friday, march 18, 1988 Nicholas Daniloff:
cabrini college, radnor, pa 19087
vol. xxxiv, no. 16
Guest at Convocation by Re~ca
Rebalsky
he said. Convocation will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the gym. Presentations to be made during Convocation include Alpha Sigma Lambda, the continuing education honor society; DeltaEpsilon Sigma, the national honor society; Psi Chi, the psychology honor society; Lambda Iota Tau, the literature honor society; the Society for Collegiate Journalists; the Cabrini College Honor Society; and Dean's LisJ recipie~ts for the Fall 1987 semester.
The main event at Spring Convocation on Friday, March 25 will be an address by Nicholas Daniloff, a man described by television commentator Ted Koppel as "the most famous reporter in the world." . Daniloff, former Moscow correspondent for U.S. News and World Report, made headlines last August when he was seized by KGB agents on trumped-up charges of espionage and held in the Soviet Union for 30 days. Daniloff was arrested on Aug. 30, 1986in Moscow and taken to Lefortovo Prison, where he was subjected to about 20 hours of KGB interrogation over a 13-dayperiod. Daniloffwaslater moved to the U.S.EmbassyinMoscow, but was still kept under close observation by the government. Eventually, the Reagan administration and the Soviet government made agreements for Daniloff to return to the United States without having to stand trial in the Soviet Union. These days, Daniloff is leading a quieter life. He has returned to his alma mater, Harvard University, as a resident fellow. At Harvard, Daniloff teaches a six-part course which compares how the Soviet and American media have responded to world crises such as the Chernobyl nuclear power plant explosion and the Cuban missile crisis. "These are crises I have covered either in Washington or in Moscow," Daniloff said during a phone interview last month from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. When not teaching or traveling the lecture circuit, Daniloff, who is of Russian descent, is working to complete a book on his great-great grandfather, AlexanWho's Who Among Students in American Colleges der Frolov. and Universities, the Sbarboro Scholar award, the Daniloff explained that Frolov was one of a group PHEAA Scholarship in Education award, the Student of revolutionaries involved in the 1825 Decembrist Government Association Service Award, and the uprising inRussia. The Decembrists tried to overthrow Christian R. and Mary F. Lindback award for Distrinthe Czar and establish a Western-style constitutional guished Teaching will also be presented. government. The uprising failed and Frolov was exiled to Convocation will be followed by a reception in the Siberia.,.. Mansion. Daniloff says he began researching Frolov's history while on assignment in Moscow. "The book will tell three stories," he said. "My search for my ancestor, the story of my ancestor, and what happened to me." Daniloff says that his great-great grandfather's arrest by Rachel Athelia Anderson and exile can be related to his own incarceration in the "I accepted them for what they were and they accepted Soviet Union. "Reflexes and reactions to certain situations get passed down through generations," he said. me for what I was." Harriet Sistrunk entered Cabrini College in 1963.For two years she commuted from South "Not much changes." Daniloff says he was arrested by the KGB as a form Philadelphia. After that, she resided in the Mansion with of retaliation for the arrest on espionage charges of therestofthegirls.For fourentire years, she wastheonly Gennady Zakharov, a member of the Soviet U.N. delega- black person enrolled at the college. In her confident, soft-spoken voice, Sistrunk explained tion in New York. Although he describes the experience as "revolting," the situation between the white population at Cabrini and Daniloff says it did not significantly alter his perception herself. "I didn't find it too difficult. We both had to learn about each other." She continued to say that she enjoyed of the Soviet Union. ¡ "Russia is a country with a mixture of good and evil," the college, the setting--the whole atmosphere. She made it clear that although it was not unpleasant, he said. "There is a lot of talent, but there is also a great it does not mean that it was easy. There were not any deal of stupidity. I was victimized by the evil side of it." -students that looked like her and there were not any When Daniloff did come home to the United States, professors that looked like her. "The only blacks that it was with a greater appreciation for American values. wereonthe campus were the'help',besidesme,"shesaid. "The freedoms wehaveinthiscountryare wonderful," There was an obvious difference between the rest he said. "The founding fathers dearly saw the need to of Cabrini's population and Sistrunk, but the girls at the divide political power among three branches of governcollege were timid to address the situation of race at first. ment, and to create checks and balances." "In the Soviet system, all the power is concentrated in Later, they became more relaxed about the situation, and a few hands--making possible what the system did to me," were able to discuss relevant matters ooenly and.freely.
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Meet all of Cabrini's ¡presidents (page 4)
Nothing was left to sit and fester. "I enjoyed the experience that I had. I don't know how it worked ...I really don't," she said. Sistrunk and the rest of the girls got along well. Sistrunk said, "I wasn't there for them to like me. If they liked me, that was a fringe benefit. I had alterior motives." When you possess a trait that sets you apart from the rest of the community, a trait that could possibly bring about negative attitudes, how do you survive? "Temperament has a lot to do with it. I didn't go there to prove anything." She continued to say that it's unnecessary to walk Mound with a chip on your shoulder, waiting for someone to knock it off, Someone might just knock it off accidentally and there will be a confrontation over an accident. She suggested that such an attitude is not a good way to survive. Twenty-five years ago when Sistrunk was a Cabrini student, she did not have a chip, but she questioned a few things about Cabrini College. Why weren't there other black people enrolled? And what type of board representation did she have? more BLACKNEEDSon 10
Person of the week: Vito DiVicenzo (page 16)