Plum Crazy

I was thinking about my college days earlier, and my mind flashed back to two professors. Both poli sci professors. Each of them said things that have stuck with me to this day.

The first was said by Gene Levy. The first class of the semester, he got up in front of us and said (paraphrasing somewhat, as it's been a while):

You may be smarter than me. But I know more than you. I'm older and I've had more education.

You couldn't argue with the man. He was absolutely right.

The other was Bob Benedetti. Bob was a man mostly memorable for apparently having bought all his ties during that one week in the '70s when really wide ties were in fashion. I took a class that was co-taught by Bob and the religion professor, Jay Mosely. It was essentially a constitutional law class that focused on the religion clauses of the First Amendment. We explored both clauses through the lens of John Winthrop and Thomas Jefferson (the reason I referred to the class as WinJeff). Bob wrote the following on my final paper for the term:

You have so concisely summed up what I had in mind when I formed this class that I now question the validity of the thesis.

Because, you know, if you can clearly and concisely state something, it must not be true.