By KIM RAMSEY
College Topics Staff Writer

The Cavalier Daily Alumni Association has launched a history project aimed at compiling the recollections of past staff members and publishing them, first on the CDAA Web site, www.cdalumni.org.

“This will be the Web version of an oral history project,” explained Bob Cullen (‘70), one of the editors of the project. “We intend to edit very lightly and post these reminiscences more or less as written. We hope to get enough of them to give a fairly detailed account of the CD’s evolution over the years.”

“The CDAA has talked for years about the importance of documenting the history of the CD for posterity’s sake, as no other organization on Grounds has such a comprehensive perspective on the University through the years,” said CDAA President Diane Krehmeyer.

“As the CDAA approaches our 20th year in existence, we decided that this project would be an appropriate way to commemorate the anniversary,” she added.

The project springs partly from one of the ideas discussed at length during the strategic planning meeting last spring.

“The CDAA needs to use its Web site as a more effective tool for knitting together the community,” said Cullen. “One way to do this is to add content that people will want to read and refer to.”

It should also provide a unique resource, Cullen added.

“While the digitization project will, it is hoped, preserve the bound volumes in electronic form, the bound volumes themselves are like fossil records of what actually happened in the paper’s offices in a given year,” he said. “They give only a vague impression of the internal evolution of the paper. The CD covered the University much better than it covered itself.”

“We’d like to come up with essays that convey the flavor and the humor of working for the CD along with basic information about how it was published,” said Fred Heblich (‘71), co-editor of the project.

However, the editors are interested in assuring that the reminiscences cover common ground and present some factual data. They have compiled a list of nine questions they would like each respondent to address in his or her essay (See below).

“We don’t mean for people to answer each question seriatim,” Heblich said. “And we certainly don’t want people to leave out good anecdotes that aren’t responsive to the questions. But we’d like them to keep the questions in mind and answer them somewhere in their essay.”
All former staff members are invited to submit their recollections via Cullen’s email address, rbcullen@yahoo.com.

Dick Dyas, who was CD managing editor in 1966-’67, has volunteered to become one of the first contributors, writing on the period from 1963-’67. But no single person can be the spokesman for an era. The editors would be happy to accept submissions that overlap chronologically.

“We’re very enthusiastic about the possibilities of this effort and, although we will start small with this Web survey, I think we would eventually like to see a published book of these memoirs, complete with historical context, that our alumni would be excited to own,” said Krehmeyer.

History Survey Questions

Here are the guideline questions:

1. What were your active years on the CD? What jobs did you do?

2. Where was the paper’s office located during those years?
What was it like?

3. Where was the CD printed and what technology was used?
What were the technological innovations during those years, if any?

4. How many times a week did the paper appear during your tenure?
How many pages? What size pages?

5. What was the structure of the managing board? Who were
the managing board members in your time? How were they selected? If they were elected, what were the politics of election? Did fraternity connections play a major role?

6. Did any of your colleagues on the staff go on to fame in journalism or another profession?

7. What can you say about the paper’s financial condition during your tenure? Were salaries paid, and, if so, how much? Did the paper receive a subsidy from the Student Activities Fund or some similar fund?

8. What were the paper’s relations with the University administration like during your tenure? What issues arose in this arena?

9. What were the major events the paper covered during your tenure? What were its most important editorial stands?

Responses should be in essay form and take into account the questions above. However, any good anecdotes are encouraged, even if they are not on point with the questions. Answers should be sent via email to rbcullen@yahoo.com. The questions are also available as a Word document, which can then be modified and attached to an email when you are ready to send it.

Thank you in advance for your time and responses!