In 1936 he was initiated in the Alpha Delta chapter of the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity. Interested more in the process of learning than in earning a degree, Foote was not a model student. He often skipped class to explore the library, and once he even spent the night among the shelves. He also began contributing pieces of fiction to "Carolina Magazine," UNC's award-winning literary journal. Foote returned to Greenville in 1937, where he worked in construction and for a local newspaper, "The Delta Democrat Times." Around this time, he began to work on his first novel. Foote's Jewish heritage led him to experience discrimination at Chapel Hill, an experience that led to his later support for the Civil Rights Movement.