Tom Joyner: An appropriate ad
The comments from Fred Naiden, a professor of history at UNC-CH, in his March 17 letter “The $100,000 Dean Smith advertisement” were offensive and off base.
He attacked the UNC Educational Foundation for posting an ad in The New York Times honoring former UNC basketball coach Dean Smith. In his comments, he managed to work in a reference to the race card in pointing out that some of the students that Naiden claimed were defrauded were black. Yes, and some of those students in the complaints were also white, so why the race reference?
The Educational Foundation receives its funds from those of us who choose to donate, and how that money is allocated is not for Naiden or others to decide. The foundation did not spend “the people’s money” on the ad but spoke for those of us who believe that everyone deserves legal representation when charges are launched and to honor this beloved coach and teacher. This professor needs a bit more education.
Tom Joyner
Cary
This story was originally published March 19, 2015 at 12:34 PM with the headline "Tom Joyner: An appropriate ad."