Unpacking Title IX

Campus sexual assault is a nationwide problem with no easy solution. Kenyon is not immune.

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Reconstructing Rutherford B. Hayes

In the aftermath of this election season, it's worth taking a new look at Kenyon's very own U.S. president.

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Defending the Ultimate Other

Bruce Hardy counters the caricatures of Neanderthals by analyzing microscopic residues on stone tools - and making remarkable discoveries.

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Also In This Edition

Kenyon in Quotes

"This is not my little thing anymore; it's kind of a lot of people's thing. It's just a blessing. I wrote my feelings about my children, and people are reading it in Lebanon. I'm kind of like, 'Go, little poem, go. Enjoy your travels.' "
— Kenyon Review contributor Maggie Smith, in a Columbus Dispatch article.

The Things They Packed

As they arrived on campus in August, we asked members of the Class of 2020 what they brought with them that they couldn't live without. Some went for the practical (a laundry basket) and some were more esoteric (a positive attitude). Some were artistic (a harp) and some were sentimental (a lucky ring). A frog named Froggy, a triceratops named Trikey and a bison named Bison are also among the unofficial residents occupying first-year dorms this year.

Snapshots of Kenyon Life

Treasures from Kenyon's Archives

The young face is all the more haunting because of where it appears — on an ID card and work permit for the Litzmannstadt Ghetto, in Lodz, German-occupied Poland, in 1943. Ita Marien Kaltman would perish in the ghetto, one of the millions of victims of Nazi brutality. This small remembrance of her life is part of the Bulmash Family Holocaust Collection, assembled by Michael D. Bulmash ’66 and on loan to the Kenyon library.

The collection includes more than 1,500 documents, postcards, letters, photographs and other artifacts and is available in the Greenslade Special Collections & Archives and online at digital.kenyon.edu/bulmash.

Record Breakers

During Homecoming weekend, five alumni and one coach were inducted into the 25th class of the Kenyon Athletic Association Hall of Fame. The class represents seven sports, nine NCAA team championships, 13 NCAA individual championships and 37 All-America awards.

Since its inception in 1987, the Hall of Fame has celebrated the accomplishments of more than 200 alumni and coaches. 

Happy Birthday, Gund Gallery

The Gund Gallery celebrated its fifth birthday Oct. 28. Here are some important numbers from the gallery’s first half-decade of life.

303 artists and artist collectives represented in Gund Gallery exhibits; 143 Gund Gallery Associates who have completed internships; 73,336 visitors to the Gund Gallery since opening in October 2011; 300+ free film screenings, lectures and special events presented by the Gund Gallery; 1,849 students who used the gallery for a class assignment, representing 105 class sessions from 16 academic departments and programs; Gabillions of PB&Js made during the Gund Gallery’s weekly lunchtime event.

Class Notes

Recent Class Notes
’04

Diana (Torres) Hawken and James R. Hawken recently celebrated 18 years dating — since senior year at Kenyon — and 14 years married. Jamie and Diana live in Naperville, Illinois, with their three kids, Melanie (10), Ryan (9) and Erin (6). “Jamie’s been both busy and happy at Utility Concrete Products,” they share, “while Diana has since become a board member for the Naperville Education Foundation, the 501(c)3 arm of the kids’ school district.” She is a membership co-chair for AAUW-Naperville, a girls and women’s advocacy group, and was recently invited to serve on Naperville’s Human Rights and Fair Housing Commission. To keep her pulse on the Latinx/Hispanic community, she is on the steering committee for Nuestro Futuro through the Chicago Community Trust, the largest affinity fund in the nation dedicated to Latinx philanthropy.

’17

Pankti V. Dalal entered her fifth year teaching math at St. Paul’s School in Concord, New Hampshire. She also advises the Indian/Hindu Society, is a dorm head, coaches and is the co-facilitator of the newly formed Faculty DEI Council. Recently she has been taking a deep dive into equity stances in the mathematics classroom and developing culturally responsive teaching practices. She also may or may not get a cat in the next year.

’93

David N.G. Whiting, Arlington, Virginia, and his family left the Philippines in March 2020 due to COVID: “We packed our bags and were on the plane in 24 hours!” he writes. “Back in Washington, D.C., I am still with the State Department and just finished a year working as chief of staff for the assistant secretary for international energy. In July, I moved to my current assignment, director of the China Division in the Global Engagement Center, the State Department office responsible for countering foreign propaganda and disinformation. Wish me luck!”

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