Good afternoon, class
Harry Schaffer teaches economics. morality
Harry Schaffer, professor of economics, has been teaching at the University since 1956. Shaffer says he tries to teach his students about social issues of economics and he will continue to teach as long as he is able to, despite a vocal chord condition that leaves him voiceless at times.
Thursday, April 26th, 2007
“Good afternoon,” Harry Shaffer customarily says to his class of about 450 students.
Sometimes, he’ll repeat the phrase with his mild and scratchy Austrian voice to get the proper student response, but he said the first time usually worked.
Photo by Michiko Takei
KANSAN
Harry G. Shaffer, professor emeritus of economics, has been teaching for 51 years since he began teaching at the University of Kansas in 1956.
A professor of economics, Harry began teaching at the University of Kansas in 1956. Fifty-one years later, he now teaches an introduction to economics course for non-majors. His wife of almost 20 years, Betty, said his course had inspired some students to replace their majors with Harry’s field of study. Coincidentally, an introduction to economics course originally inspired Harry to study the subject, write 11 books and teach in Lawrence for more than half a century, despite a persistent vocal chord condition that has left him voiceless at times.
“I don’t plan to retire unless I absolutely need to,” said Harry, who was born in 1919 in Vienna, Austria. He joked that his tentative retirement age would be 108 and said his students, five teaching assistants and wife kept him young. Betty drops him off on campus and picks him up after he teaches his class.
The couple met in 1984 in New York City’s Penn Station during a March blizzard. Betty was a school social worker from Newport Beach, Cal., going to visit her son at Harvard University when Harry was on his way to Harvard to give a lecture.
Harry said he pursued her relentlessly, sending her roses with homemade cards and calling her daily.
“It’s the Austrian romantic part of Harry,” Betty said.
The “Austrian romantic” left his native country at age 18 in 1938.
“When Hitler came, it wasn’t big enough for him and me,” Harry said. “He didn’t want to leave, so I left.”
After leaving Austria, Harry lived in Cuba for two years while United States immigration visa was pending. He then served with U.S. Army intelligence during World War II as a German translator.
After the war, the G.I. Bill of Rights paid for four years of school at New York University. In four years, he received both his bachelors and masters degrees in economics and completed a course towards his Ph.D.
Wherever I go, I have people coming to me saying ‘Professor Shaffer, I took your course.’ Some come to me and say ‘Professor Shaffer, my father took your course,’.Only once did I have somebody say ‘Professor Shaffer, my grandfather took your course.’
- Harry Shaffer, professor of economics
“I want to make my living talking,” Harry recalled thinking when he was young.
After Harry taught economics at Concord College in Athens, W. Va., for a year and a half, he taught at the University of Alabama for six years.
In 1956, Autherine Lucy was the first black woman to be admitted to the university. Harry said three thousand students protested against her.
The University of Alabama expelled Lucy on charges of defamation after she claimed the university did not provide her with adequate protection. Harry said he and 28 other professors felt they couldn’t be honorably associated with the University of Alabama and decided to leave the school.
“And that’s how KU got lucky enough to get me,” said Harry,
When he came to Lawrence from Alabama, Harry said the University had less than 10,000 students. There was no required permit for parking on campus and no one-way streets. There was no need to lock his house on Alabama Street at the time, he said. He only locked his car when tests were inside.
Laura Dague, Washington senior and head teaching assistant for Harry’s introduction to economics course, said Shaffer’s jovial rapport with students helped them understand economics on an individual level.
As a testament to his popularity, a Harry Shaffer fan club on Facebook has more than 700 members.
“It’s nice to have a broader perspective than just a theory,” she said.
Harry said the point of his economics classes was to portray the social issues of economics, using examples to illustrate and generate interest about the national debt or inflation.
“Wherever I go, I have people coming to me saying ‘Professor Shaffer, I took your course.’ Some come to me and say ‘Professor Shaffer, my father took your course,’ ” he said. “Only once did I have somebody say ‘Professor Shaffer, my grandfather took your course.’ ”
Harry has also advocated social issues in Lawrence. He led an desegregation advocacy group when he moved to the town in 1956, and later marched in protest of the Vietnam War.
Today, he said he is adamant about equality of all people. He has protested the Iraq war at 11th and Massachusetts streets and continues to write letters to the editor for such papers as the Lawrence Journal-World.
“These aren’t all economic issues,” he said. “For me, they’re moral issues.”
Even though he has raised his activist voice, Harry’s speaking volume is often inhibited by non-malignant papillomas on his vocal chords that return no matter how often they are removed. He said his first operation was in 1947. He expects his 25th operation will be this summer.
“They cut them off, burn them off, freeze them off, they always come back,” Harry said. “It’s very unfortunate for a teacher, but it’s a fact of life.”
Despite temporarily losing his voice after operations, Harry continues to teach economics and tries to keep it somewhat simple, giving real examples for theories introduced within the course.
He said one of the biggest highlights of his career was receiving the 2003 Career Achievement Teaching Award. The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences threw him a party to celebrate the award, with many of his fellow teachers and students in attendance.
“If we all loved doing what we do as much as Harry does, it would be a great world,” Betty said.
Kansan staff writer Brian Lewis-Jones can be contacted at bljones@kansan.com.
— Edited by Mark Vierthaler
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