Changes

Former Louisiana Tech President [[F. Jay Taylor]] hired Hilburn to "liberate the [college] newspaper," ''The Tech Talk,'' which had previously been a noncontroversial journal of mostly honor rolls and academic listings and failed to address student issues, such as the [[Vietnam War]], the [[civil rights]] movement, and the sexual revolution.<ref name=hilburndeath>{{cite web|url=http://www.thenewsstar.com/article/20140116/NEWS01/301160027/Well-known-journalist-professor-Hilburn-dead-75?nclick_check=1|title=Well-known journalist, professor, Hilburn dead at 75|publisher=''The Monroe News-Star''|accessdate=January 16, 2014; no longer on-line}}</ref><ref name=latech/>​

Former Louisiana Tech President [[F. Jay Taylor]] hired Hilburn to "liberate the [college] newspaper," ''The Tech Talk,'' which had previously been a noncontroversial journal of mostly honor rolls and academic listings and failed to address student issues, such as the [[Vietnam War]], the [[civil rights]] movement, and the sexual revolution.<ref name=hilburndeath>{{cite web|url=http://www.thenewsstar.com/article/20140116/NEWS01/301160027/Well-known-journalist-professor-Hilburn-dead-75?nclick_check=1|title=Well-known journalist, professor, Hilburn dead at 75|publisher=''The Monroe News-Star''|accessdate=January 16, 2014; no longer on-line}}</ref><ref name=latech/>​

Hilburn named [[Stanley Tiner]], whose career ended as the  editor of ''The Sun Herald'' in Gulfport and Biloxi, [[Mississippi]]. Tiner recalled in an interview with the ''The Monroe News-Star'' that as the editor of ''The Tech Talk'': "We started printing hard news ... And we wanted the editorial page to be powerful. We rebuked the notion that the voice of the paper should be trivial."<ref name=latech/>​

Hilburn named [[Stanley Tiner]], whose career ended as the  editor of ''The Sun Herald'' in Gulfport and Biloxi, [[Mississippi]]. Tiner recalled in an interview with the ''[[Monroe News Star]]'' that as the editor of ''The Tech Talk'': "We started printing hard news ... And we wanted the editorial page to be powerful. We rebuked the notion that the voice of the paper should be trivial."<ref name=latech/>​

Hilburn and Tiner then recruited Reginald Owens (born 1948) as the first [[African-American]] columnist of ''The Tech Talk''. In a controversial defense of the [[Black Panthers]], Owens recalled that Hilburn "taught me how I should temper [opinions], without changing my message."<ref name=latech/> Hilburn named Owens the first black editor of the college newspaper. One night after naming Owens as editor, Hilburn saw a cross burning on his lawn.<ref name=hilburndeath/> His first wife, Ellen, told him to call the police. He retorted, "That is the damn police."<ref name=latech/> Owens holds an endowed chair in the Tech journalism department and took over as head of the department in 2009 following Hilburn's retirement.<ref name=latech/>​

Hilburn and Tiner then recruited Reginald Owens (born 1948) as the first [[African-American]] columnist of ''The Tech Talk''. In a controversial defense of the [[Black Panthers]], Owens recalled that Hilburn "taught me how I should temper [opinions], without changing my message."<ref name=latech/> Hilburn named Owens the first black editor of the college newspaper. One night after naming Owens as editor, Hilburn saw a cross burning on his lawn.<ref name=hilburndeath/> His first wife, Ellen, told him to call the police. He retorted, "That is the damn police."<ref name=latech/> Owens holds an endowed chair in the Tech journalism department and took over as head of the department in 2009 following Hilburn's retirement.<ref name=latech/>​