DAN LANDAU
Photo Editor

Hello, my name is Dan Landau. Some of you may already know me as the Photo Editor for The Metro, or perhaps you may know me from any of the other activities I have been involved in over the past few years here at FDU. Commencement is barely two weeks away and as a graduating senior, I am very excited to graduate with a Bachelor of Arts in History.

Graduation is naturally a time of reflection on the last four years. I won’t subject you to the usual clichés that we hear at graduation time. Instead, I just want to tell you a few things that I learned at FDU — things that you can use to get the most out of your college experience.

College is like a meal. The academics are the real meat and potatoes part of college, after all, ostensibly you are here to get a degree and learn something as opposed to simply avoiding having to join the workforce for a few years. However, four years of nothing but study would be very bland, it is important to properly season the food. The spices used in preparing the meal is the social aspect of college as the friends you make and the activities you partake in will flavor your college experience. A good meal comes with a dessert, something sweet to remember your college experience by. The dessert is the activities that make your college experience very special.

The food — Academics are very important. Your grades do matter and they will be a determining factor in your future after college. Good grades are important for getting into grad school and landing good jobs after college. I had to say that. Now I will stop talking like your mothers and get down to the fun stuff.

The spices — Grades are important, but so is having fun. College is a time to make incredible friendships and get involved in awesome activities. By joining some of the clubs on campus, I made strong friendships that I will take with me when I leave FDU. Students like to complain that there is nothing to do on campus. Well, they are wrong. As a commuter, I had to look for ways to get involved and get the “college experience.” When I looked, I found a myriad of clubs, events, activities and friends to be made. Remember, this is the seasoning of your meal, so you want it to be good. Spending four years only studying or playing video games will make for a bland meal. Get out and join some clubs; you might be surprised at how much fun you’ll have.

The dessert — Look for special activities to augment your meal. These will be some of the most important parts of your college experience, and like a dessert, they will provide sweet memories of the meal. For me, my dessert was a semester abroad at Wroxton College. The memories gathered from a semester spent enjoying the sights, sounds and smells of England will always be with me. Wroxton was certainly a highlight of my college experience.

The chef — If you don’t know how to transform the ingredients in front of you into a fine meal, enlist the help of another chef. By chef, I am of course referring to a mentor. A mentor is an invaluable resource that can help you immensely. For me, my mentor, in addition to helping me tremendously with my undergraduate career, also guided me towards my next step: a master’s degree in Communication from FDU, which I will begin next year.

Ultimately, how your college experience plays out is up to you. You have all the ingredients to make a fine gourmet dinner, or an insipid meal. The choice is up to you. Bon Appetit.

FDU is looking for ways to balance the budget for the 2009-2010 academic year without raising tuition prices too much or taking services away from students.

As it stands right now, FDU is estimating that it will face a $3.4 million deficit next year. The administration is doing everything that it can to rectify this situation. Despite the projected deficit, President J. Michael Adams said he is committed to maintaining the same high level of services for students that are presently available.

In an interview, Adams outlined the three priorities the university has in dealing with the budget: “One, to maintain the integrity of the academic environment, two, to keep people employed, and three, ensure that the safety and security of the learning situation is maintained.”

Adams said that “this institution is in great condition.” A $3.4 million projected deficit may not sound very good, but overall, FDU is in good shape — compared to many other universities today that have resorted to job cuts and cutting courses.

Despite the economic downturn, FDU is committed to maintaining access and services for students. University Provost Joseph Kiernan said in an interview that next year, FDU “will be putting in the smallest percentage tuition increase that we have ever had — it’s only 3.9 percent.” That percentage has been lowered since The Metro first reported on the tuition increase in the Feb. 19 issue.

On top of that, the university is making substantial investments in financial aid beyond the normal amounts it has proposed in previous years.

Kiernan said that this extra money is to “help new students coming in and also for our existing students who run into problems renewing their loans or if their family situation changes and so forth. We are putting money aside so we can help students.”

John Schiemann, associate professor of political science, said that he “applauds the University’s desire not to raise tuition to cover the budget deficit,” but he expressed concern that the deficit would have to filled by reductions in faculty and staff salaries. Schiemann and other faculty members also articulated fears that FDU will be cutting salaries of faculty and staff by a blanket 6 percent.

In response to faculty concerns, College at Florham Provost Kenneth Greene said that FDU was not thinking about instituting a blanket 6 percent cut. He said that number simply came up because 1 percent of the monies spent on salaries is about $600,000 — thus 6 percent would yield $3.6 million and effectively fill the hole in the budget. Greene stressed that this number had not been voted on and “we never said that we were going to do it.”

Kiernan also added that “it’s just a simple statement: $3.4 million is about 6 percent of salaries. It’s just a guideline. There will not be 6 percent across the board. There will not be a similar same percentage on every salary level.”

Kiernan said of FDU’s budget that the majority of it is in compensation (salaries and benefits).
Schiemann said that the faculty want to be included in the budget decision process. He said that he wants “assurance that all other alternatives are being explored and transparency in how [the university] came to the budget conclusions.”

In an email, Greene said that the budget is developed by the University Planning and Budget Committee (UPBC), which has 11 members — “5 administrators chosen by the president, 5 faculty members elected by the faculty, and the president of the Professional Administrative Senate (Valerie Adams).” The UPBC drafts the budget and gives it to the president for final review.

Kiernan said the deficit “will be solved.” There’s probably “going to be some pain in many places, but the academic programs will be maintained, student services will be maintained and student support will be maintained.”

Kiernan did say, though, that salary or benefit reductions were “a possible solution. Assuming there are no layoffs or reductions in force, it has to be reductions in compensation.”

Of course, if enough students return in the fall, there may not be a deficit at all. The tricky thing about this budget is that FDU will not know how much money will be coming in until October when all the incoming freshmen and returning students are in.

According to Greene, if fewer students come to FDU, then the budget problem could be worse and inversely, if more students come to FDU, then the deficit may not be an issue.

To deal with the deficit, FDU has already instituted a limited hiring freeze.

As discussed in an April 9 story in The Metro, the hiring freeze does not apply to positions relating to student health andsafety. Kiernan stressed that if FDU was in a real financial emergency, then “even those things would be on the table,” and they are not.

Adams said that the university is committed to keeping people employed and maintaining the current learning environment for the students.

He also said that “the only real asset in a university is people. The buildings are nice, but the reality is it is what happens between faculty and students, between staff and students. I don’t want an environment where we are laying off and firing our main asset.”

As The Metro reported on April 23, FDU has had a 15 percent increase in freshman applications and a 25 percent increase in acceptances over past years. Greene said “the problem can get better and we hope it will. The problem can also get worse and we hope it won’t. We will know in the fall. The budget is based on a conservative projection of the numbers.”

Kiernan stressed that no matter what happens with the economy and the budget, FDU will get through it.

“This is a very resilient organization, and it has survived many challenges that other institutions would not have. We will get through this,” he said.

Greene will hold a campus meeting about the budget on Tuesday, May 12, at 3 p.m. at a location not yet announced.

DAN LANDAU
Photo Editor

Photo spread published in the April 9 issue of The Metro. Click on the black text for the photos to accompany this text.

The Mansion is the centerpiece of both the former Twombly estate and today’s College at Florham. It was originally built around the turn of the twentieth century. It was modeled after the Christopher Wren wing of Hampton Court Palace, near London.

Documents in the College at Florham Library Archives suggest that the entire estate cost $2 million to build, which according to an inflation calculator on Westegg.com/inflation would be close to $50 million in today’s dollars.

Left, what the Clowney Gardens looked like when the Twomblys lived at Florham and Right, the gardens today. The Clowney Gardens were named after the late William D. Clowney, a trustee of FDU.

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The photo to the left shows what the Orangerie looked like when the Twomblys lived at Florham. It was a sort of greenhouse where citrus trees were grown (Orangerie is French for “orange grove”). When the trees grew too tall, tiles in the floor were removed to lower the trees. Originally, the Orangerie had a glass roof, but an incident involving students climbing on top of the Orangerie prompted FDU to install the copper roof that is on the Orangerie today.

Also visible in the photo to the left, are the 5 greenhouses that were located behind the Orangerie. Today, the campus library and the library parking lot occupy that space.

FDU began construction on the library in 1959, finishing in 1961. It had space for 60,000 volumes. In 1966, a major addition was put on the library, allowing for up to 200,000 books, according to FDU Magazine. Today, the library contains over 150,5000 general circulating and reference titles as well as 500 currently received journals.

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Above is a photo of the Playhouse, a building with an indoor pool, clay tennis courts and a putting green that was built for Ruth Twombly, the daughter of Florence and Hamilton Twombly. Ruth Twombly hosted Great-Gatsby-style parties there regularly. In order to better use the space, FDU demolished the Playhouse and build today’s recreation building and the NAB on the site.

Today, the Roberta Chiavello Ferguson and Thomas George Fergusen Recreation Center, is the home of the FDU Devils sports program. The plaza was built this past summer. The statue of Ulysses which graces the new plaza is a remnant of FDU’s now-defunct Rutherford Campus.

The Stadler, Zenner, Hoffman-La Roche Academic Building (a.k.a. the NAB), had its first classes in 1998. Dreyfuss Building, houses Dreyfuss Theater, where student plays are performed. Dreyfuss was one of the earliest campus buildings that FDU built.

The Twombly Residence Halls, were the first dorms that FDU built on the College at Florham. They were completed in 1964 and, according to FDU Magazine, they “became the first co-education dormitories in the state.” Today, the Twombly Residence Halls are for incoming Freshmen.

The Barn, as a part of the Florham estate, originally housed workhorses and sheep. FDU converted it into a fine arts facility in 1961, complete with an art studio, a small theater, and classrooms. Today, the Barn houses Public Safety, Facilities, Continuing Education, and the recently renovated Black Box Theater.

For more information about the Twombly estate and the College at Florham’s early history, go here

DAN LANDAU
Photo Editor

On March 25, Arie Galles, professor emeritus, delivered a presentation on his on artwork, showing his project, “Fourteen Stations/Hey Yud Dalet,” which he produced to honor the millions who were murdered in the Holocaust.

Galles taught art classes at the College at Florham from 1972 until 2004, when he left for California to become the Chair of the Art Department at Soka University of America.

“Fourteen Stations/Hey Yud Dalet” is a suite of fourteen large-scale charcoal drawings of aerial photos of Nazi concentration camps. The title draws on both Christian and Jewish symbolism.

The “fourteen stations” refer to the fourteen Stations of the Cross and also the tendancy for the camps to be located next to railroad sidings. The “hey yud dalet,” is a Hebrew acronym for “Hashem Yinkom Damam,” which means “May God avenge their blood.”

In this case, Galles said that the vengeance is not one of death, but simply living and living a good life—thus robbing Hitler of victory.

Galles called his project his “Kaddish” for those murdered in the Holocaust. In Judaism, the Kaddish is a prayer that is said by family and friends when someone dies. Galles said that in each of the Fourteen Stations drawings, he wrote one-fourteenth of the Kaddish, thus “the full suite offers the prayer for those who perished and had no family to recite it for them.”

The Fourteen Stations collection of drawings are all aerial views of concentration camps. Galles said that he drew them that way because drawing them any other way would have been too close for him to deal with emotionally.

Yet, he acknowledged that it is important to engage the Holocaust in art. In a statement on his Web site, Galles said that “Under no condition can art express the Holocaust. To withdraw art from confronting this horror; however, would assign victory to its perpetrators. That must not be. Each survivor, individually, must affirm his or her humanity and existence. As an artist, and a child of survivors, I can do no less.”

Despite the serious nature of the topic, Galles was lighthearted in his presentation. In an interview, he said “I can’t let Hitler win; I’m going to have fun.” This view came out in the interview and in his presentation. He possesses an animated personality and when he was speaking about something he liked, he would get so excited about it, that he couldn’t stand still. He punctuated his sentences with a broad smile that spread across his face.

Besides his “Fourteen Stations/Hey Yud Dalet,” Galles discussed some of his other art projects and his evolution as artist. An interesting medium that Galles has done quite a bit of work with is reflected light. Using ingenious creativity, Galles used painted aluminum rods to reflect the colors of the painting onto a white canvas. Thus what is seen is not actually a painting per se, but rather the colored light that is reflected.

Photos of Galles’ work, including “Fourteen Stations/Hey Yud Dalet” and his reflected light work are available on his Web site: ariegalles.com

DAN LANDAU
Photo Editor

The College at Florham’s Golden Anniversary events continue, the latest being a talk by professor emeritus Walter Savage and Arthur Vanderbilt II on the Twomblys of Florham and their history.

The event, “The Twomblys of Florham: The Beginning and End of an Era” was hosted by the Friends of Florham on March 29. About 75 people listened to the presentation in Lenfell Hall.

In a casual dialogue, Vanderbilt and Savage presented a broad outline of the Vanderbilt family, starting with “Commodore” Cornelius Vanderbilt and the vast fortune he built in the first half of the nineteenth century. Their narrative continued along, detailing Florence Vanderbilt’s marriage to Hamilton McKown Twombly, their Madison estate (“Florham”), and finishing with the transition from country estate to private university in the 1950s. Along they way, they punctuated their discussion with colorful stories about the Vanderbilts and life on the Florham estate.

Arthur Vanderbilt II talked about the “unbelievable scale of living” that the Twomblys enjoyed. It cost $250,000 a year to run their Florham estate. (An inflation calculator at Westegg.com/inflation put this at around $6 million in today’s dollars.) The Twomblys, however, could easily afford that sum, as even during the Great Depression, they made $10,000 a day from investments ($150,000 in today’s dollars, as per Westegg.com/inflation).

The amazing thing, Arthur Vanderbilt II said, is that compared to other great Vanderbilt houses — such as the Breakers in Newport, R.I. — Florham was very plain and simple.

An interesting side note to the Twombly history at Florham that Savage discussed was that Madison’s Italian community’s roots come from the Italian workers who built Florham. Originally, the land that the estate sat on was swamp land so bad that even the local hunters wouldn’t go in there. The Italian laborers cleared out the swamp and drained the land.

Savage also talked about Fairleigh Dickinson’s acquisition of the property. He said that originally Peter Sammartino, the founder of FDU, was against the purchase, as he thought it would drain the University’s coffers, something that Savage compared to “putting an elephant in the backseat of a sedan.” Eventually, FDU did buy the Mansion and its outbuildings and the surrounding 187 acres for $1.5 million in 1958.

The Playhouse was one of these outbuildings. Originally built for Ruth Twombly, the daughter of Florence and Hamilton Twombly, the Playhouse had an indoor pool and clay tennis court. Savage talked about the Great Gatsby-esque parties that Ruth Twombly used to host there. Apparently in one of these, she dressed as Cleopatra and had four men carry her around. The five of them drank too much at the party and they all fell into the pool.

FDU demolished the Playhouse in the early ‘90s to make way for the current recreation building and the NAB.

Savage, professor emeritus of English, has a long history with Fairleigh Dickinson University and the College at Florham. He taught the very first course offered at the College at Florham, a course that all students were required to take, according to FDU Magazine.

Savage also worked as director of Wroxton College and, in 1983, was the acting president of FDU, according to Inside FDU. Prior to his involvement with FDU, Savage served in the military during World War II, according to FDU Magazine. Today, he is an active trustee in the Friends of Florham.

Arthur Vanderbilt II is a very distant relative of Florence Vanderbilt Twombly. He said that he traces his roots back to the veritable Vanderbilt scion, Cornelius Vanderbilt.

Arthur Vanderbilt II is an author and lawyer in northern New Jersey. His works include the 1989 Pulitizer Prize nominee, “Fortune’s Children: The Fall of the House of Vanderbilt.” He is a partner at the Carella Byrne law firm and an Honorary Trustee of the Friends of Florham. In 2001, Vanderbilt was inducted into the New Jersey Literary Hall of Fame, according to Carella Byrne’s Web site.

The Friends of Florham is a volunteer organization that was founded in 1990 to assist FDU in preserving the historic features of the campus of the College at Florham.

DAN LANDAU
Photo Editor

The College at Florham continues its Golden Anniversary celebration with a talk on Sunday, March 29, by Professor emeritus Walter Savage and Arthur Vanderbilt II on the Twomblys of Florham and their history.

The event, “The Twomblys of Florham: The Beginning and End of an Era,” is being hosted by the Friends of Florham. It will take place in Lenfell Hall in the Mansion at 3 p.m. The $25 admission is waived for Fairleigh Dickinson students. A reception will follow the presentation.

Vanderbilt and Savage will talk about Hamilton Twombly and Florence Vanderbilt Twombly, their estate, “Florham,” and their glittering era of wealth.

Vanderbilt and Savage will discuss every aspect of Florham life, from the 125 servants employed on the premises to the lavish parties and social events that the Twomblys hosted. Also to be addressed are the architects and designers that the Twomblys hired to design their grand estate.

Vanderbilt and Savage will also discuss the decline of the Florham estate and the Vanderbilt fortune, segueing into the estate’s conversion into today’s modern college campus. Carol Bere, a Friends of Florham board member, will moderate the discussion.

The Twomblys built their estate around the turn of the nineteenth century, at a cost of $2 million, according to documents in the College at Florham Library archives. According to an inflation calculator on Westegg.com/inflation, this sum would be close to $50 million in today’s dollars.

In 1952, Florence Twombly died at the age of 99, and in 1955, the contents of the estate were sold at auction, according to fdu.edu. FDU purchased the Mansion, its outbuildings and the surrounding 187
acres in 1958 for its College at Florham.

Arthur Vanderbilt II is an author and lawyer in northern New Jersey. His works include, “Fortune’s Children: The Fall of the House of Vanderbilt,” “Gardening in Eden” and “The Making of a Bestseller.” Vanderbilt is a partner at the Carella Byrne law firm and an Honorary Trustee of the Friends of Florham. In 2001, he was inducted into the New Jersey Literary Hall of Fame, according to Carella Byrne’s Web site.

Walter Savage, professor emeritus of English, has a long history with Fairleigh Dickinson University and the College at Florham. He taught the very first course offered at the College at Florham, a course that all students were required to take, according to FDU Magazine.

Savage also worked as director of Wroxton College and during 1983 was the acting president of FDU, according to Inside FDU. Prior to his involvement with FDU, Savage served in the military during World War II, according to FDU Magazine. Today, he is an active trustee in the Friends of Florham.

The Friends of Florham is a volunteer organization that was founded in 1990 to assist FDU in preserving the historic features of the campus of the College at Florham.

For more information about this event, call Public Relations at 973-443-8661.

DAN LANDAU
Photo Editor

Photos to accompany this article here:
Today -as the Science Building
Then -as the Carriage House (aerial view)
Looking up the driveway… Today -as the Science Building, Then -as the Carriage House
The horse stalls that originally filled the Carriage House
Construction -the transformation from the Carriage House to the Science Building

In a previous life, FDU’s College at Florham was the country estate of Florence Vanderbilt and her husband Hamilton Twombly.

The Twomblys spared no expense when it came to building their home, which they named “Florham.” The carriage house alone was “furnished at a cost of $85,000,” according to The Jerseyman in 1897. Adjusted for inflation, this sum would exceed $2 million in today’s money, as per an inflation calculator on Westegg.com/inflation. A document in the College at Florham Library Archives suggests that the whole estate may have cost $2 million to construct, (which would be close to $50 million in today’s dollars).

According to FDU’s Web site, the carriage house was large enough to house 40 horses and several carriages as well. After the automobile replaced horses and carriages there was a fleet of 15 cars stored in the carriage house, including six maroon Rolls Royces – maroon was the color of the House of Vanderbilt.

At least one reason why the Twomblys had so many Rolls Royces was one of social graces. The Twomblys entertained guests quite frequently. With a private railroad siding on the property, the Twomblys’ guests could easily get to Florham. A convoy of Rolls Royces would then taxi the guests to the Mansion. Florence did not want her guests to feel slighted if some were picked up in a Rolls Royce and some in a lesser car, according to a 2008 lecture by Professor Emeritus Walter Savage.
Documents in the College at Florham Library Archive reveal that there were five liveried coachmen and chauffeurs on duty around the clock.

After purchasing the Florham estate in 1958, FDU converted the carriage house into the Science Building at a cost of over $1.25 million, according to a document in the College at Florham Library Archive. Professor Emeritus Malcolm Sturchio oversaw the renovation. According to FDU Magazine, there were 12 teaching labs and eight research labs in place by 1962, as well as FDU’s Health Research Institute.

Today, the Science Building is home to the Biology, and Allied Health Sciences Department and the Department of Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Science, according to FDU.edu.

DAN LANDAU
PHOTO EDITOR

The Florham Programming Committee (FPC) presented the “Battle of the Bands,” which showcased six bands to a crowd of over 200 on Thursday, Feb. 19.

She Screams Scandal, a five-piece, punk/pop band from North Caldwell, beat out all the competition to win first place — a prize pack that included $300 and the opportunity to play at the spring concert later this semester. Reverse Order took second place, winning $200, and the emo duo The Battle at Matt and Adam won the $100 third prize.

Each band featured at least one member from FDU. The bands were each given a ten-minute set with which to wow a panel of three judges and entertain the excited FDU students who came out to support the bands.

Paranoid Panda opened the night out with their catchy indie style. Paranoid Panda featured FDU seniors Justin Tomasello (drums) and Jason Chau (guitar). Although Paranoid Panda is a four-piece, Tomasello and Chau played as a duo at the Battle of the Bands.

The members of Paranoid Panda were excited to play in the Battle of the Bands this year. Tomasello said, “After three years of waiting, we get to play,” as apparently Paranoid Panda had been unable to compete in past years.

Following Paranoid Panda, Reverse Order rocked the stage. With FDU freshman Cruise Russo on drums, these guys delivered an explosive set. They had a very tight stage presence and among their original songs, Reverse Order also treated their fans to a punk cover of Rihanna’s “Umbrella.”

Despite their age (Russo is the oldest, while the youngest member is only 16), Reverse Order delivered a high quality performance. Reverse Order impressed the judges enough to win second place.

After Reverse Order, the Battle at Matt and Adam took things down a notch with an acoustic set, which included a cover of “Your Love” by the Outfield. Just two guys, Adam Maffei and Matt Ryan, both FDU seniors, they were very confident of their chances at the Battle of the Bands.

Ryan said that “we bring something different to the table because it’s just two dudes with acoustic guitars,” as opposed to a whole band.

Their confidence was well-founded, as the Battle at Matt and Adam walked away that night with third place overall and a $100 prize.

She Screams Scandal followed with a dynamic set that rocked the crowd. She Screams Scandal features FDU senior Nick Teodoro, sophomore Chris Salpetro, junior Joe Jablonski and junior Jordon Kugler. Their singer does not attend FDU.

The current line up for She Screams Scandal has only been together for seven months, but their music was strong and their performance was tight.

Teodoro said that “we went out with the idea that obviously we wanted to win, but also to get people on campus to notice us.”

Teodoro was very surprised and pleased with the turnout for the Battle of the Bands. He said that “the four of us who are from FDU are all in Greek organizations and the turn out (for the Battle of the Bands) was better than at Greek events.”

She Screams Scandal finished out the night with the first place prize of $300 and a set at the Spring Concert later this semester.

Carbon Radio came next. Featuring FDU’s own Andy Katz on drums, Carbon Radio played an energetic set of what they call “progressive indie.” Katz said that he was “very excited to play” in the Battle of the Bands. Hailing from Old Bridge, Carbon Radio has been playing together for two years.

To round out the night, emo duo Shell of Summer played an acoustic set. Sounding very much like Dashboard Confessional, they closed out the contest.

In between the sets, MCs Jen Reed and Dosi Shakur kept the audience entertained with contests and games, including a scavenger hunt.

FPC also raffled off two gift baskets, each worth $100.

The Battle of the Bands and the Powder Puff Football Game were originally scheduled to take place last semester. Both had to be postponed to this semester.

At the time this article went to press, FPC could not be reached for comment.

DAN LANDAU
PHOTO EDITOR

PHOTOS TO ACCOMPANY THIS ARTICLE CAN BE VIEWED HERE:
The Mansion Then –Arial View
The Mansion Then
The Mansion and the Clowney Gardens Today
The Mansion Today 1
The Mansion Today 2
The Main Hall Then
The Main Hall Today

Hennessy Hall, or simply “The Mansion” is the centerpiece of the College at Florham.

Fairleigh Dickinson University’s College at Florham is in the midst of its golden anniversary this academic year, but the Mansion’s story actually begins 119 years ago.

According to FDU’s Web site, in 1890, Florance Vanderbilt (the granddaughter of tycoon, Cornelius Vanderbilt) and her husband, the financier Hamilton Twombly purchased 1,200 acres on which to build. They commissioned the very best architects of the time, hiring Fredrick Law Olmstead (the landscape architect who designed New York’s Central Park) to design the spacious grounds and the formal gardens. For their house, the Twomblys employed the services of McKim, Mead & White (the firm which designed New York’s Pennsylvania Station and Rhode Island’s state capitol building, according to greartbuildings.com).

The fashion of the time dictated that the social elite model their houses after British palaces and manor houses and the Twomblys did: the Christopher Wren wing of Hampton Court Palace, near London, according to a class lecture by Assistant Professor Gary Darden in fall 2008. Building commenced on their home in 1894 and finished three years later.

Professor Emeritus Walter Savage said in a 2008 lecture on the Twombly family, that the Mansion was built mainly by Italian laborers. These laborers were paid only pennies a day to construct the masterpiece home.

The fantastically wealthy couple christened their new home “Florham”—a fusion of their first names. Besides Florham, the Twomblys also had a brownstone on 5th Avenue in New York City as well as Vineland, a summer “cottage” in Rhode Island. In sharing time among their houses, the Twomblys only lived at Florham during the Spring and the Fall, spending Winters in their brownstone and summers at Vineland, according to the FDU Web site.

Florham was a huge entity. According to the history of the Twombly family on the FDU Web site, at the time of Florence Vanderbilt Twombly’s death in 1952, there were still 125 servants employed to work in the house and the grounds. On the grounds behind the Mansion, Hamilton Twombly built a working farm with a world-renown herd of cattle. Behind the Orangerie, where the campus library currently sits, were also five greenhouses that grew fresh flowers and produce for all three of the Twombly homes. Savage also mentioned in his lecture, that there still remains on the brick wall behind the library, the outline of one of these greenhouses.

Besides being a successful farm, the Florham estate also boasted a private railroad siding, the early twentieth century equivalent of a private jet. This was an essential accessory for the very very rich, according to newyorksocialdiary.com.

Also on the grounds of Florham, was the Playhouse, an indoor pool that used to sit where the Stadler-Zenner Hoffman-La Roche Academic Building (The NAB) and Fergusen Recreation Center are today. The gatehouse for the estate is now the home of the Fairleigh Dickinson University Federal Credit Union and the carriage house now houses the departments of Biological & Allied Health Services and the Chemistry & Pharmaceutical Science, according to Darden.

Today, the Mansion holds the offices of the University President, Dr. Adams and the Campus Provost, Dr. Greene as well as other administrative and faculty offices and several classrooms.

DAN LANDAU
Photo Editor
Published in the February 5, 2009 Issue.

On Dec. 27, 2008, Israel launched a military offensive (Operation Cast Lead) in self defense against a sworn enemy, the Hamas terrorist organization, in the Gaza Strip. Hamas is recognized the world over as a terrorist organization and its government in the Gaza Strip is not recognized by the U.S., the EU, or the U.N. Israel’s belated response to years of Hamas’ murderous rockets was a military operation. True to form, the liberal elements of the media and European governments immediately labeled Israel’s actions as “disproportionate.” This assessment is completely unfair.

It is important to view this latest Middle East conflict within the contextual framework of geography and history. Israel is the only Jewish nation in the entire world. According to the CIA World Factbook, Israel’s total land mass is only 20,330 square kilometers. Israel is surrounded by Arab countries. The total land mass of the surrounding Arab nations, is 9,459,780 square kilometers (note: this figure does not include non-Arab nations that are not friendly to Israel, like Iran). To put this into perspective, Israel is about the size of New Jersey, while the Arab world around it is larger than the entire United States.

Israel has fought three major wars with these Arab countries who sought to deny Israel the right to even exist. Emerging soundly defeated in all of the conflicts, the Arab countries have (for the time being anyway,) abandoned direct assaults on Israel and some (notably Egypt) have made peace accords with Israel. What has replaced these direct military assaults is terrorist activity by organizations like Hezbollah, Hamas, and others through the form of suicide bombings, launching rockets into border towns, etc.

This is the context for this latest conflict. The basic facts of Operation Cast Lead, are these: after Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip in 2005, the Palestinians elected the terrorist organization Hamas into power (in 2006). Over the next three years, Hamas launched almost 7,000 rockets into Israel. These were unprovoked missile attacks and they targeted innocent Israeli civilians. The rockets Hamas possessed had an operative range of 40km., which effectively put 20 percent of Israel’s population at risk (as reported in US News & World Report on Jan. 15). Finally, after blatant and repeated violations by Hamas of a six month cease-fire, Israel initiated a military offensive on Dec. 27, 2008 against Hamas to stop the rockets. The offensive lasted 22 days and Israel fully withdrew all of its soldiers from the Gaza Strip by Jan. 21.

From a surface look, it is easy to see why the media dubbed Israel’s actions as “disproportionate.” After all, as CNN reported, about 1,300 Palestinians were killed during the war and only 13 Israelis were killed. However, the number of Palestinian casualties may be highly inflated by Hamas. Reporter Lorenzo Cremonesi wrote in the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera that only 500-600 people were killed, and that most of these were in fact Hamas members. Whether CNN is correct or not, it is important to note that these statistics do not include the many innocent Israelis who were killed from the unprovoked rocket attacks over the previous three years. Neither does CNN distinguish between innocent Palestinian civilians and Hamas personnel. 

Indeed distinguishing between Hamas and the innocent bystanders was not always easy. The Spokesperson’s Unit of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) documented how Hamas hid weapons in schools and mosques. Hamas operatives shot off rockets and mortars from next to schools, mosques, and residences. Hamas built training camps and arsenals in heavily populated areas. Footage and photos documenting these despicable practices are freely available on the Spokesperson’s Unit’s Web site (http://idfspokesperson.com) and on their YouTube channel (idfnadesk).

One of the sad facts of war is that civilians get killed. But even more civilians get killed when they are used as human shields as they were for Hamas. The IDF went far out of their way to try and minimize civilian casualties. The head of the Sierra Leone Israel Friendship Society, Serajin Rollings-Kamara told the press in Freetown, Sierra Leone, that “Israel was not at war with Palestine, but Hamas.”

Israel was not at war with the Palestinian civilians. All during the hostilities, Israel continued to deliver truck loads of food and aid supplies to the beleaguered Palestinians. The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) Web site lists that (as of Jan. 25), 59,280 tons of humanitarian supplies, along with 3,604,250 liters of fuel have been transported into Gaza using 2,281 trucks.

In its quest to not target Palestinian civilians, Israel even went so far as to send text messages and automated phone calls to Palestinians in target areas prior to air strikes. This warned the innocent bystanders, giving them a chance to flee the area. These warnings also alerted the Hamas personnel who so bravely hid among civilians.

A particularly heinous example of this was reported by Jason Koutsoukis of the Sydney Morning Herald (Australia) on Jan. 26. This article detailed the experiences of Mohammed Shriteh, who works as a Palestinian Red Crescent Society ambulance driver. He said in the article “‘we would co-ordinate with the Israelis before we pick up patients, because they have all our names, and our IDs, so they would not shoot at us.” Indeed as Koutsoukis wrote, the real danger for Shriteh and others like him, was from “Hamas, who would lure ambulances into the heart of battle to transport fighters to safety.”

Ralph Peters, a columnist for the New York Post, wrote on Dec. 29 that Israel “may have executed the most accurate wave of airstrikes in history, with a 15-to-1 terrorist-to-civilian kill ratio.” Instead of congratulating Israel on its commitment to minimize collateral damage and the stellar intelligence that allowed Israel to strike at Hamas with pinpoint accuracy, the world has condemned Israel for a “disproportionate” response to Hamas’ terror tactics.

In a very perverse way, the world is right, because Israel responded in a very disproportionate way: it specifically targeted Hamas and tried to avoid hitting civilian populations, as opposed to Hamas, which directly targeted civilian centers in Israel, like Sderot, Ashkelon, and Beersheba. Israel deliberately aimed for military targets. Hamas however, deliberately placed many of these targets inside civilian centers, (like the weapons caches in mosques and the rocket launching sites in school yards).

A proportionate response would have Palestinian parents fearful every day and night for their children’s lives just as the parents of captured IDF soldier Gilad Shalit have been for the past two years as Hamas holds Shalit captive. A proportionate response would also involve daily airstrikes on the civilians in Gaza for the next two years, just as Hamas has done to Israel with its rockets since it came to power in 2006. We can all be thankful that Israel did not lower itself to the barbaric level of the Hamas and deliver a “proportionate” response.

To get the Israeli perspective on this issue, I spoke with some acquaintances I know in Israel for their opinions. I interviewed Steve—who for security considerations asked only to identified by his first name—who is a immigrant to Israel and an Israeli citizen. I asked him about whether he felt that Israel was right to do what it did in Operation Cast Lead and he said as a Christian, he was against the violence and war, but “in reality,” this was something that probably should have been done a long time ago. When asked about the media’s claims of disproportional action, Steve pointed out that whether or not Israel was right or wrong in this case, “the world does not go on demonstrations about the far bloodier actions in the world. This does not diminish Israel’s responsibility for its actions, but it is curious why Israel is singled out.” 

Another Israeli, Shuri Tsukerman, 22, said that “someone who didn’t live in the shadow of missiles for eight years would never understand” the “ridiculous state of existence” forced on southern Israel by Hamas’ rockets. Tsukerman continued, saying that “there is now a new generation of kids who are growing up in the shadow of missiles… thousands of kids can’t sleep at night without waking up from missile alarms… and who can’t focus in class because of fear.” 

The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs posted similar facts on its Web site, where it said that the Hamas’ rockets have had a “devastating effect on the daily life and sense of security of the 200,000 residents of the western Negev.” The MFA also cited studies that have found that the rocket attacks have taken a severe mental toll on Israelis; the levels of post-traumatic stress disorder in Sderot alone are close to 30 percent.

Hamas is the enemy of Israel; no questions about it. Written right into its charter (Article 7) is its mission to destroy Israel. The BBC reported on Jan. 2 Fathi Hammad, a senior Hamas leader, as saying “we will not rest until we destroy the Zionist entity.” Given Hamas’ aims, a truly “proportionate” response from Israel would be to completely destroy Hamas.

BY DAN LANDAU
PHOTO EDITOR