By JON BAKER

EAST PROVIDENCE  ---  As college students, Tony Giuliano and Mel Goldenberg don’t spend their free time chasing a ”crush” around campus to request a date, or their weekend nights attending parties, relaxing with a few beers.
Honestly, they have no desire to partake in such trivial things.

Sound strange? It isn’t.
Here’s why: Giuliano reached the tender age of 88 back on June 7, while Goldenberg will turn 73 next Feb. 13. Despite that fact, the tandem — both residents of the Eastgate Nursing and Recovery Center on Waterman Avenue —chose to enroll at the Community College of Rhode Island in Providence earlier this summer, and currently are taking a three-credit course entitled “Law & Society.”
Not so surprisingly to either man, nor activity director Lisa Faulkner, both earned a “B” grade during their recent mid-term exam.
“I don’t think it’s that big a deal; yeah, I got a ‘B,’ and I’ll take it,” Giuliano said. “I just followed the instructions for the test, which were to answer multiple-choice and true-false questions. I’m just taking this class because I’m not ready to die yet, and I think there are things still out there to learn.
“The way I look at it, nothing surprises me anymore,” he added. “I mean, if I had flunked, would it really have affected my future?”
Stated Goldenberg: “I think it’s great. At our ages, we’re holding our own in a college class. There are 18- and 19-year-olds in it, as well as a man in his late 50s. Almost everyone is in there to study criminal justice … We do get some strange looks, but that doesn’t bother me. I’m there to learn.”
How this pair ended up in college, albeit for this lone course, is rather intriguing.
Faulkner, as she often does, went to the nearby public library on a June Friday in search of new ideas for the center’s clientele.
“I was looking through some pamphlets, and I saw one from CCRI’s Liston Campus,” she said. “I noticed that seniors could take courses for free, so I talked to the (Eastgate) administrator, Donna Amaral. I told her I didn’t want to present anything to our people they couldn’t handle, but Donna said, ‘Hey, if they want to do it, that’s great.’
“They’re two high-functioning, smart gentlemen, and I wanted to get their intellectual juices flowing,” she added with a laugh.

***

Permission granted, Faulkner approached “Doc” Goldenberg first. She explained it was a six-week course, one in which a full semester’s workload would be squeezed into that time frame. She also indicated he would have to attend classes every Monday and Wednesday between 6:15-9:15 p.m., but would “bus” him and anyone else interested to school.
Upon providing Giuliano the same information, unlike Goldenberg, he had his doubts.
“Fortunately, she never threw in the word ‘college,’ but it was more like, ‘How would you like to take a course?’” he said with a chuckle. “She just kind of slid it in there, and said, ‘Let’s ponder the details’ … I hadn’t strained my brain in a while, so I figured why not?”
Still, they had different reasons for their leaps of faith -- in themselves.
Goldenberg, a Providence native, had graduated from Hope High in 1953, then attended Providence College to chase a pre-med degree. He earned a Bachelor’s of Science (with an emphasis in biology) in 1957, then moved on to the University of Maryland-Baltimore, where he became a doctor of dental surgery in 1961.
He later opened a practice in Port Jefferson, N.Y., then trekked back to Woonsocket to do the same.
Giuliano, another Providence native, graduated from Central High in January 1937 -- “they were very crowded back then, so they had morning and afternoon sessions, and two annual commencements” -- but then enlisted in the U.S. Navy, where he spent over two years as a fireman first class.
“During World War II, I learned more in the Navy than any other time time in my life,” he offered. “That was a great influence on me -- the discipline, hard work, dedication and the example that was set. I was stationed in Chicago, then moved overseas into the Pacific Theater. I ended up on an aircraft carrier, the USS Hancock.
“I started in Pearl Harbor, and ended up in the Phillipines,” he added. “I actually was off the coast of Japan when the bombers blew up Hiroshima and Nagasaki, though we didn’t know anything about it. We didn’t know what an atomic bomb was. We found out on the boat.”

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Among the items the duo has studied thus far about the legal system: Lawyers’ plea-bargaining, right-to-die scenarios, the death penalty, insanity defenses and lawyer-client privilege.
“It’s a very thought-provoking course,” Goldenberg admitted. “It’s also very hard because there’s a lot to know. So far, we’ve probably had 10-12 handouts, but we’ve also seen movies of certain crime events. (On Monday) night, we saw a documentary on serial killer Ted Bundy, and I learned the man was very smart and calculating.
“Bundy blamed his crimes on pornography; it said he was charged with murdering 26 women, but he may have killed over 100,” he continued. “The professor also told us that there are hundreds of serial killers out there, but -- for every one that’s caught -- there are probably five still walking the streets. It’s a sad society out there.”
Added Giuliano: “I’ve found the lawyer-client privilege thing fascinating. We were shown a fictional film about a lawyer who had taken on a client in New Hampshire. There were two girls missing, and the accused -- who was already up for one murder -- told the lawyer he had killed those two gals. He also said he knew where the bodies were.
“Everyone in town wanted to know where the missing girls were, but the lawyers couldn’t reveal the information because of the privilege … Before I took this course, I didn’t think things like that could happen. It’s a real eye-opener.
“I will say this: I’m not too old or ‘sophisticated’ for college,” he added. “This class has taught me no one can know everything.”
When asked if he’d take another college course, Giuliano said, “No way. I don’t have the patience or the time, but I’m glad I took this one. At this point in my life, I haven’t wanted to stop becoming more enlightened.”
Claimed Goldenberg, who acts as the president of the center’s Resident Council: “If CCRI offers a course that fits into my schedule next summer, I’ll do it again -- as long as it’s not a psychology class!”