Posting Farewells, Memories

When I leave home for summer adventures, I plant parting Post-it notes for my family around the house -- which they find weeks later -- and I hold back my tears until I'm safely seated in the departing airplane.

My parents are accustomed to a quick hug in the airport and mumbled parting words from me rather than articulate speeches. At best I can provide a "to do" list of last-minute errands, and in my last column, I want to do more than ask you to make a dentist appointment for me, although I could use a cleaning in December, if you know an Asheville dentist ...

Given that I frequently frighten strangers on airplanes with my emotional displays, I am reluctant to even attempt explaining how much I have appreciated the honor of being your University columnist this semester. As I have two other papers to write after I finish writing this column, however, I'm going to risk smearing some ink with a tearful eulogy for this weekly rant.

Here goes my first public, farewell Post-it.

Looking back, dear readers, on our good times together, I realize how much this experience has taught me about our University. Writing this weekly column has solidified some of my outrageous opinions and also widened my made-for-TV perspective to cinema-scope proportions.

It turns out Chancellor James Moeser is not the great and powerful Oz, hiding in South Building plotting international UNC franchises, and that the Board of Trustees knew night parking was as fishy as Bob Knight's escapades with the Transportation and Parking Advisory Committee.

A woman can indeed be elected student body president (Who knew?), and real students can fill perpetually empty Student Congress seats -- if only on Election Day. I'll leave it to my successor to check attendance.

It is true that in the not-so-distant future, underground parking, public art projects and a revitalized curriculum will improve the UNC experience.

Like Madonna, UNC is constantly reinventing itself. Change is constant at UNC, and the campus might be unrecognizable to current students when we return to campus with our own children.

It is true UNC is slowly becoming the first publicly funded Disney World -- a sprawling complex overflowing with fun attractions and theme parking lots. Even if UNC leaves building another Animal Kingdom to N.C. State University, there are many UNC attractions awaiting discovery.

One of my professors wonders how students have time to study with so many wonderful lectures, plays and concerts, just to name a few opportunities enriching our college experiences. Somehow we manage to ride all of the attractions while learning how to think and who we are.

There are thousands of interesting people walking around campus with stories of self-realization during their undergraduate journeys. After three years at the University Desk, I think the real story of this University has little to do with the politics newspapers cover and a lot to do with young people discovering who they are in this magical place.

How has the University changed in the last semester? And how have those changes been affected by our mix of students? Beyond tuition increases, what did we protest? What frustrated us? What did we fight for? How did we spend our time?

As the University grows, we must remember the students studying in the quad, protesting on Franklin Street and hanging out in the Pit. We must remember those individual experiences as the University grows for the masses.

Our expectations and visions of the UNC experience can influence South Building's choices. Students have to be the quality-control monitors of our University's growth.

When we come back to Chapel Hill in 2030, we may not recognize the buildings, but we should recognize the spirit of the place. We should recognize the faces of students bleary-eyed from late-night studying and long conversations. We should see a part of ourselves in the future.

I hope this column was as good for you as it was for me. Consider yourself hugged -- I've got to finish writing my other papers and catch a plane in a few weeks.

Columnist Katy Nelson can be reached at knelson@email.unc.edu.