the system started making electricity. Designed to generate approximately 12 kilowatts in a 26-
to-28 mph wind, it was tied directly into electrical lines belonging to the local power company,
Niagara Mohawk. If it performed as anticipated, it would provide approximately 25 percent of
the energy needed by a typical dairy farmer. Its expected price tag of $10,000 made it
affordable to many farmers, for most dairy farmers use four to five times as much energy as an
average household.
Although internal problems prevented this machine from generating any appreciable
amounts of electricity, the successful rotation of the blades proved that this new design was
indeed feasible and operable. Agway Company attempted to replicate the design with similar
blades, but they broke, and the project was abandoned. Clarkson's "windmill" still stands, but
current problems within the generator prevents its operation.
Media attention generated by this giant "eggbeater" included NBC-TV footage that was
shown all over the United States and Canada, and an article in the international edition of
Newsweek
.
Entrepreneurship Program.
Students at Clarkson gained first-hand experience of the free
enterprise system through the Entrepreneurship Program. Established in 1976 to give students
practical knowledge of the free enterprise system, the Entrepreneurship Program created a
profit-oriented umbrella corporation, Golden Knight, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of
Clarkson College, with initial capitalization of $5,050. It hoped to manufacture and market two
or more products in the coming year. Under the direction of Edward McHugh, dean of special
programs, and the Clarkson Development Corporation (a board of directors composed of
prominent citizens), this program sponsored several student projects this year. Winning student
entrepreneurs received further funding to assure a fair chance of success as a fledgling
corporation.
Developing a coin-operated ski boot warmer as a project under this Entrepreneurship
Program in 1977, Mark Clark, sophomore from Poughkeepsie, and Bliss Dayton, a junior from
Bradford, N.H., shared a prize of $1,000 tuition scholarship for their invention. Also winning
scholarship prize money were Stephen A. Jones of Cape Vincent, Raymond L. Shedden of Van
Etten, and John Van Name of New York City for developing a Hovercraft Kit for hobby buffs.
Through the years, the Development Corporation supported the entrepreneurship course in the
School of Management, and still offers these incentives to inexperienced entrepreneurs.
Pease "Straightjacketed."
In his PY362 Abnormal Psychology course as he gave his second
lecture on institutional commitment without legal procedures, Professor Victor Pease noticed
the lecture hall 111 in the Science Center was unusually full. Students with cameras were
sitting on the steps; others were standing behind the last row of seats. All seemed eagerly
listening to his lecture. As he was speaking from his usual place in front of the demonstration
table, Pease noticed four white-coated figures quietly enter the room from the doors on each
side behind him.
Aware that something was afoot, he raced up the crowded stairs with the strangers in
pursuit. They cornered him in the rear of the room. As the mute attendants strapped him in a
straightjacket and placed him on their shoulders, Pease, realizing that he was the victim of a
student prank and with his usual aplomb, continued his lecture on hebephrenic personalities as
he was carried out the door as though on a funeral bier. One of the four then walked back into
the room and dismissed the class.
