If the opinions I signed onto this year had prevailed, Ian Lee would have been elected student body president. Head football coach Butch Davis would have been dismissed. Former UNC-system president Erskine Bowles would be the White House chief of staff. And there would be no Alcohol Law Enforcement.
Writing for this desk has sometimes been an exercise in futility. I have been writing opinions here for five semesters. I have been involved in three endorsement processes, failing to pick a winning mayor and three student body presidents. There’s plenty to make you feel cynical, and this year was no exception.
But then I remember the little victories.
In October, the editorial board published a pice called “Double standard?” — noting that the University’s support of Davis in the midst of football scandal was at odds with its willingness to fire cancer researcher Bonnie Yankaskas. Both seemed similarly negligent in their oversight duties. That award-winning editorial brought a fresh angle to a controversial conversation about leadership and culpability.
In January, the board published “Hogan’s broken promise,” after discovering that former student body president Hogan Medlin backpedaled on a pledge not to accept his officer stipend.
We caught hell for it — many accused us of unfairly delving into Medlin’s personal life. But the thrust was not that Medlin was immoral. It was that candidates need not idly issue pronouncements they cannot be faithful to. We were there to make the connection a year later. I’m proud of that.
The above are but two examples in a corpus this year I am proud of. News ran the gamut from football scandal and UNC’s subsequent open records opaqueness, to the embarrassment of this year’s student elections. Through all, this page remained intrepid in its resolve.
Neither my leadership nor the content on the page have been perfect. But I’m proud of the product produced. Many college papers sadly neglect or downplay their opinion sections. I think we prove every day what a mistake that can be. We seek to combine the best of levity and severity, general knowledge and wonkish detail. It’s a formula that engrosses students and administrators, as well as local and state leaders.
So there’s much to make me sad about leaving. Being opinion editor has been often a joy, always an honor. It has also been a collective effort, which is why so much of this column is written with “we.” I owe much to the diligent writers who took the ride with me.
