Technician (newspaper)

''Technician'' is the student newspaper of North Carolina State University. Its first edition was published in 1920, and it has been published continuously since that date, becoming a daily paper in fall 1988. Since 2018, the newspaper has been published on Thursdays, with stories also published online throughout the week at http://www.technicianonline.com. The newspaper is funded by in-paper and online advertising and is a part of NC State Student Media. NC State's Student Media Board of Directors oversees NC State Student Media, which includes ''Technician,'' other student-led publications, and a college radio station, WKNC-FM.

Notable alumni

* Roy H. Park, media mogul, founder of broadcasting and newspaper chain Park Communications Inc.
* William C. Friday (1941), American educator and leader of the University of North Carolina system from 1956-86.
* Chris Hondros, photographer and 2003 finalist for the Pulitzer Prize
* Richard Curtis (1972), a founder and managing editor of graphics and photography for USA Today
* Joseph Galarneau (1989), chief operating officer for Newsweek

Controversies

Like many student newspapers, ''Technician'' has seen its share of controversies, including:

* In 1990, the newspaper ran an editorial calling for the dismissal of embattled head basketball coach Jim Valvano. Valvano, a popular figure who led the team to the 1983 national championship, had come under fire for ethical and regulatory lapses in handling the basketball program. The editorial was resented as a publicity stunt. Valvano ultimately left the university under fire.
* On September 3, 1992, a conservative opinion columnist harshly criticized African-American students' demands for a black cultural center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. This column, paired with a front-page article with the headline "Black Students Vent Rage in Dining Hall"—a report on a NC State Student Government meeting to get feedback from African-American students on campus in a follow-up to recent events in Chapel Hill—resulted in widespread theft of the edition (it is distributed free). Students also burned copies of the ''Technician'' in the Brickyard in protest. The aftermath led to the creation of the university's African-American interest publication, ''Nubian Message.''
* Following disastrous Wolfpack basketball seasons in 1995 and 1996, Technician published staff editorials asking for the resignation or firing of coach Les Robinson. The editorials were timed to run on the eve of the ACC Tournament play-in game for last-place teams, which had become known throughout the conference as "The Les Robinson Invitational." Robinson resigned following his team's loss at the tournament. Asked if he had any regrets at his farewell press conference, Robinson said, "Only that the school paper called me a loser."
* After new leadership took the helm at the paper in Spring 1997, several Technician editors and reporters were fired without just cause and escorted from the newspaper's offices by university public safety officers. Two months later, three of the fired editors used their inside knowledge of the production process to hijack the last edition of the paper for the school year, secretly inserting a full-column editorial criticizing the new editor-in-chief for using her power over personnel matters to settle personal scores and calling on university administrators to intervene. All 18,000 copies of the paper were distributed on campus the next morning containing the critical editorial, and the new student management was left unable to retract it until the resumption of publication the following semester. Technician's insulted editor-in-chief filed a report with public safety, which investigated the matter as a larceny. Despite dusting for fingerprints and questioning the former employees, investigators were unable to find any evidence against the suspected perpetrators and no charges were filed.
* On August 29, 2005, a crowd of approximately 200 Greek Life and African American Student Advisory Council representatives gathered on Harris Field to protest a ''Technician'' article entitled "Sorostitutes are weak and wounded." Students complained the article was an unfair representation of women's activities in Greek Life. While the event received a lot of media attention, it was quickly overshadowed by Hurricane Katrina's destruction on the Gulf Coast.
* In January 2006, ''Technician'' ran a
article
by student contributor Jeff Gaither, stating that drunk driving was at times unavoidable and giving tips on how to avoid getting caught. The author subsequently wrote
retraction
of the article.
* In February 2014, Editor-in-Chief Sam DeGrave discontinued the traditional "Daily Tar Hell" satire newspaper while citing racist, sexist, and homophobic humor of past editions as his motivation for halting the ever-popular publication. Several students and alumni were unhappy with the decision and consequently sent a plethora of letters to the editor to voice their frustration. Many argued that the "hateful humor" was not prevalent in recent years and the satire was all in good taste while others were upset to see one of the few longstanding traditions of the university being tampered with. Very few wrote letters in support of the decision to discontinue the satire edition. DeGrave published a letter from the editor titled "One week in Daily Tar Hell", in which he condescendingly responded to his readers' criticism. Nonetheless, the "Daily Tar Hell" was later brought back into publication.

Technician Editors-in-Chief

1919-1920 • vol. 1 • Marion Francis

1920-1921 • vol. 2 • J.H. Lane

1921-1922 • vol. 3 • E.C. Tatum

1922-1923 • vol. 4 • Alvin M. Fountain

1923-1924 • vol. 4 • W.S. Morris

1924-1925 • vol. 5 • S.R. Wallis

1925-1926 • vol. 6 • E. G. Moore

1926-1927 • vol. 7 • R.R. Fountain

1927-1928 • vol. 8 • W.L. Roberts

1928-1929 • vol. 9 • A. Lawrence Aydlett

1929-1930 • vol. 10• A.L. Weaver

1930-1931 • vol. 11• Roy H. Park

1931-1932 • vol. 12 • Louis H. Wilson

1932-1933 • vol. 13 • H.A. McClung Jr.

1933-1934 • vol. 14 • E.J. Lassen

1934-1935 • vol. 15 • Eugene S. Knight

1935-1936 • vol. 16 • Robert B. Knox Jr.

1936-1937 • vol. 17 • R. Hall Morrison, Jr.

1937-1938 • vol. 18 • Dick McPhail

1938-1939 • vol. 19 • Stephen Sailer

1939-1940 • vol. 20 • E.P. Davidson

1940-1941 • vol. 21 • Henry B. Rowe

1941-1942 • vol. 22 • Carl Sickerott

1942-1943 • vol. 23 • Don Barksdale

1943-1944 • vol. 24 • Gordon West

1944-1945 • vol. 25 • Walter W. Harper

1945-1946 • vol. 26 • Bobby Wooten

1946-1947 • vol. 27 • Jack Fisler

1947-1948 • vol. 28 • Dick Fowler

1948-1949 • vol. 29 • Avery Brock

1949-1950 • vol. 30 • Joe Hancock

1950-1951 • vol. 31 • Bill Haas

1951-1952 • vol. 32 • Paul Foght

1952-1953 • vol. 33 • Bob Horn

1953-1954 • vol. 34 • George Obenshain

1954-1955 • vol. 35 • John Parker

1955-1956 • vol. 36 • L.C. Draughon

1956-1957 • vol. 37 • Terry Lathrop

1957-1958 • vol. 38 • Jim Moore

1958-1959 • vol. 39 • Ray Lathrop

1959-1960 • vol. 40 • Jim Moore

1960-1961 • vol. 41 • Jay Brame

1961-1962 • vol. 42 • Mike Lea

1962-1963 • vol. 43 • Mike Lea

1963-1964 • vol. 44 • Grant Blair & Allen Lennon

1964-1965 • vol. 45 • Cora Kemp

1965-1966 • vol. 46 • Bill Fishburne & Bob Holmes

1966-1967 • vol. 47 • Jim Kear

1967-1968 • vol. 48 • Bob Harris

1968-1969 • vol. 49 • Pete Burkhimer

1969-1970 • vol. 50 • George Panton

1970-1971 • vol. 51 • Jack Cozort

1971-1972 • vol. 52 • Richard Curtis

1972-1973 • vol. 53 • John N. Walston

1973-1974 • vol. 54 • Beverly Privette

1974-1975 • vol. 55 • Bob Estes

1975-1976 • vol. 56 • Kevin Fisher

1876-1977 • vol. 57 • Howard Barnett

1977-1978 • vol. 58 • Lynne Griffin

1978-1979 • vol. 59 • David Pendered

1979-1980 • vol. 60 • John Flesher

1980-1981 • vol. 61 • Andrea Cole

1981-1982 • vol. 62 • Tucker Johnson

1982-1983 • vol. 63 • Tom Alter

1983-1984 • vol. 64 • Jeffrey Bender

1984-1985 • vol. 65 • Jeffrey Bender

1985-1986 • vol. 66 • Barry Bowden

1986-1987 • vol. 67 • John Austin

1987-1988 • vol. 68 • Joseph Galarneau

1988-1989 • vol. 69 • Michael Hughes

1989-1990 • vol. 70 • Dwuan June, editor

1990-1991 • vol. 71 • Wade Babcock

1991-1992 • vol. 72 • William Holmes

1992-1993 • vol. 73 • Joe Johnson

1993-1994 • vol. 74 • Mark Tosczak

1994-1995 • vol. 75 • Colin B. Boatwright

1995-1996 • vol. 76 • Ron Batcho & Jean Lorscheider

1996-1997 • vol. 77 • Chris Baysden

1997-1998 • vol. 78 • Terry H. Bennett

1998-1999 • vol. 79 • Phillip Reese

1999-2000 • vol. 80 • Ebonie Polite

2000-2001 • vol. 81 • Jack Daly & Mark McLawhorn

2001-2002 • vol. 82 • Mark McLawhorn & Jimmy Ryals

2002-2003 • vol. 83 • Jerry Moore & Mathew Pelland

2003-2004 • vol. 84 • Thushan Amarasiriwardena & Carie Windham

2004-2005 • vol. 85 • Matthew Middleton

2005-2006 • vol. 86 • Rebecca Heslin

2006-2007 • vol. 87 • M. Tyler Dukes

2007-2008 • vol. 88 • Joshua Harrell

2008-2009 • vol. 89 • Saja Hindi

2009-2010 • vol. 90 • Ty Johnson, fall editor; Lauren Blakely, Kate Shefte and Russell Witham, spring co-editors

2010-2011 • vol. 91 • Amanda Wilkins

2011-2012 • vol. 92 • Laura Wilkinson

2012-2013 • vol. 93 • Mark Herring

2013-2014 • vol. 94 • Sam DeGrave

2014-2015 • vol. 95 • Ravi K. Chittilla

2015-2016 • vol. 96 • Kaitlin Montgomery

2016-2017 • vol. 97 • Rachel Tanner Smith

2017-2018 • vol. 98 • Jonathan T. Carter

2018-2019 • vol. 99 • Jonathan T. Carter

2019-2020 • vol. 100 • Dan Gilliam

2020-2021 • vol. 101 • Rachael Davis

2021-2022 • vol. 102 • Jaylan Harrington

2022-2023 • vol. 103 • Shilpa Giri

References

1. NCSU Libraries Special Collections Resource Center, Raleigh. North Carolina State University. 17 August 1998 https://d.lib.ncsu.edu/collections/technician

External links

Technician Online
* Guide to the North Carolina State University Division of Student Affairs Publications, 1889-200


{{North Carolina State University

Student newspapers published in North Carolina
North Carolina State University