Maybe I’m just a cynic, but I think the panel looking at various institutes and centers on UNC campuses originated as a way to get Gene Nichol, director of UNC-CH’s Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity. Thin-skinned Republicans have bristled at Nichol’s sharply critical columns in the News & Observer. His articles already contain a disclaimer saying that he does not speak for UNC and he’s been asked to give the University a heads up when he’s criticizing the legislature or governor.
To be fair, Republicans have been looking for a way to cut universities and colleges. They are sure that the schools are bastions of waste and fraud and the UNC athletic scandal hasn’t hurt their perspective. They also sound like McCarthy-era witch hunters, rooting out subversive thought that undermines their free-market ideology. Nichol just gave them the impetus to launch their investigation.
The BOG members repeatedly said that the centers lack a diversity of opinion. What they really mean is that they are promoting ideas contrary to those held by the current board. This is really about the free flow of ideas in academia. They want to silence dissenters like Nichol and force conservative ideology into all areas of education.
In 2011, the legislature passed the “Founding Principals Act” which would require high school students to pass a course on the foundations of free government as prescribed by an institute funded by Art Pope and the Koch Brothers. Talk about Big Government and brainwashing. Silencing voices like Gene Nichol is just a continuation of that trend.
The conservative witch hunters are right about one thing. The people who teach in state colleges and universities tend to be more liberal than conservative. That’s because they believe in the power of a government institution–the public university–to have a positive impact on lives of the students they teach and society as a whole. That’s an inherently liberal belief.
They are wrong, though, that those teachers or institutions impose their beliefs on students. Most academics just want their students to learn how to think. Most professors I know revel in spirited ideological debate, regardless of their personal opinions.
Challenging government leaders or societal structures is not a liberal trait; it’s freedom of speech. Targeting dissenters and requiring state-mandated ideological classes are not conservative traits; they’re authoritarianism.
Thomas Mills is the founder and publisher of PoliticsNC.com. Before beginning PoliticsNC, Thomas spent twenty years as a political and public affairs consultant. Learn more >
I have been told that there is a disconnect between what is taught at UNC-CH, and how it is governed. Corruption and War keep people poor. Regardless of the uptick in employment, we are told that poverty is at a 16 percent level in most of NC. How can that be, when the land is of the highest quality, unrivaled in the world? If anyone is poor in the State of NC, it is because someone in power, limits their opportunities. Identifying who has the power to keep citizens of NC ignorant and poor, is an important job. Any individuals and organizations who make it clear who stands in the way of prosperity for honest working people of NC are people to whom we owe protections, and respect.
Most state legislators wish they could have gone to UNC but weren’t smart enough.They don’t understand diversity of ideas.
Without critical thinking or progressive alternatives to the status quo the state will further diminish it’s future. It’s not a choice between liberal or conservative to build new industry, to retain high-potential labor, or to fulfill the primary mission of higher education. It takes healthy doses of both, along with a willingness to toss aside the “good ole boy network” in favor of results. Closed minds, idealogues, and favoritism will kill the party every time.
The current crop of Republicans already has tilted the playing field so much in its favor both politically and economically that at this point they have no substantive goals left and are just looking for hippies to punch.
Lex- I just spit out my drink. Luckily I didn’t get any on my keyboard. I am one of the hippies that the current crop of conservatives want to punch, so I’ll have to learn to duck and roll in a crowd. I’m one of them-there liberals, and a teacher. Holy crikey! Gotta go… brain-washing to do… not enough hours in the day!
It’s “Nichol” not “Nichols” — just so searches find you! He’s a hero!
Fixed it. Thanks. I’m a bit embarrassed I got that wrong.
Hey, Thomas – nitpicky English major here: I think you meant “prescribe” (to state authoritatively as something that should be carried out) rather than “proscribe” (to condemn or forbid) when referencing that institute funded by Pope/Koch. You meant that the institute was in favor of the “Founding Principles Act” rather than against it, didn’t you? Or did I misunderstand and that institute is actually against the “Founding Principles Act”?
You are correct, Walter. Fixed it.
Sounds like nazism to me. And they are after Prof. Nichol because he voices so articulately the views held by so many. Or should be.
And did you read that the N & O quoted what Gene Nichol said? He told the BOG the center was “honored to be among the list of threatened centers.” It made me laugh out loud and say “Yeah” to Gene Nichol and keep up the good work.
Here’s my comment made on today’s N&O e-article about the UNC Board review of centers:
“Centers have had a GOP-painted target on their backs since 2009. This was based on several shortcomings in the Republican approach to conducting state business and evaluating higher ed prorgrams, including the bad habits of being penny-wise and pound foolish when to comes to budgeting, of wanting to micro-manage programs they really know nothing about, and failing to understand the important research, teaching and outreach roles university centers play. With the many GOP appointments to the UNC system board since 2012, the board itself now seems to have embraced those same bad habits.
What the GOP and UNC Board fail to grasp about these centers is that they are a university’s way of addressing the state’s tougher social, economic and environmental issues. And with that comes having Center-associated and supported faculty, staff and students think, act, and communicate “outside the box;” putting a sharper and, at times, critical spotlight on issues; questioning traditional approaches (and devising new approaches) to resolving those issues; and challenging government and society in general to develop new programs, policies and investments for the future. And, in doing all of these things, centers help students get exposed to –and exercise– the skills, critical thinking and judgment that makes them better leaders for tomorrow.
In short, these sorts of center activities are all about “shaking things up” and changing the ways that the state and nation think, act, and invest resources for a better future. A conservative legislature and UNC board need to get past their philosophical and ideological resistance to change. They should understand that what the centers do is not a plot, nor a conspiracy, nor political positioning, but is simply doing what universities are supposed to be doing, i.e., proposing and exploring new and problem-solving ideas.”
Great comment. Gene Nichols, you, and other free thinkers scare the s out of the current crop of Republicans. They will do anything to hold onto power and their place in the food chain. What the average white Republican does not realize is the myriad advantages they have been born with, they have literally won the womb lottery.
Bravo, well said