On Monday, April 13 an alumni by the name of Mike Deitch ’94 reached out to the Tripod wondering why we used “Tucker Carlson ’91” in our coverage over the last few weeks; he was wary of Carlson’s graduation status. At first, there was no easy answer to the question of if Tucker Carlson actually graduated from Trinity: Wikipedia says he “failed to graduate” citing the book “Hated by All the Right People” by Jason Zengerle. Zengerle cites “The Origin Story of Tucker Carlson,” a short that allegedly has his graduation information in it. The Tripod was unable to locate the interview itself, with the Daily Caller interview the citation appears to be referring to not mentioning Tucker’s time at Trinity. Yet, Carlson appears on page 184 in the 1991 Trinity Ivy, suggesting he was indeed a member of the class of ’91. The New York Times claims he graduated in 1991; The Encyclopedia Britannica claims the same.
With this muddled historical context in mind I went to Trinity’s Archives searching for an actual answer to the Carlson conundrum. Thanks to help from the wonderful research librarians at the Watkinson, I was able to locate the 1992 Commencement Program and minutes of the Board of Trustees meeting approving the graduates for the class of ’92. Listed, specifically in absentia, was Carlson. It seems that Tucker Carlson did indeed earn a degree from Trinity and that he did indeed graduate, but in 1992, not 1991. The Tripod shall now refer to him as “Tucker Carlson ’92” and will print a correction in this week’s paper.
– ABG
+ There are no comments
Add yours