Is W.C. Riddick Able to Inspire Faith in His Leadership? Jan. 31, 1921

However well endowed a man might be with intellect and ability, if he lacks the faculty of getting along well with those he must be thrown with, or those he must direct, it were better for him and all concerned that he recognize the fact and make his exit. Dr. W.C. Riddick, president of the North Carolina A. & E. College, possesses ability of a high order, is devoted to the institution and has given many years to it. But he and the students—and a part of the faculty, we presume—cannot carry on together.

The last student outbreak, in which practically every yough signed a petition asking for his removal and the election of former Lieut. Gov. O. Max Gardner as president, is more formidable than that two years ago. Under the circumstances—even if the boys are suppressed as “bolshiviki”--the college will be unable to do its best work, and it will not make that progress which it should make in this generation. We have nothing against President Riddick, and we assert that one of the “reasons” the students assign for his removal—his inability to get larger appropriations from the general assembly—do them no credit.

But that probably is a pretext. The real meaning behind the petition lies deeper than that. Is it Dr. Riddick’s inability to inspire faith in his leadership?

(From the editorial page of the Hickory Daily Record, Monday evening, January 31, 1921. N.C. A. & E. College is N.C. State University.)