1979
In this speech Dr. Macchiarola addresses the Alumni Association of St. Francis College on "The Franciscan Spirit in Public Service" on March 9, 1979.
This speech, though mostly an outline, emphasizes several tenets of Dr. Macchiarola's philosophy of committment to public service and interfaith cooperation.
Though a lifelong devout Catholic, Dr. Macchiarola frequently addressed congregations of other faiths in order to reach out to the broader community. In this speech Dr. Macchiarola mentions "Christians, Jews, Moslems and men and women of secular faiths" who also exhibit the "Franciscan spirit" through their committment to the spirit of public service. In this speech he also thanks two of his professors at St. Francis College, Dr. Joseph Ellis, a history professor who supervised his senior thesis, and Dr. Jedrzejewski.
One the many criticisms that Dr. Macchiarola had to contend with during his first year as Chancellor was the backlash he received over his statements regarding accountability of teaching staff in his 1979 Mid-Year Report.
Albert Shanker, the President of the Unified Federation of Teachers, in an open letter to the media, criticized Dr. Macchiarola for questioning the committment teachers showed to students. Mr. Shanker wrote, "You stress the need for dedication and committment.... but it's hard to remain committed with increases in class size, disturbed children who have no guidance or clinical services to turn to, salary freezes, threats of layoff. Or when orders unilaterally changing the rules of the game on teacher transfers and salary differentials are bureaucratically handed down without prior consideration."
Also criticized was Dr. Macchiarola's decision to stop giving credit to teachers for correspondence courses. In his report Dr. Macchiarola cited concerns of "the proliferation of fraudulent academic courses" but Mr. Shanker responded that he failed to make any distinction of quality among the type of courses, "no matter how good they are or who sponsors them".