Dear Readers,
New Year’s Eve passed weeks ago, but with this page, Towerview begins 2012. It is a middle, not a start for a magazine whose editors change by the academic calendar. Still, in this first issue of the year, an unprecedented phenomenon occurs. Four Chronicle sports editors put their voices to the page. Current editor Chris Cusack recreates a game that changed Duke basketball. Former editor Andy Moore profiles writer John Feinstein, who held his position nearly 40 years ago. Ben Cohen, Trinity ‘10, who now writes for the Wall Street Journal, shares his Wisdom on college sports. They share their love of sports, faculty share their love for each other, and, in two stories, we have the chance to express our love of animals. Lemurs and mustangs are not native to North Carolina, but our primate relatives are icons of this University as wild horses are to Shackleford island. Please enjoy.
Your Editors,
Special Editors’ Note: In our October issue, we published a Halloween-themed spread that featured photographs from the Chronicle’s archive. We chose to accompany the photos with their original, historical captons. Below a 1985 picture of a black student in Perkins library ran the words, “Duke spooks: Students crawl out of their dismal holes in Perkins to celebrate Halloween.” During editing, with a cultural unawareness that is unacceptable of editors, we interpreted the word “spooks” as a halloween-spirited description.
When Towerview hit the stands three weeks later, a former editor and an attentive reader informed us of the terrible use of “spook” as a racial slur. It is our duty to recognize such a derogatory term and we take full responsibility for its appearance in our magazine. It pains us to know that the caption might have hurt any of our readers. Please understand that it was not written by anyone on our current editorial staff and its appearance is a result of ignorance of which we are ashamed and deeply sorry. Towerview does not condone racism or any form of intolerance.
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