I didn’t want to like him. In fact, I was determined to hate him.

When I registered for JLMC 345X for the spring semester of 1998, I decided that I would learn as much as possible from Michael Gartner, the class’s instructor and the editor of the Ames Tribune, but I would not under any circumstances let myself like him.

After all, he was the one who was making life miserable for all the students working at the Daily.

Gartner and Gary Gerlach, the publisher of the Tribune, had sued the Daily for, among other things, competing with the Tribune. Everyone in the newsroom was almost afraid to breathe wrong lest we get sued for something else.

Although I and others at the Daily didn’t understand much about the lawsuit then, it drew a line in the sand. Either you supported the Daily, and Gartner and Gerlach were the enemy, or you supported Gartner and Gerlach and distanced yourself from the Daily.

I hadn’t been at the Daily very long, but I already loved working here. And I was willing to defend to the death the principles of a free and unfettered student press, which I was convinced that Gartner was threatening.

Then I took his class.

Both Gartner and Gerlach taught classes in the Iowa State journalism department as part of a Freedom Forum grant they received. Gartner, who won a Pulitzer Prize in editorial writing in 1997, was to teach opinion writing.

To learn opinion writing from the best opinion writer in the county, even if I was determined to dislike him, was just too good an opportunity to pass up.

So I enrolled.

I don’t remember what I was expecting from the course. I probably went to the first class expecting Gartner to make some crack about the lawsuit, and I was probably all ready to defend the Daily’s honor and get into an argument.

(I was then, and am still today to some extent, a little on the rash side.)

But Gartner was completely professional. He never commented on the lawsuit; he never ridiculed the Daily. He was there solely to teach us how to be good writers.

And teach us he did.

I joined the class to learn how to be a better opinion writer. I was heading into my first semester as opinion editor at the Daily, and I wanted to have a better idea of what was good opinion writing and what wasn’t.

But I wasn’t expecting to learn how to be a better reporter in the process.

I was expecting Gartner to teach those of us in the class about forming an opinion and persuading others to listen. I was expecting him to teach us how to write with passion and prose, the way he so often did.

But instead, Gartner taught us how to report.

He taught us that if you’re not a good reporter, you can’t be a good editorial writer. He taught us that you need to gather facts, first and foremost, and then build a persuasive argument out of those facts.

Gartner taught us to use rhythm. He had us write sonnets and limericks so we would learn how to hear the way a sentence flows together. he had us write five-page essays and 100-word arguments, all required to be tightly written and succinctly stated.

But most important, Gartner taught us about the power of words.

Gartner made us choose our words carefully. He showed us how the slightest inflection of a single word can dramatically alter the meaning of entire articles. He taught us the difference between the word “friend” and “crony,” and how to use the difference to your advantage in opinion writing.

He probably didn’t realize it at the time, but Gartner profoundly affected the way I think about journalism.

Gartner instilled in me an admiration and love of words. I am fascinated by their different meanings, how active verbs and strong nouns can set mood and tone in a story, making it say so much more than it otherwise would.

And while I still make mistakes and don’t always choose my words carefully enough, Gartner brought out in me the basic knowledge and respect for writing that must be inherent in any journalist worth his or her ink.

He did exactly what a good professor should do.

I don’t know if I will ever rise to Gartner’s level of journalist. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to make poetry out of a ban on lap dancing — one of the topics that won him his Pulitzer.

But I know without a doubt that I am a better journalist because of Gartner.

Gartner and Gerlach sold the Tribune last week. Both are retiring from the daily practice of journalism, at least for the time being.

And despite the lawsuit and all of the negativity that has been part of the Daily’s relationship with the Tribune during the last several years, the Daily and the students who work here are better off for dealing with Gartner and will be worse off for him leaving.

I’m just thankful I got to learn so much from him while he was here.

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Sara Ziegler is a senior in journalism and mass communication from Sioux Falls, S.D. She is editor in chief of the Daily.