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Memories -- Between the Pages of the Daily Northwestern I read ["The Daily Grind," winter 2000] with fascination. Fascination, in fact, is the wrong word -- rapt attention is more like it, since that was my picture (surrounded by my staff) decorating the contents page and the article itself. I'm the mustachioed kid in the hat and sweater holding the "Daily Moves" issue. I was the editor of the Daily. Despite the caption, the staff in the picture did not move into the Norris University Center, which was not yet even a hole in the ground. We moved to the frame building at 2016 Sheridan Road. In November 1970 we abandoned forever the dusty, lightless, cheerless former rifle range in the basement of Fisk Hall. My staff, by the way, covered the student strike of 1970 and covered it spectacularly well. Our reporters spent nights on the barricade that blocked Sheridan Road and crept with the police into Lunt Hall to investigate a bomb threat. It was a wonderful and exciting time. I loved the Daily Northwestern. It was the center of my life at the University, and the people I worked with on the paper were and are among the most important friends I've ever made. I used to write a funnier letter, but I'm a lawyer now, so you'll have to settle for sincerity. Elliot H. Brown (J71) You note that in the 1951-52 academic year editor Harry Ernst (J53, GJ54) and his colleagues, managing editor Roy Alexander (SCS54) and yours truly as associate editor, were fired "after they tried unsuccessfully to publish an editorial that criticized a University official." As the editorial chair responsible for the editorial policy of the newspaper, I think I can state categorically that at no time did the Daily take a position criticizing a University official. The only thing we sought to do was to publish a letter to the editor that criticized F. George Seulberger, then dean of students, for various problems involving student activities. This may seem to be nitpicking, but all we wanted to do was get a valid point of view (however misguided) before our readership. Frankly, the administration totally overreacted, thereby damaging many years of hands-off relations with the Daily staff. Lloyd A. Gerlach (J52) If the Daily Northwestern has only been on the Web since 1997, as Robert Freed and Marisa Kula say, what was I doing as online editor in 1996? Actually, the Daily was online even before my stint. It established its Internet presence in 1994 at the very latest, making it one of the first newspapers -- collegiate or otherwise -- to do so. Stephen Tiszenkel (J99) I realize you couldn't interview all the past editors in chief, but you missed one who could have told you twice as much as any other editor. Herb Hart (J, Nav51) was the only editor in chief to have run the paper for two straight years. After graduation Herb made the military a career. As executive director of CAMP (Council on America's Military Past) and editor of its newspaper, he is nationally prominent in historic preservation circles. I'm still puzzling over the sleep habits of current editor in chief Matt Palmquist. Surely 7 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. is a typo. Don Kington (Mu51) While it is true that only University of Missouri School of Journalism students work on their school newspaper, it is much more than a "campuswide" school paper. The Columbia Missourian is a daily whose reporters cover the city of Columbia as well as the university. Julie Doyle (KGSM93) Having served for two years as general manager of the Students Publishing Co. 50 years ago, I'm glad the Daily is still alive and well. My only disappointment with this excellent article was the lack of any mention of the business staff of the paper. Those were the unsung, anonymous students who secured and handled local advertising, distributed the papers and so forth. Without them we could not have operated. John W. Plattner (EB49, KGSM51) Striking a Dis-chord In her letter in the winter 2000 issue Mitzi Meyer Swanson (WCAS49) wrote about a time when the Northwestern University Marching Band and the band of the "opposing" team massed together on the field to play the National Anthem ... in two different keys. Some details: It happened in fall 1945 before the Notre Dame game. This was but a few months after VJ Day. Each school's band had been inactive during the war years. All of us (I was in the NUMB) knew something was wrong, for the person to each side was playing in another key. But the person in front and in back was playing in "our" key. All we could do was persevere. Mark H. Baskin (EB49) Impressive War Posters I enjoyed the photo spread "The Words of War" [winter 2000]. I was in the Navy during the war, so seeing all those old posters brought back a lot of memories. I am happy to learn that I can obtain more information about them online. Robert Crum (D50)Mount Dora, Fla. Net Results from Down Under I made an amazing discovery on my computer the other day -- Northwestern magazine. I'd been wondering about Northwestern, where I spent four years wandering about and gaining some knowledge in the process. I believe that everything has altered now. I am hoping that Northwestern University: Celebrating 150 Years (Northwestern University Press, 2000), which I have ordered, will show these changes. Thanks for putting the magazine on the Internet. Jack E. Clark (McC, Nav34) Not a Feather in Her Sesqui Hat In your article about the Sesquicentennial celebrations ["First-Year Students Show Northwestern Character," News on Campus, winter 2000], I was intrigued to see my aunt, Elizabeth Rieke Jones, and uncle, Wayne VanLeer Jones, identified as "figures from history." Wayne and Elizabeth, who lived well into their 90s and died only recently, would probably have hooted at that label. I'm absolutely certain they would have burned someone's ears for getting Elizabeth's name wrong in the caption, a task that I now undertake on their behalf. Elizabeth was also more than a bit of a rebel, and I suspect she would have been quite derisive about the hat in the photo -- right period, but not her style at all. Kenneth V. Jones (WCAS64) A Burning Issue The winter 2000 Ensemble supplement lists Philip Morris Co. as one of Northwestern's matching gift partners. But the magazine tells us "Healthy Lifestyles Still a Good Idea" [News on Campus]. Can you not see the hypocrisy here? Cigarette smoking kills countless more people than either heart or cholesterol problems combined. Frank Lambert (KGSM58)
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