Editorial: The Editorial Board reflects on its 2024 coverage

Last semester's Editorial Board predicted what issues we'd be covering in 2024 as well as how they should be covered. With the year coming to a close, we reflect on our coverage — what we did well and what we can improve on moving forward.

The 2024 election 

As election season began, The Editorial Board interviewed local candidates to create a list of endorsements for the races relevant to Orange County. Many of the races themselves were marred with controversy, including the seat for our governorship. 

CNN's report on former GOP candidate Mark Robinson's lewd and violent rhetoric paved the way for a solid win for Democratic opponent Josh Stein, who we endorsed. Several of our additional endorsements — Jeff Jackson, Rachel Hunt, Mo Green and Allison Riggs, among others — were also voted into their respective offices.

We anticipated significant coverage on the attempted removal of Donald Trump's name from ballots across the country, as well as efforts from institutions like the New North Carolina Project to flip the state in the presidential election. Neither of these came to pass, owing to a Supreme Court ruling and Trump's dominant success in all seven swing states. 

Though the Editorial Board themselves did not endorse a presidential candidate, we did discuss the widely controversial decision from the Washington Post to withhold a presidential endorsement. Noting Jeff Bezos as the kingpin of this debacle, we highlighted our fears as student journalists about the future of trustworthy and neutral news platforms. 

Affirmative action

While we predicted more coverage about affirmative action, we pivoted to a closely related matter impacting equity — the dismantling of diversity, equity and inclusion on campus. The Editorial Board covered the UNC Board of Governors' attack on DEI from their initial motion in the spring to their elimination of DEI positions in the fall, stressing the fundamental role that DEI plays in fostering an inclusive environment for all students. 

This semester's DEI Special Edition allowed us to cover the effects that its removal had on various students, signaling the breadth and importance of the program. As we move into 2025, we will continue to reckon with the state of the University in a post-affirmative action and post-DEI age. 

Foreign wars and tensions close to home

We promised to closely monitor UNC's facilitation of dialogue regarding the war and monumental loss of life in Gaza. The Editorial Board spent time discussing the scale of protests on our campus and whether, as Chancellor Lee Roberts indicated in a statement, disruption and vandalism were at odds with Carolina's traditions of free speech and protest. 

We opined that effective protest is often inherently disruptive — historically, at UNC and elsewhere. The administration's refusal to listen to the concerns of the student body as well as the University's thuggish handling of student protesters points to a profound disconnect between UNC's championship of free expression and its execution of it. 

Campus leadership

We predicted that Roberts would be unable to deliver the change our study body hoped to see. We can now unequivocally declare this as true. Since Roberts began as interim chancellor in January, his administration has been steeped in controversy and criticized by the University community — perhaps most notably for his role in the violence UNC System police inflicted upon pro-Palestine demonstrators after a protester replaced the American flag with the Palestine flag on April 30.

We cited this as one reason we do not approve of Roberts as chancellor, along with to his low approval ratings, lack of qualifications and the exclusion of University community voices in the permanent chancellor search and election process. 

Additionally, after 100 years of student leadership upholding the high standards of the University's honor court, the current administration has supplanted tradition, the very thing they claim to love. The honor court is being replaced by a faculty-staffed conduct board, endangering UNC's unique place among universities that strive for strong self-governance among their student bodies. Amid the administration's callous handling of the spring encampment, the future of a free student body is slim. 

This decision joins a laundry list of others, from the elimination of DEI to the establishment of the School of Civic Life and Leadership, that systematically strips UNC students of autonomy. Our “University of the people” seems to be increasingly governed by an overzealous and ultra-conservative Board of Governors and Board of Trustees rather than the very people it seeks to serve. We remain wary of attempts to influence the diversity of our community, to harness control of our intellects and ideologies, and to poach our academic sovereignty.

@dthopinion | opinion@dailytarheel.com