Joe Knott, a member of the UNC Board of Governors, penned an op-ed whining about the lack of conservative professors at UNC. He cites an article by another conservative whiner, UNC business school professor Michael Jacobs, as evidence that we lack intellectual debate at UNC-CH. His solution is to set up an affirmative action program for conservatives to attract them to the university. What a bunch of snowflakes.
According Jacobs, “there are 23 registered Democrats for every Republican in the departments that address political and social issues.” He doesn’t mention how many are independents who may have conservative leanings. Among faculty in the UNC Department of Economics, about 60% are registered unaffiliated or not registered in North Carolina at all, so some conservatives probably aren’t Republicans. Still, part of the disparity reflects a Republican Party that has embraced a know-nothing, anti-intellectual political philosophy, rejecting science-based solutions and holding firm to supply-side economics that have clearly benefited the wealthiest Americans at the expense of the working class.
The GOP isn’t attracting many non-white voters with college degrees and it has been losing an increasing number of white college educated voters for a while now. In 2016, Trump won less than 40% of them.That doesn’t reflect indoctrination at colleges. That reflects economic self-defense and the GOP’s transition from a moderate conservative movement to one dominated by angry populists. Today, the GOP coalition is made up primarily of wealthy free-marketeers, white evangelical Christians and white grievance voters who have little use for academia. The modern Republican Party bears little resemblance to the one envisioned by William F. Buckley, Jr.
while wages stagnated and the lion’s share of income shifted from the poor and working class to the very wealthy. They argue that economic growth is more important than shared prosperity even as upward economic mobility for the poorest 50% of the country became increasingly difficult.
Now, Republicans want to rectify their loss of influence in the public universities whose budgets they cut by implementing an affirmative action program. How ironic. If Jacobs’ numbers are correct, African-Americans make up about the same percentage of professors at UNC as conservatives. Surely Knott and Jacobs would advocate for a program designed to encourage more black professors to bring their perspective to the classroom. After all, Republicans control both houses of Congress, the White House, both houses of the North Carolina legislature and the UNC Board of Governors. They have a far more powerful voice than African-Americans in the public dialogue.
Despite what I’ve written, I believe in more debate, especially on college campuses because I believe liberals would win them. However, I’m tired of hearing people who hold almost all of the power in this state whining about being victims and looking for a way to rig the university system to give themselves a louder voice and more power. Advocating for an affirmative action program for conservative professors while advocating against affirmative action for African-American shows either stunning hypocrisy or dangerous cynicism—or maybe just both.
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 >
Joe Knotts’ proposal reeks of the shanigans in the book ‘Dark Money’. There is a reason why most faculty are liberal and most independent news media are liberal; both are highly educated.
the only way to ensure the 1% invest in this country and make well paying jobs is to tax the heck out of them (50%) or better. And set living wage pay scales with a single payer health care system people pay for. Then set a $1000.00 max. a year political contribution per person. Next!
Income hasn’t “shifted from the poor and the working-class to the very wealthy.” National GNP has expanded primarily through the application of new technology. Those shrewd enough, wise enough, skilled enough and savvy enough to successfully engage in this new economy have reaped lion’s share of the resulting economic growth.
This is the essential essence of a market-based private economy driven by economic incentives. Innovators, risk takers and successful entrepreneurs reap the rewards of their knowledge, foresight and hard work. Some are no doubt just plain lucky and some are crooks, but most are deserving of their success.
That’s hilarious. The world’s largest corporations demand handouts from local communities to locate business there. Mergers, acquisitions and complex corporate shells are set up to limit competition and avoid paying taxes. Politicians in DC admit the banks own the place. And for decades the Fed has jacked up interest rates as soon as real wages started to rise.
The economic game has been rigged by the 1% for the 1%. I don’t begrudge the real inventors and business creators but the financial sector has grown far beyond what’s needed for a healthy economy and competition is lacking in many key sectors of the economy.
All the more reason to register “unaffiliated “
Also, if you happen to live in Orange County or Durham County, registering as a Republican costs you the chance to cast a meaningful vote for local elected officials, since the Democratic primary usually determines the outcome.
As does filing as a Democrat in most of the rural counties in NC.