When the whole Cambodia thing happened, the shutting down of the school in 1970, for about 10 days I was with the [student strike.] Then I said, “Nope.” This is not what we should be doing, it’s not what Williams should be doing and the people doing it are acting out of some other motive than they say. I was conservative then, yes. As both as a Christian and a conservative at Williams College I felt I was a complete minority in a hostile culture.

The appeal to me was the program itself rather than Robert Gaudino because I didn’t know Robert Gaudino. I was an American Civilization major and I also was going to go into the ordained ministry and I felt this was an excellent opportunity to see the country firsthand, to have an intensive encounter not only with institutions in America but with the other 17 students and with this man who I very soon understood was a very unique individual and ended up being one of the most influential people in my life.

I was 19, 20 years old. I was going into the Episcopal ministry but I thought this would give me a wide exposure to the church in America and it turned out to be exactly that. I literally went into dozens and dozens of churches and saw what they believed, what their ministries were, what their heritage was. It gave me a broad base for my later life in the ministry. I thought most people maybe struggled with their pick [of projects]. For me it was a no brainer.

There was one other guy who was a Christian similar to me and I also felt that Robert Gaudino was eminently fair and he would not allow any persecution. But I really did not look for him to protect me. I could protect myself. You have to defend your ideas. But I felt interestingly enough when we left the campus and went into Middle America that Middle America was on my side. All of a sudden it was the more liberal or secular Williams students who were challenged by the Bible Belt culture into which we were going.

Jay Haug '73