TO THE EDITOR:
A troubling thought occurred to me this week: I am glad to be graduating from UNC when I am.
I am extremely concerned about the future of this university in the hands of the current Board of Governors that has recently been loaded with conservatives and has made education a partisan issue in this state.
It started with the firing of Tom Ross, a champion of higher education, for the crime of being liberal-leaning. It has culminated with the hiring of a career politician and homophobe Margaret Spellings, who has no other degree beyond a bachelor’s.
UNC is a liberal arts university, and one of the greatest in the country at that. Our university is not a factory for employees of a corporate workforce, as the N.C. General Assembly seems to believe.
As they continue to politicize education in this state, it is at the detriment of the quality of education. Professors have not received raises in years, and many are already leaving. In my many conversations with some of my professors, I have learned that the future of this university is bleak if we continue on this partisan track.
I am challenging the Board of Governors and Margaret Spellings to listen to your professors and students. I want many generations of motivated scholars to have the chance to go to the same great liberal arts university that I’ve been lucky enough to attend.
Hayden Saunders
Senior
