Latin School of Chicago

Community During his tenure, Van Gorder welcomed increased involvement by parents, alumni and the neighboring community in the school. "Latin is to be a family school. The facilities of the school, as often as feasible, will be accessible to all members of Latin's families, its alumni, and friends," Van Gorder wrote in his introductory letter in the 1969 Alumni Bulletin. In 1971, the school opened its doors on Friday evenings and Saturday and Sunday afternoons for its new After Hours program, which made athletic and other facilities available to anyone in the Latin community. Parent and alumni volunteerism also grew during the time. In 1972, the Parents Council started Finders Keepers, a school thrift shop that raised more than $1.8 million during its 24 years of operation. Two years later, parents started the Live & Learn adult education program, which brought thousands of Chicagoans to the school after hours and on weekends for more than 25 years. Meanwhile, the Alumni Association launched the Discovery-Chicago program in 1971with the goal of exposing students to the business and cultural life of Chicago through a series of field trips. While Van Gorder often struggled with the more traditional factions in the school, during his time Latin grew by 46 percent, college admission by students to the college of their first choice increased from 39 percent to 71 percent, and in 1973 the school boasted more National Merit Scholarship Finalists (seven in a senior class of 54) than ever before. A Return to Stability When Headmaster Harold Witman arrived in 1973, he was generally supportive of the academic developments that Van Gorder had started and allowed department chairs to continue as they had as long as they stuck to their budgets and were successful, said Sommers. More Advanced Placement tests were added to the program, and graduation requirements were further refined and formalized, including the addition of the arts as a requirement. In 1977, Oliver Campeau, chair of the Language Department, introduced Spanish into the curriculum, with the foresight that as the "I remember my talks and debates with Dr. Cordes with great pleasure and gratitude. Although I carefully avoided ever taking any Latin classes from him, we had many discussions about the war in Vietnam (and war in general), all of which sharpened my thinking and beliefs about pacifism. He strongly disagreed with me on many points, but with a grace and ongoing commitment to our relationship that kept it from slipping into the polarized and divisive ranting that so often passes for debate in our day. A few years later, when I drew a very low number in the first draft lottery, I applied for conscientious objector status and found myself drawing on my discussions with Dr. Cordes as I prepared my arguments. What a gift he had given me! On top of that, he agreed to write a letter of support for me. In his letter to the Selective Service, Dr. Cordes described his own background and beliefs and stated very clearly that although he disagreed with my positions, he knew my beliefs were sincere and entirely consistent with my upbringing. I know without question that his letter was an important factor in my successful application for conscientious objector status. I went on to perform two years of alternative service and was spared having to make some extraordinarily difficult life decisions." – Steve Maxwell '68 80 L AT I N M AGAZINE

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