The Statesman informing stony brook university for more than 50 years Monday, September 30, 2013
Volume LVII, Issue 5
sbstatesman.com
Tragic death of former professor shocks Stony Brook community
By Ryan Wolf
Contributing Writer
PHOTO CREDIT: FACEBOOK
Former Stony Brook University professor Dr. Kofi Awoonor taught African literature and creative writing from 1968 to 1975 in the English Department.
SBU convocation introduces improvements for Stony Brook By Ryan Wolf
Contributing Writer
Stony Brook University President Samuel L. Stanley kicked off the 2013 Stony Brook Convocation with its main event, the State of the University Address-Stanley’s fifth. After looking back at last year’s accomplishments and the university’s future plans, Stanley stated that “the State of the University in 2013...is strong.” President Stanley made sure to highlight Stony Brook’s many key accomplishments, including gaining membership into the 62-member Association of American Universities, the establishment of the Turkana Basin Institute in Kenya and the success of Stony Brook athletics. The address also focused on Stony Brook’s place in the world and how the University is expanding its role. Focusing on the different Stony Brook-affiliated campuses around the world, President Stanley pointed at the recently established SUNY Korea as an example of Stony Brook’s expansion, stating “Stony Brook is the founding
institute of Songdo [South Korea] global campus, becoming the only American university accredited in Korea." But to the surprise of some, instead of focusing on the accomplishments of last year, President Stanley placed the most emphasis on the plans for improving Stony Brook University over the next decade. As Stony Brook senior English major Andrew Meerwarth said, “obviously a speech like this is just kind of just touching on the best points of our university, but he not only talked about the good things we have done, but how we will do more things in the future.” At the start of the address, President Stanley acknowledged the approximately 100 new faculty members coming to Stony Brook University this year. After a long applause for the new staff, he said, “I want you to accept this applause as a sign of our commitment to all of your academic endeavors.” In the coming years, Stony Brook students can look forward to several new plans and additional funding for key programs at the university.
President Stanley, as Meerwarth put it, “brought it back home with all these new grand designs that we have and the important scientific research we are doing." Stony Brook students can also expect a new core curriculum created by university faculty members. “Our faculty have created a new core curriculum designed to help our graduates for the world beyond the University,” President Stanley said. This new plan, simply called The Stony Brook Curriculum (SBC), is expected to be in place by the fall of next year, according to a memo by the Stony Brook Curriculum Implementation Group. The curriculum is meant to replace the D.E.C. program currently in place. President Stanley will also be providing an additional $1 million fund for students that are members of the University’s “Education Opportunity Program” (EOP). As President Stanley noted, “I believe that it is critical that we show support for EOP on this campus.” One of the more surprising plans for the university, which is highly recognized as a research-based
Stony Brook alumnus and former creative writing and African literature professor Dr. Kofi Awoonor, 78, was killed during the Westgate Mall shooting in Nairobi, Kenya by members of the Somali terrorist group Al Shabaab, which left at least 70 people dead. According to Director of Alumni Relations Matthew Colson, Dr. Awoonor graduated from Stony Brook University in 1972 with a Ph.D. in English. From 1968 to 1975, he was a professor in the Department of English. After leaving Stony Brook in 1975 to return to his home in Ghana, Dr. Awoonor was arrested by the Ghanese government and charged with aiding a believed dissident. Stony Brook students and Long Island’s Amnesty International Organization joined together to protest for his release in Washington, D.C. in 1976. Students also submitted articles to the New York Times and Stony Brook’s magazine “The Fortnight.” These efforts brought SBU to national prominence for one of the first times. “The Brook,” Stony Brook’s alumni newsletter, published an article in 2005 that looks back at those protests: “Concerned students and faculty tried to obtain whereabouts from the Ghanian Embassy...they organized a letter-writing campaign, protest and telephone-calling marathon on behalf of Awoonor.” Awoonor was eventually freed from the Ghanese prison and was able to continue his literary works as well as begin a political career. His political career led him to become the Ghanese ambassador to Brazil and Cuba. He was later appointed to the office of United Nations ambassador for Ghana. There, he had a reputation as a peace advocate, which reached its height when he was appointed as the head of the committee to end the
apartheid in South Africa. After becoming a statesman in Ghana, Awoonor rose in prominence as a writer and literary legend for Ghana. One of the few professors who knew Awoonor well during his time at Stony Brook is Professor Narayan Hegde, currently a professor at SUNY Old Westbury. Professor Hegde stated that “having studied English literature under what used to be still the British influenced education system, we were drawn towards each other.” Hegde said he remembered that during an exam “when one of my examiners, an American professor, found my characterization of Rudyard Kipling as an apologist for imperialism somewhat rash, Awonoor came to my defense.” Hegde also recalled Awoonor’s influence in Africa at the time. “Although I lost touch with him after his return to Ghana in 1975, I was aware of his rising prominence as an African writer and a diplomat,” Hegde said. Stony Brook alumni expressed the impact Awoonor had on their lives, especially on the Alumni Association Facebook page. “I have followed his life course intermittently over the ensuing decades with pride and admiration,” alumnus Mark Mehler said. “I have had many inspiring teachers in all disciplines since that time long, long ago (when we were both young, I was 16 and he was 34) but none will compare to Professor Awoonor," he said. Several Stony Brook faculty members who knew Dr. Awoonor recalled their memories of him. “I did not know him well, but he was well respected,” European studies professor Aaron Godfrey said. He added that Awoonor “was disappointed that at that time we had so few African American students. As I recall, he was the only faculty member of African ethnicity.”
WILL WELCH / THE STATESMAN
Highlights of the State of the University Address. institute, is a plan to provide an additional $1 million fund to the school’s humanities, social sciences and arts departments for the proposed purpose of small grants. “I want to emphasize that it is
absolutely imperative that we also support cutting edge work in the humanities and social sciences,” Continued on page 5