A Spring to Remember
Posted on July 14, 1995Spring in Chapel Hill is always very special, full of sights, sounds and experiences that create lasting memories. This was particularly true this year.
After 13 years of attending 25th reunions for other Carolina alumni, Debbie joined me as I managed to participate in my own silver anniversary while working with our alumni association staff to ensure that the myriad of GAA-sponsored reunion weekend programs went well.
Unfortunately, the exhilaration of my reunion was tempered by the loss of our good friend and longtime Alumni Secretary J. Maryon “Spike” Saunders ’25 in March and the subsequent passing of Chancellor Emeritus J. Carlyle Sitterson ’31. Sitterson was chancellor all four years I was a student. His passing prompted many of us who had just participated in our reunion to recall the challenges he faced in the late ’60’s and how skillfully and sensitively he lead Carolina during those difficult years.
Of course, much of our attention this spring was devoted to trying to ensure that our University did not suffer the severe budget cuts that initially were proposed. Happily, strong and persuasive advocacy by alumni from across North Carolina under the leadership of our Tar Heel Network was effective in significantly limiting the cuts and in securing much needed new funding.
Meanwhile, the Chancellor Search Committee and the Board of Trustees completed their work when UNC System President C. Dixon Spangler ’54 recommended and the Board of Governors approved the appointment of Dr. Michael Hooker ’69 as Carolina’s eighth chancellor.
Dr. Hooker returns to his alma mater with impressive academic credentials and strong university administrative experience. The University community is eager to welcome him and his wife, Carmen. Dr. Hooker has shared with me how much he is looking forward to working with and visiting Carolina alumni in the weeks and months ahead.
In April I was elected a trustee of the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education-United Kingdom. Along with colleagues from Yale, the University of Michigan and four British institutions, we met in London to develop plans for providing programming in alumni relations, public relations and philanthropy in the United Kingdom and eventually in Europe. It is an honor to assist British colleges and universities as they only now begin to develop the same level of alumni involvement that our association began at Carolina more than 152 years ago.
On a personal note, June marked the 30th anniversary of my dad’s death in Vietnam. On Memorial Day my mother, younger brother and I attended a White House ceremony at which the new POW-MIA stamp was issued and then traveled to Arlington Cemetery for the traditional presidential wreath-laying ceremony. Down the hill from the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and near one another are the burial sites of Dad and my younger brother, Buddy, himself a U.S. Army veteran who passed away last fall, just two days before his 45th birthday.
Chapel Hill and our University have celebrated the successful conclusion of the Bicentennial Campaign for Carolina, which over the past six years has exceeded both its original $320 million goal and revised $400 million goal by raising more than $430 million to advance the academic priorities of our University. (Increasingly, universities are going to focus less attention on the exact dollar goals and give greater emphasis to the program objectives of capital campaigns, thus allowing donors and our many publics to develop a greater awareness and appreciation for what private funds are accomplishing.)
With the arrival of Michael Hooker, let us also salute and thank Barbara and Paul Hardin for their service. While it is unavoidable that Paul will be remembered as the “Bicentennial Chancellor,” history may well note that his most lasting contributions resulted from his fierce advocacy for Carolina. Beyond new buildings and programs, in large measure because of Chancellor Hardin’s leadership, Carolina and all the UNC System campuses now have greater flexibility in the use of state-appropriated funds.
As have all but one of Carolina’s preceding six chancellors, Paul, a tenured professor of law at Carolina, and Barbara will continue to live in Chapel Hill, where they have earned so much personal respect and affection.
Yes, this has been a particularly memorable spring for Carolina and for me.
At our 25th reunion we shared memories of our student days and experiences. We observed how some things had changed while much that is most important remains the same. We expressed both concern and hope about our futures and the future of Carolina. Each of us expressed appreciation for having attended the nation’s First State University and observed that much of what we are is the result of the education and experiences we enjoyed in the Southern Part of Heaven.
Yours at Carolina,
Douglas S. Dibbert ’70
