No matter what your politics are, 2017 was a year of change.
The year started with the inauguration of a new president, which ignited protests and marches nationwide. Chapel Hill wasn't immune to the national trends. The spirit of student advocacy was alive and well on campus this year.
While there is new content in this paper, the middle pages are dedicated to remembering 2017. This year gave us plenty to cover, but the issues facing this community are not entirely resolved. While progress can often be painfully slow, we cannot forget how we got to this situation in the first place.
That said, there is much for our community to move past. The athletic-academic scandal reached its final chapter, but there are still lessons to learn as we remain vigilant against further shortcomings. Not to sound like a stereotypical history major, but we shouldn’t fall back into the mistakes of the past. If progress is slow, we should not waste time ignoring the past’s lessons.
The stories in this paper are the ones our editors thought were most important and the best written. While many of the stories are about the most newsworthy events, we tried to include a couple of stories that we just thought were done well.
The new year doesn’t actually bring new opportunities. It is ultimately just a change in the calendar year. The meaning ascribed to a new year is one we assign. First, in the spring, please continue to write us letters. Unfortunately, we cannot run every letter we get, but we’re doing our best to reflect as many views as possible. When we publish a letter, it’s on the campus record for a long time. We want future Tar Heels to see the DTH as a place where concerned citizens could find a voice. If you’re a student, work for us. Help us keep the campus informed.
If you don’t like writing, still, take this time and the academic spirit of our community to continue learning about how we got here, and maybe more importantly, thinking about how we move forward.
I hope this paper helps you all remember the problems we still face and inspires you to change them.
