A 39-year-old man stood up and yelled “Pueblos, people! Pueblo spirit!” in sociology professor Charlie Moskos’ Introduction to Sociology class on Wednesday, but no one called security.

The man was Moskos’ son. When Andrew Moskos took his father’s class in 1987, he was the only student out of more than 400 to answer correctly on one of Moskos’ trademark in-class surveys. After lecturing about three unique Indian tribes, Moskos, who has taught at Northwestern since 1970, asks the question – “Which tribe best represents the American character: the Dobu, the Kwakiutl or the Pueblo?” No more than four students in any given year have voted for the correct answer, the Pueblos, who are known for fitting in and getting along with their neighbors – qualities most students don’t associate with Americans. On Wednesday, 20 years later, Andrew Moskos surprised his father by flying in from his home in Amsterdam to attend the same lecture, in the same auditorium, to answer the same question right.

When Moskos asked the question, his son was the only one to raise his hand – again. This time, he covered himself with a jacket so his father wouldn’t be able to recognize him until Moskos announced the correct answer, and his son stood up shouting, sporting a black “Pueblo Spirit” T-shirt he ordered for the occasion.

“I couldn’t see him very well, but I thought it really looked like Andrew,” the elder Moskos said. “But then I thought, ‘No, it couldn’t be.'”

They embraced on stage and Andrew spoke briefly about what the professor means to him as a father.

This may be the last year Moskos, 72, teaches at NU. He took last year off to receive treatment for prostate cancer, but doctors couldn’t cure him completely. He’s adamant about returning if he can – “I’m going to teach here until I kick the bucket,” Moskos said last week – but Andrew Moskos wanted to pull the surprise stunt now, in case his dad isn’t up to returning next fall, he said.

Andrew Moskos started planning his trip nearly four months ago. Charlie Moskos’ wife, Ilca, read old syllabi to guess the date of the Pueblo lecture so their son could book his flight. Wednesday was an important anniversary for Ilca as well: She met her future husband on a beach near University of California-Los Angeles 45 years ago to the day.

“I was coming out of the water and he said, ‘How’s the water?'” Ilca said. “It’s not very original, but what else could he have said?”

After Moskos earned graduate and doctoral degrees at UCLA, he spent years traveling to war-torn countries researching and later publishing a litany of landmark military sociology papers, articles and books.

Moskos is most famous for creating the controversial “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy for the Clinton administration in 1993, which states that the government can’t ask about enlistees’ sexual preferences, and homosexuals in the military can’t tell their superiors that they are gay. The Wall Street Journal later called him America’s “most influential military sociologist,” and many Pentagon officials still ask his opinions. A few weeks ago, he said he gave advice to embattled Army Gen. David Petraeus, commander of multinational forces in Iraq.

Although he officially retired in 2003, Moskos has returned to campus every fall to teach two classes as a professor emeritus – Introduction to Sociology and Armed Forces and Society. Moskos’ popularity is no secret: This year nearly 500 students enrolled in his Introduction to Sociology class, and students described Moskos as “legendary,” “captivating” and “the man” in the course’s CTECs from 2005.

Ryan Family Auditorium was silent for a moment after Andrew began yelling, but soon erupted with laughter and cheers as students figured out what was going on.

“At first I thought it was some wiseass trying to get attention,” said McCormick sophomore Eric West. “But then I realized it was his son … and he clearly loves his father.”

During his speech, Andrew Moskos said his father was just as popular with students 20 years ago as he is now.

“When kids found out he was my dad, they’d always say ‘Your dad’s so cool!'” Moskos said. “I told them, ‘I’ve got years of experience with this guy. He might be fun, but he’s not cool.'”

His dad’s class changed his mind. Andrew Moskos even remembers what his dad taught him about Freud.

“I married a woman just like my mother, so Freud may be on to something there,” Andrew said. “But he’s wrong about fathers because I don’t want to kill my dad. In fact, I don’t want to change anything about him – he’s a great dad.”

Reach Sarah Sumadi at [email protected].