TO THE EDITOR:
I am dismayed by the Quick Hit on Gov. Pat McCrory in the Thursday, Feb. 4 edition of The Daily Tar Heel. You dared to call our governor an “enemy of our University” and said that you’re uncomfortable watching the Super Bowl on television knowing he will be present. If McCrory were our enemy, he would not have spoken at University Day in 2014, and he would not have supported our football team in the Russell Athletic Bowl.
I would like to point out that McCrory is attending the Super Bowl on his own dime and encourage you to learn how our Republican-led state government has worked to preserve higher education. When Republicans won the governorship and majorities in the General Assembly during a financial crisis, they could have cut funding to a point that UNC-CH fell behind in its academic mission. They didn’t. A “State of the State University” report from the John William Pope Center for Higher Education Policy shows that North Carolina has the fourth highest college expenditures per student in the country.
Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine just named UNC-CH America’s best-value public university, even in the midst of budget cuts. Pope Foundation research suggests that as the state university system continues to grow in size, UNC-CH may have to spread its share of the wealth to growing schools like UNC-Charlotte. Certainly the socialists here can get behind that. I am thankful to live in a state that values both education and frugality.
Will Rierson
Executive Vice Chairperson
UNC College Republicans
