This week in Chronicle history: October 3-8

"This Week in Chronicle History" is a weekly feature that dives into the depths of The Chronicle archives to recount what was going on then—now.

As per the comment left by Preston (Beau) Dure, Trinity ‘91, on Facebook, I tried getting something from Fall 1991, but I scoured the four bookshelves in the office and found zilch. It’s very unfortunate, especially since I myself was born during Fall 1991. But I did manage to find the archive from the year before that and to make up for not finding the 1991 archive, I've scattered a couple of fun pictures from the 1990 issues. So here it  goes:

Sunday, October 3, 2010 translates to Wednesday, October 3, 1990. Writer Toni Morrison had visited Duke the day before, and Germany celebrated their unification. A group of Fuqua School of Business graduate students got second place in that year’s MBA Sailing Cup.

Way before being environmental was the “in” thing to do, Duke proved to be ahead of the times by seriously considering the creation of the School of Environmental Science and Policy, now the Nicholas School for the Environment. As a new program, the school combined the experiences of preexisting entities such as the Marine Center, School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Duke Forest, Primate Center and others.

“Duke has taken the lead on this one,” Norm Christensen, botany professor and later dean of the Nicholas School of the Environment, said. “[The University] has some of the strongest environmental offerings in the country.” Faculty at Yale and Princeton University called Duke to find out more about our innovative program, according to the article.

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That same Wednesday, then-Trinity sophomore Jason Greenwald, a sports reporter for The Chronicle, wrote a staff column titled, “Life, love and war taught by a Liberian cab driver.” Greenwald had been riding in a cab when he struck up a conversation with the driver. The driver turned out to be a Liberian candidate for a graduate degree in public administration at North Carolina State University. When Greenwald asked the cab driver how things were going at home, he found that Liberia was embroiled in civil war and that the graduate student had not heard from his family since May 27. The driver’s story shook Greenwald inspiring him to pen words that I feel are still applicable to this day:

“I attend what supposedly is one of the finest schools in the country, costing more than $20,000 a year, and yet I was taught quite a few things by someone attending that ‘inferior school down in Raleigh ’…What I learned tonight—about stereotypes, misconceptions, world events and human nature—Duke’s professors will never teach me. And though they might try, they will never get through to me like that young man who has been wondering for four months if his family, thousands of miles away, is all right.”

Alcohol was definitely an issue amongst fraternities. There were once fraternities on East Campus, that held parties on nights from Monday to Wednesday in order to avoid clashing with West Campus’ parties from Thursday to Sunday nights. So technically, in 1990 you could be out partying every single night on BOTH campuses. Now that’s hardcore old school. But on Friday, October 5, they were worried about whether those parties could go on. Alcohol regulations were limiting alcohol distribution only from Thursdays to Sundays.

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While the alcohol conundrum was taking place, the Department of Aesthetics, Art & Music celebrated its thirtieth birthday. It was recognized as an independent department in 1960.

Speaking of celebrations, on Monday, October 8 the East Campus Library was renamed Lilly Library in honor of Ruth Lilly’s substantial donation to the University. Lilly, Women’s College ‘64, gave $2.5 million on top of a long history of family involvement with the University.

The biggest news of the week, however, was a debate over a university chapter of the National Association of Scholars, led by James B. Duke University Professor of Political Science James Barber. English professor Stanley Fish wrote a letter to the Editor on September 19 with the title, “Clandestine faculty group is coming.” Fish claimed that the NAS was “widely known to be racist, sexist and homophobic.” He was also concerned about how faculty members were being recruited for the group, saying that Barber had recruited faculty by sending them confidential letters.

In response to the debate, the Black Student Alliance called a meeting to discuss their thoughts about the NAS. Other groups such

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as the Duke Gay and Lesbian Association were also worried about the organization. Overall, most of those interviewed seemed nervous about the NAS’ presence on campus, with some claiming that the NAS was contrary to Duke’s Vision, an educational program on multiculturalism and tolerance that was given to freshmen during orientation.

Fish’s letter also prompted Stephen Bach, then president and executive director of NAS, to send another letter to the Editor on September 21 protesting that the purpose of the NAS was to keep up the standards of the academic curriculum, and that the NAS was in no way racist, sexist, or homophobic.

By October 5, The Chronicle found that Fish had written a letter to the then Provost Phillip Griffiths asking him not to appoint NAS members to key university committees. The provost declined, saying that members would be appointed according to merit only.

So that is it was for this week. What’ll it be next time? I was thinking about going way back into the annals of Chronicle history, just because I saw a very dusty and very old looking archive book in one of the shelves. I think it was from the 1960s? Here’s to hoping that my dust allergies won’t act up and that I’ll be able to deliver next week’s blog with only a few “achoo's.”