Edward "Ed" T. Morman, PhD

From the time of CCNY's founding in 1847, neither City College nor any of the other City University schools charged a tuition fee. That was my prime motivation for attending a commuter school within CUNY. I chose CCNY because of its history as a hotbed of radicalism. Several of my friends from high school also planned to go to CCNY, and I looked forward to spending time with people whose company I enjoyed. The truth is that I didn't take my studies seriously. I began as a chemistry major, but gave it up during my freshman year because the coursework was demanding and time consuming. As a sophomore I became a psychology major, concentrating in experimental psych. Ultimately my interests turned in another direction. Even given my lack of commitment to schoolwork, though, I was delighted to get a taste of a wide range of subjects, from European history to geology, from music history to world literature, from economics to film studies. I was unhappy during my freshman year because I was neither engaged in political activity nor was I experiencing the type of student life I fantasized about at a residential college. My mood changed in the middle of my second year when I was won to the orbit of the Progressive Labor Movement. I joined the Students for a Democratic Society. Both on campus and around the city, I participated in the broader movement against the War in Vietnam. Although my political views have mellowed over the decades, I have remained sympathetic to - and an occasional participant in - struggles for peace, justice, and equality in the US and around the world. I earned a master's in librarianship and, while working as a reference librarian at the University of Pennsylvania, I completed a PhD in the History of Science. As a librarian with a doctorate in another field, I fashioned a career in research libraries. My advice to young people at CCNY is to fight for the right to a low-cost, high-quality college education, and for a better, more just world for all.