Friday, October 13,1995
7,000 Witness University History on Polk Place
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l nrougnout all the pomp and circumstance of the day s ceremony, many onlookers became very hot and tired. When
the proceedings started to run long, many sought any means of shade they could find.
Full Text of Chancellor
Hooker’s Induction Speech
Governor Hunt, Chief Justice Mitchell,
Senate President Basnight, President
Spangler, Chairman O’Neill, Chairman
Armfield, my colleague chancellors, Chair
of the Faculty Brown, Chair of the Em
ployee Forum Windham, President
Cunningham, members of the Board of
Governors, of the Board of Trustees, of the
faculty, of the staff, the student body, sister
and fellow alumni and distinguished guests
all of you, Friends of The University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill: If I were
asked to identify the most significant pe
riod in North Carolina’s history, it would
be hard to find one more important or
more formative than that from November
21st through December 22nd, 1789. Con
sider: cm November 21st, our North Caro
lina Convention ratified the new Constitu
tion of the United States, thus uniting with
the Nation that bounded us on our north
ern and southern borders, and of which
George Washington was already Presi
dent. On December 11th, our North Caro
lina General Assembly chartered this Uni
versity. On December 21st, it enacted a bill
to endow the University. And on Decem
ber 22nd, it ratified the Bill of Rights of the
federal Constitution. In both the Conven
tion and the Legislature, the leader of the
prevailing forces was UNC’s founding fa
ther, William Richardson Davie. If you
want to see “Lux, Libertas” Light and
Liberty—exemplified, there they are: our
liberty wedded to the fortunes of the State
and the Nation, and our hope of humane
enlightenment entrusted to die University
to be created for the people of North Caro
lina. North Carolina recognized at the
outset, that the hope of the people for
liberty, for freedom, rests in the steadfast
defense of the free mind, freely following
truth wherever it leads. That is the citadel
of freedom from which our humane en
lightenment forever proceeds.
Why do I recall these long ago events on
this day of celebration and promise? I do so
because, in the rush and roar of the imme
diacy, we too easily forget our roots and
the heritage to which we owe our being—
a heritage that inspires us and always holds
out to us, just beyond our better achieve
ments, a standard that calls us to do more,
to reach higher, to serve better, to be our
best. That is as true of the faculty and staff
as it is of the student body.
And today it is true of your new chan
cellor. We can all profitably leam and
remember together. As we do so, we may
remind the people of North Carolina, who
created and sustain us, of these same shared
truths.
Today is a day to envision our future, to
point for the best and to begin the journey
there. To do so, we leam again from our
well-remembered past, we assess our
present strengths and needs and we step
pi
DTH/JOHN WHITE
Christine Hooker congratulates her son on Polk Place Thursday after he
fulfilled his ‘dream of a lifetime' by becoming UNC's chancellor.
UNIVERSITY DAY
into the future resolved to vindicate the
judgment of the people of North Carolina
who have vested their hope in us. We
pledge them a resolute determination to
demonstrate that we are worthy of their
trust by our continuing achievements on
their behalf.
Our work and our worth will be mea
sured by our faculty, students and staff—
by all those who labor in the University.
Even while we take pride in what we do,
our continual questioning whether we do it
well enough, and our determination to do
it better, are indispensable to our improve
ment. Inevitably and properly, we will also
be assessed by many outside this campus.
We accept the responsibility to be account
able for our stewardship of this two centu
ries-old heritage of service to North Caro
lina. We accept the obligation to explain
what we do to the people of North Caro
lina. We gladly acknowledge our obliga
tion to build a strong future on this trea
sured past. We know we shall have to do it
in a time of state and national retrench
ment of government sponsorship. This
shrinking of sustenance will force us to
choose what we value most and reshape
our work to husband resources carefully
and to expend them wisely. To achieve
that purpose we shall need to develop a
mechanism for setting priorities and re
allocating resources from areas of low pri
ority to areas ofhigh priority and high need
measuring the steps we take by our
reason for being: that is to render the best
possible service to the people of North
Carolina. Moreover, building on earlier
steps toward adequate planning, we shall
need to develop and put in place a planning
mechanism that ties planning firmly to
resource development and budgeting. In
both those efforts, we shall need the col
laborative intelligence and support of the
entire University community. Members of
the General Assembly, and the citizens
throughout the state whom they represent,
may take our success in these efforts as an
earnest of our right to continue to rely on
their undergirding our work.
Because the choice, both of what we
shall save and of what we shall newly
create, must be made in a time full of
turbulent and only partly understood
change, we must be clear about our mis
sion. In those amazing days near the end of
1789, no one could have imagined the
post-Civil War shutdown of the Univer
sity, orits reopening, ortheSummer School,
or the coming of women and racial minori
ties, or the whole world of university scien
tific research, or modem medicine, or the
vaulting leap of humankind from horse
back to outer space. Yet the durable guide
posts then set for the legislature and for the
See SPEECH, Page 7
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DTO/JOHN WHITE
Members of the UNC Marching Tar Heels stand at the steps of South Building before the start of the installation
ceremony. Twelve members lined the steps and played two fanfares to start both processionals.
Housekeepers Hold Protest Rally
BY LILLIE CRATON
STAFF WRITER
University Day overshadowed the
housekeepers’ rally as only a handful of
housekeepers andstudentsgatheredat noon
in front of Lenoir Hall to protest the
University’s treatment ofhousekeepers and
to raise interest in Sunday’s housekeepers'
march.
Members of the Housekeepers Associa
tion and the Student Environmental Ac
tion Coalition carried signs and handed
out fliers advertising Sunday’s march.
The march is scheduled for 3 p.m. Sun
day in front of South Building. It will wind
through campus to Franklin Street, said
Alicia Junco, a SEAC member.
The march will end with a rally in front
ofUNC-system President C. D. Spangler’s
house. SEAC has invited Spangler to speak
at the rally, but he has not responded,
Junco said.
BY BRONWEN CLARK
UNIVERSITY EDITOR
The installation of Michael Hooker as
UNC’s eighth chancellor brought people
from around the state to celebrate Univer
sity Day Thursday. Students, faculty, state
legislators and former chancellors were
among the more than 7,000 people in at
tendance for the event.
Nelson Ferebee Taylor, chancellor of
UNC from 1972 to 1980, said that though
he had been installed in Memorial Hall, he
preferred holding the ceremony outside.
Taylor said he attended University Day
festivities every year.
“It feels great to be here,” Taylor said.
“It is a glorious day and a great occasion.”
Festivities for the Polk Place ceremony
got under way with a processional march
composed of representatives from all parts
of the University community, including
faculty, staff and students.
Governor Jim Hunt, UNC-systemPresi
dent C.D. Spangler and Chief Justice of
the North Carolina Supreme Court Burley
Mitchell were among many of the many
state and local dignitaries who also partici
pated in the activities.
Over2oo delegates representing institu
tions of higher learning from around the
world also witnessed the historic occasion.
SEAC is encouraging student groups to
marchandsupportthehousekeepers’ cause,
she said.
Housekeepers and students are con
cerned about the privatization of house
keeping, Junco said.
The issue of privatization developed
this summer when the General Assembly
passed a bill to study contract work for the
16-campus UNC system.
If the University contracted out, a pri
vate company would handle all house
keeping work.
“If the University contracts out, the
workers could lose the benefits they’ve
gained over the past few years,” Junco
said. “Health care and training could be
cut,” she said.
Geraldine Page, a housekeeper who has
worked for the University for more than 26
years, said students would suffer if the
housekeeping was contracted out.
“When students see the same house
E. Maynard Adams, Kenan professor
emeritus of philosophy who has attended
the installations of six other chancellors,
said he had been one of Hooker’s first
professors at UNC.
“He was a student of mine,” Adams
said. “He was very bright. He took his first
course at the University with me in the
summer session of 1965.”
Adams said he had watched Hooker
over the years and was certain that his
chancellorshipwouldbe an interesting one.
“Oh yes, he’ll be an exciting chancel
lor,” Adams said. “Before his appoint
ment I told people he wasn’t going to be a
safe chancellor. I said he would make a
difference, for better or for worse. I think
for the better. A safe chancellor is one who
merely keeps things going. He is not one to
simply keep things going, he takes charge. ”
Adams said he looked forward to Uni
versity Day every year.
“It is a great day, it is great for the
University,” he said. “It is a good way to
celebrate the Univereity, its vision and what
we’re about.”
James and Bonnie Montgomery ofTrin
ity, who met on campus in the 19305, said
they came to UNC several times through
out the year.
Fason Sessoms, a Chapel Hill resident
and friend of former University president
keeper 250 days a year, they know they can
trust them,” she said. “(If the University
contracts out), you don’t know who’s go
ing to be working in your building."
Page said she thought students had
mixed reactions to the housekeepers’ move
ment.
“Some are behind us, but some don’t
really seem to care," she said.
“The bottom line is the University isn’t
very supportive. The University could find
money for improvement, but they aren’t
really trying,” she said.
Renee Bonds, a member of the House
keepers Association, said housekeepers
wanted “recognition forthe Housekeepers
Association, better working conditions and
better pay.”
The starting salary for housekeepers at
the University is $14,800, Junco said.
Bonds said she thought the salary was
too low. “That’s just not very much, con
sidering all we do."
Saily 3ar Heel
Frank Porter Graham, said he was pleased
Hooker was modelling his administration
after Graham.
“It is good to see this many people who
came to support the processional, ” he said.
“It is important for people to see the new
chancellor and hear his views and hope
fully encourage him to do a good job.”
Heather O’Neill, a senior from Chapel
Hill, said University Day increased her
sense of the UNC community.
“I’m here because I think it is important
to realize the sense of community," she
said. “The faculty, the administration and
the students all come together. It makes me
happy to be at Carolina.”
O’Neill said this University Day was
particularly important because onlooker’s
installation.
“This is only the eighth time a chancel
lor has been installed,” she said. “Obvi
ously you don’t get to see that very often.
It’s pretty exciting.”
Members of the Black Student Move
ment Gospel Choir, which was invited by
Hooker to sing “Amazing Grace,” said
they were honored to be a part of the
historic day.
“I’m pretty excited about it,” said se
nior Chariss Sanders, the choir president.
“We’re treating this as any other engage
ment, but we know it’s far beyond that.”
EDITORIAL
Let’s Keep
On Making
History
As we all sit back on our historical heels
today to reflect on 202 years of Uni
versity history, as students we might
think that we no longer live in important
times. While the past holds a strong allure,
our future often seems tainted.
But no past time holds as much promise
as the present, and we stand poised at a
crucial time to make decisions about our
future, the fu
ture of UNC
and our future
role in society.
The pomp
and ceremony
of University
Day highlights
one thing; that
we can take
control of our
world, and we
must do so with
a sense of per-
|tha\assiscamhams I
EDITOR
spective. Now more than ever, the pot
pourri of people that makes up Chapel Hill
and Carrboro can decide in which direc
tion to move as the University and its
symbiotic towns enter a period of unprec
edented growth.
Many years from now we will look back
and see the racial fragmentation, imper
sonal industrialism and rampant growth
that characterize our generation. Many of
us will wonder why we did not notice our
society changing for the worse, and notice
that history had been made while we
thought it had stopped.
The public of students must once again
assert its importance, and join local de
bates on the way to becoming a national
force. The decisions we must make about
our long-term mission, our local character
and our national reputation as a commu
nity and a University require not only bold
leadership, but an engaged citizenry. We
depend on our leadership more and more,
but when its members lack wisdom, or
need direction, students and residents must
step up and offer guidance.
In die 19605, when local powers bitterly
fought integration, UNC students played a
pivotal role in forcing the town to confront
the painful realities of integration and ra
cial strife. It was our initiative, our energy,
our insight, that helped bring Chapel Hill
and Carrboro into the 20th century.
Now it is time to help lead the area into
the 21st, and although the issues facing us
may seem less dramatic, they are just as
pivotal to shaping our society’s landscape.
Will we let middle America towns like
Chapel Hill become meccas for the
white middle class, for complacent think
ing and for inflexible attitudes?
We have the chance to share our ideas,
concerns and priorities with the politicians
seeking to lead Chapel Hill and Carrboro
at two forums this week. Candidates for
Carrboro mayor and Board of Aldermen
will come to the Union Auditorium Sun
day at 7 p.m. to field questions from mem
bers of the public. Candidates for Chapel
Hill mayor and Town Council will come to
the Great Hall of the Student Union at 7
p.m. Tuesday for the same purpose.
In the coming years, we should rear our
young heads and make this town, this
University, and by extension, this country,
respond to anew generation of critical!
informed minds.
More than 200 years of UNC history
should compel us to understand our own
historic role and regain the sense of pur
pose that drove students 30 years ago in
this same town to face down police dogs
and nightsticks. With new confidence, we
just might be able to face down our own
demons.
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