“I believe that his fundamental skill was helping students, including me, listen to others. The cliché of course is seeing the world through the eyes of others, but the problem is really doing that rather than projecting one’s own views on others. Gaudino was able to use texts, films, discussions to test whether a student really was comprehending the other and seeing his/her perspective. Class, culture, religion, were explored as a way of placing “the other” in a context and seeing that a difference was more than a disagreement on a single point but often the product of an entirely different worldview. As an aside, I was drawn to the religion major as an extension of that inquiry. So, yes, his relentless effort to open one’s eyes to such differences and their origins has had enduring effect of me. In fact it may be the only lasting effect of my college education.
