“I entered Williams planning to be probably a physics major but would have been a bad scientist. I realized that. So I planned to take political science in the spring. In March, there was an announcement of a program that Robert Gaudino was behind called “Williams-in-India.” And this program was to be for the following year. It included readings in the summer, a complete academic program that following fall, which was the fall of ’69, followed by Winter Study about India and then a departure for India in February and an entire spring semester in India. It was a competitive program, meaning that theoretically anyway not everybody who applied would get into it. Under normal circumstances I wouldn’t have done something like taking a trip to India over my summer vacation. I had no a prior knowledge particularly or interest in India. But I knew that the opportunity to spend a lot of time with this guy, Gaudino, would be just unique. He was running a series of conversations in his home, sessions at night on the Kerner Commission [studying America’s riots]. I remember coming the first night and the living room was full of people, just sitting and students talking, I didn’t see a faculty member, so I sat down. I listened. And at some point suddenly this person who was obviously the faculty member started speaking and that was Bob Gaudino. I was captivated.

So when the India program was announced, I realized this was an opportunity to be around this brilliant teacher. Thirdly, I guess it was dawning on me then that I tend to not take on challenging things. I’d never traveled outside the United States and I had no friends applying. I just did this thing. Most of the students, I mean, basically none of them were people particularly interested in India.

–Dale Riehl '72