UNC student groups protest Art Pope lecture

A visit by Art Pope, budget director for Gov. Pat McCrory, sparked collective action among student groups who chanted and held signs in protest of recent proposals in the General Assembly.

A coalition of student groups held a “teach-out” Tuesday outside Gardner Hall during Pope’s lecture to Chairwoman of the Faculty Jan Boxill’s Philosophy 562 course.

Pope has been a center of controversy due to sizable donations to conservative causes and his involvement with the McCrory administration.

Sanyu Gichie, community organizer of Student Power, said the goal of the teach-out was to spread awareness and discuss the impact of Pope’s influence on North Carolina politics.

“As a person of color and a woman, his politics oppress me and people of my kind,” Gichie said.

A recurring topic of discussion was McCrory’s 2013-14 budget proposal, which would cut more than $55 million from UNC-system schools.

If passed, this proposal would follow a 2011 cut of $414 million that caused universities to eliminate 3,000 positions and hundreds of courses.

“I would count defunding education as an injustice to our future,” Gichie said.

The coalition addressed a slew of proposed bills in the General Assembly, which would touch topics such as gender-neutral housing at UNC and the voting process for college students.

“We’re being attacked by all sides, and our struggles for liberation are bound by our opposition to hateful, discriminatory economics and social policies,” said Prashanth Kamalakanthan, chairman and co-founder of Duke Students for a Democratic Society.

Sarah-Kathryn Bryan, co-chairwoman of UNC’s Feminist Students United, said in the past four months the General Assembly has attacked rights of women, racial minorities and poor citizens.

“With Art Pope’s support, the General Assembly is working to benefit a tiny minority of North Carolina and is not working to foster a prosperous future for all North Carolinians, which is its responsibility,” Bryan said.

She said she believes the group’s work will have a lasting effect.

“Student Power will be a real force to reckon with in the coming semesters.”

Matt Hickson, senior business major and an organizer of the event, said this event was a positive development.

“We’ve lost our voice in the political process, and the way to get it back is to act collectively — and this was a beautiful first step,” he said.

Contact the desk editor at university@dailytarheel.com.