UNC Friends Seeking Memorial to Honor the Late Sen. Wellstone

(Courtesy of Carolina News Services)

CHAPEL HILL -- A professor and a dean at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill are seeking a memorial on campus to the late Sen. Paul Wellstone, a two-time Carolina alumnus who died in a plane crash Oct. 25.

Dr. Joel Schwartz, an adjunct professor of public policy and professor emeritus of political science, and Gene Nichol, dean of Carolina’s School of Law, hope to raise $25,000 for a group of three to five benches. A potential site for the benches is beside the recently renovated Murphey Hall, which houses the classics department, on the university's scenic Polk Place.

Wellstone, a former student of Schwartz’s and good friend of both professors, received his bachelor’s and doctoral degrees in political science from Carolina. After graduating, Wellstone accepted a position at Carleton College in Northfield, Minn., where he was a professor of political science from 1969 to 1990. In 1990, he was elected to the U.S. Senate.

Wellstone credited Schwartz with inspiring him to become a political science professor. He also had strong ties to Nichol and had campaigned in support of Nichol's unsuccessful campaign for a U.S. Senate seat from Colorado.

The tragic crash last October also took the lives of Wellstone's wife, Sheila, and daughter, Marcia, three campaign staffers and two pilots.

"The massive and spontaneous outpouring of grief that the senator's death and the deaths of the others with him evoked is a testament to the influence one person can have," Schwartz said. "It would be appropriate to establish a memorial to honor Senator Wellstone on the UNC-Chapel Hill campus. Paul was always proud that he was a graduate of this university."

Schwartz and Nichol said they see the benches as a fitting memorial for Wellstone, who believed that "we need to replace isolationism with fellowship. [That] we need to talk about community, about justice, about the goodness of America."

Similar groups of benches have appeared at UNC recently in response to a recommendation from a task force the late Chancellor Michael Hooker formed to study the intellectual climate on campus. The task force wanted to recreate the environment that existed on campus in the ’60s, ’70s and ’80’s, when benches were scattered around the campus, providing inviting sites for discussion.

"The Senator Paul D. Wellstone Memorial would be a place where we can sit and talk, a place of fellowship and conversation where ideas and opinions can be exchanged," Schwartz said. "It would be here for us to visit for generations."

Said Nichol, "Paul Wellstone taught us, more effectively than anyone, that politics is ‘about improving people's lives,' and he thought Carolina had a similar mission."

To contribute to the memorial, please make checks payable to UNC-Chapel Hill with "Wellstone Benches" in the memo line. Mail them to Andi Sobbe, UNC Development Office, P.O. Box 309, Chapel Hill, NC 27514-0309.

Donations also may be made by credit card online at https://www.webslingerz.com/uncdev/cc_gift.html. In the "Designate Your Gift" section, select "other." Under "other instructions," type "Wellstone Benches." Call (919) 962-2546 for more information.

For more information on Wellstone, see http://www.unc.edu/depts/polisci/news_items/2002/wellstone.html. For more information on benches at UNC, see http://intlife.unc.edu/benches/

Contact: Andi Sobbe, (919) 962-2546

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