Commissioner Mawla          Professor Franzese           Dir.DelValle-Koch

It was a special event for Commissioner Haney A. Mawla and Director DelValle-Kotch as they both had Professor Franzese as an instructor when they attend Seton Hall School of Law.  They were delighted over the extent of her memory of then as students.

It may be that I was even more excited over the opportunity to meet her than they were to get to see her again.

I didn’t know Prof. Franzese at all before April 2, 2007.  Rich and I had heard Richard Dryfus on a TV talk show about his studying in England on the subjects of Civics and Civility and that he was dedicating his efforts to see that civics was restored as a subject in public schools and that we place more emphasis on restoring civility to society in general.

I had a standing search for Civics and Civility on the web and had received very little response; then on April 2nd, the article by Prof. Franzese appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer.  Needless to say, I felt like I knew her instantly and was delightfully surprised when I learned that she was going to be a presenter at the April 10th Commission on Civil Rights.

Commissioner Campbell      Prof. Frenzese         Dir. DelValle-Koch

When I met Prof. Frenzese I told her I would very much enjoy having lunch with her as I was anxious to get to know her better.  I sent her a copy of the above pictures with an e-mail message and received the following response.  You could not possible know how much the message meant to me.

"John, You are a gentleman, a scholar and a teacher of the good.  I have much to learn from you.  It would be my immense honor and joy for us to have lunch.  Let’s please try to find a date.  Please let me know which days/locations are best.  Warmest regards, Paula."

The April 2nd article:
We Must Teach Foundations of Civility