The N.C. Legislature Strikes Again – at Distinguished Professorships
You could call it revenge politics. Once again, the North Carolina General Assembly is sticking its heavy hand into academics at Carolina – and taking revenge on the legislature’s critics. This time, the legislature’s target is distinguished professorships at the University, specifically in law and journalism as targets. The humanities and social sciences will be […]
A Campus United by Tragedy
We at the Coalition have grieved with the Carolina family this past week, and we have been moved by the response on campus. Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz was a strong, steady leader in a tragic time. He spoke for all of us in his heartfelt video message, which he ended, “Remember, we are Carolina Strong.” With […]
Texts, Tears and Fears
By Mimi Chapman Monday afternoon, I began to receive worried texts from my younger son. We were both locked down, he at a local high school and me in my office, because of an active shooter on campus. We’ve had scares before and students killed before, but it’s been a long time since there was […]
Defending Carolina’s priceless gem, Part 3 of 3
EDITOR’S NOTE: The following is the third installment of a three-part essay by Lloyd Kramer, a professor of history and former Chair of the Faculty Council at UNC-Chapel Hill, where he has been a faculty member since 1986. You can access parts 1 and 2 at the links below: Defending Carolina’s Priceless Gem – Part 1 […]
The Truth Matters
Once again, some members of the UNC Board of Trustees aren’t shooting straight with the University community. This time, it’s about origins of the ideologically driven “School of Civic Life and Leadership” that the trustees rammed through – with the support of politicians in the state legislature – without informing and adequately consulting the University’s […]
UNC Faculty Council Addresses “Bucket of Chaos”
On Friday, February 17, 2023 the UNC-CH Faculty Council met to address the “bucket of chaos” created by yet another incidence of trustee (BOT) governance overreach. In its most recent overreach actions, the BOT failed to consult, or even inform, the faculty, chancellor, students or staff–normally charged with making such decisions– about a proposed new […]
What’s Up with The Faculty?
Today the American Association of University Professors came out with their annual report on faculty salaries showing that wages for professors increased 2% “consistent with the flat wage growth observed since the Great Recession of the late 2000’s.” Despite the first raise in several years occurring this year in the UNC system, salaries at UNC […]
Could This Happen in North Carolina?
The Coalition was founded last summer to support and defend the University and its independence from partisan interference. We rededicated ourselves to the University’s promise of Lux Libertas—light and liberty—and the principles of open inquiry, free speech, academic freedom, equity and inclusion because we saw these principles at risk. Over the past months we’ve stayed […]
Dr. Lloyd S. Kramer: Historical examples of why tenure became so important to academics
There was a famous case in 1900 at Stanford where a sociologist named Edward Ross was fired at the request of the main trustee Jane Stanford, the wife of the founder of the university, after Ross made public comments opposing Chinese immigration and favoring public ownership of utilities. Both of these ideas were deemed to […]
Silence Won’t Save Carolina
To say that UNC Chapel Hill faculty salaries have not kept pace with peers over the past 10 years is quite the understatement. The accompanying graph paints a picture of not just an an ever-widening pay gap relative to peer schools, but an inflation adjusted pay cut. This is concerning and unacceptable. The recently announced […]