Our New Look  
You may recall reading in the last issue about the possibility of giving the YSU Magazine a new name. We polled alumni, faculty, staff and students and got dozens of interesting suggestions—from Penguin Parade, Penguin Pages and Penguin Press to The ‘Guin, The Igloo and The Crest (a tuft of feathers, fur, or skin on the head of a bird or other animal, in case you were wondering!). As we grappled with how to choose from so many possibilities, it dawned on us that perhaps our name was in front of us all along. So, thank you for sharing your ideas, and we hope you have enjoyed reading Y Magazine, the same publication for alumni and friends with a brand new look.

• Dear Editor,

As the Dana School of Music celebrates its 150th anniversary, I have read about many Dana alumni who have been mentioned and featured in your magazine. However, there is one graduate who has not been mentioned. I would like to enlighten your readers about him, the impact he made on an entire state, and especially the inspiration he made on one young high school student.

“Colonel” Carleton K. Butler, born in Edinburg, Ohio, received his Bachelor of Music degree from Dana’s Musical Institute in 1928 and a Master’s from Kent State. He was the Director of Bands at the University of Alabama from 1935 to 1969 and set the standards that made the university’s Marching Band nationally known as the “Million Dollar Band.” In 1939, he formed the Alabama Bandmasters Association and became its first President. He received many awards and honors during and after his career and life for his work in the Alabama band movement.

I had the great privilege of performing and rehearsing under him in 1972 during an All-State Music Festival. In only three days, I decided to study music where Colonel Butler went. I figured that what Dana taught him that led to such success, they could teach me.

Roy Wilt, 1978
Chattahoochee, Fla.

• Dear Editor,

The Simultaneous Membership Program/Early Commission Program of the college ROTC, in place from the years 1976-1984, is something we should pause to remember. The program was created to fill gaps in the reserve forces in the post-Vietnam Era with eager and enthusiastic ROTC Cadets who would soon become lieutenants. Under the program high school students would enter the Guard or Reserve in their junior or senior year of high school. These students would upon enlisting sign a letter of intent to enroll in the ROTC Advanced Course as ROTC juniors at the start of their freshman year of college.

At the end of the cadet’s sophomore year in college they would be commissioned in the reserve forces, with an option to go on active duty as an officer when they completed their degrees. Prior to receiving their commissions, many filled officer positions as platoon leaders, company executive officers or even at battalion staff levels.

Some versions of the SMP program continue today, however only for cadets who are academically aligned. This means that for a cadet to be in the college level advanced course of college ROTC they must be in their junior or senior year of academics. There would be no more 17, 18, and 19-year old cadets acting as officers in the reserve forces and being enrolled in advanced ROTC simultaneously. Why was this done? This writer was told by a general officer at the 1984 AUSA convention that the ECP portion of the program was being discontinued because “it was too much stress on the cadets to be starting college and advanced ROTC at the same time.” Not all of the SMP/ECP cadets that began the program were completing it. In this writer’s unit one cadet committed suicide; another was killed in high speed armored night live fire and maneuver exercises. These sacrifices should not be forgotten.

Captain Patrick Pacalo, Ph.D., USAR (Ret)
Pacalo earned an MA in History from YSU in 1995 and now resides Ocala, Fla.

• Dear Editor,

I just finished reading the Spring/Summer 2019 issue of YSU Magazine. You and your colleagues have researched and written a first rate, informative publication for which I congratulate you. It presents a wide variety of angles from which to understand YSU, including academic programs, administrators, faculty and staff, alums, donors, visiting speakers, students and student-athletes, the Board of Trustees, campus upgrades, community outreach, and more. The research is thorough, the writing is superb, and the layout and aesthetics are exceptional. Keep up the
fine work!

Tom Shipka
Emeritus Professor of Philosophy