I/The Daily Tar Heel/Tuesday, February 23, 1993
8
fp Established in 1893 UoiUl (EftT
SMB 100th year of editorialfreedom +
THE TAR HEEL.
VoL - L UN1VKK8ITY OF NORTH CAROLINA, FEBRUARY 23, 1893. NO. L
T he X ar Heel,
Oiivmitjr of North Cu*liM.
EDITORS
Cuiui Baisbtilu,
Waltu Uutnr,
A. C Euu,
W. P. Wouruc.
Fun Bi’uu,
J. C. Burn*,
A. H. McFadoits.
Editor ia Chief
Cbablrb Ba.krbvillb,
Managing Editor,
Waiiw Mi'inr,
Boaineaa Manager,
A. II. McFadovb.
Thursday, February *3, 1893.
CHURCH DIRECTORY.
B*pliat Charah.
Bar. J. L. Carroll, D D.
Preaching every Hod day morn
ing and alght. Sunday School at
9- a. Ri Prayer Bloating every
Wadaaaday Bight.
Church
Rxv. J. E Fooaetie
PMohing every Sander, non-.
ing end night; except the first San ,
day in each month. Snndny School!
nt 10:30 a. m. Prayer meeting
every Wednesday night.
ifolkodial Chunk.
fixv. N X. Watson
Prrnoliing every Sunday, morn
ing sad night Sunday School at
10- a nt. Prayer meeting every
Wednesday night.
founryf Church.
Ear. FamuNuo Towtas.
Sunday services at 7, 11 and 7
o’clock. Weekly aervtoes at 4 p.
Friday. Sunday School 4 p. m
Daring Lent services daily at 4 p.
■
UNIVERSITY DIRECTORY, j
University Choir.
Poor. Kabl P. Haeeikotojt, {
Leader
Organiata, J. A. Maxwell and I
Chav. Robbbbob.
UNIVERSITY MAGAZINE, j
an mu a tear.
EDITORS.
Pei. Di.
W. P. Wootau, W. P. M. Carrie
J E. Ingle, Jr., J. M. Cheek,
A. H. Kooooe. T. J. Wilaoa.
Boaioeaa Manager,
Prof. Oolllor Cobh.
UNIVERSITY UBRARY.
Da. Ebbb Albxabbbb, Librarian,
F. I,. Wilcox Ratal Librarian.
Open every day eioapt Bandar,
from 11:10 to 1:10 and fm a 1 too.
Open Sundays from 1 to • p. m.
L'mmnitf /trading Kmm
I'HutnUj Pnm AmuiMm
H A. Roadtkalor, pnaidaat,
Dr. B W hi laker, SaarsOam.
R?gafcavgtel
pkey, EiaaaMaa Oiajg^
It’s Daily Tar Heel Day in North Carolina.
Gov. Jim Hunt recently proclaimed this DTH day
to honor our 100th birthday, which we celebrate
today.
It’s not often that we get a chance to honor this
institution, which has served the students and the
University community since Feb. 23,1893, when the
first edition of The Tar Heel hit the campus.
From Charles Baskerville, the paper’s first editor,
to Thomas Wolfe to Jonathan Yardley to Edwin
Yoder, today’s crew of laborers keeps the tradition
alive.
But the DTH has come a long way from its humble
beginnings as a weekly rag operated by the Univer
sity Athletic Association. Today, with a staff of more
than 125 students, the paper is a totally independent,
not-for-profit service to the community. It’s a labo
ratory of journalism where students call the shots and
make all the editorial decisions.
It is on this day that we honor the thousands of
people who have made the DTH, Chapel Hill’s
oldest newspaper, such a crucial element of life in the
University community.
We honor those people and the newspaper’s origi
nal seven founders with today’s paper, with a front
page modeled after what appeared on the front of the
original 10" x 14 1/4" paper.
Asa culmination of 100 solid years of editorial
freedom, we’ve used today’s front page to hearken
The Daily Tar Heel
m*"(^As^ioh”eaffi n °dvßrtton C J'/™m9er 9Ctor/C6nera,mana9er ' 80bBaleS,a^erflS ' n9d/reCtor ’ LeSlieHumphrey ' d3SS ' fie ' ,a£ ' manaser;MichelleGrav ' business
J?. Ber ? rdin °' assistant manger. Holly Aldridge, Amber Nimocks, Jennifer Talhelm and Rhonda Walker, receptionists,
assistants' * Lsa Do ' vdy ' Lßah Richards, Amy Seeley, Christi Thomas and Rhonda Walker, representatives; Chad Campbell and Lisa Reichle, production
and,A l Sfu and, " 1l * ,n ? : marketing director; Milton Artis, Will Davis, Shannon Edge, Pam Horkan, Ivan Johnson, Jay Jones, Jeff Kilman Lisa McMinn and
iwfeianf account rctrfhw' W ’ S,aCßy Be navis ’ San|ay Dakor| y a ' Rebecca Griffin, Lynelle Hovaniec, John Lee, Elizabeth Martin, Allison Sherrill and Candace Wright,
Atfwfttslftf production Bill Leslie, manager/system administrator; Stephanie Brodsky, assistant.
L ? h p ampb Ji and Kelly Ryan, city; Dana Pope, editorial page; Amy Seeley, features; Erin Lyon, layout; Jayson Singe, photo; John C Manuel Amv
Kevin'Brennan SportS: * ndrea Jones ands, Greer, state and national; Thanassis Cambanis, Marty Minchin and Jennifer Talhelm, university.
Editorial writers: Gerri Baer, Jacqueline Charles, Scott Ortwein, Rebecah Moore and Akinwole N'Gai Wright
UmssrxHy: Daniel Aldrich, Everett Arnold, Ivan Arrington Scott Ballew Eliot Cannon, Joyce Clark, Mike Easterly, Gina Evans, Casella Foster, Chris Goodson, Gautam
CandaceWatsorfk* Uyton ' Ja ™ S LewlS ' Tlm Perklns ' S,eve Robblee ' Chrls Robertson, Gary Rosenzweig, Brad Short, Peter Sigal, Holly Stepp, Susan Tebbens and
Ro%™S^S Danie ' Feld ™ n ' Leah Graham M3,,heW He Ra ™ KaWli ' ShaWi
Smith and Brad Will^ms Giltlert ’ Na,ban kline - ' Jerr V McElreath, Beth McNichol, Julie Nations, Ben Parker,
Gladden ' Mondy Lamb ' Alex McMillan - Oliver, Jonathan Rich, Martin Scott, Jenni Spitz, Sally Stryker, Cara Thomisser, Emma
. Stephanie Beck, Paul Bredderman, Andrea Cashion, Kim Costello, Kristi Daughtridge, Erika Helm, Phuong Ly, Deepa Perumallu, Nancy Rilev Aulica Rutland
Jenni Spitz, LeAnn Spradling, Amy Swan, Ross Taylor, Scott Tillett, Emma Williams, Candace Wright and Andi Young ’
’ rt yid J , Kupstas an , d Bryan , Strickland, senior writers; Zachaiy Albert, Rodney Cline, Adam Davis, Marc Franklin, Brian Gould, Stephen
Hlodon, DianaKoval, Mary Latferty, Alison Lawrence Jacson Lowe, Brian McJunkin, Jeff McKinley, Justin Scheef, Pete Simpkinson, James Whitfield and Pete Zifchak
Jenn?e' < Sh7^in 7 bSe sfengeUndTush'n vifilkams 3 ° n ’ Ab ' Ba ' GUral1 ' S,ephani Holzworth ' Jon Hunt ' Cynthia Nesnow, Benjamin Ousley, Blake Prelipp, Kristin Prelipp,
Mi <; h ael Beadle, Robin Cagle, Eliot Cannon Monica Cleary, Jay Davis, Debbie Eidson, Mazi Gaillard, Maslin Greene.
Jennifer Heinzen TJlHemlmger, Amy Kincaid Rebecca Mankowski, Kelly Nordlinger, Veronica Powell, Kristin Reynolds, Curt Simpson and Cassaundra Sledge
Grtpltics: Kim Horstmann, Jay Roseborough and Justin Scheef ’
Smrth°* Rt * t * : Mandy Brame ' Brutzman ' s,erlinfl Chen ' Kasomba Rayne De Carvalho, Katie Kasben, Michelle Kelley, Tanya Kennedy, Sergio Ru ;tia Miranda and Jason
Lniiat Lisa Swayne
Editorial Production: Stacy Wynn, manager; Lisa Reichle, assistant.
Distribution and Printing: Village Printing Company
The Dally Tar Heel is published by the DTH Publishing Corp., a non-profit North Carolina corporation, Monday-Friday, according to the University calendar
Cafars with questions about billing or display advertising should dial 962-1163 between 8:30 a m and 5 p.m Classified ads can be reached at 962-0252 Editorial
questions should be directed to 962-0245/D246.
Office: Suite 104 Carolina Union
Campns moll address: CM 5210 Soi 49, Carolina Union U.S. Mail address: P.O. Boa 3257, Chapel Hill, NC 27515-3257
► THE TAR HEEL.
P , A weekly paper published at the
1. UelToraity of North goroHaa,
aader the aaapiere df tbJtTalver
•Up Athetotic AwooUtlotCdevotcd
to the ialereat of the Ualveraity at
r large
Ieeaed every Thursday aoning.
1 It will eoatala a cewetary of all
ooearmoee la the Coivertity mod
Tillage of Chapel HiU.
Space will ha aeelgaed for the
thoroagh dleeaeeloa of all poiate
portaialag to the advaaocweat aad
growth of the Caiveraity.
A brief eeeoaat each week of the
eeeaneoeee la the tttaiear ethe
L lotto world, with eepeelal atteatioa
1. to oar owe athletle leteroete, aad
progreat la Football, Baeaball,
I Teaale, etc.
All eooiety bows, pereoaale aad
every eatyeet of latereet both to
the etadeate aad eitteeaeof tho vil
lage. will be treated eaeh week.
The eolaaiae will be opea to die
nateine oa ell appropriate oabjeots
> with aa endeavor to do Alii jae
- tine to everyone. Tho chief aad
hie eeeieteate will decide at to tp
propriatreteeofartlclee ooaaeaa
wioat arttoiee will no aeeepted with-
I oat aatho, aaai '.-dug keowa to
the chief, which will N-.oeoad
- iceee, If dealred.
'. Advert lean Will Bate that this It
the ted, (add, aad raced, Macao ,
by which they eaa roach the eta- 1
dealt. For aotoo aae or write I
“Itceiarw Meaagorof Taa Bat" 1
Chapel HUI K. C, or drop him a |
card aad he will call. I
Batieeriptfoa awe' Dollar aad a '
| half per ttadea. Tbit tprlag TBcta <
SALUTATORY.
| The growing demands of the ,
Uaivenity have ohoara the aced ,
of a weekly paper. The Uairer- <
city Athletic Ateociatioa icgard- 1
| lag itadf at the BMaat by which J
1 tack a and waH be scpplkd, el
I a staled oteetiag elected a board j
| of editon (chief aad dec tabs.) ]
j aad a baataeae aaaaager. I
' With tUa apology only, the I
‘ tad iaaae of the ted voieaae of 1
the Taa Hot atakee ita appear- J
jaace.
Tbfc kv veatare fa aceeonrily i
jeaterod apoa by tfae pococat board 1
• r.a or..a - - e a .e - . |
I wvea ao uqk uepnana, Mm*
tfcdcao vitb a thBnaiaalhia. to
| aaake a aaccaaa which cad oaly ]
he dodethrowgh the iadalgearr |
aad aaaistaaee of oar locally add i
ifcmhdi Thwrftrr wtia
: vile had '
Otyect to to farther the dtobam
Mot of mu roUtiof to the Uil
wnlly> •
Meoto at the eel I ofthe preeMeot.
Onimnitf AlkeMic iaotoin
H. B. Show, preaideat.
J L Pugh, een’y. aad treat
Meet! regularly the wooed 8at
erdey te September end January
Other eolto eub>eot to the peeaidaat
VmitmUf Feel Bmil Teem.
Michael Hoke, captain,
Chartoe Baakervilie, Manager.
, Vnimrtity Bam BmU Tima.
Perrin Boafaee, eaptaie,
W. R Keooo, aaeoager.
Unimrmtj Sanaa CM.
J' V. Bigge, preaideat,
C. B. Tamer, aeo'y. and treaa.
Meeta at the call of the preaideat.
, Leader rejected for each Genoa,
(miemtly Otm CM.
R Paraon Willard, preoideet aad
Charier Rohe moo, manager.
Prof. Karl P. Herring.cl dim
'tor.
iHtohopara Clad.
Dr. Thoouta Ham. peraidaeit, j
I J. M. Cheek, aee’y. and trace.
I Meet la the Y. If. C. A. hall the
| third Toeeday night ia each aaoolh.
I Library open one hooreeeh day.
| EtiiXm UiMM Smntifit Satiety
Prof. J. A. Hoi area, preaideat,
I "rot J. W. Gore, trier .preaideat,
I Dr. F. P. Veaabto, eecratary aad
' Ireaaarer.
Meeta la Parana hall atoned v Ttw ■
day night la each math. .
Journal toaaed twice a year.
Dr. Kemp Battle, preaideat aad
i correapobdlag overweary.
H. M. Thoaapaoa, aeeretary aad
I trmaarar.
| Meela at the tail of the preaideat
1 Phtiaattrapte Sweety. (Secret) j
Meeta every Friday Bight ia Phi,
hall aaw rant balMing.
Dimlmtic Seartp. (Seorat)
Meeta every Friday night aad
Satarday aroralag ia Di. hall aaw
wart building.
ru Order a/ Oim Gfeaida (Scent)!
Jaaior.
The aoefety areata la February !
October. hangout Tharaday eight ■
of eomaaooermaat. 1
/Vtoenritiaa (Sanaat) I <
Sigam Alpha Kaaiioa, Kappa Al-1
pha, lata Phi Alpha ialm,
Sigma Ha, Phi lappa Htgraa, Ml
Delta Theta, PhTOamwa Date
Sigaaa PhL Bata Thata PI Date
TM.C.A. I 1
F. 0. Hardtop, p red deal,
George Seopmaaa, moratory nodi
traaaarvr,
E. t lechery, argaalat
Meeta Ihar ttoaaa a want la T.;
to had *Hrmd hooka tocaSTnary
■
Prat Kart r. Haavtogpea. mo
taey aad toaaaoaar,
; Maato leal Friday night to amah,
| math. I
l lia Bdhaiaa. (Aaaoal)
VOTH ■■
Celebrating a century
back to the 19th century, back to the days of hand
written stories and candle-lit offices.
The earliest editors sat in an upstairs storeroom of
a Rosemary Street house, hunched over their desks
armed with pen and ink.
Now, thanks to the innovation of 1929 editor
Walter Spearman, we produce a daily newspaper
with 20th-century technology that would amaze the
founding seven.
So, nearly 40,000 days after The Tar Heel’s debut
at UNC, we salute the founders.
But the celebration doesn’t end with today’s pa
per.
We’ve also published a special edition commemo
rating the DTH’s centennial. Titled “100th Anniver
sary” this 22-page collector’s item offers original
works detailing the paper’s colorful history. In addi
tion, it gives a decade-by-decade glimpse back to
important stories and events covered in the pages of
The Tar Heel.
The special edition is available for $3 at the DTH
offices, Bull’s Head Bookshop and The Intimate
Bookshop.
So it’s not every day we get to celebrate a centen
nial, and it’s not all the time we get to pat the DTH on
the back.
But this is the time to pause and recognize those
who made it happen for the South’s oldest college
daily and the nation’s best student-run newspaper.
THE LEGISLATIVE COM
, MITTEE VISIT THE
UNIVERSITY.
The following members of the
1 legislature composing the visita
> tion committee arrived at the Uni-.
versity on a special train Friday
. morning, Fehruary trd:
I Messrs. Battle, chairman ;Cheek
| Aycoke, James, Pon, of the sen
ate; and Messrs. Holt (chairman)
, Ense, Parker, Starnes, Walker,
, Ward, of the house.
I After breakfasting, the regular
chapel exercises were attended,
then visits were made to the read
ing room, libraries and various
lecture rooms where classes were
| assembled. The numerous labor
1 atones were inspected as well as
> some of the students' rooms. In
the afternoon meetings of both
I the societies were held and the
1 gentlemen who were not alumni
were made honorary members.
Just after prayers the boys called
repeatedly for speeches from our
visitors, a majority of whom re
sponded most felicitously and
gave words of encouragement for
the fi tore outlook of the univer
sity, from a legislative appropri
ation standpoint. All saw the
need of a sufficient appropriation
t. fully equip, this the most use
ful a> 1 important of all the State
propirt'es, and give to a univer
sity of rehose past brilliant record
and whose future prospects are
soch as would make any State in
the union proud to be the posses- •
tor of such an heritage to hand to
posterity, a sufficient appffipria
tion to put the university ou a
financial basis equal to its rapid
expansion and growth. When
some of the committee expressed
their deep regret at not Living
had an opportunity of receiving
an cdosatiou, in their youth, we
could not but feel that it was a
duty that was owed to future gen
erations, and which has been due
to those that have passed away,
that the supreme law making
power in the State, ought to make
tuition at the university free to
North Carolinians as is done at
the Uaivcaity of Virginia to Vir
ginians and the only way to do
this is to appropriate a sufficient
aasonat to keep the uaivenity up,
until resources front outside rftates
and the technical courses shall
make itself sustaining, and, too,
we cosdd not best think whet a
shame and lom it was to North
Carolina, that it had failed to
open the doors of the uaivenity,
in the past to such vtertimr man
hood mreptanesUed the
su the esmurittoe. The body of
the ststdents warn well pleased
with our friends, if they « 7
Ur amunie of our legUntots thi
C . North Carolina is in for
Is. They know the Baade of
’the University.
Tar Heel still serves entire UNC community
As a native of Chapel Hill, it’s
difficult for me to imagine this
village without The Daily Tar
Heel. Today marks her centennial
100 years of editorial freedom center
ing on the nation’s oldest and best pub
lic university. This anniversary allows
us to pause from our frenetic daily pace
and look back at a century of unparal
leled service to the community.
The DTH’s fascinating history is sea
soned by the familiar names that have
graced her staff boxes—Thomas Wolfe,
Charles Kuralt, Jonathan Yardley, Ed
Yoder, Jeff Mac Nelly, Curry
Kirkpatrick, and the list goes on and on.
But the purpose of this celebration is
not simply to pat ourselves on the back
for our association with this fraternity
of success. And it certainly isn’t in
tended to celebrate just the 100th year.
Rather, we want to salute those who
have dedicated themselves to this insti
tution of higher journalism learning
every year and each decade.
From the cramped, pseudo offices of
founding editor Charles Baskerville to
the Alumni Building to the basement of
Graham Memorial and finally to the
Student Union, thousands of men and
women have experienced a kind of sec
ond puberty in the DTH’s news rooms.
Ironically, our alumni list totalled 1,993
names, although we’re confident that
hundreds more have the honor of listing
the DTH on their curriculum vitae.
Many former staff members, who
punched out their stories for the DTH
on manual Royal typewriters or even
with ink pens, would be amazed to see
how we’ve changed.
Edit page pillar survives a century of battles
On The Daily Tar Heel’s opinion
page, readers’ thoughts for an
instant make room for the ideas
and words of others and then return
quickly to question and analyze. On this
page there is freedom to ask, to criticize,
to explore and to suggest. Look care
fully at this page. The character of its
content has changed little in 100 years.
On this page great wars are fought,
but fought quickly; expansive monu
ments of words crumble as quickly as
they are built. With the immediacy of a
gaze distracted, tomorrow’s DTH will
inevitably invite fresh sorties and new
battle plans. Yesterday’s debates are
forgotten.
The ancients constructed architec
tural wonders to house their great phi
losophers and thinkers, to confine the
debate of the day behind ionian col
umns and to dignify it with carved stone.
Deliberately downhill from these
extravagant temples, with their endless
discussions and debates, the common
folk waited. Their marketplace, bois
terous and busy, smokey and filthy,
excluded the simply average from their
philosopher-kings and limited their dis
course to gossip and shouting, to ru
mors and curses.
The page you are reading, a vibrant
Carolina institution 100 years old to
day, is a solution to the familiar prob
lem of bridging the marketplace to the
temple, of mixing highbrow with low
brow. The opinion page, here and else
where, is an equating civil institution;
the currency it distributes evenly are the
day’s ideas and opinions.
The unsigned staff editorials, collec
tively conceived but individually con
structed, represent the opinion of the
editorial board on the “important” is
sues.
The masthead printed above the staff
Daily Tar Heel was true birthplace of many
Chapel Hill, I wrote a few years
ago, is where my real life began.
I could as easily, and as accu
rately, have written: The Daily Tar Heel
is where my real life began. From the
fall of 1957, when I wrote my first
words for this newspaper, until the late
winter of 1961, when my year as its
editor ended, the DTH was the center of
my world, the place where I discovered
what I wanted to do with my life and
where I got my first lessons in how to do
it.
When I came to the DTH more than
35 years ago I, was an 18-year-old boy
who had displayed a bit of ability with
words but hadn ’ t a clue about what to do
with it.
The DTH showed me.
In class I was usually inattentive and
impatient I majored in English, not
journalism —but at the DTH I took my
instruction avidly and gratefully. I
learned not by studying but by doing; I
thus received what I still regard as a
proper journalistic education, and the
DTH was my teacher.
Today’s DTH staffers and Carolina
students can scarcely imagine what the
papier was like in my day.
Though it looked much the same as it
does now, it was scrawny both in size
and in staff. Journalism had yet to be
come a fashionable career; for most of
the three and a half years I worked on
the Tar Heel it was put out by a minus
cule editorial staff of perhaps a dozen,
and any warm body that found its way
to the offices on the second floor of
Graham Memorial was quickly pressed
into service.
The result was that those of us who
worked there were tight, almost clan
nish. We got to the office in late after
noon, worked into the evening, pre
sided over typesetting and printing, and
ended up drinking beer at a ratty hole in
the wall called Harry’s; the Four Cor
ners now occupies its space, and I do not
regard the substitution as an improve
ment.
We were an odd mixture of male and
female, Southerner and Yankee, liberal
and conservative; probably we were the
Today, we
use about 18
PCs and 12
Apple
Macintoshes to
produce a paper
five days per
week, and the
DTH indeed has
entered the
modem era of
newspaper pro
duction.
But we
Peter
Wallsten
Editor
haven’t lost the DTH’s traditional func
tion of serving the entire community,
primarily including students but with
constant attention to issues of faculty,
staff and Chapel HiU-Carrboro area resi
dents. We continue to keep aclose watch
on student government and on the Uni
versity administration.
The DTH remains on the forefront of
every campus issue, from race relations
to tenure controversies. We aim to shape
the future of the community and often
look to past editors for example.
Often I’m envious of folks like
Jonathan Yardley who worked for the
paper during an era that many people
consider the most fascinating in this
country’s history. In his column, he
writes about covering the 1960 presi
dential race and watching Terry
Sanford’s historic run for governor.
Perhaps in 20 years, my fellow staff
members and I will reminisce about
covering and shaping the fight for a
free-standing black cultural center at
UNC, observing the watershed 1992
presidential election as journalists and
editorials is
their crown and
a roof to their
temple. It im
plies that the
opinions stated
underneath are
weighty and
should be re
garded sepa
rately from the
rest of the page.
The beauty of
the opinion
Eric
Wagner
Mind’s Eye
page, however, is that the importance
conferred on its staff editorials is an
accepted illusion, a journalistic sleight
of-hand performed with a knowing
wink. The staff editorials may appear
important, sitting there on their throne,
but everyone knows that the most inter
esting (and popular) segment of the
paper are its letters to the editor.
Angry and condemning, quick to
fault, sharp-tounged and witty, the let
ters to the editor are never boring.
Although they are occasionally mass
produced by special interests and ex
tremists, letters to the editor best iden
tify the direction the opinion page is
going and the location of its soul. The
private party may continue inside the
temple, but the hip bash has moved to
the marketplace. No invitations are
needed, but you had better show up to
be heard.
A simple enough dichotomy between
the elevated editorials and the voice of
the people. But what should we make of
the columnists, yours truly included?
Because the columnist’s name, and
occasionally face, are published with
his opinion, readers will inevitably per
sonalize their reactions to the column
more so than to the anonymous staff
editorials or the occasional letter writer.
hippies of our
day, though we
looked entirely
ordinary and un
exceptional.
Our timing
exquisite. We
put out The Tar
Heel during the
time when John
Fitzgerald
Kennedy was
running for
president and
Jonathan
Yardley
Editor 196041
Martin Luther King Jr. was forcing
America to confront its conscience. I’ve
since had many second thoughts and
reservations about President Kennedy,
but covering the 1960 presidential race
it was also Terry Sanford’s race for
the governorship was a dream. A
vast generational change was taking
place in America, not just in politics but
everywhere, and the excitement on this
campus and in Chapel Hill was posi
tively palpable.
The really important change of
course was being engineered by King.
Chapel Hill was still a very segregated
place in those days, a condition that few
of us had thought very clearly about
before King came along. I was initially
a member of the complacent majority,
but as the sit-ins began in Greensboro
and protests spread elsewhere, my con
sciousness certainly was raised in a
hurry.
By the time I assumed the editorship
in March 1960,1 was eager to continue
the tradition of outspokenness on civil
rights that the DTH had enjoyed for
years. To be sure it was easier to em
brace that cause in Chapel Hill than in
most other places in the state, but it
wasn’t a piece of cake.
The town’s business community vig
orously resisted change, and in the
nearby countryside, opposition was
nasty, with clear potential for violence.
I don’t pretend that during my year the
DTH was a paragon of either eloquence
or courage, but we did speak out, we did
take some risks, and we were proud of
what we did.
being a part of the University’s 200th
birthday.
While covering these issues and af
fecting the community’s future, we
sometimes forget that we work for a
student newspaper. In fact, most of our
readers tend to forget that as well, as
they hold us to a high professional stan
dard. We’re proud of that, and we do
consider ourselves to be on par (if not
better than) the other area newspapers
battling for readership.
We do recognize, however, that our
primary reason for working at the DTH
is for an education. Like many others, I
chose not to major in journalism be
cause I knew such classes would pale in
comparison to the education I’ve re
ceived here. The J-school serves an
important function, but it simply is im
possible to get this type of hands-on
experience anywhere else on campus.
It’s ironic that while this year I’ve
skipped more classes than almost any
other student (except for many of my
co-workers), I also probably have
learned more than anyone else.
The DTH and its alumni are teachers
to all generations that pass through the
University, especially those with the
opportunity to stand on the shoulders of
this century-old giant. In April, my term
as editor ends, and I’ll leave the DTH
for good. No doubt, that will be a tough
divorce.
But one aspect of our relationship
will make it easier I know she’ll
never leave me.
Peter Wallsten is a political science
major from Chapel Hill.
The columnist is immediately cat
egorized not only by name, but by style,
outlook, perceived ideological affilia
tion and previous published opinions.
The Daily Tar Heel’s staff editorials
may be generally labeled conservative
or liberal (strictly liberal, to be fair). But
I have shared this space with an angry
gay man, an angry feminist woman, an
angry black man, an angry black woman
and an angry humorist. For my part, I
have been labeled as an insensitive right
wing Jew who is too pro-Israel and too
pro-Gay. Well, whatever.
My first column on this page was
written as an angry response to a misin
formed and misargued staff editorial. I
recognize well the passion and excite
ment that the printed word can create,
even if unintentionally.
I now regularly receive the same
letters that I used to drop in the green
box outside the DTH office. I am ap
proached by readers around campus
and town, and I enjoy talking with them
friendly or not about the latest
column.
Although (or perhaps because) the
majority of the letters and comments I
receive are strongly opposed to my opin
ions, I am happy to report that as the
DTH’s opinion page enters its second
century, public discourse at Carolina is
vibrant and healthy.
The path between the temple and the
marketplace is well-marked and easily
traveled as it passes through Chapel
Hill. There must be thousands of edito
rialists, columnists and letter writers
whose words were printed on this page
in its first century. Let us walk along the
path with all of them. Eagerly, anx
iously into the next century.
Eric Wagner is a senior political
science major from Jerusalem.
We had reason to be. Surrendering
the editorship in 1961 was made less
difficult because my successor was my
close friend, Wayne King, but it wasn’t
easy.
I’d been incredibly happy during
those years on the DTH, and the knowl
edge that they were now over was hard
to swallow. On the other hand, my dis
appointment was considerably allevi
ated by my awareness that the DTH had
given me a thorough preparation for my
chosen career; a good job awaited me
upon graduation three months later, and
I felt that I was ready for it.
What I didn’t know then was how
much I still had to leant. After a year as
editor, I imagined that one day I would
be editor of a “real” newspaper. I didn’t
know then how unsuited I was both
temperamentally and intellectually for
administrative work.
The idea of reviewing books, much
less writing them, had never crossed my
mind, and it would be years before this
turn in my career would present itself to
me.
But however much uncertainty lay
ahead, this much was indelibly clear:
Without The Daily Tar Heel, I never
would have begun.
Jonathan Yardley is book critic and a
columnist for the Washington Post. He
was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Criti
cism in 1981. His fourth book, “States
of Mind: A Personal Journey Through
the Mid-Atlantic," will be published
next month.
Column policy
The DTH welcomes guest column
submissions from our readers. Inter
ested writers should contact Alan
Martin at 962-0245.
Please follow these guidelines
when submitting columns:
■ Limit column length to 800
words.
■ All columns should be signed
and typed double-spaced.
■ Please include your class, ma
jor, hometown and phone number.