Retrospective review – N.C. State University Technician Online
Editor’s Note: This is the first of an ongoing series. This article contains difficult language regarding LGBTQ community.
As a publication, Technician has been around for over a century. The reporters of past and present have been a part of the progress, change and activism happening at NC State. This series seeks to figure out the main players of LGBTQ activism that existed on campus throughout the end of the last century to the next.
Even as Technician has worked towards bettering NC State as a whole, its history is still muddled with racist and homophobic rhetoric. In light of LGBTQ History Awareness Month, I took a deep dive into Technician’s archives to see the climate for LGBTQ individuals since the beginning of this publication.
As for the history with LGBTQ individuals, Technician’s archives demonstrate the publication has played a large role in either reporting on gay events and activism — or it’s been on the other side of the aisle, displaying homophobic rhetoric and jokes.
The GLBT timeline, created by the University Libraries, details some key events where Technician played a role in LGBTQ issues. The timeline hasn’t been updated since 2016, but it’s an intriguing look at how reporters have been able to facilitate more conversations around queerness and being gay on campus. The earliest mention of reporting comes from 1972 when Technician reported the founding of the Triangle Gay Alliance.
In the early Daily Tar Hell editions, Technician’s parody issue of UNC’s newspaper, Technician made homophobic remarks throughout some of these editions. To quote the edition from 1999, a headline was, “Coming Up From Behind,” paired with a photo of a student holding a sign that reads, “Hi I’m Gaye, and I’m running for Student Body Pres.”
Technician also has a history of exclusion and racist rhetoric when Black students criticized NC State leadership for not keeping their promise of creating an African American Cultural Student Center. According to Nubian Message, “Technician published an opinion column by Steve Crisp that referred to members of the Black Awareness Council (BAC) as ‘Ku Klux Blacks.’ In the Campus Forum section of the same issue, Jeff Rom called the BAC ‘a bunch of terrorists.’”
Copies of Technician were promptly burned by Black students, and the publication was protested against for this inflammatory and racist rhetoric. After this, Nubian Message published its first issue on Nov. 30, 1992, proclaiming itself NC State’s first African American newspaper. According to NC State News, Nubian’s founder and first editor-in-chief, Tony Williamson wrote an editorial which stated his intention to “totally, truthfully and faithfully” cover every aspect of African American life at NC State.
This will be an ongoing series. Look out for more on our News page.