Jay Smith
Budget sets tight timeline, new specifics for controversial new school at UNC-Chapel Hill
When the General Assembly’s Republican majority revealed and passed a new budget in a whirlwind 48 hours last week, it set an aggressive timeline for an unprecedented new school at UNC-Chapel Hill. The budget provides $2 million in funding in each of the next two fiscal years for the new School of Civic Life and […]
Their academic freedom in jeopardy, university faculty in NC, other southern states want out
University faculty members in North Carolina, Florida, Georgia and Texas say they wouldn’t recommend their state to other academics, according to a new survey from the American Association of University Professors. Many of them want to leave their campuses for jobs in other states or abandon the profession altogether, citing a hostile political climate for […]
Bill would mandate history course, prescribe curriculum at UNC universities, community colleges
Should students at UNC System Schools and community colleges be required to take a course on history and government, irrespective of their majors? Should lawmakers be able to prescribe the curriculum for such a course, rather than campus leaders and faculty? Those are a couple of the thorny questions sparked by House Bill 96, one […]
As GOP lawmakers target university tenure, faculty and campus leaders sound the alarm
As the legislative session picks up pace in Raleigh this month, UNC System faculty members, students, alumni and even chancellors are pushing back against a slate of bills they say would fundamentally alter higher education in North Carolina, with potentially disastrous results for the system and the state. The ambitious package of legislation would, among other […]