Newspapers / Daily Tar Heel (Chapel … / Oct. 11, 2005, edition 1 / Page 6
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6 TUESDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2005 what’s IN A NAME? MANY CAMPUS FIXTURES TAKE THEIR NAMES FROM KEY PLAYERS IN THE UNIVERSITY’S HISTORY. THEY WILL BE AMONG THOSE HONORED WEDNESDAY. UNC Student Stores JOSEPHUS DANIELS FORMER BOARD OF TRUSTEES MEMBER BYTORRYE JONES FEATURES EDITOR In 1941, an editorial ran in The Atlanta Constitution that described Josephus Daniels as “one of the gen tlest and firmest of men.” While he achieved great aspi rations, Daniels, whose name the Student Stores building bears, couldn’t surmount the racist atti tudes of his day. “He was a fascinating, but compli cated individual,” says Harry Watson, director of the Center for the Study of the American South. Born to Josephus and Mary Daniels in 1862, Daniels grew up in Washington, N.C. Asa young man, he worked a variety of jobs, includ ing picking cotton and clerking in a drug store. Daniels entered UNC in the 1880s to study law, though he never practiced in his lifetime. Instead, he moved to Raleigh and began publishing a small newspa per. He later became editor of The (Raleigh) News & Observer in 1894. Daniels, however, did not limit him self to the newspaper industry. Not only was he a longtime mem ber of the Board of Trustees, but Daniels also served as the Secretary of the Navy during Woodrow Wilson’s administration and as the U.S. ambas sador to Mexico under Franklin D. Roosevelt. Among his list of achievements, Daniels received the annual Carolina Israelite award on Feb. 22,1946, “for distinguished service in the further ing of human rights and interfaith unity.” His longtime friend Bernard M. Baruch of Washington, an economist and a statesman, said at the ceremony that Daniels was a “man with heart as soft as a woman’s, with mind as clear as a bell, with courage that fears nei ther man nor beast nor obstacle. “He has never lowered his arm in a fight for what he thought was just always in the interest of the weak and distressed of every color and creed.” Daniels wasn’t always free of contro versy, though. In fact, he was involved in the Democrats’ campaign supporting an amendment to the state constitution that barred black men from voting during the North Carolina election of 1898. Daniels was editor of the News & Observer when the newspaper ran a series of editorials and cartoons that ridiculed black politicians and those who supported them. In his 1941 book, “Editor in Politics,” Daniels writes, “The News and Observer was relied upon to carry the Democratic message and to be the militant voice of White Supremacy, and it did not fail in what was expect ed, sometimes going to extremes in its partisanship.” But, Watson says, Daniels later apologized for his racist tactics in his memoir. “By the time they wanted to name Student Stores after him, they weren’t thinking of the 1890s,” Watson said. “They were thinking of the ‘Here’s one of the most distinctive men of the state that founded a newspaper dynasty that still lasts today,’” he said. Daniels worked on the paper until his death in 1948. Today, it still reigns as the primary paper in Raleigh. Contact the Features Editor atfeatures@unc.edu. W. Royal Davis Library WALTER ROYAL DAVIS FORMER BOARD OF TRUSTEES CHAIRMAN BY CAROLYN GRAY STAFF WRITER Walter Royal Davis went from truck driver to self-made millionaire. Though Davis didn’t attend col lege, the Elizabeth City native gave tremendously to UNC aiding in bringing more than S3O million to the University —and had Davis Library named in his honor. After high school, he traveled to California to become a truck driver, borrowing SI,OOO to start a trucking business that transferred crude oil from wells to refineries. His franchise grew and he started an oil company that later was sold to Occidental Oil and Gas, says Joe Hewitt, University librarian emeritus. Davis brought this determination back with him to help his home state of North Carolina. “He is a believer in good people and good policy. As far as I can tell, the thing that drives him is making things work,” said Tom Meyer, a chemistry professor, during a tribute speech in honor of Davis in 1999. In the early 19705, UNC was begin ning to divest itself of its long-standing public utilities. Many state politicians wanted these profits to be divided between all the state universities, not just UNC. “About that period, the Board of Trustees decided (owning public utili ties) was a burden to the University and they ought to get rid of it,” says John Sanders, former director of the Institute of Government. “So they got out of the utility business except to meet on-campus needs.” Davis led a successful campaign to keep the money on UNC’s campus. “At the time, Mr. Davis was chair of the Board of Trustees and was effec tive in helping the University retain, as I remember, S3O (million) of the S4O million,” Sanders says. The money was used to fund three projects within the University: the building of Davis Library for $22.6 million, an addition to the Health Sciences Library and a renovation of the Louis Round Wilson Library. Asa member of the UNC Board of Trustees from 1972 to 1980, Davis started projects throughout the state. His projects included an $8 million faculty-salary supplement at UNC as well as additional tuition support for graduate students at UNC and N.C. State University, said Meyer during Davis’ tribute speech. “In his later life he has made a hobby of making North Carolina a better place,” Meyer says. His philanthropy is very personal and much of his work is undocument ed, Hewitt says. Recently Davis has supported pri vate scholarships of those affected by Hurricane Floyd and donated direct gifts to help people attend college. “Having his name on the library is the most appropriate thing,” Hewitt says. Though several alternative projects were proposed for the S3O million, the support for anew library was over whelming, he says. “In retrospect, the library was the best thing they could’ve done,” he says. “Without the Davis Library it would be a disaster for the University.” Davis currently lives in Chapel Hill, next to the University he supports. “I think that he believes that if you help people get an education ... it’s the best thing that you can do for the future of the state,” Hewitt says. Contact the Features Editor atfeatures@unc.edu. F.P.G. Student Union FRANK PORTER GRAHAM FORMER UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT BY CLINT JOHNSON STAFF WRITER Frank Porter Graham, whose name graces the Student Union, once said UNC stands “under the skies that give their color and their charm to the life of youth gathered here... there is music in the air of the place.” The Fayetteville native spent more than 40 years at UNC. He was a student, a teacher, an administrator and, when he left, a representative of the people of North Carolina and the nation. After graduating from UNC, Graham earned a degree from Columbia University and started his teaching career. In 1915, he became a professor at UNC, but in June 1917, Graham enlist ed in the United States Marine Corps to fight in World War I. After two years, in which he rose from private to lieuten ant, he returned to UNC. Teaching was Graham’s passion. “He was essentially a teacher,” says John Sanders, former director of the Institute of Government. “Avery popu lar, good teacher.” Sanders says Graham made many friends while on the history faculty, and when Harry Chase resigned as University president in 1930, he was encouraged to fill the vacancy. Graham, however, wished to remain in the classroom. “He did not want to be president he resisted it,” Sanders says. “I think he preferred teaching, but he ultimately accepted it.” Graham served as president from 1930 to 1949, through the Great Depression and World War 11. Perhaps his great est legacy is that he held the University together during the depression years. At the time, UNC’s funding had been cut in half, but Graham still managed to keep the University afloat. “Keeping students in school, keep ing the doors open, and not only sur viving but to some extent thriving, in that period was a real achievement,” Sanders says. When N.C. senator J. Melville Broughton died in office in 1949, Graham was appointed to replace him by Gov. W. Kerr Scott. Graham served the remainder of the term and par ticipated in the bitter 1950 campaign against Willis Smith, a Raleigh lawyer. During the campaign, ads were print ed portraying Graham as a Communist and a sympathizer with blacks. One ad read, “If you fear left-wing socialism, then elect Willis Smith.” Also, photos were doctored to show Graham’s wife dancing with a black man and statistics were printed to show the overwhelming support Graham was receiving in black communities. The campaign, which allegedly involved help from Jesse Helms, was so dirty that Smith threatened to fire his staff members if he could prove they were responsible for some of the actions. At the time, Graham was consid ered a progressive leader. He did, in fact, have large support from the black community and, though he did not open UNC’s doors to black students, he supported blacks’ right to vote and to fair employment. But Sanders says that by today’s stan dards, “He would not be a liberal at all.” Graham went on to lose the 1950 election. Later, as a United Nations represen tative, he mediated the dispute between India and Pakistan about the Kashmir region. He retired from the UN in 1967 due to health issues and died in 1972. He is bur ied in the Old Chapel Hill Cemetery. Contact the Features Editor atfeatures@unc.edu. Robert B. House Library j juju j|||| j ROBERT B. HOUSE FORMER UNIVERSITY CHANCELLOR BY JULIA FURLONG ASSISTANT FEATURES EDITOR Before he left for France to fight in World War I, Robert B. House, a 1916 first-honors graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill, sent Frank Porter Graham a letter in which he made his loyalties clear. “I am not a single-purposed man; if I have one dominant desire I don’t recognize it,” he wrote. “But the resul tant of all my desires to live and serve is a purpose to come back and live and serve through Carolina.” House did, in fact, return to UNC CH. Not only did he serve the University for decades, but his name lives on the Undergraduate Library that has stood by the Pit since 1968 bears his name. “He was a steady, responsible admin istrator,” says John Sanders, former director of the Institute of Government. “He was deeply devoted to the University and generally liked by Ifustees.” House led the University from 1934 to 1957. He worked as executive secre tary from 1926 to 1934 for Harry Chase and Frank Porter Graham. “He kept the place going while President Graham in particular pursued the additional ends of those involved in the presidency,” Sanders says. House served as dean of administra tion from 1934 to 1945 and chancellor from 1945 to 1957. In 1945, the office of chancellor was established with the creation of the consolidated University of North Carolina system. His administration oversaw a num ber of significant changes. The General College was organized in 1935 and the athletic program was expanded —but perhaps the most mon umental issue House dealt with during his time at the helm was integration. “He was not particularly reaction ary; he didn’t stand in the school house doors, forbid entry or anything,” Sanders says. “But if the world had run by his standards, there would not have been integration.” At first, House refused to supply black graduate students with student athletic passbooks in 1951, because he said foot ball games were “social occasions.” The students eventually were given tickets, but House included a letter that, in effect, recommended they weren’t to be used. House again tried to take a stand against integration in the spring of 1952, balking at the idea of an inte grated law school dance. He declared that “no mixed social functions shall be held on the University campus.” His stance on segregation was a mod erate part of his record and he partook of the attitudes of his time, Sanders says. In his 1992 book, “Light on the Hill,” William D. Snider writes, “Asa genial, pipe-smoking, harmonica player elevat ed to the chancellorship, (House) never took himself too seriously and managed to charm both faculty and students.” House, who received a master’s degree in English from Harvard University, was known for his prowess with words and reflected on his college years at UNC-CH in his 1964 memoir, “The Light that Shines.” “As I saw Franklin Street in 1912, it was a dusty red avenue cut through a for est of magnificent trees,” House writes. “My first impression of Chapel Hill was trees; my last impression is trees.... It is no wonder that Chapel Hillians are ardent tree worshippers and the symbol of the place is Davie Poplar.” Like the trees ofhis beloved University, House led his life with his roots firmly embedded in the UNC-CH campus. Contact the Features Editor atfeatures@unc.edu. ©4? lattg ©ar HM Lenoir Dining Hall WILLIAM LENOIR FIRST BOARD OF TRUSTEES CHAIRMAN BY JULIA FURLONG ASSISTANT FEATURES EDITOR Although the dining hall that has stood in the Pit since 1939 carries his namesake, many are not aware that Gen. William Lenoir put what is arguably the first culinary stamp on the University. Lenoir, the first chairman of UNC’s Board of Trustees, was also the chair man of the food committee, which was responsible for recommending the quality and quantity of food to be offered to future students. Lenoir’s report, among other things, called for a dinner in which students could choose from “bacon and greens, beef and turnips, other fresh meats and vegetables, puddings and tarts, and wheat and corn bread ... and a suffi cient supply of bread or biscuits,” writes Richard Alexander Shrader in his 1978 University dissertation. Lenoir also said the committee expect ed the selected steward to supply a clean tablecloth at least eveiy other day. By the time Lenoir was elected presi dent of the board in its second meeting in Fayetteville on Nov. 25,1790, he already had made a name for himself as a mili tary hero, politician and businessman. In his “History of the University of North Carolina,” Kemp P. Battle refers to Lenoir as “General William Lenoir, of Wilkes County, President of the Senate, a hero of Kings Mountain.” Kemp also writes, “He, first of a long line of eminent men who held this office, was the last survivor of the original Trustees.” Lenoir was president of the senate from 1790 to 1794 and served as justice of the peace for 20 years. Lenoir also was chairman of Wilkes County. “A successful businessman, he amassed a large fortune, and was one of the great est landowners in the history of the state,” Rachael Long writes in her revised 1993 edition of “Building Notes.” Lenoir was bom the tenth and young est child of Thomas and Mourning Lenoir in Virginia on May 8, 1751. His family later moved to Edgecombe County, which is where he grew up. He received little formal education. He married Ann Ballard of Halifax County and in March 1775, he settled at Mulberry Field Meeting House (now the town of Wilkesboro in Wilkes County.) He later built a home, “Fort Defiance,” in Happy Valley. Lenoir was forced to give up his membership on the board in 1804. According to board rules, a member lost his seat if he failed to attend meet ings for at least two years. Lenoir had not attended a meeting since 1800. Although Lenoir knew about the rules, he was upset when the board elected foe James Wellborn to replace him. “Lenoir lamented the irony that Wellborn, who had ofteq criticized the University and had gained political sup port by such criticism, replaced Lenoir, who had supported the University from the beginning,” Shrader writes. Friends said Lenoir was complex. “They knew ofhis violent temper and lasting hatred for James Wellborn, but also of his willingness to forget clashes with others who disagreed with him,” Shrader writes. Legend says that at 87, Lenoir reg ularly attended the county court at Wilkesboro, which was 25 miles away, and once rode on horseback across the mountains 50 miles to attend Ashe County court. When Lenoir died at 87 on May 6, 1839, 50 years after the enactment of the original charter, he was the last member of the original board. Contact the Features Editor atfeatures@unc.edu.
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