Dismissed professor's widow donates documents to archives

It was the Age of Aquarius.

On college campuses across America, students, faculty and staff protested the war in Vietnam. On the relatively quiet Arizona State University campus, however, no buildings were destroyed, no cars overturned and burned.

But one faculty member was particularly vocal on matters of social justice and in his opposition to the war. His decision to attend an anti-racism rally in Tucson, when he was scheduled to teach an introductory philosophy class got him fired, although he had received permission from his department chair to do so.

Morris Starsky, an assistant professor of philosophy, was fired in 1970 by the Arizona Board of Regents, and he was never to get his job back at ASU, or win a permanent full-time faculty position at any other university.

It was a dark moment for ASU, but now, thanks to Starsky's widow, Lorraine, scholars will be able to examine the Starsky story in its full historical and biographical context. In January, Lorraine Starsky donated all of her husband's papers to the ASU Libraries' University Archives.

She said, "I donated the papers because I felt it would be fitting for Morris" words and papers, many of which were created at ASU, to now reside permanently at ASU. His papers will be valuable to anyone who is interested in social justice."

The papers include newspaper clippings from Starsky's seven-year legal battle to regain his position; copies of his philosophy lectures; book reviews, articles and letters to the editor; his doctoral thesis; and a 37-page letter to his young sons Jacob and Sam, written when he knew his death was imminent. (Starsky died in January 1989 of heart disease.)

Starsky's teaching assistant, Barbara Colby, taught the class on the day he attended the anti-racism rally. Colby, who now is director of academic affairs for the ASU College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, said Starsky, contrary to what many people assumed, never mixed his politics with teaching.

"Students would try to rile him up about the political situation, but he'd say, 'No, today we're going to study Descartes,'" Colby said. "He was an exciting teacher for undergraduate students … He would get even the football players excited about philosophy."

The Starsky Collection is now open for research by appointment. For more information, call (480) 965-4932.

Written by Judith Smith, an information specialist coordinator with the university's media relations department.

To provide feedback on this article, click here.

Photo: University Archives

Morris Starsky

Digital Improvisation
New Institute tackles Social Science Research
A Closer Look
Art on a Cart
First Aid
The Appointment Book
McAllister Academic Village
Seeing the Future
Constructing a Culture of Giving