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Dale Hathaway
Social Action Scholarship |
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....remember
Dale and carry on his work for peace and justice.
You
can make this possible by donating to an endowed
scholarship which will provide an annual scholar-ship
to a Butler University student who is active
in peace or social justice organizations on
campus or who is pursuing an in-ternship with
such a group off campus.
Donations
will be matched by the Lilly Endowment.
The
Hathaway Scholarshipc/o Barbie Turner
Development
OfficeButler University
Indianapolis,
IN 46208
(317)
940-9747
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In
Memory
Dale Hathaway was a man of compassion and conviction. In
his professional life, he was a dedicated teacher, scholar,
and activist. He was equally committed to his roles as husband,
father, mentor, and friend. While searching always for ways
to hasten the arrival of justice and the betterment of the
community, Dale also found beauty and meaning in song, sufi
dancing, yoga, and the shared silence of the Quaker and
Buddhist traditions.
Dale was born in Cincinnati, and he grew up in Minnesota
and Ohio. He was a talented student, and he spent most of
his summers working on his cousins’ and uncles’
farms in Beach and Bismarck, North Dakota. His inclinations
toward political activism and scholarship emerged at an
early age; in 1962, when he was just ten years old, Dale
wrote a letter to President Kennedy that began, “DO
NOT!! resume nuclear testing! I have quotes to back me in
saying this.” From seventh through eleventh grade,
he was the star of the football team, and even contemplated
going pro. In the twelfth grade, however, a new coach established
a harsh routine that included a congratulatory “blood
bench” for players who drew blood from their teammates
during practice. Repulsed by the violence, Dale left the
team and gave up his career as a football player. He was
valedictorian of his class, but, during his senior year,
Dale managed to be suspended for his longer-than-allowed
sideburns, and possibly also for his outspoken political
views.
In accounting for his early worklife and professional development,
Dale once wrote that “as a starving artist, I survived
as a dishwasher, cab driver, apple picker, elder, carpenter
and solar designer, before receiving a BA in Economics from
the University of California at Santa Cruz in 1982 and a
Ph.D. in Political Science from Cornell University in 1990.”
After he completed his doctorate, Dale joined Butler’s
Department of Political Science, offering courses in U.S.
politics, including the presidency and congress, public
policy, and campaigns and elections. He especially cherished
teaching innovative courses such as Politics through Film,
The Role of Protest in U.S. Politics, and his senior seminar,
Democracy Among Giants (spring 2002). He was also devoted
to Butler’s core course, Change and Tradition, for
which he was faculty coordinator. He was leading a C&T
faculty development travel seminar on modern Europe when
he was stricken by a sudden illness in Florence, Italy.
Over the years, Dale mentored many students as they completed
their internships and apprenticeships in Political Science.
He was active in Amnesty International, and he helped to
start the Gender Studies minor at Butler. In the aftermath
of September 11, he organized and presided over a forum
on “Understanding Islam,” and he helped to establish
Butler for Peace. He provided leadership and a voice of
reason to fellow members of the Butler Academic Grants committee
and the Executive Committee of the Faculty Assembly, as
well as to his colleagues in Political Science and Change
and Tradition
Dale’s service to the University was complemented
by his commitments in the larger community and world. He
was often called to speak on topics ranging from electoral
politics to workers’ rights in Mexico and the United
States. His research focused on the possibilities for ordinary
people to improve their lives through participation and
organization. In his first book, Can Workers Have a Voice?
The Politics of Deindustrialization in Pittsburgh (1993),
Dale examined the potential for workers to collaborate with
religious and political organizations to re-establish their
rights. His second book, Allies Across the Border: Mexico’s
Authentic Labor Front and Global Solidarity (2000) showed
how workers could organize to secure their rights while
maintaining and fostering human dignity. In both the United
States and Mexico, Dale talked with, lived with and sometimes
worked with the people he was writing about.
Even as he was teaching his classes and writing his books,
Dale was a tireless activist for peace and social justice.
With his wife, Dot, Dale served as a mediator for Reaching
Common Ground and for the Marion County Superior Court,
Juvenile Division. He was President and Board Member for
the Indianapolis Peace and Justice Center. He served as
Chair of the progressive third-party alternative, Our Party,
which slated John Gibson for Mayor and candidates for the
City-County Council in the 1999 elections. And, most recently,
he was a leading voice in the Campaign for a Living Wage
in Indianapolis.
Beyond his work as a professor and activist, Dale was devoted
to his four children, Mehera, River, Dove and Forest. He
and Dot were married in 1993, after they fell in love at
a sufi dance. At a surprisingly early age, Dale had already
become a doting grandfather to Jonah, Irie, Dante and Sebastian.
Dale was universally known for the kindness and fellowship
that he showed to all, even in times of adversity. To those
around him, Dale’s luminous smile and gentle personality
seemed as constant and reliable as the sun rising each day.
His departure is hard to fathom, but he has left us with
a wealth of memories that sustain us in our hour of loss.
Dale’s optimism and his unfailing confidence that
he could make a difference must now become our optimism
and our confidence.
