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Although he pursued a doctorate at Columbia, he became unhappy with his Ph.D. However, he wrote to Fletcher that he still liked Hunter, "principally because the aggressive, pseudo-intellectual, 'liberal' girl students are continuously amusing."[54] Fletcher surmised that from these girls the character of Myrna Minkoff from Dunces was born.[55] Toole, although generally only a "Christmas-and-Easter churchgoer",[52] had some apprehension about the anti-Catholic intellectualism of some of his students, and about them seeming ever watchful for a cause they could throw their liberal zeal behind.[52] "Every time the elevator door opens at Hunter, you are confronted by 20 pairs of burning eyes, 20 sets of bangs and everyone waiting for someone to push a Negro" he is reported to have said.[52] When he first arrived back in New York Toole dated Emilie Dietrich Griffin, another Louisiana transplant, with whom he had worked on the Hullabaloo staff, and later he dated another Louisianan Clayelle Dalferes whom he had learned of through Fletcher. The couple loved the cinema and movie-going was a constant staple of their dates.[56] Both women said their relationships with Toole never progressed beyond the level of a good night kiss.[52][57]