Letter from Jerry Tone '77

From: Jerry Tone <jerrytone@mac.com>

 Date: January 25, 2011 11:07:10 AM PST

To: Adam.F.Falk@williams.edu

Cc: William.G.Wagner@williams.edu, Peter.D.Low@Williams.edu, John.M.Malcolm@Williams.edu, giglio@alumni.williams.edu

Subject: Sheafe Satterthwaite

 Dear President Falk:

 I was initially saddened to hear of the College's decision regarding Sheafe's teaching contract, and then I realized that the feeling quickly turned to anger.  How could my beloved college (from which my father graduated in 1951, I  graduated in 1977, my daughter graduated in 2007, and my son graduated in 2010) make such a cold (and ill-advised) decision about probably my favorite, and most effective teacher?

 I would acknowledge that Sheafe's style and approach has long been unconventional, but my goodness, what a boring place the College would be if all styles were conventional and monochromatic!

 More importantly however, for me, Sheafe's teaching abilities were rivaled only by Fred Rudolph's in their effectiveness in helping us learn how to learn, learn how to think, analyze from different points of view, etc.  I can truly say that I was taught life-long skills by Sheafe in the classes I took from him, the meals we shared, the trips we took, etc.  He was amazing.

 I truly hope you will use your position to intervene in this decision promptly, and quickly make it right.

Regards,

Jerry Tone,  '77