by Aaron Thier
For my family—
Mom and Dad,
Ruthie and Dave,
my grandparents,
and my wife, Sarah
CONTENTS
Letter from Israel Framingham Tripoli
Tripoli College Office of Admissions
Fall Semester
From History Department Course Listings
Undercover Dean: Blog Post #1
From: “Maggie Bell”
From The Tripoli College Telegraph
From English Department Course Listings
Letter from Israel Framingham Tripoli
Minutes / September 2009 Faculty Meeting
Special Bulletin
From: “Maggie Bell”
From English Department Course Listings
Undercover Dean: Blog Post #2
From The Telegraph Sunday Magazine
From: “Maggie Bell”
From The Narrative of William White
Minutes / October 2009 Faculty Meeting
From: “Maggie Bell”
From The Tripoli College Telegraph
Undercover Dean: Blog Post #3
Letter from Israel Framingham Tripoli
History of the Brands, History of the Americas
From: “Maggie Bell”
From The Tripoli College Telegraph
Scandal Vulnerability Assessment
Undercover Dean: Blog Post #4
From: “William Beckford”
Recommendation Letter for Bill Dean
First Proclamation of the Antillia Liberation Army / December 21, 2009
Winter Break
Special Promotional Feature Sponsored by the St. Renard Ministry of Tourism (www.gosr.com)*
Spring Semester
From: “Maggie Bell”
Minutes / January 2010 Faculty Meeting (Emergency Session)
Undercover Dean: Blog Post #5
NEW FROM GENUTREX® NUTRITION
From: “Maggie Bell”
FIELD STUDIES PROGRAM IN TROPICAL AGRICULTURE
A Modest Proposal / January 21, 2010
Undercover Dean: Blog Post #6
from The Tripoli College Telegraph (Approved Content)
An Open Letter from the Antillia Liberation Army / February 10, 2010
From: “William Brees”
SLAVERY IN THE WEST INDIES
from The Tripoli College Telegraph (Approved Content)
Undercover Dean: Blog Post #7
Excerpted from A True & Exact Historie of These Ilands of the West Indies
From The Tripoli College Natural Sciences Newsletter (Approved Content)
An Open Letter from the Antillia Liberation Army March 16, 2010
From SLAVERY IN THE WEST INDIES
Undercover Dean: Blog Post #8
From: “Maggie Bell”
At Home with President Beckford
Minutes / April 2010 Faculty Meeting
From: “Maggie Bell”
Excerpted from A True & Exact Historie of These Ilands of the West Indies
SOURCES AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
A NOTE ON THE AUTHOR
Letter from
Israel Framingham Tripoli
to
Zephaniah Fitch
July 24, 1788
Dear Sir,
Not knowing how God in his Providence may dispose of my life, but praying that it may not be protracted beyond the usual span, for I suffer with the Gout, & the Strangury, & a most painful suppurating Boil in the centre of my forehead, & also a periodical ague, I venture to rely on the many proofs of friendship I have received from you, in all the years of our long acquaintance, in order to ask one favor more. I would have you destroy my last Will and Testament, and to please write another, as I will describe.
I assure you this is no rash jerk of my pen. I am lately returned from the island of Saint Reynard, where as you know, Sir, my Grandfather, the Esteemed John Morehead Tripoli, chanced to spend a year of his life. Having been (God keep him) somewhat imprudent in his own speculations, my Grandfather was never able to realize a design of which he spoke often and with the most agitated absorption, namely that something be done to improve the circumstances of the Carrawak Indians, at whose hands he had received such gracious treatment during his year upon the island. The Carrawak are now much reduc’d, even to the precipice of Extinction, in consideration of which, & as I believe my Grandfather would have wished, I have instead decided to lavish my charity upon their brethren the much abus’d Wapahanock, whom I have known during my long residence here in North Town. Therefor it is my Will to promise the Complete sum of my whole fortune toward the establishment of a Free School, to be intended Solely and Exclusively, in Perpetuity, for the education of the said Wapahanock Indians, believing as I do in the myriad and subtle advantages of a liberal education, & hoping thereby to throw a small stone into the balance that has weighed so heavily against the Indian these three centuries past. I am Greatly concerned to have this accomplished, & I commend the matter to your care knowing that you will do your utmost to see it executed. As I have said, I do not know when God may call me to his bosom, and yet I pray it shall be soon, having been all my life, as you know, more anxious than is perfectly convenient to leave the place I am, and to arrive at the place where I am going. I shall conclude by recommending my self to your prayers, and you & your Dear family to the Divine protection. I am, with great Esteem,
Your honor’s most Humble & most obliged servant,
Israel Framingham Tripoli
P.S. I could wish also that some money be provided for the benefit of North Town, in consideration of which it is my hope the Governour and General Court will give to said town the name of Tripoli.
P.S. I would make allowance also for bribes, with which the Indians may be induced to attend the school. The benefits of this education will serve afterward to keep them in attendance.
Tripoli College Office of Admissions
Information for Prospective Students
Why Tripoli?
We know that picking a university or college is one of the most difficult, not to say challenging, decisions of your life. So why should you pick us?
Founded in 1794 as a free school for Native Americans, Tripoli College opened its doors to tuition-paying students of all backgrounds in 1795. Today Tripoli is a fully accredited private institution of humanistic and scientific learning. We graduate outstanding young men and women with a high degree of civic responsibility, diversity, character, and commitment to leadership, in a student-centered learning environment that strives to foster the “teacher within.” We offer challenging courses in a large number of reputable degree programs, almost all of which are taught by full-time faculty. We have a strong Division III football program, guaranteed on-campus housing, and self-serve pudding bars in every dining hall. In addition, Tripoli students participate in a large number of extracurricular activities. Whether you want to play the carillon, compete in varsity crew, or just “make the wound” with a few of your fellow students, you’ll find plenty of ways to fill the winter nights.
Should any of that matter to you? Doesn’t every college or university say the same thing? What makes Tripoli special?
In addition to a traditional liberal arts education, we offer unique opportunities for “experiential” learning, including our innovative Vocational Writing Program, which teaches workplace-specific writing strategies. Our branch campus in the Caribbean, Tripoli’s Proxy College of the West Indies at St. Renard (formerly University College of t
he West Indies at St. Renard), provides students with unique opportunities for ecological and anthropological fieldwork. A large percentage of Tripoli students also choose to study abroad in places as diverse as Australia and the Falkland Islands. We strongly believe that in an increasingly globalized world, an appreciation and understanding of other cultures is essential.
Finally, a Tripoli education is great preparation for the “real world.” Our graduates go on to distinguished careers in almost every field. According to the latest estimates, only a small fraction (less than 3 percent) are homeless within five years of graduation.
So does any of it matter? You tell us.
Fall Semester
From
History Department Course Listings
Fall 2009
HIST 215 / How to Make a Grapefruit: An Introduction to Atlantic History
Kabaka
Grapefruits are a hybrid citrus fruit produced by crossing the sweet orange with the pomelo. They were first cultivated on the island of Barbados in the eighteenth century, and in some parts of the Caribbean their association with the British colonial regime, and more importantly with slavery itself, persists to this day. The grapefruit—like the sugar plantation and the big banana farm, like the United States, like chocolate, like cowboys and Indians and Italian food—is a creation of colonial history. This semester, working exclusively with primary sources like slave narratives and early travelogues, we’ll discover the pain and horror that underpin the most banal features of daily life. We will try to put the thing in perspective. Ten million murdered slaves howl in their unmarked graves as we drink our grapefruit juice. How could it be worse? Education is about learning outrage. Turn over a rock and nightmares come out. But turn it over.
Undercover Dean: Blog Post #1
This is my very first “blog” post, but I figured it was about time I joined the Internet. After all, I’m a college student now!
Last Thursday night, I met my suitemates for dinner at Longman Hall, where we enjoyed some of Tripoli’s distinctive menu offerings and talked about everything under the sun: boating, contraception, Hegel, a sophomore named Maria, the recession, and the excitement of our first week as Tripoli College freshmen. One of my suitemates, whom I will call “Akash,” told us all about his childhood in Southeast Asia, and I kept the discussion going by sharing some of my experiences in the Vietnam War. After the meal, we sipped delicious fair-trade coffee and agreed to go on a road trip to Los Angeles at the end of the academic year.
But I didn’t have time to sit around “shooting the breeze.” I had an evening class. I bussed my tray, grabbed a delicious 80 percent vegan cupcake, and headed off to “Crime and Justice,” an eye-opening sociology seminar taught by Professor Malinka West. I was a few minutes late because I stopped to admire the silhouette of Sheridan Tower against the darkening sky, but sometimes it’s a good idea to pause and enjoy the little moments. I know that from experience!
Tripoli students benefit from small class sizes (an 11:1 student-to-instructor ratio), which provide opportunities for lots of intimate discussions with distinguished faculty like Professor West, author of the controversial memoir Fucking the Police, and Other Diversions. Thursday night’s class was part lecture, part debate, part movie screening, and I had to struggle to keep up. The life of a college freshman is so exhausting and fast-paced that I actually fell asleep for a little while at the seminar table!
The Masked Man
If you were to pay a visit to Tripoli and see me hanging out with my new friends in front of Pinkman Hall, you might say to yourselves, “That fellow looks a little older than most incoming freshmen.” And one or two of you might actually see through my disguise (I hope not!) and ask yourselves what on earth a seventy-year-old dean is doing attending classes and hanging out with undergraduates. To explain that, I’ll have to wind the clock back a few weeks.
As the dean of students, I’m always looking for ways to improve the Tripoli experience. We face more challenges than ever this year, with an unprecedented budget deficit and numerous personnel issues. But the last thing I want, as funding dries up and half the endowment vanishes overnight, is for our commitment to our students to get forgotten in the general panic. Student life remains my top priority, and I’m dedicated to maximizing the scant resources we have at hand. Every day, I ask myself the same questions: What do our students want? What do they need? What are we doing to make life at Tripoli as comfortable and safe as possible?
Obviously, we can’t begin to address those questions if we don’t have a clear understanding of what’s happening on campus. But getting the lay of the land isn’t as simple as it may sound. I attend College Council meetings, I’m a member of various faculty-student committees, and I deal frequently with sports teams and other campus organizations. The trouble is that young men and women are not always very forthcoming when speaking with an “adult,” especially an authority figure like the dean of students. And truth be told, no matter how much contact I have with young people, I can’t help but think that as I’ve gotten older, I’ve gotten more and more out of touch.
Last summer marked the third anniversary of my wife’s death, and as I thought about her and reflected on how I’d spent those last three years, I began to feel that it was time for a change. My office just wasn’t doing its job as well as I thought it could. Plus, I worried that if I went through the same lonely routines for another year, I’d go absolutely batty! That’s when I decided to try something new. Call it a “thought experiment,” but with real things. I set my bifocals aside and got some contact lenses. I bought denim trousers, a Boston Celtics mesh uniform jersey, “boxer” shorts, and a baseball cap that I turned backwards on my head. I even dyed my hair a rich chestnut brown, the color it had been in my youth. As a final touch, I obtained a gold-plated Tripoli College logo chain. Then I pulled some strings and got myself assigned to a suite in Hogbender Hall, Entryway C, with Akash and two other first-year students, whom I will call “Burke” and “Lehman.”
What’s the only way to find out what a typical student’s life is like? To become a student myself. By move-in, I was ready to begin. I told my friends and neighbors that I was leaving the country for a few weeks, put an out-of-office reply on my e-mail, and went undercover as an entering (or, since I’m a Tripoli grad myself, reentering!) freshman.
Move-In
I share a bedroom with Akash, while Lehman and Burke share the bedroom next door. At first, this was a bit awkward because Akash is such a smash hit with the ladies, but luckily he’s also a polite and considerate young man. And anyway, when he’s entertaining a young woman in our room, I can always hang out in the common room. We have a futon, a comfy chair, and a nice window seat. Plus, there’s always someone to talk to, whether it’s Lehman, Burke, or just someone stopping by to say hello.
No disguise is perfect, and it’s only natural that I’ve had to do some explaining. As I was laying out my pill organizers and other toiletries on move-in day, I looked up to see Akash staring at me from the doorway.
“Are you a parent?” he said.
Indeed I am, Akash! I’m the proud father of two girls, both of them Tripoli College graduates! In fact, one of my daughters lives just half an hour away in Manchester, which has been a great comfort to me since my wife passed away. She was the one who showed me how to set up this blog.
But I had to stick to my cover story, so I said, “I’m a freshman like you. I’m a little older because I took some time off after high school. My name is William, or Bill.”
Then I asked him if he wanted to do any drugs or drink some wine, in the hope that I might be able to learn something about drug and alcohol abuse among incoming freshmen, but he said he was going out to meet some people he knew from TOOT (Tripoli Outdoor Orientation Trips). The TOOT program has been a big hit since it was established eight years ago.
Akash wasn’t the only one who had questions for me. Later that day, I was sitting in the common room with Burke and Lehma
n. The two of them were looking through the course catalog and I was enjoying a light doze on the couch. Suddenly I was startled by the sound of a book slamming shut, and I opened my eyes to see Lehman squatting in front of me.
“Hey, man, listen,” he said. “Don’t you want to tell us what this is about?”
I thought I’d play dumb, so I told him I wasn’t sure what he meant.
“What are you, someone’s grandfather?”
I saw Burke cringe, but I reassured him. It was a fair question, after all. I told them that I’d taken a few years off after high school.
(And no, I don’t have grandchildren yet, but I’ve got my fingers crossed!)
It was naïve of me to expect a disguise to fool these young men, but now that the subject was out in the open, they seemed to take it all in stride. Soon, it almost seemed as if they had lost interest. I’ve been amazed to discover that most of the other freshmen I’ve met have reacted the same way. Today’s students are remarkably open-minded about deviant lifestyle decisions. Of course, I’ve been spending all my time with freshmen and I have yet to run across students I’ve known in my capacity as dean. I’ll have to improve my disguise!
Now Lehman was explaining how relieved he was that his parents had finally gone.
“College is a time to be independent,” I agreed, “and pursue a journey of self-discovery that could lead you to an activity or course of study that might become your consuming passion.”
“Yeah,” said Burke. “I mean, it’s like, maybe you know some guy in high school, and he’s just this weedy little guy, and then he goes away to college and next Thanksgiving he comes back with a bow in his hair and he’s like, ‘Oh, okay, I self-identify as a female water buffalo.’ ”
Lehman nodded. “What I’ve never understood is what’s a beefalo?”
I didn’t react to these turns and surprises in the conversation. One thing I’ve noticed as I’ve gotten older is that it’s become more and more difficult to adjust when the topic of conversation changes.
