Good
afternoon. When I was asked to give a
short speech in honor of Doc Kwitowski, I agreed without hesitation. It is an honor.
To my
Catholic friend, Doc Kwitowski.
Having grown
up in Sanborn, since 1973 NCCC has had special meaning. At first NCCC was an
expansive parking lot, in which I could race my bike and occasionally get
chased off the library roof by security.
This was quite exciting for a 14 year old.
Before long my older brother Joel
attended here, and soon talked about someone named Doc. Some of his friends
also came here. They also talked about Doc.
At that point I didn’t know who Doc was, but I did believe he
existed. His attributes were yet to be
revealed.
During my
senior year of high school, in 1977, I told my chemistry teacher that I was
headed to NCCC. She was a great teacher,
no doubt, but she discouraged me from attending here. I should go to a real college, she said. I
could tell, Ms. Gervase didn’t believe in Doc.
There is a
certain sense of historical irony here.
I was the only one in my circle of friends who graduated in four years. I was also accepted into every graduate school
to which I applied, and offered a generous assistantship. Graduating from SUNY Buffalo with an MA in
math, I lined up next to Ms. Gervase, who was getting a second masters, and
told her what a wonderful education I received at NCCC. The truth did, indeed, set me free.
In the fall
of 1977 I did start at NCCC. Initially I
didn’t take a course from Doc, but I did hear of him. Fellow students were
always working on his problem sets, and there was a certain excitement
surrounding chemistry at NCCC. It was a
given that you could study chemistry at NCCC and go anywhere, including UB,
Cornell, professional school, industry, and so on. The science programs at NCCC
were seriously serious, and no one could out-serious Doc.
There was a
certain transcendence in the hallways of C-Building in that era. The skeptical empiricist
David Hume could not have fully described the essence of Doc. Even he would have believed in Doc, and run
to Aquinas. Ralph Waldo Emerson also
would have also liked Doc. As he once
said, “Truth is handsomer than the affectation of love. Your goodness must have
some edge to it, else it is none.”
Emerson didn’t know it, but he was referring to Doc here.
With Doc, the
whole was greater than the sum of the parts.
Eventually I
did meet Doc. I took chemistry for the
fun of it, as it was not required for a math/comp sci student. I wanted a
well-rounded education, and that should include at least one Doc. The first
class period left an indelible mark on me. It was a beatific vision of sorts. Since then I never lost my faith in Doc. I
have the same impression of Doc as I had in the first five minutes of
class. There was a certain transparency
about him, which pointed to his authenticity.
In walked
this interesting guy, who I recognized as a strange combination of Lenny Bruce,
Andy Rooney and Neils Bohr. Doc had a
cool, subtle, sarcastic wit, which only served to amplify his seriousness, and
the depth of his substance. Doc often
remarked, disparagingly, about people who were all style and no substance. His style amplified his substance.
For this 19
year old, Doc was the definition of cool, and definitely a stark contrast with
anyone who taught me in high school. I almost said he was the Miles Davis of
NCCC, but that would be wrong. Miles
Davis was the Paul Kwitowski of jazz. Elvis was the Doc of rock. Coolness was measured on a scale of 1 to Doc,
and it was measured on a logarithmic scale. No one else can reach Doc. They can only approach that standard. I heard someone on the west coast reached
Doc-1, and so is one tenth as cool as Doc. I don’t
believe it. It became obvious why Doc had such a following.
I never met
Dr. Notar, but I have come to believe that the greatness of his era was that he
begat many more eras. Like the era of Doc Kwitowski, the era of Graham Millar,
the era of James Abbondanza, the era of Don Voisenet, and Roy Summer, and Meredith Kellogg, and Bob
Baxter, and the list goes on. Each of
these eras begat a multitude of success in various forms that otherwise would
not have happened.
We are more
than a college. We are a community college.
We are more than the crown jewel of Niagara County. We have organic properties, and are way more
important than something we can merely polish and admire and covet. We are a source of creation. Creatio ex nihilo, or creation out nothing as
the saying goes. Our students start with nothing, and leave with something,
thanks to Doc and others like him.
Doc created
an era of enormous proportion. Some of
you who know him will be surprised to find out that much of that era was
planned in the coffee room. During one
such encounter in the early 90’s, I discussed offering a one credit hour course
called “math for physics”. The course
would consist of weekly meetings where I would teach applied math to physics
students that is useful for the upcoming week.
This would free up time for the physics instructor, and give students a
much deeper comprehension. Math for physics would also give students a seamless
math education, bridging the pure and the applied, and expedite the
transitioning of students into various STEM curricula. Teaching math concurrently could also possibly
decrease the number of pre-req’s, and definitely would cut attrition way down.
Two days
later Math for Physics was in the register, and it ran as a special topics course. That was how Doc worked - tirelessly, with
sound judgment, and with vision. We planned to follow up with other bridge
courses for other programs and departments as the demand
warranted. This would have been real
cutting edge stuff, possibly revolutionary. Working with physics and
concurrency was my idea, but the general idea came from Doc’s sci-data course,
which was enormously effective in chemistry. It was also Doc’s idea to broaden the scope to
a college-wide program.
Not long
after, our agenda came to a screeching halt. The efficient cause was testosterone
and a tug of war over resources, and the final cause was stupidity and a personality
clash that had started during my bike riding adventures. My career was marginalized, and so was Doc’s.
If I had it to do all over again, the
only thing I would change is how hard I fought. Doc was worth going on a crusade for. I am proud to say I went to battle with Doc. There
were some larger issues at hand. 25+ years later, look where we are. With Doc, I was always on the right side of
right, but sometimes on the wrong side of wrong. But, as the Catholic writer
G.K. Chesterton once remarked, only a living thing can swim upstream. Doc swam upstream a lot.
We can only
look forward to a new era that begets many more eras. According to another great man whom I respect,
Pascal Zanzano, the faculty, if they are allowed, will create, and much better
so than a couple of deans. Let’s
remember Doc, but not live in the past. We are well into the era of Dr. Lindsey
Rose, and I am sure if Doc looked down on it, he would say it is very good. There
are better days ahead. Thank you.
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