TO THE EDITOR:
Few students and faculty would disagree with the Sept. 6 editorial, “Fee would betray values,” about the fact that a $3,000 increase in fees in the Kenan-Flagler Business School would be unfortunate and at odds with the state’s oft-cited constitutional article extolling affordability.
But the quoted rationale for the fee increase — that students “feel that they are getting more as a result of being a business major/minor than their counterparts and recognize that they have not yet had to pay for this” — indeed reflects many of the core values now openly expressed, if not praised, by the University’s use of the term entrepreneurship.
It has, of course, various historical meanings, uses and interesting connotations that might be worth considering — but it seems to have been embraced by UNC as a critical if not paramount mission.
It was a dominant theme of Chancellor Folt’s inaugural address — honestly the first time that I had actually heard the term used in a university — and forms part of a number of curricular directives.
Its various recent permutations notwithstanding, it is still about creating wealth by recognizing and exploiting opportunities to develop viable sustainable activities to create more wealth (more money).
While the irony of the fee increase should not be lost on any of the DTH editors (or readers), we might question whether this should be, after all, a mission and defining principal of a research university.
One might say that the Kenan Flagler Business School is just being, well, entrepreneurial; expressing through practice a virtue of its own evidently effective programs.
Prof. Donald Haggis
