With all due respect, the Wheel has a bone to pick with Lord James W. Dooley.

Another Halloween at Emory has come and gone, and the Lord of Misrule was nowhere to be seen. In general, we have noticed that Dooley has been a bit absent lately, with less mischievous actions and more planned appearances. He makes a big impression at the beginning of the academic year – at Songfest, the Carter Town Hall, freshman semi-formal, the Homecoming Parade, the Drag Show, ICE Diwali – but then fades into the background until Dooley’s Week in the spring. His element of surprise has been lost, his whereabouts almost completely unknown to students. In the past, however, this was not the case. In the olden days, it was not uncommon to see Dooley walking around campus, surrounded by his guards and squirting water guns at passersby. He also made grand entrances at the beginning of Dooley’s Week – much grander, at least, than a passive ride on a Model T next to University President James W. Wagner.

Dooley would ride around campus on a motorcycle, rising from his grave in the middle of the Quadrangle. One year, Dooley even landed in the middle of the Quad in a helicopter. Back in the 1990s, and even before that, Dooley also had a tight-knit relationship with the Wheel. He wrote a column once or twice a week as a way to communicate ideas to students. For instance, in 1941, Dooley used his column in The Phoenix– Emory’s, then monthly, literary journal – to petition the University to hold its first-ever school dance, named “Dooley’s Frolic,” thus beginning the tradition of Dooley’s Week. The Wheel archives reveal dozens of editorials that he wrote to students about contemporary issues. As recently as 1998, Dooley used the Wheel as an outlet to express his opinions and views about campus life. And so we ask, will his Lordship once again grace the pages of the Wheel? Perhaps doing so could help bring him back into students’ lives.

Frankly, we miss Dooley, and we feel we need more spontaneity and mischief from him. There’s a face that matches the name, but Dooley is much more than that. He is a personality and a character that cuts to the core of the University and with his absence comes a loss of campus culture and history. “Dooley lives forever,” they say. And maybe it’s time for him to once again live more out in the open.

The above staff editorial represents the majority opinion of the Wheel‘s editorial board.

Emory Wheel
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The Emory Wheel was founded in 1919 and is currently the only independent, student-run newspaper of Emory University. The Wheel publishes weekly on Wednesdays during the academic year, except during University holidays and scheduled publication intermissions.

The Wheel is financially and editorially independent from the University. All of its content is generated by the Wheel’s more than 100 student staff members and contributing writers, and its printing costs are covered by profits from self-generated advertising sales.