Missing the gendered-language teach-in

Last week, a group of students held a teach-in aimed at educating The Daily Tar Heel on why it should adopt a gender-neutral language policy. They then came to the DTH office, petitions in hand, to ask for the policy change.

In the following days, several people — most vocally Leah Josephson, co-chairwoman of Vox: Voices for Planned Parenthood and one of the leaders of the event — have written pieces calling me out for not attending the teach-in and for not responding to the group beforehand.

Of course, they are well within her right to do this, but I just wanted to respond and explain.

Unfortunately, I was not able to attend the teach-in. I was out of town until just before they came to the DTH office. But I was never invited, and I did not know they wanted me to be there.

And I'm also very sorry to hear that they had wanted a response beforehand. The group's leaders sent me — along with seven other people — a press release about the upcoming event.

My personal policy is to respond to every e-mail addressed to me, no matter how hostile. But I don't generally respond to press releases because I get, literally, about 40 per day. My typical action is to make sure the people who would be responsible for covering the event are aware of it.

I'm not mad. I'm very glad that so many readers chose to engage with The Daily Tar Heel — and I encourage more of them to get involved.

As editor, I've attended dozens of events around campus. Just ask me if I'm available, and I will do everything I can to come.

And I've sat down with even more students, faculty, staff, administrators and community members. I have official walk-in office hours from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. Monday and Wednesday, but if you call or e-mail me, we can set up an appointment.

I love a dialogue. After all, the DTH exists to serve the readers, and active engagement can only make the paper better.

My number is 962-4086 and my e-mail address is amdunn@email.unc.edu.

Let's stay in touch.