Coalition for Carolina

Dave Boliek, outgoing chairman of the Board of Trustees, has announced that he is running for the Republican nomination for State Auditor in 2024. He apparently plans to stay on the board if he runs. Here is a link to his website announcing the run. https://auditordave.com

This raises questions.

Will Boliek do what’s right for Carolina – or what helps his campaign?  And, has he been campaigning all along?

What do his past decisions actually mean in light of his consideration for elected office?

Boliek has taken ideologically contentious actions. In 2021, he was one of just four of the 13 trustees to vote against tenure for Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones.

As chair, he has pushed the controversial, conservative-leaning “School of Civic Life and Leadership,” despite a lack of input from the faculty and administration.

Boliek went on Fox News – he was introduced as someone “who helped create the school” – to say its purpose is to promote “right-of-center views.” Could a run for statewide office be related to pushing this “viewpoint diversity” perspective forward?

The position of statewide auditor is not benign and unrelated to higher education policy. Take the example of the Mississippi state auditor who recently started “[c]alling numerous social science and humanities degree programs ‘indoctrination factories,’ …[and] says the state should defund several college majors and invest in subjects that match the state’s workforce needs.”  Click this link to read more.

Public education policy has become highly politicized recently from pre-K-12 school boards to higher education governance bodies.  In an interview this month, Boliek said his work as a trustee and chairman is “a good segue into statewide leadership.”

It may be good for Boliek the politician who has been crystal clear that he wants to promote “right-of-center views. But is it good for Carolina, the university system, or the state of North Carolina?

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