Alumni Witnesses the Russian Struggle
By Carol Olechowski
Catherine Buell graduated from the University in 1993 with a bachelor�s degree in Russian language and American history. After graduation, the Williamson, N.Y., native lived in Washington, D.C., for a time, then moved to Russia. She is now manager of international cooperative programs for The Boeing Company in Moscow.
As an expatriate, Buell has had a unique perspective on the political and social changes that have taken place in Russia during the past several years, including the current financial crisis.
Life is going well, despite the crises. Boeing is also doing well � despite the fact that our bank crashed, we lost $150,000, and we paid our employees today [Sept. 15] for the first time since 26 July. While we�re relatively stable on the political front, the economic situation is steadily worming its way into our homes and lives. Shelves are bare. Black market trading has emerged again. And strangely, it�s terribly hard to find money! (Two days ago, I scoured over 10 banks for rubles...and found NONE; yesterday rubles were everywhere, but dollars were scarce...)
As I sit in my apartment � money hidden for safekeeping, as banks are out of the question � I have to wonder whether I�m living in 1998, or whether I�m having flashbacks to my first days here in 1992. It�s amazing.
For the first time, I have no foresight into Russia�s future. For the last six years, we�ve been working along, following a presumed course for the future. While it wasn�t always clear, we had direction. We had hope. I think the general feel in the business community (and at some level, in the psyches of the people for whom Russia is a part of the soul) is that we�ve been lied to, cheated . . . and feel little or no incentive to get up and do it again. It�s almost as if nothing has really changed here at all . . . ever. The bourgeois are still running the show, and the average Ivan is still suffering for the sins of the rich. Amazing.
It�s a philosophist�s dream, and an economist�s nightmare. It�s also living history, and I wouldn�t trade the opportunity to be part of it for the world. As I look toward moving back to the US next year, I�m already bothered that I won�t be living on the cusp of the wave. However, I�m quite sure that I can come back in a year or two, and find a Russia that I once knew. If nothing else, it will give us a chance to do things all over again � better a second time � and learn from some of our mistakes. The big question is whether the mentality of the country will ever change. People, oligarchs . . . have never been accountable for their mistakes. I have to wonder whether that will ever, ever be different.
Below, Buell reacts to an Oct. 6 Moscow Times article that details the impact of the "financial flu," with "the average Muscovite spending about two-thirds of his income on basic food" since August � and the possibility that "that figure could climb to near 100 percent." The impact, Arnold writes, is already evident in Moscow�s marketplaces, "where stall-keepers complained on Monday that sales were worse than ever and shoppers balked at the prices, shrugged and walked away."
So many of you have asked how the crisis is affecting us here. While my answer remains the same � that I am basically unaffected � I am completely disheartened when I read things like this. You know it�s happening. You see many more people begging on the streets or looking miserable. But there isn�t much any of us can do . . . So, when the question of how the crisis is affecting us is asked, I say it�s not "us," but rather, "them." And unfortunately, "we" are just relatively passive bystanders who remain financially unaffected by it all.
Above, at left, a glum, sparsely populated scene at Red Square; at right, a hawker of popular items: masks of failed Russian leaders.
Alumni Association Board Pledges $50,000 Grant
The Alumni Association board of directors has proven itself up to a challenge, recently pledging to making a gift to the Campaign for the Libraries of up to $50,000, based on a challenge to core groups of alumni. For each new dollar raised by alumni toward the Campaign, the Alumni Association will donate $.50.
"We hope that our challenge to fellow alumni will be an incentive for them to support this exciting � and much needed � project," said Patty Salkin, president of the Alumni Association.
"The new library is a key part of the distinctive learning environment that the University is building for the 21st Century. It will be a major resource for this region and the state, as well as the campus community. The Alumni Association is proud to be a part of bringing this facility to fruition."
The technologically advanced facility, the first new academic building on campus in more than 30 years, is scheduled to be completed in the summer of 1999, It will house many of the University�s collections as well as the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning.
New York State has contributed $25 million in construction funding for the project, but the University is expected to raise the additional $3.5 million needed to complete the project. So far, private support for the new library amounts to $1.2 million.
The Alumni Association�s gift also increases the likelihood of the University receiving a $500,000 Kresge Challenge Grant. The Kresge Foundation is a private entity dedicated to providing support to capital campaigns in the fields of higher education, health care, the sciences, the arts and public affairs.
