Unflagging devotion

When we became editors of The Chronicle in May 2005 and 2006, respectively, we learned one valuable lesson right off the bat: If you wanted to gain instant credibility in the newsroom, all you needed to say was, “It’s OK. I spoke to Professor Tifft about it.”

During our four years at Duke, we never had classes with Prof. Tifft. In fact, we only met her in person a few times. Like so many Chronicle editors before us, however, we had the immense privilege of getting to know her through dozens of e-mail exchanges and phone conversations about journalism questions, big and small. When the lacrosse scandal broke in 2006, she was there with guiding words—and she was also the first to point out, kindly but urgently, when the newspaper mixed up the words “reign” and “rein” in a front-page headline. She was a consummate teacher, with an unflagging devotion to her students and The Chronicle.

In the fall of 2007, when we learned of her cancer diagnosis, we both hesitantly reached out to Prof. Tifft in what would be our final e-mail exchanges with her. Her responses to us get to the heart of what made her such a remarkable woman and inspirational teacher. “Always glad to hear from you,” she wrote to Ryan Sept. 5, 2007. “It takes me away from my current reality (chemotherapy) to a brighter, happier place.” And, in her parting words to Seyward Sept. 29, she wrote, “Just remember—we’re proud of you!”

We’re proud to say we knew Susan Tifft.

Seyward Darby

Trinity ’07

Ryan McCartney

Trinity ’08