THE UNIVERSITY
of NORTH CAROLINA
at CHAPEL HILL
Vol. 37, No. 19
gazette.unc.edu
December 12, 2012
UNIVERSITY
Carolina Faculty and Staff News
PLANTING
SEED OF
INNOVATION
IN STUDENTS
STENROSS
FOUND HER
VOICE AS
AN ADVISER
SAMULSKI
AND LOPEZ
PURSUE A
'CRAZY' IDEA
Lotchin says
Pearl Harbor
‘fading from
collective
memory’
According to then President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Dec. 7,
1941, was “a date which will live in infamy.” After 71 years,
Roger Lotchin, professor of history, wonders if Roosevelt's
declaration is still true.
Japan's brutal attack on Pearl Harbor came with little official warn¬
ing, shocking Americans and leading directly to U.S. involvement in
World War II. But Lotchin said the date’s significance is fading from
our collective memory.
“It’s been a long time since Pearl Harbor, and we’ve had our share of
crises since that time,” he said. “We’re worried about the fiscal cliff, or
if taxes are going to go up, or about what’s going on in Europe or the
Middle East.”
By the time we recognize Memorial Day and Veteran’s Day, it’s easy
to forget about Pearl Harbor Day, Lotchin said. Unlike those days,
Pearl Harbor Day is not a federal holiday.
“Perhaps the fact that we’ve got so many different sources of informa¬
tion today coming from so many different directions makes history more
and more historical,” he said. “It gets pushed out of our perspective."
AN ENDANGERED HISTORY
“As these things recede in our memory, it’s easy to forget why they
happened. The attack on Pearl Harbor happened because of totalitarian
powers in the world,” Lotchin said. “We have to be careful dealing with
those powers, and we have to protect ourselves.”
On Dec. 8, 1941, the day of Roosevelt’s famous Infamy Speech, the
U.S. declared war on Japan, and days later, Germany and Italy.
World War II, Lotchin said, was a conflict in defense of Western
Civilization and its tenets, such as democracy, capitalism and Judeo-
Christian values. Though the U.S. has been engaged in other military
conflicts since that war, there has been no conflict close to that scale
since 1 945.
“This was the most important thing that World War II did, and it’s
easy to lose sight of that lesson. But that’s what’s been happening in the
last 10 years,” Lotchin said.
The war made the world safer, he said, but it didn’t necessarily rid the
See LOTCHIN page 11
Next chancellor's top priority: academic excellence
Preserving academic excellence should be
the top priority of Carolina’s next chancellor,
according to the preliminary results of a survey
produced by the committee searching for Chan¬
cellor Holden Thorp's replacement.
Seventy-three percent of survey respondents
have said that preserving academic excellence
is paramount for the person who leads Carolina
after Thorp steps down next summer.
Last month, the Chancellor Search Committee
distributed an online survey to more than
200,000 members of the UNC community —
students, faculty, staff, alumni, friends, commu¬
nity members and parents — to gain their input
and ideas on qualities essential to Carolina's
next chancellor.
At a Dec. 3 meeting of the committee, Erin
Schuettpelz, Thorp’s chief of staff, presented
preliminary results of the survey, which will
remain open until Dec. 15. (Anyone who has
not yet completed the survey can find it at
go. unc. edu
/X
j4r3. )
Just over 70 percent of respondents identified
academic excellence as the University’s greatest
asset, followed by access and affordability.
T op priorities for the next chancellor are, in order
of response rate, preserving academic excellence,
faculty and staff retention, remaining a leader in
See CHANCELLOR SEARCH page 11
