TO THE EDITOR:
As a member of the Carolina community, and more specifically the class of 2011, I am hoping that there might be greater insight shared into how Dr. Edward O.
Wilson was chosen and, more importantly, how his speech on commencement Sunday will truly be relevant to this Spring’s graduating class.
So far it seems the impression is that Chancellor Thorp went beyond a list provided to him and chose Dr. Wilson partly due to a previous encounter, and the selection committee was, as Ron Strauss and Senior Class President Liz Deane shared, late in even starting the process. While I believe that Dr. Wilson will be an intriguing and noteworthy individual to be able to gain wisdom and guidance from, I still feel there needs to be greater explanation for this decision.
Members of my class may already feel slighted by the fact that Dr. Wilson isn’t very well-known outside of academia (more importantly the science community), nor does he carry the kind of “star power” that previous commencement speakers at UNC or even rival Duke have had.
Dr. Wilson is a very interesting individual, and after reviewing his background, accomplishments and even past interviews, he is obviously someone who is doing us the pleasure and privilege of sharing his wealth of knowledge with us.
We just need to hear all of this from our class representative and the selection committee in a more detailed explanation rather than just sharing with us that they were a bit late in doing things and will do better next year. It doesn’t really make us feel better that they’re going to make it a priority to get the top choice for this spring for the class of 2012 rather than 2011.
Seniors deserve a thorough explanation.
Blake Barrington
Senior
Biology
