Arthur Vidich Honored by Friends and Colleagues

Arthur Vidich's Retirement Colloquium

On October 4, 1991  friends, family and colleagues came to honor Arthur Vidich on the occasion of his retirement from the New School after 31 years of teaching.   New School President Fanton said, "Many people influence an institution but relatively few give it character and meaning. He is one of the great figures in the history of this institution, a source of continuity, strength, of steadfast devotion, qualities which literally saved the Graduate Faculty not so long ago."

Addressing the well wishers, Professor Vidich commented, with characteristic humor; "Let me say first of all how much pleasure I feel that this is a retirement colloquium rather than a memorial gathering, and not for the obvious reason that it's good to be here rather than elsewhere, but at a memorial service I would have no way of knowing who came or what was said." 

This those classic Vidichian words Arthur  basked in the sunshine of his friends and colleagues - a day that became a brief interlude in his long and devoted career to the New School. For the next ten years he continued teaching as an emeritus professor and senior lecturer giving courses  on "Democracy and Mass Society" "Religion, Bureaucracy and Class in American Society" and "Social Theory and Field Research."

Thanks to Paul Vidich, Arthur's son, for sharing the story of his retirement published in the October/November 1991 issue of the New School Observer.