HISTORY
ABOUT MARCEL J. LAJOY
MARCEL J. LAJOY
After teaching for more than 20 years and practicing law for more than 20 years, the time has come to devote my time to what has been my primary interest in life: Philosophy or, in our present terminology, what it means to be a good citizen. There are several ways to approach this topic and a study of Jean-Jacque Rousseau's First Discourse, is most relevant to that enterprise, for it deals with virtue and character, in other words, the importance of good citizenship.
LAW BACKGROUND
CRIMINAL LAW AND FAMILY LAW
From 1996 to 2011, I practiced criminal Law in Schenectady City and County courts. I handled more than a thousand cases, including several trials in City and County courts. I also prosecuted more than 250 appeals from Family and County courts. There is no better field of study than the Law to understand the structure that controls our society.
READ & LANIADO
My work at Read & Laniado, 1986-1996, consisted mainly in doing research on the creation of the Public Service Commission and the life of one of its commissioners and chairman, Milo Roy Maltbie. It provides me with the opportunity to understand the relationship between the constitution, the law and its regulation, mainly at the state level but also at the federal level.
LAW LIBRAIAN
At the same time I was working for Read & Laniado, I was Reference Librarian on weekends at Albany Law School. This position brought me in contact with many segments of our legal community and provided with and opportunity to sharpen my tools as a researcher
LABOR RELATIONS
I was President and Business agent for the Canajoharie United School Employees, CUSE, from 1977 through 1984. CUSE was made up of about 80 teachers and 50 nonprofessional employees. During that period of time I processed more than 130 grievances, 14 arbitrations. We also had fact-finding and super conciliation. In his recommendation for my admission to Albany Law School, Superintendent Mickle captured very well how I fulfilled my responsibility under The Public Employees Fair Employment Act (the Taylor Law). He wrote on November 12, 1985:
This letter of recommendation is being written at the request of Mr. Marcel Lajoy, an applicant for admission to your law school. It is a pleasure for me to serve as a reference for Mr. Lajoy. I have known him since 1969 when I assumed the position of Superintendent of schools in Canajoharie and hold him in high esteem, both personally and professionally.
Mr. Lajoy possesses a deep sincerity of purpose and is self-motivated to the fullest. His capacity for intellectual advancement and challenge, in my opinion, should never be questioned. He is demanding of self and has the fortitude to achieve in all the attempts.
For a number of years, Mr. Lajoy served as the local leader of a union coalition of professional and nonprofessional school district employees. His ability to plan and lead such a diversified group was most noteworthy. He is absolutely demand for equality and fairness for all was obvious on a number of occasions.
My experience in the labor movement provides me with an insight in the functioning of association and union, two forms of representative government. It is an experience that is serving me well as I turn my attention to the political world of Jean-Jacques Rousseau.
READING PROGRAM
My reading program over the last few years prepared me well to discuss the place of the First Discourse
in Rousseau's work. For several years, I met three times a week with Josiah B. Gould Jr., Ph.D. in Philosophy from Johns Hopkins University, Distinguished Teaching Professor Emeritus at SUNY at Albany. We usually covered 100 pages a week if the book is written in English and 60 pages if it was in French. Books read in French are identified by an (*) in the list below. Most of these books dealt with the 18th century, the time period Rousseau was writing or topics related to that period.
Year 2010/2011
Anna Karenina, War and Peace, Brother Karamazov, Crime and Punishment, *Le Père Goriot, *Le Rouge et le Noir, *La Chartreuse de Parme, *Cousine Bette, *Madame Bovary, *Les Misérables, *Germinal, and *Swan's Way.
Year 2012
*Democracy in America, (2 Vol.), Federalist Papers, *Rousseau's First Discourse, *Rousseau's Second Discourse, *Emile or On Education, Montaigne's' Essays, Philosophers' Quarrel.
Year 2013/2014
*The Enlightenment (Pagden), The Dark Side of the Enlightenment (Fleming), Histoire de la Révolution Française, (T.1) (Michelet).
EDUCATION
POSTGRADUATE STUDIES
Besides the courses required for the Master of Arts or the Ph.D, I took the following courses: Method of Teaching (Siena), General Psychology (Cobleskill), Philosophy of Education (Ithaca), Rise of Modern Science (Utica), Psychology of Adolescence (Oneonta), American History 1 and 2 (Fulton Montgomery), American Literature 1 and 2 (Fulton Montgomery), History of Ancient Philosophy (SUNY), Ethics (SUNY) Social Ethics (SUNY), Essential of Mathematics (Fulton Montgomery). *French Novels (SUNY). My undergraduate studies at the University of Ottawa, my graduate studies at SUNY Albany and a great variety of Postgraduate courses provide me with a breadth and depth of knowledge, an important factor to understand the philosophy of Jean-Jacques Rousseau.
