Margaret Spellings doesn’t even start as UNC system president until March, but calls for her head continue apace.
Why all the Spellings hate?
“Faculty are dissatisfied with the current state at UNC and have no confidence that Spellings will move the system in the right direction,” says Zach Robinson, a faculty member at East Carolina University and a member of the Faculty Forward Network. “Her past actions have shown that she does not have the leadership to lead a world class public system facing a diverse student body, decreased funding and skyrocketing tuition.”
Spellings’ past actions include serving as secretary of education under President George W. Bush; sitting on the board of the University of Phoenix, the under-investigation for-profit school; and blowing homophobic dog whistles as recently as a few months ago.
This morning, at least four protestors were arrested at the Board of Governors meeting in Chapel Hill, according to reports from the scene. Protestors were also voicing concerns about a lack of funding for historically black colleges in the UNC system.
The meeting started out like this:
But at some point turned into this:
And then this:
Jane Stancil of the N&O:
You can bail out the protestors by contributing here, if you are so inclined.
A new survey by Faculty Forward NC finds that about 70 percent of UNC system faculty surveyed believe higher education in North Carolina is headed in the wrong direction, and 80 percent say budget cuts have impacted their departments.
A longer video of the scene at the Board of Governors’ meeting can be viewed here.
