UMass Magazine Online

Spring 2002

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Extended Family

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Carved Runes in a Clearing

Beautiful Soups

Trying to Know Tomorrow

Extended Family

PROFILE:SEEING CYCLES

by Karen Skolfield ’98G




	"MORE OF AN URGENCY" about the budget: Bob Lyons Sr. '38, foreground, with granddaughter jessica Paglia '03 at right. Standing, from left, are grandson Justin Paglia '05, daughter and '70s-era Umie Sue Paglia, and son Bob Lyons Jr. '78, '91G. (photo by Ben Barnhart)

DOWN HERE IN THE TRENCHES it’s sometimes difficult getting perspective on the campus budget cuts. There seems to be more and more of everything – layoffs, early retirements, journal subscriptions suspended – except funding. Which makes it good to talk with Bob Lyons ’38 and his family, a UMass clan if ever there was one, whose perspective on the campus is multi-generational.

Bob, whose class celebrated its 60th reunion in 1998, has been a stalwart in the Ambassadors Network and fundraising for Old Chapel. His son, Bob Jr. ’78, ’91G, is an ambassador and leader of the Central Massachusetts alumni club. His daughter, Sue Paglia, spent two years at UMass in the ’70s. Granddaughter Jessica Paglia is a junior in communication, and grandson Justin Paglia a freshman in environmental sciences.

Given their long and close attachment to UMass, I was expecting extremes from the Lyonses and Paglias. They’d either be angry about the slashing of the campus’s budget, I thought, or rose-colored-hopeful. Instead, they were remarkably balanced while appropriately concerned – with the sense, especially from the elders, that UMass has seen some of this before.

Bob Sr., particularly, has seen boom-and-bust cycles since his student days. “We had the Great Depression during that period – it was a completely different world,” he said. “As far as money was concerned, we had nothing. We were all poor.” But disabling cuts to the campus budget? “If there were cuts back then, we never heard about them,” he said, adding that he sees “some overreaction” now: “I think a degree from here will still be highly regarded,” he said. “This will pass.”

Bob Jr., who worked for the UMass Foundation before joining Merrill Lynch in Worcester, has clear memories of the last major budget crisis in early ’90s. “Although this is probably a deeper trough than we’ve been in before, we’ll come back,” he said. Like his dad, Bob Jr. paid little or no attention to campus budgets when he was an undergraduate. “I didn’t even know the difference between the chancellor and the president,” he jokes.

Not so with many current students; they’re all too aware of the budget, said Jessica. “My professors are saying next year we’ll see the impact,” she said.

“The education we’re getting right now is a good one. I can’t see how they can cut back professors and classes,” said Jessica, shaking her head.

Justin admits that he hasn’t followed many details of the situation. “I’m learning a lot just sitting here,” he said sheepishly. What he’s heard has been a mix of facts and fear. “People say, ‘Oh, when you graduate it’s going to be a community college degree.’

“I do think it’s cyclical,” added Justin. “I hope it gets better before I graduate.”

“My professors are being very positive, though,” said Jessica. “They’re telling us to get involved, and hopefully that will make a difference.” She was among the students who wrote a letter to parents as part of “SaveUMass” events on campus (see story, page 10), when professors asked students to write both to legislators and to their families, describing the cuts and explaining that the entire UMass community needed to get involved.

Jessica’s letter home had its intended effect. “Unfortunately, the only way you’re going to get a reaction is if people feel threatened,” said Sue. Her own own letter to her legislator was sent within the week.

Of course, this is a somewhat exceptional family. With three generations invested in UMass, the value of the campus is obvious to them. “Most people are more apt to complain about the fee increase,” Sue says. She believes the UMass budget crisis is on average “not talked about.”

And that’s a concern. For as much as the Lyons and Paglia families believe that this, too, shall pass, they also believe, as Bob Sr. says, “We need to get alumni to do something. My representative said those letters are very effective.”

Bob Jr. agrees. “It takes time and commitment from people, and not feeling discouraged in times like this.

“If you can get it in front of people and have them feel the urgency – ” he looked at Justin and Jessica, then turned back, smiling, to me.

“Hey, I feel more of an urgency just sitting here and talking.”

[top of page]

UMASS GATHERINGS:Rallying the troops

SOUVENIR: library memories

PROFILE: The Lyons Family

PROFILE: Jim and Susan Tourtillotte ’85

PROFILE:Jeff Donovan ’91 and Kate Wilson ’89

NO-DOZE DAYS - HOW YOU STUDIED

IN MEMORIAM

Obituaries: 1914-1949

Obituaries: 1950 - 1969

Obituaries: 1970 - 1989

Obituaries: Faculty