Perspective and Perfection
Posted on May 13, 2003Some years ago, a friend and young UNC alumnus shared the following while speaking to a Carolina reunion gathering: “The perfect should not become the enemy of the very, very good.”
Douglas S. Dibbert ’70
One of my most comforting achievements was accepting the reality that I am not perfect. My parents and younger brothers first helped me realize this, as did high school chemistry. My wife, sons, friends and colleagues have continued to remind me in their own gentle and not-so-gentle ways.
Unfortunately, institutions and the individuals who lead them don’t always receive the loving criticism that our friends and families provide. It is unfortunate that this has been so for our University and some of Carolina’s leaders this year.
Decades from now, were historians to do a content analysis of media coverage of this academic year, they undoubtedly would conclude from measuring the volume of coverage that the three most important events shaping our University this year were: the selection of a book for first-year students to read before they began classes; the terms under which the 32-year veteran and highly regarded University counsel would transition out of South Building, and; the change in leadership of the men’s basketball program.
Frankly, the only one of these three that would make my list ofTop 10 University-shaping events would be the first, and then only insofar as the reaction by some led to a troubling assault by a few on academic freedom.
In recent weeks, the volume and tone of comments about the change in leadership in the men’s basketball program have been remarkable. Primetime TV programming on some North Carolina stations was interrupted so that a news conference could be carried live. Vicious comments have been made on the radio, on the Internet, in letters to the editor, e-mail and in written and telephone communications. Sadly, physical threats have been made.
Please bear in mind that the news conference announcing the resignation of Matt Doherty ’84 occurred while American troops were on the outskirts of Baghdad. Carolina alumni were in harm’s way serving in the military or as embedded journalists covering the war.
Approaching The Qur’an, Susan Ehringhaus ’67, ]ames Moeser and Dick Baddour ’66 don’t need a defense, but the noise or news associated with each should not cause us to overlook Carolina’s significant achievements and challenges of the past year.
In light of North Carolina’s ongoing budget crisis, Carolina has absorbed several significant budget cuts, and our vital overhead receipts continue to be threatened. Searches continue for new vice chancellors of student affairs and information technology as well as for the schools of education and business while searches were concluded this year for the deans of the schools of social work and pharmacy. Carolina abolished binding early decision for undergraduate admissions and overhauled the honor code while continuing to review and develop recommendations for revising the undergraduate curriculum.
The University announced that we will close Horace Williams Airport, and alumni and friends of Carolina formed Citizens for Higher Education, a political action committee to support our campus. Last fall, we celebrated 50 years of African-American enrollment at UNC. Chapel Hill and Carolina survived the worst drought on record and two damaging ice storms. William Ferris, former chair of the National Endowment for the Humanities, joined our faculty, while Oliver Smithies received the Albert Lasker Award for basic medical research, often called “America’s Nobel,” which again suggests that he may become Carolina’s first Nobel Prize winner. And Karine Dubé became the first UNC student to earn a Rhodes Scholarship since 1997.
On the eve of University Day, Carolina publicly launched the Carolina First campaign and announced that we already had raised $866 million toward a goal of$1.8 billion, and on University Day, Hyde Hall — the new home of the Institute for the Arts and Humanities opened. The renovated Robert B. House Undergraduate Library and the addition to Frank Porter Graham Student Union opened. The Banks D. Kerr Hall addition to the School of Pharmacy was dedicated, and in Kerr Hall, Dr. Fred Eshelman ’72 announced his gift of $20 million, the largest ever to any school of pharmacy in the country.
Ours is not a perfect university, but Carolina remains strong with significant achievements and milestones of which we all should be proud. Those I’ve listed may not have received the same media attention as others, but it is likely that Carolina’s future will be more impacted by those I’ve identified than by those about which we have read, heard and seen so much.
Yours at Carolina,
Douglas S. Dibbert ’70
