THANKS TO FORMER "HAPPY DAYS" WRITER NANCY CHURNIN DEMAC IN 1985

Photo of Reno Air Races by Lloyd Francis, 1984; The Spectator, pics of June 7, 1985 issue


433.

Published editorial by Editor-in-Chief Lurene Helzer, The Chabot College Spectator, June 7, 1985, “Farewell Mrs. Demac, Sad To See You Go.” Editorial about friendly resignation of faculty advisor to journalism students at campus newspaper, Nancy Churnin Demac.

Before working in our journalism department, she was working as a writer for the hit television show Happy Days, which ran from 1974 to 1984 on the ABC television network. She would occasionally remind us of the importance of ethics in journalism by using Happy Days character Richie Cunningham, who was played by actor/film director/producer Ron Howard.

It's nearly amusing today to notice how little we saw of the coming changes to media, publishing. I had a cool student staff working with me, including Chris Dear. Editorial running alongside mine by Art Editor Dear questioned the increasing modernization/computerization of college exams in 1985, the growing involvement of IBM. The writer was afraid teaching, thus understanding, would ultimately be truncated to satisfy the dictates of an abbreviated world. "The Ultimate in a Sterile Education; The Scantron Revolution".

Reviewing the editorial by Chris Dear on October 12, 2009, I think the points remain reasonable. At Chabot Community College, I had to study Dante, Chaucer, Socrates, and Plato. I had to outline the book of Genesis. I was forced to correct every factual and punctuation error by my professors. Today, I am not sure students are pressured to digest these ideas or appreciate them to the extent I was in community college.

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