Unsung Founders gift option is in a league of its own.
I strongly believe that this option is head and shoulders above the others (not to say that the marquee and the scholarship will not enhance our campus).
But there has never been a better time or a greater need to memorialize the unsung founders of our University. The events of Sept. 11 showed us hundreds of contemporary heroes in New York, and Washington, D.C. As we honor these modern-day heroes let us also recognize the heroes, from our University's rich history.
As the description on the senior class Web site (http://seniors.unc.edu) states, "their names adorn no plaques, nor are they etched into the pediments of any campus structure."
"They are not founders in the strictest sense of the University. Yet our campus was born with their labor. Few of the earliest buildings at Carolina, or the paths that cross our campus, worn familiar under the steps of generations of students and faculty, were built with out their toil."
Yet why haven't we ever recognized these heroes who literally helped erect the earliest evidence of our campus -- the first public university in America? As seniors, we assume the responsibility of elder statesmen/women of this University, and it is important that we take a stand and finally acknowledge these heroes.
It is time that these unsung founders finally emerge from the shadows of history and take their rightful place alongside other UNC founders.
How great would it be to leave perhaps the most meaningful gift in the history of this University? The Unsung Founders gift option offers just that opportunity. Don't forget to vote!
Ben Singer
President
Class of `02
