(The government is) having a tough time filling jobs in specific areas and yet we continue to have in the university system the same amount of graduates in each major regardless of the market forces.
This is a new way of thinking for universities, as they in the past have not thought in a market standpoint.
DTH: You’ve said the end goal of college is to get a job. Do you think there are any other goals?
PM: I think there are two goals. The first is to exercise your brain. Learn logic, learn problem solving, learn history so we won’t repeat the mistakes of the past, learn languages so you can adapt to this international environment and so you can be a better person.
I think the second goal is to learn many skills, which make you adaptable to the job market so you can make a living. Have a good quality of life and pay for your education.
DTH: Do you believe that a liberal arts degree prepares students for the workforce and for life?
PM: Absolutely. I am a liberal arts major. I have never said a negative word about liberal arts.
Sadly, a journalism major wrote an article in which the headline said I did while if anyone actually reviewed the actual interview, I was actually complimentary to liberal arts education.
The only critical comment was, I didn’t think being a gender studies major would be real marketable in the future regarding job openings and that is a true statement.
If anything, I think some of the liberal arts degrees — which I am — have forgotten the liberal arts part, and that is to get a variety of areas of knowledge, which include how to read a balance sheet.
It should include basic accounting, it should include basic math, which should include foreign language, which should include very good writing skills. I think we have left some of those out in the liberal arts degrees, and we have not put enough emphasis on the overall general knowledge that you need to have to live a good life and also get a job. And I would say that applies to all majors.
I am an advocate of a liberal arts degree but I am also an advocate of the areas where the taxpayers subsidize should have some market forces which emphasize and put priority over those areas that will most likely get a student a job.
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DTH: Do you think a part of students not majoring in science and math fields stems from their K-12 education?
PM: Yes, I think that there are many students how — most of all in middle school — were directed to other areas and maybe those areas were not as tough, and they wanted their GPA a little higher and so they tended to take the easy courses, which made it easier to get into school. Maybe what we need to do is to reward those who are taking the tougher courses, and that includes science and math and languages that are so important. But to me that is part of liberal arts education. I am a huge advocate of liberal arts education but I think we have lost some of the focus.
DTH: What are your feelings on the legislature-enacted out-of-state tuition increase — 12.3 percent at UNC-CH?
PM: I have a bias toward in-state students and finding an affordable education for in-state students.
We need out-of-state students for several reasons. One is to ensure that the standards remain high and so that we have diversity of people from throughout the country and the world. (The cost of education is) very expensive and you have to understand someone is subsidizing that and the people who are subsidizing that are North Carolina taxpayers.
But I hope, and one reason I am really putting pressure on the university system to keep their costs down and to lower their administrative overhead, is so that education is affordable for who it is supposed to be for and that’s the student — and not for administrators and not for alumni, and not just related to athletics.
DTH: What do you think of how the UNC administration has handled the recent athletic and academic scandals?
PM: I thought when it first came out, it was handled very poorly. I have a lot of confidence in your new chancellor. We have a very good working relationship. She clearly understands that in order to clear the air and to regain the incredible reputation of UNC-CH that you first have to first solve the problem and own up to what was done wrong and make sure it never happens again. I am confident in her ability to do that.
DTH: What do you say to young people who say the state is leaving its progressive roots?
PM: I would have to be given a specific example and in fact if anything, and on some of college campuses, it has been just the opposite.
We have moved away from more moderate thinking and moved way to the left, especially in our college campuses and we have forgotten that what helped build the universities was a market enterprise in our country and in our state.
DTH: What advice do you have for young North Carolinians entering college?
PM: Probably the first advice and the biggest thing is to learn to work with a team and with others. Learn to adapt to an ever-changing environment in the marketplace. Don’t waste the precious time that you have at a university. It will go by very quickly.
It is not only their investment. It is my investment, too. I am paying for them, and I want them to take advantage of every moment of their university career because I want them to have that knowledge base to create something for North Carolina — to create something and those are my expectations.
I think the last thing is fulfill your potential. Do not waste potential that has been given to you. And for those areas where you have potential weaknesses, build on them and where you have strengths build on those as well. Don’t get caught up in the environment that, I have four years to kill and I will glide through.
That is a valuable spot where other people would love to have that opportunity, especially at Chapel Hill. A lot of people have been turned down from Chapel Hill. And I hate to have students who have been accepted waste that opportunity to not fulfill their potential and serve a purpose for the next generation. Don’t get caught up in the game of heavy drinking and drug use. I am very concerned about the addiction situation in our universities and our society. I am not saying this from a purity standpoint but there is not enough information on the long-term impact of drugs and alcohol.
DTH: What else do you have to say to students at UNC?
PM: I am envious of your opportunity. Take advantage of it. I love your campus. I like your new chancellor.
I love the feel of Chapel Hill, but Chapel Hill, like all institutions, (is) going to adapt and change to the ever-changing market conditions of markets and education, just like students. No matter what you have learned this year, you are going to have to learn more each year.
I am having to learn something new every single day.
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