To the Editor:

I was struck by the inaccuracy of the letter written by Larry Zalin '71 in the winter 2004 issue of the Binghamton Alumni Journal. I was enrolled as a freshman in the fall semester of 1950 when Harpur College was born. The campus was purchased from Syracuse University at that time and the name Harpur was applied. At that time, the administration building, which was the only real permanent building, was called the "Colonial" building due to the architecture of the structure. Hence, the name "Colonial" was applied to many things.

It was during my senior year at Harpur that the decisions were made to locate the permanent campus in Vestal, not, as Mr. Zalin claims, at the time of the separation from Syracuse University. Construction of the present campus did not begin until much later. The "Colonial" name was always in reference to the architecture of the administration building, not the heritage of Robert Harpur.

These facts should have been made known to all students. I respectfully request that you publish a correction in the next issue of the Alumni Journal. I am offended by the inaccuracies in Mr. Zalin's letter.

-- Very truly yours,
John Cohoon '54

Response from Ingrid Husisian, editor of Harpur Hotline: Triple Cities College, a branch of Syracuse University, opened in Endicott Oct.1, 1946. The State University System invited Syracuse University to turn over Triple Cities College Feb. 7, 1950, and the school changed its name to Harpur College Oct. 5, 1950. Contractors broke ground on the Vestal site to build Harpur College's campus in 1954. (Source: The Cornerstone: From Breadth Through Depth To Perspective: A History of Harpur College by Michele McFee.) Aldo Bernardo, distinguished service professor emeritus of Italian and professor emeritus of comparative literature, who taught at Triple Cities College and then Harpur College from 1949 to 1987, concurs that the college embraced "Colonial" as the name for its sports teams and newspaper because of Colonial Hall's importance on campus, and not because of Robert Harpur having been a colonist.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Reader comments and reactions to articles in the Binghamton Alumni Journal are welcome. Please limit them to 200 words and mail to: Office of Alumni and Parent Relations, Binghamton University, PO Box 6000, Binghamton, New York 13902-6000; fax: 607-777-2654; or e-mail: alumni@binghamton.edu. Letters to the editor represent a diversity of viewpoints and do not necessarily reflect the views of Binghamton University or the Alumni Association.