Barnaby St. Clair

Off the Court

Duquesne alumni, as Barnaby St. Clair tells it on the shows. Each story was checked against its source.

• Derrick Bellcivil rights lawyer, legal theorist

  Derrick Bell, Duquesne class of nineteen fifty-two, supervised more than three hundred school desegregation cases, then resigned from Harvard in protest of its hiring. One does admire a gentleman of principle.

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• Joseph M. Gaydosfirst Slovak-American in Congress

  Joseph Gaydos attended Duquesne, represented Pennsylvania in the House and was the first Slovak American to serve in Congress. From Duquesne to the Capitol. Splendid.

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• Mark Ciavarellajudge in kids-for-cash scandal

  We must, regrettably, acknowledge Mark Ciavarella, Duquesne Law, nineteen seventy-five. A federal jury convicted the former judge in twenty eleven, and he was sentenced to twenty-eight years. A racketeering conviction was later thrown out, the fraud convictions stood. Hardly our finest export.

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• Werner Herzogfilmmaker

  The filmmaker Werner Herzog appears on our rolls, though, one must confess, he did not officially graduate. We claim him regardless. It is the aristocratic thing to do.

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• Bobby Vintonsinger, the Polish Prince

  Bobby Vinton, the Polish Prince, graduated in nineteen fifty-six and collected an honorary doctorate in music in nineteen seventy-eight. A prince among Dukes. How very fitting.

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