Walter Donway writes: “Back in September, I self-published my sixth novel (15th book), Retaking College Hill. It is dedicated to Brown and its core (perhaps now ‘historic’) standards, but also critical of what I see as contemporary contradictions of those standards. Many themes are inspired by Heather Mac Donald’s The Diversity Delusion: How Race and Gender Pandering Corrupt the University and Undermine Our Culture (2018). Not exactly uncontroversial. The novel takes the form of a thriller and briefly became a #1 Amazon bestseller in political fiction. Among the reviewers on Amazon so far are two Brown men. I could not avoid and did not want to avoid nostalgia about my years at Brown. I spent my career in New York City foundations, including as education program officer at the Dana Foundation, where I became founding editor of Cerebrum: The Dana Forum on Brain Science. I was encouraged and edited by then Chairman William Safire. I freelanced over the years (Wall Street Journal, Cosmopolitan, Iowa Review), but only when I retired at 62 did I begin to write books and hundreds of articles, including for a publication I helped to start, Savvy Street. My wife and I live in New York City and East Hampton on Long Island. From the ‘small world department,’ my brother-in-law is also Brown ’66. I enjoyed our 50th reunion and saw a few old friends and made some new ones. My brother-in-law refused to attend, disapproving of current trends at Brown, but, I think, from a different perspective than mine. He did like Retaking College Hill, though.”
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Class of 1966