From: Brian Hirshman Date: April 25, 2005 12:24:25 PM EDT To: deviants@wso.williams.edu Subject: [Deviants] Captain Morgan... All- As many of you know, math professor Frank Morgan is an honorary Kentucky colonel. However, as there is already one famous colonel from Kentucky (whose closest restaurant is about a half-hour away), I have been working on trying to get Professor Morgan transferred to the Kentucky navy. As the army rank of colonel is the same relative rank as a navy captain, it is indeed possible to make Frank Morgan a captain without demoting him. And for those of you who don't believe that there is a Kentucky navy, I suggest you peruse http://www.lrc.state.ky.us/recarch/02rs/HR256/bill.doc at your convenience. I have spoken to Professor Morgan, and he has approved the letter that I have attached below. Please read it and send me feedback; if you wish to be a co-signatory to the letter, please let me know. I intend to mail it to the governor of Kentucky at the end of the week. Brian *** Governor Fletcher and others whom it may concern- We, the undersigned students, are writing to you because we love our math professor Frank Morgan, the Webster Atwell '21 Professor of Mathematics at Williams College. Professor Morgan is an honorary Kentucky colonel, a title conferred upon him nearly a decade ago. Like the state of Kentucky, we recognize the tremendous contributions that Professor Morgan has made as a mathematician and as an educator. His classes and lectures are inspiring and provocative, and he has challenged dozens of Williams students to achieve their highest potential. Nevertheless, we feel that there is a more appropriate way for Kentucky to recognize the achievements of our professor: we students feel that the honorary title "Captain" would be more apt. As it would be unfortunate to have our professor demoted in order to achieve this rank, we ask the state of Kentucky to transfer Colonel Morgan to the state navy as established by HR-256 of 2002. There are several reasons why we feel that such a transfer is appropriate. First, this transfer will allow Professor Morgan to retain his O-6 officer status, since an army colonel is equivalent in status to a navy captain. Additionally, we feel that Professor Morgan will be equally qualified to serve in the defense of Kentucky's waterways as he will be to command its land-based forces. Most importantly, we recognize the fact that the name "Captain Morgan" is much more recognizable on a college campus than "Colonel Morgan." For this reason, we feel that Captain Morgan can make abstract algebra problem sets much more accessible to the typical non-math major. After all, waking up to as 8:30 class on a Tuesday morning with Captain Morgan would, well, make the school day seem shorter. And while we recognize that it is forbidden to drink and derive, changing our professor's official title would permit us to turn to Captain Morgan for extensions, excuses, and grade grubbing as circumstances permit. By asking for Professor Frank Morgan's transfer to the Kentucky navy, we recognize the fact that we are not asking for his promotion, though he no doubt deserves one. We hope that the state of Kentucky recognizes the appropriateness of the title for our beloved professor, and thus we the undersigned look forward to future math classes with Captain Morgan in the fall. Sincerely, Etc. _______________________________________________ Deviants mailing list Deviants@wso.williams.edu http://wso.williams.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/deviants