The middle of June 1997, sitting under the bright lights of a football stadium in southeastern Virginia. That's where it all started.
My high school graduation was like any of the other ceremonies going on at the exact same time in other stadiums across my hometown. It's a moment that leaves an indelible mark on the students who have earned their diploma and are about to move on in their lives. It left an indelible mark on mine as well.
As we sat on the field, some 300-plus students strong, we watched some of the best and brightest of the Class of '97 receive special recognition for their citizenship and academic achievement. My name wasn't called that night, and it shouldn't have been. I didn't have the most cooperative attitude to some teachers, and my GPA didn't even place in the top ten of the class. It was another name, however, that left an impression.
Towards the end of the ceremony, immediately preceding the presentation of our diplomas, the principal of our school handed out the highest honor our school gave to a student, Senior of the Year. The best the class had to offer that year, the one person who excelled beyond everyone else in their four years of senior high school.
The winner...had admittedly cheated on a test a year earlier.
The rest of the night, even as I walked down the 50-yard line upon graduating, I felt insulted. The whole ceremony crowned dishonesty as superior to telling the truth.
When I look at the honor system at the University, I see the cure to the situation I encountered almost four years ago. I see a system founded on the principle that those people who openly choose to engage in dishonesty are not welcome here. I see a process for making sure that cheaters, liars and thieves are never placed on the same pedestal as those of us who have adhered to a path of truth.
This is why the system is so important. That's why I devoted more time and newsprint to the subject than any other over the past year.
It took me years to put my finger on these feelings, to bring them out and put them to use. The office of Executive Editor has given me that opportunity.
For the past three school years, I have spent almost every day - with the exception of Saturday - nestled in the basement of Newcomb Hall. I've written headlines, cut and waxed stories, drawn layouts, put in layouts, prodded pages, written music reviews and edited stories. I've held ten different positions, many of them simultaneously. I'd work on 2 hours of sleep, and occasionally had the horrible experience of being greeted by the morning sun after a long night in the office.
It's hard to say why I made such a commitment to The Cavalier Daily. I don't plan a career in journalism. I didn't work for my high school newspaper. By all accounts, there's no obvious reason for my work at the CD.
No obvious reason.
As citizens of a community, it's our responsibility to take part in the governing of that community. As tomorrow's leaders, we will be called upon to sacrifice our time and personal lives for the sake of improving what is around us. That is, if we take these charges seriously.
I do.
Why is it so much harder for people to take advantage of the University for what it's worth
outside the academic realm? Students regularly worry about wasting the money they have invested in their classes, ignoring the fact that their tuition buys them so much more. The University is a microcosm of the outside world, complete with competing interests, existing bureaucracies, an elected government and most importantly - the possibility to make an impact.
We should all strive to make the University better and working together is the only way it will happen.
And yet, some members of the University community - students and administrators alike - shirk their responsibilities. When people fail to return phone calls, deliberately halt the flow of information, or simply try to withdraw from the system, it hurts us all. In order to build a better understanding among all participants in our community, we must all be willing to occasionally suffer the harsh glare of negative publicity - regardless of the circumstances.
If I were wholly concerned about my own well being, I certainly wouldn't have run for the Managing Board of The Cavalier Daily. I wouldn't have spent the better part of three years at the newspaper. I probably wouldn't have joined it at all.
But I ignored my selfish desires long enough to get involved at the oldest collegiate daily in the Commonwealth, and I don't regret it one bit.
Which isn't to say that the job didn't have its minuses. For example, reading through some letter from a reader that accused the paper of being blatantly anti-something. If our readers knew about the time it takes just to get the paper out every day, they would understand that we don't have the time to be anti-anything. The idea that the CD is some shadowy organization sitting in a bunker plotting to take over the world is rooted in misunderstanding.
Which is why, before I end my days as a collegiate journalist, I want to make public a statement I have raged through many times in the office. Come down and try it. All it takes is one day to write for the CD. Even if you don't come back, you'll understand why things happen the way they do in the pages before you.
Likewise, thinking long before actually writing is a necessity in this field. In my typical fashion, this piece held up production by being long overdue and I'm not even calling for the resignation of anyone or exposing any high crimes.
Many of my writers have been subjected to meaningless ramblings from people who simply do not agree with their opinion. Along those lines, it would be impossible to count how many inquiries there have been into whether or not firing a columnist is possible.
The point of an opinion page in a newspaper is to foster debate on a subject. There's no better way to accomplish this than by writing an amazingly unpopular column. Several writers take this to heart, and constantly strive to bring up the most controversial topics possible.
It may stun many of our readers, but the very writers that are the subject of the largest amount of angry E-mails are some of our best writers. Sometimes their logic may not be as strong as we would like, but their willingness to take on tough issues from unpopular stances is what drives the opinion pages of the newspaper.
I'll have plenty of time to prove this in the coming weeks. What's important now, having concluded my days on the Managing Board, is to make sure I don't take all the credit for the trek.
Along the way, many people have made an impact on me. I can only hope that I have managed to make an impression on others half as much as these people have made an impression on me.
William Lucy and David Phillips: I appreciate every bit of assistance you have given me.
Production, Arts and Entertainment and Opinion Departments past and present: I have never felt unwelcome in any of the many endeavors I have undertaken at this paper, and it's what makes you all so special. I enjoyed every minute. Well, almost every minute.
Michael Greenwald, Masha Herbst, Emily Kane, Dan Cooper and Sonia Karim: A great Managing Board, whose impact is just now being realized. You set a high standard for us to follow; a fact made all the more remarkable by the conditions you inherited. Even today, you deserve our deepest gratitude. Thank you.
My brother, Kevin: For resisting all my prodding to follow my path through life, and forging your own way. Not a day goes by that I'm not proud of you.
My parents: Even though my path through the halls of higher education hasn't been the most studious one, you stood by my decisions. I love you.
There are many more names, many of whom would be better served by expressions of appreciation away from the spotlight of The Cavalier Daily Opinion page. There are student leaders that enjoy friendly chats on the phone and playing miniature golf. There's a princess from the Eastern Panhandle that ushered me through 41 pages of writing in one week. And there's the Architecture School, which probably won't stay out of print for very long.
Finally, I want to return to my experience with honor before I came to the University. I've tucked away my high school diploma on some bookshelf back home. It doesn't mean that much to me, just four years of my academic life that I had to spend somewhere. The fact that my final experience with the school was so insulting only adds to that fact. I want to forget that I ever went to a class in the place.
Attending the University means a lot more to me than having attended my high school. It would be a shame for me to have to tuck away my University degree next to my high school diploma.
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