“The honor in which his name is held by his students is something that most professors would give a lot for. But they’ve over-institutionalized the Gaudino thing. I don’t think he would’ve been comfortable with that. That wasn’t what he was about. I think he would’ve been probably embarrassed to see the Gaudino seminars, the Gaudino this, the Gaudino that, the Gaudino year anniversary. I don’t think he looked at himself that way at all. To me he pursued the task of interrelating with his students with great modesty, with great deference. He wasn’t telling them much of anything–he was asking them lots of things and having them tell him things, and then perhaps commenting on or asking another question. Despite all of the things that are there to memorialize Gaudino and the foundation and the anniversaries and all the stuff that comes up, despite all of that, I think the legacy of Bob Gaudino really is with the students he taught, and I’m not sure that any of this other consequence is very important.

–Vince Barnett,
Former Political Science Department Chairman, in Williamstown, before his death, at 92 in 2006