If you have walked past the Center for Dramatic Art, you’ve walked past the Paul Green Theatre. The theater pays homage to Paul Green, a UNC professor of dramatic arts until 1981 and one of the South’s most celebrated poets and playwrights.
In reality, however, he was an activist as much as a playwright and spent a good deal of his time writing about race and class issues. He wasn’t just interested in the humanities, after all; he was interested in real life.
Like many students, I was introduced to Paul Green through Jim Leloudis’ N.C. history class, which focuses, like Paul Green’s work, on the relationship between regionalism and justice.
My favorite quote about Paul Green comes from a talk that his daughter, Janet Green, did. Of her father, she said, “He felt that too much stress on the hereafter prevented us from doing our job while we are here. … (Life isn’t) a waiting room. He said, ‘Let’s write a great story while we are here.’”
As UNC students, we face a big year ahead. And yes, every year is a big year. But 2012 carries the special weight of decisions that will affect the identity of UNC — decisions that will extend far beyond any of our graduation dates.
What role will environmentalism play? How will the University treat employees? What will the quality of education be? And, of course, how much will that education cost? Are tuition hikes even worth fighting?
As a second-semester junior, college can seem like a waiting room. I already find it easy to check out of student involvement. I’m busy writing my own story and this is, in fact, what the University encourages us to do: prepare for our future. But what about the future of the University?
As beneficiaries of a legacy of state tax dollars and a larger public education system, we aren’t just participating in our own story. Over the years, the University has come to represent a powerful legacy of affordable, quality education in the South.
We’re part of a bigger narrative: the University that has been and the University that will be. Our lives intersect with the students before us who fought for high standards of equality at UNC and the students who will come after us and inherit the University we leave behind.
