FLAIR.
For student interests outside of sports, Randy Lamson, director of student life
programming, established a FLAIR program, an acronym for activities emphasizing Fun,
Living, and Intellectual Recreation. In 1979, the program included 10 noncredit mini-courses
on ballet, yoga, disco dancing, fencing, introduction to drawing, repair of entertainment
electronics, beginning guitar, auto mechanics, and 35mm photography. Enrollments ranged
from 10 in yoga to 150 in disco dancing. FLAIR also sponsored such events as an Oriental art
exhibit (100 participants), wine seminars (300 participants), and lectures on psychic phenomena
(450 participants).
Highlighting the year were six dinner theaters held periodically through both semesters.
Attendance ranged from 100 to 125 when repertory companies from Lake Placid, Boston, and
Rockport, Texas, performed. Meanwhile, dramatic offerings on campus continued with the
Clarkson College Theater staging of two major productions,
Arsenic and Old Lace
and
Once
Upon A Mattress
, and two one-act plays during Parents Weekend.
Sports and Recreation Center.
A major decision was made to confirm Clarkson's fervent
belief in the importance of extracurricular activities when the Trustees voted to authorize the
construction of the Sports and Recreation Center. This new building was to provide much
needed space for a wide variety of indoor recreational activities such as swimming, racket
sports, and running, and for such college-wide functions as Commencement exercises.
Ground was broken in summer of 1979, and occupancy occurred by the end of 1980.
The seniors' gift plan in 1978 of "Project Reality," a fund-raising plan for this new building,
grew dramatically when an anonymous alumnus agreed to match every senior dollar given.
Bayard Clarkson.
Dr. Bayard Clarkson became chairman of the Board of Trustees, continuing
a tradition begun 36 years ago when his father, Robert Livingston Clarkson, accepted board
membership. Dr. Clarkson and Thomas S. Clarkson share a common ancestor-David Clarkson,
who, with his associates in New York City, purchased the Town of Potsdam in 1802. (See
Prologue)
A member of the staff of the Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Dr. Clarkson is chief of the
combined hematology-lymphoma service and professor of medicine at Cornell University
Medical Center in New York City. He is the author of over 100 publications in his field and is
the editor of several medical journals.
Entrepreneurship.
Established in 1976 to give students first-hand knowledge of the free
enterprise system, the Entrepreneurship Program received national attention by a feature story
distributed by the Associated Press which appeared in over 300 newspapers from coast to coast.
In addition, a photo essay of past inventions appeared in the monthly magazine
Mechanical
Engineering.
Some of the projects from 1977-78 were Dri-Feat (Gerard Palace): an inexpensive and
all-purpose boot and shoe liner for the skier, hunter, and outdoor enthusiast; Backsaver (Jon
Bergstrom): a portable and lightweight device for bicycles used to keep water from spraying on
the back of the cyclist; Insultherm (Tim Southern and Michael Richardson): a window insulator
to prevent heat loss through windows in home, school, and office; Sightless Sound System
(Richard Bilsback and Wayne Martin): assistance for a blind person to shoot at targets with
bow and arrow; and others. (See 1976 and
Photo #37c
)
