Press Queen

When I was an undergraduate at NYU Heights I was a commuter student,  but stayed on campus after classes as much as I could to enjoy the extracurricular college life.  (See Ghostwriting in the Family and College Theatre)

Steve,  the editor of the school paper,  was a friend and I’d often stop in his office to watch in awe as his staff turned out the paper every day.  It may not have rivaled the Columbia Spectator or the Harvard Crimson,  but the  Heights Daily News was a reputable university newspaper with much to cover in those turbulent ‘60s.

The Heights,  located on a small,  leafy campus in the Bronx, was comprised of only two NYU schools – Arts and Science,  and Engineering.  Both had been all-male until a year before I entered,  and so our cohort of women was still quite a novelty,  and Steve thought a contest to chose Miss Heights Daily News would be fun and a good way to promote the paper.  He asked me to enter the contest.  I did,  and at the risk of sounding immodest,  I must say I won.

Among my laurels were a pair of theatre tickets and 2 cigars.  I took my boyfriend to the show,  but the smokes I gave to Steve,  our much deserved editor-in-chief!

– Dana Susan Lehrman