As a graduate of both Duke University and North Carolina Central University, I was dismayed, disappointed, disheartened and frankly just dissed by Kristin Butler's May 15 column, "Summa cum loony." Judging an entire respected institution of higher education by the heavily media-filtered accounts of two individuals is not only unjust and unfair, but highly misleading. I personally owe a great debt to NCCU, a school that helped me complete graduate school while trying to raise a young daughter. That graduate degree propelled me into a successful career that brought me back to Duke in 2002 as its University Archivist. I am also pleased to say that my daughter has continued the family's Duke-NCCU ties. She graduated from Duke in 2007 and taught in NCCU's Durham Freedom School last summer.
I hope that neither Duke University or NCCU would be judged by the actions of isolated individuals, but rather by the collective whole of the wonderful accomplishments by their student body, faculty, and employees. I am proud to be both a Blue Devil and an Eagle.
Tim Pyatt,
University Archivist,
Duke '81, NCCU '86
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.