Rochester Institute of Technology, back lawn of Liberal Arts Hall, April 20th, 2020. Except where indicated all photos by David Kramer. In background is a Henry Moore sculpture.

Henry Moore, Three Piece Reclining Figure No. 1, 1962. As discussed in the Behind the Bricks website, “this piece was purchased right after the move in 1968 [to Henrietta] but dates all the way back to 1962. It was originally placed in front of Max Lowenthal Hall and just recently was relocated to the back lawn of Liberal Arts Hall.”

(left) from An eerie quiet at McQuaid Jesuit High School in Brighton; (center) from An eerie quiet at Nazareth College, An eerie quiet at the University of Rochester; (right) An eerie quiet at Monroe Community College
Yesterday, I visited Rochester Institute of Technology where I had been a few weeks earlier. Then, RIT was in the process of closing after an extended spring break. As some students had not yet moved out of the dorms, compared to yesterday, I saw a fair amount of activity. I spoke with two international students — unable to return to their home countries — playing basketball.
Yesterday, in an hour stay, besides groundskeepers and security officers, I counted less than 25 people. Four or five were walking the track at the sports fields.
I met John Lowengrauth ’23 who was not asked to leave his off campus apartment. John and a group of friends were in Toronto for spring break (luckily all were safe). Upon his return, John witnessed the hectic scene of dorm dwellers packing up and moving out within a stretch of a few days. John is from Long Island where his mother is a hospital administrator. She’s had enough experience with the covid epidemic to recommend John stay in Rochester.
John is doing pretty well. As an electrical engineering student, John’s on-line classes are manageable, although he misses hashing over problem sets with his peers in the Java Wally’s cafe in the library. And a ZOOM happy hour is not the same as a fraternity or sorority bash.
Six other students live in his apartment complex; John says they are just about the only people he regularly sees on campus. Having a big refrigerator not allowed in the dorms, John survives on food runs to Wegmans. Needing to wear face protection, John dons a neon bandana he normally uses at RIT’s legendary and now cancelled Human vs. Zombies games — moderated tag played with nerf blasters.
John has noticed a few people at the basketball courts. In fact, on my return, I spotted five guys shooting hoops.
In the 2000s, I taught the Senior Seminar, the Writing Seminar and Cultural Studies at RIT, including a stint at RIT’s satellite campus, the American University of Kosovo, in Pristina, Kosovo. (see From Tirana with love. And a dash of Pristina.)
My most vivid outdoor memory was then President Albert Simone’s annual stickball game for staff, faculty and students. As I am a baseball and softball umpire, I volunteered to make calls. Even though umpires don’t use whistles, now former Associate Director of Athletics Alexander “Lex” Sleeman gave me one to blow when a runner scored. The game was played at the lot on the corner of Fox Lane and Clark Road near the Gordon Field House. Given the characteristics of the field — boulders and trees in play and a “short porch” building wall in the outfield — the game had multiple weird rules — invented by Al — that I needed to master and interpret.

(left) the Albert J. and Carolie R. Simone Plaza; (right) the unofficial Simone Field, site of the stickball games.
For a man his age, Al swung a stickball bat with (presidential?) authority. During the game, it is possible the pitcher lobbed Al meatballs. However, viewed from my umpiring perch, the apparent meatballs may well have been an optical illusion. The opposing team — some from the Office of the President — offered encouraging cheers directed at Al perhaps slightly more than to the other players.
As Al would have demanded, I was determined to only make just calls. While Al did score several runs — celebrated with the blowing of the whistle given to me by Lex — there were no close plays at the plate, so my integrity went untested.
Before taking the full campus excursion, see some RIT people who appear in Talker.

(left) Prof. Erin Green, public policy, BA and MS, RIT, from AUK YEARBOOK 2008; (right) with Bob Finnerty’s mineral map of Kosovo from his 2012 trip to AUK. From Tirana with love. And a dash of Pristina.

(left) Dr. Barry Culhane, Executive Assistant to the President, from Women (not many) at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Timeline in Highland Park; (center) Bob Finnerty, Associate Vice President of University Communications, with with 2012 AUK yearbook and mineral map of Kosovo, from From Tirana with love. And a dash of Pristina.; (right) Professor of English emeritus John Roche from RIT’s John Roche offers “Orange Golem” and “Trumped.” And the Donald’s parting shots. and Trump resigns; squeezed out of White House

(left) (l-r) Eric T. Kunsman, Lecturer in NTID’s Visual Communication Studies and Michael Riordan, Program Chair of the Media Arts and Technology BS from Teaching in the midst of tragedy at Gallery R; (right) Dr. Elizabeth Hallmark, SYFE Assistant Director with David Kramer, see “See Your Future Experience:” RIT and Charlotte complete innovative mentor program. [photo from Rochester School Board candidate Liz Hallmark rightly and singularly sees substitute teachers as a rich and untapped resource]

(left) Professor of English emeritus Sam Abrams; (center) RIT Students Rally in Support of the Rochester Cannabis Coalition, May 1998; (right) Chris Maj, 2005 Rochester Mayoral candidate. From “Man’s experience with marijuana had no negative effects”– Democrat and Chronicle, December 22nd, 2018

(left)(l-r) Emily Bellinger, MFA RIT, Jia Wang, MFA RIT, David Kramer from Recent R.I.T. MFA graduate Emily Bellinger breaks the boundaries of quilting at Gallery 4 – 8 in the Anderson Arts Building; (right)(l-r) David Kramer, Krit Upra, dual degree in Fine Art Photography and Biomedical Photography, RIT, from Krit Upra, one of Rochester’s emerging artists given a stage at Gallery 4 – 8 in the Anderson Arts Building and Krit Upra; A Magnificent Photographer In His Peak

Outside and inside the Lyndon Baines Johnson Building. (left) 4/20/20; (center and left) October, 2016 from LBJ and RFK in Rochester, October 15th,1964

Albert Paley’s The Sentinel. See Paley in Rochester: On the Local Path of the World’s Most Brilliant Sculptor
A few years, for 70 years ago today when Jackie Robinson broke the color line at Red Wings Stadium, I needed a hard copy of a 2007 essay I had written on Robinson for About Time Magazine. Of all the local libraries, only Wallace held bound copies of the magazine (that is now only digital).

Outside and inside the Wallace Library. (right) David Kramer, About Time Magazine/Vol. XXXV (2007) No. 5-6 p.35 [Held and scanned courtesy of the Rochester Institute of Rochester’s Wallace Library] From Remembering April 4th, 1968 and the Civil Rights Movement at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Highland Park

With AUK 2007/08 shirt. [Photo: Timothy Engström] see Seriously, where can I get a shave and hair cut? And the nine barbershops on Upper Monroe Avenue

Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, 4/21/20 see Seriously, where can I get a shave and hair cut? And the nine barbershops on Upper Monroe Avenue
These groundskeepers estimate between 100 – 200 mostly international students are still on campus. That Monday afternoon, I was the 5th or 6th person like myself they had seen just walking around campus. Given the circumstances, they said they were happy to still have jobs.
As with McQuaid Jesuit High School, Nazareth College and the University of Rochester, an eerie silence pervaded the campus. As with the other schools, the experience was again somewhat surreal. The afternoon felt very much like a sleepy summer sunday when many are on vacation: the libraries and eateries closed; people taking it easy. Yet, in the virtual cloud around me was a whirl of intellectual activity like any day during a hectic semester. Only I could only imagine, not see, the hum.
The campuses
This series comes to end: An eerie quiet at SUNY Empire State and Medaille Colleges in Brighton
An Eerie Quiet at Nazareth College, Part Two, by Ian Richard Schaefer