Workshop becomes farewell for speaker
by Dennis Dobson, reporter

    During a month that history is celebrated, students on NW Campus said farewell to Dr. Patrick Foley, history professor.

   Foley, an original NW Campus faculty member, is retiring in March.

   As he has done since 1975 here at TCC, Foley quoted what he believes to be the most important line in the Constitution, “all men are created equal.”

   Since Foley is a religious man, echoes of the Bible could be heard during a Counseling Personal Enrichment Workshop he participated in last week.

   “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free,” he said.

   Just as Foley and other long-time faculty members have been pillars in the foundation of TCC, so he believes that knowing the truth of history is the foundation of maintaining cultural diversity.

   “If you lose your heritage, you lose your-self,” he said.

   An Irish-Catholic, Foley said he takes pride in his heritage and past.

   “Each group and nationality has had to fight its own battles for individual freedoms in this country,” he said.

   Foley brought fabrications in U.S. history to light such as the truth of the Alamo.

   It was not the heroic stand of American patriots; it was a rebellion by U.S. men and women against the fully and duly established Mexican government, which had already settled the territory, Foley said.

   Another example of corrupted history, according to Foley, can be found in the picture taken as the final spike was hammered in to complete the first Trans-Continental Railroad.

   Even though Chinese immigrants made up over half of the work force responsible for the completion of the railroad, not one appears in any of the historical pictures commemorating the event.

   This is a prime example of how ethnic groups are ignored during historical events reported on by people who did accept other races.

   As Foley brings this chapter of his personal history book to an end, he hopes that if students take nothing else from his classroom, they take this one lesson.

   “Education is the key to uncovering true freedom and true history,” he said.