An Alternative Approach

Charles S. Rockey ’57 addresses the naming of new buildings on campus (Inbox, March 4), and I wonder if he is the self-same blessed benefactor behind the Rockey Angling Collection, whose dedicated room in the depths of Firestone Library was my hands-down favored study retreat. Mr. Rockey’s well-intentioned inclination to honor astronaut Pete Conrad ’53 is laudable, but history has already honored that good man, and the patterns of the past pose their own pitfalls and perils. 

Ego and the adoration of the individual is an exhibitionism best eliminated from our culture. The shortcomings of ego worship have become more and more evident recently, and an alternate approach to building identity is long overdue and now in order.