“Students did all of this on their own. I mean they raised the money and they talked to the administration, the people you have to talk to get this done. And then Dan O’Connor, who was dean at the time, Dean of the College, hit on the idea of appointing this Gaudino Scholar, and John Chandler, who was president at the time, agreed to this. Then the thing really took off because we had somebody who had his course released to go and do something with this money. And we started supporting students on individual projects. There have been six or seven scholars in the meantime and they all do things differently, but the thing that’s critical here, that’s highly unusual, is these scholars have to come before the Gaudino trustees, these former students, and give an accounting of what they’re using the money for. This leads to a discussion between these students, many of whom were Gaudino’s students, on what the scholar’s doing. And that’s very, very rare. Usually people who give money don’t get that kind of access. It’s very unusual but extremely effective, and these alumni have an insight into what’s going on in the college and so on that very few other alumni get, and the faculty member who does this has a very unusual if not unique experience of actually talking to alumni over a period of time and having to tell them what they’re doing, answer questions. Maybe some of them are even hostile questions indicating there’s some problem. They have to deal with that. And most of the scholars never knew Gaudino.

–David Booth,
Former Political Science Professor, and his wife Hanne, now live during wintertime in California but still spend the warmer months in Williamstown, where Hanne Booth continues to tend to Robert L. Gaudino’s gravesite in the Williams College Cemetery