Editorial: UNC trustees' new 'school' is affirmative action for the privileged
Friday, Feb. 17, 2023 -- While UNC-Chapel Hill Trustee Chair David Boliek and others would like to create a culture of victimhood - nothing could be further from the truth. More likely he and his allies are looking, at public expense, to provide a platform of indoctrination for their ideological bias and groom future generations to their point of view.
Posted — UpdatedWhat David Boliek, the Trustees chair of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill wants is an affirmative action program.
On what data might Boliek be making his determination that the kind of affirmative action program he’s seeking to launch is needed?
What Boliek didn’t mention from the survey was that it found “faculty generally do not push political agendas in class.” The survey goes even further. “We find little evidence that faculty create a highly politicized atmosphere in UNC System classrooms.” The findings for the UNC-CH campus were similar to those found on the other seven campuses surveyed. Why doesn’t he give that finding similar weight?
Further, there’s been the contention, based on examinations of faculty partisan political affiliations, of some kind of bias.
But digging a bit deeper into the data uncovered something less shocking but more revealing. Of the 405 faculty whose voter registration was checked – it is all public record – 46% were either unaffiliated or “unknown because they could not be identified within the voter database.” Again, incomplete data can lead to, at best, uncertain assumptions if not inaccurate ones.
Also, why does Boliek feel there needs to be some kind of affirmative action program to elevate voices that, in fact, already dominate the public, political discourse in North Carolina?
It would be hard to identify a megaphone louder or more powerful in North Carolina than the one belonging to those who label themselves conservatives like leaders of the North Carolina General Assembly.
Their views, initiatives and opinions hold sway and dominate discussion in political, policy and media circles.
The volume of that megaphone, by extension, also applies to the UNC System Board of Governors – who are all appointed by the leadership of the General Assembly. And that similarly amplifies the voices and opinions of the UNC-CH Trustees -- eight of whom are appointed by the UNC Board (who, as noted earlier are appointed by the legislature) and four more are appointed directly by the legislature.
While Boliek and others who share his tinted view would like to create a culture of victimhood – nothing could be further from the truth.
More likely he and his allies are looking, at public expense, to provide a platform of indoctrination for their ideological bias and groom future generations to their point of view.
That is not the stuff that builds a world-class system of higher education.
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