Some
may say that they are loyal alumni of Columbia’s School of General
Studies, but Luis Perez can prove that he has a lion’s heart. Born
in the Bronx in 1943, Luis Perez, alumnus of GS ’79 and the Columbia
School of Journalism ’81, knew he wanted to get into Columbia University
somehow during those quixotic days of the ’60s. As a political activist
and rebel repeatedly expelled from high schools, Luis Perez decided
that the best way to get into Columbia was to get involved in the
epicenter of campus bustle.
Now
a history professor writing an epic novel while living in Budapest,
Perez has ties to Columbia University that run much earlier than
his actual enrollment in GS and the Columbia School of Journalism.
In the summer of 1959, Perez was nearing a lifestyle of gang fights
and murder. Perez says, “I was still a kid from the streets. No
one was going to hit me with out me hitting back just as hard. Thinking
better about it, I avoided future violent confrontations with anyone.
You stay out of jail that way.” Instead of getting involved in violence,
Perez began to participate in political activism, which eventually
led him to Columbia.
One
night, instead of going to a fight, he went to a poetry reading
by Allen Ginsburg at the Seven Arts Café. The evening changed
his path and focused his energy on education. Perez mixed his political
activism and his interest is in pursuing an education by becoming
an active participant in the Columbia activist scene as a campus
“Hanger-On.” As such, Perez joined the Columbia College chapter
of Congress Of Racial Equality (C.O.R.E.). His C.O.R.E. activities
included “sit-ins” and demonstrations in 1963 and 1964. In 1964,
he and student Mike Flug (CC ’84) were arrested.
Perez
went down to the South in 1965 to work with C.O.R.E. and the Student
Nonviolent Coordination Committee (S.N.C.C.). Perez tells the horrific
tale of three of his young colleagues, James E. Chaney of Mississippi,
Michael H. Schwerner of Brooklyn and Andrew Goodman of New York,
who were murdered by the K.K.K. Luis recalls being interviewed by
the FBI and The New York Times: “When they asked me who I was and
what I did, all I could think of saying was that I was a Columbia
graduate student.” He decided then that he had to become one.
In
1968, he was an organizer for the Peace and Freedom Party on the
Upper West Side and was sent to Columbia University to represent
the Party during the take-over of Hamilton Hall. He was in the Spectator
office when the decision was made to take over Columbia Library.
In
early 1970, he joined the Young Lords Party, a “street gang” activist
group, and met his future wife on the streets of East Harlem during
a riot. “We stayed together for 30 years. She went to the College
of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University. Using my Army
V.A. allotment, I was able to survive and go to GS. We had a son,
Joaquin, who went to most classes with me. The late eminent Professor
of Art History, Edith Porada, baby-sat Joaquin through several years
of exam taking. She was the greatest intellect I had the fortune
to meet at Columbia University. I have not forgotten a word of what
she taught me.”
Among other people who deeply influenced Perez during his time at
Columbia is GS Dean Ward Dennis. Perez fondly recalls, “He was a
great man, and I owe a lot to his encouragement and his razor sharp
wit. The world, and especially Columbia, is bereft without his presence.”
Another role model was Herman Ausabel, a Professor of History, who
first recognized Perez’s interest in the subject. Perez says, “He
had a peripatetic style of teaching that I continue to emulate.
When he became ill, I suffered with him and his family. He had a
genuine sense of humanity that extended to everyone with whom he
came in contact. I still use and repeat some of his jokes.”
Perez’s
love for Columbia is profuse. He states: “I know that Columbia saved
and salvaged my life. I have never been in a holier place. It’s
a memory, after all these years still vivid, and its halls are sacred
to me. I don’t think in all the time I was there that I ever missed
a class. When I didn’t have car fare to get to class, I walked from
West 12th Street to Columbia and walked back — sometimes with my
son on my shoulders.”
Perez
first became politically aware as a 13-year-old. He was roused by
the media images of the Russians crushing a student uprising in
Hungary in 1956. He saw students attacking and being attacked by
Soviet tanks. He felt certain that President Eisenhower would intervene
on the side of the Hungarian people, and felt humiliation when Eisenhower
did not. Perez began to approach his political and social passions
from different angles. As a youngster, he was an organizer for A
Sane Nuclear Policy. As a young man, he joined the Army and traveled
to Germany, where he was stationed at a nuclear missile depot, 64th
Ordinance Co., Special Weapons Missile, where his job was to check
the solid fuel grains for cracks.
Now,
Perez is almost returning to his political roots. At 58, Perez has
moved to Budapest, Hungary, and now lives in the very building where
injured students were taken during the protests. He is writing The
Imperfect Messenger, his four-volume epic novel. From Budapest to
the Bronx to Puerto Rico, Luis journeys far to create a challenging
story spanning four generations of a politically active family.
Perez’s
three children are also imbibed with activist fervor. The eldest,
Joaquin, is a musician residing in Santa Cruz. Cristina (Vassar
College ’01) is an environmental and human rights activist who finally
convinced her father to relinquish meat. The youngest, Julian (Yale
’03), is also of a similar bent.
While
writing his novel, Perez teaches history at the Britannica International
School. Perez previously taught at Marist College (Poughkeepsie,
N.Y.), where he was nominated twice for Teacher of the Year. Following
Marist College, he taught Classical Egyptian Hieroglyphics, Latin,
Medieval History, and other courses at Bard College. One seminar
he taught was History of All Knowledge Since the Beginning of Time.
(“Really!” he exclaims.) To future activists, he offers the following
advice: “Be a leader. Never follow an idiot. Stick to your principles.
Every person has the potential to be a leader — in charge of their
lives — superheros.”
