later, Henry called down and said to Elmer that the man they had here, which was his first year — was going back to New York; he had not finished his degree, and one thing just led to another. So I came up.
MS. HAHN: All right.
MR. LEVINE: This was in the days before affirmative action, advertising for people — it was a word of mouth system then.
MS. HAHN: What effect, if any, did the fact that Skidmore was a single sex college have on your decision?
MR. LEVINE: It didn't have any.